Metta World Peace Says Golden State Warriors a ‘Pinky Toe Away’ from Contending

Posted by on May 17, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Metta World Peace chimed in on the Golden State Warriors‘ impressive playoff run as only he could, mixing metaphors, incorporating a language that only he may be able to understand and, beneath it all, hitting on a kernel of truth.

After the Dubs fell to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6, MWP hit Twitter with a pair of gems. First, he gave his Pacific Division rivals a healthy endorsement, highlighting just how near Golden State might be to reaching the next level in its development.

Then, things got a little weirder.

 

World Peace clearly watched the game, as both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry missed a handful of pretty open looks when the Warriors had a shot to pull ahead in the fourth quarter. But he seems to have coined a new nickname for Thompson, renamed the Spurs after their coach and gotten a little too preoccupied with a fast food chain.

On the whole, though, this is what we’ve come to expect from MWP’s social media dabblings.

And if we sift through the weirdness, we see that World Peace’s opinion is being echoed by plenty of other sources.

Perhaps most importantly, the Warriors’ fans seem to share the same optimism, as they stayed late to cheer for their fallen team. And as if the Dubs were trying to outclass themselves, they returned to the floor to thank their fans for the support.

This is a group with a ton of young perimeter talent in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes. Plus, Andrew Bogut can only get healthier. With a roster composed of great citizens and diligent workers, it’s no wonder that everyone is predicting (and in some cases, hoping for) great things in the future.

Taking a realistic approach, it’s going to be hard to make it out of the Western Conference in the next few seasons. The Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets all have a strong mix of youth and experience. Plus, the Spurs don’t seem capable of fading away, and the Los Angeles Lakers probably won’t stand for the kind of results they had this year.

And the Clippers will be right back in the picture if Chris Paul comes back.

The climb to the top of the West seems like it’ll always be a steep one. But remember, the Warriors came this far with a banged-up Andrew Bogut, a lost season from Brandon Rush and three rookies playing huge minutes.

As scary as it sounds, World Peace is right: The Warriors are actually really close to contending.

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Metta World Peace Says Dwight Howard’s Joking Bothered Him at First

Posted by on May 13, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

The 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers were painful proof that forming an NBA super-team isn’t a breeze, and one veteran recently admitted that Dwight Howard’s jovial demeanor didn’t sit well with him at first.

Metta World Peace, who is an entertaining personality in his own right, told Michael Cooper and Lisa Leslie of L.A.’s ABC 7 that the big man’s jesting and lighthearted character bugged him early in the season.

On the Sports Zone post-game show, he was asked whether Dwight’s approach bothered him:

At first it did. When I first met Dwight in our first practices together and our first games in the regular season I was like, ‘he’s joking a little bit too much.’ But then I decided not to judge people and I decided to work with my teammates — so as I got into more games with Dwight — I did see him working really hard, blocking shots, playing with a back injury, but he was still playing hard. So then I said, ‘you know what, we just have to work with what we have.’ But at first, it was a little bit frustrating.”

World Peace has been known to crack a few jokes himself, and he’s good for the occasional bizarre sound bite, but when it comes to preparation and in-game attitude, he’s pretty darn serious.

Howard, on the other hand, has made a habit of pre-game giggles and in-game grins, even if he does play hard.

It seems like it didn’t take long for Metta to realize Dwight works extremely hard physically, and shows he can play through injury. When players see firsthand the rigors Howard puts himself through, they realize he’s more than a high-jumping comedian.

We all knew it was an adjustment for Kobe Bryant to work with the ebullient Howard. But World Peace’s stance on the subject was somewhat unknown, because he’s not an easy guy to read.

It’s tough for almost any serious NBA player to understand how Howard can be so outwardly cheerful while playing for one of the most pressure-packed franchises in pro sports.

It’s tough for many championship-hungry fans, too. Howard’s mile-wide grin struggled to win over many fans and media in Laker-land, as they were only interested in how much he could help Kobe.

From a locker-room perspective, World Peace’s comments are reassuring for the future. Fans know that Dwight’s teammates respect his work ethic and are willing to battle with him.

One thing’s for sure: Howard’s joking won’t bother anyone if he can raise a banner in the Staples Center.

 

Follow Daniel for more hoops talk: @DanielO_BR

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Stephen Curry Responds to Metta World Peace on Twitter in Hilarious Fashion

Posted by on May 9, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Metta World Peace thinks that Steve Curry is capable of winning the NBA‘s MVP award.

Who? He meant Stephen Curry? Oh, ok. 

While live tweeting during Wednesday’s playoff action—because that’s what he does—World Peace wrote that he thought “Steve” Curry was a top-10 player and a 2014 MVP candidate so long as he worked on his defense. 

Curry inevitably saw the tweet, but instead of correcting or ignoring the Los Angeles Lakers forward, he decided to assume the alias World Peace inadvertently (we hope) created for him.

This was just one of those things that makes you chuckle and shake your head as you mutter “Oh, Metta.” It’s also one of those things that makes you love Steph (or Steve) Curry more than you already do.

For Jarrett Jack, it was one of those things that compelled him to point out the obvious as well.

While most would be inclined to attribute World Peace’s social-media mishap to spell check gone awry (“Steph” to “Steve?”), couldn’t you also picture Metta mispronouncing Curry’s name, essentially calling him “Steven” for the last four years? I know I could.

Credit Curry for a brilliant rebuttal, though. We all knew who World Peace was actually referencing, but why sidestep it when you can take to Twitter and send the NBA sphere into a state of hysterics?

Better yet, why pass up the opportunity to sell yourself to State Farm? World Peace may have just created the Golden State Warriors‘ version of Cliff Paul in under 140 characters. I smell an endorsement deal coming.

As for World Peace’s MVP sentiments, he’s really just started a conversation that was destined to begin anyway.

The Warriors continue to ride an improbable playoff run, and at the forefront of their success is the sharp-shooting Curry. One could easily argue that he is among the most valuable players in the league.

We’re also on the precipice of that top-10 discussion World Peace touched upon as well. You know it’s coming, because you just do.

So does Curry. He’s “back to work already,” attempting to live up to the lofty standards World Peace has set for him.

Perhaps Steve Curry could lend him a helping hand.

 

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The 2013 NBA Playoffs as Told by Metta World Peace

Posted by on May 2, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

After the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs, basketball fans worldwide had a reason to celebrate. Sure, the Laker haters were plenty happy, but the rest of us would soon get to see the playoffs from the viewpoint of Metta World Peace.

The Lakers were eliminated on Sunday, and from there, World Peace took off his Twitter leash and let his opinions be well known.

A few things have been talked about here and there; he even received a bit of guff from after he wondered about Tim Duncan and Marc Gasol being the best big men in the league.

We might as well take this from entertaining beginning to end, starting with his predictions for the rest of the playoffs.

Metta was incredibly high on his brothers in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, but his opinion would change later on in the day as he was watching them lose to the Memphis Grizzlies.

 

So there it is. The Clippers out of the West and the Heat out of the East. A bold pick with the Clippers, but nothing surprising from the Eastern Conference.

From there he admired what Duncan has done so far this year and thought about his team making the Western Conference Finals.

And he even talked himself into a potential Clippers victory in the NBA Finals should things go awry in Miami.

 

After harping on about Chris Paul and the Clippers for a bit, he wondered about the Nuggets and how things had gone so wrong so quickly and about Stephen Curry’s development.

Not only that, but he also admired how the entire Warriors squad was coming together, trying to mount a comeback after getting into a huge hole against the Nuggets in Game 5.

 

Once the Warriors fell short, he got into the good stuff. He went from driving the Clippers’ bandwagon earlier in the day to nearly jumping ship when the game got underway.

Just like us, he seemed to get frustrated with the overexaggeration of some of the contact players were getting early on in the game.

And he marveled at some of the things that Blake Griffin could do in midair.

But only before going on a huge run of tweets about what makes the Grizzlies as good as they are and how they could totally win a championship if things fall the right way.

 

 

Of course, he can only go so many tweets before he falls right back into strange ol‘ Metta mode.

At halftime he was critical of what Mark Jackson had to say about Denver’s physical play. He was pretty blunt about it.

Going back to the game, Metta mixed in a bit of boxing to his tweets, as that’s one of the three things that he ever talks about on Twitter.

Finally, the game ended and we got this gem.

For the record, I actually think this was a joke. Metta was watching the entire game, and there’s no real reason why he would suddenly wander away and completely ignore the game.

Plus, he said earlier that they could win the entire thing and nobody would ever know. It was totally a call-back.

Or he was just being weird. Who knows?

Finally we end the night with a brainteaser, and possibly the best tweet of them all.

Don’t you see, people? This is why you follow Metta on Twitter. It’s not for the weird stuff that he ends up tweeting about.

The best moments of the day are when he decides to take a picture of something ridiculously normal and talks to his followers about it.

Plus, it’s always fun to watch a game along with an NBA player, even if it is over the Internet.

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Metta World Peace Has Some Choice Words For Charles Barkley

Posted by on April 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

The always outspoken Charles Barkley apparently irked Metta World Peace, and Metta let the world know about it on Twitter.   Barkley mentioned on Sunday night the following in regards to the Lakers age, which is what Metta took exception to. “I like Metta World Peace but for him to think they can bring all those oldgeezers back & win…he’s wrong” We aren’t here to say who is correct or not, but we are anxiously awaiting Barkley’s response after Metta’s below rant. #bbpBox_329040325693808640 a { text-decoration:none; color:#F76300; }#bbpBox_329040325693808640 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }Charles Barkley never won so it is hard for him to understand what it takes to win.20 minutes ago via webReplyRetweetFavorite@MettaWorldPeaceMetta World Peace#bbpBox_329040018180042753 a { text-decoration:none; color:#F76300; }#bbpBox_329040018180042753 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }The Spurs are older and still getting it done.Its all about chemistry. Micheal Jordan was 36 during…

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Metta World Peace compares Jason Collins coming out to his decision to wear Cookie Monster attire

Posted by on April 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

As reaction to Jason Collins’ decision to come out as gay continues to pour in, it is no surprise that Metta World Peace has already provided some of the most bizarre comments. Rather than taking any topic too seriously, World Peace decided to bring Sesame Street characters into the mix.
As Beto Duran shared with us on Instagram, World Peace was proudly sporting a Cookie Monster shirt when asked for his thoughts on Collins. His apparel had a lot to do with his answer.
“Whether it’s a free country or not, you should be free to act as you want to do as long as it’s not violent,” he said, via Mark Medina of the LA Daily News. “No matter what it is. I came here in a Cookie Monster shirt because I wanted to, and I was going to wear the pants. But I thought you guys were going to judge me. I was going to wear the hat too. But I thought you guys would judge me. I didn’t want Mitch [Kupchak] to judge me. So that’s why I didn’t wear the hats and the pants. But I should’ve wore it. You should be fr

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Metta World Peace and Steve Nash hopeful for Dwight Howard return

Posted by on April 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

The Los Angeles Lakers embarrassed themselves in the 2012-13 season.
At the center of that run was big man Dwight Howard who has been a magnet for this sort of thing for two consecutive seasons.
Let’s not backtrack into the debacle that was Howard’s exodus from Orlando. Staying with the now and the future, the question is ‘what will Howard do now that he is a free agent?.’
If things shape up and Dwight Howard stays in Los Angeles to make amends to Laker fans, Ron Artest a.k.a. Metta World Peace told ESPN that it will be his responsibility among others to right the wrongs of this year.
Please click here to read this story.
The post Metta World Peace and Steve Nash hopeful for Dwight Howard return appeared first on Players View.

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Metta World Peace gives interesting answer to Jason Collins coming out

Posted by on April 29, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

As the big news of Jason Collins coming out has spread throughout the Internet, Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace decided to weigh in on his thoughts about the news during an exit interview.
Metta was wearing a Cookie Monster t-shirt while answering the questions and below is the full quote from LA Times columnist Mark Medina:
Whether it’s a free country or not, you should be free to act as you want to do as long as it’s not violent. No matter what it is. I came here in a Cookie Monster shirt because I wanted to, and I was going to wear the pants. But I thought you guys were going to judge me. I was going to wear the hat too. But I thought you guys would judge me. I didn’t want Mitch [Kupchak] to judge me. So that’s why I didn’t wear the hats and the pants. But I should’ve wore it. You should be free to do and act how you want to act.”
If we were all only as accepting as Metta…
***
Metta responds to Collins coming out [Sulia]

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L.A. Lakers’ Metta World Peace Shows off Drained Knee Fluid

Posted by on April 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Injuries are an unfortunate, but inevitable reality in the professional sports realm.

There’s a reason that most passionate fans have, or think they have, a semi-working knowledge of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL if you’re lost already) or the potential pitfalls of a bout with plantar fasciitis.

Rehab processes are no different. Save for a miraculous Adrian Peterson recovery every now and again, fans can usually block off a rough period of time when hearing their favorite player has suffered a fill-in-the-blank ailment.

But part of the beauty of limiting our involvement with injuries to the TV or computer screen—we deserve something for helping to pay those salaries, right?—is that we’re spared most of the gruesome, painful details.

Well, not anymore.

Metta World Peace opened the door, even though no one was knocking, and granted all of his Twitter followers with an up-close view of the results of his latest procedure:

Truth be told, this is probably a better alternative than getting a glimpse of the cyst before it was removed. Although I, for one, wouldn’t have felt the least bit slighted with no glimpses at all.

It’s easy to chalk this up as another World Peace head scratcher, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this from a Los Angeles Lakers player this season.

Kobe Bryant, before a torn Achilles stunted his season, tweeted this lovely pic of the aftereffects of landing on the foot of Atlanta Hawks guard Dahntay Jones:

There must be something running through the L.A. water lines. For the West Coast readers, I can only hope that whatever it is doesn’t include any World Peace knee juice.

As long as they don’t hurt anyone, I’m usually game for World Peace’s antics on and off the floor.

This time around, though, I don’t think my stomach agrees.

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Metta World Peace Says Dalai Lama Won’t Tweet Him Back

Posted by on April 24, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Metta World Peace, in what can only be an attempt to show Dennis Rodman who is the real basketball ambassador to the world, is upset that he’s being ignored by The Dalai Lama.

World Peace told reporters in an interview that he’s been trying to send some direct messages to the Buddhist leader, but to no avail.

I’m not sure whether it’s the fact that the Dalai Lama is too good for Metta, it might just be that he doesn’t have time to hook up with the oft-erratic Lakers forward.

It could be that, or it could just be that World Peace and the Dalai Lama don’t exactly ascribe to the same level of peace, surnames notwithstanding.

Perhaps if World Peace goes a season or two without elbowing a guy in the head or slugging a dude in the face, His Holiness would be more interested in tweeting back. That, or maybe the Lama is just not a basketball fan; he strikes me as more of a cricket man.

Or maybe World Peace can meet him in person. The Dalai Lama is coming to the States next month, and with the Lakers potentially looking at an early playoff exit, they could set up a meeting. 

Who knows, World Peace might just be that three-l llama that Ogden Nash pondered about.

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