Cavs' Davis, Celtics need to shape up

The NBA has been overshadowed this past week by that league of guys who weren't good enough to go pro straight out of high school and had SAT scores over 800 -- college hoops. So if March Madness consumed you, and you were focused on whether IUPUI could hang within 50 of Kentucky or how Alabama possibly got into the tournament instead of Boston College, here's what you might have missed in the pro game.

Ricky Davis pulling the most selfish NBA stunt since... well, nevermind, there are a lot of selfish stunts in the NBA. But this one was pretty stupid. In a 122-95 win over the Utah Jazz, Davis was one rebound shy of a triple double in the waning seconds of the game. So he intentionally shot, and missed, at the wrong basket in order to grab the rebound.

This is, mind you, the same Ricky Davis who was suspended twice this season by his team for detrimental conduct. Once, it was for making fun of teammate Tyrone Hill's looks in a huddle. No joke. Yes, it's funny, and yes, it's true -- Hill is the only player who can give Sam "E.T." Cassell a run for his money for Ugliest Player in the League.

But this is the NBA. Save the jokes for the locker room after a win. Don't joke during a timeout when you're down by 20 (which the Cleveland Cavaliers usually are) and your team's record is 8-764 (actually 13-56, which really isn't that much better).

The Boston Celtics' performance in their last six games can best be summed up as follows: an affront to the game of basketball. From three point range, the Celtics shot 9/28 in a 90-75 trouncing at the hands of the New Jersey Nets, 3/20 against the Detroit Pistons, 1/11 in another drubbing by the Nets, 5/24 in an embarrassing 30 point loss to the Indiana Pacers, and 9/28 while falling to the Los Angeles Lakers. And as if this wasn't already bad enough, the Celtics then pulled off the unthinkable: a loss to the Denver Nuggets. Denver came into the game on a 4-26 tear over their last 30 games, but the Celtics helped out by shooting 6-23 from downtown.

At no point in time during the first game against the Nets did the team start to push the tempo, go aggressively towards the bucket, or develop a post-up game. They just kept standing around and jacking up shots. I mean, I know most of the players probably didn't have to go to classes in college; but how dumb can they be? Frankly, I can't remember the last time I was so angered watching an NBA game (although I was watching during a four hour snow delay at Logan International Airport, which couldn't have helped my mood).

And it wasn't just the shooting that was bad. Boston lacked passion and intensity on defense. At one point during the Pacers debacle, the TNT analysts suggested that perhaps the team should send Cedric Maxwell and Tommy Heinsohn into the game. For the non-NBA fans, Maxwell last played in 1985; Heinsohn retired in 1965 and is almost 70.

Despite this, it didn't seem like a bad idea given the way the team was playing. Somewhere, James Naismith is turning over in his grave, and Larry Bird is wondering what in the name of Len Bias has happened to the Celtics. Speaking of #1 draft picks...

The NBA Hall of Fame has already asked for Lebron James' high school jersey before he has played a single game in the L! Really, how big can the hype get? After this year, when the fans voted Yao Ming as an All-Star game starter over an obviously more deserving Shaquille O'Neal, is there any doubt that LeBron will be voted to the team next season, regardless of his stats?

The fans will pick who they want to see play; and due to the media hype and marketing extravaganza that consumes this country, that no longer has any relevance to how worthy that player is of really being in the game. Vince Carter was voted in this year after missing 34 games due to injury and sucking when he was healthy. And as for Antoine Walker getting selected to the three point competition, well, I'm convinced David Stern just wanted a good laugh.