ESPN is mad at Jalen Rose

The other day when news of the Jalen Rose DUI situation broke I was wondering why I hadn't heard about it before. The story made headlines on March 30, but it all went down on March 11, so the delay seemed a little curious to me. Apparently I wasn't the only one curious about the delay- ESPN has taken Jalen Rose off of the air until this whole little situation is laid to rest. It seems that he did not inform them of the incident, and as a result, they are none too pleased with his lack of disclosure. Oops.

Nenad Kristic has a bone bruise

And this is good news, believe it or not! When he left the game in San Antonio hurt, I feared for the worst, thinking he may have torn something. Instead, the MRI came back negative and it's "just" a bone bruise. According to the Globe,  the injury will shelve him for a few games, but it is not season ending. Phew!

In other news, the spirit of Ubuntu lives on. Rondo, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Avery Bradley and Tyronn Lue all visited Marquis Daniels in the hospital in Atlanta:

So nice! There's that brotherhood that I love. Again, I'm a huge Marquis Daniels fan, and I wish him nothing but the best. 

What do persistent rumors about a Ciara and Amare romance have in common with the health of Jermaine O'Neal?

They're both going strong right now.

It seems Amare celebrated the Knicks win over the Nets with Ciara by his side:

Amar'e Stoudemire, celebrated the team's win over the New Jersey Nets with R&B singer Ciara at Meatpacking District hot spot SL. While their reps claimed the pair are just friends, the duo "looked extremely close Wednesday night," said one onlooker, who added, "She was sitting on his lap and whispering into his ear all night." While Amar'e and Ciara huddled in a banquette in the corner, they were surrounded by club security and other Knicks, including Landry Fields, Jared Jeffries, Roger Mason Jr. and Andy Rautins. Ciara met Stoudemire through LaLa Vazquez, who is one of her closest friends and married to teammate Carmelo Anthony.


I dunno guys, seems like you might be shacking up and trying to be sneaky about it. Who knows? But if they were together, that's nice. They'd be a really tall and ridiculously good looking couple. 


And as for Jermaine, he played 11 minutes and had 5 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound (but it was an offensive one!)... He's feelin' pretty good about his return and so am I: 

Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers say the opposite thing about Shaq on the same day.

Honestly, this team should hire me. I think I'd make a great publicist. I have no formal training, but I'm sure I could concoct a unified front, quite unlike the current situation:

Doc Rivers said this:
The Boston Celtics are starting to get worried that Shaquille O'Neal's sabbatical from the game to deal with an assortment of right foot/leg/Achilles tendon continues to take longer than expected.

While the goal is to have him suit up before the playoffs, Celtics coach Doc Rivers acknowledged on Thursday that the team has no definitive idea as to when the 7-foot-1 center will be back.

"I really hope we can get him before the playoffs," said Rivers, who added that the injury is starting to "get close to bleeding" into the team's postseason plans.


And Danny Ainge said this: 
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge joined The Big Show for his weekly interview on Thursday afternoon. Ainge was first asked about the status of Shaquille O’Neal. Doc Rivers indicated earlier on Thursday that O’Neal’s achilles injury could be a problem in the postseason.

“I was just with Shaq, we were just working out down in Waltham,” said Ainge. “Shaq is either going to play Sunday or Tuesday. … I think that Doc probably — “bleed into the playoffs” — I think is something different than he’s not going to play until the playoffs. But it looks like he’s ready to go Sunday or Tuesday.”

Come on now. Even if nobody has any idea when Shaq will come back, or IF he even will, I'd contest that unity is key. Everyone should be saying the same thing, to minimize speculation. 

Marquis Daniels' surgery was successful

Great to hear that Marquis had a safe and successful surgery. I wish him a safe and speedy recovery and hope that nothing but the very best comes his way in the future.

Dominique Wilkins is 51 and he will eff you up.

Apparently Mr. Wilkins owed Mr. Rashan S Michel (pictured on the left) money for several suits purchased a couple of years ago. So reports the AJC:

"Wilkins was on the court doing a live broadcast after the game when Michel approached him from the stands and “very loudly and aggressively started to address him regarding a matter.” Wilkins and Hawks security began to “step back further onto the court in an attempt to avoid the situation,” Campos said.

Michel made his way onto the court after the Hawks defeated the Orlando Magic and “at some point physically assaulted both Mr. Wilkins and the security guard for the Hawks,” Campos said. An off-duty APD officer took Michel into custody, he said.

Wilkins was not injured. The security guard had cuts on his face, Campos said.

Campos did not have details on what Michel was yelling at Wilkins or what the disagreement was about.

“The basic understanding we have was that this was a disagreement over a civil matter involving clothing,” Campos said.

Michel tweeted about the incident, however, saying Wilkins owed him money."


Umm... Hot mess in the streets. You're a grown man, with apparently some kind of legit business, since he was selling Dominique Wilkins suits. I'm gonna need him to step his game up.

Jermaine O'Neal: "I’m going to play tomorrow."

Jermaine O'Neal participated in a full practice tomorrow and, according to Julian Benbow, he is optimistic about his return: "I told them the plan is to play back-to-back games, the plan is to play as many minutes as I can without limitation.”

Doc Rivers also expressed a measured amount of enthusiasm about Jermaine's return:
"I thought his quickness and his activity [were surprising]," Rivers said. "He didn't surprise me where he didn't pick up some stuff. I don't blame him for that, but I was happy. I was very happy with it."

I, for one, (as has been previously discussed on this blog) have not given up on Jermaine. Obviously it will take some time for him to get back in to the swing of things, but I still maintain that for the limited role the Celtics need from him, he will be able to deliver. So consider me on #TeamJO. Also, irregardless of if he will be able to fully meld with the team (but who is fully melding on this team right now anyway?), he will still be a 7 footer who can come in and provide physicality in the middle that is desperately needed.

P.S.: Also participating fully in practice for the first time in a long time was Von Wafer. No word on if he's playing tomorrow or not, but it's a good sign that he's participating in full contact activities. I never thought I'd say this, but it'll be good to have him back.