In an attempt to shamelessly self-promote my basketball writing endeavors humbly notifiy Stepien Rules readers of my basketball blogging/writing efforts posted elsewhere on the web, below are a couple of my latest links...

CollegeHoops.net - MAC Tournament: Game by Game Preview:

I will be posting my credentialed coverage of the MAC Men's Basketball Tournament on CollegeHoops.net as play gets underway this Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.  As a primer, my previews and predictions for the tournament went up this morning, and can be found here.  There will be more to follow, so check back with me at CollegeHoops.net over the weekend if you get a chance.

NBA Base Line - Shaq's still out, Antawn's day-to-day, and LBJ's coming back:

   

Our ever expanding Bloguin Basketball squad launched a new all inclusive NBA Blog yesterday - NBA Base Line.com - and I chimed in with a short update on the Cavaliers injury situation, highlighting the news of Antawn Jamison's MRI results specifically.  For a look at that, click here.  Also, feel free to add NBA Base Line to your book mark tab, and look for that to become the hub of the Bloguin Basketball wheel over the weeks to come. 

Brandon Jennings took the court Saturday night looking like Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man, and not only went for 25 and the win, but he also felt it necessary to go 'goosey' - as evidenced below at the 29 second mark. 

Now, for me, if you're gonna try to show the Cavs up with a dose of their own shimmy's and shenanigans, you should probably do it when LeBron James isn't in street clothes.  That said, even without LBJ active, there's no way this could have gone over well in the Cavaliers locker room.  Especially not if you're Mo Williams.

Mo looked like someone shot his dog last night in the post game interview, and maybe its more like someone shot his 'goose.'  He did nothing to slow Jennings - the guy who's subsequently replaced him in Milwaukee - all night, and he didn't make the rookie work on the defensive end either.  And by the time he saw the guy he was guarding flash that goosey signal right past him over towards his bench, there wasn't much he could do about that either.

In response to his performance on Saturday night, Mo Williams posted the following three tweets on his twitter account...

via @mogotti2:

"I apologize to all my fans and Cavs fans for a shitty performance to say the least. I will get past this a get better, stay with me pls"

"Woke up this morning, and I feel great. Mentally I'm strong. It's hard for things to effect me. Thx to all my Twitter fam for all the love"

"On to the next one, all black everythin"

Besides being a catchy twitter handle, I see no other reason for Mo Williams to refer to himself as a guy that once headed the organized crime underworld of New York City.  Meaning, he seems to me more like that nice friendly neighbor you have down the street than he does in any way resemble John Gotti.  That said, I think he's a genuine guy who wouldn't have tweeted that apology if he didn't mean it.  I'm sure he's sorry, and I'm sure he cares about the fans in Cleveland.  However, I do think its possible he might care a little too much.  I think he wants to be a guy that LeBron wants to play alongside of, and help bring a title to this town soo bad, that I think it sometimes rattles him.  Like it did last year in the ECF.  If I could post a tweet in response to Mo's, that he would read, it would simply say this:

"You have game for days...just relax, and do your thing.  If you play your game, your tough to stop, and so are your Cavaliers." 

And ps, I counted, its less than 140 characters, so it would work...just hope he hears me.

 

Here are some more observations from the past 6 games:

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Never have I felt better about Lebron sticking around C-Town.  His biggest pursuers all along were the Nets and the Knicks and they still are.  Of course we've all heard the pipe dream of Lebron going to Miami to team up with Wade but I myself never thought they could co-exist.  Each of them are alpha dogs and have every desire of being "the man."  I just don't see this happening.  A million other scenarios have popped up and a million more are sure to come.  But personally as a Cavs fan over the last couple years my biggest concern was him leaving for the bright lights or to team up with his boy Jay-Z.  But seeing as how putrid both of those teams are I just can't see it happening.  Lebron came into a losing culture with the Cavs and it took years to turn the ship around to get to this point.  Of course the Knicks have cap space for two max players.  But then what?




Photo Credit: The News-Herald

You have two great players and to quote Bill the butcher in Gangs of New York "a handful of rag tags?"  They play zero defense and D'antoni's teams never have.  Lebron has developed a love for defense and knows how vital it is to winning.  He comes from a culture in which his coach didn't even install an offense until his team could defend.  The Nets.....well they're 6-54!!!!  Not one time have they won more than one game in a calendar week.  The Cavs are on a 5 game winning streak.  You have to go back to January of last season for the last time they won more than 5 games in a month.  The culture of losing in these places is running rampant and pretty much has been deemed acceptable by their front offices because they believe the end will justify the means.

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Earlier this evening, Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dearler reported that "Former teammates Anderson Varejao and Anthony Parker were in a group, along with strength and conditioning coach Stan Kellers, that visited with Ilgauskas after the team arrived here [New Jeresey] Tuesday night.  Ilgauskas has a place in New York City and has been spending time there since his release by the Wizards." 

And according to a couple follow-up reports I've also stumbled across, it appears the Cavs found a group of guys who referred to themselves as the 'Nets' to work out with at the IZOD center on Wednesday night while in town visiting Z.  I didn't get a chance to talk to any of the Cavaliers players about that work-out, but I heard it went well, and most of the players were pleased with the opportunity to both break a sweat, and work through some offensive sets without the interruption of defense.

Which is basically all Wednesday night's game against the worst NBA team I've ever seen was.

With six minutes left in the fourth quarter Bill Walker hit a three to give the Knicks their 74th point of the night.  That basket cut the lead to 36, and matched the total (74) the Cavaliers scored in the first half.  Part of me wants to stop right there.  There's no real point in belaboring the fact that the Knicks are a god-awful team.  We all know by now that they're allergic to defense, and continue to insist on shooting jumpers every 7 seconds despite the fact that they don't have all that many jump-shooters on the roster.  They're an embarrasing group that has to come back in the fourth quarter (down by upwards of 40 points) to lose by 31 (124-93), and I can't see how anybody would make the choice to join them next season.   With that said, I will stop there, and speak on the Cavs moving forward.

As much as I was discouraged to hear the reports that Shaq will be out for 6-8 weeks earlier in the day,

The Cavaliers came out atop the latest Bloguin BlogPoll Power Rankings for the second straight time, and if you missed the complete rankings and commentary from the esteemed bloggers of this network, go here.

The primary reason the Cavs were able to maintain their top spot is due to the fact that LeBron is no longer forced to hang out with these guys pictured below... no comments

The legend behind the microphone had an interesting comment prior to Thursday night’s Cavs vs. Celtics tilt in Beantown.  Tait rarely gets into the analytical side of the broadcast, and wasn’t prompted,  so it was a bit surprising to hear his take:  The Cavaliers need to focus less on the pre game handshakes between themselves and their opponent, and instead turn their attention to working hard on the basketball court.

Tait has seen his share of basketball games, and knows when a team needs to turn things up on the defensive end.  Personally I could care less about the pre game hugs, handshakes, and rituals, but I’ve heard Tait speak out against this multiple times this season.  I think Joe’s a good 40 years older than I am, so that may explain our difference of opinion.  However, we are on the same page when it comes to bringing the hard hats and lunch pails more consistently. While the first half was disappointing on the defensive end, the 2nd half was played extremely well.  Rondo got trapped, Allen got smothered, and KG, Big Baby and Rasheed got neutralized.

That’s what Joe Tait’s talking about.

Have a GOOD NIGHT, everybody!

Editor's Note: In addition to contributing here at StepienRules, Kyle was also co-MVP of his college football team. To follow Kyle on twitter go here, and for all your tailgating needs go here.