Aspiring LAPD officer Dave Oliva joined us in our first hour as some street activity was turning ugly outside the Staples Center, where the LA Lakers has just won the NBA title. Phil wondered openly where the police were with cars getting jumped on and fires getting set. Dave said that cops have to “weigh their options before they go in.” Do they want to “go home because their shift is over or go ahead and help out.” He also told Phil to be careful about flooring it to get out of there if he were stuck because he may find a crushed sombrero and poncho under the car and that means he ran over an illegal. “People’ll think you’re a Minuteman!”
Assholes outside Staple center last night. That guy up front oughta be easy enough to identify
Steve Bosell also joined us this evening to tell us his daughter’s middle school class has done it again. He has seen the light. He though a little boy wearing toy soldiers on his hat was okay but his daughter and her middle school class, teachers and administration taught him what a warmonger he is. As Steve was being screamed at by one caller, his daughter passed him a question to ask the woman. “My daughter wants to know if, when you sit on your husband’s chest…” Phil cut him off…but not before Steve cried for the scumbag that died in front of a firing squad last night in Utah.
06-17-10 stories and audio CHARACTER // CHARACTER // OPEN TV Ratings: NBC’s ‘Talent,’ FOX’s ‘Dance’ split Wednesday *GOP leaders forced Rep. Barton to retract apology to BP BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal’s Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard for More than 24 Hours *BP exec pilloried by lawmakers Justices Allow Search of Work-Issued Pager 7 Crazy Celebrity Mansions Jeremy London Kidnapped, ‘Forced’ To Smoke Drugs *Up-skirt Miley Cyrus Photo Child Porn? Angelina Jolie Criticized for Playing Cleopatra Poll: Americans more concerned with economy, jobs than oil spill *Hillary Clinton Says White House Will Sue Over Arizona Immigration Law Toy soldiers run afoul of school’s weapons ban UK watchdog says teach sex to kids from age five *Southwest Finds Shipment of Heads on a Plane Sexy dancer from Craigslist too old, man tells police *World Cup chiefs won’t ban vuvuzelas Male menopause does exist, but it’s rare, says study South African man beaten to death by wife, children for watching World Cup Betty White: No New Nude Photos Yankees ban vuvuzela pests’ instrument of torture FORTHCOMING LAKERS-CELTICS STORY ARCHIVED AUDIO:
It took a few hours, but Congressman Joe Barton, a blithering ass if ever God squeezed one out, has finally come out and retracted his apology to BP for having had to put up $20 billion in an escrow account for claims. After stating that his comments, in which he said he was “ashamed” of the White House for “shaking down” BP were ‘misconstrued,’ he announced that “I want to apologize for that misconstruction.” In other words, homeboy couldn’t weasel his way out of this one so he might as well tell the truth. Jayzuz.
Given the passion with which he initially commiserated with BP CEO Tony Hayward this morning on being forced to establish a “slush fund,” and the clarity of the language he used, it’s hard to imagine where exactly the “misconstruction” lay, though it appears from further statements that he believed the misconstruction involved the belief that he did not think BP should be held responsible. Oh horse dung. He retracted the entire apology because he didn’t make any sense even to Republicans and it became clear there wasn’t aything to clarify. Just some rambling jazz that had to be incinerated. Here’s the incineration:
“I apologize for using the term ’shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP. As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico. BP should fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt by this accident. BP and the federal government need to stop the leak, clean up the damage, and take whatever steps necessary to prevent a similar accident in the future.”
It’s come down to this: Game 7. One game to decide the 2010 NBA Finals.
Just the facts: 16 pieces of info about Game 7s
Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It’s the ultimate basketball experience. 48 minutes (or maybe five or 10 more if we’re lucky) for everything.
As basketball fans, we couldn’t ask for more, especially with the history of these two franchises and the talent of these two rosters. And of course, since we haven’t seen many Finals Game 7s in recent memory, we should savor sitting down to watch the Lakers and Celtics put it all on the line Thursday night.
Before we do, here are 16 things you may not have know about the 16 previous editions of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
1. The Lakers and Celtics are the only franchises to have won more than one Finals Game 7. The Lakers are 3-5 (1-5 since they moved to L.A.), with four of their five losses coming at the hands of Boston, who is 7-0. Other franchises to play in more than one Finals Game 7 are the Knicks (1-3), the Pistons (0-3), the 76ers (1-1 as the Syracuse Nationals) and the Hawks (0-2 when they played in St. Louis).
2. There were five Finals Game 7s in a seven-year stretch between 1951 and 1957. Before this year, there had only been one in the last 15 years. This is just the fourth Game 7 in the 26 years since the Finals switched to the 2-3-2 format. That’s a Game 7 every 6.5 years. Before that, there was a Game 7 every 2.9 years.
3. The Western Conference won the first three Finals Game 7s. Then the East won 10 in a row. And now the West has won three straight again. The average score of Finals Game7s (by conference) has been East 98, West 96.
