UFC goes mainstream

     |PRATLAW| broadcasts: As a fan of UFC I look forward to its mainstreaming but they will have to curb the blood and that means better referees and quicker stops to the carnage:  The article is here:  

White foresees new era for UFC, MMA with Fox deal:

At left:  The great Chuck Liddell owning Tito Ortiz

The Hawks Need Shannon Brown

This guy knows how to play the pro game.  Flat out, fast and furious.  A great 6th man, maybe a starter.  Great defender, great rebounder, great shooter, can come off a pick, go to the hoop.  All around player the Hawks could use to get to the finals

King? No, More Like Dauphin James

    |PRATLAW| broadcasts:  The Mavericks closed the Lakers out in 4; 4!  They were the best team in the NBA.  They should have won it all ... They have 2 really good point guards:  Kidd & Barea.  They have 2 really good shooting guards: Stevenson and Jet Terry.  They have the best power forward in the game: Nowitzki.  They have a "johnny hustle" center: Chandler.  They have a great bench that are positive and give 125%.  The Heat struggled with everyone and should have lost to the Bulls.  They have 2 of the 4-5 best ISO finish players in the game: Dauphin James and Flash Wade.  They have no point guard.  They have one of the best scoring forwards in the game but Chris Bosh disappears in games because the Heat do not run an offense:  They run ISO and pass-around.  They do not have a power forward or Center that is upper level.  Their bench is weak.  ISO finishers do not|can not look for the pass on the way to the basket.  In transition the Heat are the best team in Basketball.  In half court they stall when their opponent matches up.  Review the tapes:  The Heat were phenomenal in half court defense - so much so that they wore down.  No team can play the defense they did in a sustained tournament.  Until the Dauphin and Flash work it out - and that means letting Mario Chalmers run the show when there is not a turnover transition, with them working without the ball, Flash as a shooting guard and Dauphin working as a power forward, and the three of them looking for Bosh, the Heat will remain the team "in the waiting".

Hey Didn't You Used To Be LeBron James?

|PRATLAW| broadcasts:  LJ disappeared in game 4 2011, but had a triple double in game 5.  Apparently that was not enough to silence his critics.  J Berry hit the nail on the head in post game analysis:  Without the ball LJ sits on the perimeter just like our own local huge guard, Joe Johnson and it is clear he doesn't really know what to do without the ball.  But let's be fair:  How long has it been since LJ played a game without the ball?  Maybe 1st or 2nd grade?  Don't lay this debacle at the feet of the coach or LJ.  It is like having Kobie and Magic on the same team after each has been the guy with the ball their whole life.: [EDIT:  Not Magic ~ Magic was a true point guard, probably the best ever - always looking for the open teammate to let them score ... no its more like having Kobie and early Jordan on the same team]. It will take more than a season for them to meld as a team ~ because they prove that basketball is a team game after all.

News flash to all Ralph Sampsons out there:  If you are a big CRASH THE BOARDS SON!  You cannot be 6'8" and 270lbs and park your ass on the perimeter when you have Flash with the ball - he is going to beat whoever is on him and that means he will not be dishing it back out.  You have to take the game to the paint young man.  It looks like the lack of physical rebounding and defense makes this Dallas's series to win or lose.  Can a point guard well past his prime muster the energy for one last game?  I think he can.  Will the crowned King of the NBA find a game when he is the second best player on his team:  I am sure of it.  I look for LJ to be 'on a tear' in 2012.

Rebounding and Great basketball Teams

    |PRATLAW| broadcasts:  If you read my posts you know that I think the greatest Basketball team of all time was the 1989-90 Detroit Pistons.  Isiah is pound for pound the greatest player to ever pick up the ball:  If you never saw him imagine DWade smaller and quicker: Flash's Daddy if you will.  Joe Dumars was a fantastic second guard, big enough to shut down anybody with a great touch.  Bill Laimbeer was just big and wide and then could shoot lights out - a slower Dirk Nowitzki if you will.  Then you get to the steel core of the team - Worm Rodman and the massive Rick Mahorn.  Nobody could rebound on them, nobody was fast enough to run with them and nobody could shoot as good as they could.  Plain and simple ... who ya got?  I thought so ...

