Posts tagged Rayallen at FanHouse

Odd headline to come across: "Celtics extend offer to Maggette." The Boston Globe's excellent Marc J. Spears offered the news. Yeah, the Celtics, who just won a title and have guys named Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett manning the 2-4 positions on the court, the team who will be tapping the Grousbeck kids' college funds to pay the luxury tax for the next few years. Those Celtics, going after one of the top free agents on the market, one of the few guys assured to switch teams and certainly worth more than the mid-level.

If the Clippers renew their commitment to Elton Brand, as expected, Corey Maggette's gone. He'd have to be renounced by the Clippers in order to squeeze in Baron Davis' $13 million. That means L.A. can't sign-and-trade Maggette, which would have been the easiest way for the guy to get a contract in the $7-10 million per year range. Assuming all that happens (Maggs is renounced, Brand resigns for $13 million or so), Maggette's options above the mid-level shrink profusely. There's Philadelphia (if they strike out on Josh Smith), Memphis (unlikely), and maybe Golden State.

So if it becomes a mid-level fiesta, Boston's brilliant for getting into the sweepstakes early. They can offer Maggs the same contract almost every other team can ... and they can also offer the best shot at a ring (though the Lakers might quibble). Can they offer a starting role? I don't see Allen slipping into back-up mode just yet, not after that glorious Finals performance.

Luckily, Maggs has been ... taught how to deal with a bench role. In 2006-07, when the Clippers just missed on a playoff berth, Maggette came off the bench 44 times. His scoring output -- already illustrious -- increased in that role, though his famous efficiency dipped substantially. Would Maggette go back to a sub-30 minutes/game prison, all in the name of team success and perhaps a promise of the two-guard spot when Allen's contract expires in two years? Keep in mind that Maggs is 28 and hasn't had one of those massive contracts yet in his career.

When Ray Allen skipped talking to the media and immediately bolted the Staples Center following Game 5, the Celtics explained it was because he had to deal with "a health issue with one of his children," declining to get into specifics out of respect for Allen's family.

Somehow, word eventually "leaked" via sports talk radio that Allen left because his daughter Tierra, a high school freshman, was hospitalized due to diabetes. The blog The Lakers Nation heard the report and posted the news, which in turn helped spread the word around the internet.

As it happens, the report was false -- as Allen clarified yesterday, it was his 17-month old son Walker who was hospitalized due to diabetes, though as you can see in the photo, he's since been released and was able to attend last night's game.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Awful Announcing: Jeff Van Gundy calls James Posey a "knife fighter." If that's the case, maybe the Celtics should have tried to get him several years ago.

2. Sports By Brooks: The family-related reason Ray Allen left right after Game 5.

3. DraftExpress: A roundup of who's in or out as the early draft entry/withdrawal deadline approaches.

4. Chris Sheridan, ESPN: An update on who's likely to make the Team USA roster this summer.

5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Live blogging the Sonics trial, which began today.

6. 2002 WCF Champs: The Sacramento Kings!: Get your t-shirts advertising something that never happened. Really, Kings fan?

Championships. Legacies. MVPs. Superstars. Points. Rebounds. Assists. Turnovers. We discuss these things at this time of year as if they have physical weight, as if they could alter the tectonic plates on which we live our brief lives. And yet, when measured with things of actual gravity, they seem so meaningless.

It is with that thought that we send our best wishes to the family of Celtics' guard Ray Allen, who left Staples' Center tonight post-game suddenly and quickly with what is being termed "a family issue." Boston coach Doc Rivers had this brief statement after the Celtics' Game 5 loss tonight.

"Ray Allen was forced to leave Staples Center tonight right at the conclusion of tonight's game due to a health issue with one of his children. We ask that you please respect Ray's privacy at this time, and we'll keep you up to date as best we can moving forward."

It could be something as simple as a kid with the flu or a household accident. We'll hope for the best. But it certainly provides a good example of just how far out of whack we regard things like defensive assignments and heart when in fact, these things measure pretty low against things like "taking care of your kids."

TrueHoop was, predictably, out on the break on this one, and has a source that says Allen probably won't miss Game 6.

