Friday, January 09, 2009

King's World

LeBron James owns the NBA right now. What we are seeing this year is another step in his evolution. Post-Olympics, his attitude, approach and commitment has gone to an whole another level. Defensively, he is probably 10 times better than he was in the past. It's amazing to see him come flying in for a block from the weak side. Tonight, against Boston, he showed the World who the king is. He killed them systematically and his defense on Paul Pierce was stifling to say the least. LeBron is an amazing player. He looks like a cross between MJ, Magic and Malone - an unique combination of speed, athleticism, court vision and strength. Sky is the limit for him. He has the opportunity and the talent to be a bigger name in all of sports than MJ and Tiger in a few years. I am very interested to see where his career goes from here. He might win a championship as early as this season. The Cavs are tied for the best record in the league with the Lakers and they ain't got no Big-3 or Pau Gasol or a Lamar Odom coming off the bench. It's all defense and LeBron.

The Suns won impressively today. They pulled one of those Mike D'Antoni quarters as they shot 17/21 and scored 40 points in the 3-Rd. Shaq had a 25-10 night. He is actually having a great season. It's not quite 2001 for Shaq, but he looks closer to the 2004 version than the 2007 version and thats a good thing. He hit all his free throws much to everybody's surprise. Nash and the Brazilian Blur had great games too. Actually everybody did for the Suns and nobody except Josh Howard looked good for the Mavs. Both the Suns and the Mavs are in that cluster of teams separated by 3.5 games in the West holding the 2-Nd to 9-Th slots. It's brutal out there. These teams look like a contender some of the days, but in reality, they can miss the playoffs altogether.

NFL playoffs are back tomorrow and I expect Baltimore to beat Tennessee and want Arizona to beat Carolina, but it'll probably be Carolina. Arizona can pull it off though, especially if Anquan Boldin is in full strength and they don't get scared of the East coast like they have been all year. These games can get out of hand in a hurry on the road and sometimes Warner lets that happen, but if they keep it close, they can definitely beat this Carolina team. in the other game, the Baltimore D should get the job done. How good is Ed Reed? I think he is a better receiver than half of the receivers in the league. It's amazing how he catches the ball almost every-time unlike defensive backs in the other teams who get their hands on the ball only to drop it on the ground. Tennessee is no joke though. The Ravens need their A-game to beat them for sure and the rookie better show up tomorrow.

No comments: