Suns are looking great right now. They are up 2-0 against the hated Spurs and they clearly look like the better team. Historically, the Spurs always come out and punch the Suns first in the mouth. The Suns will usually fight an uphill battle and scratch and claw their way back into the series only to eventually lose it in 6 or 7. I think the tables are turned this year. The Suns are the better team and they have punched the Spurs in the mouth twice in the first 2 games. It's now up to the Spurs to respond and they probably will, but the Suns definitely are the favorites to win the series now. They look like the more talented team and they are not scared or intimidated by the Spurs. Today, they came out with their "Los Suns" jerseys and made both a political and a basketball statement on the court. I was surprised by the openly "anti-immigration-bill" stand that the Suns owner Sarver took, because businesses usually don't take sides on such things. They are always on the side of the almighty dollars. But I guess the NBA fan base is so heavily colored, young, liberal and democratic that Sarver did the right thing, both morally and financially. Coach Pop also came out and ripped the bill. He sounds like a big liberal and even took a shot at the patriot act.
In the other series, Atlanta looked like dogs in their game 1 against the Magic and Cleveland didn't look much better in their game 2. Lots of talk about King James's elbow. Hopefully, it's not too bad. He is going to have a third MRI to make sure things are fine. I think Cleveland will be fine and wrap things up in 6 or 7. But the Hawks-Magic series is a dog and I hope it ends soon. The Lakers-Utah series is not that great either. Jerry Sloan's teams are usually tough and good defensively. This team is tough, but they are not good defensively. He just doesn't have the horses to play D like he wants to. Having AK-47 back for game 3 will help, but so far, the Lakers have gotten whatever they want. They have no answers for Kobe, but then again no team has an answer to Kobe. But this Jazz team has no answers to anybody on the Lakers roster including Luke Walton! Every single Laker looks bigger than every single Jazz player - except Deron Williams on D-Fish. The size on this Lakers team is just amazing. They are too big and are abusing the Jazz in the paint. Pau Gasol is blocking shots like he is Dwight Howard. I think this series ends in 5 unless AK-47 does a job on Kobe - very unlikely considering he is coming back from injury and who knows what percentage he is at.
By the way, what happened to Barry Zito? Seems like he is back!
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Suns-Spurs
I should have known better. Of course it's going to come down to the Suns-Spurs series for the Suns if they are any good. And they are very good this season. Starting Monday, we will all watch another tantalizing series between these two teams who have enthralled us with many such series over the last 6 years. I don't expect this series to be any different except for the eventual result. I totally expect the Suns to win this year though the Spurs are always a tough out in the playoffs. The Mavs found this out the hard way last week even as the 2-Nd seed playing the supposedly 7-Th best team in the West. There is a saying that we should be careful what we wish for because we might just get our wish! I was actually so impressed with the Mavs late in the regular season, I was scared of the Suns playing them. Because of the Nash-centered rivalry and how he used to kill them a few years back, I feel the Mavs get up for the Suns and with all the talent this year, I was not confident that the Suns can handle the Mavs talent, emotional surge and their home court in these playoffs. So I was pulling for the Spurs to beat the Mavs and get to the Suns. That has happened now and I am beginning to get a little jittery given the history.
I feel like the emotional dynamics in a Suns-Spurs match-up is the revere of the Mavs-Suns series. The Suns fight like the wounded underdog against the Spurs because they are. They get up for them and though the results have not always been favorable in the playoffs so far, this regular season has been pretty good for the Suns against these Spurs. I understand these playoffs are different, especially for the veteran Spurs team, but I still like the Suns chances. Amare always plays well against the Spurs. Timmy is great, but he seems a little slowed down these days. Also there is no Bruce Bowen to molest Nash full-court. In fact, I have always believed Bowen's absence is one of their issues this season and I am hoping the Suns and Nash take advantage of it. I am sure Pop will find someone else to harass him and Nash didn't look all that great against even the Blazers, but Bowen's absence should be good news for the MP3. Nash needs to play better. Too many turnovers against playoff caliber defenses and a tired, end-of-the-season body always hurts him in the playoffs, but if he plays smart, the Suns should be good. The team as a whole did well against the Blazers and I am happy they put them to bed in 6 even after losing game 1 at home. Thats a sign of a mature team. Lets hope the Suns prove me right on Monday. They can't lose game 1 to the Spurs at home. Just like the Sox against the Yanks in 2004, the Suns have to go through the Spurs if they ever want to win a ring. Thats the only way to reverse the curse!
LeBron James has won his second MVP in a row. Very deserving I might add. No arguments here. The Cavs will beat the Celtics and go forward. The series might take a while, but will work out for the Cavs. In the other Eastern series, the Bucks now have to go on the road and play a game 7. They lost a golden opportunity at home yesterday. Utah did not do the same mistake and took care of the Nuggets. It's amazing what Utah did with the guys on that roster. Goes to show how much you can do with a couple of studs and a great coach and system. My only regret there is, the talent, size and the thugs on the Denver roster would have given the Lakers more trouble than the Jazz would. It should be a relatively easy series for the Lakers right now against the Jazz. The Lakers did close out the Thunder on the road. They proved me right. The Thunder played very well and what they did was impressive, but it was much ado about nothing. A young team like that cannot beat the Lakers in a 3 game series with 2 games in LA. The best case scenario or them was to force a 7 game series, but that didn't happen. Durant was totally off, but the Thunder still almost won the game. It is an awesome team and I am scared of them as a fan of a fellow Western conference team. The future is theirs for the taking as long as Durant keeps getting better.
I feel like the emotional dynamics in a Suns-Spurs match-up is the revere of the Mavs-Suns series. The Suns fight like the wounded underdog against the Spurs because they are. They get up for them and though the results have not always been favorable in the playoffs so far, this regular season has been pretty good for the Suns against these Spurs. I understand these playoffs are different, especially for the veteran Spurs team, but I still like the Suns chances. Amare always plays well against the Spurs. Timmy is great, but he seems a little slowed down these days. Also there is no Bruce Bowen to molest Nash full-court. In fact, I have always believed Bowen's absence is one of their issues this season and I am hoping the Suns and Nash take advantage of it. I am sure Pop will find someone else to harass him and Nash didn't look all that great against even the Blazers, but Bowen's absence should be good news for the MP3. Nash needs to play better. Too many turnovers against playoff caliber defenses and a tired, end-of-the-season body always hurts him in the playoffs, but if he plays smart, the Suns should be good. The team as a whole did well against the Blazers and I am happy they put them to bed in 6 even after losing game 1 at home. Thats a sign of a mature team. Lets hope the Suns prove me right on Monday. They can't lose game 1 to the Spurs at home. Just like the Sox against the Yanks in 2004, the Suns have to go through the Spurs if they ever want to win a ring. Thats the only way to reverse the curse!
LeBron James has won his second MVP in a row. Very deserving I might add. No arguments here. The Cavs will beat the Celtics and go forward. The series might take a while, but will work out for the Cavs. In the other Eastern series, the Bucks now have to go on the road and play a game 7. They lost a golden opportunity at home yesterday. Utah did not do the same mistake and took care of the Nuggets. It's amazing what Utah did with the guys on that roster. Goes to show how much you can do with a couple of studs and a great coach and system. My only regret there is, the talent, size and the thugs on the Denver roster would have given the Lakers more trouble than the Jazz would. It should be a relatively easy series for the Lakers right now against the Jazz. The Lakers did close out the Thunder on the road. They proved me right. The Thunder played very well and what they did was impressive, but it was much ado about nothing. A young team like that cannot beat the Lakers in a 3 game series with 2 games in LA. The best case scenario or them was to force a 7 game series, but that didn't happen. Durant was totally off, but the Thunder still almost won the game. It is an awesome team and I am scared of them as a fan of a fellow Western conference team. The future is theirs for the taking as long as Durant keeps getting better.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Spurs, Jazz and the Cavs seem all set
All the 4 playoff series today ended up at 3-1. Dwayne Wade made sure the Heat got one back today. He was sensational as he dropped 46 on the Celtics. The Heat were up a lot and then they lost all that lead and trailed by 5 or 6 at one point. It seemed like the Heat should have been so deflated and ready to go fishing. But Wade had other ideas. He just decided to go bonkers and even hit 3 after 3, which is really not his game. He made 16-of-24 shots, 5 of 7 from 3-point range, and outscored the Celtics 19-15 in the fourth quarter. Thats amazing for someone who shoos just 30% from 3 and takes no more than 3 per game. It was one of those special games for DWade in what might be his last game for the Heat. I think he resigns, but you never know.
It was a great day for the 2003 draft class as LeBron and Melo followed DWade with great showings of their own. Cleveland creamed the bulls behind LeBron's triple double - 37/12/11, shooting 11/17. Melo lost, but dropped 39/11 and almost had a dubious triple double with 9 turnovers. The Jazz are surprisingly leading this series 3-1. This was a 4-V-5 series and those are always close. And this was especially supposed to be tight in this year's Western playoffs where even 1-V-8 is sensationally tight. But the surprising part is that the Jazz met with late season and post-season injuries to AK-47 and Okur. Thats when I switched my pick to Denver. But Jerry Sloan and his system is genius. They are taking it to the more talented Denver team behind starters named Fesenko and Matthews. Sloan should be winning the Coach of the year award every year or like somebody said, they should just name the award after him instead of giving it to him.
Dallas is in trouble. They are down 3-1 and today, they got undone by George Hill who had 29 points. Duncan, Ginobli and Parker combined to score just 31 points on 9/34 shooting once again proving they win behind their defense and experience. Of course Hill's offense didn't hurt, but they bottled up everybody on the Dallas side including Nowitzki. For all the glitter and glamour of the Mavs, they really are not setup to handle such playoff pressure unless Nowitzki shows up big. If he is off, they are like chickens with their heads cut off. All that scoring talent they got seem pretty inconsistent and they seem to run a system that is just hoping for people to hit shots and score and it doesn't really have a consistent scheme outside of Nowitzki. And against teams like the Spurs, hope doesn't quite get it done. The Suns are similar in some ways and they have to use their home court and make it 3-2 tomorrow. They have to unleash Amare to neutralize the size of the Blazers and somebody, anybody has to slowdown LaMarcus Aldridge. Orlando and Atlanta are also playing tomorrow, but who cares.
