So I titled this post “FACIAL!!!!!”, dedicating this to some of the top facials I’ve seen this year… I was inspired to write this article after watching Damien Wilkins take it back old school, and posterize Nenad Krstic (OKC Thunder), just like how his uncle ‘Nique used to do… I mean, Damien plays nothing like his uncle, and this dunk was rather fluke-ish.. but I mean, hey.. it was still a great dunk! So I created my own little version of the top facials of the 2009-2010 season… Forget “TOP 10″, this is the TOP 9 facials of 09-10 provided by yours truly…

9. DeMar DeRozan dunks on Brad Miller…

8. Derrick Rose shows why he should’ve been taken #1…

7. Ty Lawson brings the house down…

6. Ryan Hollins… in Blatche’s mouth…

5. Melo on opening night! MVP…?

4. Iguodala puts the Nets in their place…

3. Corey Brewer makes Fish want to retire…

2. Damien Wilkins: Blast from the Past.. tribute to Nique…

1. Dwyane Wade makes his greatest poster of all time…

Well I hope you guys enjoyed the little recap of the 1st half of the NBA season… If you think this countdown should be different, feel free to leave comments.. I can’t wait for the NBA Slam Dunk Contest coming soon… February 13th!

SHAQ FU VS. BROCK LESNAR

Shaq, what are you doing?! Apparently, Shaq has told Dana White, president of the UFC, that he would like to fight Brock Lesnar, and has been wanting to for quite some time now.. Luckily, we don’t have to worry about this fight at least for some time, as White told Shaq that if he wins another ring this year, then they would talk…

AS SHOWN AT YAHOO SPORTS!

As “big and bad” as Shaq is, I must say that he will not fare well against a professional cage fighter, regardless of if Shaq has been training at the Gracie Gym for the past 10 years in boxing, MMA, jiu-jitsu, muay thai and wrestling… And why Lesnar? The guy looks like he’s been on ‘roids for years..

Shaq hasn’t fared well in his past fights in the NBA… Brad Miller wouldn’t go down… Barkley body slammed him after throwing the ball at his head… and even the young Andrew Bynum got away with a shoving elbow… Plain and simple, Shaq is not only too big and slow, but he’s also one of the nicest guys in the NBA…

Let’s give it a rest Shaq… As much as I do love you, you’re not the best at everything you do.. Stick to what you do best, and TRY to win a ring this year…

With much talk about where Iverson will end up playing next year, the Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Charlotte Bobcats, and now the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as the front-runners for picking up the future hall of famer… The Clips would be able to offer the mid-level exception that Iverson is looking for, but Iverson must accept the role of coming off the bench, either behind B. Diddy or Eric Gordon… Marcus Camby is doing everything he can to entice Iverson (as they played together in Denver)… The Clips are also looking at Ramon Sessions and possibly another big to replace Brian Skinner…

B. Diddy, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Blake Griffin, Marcus Camby

Allen Iverson?, Mike Taylor, Ricky Davis, Chris Kaman, DeAndre Jordan, Steve Novak…

Should be interesting to see what pans out… In the meantime, check out this video

IF ONLY IN THE SHOWER...

So I know that everyone has heard the news about Ron Artest joining the Los Angeles Fakers… Looks like we’re in it possibly for another 3-peat… But did everyone hear about how the situation came about?

Before Ariza got into talks, demanding more money, it was known that Artest would be an option for the Lakers, regardless of if he was running his mouth about how he wanted to stay in Houston. Truth of the matter is, in 2008, when the Lakers lost to Boston in Game 6 of the NBA Finals… guess who was right there to ask for a spot on the team?

It has been reported that after that Game 6 loss, Artest showed up in the coaches’ room, where he approached Phil Jackson and stated, “I’d like to help you win a championship”… Phil thought it was weird that Artest had said such a comment, especially immediately following the loss.. However, what’s ever weirder is that, Phil til-this-day still does NOT know how Artest had access to that room..

