Links (Youtube is amazing)

Here are some links from youtube. If you’ve already seen these…I apologize, just doing my civic duty and making sure people see some of these clips.

In that crazy cool announcer voice: From the subject responsible for the famous quote “Pasta Pasta; it tastes like Pasta”, I am pleased to have unearthed these absolute gems.

Note the similarities in terms of the key figures involved in this clip and the more well known clip, Houston Rockets imitate Deke

Houston Rockets – How does a Dinosaur Sound?

Umm…does Mutombo know what a dinosaur is? I’m pretty sure I heard Mutombo barking…or woofing…making clear dog noises towards he end of this clip. Secondly, I am gaining more and more respect for Steve Novak’s imitation/random abilities.

Now, this is most probably completely fabricated…but…still. Mutombo governs with an iron fist

Highlight from this has got to be: “Skip to the Lou Man”. I would analyze more, but I’m afraid I couldn’t follow what Deke is saying.

(Cautionary note – We Talkin’ ‘Bout Practice has the highest respect for Dikemebe Mutombo. He is a devout philanthropist who really does reflect the NBA’s policy of NBA cares. We are also convinced that Dikemebe Mutombo is very articulate and intelligent in his native language, and greatly admire his efforts)

This next clip appears to be very legitimate. Andrew Bogut is a former #1 overall pick from the fightin Utes’. He is a solid fantasy basketball center, and his numbers have improved every year in the league. But for some reason, he doesn’t appear to be very popular with his teammates, as can be seen here:

Poor Andrew Bogut

Excuse for a homerism note: The Orlando Magic battled back to win game 3 of their series against Detriot, bringing the series to 2-1. Rashard Lewis poured in 33 points (a playoff career high), and Dwight Howard added a 20/12/6 (blocks, not assists) game. Hedo Turkogulu stepped up with a solid game for what has seemed like the first time all playoffs. With a possibly injury to “Big Shot Billups”, the Magic may be able to regain the momentum street cred in this series. Anyways, Dwight Howard follows in the mold of KG (and many others) in his insistence on blocking all shots after the whistle). Allen Iverson though didn’t seem to be fazed by Dwight’s treatment.

Allen Iverson’s response

Speaking of KG… The Celtics absolutely blew out the Hawks in Game 7 of their first round series. Perhaps lost in this absolute demolishing was KG’s beatdown on poor, poor Zaza. As you remember, Zaza had the gall to stand up to KG in Game 3 of this series. And in the 3rd quarter of game 7, Marvin Williams’ flagrant foul on Rajon Rondo irked many of the Celtics. So…this is how KG responded;

I wasn’t kidding when I said KG might kill someone

Damn. KG is one scary dude. Poor Zaza had no chance. I think my favorite part of this clip is how KG attempted (faked?) to justify/explain his pick as a legal play to the referee. One of the comments for this video also noted that Zaza talked to KG while never taking a step towards him, always maintaining a safe distance.

Now I think most people would say that Shaq isn’t nearly as scary as KG. Check out Shaq’s funny side:

Shaq owns reporter

I love how Shaq continues to laugh after he has cracked his joke. He’s clearly very, very pleased with himself.

And the last set of links for this post also features basketball clips. Rasheed Wallace has got to be one of the most unique basketball players in the NBA. Here’s Wallace showing his love for Reggie Miller during a pregame warmup (also on Inside the NBA)

You can also hear the studio guys cracking up at his antics

A phrase you hear often in pickup games (err…mebbe?) is “ball don’t lie”; well…Rasheed Wallace likes to apply that to regular season games in the NBA as well. As you’ll see, poor Andrew Bogut is also involved in this clip – (and not in a good way) -

Ball don’t lie son

4th quarter – Orlando/Detriot

As noted in my previous post, I really, reallly, reallllllllllly, hate detriot. For a number of reasons, which can most aptly be summarized by their eerie similarities to that annoying pickup basketball player. This hatred was only worsened when I came across some of Detriot’s attempt at smack talk.

