"The 41 Point Fashion Statement"

D. Wade rockin' the pink pants to put away the Pacers in Game 6 

Under normal circumstances if a brother walks into a room with pink pants on and shoes to match you’ll begin to question his manhood just little. However, when it’s D. Wade you gotta give him a straight up pass, especially after he put up 41 points to close out the Indiana Pacers 105-93 in Game 6 on their home court. My man walked into the press conference last night looking like Boy George but nobody said a word. Well, I did under my breath!

 If you can ball like that and pull Gabrielle Union you can wear whatever you wanna wear bruh! Prince has been doin' it for years! He could have walked in the joint with a thong, high heels and a fresh bikini wax and nobody would have blinked! When you puttin' it down like he is, you get a ghetto pass to all of the roughest joints in every ghetto in America.

 He could have stepped into the Elbow Room on 25th Ave in the heart of G.I.(Gary, In.) with them joints on and boyz would have given him props last night. I know some straight up gangstra's that would have stood in line to shake his hand and polish his shoes after putting up 41 in the playoffs on the road. 

When Bosh went out in Game 1 all of the Pacer fans started to believe that they had a chance to beat these boyz. As I listened to the chatter get to a fever pitch after the Pacers went up 2-1 in the series I’d had enough. Dude, they have probably the two best players in the world bruh. You can’t beat these guys in a 7 game series. The one thing that is for certain in the NBA Playoffs is that the BEST TEAM will always win. This ain’t college basketball bruh! 

You’re not going to see Butler in the Finals or should I say Denver or the Clippers upset somebody and play for the title. It’s the NBA and it’s where they play real basketball. At some point you knew that both Wade and LeBron were going to turn it on and prove to folks why they are considered probably the best players in the world and why they make all of that bread. 

Over the course of three games LeBron has scored 98 points, picked off 34 rebounds and handed out 24 assists. Whereas, Wade has put up 99 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and gave out 11 assists. Who does that bruh? Now I can still hear all of the haters in the background throwing rocks at those stats! Are you kidding? 

 I do have to give my man Danny Granger mad props for holdin' it down like a real G last night. I saw his ankle in the locker room before the game and it was the size of an apple bruh. However, he told me that he would play no doubt about it and that he did. He ended with 15 points and chased LeBron around all night. Whenever you can go heads up and hold the best player in the world to 28 points on a bad ankle you get TALL respect from me. He showed the heart of a lion and played like a true leader. 

It was crazy last night when the final seconds were winding down and the reality began to set in on Pacers fans. Many were ready to fight Heat fans in the building. All I heard were guys telling this Heat fan “OKC, OKC, OKC” as they were exiting the arena. That’s a straight up chump move. You just got beat so take it like a G.  Oklahoma City has nothing to do with this series. By the way the Thunder still has their hands full with San Antonio to even get to the Finals. 

Now the Heat get’s to chill out until Monday and wait to see who comes out of the Boston/Philly series. Don’t trip if you see D. Wade rockin’ the pink pants on South Beach or worse this weekend because he’s earned it bruh! 

Holla At Ya Boy! 
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"The Original Studio Gangsta"

"If I hear anything else from my bench! I coming over to your bench bruh!"

In 1987, NWA,  a rap group that was raw as a baby's butt with diaper rash took the music scene by storm. They basically told the untold story of ghetto gangsta life that few in suburban America ever knew existed. It was an opportunity to step into the world of gang bangin', drug dealing and the attitude that goes along with it without having to put themselves in any danger. Before that, rap music was about story telling, battling on the mic and throwing block parties. Of course Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five had released the ultimate tale of ghetto life in the powerfully strong joint entitled " The Message" in '83.  However, because of the success of the concept of gangsta rap a new phenomenon was born, "The studio gangsta!"

