Mutha, there is no other.

Surely it wasn’t a coincidence that the following 3 stories ran alongside each other at basketball gossip aggregator supreme Hoops Hype this morning?


a) Len Bias’ mom, Lonise Bias, on her loss and efforts to help other parents (Philadelphia Inquirer)

b) Amare Stoudemire’s mom, Carrie Mae, sentenced yesterday after violating the terms of her house arrest (Arizona Republic)

c) LeBron James’ mom, Gloria, sentenced to 3 days of cruising-while-boozing inventention education, community service and a small fine (Cleveland Plain Dealer). No charges were filed against LeBron’s grandpa for his attempts to spearhead a Rick James revival, however.

As funny as I think this is, points are deducted for the lack of one single reference to anything Walton learned from John Wooden.

True Hoop’s Henry Abbott submits the winner of the Western Conference semis — tied last night by the Mavs —- could have a profound influence on how future clubs are shaped.

For example, if Phoenix wins–which could seriously happen–long, lean multi-talents who shoot the long ball and move like deer, who fit the Raja Bell/Leandro Barbosa/Boris Diaw mold, will get an even bigger jump in the upcoming draft then they have already gotten. Some kinds of players that have been out of favor in many NBA quarters–point guards who shoot a lot of threes and create havoc off the dribble (Steve Nash could be good for Stephon Marbury’s career)–could be reconsidered. The Jeff Van Gundys of the world might be tempted to let the Rafer Alstons get a little crazy in the open court once in a while.

Thanks (presumably) to Dirk’s recent admission of admiration, David Hasselhoff got a fair bit of face time on TNT last night. Even Steve Perry thought it was a little embarrassing.