Boston Celtics second year star, Delonte West, wants to show you how it’s done, how he rolls with his #1 girl.  In an interview with ESPN’s Louise K. Cornetta of Page 2, Delonte shares his guide to romancing the ladies.  And I must say, the ‘yacht’?  Very nice touch, sir.  Very nice indeed.

With Valentine’s Day upon us, a man has a lot of pressure to show the lady in his life a perfect night. Delonte has his own version of what a romantic night should entail. Not every guy believes romance includes your date getting eaten by a shark or includes fast food for dinner, but the man who is hoping Beyonce reads this and calls him shares his ideal romantic night with ESPN’s Louise K. Cornetta.

“I’ve got the white SL 500. I would tell her, she would have to wear white. She must have on a white dress, because I’m going to have on white. I’d have told her in the note, she has to wear her hair a certain way, just the way I like it. So, I pick her up in my white convertible. From there, I’d have the music pumping on the radio. The Jim Jones pumping, you know, ‘Summer in Miami’ song pumping. Got to keep a little gangsta, you can’t be too soft. You can’t be in there playing some guy that’s crying, talking about don’t leave me and love me baby, wah wah and all that.”

Oh, and it gets so much better from there.  In involves R. Kelly and Popeye’s Chicken.  Guys, pay close attention.  Don’t miss out on Delonte’s dream date.  The one he’s hoping Beyonce notices…but presumably Jay-Z doesn’t.  He does realize they’re married, right?

[Photo Source: Boston Celtics Report]

The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.  They…well, they don’t like each other very much.  So when Boston’s Ray Allen broke the record for career 3-pointers early in the game, LA wasn’t exactly going out of their way to congratulate him.  In fact, it might have given the Lakers that little burst of motivation they needed to power past their cross-country rivals to a 92-86 final score.  According to Yahoo Sports:

Allen became the NBA’s career leader in 3-pointers in the first quarter, but Bryant later put him on the bench in foul trouble during his big second half that rallied Los Angeles from an early 15-point deficit.

…Allen hit two 3-pointers to pass former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller (2,560), who was sitting courtside calling the game for TNT. But Allen made only one more and had 20 points after scoring 12 in the first quarter.

“I almost felt a little embarrassed because there was so much attention surrounding this 3-point record,” Allen said. “It was so overwhelming, but it was a great moment. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

He’d probably remember the game even better if the Celtics had won.

[Photo Source: NBA Dunkers]

Despite sporting an 18-27 record, trailing the Eastern Conference leading Celtics by 17 games and firing their head coach Jim O’brien, the Indiana Pacers have decided to keep former Celtic great Larry Bird on as team president…at least until the end of the season.  Sports Illustrated reports:

Owner Herb Simon told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he believes Bird has performed well under difficult circumstances, and he could be back next year.

“I still have an incredible amount of confidence in Larry and his basketball acumen, his winning tradition,” Simon said. “The way he deals with the basketball side is the way I believe it should be done. I’m very satisfied.”

…Bird took full control of basketball decisions after the 2007-08 season, when former CEO Donnie Walsh left to become the New York Knicks‘ president. The Pacers went 36-46 in 2008-09 and 32-50 in 2009-10.

“Even though he’s had some tough years, there’s a lot of reasons that we can explore, why we’ve had such a tough time,” Simon said. “He was left a very difficult situation – no cap room, big contracts, a lot of problems he had no control over.”

This is the final year of Bird’s contract. Simon says he and Bird will meet after the season to discuss the future. He said Bird’s desire to remain in the role will carry significant weight.

Is this just another of example of a former player who can’t hack it in the front office?  Perhaps.  But the Pacers have gone through some tough times since Bird was hired in 2003.  After the 2004 brawl with members of the Detroit Pistons, the Pacers traded and/or let go several talented players who were discipline problems.  Of course, that was half-a-decade ago, so the time for excuses is quickly coming to an end, if it hasn’t already.

Even if Bird turns out to be a failure in basketball management, at least he’s leaps and bounds better than some other player-turned-management types.  Matt Millen did nothing but drive the Detroit Lions into the ground.  He was so bad, even he admits that he ’stunk’ at his job.