This was a cat that really wasn't a gangsta at all but he told the stories of a gangster that had everybody in the streets fooled and the rest of world the begging for more. He was able to make a fortune off of the concept of gangsta living because people became fascinated by it. Tupac Shakur was probably the most famous of them all. People hung on his every word but in reality he wasn't even close to being a gangsta. He knew a lot of them and even ran with some notorious killa's. However, just because you're the man sitting next to the man sitting next to the man doesn't make you a gangsta bruh. 

Now we've got Juwan Howard trying to be the O. G. Bobby Johnson of the NBA! On Sunday, before Game 4 of the Heat's 101-93 win over the Pacers. Howard came over to the Pacers side of the court as the guys were shooting around and confronted Pacers rookie guard Lance Stephenson about the choke sign that he made to LeBron after he missed free throws during Game 3. The two players had to be separated by Pacers guard AJ Price before it escalated. Now on Saturday Howard showed up at the Pacers locker room looking for Stephenson.

First of all, why are these cats even warming up? Let me explain to you just how much of a non-factor these guys are to this series. The equipment managers aren't even packing these guys jocks bruh! They're out there in their underwear (free ballin') under their uniforms! Juwan has the best seat in the house and was trying to sell that joint on StubHub for $20G's before the game. It comes with complete access to the locker room and all timeout strategy look-ins as well as all of the Gatorade you can drink. Bonus: you get to talk to LeBron and D Wade when they come off of the floor. As an extra incentive he'll throw in a couple of groupies at no additional charge.

C'mon bruh! Where you from? Boyz have been talking trash since the beginning of time! Juwan is from the south side Chicago and I know he's not trying to catch feelings because some young cat is talking trash from the bench! Are you serious? You're upset because he called your boy out? Now I realize that these two have been beefin' for months dating back to March 26 when they got into it and Howard was ejected from the game after getting into Stephenson's face after several physical altercations during play. 

Juwan (39) is 18 years older than Stephenson and he's trippin' like that? First of all, he's too old to even care that a boy is talking trash from the bench. Secondly, he's darn near old enough to be his dad and lastly he looks like a fool chasing him around the building trying to get his lick back. If your boy is cool with him talking then you should be too. That's like the old timer at work that's been around way too long that's milking the company dry of a pay check, getting into a fight with the file clerk over staples. Neither one of these dudes are playing and they're woofin'? That's like the girlfriend's homegirl wrestling with the boyfriend's homeboy over an argument that the couple had last week and they're over it at this point. 

Juwan and his agent have been gangsta's for years because they've been robbing teams of massive amounts of money since his days in Washington. Remember when as a rookie he signed a 12 year $58 million deal but never really earned it? That's $58 million in '94 bruh! He may as well be sitting on the Heat bench with a ski mask on for all of the money he's taken from teams over the years. Queen Latifah and her girls should have allowed him to consult them before filming "Set It Off" because ole Juwan would have told them how to get away with all of that bread instead of getting down the street only to die with it.

I personally told Lance in the locker room before the game that the "Brotherhood" didn't except his apology because he had nothing to apologize for. He's playing the game the way it's meant to be played! That's with passion and a cat on the sideline talking trash. It's not a game unless there is some random dude on the sideline frustrating the "Man!" We would even do that playing in the cages over in the projects as a kid. It's not a game until somebody gets mad enough to fight bruh. So I had told Lance to keep up the good work regardless of what these politically correct new school cats tell him. If he keeps it up Juwan is going to be the O.G. that some young cat will establish his rep off of. One of these young boyz in the league is gonna toss his salad if he keeps looking for dinner! In the famous words of my cousin Lovell & all of his boyz, "He's gonna get tapped up out here trying to be tuff!"  Trust me on that bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"Sleepwalking"

"You gone wake up now bruh? I can't do this alone!"

Sleepwalking is also known as Somnambulism which belongs to the Parasomnia family. They live down the street from the Jackson's and right across the street from Mrs Ruthie Mae nem. I heard that one of them married a Wade some years ago and their grand baby's name is Dwayne! He comes from a long line of Parasomnia's from Robbins, Illinois just few blocks south of Chicago. Let me tell you bruh, he wore the family shield proud last night in Indiana. I'm just sayin'!

