The Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal a week ago, but his introductory press conference didn't happen until Thursday afternoon. And for the most part, it was worth the wait. As we've come to expect when Shaq gets in front of a microphone, there were plenty of interesting and entertaining quotes that came out of his first meeting with the Cleveland media.
Shaq kicked things off by flashing the picture to your right, claiming that when he received the initial call from Cavs' GM Danny Ferry, he had to Google him, and when he did, this was the one of the first things to pop up.
Nice way to break the ice, Big Fella. Here are some more highlights from Shaq's first official day as a Cavalier.
I heard Michael Jackson died at approximately 5:30 PM ET. Hours later, I still don't think it's fully hit me. This was the man I idolized growing up as a kid ... I watched Moonwalker about 80 times on VHS (Joe Pesci was the villain). I once furiously outbid someone $159 for a replica Beat It jacket with 13 zippers. I actually have an 8x10 glossy of Billie Jean Michael taped next to my bedroom door.
Everyone -- from celebrities to sports stars to ordinary people -- had their way of trying to feel connected to the King of Pop. In his mere presence, fans have fainted and needed medical attention. So when news broke that Jackson had passed away, the reverberations on social media sites like Twitter were immense. Outspoken wide receiver Chad Ochocinco even went on to tweet "this is just as sad as 9/11" and then tried to play damage control after his offensive comment.
After the jump, read the emotional reactions from current and former athletes.
I mean, we all know they will. You could point to several moments when this NBA season ended, but Derek Fisher draining a pull-up-jumper-in-transition three was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. You can't blow leads like the Magic did. But they did. But if the Lakers and Kobe Bryant want to cement themselves as everything we've already anointed them as, they have to win four games.
So here we are, and tonight will either be a mercy-killing as the Lakers end it and begin celebrating yet another in a long line of championships, or Orlando will kickstart the ticker and pray for a miracle. Join us for the celebration/funeral, at 8PM EST.
Bloggers knee-jerking on the phone + roundtable style = RoundCast.
Wrapping up Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Gary Washburn and Matt Moore joined me to break down all the action. J.J. Redick's play was defended, as was Stan Van Gundy's handling of his point guard rotation this time around.
The big topic, though, was Dwight Howard, and whether or not he needs to dominate -- on both ends of the floor -- for the Magic to have a chance to get back into this series.
All that, plus we take a look into the future and see what might happen as the series shifts to Orlando. Will the Lakers pull off the sweep? Can the Magic win four out of the next five games to get the title? Give us a listen, and find out for yourself.
LOS ANGELES -- It's almost a cliche the way he has embraced his every locale, living not only the dream but the time and the place. The world's most interesting man? Rather than that phony-suave goofball in the Dos Equis ads, I'll nominate Phil Jackson, who morphed from a free-love, New York hippie in the '70s to a Midwestern family guy in the '90s before migrating to California and -- what else? -- shacking up with the boss' much-younger daughter in a house by the sea.
Amid his radical lifestyle shifting, he has found time to become the gold standard of modern coaches in pro sports, now approaching his 10th NBA title in a career that looked bleak when he was coaching the minor-league Albany Patroons and driving their van on road trips. You hate to tell a legend when it's time to retire, especially when he's at the top of his game. But the perfect ending for Jackson would be to let the purple-and-gold confetti fall on his silver mane, celebrate his fourth crown in 10 years with the Lakers, appreciate his psychological work in transforming Kobe Bryant from a superbrat to an all-time maestro and depart in style as the league's ultimate coaching champion.
Among the myriad failures begotten by Orlando's Game 1 suck was a bad effort on the defensive glass. This is unusual, as the Magic ended the regular season as the third best defensive rebounding team in the league, with Dwight Howard's singular gravity allowing an otherwise slight roster to control the glass.
Before the game, Magic GM Otis Smith emphasized the importance of team rebounding in a chat with FanHouse's Matt Steinmetz. "Everybody has to rebound. [...] We have a tendency to rely on [Howard] a little too much. He can use help on the boards from time to time." Obviously, that did not happen.
Bloggers knee-jerking on the phone + roundtable style = RoundCast.
A lot of things went wrong for the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the Finals, and Matt Steinmetz and Matt Watson joined me to break them all down in this edition of the RoundCast.
We discussed Dwight Howard's single field goal, and Kobe Bryant's dominant performance, and wondered whether Stan Van Gundy will stick with a single-coverage defense on Bryant as the series goes on. But the hot topic was Jameer Nelson's 23 minutes in his first NBA game in four months -- I thought it was a mistake, while Watson and Steinmetz weren't so sure.
All that, plus our thoughts on how the rest of the series will play out, beginning with Game 2 on Sunday.
Dwight Howard is hilarious. Kudos to VitaminWater for poking fun at its own pre-emptive hop on the Kobe/LeBron hype -- the company (like Nike) rolled out a campaign centered on debating the superiority of each star just in time for the run-up to the Finals. That ... didn't work out. (After the jump, the original Kobe/LeBron VitaminWater ad Dwight is cracking on.)
The Larry O'Brien itself is plenty of motivation for the participants in the 2009 Finals. But there will also be a few individual goals driving those involved.
Dwight Howard: Everyone marks Kobe as the NBA's preeminent love-him-or-hate-him player, but D-12 earns a fair amount of vitriol, whether for his lack of refinement in the post, his Shaq II free throw stroke, his alleged faux-choir boy persona or the sentiment that slam dunk stardom has rendered the D.P.O.Y. publicly overrated. Let's just say those Patrick Ewing comparisons (ahem) would disappear with a ring.
Hedo Turkoglu: Like kindred spirit Lamar Odom, Hedo will be a free agent signing his last long-term, high-dollar deal this summer. A marvelous turn which began in Game 7 against Boston could land Hedo near the top of the offseason ledger, above everyone but Carlos Boozer. Turk needs a good Finals series to keep that hope alive, though.
The Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal a week ago, but his introductory press conference didn't happen until Thursday afternoon. And for the most part, it was worth the wait. As we've come to expect when Shaq gets in front of a microphone, there were plenty of interesting and entertaining quotes that came out of his first meeting with the Cleveland media.
Wrapping up Game 2 of the NBA Finals, 
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! buries 
Among the 
A lot of things went wrong for the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the Finals, and Matt Steinmetz and Matt Watson joined me to break them all down in this edition of the RoundCast.
The Larry O'Brien itself is plenty of motivation for the participants in the 2009 Finals. But there will also be a few individual goals driving those involved.