NBA Finals Game 7s
Year
Winner
Pts
Loser
Pts
1951
Rochester Royals
79
New York Knicks
75
1952
Minneapolis Lakers
82
New York Knicks
65
1954
Minneapolis Lakers
87
Syracuse Nationals
80
1955
Syracuse Nationals
92
Fort Wayne Pistons
91
1957
Boston Celtics
125
St. Louis Hawks
123
1960
Boston Celtics
122
St. Louis Hawks
103
1962
Boston Celtics
110
Los Angeles Lakers
107
1966
Boston Celtics
95
Los Angeles Lakers
93
1969
Boston Celtics*
108
Los Angeles Lakers
106
1970
New York Knicks
113
Los Angeles Lakers
99
1974
Boston Celtics*
102
Milwaukee Bucks
87
1978
Washington Bullets*
105
Seattle SuperSonics
99
1984
Boston Celtics
111
Los Angeles Lakers
102
1988
Los Angeles Lakers
108
Detroit Pistons
105
1994
Houston Rockets
90
New York Knicks
84
2005
San Antonio Spurs
81
Detroit Pistons
74
* Road team 1957: Double-overtime 1962: Overtime
4. The home team has won 13 of the 16 Finals Game7s. The only road winners were the 1969 Celtics (over the Lakers), the 1974 Celtics (over the Bucks), and the 1978 Bullets (over the Sonics). All three were East over West. The average score of Finals Game 7s has been Home 99, Road 95.
5. Rasheed Wallace is the only player on the current Lakers or Celtics who has played in a Finals Game 7. In fact, only 11 active players have. Wallace scored 11 points on 5-for-10 shooting and grabbed one rebound in 28 minutes in the Pistons’ 81-74 loss to the Spurs in 2005.
6. Both the Spurs and Pistons went with short rotations in Game 7 of the 2005 Finals. Only seven players for each team played more than one minute, and only six scored for the Spurs.
7. Both Celtics coach Doc Rivers and Lakers coach Phil Jackson were members of Knicks teams that played in a Game 7 of the Finals, but both missed that particular postseason with injuries. Jackson missed all of the 1969-70 season and Rivers played only the first 19 games of the 1993-94 season.
8. Twelve of the 16 Finals Game 7s have been determined by 10 points or less, and seven have been determined by four points or less. The average margin of victory is 7.3 points. The biggest blowout was the Celtics’ 122-103 win over the St. Louis Hawks in 1960.
9. Two Finals Game 7s have gone to overtime. The Celtics beat the Hawks 125-123 in double-OT in 1957, and they beat the Lakers 110-107 in overtime in 1962.
10. When Ray Allen went 0-for-13 in Game 3 of these Finals, he fell one miss short of the Finals record for most field goal attempts in a game without a make. The record is held by Chick Reiser (Baltimore, 1948) and Dennis Johnson, whose 0-for-14 performance came in Game 7 of the 1978 Finals, as the Sonics lost at home to the Bullets, 105-99.
11. There have been two triple-doubles in Game 7 of the Finals, both by Lakers. Finals MVP James Worthy had one (36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists) in a 108-105 win over the Pistons in 1988, the only triple-double of his career. Jerry West had the other (42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists) in a 108-106 loss to the Celtics in 1969.
12. West’s 42 points in 1969 is the record for most points in a Finals Game 7. He was the first winner of the Finals MVP award that year, and thus far has been the only winner of the award from the losing team.
13. Bill Russell holds the record for most rebounds in a Finals Game 7. He had 40 in the Celtics 110-107 overtime win over the Lakers in 1962.
14. Walt “Clyde” Frazier holds the record for most assists in a Finals Game 7. He had 19 in the Knicks’ 113-99 win over the Lakers in 1970, a game more known for Willis Reed limping onto the court at Madison Square Garden. Also scoring 36 points, Frazier was responsible for 65 percent of New York’s offense.
15. Russell has played in the most Game 7s of the Finals, and he won all five. Having retired in 1968, Russell never won the Finals MVP award, but the award was named after him in 2009.
16. Michael Jordan never played in a Finals Game 7, but he came close a few times. Five of the Bulls’ six championships were won in six games, and four of those five Game 6s were determined by four points or less.
Some of the numbers above were compiled with the help of the Elias Sports Bureau.
I love WTKK, Grace and all my Boston listeners, I do. But what would you think of me if I started being “objective” about this shit just because I’m on in LA and Boston. The Lakers have been my team since I had the measles as a kid and I was reading the sports page about Jerry West and Baylor rolling the St. Louis Hawks. By the way, the year I had the measles as a 10 year old is the year the Lakers went down to the Green Funk, 110 to 107 in…..game seven.
Disneyland, Dec, 31, 1978 with Frank Bennet and listener who I’m trying to nervously draw attention away from because she’s drunk
Sess…From a photo shoot by Alison Reynolds that was literally in the cabana at the Playboy Mansion in 1985 and do you think I even got a whiff?…Naah, later for that..