Dwayne Wade looked like a zombie all night long as the Miami Heat got blasted, carjacked and assaulted in downtown Indianapolis Thurday night by the new bully on the block called the Indiana Pacers 94-75, a bunch of guys from around the way. You know how some local guy gives you directions but you really didn't trust him  so you tried to find the joint on your own? Unfortunately for you, you took a wrong turn and ended up in Haughville on the west side.

 That's what the Heat did last night when they showed up at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It should have been cool because the fellas that were in the ride were completely capable of protecting themselves but the only two cats that got out to fight were LeBron James with 22 points and Mario Chalmers who chipped in 25 points. The rest of the team was shell shocked including D. Wade! Ole boy was in a trance from the word go. He was stumbling around like someone had slipped him a mickey before the game. I keep telling these cats to cover your drinks at the bar dawg or always take keep it with you, but they won't listen.

 Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf made Roy Hibbert look like Kareem in his prime! He finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds. He was killing them in the paint bruh! George Hill gave the Pacers 20 and Granger bought 17 to the table as the Pacers did an excellent job of moving the ball and spreading the floor.

Don't get it twisted, the Pacers came to play and they played what Frank Vogel likes to call "Smash Mouth" basketball. All season he's been saying that he wants to see them play "Our Game" and they definitely did it at the Heat's expense on Thursday night. They were in complete control from the opening tip. The Pacers went on the 7-0 run to start the game and never looked back.

Real talk, if Chalmers doesn't play out of his mind the Heat get blasted by 40 bruh! I mean they were stripping boyz of all jewelry, emptying pockets and dog walking these cats in plain view. More than 20,000 people interviewed say they saw it live but refused to testify. The police knocked on doors all night looking for just one witness to help them make an arrest but came up empty. No one has or will be charged in the assault because the locals warned them that this could happen if you took a wrong turn. However, the arrogance of the driver not listening cost his team a beat down.

It's like the story of the gang members getting lost in the wrong neighborhood and the alpha male driving won't listen to his boyz and refuses to turn around.  He keeps driving until the freaking car breaks down and everybody in the ride has on the wrong color! So at this point they're out maned and by the time the police cared about showing up no one can recognize any of them. They're using dental records to identify those found on the scene.

The Heat got mauled and D. Wade slept right through it or should I say disappeared on his partners. I know that the national media will try to blame this one on LeBron too but "Ya Boy" saw it up close and personal bruh. D. Wade was the cat that was talking a 100 worth of noise sitting in the front seat when they pulled into the hood until the ride broke down. As soon as the joint stopped he bailed out and sprinted into the darkness leaving the fella's to fight without him.

The Crazy thing is, when Spoelstra called him out on it he tried to get tough with him on the bench. If you're so bad why are you out there playing like somebody just stole your bike or better yet, like somebody took your girl? He may as well have had on a Pacers jersey and dressed in their locker room bruh. He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn or water if he fell out of a boat. My ole man would always say, "He couldn't hit an elephant in the butt with a bass fiddle!" He committed turnover after turnover, kept stepping out of bounds and just flat out played no defense. I know when they get back to Miami he's gonna have to show his ghetto pass and I don't think too many boyz will approve it at this point. He may have to go back through hood survival training before he gets reinstated bruh!

Now I can't let the "Chosen One" off that easy bruh! If you're the "King" then you've got to start checking boyz for not playing up to par and that includes your boy D. Wade too. Hey, the Black Mamba or Air Jordan would have been all up in cats grills by the end of the 3rd quarter. If boyz couldn't shake it off then those two would have been gunning the rest of the way. If they were going to lose the joint then they were going to go out shooting and LeBron didn't do that!

Props again to Indiana for doing what they've been doing all season long, playing Smash Mouth basketball. I'll even admit, even with Bosh out I thought the Heat had enough talent to still win this series. But after watching that violent assault the Heat are in serious trouble bruh. They may not win another game with cats playing like that. If only two guys are going to show up they may as well just throw in the towel now and let the Pacers chill and wait for possibly Boston. Last night was a Pacers Production brought to you by the makers of Wood Shed Beatings and Blow Out Hair Gel!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"The Porch Screamer!"