Now it gets even weirder… It has also been reported that Artest went into the players’ locker room, where Kobe Bryant was showering.. It was there that Artest approached the Black Mamba and stated that he’d like to help Kobe win a championship… Once again, til this day, Kobe has no idea how Artest got inside that Locker room… especially since Ron Ron wasn’t even a player on one of the two teams featured in the game… Now, I’ve seen countless comments on this topic, and the most reputable comments consist of fans calling Artest a “fag”… Simply put, why couldn’t he wait until Kobe finished showering to discuss what could unfold… 2 years later?

Haha, I know it’s a useless bit of information.. but I found it to be hilarious, so I just thought I’d share…

MY FAVORITE SPURS PLAYER YTD...

Let me start this post by saying I MISS THE NBA! With only baseball in town for the next 2-3 months until NFL preseason/season, anytime anything is mentioned on TV or on sports websites even remotely related to the NBA, I’m on it! With that being said, we all should be really glad that it was Richard Jefferson… The Spurs could’ve landed VINSANITY for the likes of Oberto, Bowen, and Roger Mason Jr… Had that happened, I may have had to stop watching basketball… So now we can assume that the Spurs have locked in their team as Parker, Ginobili, Jefferson, Duncan, and Gooden… O M G

FOYE HAD A BREAKOUT SEASON LAST YEAR...

We move on to the other team that made some noise yesterday, as Washington added to their arsenal of guards and small forwards… Randy Foye who had a breakout season last year, along with pure shooter Mike Miller are expected to contribute as they did this past season, and I do feel most likely that Butler would be on the move… Can you think of a team that has an arsenal of bigs that they need to unload? How about the Clips? The Clips have centers Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, and a developing Deandre Jordan… They also have Zach Randolph in that mix, along with a 6′10″ Novak, as well as their plans to draft 6′10″ Blake Griffin at #1 tomorrow… So how about Butler + Mike Miller for let’s say… Thornton and Camby?

WAS lineup: Agent Zero, Foye, Thornton, Jamison, Camby… with Nick Young, Andray Blatche, and Dominic Mcguire off the bench…

LAC lineup: B Diddy, Eric Gordon, Butler, Zach, Kaman… with Mike Miller, Blake Griffin, Mike Taylor, and DeAndre off the bench… (not that there’s a problem with the Clips’ team right now… all we need to do is drop Coach Dunleavy, and bring in a coach that can run Mike D’Antoni’s offense.. and you have yourself at least a #3 seed in the Western Conference)

Not a bad suggestion I’d say…

So now, the smaller names are creating buzz around the league… The latest buzz would be Q Rich to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic in return to the Knicks… It could work out for both teams.. I mean, Q is washed up a bit, but the boy can still shoot (at times)… and the Knicks are terribly undersized…

We have names like Ben Gordon and Carlos Boozer being thrown around in talks about the Pistons, but we’ll see where that goes… I’m also hearing that the Blazers were first interested in Kidd, but now are seriously considering pairing Roy with Hinrich in the backcourt… We’re 1 day away from the NBA Draft, where the Wolves hold 4 1st round picks, and the Kings with 3 1st round picks themselves… A LOT of trades will start falling through… Aren’t you excited???

Few weeks ago, we started on our “Road to $1,000″… now we’ve hit that mark… There were a lot of people who doubted, as they wondered how I would reach $1,000 by betting $25 per unit, only starting with $100 (4 units).. Well with those 4 units, we’re up +40 units..

Here’s the breakdown..

[43-34-3 Straight bets: roughly +32 units]

[2-0 Teaser bets: +8 units]

[Total: +40 units]

Whatever your unit play was, if you followed these unit plays, you should have 10 times your original deposit amount as PROFIT, in your account today… I will continue to post picks for the rest of the NBA Finals (most likely 2 more games..), and we will embark on a new journey come next NBA season… Get ready… $1,000 will be deposited.. and we’ll begin our “Road to $100,000″ for the entirety of the season… Thanks for all the support… Donations are welcome, as my friends and I have been paying for this site monthly out of our pockets to keep everything FREE! See you for Sunday’s game..

THE LOS ANGELES FAKERS...

