The Official Site of Jordan Farmar

Tue, May 19th 2009, 11:43

Jordan's Playboy.com blog: Five on 5 - May 19, 2009

Hey guys, don’t you just love this game? I’m blogging from L.A., where we just found out there’s going to be a new NBA Champion this season. Two great seven-game series were both decided by 19 points on Sunday. In our Houston series, the team that led after the first quarter won every game. So we wanted a fast start, which we got in Game Seven. We had also worked hard to earn homecourt and it paid off for us at Staples with Pau Gasol leading the way (21 points and 18 boards). Overall, there was some bloodshed, some knockdowns, technicals, ejections, trash talk and plenty of amazing plays. It was a lot of fun.

Our 2008 Finals rivals Boston also went to a seven-game series with Orlando, but the defending champs lost. As they say, the king is dead, long live the king. Now LeBron’s #1 seed Cleveland battles it out with “Superman” Howard’s #3 Orlando in the East. BTW, TNT’s Charles Barkley likes the Magic. Meanwhile in the West, #1 goes against #3 Denver. Both series are going to be dogfights. Count on it because we’re all going for the big KO. Speaking of KOs, check out Mike Tyson in the movie trailer for upcoming movie, The Hangover—it is too funny!

Personally, I turned things around for myself in the Houston series. I kept myself ready, got a start and got some solid minutes and contributions. I was team leader in assists for a couple of games, like a point guard should be, and added in the range of 12-13 points in those games. You do little self-talks to keep yourself going, but you always have the motivation to want to play and get better. That comes with the role and privilege of being an NBA player.

Next is Denver. We swept the Nuggets in the 2008 playoffs and we won this year’s regular season series 3-1 but now it’s a different ballgame. Chauncey Billups wasn’t there last playoffs, and with ‘Melo the Nuggets are a force, a physical team and we expect every game to be tight. But our conference is tough overall, and psychologically it’s great to have a tough, competitive seven-game battle under our belts. Facing elimination brings a team together. But even more importantly, having that homecourt is key. For us to win this championship, we’re going to have to come to play every night, no matter who we’re playing.

Reader Karina and others have asked about relationships. I’m going to weigh in on the pros and cons of long distance relationships. The pros are that both people get their space, get a chance to live life, be with their friends and have experiences away from their partners. It makes you miss the person so it keeps you wanting to be with them and stay as close as possible. It also keeps the relationship fresh, when you do see each other. It’s like something new again, something you’ve been waiting so long for, that it becomes a positive experience. The cons are that you don’t get to see the person you care about a lot, that you have to spend time apart. You enjoy their company and the things they bring to your life, but you have to be without that for whatever period of time. And yes, I speak from a little bit of experience.

Recently, I talked about Rick Ross, who has dropped some great tracks on Deeper Than Rap. Like “Magnificent” with John Legend where Ross lowers his voice and does like a rap version of Barry White with a hot hook from John Legend. “Maybach Music 2” is a great mix with Kanye, T-Pain and Lil Wayne. There are a lot of different guest artists bringing something to the table. Some other tunes I like are “Rich Off Cocaine” with Avery Storm, “Lay Back” with Robin Thicke, and “Usual Suspects” with Nas and Kevin Cossom. He’s got some of hip hop’s biggest producers working with him like J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, The Inkredibles and Bigg D, and they’ve helped create a pretty good mix of hip hop, rap and R&B. And, if you can get five or six songs from one record, you’ve got one really good album.

Coach Phil Jackson, now the longest-serving coach in Lakers’ history, always try to keep us on an even level. He says that the “middle path is the way to go,” that you should not get too high or too low during the playoffs. He’s been my only pro coach, but I think it’s tough to rate great coaches because a lot of it has to do with having great players on your team. The biggest thing I take from him is that he lets people be themselves, as far as personality. He’s one of the best at managing personalities and letting people be who they are, and still get it done on the court. That’s the thing I’ve noticed, the biggest thing that has helped him have so much success. He’s managed personalities like Dennis Rodman, had superstars like Michael Jordan, and then had superstars like Kobe, Shaq, Karl Malone and Gary Payton all on the same team, and he’s been able to just let people be who they are. He understood the different personalities, how they ticked, and then found a way to get them all to mesh.

Thanks to Playboy.com readers Aviana, Thaniia, Greavsie and AmeriKenny for your insights. BTW, the final four have all got “8 Mo” to go. Check out a cool recent Sports Illustrated article on our team. Even though five of us are 25 or under (Sasha 25, Trevor and Shannon 23, I’m 22 and Drew is 21), we’re a confident “mob” and we believe in what Lamar shouts in the middle of our pre-game circle: “We’re the best team in the NBA!” Time will tell.

JFarm out.