Carlos Arroyo, Layeth the Smackdown

Carlos Arroyo cannot be blamed for title chasing, he was with the Miami Heat last year. Plus, if you say anything about him being a ring chaser, he’ll probably smack you across the face.

Arroyo, who plays for Puerto Rico’s national team, and a player on Mexico’s team got a little heated and the Heat guard had no problem showing his opponent that his pimp hand is strong.

Props, Dime Magazine

Classic Video: MJ clowns Penny

While remembering great Penny Hardaway moments just seconds ago, I totally started thinking about the 1996 NBA All-Star Game. During the intros, Michael Jordan figured he’d show his jokester side to the world by tearing the pants off of a then 24 year-old Hardaway.

A hilarious moment that I thought was the funniest thing in the world back when I was 12.

I had that warmup suit (I got it for my 12th birthday), it’s the best NBA warmup suit ever. It was a little too tight on me at this point in my life, so I sold it on eBay last summer. Now that I think of it, that was not worth the mere $50 I got for it.

Shannon Brown has mad hops

I will never forget about how bad Shannon Brown sucked in the dunk contest, so I will never hop on his bandwagon. Last night however, Brown had one of the most explosive dunks of the playoffs. When I first saw it happen, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. The dunk has that, “Wait, where the hell did he come from?” feel to it.

He had two nice throwdowns in the game, check ‘em both out while we all wait for Game 7 on Thursday.

Video: The Whereabouts of Lamar Odom

While scouring YouTube, I came across this fantastic video which takes in-depth look at Lamar Odom‘s struggle in this year’s NBA Finals. The guy who makes these videos is exceptional. His analysis gives you plenty of examples throughout, highlighting key plays and really giving a great explanation of what is happening on the court. He’s very talented at putting these together and more importantly, he’s incredibly knowledgeable and completely on point.

With the Lakers on the verge of losing to the Celtics in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, you can place your bet that eyes are on Odom right now. Mr. Kardashian has had a bad series, and as pointed out in the video, with Andrew Bynum on the mend, he is more critical than ever for the Lakers. He’s arguably the second most important player on that team, next to Kobe Bryant. He sets a tone for the bench, and also can do so many different things on the court at a variety of positions.

Odom must have a big game Tuesday night, along with Ron Artest, Pau Gasol and Bynum who all owe Bryant quality performances after they all pretty much stunk up the joint Sunday night in Boston. On the flipside, Kobe had moments of pure greatness in Game 5, but he also owes his team a dominating historic fourth-quarter performance in Game 6 — his fourth-quarters in this series have been nothing to brag about.

Paul Pierce punched Eddie Rush

Paul Pierce hasn’t had the greatest NBA Finals series. It’s been a struggle for him on the offensive end, so getting a three-point play in Game 4 is obviously going to get the Celtics forward a bit excited. Pierce was however so excited that he decided to punch referee Eddie Rush square in the face!

Granted Pierce was in the moment and clearly apologetic the instant he realized he made contact with Rush, I can only imagine the end result if Rasheed Wallace did this instead.

Marcus Thornton sends Gerald Wallace packing

Gerald Wallace stunk up the 2010 slam dunk contest, and since that moment, I’ve had resentment towards him. With all that bottled up emotion on my part, it felt great to see New Orleans Hornets rookie Marcus Thornton absolutely posterize the all-star.

Thornton dropped 36 points on the Bobcats tonight and fellow rook’ Darren Collison had another outstanding game with 24 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Collison is back in the starting spot for the Hornets with Chris Paul missing the rest of the season, after suffering his latest injury — a ligament tear in his right middle finger.

Going back to the dunk, take that Wallace. Now if only the Hornets could play the Lakers before season’s end so I could say the same to Shannon Brown.

Andray Blatche, for real dude?

Andray Blatche has been a savior for me in fantasy basketball. Because of him, my team of role players is my league’s final. I also should probably shoutout Darren Collisont too while I’m at it. The power of waivers.

The following video is absolutely ridiculous, and pinpoints numerous instances in the final minute that show Blatche’s childish desire to put up NBA 2K numbers, rather than just be happy with his team’s second win in 18 games.

On one hand, I should be happy that Blatche is playing for stats. On the other hand, it’s this type of play that makes me want to puke.

Let’s not forget about Blatche’s behavior just a couple weeks back.

That being, I’d like to thank Blatche for his statistics, but his roasting on this site is on the way.

More on Blatche tomorrow.

Props, Ball Don’t Lie

Andrew Bogut done for the season

The injury you are about to watch is terrible. I have never seen anything worse than what happened to Andrew Bogut Saturday night, as far as basketball is concerned. Not even Shaun Livingston‘s brutal leg injury back in 2007.

Not only is it almost unbearable to watch, it’s devastating for a young player who is a leading candidate for the league’s Most Improved Player honors, and for a team that has turned things completely around and found themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Bogut has clearly been the best player on the Bucks and is crucial to the team’s success. They’re very close to securing their spot in the playoffs, but without Bogut, any chance at a first round upset seems very, very, very bleak.

Just when things seemed to be looking up for Bogut and his injury prone past, the hammer comes down on him again. Here’s to a solid recovery and a healthy 2010-11 season.

Again, you’ve been warned, this is tough to watch.

Josh Smith’s buzzer beating dunk

With the game tied Wednesday night in Atlanta, the Hawks were in search of their first win of the season against the Orlando Magic, they also could clinch a playoff spot with the win. No timeouts meant it was time for Joe Johnson to search for the game-winning jumper. Johnson gets a solid look as he takes Vince Carter off the dribble, but it goes off the rim.

Luckily, the Hawks have Josh Smith.

Smith gets the put-back slam at the buzzer and the Hawks win a huge game in front of their home crowd, they’re currently tied with Boston for the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

With Smith’s incredible play, maybe Mike Bibby will allow more touching now.