CP3’s Thievery and AI’s Punchbaggery

Empty the Bench has been killing it the last few days and although I do have a few actual basketball analysis posts to put up later today, here are two gems from over there for you in the interim.

The first is on how Allen Iverson is now the predictable scapegoat in Detroit’s struggles and how his perceived me-first/team-second play and Outbreak monkeyesque infectious personality is obviously being demonized in sharp contrast to Chauncey’s golden-boy/winner intangibles and leadership that have led reinvigorated the Nuggets franchise since the blockbuster trade. Essentially, it’s a great rebuttal to the over-simplicity of most NBA coverage that assumes, as he writes, “an All-Star is an All-Star and that A.I. should be performing better than this by now, no matter what” — and it does this without making excuses for Allen’s mediocrity so far in MoTown and the Pistons more inexcusable losses.

For all the flack Iverson has taken, and for all the struggles he’s had so far in Detroit, he’s hardly deserving of the firestorm of criticism blanketing the Internet, sports-talk radio, NBA broadcasts, etc. Spare me the kneejerk reactions to Allen Iverson and his sure-to-be short-lived tenure with the Detroit Pistons until next June when the 2008-09 season has come to a close. Then and only then will it be time to accurately assess A.I.’s stint in Motown.

Then today, ETB drops some wisdom on Both Teams Played Hard mancrush Chris Paul’s run at the consecutive kleptomania record, something we’ve known for a while was inevitable like a Neo/Agent Smith fight in the rain.

Most of us know what Paul does on the offensive end, no ink has been spared in singing his praises there. What we may not hear enough about are his exploits on the defensive end of the floor. We may be hearing more about it soon. He’s about to (knock on wood) set the NBA mark for consecutive games with a steal.

The current NBA record for consecutive contests with a theft is 105, set by former Spurs guard Alvin Robertson who had a steal in every game over 20 years ago from November 6, 1985 to Deccember 29, 1986. With two steals against the Charlotte Bobcats on December 10th Paul extended his personal streak of consecutive games with a steal to 102. If things go according to plan he’ll tie the mark on the upcoming Hornets road trip at Boston, Toronto and Memphis.

Most importantly, he refers to steals as pilfers at one point, which is commendable.

It rather humorous to realize that this level of tattoo coverage was scary to white people just ten years ago. JR Smith has forgotten about more ink than AI had back then.

Known Associates: CP3, Hornets, Pistons, The Answer