He got this one right.

LeBron James got this one right. His "decision" in 2010 was a narcissistic disaster and the fact that he didn't realize that until 2012 only made it worse. People jokingly referred to his free agency this season as "indecision" or "decision 2.0", but he was determined to keep this one on the down low and handle things right. He refused to open his mouth the entire time. He didn't even publicly meet any teams except the heat - he owed that much to Pat Riley and the gang out of courtesy, if not anything else. And he didn't even have a press conference to announce his signing. He wrote a letter penned by Lee Jenkins on SI and flew away to Brazil. The letter (http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers) was beautifully penned and ends with a "I am coming home" message which was music to many ears, including mine. The letter struck all the right notes and touched on everything relevant.

LeBron in that letter came off as a humble, loyal, home-sick, forgiving,  apologetic, superstar and he also made sure he drove the fan expectations down - a far cry from the "not 6, not 7" days. He gained a lot of fans back and a championship or two in Ohio is going to make him incredibly popular and we might finally have a legitimate threat to Michael Jordan for GOAT - Greatest Of All Time. He definitely knows what he is doing here and is trying to go in a different direction to build a unique legacy. He is way past just the ring counts - he is not winning that argument anyways since he has already lost 3 finals. MJ is 6-0 and LeBron is 2-3. But winning for his small-market home town and a resume along the lines of 4 championships and 8 finals appearance or something like that in addition to all the ridiculous stats he is already putting up is going to be hard to ignore.

He gave us all a feel-good, cool story and you don't have to be a Cleveland cavs fan to appreciate this.  Some of the LeBron apologists in the media were calling us all "haters" when LeBron was in Miami. They missed a basic point. Fans don't owe their fandom to anybody! I am not beholden to like LeBron or anybody just because he jumps the highest for his dunks or drops the sweetest dimes. Fans have every right to like or hate anybody for any reason as long as they keep it civil and don't make it personal. No fan asked to put LeBron in jail for leaving Cleveland in 2010, but he or she had every right to like LeBron in 2009 and change their mind and not like him in 2011. We see this everyday when athletes change teams and fans go from cheering to booing or vice versa just based on the laundry. We accept this, but somehow some people in the media didn't get why people disliked LeBron after the "decision." The "decision" took a feel good, small market, home town story away and some fans lost all incentive to pull for LeBron once he moved to Miami.

Fans don't owe the athletes anything. After all, fans pay LeBron, it's not the other way around. Customer is God in any business and it's LeBron's job to impress the customer.  The "decision" did the exact opposite - both the modus operandi and the end result were wrong in the minds of many fans. May be because the media is so involved with the sport and LeBron was clearly the best basketball player in the world, some people in the media couldn't see why people did not like or root for LeBron. Well, I hate the term "casual fans", but casual fans like or dislike an athlete for many reasons and the summer of 2010 gave them a truckload of reasons to hate LeBron. It's on him, not the fans. The league was not happy either for a completely different reason. The league made many changes in 2011 during the lockout just to prevent the kind of superstar conglomeration that the Miami heat created in the previous off-season.

One of the less appreciated aspect of the big 3 was how rare and unusual it was for 3 of the top 5 draft picks from the same draft to come together in their prime. This absolutely threatened the competitive balance and the whole logic of the draft in the NBA. Imagine a league where the top guys from every draft ganged up after their initial contracts and ended up in cities of their choice. Though, to be fair, these 3 did re-sign with their respective teams once after their rookie contracts before joining forces in 2010. But still, if LeBron, Wade, and Bosh could gang up in their prime, it would have probably been easier for guys from the other drafts to do it - given that the big 3 were superstars from a historically top-notch draft and it will cost a lot less and involve lesser egos with top picks from your typical, average draft. This scared the league as it threatened the system and the whole notion of parity and put too much power in the hands of the players. The NBA fixed it in a hurry, to the point that the same big 3 in 2014 faced much bigger problem re-signing with the heat though they were heat's own free agents this time around and had all kinds of "Bird rights".

LeBron has changed the culture of NBA free agency with his move in 2010 and superstars now are constantly trying to team up with each other. But the system has made it extremely difficult to do it. So after a lot of talk this off-season, stars were forced to go their separate ways. LeBron seems to always pioneer new ways to build a legendary career. He left town and teamed up with two other superstars who he was competing against in 2010. Now, he is going back to his small market, home team to try to win a championship for a downtrodden franchise. Few stars get a chance to do this. Neither MJ, nor Bird, nor Magic can claim to have done that. So he is charting his own course here. More power to him. It was interesting to see him hold the entire league hostage for a week without uttering a word. Everybody, including other stars were forced to wait for his move before free agency resumed again. He is wielding unprecedented power right now and wielding it well I might add. As a suns fan, I am getting ready to root for a suns-cavs finals every year. Some of us root for good things and the davids of this world against narcissistic things and the goliaths. I have no problem supporting LeBron now proving that us fans can change our mind and keep things fair if only the athlete does the "right thing". In the words of the king, "who am I to hold a grudge?"

In Billy we trust!

The Oakland Athletics have the best record in the Major leagues. They have won the AL West two years in a row and are looking even better this year. In 2012, they won the division with a nail-biting series at the end to put the heavily favored Texas Rangers away after the Rangers had gotten all the way to the World Series the previous two years. Nobody, even in the Bay Area, knew any of the players on the A's roster at that time. It was perceived as an amazing run locally and a fluke nationally. Last year, the A's won the division a little more comfortably, but they were still an anonymous team nationally and the local fans had barely gotten used to these guys. The national media was a little confused as to what to make of this team. There were no superstars, but the pitching was deep and terrific and the team just kept winning and surprising everybody. They proved 2012 was no fluke and that they are legit. Of course, both seasons, they lost to the more celebrated, higher-payroll, star-studded Detroit Tigers team in the ALDS in a five game series though they won the division over the more celebrated, higher-payroll, star-studded Angels and the Rangers. They came into 2014 with decent expectations - even nationally, and have been better than expected.

The 2014 A's have broken through. And Billy Beane went all in last week when he traded for Jeff Samardzija, one of the most sought after pitchers on the trade block. He did mortgage the future a little bit by trading his can't miss shortstop prospect Addison Russell, but he signaled finally that he wants to win the World Series and he is right in the middle of the window to do it. It may not have been a coincidence that the trade came right after a sweep at Detroit, but it was a coup nonetheless. A's were not rumored to be in the running for Samardzija, but they scored him early and comfortably. Billy decided to fortify a starting rotation that has already looked stellar so far. You could tell he was a little concerned about some of these arms - some young and some retread, slowing down later in the season. So he infused some new star arms into to mix. The pitching is so strong that the guy he demoted to the minors to create roster space was Tommy Milone, who had just pitched 6 scoreless innings! Billy is clearly getting ready for late October and he may not be done wheeling and dealing. He knows that Detroit will be around and their stars - both power hitters and pitchers, have to be neutralized. He now has the pitching to compete in any series against anyone and I love it.

The A's have often added to their teams mid-season when they were in contention. But usually, it's a rental for the remainder of the season and mostly hitters or bullpen help. Billy has rarely added a star starting pitcher via a trade and this has been a pleasant surprise to the A's fans. Samardzija started for the A's right away and gave them a gem of a start to go with a win. So life is all good in Oakland right now. Between their best record in the league, consistent winning over the last three years, Cespedes' highlight reel throws to the plate, and now the Samardzija trade, they are not anonymous anymore. The league knows them well and they have six dudes in the all-star game. They will be the fancy pick to win it all, though the Angels are breathing down their neck for the division. Billy has always maintained, I might add rightfully so, that the MLB playoffs are a crapshoot. Given his low payroll, all he can do is get them there and the rest is just luck and a pitcher or two getting hot or cold at the right moment. But this year, he has decided to do something about the crapshoot. He wants to go in with a bevy of hot pitchers and increase his odds of one of theoe guys getting hot and shutting some fools down in October. Thats exactly what he is going for.

Moneyball is so year 2000, but this team the last three years has been Billy's masterpiece and more impressive than even those moneyball teams. The A's have the fourth lowest payroll in the league and have been out-performing the big money spenders as always. The moneyball concepts have been co-opted by every other team and is nothing unique anymore. So Billy has found other ways to exploit market inefficiencies - he had to. He is loaded with pitching as always and some great signings and trades are behind it.  But platooning is the specialty of this version of the A's - the new moneyball if you will. The A's matchup their hitters against pitchers and rotate them in and out. The lack of stars gives them more flexibility to do this. Not only does it help the team to platoon these guys, it also puts them in the best position to succeed. Just to illustrate the point, they sometimes start three catchers. Aside from pitcher Scott Kazmir, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, and now Samardzija, the other A's all-stars are third baseman Josh Donaldson, catcher Derek Norris, first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss, and closer Sean Doolittle. Thats an impressive list of no-name stars who get the job done. It's just a matter of time before this platooning approach becomes the new fad and A's front office dudes like David Forst and Farhan Zaidi get GM jobs elsewhere, but Billy is trying to win one before all that happens. All he needs is just one World Series ring to cement his legacy as one of the best GMs ever and I hope he gets it done this year.

WWLD Summer

Time flies. I can't believe it's been four years already since the last WWLD summer. Once again, the biggest question of the summer is, "What Will LeBron James Do?" This will not be quite the emotional ride it was the last time around - unless you are a passionate Miami heat fan, which in and of itself might be an oxymoron given how flaky the heat fans usually are. Most of the NBA fans are watching this with a detached curiosity, almost daring LeBron to make this free agency the vulgar drama that it was the last time around. Unlike the last time when he was with the Cavaliers, he is the big, bad goliath now and the average fan doesn't have a dog in this fight. They are just waiting on the sidelines ready to pounce on him if he takes a mis-step. He better not make this a mess and subject us to another stupid "decision". If I was LeBron, I will keep this quick, clean, and quiet. As quiet as it possibly can be in today's twitter-fueled culture. It's already big news, but he cannot afford to mismanage it like he did last time.

