Lord Help Me. I Can't Get Enough JR Smith!

If you read this blog back in its heyday when I posted more than once a month, you know of my fondness for JR Smith. I mean the boy had Spongebob slippers that were 5 sizes too small for him, he bought his first house in New Orleans only to be kicked out of the master bedroom by his parents, and he read Harold and the Purple Crayon. How could you not love him? (Don't answer that, Byron Scott.) He was the living embodiment of the term 'childlike insouciance.'

Now 5 years later, for better or for worse, he still is. Note the grandstanding in the pictures above. Then, note the score and the time. Classic JR. He really can't help himself. Just look at his face in the picture on the right! That was right after he made a reverse dunk. Some people thought he was gloating over his old coach Bryon Scott, but he's actually signaling to someone on his own bench -- George Karl maybe? Is it mature? Hell no. Is it kind of an asshole thing to do? For sure. Is it totally and 100% JR? Absolutely! And he's loving every second of it.

Herein lies the difference between JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony. When JR's out there swaggering and acting a fool in the 4th, that's really JR just being JR. He's not going to apologize for himself...rather George Karl will be out there crying, "We're humble!" til he's all red in the face. (George Karl does not get blue in the face. Trust me, it gets red.) Melo, on the other hand...he's supposed to be top dog. In his postgame tonight, he even said,

"It is my house. What do you want me to say? Chauncey moved in with me."

As top dog, the dog should wag the tail, meaning the team should take on the characteristics of their supposed leader. In Melo's case, the tail wags the dog. Right after JR started jacking 3s and made that reverse dunk, guess who wanted to take part in the fun and started shooting 3s himself. Mr. Chauncey-moved-in-with-me. If you're gonna walk the walk (strut the swagger?), have the balls to back it up. But Melo, in classic one punch and run away/the weed was in my bag but it's not mine Melo form, doesn't want to be seen as a bad guy. He's tough, mind you. See the tatts? Remember the cornrows? Stop snitchin? He's real, damnit! But don't worry, marketers. He's just as likable as Lebron or DWade, and he respects the Hornets. Umm, no you don't. Your four shots with a huge smile on your face with less than 5 minutes left and a 20 point lead show you don't. How many shots did Chauncey take during that same time? Zero. The thing is, I don't give a shit about that. If you want to run up the score and the other team isn't stopping you, go right ahead. But don't fucking apologize or give some lame ass, halfhearted excuse afterward. It's fake and insulting and not JR.

Basically, JR Smith > Carmelo Anthony.

Chauncey Billups on JR in his postgame:

"JR's definitely a work in progress. He's young. He has the ability to be a perennial All Star. He's our 6th starter and he plays with a starter's swagger."

Upon Further Review

Photo Source: AP Photo

NFL's Finest

Another playoff series. Another epic Dallas collapse. If the Mavs don't step up this year, the Dallas fanbase may soon rival Philly's in anger and frustration.

While I feel for the Dallas faithful (though not so much for T.O. or Romo), I'm thrilled by this weekend's results. All of my picks, even the ones I didn't have much okay, any stock in (San Diego), came through. I even stopped reading my book for 2 agonizing days because I knew once I picked it up, I wouldn't be able to put it down until it was done, thus not getting any sleep and being exhausted for the games. The 10am Sunday start time is bad enough. Thank God for the hour of DVR playback or I would have missed the start of the Chargers-Colts game.

On a sidenote, can I just say how glad I am to be back in the States? That means a lot coming from me because I love to travel and I always thought I'd move abroad after college and never look back. Well, I did move abroad and as wonderful an experience as it was, I ended up looking back and coming back. I was bitching and moaning for awhile there after I came back, but I can finally wholeheartedly say there's no place like home. This time last year, I was on my cell with my cousin at 3am Paris time as she held the phone up to her TV for the last 20 minutes of the Pats-Chargers game. 20 minutes at I don't even remember how many euros per minute. At least the Pats won that game though. The following week when they lost at Indy...Tom Brady and Co. owe me money for that call. And, like Gisele, I would like to be paid in euros.

Back to the games. I love how the Pats and Packers are sitting pretty and relatively unscathed as the Chargers and Giants played their minds and bodies out. And the damage the two victorious road teams left in their wake: a sobbing T.O., a despondent Romo, a possibly out-of-a-job Phillips, a moded Tiki.

T.O.'s really upset because he couldn't find his lip gloss before the interview.

Peyton doesn't seem as hard-pressed anymore - in the postgame, I mean. He's still as annoyingly prepared and competitive as ever on the field, but a loss like this doesn't seem like it's going to gnaw at him as much. No more Dan Marino comparisons for him. Now he's being compared to Little Brother. I liked Eli's response when some reporter asked if it felt good to win when Peyton lost. Eli just looked at him in disgust and said, "Next question."

At the request of my cousin - the same one who held the phone up to the TV on countless occasions - NBA's Finest will be NFL heavy for the next 3 weeks. Actually, she wants it to be NFL heavy all the time because "then [she] would read it more." Sigh. I guess the NBA really isn't what it once was. And truth be told, the potential Packers-Patriots matchup is too exciting to ignore. So welcome to NBA and NFL's Finest!

Photo Source: Getty Images, AP Photo