Monday, December 22, 2008

Theus Ex Machina

Theus Ex Machina


Originally appeared over at Ball Don't Lie!


And another one bites the dust. We may be hearing about how the players had lost respect for ol' Reggie, or how he didn't really handle practices well or whatever, but at least he looked like a million bucks in a well-tailored suit. And he was certainly a breath of fresh air after the putrid Musselman season. See ya around, Reg. I'm sure we will. I'm sure we'll see them all again.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

Hard Times

Hard Times


Rub the shark's tummy! Strip originally appeared over at Ball Don't Lie!


So, I just got the Free Darko book, and yeah, wow, it's a sight to behold. I haven't absorbed it all yet, but I think you maybe should beat feet to your closest bookstore. And while you're at it I have a couple other hoops book recommendations. These aren't new, but I only read them recently and they relate to last week's strip.


Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns by Jack McCallum is basically what it sounds like. The writer was granted total access to the '05-'06 Suns and took lots of notes. Some of the best bits were the interactions between D'Antoni and his assistants. The mind-set behind their offense. Cute Barbosa anecdotes. Amare's child-like curiosity. Good stuff.


And even better, The Last Shot by Darcy Frey tells the story of the Lincoln High School basketball team, Coney Island, 1991. This book had a back cover quote from David Halberstam that snagged me, something like "This is a book I wish I'd written." Wow. Frey vividly describes the squalid poverty of Coney Island, and what basketball meant to the players and the neighborhood. The game is really their lifeline. Dreams of NBA riches are for the most part overshadowed by players desperate for college scholarships and chances to leave Coney Island. Of course, the team does feature a flashy 14-year-old Stephon Marbury. We know where he's gone, but it's important to see where he's from. And what happened to his less-gifted teammates? From the housing projects to unscrupulous Division 1 recruiters, this book doesn't flinch.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

DNP - Bozos

Star-Curry


Hellooooooo, New York! Stare deeply into Steph's eyes. Lose yourself in a sea of Starbury. Originally appeared on Ball Don't Lie.


I don't really know what the New York management should do with these guys. I do find it somewhat hilarious that a fraction of pundits/fans are now grumbling that D'Antoni might as well play the guy, like a) he should be trying to win it all now with a poison roster rather than sorting out the wreckage, and b) like some solid minutes for Marbury would erase the brains of every potential trade partner in the association. Maybe he's not the only reason for the prominence of the term "mercurial point guard" but he's certainly the standard bearer. Sure, playing him might not be the worst thing either but I'm willing to give D'Antoni/Walsh a little more rope after years of Knicks teams wallowing in a hopeless pit of slime.


---JOSH

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

It's not you, it's me

it's not you it's me


Originally posted at Ball Don't Lie.


Heeeeey, basketball is back. Whaddaya know. And with basketball comes it's dark mirror: fantasy basketball. I don't understand all of the details about why the economy is such a disaster right now, but I'm pretty sure that fantasy basketball is NOT going to help.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

We'll all be safe from Satan, when the Thunder rolls...

Thunder's revenge



Originally posted at Ball Don't Lie.

HEY, the part of the year-round NBA news cycle when games are actually played is right around the corner. GTAS is online!

---Josh

Monday, September 15, 2008

Slam Dunk, volume 1 review

Hey, something different: I reviewed the Japanese basketball comic Slam Dunk over at Ball Don't Lie. You might want to check that out.

---Josh

Friday, September 12, 2008

D U R A N T

Thursday, September 11, 2008

OKC WTF

OKC WTF


Originally appeared at Ball Don't Lie.


OKC fans: welcome to Garbage Time All-Stars. Seriously! I know, this week's strip is a sore subject but please understand that we aren't hating on you or begrudging you the right to enjoy your team or anything like that. You had no team and now you do. You're happy and you should be.


What bugs us is not the fact that you have a team but rather that Seattle does not. It's Bennett's premeditated hijacking that leaves a bad taste. It's David Stern and the NBA and 27 team ownership groups who allowed it to happen (votes against: Portland's Paul Allen and Dallas's Mark Cuban).


So please cut the crap about the people in Seattle not loving their team enough, that they don't deserve a team, that they should have voted for a new arena, etc. There are a lot of great Sonics fans feeling this loss. This was politics and capitalism and powerful interests. Their team is gone. And you know what, a few years down the road it could happen to you too, whether or not you love your team.


