Shaquille O’Neal recently rapped about Kobe Bryant, and some of the things he said have now been interpretted as racist and uncalled for. So uncalled for that he’s been stripped of his badge.

“I want his two badges back,” Arpaio told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Because if any one of my deputies did something like this, they’re fired. I don’t condone this type of racial conduct.”

Shaq free-styled about Kobe not being able to make it without him, and also made mentions about not being able to breed anymore because he’s been fixed. Why he felt the need to mention that is a bit confusing to me — it’s got nothing to do with Kobe, and any girl that sleeps with a 7′0″ basketball player is going to know their vagina will be way too mutilated to ever re-produce, unless that basketball player is this oaf.

ESPN is reporting that the Bulls are in talks, and it appears the Suns are splitting ways. It wouldn’t be a bad fit, given that the Bulls are a young, energetic squad that would fit well with D’Antoni’s style of play, and the Bulls, young and energetic as they were this year, also stunk.

I hardly doubt he’ll be able to turn Kirk Hinrich into Steve Nash, but the Suns weren’t the Suns until he took over. He’ll get to work closely with Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Joahkim Noah and Luol Deng, just to name a few. And in the East, as the Hawks have shown, all it takes is 37 wins to make a little noise come May.

Dallas Mavericks 94, New Orleans Hornets 99: The Mavericks made a late push at the end of the game to try and salvage the season, but it was an oh-so-feeble attempt to end their imminent doom. Chris Paul had 24 points and 15 assists — 11 of which came in the first half alone — and David West led all Hornets with 25. Dallas exits in the first round for the second year in a row, and there’s speculation that Avery Johnson’s job may be on the line. I’d squash the speculation: If you’re looking for a finger to point, point it at the guy that pulled the trigger on the Jason Kidd trade. Wait. He’s the owner. Bye, Avery.

Philadelphia 76′ers 81, Detroit Pistons 98: Three games into the series, it looked as if Philly may actually steal one. Five games into the season, it doesn’t look like they stand much of a chance. Detroit manhandled Philadelphia, going up 12 at the half, 20 by the third, and then coasted to victory through the fourth. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 21 points, followed by Rip Hamilton (20), Rasheed Wallace (19), and Tayshaun Prince (17). Detroit now has a 3-2 lead heading back to Philadelphia.

Utah Jazz 69, Houston Rockets 95: It’s odd the Jazz swept the first two games at home, went back to Utah, where they had a 37-4 record through the regular season, are playing Tracy McGrady — who’s known for choking it up in the first round — and this thing is still going on. Not only going on, but Houston is beating the ever living hell out of them. Utah was 36 percent from the field and 22 percent from beyond the arch. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 19 points on 8-18 shooting. T-Mac led the Rockets with 29 points. The series is 3-2, and resumes Thursday night in Utah.

Phoenix Suns 87, San Antonio Spurs 92: They said it would be one of the best first round series ever, and I agreed. Problem is, it wasn’t. The Spurs won the series 4-1 last night, on the back of two solid performances by Tony Parker (31 points), and Tim Duncan (29 points and 17 rebounds). Shaq finished with 13 points and nine boards in only 29 minutes of play, posing the question: Why the hell did they trade for a guy that can’t run the court for more than 29 minutes? Good call, Steve Kerr, it’s nice to see you’re still helping the Spurs win Championships.

Cleveland Cavaliers 100, Washington Wizards 97: I wasn’t able to watch the game because I was busy, but it sounded like it was a good one. Delonte West, not LeBron James, hit a three pointer with time winding down, helping the Cavs to a 3-1 series lead, and the series now shifts back to Cleveland. LeBron James had 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, proving that he’s the most overrated player in the league and isn’t good at all. Gilbert Arenas played 32 minutes and managed only 10 points on 3-8 shooting.

San Antonio Spurs 86, Phoenix Suns 105: The series isn’t over yet. Though it’ll probably end in a couple of days in San Antonio, Phoenix fended off elimination and lives to see another day. The Suns shot just 42 percent from the field, but were able to hold San Antonio to 39 percent. Raja Bell led all Suns players with 27 points.