As for what LeBron is actually going to do, obviously he has the world at his feet. It should be awesome to be the world's best at anything. LeBron is unquestionably the best basketball player in the world. The attention he demands and commands and the love he is going to get from teams coast-to-coast is going to be very flattering. The options are seemingly endless. There are rumors about how the clippers would be a great fit and how the rockets have all the talent in the world to surround him with. But seriously, does he really have that many options? Fans will have a field day if he goes to yet another team chasing a ring. You can call them haters all you want, but LeBron will be giving everybody even more reasons to hate if he goes to a third team in five years. It won't be illegal or even unethical by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure will be weird. It will be an unusual career path for a legendary athlete and will cheapen his legacy. Who exactly are we talking about here - the world's best basketball player or Jarrett Jack?

How many superstars, let alone legends, have played for three teams before they turn 30? I can't think of any. The closest I can think of in recent history is Shaquille O'Neal, who ended up playing for 6 teams and won his last championship in Miami in his early thirties. But even he was past 30 and had to move to Miami primarily because of the unusual drama with Kobe in LA. There have been cases of legends moving to other teams as they age and pursue that elusive ring or teams deciding to move away from aging superstars. Cases in point - Karl Malone and Charles Barkley in their old age or more recently, Peyton Manning. But Peyton had to relocate to Denver only because the colts decided to move on . Rarely does a legend move on his own from team to team in the prime of his career. LeBron will be pioneering a new trend if he does move, but it won't be the most endearing or legendary trend. If he goes to another team with a bunch of superstars, he will become the laughing stock again and rightfully so. NBA pros should be chasing LeBron for a ring, not the other way around. Given all that, I see only one of two destinations in reality for him. He either re-signs with the heat or shocks everybody and goes back to the Cleveland cavaliers.

He can sell the move to the cavs as a "home coming" and the fans will welcome him back with open arms, even the ones who burnt his jersey four years back. Cavs are considered a long-shot because they are a few years away from contending, but LeBron can take any four guys from the local YMCA to the second round of the Eastern conference playoffs. And the cavs talent ain't that bad - definitely young, but not bad. I would rather play with Kyrie Irving than Dwyane Wade at this stage of Wade's career. Granted, the cavs don't have Chris Bosh or a winning culture, but they do have the first pick in this year's draft and a bunch of young, under-achieving assets. LeBron can fix the culture just by showing up. I am not saying he would or he should go back to Cleveland but he could. Any other destination outside of Miami and Cleveland, he will lose a lot of face. The chances are, he will stay in Miami, but if Wade and Bosh pick up their expensive options, it's going to be very interesting and difficult for LeBron to stay. Miami would have no flexibility to improve in that case. Thats what makes this free agency fascinating. I still can't see him going to a new city, but then again, I have been wrong about his choices before and won't be surprised if I am wrong again.

Sweet Redemption

“We’ll do it this time," said Tim Duncan after winning the Western conference finals and earning the right to play the Miami heat in the finals. That quote made a lot of news because that pretty much qualifies as vulgar trash talking coming from the choir boys of San Antonio, especially Timmy. That was the ultimate indicator of how much the spurs were hurting from last year's disastrous defeat. We knew that last year's loss was a depressing and devastating punch to their gut, but the spurs are not the kind that wears their emotions on their sleeves or verbalizes them. But when Timmy spoke after the western conference finals, you could tell they were very driven to take back the gift they had given to the heat last year. Not only did they want to make it back to the finals and win it all this time, they wanted the heat and only the heat. And they got them. The spurs were not careful what they wished for and they didn't care.

Spurs knew they were better than the heat last year and were confident they have improved a bit this year. More than getting better, the loss last year was motivating and driving them everyday. The heat, on the other hand, had gotten slightly worse and couldn't even land the best record in the putrid eastern conference. LeBron had gotten better as always, but Wade had taken another couple of steps back in his accelerated journey "over the hill".  Is he the oldest 32 year-old ever? He is just four months older than Tony Parker, but plays like he is four years older than Tim Duncan. He is still good, but the drop-off from his peak is surprising and just too rapid for somebody who has not really been through devastating injuries. Wade was once considered MJ to LeBron's Scottie. Now, LeBron is carrying him every trip down the floor along with the other Miami scrubs.  

The first two games of the series were close and Miami even won one. The series went back to Miami and suddenly, the offensive floodgates were open for the spurs. They carved up the vaunted Miami defense almost every trip down the floor. The adjustment from last year was to move the ball swiftly and precisely to thwart Miami's swarming defense. Miami had no counter adjustment to offer. They did have some success stealing some of the passes in the first two games, but the spurs fixed that soon. Miami was done once Kawhi Leonard woke up from his two game slumber at the start of the series. The big three of the spurs didn't have to do much more than the next three -  Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, and Danny Green as everybody was pitching in on offense. Diaw brought me back memories of his time with the Phoenix suns. 

The suns should have been winning championships eight years back with Diaw's skills surrounded by a team of passing, cutting, and shooting wizards. Diaw was working the same concepts in this series but with the wrong team. He got it done and so did the spurs as a team. Huge win for coach Greg Popovich, who deservedly won the coach of the year this season. The offensive flow was spectacular and Pop's defense never disappoints. His flexibility in transforming a Duncan centric post-up offense to a cutting, moving, 3-point shooting masterpiece deserves a lot of credit. So does his leadership in guiding the team past a devastating loss last year. It was a collective failure last year with Ginobli missing free throws, Pop pulling Duncan out at the wrong moments of game 6, and Duncan missing easy shots in game 7. They responded with a collective, team success this year. Congrats to everybody in the Spurs organization. They have sent LeBron into another summer of confusion and should keep us fans entertained. 

All Tied Up!

LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world - cramps or no cramps. Unfortunately for the Spurs, he showed it in game two to "steal" home court advantage. I have "steal" in quotes because home court is not going to be a big factor in the first six games of this series. Both teams are veteran teams with a lot of championship experience. Home court will probably matter in game seven, but the Spurs have to get there first. They would have loved to go up 2-0 - who wouldn't, but it's not the end of the world that they lost a game at home. The bigger question for the Spurs is, if LeBron had not cramped up in game 1, would they be down 0-2 and will the series be over for all practical purposes? That game was incredibly close when LeBron tightened up and couldn't move. If he had stayed in, it would have been another nail baiter like game two and it's anybody's guess which Spurs player would have missed how many free throws to blow it. Missed free throws continue to haunt the Spurs. After blowing game six last year with many missed free throws, they missed four straight in game two during a key fourth quarter stretch to make their life harder and LeBron's easier.

The Spurs probably are the better team in this series, but the best player plays for the Heat. And LeBron James is the best player on the court by a lot! If we shave ten years off of Duncan, he might come close, but not today. Given that, the Spurs have to play well as a unit and find out a way to slow down LeBron. This is where Kawhi Leonard comes in. He bothered LeBron a lot last year, but not so much thus far in this series. He has to make a bigger impact defensively. And the problem for the Spurs is, they are a little more dependent on Kawhi overall including his offense this year than they were last year as he is improving as a player every year. So if defending LeBron is affecting the rest of his game and is not slowing down LeBron either, the Spurs are in trouble. They need Sugar K Leonard to at least come through at one end. Let's see if the change of scenery revitalizes him in Miami. The Heat are not as good as they used to be because of Wade's decline. But they are no chopped liver either. Between Bosh, Ray, Wade, and others, they are still a load to handle. This series will be tight, long, and fun. I still like the Spurs in seven.

LeBron got a lot of heat for cramping up in game one. I didn't get that at all. It's not like he can control cramps or he was looking for excuses to sit out and lose that game to go down 0-1. What is he being criticized for? With that said, I was happy in someways to note that LeBron haters are still alive and well and are just waiting to come out of the woodwork. I have still not reconciled with him moving to Miami and continue to root against him. If I flashback four years to when he signed with the Heat, LeBron was clearly on track to becoming the best player in the world, if not one already. But Wade was a better scorer and  there were some question marks about LeBron's game. He had to endure some "Scottie Pippen" chants. Things are now completely different. He has erased most of those question marks and evolved into the undisputed leader of this Miami team. Wade has aged not so gracefully, but even a healthier, younger Wade has no shot at being anything more than a distant second fiddle to this version of the king. LeBron is a transcendent talent, but the reality is, his legacy is still hanging in a balance. A defeat in this series would send him to 2-3 record in the finals with a "cramps" cherry on top. Thats not good for his resume. All of this means only one thing - LeBron's towering presence will decide this series.

Predictable Four

Miami  versus Indiana in the East and San Antonio versus Oklahoma City in the West. Couldn't we all have guessed this at the beginning of the season? If there is one issue with the NBA, it's the predictability. Even with the ridiculously surprising first round of the playoffs this year, NBA is still the most predictable of all the leagues. NBA season is long and the playoffs are seven game series. This makes sure the best teams always bubble up. NFL seasons are shorter and the playoff games are obviously one game elimination contests. But thats not even the real reason for the parity, which has always been one of NFL's big charm. Very few Super Bowl champions even get back to the big game next year and the Super Bowl losers are typically lucky to even make it back to the playoffs. NFL's rigid salary cap and the large sizes of rosters are what makes it difficult for good teams to stay good and bad teams to stay bad. In the NBA, rosters are small and if you have a LeBron James, you are assured of playoffs every year. You add Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to that mix, life becomes real good and will continue to be good for years.

