Links of the Day (October 20, 2010)

• Congratulations to Rhymes with Hondo on its 300th post!
• An anonymous scout tells ESPN's Chris Broussard that the worst-case scenario for the Celtics, barring injury, is 53 wins and taking the Lakers to seven games before losing in the Finals. I think the latter part of that probably underestimates the Magic and the possibility that the officials will hand a series to a team that has both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on it, but I join in him in being very high on the Cs heading into the regular season. I'm not going to do a wins prediction post this year, but I'm counting on the team competing for the best record in the league this year.
• The guys at Hardwood Paroxysm, a really smart basketball site, have started a new weekly podcast project called the Voice on the Floor. I listened to the first issue, or part of it, this morning, and while it seems a bit self-indulgent (Matt Moore's conversations with Michael Lee of the Washington Post and Wizards blogger Mike Prada push an hour in combined length), it has the potential to be interesting -- if not all the time, at least on occasion. Plus, Moore's voice is vaguely similar to the guild leader's in the famous Leeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins video, and it tickles me to pretend that they're the same guy.
• Here's something fun to scare Lakers fans with, should you be unfortunate enough to know any.*
• The NBA banned performance-enhancing sneakers yesterday; might a ban on performance-enhancing protective mouthwear be next? There's no indication that the league is looking into it, but Under Armour now has a mouthguard that supposedly holds your jaw in such a way to prevent your body from releasing cortisol, which apparently saps your energy. If you want to read the overly wordy article that tipped me off to this technology, including a narrative of the world's least scientific experiment, click here.

*I actually consider a few Lakers fans to be close friends. Byproduct of living in LA, I guess.