[Source: SBNation.com]

It is the season that never seems to end.  There are only 80 games per team, but the post-season in the NBA makes it seem like 160.  So how do good NBA teams keep up their hot runs or bad teams find the the will to get off the snide?  Nobody really knows.  Again, it’s a ridiculously long season.  But at least we know who’s got their “mojo” working and who needs to pick up the pace the next couple of months because ESPN has released this week’s Power Rankings.

If you don’t have time to read the details, we at Sportscasm are happy to give you a glimpse of the list, just to see where your favorite team ranks – or to help you decide which way to bet the next time the Lakers play the Suns.  Check out the Spurs and the Celtics battling for the top spot.

1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Boston Celtics
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Miami Heat
5. LA Lakers
6. New Orleans Hornets
7. Dallas Mavericks
8. Orlando Magic
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
10. Denver Nuggets
11. Portland Trailblazers
12. Memphis Grizzlies
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Atlanta Hawks
15. New York Knicks
16. Utah Jazz
17. Philadelphia 76ers
18. LA Clippers
19. Houston Rockets
20. Milwaukee Bucks
21. Charlotte Bobcast
22. Golden State Warriors
23. Sacramento Kings
24. Detroit Pistons
25. Indiana Pacers
26. Minnesota Timberwolves
27. New Jersey Nets
28. Washington Wizards
29. Toronto Raptors
30. Cleveland Cavaliers

C’mon Cavs.  Lebron left months ago.  It’s time to get over it, pull yourselves together and get back to work.  Wizards and Raptors, don’t think we don’t have our eye on you guys as well.

[Source: Nerds on Sports]

Kevin Garnett is simply amazing.  No current professional sports figure is as adept at alienating other players, teams and fans as this man.  According to CBS, Garnett is staying true to form:

After yesterday’s Lakers/Celtics game, both Yahoo’s Marc Spears and ESPN’s J.A. Adande tweeted that when asked for his autograph, Garnett told a Lakers ball boy “you’ve got a better chance of catching Bin Laden.”

If you’re desperately trying to take offense to the comment itself, don’t. There’s nothing wrong with it. It was clever, really.

But this is just another example of what a jerk Garnett is. I know you’re thinking, “Well, it’s the Lakers and the Celtics hate the Lakers.” No, it’s every team. Andrew Bogut tweeted about Garnett’s comment saying, “Little better than what he told one of our ball boys.” And having a couple friends that are ball boys in Oklahoma City, I have heard similar stories about Garnett telling off autograph seekers in a not nice way.

I guess it says something about Garnett not caring about image in any way, shape or form. Obviously, he doesn’t care what we think about him. I suppose that’s admirable in some weird way. It also says he’s a mean person to anyone that’s not a teammate, family member or friend.

Nothing really new.  Just another example of an over-paid player treating the rest of the world like it continues to owe him something.  And Garnett seems to be playing that role to perfection.  Hmm…I wonder if Larry Byrd ever acted like that.

[Source: freewebs]

Kevin Garnett was injured Wednesday night as the Celtics played the Pistons.  But apparently his injury has nothing to do with his reconstructed knee, according to ESPN Boston.  Doc Rivers,  the Celtics head coach, told reporters he’s “not that concerned”:

“I don’t think it’s bad,” said Rivers. “I’m not that concerned. He’s going to miss games probably — I don’t know how many — but I don’t think it’ll be that long. Listen, it happens.”

“The way he did it, I thought the knee or Achilles,” said Rivers. “You’ve heard me say it before, an injury when no one is around, that’s usually a severe one. I was thinking it was a bad one, but let’s hope not. I don’t think it is, but we’ll find out later.”

The official word from the Celtics is that it is a “muscle injury to the outside of his right leg, below the knee and above the ankle”.  The team also stated Garnett will get an MRI tomorrow.

[Source: NBA Dunkers]

My favorite video basketball game from my childhood, and the most popular arcade basketball game of all-time, NBA JAM is coming back this fall for the Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

The game will be sold as NBA JAM for the Wii and will be included with and part of NBA ELITE 11 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Each NBA team on the game will have three to four active players to select from each team to play with along with a team legend or mascot.

