Mo Williams Should Have Kept His Mouth Shut

You have to love the fact that pro athletes have supreme confidence. Not just a little bit of confidence. Not just confidence. Supreme confidence. Some athletes are so confident that no matter how bleak the situation looks, they will say something that is sure to make headlines and light a fire under the other team's collective butt.

Earlier during the NBA playoffs, Orlando Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing (no stranger to making guarantees) went out and told the media he guaranteed his Magic would beat Boston. Now, if you remember Ewing as a player, you probably remember the many guarantees that he made. He also was almost always wrong. Luckily for him the Magic went out and beat Boston in seven games.

Now the Magic, locked in a battle with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, have had the tables turned on them. And turned on them by none other than Mo Williams.

“Guarantee we’re going to win the series? Yeah, yeah,” he said. “We are down 2-1. But there is nobody on this team and definitely not myself that says we are not going to win this series. Yeah, it is going to be tough. We know that. We get this game tomorrow, go home, still got home-court advantage. We don’t see ourselves losing two out of three at home.”



So Williams opened up his mouth and put the rest of his team on the spot. I can't help but think that Williams should have just kept his mouth shut, especially since the Magic beat the Cavs last night in overtime to take a 3-1 lead in the best of seven series.



First of all Williams hasn't shot better than 33.3% in this series. He doesn't look like the same player who went to the All-Star Game a few months ago. I'd have an easier time swallowing this guarantee if Williams was playing at a higher level. I'd have an easier time swallowing this guarantee had it been made by one Lebron James.



But it wasn't. It was made by Williams, who is a nice player, but wouldn't have even been considered an All-Star had it not been for the trade last summer that sent him to Cleveland for Milwaukee.



I was in Milwaukee when Williams played there. When he first got here he was the kid just happy to have a chance to play in the league. Thanks to injuries to others - and his own improved play - Williams found himself as the starting point guard of the Bucks.



Not that he led them anywhere. Williams' two seasons as the lead guard for the Bucks weren't successful. They had 28 and 26 wins in the two years since Milwaukee dealt T.J. Ford and made Williams the man at the point.



Williams was productive during those two years, and his offense was the main reason he got a $52M deal from the Bucks. But once he got that deal, he forgot what his main job was supposed to be (distributing the ball). He decided he had to justify the big contract by scoring 30 points a night. His shooting suffered. When coaches tried to get him to realize what his job was, he rebelled. It got so bad that he reportedly took a swing at former Bucks assistant coach Tony Brown.



The trade to Cleveland gave Williams a fresh start. But make no mistake, Williams would not have blossomed if it weren't for Lebron. He'd be the same frustrating player he was in Milwaukee.



And, it also looks like Williams doesn't learn from history. Most of these guarantees don't come to pass. Joe Namath guaranteeing a win in Super Bowl III over Baltimore is the exception, not the rule.



Here are some of the guarantees that didn't quite live up to the hype.



* Lions quarterback Jon Kitna guaranteed Detroit would win ten games in 2007. The Lions won just seven games.



* Former Lions WR Roy Williams guaranteed a win over Chicago in 2006. The Bears crushed the Lions 34-7.



* Former Steelers (now Packers) safety Anthony Smith made all the national headlines by guaranteeing a win over the then undefeated New England Patriots a couple of years ago. Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and four TD's in a 34-13 thrashing of the Steelers.



* Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow guaranteed a win in last year's Belmont Stakes, which would have secured The Triple Crown. Da 'Tara spoiled Big Brown's bid at horse racing immortality.



* Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck guaranteed his team would score first and beat the Packers in overtime of their 2003 Wildcard Playoff game. Instead, Hasselbeck threw a pick-6 to Al Harris.



* Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano guaranteed that the Northsiders would win the World Series and that he would win the NL Cy Young Award. The Cubs were swept out of October in the divisional round, and Zambrano finished well behind Jake Peavy in the Cy Young voting.



I could go on and on. But I get the feeling that Williams would still say what he said earlier this week.



The Cavs are a supremely confident bunch. But, the last time I checked, they haven't won anything. Ever. They might very well be denied this year, too. They are a flawed team. Sure, they have a great player in Lebron, but he needs help. They don't match up well with the Magic, who happen to be performing well even though Jameer Nelson is sitting on the bench wearing a suit. Williams fit the bill during the regular season, but hasn't been as effective in the playoffs.
And, in case you didn't know, the Cavs were just 3-6 this season (before playoffs) against teams considered 'elite.'



Maybe Mo Williams should have taken all that into consideration before opening up his big mouth.

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