Thoughts from the last night of the NBA season (Assembled randomly and haphazardly)

• The clippers suck
• Get your computer out—PC, Mac, whatever. Youtube Kenyon Martin’s dunk from last night. I saw it live and it made me scream…like an milk-craving infant. Ok I can’t wait for you…click here.
• I’ve never seen an entire stadium…on the last night of the season, much less…in a blowout win…stay and cheer the home team BEYOND the final buzzer. But that’s what happened last night in Portland. It was amazing. That’s the greatest non-playoff fan performance I’ve ever seen.
• The clippers suck
• The Bulls really have to be celebrating Boston’s news about Garnett today, because the way they took it from Toronto’s Chris Bosh and Shawn Marion last night, they don’t seem to have any answer for opposing power forwards.
• The Mavericks, as in many years past, have now entered the playoffs with expectations. It’s too bad…underdog status might’ve done them a lot of good.
• And while we’re on the subject…good grief, Jason Terry is amazing in 4th quarters.
• The clippers suck
• Houston somehow farted away a season’s worth of effort in one night in slipping from home court at the 3 seed to playing on the road as the 5 seed. Maybe God doesn’t have the big sense of humor I was expecting, because if they had advanced to the 2nd round without TMac, he would’ve looked like the biggest joke EVER.
• Whether they played well or poorly, I still have not come up with a reason in over 5 years of their existence to watch a Charlotte Bobcats game…
• Royal Ivey. Daniel Gibson was about to become a Cleveland legend (after hitting not one, but TWO clutch threes to send the game into overtime) by hitting a game-winner to clinch a 40-1 home record for the Cavs. But Ivey, the one who was teabagged (if you’re not familiar with the term, you’ve apparently been in all black schools for much of your life, lol) in a legendary way by Hakim Warrick, put him in a ’96 Payton Glove-like lockdown that left him sprawled on the floor. Amazing defense. Sucked to see the Cavs not get the record, but hey, redemption from teabaggage is always nice to witness.
• The team I am most excited to see this postseason, strangely, is the Miami Heat. It reminds me a lot of the Heat from Wade’s rookie season, when they entered with no expectations and a lot of youth and Wade showed the promise and potential that we now have seen maximized in his last 5 seasons. Now, I really want to see what Beasley can do. From what I saw Tuesday, fellow lefty Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks, who is his team’s best defender, can do nothing with Beasley. We know Wade’s gonna eat someone alive. I think the pivotal matchup of that series will be who wins the scoring contest between Smith and Beasley.
• The clippers suck (and if you haven’t figured it out yet, they have lost their privilege of being recognized with capitalization until they do SOMETHING with themselves, starting with firing Dunleavy.
• Hilarious, sad, and probably maddening for Toronto fans to see them finish the season as one of the hottest teams in the league, and closed the season—a season in which they fired a good coach, defied all positive expectations, and possibly alienated their franchise player for the summer of 2010—on a high note. That’s tough…
• The Western Conference playoffs are gonna be AMAZING in the first round, and will get less interesting and more predictable with each round. On the other hand, the first round in the Eastern Conference will be a wash (other than an exciting Miami-Atlanta series) and will get presumably better and better each round. My advice: start off this weekend focusing on the West, and once we get into May shift your focus to the East.
• Philly went into overtime against the Cavs, who rested their 5 best players. So to make it clear, the Sixers starters barely scraped out a one-point game against Cleveland’s 6-12th men…I don’t think that should be a playoff team.
• And finally…watch out for the Thunder in 2010!!! Ok, they’re not winning this thing, but they definitely should make it to the playoffs. I’m gonna call that one now. Especially since the Spurs are a season and a half from life support.