If I were running the Memphis Grizzlies or Boston Celtics right now, I'd be working on trying to rid myself of a serious hangover.  Usually when someone goes on a serious bender it starts innocently enough with a beer or three.  A buddy meets you and you start to think you're twentysomething and in college once again, so shots get added to the mix.  Finally, complete and utter stupidity sets in and Jager Bombs began to get tossed down the gullet.  

For the Grizzlies and Celtics, last night was a go-straight-to-the-151-rum kinda night because their dreams of getting one of two prized picks - Ohio  State center Greg Oden or University of Texas' Kevin Durant - morphed into one of those nightmares remembered for a lifetime.

Memphis and Boston finished with the worst records in basketball, respectively, so they figured that when it came to the league's annual ping pong derby last night that there was little way that they could lose.  HA!  There won't be any New York Knicks-Patrick Ewing-bent-corner-conspiracies this year.  The Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Supersonics will select one and two next month.

Perhaps it was the Hoops gods looking down on Memphis and Boston and chastising them for allegedly tanking games at the end of the season just so they could be in the prime position to win the lottery.  And before anyone utters the words:  "the Cavaliers did the same thing four years ago" I will only say the Cavs sucked for so long that they were due for some sort of good luck.   Almost 40 years and no championship?  Something had to be happen.  Think of it as Al Pacino finally getting the Oscar for A Scent of a Woman that he deserved for any number of prior roles.

But this year Memphis and Boston were shameless.  The Grizzlies locked up the worst record in the league and then proceeded to play great basketball the last week of the season against playoff teams.  As for the Celtics?  Wasn't that Danny Ainge salivating over Durant in the stands during March Madness?

If anything it puts to rest the notion that such things are fixed.  Oh wait, given the Sonics threat to leave Seattle next year unless a new facility is built, that does look a little suspicious now, doesn't it?  Somebody put Mulder and Scully on the case, please.