2k10 Fresh Awards: Whoops

Dudes, I worked like three 12-hour days in a row last week, so I jacked it up — plus — I went to Chicago over the weekend and my fingers were shaking too much every morning while there — which meant I couldn’t type.

I missed  a couple during that time, the NBA was like fire handing these awards out. If you ask me, they were much faster than usual. I blame the internet and the mass amount of media in this day and age.

So as of now, they’ve beat me to Most Improved, Coach of the Year and also Sixth-Man.

I’m still giving you my take.

Josh Smith becomes hilarious

Josh Smith had a solid day. First he finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Afterwards, Smith went out and led the Hawks to a victory tonight with a near triple-double — 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. The Hawks have taken a 2-0 lead in their series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Now this Adidas spot may be from October, but I’m going to pretend that it came out today, since I hadn’t seen it before. Quite funny, and it shows some personality and a lighter side of Smith, a guy who has taken a lot of heat in the past about his attitude.

Make no questions about it, Smith has made a ton of necessary changes this past season, and it’s obvious they’ve all paid off for not only Smith, but his the Hawks. Don’t worry Hawks fans, this kid won’t be snubbed from the All-Star team next year.

2k10 First Round Predictions: Eastern Conference

The NBA playoffs have started today, and don’t fear, I’m bringing you predictions as always. I get to start fresh and have the 16 teams that made the playoffs in front of me, this should be easy.

I also thought the same last year — what a mess!

Someone has to make some bold predictions, and generally I like to be that guy, don’t take away from my knowledge of the game — I know what’s up.

This year I’m going to call it perfectly, so let’s start with the Eastern Conference.

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.

Mike Woodson shaved his eyebrows

The Atlanta Hawks hadn’t won a game in Houston in over a decade, 1999 to be exact. Last night, all of that changed as the Hawks beat the Rockets, 102-95. As big of a win as it was for the much improved Hawks, it wasn’t the big story coming out of Houston.

Hawks head coach Mike Woodson, for some reason or another, has shaved his eyebrows. It was bad enough that he shaved his head awhile back, but the eyebrows just take it to another level. The best part about all of it is, he won’t discuss why he did it and he also wore fake eyebrows that Josh Smith made for him before the game (who said that Smith/Woodson had beef?)

For more on this incredible story, check out Lang Whitaker’s article over at Slam.

Former All-Star MVP Smith dead at 60.

Randy Smith once held the NBA record for most consecutive games played, later broken by A.C. Green in 1997.

Smith died Friday morning after suffering a heart-attack after a workout at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, where he worked. He was 60.

Smith was the MVP of the 1978 NBA All-Star Game with 27 points representing the Buffalo Braves. During the course of his 13-year NBA career, Smith also played with the San Diego Clippers, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.

He averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals during his career.

Another sad story about an NBA family member, it’s been a really rough year. Thoughts and prayers go out to Smith’s family and friends.

James Jones scores 8 points quick.

James Jones had two four-point plays in a matter of 11 seconds. It’s rare enough for a player two get a four-point play as is, let alone two in a game, let alone two in a matter of seconds. Absolutely ridiculous.

The Hawks evened up the series at 2-2.

While on the topic of birds…

The Atlanta Hawks have a real mascot as well as the furry one I guess. So a real hawk was loose during the beginning of the Hawks/Heat game last night, just in case you missed it.

Rest in Peace – Marvin Webster.

Marvin "The Human Eraser" Webster, 1952-2009.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t know much about Marvin Webster. I don’t want to come on here pretending as if I do. The guy obviously played before my time, but according to what I’m reading he was a pretty solid player.

Webster was found dead in his hotel bathtub at the Ambassador Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Monday morning, he was 56 years old.

Foul play is not suspected and the death apparently stemmed from an illness, police spokesman Jason Willingham said. He added that the former 7-foot-1 center had been living at the hotel and employees grew concerned after not seeing him for several days.

-AP

Webster was the third overall pick in 1975 by the Atlanta Hawks, but began his career with Denver in the ABA. He played nine seasons in the NBA and missed ’84-85, ’85-86 seasons due to hepatitis.

Webster’s final season was a failed 15 game comeback attempt during the ’86-87 season with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Webster was a 7-foot-1 center who was known as “The Human Eraser.” He averaged 7.1 points and seven rebounds per game during his NBA career. His best season came in ’77-78 when he averaged 14 points, 12.6 rebounds and two blocks per game for the Seattle Supersonics, who lost in seven games to the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals.

In addition to playing with Denver, Seattle and Milwaukee he also spent six seasons with the New York Knicks.

REST IN PEACE.