When the season starts we will watch the OKC Thunder. We will be amazed by Kevin Durant and the promising bunch of youngsters Sam Presti has gathered. We will absolutely understand that you are happy to have a team. But when we think back on this business of how it came to pass we might also feel a twinge and have to use the can.


And I'm even a little sorry to contribute to the negativity at this point, but it is THE story of the off-season and we didn't want to let it go by without comment. Plus, the logo is hideous.


---Josh

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Golden State Warrior

The whole damn Bay Area is up in arms about Clay "Sticky Fingers" Bennett re-christening his hijacked Sonics with the name of Golden State's (perhaps not beloved but absolutely tolerated) mascot, Thunder. It's even got the ever-stoic Matt Steinmetz screeching for blood. This firestorm (and a chat with GTAS pal Rina) got me sketching on a replacement/reinforcement for Golden State's besieged blue weirdo. I give you my literal interpretation of THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIOR:


Golden State Warrior


It's one state you don't want to eff with. And you know the first head GSW mounts on a spike? Whatever soon-to-be-announced crappy mascot OKC churns out, whose suit will likely have been "relocated" from a Chuck E. Cheese employee break room. Thunderstruck my ass.


Another option would be change the name of the Warriors existing mascot to "The REAL Thunder."


Anyway, sit tight, all you bored people who read this site at work! After a brief champagne-soaked off-season Mark and I are recharged and ready to toast your retinas. Garbage time is nigh.


---Josh

Friday, June 20, 2008

Celebrating with the champs

celebrating with the champs

So, the latest strip is up on Ball Don't Lie. Check it out if you please.

And with the end of the season we'll be easing off on the weekly comics. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check back here every so often (or subscribe to the RSS feed even) as we ruminate, illustrate and dominate. I'm sure we'll post some summertime goodies.

---Josh

Friday, June 13, 2008

David Stern and the Golden Age

Kickin' it with David Stern at the Garbage Time Pub

Originally posted at Ball Don't Lie. Home stretch!!! Finals!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Keys to the Finals

Keys to the NBA Finals

Originally appeared at Ball Don't Lie.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Kevin Garnett sits down with Bill Russell. So Powerful.

So Powerful - Kevin Garnett and Bill Russell


Originally appeared at Ball Don't Lie. If you you haven't already had the "pleasure", this strip references a goofy series of interviews from ESPN.

---Josh

Friday, May 23, 2008

Phil Jackson's book club: Kobe Dick

Kobe Dick

Originally appeared over at Ball Don't Lie.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Understanding Home Court Advantage

Understanding Home Court Advantage


This strip originally appeared on Ball Don't Lie

Home court advantage in the 2nd round of the playoffs is officially STRAIGHT-UP BANANAS. Home teams are currently 20-1. How does that happen? Read a comic answering that very question over at the Yahoo! Ball Don't Lie blog.

---Josh

Friday, May 9, 2008

Don't look at Coach Pop

Don't look at Coach Pop


This comic originally appeared at Yahoo!'s Ball Don't Lie.


And if you want an eyeful of scary, peep Coach Pop in the previous post.


---Josh

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Please Gregg Popovich Don't Hurt 'Em

Gregg PopovichThis is a fairly unflattering drawing of Gregg Popovich, and, well...yeah. By many accounts "Pop" is an affable, loyal guy, and he does a good job of coaching a basketball team. Still, any time he's interviewed, no matter what words are coming out of his mouth, his barely-concealed message seems to be, "I can't wait to piss on your gravestone."

Which I love. It's sort of like one of those restaurants that have elevated rude service to the level of performance art (I recommend Top Dog in Berkeley for all of your hot dog, cigarette and comical bad attitude needs). It becomes dinner theater.

Stay surly, Coach Pop! I salute you!

---Josh

Friday, May 2, 2008

Trash talk!

NBA trash talk



This comic originally appeared on Yahoo! Ball Don't Lie.

We're talkin' out the trash! Go ahead, get a little rowdy in the comments. 'Tis the season.

---Josh

Friday, April 25, 2008

Only science can tell us the real MVP

welcome to Garbage Time Labs


This comic originally appeared on Ball Don't Lie.

I'm sure some people will read the strip as an endorsement of Kobe for MVP. Wrong. What we are endorsing is drinking. Everybody drink!