Major League Baseball does have a long season like the NBA that promotes consistency and predictability and does not have single-elimination playoff games - except for the new wild-card round. But it's still al lot less predictable than the NBA because it's just a different game. The starting pitcher means so much in that sport and one great pitcher on a roll can swing the series one way or the other all by himself. This happens a lot, especially in the wild card and five-game divisional series rounds. So NBA is clearly the most predictable. Thats not all bad. It's also the most "stable" playoffs, There is something to be said about the best teams always making it to the top. I have always thought MLB playoffs are the worst in this regard. After a grueling, 162-game season, a singular pitching performance can negate everything and foist a new champion on us.  Luck and random occurrences rarely impact NBA playoffs like it does other sports, though we do spend a lot of time talking about referees and calls.

We all knew these four teams will be where they are now. This doesn't mean the playoffs have not been fun so far or there is no reason to watch the regular season. After all, the sport does boast of the World's best athletes and the games - even the regular season games, can provide high quality entertainment. But the point is, we could be watching a Miami-San Antonio finals for the second year in a row. Miami most probably is going to make it to its fourth straight finals. At least thats what the league is hoping for as an Indiana finals will be a ratings disaster since the western conference finalists are already small market teams. The only surprise in terms of what we expected at the beginning of the season is that Indiana wanted and earned home court and Miami has to start the series on the road. Similarly in the west, OKC and San Antonio are the last two season's finalists and one of them is going to be there again. We could argue that OKC had the better prospects at the beginning of the season and it's a bit of a surprise they didn't end up with the best record in the west

Indiana took the circuitous route to get here with all kinds of inconsistency and drama since the all-star break, but they are here now with home court in their hands. They should have enough motivation and drive to get up and perform at a high level against Miami, the one team they hate and have been obsessed with for all the right reasons. Anything less than perfect basketball against LeBron and the Heat will send Indiana fishing with Kenny sooner than later. They better bring their A-game, which has been MIA for months now. Thats why I have to grudgingly pick Miami to win this series. I pick San Antonio to win the west. Serge Ibaka's injury is a bummer for OKC and us fans who wanted to watch a great series between these two great teams. It almost feels like the NBA could actually avoid injuries and put a better finals on the table if they stop playing all those regular season games and directly start the playoffs or the finals. Lets hope for a healthy and fun Miami - San Antonio finals this season. Of course, I won't complain if Indiana proves me wrong and eliminates Miami.  But Adam Silver and the TV channels will.

I miss the first round

After the amazing first round of the NBA playoffs, I knew the second round would be a bit of a letdown and it has been just that so far. These playoffs will have several great moments between now and the finals, but it may never be as good as the ridiculously fun first round, which featured five game 7s including a record breaking three game 7s in one day. There were fifty games total in the first round - which was the highest ever, and eight overtime games with Memphis and OKC playing four straight OT games. There were a couple of buzzer beaters, one of which brought Vince Carter back from the dead and the other pushed Damian Lillard on to the mainstream. Now the playoffs have settled into more of a regular rhythm with the big boys and the upstarts fighting it out as usual. The unpredictability of the first round is gone, but there should still be enough drama for us fans to enjoy. The Heat and the Spurs seem to be having it too easy right now at home. I am sure their lives will get a little tougher and the series will become a lot tighter on the road - especially for the Spurs. But those two teams look like they might be replaying their finals series from last year.

The Pacers and the Thunder are locked in a 1-1 tie and even if they win their respective series - which I expect them to, I am not sure if they can seriously challenge the Heat or the Spurs. The Pacers have home court, which they worked real hard for throughout the season. Of course their story is now well chronicled as they started floundering after the all-star game and their troubles are continuing through the first and second round of the playoffs. I think they will step up and play their best against the Heat because that team has been the red-rag to the Indiana bull for almost three years now. Thats why they wanted home court and if they can't get up for a Eastern conference finals against the Heat, God save them. But they do need to get there first and I won't be surprised if they get dumped by the Wizards. The upstart Wizards are surprisingly a great team with a lot of talent, athleticism, and size and they are gelling at the right time. Game 3 will tell us a lot about both the tied series.

I have always had this theory that the winner of game 3 takes the series if the series is tied 1-1. I believe the theory has been confirmed by some stats as well lately. But in the crazy first round, my theory was right only with two of the five series that were tied 1-1 after two games. I was wrong with two other series, with the weird Indiana team being one of the outliers. The Spurs were the fifth team which almost won game 3 on the road before Vince Carter rolled back the clock by a dozen years and hit that buzzer beater. Basically that game 3 doesn't count in my book. In general, if the road team wins one of the first two games on the road against the higher seed, the higher seed either wrests the momentum with that game 3 win or the lower seed establishes control and equality with a home win. There is always this talk about "stealing home court" with one of those wins in the first two games, but it really doesn't mean a whole lot if the team gives it right back in game 3. This has especially been true this year where the games have been so tight in round 1 with a lot of road wins and upsets.

I am especially interested in seeing what the Clippers do in their game 3 against the Thunder. The Clippers probably have the most complete roster in these playoffs, but I think they are still a year away from challenging the real top dawgs. DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin's development this year has catapulted them into the elite category. DeAndre can be an absolute beast on certain days against some teams. They are a little young and still make way too many mistakes to challenge the Spurs. Whoever comes out of the West this year should be able to legitimately challenge and win against the Heat.

The Clippers-Warriors series was the most fun in the first round though it ended up costing Mark Johnson his job. Mark Jackson was definitely good at motivating and leading his players, but he was not a great coach when it came to X's and O's and by all reports, was not too good with other details of coaching either including dealing with his management. He got a lot of credit for turning around a down-trodden franchise, but honestly, neither Jackson, nor his players, nor the owners had anything to do with how bad the Warriors were in 1999 or 2003. So how does the history matter here except for some feel good sentiment among the fans over the last 2 years? It's not like Jackson took Latrell Spreewell and Tood Fuller to the playoffs. This is a different team altogether. He should be evaluated purely on the basis of what he did with this team. They won 51 games, and he deserves a pay raise if he took a 45-win team and manufactured 51 wins out of them. But the coach will get fired these days if he took a team with 55-win talent and won 51 games with it. It's hard to tell what's the reality with this good, but not great Warriors roster. But his bosses clearly think they could and should have done better. That doomed M-Jax at the end. No need to shed any tears or cry foul at this. We have seen way too many 50-win coaches get fired lately. M-Jax will land on his feet anyways and good luck to him rest of the way.

Silver Hammer

NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought down the hammer hard this week on psycho Donald Sterling. It was one of those rare situations where nobody- even the ones most offended by Sterling's stupid utterances, could ask for more than what Adam handed down in terms of a punishment. He suspended him for life, fined him the maximum allowable 2.5 million dollars, and vowed to force him to sell his team. He showed no pity. He is being universally praised by the media and, most importantly, the NBA players who are his employees. A defining moment for Silver who has been the commish for just a few months and he might very well be remembered for this decision the rest of his tenure. It was the right decision morally and from a business perspective as well. It would have been perceived as too harsh in some circles if not for that fact that Sterling is a repeat offender who has just been dodging this for a long, long time. Some of the stuff Sterling has done in the past with his real-estate projects with respect to housing discrimination is shocking and much more offensive than what he said on this recording.  He finally got caught though everybody already knew he was a racist and a nut-job. He has zero apologists and that tells you all you need to know about this guy.

Some callers on sports radio and even Mark Cuban the day before the verdict were worried about this leading us down a slippery slope. How much can the NBA get involved with moral and social judgements? Sterling didn't break any laws and he does have his freedom of speech, especially inside the walls of his house. Ironically, the only illegal activity here might have been the recording that was leaked to TMZ if Sterling didn't know he was being taped. Also, there is the concern about where does the NBA stop now? What happens if another owner makes a homophobic comment for instance? This was Cuban's concern though he fully supported Silver after the verdict. What these arguments are missing is that this is not a legal or moral decision as much as it is a business decision. Nobody can put Sterling in jail for what he said and he has every right to free speech. But owning a NBA franchise is a privilege and not a constitutional right. Businesses always have bylaws and contracts which lets them fire people if they start hurting their business. This is exactly what happened here. People get fired across America for incompetence everyday. Employees, who have never done anything illegal ever in their life, routinely lose their job at IBM or Microsoft or Citibank. So NBA has every right to take action against it's people if they hurt business in any way, shape, or form.

Sterling will go to court and might even win, but NBA absolutely did the right thing for itself here. Sterling deserves to be "fired" for both incompetence and unacceptable behavior. It was in the NBA's best interest to punish him. A business has many stakeholders and one of the most important ones are the employees, though they are often ignored in corporate America. The NBA players are the employees here, albeit well-paid ones. The players are predominantly black and were really irate at Sterling to the point the specter of a playoff boycott was a realistic possibility. That would have been unprecedented and amazing and I almost wish it had happened just for the shock value. Commish Silver had to do the right thing to please his employees because they are important in any business, but even more so in a sports league where they are the product. Does that mean Silver doesn't deserve any credit for taking a moral stand? Of course he does because he took a difficult decision which was also morally right. And even making the right decision from a purely business perspective is leadership and deserves a lot of credit.