It was a great day for the 2003 draft class as LeBron and Melo followed DWade with great showings of their own. Cleveland creamed the bulls behind LeBron's triple double - 37/12/11, shooting 11/17. Melo lost, but dropped 39/11 and almost had a dubious triple double with 9 turnovers. The Jazz are surprisingly leading this series 3-1. This was a 4-V-5 series and those are always close. And this was especially supposed to be tight in this year's Western playoffs where even 1-V-8 is sensationally tight. But the surprising part is that the Jazz met with late season and post-season injuries to AK-47 and Okur. Thats when I switched my pick to Denver. But Jerry Sloan and his system is genius. They are taking it to the more talented Denver team behind starters named Fesenko and Matthews. Sloan should be winning the Coach of the year award every year or like somebody said, they should just name the award after him instead of giving it to him.
Dallas is in trouble. They are down 3-1 and today, they got undone by George Hill who had 29 points. Duncan, Ginobli and Parker combined to score just 31 points on 9/34 shooting once again proving they win behind their defense and experience. Of course Hill's offense didn't hurt, but they bottled up everybody on the Dallas side including Nowitzki. For all the glitter and glamour of the Mavs, they really are not setup to handle such playoff pressure unless Nowitzki shows up big. If he is off, they are like chickens with their heads cut off. All that scoring talent they got seem pretty inconsistent and they seem to run a system that is just hoping for people to hit shots and score and it doesn't really have a consistent scheme outside of Nowitzki. And against teams like the Spurs, hope doesn't quite get it done. The Suns are similar in some ways and they have to use their home court and make it 3-2 tomorrow. They have to unleash Amare to neutralize the size of the Blazers and somebody, anybody has to slowdown LaMarcus Aldridge. Orlando and Atlanta are also playing tomorrow, but who cares.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tebow goes too early Roy returns too early
The draft is done. They started it Thursday and ended it today and surprisingly, Tim Tebow was drafted on Thursday itself - ahead of Jimmy Clausen. Broncos coach Josh McDaniels seems to have made up his mind to practically burn that franchise down. After dumping Jay Cutler last year, he has traded away Brandon Marshal this year. After getting rid of 2 of their best talents, he has now drafted Tebow way ahead of the spot his talent actually warrants. I would be surprised if Josh is still employed this time next year, but part of me hopes he would still be the coach for several years to come and personally struggle through Tebow's development. Clausen on the other hand endured a draft day embarrassment worse than Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn. Hopefully this motivates him to achieve greatness. Carolina is a good spot for him. The QBs were the biggest news of the first 2 rounds of the draft. It was amazing to see players from the state of Oklahoma fill out 3 of the first 4 and 4 of the top 6 draft spots. Good day for the state and especially the Sooners football program.
The other pick from the first two rounds that caught my eye was Stanford's Toby Gerhart going to the Vikings. Thats a great pick for the Vikes. The interesting story for me from the later rounds was the former FSU safety Myron Rolle. There were questions about his “character” because he left school early to study at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. One Bucs scout asked him how it felt to desert his team. Basically teams have downgraded him because he is smart. Thats ridiculous. Trent Dilfer made a great point on TV that for most players, the priorities are football and play-station or football and partying. Thats considered normal. But they don't want it to be football and education. That raises some eyebrows and I can only laugh. Rolle eventually went with the last pick of the sixth round to the Titans. Weber State receiver Tim Toone was "Mr Irrelevant". He went to the Detroit Lions as the last pick of the 7-Th round. Looks like the Lions post-Millen have started drafting WRs with the last pick instead of the first pick. Thats good for them. They have pretty much wasted the last decade drafting WRs with their first pick year after year. All in all a fun draft. More than anything, it ends ESPN's 3 month obsession with the draft and I am thrilled about that.
In the NBA, the OKC Thunder took it to the Lakers today to even the series at 2-2. Everybody is talking about this young team, but the bad news is, they still have to play a 3 game series with 2 of the games in LA. That unfortunately makes game 5 a must-win for the Thunder. If not, there is no way they go into LA and win game 7 even assuming they win game 6. Thats the power of home field in the playoffs - especially in a series like this where a young team is playing a talented, veteran squad like the Lakers. I hate to rain on the OKC parade, but this series still belongs to the Fakers. But I am happy for the Thunder and what this means for their future. In the Suns series, Brandon Roy played spoil-sport today. He came back way way too early from his injury and caused some unnecessary excitement. He didn't have a great game, but he was a shot of energy for the Blazers. It seemed like the Suns played to lose and they eventually did. They were horrible in the 4-Th as Nash couldn't hold on to the ball and they ended up scoring just 87 points. Thats usually what they score in 3 quarters. The good news is, the series is still 2-2 and the Suns have home court. But the Suns need to focus and get the job done in game 5. They need to slow down LaMarcus Aldridge somehow.
Lots of fun series in these playoffs but the Spurs-Mavs may be the most fun. Mark Cuban might have cost them this series and may be a shot at this year's championship by mouthing off on how the Spurs and the Mavs hate each other. He also went after the Spurs owner a little bit and that seemed to have energized the Spurs. The Spurs are a classy organization and Cubes had no business going after them like that. They have now won 2 straight and are playing game 4 at home. Of course, thats a must win for the Spurs. Otherwise, they will still be looking at a 3 game series with no home court. Not an ideal situation. But Duncan, Parker and Ginobli are baling right now. The Mavs seem to have no answer to any of them and their only shot seems to be to outscore the Spurs if possible. All the other series are also intriguingly poised except for Orlando and Boston. Those 2 teams are comfortably placed at 3-0. Even Cleveland has an important game tomorrow that could potential tie their series and make it a dog fight. Lets see if the King comes through.
The other pick from the first two rounds that caught my eye was Stanford's Toby Gerhart going to the Vikings. Thats a great pick for the Vikes. The interesting story for me from the later rounds was the former FSU safety Myron Rolle. There were questions about his “character” because he left school early to study at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. One Bucs scout asked him how it felt to desert his team. Basically teams have downgraded him because he is smart. Thats ridiculous. Trent Dilfer made a great point on TV that for most players, the priorities are football and play-station or football and partying. Thats considered normal. But they don't want it to be football and education. That raises some eyebrows and I can only laugh. Rolle eventually went with the last pick of the sixth round to the Titans. Weber State receiver Tim Toone was "Mr Irrelevant". He went to the Detroit Lions as the last pick of the 7-Th round. Looks like the Lions post-Millen have started drafting WRs with the last pick instead of the first pick. Thats good for them. They have pretty much wasted the last decade drafting WRs with their first pick year after year. All in all a fun draft. More than anything, it ends ESPN's 3 month obsession with the draft and I am thrilled about that.
In the NBA, the OKC Thunder took it to the Lakers today to even the series at 2-2. Everybody is talking about this young team, but the bad news is, they still have to play a 3 game series with 2 of the games in LA. That unfortunately makes game 5 a must-win for the Thunder. If not, there is no way they go into LA and win game 7 even assuming they win game 6. Thats the power of home field in the playoffs - especially in a series like this where a young team is playing a talented, veteran squad like the Lakers. I hate to rain on the OKC parade, but this series still belongs to the Fakers. But I am happy for the Thunder and what this means for their future. In the Suns series, Brandon Roy played spoil-sport today. He came back way way too early from his injury and caused some unnecessary excitement. He didn't have a great game, but he was a shot of energy for the Blazers. It seemed like the Suns played to lose and they eventually did. They were horrible in the 4-Th as Nash couldn't hold on to the ball and they ended up scoring just 87 points. Thats usually what they score in 3 quarters. The good news is, the series is still 2-2 and the Suns have home court. But the Suns need to focus and get the job done in game 5. They need to slow down LaMarcus Aldridge somehow.
Lots of fun series in these playoffs but the Spurs-Mavs may be the most fun. Mark Cuban might have cost them this series and may be a shot at this year's championship by mouthing off on how the Spurs and the Mavs hate each other. He also went after the Spurs owner a little bit and that seemed to have energized the Spurs. The Spurs are a classy organization and Cubes had no business going after them like that. They have now won 2 straight and are playing game 4 at home. Of course, thats a must win for the Spurs. Otherwise, they will still be looking at a 3 game series with no home court. Not an ideal situation. But Duncan, Parker and Ginobli are baling right now. The Mavs seem to have no answer to any of them and their only shot seems to be to outscore the Spurs if possible. All the other series are also intriguingly poised except for Orlando and Boston. Those 2 teams are comfortably placed at 3-0. Even Cleveland has an important game tomorrow that could potential tie their series and make it a dog fight. Lets see if the King comes through.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Game 1 blues
I can't believe the Suns are the only team to have lost game 1 at home in these first 2 days of the playoffs. Not only did all the other teams win, they looked good doing it and also gave us boring games. The Suns on the other hand were supposed to win this 3-6 matchup rather easily due to all the Portland injuries, but they lost primarily due to complacency. They have always had a matchup problem with Portland and that seemed to continue tonight even without their best player Brandon Roy. It's amazing how the Blazers have so much size to bother the Suns even without Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla. Their trade for Marcus Camby was genius. Thats a sign of a team serious about winning. I am sure the Suns wouldn't have bothered to acquire anybody if they had lost a couple of their big guys to injuries in the middle of the regular season. The management would have accepted defeat, conveniently blamed it on the injuries and and even dumped a few more salaries on top of that. Camby was a monster today with 17 boards and 3 blocks. He did give the Suns a shot with a missed dunk, but the Suns still fell short.
At the end of the day, I think the Suns should still be able to win this series if they play well, but they did not look good today. They worked hard to finish 3-Rd in the standings, but Doug Collins was talking about how they might have been better off at 4 playing the Nuggets. The Rich and Creamies are more talented than the depleted Blazers, but the Suns have had their number this season for some reason. It's just one game and Nash could have still sent this game to OT at the end even with them playing this bad. But Suns better make some adjustments and get Amare going against the size of the Blazers. Nash was doing it all alone today and thats not going to work given that Nash is very vulnerable defensively in this series with Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless going at him. What makes this worse for me and probably Nash is that the Dallas Mavs are looking awesome and may even give the Lakers some fits. Nowitzki was unstoppable today as he dropped 36 on 12/14 shooting on the Spurs. The trade for Kidd has really worked out for this team. Kidd is not what he used to be, but is still amazing. He had a 13-11-8 night today and he may just help the team that drafted him get to the Finals after all. The Mavs are so loaded that Tim Thomas can't even get off the bench.
Russell Westbrook is a player! And the Lakers figured this out in a comfortable victory today. Andrew Bynum had a 13-12 night with 4 blocks. Getting this guy back is huge for the Fakers and might make all the difference between winning the championship or not for the Lakers. Kobe's health and efficiency is still going to be an issues, but Bynum will definitely help. Of course Ron-Ron harassed the kid Durant today and that might become the story line of this series. By the way, how good is Durant? The guy has won the scoring title already at this age and that's ahead of stars like LeBron, Melo and Kobe. This guy is for real like no other emerging star. But they should be dispatched in 5 games in this series, if not 6. Speaking of young teams, it kind of feels good to see the Atlanta Hawks. Except for Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, all their starters are young, home-grown studs who seem to have reached their potential after a few years in the league. Oftentimes, we hear about these young teams of the future, but it doesn't pan out. The Hawks and the OKC Thunder are 2 teams where it has indeed worked out great.
In other games, the home teams won, but I am sure some of these series are going to get interesting nonetheless. Cleveland should handle the Bulls. Shaq looked great in his first game back in a while. Seems like he made sure he took care of his conditioning this time around. The Miami-Boston series should get interesting soon - especially with Garnett's suspension for game 2. Denver took care of Utah at home and Jazz lost Okur for the entire playoffs with an achilles injury, but they should still give Denver a few tough games. With Okur and Kirelenko, I would pick the Jazz to win. But now I think Denver takes it in 6. Similar story with the Bucks. With Bogut in there, their series with the Hawks should have been interesting. The Hwaks tend to be inconsistent, but the Bucks can't beat them. In the other series, the Bobcats lost to Magic and they had no answer for Jameer Nelson. Magic-Cavs is what the East is going to be about, but it's going to take us a while to get there. As TNT says, 40 games, 40 nights. We can only watch.
At the end of the day, I think the Suns should still be able to win this series if they play well, but they did not look good today. They worked hard to finish 3-Rd in the standings, but Doug Collins was talking about how they might have been better off at 4 playing the Nuggets. The Rich and Creamies are more talented than the depleted Blazers, but the Suns have had their number this season for some reason. It's just one game and Nash could have still sent this game to OT at the end even with them playing this bad. But Suns better make some adjustments and get Amare going against the size of the Blazers. Nash was doing it all alone today and thats not going to work given that Nash is very vulnerable defensively in this series with Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless going at him. What makes this worse for me and probably Nash is that the Dallas Mavs are looking awesome and may even give the Lakers some fits. Nowitzki was unstoppable today as he dropped 36 on 12/14 shooting on the Spurs. The trade for Kidd has really worked out for this team. Kidd is not what he used to be, but is still amazing. He had a 13-11-8 night today and he may just help the team that drafted him get to the Finals after all. The Mavs are so loaded that Tim Thomas can't even get off the bench.
Russell Westbrook is a player! And the Lakers figured this out in a comfortable victory today. Andrew Bynum had a 13-12 night with 4 blocks. Getting this guy back is huge for the Fakers and might make all the difference between winning the championship or not for the Lakers. Kobe's health and efficiency is still going to be an issues, but Bynum will definitely help. Of course Ron-Ron harassed the kid Durant today and that might become the story line of this series. By the way, how good is Durant? The guy has won the scoring title already at this age and that's ahead of stars like LeBron, Melo and Kobe. This guy is for real like no other emerging star. But they should be dispatched in 5 games in this series, if not 6. Speaking of young teams, it kind of feels good to see the Atlanta Hawks. Except for Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, all their starters are young, home-grown studs who seem to have reached their potential after a few years in the league. Oftentimes, we hear about these young teams of the future, but it doesn't pan out. The Hawks and the OKC Thunder are 2 teams where it has indeed worked out great.
In other games, the home teams won, but I am sure some of these series are going to get interesting nonetheless. Cleveland should handle the Bulls. Shaq looked great in his first game back in a while. Seems like he made sure he took care of his conditioning this time around. The Miami-Boston series should get interesting soon - especially with Garnett's suspension for game 2. Denver took care of Utah at home and Jazz lost Okur for the entire playoffs with an achilles injury, but they should still give Denver a few tough games. With Okur and Kirelenko, I would pick the Jazz to win. But now I think Denver takes it in 6. Similar story with the Bucks. With Bogut in there, their series with the Hawks should have been interesting. The Hwaks tend to be inconsistent, but the Bucks can't beat them. In the other series, the Bobcats lost to Magic and they had no answer for Jameer Nelson. Magic-Cavs is what the East is going to be about, but it's going to take us a while to get there. As TNT says, 40 games, 40 nights. We can only watch.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Playoffs are here
The NBA playoffs don't start until this weekend, but for most of the teams in the Western conference, it's playoff time already. A bunch of teams are going after the 3/4/5 and 6/7/8 spots and they are playing each other often to setup a playoff type atmosphere. The Suns played the Nuggets today and are playing the Jazz tomorrow. They creamed the rich and creamies today and that got them home court in the first round for sure. But if they don't beat the Jazz tomorrow, they'll end up at 4. A spot teams are trying to avoid since that puts them in the way of the fakers before the eventual Western conference finals. Tomorrow, we will know if the Suns are 3-Rd or the 4-Th seed. If they finish third and get past the first round, they will play the Mavs. Thats a crazy rivalry and the Suns used to get better of the Mavs back in the day, but I am not sure this year. The Mavs look scary good and they always play well against the Suns because of the rivalry. But I guess we have to pick that matchup ahead of the fakers anyways. So it's important the Suns win tomorrow in game 2 of the 2010 playoffs. Lets hope Amare continues to abuse folks like he has been doing the last 2 months. He pulled a move on K-Mart today and K-Mart is still trying to figure out what happened. You are the man if you can out-thug the top-thug, K-Mart.
In the bottom half of the West, seems like the OKC will be at the 8-Th spot and will go against the fakers. They have great talent including my main man, Sun Devil James Harden, but they don't have the experience or the maturity to hang with the Fakers. I was hoping the Spurs would finish 8-Th and we could have all seen a great Lakers-Spurs war in the first round. It could have even been an upset. Now, I just hope the Suns don't end up drawing the Spurs in the first round. The West looks so scary that I don't feel comfortable playing any of these 7 teams in any of the playoff rounds, but still you got to be afraid of teams like the Spurs and the fakers. Lets see where things fall tomorrow. In the East, the story is about the Chicago Bulls executive vice president John Paxson shoving coach Vinny Del Negro twice in the chest in a postgame confrontation late last month. I think Paxson should be punished hard. I hate when these so called leaders of organizations treat players like they are thugs on the one hand and behave like thugs themselves on the other. Apparently he tried to provoke Del Negro in to fight so he can be fired. Lame and cheap and stupid and classless.
The MLB season has begun. It's too early to say anything important, but there are a few early surprises as always. Both the bay area teams are on top of their western divisions behind some great pitching. The A's are 6-3 and the Giants are 6-2 and I am not sure if they can stay on top for long. If I were to pick one of the two teams, the Giants are probably capable of surviving given that the division is relatively weak and their pitching is awesome. Even the DBacks are 4-3 and have looked decent so far. They dropped 13 runs in one innings in a game. Of course the Toronto Bluejays are leading the AL East at 6-2 - like thats going to last! The entire league is a front for the RedSox and the Yankees and I don't even know why the other teams in that division are playing. MLB reminds me of a corrupt business that has a trust as a front to siphon off money. The MLB has an elaborate league going on thats basically a front for the Yankees and the RedSox. I think MLB needs serious reforms to make it relevant across the country again. But then again, the Rays of all teams made it to the World Series couple of years back. So I guess the Bluejays and the Orioles in that division and other bad teams in other divisions all have some hope.
In the bottom half of the West, seems like the OKC will be at the 8-Th spot and will go against the fakers. They have great talent including my main man, Sun Devil James Harden, but they don't have the experience or the maturity to hang with the Fakers. I was hoping the Spurs would finish 8-Th and we could have all seen a great Lakers-Spurs war in the first round. It could have even been an upset. Now, I just hope the Suns don't end up drawing the Spurs in the first round. The West looks so scary that I don't feel comfortable playing any of these 7 teams in any of the playoff rounds, but still you got to be afraid of teams like the Spurs and the fakers. Lets see where things fall tomorrow. In the East, the story is about the Chicago Bulls executive vice president John Paxson shoving coach Vinny Del Negro twice in the chest in a postgame confrontation late last month. I think Paxson should be punished hard. I hate when these so called leaders of organizations treat players like they are thugs on the one hand and behave like thugs themselves on the other. Apparently he tried to provoke Del Negro in to fight so he can be fired. Lame and cheap and stupid and classless.
The MLB season has begun. It's too early to say anything important, but there are a few early surprises as always. Both the bay area teams are on top of their western divisions behind some great pitching. The A's are 6-3 and the Giants are 6-2 and I am not sure if they can stay on top for long. If I were to pick one of the two teams, the Giants are probably capable of surviving given that the division is relatively weak and their pitching is awesome. Even the DBacks are 4-3 and have looked decent so far. They dropped 13 runs in one innings in a game. Of course the Toronto Bluejays are leading the AL East at 6-2 - like thats going to last! The entire league is a front for the RedSox and the Yankees and I don't even know why the other teams in that division are playing. MLB reminds me of a corrupt business that has a trust as a front to siphon off money. The MLB has an elaborate league going on thats basically a front for the Yankees and the RedSox. I think MLB needs serious reforms to make it relevant across the country again. But then again, the Rays of all teams made it to the World Series couple of years back. So I guess the Bluejays and the Orioles in that division and other bad teams in other divisions all have some hope.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Best in the West?
The Suns are rocking and rolling since the all-star break. This has been a weird season for the Suns. They started at the top spot and then at one point dropped all the way down to the 9-Th spot. Then they tried to trade Amare for no good reason. Then they did not. Suddenly Amare starts balling like crazy. He seems to be finally back to the monstrous Amare level from his pre-surgery days. I thought those days were gone for good, but he is suddenly back a couple of years after the surgery. His elevation, extension and ferocity are back. I am so glad the Suns didn't trade him. The second half MVP is either Amare or Ginobli and thats the expert opinion across the league. Now the Suns are competing for the 2-Nd spot and are the fashionable pick to make it to the Western conference finals. It's still a long way to go with 3 teams tied for the second spot and 3 more tied for the 6-Th, 7-Th and 8-Th. The West is amazing. Teams can go from the second spot to no home court in the playoffs overnight.
The Suns were 12-2 in March and coach Gentry won the coach of the month award. Some people are also picking him to win the coach of the year award. They have the best record in the league since the all-star break and the Lakers have also been losing lately. And of course the MP3 Steve Nashty is playing like the MP3 as always. Things are looking good. Today, they even beat the Spurs without even getting Nash off the bench in the fourth quarter. Thats amazing to me. These games are usually nail biters with the Spurs taking it at the end. Things have changed. The Suns missed the playoffs last year and were supposedly on the way out. But now it's the Spurs fighting for the 8-Th spot. They seem to have finally gotten old suddenly and ironically, this happens the year they get the younger, more athletic, albeit over-rated Richard Jefferson.
The state of the Spurs reminds me of an article Steve Kerr wrote when he was in the media a couple of years back. He was saying that every championship team had a "big 2" - Jordan/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe etc.. People think the Spurs didn't have that, but Kerr's point was that the second wheel on those championship teams was actually Bruce Bowen - Duncan/Bowen. And those 2 anchored and dominated the defense, which was the Spurs calling card anyways. I think Kerr nailed it. The main problem with the Spurs right now is not that they are suddenly old or that Duncan has slowed down or they are always injured. All thats true to some extent, but the primary issue is that they are missing Bruce Bowen and his suffocating defense. I am so glad he is not molesting Nash at half-court every possession.
In any case, I hope the Suns lock up the 2-Nd spot. That way, they don't have to face the fakers until the WC finals. The Lakers are also wobbling a little bit, but I think they will be fine come playoffs time. They are probably just disinterested and slacking off right now. Finishing number 2 in no guarantee to make it to the WC finals in the brutal west, but that obviously gives you a better chance to make it rather than starting at the 7-Th or 6-Th seed. But the playoffs are just going to be unbelievably close in the west. Just 3 games separating spots 2 and 8. With just a week to go, we still have no idea what the match-ups are going to be. Except for Lakers at 1, nothing else is set. We could also see all 8 playoff teams in the west winning at least 50 games. That would be amazing. Speaking of amazing, in the east, Charlotte Bobcats have clinched the playoffs. Thats newsworthy. I am curious to see if Larry Brown can take it even further in the coming years. Don Nelson is now officially the winningest coach in the history if the game. The Warrior fans are now hoping he retires.
The Suns were 12-2 in March and coach Gentry won the coach of the month award. Some people are also picking him to win the coach of the year award. They have the best record in the league since the all-star break and the Lakers have also been losing lately. And of course the MP3 Steve Nashty is playing like the MP3 as always. Things are looking good. Today, they even beat the Spurs without even getting Nash off the bench in the fourth quarter. Thats amazing to me. These games are usually nail biters with the Spurs taking it at the end. Things have changed. The Suns missed the playoffs last year and were supposedly on the way out. But now it's the Spurs fighting for the 8-Th spot. They seem to have finally gotten old suddenly and ironically, this happens the year they get the younger, more athletic, albeit over-rated Richard Jefferson.
The state of the Spurs reminds me of an article Steve Kerr wrote when he was in the media a couple of years back. He was saying that every championship team had a "big 2" - Jordan/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe etc.. People think the Spurs didn't have that, but Kerr's point was that the second wheel on those championship teams was actually Bruce Bowen - Duncan/Bowen. And those 2 anchored and dominated the defense, which was the Spurs calling card anyways. I think Kerr nailed it. The main problem with the Spurs right now is not that they are suddenly old or that Duncan has slowed down or they are always injured. All thats true to some extent, but the primary issue is that they are missing Bruce Bowen and his suffocating defense. I am so glad he is not molesting Nash at half-court every possession.
In any case, I hope the Suns lock up the 2-Nd spot. That way, they don't have to face the fakers until the WC finals. The Lakers are also wobbling a little bit, but I think they will be fine come playoffs time. They are probably just disinterested and slacking off right now. Finishing number 2 in no guarantee to make it to the WC finals in the brutal west, but that obviously gives you a better chance to make it rather than starting at the 7-Th or 6-Th seed. But the playoffs are just going to be unbelievably close in the west. Just 3 games separating spots 2 and 8. With just a week to go, we still have no idea what the match-ups are going to be. Except for Lakers at 1, nothing else is set. We could also see all 8 playoff teams in the west winning at least 50 games. That would be amazing. Speaking of amazing, in the east, Charlotte Bobcats have clinched the playoffs. Thats newsworthy. I am curious to see if Larry Brown can take it even further in the coming years. Don Nelson is now officially the winningest coach in the history if the game. The Warrior fans are now hoping he retires.
Monday, April 05, 2010
McNabb is gone
The Eagles finally traded away Donovan McNabb to the Redskins for a second round pick in this year's draft and a 3-Rd or 4-Th rounder in the next draft. I was a little surprised by the destination considering the skins are their in-division rival who are on the upswing with a lot of hype surrounding their new coach Mike Shanahan. Now Mike has a QB, though I am not sure McNabb is his kind of QB. I have always thought McNabb was a little over-rated. But he is still better than average and a definite upgrade for the Redskins. Apparently McNabb is Jason Campbell's mentor and now the protege will lose his job to his mentor. This should be a weird and unique situation.
As for the Eagles, I like Kevin Kolb. I think he is the real deal and with all those new weapons on offense, this guy is going to do great next season. Coach Andy Reid and McNabb have been inseparable for 11 years. They both got to Philly the same year and McNabb was inserted as a starter soon after. It turns out Reid has out-survived McNabb in that crazy town. I think he has made the right decision with Kolb. If not, Reid will be gone soon. As for McNabb, I am glad Reid has tried to treat him well. He honored his request to not get traded to Buffalo or Oakland. It sucks to be Oakland right now. But thats neither here nor there. But the McNabb/Reid era in Philly is over and I hope those crazy fans understand what they had. Outside of the Colts and the Patriots, the Eagles have the highest number of wins since 2000 and McNabb took them to a Super Bowl and multiple NFC championship games. But that was not enough at the end.
Tomorrow is the NCAA championship game with Duke and Butler matching up. This is a very interesting contest considering Duke and Butler are significantly different programs. Some people even call this the David versus Goliath game. Butler is not a major program, but is not quite a cindrella either because they are a 5-Th seed and are not totally a surprise to be where they are now. I think Duke wins this one and Coach K will be on cloud 9 after that. He has had a few bad years and he is enjoying this Final 4 appearance. Lets see if he caches in tomorrow. Good luck to both teams.
As for the Eagles, I like Kevin Kolb. I think he is the real deal and with all those new weapons on offense, this guy is going to do great next season. Coach Andy Reid and McNabb have been inseparable for 11 years. They both got to Philly the same year and McNabb was inserted as a starter soon after. It turns out Reid has out-survived McNabb in that crazy town. I think he has made the right decision with Kolb. If not, Reid will be gone soon. As for McNabb, I am glad Reid has tried to treat him well. He honored his request to not get traded to Buffalo or Oakland. It sucks to be Oakland right now. But thats neither here nor there. But the McNabb/Reid era in Philly is over and I hope those crazy fans understand what they had. Outside of the Colts and the Patriots, the Eagles have the highest number of wins since 2000 and McNabb took them to a Super Bowl and multiple NFC championship games. But that was not enough at the end.
Tomorrow is the NCAA championship game with Duke and Butler matching up. This is a very interesting contest considering Duke and Butler are significantly different programs. Some people even call this the David versus Goliath game. Butler is not a major program, but is not quite a cindrella either because they are a 5-Th seed and are not totally a surprise to be where they are now. I think Duke wins this one and Coach K will be on cloud 9 after that. He has had a few bad years and he is enjoying this Final 4 appearance. Lets see if he caches in tomorrow. Good luck to both teams.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Crazy Weekend
There are only 3 certainties in life - death, taxes and my bracket getting busted after just a week of tournament play. The only difference this year is that most people's brackets are busted and I am not alone. It was an weekend of awesome games and amazing upsets in the NCAA tournament. The tourney has been up and down a little bit the last couple of years. But this first weekend this March has been great. The sweet 16 features a 9-Th seed that upset the big, bad Kansas. It also features a 10-Th, 11-Th and 12-Th seeds. The first round also featured a 13-Th and 14-Th seeded teams that upset Georgetown and Vanderbilt. The theory has always been that there is always a 12 over 5 upset in the first round and I called the Cornell over Temple game correctly. But I didn't think Cornell will also dump Wisconsin and go to the sweet 16. I also didn't know there would be a 13 over 4 and a 14 over 3. Amazing! The talk of the nation now is Northern Iowa, who beat Kansas and St. Mary's, who beat Villanova - 2 teams responsible for my brackets being in the state they are. But I can't complain. Don't we all love the underdogs!
It's not just about the upsets. The games have been awesome and a lot of close finishes as well. Both Northern Iowa and Michigan State have played 2 nail-baiters and now they have to play each other. Should be fun. Surprisingly, Cornell has had no problems with their comfortable upsets. Not since Penn made the Final Four in 1979 has an Ivy League team won two games in the NCAA tournament. Cornell has done it by averaging 82.5 points a game. They now have to play Kentucky, the clear favorites to win it all now that Kansas is back home. Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse and Ohio State are the big-names still left in the tournament and have looked decent. It should be fun watching them fight it out with the little guys next weekend. It's time now to follow the NBA for a couple of days before the gang reconvenes for the tournament on Thursday. NBA is heating up too with everybody on top of the conference standings winning and refusing to lose. The Phoenix Suns are playing great, but they cannot close the gap in the standings. Lets save that story for another day.
It's not just about the upsets. The games have been awesome and a lot of close finishes as well. Both Northern Iowa and Michigan State have played 2 nail-baiters and now they have to play each other. Should be fun. Surprisingly, Cornell has had no problems with their comfortable upsets. Not since Penn made the Final Four in 1979 has an Ivy League team won two games in the NCAA tournament. Cornell has done it by averaging 82.5 points a game. They now have to play Kentucky, the clear favorites to win it all now that Kansas is back home. Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse and Ohio State are the big-names still left in the tournament and have looked decent. It should be fun watching them fight it out with the little guys next weekend. It's time now to follow the NBA for a couple of days before the gang reconvenes for the tournament on Thursday. NBA is heating up too with everybody on top of the conference standings winning and refusing to lose. The Phoenix Suns are playing great, but they cannot close the gap in the standings. Lets save that story for another day.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
March Madness
March madness is here. Most people think NCAA tournament when you say March madness. But a lot of god games actually happen during the conference tournaments leading up to the big dance. I wish I had more times on my hands to watch some of these games. The conference tournaments usually feature teams that know each other very well and hate each other and are rivals. This brings an added juice to the contest and some of these games are real fun. Obviously there is not much at stake for the top teams in the tournaments for the big conferences, but a NCAA berth is usually at stake for all smaller conferences. The process has started already and this will keep us busy through the month. Fun times.
In the NBA, Kobe hit his 6-Th game winner of this season. This guy is becoming a legendary clutch player this season. He is the most popular player in the league and he is only getting bigger with these game winners. Kobe's shot today stopped a 3 game losing streak for the Lakers. They actually don't look as good as they used to in December but a lot of people think they will just turn it up in the playoffs. They still have the most talent in the league and they have the black mamba. The Cavs look great, but can they beat the Lakers? Thats the question to be answered this season. I think the much awaited Cavs-Lakers matchup will happen this year in the finals. Boston looks shot and the Magic this season don't look like a championship team. Cavs may still need Shaq to make sure they get past the Magic, but the Cavs look better than they did last year. The surprising team in the NBA are the Mavericks. They have won 12 straight and they are threatening the top teams in the league with their record.
Basketball is fun, but NFL is clearly the national sport. The daily coverage and attention the NFL is getting even during the off-season is amazing. And this is expanding every year. Seems like the people just can't get enough of the NFL and there's constant chatter on ESPN all day about the NFL though the first game is still almost 6 months away. The news today was how Derek Anderson crushed the Cleveland Browns fan on his way out. Looks like the dude was really hurt by them cherring his injury during a game. Fans are sometimes messed up, but I didn't expect so much emotion from him on the way out. The other news is TO being recruited by the Bengals. I can't imagine TO and Ocho on the same team. They both should drive Carson Palmer nuts.
In the NBA, Kobe hit his 6-Th game winner of this season. This guy is becoming a legendary clutch player this season. He is the most popular player in the league and he is only getting bigger with these game winners. Kobe's shot today stopped a 3 game losing streak for the Lakers. They actually don't look as good as they used to in December but a lot of people think they will just turn it up in the playoffs. They still have the most talent in the league and they have the black mamba. The Cavs look great, but can they beat the Lakers? Thats the question to be answered this season. I think the much awaited Cavs-Lakers matchup will happen this year in the finals. Boston looks shot and the Magic this season don't look like a championship team. Cavs may still need Shaq to make sure they get past the Magic, but the Cavs look better than they did last year. The surprising team in the NBA are the Mavericks. They have won 12 straight and they are threatening the top teams in the league with their record.
Basketball is fun, but NFL is clearly the national sport. The daily coverage and attention the NFL is getting even during the off-season is amazing. And this is expanding every year. Seems like the people just can't get enough of the NFL and there's constant chatter on ESPN all day about the NFL though the first game is still almost 6 months away. The news today was how Derek Anderson crushed the Cleveland Browns fan on his way out. Looks like the dude was really hurt by them cherring his injury during a game. Fans are sometimes messed up, but I didn't expect so much emotion from him on the way out. The other news is TO being recruited by the Bengals. I can't imagine TO and Ocho on the same team. They both should drive Carson Palmer nuts.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Missed Dunk
Couple of interesting games on ABC today. The usual Suns-Spurs contest had a typical ending. The Suns lost and they lost a heart-breaker. Jason Richardson, the former slam-dunk champion, missed a wide-open dunk that would have tied the game with 40 seconds to go. The Suns then had to play catchup by fouling and Nash still had the ball in his hands with 3+ seconds to go trailing by just 3. This was because he hit a ridiculous 3 a few seconds back, but now he decided to make an ill-decided pass to Frye and the clock ran out on them before a shot even went up. Bad ending for the Suns as always at San Antonio. The only difference for both these teams these days is that they are both in the bottom half of the Western standings. Actually, I was mentally treating the Spurs as a better team all game long because they have the pedigree and they have Timmy, but they are actually behind the Suns in the standings. Even more reason why the Suns should have won this game today.
The other game today on ABC was between a couple of teams in the top half of the West - Denver at the Lakers. The Lakers got booed in the first half by the home crowd, but they came through in the second. The rich and creamies couldn't take advantage of some horrible shooting by Kobe - 3/17. It's interesting to watch Kenyon Martin defend Kobe for stretches and he usually does a good job. Thats an amazing assignment for a power forward. This game was also probably the first real payoff for the Lakers as far as having Ron Artest on the roster. He defended Melo well and actually forced a 6-Th foul on him. It was a horrible call by the ref, but Artest induced the stupidity anyways. It is good to see George Karl coaching amidst all his cancer treatment. I wonder how long he can keep going like this. In other news, Shaq is out till the playoffs since his thumb might require surgery. I don't think the Cavs will miss him, at least not until the playoffs. Canada beats the US in OT in the Olympics hockey finals. The nation of Canada is more relieved than excited.
The other game today on ABC was between a couple of teams in the top half of the West - Denver at the Lakers. The Lakers got booed in the first half by the home crowd, but they came through in the second. The rich and creamies couldn't take advantage of some horrible shooting by Kobe - 3/17. It's interesting to watch Kenyon Martin defend Kobe for stretches and he usually does a good job. Thats an amazing assignment for a power forward. This game was also probably the first real payoff for the Lakers as far as having Ron Artest on the roster. He defended Melo well and actually forced a 6-Th foul on him. It was a horrible call by the ref, but Artest induced the stupidity anyways. It is good to see George Karl coaching amidst all his cancer treatment. I wonder how long he can keep going like this. In other news, Shaq is out till the playoffs since his thumb might require surgery. I don't think the Cavs will miss him, at least not until the playoffs. Canada beats the US in OT in the Olympics hockey finals. The nation of Canada is more relieved than excited.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Amare stays put
The trade deadline came and went and I was happy about it. Amare stayed back and that’s good for the Suns. It’s good in the sense that most of the rumored deals to me looked like a pure salary dump and not necessarily something that was focused on rebuilding. I don’t mind them not wanting to resign Amare for a lot of money. I am probably of the opinion that he is not a max contract guy myself. So that’s not the issue. If you are letting him walk next year, then you don’t get anything in return. So you try and trade and get something in return. Agreed. But what’s the point of trading him for big Z’s large contract and buying that out? Essentially you are swapping expiring contracts and dumping big Z right away to save some cash the rest of this season. That ain’t rebuilding. That’s just saving cash.
I was hoping for more talent and may be draft picks and obviously Cavs can’t give you top picks being an elite team themselves. To be fair to Kerr, looks like he did want J.J.Hickson and that’s apparently why the Cavs didn’t do the deal. But still J.J.Hickson is not what I was looking for when it comes to trading Amare. So I never liked this deal and I am glad it didn’t go through. It would have just been another data-point to show how Robert Sarver would rather save some money than build a team. Also the Suns are in the playoff race and they have been sliding up and down the standing all the way from 1 to 9. That tells me they have some talent, but are inconsistent. They are not a contender, but shouldn’t they have been buyers and not sellers in the trade market? I am surprised Sarver gets away with all this. I am just happy they are not rebuilding mid-stream and wasting Nash’s time.
The Cavs got Jamison and did not have to give up Hickson. Good trade for them, though Jamison shot 0-12 in his first game and they promptly lost his first 2 games. It will work out in the long run. The Cavs will also get Z back after whole buyout dance with the Wizards. Wizards are now completely transformed. Not sure where they are going next season. The Cavs still have the best record in the league after losing 3 straight. They are good. Kobe came back today and hit another game winner against Memphis today. This guy’s legend is growing everyday this season even more than it did with his 4-Th championship. He has hit 5 game winners and that’s impressive to say the least. Apparently Melo had that many a couple of years back, which is also amazing. Suns won today on the road against a good Thunder team and the shocking thing was, they won without Nash.
I was hoping for more talent and may be draft picks and obviously Cavs can’t give you top picks being an elite team themselves. To be fair to Kerr, looks like he did want J.J.Hickson and that’s apparently why the Cavs didn’t do the deal. But still J.J.Hickson is not what I was looking for when it comes to trading Amare. So I never liked this deal and I am glad it didn’t go through. It would have just been another data-point to show how Robert Sarver would rather save some money than build a team. Also the Suns are in the playoff race and they have been sliding up and down the standing all the way from 1 to 9. That tells me they have some talent, but are inconsistent. They are not a contender, but shouldn’t they have been buyers and not sellers in the trade market? I am surprised Sarver gets away with all this. I am just happy they are not rebuilding mid-stream and wasting Nash’s time.
The Cavs got Jamison and did not have to give up Hickson. Good trade for them, though Jamison shot 0-12 in his first game and they promptly lost his first 2 games. It will work out in the long run. The Cavs will also get Z back after whole buyout dance with the Wizards. Wizards are now completely transformed. Not sure where they are going next season. The Cavs still have the best record in the league after losing 3 straight. They are good. Kobe came back today and hit another game winner against Memphis today. This guy’s legend is growing everyday this season even more than it did with his 4-Th championship. He has hit 5 game winners and that’s impressive to say the least. Apparently Melo had that many a couple of years back, which is also amazing. Suns won today on the road against a good Thunder team and the shocking thing was, they won without Nash.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
All-star weekend
Another NBA all-star weekend is in the books. The Saturday night festivities this year were worse than usual. The slam-dunk contest was uninspired and boring. It might have taken a step or 3 back. The last few years have been marginally exciting. Not so much this time. The 3-point shooting contest was also sub-par and the "HORSE" contest is just plain stupid. I don't know if I am biased, but the skills competition which Steve Nash won was the only interesting part of Saturday night. Thats because it tests some skills and there's a clock that guys have to beat. It's kinda exciting to some extent. I would expand it and make it more interesting and take a serious look at revamping all of the other events. They need better contests and better contestants. I was disappointed in Shannon Brown of the Lakers. The guy can literally jump out of the gym and his dunks were not even half as impressive as his dunks in a real game. Did he even think about this contest or did he just show up? He even dragged Kobe out for a stupid dunk that half of the NBA can do in a real game. Demar Derozan of the Toronto Raptors came with a plan, but he was over-matched. NBA needs better contestants or they should shut this slam-dunk contest down.
Today's game was not too bad. I mean all All-Star games suck, but this was lower on the suckage scale compared to the usual fare. It was close at the end and the East won it. I was amazed that more than 108,000 people showed up to watch this thing. I am sure somebody made a lot of money. I just hope the people working the concessions etc. made some good money too. It was probably not a bad all-star game to try and score some tickets for considering the size of that stadium. But then again, what are you going to see from the nose-bleeds in that monster? Both LeBron and Shakira probably look like David Stern from up there. One of the most retarded things I have ever seen happened towards the end of this game. Deron Williams actually fouled D-Wade with just 13 seconds to go and with the score all tied up. The dude had no idea what the score was. If this doesn't tell us how irrelevant these All-Star games are, not sure what will. And that too it was Deron Williams - a guy who is coached everyday by Jerry Sloan. But then he got off the hook as the game featured a few more fouls on both sides as guys couldn't keep their hands off the other team. But at least those morons didn't foul intentionally like Deron did.
Time to get back to the regular season. I am hoping the Phoenix Suns continue their good run and bounce all the way back. The trade deadline is this Thursday and it would be interesting to see what happens with Amare. Dallas has already traded Josh Howard as part of a package for Caron Butler and a bunch of pieces from Washington. Great trade for Dallas. A healthy Howard is probably more useful all-around player than Caron Butler, but he has never been healthy lately. Plus all his off-field transgressions has upset the Dallas fan-base. He had to go. Butler brings a lot of scoring to Big-D and he will take some pressure off Dirk - the same help that Marion was supposed to provide, but he never did. Matrix has not shot over 25% from beyond the arc since he left Steve Nash. Dallas also gets some size in Brendan Haywood. It's a good trade for Dallas, though I Don't know how much better they are with Butler. One problem is, he is not that different from Marion and Nowitzki from a position and role perspective. Suns will see them soon and it should be a fun game. Even as a big-time NBA fan, I have to say, the sports world is just not the same without the NFL. There was winter Olympics, Daytona 500, NBA all-star game and college basketball this weekend, but all of that combined can't replace the NFL. The guys suffering the most should be the sports talk show and TV show guys. There is nothing to talk about and hence people won't tune in. NFL is truly the king in this country.
Today's game was not too bad. I mean all All-Star games suck, but this was lower on the suckage scale compared to the usual fare. It was close at the end and the East won it. I was amazed that more than 108,000 people showed up to watch this thing. I am sure somebody made a lot of money. I just hope the people working the concessions etc. made some good money too. It was probably not a bad all-star game to try and score some tickets for considering the size of that stadium. But then again, what are you going to see from the nose-bleeds in that monster? Both LeBron and Shakira probably look like David Stern from up there. One of the most retarded things I have ever seen happened towards the end of this game. Deron Williams actually fouled D-Wade with just 13 seconds to go and with the score all tied up. The dude had no idea what the score was. If this doesn't tell us how irrelevant these All-Star games are, not sure what will. And that too it was Deron Williams - a guy who is coached everyday by Jerry Sloan. But then he got off the hook as the game featured a few more fouls on both sides as guys couldn't keep their hands off the other team. But at least those morons didn't foul intentionally like Deron did.
Time to get back to the regular season. I am hoping the Phoenix Suns continue their good run and bounce all the way back. The trade deadline is this Thursday and it would be interesting to see what happens with Amare. Dallas has already traded Josh Howard as part of a package for Caron Butler and a bunch of pieces from Washington. Great trade for Dallas. A healthy Howard is probably more useful all-around player than Caron Butler, but he has never been healthy lately. Plus all his off-field transgressions has upset the Dallas fan-base. He had to go. Butler brings a lot of scoring to Big-D and he will take some pressure off Dirk - the same help that Marion was supposed to provide, but he never did. Matrix has not shot over 25% from beyond the arc since he left Steve Nash. Dallas also gets some size in Brendan Haywood. It's a good trade for Dallas, though I Don't know how much better they are with Butler. One problem is, he is not that different from Marion and Nowitzki from a position and role perspective. Suns will see them soon and it should be a fun game. Even as a big-time NBA fan, I have to say, the sports world is just not the same without the NFL. There was winter Olympics, Daytona 500, NBA all-star game and college basketball this weekend, but all of that combined can't replace the NFL. The guys suffering the most should be the sports talk show and TV show guys. There is nothing to talk about and hence people won't tune in. NFL is truly the king in this country.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Who Dat'
Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl yesterday. They were clearly the sentimental favorites and they came through in this game. I was expecting the Colts to win it and they started the game looking like the better team. But I don't know what happened to Manning and the Colts after that. He did not score a TD after the first quarter though he had 333 yards passing in the game. The Saints as always started slow and seemed to wake up in the second half. They had 2 field goals in the first half, but they did not give up any points to the Colts in the second quarter. So they went into half-time just trailing 10-6. Saints were actually stopped on a 4-Th and goal by the Colts on a gutsy call by Sean Payton. It was amazing to see such a call in the Super Bowl. But that was just an appetizer served by Sean Payton
Then came the call of the day on the other side of the half-time. Once the stupid "who" went to bed after the half-time show, the Colts were supposed to get the ball on the second half kick-off. But the Saints went for an on-side kick and got the ball. This was an amazing call and a great momentum changer. Drew Brees took advantage right away and scored on that drive to give the Saints their first lead in the game. The game then went back and forth in the 3-Rd quarter as Manning and the Colts played well and scored easily as well. But just like the second quarter, the colts couldn't score in the 4-Th quarter and the clinching point was Tracy Porter's pick-6 with just 3:12 to go. Manning got the ball with about 5 minutes to go and it looked like he was on one of his patented late game drives to tie this game. But it was not meant to be. He had problems getting the ball to Reggie Wayne all game and when he tried again, Porter jumped the route and sealed the deal. This one pass kinda affects Manning's legacy since he has now lost one super bowl and won only one. A victory yesterday would have cemented his legacy as the best ever given his numbers, rings and 4 MVPs. He had 333 yards, but went scoreless in the 2-Nd and 4-Th quarters. Tough ending for the Manning family on this one.
This was one of the Super Bowls where most people did not have a strong love or animosity for either team. This is because both Brees and Manning are great QBs and classy guys. I didn't have a strong preference for either side, but I am happy for Brees. He is a great QB and a good guy and I have always been a fan since his Purdue days, I was upset at San Diego for letting him go, but I see their point too in that Philip Rivers is younger and is also pretty good. Finally Brees is a super-star and has a ring to back it up. That picture of him with his son in his hands and tears in his eyes is going to be one of the images defining this Super Bowl. Manning on the other hand is going to be thinking of that pick for a while. I am still not sure what happened to the Colts during those stretches. This was a weird game in some sense. It was not as high-scoring a game as most people expected. Neither defenses seemed to do that well, but the scoring was not there for long stretches of this game. Both QBs had great numbers, but again, both offenses were ineffective for long stretches. Brees had Warner type numbers - 32 of 39 for 288 yards and 2 TDs. He carved the Colts D up in the second half and won the MVP.
Brees is a classy superstar with mad game. I am totally happy for him.
Then came the call of the day on the other side of the half-time. Once the stupid "who" went to bed after the half-time show, the Colts were supposed to get the ball on the second half kick-off. But the Saints went for an on-side kick and got the ball. This was an amazing call and a great momentum changer. Drew Brees took advantage right away and scored on that drive to give the Saints their first lead in the game. The game then went back and forth in the 3-Rd quarter as Manning and the Colts played well and scored easily as well. But just like the second quarter, the colts couldn't score in the 4-Th quarter and the clinching point was Tracy Porter's pick-6 with just 3:12 to go. Manning got the ball with about 5 minutes to go and it looked like he was on one of his patented late game drives to tie this game. But it was not meant to be. He had problems getting the ball to Reggie Wayne all game and when he tried again, Porter jumped the route and sealed the deal. This one pass kinda affects Manning's legacy since he has now lost one super bowl and won only one. A victory yesterday would have cemented his legacy as the best ever given his numbers, rings and 4 MVPs. He had 333 yards, but went scoreless in the 2-Nd and 4-Th quarters. Tough ending for the Manning family on this one.
This was one of the Super Bowls where most people did not have a strong love or animosity for either team. This is because both Brees and Manning are great QBs and classy guys. I didn't have a strong preference for either side, but I am happy for Brees. He is a great QB and a good guy and I have always been a fan since his Purdue days, I was upset at San Diego for letting him go, but I see their point too in that Philip Rivers is younger and is also pretty good. Finally Brees is a super-star and has a ring to back it up. That picture of him with his son in his hands and tears in his eyes is going to be one of the images defining this Super Bowl. Manning on the other hand is going to be thinking of that pick for a while. I am still not sure what happened to the Colts during those stretches. This was a weird game in some sense. It was not as high-scoring a game as most people expected. Neither defenses seemed to do that well, but the scoring was not there for long stretches of this game. Both QBs had great numbers, but again, both offenses were ineffective for long stretches. Brees had Warner type numbers - 32 of 39 for 288 yards and 2 TDs. He carved the Colts D up in the second half and won the MVP.
