Larry Brown Sports

Groin shots seemed to be all the rage in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

In the first quarter, Shane Battier kneed Pacers center Roy Hibbert in the manly region on a drive to the hoop. Then with about three minutes left in the game, Heat guard Norris Cole was trying to get around David West and decide to throw a little cheap shot at the forward’s groin.

As TNT’s Steve Kerr joked, Cole caught West in the “midsection,” which is their euphemism for groin. Cole was called for an offensive foul on the play.

As you can see, Cole did not miss the mark:

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Who was that guy, the old Tiger Woods? Tiger is the only person I have seen with the ability to walk past a young fan without realizing they exist the way David West did on Thursday night. Sure, Tiger slaps a few hands and signs a couple autographs here and there now, but that’s because he’s repairing his image. As you can see from the video above, West went Tiger on some young Pacers fans during halftime of Indiana’s Game 6 loss to Miami.

With the Pacers clinging to a two-point lead at the half and their season on the line, perhaps West was simply just too focused to hand out high-fives. Danny Granger had no problem with it, but everyone handles pressure differently. At the end of the day it could have been worse – right Mark McGrath?

H/T Ball Don’t Lie

Pacers forward David West accidentally put Cleveland Cavaliers mascot “Moondog” in the hospital with a playful pregame punch Wednesday night.

“He jumped at me, and I thought we were playing around. Next thing I know he went down,” West said after the game. “It was definitely an accident.”

“I felt terrible about that. I really do,” West said. “We were just having fun before the game, just messing around. I really hope he’s OK. Make sure he knows I’m sorry.”

The mascot suffered an eye injury but was later released from the hospital. As the Cavaliers said, there’s no word on Moondog’s status for Sunday’s home game against the Magic.

Chest bump to The Basketball Jones for the video

Apparently the decision David West made to choose the Pacers over the Celtics really rubbed Ray Allen the wrong way.  For a while, it appeared that Danny Ainge had a deal in place that would send Jermaine O’Neal back to the Pacers for David West by way of a sign-and-trade.  The deal fell apart and West chose to sign with Indiana for two years, $20 million rather than the Celtics for three years, $29 million.  The normally soft-spoken Allen thinks West made a big mistake.

“I’m shocked,” Allen said according to ESPNBoston.com when asked about West signing with Indy.. “I don’t understand it. Once it got down to the end, I think his ego kicked back in. He wanted the dollars. I guess it comes down to ‘What is a championship worth to you?’ Think of all the guys who have made $20 million and could be considered one of the best ever, but they get chided because they never won. We [the Big Three] all had to do less when we won. We’re still taking less to make it work. But it’s worth it. No one can ever say to KG, Paul or me, ‘You guys never got your ring.’”

Allen said he was originally told that West was going to come to the Celtics for less money and that he and Allen would get along well, because they are both “cognitive” type players.  Now, he is almost certainly left frustrated by Boston’s lack of depth.

Obviously West’s decision really irritated Allen, because the comments he made were completely out of character.  Everyone has their own person reasons for choosing a new team, and it’s possible Allen is bitter since he knows time is running out for the Celtics.  Perhaps West knew that as well and had no interest in becoming part of a rebuilding project.