As for the slippery slope argument, I don't see one. We can sit here and pretend like there are no double standards and unfairness in the world, but we all know that's a lie. A few years back, Roger Clemens, made a racist and inappropriate joke about Koreans and Japanese in America when Korea and  Japan played each other in the World Baseball classic. Nobody cared or even criticized him. If anybody had made a similar joke about blacks, they would have been roasted over the coals. I was really upset at his comments, but at the same time, I do understand that Koreans don't have the same numbers, cultural relevance, or historic baggage as blacks do in America. So of course the reactions were different and Clemens got off easy. Thats life. Let's say another NBA owner comes out tomorrow and says something inappropriate about gays or women or Belgians, what does the Commish do? I strongly believe the Commish will do what his business needs dictate and nothing more or less.

First of all, his players may get upset with that, but not to the same extent as with Sterling because few of them are gay, there are probably a couple of Belgians, and definitely no women. Offending blacks is a lot more personal for the NBA players than any of the above. As for the customers, offending women would be the hardest to deal with for the league, followed by gays, and last and of course the least, Belgians. And the owner who is doing the offending probably doesn't have the same rap-sheet as Sterling. My point here is, there are too many variables here and the Commish does not owe the same punishment to every other owner or offender. That would be morally consistent, but there are enough excuses to not do that if the Commish or the other owners don't want to. I would like him to do the morally right thing, but I know enough about life to realize each situation will be treated on it's own merit and there will be double standards. The bottom-line is, we now have a Commish who has shown us he can be strong, he can lead, and he can stand on the side of the good. Kudos to Adam Silver for starting his tenure with a bang.  We can all now get back to the first round playoff games, which have been epic. Sterling's stupidity distracted all of us for a few days. Commish's swift and strong action has put the focus squarely back on the games, where it belongs.

Omaha!

Before the Super Bowl, there was a lot of talk about what the game, or more specifically a loss in the game, would mean to Peyton Manning's legacy. At that time, I agreed with most experts that this game would have minimal impact on his legacy. The man has built a impressive resume over a decade and a half and put up ungodly numbers. He was coming off a record breaking year and if he plays for another couple of years, he is guaranteed to own pretty much all the records for a QB. More importantly, he already has a super bowl ring and it felt like a second ring would be huge, but he would be in the best-ever conversation with or without it. But then again, none of us expected a 43-8 drubbing at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and their legion of boom. This was not all Manning's fault, but he didn't help a whole lot and he definitely couldn't pull the Broncos out of it. Now, the legacy questions are for real after this unmitigated disaster. QBs are measured by championships and the sheriff has lost 2 of the 3 super bowls he has played in. Even his baby brother has 2 super bowls in the bag. Peyton has some explaining to do.

The game started off ominously for Denver as the first offensive snap sailed over Peyton's head. There was a lot of attention leading up to the game on what Peyton does at the line of scrimmage and all the "omaha" calls he blurts out. And then he couldn't even connect on the first snap. The center hiked the ball when Peyton was still moving around trying to fix things. This gave Seattle a safety and the ball. The Denver offense never found the rhythm and their defense was toothless as always. I am not a big fan of crediting big hits with more impact than just the scope of that one play, but Kam Chancellor’s hit on Demaryius Thomas on the Broncos’ first pass might have been a big tone-setter. The Legion of Boom made a statement right away. Percy Harvin made his mark felt early as well and he actually put the game away with his kickoff return TD at the start of the second half. There was still some hope for the Broncos at 22-0, but Harvin's jets made it 29-0 and it was pretty much curtains at that point. Demaryius Thomas' fumble was another bone-crushing blow to Denver's comeback efforts and they never really got anything going even in garbage time. It was a total domination by the Seahawks defense.

For all the attention the "omaha" audibles got leading up to the game, it became a mockery during the game as the Seattle fans across the country started shouting it at the TV to mock every Broncos mistake on offense. It became their unofficial war-cry as Peyton was rendered ineffective by Seattle's defense. Credit goes to Pete Carroll and his staff for shutting down the most prolific offense. Speaking of legacy, the real legacy this super bowl impacted big-time was Pete Carroll's. The man now has both a college and a pro championship. Thats big! His QB Russell Wilson is a made man now as well with a championship in just his second year. He is not the most effective QB and you could even say he is a little bit over-rated, but he is hard-working and a great decision maker. Clearly, he deserves some if not a lot of credit for the championship, but he will get a lot of credit being the QB. As for Peyton Manning, not sure if he can make it to another Super Bowl given his age. I can only imagine how much more grief he will be taking now if he didn't even have that one ring already. I do expect him to have another season or 2 of stellar QB play, but a second super bowl might be easier said than done. We shall see in 2014.

Greatness Revisited

Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same - even in the parity stricken NFL. When the season started, expectations were high for Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. And of course New England with Brady and Belichick are always supposed to be good regardless of circumstances. We are now in the championship week and these 4 teams are the ones still left standing. This despite all the excitement generated towards the end of the season for the so-called "hot" teams like San Diego, Carolina, and Philadelphia. They became fashionable picks among several talking heads and the recent trend over the last few years of wild card teams that are on a roll towards the end of the season making it and sometimes winning the super bowl helped taint some of their picks as well. But at the end of the day, good teams are good teams and these 4 teams were legitimate contenders from day 1. Of course, we might have thought the same about teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans back in August, but these 3 teams were in an even higher class. They are not just teams with good record with an one dimensional strength like the Saints with Drew Brees. These teams have a good defense and a solid running game. Of course, nobody knows what the Patriots have, but they have Tom Brady. As impressive as his resume is, what he did this year leading this team to the AFC championship game might be the highlight of his career. And all of a sudden, the Patriots running game looks better than ever too making this weekend's contests all the more intriguing.

All these teams had challenges along the way. The niners offense and Colin Kaepernick looked lost at the beginning of the season. It was 2009 all over again for the niners with Frank Gore being the only bankable asset. Kap and the offense look a lot better now with the addition of Michael Crabtree late in the season. The Seahawks offense on the other hand looked a little lost towards the end of the season, which can be big problem this weekend unless the beast mode and the 12-Th man get it done like last week. Denver's defense turned out to be worse than originally thought and they also have to deal with the usual question marks about Peyton Manning's big game moxie, though that will be a bigger factor rest of the way than it was during the regular season. Despite all of these ups and downs, these 3 teams stayed true to their pre-season expectations and came through with a bang in the playoffs. The niners had to win on the road under tough conditions in Green Bay and in Carolina to get to this point and they look better than ever. But the most amazing performance here has to be what the patriots have done this season with that roster and the slew of injuries. They did not have the best of rosters and free agency, injuries, and murder cases weakened their receiving core. Brady had his lowest completion percentage, QB rating, and the most sacks in years. But they ended the season with an impressive 12-4 record and here they are at their third straight AFC title game. How can you not give credit to Brady when they were winning week after week by just 2 or 3 points?  Bill Belichick deserves a lot of credit too. You got to give the devil it's due.

We use the word "great" flippantly in sports. There are several ways to look at greatness, but one quote I like is "Success Isn’t Always About Greatness. It’s About Consistency. Consistent Hard Work Gains Success. Greatness Will Come."  Both Brady and Manning personify this. In a league built for parity, it's amazing to see these two consistently perform at a very high level. Football is the ultimate team sports, but these 2 QBs contribute to their team's success as much as the rest of their organizations combined. Not only are these two great at what they do, they also keep running into each other all the time. Dan Marino and John Elway rarely played each other for instance, but Brady has beaten Manning 10 out of 14 times including a 2-1 record in the playoffs and a big, come from behind win earlier this season - a game that added more doubts about the aforementioned Manning moxie. The playoff contests between them have gone to the home team every time and they have split the 2 AFC championship dates so far. Brady is the ultimate parity-killer as he will be at his 8-Th AFC championship game this weekend. A mind-boggling stat thats so much beyond the realm of possibility for even a super-star QB like Drew Brees. Given their age, this might very well be the last time they play each other, but then again, I won't be least bit surprised if they play in another 3 AFC championship games against each other. Thats how consistent they both are. I have not had a whole lot of success picking against Brady this season, but I am going to do it again. Manning and the home team pulls this one off. In the NFC, it's hard for anybody to go into Seattle and win, but if anybody can do it, it has to be crazy Jim Harbaugh and his niners with their new-found attitude and their always consistent defense. 

Bring on the Niners-Broncos Super Bowl. Lets party like it's 1990!

Wildness Abound

The NFL wildcard weekend featured a lot of wildness. With New England and Denver on a bye and with no New York teams in the big dance, the top billing went to the San Francisco-Green Bay matchup on Sunday and it didn't disappoint. Colin Kaepernick has had an up and down season, but one thing he always seems to be able to do is run against the packers. He rushed for 98 yards in just 7 attempts. Thats efficient to say the least. Aaron Rodgers and Eddie Lacy did their best to make this a close game, but Kap led the niners on a game winning drive and bled the clock all the way down to zero leaving no time for A-Rod to do to the Niners what he did to the Bears last weekend. It was a frustrating day for the Packers as they lost for the fourth time in two years against the Niners with two of those losses at home and two of them in the playoffs. Harbaugh seem to have their number and it's because of the superior defense at his disposal. The Packers have the better QB, but he can't do it all. The defense has to seal some running holes and they didn't do it today. Now the Niners goto Carolina.

The other California team went into Cincinnati and kicked off what promises to be an horrible off-season for Andy Dalton. Dalton had a horrible second half and threw 2 interceptions in this game. I wouldn't call this a big upset since the Chargers have been on a role lately and the Bengals and Dalton have had many question marks hanging over them anyways. But both games today featured California teams going into cold weather stadiums and coming out victors. The Chargers are next going into Denver for their third contest this season. Road teams have won both games this season and Peyton Manning will be in almost as much trouble as Andy Dalton if Rivers and the Chargers get over him on the road next weekend. For all the records Manning smashed this year - which nobody seems to care about a whole lot anyways, his playoff credentials are still in some scrutiny and he needs to at least get to the Super Bowl this year, if not win it. He has a hot San Diego team coming in and it should be another close playoff contest for us fans. Nothing's easy this time of the year in the NFL.

If todays' games were fun, yesterday's games were wild. The Saints got the road monkey off their back with a great win in Philadelphia. The Eagles were a lot of people's trendy pick, but the Saints actually flexed their defensive muscle to get the job done. In fact, until New Orleans cornerback Keenan Lewis suffered a head injury in the third quarter, the Eagles offense was non-existent. DeSean Jackson got untracked a little bit after that injury and the game got tight. Now the Saints get to goto Seattle again and get some revenge for the playoff loss a few years back - the game where "Beast Mode" was actually born.  And I feel like they have the defense for it. But the craziest game of the weekend was the one where Andrew Luck had to go beast mode to come back from 28 points down to win at home. The Chiefs and Alex Smith played well enough to win despite a string on injuries during the game including one to their main man Jamaal Charles. But in this era of amazing and stress-free quarterback play, Luck was not going to be contained with T.Y.Hilton running wild by his side. It's going to be very interesting to see what he can do next weekend in New England against Tom Brady. Fast and predictable growth for Luck from a wild card loss on the road in year 1 to divisional round against Brady and the hoody in year 2.

Can anybody tame the 12-Th man?

Looks like the road to the Super Bowl will definitely go through the 12-Th man and the deafening noise he creates in Seattle. The New Orleans Saints went in there tonight and looked like the old 'Aints. These 2 teams share one thing in common in that they are both nearly unbeatable at home. They are both 6-0 at home and the playoffs in the NFC will be decided by who gets to stay home and who gets to go on the road. It's looking more and more like the Seahawks are going to be at home and that's huge for them. The Saints on the other hand are suddenly tied with the Carolina Panthers for the division lead and they better win that division. The Saints are not a team built to go on the road and create magic in cold weather. They need the dome at least until they have to go in to Seattle again deep in the playoffs. The crazy parity in the NFL has suddenly made the Carolina Panthers a legitimate contender in the NFC south where the Atlanta Falcons are struggling at 3-9. These 2 teams have completely switched roles from what was expected of them in the pre-season. May be the Panthers with that defense will put up a better fight against the Seahawks in the playoffs than what the Saints showed us today. The NFC champion has to come from either of these 2 divisions unless somebody from the mediocre NFC North or East go on a crazy run late in the season.

In the AFC, it appears like the usual suspects will be at it again this winter. Manning is at 10-2 and Brady is sitting at 9-3. Indy and Cincy are not far behind, but they just don't look like a legitimate contender. In fact, neither does New England, but they are getting healthier, continuing to win, and they have Tom Brady. Indy is definitely missing Reggie Wayne and don't look all that dominant anymore. Kansas City was always considered a pretender and they have been proving that the last few weeks, though there is no shame in losing to Denver. The Chiefs stayed close at home and had a shot against the Broncos, but they are clearly not in the same class. It would be interesting if the AFC championship game pits Manning against Brady and if the NFC puts Russell Wilson against Cam Newton. It would be the classic contrast between the old guard and QB royalty on the AFC side and the new guard and a window into the future on the NFC side. Of course these young guns have a lot to prove. NFL's parity will drag them to the dumps in a hurry. Just ask Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan. Only the true legends like Manning, Brady, and Brees are able to resist the ravages of parity and injuries and stay relatively consistent and on top. 

Week 13 in the NFL is significant for another reason. For most fantasy leagues, this is the end of the regular season. Good luck all you ballers. The thanksgiving weekend also featured some great college games. The iron bowl between Auburn and Alabama was an instant classic and people are still talking about it well into Tuesday. Auburn won the game by returning a missed field goal all the way back for a TD on the last play of the game. Tough way to lose a shot at a national championship for Alabama, but I am  not shedding any tears for a SEC team. Saban's decision to go for a field goal was of course the right call, it just backfired on him. We got another BCS mess on our hands, but I don't mind seeing some new teams in the championship game. Ohio State escaped against Michigan much to my chagrin in another close rivalry game. The NBA season is also in full flow and my Phoenix Suns are surprisingly not bad at all. It looks like the Indiana Pacers might be able to challenge the Miami Heat for real. Who would have thought a Indiana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers game in early December will feature a 16-1 and 14-3 teams. But then again, it is still early December and there is a long way to go before we know if anybody can really challenge the Heat in May and June.

Mid-season blues

The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings played a horrible Monday Night game tonight. Usually, the Thursday night games are bad, but this one was worse. Somebody had to win this one and the Giants did to wrap up week 7. The real story of this week was injuries. It's that time of the season when bodies are sore, legs are weak and minds are tired. Guys - both superstars and no-namers, went down all over the place yesterday. Sam Bradford, Reggie Wayne, Brian Cushing, and possibly Doug Martin are all out for the season. Jay Cutler, Nick Foles, Jermichael Finley, Lance Briggs, and Arian Foster also went out and I am sure I am missing some other names. This shows how violent this sport is despite all the rule changes and softening of the blows. It does pain me to watch these guys get hurt. But thats the reality of the NFL.

As for the games, Colts welcomed Peyton Manning back to town in what was the game of the week. Despite all the chatter from their blabbering owner Jim Irsay leading up to the game, the Colts welcomed Manning with class and treated him well at the game. But Andrew Luck showed why Manning is in Denver and not in Indy anymore. Luck is the real deal. His maturity and skill-set is better than most 10-year vets and he looks as close to being the next Peyton Manning as anybody ever has. Plus, he is more athletic and can make some things happen with his legs. Out of all the young-uns, Luck and Russel Wilson look like the most complete talent. It was a real impressive win for the young Colts. They are 5-2 and have already beaten the Seahawks, Niners, and now the Broncos. I have no idea how and why they lost to the Dolphins and the Chargers. The only bad thing for Luck and the Colts was the bad pass he threw to Reggie Wayne, who was wide-open, but had to bend down and twist trying to catch the ball and ended up with a season-ending injury untouched. I am sure Luck is beating himself up over that today pass. But this Colts team is going places both this season and in the future.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the only unbeaten team in the league. I can't wait for the Chiefs-Broncos division games. This used to be THE rivalry back in the John Elway days. The rivalry is back now. In the NFC, the Niners are hitting their groove and look like a true contender finally. The Seahawks will be there at the end too and thats the other division rivalry that has super bowl implications written all over it. The NFL season is rolling into shape, but let's hope injuries don't derail the flow of some of these teams. It wouldn't hurt to see a new team or two contend as well. Teams like the Patriots don't look as dominant as they used to and thats a good thing. Speaking of New England, the World Series is here and fittingly, it features two of the most baseball crazy cities in the country - St. Louis and Boston. This series might go 7 and Boston takes it. I want Saint Louis to win, but I don't think a NL team can do a lot of damage at Fenway park.

Quarterbacks running wild

Just like that, 25% of the NFL regular season is in the books. After 4 games, Denver, Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, and New England are all 4-0. Not a whole lot of surprises there except Kansas City. Seattle and New England were Peter King's Super Bowl pick in the pre-season. But after watching the Patriots in the first game or two, I have to say they are a bit of a surprise. They are a little thin and injured at the receiver position and the offense looked shaky and anemic at times in the early going. With Gronk and Amendola coming back from injuries and the rookie receivers improving, I thought the Pats will improve later in the season, but they are 4-0 already with the fourth win coming on the road against a good Atlanta team yesterday. Kudos to the usual suspects Brady and Belichick for keeping the flag of excellence flying high in foxboro. Speaking of usual suspects, Brees and Peyton Manning are on fire as always and are carrying their teams and their fantasy owners to incredible heights. These guys wake up from bed and throw for 4 TDs on a whim! That level of quarterbacking and translates to a 4-0 record in today's NFL pretty seamlessly.

Seattle is the only team in the 4-0 list that is built more on old school values like defense and a running game. They are the most complete team and they also have a solid QB in Russell Wilson and a great home field advantage. That makes them a super bowl favorite especially after dismantling the Niners two weeks back. After the first 4 games of the season, my pick for the Super Bowl is Denver V Seattle. The most surprising 4-0 team is Kansas City and kudos to Andy Reid and Alex Smith for turning the culture there overnight. I still don't consider them a legitimate contender though. As injuries pile up, team chemistry improves, and the weather gets colder, new forces will emerge in the NFL, but these 4-0 teams will stay in contention all season.  If you are looking for fascinating match-ups in the near future, look for Peyton Manning's visit to Indy and New England. Those are potential playoff previews with a side of QB drama that should tell us a lot about how this season will turn out. The elite teams that we expected to join this list, but struggling right now are the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons at 1-3.

The 0-4 list is very surprising to say the least. New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers headline this list and even Tampa Bay was supposed to be way better than their 0-4 start. Bucs QB Josh Freeman has lost his job to rookie Mike Glennon and rightfully so. Jacksonville is the other team that's staying true to it's form, but somehow Blaine Gabbert still has a job. Even his third year QB batch-mate Christian Ponder is in a little bit of a trouble with Matt Cassel coming in for him as an injury replacement and doing very well. Minnesota, Houston, Green Bay, San Francisco, and Atlanta are some of the teams that has the talent and were hoping to be better record-wise at this point. But some of those teams will be there at the end. I am a little surprised they are burning Matt Schaub's jersey already in Houston. He did throw that horrible interception, but where is the love and the loyalty? Our sports culture is so different and on edge these days. It's no surprise fans in Oakland were booing Matt Flynn at every chance they got. Raider fans were clamoring for Pryor like he is the second coming of Peyton Manning. To be fair to the Raider fans, Flynn was pretty bad and if Schaub is in so much trouble after all that he has done, Flynn doesn't stand a chance.

