FanHouse ChrisWebber

Tuesday night's NBA TV show, hosted by Ahmad Rashad and featuring Chris Webber and Gary Payton, wasn't as good as the TNT version with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley in terms of pure basketball analysis. But in terms of pure comedy, that Tuesday show was solid gold.

And now, it's over.

Kevin McHale has been hired to replace Gary Payton in the studio, and while I think McHale will do just fine as an analyst, there's no way he'll have the same chemistry with Webber that Payton did. With the show obviously looking to get a little more serious, here's a reminder of some of the antics that made it so much fun to watch.

HOUSTON -- Unexpected achievement in the face of incredible adversity isn't quite how the Houston Rockets saw their playoff run unfolding.

But that was certainly the theme that carried the Rockets, minus injured stars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, to within one game of reaching the Western Conference finals this season. One amazing night by McGrady or just the presence of aging Dikembe Mutombo in the paint might have been all the Rockets needed to avoid a Game 7 Semifinals in Los Angeles and overcome the Lakers.

It wasn't meant to be, but still it was enough to re-energize a franchise that seemed in serious trouble a few weeks ago because of it's often-injured stars and nondescript supporting cast. The Rockets hadn't been out of the first round of the playoffs in 12 years prior to this season.

Tuesday night, the TNT studio crew (minus Ernie Johnson) went apoplectic because of comments Dirk Nowitzki made regarding the successful fashion in which Denver's forwards and centers defended him in Game 1. In short, Dirk said that the Nugget big men were good, long and daunting. To Chris Webber, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, this was the equivalent of concession.

Even as Dirk destroyed Denver on offense in the first half, the crew kept it up. No elite scorer admits he can be stopped or stunted, argued a nearly in tears Webber. Ball Don't Lie's Kelly Dwyer accurately refuted this line of thinking Wednesday, and his commentary is pitch perfect. Webber, Barkley and Smith (in that order) were ridiculously off-base.

But don't think this has limited scope, that the comments about Dirk were just stupid in a vacuum of bad. That exact philosophy of man is the sort of thing that allows Kobe Bryant to taunt Shane Battier for 48 minutes ... and be heroicized for it.

The story wasn't going to be about Kansas winning. Seriously. The Jayhawks never had a chance of grabbing the headlines. Even with Bill Self's crew closing out an impressive Big 12 road win, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was still discussing the lack of impact this game would have on Oklahoma's NCAA tournament resume.

That's because Blake Griffin didn't play. And that's not to take away from Kansas' impressive 87- 78 win over the Sooners in Norman, Okla., but it would be completely unrealistic to think this is the same Oklahoma team with Griffin on the bench.

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We Kings fans try to distract ourselves with nostalgia as frequently as possible these days. As such, Chris Webber's jersey retirement ceremony couldn't come soon enough. Webber's NBA career ended only a year ago, and it's been four years since No. 4 suited up for the home team at ARCO. But the glory seems a lifetime ago, a lifetime we'll all cherish. Forgive me for getting sappy, but we'll all cherish the retirement ceremony as well.

With the Sacramento Kings hitting rock bottom this season, many of their fans are reminiscing about times when the team was actually one of the best in the NBA. Fittingly, the Kings organization has decided to reminisce a bit and retire the jerseys of Vlade Divac and Chris Webber.

Divac and Webber came to the Kings in 1999 and helped completely turn around the Kings franchise. Both were versatile big men with passing ability and mobility that made the Kings one of the most exciting teams to watch during the first half of this decade. If not for "Big Shot" Robert Horry's heroics in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals or Chris Webber's horrible knee injury against the Mavs in the 2003 playoffs, that Vlade + C-Webb combination probably would have secured at least one ring for the Kings.

According to the SacBee, Vlade's jersey will be retired on March 31st when former teammate Peja Stojakovic comes to town with his New Orleans Hornets. The team is still trying to figure out a date for Webber's ceremony, as he has obligations as an announcer for TNT and NBA TV.

Anyhow, if the Kings are looking for entertainment suggestions for Vlade's ceremony, I think I might just have the answer for them:

In this clip from TNT's Overtime, Kenny, Charles, and C-Webb discuss the firing of Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell. While debating whether the team's sub-.500 record was Smitch's fault, they also discuss the personnel of the team, and after Charles makes some kind of Playboy bunny analogy, he mentions to Kenny that he might be confusing Jose Calderon with another Jose he has a fondness for.