The Greatest NBA Center - Kareem Abdul Jabbar

     |PRATLAW| broadcasts:  I have heard Broussard, Mike & Mike, Barko & Kenny, etcetera,  recently talking about the top 5 centers of all time and where Shaqastotile is on the list; they all had him 4th or 5th.  They all, however, overlook the new stupid rule against the elbow scrape.  Wilt Chamberlain would be an average player in today's world - true he was tall but he bullied under the rim and elbow scraped every rebound.  He scored 100 points because he slammed the ball on the backboard and jumped into the lane and dunked it - he caused the rule against it.  Wilt was also slow footed.  Bill Russell would be a terrific modern player - still the quickest feet I have ever seen for a 6'11" player.  Shaq scrapped everybody too and his game was monster-dunk and that's all.  


     The greatest center of all time was well above the rest.  His name was and remains: Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  Quick, athletic and he invented a shot nobody has ever seen before or since.  the sky-hook was the most beautiful shot I have ever seen and if you have never seen it go to Utube and see it.  

     After KAJ, my list of the greatest I ever personally saw, is in descending order: Bill Russell; Dwight Howard; Hakeem Olajuwon; Shaquille O'Neal; Bill Walton; Wilt Chamberlain.  If  Dwight Howard could use the elbow scrape clear, well just think about it ...  And I will give a shout out to Bill Laimbeer who centered the greatest team of all time led by Isiah Thomas, The 1989-90 Detroit Pistons! 

Soundoff on the Hawks

  |THE KNOW-IT-ALL| broadcasts:  My Hawks are getting their hat handed to them because: (1) First and foremost they need a new General Manager or need to send the one they have to learn a little something about Basketball because: (2) We have 2 of the best 6th men iso players in the game, JJ and Jamal - but that's just the problem, they are both starting!  So we have Al who has finally been joined by Josh in the low post, a rookie but promising PG and our two "I'm not here to mix it up but to ISO on the perimeter players sitting ... on the perimeter.  The Bulls are crashing the boards against 2 guys, Al & Josh!; (3) It is time to trade both JJ and Jamal and get a couple of hardnosed defenders who can shoot off a pick and will crash the boards ... but first get a GM that knows what he is doing!

THE TOP 10 IN YOUR FACE DUNKS ON ESPN

    |PRATLAW| broadcasts:  The Sports Nation show today had the top 10 dunks, 2 of which were over PI and 2 over TD ~ great guys but what 1 ring between them ... hmmm ... I noticed no dunks on Russell, Chamberlain, Malone, Jabbar, Unseld, Cowans, Hayes, O'Neal ... none on old flat foot Laimbeer either ... hmmm ... what did these guys do that kept them off the list?   LOL!  I am sure it was because they were just too darn big, particularly Unseld and Cowans.  As seen in this picture Unseld was huge ~ LOL ...

MY BASKETBALL LIST

    |PRATLAW| broadcasts: Basketball Greatest List for my life to date, not necessarily in order: Karem Abdul Jabbar; Pete Maravich; Jerry West; Julius Irving; Moses Malone; Larry Bird; Reggie Miller; Rick Berry; Magic Johnson; Kevin McHale; Kobie Bryant; Carmelo Anthony; Dwight Howard; Ray Allen; Paul Pierce; Michael Jordan; Walt Frazier; Earl Malone; Oscar Robertson; Isiah Thomas; LeBron James; Dwayne Wade; Bill Walton; James Worthy; Bill Russell; Scottie Pippin; Dave Cowens; Steve Nash; John Stockton; Shaquille O'Neal; George Gervin; Allen Iverson; Rajon Rondo; Dirk Nowitski; Carl Malone; Steve Nash; Elvin Hayes; Elgin Baylor; Derrick Rose; Charles Barkley; Hakeem Olajuwon; Dennis Johnson; Hustle Havlicek; Moses Malone; Bob Cousy.  My criterion:  Each player on my list must exhibit a unique talent that elevated his game above everyone else in the league, not just size - exceptions - Shak & Wilt.

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Pratlaw preaches: Here we go! Let's go green

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