27-Th to First

The Oakland Athletics clinched the AL west title for the second straight year. This is the most interesting and underrated stories in Major League Baseball the last 2 seasons. The team with the 27-Th highest payroll among the 30 teams in the league has finished first in the difficult AL West. This division was supposed to be all about the high-spending Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers. They had the money and some big name talent and I still remember the A's fans taking about their team with a sense of resignation a couple of years back. And then magic happened last season. When the movie Moneyball came out in late 2011, it looked like a bad time for a Billy Beane biopic. He had not been in the playoffs in 5 years and there was no apparent light at the end of the tunnel or a plan in sight to compete against the new found money in Anaheim and solid talent in Texas. But then he pulled a moneyball-2 in 2012 with nobody looking. The A's clinched the division title in the last series of the year behind a bunch of solid, rookie pitchers and a couple of good hitters.

Coming into this season, the Angels and Rangers added more talent and even the die-hard A's fans were wondering if last year was nothing but a fluke. The hope was that the young pitching was real and when you have pitching, you have a lot going for you. The hitting was always a question mark. And then Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick decided not to show up at the level we expected them to. Given that they were the only pop in the lineup in 2012, this should have been disaster, but Josh Donaldson saved the day for the A's all season. Between him and timely home runs from others, the offense actually improved from 2012. And Reddick and Cespedes have also joined the party late in the season. The pitching was still there and old man Bartolo Colon was a true ace for a majority of the season. He slipped a little and seemed to have found his rhythm again the last couple of weeks, but his season ERA is still a robust 2.64. Both the starting pitchers and the bullpen have gone through ups and downs, but the pitching has been there as a unit all season long.

After a rough August where the schedule was difficult, the A's started rolling again in September. The rangers started slipping around the same time - bad timing for them, and when the A's swept them last week in Texas, this division was over. Now the A's have officially won the division with a week to spare after sweeping the Twins and taking all drama out of this race. This team is on a roll and I can't believe what will happen to this world if they won the World Series. Thats no dream. I think this team has enough weapons to make it happen. I have always maintained that the MLB playoffs are a crap-shoot. A team on a roll with good pitching can make anything happen as the other Bay Area team - the Giants, have shown us 2 out of the last 3 years. It would be awesome to have the national media and the baseball establishment deal with Billy Beane and the A's winning a championship. I like and respect Billy. It's about time he wins the big one. Congrats to him on building a division champion out of the 27-Th ranked payroll. Good luck to him the rest of the way this season and post-season. Go, get em all Billy.

Random Musings from Week 1 of the NFL

The return of NFL is so exciting and fantas(y)tic that I can't even muster a cogent blog post. I just decided to list some random musings from what I saw in week 1.

1. The Steelers are a bunch of hot garbage. I can't remember the last time they looked this bad. Mike Tomlin better have a lot of cute one-liners ready to deal with this mess. He once told us there is a difference between smashing grapes and drinking wine. His team is currently doing neither.

2. Peyton Manning is back all the way. His throws were wobbly early last season, but 7 TDs to open this season is all you need to know if you are wondering how his arm is doing these days. He has always been a definition of a franchise QB, but he has now elevated another franchise to the Super Bowl level all by himself.

3. I wonder how many years Peyton's got left in that 37 year-old body. Some Colts fans are probably missing him, but I still prefer the talented Lucky boy who is 14 years younger.

4. Tom Brady needs receivers. If Gronk is not back soon, Danny Amendola will be in a body-bag by week 6. But he will probably be on the injury report by then anyways. So that's neither here nor there.

5. Raiders are not as bad as we thought. Terrelle Pryor could be this year's Tim Tebow. And by that I don't mean he will be out of the league in 2 years.

6. Saints won the game against the Falcons, but didn't look super impressive doing so. Coach Sean Payton better bring his supposed magic to the party starting with game 2.

7.  I was surprised that the horrible late hit call in the Jets-Bucs game didn't create more controversy. Jets won the game because of it and only because of it.

8. Colin Kaepernick almost proved Jaws's point in week 1. He seems to be as legit as they come. He is not a running QB. He is a good QB who can run if needed.

9. What a start to the season for Adrian Peterson. He took the first hand-off to he house. But Ponder has to improve for this team and AP to realize their potential.

10. Carson Palmer once again played good enough to give his team some hope, but not good enough to give his team a win. Nobody fumbles the ball from blind-side hits more consistently than Palmer. But the Cardinals at least have somebody they can finally call a NF quarterback.

11. Happy to see Alex Smith and Andy Reid start off in style for the Chiefs. AFC West suddenly looks better than expected, but are they good to disturb the peace in Peyton's division? Time will tell.

12. Same old Chargers and Rivers. They gave the game away to Houston in a way that would have impressed even Norv Turner.

13. NFC East is competitive as always. Dallas. New York, and RGIII played horrible first halves and a slightly better second half. Philly under Chip Kelly looked great on offense and might be fun to watch all year if Vick stays healthy. But thats a big if.

That's my baker's dozen from week 1. At least it's not just 10 things. If you still accuse me of being a Peter King wannabe, I will take that as a compliment.

The wait is over

I don't usually watch pre-season in any sports, but it's always a happy day when the NFL pre-season games start. Football is back and not a day too soon. After spending an inordinate amount of time since the Super Bowl in jails across the country, footballers are back to doing what they do best - entertain America on the field. The hall-of-fame game was nothing special, but the hall-of-fame class this year was. Bill Parcells, Chris Carter, and Warren Sapp were worthy inductees this year. Now we are ready to start thinking fantasy and football. The only downside with the training camp and pre-season is, we have already started losing stars to injuries. Jeremy Maclin, Percy Harvin, and Dennis Pitta are some of the high-impact offensive players who are injured causing a minor consternation to their actual teams and major disturbance to fantasy rankings.

Maclin's injury gave an opening to Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper, but then he opened his mouth and ruined his career. He hurled a racial epithet at a black security guard at a concert and like everything else these days, this video ended up on youtube. This is a very  delicate situation for the Eagles as some of Riley's black teammates are still understandably upset. Vick sounded forgiving, but not all of his teammates share Vick's opinion. The Eagles have to play this just right given this is a new coach's  first year. It would be sad if Coach Kelly lost the locker room even before he coaches his first game. Cooper is probably a certifiable racist to have said what he did and his career is in jeopardy. He is now in "counseling", which seems to be a fashionable thing to do these days for any celebrity in any kind of trouble. This is not the most auspicious start for coach Kelly, but he will try and make the best out of this.

Of course the Patriots are probably laughing at the Eagles for making a mountain out of a molehill because the Pats were dealing with a real mountain of a problem for a while. Aaron Hernandez is accused of murder and the Pats have cut him. He makes Gronk look like a choir boy. What a tight-end combo for hoody both on and off the field. Brady has lost quite a bit of his offensive weapons to surgery, free agency, and murders. But he is still Tom Brady and a deep playoff run is very much on the cards for the Pats. As for Hernandez, the crimes he is accused of are mind boggling and unfathomable. He might have thrown his entire life away, and for what, nobody knows. It's good to get the games going so we can start taking about the action on the field instead of all this nonsense off of it. We have all taken the first step starting last weekend. Football is back on TV again and everybody is thinking and talking about it.

Off-season and mid-season

The biggest news of the summer has been Dwight Howard signing with Houston. He agreed to terms a week or so back, but I was not going to write about it until he was officially signed and introduced in person. That happened yesterday and we can now be sure he will not flip-flop anymore or throw some tantrum. To be fair to Dwight, his off-season was relatively quick and easy compared to the drama he created last year in Orlando. The media attention was obviously elevated because he is a superstar, biggest name in the market, and because it involved the LA Fakers. Ultimately, he did make the right basketball decision in going with the talented, young roster in Houston. The Lakers have an aging, injured roster. I would have been scared to re-up with them as well  if I was Dwight.

The Lakers needed Dwight more than he needed the Lakers. It would be a completely different argument if Kobe was 28 years old, but he is not. After next season, Nash is literally the only guy on contract. Thats a lot of flexibility and cap-room and you can easily see a franchise like the Lakers re-loading in a hurry. But if you are Dwight, that's just way too much uncertainty. And given the emotional and other kinds of bonds Kobe has with the franchise, you have to assume the Lakers will re-invest a lot of that cap-room in an even older Kobe next year. So Howard went with a more stable situation in Houston. Can't really blame him. As for the Lakers, it's not too bad for them either. They got Kobe for a year and a massive cap-room in 2014 when LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo (and Kobe) become free agents. I can't see any of them going to the Fakers, but you never know.

As NBA's off-season is moving along, baseball is at it's midway point. The home run derby was today and the A's Yoenis Cespedes won it. Well deserved recognition for the best slugger mainstream America has never heard of. Good things seem to be happening in baseball this season with both the A's and Diamondbacks - the teams I care the most about, are leading their respective divisions. The A's are in a dog fight for the division and it's going to be tight till the final weeks of the season. But the young A's seem very capable of seeing this through. This is shaping to be a good season, but the steroid scandal is supposed to take many players down very soon. I don't have a problem with that, but I am worried MLB will screw it up and create a big mess. The players association has enough juice to make things messy plus that's generally the way Bud rolls. Commish Bud Selig will find a way to screw this up.