Brees is a classy superstar with mad game. I am totally happy for him.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Manning and Brees
These 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl should be split into a Manning week and a Brees week. They are the biggest stories of this Super Bowl - Dwight Freeney's ankle notwithstanding. There has never been a better QB match-up probably ever in the Super Bowl. These are 2 classy, charismatic quarterbacks who have put up some insane numbers during the season. Usually such prolific offenses fall along the wayside during the playoffs. They don't make it all the way to the Super Bowl. We are lucky this year that these 2 stud QBs have made it this far and are locked and loaded to fire on all cylinders. Peyton Manning's numbers were 68.8 % completion percentage for 4500 yards and 33 TDs. Brees went for 70.6 % completion for 4388 yards and 34 TDs. Thats some solid QB play right there.
With all that said, Peyton Manning and the Colts should probably be the favorites. The Saints and Brees are great, but Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning. How are you going to pick against him? Plus the concern for me with the Saints is that their offense is just a little slowed down these days. Why and how I am not sure, but they are not hurting fools like they used to. I am sure they will be back a little bit for the Super Bowl and will give us a great game, but if I have to pick one team in that game, it has to be the Colts. But both are great franchises with good coaches and great QBs. So I won't be rooting for or against anyone and I won't mind if either Brees or Manning wins. Part of me wants Brees to win because he doesn't have a ring yet and I feel like Manning will also have a better chance at making it to the Super Bowl again more so than Drew Brees. Colts just seem to be a better run franchise.
In the NBA, the Suns are on a 3 game wining streak after losing to everybody and their mom for a few weeks. Amare's name is all over the trade rumors and this time, it feels real. I would like to think they will take a step forward with the new pieces they acquire, but I don't see how. Even with all his deficiencies, Amare is not an easy player to replace. He is dominant around the basket and you can't teach that size, athleticism and attitude. It's kinda sad he is not learning to defend or rebound - 2 things that can be taught, especially given Amare's physical tools. At least with Nash, the excuse for his bad defense is his lack of lateral quickness and athleticism. We will obviously stay tuned for any Amare news the rest of the way. I am really concerned about what this trade will mean to Nash's career. Suns can and will rebuild, but Nash and rebuilding can't go together at this age. Thats the concern.
With all that said, Peyton Manning and the Colts should probably be the favorites. The Saints and Brees are great, but Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning. How are you going to pick against him? Plus the concern for me with the Saints is that their offense is just a little slowed down these days. Why and how I am not sure, but they are not hurting fools like they used to. I am sure they will be back a little bit for the Super Bowl and will give us a great game, but if I have to pick one team in that game, it has to be the Colts. But both are great franchises with good coaches and great QBs. So I won't be rooting for or against anyone and I won't mind if either Brees or Manning wins. Part of me wants Brees to win because he doesn't have a ring yet and I feel like Manning will also have a better chance at making it to the Super Bowl again more so than Drew Brees. Colts just seem to be a better run franchise.
In the NBA, the Suns are on a 3 game wining streak after losing to everybody and their mom for a few weeks. Amare's name is all over the trade rumors and this time, it feels real. I would like to think they will take a step forward with the new pieces they acquire, but I don't see how. Even with all his deficiencies, Amare is not an easy player to replace. He is dominant around the basket and you can't teach that size, athleticism and attitude. It's kinda sad he is not learning to defend or rebound - 2 things that can be taught, especially given Amare's physical tools. At least with Nash, the excuse for his bad defense is his lack of lateral quickness and athleticism. We will obviously stay tuned for any Amare news the rest of the way. I am really concerned about what this trade will mean to Nash's career. Suns can and will rebuild, but Nash and rebuilding can't go together at this age. Thats the concern.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Brees V Manning
Brees and Manning have both made it to the Super Bowl this season as expected. It always looked like they were on a collision course earlier in the season, but things usually don't follow the script like this. This playoffs didn't follow the script either, but the best 2 teams did end up in the Super Bowl finally. The Saints and the Vikings played a very interesting game today. It was as close as I thought it would be and wanted it to be, but the flow of the game was completely different than what I expected. It started off with both teams scoring in the first quarter, but then the scoring slowed down and the turnovers picked up. The Vikings in the second half just refused to hold onto the ball. They kept fumbling and the Saints recovered most of it. If they didn't fumble, then Favre threw interceptions. But the Saints for some reason just could not take advantage. They still had to go to overtime and they won the game on a 40 yard field goal after 3 plays were reviewed in that OT drive.
Dallas went into New Orleans late in the season and beat them. As the theory goes, they gave the league a footprint to slow down Drew Brees and the Saints offense. There is some truth to this as the Saints offense has not been the same since. They never looked dominant even in today's game despite the 5 turnovers handed to them by the Vikes. Even when Reggie Bush gave them the ball, the Vikes fumbled it right back to the Saints. Favre played well and played hurt, but made a crucial mistake very late in the game and I am not able to decide how costly that error was. The Vikings were driving the ball to either end the game or send it to overtime. They were going to go either make a field goal or miss one or stall, but the game was down to seconds and the Saints were not going to get the ball back to do anything significant. They barely entered field goal range, when they got a stupid penalty which pushed them 5 yards back. They were now looking at a 55 or a 56 yarder, which is probably out of Longwell's range, but who cares if you are just taking a shot in a tied ball game with no seconds on the clock. But Favre killed that opportunity by throwing an interception to effectively send the game to OT. Saints won the toss and won the game.
Favre's interception was once his last pass of the season. We have seen that before. But is this the last pass of his career? Who knows and who cares. Thats a drama that will unfold all off-season as usual. I feel like he will be back for one more year and he should. He had a great year and he should play one more season. He looked pretty beat up emotionally in his post-game presser. He was also physically beat up by the Saints. Brett Favre is a diva, but I don't mind him at all during the season. Brad Childress on the other hand, I am not sure what his problem is. I don't like that guy. He sounds too arrogant and self-important for my taste and I am glad he won't be in the Super Bowl. The Saints D is not great, but they seem to get to the QB and they force fumbles. The offense is just not what it used to be and they need to get to that point if they want to challenge the Colts. The Colts had their share of problems today against the Jets today in the first half, but finally the superior talent prevailed. The Jets just did not have the firepower to compete with Manning. Like I said yesterday, their defense is also over-rated and the Jets rely on that defense a little too much. Mark Sanchez is pretty impressive though. I can't believe he plays so well as a rookie. The Jets should be good for a while. But the Colts should be the favorite 2 weeks from now in the Super Bowl given the state of the Saints offense. It should be a good super bowl though with a star-studded QB cast. I don't mind the 2 week hype on this one.
Dallas went into New Orleans late in the season and beat them. As the theory goes, they gave the league a footprint to slow down Drew Brees and the Saints offense. There is some truth to this as the Saints offense has not been the same since. They never looked dominant even in today's game despite the 5 turnovers handed to them by the Vikes. Even when Reggie Bush gave them the ball, the Vikes fumbled it right back to the Saints. Favre played well and played hurt, but made a crucial mistake very late in the game and I am not able to decide how costly that error was. The Vikings were driving the ball to either end the game or send it to overtime. They were going to go either make a field goal or miss one or stall, but the game was down to seconds and the Saints were not going to get the ball back to do anything significant. They barely entered field goal range, when they got a stupid penalty which pushed them 5 yards back. They were now looking at a 55 or a 56 yarder, which is probably out of Longwell's range, but who cares if you are just taking a shot in a tied ball game with no seconds on the clock. But Favre killed that opportunity by throwing an interception to effectively send the game to OT. Saints won the toss and won the game.
Favre's interception was once his last pass of the season. We have seen that before. But is this the last pass of his career? Who knows and who cares. Thats a drama that will unfold all off-season as usual. I feel like he will be back for one more year and he should. He had a great year and he should play one more season. He looked pretty beat up emotionally in his post-game presser. He was also physically beat up by the Saints. Brett Favre is a diva, but I don't mind him at all during the season. Brad Childress on the other hand, I am not sure what his problem is. I don't like that guy. He sounds too arrogant and self-important for my taste and I am glad he won't be in the Super Bowl. The Saints D is not great, but they seem to get to the QB and they force fumbles. The offense is just not what it used to be and they need to get to that point if they want to challenge the Colts. The Colts had their share of problems today against the Jets today in the first half, but finally the superior talent prevailed. The Jets just did not have the firepower to compete with Manning. Like I said yesterday, their defense is also over-rated and the Jets rely on that defense a little too much. Mark Sanchez is pretty impressive though. I can't believe he plays so well as a rookie. The Jets should be good for a while. But the Colts should be the favorite 2 weeks from now in the Super Bowl given the state of the Saints offense. It should be a good super bowl though with a star-studded QB cast. I don't mind the 2 week hype on this one.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
NFL Championship Games
The NFL Championship week is here. It's time for the Colts and the Saints to move on to the Super Bowl. I know there's a lot of hype around the Jets - half of it because they are from New York. But the Colts will take care of them easily. There's no defense that can stop Peyton Manning. Your only shot is slowing him down and have your offense match him pass for pass. The Jets can't do that. They don't move the ball consistently enough to bother the Colts. Plus their defense is a little overrated and the Colts D might be a little underrated. The only shot the Jets have is if Shonn Greene goes nuts. Unlikely to happen tomorrow. I don't think the Colts are going to miss 3 field goals either to help the Jets.
The Saints-Vikings game on the other hand should be a fun one, though I pick the home team on this one too. The Saints D is pretty decent and Favre has to be near perfect to stay in this one. Of course Favre has been just that this season, but this is obviously the toughest challenge to day. And Prince's stupid fight song might have jinxed them forever. I am hoping this game is a good one and not a blowout. I am kinda tired of all the blowouts this NFL playoff season. The Viking are legit though with Favre and All-Day and a good defense to back those 2 up. The only downside for me with the Saints is that some fools are starting to hype up Reggie Bush a little too much. Lets make no mistake, it's Brees's show all the way.
