If you have, please contact the the Champaign County, Il, sheriff.  Seems like Keon doesn’t like to show up for things such as sentencings, court dates, or basketball games.  He’d much rather be smoking the wacky weed and flashing a piece without a firearm owner’s permit.

His sentence from the judge was a 30-month stint in prison.  Because as the prosecuting attorney states,

“He has grown accustomed to a certain kind of lifestyle where he has not been held accountable,” Lindsey Clark said. “He’s simply been able to pay his way out of anything.”

Keon’s attorney, James Dedman (not exactly a last name that give confidence as a defense attorney) doesn’t even try to defend Clark and instead offers the following,

“His record and his behavior suggests he has a serious mental problem.  It’s possible he’s unfit to stand trial or be sentenced, or that he’s insane.”

And they say marijuana has no affect on the brain.  And that’s not all.  He still faces charges in Vermillion County for “of not having a firearm owner’s identification card, making a false report, two charges of driving on a suspended license, and criminal damage to property.”

Is there a pot-smoking 101 at UNLV?  Keon, we never knew thee.

 
Jazzbots.com, the official blog site of the Utah Jazz is online.  Yes, the same blog site that turned me down.  I’ll hold off on any comments until it’s had time to mature.  But we should get some interesting behind-the-scenes stories.

This is too big of a story not to at least make a quick comment on.  ESPN is reporting via the NY Post that the FBI is investigating an NBA referee for betting on games. I can’t even imagine yet all the implications this has for the NBA.  First, the refs name hasn’t been revealed yet.  But you can guarantee when it is, all hell will break loose.  As mentioned on the ESPN message boards for this article, Mark Cuban is going to have a field day with this.  Because now every game that the ref was involved in will be scrutinized.  And if they were playoff games, Cuban is going to demand a replay or forfeiture or something. 

This will tarnish the league for a long time.  Fans have always suspected that the refs have a hand in who wins games.  And of course not all refs are like this, but it will always be on the minds of fans when calls go against them.  And think of the chants and signs that will be held up at games this year.  I don’t even think we’ve seen the tip of what the fallout from this will be.

And of course as Jazz fans, it would be interesting to see if the ref was involved in any of the 97 or 98 finals games.

UPDATE (9:50): Truehoop has some good insight.  And apparently, it’s only happened in the past couple years.  But it will still put into everyone’s mind, if one guy did it…

UPDATE (9:55): Is Mark Cuban still on the phone with Stern?

UPDATE (13:27):  Well it looks like it’s Tim Donaghy.  And according to Marc Stein, Donaghy was the time keeping official for the Lakers/Spurs series where Derek Fisher hit the game winning shot with .4 left.  He apparently started the clock .2 late to allow for the shot as he had $20k riding on the game.  Maybe that’s why the Spurs are getting all the calls lately?  To make up for it?    Ouch.  I’m sure his every call is being scrutinized right now.

After a nice break, here we go again.  So much to cover with the draft, AK, trades,  etc.  The site will go through many changes as I get a theme I like and tweak it to something I like as well.  Don’t be surprised to see some weird-A pages if you happen to catch me during some testing.

We’ll get it going again with these videos of Deron Williams playing 1on1 against the fan that won the Sprite contest that gives the winner a basketball court in his backyard.  The guy holds his own in HORSE but we find out later he lost.  He gets schooled in 1on1 to only sub in his son.  His son gets a little cocky and Deron absolutely makes him look like a fool.  Good playground moves.  It’s also good to see that Deron gets a blue Utah Jazz shirt.  Wonder if he had to pay the ten bucks?

Come back for more….

HORSE
Deron Interview
Deron Schools Dad…
… and his son

Thought I’d get this up before the inevitable last game post, and the Jazz just lost 109-84.  Anyway, Rose and Smith why they’re two of the best in the biz.  How long do you think Rose was working on his Saran Wrap comment?

Welcome home men.  The Jazz had to have felt great to only be down 4 at the break after being down a combined 35 points in the previous two games.  The Jazz have outplayed the Spurs in the third and fourth quarters in the first games of the series and game three was no different.

Williams drove to the hoop all night and got great results and was lethal from downtown.  In fact the Jazz shot better behind the three point line than at the free throw line; 66.7% compared to 65.6% respectively.  Ouch.  They also blew out the Spurs despite getting 0, that’s right, 0 from Okur.   Boozer was unstoppable again as he schooled Duncan several times.  And once Duncan was in foul trouble it was all that more easy for Boozer.  It’s amazing that from my upper bowl seat that I could still see Duncan’s eyes pop out after each foul.  And the Jazz finally got some offense from someone wearing another number besides 5 or 8.  Millsap had a nice night and a sweet spin and dunk.

