| Tuesday, February 22
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
|
|  | | Jason Williams put on a real show at All-Star Saturday. |
We've been telling you since long before the season began how the Western
Conference had established total ascendancy in the NBA in the post-Michael
Jordan era.
After last weekend's All-Star game, we formally rest our case.
And guess what? The best of the game's young stars play in the West, too. Oh, all right ... we'll give you that Carter kid in Toronto. He's not too bad.
But did you see the Rookie Challenge? I hope so, because if you didn't you missed the highlight of the entire weekend.
Carter's dunks in the Slam Dunk contest were awesome, but they were
choreographed.
The amazing pass that Sacramento's Jason Williams threw to Denver's Raef
LaFrentz with his right elbow -- yes, his right elbow! -- was entirely
spontaneous, so remarkable nobody believed it until they saw it on televised
replays.
There is a lot I dislike about Williams' game -- start with his defense and
move quickly to the very impetuous nature that makes him so watchable -- but it
is impossible to deny his audience appeal.
Let's replay that pass for you, just in case you were on a spelunking
expedition all weekend:
Williams, ahead of the field on a fast break, sprints just past the foul
line, dribbling with his left hand. Spotting LaFrentz out of the corner of one
of the eyes he has in the back of his head, he wraps the ball around his back
with his left hand and punches it "with his right elbow" right into
the hands of a startled LaFrentz.
The one and only reason the pass didn't get even more attention than it did
was because Denver rookie James Posey was a complete spoilsport, hacking
LaFrentz before he could finish the play by taking the ball to the hole for a
dunk.
Come to think of it, just as amazing as Williams' pass was the fact LaFrentz
caught it on the dead run.
"Thank God I did," LaFrentz said.
Amen to that.
Somehow, the West is amassing not just the best players in the league, but
the most exciting, with the singular exception of Carter. Williams is the
runaway leader in showmanship, Houston's amazing rookie, Steve Francis, gave
Carter a better run for the dunk title than anyone else, Phoenix' Shawn Marion
would have been in the dunk contest had he not been hurt (and now he's back on
the court, too) and now the Mavericks have Dennis Rodman ... but that's
another kind of exciting altogether.
Soooo ... let's stop beating around the bush: When Rodman got tossed out of
his second game as a Maverick, nobody, least of all Mavericks prospective
owner Mark Cuban, should have been surprised.
In case you missed Rodman's antics -- it was just Tuesday night that he
got tossed by referee David Jones -- he decided to protest the fact the
referees failed to call an illegal defense on the Milwaukee Bucks (who are
illegal more often than any NBA team, to be honest) by staging an impromptu
sit-in, taking a seat on the court at the spot he alleged the illegal defense
occurred.
Rodman was right about the missed illegal defense -- televised replays showed
that -- but the reason Rodman couldn't just yell at the referees is the
same reason he colors his hair yellow and covers his body with tattoos and
piercings. He wants attention, and we won't dabble in amateur psychology
trying to figure out what makes him tick.
Rodman has grabbed 29 rebounds in his first two games for the Mavericks,
and probably cost them a shot at winning at least one of them (they are 0-2
since he deemed to don the Mavericks uniform). For all his work ethic and
clearly superior basketball intellect (and we mean that sincerely, for Rodman
is one of the smartest players we've ever seen), he never will be anything but
a sideshow as a Maverick, and even Cuban is going to rue the day he signed
him.
I doubt David Stern is going to let Rodman's sit-down, and subsequent
tantrum, pass without a hefty fine and/or suspension, and that is going to be
followed by Rodman's insistence the league is picking on him, yet again.
To which I say: Shut up and play the game.
Wandering the West
One of the most bizarre moments of All-Star weekend took place in an elevator
at San Francisco's venerable St. Francis Hotel, which housed players and
coaches for All-Star weekend. Bill Russell was in the elevator when
Clippers reserve center Keith Closs -- no All-Star, just in town for the
festivities -- boarded, along with a friend. "Wow, Bill Russell," said
Closs. Introducing his friend, he commented, "This was one of the greatest
shot blockers of all time ... back in the '40s."
"The '40s?" Russell said, incredulous. "You ever heard of the '60s?" Asked
later if he thought Closs was kidding, Russell shook his head. "There's
history," said the greatest shot blocker ever, "and there's ancient
history."
OK, one more Russell-in-an-elevator moment (yes, these are eyewitness
accounts.) Late in the evening after Sunday's All-Star game, Russell got on an
elevator with both Kevin Garnett and his good friend, Grammy Award-winning
record producer Jimmy Jam.
"This is great," Russell said, unable to stifle that infectious, cackling
laugh. "I've always wanted to be in an elevator with somebody who is really,
really rich."
We presume he was talking about Garnett, though Jimmy Jam banks some pretty
serious cash himself. We know he wasn't talking about the sportswriter on
board.
What's up with Shaquille O'Neal? In his last game before the All-Star break
he made 15-of-20 free throws. In his first game after the break, 11-of-12.
If O'Neal suddenly cures what ails him at the line, he will make a mockery of
the MVP race. "Once Shaq starts getting 40, 50, you're going to start
comparing him to the greats like Wilt and Jabbar," Wolves forward Kevin
Garnett said after O'Neal went for 37 against Garnett's Wolves.
Phil Jackson? He's not getting too excited yet. "It's like an alcoholic," Jackson said.
"One day at a time."
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
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