I think Shaquille O’Neal is an annoying has been. And even when he was great, I never thought he was great. Dominant? Check. Huge? Check. Hard as all hell to defend? Definite check. Great basketball player? Not so sure.

Sadly, I found Shaq less irritating when he ran his mouth and was actually good. As his career has descended and he’s bounced from team to team, I figured he’d just go away (or become a cop or something). But he hasn’t. And there’s a good piece on Yahoo! Sports that touches on Shaq and all of his annoyingness. A little bit from the piece in regards to Dwight Howard:

In the past year alone, Shaq called Howard an “impostor” and insisted that, “Everything he’s done, I’ve invented,” and on and on. On opening night of the NBA Finals, Shaq posted a goofy photo on Twitter of what a Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy child would look like. After five years of this, Howard still doesn’t get the reason that Shaq revels in ripping him.

“I can’t tell you why he’s said a lot of discouraging things,” Howard said Friday at the Staples Center. “I wish he wouldn’t say it because he’s one of the few guys that we all look up to.”

It goes on to state the obvious: That Shaq is rooting for Kobe and the Lakers because he doesn’t want Dwight Howard to do something in Orlando he could never accomplish — win a game in the Finals. There’s been rumors that Shaq might end up in Cleveland or LA by the beginning of next year, but I can tell you that I highly doubt Kobe wants Shaq back given the surge that Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have provided — truthfully, Shaq would just slow them way down.

[Yahoo!]

So it’s halftime. And the Magic and Lakers set a new Finals’ record with the fewest points in the first quarter, scoring a comined 30 points (15-15 at the end of the first quarter). It’s 40-35 now, Lakers, and don’t be surprised if the Lake Show takes this one away in the second half. They’re up five right now, and that’s with Kobe going 2-5 from the field for 6 measley points. Rashard Lewis is single handedly carrying the Magic, scoring 18 of his 20 points in the second quarter.

Coaches get hit for everything come playoff time. Is the team has a big lead with just a few games left in the regular season, they’re told they need to bench their players to avoid injury. Then when their team comes out in Round 1 flat and loses, it’s because they benched their players for too long. And if they don’t bench them and someone gets hurt, they were idiots, they had home court wrapped up, they were in, and so-and-so should’ve never been on the court.

It’s a Catch 22, really. I’ve got one for you now: Jameer Nelson may be playing for the Magic come Thursday night.

Nelson participated in a full team practice Tuesday for the first time since tearing the labrum in his right shoulder Feb. 2. While Nelson and coach Stan Van Gundy still said the point guard’s status won’t be determined until game day, players said Nelson looked “terrific” and expect him to be on the court against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I expect to see him out there at some point in the series,” backup point guard Anthony Johnson said.

Nelson had what was then called season-ending surgery Feb. 19. Nelson’s rehabilitation was supposed to take at least another two months.

Game 1 of the Finals is Thursday night in Los Angeles, and healed or not, Nelson wants to play.

“I’m not saying I’m any tougher or stronger than anybody, but I’ve been known to do some amazing things sometimes,” Nelson said Tuesday, again lobbying for playing time.

On paper, this is good news for the Magic, who would get the return of an All-Star at maybe the most important position in basketball. However, if he comes out cold and out of sync, the papers will kill SVG on his decision to play a guy in the most important series after having been out of action for months. My take on it? I like Jameer Nelson. But your team got here without him — no need to get the guy back right now.

[ESPN]

If you know me, you know I”m not the biggest LBJ fan. I’m just not. I’m not saying he isn’t good, I’m not saying he isn’t the best player in the league, I just don’t like cheering for a guy that can blatantly charge on a regular basis and always watch the defender get called for a block.

So I’m going to point out that LeBron James won’t address the media after his crushing Game 6 loss in Orlando. Dan Wetzel, who wrote the piece, goes on and on about how the Cavs have to get something around LeBron.

I’m going to go back to my point: The Cavs got enough around LeBron to win 66 regular season games. To lose only one real home game all regular season. If they did all that, didn’t they do enough to give him a chance in the playoffs? The team stormed through the first eight games, and they were given the title already. There were multiple comments about how with Mo Williams, LeBron had a real No. 2 threat. Now they’ve lost, got dismantled by the Magic, and suddenly the guy had nothing around him.

Please go play in Europe when your contract expires. Maybe there you’ll get called for a foul.

[Yahoo!]

The game starts in about 12 minutes. If the Cavs win this series, don’t be surprised. The refs have done everything in their power to give this one to LeBron, and the Magic have survived (and last night, it was evident these same refs are trying their hardest to get Kobe there, as well).