Bad Blood between Magic and Pistons

(7:13 – OH MY GOODNESS – Huge Follow up dunk by Dwight Howard)

Ratliff said Maxiell didn’t need the assistance.

“There’s no sense in guys coming to my rescue,” Ratliff said Sunday. “I mean, that was Rashard Lewis. He’s a 3 man.”

Ohhh…sh*^….ohhh sh^%….no he didn’t. He called Rashard Lewis a 3 man. His actual basketball position on the court. How demeaning. No you didn’t Ratliff. Ohhh no you didn’t Ratliff. Don’t you be calling a man out on his street cred. (YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES….STREET CRED RETURNS)

What Ratliff said was relayed to Lewis and the small forward fired back.

“You can have a lot of energy in five minutes a game,” Lewis said. “What’s he played? 15 games? Tell him to come out and guard me.”

That’s right Lewis – Ratliff wants to question your street cred, you besta respond. He ain’t gonna get away with that garbage. Not exactly the most intimidating response, I mean, I probably would have said something like this:

That b%@%& wanna talk s$%# about me…well tell him to come inside…ill straight up busta cap in that boys @$$. Maaaaaaaaaaaan….sh*#^(#&$& (sweet = inside joke!)

but…i’ll settle for …”tell him to come out and guard me”

“Dwight is an imposing player, but we’ve played against some of the Hall of Famers so it’s not really something we worry about,” Ratliff said.

Now that’s just dumb. Dwight’s seems to be one of the nicest guys in the league – making him mad doesn’t seem like the greatest idea. And I think I’d bet on Dwight Howard being a hall of famer. And I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say that.

“He’s has a very strong upper body,” Maxiell said. “But if you get down low and take his legs out, he’s not that powerful.”

Howard bristled at the suggestion that his lower body is weak.

“That’s not true,” Howard said. “Trust me.”

Errr…that’s kinda weird. Maxiell judging Howard’s lower body…weird…weird.

(Note – We Talkin’ about practice welcomes all readers, and we mean…all readers).

“They’re a finesse team,” Ratliff said. “They’re a 3-point shooting team.”

Like Howard, Orlando point guard Jameer Nelson took exception with Ratliff’s assessment.

“Who? Who?” Nelson asked mockingly when Ratliff’s comments were repeated by reporters. “I’m getting sick and tired of people calling us soft.”

I am starting to get worried = if you’re the magic, you cannot allow someone to call out your street cred. Everyone knows that the way you win basketball games is by street cred. Hustle plays, rebounds, steals = irrelevant. Useless. Now intimidation, trash talking – those are the things that win games. Street Cred matters.

Back to live blog:

3:20 – “Big Shot Billups” manages to gain 2 free throw attempts. Big Shot Billups is really not a moniker (hope I used that correctly) that Chauncey deserves – has he done anything recent to earn that? (Prolly – but don’t answer that).

1:28 – HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE turnover by Rashard Lewis, the guy the Magic overpaid for by about $70 million. Fact. The Sonics offered Rashard Lewis about $60 million. So the Magic, wanting Rashard Lewis, decide to exceed their offer. Reasonable decision, I can understand that. The Magic then promptly offer Rashard Lewis $119 million; towards the later years of his contract, Lewis will make more than Kobe Bryant. ummmmm…great.

1:03 – Great tipup by D-HO; that’s what happens when you question his street cred, man. 22 points and 17 rebs so far. Follows that up with a great block on “Mr. Big Shot.”

48.9 – Wow, Hedo missed that horribly, like I do about 80% of the time in pickup games. Not to worry, “Big Shot Billups” promptly screwed up the next play. Great job, greeeeeaaat job.

11.7 – Meh. Magic blew their opportunity there. Not to worry – the built in excuse for this game is the 3 that “Big Shot Billups” was credited with at the end of the 3rd quarter; the clock hadn’t started but he was still credited with a 3. Damnit…then an offball “foul” = Masked Man (isn’t that weird? Does the dude know that his nose isn’t broken?) tripped, and the zebras rewarded Detroit.

In Conclusion: Garbage.