Two Time Champion

LeBron James is now a two time Champion. For all the criticism and rough times he has been through, he might actually be on track to achieve all his goals given that he is only 28. He has already been in the league 10 years and has clearly established himself as the best player in the league. He has accumulated a bunch of MVP awards and he just clinched his second, finals MVP. He had a phenomenal game 7 tonight with 37 points and 12 boards. He shot the heat to a championship as spurs  continued to clog the lane and gave him open jumpers. That strategy worked for most of the series, but not tonight. I knew the spurs were in trouble once LeBron hit a couple of early 3's in the first half. When a player of that caliber gets in rhythm, its hard to derail him sometimes. Plus he had amazing support from Dwayne Wade, Shane Battier, and Mario Chalmers tonight. They kept nailing critical jumpers - many 3's in the case of Battier. Spurs tried their best to keep up and gave us a great game - thanks to Kawhi Leonard, but with Ginobli and Green hurting their cause more than helping and with LeBron guarding Tony Parker, it was trouble late in the game. It was a sad site to see Tim Duncan miss that 2-feet hook shot and tip on Shane Battier that could have tied the game. Not sure how the game would have gone even if he had hit that, but that miss could keep him up at night for a while. 

The spurs really lost the series in game 6. I am even surprised they were able to stay in the game today in game 7. The series got interesting in game 6 after a bunch of blowouts. The last 2 games were superb entertainment. It elevated this finals to the level of an instant classic. Of course, it took a huge collapse by the spurs in the last 30 seconds of game 6 to make this series what it has become now. Up 4 with just around 30 seconds to go and heading to the free throw line, Ginobli missed a free throw to go up by 5. LeBron missed a 3, only to get the ball again after an offensive rebound to hit another 3. Up 2, Kawhi Leonard then missed one more free throw and Ray Allen hit a game-tying, legacy saving 3 with just 5 seconds to go. This is exactly why they brought Ray Allen to town. A shot like that justifies millions in salary given what was at stake. That 3 was also after another LeBron James missed 3 and an offensive rebound - Tim Duncan was on the bench for both those rebounds. And Pop by the way also put Tony Parker on the bench later for the last possession of overtime and a late possession in tonight's game 7, the one where Ginobli turned the ball over like he has been doing all series. Questionable coaching by one of the best coaches in the league. The spurs lost game 6 more than the heat winning it. It doesn't matter. Five years from now, all of this will just be remembered as LeBron's second championship. Nobody can take that away from him and the heat. 

Game 6 was truly a game of historic proportions because of what a loss there could have meant to LeBron's legacy. He had a mediocre shooting series up to that point and the first 3 quarters of that game was brutal. He then had an amazing run in the 4-Th, but slowed down again at the end and spurs looked like they got that game locked up. He had a few bad plays in the clutch again and the twitter universe was ready to pounce on LeBron like it was 2011. Nobody's entire legacy is evaluated and critiqued with every play quite like LeBron's. Even Bill Walton jumped the gun a little early when the spurs were up 5 with less than 30 seconds to go and said something like never compare LeBron to MJ or Kobe. I guess how he feels tonight after game 7. That Ray Allen 3 saved LeBron a lot of pain. I am really curious to see how much more shine this second ring adds to LeBron. The first ring was obviously a huge relief and LeBron has recovered a lot of his reputation, but the haters are still out there - me included. I don't hate LeBron personally or want anything bad to happen to him, but I definitely don't like the way this Miami heat team has been assembled. The national media had to ease up on him after the first ring and they may start deifying him after 2. He is an once in a generation player and I have no doubt he is better than Jordan as a overall basketball talent - LeBron can do it all and do it well, but none of that earns him my loyalty at this point

Rings and only rings will determine where LeBron's legacy ends up in relation to Jordan's. Thats exactly why he has hooked up with Wade and Bosh and his plans seems to be coming to fruition now - 3 years, 3 finals, 2 championships. The spurs in that game 6 could have dealt a huge blow to his legacy. It would have been 2 losses in 3 straight finals and 3 losses in 4 total trips including his Cleveland days. Jordan and Montana never lost the championship games and thats part of their greatness. LeBron has already lost 2 out of 4, but 3 out of 4 would have been horrible for him. He doesn't have to worry about it now, especially if he can win 5 out of 7 or 6 out of 8 championships when it's all said and done. Of course, thats all still a long way off. He will try to three-peat next year. Miami's luxury tax situation is rough and it's anybody's guess how this team will look next year, let alone in 2 years. I expect the big-3 to be back next season, but I am not sure if they can afford good supporting talent. I also expect the Pacers and the Bulls to push them harder next year. The heat will still have the world's best basketball player whose confidence is sky high now with these championships in the bag. They are the early favorites for 2014. Let the off-season begin. Wonder where the spurs go from here. What about my Phoenix suns? May be the suns can add a piece or 2 and win 10 more games. #ModestGoals.

Close, tied, and boring

This NBA finals had a lot of potential coming in and is living up to it in some ways with 2-2 tie after four games. Despite being all tied up, it has not been the most entertaining finals so far. The reason is, there was one close game and an amazing game winning basket by Tony Parker in game 1, but we have been exposed to a whole lot of one-sided games and blowouts since then. This series has not had any flow or pattern so far. Teams have alternated wins and a different guy has been the story every game. At this points, it's impossible to say who is the better team or who is the favorite to win it all. I was convinced San Antonio was going to win this thing after their game 1 and 3 victories, but after Miami's game 4 win, I am not so sure anymore. Miami now gets to host 2 out of the remaining 3 games and that should make them the favorite. This makes game 5 very critical for San Antonio. They can't afford to lose game 5 at home and hope to win 2 straight on the road against LeBron James. 

Momentum goes with the winner of last game and in addition, the other thing that makes the Miami Heat the slight favorite now is the sight of Wade finally dominating game 4. Wade has been mostly absent for a majority these playoffs, It's a completely different ball game when this guy is on. It's a nightmare for any team trying to defend both LeBron and Wade. Unfortunately, Pop has to figure this out now given the sudden revival of Wade. He was terrific in game 4. Tony Parker's injury is another concern for the Spurs. He started off hot in game 4, but his second half was nothing special. Ginobli is struggling as well with just 7.5 points per game in these finals. If the Spurs win this series, we might have an improbable MVP in Danny Green. For Miami, it will probably be LeBron who has done a little bit of everything, though he had a rough time scoring in the first 3 games. His block on Thiago Splitter in game 2 might be remembered as the most memorable play of these finals if Miami win. That was an awesome play much like Parker's shot in game 1. 

Let's hope for a few more memorable moments and tighter contests over the remaining games. My theory about game 3 winners after a 1-1- tie always taking the series is also under duress here with the Heat wresting home court back. Spurs have to win at least one more on the road to win the series, but Miami don't have to. Both teams are veteran squads and winning on the road has not been a problem for either. Some experts also feel momentum is a lesser factor in the NBA finals than in other rounds. All of this makes it hard to get a feel for or predict this series even after 4 games.  May be game 5 will provide us with all the answers. Off the court, the most significant news to me has been the retirement of Grant Hill and Jason Kidd. They came into the league together in 1994 and are going out together after long careers. It's truly an end of an era in the NBA - an era that will always be close to my heart as I grew up as an NBA fan during that time. I am also proud that both their paths passed through the Phoenix Suns. I can't believe Kidd has already scored a head coaching job with the Nets, but I wish him good luck.

Game Zero

I dozed off pretty much through the entire fourth quarter of the Pacers-Heat game seven tonight. That tells you all you need to know about this game seven. It was a big letdown. The pacers didn't really show up. They made this an interesting, intriguing, and competitive series until the start of game seven. Once the game started, the pacers we have been accustomed to seeing the last couple of weeks left the building. There is always the danger of this happening in game sevens with the road team. The pacers are a young, inexperienced team and these lights were too big for them. The pacers gave game one away and that's where they lost the series just like the warriors did against the Spurs. And, just like the warriors, the pacers did help prove my theory that if the series is tied after 2 games, the winner of game three takes the series. They pounded the heat with their size and toughness, but whenever the heat dialed up their intensity, pacers seemed to lack the firepower to keep up. The much-hyped game seven ended up being a lame precursor to the finals - a game zero of the finals if you will.

The Pacers need one more piece to take the next step. I like George Hill - first round picks of the San Antonio Spurs are usually no chopped liver, but they need a better point guard to manage this talented, big team. May be they can trade Danny Granger in a package and score a point guard in return. Granger is not bad either, but he is too similar to Paul George and Paul is way better. Part of me would like to see Granger back with this team with a more mature George and Hibbert, but I think they can use a point guard instead. I have full trust in Donnie Walsh, their president of basketball operations, to make the right call here. It will be an interesting off-season for the pacers. They are a legitimate contender now and am glad pro basketball is back in the hoosier state after a rough decade or so. Between the pacers and the bulls - if and when Derrick Rose returns, the Heat might have some serious threat next season. 

But first things first. Can anybody stop the heat this season? The pacers almost did it and that should give a big psychological boost to the spurs. The heat don't look anywhere near invincible and the big three has shrunk to big one all of a sudden. The "one" is definitely not a bad "one" to have, but I am really curious to see how coach Pop deals with the unstoppable LeBron James. I pick the spurs to figure this out and take this series in six. Heat don't do well against size - the pacers had size, and they don't well against speedy point guards - the spurs have Tony Parker. Duncan is not the same these days, but he is still the "big fundamental" and his size will bother the heat too. The spurs are going to be a handful for the heat and I both like and want the spurs to pull off the upset. For all the tumult the heat have been through the last three years and all the criticism LeBron and others had to endure, they have made it to three straight finals. Things are very much going according to plan for the big-3 though there is this collective public yearning for them to fail. But if they lose their second finals in three tries, it will be considered a failure.

NBA's final four

NBA's final four is an interesting mix of small market teams and LeBron James. I am not sure how much Commissioner Stern is going to like a Memphis-Indiana finals and what kind of TV ratings that would get, but it's a slight possibility. At least last year, he had the big market Boston and a super star in Kevin Durant still balling at this point of the season. This year, America has to get to know Paul George and Mike Conley if they want to enjoy these conference finals. Paul George helped his own cause quite a bit today. The lanky and talented George put up 27 points and hit a game tying 3 to send the game to overtime, where he shot 3 clutch free throws to put the Pacers ahead with just 2.2 seconds to go. He defended LeBron well for long stretches as well. But his youth shows up here and there and he does make mistakes befitting a 3-Rd year player that he is. In regulation, he threw the ball away in one of the key possessions towards the end. And in OT, he over-committed on defense and got stuck at the perimeter trying to chase LeBron and let him drive right by him to the hoop. It was too easy for LeBron.

There seems to be a lot of games going to overtime this playoffs and thats a good thing. Most of the chatter after this OT game though was about Indiana's coach Frank Vogel putting Roy Hibbert on the bench during 2 late possessions in OT, both of which ended in LeBron James layups. I would like to have Hibbert in there as well, but the match-ups usually dictate these things. Miami is a small team and having Hibbert in there can be a liability sometimes. There is no guarantee he is going to be close enough to contest the shot anyways. The Heat have the shooters and athletes to pull him out. It's not like Hibbert contests and blocks every single layup when he is in there. I am sure Vogel won't pull him out in similar situations in future games and he admitted as much, but I won't blame him for what he did today. He had to make a decision based on match-ups. He is still a young coach himself and hopefully, he learned something today. The whole Indiana gang needs to grow up fast if it wants to win this series. They have a shot and this series might go 7 either way.

In the West, I was hoping for another great series with Memphis and San Antonio, but Memphis has not really joined the series quite yet. They did come back from way behind to force OT yesterday, but they need to get in the game from the beginning to have a shot against a great team like the Spurs. They go back home now and have to win both their home games to make a series out of this. They have the talent to beat the Spurs and more importantly, I want Memphis to win because they have the talent to beat Miami. But they need to get to the finals first. They will be the tougher match-up for Miami if they ever figure out a way to stop Tony Parker in this round. Zach Randolph is yet to really show up in this series. Coach Pop is so good he is going to take something or things away from Memphis. So Conley, Gasol, and Z-Bo have to collectively bring their A-Game to get it done. I still don't know what Pop really did to Golden State, but he sure took both Curry and Klay away after they both had amazing starts to that series. I don't mind Pop and his old guys from Texas getting to the Finals one more time, except for the fact that I feel the Grizzlies will give the Heat the most trouble. May be Indiana will make that point moot. But then again, they probably blew that chance today. Too many possibilities and angles, but we can only watch and enjoy.

Pivotal Game

NBA playoffs go on for a long time. So you better get used to a lot of cliches during this time. The one I like is, "a series does not started until a road team wins a game." The other over-used concept is that of a "pivotal game." Once you get past game 1, the experts start calling every game pivotal. It's hard to say if game five is more pivotal than game six, but one thing we can all agree on is, no game is more pivotal than game seven. But putting the two concepts together, I have come to the conclusion that game three is the pivotal one if and only if the teams split the first two games - which is exactly what has happened in the conference semis this year. All four series saw the road team steal a game from among the first two. After Westbrook's injury, Memphis has become the fancy pick to win the west. So it was not surprising to see them steal game two in Oklahoma City. In the East, the Pacers are pretty good and the Knicks are over-rated. So Pacers' win in NY was not a surprise to me either. But Chicago shocked Miami in game one raising hopes for an enormous upset. You had to wonder if that will last given the talent differential between the two rosters, but one can only hope the Heat gets tamed at some point this season. The real surprise was the Warriors not only winning game two in San Antonio, but dominating game one as well before losing it in spectacular fashion.

The Warriors are fun to watch with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson shooting lights out. Coach Mark Jackson recently said they are the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game. That shocked many people and sounded like total hyperbole, but nobody has been able to come up with an alternate back-court to match these two in terms of pure shooting accuracy. Of course, we have heard the "best back-court ever" tag many times, but Jackson was talking about just shooting skills and he is probably right. The only thing that I don't like about it is, these guys are too young for us to start bestowing such accolades on them. I would like some level of consistency before calling them the "best ever" anything. It's not worth talking about if they end up being the best shooting back-court just over a two week or two month period. But they sure have been that. Curry is very special and unique himself. I can't think of anybody who shoots and can also drive like Curry. And Klay has an even better stroke than Curry and between the two of them, I can see where Jackson is making this claim. He is not too far off. The Warriors are fun to watch and they dominated seven out of the eight quarters in San Antonio, but only won one game. They blew a sixteen point lead in four minutes in game one to lose in double overtime. They could have come back home up 2-0, which would have been shockingly amazing. The Warriors made the Spurs look old and lucky. 

Thats why game three was critical. Had the warriors won it, they would have retained and expanded on the momentum coming out of those two games in Texas. And it was the one and final shot for the Spurs to grab momentum and home court back and get the series on an even footing. Thats exactly what they did. They made sure they didn't fall into a big hole at the beginning of the game. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan took care of the rest. They were both unstoppable and they showed us the difference between true superstars and just good shooters like Klay and Curry, who could not get anything going in game three. The home crowd was crushed as the Spurs won the game to set the series back on course. The warriors can still win the series, but the spurs are the favorites now. They have two more home games and they are not going to lose at home anymore. Disappointing pivotal game three for the warriors and their fans. They are a fun team to watch, but the spurs are in the driver seat now and the fun might be over in seven. In the East, Miami did the same thing San Antonio did as they went into Chicago and wrested control right away. The Bulls had no shot with all the injuries, but they are a tough team and they had high hopes after stealing game one. LeBron killed those hopes and the heat can now win game four to really derail the bulls or they can take it easy and win game 5 and 7 at home to wrap things up. I say they win one more road game and wrap this series up in 6.

The story was different with Memphis and Indiana. These teams are legitimately better than their opponents and they didn't just "steal" one road game. They came back home and won game three to establish their superiority. So get ready for a Spurs-Memphis and Miami-Indiana slug-fests in the conference finals. Warriors will be a lot more fun, thunder will have more star power in the form of Durant, and the Knicks will be great for TV ratings in the big city. But neither us nor the NBA offices can always get what we want. Commissioner Stern has to deal with a playoffs soon without the Lakers, Durant, or the Knicks. It will still be fun to watch, but the question for the league and TV "suits" is about how many will watch. At least the NBA office has better things to worry about than the major League Baseball offices right now, The latest issue with MLB is the officiating. The umpires missed a home-run call even after watching the replay one day and they didn't know the rules on another call the next day. No league gets our attention for all the wrong reasons quite like MLB. It's still early days in the baseball season and we should cut MLB some slack. We will start focussing on the action on the field sooner than later as the season heats up, but not yet. 

Man versus God

The famous saying goes "man proposes, God disposes." The almighty really disposed the LA Lakers this NBA season. Just flashback to last summer when the Lakers signed Nash and then traded for Dwight Howard. All the talk was about them winning the championship. Most people didn't think they were better than the Heat or the Thunder, but a deep playoff run was almost assumed. That core of Nash, Kobe, Pau, and Dwight looked great on paper. But the games are played on the hardwood and not on paper. This group never worked as a team. Dwight was my one question mark even before the season and he proved me right. He is over-rated to begin with - a big body with great athleticism, but not enough low-post skills several years in to his NBA career. With him coming back from a serious injury, I thought things were going to be tough for him. But then Nash and Kobe never really played well together and Nash seemed to have aged 3 years in 3 months last off-season. Pau is great, but he never found his role in Mike D'Antoni's system. Of course D'Antoni never found a system for this team either. He was more lost than Pau this year with the Lakers. Kobe was his usual self, but their season really ended when he got injured with just a few games to go in the season. The Spurs put them away rather easily and the season of great hope ended in total despair with Kobe, Nash, MWP, and Steve Blake in street clothes and Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock, and Earl Clark starting for the mighty LA Lakers. Who would have thought this would happen at the beginning of the season.

Speaking of plans not panning out, the OKC Thunder suffered a disastrous injury to Russell Westbrook. This pretty much ends their championship aspirations this season. They were fine during the regular season without James Harden, but now they wish they had him since Westbrook is gone. Kevin Durant is flying solo and he is going to crash-land soon. They will get past Houston, but it's going to be tough for Durant to take them past San Antonio, Miami, or even Memphis. This is another reminder that life can change in a second. OKC went from a championship contender to a one-man show overnight. Westbrook will be missed in these playoffs much like Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Danillo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo, and David Lee. Too many injuries and one-sided match-ups resulted in somewhat of an uninspiring start to the playoffs in the first round. But now, things are heating up. One series that was fun from the first game was Warriors-Nuggets. Steph Curry is becoming a super star and a shooting star. He has had an amazing regular season and is now doing it in front of a national audience in the playoffs. When he goes on one of his hot shooting streaks, he won't remind you of anybody because I don't think there has ever been a better shooter in the league. If he keeps it up, he will retire as one of the best shooters in the history of the league. So don't miss the show when he is on TV.