Hey, Hey, LBJ! (How many teammates did you carry today?)

Sports Nuts News is back after a break:

• A Little Help? Why is the blogosphere down on LeBron for his performance in the Celtics series? Game Seven was one of the best playoff games I've seen in years, and I still think LeBron outmanned Pierce. LBJ scores 45—with the next highest scorer at 15 and no one else on the team even at double digits—and it's LeBron's fault the Cavs are eliminated? There's no question LeBron James is among the elite's elite. Time for Cleveland to actually build a team around him.

• Just Plain Stankee: As much as I hate the Yankees (think Herman Goering at a seder) and as much as I reveled in watching the Mets spank them twice during the season's first Subway Series this weekend (picture a puppy rolling around on the floor with a giant steak bone in his mouth), against the Yankees' two best starters no less, I'm not going to make fun of Jason Giambi's golden thong. It's just too easy. Nor will I mention that the highest paid team in baseball is rock solid in last place. It's too early yet. Nope. Not gonna do it.

THIS JUST IN.... STEINBRENNER ORDERS PLATINUM NIPPLE RINGS FOR ENTIRE TEAM!!!!!! (Sorry. I had to.)

• Go to the Tape: I've resisted the idea of bringing the instant replay to baseball, primarily because adding more time to a game that has no clock is like forcing people in line at the DMV to listen to Michael Bolton while they wait. (Think, guys, think! How can we make an already interminable process even more excruciating? I know! Let's watch the same play another 62 times!) However, watching Carlos Delgado get robbed of a clear home run in the aforementioned Subway Series was tough to take. Although it didn't affect the outcome, had this been a playoff or World Series game, it would have been uncomfortable for all baseball fans to live with.

The latest Sports Nuts design...

I Don't Like to Brag

Time once again to remind our readers how great Sports Nuts News is...

• predicted the Giants Super Bowl victory
• two weeks after SNN posted the headline "Who's the Manning?" Sports Illustrated answered with a cover headline, "Eli's the Manning" (Okay, maybe not the cleverest of headers but if the world's leading sports publication can use it, it's nice to think that they stole it from us.)
• predicted the Rangers to win in five in the NHL playoffs first round
• missed the predicted date of Bye-siah Thomas' firing by only 24 hours

Not bad for three months' work.

Mixed Nuts:

• Winner of this month's Golden Duh Award: ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who said, "If you think the firing of Isiah Thomas will solve all the Knicks' problems, think again." Gee, you mean a new coach won't get us into the 2009 finals despite five years of bad contracts, bad management, bad coaching, bad karma, and bad blood? Thanks, Carnac.

• Nice to see Danica win her first—a true landmark for women in racing—but I've yet to see a news outlet fail to note that the reason for her victory was her pit crew's judicious fuel strategy. She may have had something to do with it, too, guys.

• Note to Maaaaaarrrrrtttttyyyy Brodeur: Good luck getting Steve Avery out of your head this summer. Might as well invite him over to dinner every night. He's going to be there anyway.

• NBA playoff predictions:
- West/Round 1: Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Jazz
- East/Round 1: Celts, Cavs, Magic, Pistons

Bye-siah

Apologies if Sports Nuts News is spending inordinate amounts of time praying for the unemployment of Isiah Thomas. I've been trying to put the season behind me but then, this quote Wednesday from new Knicks president Donnie Walsh:

"Yeah, I would say that we're going to go through the season because there's only four games left, and I'm going to use this period to try to take a look at the whole situation so I'm in a position to make whatever decision is going to be made — if there are any."

IF there are any?

The only decision for Knicks fans is whether to fire Isiah Thomas at the final buzzer of the season-ending game in Indiana on Wednesday or whether to wait until the press conference Thursday morning. Of course Walsh, being a knowledgeable executive and a decent person, will probably give Isiah time to contemplate the season and to explain where things went wrong. And Isiah, being a conceited and self-absorbed ostrich will likely have a number of excuses, like Starbury's inexcusable behavior, that pesky little multi-million-dollar sexual harassment suit, or how hard it is to coach in New York. Walsh can save himself some time and just read this New York magazine article, appropriately titled, "Absolutely, Positively the Worst Team in the History of Professional Sports."

To make matters worse, with a three-game winning streak in recent days the Knicks have evaded the possibility of losing a franchise-record 60 games, which is Coach Thomas's crowning achievement this season, but, with each win, they take themselves further from the top draft position in the lottery. So if we win, we lose, and if we lose.... wait. I did that bit on March 23.

Mixed Nuts:

• If Tiger wins at Augusta this weekend I suggest he just toss his hat in the ring to become the first professional golfer to win the Democratic nomination for president. What else is left? Really.

• Prediction: That New Jersey Devils machine is done, stuck in the mud, somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Rangers in five.

• Gotta love the first couple of weeks of baseball season. At this writing, the Florida Marlins, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Kansas City Royals are all in first place. There's three teams wishing the season could end on April 30.