Here is a look at the complete 2011 NBA JAM Rosters:

Eastern Conference NBA JAM 11 Rosters

Atlanta Hawks

• Current Players: Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Mike Bibby
• Legend/Mascot: Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb

Boston Celtics

• Current Players: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo
• Legend/Mascot: Larry Bird and Kevin McHale

Charlotte Bobcats

• Current Players: Gerald Wallace, Stephen Jackson, Tyrus Thomas
• Legend/Mascot: Rufus Lynx

Chicago Bulls

• Current Players: Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah
• Legend/Mascot: Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman

Cleveland Cavaliers

• Current Players: Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao
• Legend/Mascot: Mark Price and Brad Daugherty

Detroit Pistons

• Current Players: Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Charlie Villanueva, Ben Gordon
• Legend/Mascot: Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer

Indiana Pacers

• Current Players: Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy, T.J. Ford
• Legend/Mascot: Detlef Schrempf

Miami Heat

• Current Players: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh
• Legend/Mascot: Glen Rice and Rony Seikaly

Milwaukee Bucks

• Current Players: Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings, Corey Maggette
• Legend/Mascot: Bango The Buck

New Jersey Nets

• Current Players: Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Courtney Lee
• Legend/Mascot: Kenny Anderson and Drazen Petrovic

New York Knicks

• Current Players: Amar’e Stoudemire, Al Harrington, Danilo Gallinari
• Legend/Mascot: Patrick Ewing and John Starks

Orlando Magic

• Current Players: Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis
• Legend/Mascot: Nick Anderson and Scott Skiles

Philadelphia 76′ers

• Current Players: Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Evan Turner
• Legend/Mascot: Julius Erving and Allen Iverson

Toronto Raptors

• Current Players: DeMar DeRozan, Andrea Bargnani, Jarrett Jack
• Legend/Mascot: The Raptor

Washington Wizards

• Current Players: Yi Jianlian, John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Andray Blatche
• Legend/Mascot: Manute Bol

Western Conference NBA JAM 11 Rosters

Dallas Mavericks

• Current Players: Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Caron Butler
• Legend/Mascot: Mavs Man

Denver Nuggets

• Current Players: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin
• Legend/Mascot: Rocky The Mountain Lion

Golden State Warriors

• Current Players: Monta Ellis, Stephon Curry, David Lee, Andris Biedrins
• Legend/Mascot: Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin

Houston Rockets

• Current Players: Kevin Martin, Yao Ming, Trevor Ariza
• Legend/Mascot: Hakeem Olajuwon and Kenny Smith

Los Angeles Clippers

• Current Players: Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman
• Legend/Mascot: Danny Manning

Los Angeles Lakers

• Current Players: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odon, Ron Artest
• Legend/Mascot: Magic Johnson and James Worthy

Memphis Grizzlies

• Current Players: O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph
• Legend/Mascot: Bryant Reeves

Minnesota Timberwolves

• Current Players: Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Jonny Flynn
• Legend/Mascot: Chuck Person

New Orleans Hornets

• Current Players: Chris Paul, David West, Peja Stojakovic
• Legend/Mascot: Larry Johnson

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Current Players: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green
• Legend/Mascot: Rumble The Bison

Phoenix Suns

• Current Players: Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson
• Legend/Mascot: Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson

Portland Trailblazers

• Current Players: Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden
• Legend/Mascot: Clyde Drexler

Sacramento Kings

• Current Players: Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, Carl Landry
• Legend/Mascot: Mitch Richmond

San Antonio Spurs

• Current Players: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili
• Legend/Mascot: David Robinson and George Gervin

Utah Jazz

• Current Players: Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur
• Legend/Mascot: Karl Malone and John Stockton

NBA insider Marc Stein released the rosters earlier this week on ESPN.com

We will continue to make picks throughout the year and compete head-to-head to see who can correctly predict the most NBA games against the line.

Sportscasm’s 2009/10 NBA Award Predictions

We will continue to make picks throughout the year and compete head-to-head to see who can correctly predict the most NBA games against the line.

Sportscasm’s 2009/10 NBA Award Predictions