Dear Fakers,

I want to start by saying that your poor performance last night was by far, one of the most unbearable games that I had to witness this season. Not only did I lose 7 units (which is not why I’m angry, well not entirely), but you managed to let a Yao-less Houston Rockets team take you to a Game 7.. What pissed me off was your nonchalant attitude that you came out with in the post-game interview, brushing questions off and simply stating “we’re a different team in LA..” With that kind of attitude, how can you expect to have any fans? Dwight Howard, even though he took shots at his coach, they talked it out, and at least there was passion and determination in what he was saying. He came out and proved it in the last game, going for 23 points and 22 rebounds.. Kobe, you talked all that smack after Game 5, saying that this game WILL NOT COME BACK TO LA! Well it did, and all I can say is F*CK YOU!

Watching the game last night made me reminisce on the 1997 season, where you were led by Nick the Quick, Eddie Jones, Kobe Bryant (rookie year), Cedric Ceballos, Robert Horry, Byron Scott, and Shaq (a team that was just as stacked as you guys are now)… That year was supposed to be your year… You brought Shaq to LA and had 4 players that were selected to the 1997 All-Star Game. Going into the playoffs, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that you would win the championship that year..

Boy was I wrong.. In the playoffs (12 years ago), I happened to witness the short-coming of a rising star in Kobe Bryant, as he managed to throw up 4 airballs in a game that happened on May 12, 1997, in a second-round game against the Utah Jazz (That was my first thought of saying “F*CK YOU” to Kobe)… Sure, the Lakers got past the first round that year when they faced Portland, but they could not beat Stockton and Malone… It was from that point on that I had grown to be a Laker hater..

Of course, after I started hating, the Lakers went on to win the championship the next 3 years.. On the 4th year following, they made it to the NBA Finals to face Detroit.. Luckily I had placed my money on Detroit that year to take the series and came out on top. From there, it was even more downhill for the Fakers.. Shaq and Kobe’s “feud” now blew out of proportion, and the Fake Show decided to side with the Black Mamba as opposed to the original Superman (which made me hate the Lakers even more, as Shaq was obviously the better leader.. He went on to win the championship the following year in Miami)..

Kobe went on to run his mouth about how he could lead the Lakers to a championship by himself, that he didn’t need Shaq… How many times can you be wrong Kobe? Not only did you not win the championship the following year, you couldn’t even make the damn playoffs… That was a humbling experience for Kobe, and he realized that it was okay to ask for help.. It was from that point, that I began to respect Kobe.. He had always put up amazing numbers, but now he was making his transition into becoming a leader and making his team better… I still didn’t like the Lake Show, but Kobe deserved every bit of respect.. Kobe went on to achieve unbelievable greatness in the years to come, scoring 81 in a game, scoring 50+ for 4 consecutive games, and 43 against the Warriors the following game. You were amazing Kobe! You actually almost made me a Laker fan once again..

To think, that last year, you made it to the Finals, only to come up short.. What a disappointment that must have been. And I do understand, the team did work hard in the offseason, and you guys do have an amazing season to show for it.. but this is no longer the regular season. You took a Utah team, that is deeper in terms of bench scoring compared to the Rockets, in 5 games… yet, you falter to a Rockets team without their 2 best players..

Maybe I shouldn’t even be mad at Kobe. Maybe it’s Phil that I need to be furious with.. Maybe Phil needs to learn to take a time-out when your team goes from down 2, to down 12… Maybe Phil needs to learn that Farmar is/has been a better matchup against Brooks so he should start, and maybe Phil needs to realize that Fish is not the same Fisher that made in the game-winning buzzer beater with 0.4 seconds left.. Regardless of all this, when you think Lakers, you don’t think Phil Jackson, you think Kobe Bryant.. Kobe, this will be the last chance you have to salvage any respect that you may have gained from me since the 4 airballs.. This will be your last chance to make a Laker fan out of me once again (if you can first take out Houston… then Denver.. then Cleveland).. You let down a lot of fans last night.. Sunday will be your last chance to stay in the race.. Sunday will make or break your fan base.. If you don’t cover the 12 point spread at home, I will personally hang Vujacic from the letter “A” in “STAPLES CENTER” and retire from sports betting forever…

WTF IS THIS BULL$#!%

I pulled this article from the covers forum, just incase many of you missed out on it… After reading it, how can you want to bet on the NBA, or any sports at that… Refs are human too, I understand… but to get refs from the hometown, let alone 2 of them out of 3?! So I missed all 3 plays from yesterday’s game in Chicago, and I did find a few calls very fishy… In the end, those calls f*@#$% me, cause it led to two OT’s, where Boston couldn’t cover 2nd half spread nor the Under… Haha, not to blame my losses on bad calls or non-calls, but hey! It’s implied in the article… Just thought I’d share…

Your thoughts?

