I love Inside the NBA

From last night's postgame... Kenny Smith trying to copy Kobe and jump over a moving car. This is hilarious.

Frank Caliendo on Inside the NBA

I'm not sure when exactly this was aired, but it's comedian/impersonator Frank Caliendo when he appeared on Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley.

It's worth a listen if only for the amazing impersonations of Sir Charles and Bill Walton. Good stuff.

I Love TNT

I know this has basically been said ad nauseum, but it bears repeating... the NBA on TNT is awesome. It really it far, far superior to the NBA coverage on ESPN, or any sports coverage anywhere. Everything about the presentation is fantastic. The announcers themselves, the music, the postgame crew, even Craig Sager!

On Monday, they had Shaq in studio. I have to admit, I love the Big Aristotle. I know some don't like him that much, but I've always found him to be hilarious. Tonight, from what I watched of the studio guys (mostly postgame) he didn't add a ton, but it was still funny.

But that wasn't the only good thing. The nightcap (aside from being a great game) had Marv Albert and Steve Kerr announcing, simply the best announcing duo in the NBA. They are great. Working the sidelines was Craig Sager, who had some good stuff tonight. Here are a just a few quotes heard from just the end of the Spurs/Suns and the postgame show.

Craig Sager: "Robert Horry has made a lot of big shots over the course of his career, and some might call this a cheap shot."
Steve Nash: "Oh, good one."

(let me also mention I find Nash to be one of the most entertaining guys in the Association)

Craig Sager: "You looked like you got right up from the ground ready to fight."
Steve Nash: "Yeah I've been working on my guns."

Charles Barkley: "I can't believe he's making these passes left-handed and behind his back."
Ernie Johnson: "Yeah he's only been doing that the last 5 or 6 years."

Just everything about the NBA coverage on TNT is outstanding. The game coverage is far superior to ESPN's, and the pre/postgame crew just unspeakably good. They're constantly hilarious, but they can also be serious and talk about the games. It's a great mix.

To end I'll remember a moment from like last week, when (for some reason or another which they probably mentioned by I think I missed), Kenny Smith was not there for one of the shows. Of course, Charles doesn't miss this opportunity, and starts saying stuff like, "I am so glad you guys fired Kenny."

I am so glad for the NBA on TNT.

The Charles Barkley vs. Dick Bavetta Wrapup

(Some video for this can be found here, or lots of other goodies at Awful Announcing).

First, lots of quotes related to the event:

"You know, you got two guys that parted the Red Sea with Moses out there, so they calling a lot of fouls." - Charles Barkley

"He's in shape for a 67 year-old. He ain't in shape for a 25 year-old... I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now." - Charles Barkley

"First of all, if I talk to a 67 year-old person they ain't gonna be able to hear me." - Charles Barkley

"I can't believe that someone that's 67 years old has the audacity to trash talk." - Charles Barkley

"Answer me one question... which hamstring are you going to grab at when you fall behind and have to pull up?" - Ernie Johnson

"First of all, a guy that's 67 can't run 100 yards." - Charles Barkley

"This is how little respect I got for Dick Bavetta." [takes bite out of donut] - Charles Barkley

"First of all, I received no official notification from my agent, David Aldridge is handling all of my public speaking engagements. I'm staying humble, focused, and if this is horse race, what comes to mind is War Admiral and Seabiscuit. Charles is War Admiral, undefeated. And I'm this little Seabiscuit... I run funny, do crazy things... he is obviously the favorite. Humble and focused, that's all I have to saty at this point." - Dick Bavetta

"Ain't no such thing as a spry 67." - Charles Barkley

"I'm the one that has something to lose. If I beat this old geezer, y'all are gonna say I should have beaten him. It's like fighting with an ugly person... you should never fight with an ugly person because they got nothing to lose." - Charles Barkley

"I'm going to beat him like a drum." - Charles Barkley

"The fact that he's walking out tells me a lot." - Kenny Smith

"We're gonna give 2 blackjack hands to charity." - Charles Barkley

And finally, here's the video, thanks to Awful Announcing.



And be sure to check out Awful Announcing, who live-blogged it and was great at covering it throughout.

Hopefully they do it again next year!

One final Charles Barkley vs. Dick Bavetta Video

Seriously folks, I can't recommend this highly enough. Maybe it'll be a big letdown and the race and the events surrounding it won't be that funny, but I find that generally anything on TNT that Barkley touches turns to gold... he's absolutely hilarious, and Dick Bavetta seems to have a great sense of humor as well. I think this is going to be hilarious. So here is one final video for you to enjoy, which just sort of ties everything together.

"Hey I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now." - Charles Barkley

The Dick Bavetta vs. Charles Barkley Saga

For quotes and video, go to the Charles Barkley vs. Dick Bavetta Wrapup.

Awful Announcing has been all over this from the beginning, but I thought it'd be good to get some of the videos from this in one place. If you haven't heard anything about this... well, just watch the videos and that will explain it.

Charles Barkley challenges Dick Bavetta:



Dick Bavetta accepts Charles Barkley's challenge:



And finally, Kevin Garnett weighs in on the matter:



All I can say is I really, really hope this does take place over the All-Star Break, because it would be awesome. Maybe the best comment on all of this did not come from Charles Barkley but from Ernie Johnson, who asked Barkley:

"Answer me one question... which hamstring are you going to grab at when you fall behind and have to pull up?"

50 Greatest NBA Players Ever

This is an idea I was sorta toying with for a while now... I feel like I don't know enough about NBA History, especially about a lot of the old NBA greats. So I did a little research, looked at some previous lists from others, and came up with my list of the 50 greatest NBA players ever.