The Saints-Vikings game on the other hand should be a fun one, though I pick the home team on this one too. The Saints D is pretty decent and Favre has to be near perfect to stay in this one. Of course Favre has been just that this season, but this is obviously the toughest challenge to day. And Prince's stupid fight song might have jinxed them forever. I am hoping this game is a good one and not a blowout. I am kinda tired of all the blowouts this NFL playoff season. The Viking are legit though with Favre and All-Day and a good defense to back those 2 up. The only downside for me with the Saints is that some fools are starting to hype up Reggie Bush a little too much. Lets make no mistake, it's Brees's show all the way.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Lakers V Cavs
The second Lakers-Cavs match-up happened today and the King won again. It's impressive that LeBron and the Cavs have swept both the games against this year's Lakers. LeBron was awesome tonight and the torch I believe is slowly shifting from Kobe's hands to LeBron's. It was also fun and scary to watch Shaq and LeBron lined up inside and out with the ball moving back-and-forth as the guy defending LeBron had to leave him to double Shaq. It was an interesting sight. Kobe was good, but Gasol missed a couple of key free-throws and had a tough stretch at the end which finished the Lakers off. The Cavs are now just a game behind the Lakers and thats surprising considering how good the Lakers started the season and how bad the Cavs began this season. Now it feels just like last year and no wonder the Nike puppets are in full flow again. The only question is, can the Cavs take care of the East, beat the Magic and/or the Celtics and get to the finals? We know the Lakers will be there and it should be interesting to see if the Cavs get there.
The All-star starters were announced today and the Suns have 2 guys starting - Amare and Nash. I have to say they don't have the record to justify 2 all-stars these days though these 2 guys definitely deserve to be there. They have good numbers, but lately the Suns are losing a lot of games. One of my friends says they may drop all the way and miss the playoffs altogether. It's entirely possible given how tight the Western race is and how good teams like Memphis and Oklahoma City are playing. On the positive side, the Suns are still only 3.5 games behind the second placed team in the West and lets hope they move in that direction. Nash somehow jumped over T-Mac in the voting and thats good for the NBA. In the East, it's kind of stupid that Iverson is starting, but what can you do if fans vote that way. AI is truly popular, but T-Mac apparently is benefitting from the Chinese vote since he is Yao Ming's teammate.
The All-star starters were announced today and the Suns have 2 guys starting - Amare and Nash. I have to say they don't have the record to justify 2 all-stars these days though these 2 guys definitely deserve to be there. They have good numbers, but lately the Suns are losing a lot of games. One of my friends says they may drop all the way and miss the playoffs altogether. It's entirely possible given how tight the Western race is and how good teams like Memphis and Oklahoma City are playing. On the positive side, the Suns are still only 3.5 games behind the second placed team in the West and lets hope they move in that direction. Nash somehow jumped over T-Mac in the voting and thats good for the NBA. In the East, it's kind of stupid that Iverson is starting, but what can you do if fans vote that way. AI is truly popular, but T-Mac apparently is benefitting from the Chinese vote since he is Yao Ming's teammate.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
San Diego chokes again
There are two things that has not changed a whole lot in the last 5 years - Nate Kaeding's playoff performance and my life. Whenever I think of Kaeding, I think of Marty Schottenheimer stalling the offense in the dying stages of a playoff game and asking Kaeding to kick the field goal that was supposed to win or tie the game for the Chargers. Kaeding invariably missed those and ended the Chargers season pre-maturely. The same thing happened today, only that he missed the kicks throughout this game and not just at the end. He is a good kicker and has great regular season stats, but he always screws up in the playoffs. The fact that he has survived so long in San Diego tells you that he is good. He just missed 3 field goals all season long, but he missed 3 today. The middle one was a 57 yarder and could have put the Chargers up 13-0. But the other 2 field goals were very makable and I don't know what gets into his head during the playoffs.
The Jets were lucky with those missed kicks, but they once again proved the adage that "defense wins championship". We all love offensive football and points, but the Jets are the only team this weekend that went into a hostile environment, didn't get a first down until the second quarter and still won the game. Thats because the defense came to play and induced Rivers into 2 interceptions. Very familiar type of loss to the Chargers. They have been losing like this pretty much every year. All the teams that lost this weekend had at least 2 turnovers. The defenses at home are especially aggressive and they come after the offense and induce a boatload of turnovers. Dallas had to deal with the same thing as they got blown out of Minnesota. The Vikes got to Romo repeatedly and forced him to fumble the ball. Dallas missed a field goal too and they couldn't stop Favre to Sidney Rice either. Favre had 4 TDs and the last one actually pissed off the Boys.
Now the Vikes goto the dome in N'aalians and the Colts host the Jets. I can't believe the Jets are in the AFC championship game after making the playoffs only because the Colts and the Bengals sat all their starters when they played the Jets towards the end of the season. The Colts won comfortably yesterday, but they had their share of problems against the Ravens D. I saw something in that game that I might not see ever again. Ed Reed intercepted Peyton Manning not once, but twice on the same drive and the Ravens didn't get the ball both times. Pierre Garcon chased after Reed and knocked the ball out for a fumble after the first interception. The second one was called back because the receiver was interfered by another guy while Reed was busy catching the ball. I guess even Peyton Manning has to be more lucky than good sometimes. They ran for negative yards almost always on first down and Peyton got them the first down anyways from 2-Nd and 12 or whatever, Jets D might even be tougher. Not sure if the Colts can succeed without running the ball effectively. Plus the Jets run the ball well too. Both games have a potential to be interesting, but they might be blowouts too.
The Jets were lucky with those missed kicks, but they once again proved the adage that "defense wins championship". We all love offensive football and points, but the Jets are the only team this weekend that went into a hostile environment, didn't get a first down until the second quarter and still won the game. Thats because the defense came to play and induced Rivers into 2 interceptions. Very familiar type of loss to the Chargers. They have been losing like this pretty much every year. All the teams that lost this weekend had at least 2 turnovers. The defenses at home are especially aggressive and they come after the offense and induce a boatload of turnovers. Dallas had to deal with the same thing as they got blown out of Minnesota. The Vikes got to Romo repeatedly and forced him to fumble the ball. Dallas missed a field goal too and they couldn't stop Favre to Sidney Rice either. Favre had 4 TDs and the last one actually pissed off the Boys.
Now the Vikes goto the dome in N'aalians and the Colts host the Jets. I can't believe the Jets are in the AFC championship game after making the playoffs only because the Colts and the Bengals sat all their starters when they played the Jets towards the end of the season. The Colts won comfortably yesterday, but they had their share of problems against the Ravens D. I saw something in that game that I might not see ever again. Ed Reed intercepted Peyton Manning not once, but twice on the same drive and the Ravens didn't get the ball both times. Pierre Garcon chased after Reed and knocked the ball out for a fumble after the first interception. The second one was called back because the receiver was interfered by another guy while Reed was busy catching the ball. I guess even Peyton Manning has to be more lucky than good sometimes. They ran for negative yards almost always on first down and Peyton got them the first down anyways from 2-Nd and 12 or whatever, Jets D might even be tougher. Not sure if the Colts can succeed without running the ball effectively. Plus the Jets run the ball well too. Both games have a potential to be interesting, but they might be blowouts too.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Is Warner done?
The Arizona Cardinals had a rough day today at New Orleans. I thought going in that this was going to be their toughest game in their path to a Championship, even if they went all the way. New Orleans and Drew Brees are too tough to handle for anybody and for the Cards defense on the road, they are pretty close to indefensible. So the Cards offense had to carry them today. They started fast on their first offensive play from scrimmage - a 70 yard TD scamper by Tim Hightower. I am usually not a big fan of such quick hits early in the game via the running game. These plays are not going to happen again and while the offense gets 7 points on the board, they really don't get in rhythm, they don't get to do what they do best. Saints got the ball back and scored. The Cards then had a couple of bad turnovers that changed the game. The Saints went up 21-7, but the Cards cut it to 21-14. The game then got out of their hands quickly. Warner got knocked out of the game in the second quarter and that obviously didn't help. Reggie Bush made a bunch of plays and you are in trouble if Reggie Bush is making a difference in a game. He is a peripheral Saint these days at best and when he is impacting the game, the Saints are unstoppable. He ended up with 217 all-purpose yards in this game and that single stat in and of itself should be embarrassing to the Cards defense.
It was 35-14 at the half and even with Warner coming back in the second half, this game was out of hand. The Cards couldn't score again and they looked lost in this game except for the first quarter. Warner looked dazed and physically old for the first time after that brutal hit. It was amazing how a single hit added 10 years to his age. Now the talk is about his future. I love this guy and I hope he comes back. Between the Rams and the Cards, he has turned around 2 franchises in his career and when he retires, the Cards will take a big step back. I think he might retire, but then he has 10 million reasons to come back. Lets see how it goes. In the other game, the Colts blew out the Ravens. That game was close in the first quarter and slipped out of the Ravens grasp pretty quickly after that. So far this weekend, the home teams have won both games and I expect Minnesota and San Diego to continue the trend tomorrow. Dallas might cause the upset. Thats the game to look forward to tomorrow. In other news, the Suns have totally come down to earth. They are at a point where they are losing quite a few games at home and almost all the games on the road. They are barely a .500 team right now and I am not sure if that will change anytime soon. Thank God they had a 14-3 start and thats keeping their record respectable.
It was 35-14 at the half and even with Warner coming back in the second half, this game was out of hand. The Cards couldn't score again and they looked lost in this game except for the first quarter. Warner looked dazed and physically old for the first time after that brutal hit. It was amazing how a single hit added 10 years to his age. Now the talk is about his future. I love this guy and I hope he comes back. Between the Rams and the Cards, he has turned around 2 franchises in his career and when he retires, the Cards will take a big step back. I think he might retire, but then he has 10 million reasons to come back. Lets see how it goes. In the other game, the Colts blew out the Ravens. That game was close in the first quarter and slipped out of the Ravens grasp pretty quickly after that. So far this weekend, the home teams have won both games and I expect Minnesota and San Diego to continue the trend tomorrow. Dallas might cause the upset. Thats the game to look forward to tomorrow. In other news, the Suns have totally come down to earth. They are at a point where they are losing quite a few games at home and almost all the games on the road. They are barely a .500 team right now and I am not sure if that will change anytime soon. Thank God they had a 14-3 start and thats keeping their record respectable.
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