Best thoughts from FanHouse are with Ray Allen and his family.

In the long-form tradition of The Rotation, Tom Ziller considers the action the morning after each game of the NBA Finals.

The dominating lead the Lakers built in the first half of Game 4 may have been astonishing, but it was not a surprise. As Los Angeles ripped through the toughest Western Conference in history, it seemed nothing would stop their machine.

I dare say the Celtics have figured them out. With a Lakers roster built so completely around an unstoppable offense, Phil and Kobe seem to have no back-up plan when the Lakers machine meets its match on the defensive end. Except to maybe wet the bed.

Hey! Imagine that! The Lakers were clearly "finished" after losing the first two games of the NBA Finals (in Boston, mind you) and then handled the Celtics in Game 3. And without Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom even getting to the arena before halftime, to boot.

So, as a result, Uncle Mo hops back on his wilding moving swing and heads back in the direction of the Mighty Kobe Bryants. And we have a Game 4, which, obviously means lots of things. Because it's the freaking Finals.

But what is most important is that a statement win by the Lakers tonight will send America and more importantly, the Boston media, into an ohmah-gahd, the Celtics are done! frenzy, thus resulting in more of the Curt Schilling and Kobe Bryant feud. Oh, and of course, LA's to sweep at home and take a 3-2 lead.

But, and I nearly forgot, we still have to play tonight (and if Boston wins, people really will start talking about LA being finished). Which is what we're doing here. Boston at Los Angeles.

Nine PM sharp. You, me and whoever else swings by. Blog on.

There's a prevailing assertion out there today after the Lakers' "ugly" Game 3 victory that goes along these lines: Hey, the Celtics couldn't have played much worse, and they still had a chance to win! Ray Allen was quoted afterwards as saying "The solace in this whole thing for us is we know we can be better." Well, the Lakers can be better, too.

The Celtics still might be the better team, and they have the 2-1 series lead to go along with home court advantage. So it's not like the Lakers are going to be over-celebrating a gritty six-point victory that Boston had a shot at winning until the very end. But so much has been said about the poor play of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, that people seem to be overlooking all of the following things that went wrong for the Lakers:

- Kobe Bryant missed seven of his 18 free throw attempts. Like that's ever happening again. And the Lakers as a team shot just 61% from the foul line, so there's obviously plenty of room for improvement there.

- The Lakers' four starters not named Kobe combined to shoot 7-28 from the field for the game, a dismal 25%. Again, that's not likely to continue. Between Odom, Fisher, and Gasol, you can expect at least one of those guys to show up for the next game at home, right? (Well, okay, maybe not Gasol.)

In the long-form tradition of The Rotation, Tom Ziller considers the action the morning after each game of the NBA Finals.

Big moments in sport often provide the stage for monumental upsets. Super Bowl III. The Miracle on Ice. Doc Rivers over Phil Jackson. ... No, really! Rivers, according to popular opinion, outcoached the nine-time champ in Games 1 and 2. Schemes, motivational codas, rotation decisions: Rivers played everything close to perfect, while the Zen Master was left answering questions about what went wrong.

But big upsets are often flukes. Over the course of a best-of-seven series, truth will typically win. We saw that happen very clearly in Game 3, as Rivers easily retook his seat as "Coach WTF?!"

The best part about tonights game is that with the lake-joint already down 2-0 there's a tremendous amount of pressure on Kobe Bryant. (Captain Obvious, here, entertaining all night.)

That means though that he has a fun little quandry to deal with. Does he buck-cowboy-man up and score 75 or does he involve his teammates?

We know the latter works, but the first one is much more fun. Kind of. Kobe's legacy may depend on this game tonight; I just don't see the Lakers coming back from 3-1. Sorry, I just don't.

And I postulated as much before the series started. Although clearly I was wrong in hindsight, it was kind of tough to predict that Paul Pierce would return from a near fatal knee injury to bogart this series with his Schillanigans.

But before everyone freaks out, remember, the home team is supposed to win. Or have these playoffs not taught us anything? As of right now, the Celtics aren't locked into anything, the home team just held serve. Find out if the Lakers can do the same tonight.

Live blog kicks at nine sharp.