In Progress: Detroit Pistons @ Philadelphia 76′ers. Those pesky Sixers are hanging around. If this thing goes to 3-1, then you may want to stop saying, “Well, Detroit’s going to win the series,” and start saying, “Well, Detroit may be fucked.”

With the NFL Draft, I kind of lost track of the playoffs, even though I did attend the Hawks/Celtics game last night, a game that truly demonstrated the Hawks are the best team in the NBA (I’m not getting too ahead of myself, am I?).

Today the Spurs and Suns meet and, surprsingly, this could be the end of the series. Game 1 had you believing this thing would go seven, six at the least, and we’d be in for one of hte best first round series ever. Three games later, the Spurs are up 3-0 and looking to close this thing out.

My guess is the Suns win this one and the Spurs finish them off at home in five.

As mentioned below, Duncan’s three was insane. The guy was wide open, it was completely uncontested, but still: Any three Duncan makes with the game on the line is pretty freaking insane.

Phoenix Suns 115, San Antonio Spurs 117: I didn’t realize this game was on until there was about 0:15 left in regulation. I turned it on just in time to see Phoenix miss a potential game winning shot, and then watched one of the better overtime sessions I’ve ever seen. Tim Duncan finished the game with 40 points and 15 rebounds, but the remarkable stat for him was his three-point shot with three seconds left to tie the game. Manu Ginobli drove to the basket, was double teamed, whipped it out to Duncan, standing all by himself, and there was a hush as he shot it — the crowd, myself, everyone watching on TV, couldn’t quite believe it was Duncan who chucked it up. He made the shot, sent it to a second overtime, where Phoenix had a chance to tie or win it at the end, but the shot didn’t go down. My prediction is the winner of this series will win the Finals, and after a game like this, you have to wonder if Phoenix can rebound and get back in the series.

Washington Wizards 86, Cleveland Cavaliers 86: You’d think a team would be able to stop Cleveland, given that all they’ve got is LeBron James, but Washington hasn’t quite figured that out in the three straight years they’ve played the Cavs in the opening round. LeBron James had 32 points, backing up some of the talk that Cleveland’s had over the last couple of days with Washington, a team quickly turning into a rival. Gilbert Arenas did not start but finished the game with 24 points, leading all Washington scorers.

Dallas Mavericks 92, New Orleans Hornets 104: The Mavs had a 12 point lead at halftime, looking completely dominant for two quarters, but came out flat in the third and never found that first half rhythm again. Dirk Nowitzki had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavs, but it wasn’t enough to match the effort of Chris Paul, who had 35 points and 10 assists, seemingly blowing by Jason Kidd whenever he wanted. When it’s all said and done, and the Mavs are stuck with Kidd and his massive contract for another two years, this will be considered one of the worst trades in the history of the NBA. Devin George, was a good defensive player and spark off the bench, probably would’ve held Paul under 35 points. Kidd finished the game with 11 points and nine assists, but also had four costly turnovers.

Utah Jazz 93, Houston Rockets 82: If Houston wants to win this series, it really, really needs to win the home games. Utah is rough on the road, unstoppable in Utah, and managed to win the first one held in Houston. Tracy McGrady had 20 points on 7-21 shooting, and Shane Battier led the team with 22. Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams combined for 61 points for the Jazz.

It’s not so much that the playoffs are set — teams can still win and lose and change their seeding — but we know who will be in there. Based on the two scores below, the Hawks and Nuggets have assured themselves a spot in the Final 16 (Sweet 16?). The Nuggets won their way in, while the Hawks kinda just lost less. That’s kind of a simple theme here in Atlanta.

Indiana Pacers 110, Washington Wizards 117: Thanks to the Washington Wizards, the Hawks will visit the playoffs for the first time since 1999. The last time the Hawks made the playoffs, they had Steve Smith, Dikembe Mutumbo (still in his prime, and not quite 50), and Mookie Blaylock. Yes, it’s been a while. Thank you, Washington. Thank you. To make Indiana fans feel sick, listen to this stat: The game in which they were eliminated from playoff contention, Washington’s starting five scored a combined 47 points. The Wizards got 70 points from their bench. The Pacers bench scored 22 points.