So here's my list... this won't be the end of it, because I plan on writing up a post about each of the top 50 at some point, and I'll probably go through all of these guys and write things about them in random order, but I thought it'd be best to give the list first and write the posts later.

1. Michael Jordan
2. Larry Bird
3. Magic Johnson
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Bill Russell
6. Oscar Robertson
7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
8. Shaquille O'Neal*
9. Julius Erving
10. Rick Barry
11. John Havlicek
12. Jerry West
13. Karl Malone
14. Elgin Baylor
15. Isiah Thomas
16. Hakeem Olajuwon
17. Bob Cousy
18. Moses Malone
19. Bob Pettit
20. John Stockton
21. Charles Barkley
22. Dave Cowens
23. Walt Frazier
24. Elvin Hayes
25. Scottie Pippen
26. George Gervin
27. Kobe Bryant*
28. Kevin McHale
29. Patrick Ewing
30. George Mikan
31. Willis Reed
32. Dominique Wilkins
33. Wes Unseld
34. Earl Monroe
35. David Robinson
36. Walt Bellamy
37. Tim Duncan*
38. Nate Thurmond
39. Pete Maravich
40. Dolph Schayes
41. Alex English
42. Billy Cunningham
43. Paul Arizin
44. Dave DeBusschere
45. Gary Payton*
46. Bob McAdoo
47. Clyde Drexler
48. Adrian Dantley
49. Kevin Garnett *
50. Jason Kidd*

* active

Good? Bad? Ugly? What are your thoughts?

My only complaint about the NBA Finals...

... is that it's on ABC instead of TNT. Now, it's done like that for obvious reasons, but count me in among the many (read: everyone I know) that prefers TNT's coverage to ABC or ESPN's coverage.

Let's start with the in-game coverage. For starters, let me say that I do like Mike Breen and Hubie Brown. Sure, Hubie's old, he speaks in 2nd person, and there has never been a foul or timeout he disagrees with. However, he's knowledgeable, and he'll tell you what's going. Breen is solid all-around.

But the trio of Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, and Doug Collins was superb in the Western Conference Finals, I though. Marv is great at carrying the game, and he's funny. Steve Kerr is the best color man in the business. He well-spoken, funny, and has great insight. Doug Collins, while he was never really a good coach, is a solid 3rd man in the booth. I can live with Breen & Hubie, but I'll take TNT's trio everyday.

The postgame/halftime crews, well, there's absolutely no comparison. ABC usually has some combo of Dan Patrick, Mark Jackson, and Scottie Pippen, who are stiff and usually provide little substance. TNT's three-man crew of EJ, Kenny, and Charles is the best in the business. The NewRepublic Online calls it the best Sports Show on TV, and this is very true. The three have great chemsitry, they're not afraid to go out on the edge or criticize anybody, their smart, and they're really quite humorous. Sir Charles is laugh out loud funny, while Kenny and EJ are more subtle, which I can appreciate. Sometimes they bring in Magic Johnson, and while he doesn't really bring much, he's not awful. And in between all the basketball, they'll do things like have Charles Barkley try to hold his breath underwater.

Other than this small factor, we should be in for a great NBA Finals. Two different styles of play, lots of superstars, lots of good coaching. I just wish it'd be on another network.

Charles Barkley attempting to hold his breath underwater

Saw this on TNT Monday night, then I was reminded of it from the link on Deadspin. Sir Charles says he is attempting to hold his breath underwater for 9 minutes like David Blaine attempted, then said he was hoping for at least a minute. He lasted 24 seconds. Pretty funny.

Slam Dunk Contest, Etc.

All-Star Saturday night, including Shooting Stars, the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Shootout, and the most entertaining, the Slam Dunk Contest. My thoughts on the whole night:

- Charles Barkley: "The best dunk ever being decided by a white man. This ain't right." [about Ernie Johnson]

- This whole night was made infinitely more entertaining by EJ, Chuck Bakrley, Kenny Smith, and Reggie Miller. Sir Charles in particular made me actually laugh out loud more than once.

- That being said, Magic Johnson is just awful. He almost ruined the dunk contest. For example, durin the first round of Nate Robinson's misses, he said, "He should just dunk. Stop trying for the fancy one, let's just move on." Next round, twice as many misses, "This is great for the fans. Keep going Nate, we all want to see this." And then of course he had to get dramatic, "This shows to all you little people out there, you can play in the NBA, and if you can jump high enough, you can even be in the Slam Dunk Contest." Thanks Magic. I guess we didn't learn that from Tyrone "Mugsy" Bogues or Spud Webb.

- What was Josh Smith doing with the tape? Anyone know his reasoning behind that?

- In my mind, Andre Iguodala deserved the win. For one, he didn't take 10 minutes to complete a dunk (granted, Robinson's dunks were very nice). Also, he had the best dunk of the night, where he came from behind the backboard, had to dunk, and put it in. Great dunk. His bounce, behind-the-back dunk was also quite awesome. He should have won in my opinion. Of course, I'm a Philly fan, so I could be biased.

- Robinson jumping over Spud Webb was really, really cool, and a great dunk.

- If anyone watched "The Greatest Dunk Ever" before the night's festivities, my vote would have been for Jason Richardson's "bounce reverse windmill" jam was 2003. That was just awesome.

- The other events were kinda boring. The Shooting thing was kinda cool, but it was too quick. The Skills was kinda dull, and the 3-Point Shootout wasn't really dramatic at all, and the shooters weren't very good. Where was Kyle Korver?!?

- All in all, I can thank Sir Charles and Kenny "The Jet", along with Nate Robinson and Andre Iguodala for a very entertaining night. Only thing left is the actual game itself, which is Sunday night!