Now that the regular NBA season is officially over, I’d like to take a trip back down memory lane and reminisce about this past season… The good, the bad, the ugly…

The Lake Show

After being embarrassed by the Boston Celtics in the 08 NBA Finals, everyone knew that the Lakers would come out even harder this year. I can’t think of a single person that had the Lakers projected as less than #1 on the West, and if there were, they’re stupid.. Haha, just kidding (not really).. Playing without Andrew Bynum for 32 games in the season, the Lakers were still able to emerge as the top dogs of the West.

But who could’ve imagined that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be the owners of the best record in the NBA this year? We all knew the Lebron would emerge as an even greater dominant force this year, but to top the Lakers and the Celts? That’s quite an achievement.. which is the main reason why Lebron “The King” James will end up as this year’s MVP.. There were also other teams like the Orlando Magic, who we all thought would be pretty good, but showed that they can compete with the league’s elite..

But in the midst of greatness, there were also countless disappointments…

B Diddy came to Clips thinking he'd be playing alongside EB...

The Clips brought over B Diddy in the offseason, hoping that bringing another star to play with Elton Brand would lead them to the playoffs once again.. However, Elton Brand pursued elsewhere, and landed in Philly.. but where is he now? Injured worse than ever, and has sat out most of the 08-09 NBA season.. (that’s what you get, traitor!) Of all of the teams in the NBA, the Clips were the busiest in terms of offseason pick-ups and trades mid-season.. You will notice that the only 2 players from last years’ Clippers’ roster are Al Thornton and Chris Kaman..

They are also the most notable, as the biggest disappointment of the 08-09 season, although the Clips are my team… The Clips were not able to recover after losing EB, though they picked up Marcus Camby in the offseason, and traded for Zach Randolph during the season.. With a lineup featuring B Diddy, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Zach Randolph, and Marcus Camby, it’s kind of hard to imagine that they didn’t make the playoffs… by a great margin might I add… The only thing that can be said is that the Clips never really got a chance to play all together, as two or more of their starters were consistently out with injuries for extended periods of time..

Biggest impact trade of the year...

When this trade took place, I actually believed the Detroit had gotten the better end of the stick.. Boy was I wrong.. The general conception was that Billups would not be able to adjust to the offensive mindset of the Nuggets team, and that Iverson would flourish once again, as Joe Dumars had given him the “green light” to take as many shots as he’d liked, and to score at will.. This was exactly opposite of what actually occurred during the season.. Billups transformed the Nuggets and the style of basketball that they play, from all offense – no defense, to being careful about their shot selection as well as clamping down on defense. On the other hand, Iverson could not adjust whatsoever to the Pistons style of play.. After sitting out a few weeks with a back injury, his role was shifted to a player that comes off the bench.. Now, this is AI we’re talking about here.. He is NOT a bench player! He’s led the league in scoring multiple times, as well as taking his Sixers team to the NBA Finals against the Lakers back in the day… Of course he’s gonna say.. “I’d rather retire than play off the bench..” That’s like sending Kobe Bryant to the Magic, and telling him that he’d be playing behind Courtney Lee. It just doesn’t fly that way..

Now besides all the trades and transactions, the biggest disappointments of the year would have to be the number of injuries that were faced by star players.. Amare Stoudemire is probably the biggest name that went out for the season, and in turn, his Suns are out of the playoffs (another disappointment).. Other big names like Elton Brand, Al Jefferson, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas, Tracy McGrady were all deemed as ‘out for season’.

All in all, it was a great NBA season… PLAYOFF TIME BABY!