Golden State Warriors 116, Phoenix Suns 122: It’s a sad day for the Warriors, who were last year’s upset darlings, and who won’t be participating in the ‘08. With 48 wins — compared to the Hawks 30-something — the Warriors won’t be making the trip to play LA/New Orleans/San Antonio, while Atlanta will be making the trip to get swept by Boston (I’m hoping for just one win; give me one home win, and let it be the game I’m attending, and I’m cool with this season’s effort).

Toronto beat Miami, assuring them of the six-seed in the East and not playing Detroit in the first round, while also assuring that Miami will have the No. 1 pick. Other than that, there’s still some stuff up in the air, which will be resolved over the last couple games of the season.

Phoenix Suns 96, San Antonio Spurs 79: I wouldn’t look at this game as what would happen should the two meet in the first round (it’s a good possibility they will), only because San Antonio seems to step it up about ten notches once in the playoffs. With that said, the Suns absolutely pummeled. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker combined for 43 points, but the rest of the Spurs team scored only 36. Shaq had 16 points and nine rebounds, hopefully justifying some of the many, many millions that he receives annually. Six Suns players scored in double digits, led by Amare Stoudemire’s 21.

New Orleans Hornets 122, Minnesota T’Wolves 90: After a horrible shooting night two days ago, the Hornets found their cure: Play the T’Wolves. The Hornets shot 56 percent from the field, just under 50 percent from beyond the arch, and were led by seemingly everybody. Chris Paul had 19 points and an average — only what Chris Paul would consider average — 16 assists.

Milwaukee Bucks 93, Toronto Raptors 111: Chris Bosh had 32 points and 11 rebounds, helping Toronto avoid a four-game losing streak. The Raptors are still in seventh place, which sets them up to play Detroit in Round 1 of the playoffs.

Charlotte Bobcats 107, New York Knicks 109: The Knicks have won three straight! Quick, extend Isiah’s contract!

Atlanta Hawks 98, Indiana Pacers 112: Mike Dunleavy dropped 28 points for the Pacers, and Jermaine O’Neal had 10 points in his return, as the Indiana Pacers beat the Hawks to help avoid playoff elimination. Both teams have four games left; the Hawks play Boston, Orlando, New York and Miami, and Indiana faces off against Philadelphia, Charlotte, Washington and New York. It’ll be hard for Atlanta to blow this, but don’t put anything past them. They are, after all, the Hawks.

Utah Jazz 77, New Orleans Hornets 66: Chris Paul had four points and nine assists on 2-11 shooting. Peja led all Hornets players with 15 points. The Hornets shot 36 percent from the field, and only 21 perecent from beyond the arch. With the loss, the Hornets still hold the best record in the West, and can avoid having to play Dallas in the first round, which, I assure you, will give San Antonio serious problems should they meet then.

Boston Celtics 107, Milwaukee Bucks 104: Go, Boston, go. Next up for the Celtics: Chewing through the Hawks in Round 1 of the playoffs like they’re some kind of super buzzsaw.

Phoenix Suns 127, Memphis Grizzlies 113: The Suns are starting to win with Shaq, and like the ongoing theme in the West, are going to make the third ranked team seriously mad that they’ll have to play these guys in Round 1. If you’re the No. 1 seed, you play Denver. No. 2 seed, you play Dallas. No. 3 seed, you play Phoenix. Compare that to out East, where the No. 1 seed gets Atlanta, the No. 2 seed gets Toronto, and the No. 3 seed gets Philadelphia. The question of “Who’s more battle tested?” when they get to the Finals won’t be a hard one to answer.

Sacramento Kings 132, Golden State Warriors 140: Nelly’s still alive, and so are his Warriors. The game didn’t feature a whole ton of fundamental defense, but it did feature a lot of up-and-down game with multiple guys scoring multiple points. Both teams featured six players in double digits, led by Baron Davis’ 33 points. Golden State is tied with Denver, but the Nuggets hold the tie-breaker.

Denver Nuggets 117, LA Clippers 99: Keeping pace, Denver. Keeping pace.