LeBron has had a great series. He’s averaging 42 ppg, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Great numbers. And while I’ll never blame the guy for his team being in a 3-1 hole, I will say this: Suddenly everyone is saying that Cleveland doesn’t have a team. For the better part of this season, with the Cavs dominating the NBA both on the road and especially at home, all everyone could talk about was what LeBron was capable of doing now that he has a team around him. With the addition of Mo Williams, this team was for real, and LeBron didn’t have to carry them all the time. Delonte West plays lock down D. Ben Wallace can defend the middle. The list went on and on.

It even continued into the post-season. After mauling the Pistons in Hawks in eight total games (sweeping both), it was stamped that the Cavs were going to the Finals, and now the only question was who they’d be facing.

Now they’re down 3-1. They’re strugging. They’re being outplayed by the Magic on offense and defense. This thing should be over, but a miracle last second shot has extended the season. And all of a sudden, the only talk is that LeBron has no team around him. That nobody can step up. That he has to have someone else, because these guys don’t cut it.

Again: I’m not blaming LeBron. But I do find it funny that all season long we’re finally able to see what the Cavs are capable of now that there’s a team around him, and then when the third series of the playoffs comes around he suddenly doesn’t have anybody. If LeBron is the “Next Jordan,” as I’ve heard some of his fans say (me, personally, I think his jump shot is too hit or miss, and I don’t think his career will be nearly as long — he relies on his 260 pound frame for a lot of his points, and that will fade as his career goes on), then I think the guy needs to be able to win against mediocre teams, whether he has a team around him or not. MJ won with John Paxson, BJ Armstrong, Luc Longley, Will Perdue, Steve Kerr, and a gang of other no-name guys that he made names. He had Scottie Pippen, sure, but we all saw what Scottie Pippen was post-Jordan, both during his time with the Bulls when Jordan had his brief hiatus, and also during his time with the Rockets and Trail Blazers towards the end of his career.

Where’s this rant going? Not sure. I just thought it was funny to hear about a great “team” all year long, and now all of a sudden LeBron has to have help, because these guys stink.

It’ll be an interesting game tonight. I say the Cavs win by 15. And as much as I want the Magic, I think the refs give them a game in Orlando, and Cleveland some how manages to come back from 3-1 and win the series, to meet Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. From there, maybe the refs can call the games as they see them, and not how the TV ratings want them to be.

Tonight is Game 1 of the Nuggets and the Lakers. The Nuggets just came off of their second series that went only five games, while the Lakers scratched and clawed their way to a win against Houston in seven. Who wins the series?

Most would say the Lakers. They’re at home, they’ve got Kobe and, at the end of the day, when they need to win they find a way. That said, Denver has looked awful good — they’re going to play offense with the best of them, and with Bird Man and Kenyon Martin running around down low, they present a problem for Gasol and Odom that the Rockets were unable to do.

My prediction? Nuggets in six.

Without their two best players — or at least two best players coming into the 2008-2009 NBA season — the Rockets were thought to be dead in their tracks facing a 2-1 defecit to the Lakers, having lost homecourt advantage just two nights before.

If today’s game was any indication, that isn’t the case. The Rockets pulled out the ol’ whipping stick and went to town on LA, led by Aaron Brooks’ 34 points. Shane Battier chipped in with 23 points, helping carry the load while Ron Artestk, coming off a game where he was ejected, struggled from the field, finishing with just 8 points on 4-19 shooting. Kobe Bryant finished with just 15 points, and, much like the rest of LA’s offense, was largely ineffective most of the game.

Game 5 will be in LA on Tuesday.

If you go here, there’s a link to last night’s elbowing that Kobe gave Ron Artest. Kobe wasn’t called for the foul, and Artest was kicked out of the game for arguing. I can’t seem to find it, but anybody remember when Bryant elbowed Doug Christie in the throat, and the foul was actually called on Christie? If I remember correctly, it was a Game 7, back when the Kings were always neck and neck with the Lakers. No pun intended… the neck and neck thing.

Kobe Bryant was called from jury duty, and from what I understand it isn’t a rape case. Which means the prosecution might just keep him on. Hopefully he doesn’t blow the case as badly as the Lakers blew last night’s game….

The latest Power Rankings are out, and since I’m too lazy to do one myself, I’ll just link you to theirs. A couple of notes:

• The Celtics are back to No. 1. Yay. I just love the Celtics, with overglorified players like KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Please, LA or Cleveland, please beat them in the playoffs.
• The Nuggets are No. 6. How is it that one good point guard can change a team around so much? No AI, insert Chauncey, and this team is rolling.
• At 23-19, the Heat are No. 10. I know they’ve been surging, but c’mon. No. 10?
• In the same conference and same division, and three games up on the Heat, the Hawks are No. 11. This is the power Dwyane Wade has on a team.
• Beware the 76′ers, who sit at No. 12. After their terrible start, they’ve come on strong and are looking like the playoff threat they were last year.
• At No. 30, is there really any hope for the Kings? They don’t have the worst record, at least, which belongs to No. 26, the 9-35 Thunder.