We got a series ... or may be 2

The Suns got it done twice at home to tie their series up. It was an amazing home-stand for the Suns. Neither game was easy, but they made it look easier than it actually was. The key to both games was the Suns playing the zone. They had to give it a shot given how bad their defense was against the bigger Lakers. But it was surprising to see how effective the zone was. Typically, it messes up an offense for a quarter or 2 and then they adjust. It was surprising to see how effective the zone was for almost the entirety of game 3 and also through game 4. The zone helped the Suns in game 4, but not as much as their bench. The Suns bench came through again and I love how Gentry plays 5 bench guys all at the same time. I don't think I have never seen that with any coach. Definitely not with Mike D'Antoni and the Suns of the past. Not only did the Suns bench play, they played forever in the 4-Th quarter as Gentry even pulled back Nash and Amare from the scorer's table.

The spin move Dragic dropped on Fish was awesome and the highlight of game 4. And Barbosa is looking good too. If the Brazilian Blur is on, the Suns are that much better. The Suns bench really defend better and if they can score offensively, then it does make sense to keep them in ahead of even the studs like Nash and Amare - both shaky defensive players though awesome offensively. Speaking of Amare and offense, he got killed in the media for a couple of day after his performance in the first 2 games, but his 42 in game 3 shut fools up. He was unstoppable and the Suns need that on the road too if they want to win this series. The Suns will try the zone in game 5 for sure and we will see how it goes. The zone works as good as the jump shots attempted in that zone - if those are bricks, the zone "works", if they go in, the zone is busted. And of course the jump shooters always do well at home. That explains the success of the suns bench at home and that will decide what happens to their zone on the road. Can't wait for game 5.

In the East, Boston lost game 3 at home and of course lost game 4 on the road. Now all the pressure is on the Celtics. They have to win game 6 at home. Otherwise, they are looking at a game 7 on the road. Thats not something to look forward to. We now have 2 interesting series in our hands while we had none about a week back. The problem for Boston now is, they have multiple bodies in trouble - injuries, technicals etc. I am pretty sure the league will rescind one of the 2 techs handed out to Perkins. Otherwise, he is out since he has gotten his 7-Th technical. I still think Boston closes the deal in game 6. If they can't win at home, they don't deserve to win the series anyways. It will be ironic if Boston is the first team to lose a 0-3 lead after what the RedSox did in 2004. Of course the Bruins just lost a series they were leading 3-0 just 2 weeks back. But it is not unfathomable in the NHL as much as in the NBA or the MLB.

Tilting one way

The NBA playoffs this season has been surprisingly one-sided. Usually, the playoffs are tough, tight and competitive. Even if certain games are one-sided, the series usually swings back and forth and most series go 6 and a couple even go to 7 games. This year, most series don't even seem to go past 4. It's been broom-town for the most part and even the conference finals seem to be trending that way. Unfortunately, the Suns are at the receiving end of one of them mismatches though they were dishing the sweep last round. It's too early to be talking sweep in the Suns-Lakers series because they don't even play their first home game until tomorrow. I don't think there will be a sweep and I totally expect the Suns to take game 3. But they are definitely the inferior team in the series. Lakers have been toying with them so far. The Suns have no defense for Kobe, which is normal. But they don't seem to have any answer for Gasol or Odom or Bynum. Basically the Lakers are huge and are unstoppable.

The Suns problems are all at the defensive end. The Lakers have won both the games almost in identical ways. The scoreboard read 128-107 after game 1 and 124-112 after game 2. Even the Suns can't outscore their opponent if those opponents score 120+ without even really breaking a sweat. They have to figure out something to slow down the Lakers. Easier said than done, but I want to see them at least try tomorrow. Gentry has pushed all the right buttons this playoffs so far, but here is his real test. I don't know if he goes deeper into the bench or what, but he has to do something to slow down this Lakers offense. Offensively, the Suns are fine. The guys even have decent numbers because they have scored almost 110 in both games, but they have given up way more than that. Honestly, the Suns probably don't have a shot in this series. But the question is, can they make it interesting unlike the Magic.

Speaking of the Magic, they have now fallen to 0-3. That series was over the moment Magic lost both home games to go down 0-2, but still today's effort in game 3 was horrible. The Celtics are just on a roll right now and I can see all the experts picking them to win it all even against the mighty Lakers. I can see the Celtics winning it all just like 2008 though the Lakers are a better team now than they were in 2008. Celtics are tough and strong defensively and that always helps. The Magic have nowhere to go against them. Dwight Howard is great, but he is not all there yet offensively. He has a looong way to go and the Celtics have him completely bottled up. This series should be a sweep come Monday night and the Celtics may have sent 2 premier Eastern conference teams into a massive rebuild mode this off-season - the Cavs and the Magic. Match-ups always play a big role in the NBA playoffs and both these series prove this point. But if the Magic do get swept, it does raise some serious questions about Howard and the Magic. They may decide they need another alpha-dawg to improve. Howard may not be the guy, at least not offensively. He is getting exposed in this series.

Resurgent Celtics

The Celtics are back. They have gone from an aging, old team to a true championship contender in a matter of 2 weeks. They didn't do very well last year because KG was hurt. This year, it looked like they were old and on the way down. They had an inconsistent regular season and finished 11 games behind the Cavs and 9 games behind the Magic in the Eastern standings. Fourth seed just didn't seem good enough for this team. But they have been great in these playoffs. While the Magic have the impressive scoreboard, they have really not played anybody until this round. The Celtics on the other hand, have played good defense, unleashed a true superstar in Rajon Rondo and eliminated the King. The big 3 of course can't bring it day in and day out anymore, but they don't have to because they now have a big 4 and good role players.

Today, they won a huge road game to open the Eastern finals and played stellar defense. They harassed Dwight Howard and did not give him even an inch. He had to fight and struggle for everything he got and ended up a frustrated young man. They have a lot of big bodies to throw at Howard - Big Baby and Rasheed Wallace and Perkins and KG. I see the same toughness and defense that got them the championship in 2008. Carter and Jameer Nelson had decent games, but the Magic will be done if they can't get Howard untracked. It's now time for Van Gundy and Howard to come up with some adjustments for game 2. They need him at both ends of the floor to win this series. I have to pick Boston in 6 to take this one. I don't really care who wins this series, but I am a little excited to see Boston play like this because may be they are the only team that can dethrone the Lakers with their toughness and defense - just like they did in 2008.

