Spurs On The Brink Of Going Away, Search For Fountain Of Youth

Remember when a well past his prime Muhammad Ali was pummelled by Larry Holmes? I think that is what we are witnessing in the NBA Playoffs. The San Antonio Spurs have gone from a well oiled championship machine to looking old and slow.

The Spurs finished the NBA's regular season as the number one seed out of the Western Conference. Now they are a game away from elimination from the Memphis Grizzlies who look fresh and are pushing the Spurs as if to say "out of our way old man."

Monday night Memphis defeated San Antonio 104-86 to take a 3-1 advantage in their first round series. The third quarter was a killer for the Spurs, the Grizz outscored them 30-15 in the third and the old, tired Spurs could not recover.

So now this proud team has a steep hill to climb.

"We put ourselves in this position," Spurs center Tim Duncan said. "If we want to stay alive, we've got to win one game at a time. There's no other way to say it."

It was Duncan's 35th birthday Monday and his stat line for game four, six points and seven rebounds, one of Duncan's lowest scoring efforts in 174 NBA playoff games. Not exactly a happy birthday to me moment.

The Spurs were the leagues best three point shooting team during the regular season at 39.7 percent. During the playoffs San Antonio is well off target from three point range shooting going 5 for 18.

Perhaps the grind of the regular season has taken a toll on the old Spurs. I've been to the Riverwalk in San Antonio before but I don't think the fountain of youth resides there.

As the Spurs are finding out it's hell getting old.

(Thanks NBA.com)

What Is This Western Conference You Speak Of...???

To quote Lawrence Welk... a one anna two...

Both go down...
What in the wide world of sports happened there...???

Chris Paul showed why the Atlanta Hawks made a mistake in not taking him in the draft as he and his New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles...
((HT: NBA/ESPN/nba.com))


And, to go even one better, who are these Memphis Grizzlies...??? Being all pesky and knocking off San Antonio like that in Game 1 of their series...???
((HT: NBA/TNT/nba.com))


If you just wanna see the Battier three, here it is...
((HT: Yahoo!Sports))

He also became a father Sunday...
Here's local coverage from our friends at MyFoxMemphis...

Grizzlies Stun Spurs in 1st Playoff Win: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

Oh, there was SOME normalcy as the Thunder held off Denver...
Durant and Westbrook combined for 72 in the win...
((HT: NBA/ESPN/nba.com))

Kobe Says Some Bad Words... Fined 6 Figures...

((HT: NBA on TNT/youtube))

Let's just say that the Mamba was not happy that he got a techincal foul in last night's game against the Spurs..

He sat down, and if you're a lip reader, you can figure it out...


UPDATE: Kobe was fined $100,000 and apologized hoping he didn't offend anyone...

Here's Kobe discussing with Mason and Ireland...
((HT: ESPN/ESPN 710 Los Angeles))

So When Does Riles Take Over...???

The HQ is thinking very, very soon...

Especially after the clunker of intense proportions that El Heat laid in San Antonio against Los Spurs last night...

Is it just us or:
1) Are those Spanish-based conversions of the nicknames seemingly incredibly inaccurate or,
2) Incredibly patronizingly-sounding or,
3) Both...

Just thinking out loud...

At least the Smurfs translated to "Los Smurfos..."

Anyway, here's your anti-El Heat highlights where the Three Kings played more like Slow Poke Rodriguez than Speedy Gonzalez...
((HT: NBA.com/youtube))


The HQ wonders what Eric Spoelstra will put on his resume and if Pat Riley will give him a good reference or not...

Alvin Robertson Is A Wanted Man

And not for his jumpshot...

He is wanted by law enforcement authorities in connection with a human trafficking case. Robertson is wanted on charges of sexual performance of a child, trafficking of persons under 18 for prostitution, sexual assault of a child, law enforcement officials said.

According to the Bexar County ((TX)) Sheriff's Office, a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped in San Antonio and taken to several locations within the county to have sex with people in exchange for money.

The investigation was conducted by the county's Human Trafficking Task Force and the Immigration Custom Enforcement Human Trafficking Unit.

This doesn't look good on any level for anyone involved...
The HQ is jus' saying...

"The ongoing investigation is an example of the outstanding work that is being done by the Task Force," said Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz.

More when we know more...

Here's some video of Robertson that is, actually, a piece of history...
The first basket in Toronto Raptors history...
((HT: Raptors TV/NBA))

Jefferson's Feet are Cold

Former New Jersey Net, Milwaukee Buck and current (as of a couple of weeks ago) San Antonio Spur Richard Jefferson has apparently contracted a case of "Cold Feet". Jefferson was all set to marry former Nets Dancer Kesha Ni'cole Nichols in a $2 million dollar plus ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. Sometime before the ceremony (apparently pretty close to it since guests had arrived), Jefferson bailed...approximetley 2 hours before it was supposed to start according to reports.

The story from WPIX-TV here .

((The not quite Jefferson's photo/Courtesy: WPIX.com))

The only thing we can really add is that this is one of those things that baffle the mind. Maybe if you are mega-rich (or an athlete) you can do stuff like this...you just kind of wonder what Ms. Nichols thinks about it all

Bucks Reported To Have Traded Richard Jefferson To Spurs

According to the Associated Press, the Milwaukee Bucks plan to send Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto, that from a Bucks official with knowledge of the deal that spilled the beans to the AP.

Photo Courtesy: Gary Dineen/National Basketball Association/Getty Images