I love the fact that it's like 2AM when they're filming these segments, so pretty much anything goes. The NBATV show that features Webber and Gary Payton together is quickly gaining on the TNT crew in terms of entertainment value, but still, nothing beats some classic analysis from Charles Barkley.

[via BallHype]

They were two of the most boneheaded plays you may ever see in college basketball, like Chris Webber somehow calling two timeouts instead of one.

The University of Arizona, battling the University of Alabama-Birmingham, was trailing most of the night in a contest to see who would advance to Madison Square Garden to face Oklahoma in the NIT semifinals, but then late in the game they started to come back. That comeback ended with two "seriously, guys?" fouls that could best be described as poorly coached and poorly executed.

After the Wildcats put together a comeback that had the team down three, Arizona's Garland Judkins got fouled, and after making the first and missing the second, freshman Kyle Fogg made a great play on the rebound, snatching it up, avoiding the defender and laying the ball in with just over 26 seconds left in the game. All tied at 71-71. Great. But what Fogg did next was inexplicable. The freshman, obviously confused on where he was or what the score was -- or even what game he was playing -- fouled Aaron Johnson right as the ball was inbounded, putting UAB on the line in a one-and-one opportunity.

As the foul happened, interim head coach Russ Pennell could only put his hands on his head in disbelief. You could almost read his mind, as you could most Wildcat fans, who probably have never played college basketball in their lives but know that when the game is tied you don't foul to put a guy on the line.

As Brinson relayed, Tim Donaghy has alleged the NBA and two referees conspired to fix a playoff game in 2002 in order to provide for a high-ratings Game 7. Only one series in 2002 went to seven games: Kings-Lakers in conference finals. How funny, that's a Game 6 with is the first example anyone brings up when discussing monumental miscarriages of NBA justice.

In said Game 6 -- which makes me queasy on memory to this day -- the Lakers took 27 free throws in the fourth quarter (the Kings had 9). Scot Pollard fouled out in 11 minutes. Vlade Divac battled foul trouble the entire night and finally got disqualified with three minutes left. Chris Webber -- never confused for a banger -- had foul trouble and finished with five. Both Vlade and Webber received techs in the first half. Shaquille O'Neal took 17 FTs, and Kobe Bryant 11. Sacramento was called for a stunning 31 personal fouls ... and lost by 4. Coach Rick Adelman had this to say to reporters after the game:

"It's a shame, a real shame. ... Our big guys get 20 fouls, and Shaq gets four. You tell me. Obviously, they got the game called the way they wanted to get it called. We tried to play through it ... but obviously, it was a huge change tonight over the last few games.''

Donaghy could very well be making an attempt to embarrass the league or save his own skin. He is not a trustworthy person. And being that Game 6 is such a legend, that believing it was fixed is such an easy conceit to make ... it makes sense that Donaghy would make the claim. David Stern's arguments (and Pollard's statements) make sense.

But you can't unsee certain things. And on May 31, 2002, almost everyone saw an unfairly officiated game. Maybe Donaghy's team just knew the right button to push, but you can't blame us for believing him. We think we saw it, and this guy's saying it happened. What do you want to do?

Several outlets -- including, um, TNT's Kenny Smith -- are reporting that TNT's Kenny Smith will interview for the almost-vacant general manager role with the New York Knicks. The GM will report to Donnie Walsh; Billy King and Rick Sund have been the other names floated for the gig. Glen Grunwald has the job this morning, and Walsh has said he'll keep Grunwald's crew in town through the June draft.

The Jet, of course, has front office experience ... which means he'll fit nicely with prospective Knicks coach Mark Jackson, who has zero bench experience. But any personnel decisions he makes will pale in import to the void his move to Madison Square Garden will leave in TNT's Thursday night (and in the playoffs, more frequent) studio.

So how about some replacement ideas?

• Chris Webber. Webb got mixed reviews for his work last night, with Ball Don't Lie's Kelly Dwyer opposed and Awful Announcing's Brian Powell in favor. He has the attitude and chops to hang with Charles Barkley, but remains a bit lacking in the analysis category (which would not be unique to the left side of Ernie Johnson's chair).
  
• Sam Cassell. Sam's getting into coaching once he playing career ends, so this is probably a non-starter. But can you imagine??? Heads would explode with a weekly dose of Barkley and Cassell.
  
• Anyone but Magic. Everyone loves Magic Johnson ... but can anyone stand him on Inside the NBA? Didn't think so.