Of course the previous sentence almost suggests that the Lakers will beat my Suns and get to the Finals. My heart say not, but my brain says probably yes to that scenario. My heart picks the Suns in 6, but my brain says Lakers in 6. The series starts tomorrow in LA and it's going to be a good one. There may be a blowout or 2, but I am sure there will be a couple of great games. The Suns need a great start tomorrow. They can't get blown out tomorrow just for their psychological well-being. They have to show to themselves and the others that they belong and can compete. They lost 3 out of 4 games during the season and in couple of those games in LA, I felt like the Suns didn't really believe they can beat the Lakers. It seemed like they were expecting to lose. They can't do that tomorrow or in any of the games this series. Hopefully, they won't suffer from that mind-set after all the success and confidence from the second half of the season and the great playoff run so far.

The Lakers have size and Kobe. Suns have no answer for either, though I am sure Grant Hill will try and even succeed sometimes in slowing down Kobe a little. Bynum's bad knee and Robin Lopez's return hopefully levels the field a little bit, but will that be enough is the real question. The big problem for the Suns is the Lakers length at both ends of the floor. It really hurts Amare at both ends. He gets in foul trouble at one ned and their length bothers him at the other. I think the Suns hopes in this series depends on Amare outplaying Pau. If Amare wins that duel, the Suns can put a lot of pressure on the Lakers. We will get some of these answers tomorrow. If the Cavs can be eliminated in the East, why can't the Suns kick the Lakers out? My hopes are up! I am going with my heart and picking the Suns to win this in 6.

Suns Sweep and the King is out!

The second round of the NBA playoffs has been sweet for me until today, when it turned a little bitter. The Suns shockingly and surprisingly swept the Spurs. I think nobody including the Suns players would have guessed they could actually sweep the Spurs. This pretty much confirms KG's words of wisdom after his championship - "anything is possible!". It was a very satisfying moment for Suns fans like me given all the heartache we have been through over the years. The final game was not without signs of some of the ugly demons coming back to haunt us. Duncan's elbow inadvertently cut open Nash's eyelid and he had to step out to stitch it up. The Spurs tie the game up when he is out and the tension escalated if you were a Suns fan. Nash came back to the bench, but his right eye was barely open. He got in the game and we could see his eye swelling up and closing down by the minute. Somehow, he still hit his shots and the Suns put the Spurs away courageously. It was indeed a proud moment. Unfortunately, the reward for such brilliance is a date with the Lakers. That team is way too big for the Suns! More on that later.

The bitter part of the second round happened today as the Cavs were eliminated today in 6 games. King James looked horrible at home in game 5 and though he had a triple double today, he didn't look too great - 8/21 shooting and 9 turnovers is not good enough. He had an unbelievably horrible night in game 5, but I was still surprised by the backlash. I thought everybody was entitled to a bad day or 2, but he is getting killed on the radio across the nation since that game 5. I don't know if it's the internet/blog culture of today or is it because of heightened sensitivity due to his upcoming free agency, I thought this one bad game got way more attention than any other bad game by other superstars in the past that I can think off. His free agency is such a big news. Now, almost everybody thinks he is a goner. Chicago is suddenly the favorite destination. He has now missed making it to the finals in both the years he has won the MVP - Nash-like. And the Cavs have fallen short of even last year's performance when they made it to the Eastern conference Finals. I guess they don't need Shaq to deal with Howard. They didn't even get to Howard. Rando made sure of that. That dude is awesome! A true triple double threat day-in and day-out. I don't know how he can get 18 rebounds at just 6'1". The game 5 loss and the series loss is almost inexplicable for the Cavs. Now they have a lot bigger problem to deal with if LeBron is not staying. It should be an interesting off-season.

Easy, breezy second round

Three of the four second round match-ups in the NBA playoffs are at 3-0. It's unusually one-sided and I am glad that the Suns are one of the teams thats ahead 3-0 on the hated Spurs. Jazz gave a tough game to the Lakers today, but they just fell one point short and an inch or two to the side as a late game tip-in that would have won the game rolled off the rim. For a couple of minutes before that, the game was played at a very high level as both teams hit shot after shot and traded the lead back and forth. It was probably the best game of the playoffs so far, but the Lakers are still up 3-0. The Magic crushed the Hawks again and they have not lost a game in the playoffs yet. They have won 7 games straight and many folks are saying they are the best team in the playoffs right now. I don't quite buy that because they have beat up so far on Charlotte and Atlanta - 2 mediocre teams in my opinion. You can't really compare them to the Lakers playing the Thunder or even the Cavs against the Celtics. The Cavs won yesterday behind a tremendous performance by the King (38-8-7) to get that series to 2-1. Ironically, Cavs, the supposed best team going into this round, are the only team not leading their series 3-0.

The most surprising and satisfying 3-0 lead is owned by the Suns. They had an amazing game yesterday that was just unbelievable to watch. We have seen this movie over and over again through the decade and the ending was always a Spurs win. But yesterday, the Suns on the road, came back from an early 18 point deficit and won by 14 points in the fourth. Thats a 32 point turnaround against the Spurs defense. Granted, the Spurs D is not what it used to be - no Bruce Bowen these days, but they are still the Spurs. But this Suns team is great. They still run and gun and with Steve and Amare, they look similar to the Mike D'Antoni teams, but this is really a different team. I love Alvin Gentry and he has definitely improved on the Mike D'Antoni blueprint. He has put the right emphasis on defense and rebounding by just mildly tweaking the players and their minutes. It's subtle, but significant because these moves have convinced Nash and Amare and everybody to work just a little bit harder on defense. The extra minutes to Jared Dudley through the season and starting Robin Lopez or even Jarron Collins now are the kind of moves that emphasizes defense and rebounding and the message has gone very well with the team.

I really doubt if D'Antoni would have ever played these bench guys the way Gentry uses them. Anytime a starter got injured, D'Antoni just couldn't wait to insert Barbosa into the starting lineup and score 10 more points and give up 15 more. I personally thought some of the defensive criticism that D'Antoni received was a little overstated. But I definitely was a big critic of his lack of use of the bench. And Gentry is proving my point everyday. The biggest difference between the two is how Gentry trusts and uses his bench. This is something he has built through the season and it is paying huge dividends right now. The only reason they won yesterday on the road was because of Goran Dragic. He dropped 26 points, all in the second half and the starters never even had to get off the bench to wrap this game up. The problem with D'Antoni was that there was just too much pressure on Nash to make things work. When you play only 5 or 6 guys, you have only 3 or 4 different things to run on offense and defense. In the playoffs, you are playing good teams and on top of that, they scheme and plot and focus on every little detail over a 7 game series. So when a great team like the spurs shut off Nash and the 3 or 4 schemes D'Antoni had, there were no answers or counter-punches.

With Gentry, it's different. He has many things to goto. He has a bench that can help him out if the starters stall. Even on defense, he relies on Hill, J-Rich, Dudley and Dragic at different points against different people and the team is just better because of all the variety and versatility. They are not great defensively, but they can get a stop or two when it matters. Same story on offense. Is Dragic as good as Nash? Of course not - except for yesterday when he looked better than Nash, Amare and Duncan combined! But Gentry lets him play with a group and lets them do what they do best and keep scoring even when Nash is on the bench. This is the point D'Antoni never got. He was over-reliant on Nash and his run-and-gun philosophy and never stopped and looked at his bench players to see how they can help. It's the job of the coach to try and leverage the strengths of the players. NBA players are very skilled and are varied in their skill level and what they bring to the table. I am really happy with what Gentry is doing with the roster he got. I think D'Antoni probably had a better bench a couple of years he was coaching the Suns, but he never let them play. If he had done that, may be the Suns would already have a championship.

Suns looking good

Suns are looking great right now. They are up 2-0 against the hated Spurs and they clearly look like the better team. Historically, the Spurs always come out and punch the Suns first in the mouth. The Suns will usually fight an uphill battle and scratch and claw their way back into the series only to eventually lose it in 6 or 7. I think the tables are turned this year. The Suns are the better team and they have punched the Spurs in the mouth twice in the first 2 games. It's now up to the Spurs to respond and they probably will, but the Suns definitely are the favorites to win the series now. They look like the more talented team and they are not scared or intimidated by the Spurs. Today, they came out with their "Los Suns" jerseys and made both a political and a basketball statement on the court. I was surprised by the openly "anti-immigration-bill" stand that the Suns owner Sarver took, because businesses usually don't take sides on such things. They are always on the side of the almighty dollars. But I guess the NBA fan base is so heavily colored, young, liberal and democratic that Sarver did the right thing, both morally and financially. Coach Pop also came out and ripped the bill. He sounds like a big liberal and even took a shot at the patriot act.

In the other series, Atlanta looked like dogs in their game 1 against the Magic and Cleveland didn't look much better in their game 2. Lots of talk about King James's elbow. Hopefully, it's not too bad. He is going to have a third MRI to make sure things are fine. I think Cleveland will be fine and wrap things up in 6 or 7. But the Hawks-Magic series is a dog and I hope it ends soon. The Lakers-Utah series is not that great either. Jerry Sloan's teams are usually tough and good defensively. This team is tough, but they are not good defensively. He just doesn't have the horses to play D like he wants to. Having AK-47 back for game 3 will help, but so far, the Lakers have gotten whatever they want. They have no answers for Kobe, but then again no team has an answer to Kobe. But this Jazz team has no answers to anybody on the Lakers roster including Luke Walton! Every single Laker looks bigger than every single Jazz player - except Deron Williams on D-Fish. The size on this Lakers team is just amazing. They are too big and are abusing the Jazz in the paint. Pau Gasol is blocking shots like he is Dwight Howard. I think this series ends in 5 unless AK-47 does a job on Kobe - very unlikely considering he is coming back from injury and who knows what percentage he is at.

By the way, what happened to Barry Zito? Seems like he is back!

Suns-Spurs

I should have known better. Of course it's going to come down to the Suns-Spurs series for the Suns if they are any good. And they are very good this season. Starting Monday, we will all watch another tantalizing series between these two teams who have enthralled us with many such series over the last 6 years. I don't expect this series to be any different except for the eventual result. I totally expect the Suns to win this year though the Spurs are always a tough out in the playoffs. The Mavs found this out the hard way last week even as the 2-Nd seed playing the supposedly 7-Th best team in the West. There is a saying that we should be careful what we wish for because we might just get our wish! I was actually so impressed with the Mavs late in the regular season, I was scared of the Suns playing them. Because of the Nash-centered rivalry and how he used to kill them a few years back, I feel the Mavs get up for the Suns and with all the talent this year, I was not confident that the Suns can handle the Mavs talent, emotional surge and their home court in these playoffs. So I was pulling for the Spurs to beat the Mavs and get to the Suns. That has happened now and I am beginning to get a little jittery given the history.

I feel like the emotional dynamics in a Suns-Spurs match-up is the revere of the Mavs-Suns series. The Suns fight like the wounded underdog against the Spurs because they are. They get up for them and though the results have not always been favorable in the playoffs so far, this regular season has been pretty good for the Suns against these Spurs. I understand these playoffs are different, especially for the veteran Spurs team, but I still like the Suns chances. Amare always plays well against the Spurs. Timmy is great, but he seems a little slowed down these days. Also there is no Bruce Bowen to molest Nash full-court. In fact, I have always believed Bowen's absence is one of their issues this season and I am hoping the Suns and Nash take advantage of it. I am sure Pop will find someone else to harass him and Nash didn't look all that great against even the Blazers, but Bowen's absence should be good news for the MP3. Nash needs to play better. Too many turnovers against playoff caliber defenses and a tired, end-of-the-season body always hurts him in the playoffs, but if he plays smart, the Suns should be good. The team as a whole did well against the Blazers and I am happy they put them to bed in 6 even after losing game 1 at home. Thats a sign of a mature team. Lets hope the Suns prove me right on Monday. They can't lose game 1 to the Spurs at home. Just like the Sox against the Yanks in 2004, the Suns have to go through the Spurs if they ever want to win a ring. Thats the only way to reverse the curse!

LeBron James has won his second MVP in a row. Very deserving I might add. No arguments here. The Cavs will beat the Celtics and go forward. The series might take a while, but will work out for the Cavs. In the other Eastern series, the Bucks now have to go on the road and play a game 7. They lost a golden opportunity at home yesterday. Utah did not do the same mistake and took care of the Nuggets. It's amazing what Utah did with the guys on that roster. Goes to show how much you can do with a couple of studs and a great coach and system. My only regret there is, the talent, size and the thugs on the Denver roster would have given the Lakers more trouble than the Jazz would. It should be a relatively easy series for the Lakers right now against the Jazz. The Lakers did close out the Thunder on the road. They proved me right. The Thunder played very well and what they did was impressive, but it was much ado about nothing. A young team like that cannot beat the Lakers in a 3 game series with 2 games in LA. The best case scenario or them was to force a 7 game series, but that didn't happen. Durant was totally off, but the Thunder still almost won the game. It is an awesome team and I am scared of them as a fan of a fellow Western conference team. The future is theirs for the taking as long as Durant keeps getting better.

Spurs, Jazz and the Cavs seem all set

All the 4 playoff series today ended up at 3-1. Dwayne Wade made sure the Heat got one back today. He was sensational as he dropped 46 on the Celtics. The Heat were up a lot and then they lost all that lead and trailed by 5 or 6 at one point. It seemed like the Heat should have been so deflated and ready to go fishing. But Wade had other ideas. He just decided to go bonkers and even hit 3 after 3, which is really not his game. He made 16-of-24 shots, 5 of 7 from 3-point range, and outscored the Celtics 19-15 in the fourth quarter. Thats amazing for someone who shoos just 30% from 3 and takes no more than 3 per game. It was one of those special games for DWade in what might be his last game for the Heat. I think he resigns, but you never know.