So the Jazz still have a long ways to go, but if they can win again on Monday, then anything is possible. 

Now as my for my personal experience at my first Jazz playoff game, here’s a few highlights:

• I haven’t been to another NBA arena, but I can’t imagine another arena able to get louder than the ESA.  I had to shout in my wife’s ear to be heard for most of the night. 
• The Jazz Bear is absolutely bonkers.  He has no fear.  During one of the timeouts or between quarters, they brought out a huge ladder.  I would put it at 40 feet?  I’m not sure, but I know he could almost touch the jumbotron hanging from the rafters.  Anyway, he climbed to and stood on the very top.  I could only think about those warning on normal ladders that say don’t stand above this step.  And not only did he stand on the top, he did a hand-stand.  And all the while the ladder shook like the Wasatch Fault had just slipped.  And all of this was without spotters or mats below.  I would have taken a picture, but I got nailed at the entrance and had to take it back to my car.  I saw plenty others in the game so I guess I wasn’t sneaky enough.  Anyway, he’s nuts.  He also did a great routine where he took a Jazz shirt to Evan Longoria.  When they showed it on the jumbortron, the place let the boos fly.  She also got personal escorts at the half and after the game.  I have to say she was pretty into the game until the Spurs were out of it.  Got to love those Jazz fans! 
• We had some drunk guy come running up and sat in the seat next to us for the entire first half.  High comedy.  He couldn’t stay with any of the cheers.  He couldn’t say D-fence correctly.  And at some points when it was quiet, he would just yell out, “Go Jazz.”  I later saw him harrassing security at half time.  We didn’t see him after half time.  My theories are: 1.  He was taken out by a security guard.  2.  He didn’t really have a ticket and snuck in some how.  (When he first got there, he made a proclomation “I’m here finally.  Here’s my seat).  And 3.  He couldn’t remember where he was sitting anyway and found another seat somewhere else. 
• My first experience using the men’s room during high traffic.  There were about 15-20 urninals with three people lined up behind each one, plus people out the door.  Just about 50 or so men watching each other take a leak.  Then people bring in the beers or other drinks and put them on the shelves above the urinal as they go.  I think that would be the last place I would want any open containers that look like urine.  I didn’t think I was going to be able to go with everyone lined up behind me,  Thought I’d get stage fright.  But I pulled it out. 
• And many more things, but finally, the picture for the post isn’t the best, but the reason I used it it because if you look really closely at the end of  the row to the right of Boozer’s forearm pad, you can see the 2 pixels that represent my face.

Just a bunch of ramblings here as nothing much is going on now and I felt like I needed to get something up today.

Well, we might get an opponent for the WCF finals tonight.  The Spurs and Suns are back at it again for game 6.  The Spurs should win this game and we should get a date for game 1.  But if the Suns pull it out, then we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out the team that will be going down.

The reason I’m so antsy for it to get going is that I was able to get tickets to the first Jazz home game of the series.  I’ll be sitting in the no free t-shirt section.  And then I found out that they were holding out on a lot of the good seats for the playoffs because they are reserved for those that buy season tickets for next year.  It’s business, but that’s lame.  You’re telling me I need to spend $4000 for the privilege of buying $400 playoff tickets?  I know that the four grand gets me tickets for next year, but I just want tickets to one playoff game.  And what will happen if they don’t sell all those seats?  And what if Boozer and Williams get injured during the FIBA tournament and we suck next year?  But it will be my first Jazz playoff game in person so I’m pretty stoked.  I’ll grab some pictures and post them here of course.

And finally for today, my little Jazz blog is taking off and getting some regular readers.  So maybe I should explain a couple things.  I named the blog after the great parody song, “Basketball John,” by Robert Lund.  You can listen to a sample here.  I didn’t even know for the longest time that it was a parody of The Basketball Jones that was part of the Space Jam soundtrack.  And if you like it, you can download it for .99 US here.  If you live in Utah and listen to the radio, you’ve probably heard this song.  He has other Jazz songs that are okay. 

This blog has quite a few international readers.  Here’s a map of my most recent visitors:

This is probably due in part to the international flavor of the Jazz players.  And here’s my recent activity:

I think that’s the biggest reason for keeping a blog going.  It’s not ever really going to be a huge blog, but it’s really cool to think that people like to read what you have to say.

