Golden State at Toronto

Only seven games tonight my
friends, pretty light for a Friday, and three of the batch really intrigue
me.

Golden State played a hell of a game on Wednesday, and
though they lost their home opener to New
Orleans, the squad’s sense of chemistry was pretty
apparent. After a long flight, the Warriors will be in Toronto tonight, taking one of the more
impressive teams of the
real opening night.

Toronto gives off the scent
of a running team, but while they do like to push the ball on rare occasion,
this is just a cruelly-efficient slow-down offensive club in the Detroit (on offense, mind
you) mode. They work the ball around, spread the floor, leave you desperately
trying to close out, and put up high percentage shatz.

(12 Raptor fans will enjoy that last "word.")

Also, we’re still working with free League Pass.
So turn off the light on your front porch, and do something constructive for
once. Sit, and watch basketball.

ESPN has a pair of good ones, too. The Bulls are in Boston, 11 years
to the night of this depressing debacle, and they’re going to be tested.
Big analysis there.

Chicago
is actually first in the NBA in offensive efficiency after one game, and that’s
… that’s not going to happen again. Save that page.

Later tonight, two nationally televised losers will re-take
the national stage, as a Greg Oden-less Blazer squad takes on a Manu
Ginobili-less Spurs team. I honestly think an Oden-less Blazer outfit (there’s
a Halloween costume for you, go as "an Oden-less
Blazer outfit") could give the Spurs a good run. Especially if Tim Duncan
has to save his Skittles for the offensive end.

Enjoy the weekend, litter the comments page with your
thoughts on tonight’s action, and steel yourself for the NBA season beginning
in earnest next week.

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I can’t think of a better way to kick off the Halloween weekend than by sharing this quirky video of Suns point guard Steve Nash trying to encourage some VitaminWater employees to step their crystalline fructose beverage game up. David Brent would be proud.

With no disrespect to Bosh, Baron, Dwight, Shaq, Oden, LeBron, Mike James or Sheed, when it comes to NBA funny, Steve Nash still holds the crown. Man, I wish I looked like him. Oh well.

(Thanks to TBJ’er Jeff for the link.)

UPDATE: Just stumbled upon two more of these VitaminWater viral flicks. The "Zoolander Nash" one is particularly funny/creepy. Check ‘em out after the jump.

And finally, Nash shows us how he trains during the summer. Don’t let the Suns see this one.

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Our team’s first Euroleague game was against Barcelona. That would be the same Barcelona that played the Lakers and the Clippers just a coupe of days before they played us. You would think that they would be a little jet-lagged, tired, unmotivated, etc., right? If you assumed that, you would be wrong. They beat us by 30 points. Wowzers.

After that game, it was time to put it all behind us and travel to PAU for our French league game. The Euroleague has big, tall players, and many players with a diverse skill set. The French League has smaller, jump-shot-happier players. Our team was clearly happy to see a French league opponent again. We went in there and beat PAU by 30. That’s just how basketball is sometimes. On Thursday we get killed, then on Sunday we do the killing.

The thing about the PAU game was that we actually traveled the day of the game and returned the same day. In professional basketball that’s very rare because usually the visiting team will arrive the night before and most times leave the day after the game. Our one day trip involved waking up at 7am, boarding a plane that could have been purchased at "Toys R Us," having a late shoot-around, staying at a hotel for 3 hours, playing a game, then boarding the same plane back home. I just happened to have my video camera rolling for the whole thing. Check it out.

Also, I’ve started Twitter-ing. It seems to be the latest craze. I will basically update it all the time so you should check it out at twitter.com/boomtho.

Rod Benson
is a Cal grad and former D-Leaguer who plays for SLUC Nancy, the reigning French league champion. When he’s
not busy Twitter-ing, he blogs one or two times a
week on Ball Don’t Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

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A look around the league and the web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SLAM. E-mail sleuth Lang Whitaker finds out the inspiration behind Drew Gooden’s latest look.
PF: FirstCuts. Five things to know about Wednesday night’s Jay-Z/LeBron concert for Obama.
SF: Curse The Thunder. "May the Thunder never win an NBA title …" Ouch. If you shall, Sonic fans.
SG: ESPN. A solid interview with Patrick Mills, St. Mary’s point guard and one of Australia’s finest.
PG: Pistons Nation Blog. Let’s get those Pistons back in some ol’ Bad Boys jerseys, shall we?
6th: Star Tribune. Some woman named Connie tours the home of Wolves forward Al Jefferson.
7th: D.C. Sports Bog. Watch as DeShawn Stevenson lands a sponsorship deal with Matchbox pizza.
8th: Sacramento Bee. Should the Kings have made a play for Shaun Livingston?
9th: Desert News, via TB. The Jazz finally got their hands on some glowsticks and Alan Parsons Project.
10th: Boston Globe, via Celtics Blog. Is Paul Pierce now the 5th starter on an All Time Celtics team?

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Seeing as today is Halloween, I thought that our Create-a-Caption should be the most scary, the most frightening photo of the bunch. A photo that will strike fear in the hearts of small children and cause nightmares for years to come. A photo straight from the bowels hell! MUAHAHAHAHA—  I couldn’t find one.

So hey, here’s a Getty pic of Milwaukee Bucks mascot Bango serving food at the St. Benedict the Moor Community Meal Program. What a nice guy. Best caption wins some razor blade-laced Smarties. Good luck, goblins.

After the jump, Kobe and Baron share L.A. stories.

Winner, Brett:
Kobe: "You’re just supposed to use the Clippers for leverage, you’re not supposed to actually sign with them!"
Baron: "I knew something didn’t seem right."

Runner-up, Captain Flitzy:
"Jessica Alba for Jim Goldstein and Penny Marshall? Nice trade, did Chris Wallace help you with that one?"

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