It was a great day for the 2003 draft class as LeBron and Melo followed DWade with great showings of their own. Cleveland creamed the bulls behind LeBron's triple double - 37/12/11, shooting 11/17. Melo lost, but dropped 39/11 and almost had a dubious triple double with 9 turnovers. The Jazz are surprisingly leading this series 3-1. This was a 4-V-5 series and those are always close. And this was especially supposed to be tight in this year's Western playoffs where even 1-V-8 is sensationally tight. But the surprising part is that the Jazz met with late season and post-season injuries to AK-47 and Okur. Thats when I switched my pick to Denver. But Jerry Sloan and his system is genius. They are taking it to the more talented Denver team behind starters named Fesenko and Matthews. Sloan should be winning the Coach of the year award every year or like somebody said, they should just name the award after him instead of giving it to him.

Dallas is in trouble. They are down 3-1 and today, they got undone by George Hill who had 29 points. Duncan, Ginobli and Parker combined to score just 31 points on 9/34 shooting once again proving they win behind their defense and experience. Of course Hill's offense didn't hurt, but they bottled up everybody on the Dallas side including Nowitzki. For all the glitter and glamour of the Mavs, they really are not setup to handle such playoff pressure unless Nowitzki shows up big. If he is off, they are like chickens with their heads cut off. All that scoring talent they got seem pretty inconsistent and they seem to run a system that is just hoping for people to hit shots and score and it doesn't really have a consistent scheme outside of Nowitzki. And against teams like the Spurs, hope doesn't quite get it done. The Suns are similar in some ways and they have to use their home court and make it 3-2 tomorrow. They have to unleash Amare to neutralize the size of the Blazers and somebody, anybody has to slowdown LaMarcus Aldridge. Orlando and Atlanta are also playing tomorrow, but who cares.

Tebow goes too early Roy returns too early

The draft is done. They started it Thursday and ended it today and surprisingly, Tim Tebow was drafted on Thursday itself - ahead of Jimmy Clausen. Broncos coach Josh McDaniels seems to have made up his mind to practically burn that franchise down. After dumping Jay Cutler last year, he has traded away Brandon Marshal this year. After getting rid of 2 of their best talents, he has now drafted Tebow way ahead of the spot his talent actually warrants. I would be surprised if Josh is still employed this time next year, but part of me hopes he would still be the coach for several years to come and personally struggle through Tebow's development. Clausen on the other hand endured a draft day embarrassment worse than Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn. Hopefully this motivates him to achieve greatness. Carolina is a good spot for him. The QBs were the biggest news of the first 2 rounds of the draft. It was amazing to see players from the state of Oklahoma fill out 3 of the first 4 and 4 of the top 6 draft spots. Good day for the state and especially the Sooners football program.

The other pick from the first two rounds that caught my eye was Stanford's Toby Gerhart going to the Vikings. Thats a great pick for the Vikes. The interesting story for me from the later rounds was the former FSU safety Myron Rolle. There were questions about his “character” because he left school early to study at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. One Bucs scout asked him how it felt to desert his team. Basically teams have downgraded him because he is smart. Thats ridiculous. Trent Dilfer made a great point on TV that for most players, the priorities are football and play-station or football and partying. Thats considered normal. But they don't want it to be football and education. That raises some eyebrows and I can only laugh. Rolle eventually went with the last pick of the sixth round to the Titans. Weber State receiver Tim Toone was "Mr Irrelevant". He went to the Detroit Lions as the last pick of the 7-Th round. Looks like the Lions post-Millen have started drafting WRs with the last pick instead of the first pick. Thats good for them. They have pretty much wasted the last decade drafting WRs with their first pick year after year. All in all a fun draft. More than anything, it ends ESPN's 3 month obsession with the draft and I am thrilled about that.

In the NBA, the OKC Thunder took it to the Lakers today to even the series at 2-2. Everybody is talking about this young team, but the bad news is, they still have to play a 3 game series with 2 of the games in LA. That unfortunately makes game 5 a must-win for the Thunder. If not, there is no way they go into LA and win game 7 even assuming they win game 6. Thats the power of home field in the playoffs - especially in a series like this where a young team is playing a talented, veteran squad like the Lakers. I hate to rain on the OKC parade, but this series still belongs to the Fakers. But I am happy for the Thunder and what this means for their future. In the Suns series, Brandon Roy played spoil-sport today. He came back way way too early from his injury and caused some unnecessary excitement. He didn't have a great game, but he was a shot of energy for the Blazers. It seemed like the Suns played to lose and they eventually did. They were horrible in the 4-Th as Nash couldn't hold on to the ball and they ended up scoring just 87 points. Thats usually what they score in 3 quarters. The good news is, the series is still 2-2 and the Suns have home court. But the Suns need to focus and get the job done in game 5. They need to slow down LaMarcus Aldridge somehow.

Lots of fun series in these playoffs but the Spurs-Mavs may be the most fun. Mark Cuban might have cost them this series and may be a shot at this year's championship by mouthing off on how the Spurs and the Mavs hate each other. He also went after the Spurs owner a little bit and that seemed to have energized the Spurs. The Spurs are a classy organization and Cubes had no business going after them like that. They have now won 2 straight and are playing game 4 at home. Of course, thats a must win for the Spurs. Otherwise, they will still be looking at a 3 game series with no home court. Not an ideal situation. But Duncan, Parker and Ginobli are baling right now. The Mavs seem to have no answer to any of them and their only shot seems to be to outscore the Spurs if possible. All the other series are also intriguingly poised except for Orlando and Boston. Those 2 teams are comfortably placed at 3-0. Even Cleveland has an important game tomorrow that could potential tie their series and make it a dog fight. Lets see if the King comes through.

Game 1 blues

I can't believe the Suns are the only team to have lost game 1 at home in these first 2 days of the playoffs. Not only did all the other teams win, they looked good doing it and also gave us boring games. The Suns on the other hand were supposed to win this 3-6 matchup rather easily due to all the Portland injuries, but they lost primarily due to complacency. They have always had a matchup problem with Portland and that seemed to continue tonight even without their best player Brandon Roy. It's amazing how the Blazers have so much size to bother the Suns even without Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla. Their trade for Marcus Camby was genius. Thats a sign of a team serious about winning. I am sure the Suns wouldn't have bothered to acquire anybody if they had lost a couple of their big guys to injuries in the middle of the regular season. The management would have accepted defeat, conveniently blamed it on the injuries and and even dumped a few more salaries on top of that. Camby was a monster today with 17 boards and 3 blocks. He did give the Suns a shot with a missed dunk, but the Suns still fell short.

At the end of the day, I think the Suns should still be able to win this series if they play well, but they did not look good today. They worked hard to finish 3-Rd in the standings, but Doug Collins was talking about how they might have been better off at 4 playing the Nuggets. The Rich and Creamies are more talented than the depleted Blazers, but the Suns have had their number this season for some reason. It's just one game and Nash could have still sent this game to OT at the end even with them playing this bad. But Suns better make some adjustments and get Amare going against the size of the Blazers. Nash was doing it all alone today and thats not going to work given that Nash is very vulnerable defensively in this series with Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless going at him. What makes this worse for me and probably Nash is that the Dallas Mavs are looking awesome and may even give the Lakers some fits. Nowitzki was unstoppable today as he dropped 36 on 12/14 shooting on the Spurs. The trade for Kidd has really worked out for this team. Kidd is not what he used to be, but is still amazing. He had a 13-11-8 night today and he may just help the team that drafted him get to the Finals after all. The Mavs are so loaded that Tim Thomas can't even get off the bench.

Russell Westbrook is a player! And the Lakers figured this out in a comfortable victory today. Andrew Bynum had a 13-12 night with 4 blocks. Getting this guy back is huge for the Fakers and might make all the difference between winning the championship or not for the Lakers. Kobe's health and efficiency is still going to be an issues, but Bynum will definitely help. Of course Ron-Ron harassed the kid Durant today and that might become the story line of this series. By the way, how good is Durant? The guy has won the scoring title already at this age and that's ahead of stars like LeBron, Melo and Kobe. This guy is for real like no other emerging star. But they should be dispatched in 5 games in this series, if not 6. Speaking of young teams, it kind of feels good to see the Atlanta Hawks. Except for Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, all their starters are young, home-grown studs who seem to have reached their potential after a few years in the league. Oftentimes, we hear about these young teams of the future, but it doesn't pan out. The Hawks and the OKC Thunder are 2 teams where it has indeed worked out great.

In other games, the home teams won, but I am sure some of these series are going to get interesting nonetheless. Cleveland should handle the Bulls. Shaq looked great in his first game back in a while. Seems like he made sure he took care of his conditioning this time around. The Miami-Boston series should get interesting soon - especially with Garnett's suspension for game 2. Denver took care of Utah at home and Jazz lost Okur for the entire playoffs with an achilles injury, but they should still give Denver a few tough games. With Okur and Kirelenko, I would pick the Jazz to win. But now I think Denver takes it in 6. Similar story with the Bucks. With Bogut in there, their series with the Hawks should have been interesting. The Hwaks tend to be inconsistent, but the Bucks can't beat them. In the other series, the Bobcats lost to Magic and they had no answer for Jameer Nelson. Magic-Cavs is what the East is going to be about, but it's going to take us a while to get there. As TNT says, 40 games, 40 nights. We can only watch.

Playoffs are here

The NBA playoffs don't start until this weekend, but for most of the teams in the Western conference, it's playoff time already. A bunch of teams are going after the 3/4/5 and 6/7/8 spots and they are playing each other often to setup a playoff type atmosphere. The Suns played the Nuggets today and are playing the Jazz tomorrow. They creamed the rich and creamies today and that got them home court in the first round for sure. But if they don't beat the Jazz tomorrow, they'll end up at 4. A spot teams are trying to avoid since that puts them in the way of the fakers before the eventual Western conference finals. Tomorrow, we will know if the Suns are 3-Rd or the 4-Th seed. If they finish third and get past the first round, they will play the Mavs. Thats a crazy rivalry and the Suns used to get better of the Mavs back in the day, but I am not sure this year. The Mavs look scary good and they always play well against the Suns because of the rivalry. But I guess we have to pick that matchup ahead of the fakers anyways. So it's important the Suns win tomorrow in game 2 of the 2010 playoffs. Lets hope Amare continues to abuse folks like he has been doing the last 2 months. He pulled a move on K-Mart today and K-Mart is still trying to figure out what happened. You are the man if you can out-thug the top-thug, K-Mart.

In the bottom half of the West, seems like the OKC will be at the 8-Th spot and will go against the fakers. They have great talent including my main man, Sun Devil James Harden, but they don't have the experience or the maturity to hang with the Fakers. I was hoping the Spurs would finish 8-Th and we could have all seen a great Lakers-Spurs war in the first round. It could have even been an upset. Now, I just hope the Suns don't end up drawing the Spurs in the first round. The West looks so scary that I don't feel comfortable playing any of these 7 teams in any of the playoff rounds, but still you got to be afraid of teams like the Spurs and the fakers. Lets see where things fall tomorrow. In the East, the story is about the Chicago Bulls executive vice president John Paxson shoving coach Vinny Del Negro twice in the chest in a postgame confrontation late last month. I think Paxson should be punished hard. I hate when these so called leaders of organizations treat players like they are thugs on the one hand and behave like thugs themselves on the other. Apparently he tried to provoke Del Negro in to fight so he can be fired. Lame and cheap and stupid and classless.

The MLB season has begun. It's too early to say anything important, but there are a few early surprises as always. Both the bay area teams are on top of their western divisions behind some great pitching. The A's are 6-3 and the Giants are 6-2 and I am not sure if they can stay on top for long. If I were to pick one of the two teams, the Giants are probably capable of surviving given that the division is relatively weak and their pitching is awesome. Even the DBacks are 4-3 and have looked decent so far. They dropped 13 runs in one innings in a game. Of course the Toronto Bluejays are leading the AL East at 6-2 - like thats going to last! The entire league is a front for the RedSox and the Yankees and I don't even know why the other teams in that division are playing. MLB reminds me of a corrupt business that has a trust as a front to siphon off money. The MLB has an elaborate league going on thats basically a front for the Yankees and the RedSox. I think MLB needs serious reforms to make it relevant across the country again. But then again, the Rays of all teams made it to the World Series couple of years back. So I guess the Bluejays and the Orioles in that division and other bad teams in other divisions all have some hope.

Best in the West?

The Suns are rocking and rolling since the all-star break. This has been a weird season for the Suns. They started at the top spot and then at one point dropped all the way down to the 9-Th spot. Then they tried to trade Amare for no good reason. Then they did not. Suddenly Amare starts balling like crazy. He seems to be finally back to the monstrous Amare level from his pre-surgery days. I thought those days were gone for good, but he is suddenly back a couple of years after the surgery. His elevation, extension and ferocity are back. I am so glad the Suns didn't trade him. The second half MVP is either Amare or Ginobli and thats the expert opinion across the league. Now the Suns are competing for the 2-Nd spot and are the fashionable pick to make it to the Western conference finals. It's still a long way to go with 3 teams tied for the second spot and 3 more tied for the 6-Th, 7-Th and 8-Th. The West is amazing. Teams can go from the second spot to no home court in the playoffs overnight.

The Suns were 12-2 in March and coach Gentry won the coach of the month award. Some people are also picking him to win the coach of the year award. They have the best record in the league since the all-star break and the Lakers have also been losing lately. And of course the MP3 Steve Nashty is playing like the MP3 as always. Things are looking good. Today, they even beat the Spurs without even getting Nash off the bench in the fourth quarter. Thats amazing to me. These games are usually nail biters with the Spurs taking it at the end. Things have changed. The Suns missed the playoffs last year and were supposedly on the way out. But now it's the Spurs fighting for the 8-Th spot. They seem to have finally gotten old suddenly and ironically, this happens the year they get the younger, more athletic, albeit over-rated Richard Jefferson.

The state of the Spurs reminds me of an article Steve Kerr wrote when he was in the media a couple of years back. He was saying that every championship team had a "big 2" - Jordan/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe etc.. People think the Spurs didn't have that, but Kerr's point was that the second wheel on those championship teams was actually Bruce Bowen - Duncan/Bowen. And those 2 anchored and dominated the defense, which was the Spurs calling card anyways. I think Kerr nailed it. The main problem with the Spurs right now is not that they are suddenly old or that Duncan has slowed down or they are always injured. All thats true to some extent, but the primary issue is that they are missing Bruce Bowen and his suffocating defense. I am so glad he is not molesting Nash at half-court every possession.

In any case, I hope the Suns lock up the 2-Nd spot. That way, they don't have to face the fakers until the WC finals. The Lakers are also wobbling a little bit, but I think they will be fine come playoffs time. They are probably just disinterested and slacking off right now. Finishing number 2 in no guarantee to make it to the WC finals in the brutal west, but that obviously gives you a better chance to make it rather than starting at the 7-Th or 6-Th seed. But the playoffs are just going to be unbelievably close in the west. Just 3 games separating spots 2 and 8. With just a week to go, we still have no idea what the match-ups are going to be. Except for Lakers at 1, nothing else is set. We could also see all 8 playoff teams in the west winning at least 50 games. That would be amazing. Speaking of amazing, in the east, Charlotte Bobcats have clinched the playoffs. Thats newsworthy. I am curious to see if Larry Brown can take it even further in the coming years. Don Nelson is now officially the winningest coach in the history if the game. The Warrior fans are now hoping he retires.

McNabb is gone

The Eagles finally traded away Donovan McNabb to the Redskins for a second round pick in this year's draft and a 3-Rd or 4-Th rounder in the next draft. I was a little surprised by the destination considering the skins are their in-division rival who are on the upswing with a lot of hype surrounding their new coach Mike Shanahan. Now Mike has a QB, though I am not sure McNabb is his kind of QB. I have always thought McNabb was a little over-rated. But he is still better than average and a definite upgrade for the Redskins. Apparently McNabb is Jason Campbell's mentor and now the protege will lose his job to his mentor. This should be a weird and unique situation.

As for the Eagles, I like Kevin Kolb. I think he is the real deal and with all those new weapons on offense, this guy is going to do great next season. Coach Andy Reid and McNabb have been inseparable for 11 years. They both got to Philly the same year and McNabb was inserted as a starter soon after. It turns out Reid has out-survived McNabb in that crazy town. I think he has made the right decision with Kolb. If not, Reid will be gone soon. As for McNabb, I am glad Reid has tried to treat him well. He honored his request to not get traded to Buffalo or Oakland. It sucks to be Oakland right now. But thats neither here nor there. But the McNabb/Reid era in Philly is over and I hope those crazy fans understand what they had. Outside of the Colts and the Patriots, the Eagles have the highest number of wins since 2000 and McNabb took them to a Super Bowl and multiple NFC championship games. But that was not enough at the end.

Tomorrow is the NCAA championship game with Duke and Butler matching up. This is a very interesting contest considering Duke and Butler are significantly different programs. Some people even call this the David versus Goliath game. Butler is not a major program, but is not quite a cindrella either because they are a 5-Th seed and are not totally a surprise to be where they are now. I think Duke wins this one and Coach K will be on cloud 9 after that. He has had a few bad years and he is enjoying this Final 4 appearance. Lets see if he caches in tomorrow. Good luck to both teams.

Crazy Weekend

There are only 3 certainties in life - death, taxes and my bracket getting busted after just a week of tournament play. The only difference this year is that most people's brackets are busted and I am not alone. It was an weekend of awesome games and amazing upsets in the NCAA tournament. The tourney has been up and down a little bit the last couple of years. But this first weekend this March has been great. The sweet 16 features a 9-Th seed that upset the big, bad Kansas. It also features a 10-Th, 11-Th and 12-Th seeds. The first round also featured a 13-Th and 14-Th seeded teams that upset Georgetown and Vanderbilt. The theory has always been that there is always a 12 over 5 upset in the first round and I called the Cornell over Temple game correctly. But I didn't think Cornell will also dump Wisconsin and go to the sweet 16. I also didn't know there would be a 13 over 4 and a 14 over 3. Amazing! The talk of the nation now is Northern Iowa, who beat Kansas and St. Mary's, who beat Villanova - 2 teams responsible for my brackets being in the state they are. But I can't complain. Don't we all love the underdogs!

It's not just about the upsets. The games have been awesome and a lot of close finishes as well. Both Northern Iowa and Michigan State have played 2 nail-baiters and now they have to play each other. Should be fun. Surprisingly, Cornell has had no problems with their comfortable upsets. Not since Penn made the Final Four in 1979 has an Ivy League team won two games in the NCAA tournament. Cornell has done it by averaging 82.5 points a game. They now have to play Kentucky, the clear favorites to win it all now that Kansas is back home. Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse and Ohio State are the big-names still left in the tournament and have looked decent. It should be fun watching them fight it out with the little guys next weekend. It's time now to follow the NBA for a couple of days before the gang reconvenes for the tournament on Thursday. NBA is heating up too with everybody on top of the conference standings winning and refusing to lose. The Phoenix Suns are playing great, but they cannot close the gap in the standings. Lets save that story for another day.

March Madness

March madness is here. Most people think NCAA tournament when you say March madness. But a lot of god games actually happen during the conference tournaments leading up to the big dance. I wish I had more times on my hands to watch some of these games. The conference tournaments usually feature teams that know each other very well and hate each other and are rivals. This brings an added juice to the contest and some of these games are real fun. Obviously there is not much at stake for the top teams in the tournaments for the big conferences, but a NCAA berth is usually at stake for all smaller conferences. The process has started already and this will keep us busy through the month. Fun times.

In the NBA, Kobe hit his 6-Th game winner of this season. This guy is becoming a legendary clutch player this season. He is the most popular player in the league and he is only getting bigger with these game winners. Kobe's shot today stopped a 3 game losing streak for the Lakers. They actually don't look as good as they used to in December but a lot of people think they will just turn it up in the playoffs. They still have the most talent in the league and they have the black mamba. The Cavs look great, but can they beat the Lakers? Thats the question to be answered this season. I think the much awaited Cavs-Lakers matchup will happen this year in the finals. Boston looks shot and the Magic this season don't look like a championship team. Cavs may still need Shaq to make sure they get past the Magic, but the Cavs look better than they did last year. The surprising team in the NBA are the Mavericks. They have won 12 straight and they are threatening the top teams in the league with their record.

Basketball is fun, but NFL is clearly the national sport. The daily coverage and attention the NFL is getting even during the off-season is amazing. And this is expanding every year. Seems like the people just can't get enough of the NFL and there's constant chatter on ESPN all day about the NFL though the first game is still almost 6 months away. The news today was how Derek Anderson crushed the Cleveland Browns fan on his way out. Looks like the dude was really hurt by them cherring his injury during a game. Fans are sometimes messed up, but I didn't expect so much emotion from him on the way out. The other news is TO being recruited by the Bengals. I can't imagine TO and Ocho on the same team. They both should drive Carson Palmer nuts.

Missed Dunk

Couple of interesting games on ABC today. The usual Suns-Spurs contest had a typical ending. The Suns lost and they lost a heart-breaker. Jason Richardson, the former slam-dunk champion, missed a wide-open dunk that would have tied the game with 40 seconds to go. The Suns then had to play catchup by fouling and Nash still had the ball in his hands with 3+ seconds to go trailing by just 3. This was because he hit a ridiculous 3 a few seconds back, but now he decided to make an ill-decided pass to Frye and the clock ran out on them before a shot even went up. Bad ending for the Suns as always at San Antonio. The only difference for both these teams these days is that they are both in the bottom half of the Western standings. Actually, I was mentally treating the Spurs as a better team all game long because they have the pedigree and they have Timmy, but they are actually behind the Suns in the standings. Even more reason why the Suns should have won this game today.

The other game today on ABC was between a couple of teams in the top half of the West - Denver at the Lakers. The Lakers got booed in the first half by the home crowd, but they came through in the second. The rich and creamies couldn't take advantage of some horrible shooting by Kobe - 3/17. It's interesting to watch Kenyon Martin defend Kobe for stretches and he usually does a good job. Thats an amazing assignment for a power forward. This game was also probably the first real payoff for the Lakers as far as having Ron Artest on the roster. He defended Melo well and actually forced a 6-Th foul on him. It was a horrible call by the ref, but Artest induced the stupidity anyways. It is good to see George Karl coaching amidst all his cancer treatment. I wonder how long he can keep going like this. In other news, Shaq is out till the playoffs since his thumb might require surgery. I don't think the Cavs will miss him, at least not until the playoffs. Canada beats the US in OT in the Olympics hockey finals. The nation of Canada is more relieved than excited.

Amare stays put

The trade deadline came and went and I was happy about it. Amare stayed back and that’s good for the Suns. It’s good in the sense that most of the rumored deals to me looked like a pure salary dump and not necessarily something that was focused on rebuilding. I don’t mind them not wanting to resign Amare for a lot of money. I am probably of the opinion that he is not a max contract guy myself. So that’s not the issue. If you are letting him walk next year, then you don’t get anything in return. So you try and trade and get something in return. Agreed. But what’s the point of trading him for big Z’s large contract and buying that out? Essentially you are swapping expiring contracts and dumping big Z right away to save some cash the rest of this season. That ain’t rebuilding. That’s just saving cash.

I was hoping for more talent and may be draft picks and obviously Cavs can’t give you top picks being an elite team themselves. To be fair to Kerr, looks like he did want J.J.Hickson and that’s apparently why the Cavs didn’t do the deal. But still J.J.Hickson is not what I was looking for when it comes to trading Amare. So I never liked this deal and I am glad it didn’t go through. It would have just been another data-point to show how Robert Sarver would rather save some money than build a team. Also the Suns are in the playoff race and they have been sliding up and down the standing all the way from 1 to 9. That tells me they have some talent, but are inconsistent. They are not a contender, but shouldn’t they have been buyers and not sellers in the trade market? I am surprised Sarver gets away with all this. I am just happy they are not rebuilding mid-stream and wasting Nash’s time.

The Cavs got Jamison and did not have to give up Hickson. Good trade for them, though Jamison shot 0-12 in his first game and they promptly lost his first 2 games. It will work out in the long run. The Cavs will also get Z back after whole buyout dance with the Wizards. Wizards are now completely transformed. Not sure where they are going next season. The Cavs still have the best record in the league after losing 3 straight. They are good. Kobe came back today and hit another game winner against Memphis today. This guy’s legend is growing everyday this season even more than it did with his 4-Th championship. He has hit 5 game winners and that’s impressive to say the least. Apparently Melo had that many a couple of years back, which is also amazing. Suns won today on the road against a good Thunder team and the shocking thing was, they won without Nash.

All-star weekend

Another NBA all-star weekend is in the books. The Saturday night festivities this year were worse than usual. The slam-dunk contest was uninspired and boring. It might have taken a step or 3 back. The last few years have been marginally exciting. Not so much this time. The 3-point shooting contest was also sub-par and the "HORSE" contest is just plain stupid. I don't know if I am biased, but the skills competition which Steve Nash won was the only interesting part of Saturday night. Thats because it tests some skills and there's a clock that guys have to beat. It's kinda exciting to some extent. I would expand it and make it more interesting and take a serious look at revamping all of the other events. They need better contests and better contestants. I was disappointed in Shannon Brown of the Lakers. The guy can literally jump out of the gym and his dunks were not even half as impressive as his dunks in a real game. Did he even think about this contest or did he just show up? He even dragged Kobe out for a stupid dunk that half of the NBA can do in a real game. Demar Derozan of the Toronto Raptors came with a plan, but he was over-matched. NBA needs better contestants or they should shut this slam-dunk contest down.

Today's game was not too bad. I mean all All-Star games suck, but this was lower on the suckage scale compared to the usual fare. It was close at the end and the East won it. I was amazed that more than 108,000 people showed up to watch this thing. I am sure somebody made a lot of money. I just hope the people working the concessions etc. made some good money too. It was probably not a bad all-star game to try and score some tickets for considering the size of that stadium. But then again, what are you going to see from the nose-bleeds in that monster? Both LeBron and Shakira probably look like David Stern from up there. One of the most retarded things I have ever seen happened towards the end of this game. Deron Williams actually fouled D-Wade with just 13 seconds to go and with the score all tied up. The dude had no idea what the score was. If this doesn't tell us how irrelevant these All-Star games are, not sure what will. And that too it was Deron Williams - a guy who is coached everyday by Jerry Sloan. But then he got off the hook as the game featured a few more fouls on both sides as guys couldn't keep their hands off the other team. But at least those morons didn't foul intentionally like Deron did.

Time to get back to the regular season. I am hoping the Phoenix Suns continue their good run and bounce all the way back. The trade deadline is this Thursday and it would be interesting to see what happens with Amare. Dallas has already traded Josh Howard as part of a package for Caron Butler and a bunch of pieces from Washington. Great trade for Dallas. A healthy Howard is probably more useful all-around player than Caron Butler, but he has never been healthy lately. Plus all his off-field transgressions has upset the Dallas fan-base. He had to go. Butler brings a lot of scoring to Big-D and he will take some pressure off Dirk - the same help that Marion was supposed to provide, but he never did. Matrix has not shot over 25% from beyond the arc since he left Steve Nash. Dallas also gets some size in Brendan Haywood. It's a good trade for Dallas, though I Don't know how much better they are with Butler. One problem is, he is not that different from Marion and Nowitzki from a position and role perspective. Suns will see them soon and it should be a fun game. Even as a big-time NBA fan, I have to say, the sports world is just not the same without the NFL. There was winter Olympics, Daytona 500, NBA all-star game and college basketball this weekend, but all of that combined can't replace the NFL. The guys suffering the most should be the sports talk show and TV show guys. There is nothing to talk about and hence people won't tune in. NFL is truly the king in this country.

Who Dat'

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl yesterday. They were clearly the sentimental favorites and they came through in this game. I was expecting the Colts to win it and they started the game looking like the better team. But I don't know what happened to Manning and the Colts after that. He did not score a TD after the first quarter though he had 333 yards passing in the game. The Saints as always started slow and seemed to wake up in the second half. They had 2 field goals in the first half, but they did not give up any points to the Colts in the second quarter. So they went into half-time just trailing 10-6. Saints were actually stopped on a 4-Th and goal by the Colts on a gutsy call by Sean Payton. It was amazing to see such a call in the Super Bowl. But that was just an appetizer served by Sean Payton

Then came the call of the day on the other side of the half-time. Once the stupid "who" went to bed after the half-time show, the Colts were supposed to get the ball on the second half kick-off. But the Saints went for an on-side kick and got the ball. This was an amazing call and a great momentum changer. Drew Brees took advantage right away and scored on that drive to give the Saints their first lead in the game. The game then went back and forth in the 3-Rd quarter as Manning and the Colts played well and scored easily as well. But just like the second quarter, the colts couldn't score in the 4-Th quarter and the clinching point was Tracy Porter's pick-6 with just 3:12 to go. Manning got the ball with about 5 minutes to go and it looked like he was on one of his patented late game drives to tie this game. But it was not meant to be. He had problems getting the ball to Reggie Wayne all game and when he tried again, Porter jumped the route and sealed the deal. This one pass kinda affects Manning's legacy since he has now lost one super bowl and won only one. A victory yesterday would have cemented his legacy as the best ever given his numbers, rings and 4 MVPs. He had 333 yards, but went scoreless in the 2-Nd and 4-Th quarters. Tough ending for the Manning family on this one.

This was one of the Super Bowls where most people did not have a strong love or animosity for either team. This is because both Brees and Manning are great QBs and classy guys. I didn't have a strong preference for either side, but I am happy for Brees. He is a great QB and a good guy and I have always been a fan since his Purdue days, I was upset at San Diego for letting him go, but I see their point too in that Philip Rivers is younger and is also pretty good. Finally Brees is a super-star and has a ring to back it up. That picture of him with his son in his hands and tears in his eyes is going to be one of the images defining this Super Bowl. Manning on the other hand is going to be thinking of that pick for a while. I am still not sure what happened to the Colts during those stretches. This was a weird game in some sense. It was not as high-scoring a game as most people expected. Neither defenses seemed to do that well, but the scoring was not there for long stretches of this game. Both QBs had great numbers, but again, both offenses were ineffective for long stretches. Brees had Warner type numbers - 32 of 39 for 288 yards and 2 TDs. He carved the Colts D up in the second half and won the MVP.

Brees is a classy superstar with mad game. I am totally happy for him.

Manning and Brees

These 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl should be split into a Manning week and a Brees week. They are the biggest stories of this Super Bowl - Dwight Freeney's ankle notwithstanding. There has never been a better QB match-up probably ever in the Super Bowl. These are 2 classy, charismatic quarterbacks who have put up some insane numbers during the season. Usually such prolific offenses fall along the wayside during the playoffs. They don't make it all the way to the Super Bowl. We are lucky this year that these 2 stud QBs have made it this far and are locked and loaded to fire on all cylinders. Peyton Manning's numbers were 68.8 % completion percentage for 4500 yards and 33 TDs. Brees went for 70.6 % completion for 4388 yards and 34 TDs. Thats some solid QB play right there.

With all that said, Peyton Manning and the Colts should probably be the favorites. The Saints and Brees are great, but Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning. How are you going to pick against him? Plus the concern for me with the Saints is that their offense is just a little slowed down these days. Why and how I am not sure, but they are not hurting fools like they used to. I am sure they will be back a little bit for the Super Bowl and will give us a great game, but if I have to pick one team in that game, it has to be the Colts. But both are great franchises with good coaches and great QBs. So I won't be rooting for or against anyone and I won't mind if either Brees or Manning wins. Part of me wants Brees to win because he doesn't have a ring yet and I feel like Manning will also have a better chance at making it to the Super Bowl again more so than Drew Brees. Colts just seem to be a better run franchise.

In the NBA, the Suns are on a 3 game wining streak after losing to everybody and their mom for a few weeks. Amare's name is all over the trade rumors and this time, it feels real. I would like to think they will take a step forward with the new pieces they acquire, but I don't see how. Even with all his deficiencies, Amare is not an easy player to replace. He is dominant around the basket and you can't teach that size, athleticism and attitude. It's kinda sad he is not learning to defend or rebound - 2 things that can be taught, especially given Amare's physical tools. At least with Nash, the excuse for his bad defense is his lack of lateral quickness and athleticism. We will obviously stay tuned for any Amare news the rest of the way. I am really concerned about what this trade will mean to Nash's career. Suns can and will rebuild, but Nash and rebuilding can't go together at this age. Thats the concern.