No, OK, what I'm saying is that I hate the MVP debate. Lebron, Kobe, Paul, KG: these men are artists. They are unique. To argue that one is Most Valuable is just partisan bickering in the void. I guess it keeps sports talk radio from going silent, but it gets way stupid. Those guys ... they're all pretty good at basketball.

---Josh

The State of the East

The State of the East

This comic originally appeared on Ball Don't Lie.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Double Oden

Hey! Our strip from last week is up at Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo!. And our next strip will be there this Friday. Every Friday we'll post a reminder here that the new strip is up over there.


We're also going to try to post additional stuff over here as much as possible. Stuff like these Odens I just drew, one happy and one classic expressionless:


Like a lot of internet dudes, I've fallen for Oden. I'm not particularly a Blazers fan, but I still want him to come back and win, like, 15 championships. Get well Greg!


Yeah, so anyway, look for the strips over at Ball Don't Lie, and keep checking this site because we are not going away.


---Josh

Friday, April 18, 2008

The State of the East ... huh, where did we go?

Hey, we've got our Eastern Conference comic for you but it's over at the Yahoo! Ball Don't Lie blog. We've been assimilated!


We're still going to post our comics on this site, only a week after they've run at Yahoo!. And we'll still be posting other NBA-related art stuff here too. But for now, travel at the speed of light over to Ball Don't Lie and drop some juicy kisses with tongue into the comments there.


---Josh

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The State of the West

The State of the West

Ain't no conference like a Western Conference 'cause a Western Conference don't stop!

---Josh

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tanking and You: A Fan's Guide

Tanking and You: A Fan's Guide

Let's get rid of tanking. How about a reverse food reward: if the team reaches 100 points, the fans give the players free tacos.

---Josh

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

T.G.I.The End of the Season

T.G.I. The End of the Season

We didn't want the season to slip away without doing a Knicks strip.

Also, I just did a little behind-the-scenes post over at the art blog.

---Josh

Monday, March 10, 2008

In Boston no one can hear you scream.

In Boston no one can hear you scream.

Cassell emerges. We were thinking of showing a press conference at which Kevin McHale proudly welcomes Sam's jumbo balls to the Celtics, but went with this instead. And now Rajon Rondo is the most portrayed player in our strip, with 2 appearances. Weird.

---Josh

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Yao Ming by Mark

Yao Ming

Monday, March 3, 2008

Fantasy Yao

Fantasy Yao

Monday, February 25, 2008

Kevin Garnett by Josh

Kevin Garnett

Paul Pierce by Mark

Paul Pierce

Friday, February 22, 2008

Trade party!

trade party!


I don't want to hear about trades any more. Smash the trade machine. Anybody got a Tylenol?


---Josh

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Name-Forge of Destiny

The Name-Forge of Destiny

I feel bad for players who get saddled with lousy nicknames. Or players who get stuck with one joke about their haircut that gets repeated a million times by lazy writers who can't think of anything better. I cringe whenever I hear Nowitzki (seven-time all-star, league MVP, franchise player) referred to as "Dirk Diggler." Good one! Calling Kyle Korver by the name of the doofus actor from "That 70s Show" is so old that even pointing out that it's old is at this point old.

Complaining about bad nicknames is old too, I guess. But damn it, the Garbage Time All-Stars are gonna crank up the old Name-Forge of Destiny from time to time and see if we can't come up with something a little better for the unique stars of the NBA. Keep an eye on our minty-fresh art blog for further nickname outbreaks.

---Josh

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Coach Nellie and the C-Webb Kid

Coach Nellie and the C-Webb Kid

C-Webb has yet to play his first game for the Warriors, so we don't know how it's going to work yet. There's a real last stand in the Wild West feeling to it. I had the healthy skepticism about Webber's evil knees with the run-n-gun W's when he signed, but this Shaq business really upped the ante. Webber to the Warriors seems completely reasonable by comparison. But I hope things turn out well for ol' C-Webb. I'm rooting for him.

We've also done started a b-ball art blog. Mark and I kicked it off with some love for Golden State's bearded cannonball Baron Davis. Enjoy!

--Josh F.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Run-T.N.T.

Run-T.N.T.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Life after basketball

Life after basketball

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Happy new year, King James

Happy new year, King James

Monday, January 7, 2008

Baron by Josh

Baron Davis

b-diddy by mark

Baron Davis