Thanks to Golden State for the unforgettable series.  Thanks for taking care  of Dallas.  Thanks for being classy at the end of game 5.  Thanks for the up and down and back up again moments.  Thanks for not taking game 5 when it was there for the taking.  Thanks for missing the crucial free-throws in game 2.  And thanks to losing your cool so many times to bail out the Jazz.  And most of all, thanks for Derek Fisher.

The Jazz tried to give away the game in almost every conceivable way.  Twenty-five turnovers?  Check.  21-33 free throw shooting?  Check.  Deron Williams 1-11?  Check.  The list goes on and on.  You look at the stats and there’s no way GS was in this game.  6-30 from downtown?  Shooting 36% overall?  But the tell-tale stat was the same game after game after glorious game, rebounds.  59-35, Utah.  Four Jazz players were in double-digits in rebounding: Boozer (14), AK (15), Okur (10), and Millsap (12) coming off the bench.

Man those free throws after the technicals and flagrant called on GS were painful to watch.  At one point, they missed 6 free throws in a row.  And after the flagrant on Jackson, they couldn’t convert on the possession.  But to Utah’s credit, they shot 10-12 in the fourth from the line to seal it.

And not enough can be said about Fisher.  He finished 7-10 from the field going 4-5 behind the line.  When everyone else was struggling, he kept them in it.  No doubt this rates about a 7-8 on Bill Simmons’ revenge meter.  I don’t think he had any animosity towards them but it’s always sweet to stick it to your former mates.  Fisher has been criticized a lot during the losing streak to end the season and for getting lit up by other guards.  But you have to hand it to him in this series.  If rebounding was the equalizer to the Warrior’s run an gun, then Fisher had to be the one that put the Jazz over the top.  And wasn’t that the reason the Jazz got him?  I myself groaned when I learned of the trade because I figured Fisher made his money based on .4 of a second.  But he’s made a lot of people look like fools now.

The Jazz are the first  team to punch their ticket to the conference finals.  Back in Nov-Dec you figured they are going to the playoffs.  But I didn’t see many, if anyone, picking them to go the the conference finals.  Now they await the bruised up bodies of whatever team comes out the Suns/Spurs series.  What will the NBA and country do without their media darlings?  The Jazz fever will get to live on at least four more games.

No repurcussions.  Neither Davis nor Richardson will face any punishment for their cheap shot and hard fouls respectively.  I blame Bruce Bowen.  If they didn’t suspend him for his antics against the Suns, I don’t see how they could suspend these two.  Here’s the thing, just how far can you go before you’re suspended/fined for plays like this?  Would a crane-kick do the trick?  Hoffa & Collins playing Red Rover when Davis drives to the basket?  Richardson’s hit was upgraded to a flagrant 2 which means another flagrant would be an automatic one game suspension.  Big frickin’ deal if they’re out of it after tonight.  And this wasn’t even Richardson’s first altercation in the playoffs.  There has to be a line drawn before someone gets hit with a career-ending injury.  Those lines have been crossed with the plays from the last game and those from the Suns/Spurs series.  Doesn’t the NBA have to some in and stop this kind of play?  And what does it take to get refs to call a foul on some of these plays?  The Fisher hit was no better than when a WWF ref is distracted while the manager pounds away on a wrestler.

“But this is playoff basketball!”  That would be sweet if I could cop the same excuse in my every-day life.  You have a deadline approaching at work?  Well, just go Terry Tate on everyone.  You’re driving in rush-hour traffic trying to get to work on time?  Just start driving Burnout style.  “Hey baby, nothing personal.  Just under pressure, you know.”

Anyway, it will be that much more sweet if the Jazz close them out tonight.  I expect the ESA to be riding Davis & Richardson hard all night.  Let’s finally make the NBA’s worst nightmare come a little closer to fruition by closing them out tonight.  And then we can wait for the Spurs or Suns (if either team can field 5 players after their series).

Here’s a photo of how a clutch shot should be taken.  Also, what’s with the upper-bowl not getting a free blue Jazz shirt?  I know they’re not likely to be seen on camera, but c’mon.  Nevermind that the whole shirt thing is lame.  Do we have to rip off colleges and do we have such lame lower-bowl fans that they don’t know to wear Jazz colors?  But now we’ll have them all the time now that we won.

Here we go.  Get ready for game three at the second-loudest arena in  the NBA.  I won’t get much into the game as I might not even be around to see it tonight.  I’ll be “watching” it though from my cell phone.

No on expects the Jazz to win this one.  I have to say the odds are slim, but would anyone outside of Oakland be surprised if they won?  The Jazz are making all the right plays at the right times and the Warriors aren’t.  But according to the GS fans, as long as you showed that you can stay close and should have won, that counts as a win, right?