The Pacers hold off the Heat in Game 2

When you were growing up there was always a kid that would talk trash like he wanted to fight but would never put his book bag down until he got to his front door? He would talk all the way home and as soon as his mom answered the door he'd throw his things down, get loud and say, "Come on right now!" He was notorious for getting into his folk's car and hollering out of the window as they were driving off. The guy really didn't want to fight but he only acted like it when there was a crowd or his mom was standing nearby to protect him!

As soon as the Pacers defeated the Heat in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-final 78-75 boyz came out the wood work talkin' trash and jumpin' on the bandwagon. The emergency room was full last night from fake Pacers fans pulling hamstrings and breaking ankles for trying to get on the bandwagon that's been moving at warped speed all season long. They had boyz all out in the hallway putting casts on because it was so crowded. If you didn't know any better you would have thought that it was a hot summer night in the ghetto and gun shot victims were rolling in.

 Now I guess by now you know that LeBron is my guy and I've been riding hard for him to do well because so many people unfairly hate on him. It's completely unfair to compare him to guys like Jordan when it comes to titles at this point in his career because his 1st 7 years in the league were in Cleveland. Cleveland bruh! Nobody wins in Cleveland!  So obviously my Twitter account just about exploded when the Pacers pulled off the victory.

Know let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I'm cool with folks enjoying the win last night because it was an exciting game to watch and it makes the series that much more interesting. Not only that, I'm covering Game 3 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse so I'm excited about the series coming home to Indy. The Super Bowl in February and now the NBA Playoffs. I couldn't ask for any more.

However, what I want to see is all of those folks that were at the hospital last night buy tickets to the game and quit frontin'.  As good a team as the Pacers have they are the 2nd worse team in the league in attendance. C'mon bruh! If your gonna talk trash spend money at the same time. Because the only other times the Fieldhouse has been sold out this year is when the HEAT come to town! I know because I'm there every night.

 It's like the Beatles are in town when they show up bruh. FULLY grown men in LeBron jerseys trying to get autographs all over the building and ole boy Cole is from Ohio somewhere and his whole freaking home town shows up on 5 chartered buses and buys up an entire section by themselves. It's shameful the amount of support they get in Indiana when the Pacers have a very good team.

I'm cool with boyz hollerin' at me because that's my motto! Understand this though, it's the NBA Playoffs and the best team always wins the best of 7 series. One win doesn't win the series bruh! So before you start screamin' on the porch you need to wait until your mom comes home before you take a beat down and no one is there to pull the cat up off of you. There are still potentially 5 games left to play in this series and those 3 home games the Pacers have now aren't really home games. I'm just sayin'!

The Heat can't make excuses that Bosh wasn't there because D. Wade missed a layup and LeBron blew two free throws down the stretch. So I don't want to hear that Bosh's absence hurt them. They still have enough in the talent in the tank to win this series. Spoelstra has to be smart with LeBron's minutes because he's playing 40 plus and that will make a difference as the series moves on. Excuse? No, because they know that today! Fix it and move on! Boyz on that bench gotta step up!

I give David West mad props last night for telling his teammates to get off of the floor after the win. He was telling them that this ain't nothing, it's only one game. They began to celebrate like they had won the series or even the title. That's a bad sign bruh! That tells anybody that's been around sports for more that 10 minutes that the Pacers were just happy to win ONE game. The young boys on that team forgot that they have to win 3 more of those joints. West understood that and the veteran acted like it.  Congrats to the Pacers for playing like they're capable of playing and getting a big win on the road.

One last thing, if you are a Bulls fan you're not allowed to participate in any more trash talk because your license has been revoked until November bruh. We've heard enough foolishness from you this year. You should be at the crib licking your wounds trying to get out of the Matrix.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport