Most of us are still recovering from the elimination of the King from the playoffs. I am realizing that I am becoming more and more of a LeBron fan if thats not obvious already. But I am not disappointed because LeBron is eliminated or the Cavs didn't make it or whatever. I am disappointed like most neutral NBA fans who wanted to see Kobe-V-LeBron. This league has always been a star driven league and that match-up right there would have been bigger than anything we have seen in years. I also want to see the NBA do well and succeed. The playoffs this year have seen huge TV ratings and a Lakers-Cavs finals would have put things over the top for David Stern. Of course he is happy that at least the Lakers made it out of the West. The hype may be gone a little bit, but the better team really won the Magic-Cavs series and I think the Finals are going to be good. Orlando is no joke.
More on the Finals later. The big news today was LeBron walking away after game 6 without shaking hands with the Magic players and also skipping the post-game presser. The Cavs were handled easily by the Magic in this game. Even LeBron couldn't do much as he had to settle for 25-7-7. All-star type night for most players, but mediocre at best for LeBron if you look at what kind of numbers he has been putting up all series long. It had gotten to a point where the Cavs had nobody else even remotely dependable on their roster. It was literally 1-on-5 for the most part and they were not going to beat the Magic in Orlando with that kind of an offense. Not when Dwight Howard manned up and dropped 40-14-4 on the Cavs on 14/21 shooting. Dude is a beast inside especially if he is hitting those free-throws. The Cavs had absolutely no answer to this guy all series long. Z-Man is too slow for him, Varejao is too short for him and Ben Wallace is both.
Thus ended a memorable series and it was LeBron's individual brilliance that made this series interesting. I was half-expecting the NBA to "fix" game 6 and send the series back to Cleveland for a game 7 like they did in 2002 for the Lakers against the King. I will never forget that game and apparently neither will most hard-core NBA fans. You hear about that game a lot even today on the radio whenever people talk about officiating. One reporter even called it a "monumental miscarriages of NBA justice". May be the zebras could have made it happen on Saturday if only the Cavs had kept it close! They were down by 20 by half-time and even the Commish couldn't have saved them. As I am typing this, I am realizing that I might not even have been that upset if they had engineered a game 7 and force-fed Cavs to us in the Finals. Goes to show you why sports leagues operate and officiate the way they do. At the end of the day, it's just entertainment and even a purist like me may not get that upset with "fixed" games unless I have a strong rooting interest one way or the other. For instance, the 2002 game pissed me off big-time because I am a Laker-hater.
In any case, LeBron lost and walked away not to be heard at all. My initial reaction was that it was not a big deal. I was more offended by him missing the press conference. To me, he is obligated to do that. He owes it to the fans, reporters and the league. I didn't think much of him skipping the hugs-and-kisses portion of the post-game program though I do realize that it is an integral part of being a good sport. The game was on a weekend and hence the chatter about this was building up slowly. All the heavy hitters in the media were off for the weekend. Then LeBron came back on Sunday and spoke to the media wearing a Yankees hat (why?). I thought that conversation was strange and made things much worse. I was expecting him to give out some stupid, semi-apologetic, inane explanation and put the incident behind him. But he came out and tried to justify his behavior. He said it doesn't make sense for him to shake-hands with the team that just beat his team up. That was OK. Kinda sounds like a tough-skinned old-timer. But then his reasons were stupid. He called himself a "winner" and a "competitor" and thats why he won't do that.
Thats wrong at so many levels. First and foremost, "competitor" might be one of those over-used words that I hate. What do you mean when you say "he is a competitor" ! This is the NBA. It's not like the other guys are there just for the post-game buffet. They are some of the most competitive, athletic specimens in the World. The media in our culture goes over-board with these so-called intangibles. I would rather have guys like Kobe, LeBron and MJ call themselves the "most talented" rather than use stupid adjectives like "competitor". Secondly, you just lost a playoff series. Wrong time to call yourself a "winner" - not that there is a good time to call yourself a "winner" anyways. So basically LeBron made it worse with that presser and come Monday morning, all hell breaks lose. The media is all over him and Adrian Wojnarowski on Yahoo sports just ripped him apart in an article titled "Royal Pain" that called him a "loser". It's funny that the conversation started over the weekend with a comparison with Kobe. Some media members were like "LeBron is getting away with this. People would be all over Kobe if he did this". I feel like reverse psychology or something has kicked in since and people are now giving this story a lot more attention than they think they are. To be fair, LeBron probably deserves it, but since this is the first serious blot on his record, it feels strange. This post-season has been a huge learning experience for LeBron on several fronts. I hope it's all part of the growing process.
Now on to the finals.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Triple Treat
The Cavs handled the first of their 3 potential elimination games today. They were up and down once again - up 22 and then down 8. I am not sure if thats Cavs fault or if it's Magic's inconsistency. In any case, the game was all over the place until the King took over in the 4-Th quarter. He scored or assisted on 29 straight points or something like that in the 4-Th quarter when the game was on the line. Another great performance by LeBron and this whole series has been one impressive stretch for Bron. He had a triple double with 37-14-12 on a night when he did get some help from his teammates. Mo Williams was hitting his 3's and connected on 6/9 while Boobie Gibson hit 3/4. The Cavs hit 50% of their threes while the Magic connected on just 32%.
That, in a nutshell, might be the secret behind these games - the team that hits the threes on a given night, win the game. Both teams need threes. Maic because they take a lot of threes. Cavs because LeBron gets double and triple teamed and he can get his teammates open 3's. If they hit those, the King gets a triple double and the Cavs win. If they keep missing those, it puts more pressure on the King and the game goes the other way. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team with a better 3 point percentage has won all 5 games in the series so far. The Cavs are very much in this series. The games have been close and all they have to do now is win one game at Orlando. It's always huge to have that game 7 at home. But the Cavs have to get their first. I have a feeling they will. One good game in Orlando, this series is theirs.
Lakers will probably hold up their end of the bargain and be in the Finals soon and wait there for the Cavs. Their series is also at 3-2, but they are leading and they got game 7 at home. They will probably slack off and lose game 6, but then take care of things in game 7. This series is featuring a lot of talk about the officiating. That always happens during the playoffs, but you have to wonder why that happens more when Lakers are involved. Phil Jackson and the Lakers were fined $25k apiece as a punishment for his comments regarding the officiating in game 4. At least one member of the Nuggets believed those comments factored into how game 5 was called. "The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money's worth," said a Denver player, not wanting to be identified for fear of retribution from the league. All I can say is, "I love this game!"
That, in a nutshell, might be the secret behind these games - the team that hits the threes on a given night, win the game. Both teams need threes. Maic because they take a lot of threes. Cavs because LeBron gets double and triple teamed and he can get his teammates open 3's. If they hit those, the King gets a triple double and the Cavs win. If they keep missing those, it puts more pressure on the King and the game goes the other way. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team with a better 3 point percentage has won all 5 games in the series so far. The Cavs are very much in this series. The games have been close and all they have to do now is win one game at Orlando. It's always huge to have that game 7 at home. But the Cavs have to get their first. I have a feeling they will. One good game in Orlando, this series is theirs.
Lakers will probably hold up their end of the bargain and be in the Finals soon and wait there for the Cavs. Their series is also at 3-2, but they are leading and they got game 7 at home. They will probably slack off and lose game 6, but then take care of things in game 7. This series is featuring a lot of talk about the officiating. That always happens during the playoffs, but you have to wonder why that happens more when Lakers are involved. Phil Jackson and the Lakers were fined $25k apiece as a punishment for his comments regarding the officiating in game 4. At least one member of the Nuggets believed those comments factored into how game 5 was called. "The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money's worth," said a Denver player, not wanting to be identified for fear of retribution from the league. All I can say is, "I love this game!"
Monday, May 25, 2009
The Shot and everything thereafter
We have all seen MJ's shot over Craig Ehlo time and time again. That play is now part of the MJ legend and rightfully so. Slightly after 20 years since that happened, LeBron hit a game-winning, buzzer beating 3 on Friday to kick off the memorial day weekend in style. The bloom is a little bit off that rose since the Cavs lost the next game and are looking up at the Magic with a 1-2 series record. More than the record, the Cavs seem to have a bunch of match-up issues against this Magic team and they need to find some answers and find it now. But still, that shot on Friday was one of those legendary plays. The Cavs were leading that game by 23 at one point before losing all of the lead and letting the Magic and Hedo do whatever they wanted in the second half. Hedo hit a clutch 3 and followed it up with a drive and a tough pop for a 2 with just a second to go. The Cavs looked done. Down 2 with just a second to go and staring at a 0-2 deficit with the next 2 games on the road. The TV shot of a kid at the Q with his hands on his head and looking all shocked and depressed was priceless. I would say he is also now part of history and the legend of LeBron.
The Cavs came out of the timeout and tried to run a play for LeBron to go for the lob and a tip-in or a dunk. But Hedo, who had just hit a shot that we all thought was a game winner, played good D on Bron and didn't let him fly to the hoop. So LeBron shoved him off, changed direction and popped out. Now he got some separation from Hedo. Mo Williams got him the ball and LeBron rised up and nailed a three. He was a good feet or more away from the top of the key and by the time he took the shot, Hedo was back on him and defended him pretty well. But this was LeBron's night and LeBron's shot. So the ball went in and the whole scene looked surreal. We are all witnesses once again! Great plays in the playoffs are immortalized forever. We all remember the Robert Horry 3, Derek Fisher's 0.4 sec shot, etc., etc. and with the whole "where amazing happens" promotion of the NBA, these moments seem to have even more of a shelf life. But when a superstar hits those same shots, the moment just becomes that much bigger and thats exactly what happened on Friday. You knew you were looking at an instant classic and if the Cavs move onto win a championship this season, that shot will be the biggest story of this 2008-2009 season.
But we are not there yet. The Cavs seem to have their hands full. The match-up issues are getting worse. They still can't handle Howard, Lewis or Turkoglu. The Z man is big but is too slow for Howard. They may insert Ben Wallace to keep up with Howard's speed, but he is small and is a non-factor offensively. Varejao can't defend Rashard Lewis who is basically a versatile wing more than a big man. Plus LeBron is getting tired carrying the offense and can't defend Hedo (or Rashard) for the entire game. He shot poorly on Sunday, but was still the best Cavs player on the floor. It might have just been a case of poor shooting at a road gym, but they got to get comfortable and play much better in Orlando tomorrow. Otherwise, they'll be staring at a 1-3 defecit. If they win, then they get home-court back and that shot takes a whole new meaning right away. If not for that shot, they are staring at a sweep tomorrow. The Cavs have lost most of the games over the last few years against the Magic - 10 out of 14. That's not a coincidence, especially given the great records the Cavs have piled up the last 3 years. Magic definitely have their number and coach Mike Brown better figure something out soon.
In the West, the Lakers are doing what they do best - being inconsistent and playing up-and-down. The series is tied at 2-2 after the Denver abused the Lakers on the boards today. Nuggets had 3 dudes with 13 or more boards - Kenyon, bird-man and Nene, with a lot of them coming on the offensive glass. Kobe was tripped by Dahntay Jones and was all fired up to take over the game. But the Lakers just could not get any stops. Kobe tried jacking up a lot of shots, but one man can only do so much when you are trailing by 12 or 14 and can't get defensive stops. Plus Phillip put him on the bench for a while to cool him down. He probably saw the "shoot at sight" Kobe coming out and wanted to freeze him a little bit. Net result, the Lakers lost big and that too with Melo not doing anything. He was sick and scored just 15 today. But it didn't matter. Of course the Lakers will probably win game 5 at home and drag the series to 7 games and win it the hard way. They don't seem to have the heart or the killer instinct to end these things early. Most of the role players don't seem to have the maturity to score on the road and they don't give Pau Gasol the ball either. Strange team indeed.
The Cavs came out of the timeout and tried to run a play for LeBron to go for the lob and a tip-in or a dunk. But Hedo, who had just hit a shot that we all thought was a game winner, played good D on Bron and didn't let him fly to the hoop. So LeBron shoved him off, changed direction and popped out. Now he got some separation from Hedo. Mo Williams got him the ball and LeBron rised up and nailed a three. He was a good feet or more away from the top of the key and by the time he took the shot, Hedo was back on him and defended him pretty well. But this was LeBron's night and LeBron's shot. So the ball went in and the whole scene looked surreal. We are all witnesses once again! Great plays in the playoffs are immortalized forever. We all remember the Robert Horry 3, Derek Fisher's 0.4 sec shot, etc., etc. and with the whole "where amazing happens" promotion of the NBA, these moments seem to have even more of a shelf life. But when a superstar hits those same shots, the moment just becomes that much bigger and thats exactly what happened on Friday. You knew you were looking at an instant classic and if the Cavs move onto win a championship this season, that shot will be the biggest story of this 2008-2009 season.
But we are not there yet. The Cavs seem to have their hands full. The match-up issues are getting worse. They still can't handle Howard, Lewis or Turkoglu. The Z man is big but is too slow for Howard. They may insert Ben Wallace to keep up with Howard's speed, but he is small and is a non-factor offensively. Varejao can't defend Rashard Lewis who is basically a versatile wing more than a big man. Plus LeBron is getting tired carrying the offense and can't defend Hedo (or Rashard) for the entire game. He shot poorly on Sunday, but was still the best Cavs player on the floor. It might have just been a case of poor shooting at a road gym, but they got to get comfortable and play much better in Orlando tomorrow. Otherwise, they'll be staring at a 1-3 defecit. If they win, then they get home-court back and that shot takes a whole new meaning right away. If not for that shot, they are staring at a sweep tomorrow. The Cavs have lost most of the games over the last few years against the Magic - 10 out of 14. That's not a coincidence, especially given the great records the Cavs have piled up the last 3 years. Magic definitely have their number and coach Mike Brown better figure something out soon.
In the West, the Lakers are doing what they do best - being inconsistent and playing up-and-down. The series is tied at 2-2 after the Denver abused the Lakers on the boards today. Nuggets had 3 dudes with 13 or more boards - Kenyon, bird-man and Nene, with a lot of them coming on the offensive glass. Kobe was tripped by Dahntay Jones and was all fired up to take over the game. But the Lakers just could not get any stops. Kobe tried jacking up a lot of shots, but one man can only do so much when you are trailing by 12 or 14 and can't get defensive stops. Plus Phillip put him on the bench for a while to cool him down. He probably saw the "shoot at sight" Kobe coming out and wanted to freeze him a little bit. Net result, the Lakers lost big and that too with Melo not doing anything. He was sick and scored just 15 today. But it didn't matter. Of course the Lakers will probably win game 5 at home and drag the series to 7 games and win it the hard way. They don't seem to have the heart or the killer instinct to end these things early. Most of the role players don't seem to have the maturity to score on the road and they don't give Pau Gasol the ball either. Strange team indeed.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Shining Stars
We are 3 games into the Conference Finals and we have seen 3 great games. Lakers won by 2 points on Tuesday before losing by 3 today. Cleveland lost a beauty yesterday by just a point. We have also seen great performances from the stars as Kobe, LeBron, Melo and Dwight are pouring it on. It's been sort of a rebirth for Melo in these playoffs as he seems to be gaining some of his mojo and attention back. It's almost like he wanted the whole LeBron-Melo talk to come back after a season full of LeBron-Kobe hype. He has scored 39 and 34 in the two games to match Kobe's 40 and 32. These guys score 30 like it's nobody's business. NBA is at it's best when stars shine bright and thats exactly what's happening on both conferences right now.
LeBron is at a whole another level right now. He dropped 49 on the Magic, but somehow the Cavs still lost. They wasted a huge first half lead and LeBron looked real tired at the end and couldn't close the game out. The Magic were a one-man show with D-Howard for a long time, but once Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu joined the party, their fortunes turned. Hedo was spraying assists like Steve Nash and Lewis was draining clutch threes. Suddenly the Cavs were the one-man army with little fire-power. This is not going to be an easy series for the Cavs, but if the Magic can't stop LeBron, the Cavs will still be the favorites. But Barkley made an interesting point on TNT. He says that the Cavs don't have an answer for Howard, Lewis or Turkoglu. LeBron has to defend either Lewis or Hedo. Even then, they can't defend the other 2. This might be the issue for the Cavs.
Playoffs are all about adjustments. I am curious to see the adjustments both coaches make Friday. Cavs have to figure out a way to defend the three-headed monster of the Magic and the Magic have to try and slow down the King. The greatest quote of this NBA season might have been the one by Stan Van Gundy to his players. Apparently he told them you guys are acting like "witnesses" out there. That seemed to have worked like magic on his team. Speaking of "witnesses", how great is that marketing campaign! Nike seems to have hit the jackpot with that line. It sounded ballsy and a little presumptuous a few years back, but LeBron is making it ring true every night. Even I feel like I am a witness every game on TV. I watched a lot of Jordon, but was a little young and dumb to realize the historic significance of what was going on. I appreciate LeBron a lot better. Lets see if he gets to fly as high as his airness.
LeBron is at a whole another level right now. He dropped 49 on the Magic, but somehow the Cavs still lost. They wasted a huge first half lead and LeBron looked real tired at the end and couldn't close the game out. The Magic were a one-man show with D-Howard for a long time, but once Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu joined the party, their fortunes turned. Hedo was spraying assists like Steve Nash and Lewis was draining clutch threes. Suddenly the Cavs were the one-man army with little fire-power. This is not going to be an easy series for the Cavs, but if the Magic can't stop LeBron, the Cavs will still be the favorites. But Barkley made an interesting point on TNT. He says that the Cavs don't have an answer for Howard, Lewis or Turkoglu. LeBron has to defend either Lewis or Hedo. Even then, they can't defend the other 2. This might be the issue for the Cavs.
Playoffs are all about adjustments. I am curious to see the adjustments both coaches make Friday. Cavs have to figure out a way to defend the three-headed monster of the Magic and the Magic have to try and slow down the King. The greatest quote of this NBA season might have been the one by Stan Van Gundy to his players. Apparently he told them you guys are acting like "witnesses" out there. That seemed to have worked like magic on his team. Speaking of "witnesses", how great is that marketing campaign! Nike seems to have hit the jackpot with that line. It sounded ballsy and a little presumptuous a few years back, but LeBron is making it ring true every night. Even I feel like I am a witness every game on TV. I watched a lot of Jordon, but was a little young and dumb to realize the historic significance of what was going on. I appreciate LeBron a lot better. Lets see if he gets to fly as high as his airness.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Final 4
The NBA's final four starts tomorrow. It's Lakers V Denver and Cleveland V Orlando. Lakers took care of the Rockets at home rather easily. They locked down the Rockets and at one point in the first quarter, it looked like the Rocket may never score a point in that game! Thats how bad their offense was. Their defense was still effective and it was rather sad to see the Rockets not be able to do anything offensively. The Lakers D'ed up the young Aaron Brooks pretty well and Scola couldn't get going either. Ron Artest was way off and that was the end of story. Suddenly, it felt like they desperately needed Yao and T-Mac. If not for their defense, the Rockets might have been trailing by 25 after just one quarter. It was a total team effort by the Lakers and Bynum and Gasol came to play big-time. Kobe was probably the least effective Laker on the floor, but on this day, it didn't matter.
The Magic proved me wrong and spanked the Celtics in Boston. Pretty impressive performance by the Magic shooters as they hit 13/21 from downtown. As I had mentioned before, Turkoglu was the key in this one as he had a 25-5-12 night. Thats the kind of performance they need from this guy every game against the Cavs. Ray-Ray had a decent game finally, but the Celtics just ran out of gas in this series. A Celtics-Cavs series would have carried a little more hype, but Magic are really the better team without KG in the mix. I have a feeling this is not going to be a walk in the park for the King and the Cavs. Dwight Howard is going to have an impact at both ends of the floor and the Cavs bigs will be tested in this series unlike the first two series. But who said getting to the finals is easy? I think the Cavs get there, but it might take them 6 or 7 games. The Magic should especially be confident coming off that game 7 win on the road.
In the West, I say Lakers in 6. It's gonna be a terrific series with 2 explosive offenses on the court. Denver can be tough especially at home. I can see them score a boat-load of points on the Lakers. They are loaded offensively and the Lakers will have their hands full with Melo, Chauncey and Nene. But at the end of the day, I don't think the Nuggets have the two things the Rockets had that caused all sorts of match-up problems for the Lakers. The Nuggets don't have a Shane Battier type guy who can stay in front of the black mamba and throw up a hand on his mug all night long. Also they don't have a speed daemon like Aaron Brooks who exposed the slow-footed defenders the Lakers have. Denver does have other kinds of weapons and thats what makes this series very interesting. Chauncey has beaten the Fakers in the past and he'll try again. But I don't see the maturity and experience in that roster to pick them to win this series. Plus, like the NBA head-quarters, I want to see a 23-24 finals as well. A Orlando-Denver finals should be David Stern's worst nightmare.
I just hope the Denver-LA series even happens as per schedule. Apparently the Pepsi center in Denver is double-booked on the day of game 4 for a WWE event. I agree with Vince McMahon that somebody in the Nuggets front-office didn't think the rich and creamies will still be balling this deep in to May! Chauncey came along in a trade and spoiled all their plans I guess. Now the WWE has to find a new place to throw fake chairs on roided up thugs in tight pants. In other news, the one about Dirk Nowitzki's fiancee is a strange one. A woman was arrested from his house and she is apparently a felon with multiple identities and a history of trouble. She also seems to have done this before with other athletes like QB Tony Banks. In short, Dirk was engaged to a 37 year old groupie who is a felon and looks VERY average. How the hell did that happen? Is that the best Nowitzki can pull? Some even say she was pregnant, but Nowitzki is not talking. Weird story for sure.
Tomorrow is also the NBA draft lottery. Kings have the worst record, but that doesn't mean they get Blake Griffin.
The Magic proved me wrong and spanked the Celtics in Boston. Pretty impressive performance by the Magic shooters as they hit 13/21 from downtown. As I had mentioned before, Turkoglu was the key in this one as he had a 25-5-12 night. Thats the kind of performance they need from this guy every game against the Cavs. Ray-Ray had a decent game finally, but the Celtics just ran out of gas in this series. A Celtics-Cavs series would have carried a little more hype, but Magic are really the better team without KG in the mix. I have a feeling this is not going to be a walk in the park for the King and the Cavs. Dwight Howard is going to have an impact at both ends of the floor and the Cavs bigs will be tested in this series unlike the first two series. But who said getting to the finals is easy? I think the Cavs get there, but it might take them 6 or 7 games. The Magic should especially be confident coming off that game 7 win on the road.
In the West, I say Lakers in 6. It's gonna be a terrific series with 2 explosive offenses on the court. Denver can be tough especially at home. I can see them score a boat-load of points on the Lakers. They are loaded offensively and the Lakers will have their hands full with Melo, Chauncey and Nene. But at the end of the day, I don't think the Nuggets have the two things the Rockets had that caused all sorts of match-up problems for the Lakers. The Nuggets don't have a Shane Battier type guy who can stay in front of the black mamba and throw up a hand on his mug all night long. Also they don't have a speed daemon like Aaron Brooks who exposed the slow-footed defenders the Lakers have. Denver does have other kinds of weapons and thats what makes this series very interesting. Chauncey has beaten the Fakers in the past and he'll try again. But I don't see the maturity and experience in that roster to pick them to win this series. Plus, like the NBA head-quarters, I want to see a 23-24 finals as well. A Orlando-Denver finals should be David Stern's worst nightmare.
I just hope the Denver-LA series even happens as per schedule. Apparently the Pepsi center in Denver is double-booked on the day of game 4 for a WWE event. I agree with Vince McMahon that somebody in the Nuggets front-office didn't think the rich and creamies will still be balling this deep in to May! Chauncey came along in a trade and spoiled all their plans I guess. Now the WWE has to find a new place to throw fake chairs on roided up thugs in tight pants. In other news, the one about Dirk Nowitzki's fiancee is a strange one. A woman was arrested from his house and she is apparently a felon with multiple identities and a history of trouble. She also seems to have done this before with other athletes like QB Tony Banks. In short, Dirk was engaged to a 37 year old groupie who is a felon and looks VERY average. How the hell did that happen? Is that the best Nowitzki can pull? Some even say she was pregnant, but Nowitzki is not talking. Weird story for sure.
Tomorrow is also the NBA draft lottery. Kings have the worst record, but that doesn't mean they get Blake Griffin.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Home cooking for game sevens
Two game sevens tomorrow. I expect the home teams to come through though I wouldn't be surprised if Magic wins and if Houston makes it close. I am proud of what Houston is doing, but I would be shocked if they win in LA. I just hope for a close game. LA has looked shakier and shakier as the playoffs have progressed. More and more people are now jumping on the Denver and Cleveland bandwagon and Mark Jackson says he is done picking the Lakers to win another series in these playoffs. So expect a lot of experts to pick Denver in the next round. Denver has looked awesome, but I am not sure if they match-up against the Lakers as well as Houston. We will cross that bridge when we come to it.
The Rockets have 2 things that are killing the Lakers. The Lakers have absolutely no answer to Aaron Brooks and they have Shane Battier (and Ron Artest) to keep a hand in Kobe's face all the time. A few years back I tuned in to a Pac-10 basketball game and was completely blown away by a player I saw in the Oregon uniform. That was Aaron Brooks and I have been his fan ever since. He was laser quick and unstoppable in college. I was sure he had NBA quickness, but I was not sure if he had the size for the association. Heck, he looked tiny even for college. I was happy when he got drafted and even happier when the Rockets traded away Rafer Alston and expanded Aaron's role. He has repaid them in full in this series.
Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar are especially useless trying to defend Brooks. Phillip had to dig deep into his depth-chart and try Shannon Brown on Aaron Brooks for a few minutes. The dude is VERY quick. I don't expect anybody to stay in front of him. But he is exposing Lakers defensively and showing how soft they are in the middle. The Lakers team defense seems busted. Both Brooks and Scola killed them in game 6. Andrew Bynum can help defensively, but Phillip is not able to play him much for whatever reason. So Houston has shown us that the Lakers are still the Fakers and have defensive issues and are still soft.
The Fakers are at home and they can't lose this game. The other game 7 is even more interesting. Boston is at home and they have made a habit out of winning game 7's at home over the last 2 years. They play well during the regular season, get home-court and then use it to win game 7's at home during the playoffs. Like the Lakers against the rockets, they had no business even going to game 7's last year, but this year without KG, this is the best they can hope for. Magic are probably more talented, but they seem immature from coach on down. The Magic probably need Hedo to show up big tomorrow. Not sure what happened to Hedo this season. He has taken a step back from last year. The smart money should be on the Celtics in this one though I picked the Magic to win the series originally. I was not counting on this going 7. Ray Allen is due for a big one for the Celts.
The Rockets have 2 things that are killing the Lakers. The Lakers have absolutely no answer to Aaron Brooks and they have Shane Battier (and Ron Artest) to keep a hand in Kobe's face all the time. A few years back I tuned in to a Pac-10 basketball game and was completely blown away by a player I saw in the Oregon uniform. That was Aaron Brooks and I have been his fan ever since. He was laser quick and unstoppable in college. I was sure he had NBA quickness, but I was not sure if he had the size for the association. Heck, he looked tiny even for college. I was happy when he got drafted and even happier when the Rockets traded away Rafer Alston and expanded Aaron's role. He has repaid them in full in this series.
Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar are especially useless trying to defend Brooks. Phillip had to dig deep into his depth-chart and try Shannon Brown on Aaron Brooks for a few minutes. The dude is VERY quick. I don't expect anybody to stay in front of him. But he is exposing Lakers defensively and showing how soft they are in the middle. The Lakers team defense seems busted. Both Brooks and Scola killed them in game 6. Andrew Bynum can help defensively, but Phillip is not able to play him much for whatever reason. So Houston has shown us that the Lakers are still the Fakers and have defensive issues and are still soft.
The Fakers are at home and they can't lose this game. The other game 7 is even more interesting. Boston is at home and they have made a habit out of winning game 7's at home over the last 2 years. They play well during the regular season, get home-court and then use it to win game 7's at home during the playoffs. Like the Lakers against the rockets, they had no business even going to game 7's last year, but this year without KG, this is the best they can hope for. Magic are probably more talented, but they seem immature from coach on down. The Magic probably need Hedo to show up big tomorrow. Not sure what happened to Hedo this season. He has taken a step back from last year. The smart money should be on the Celtics in this one though I picked the Magic to win the series originally. I was not counting on this going 7. Ray Allen is due for a big one for the Celts.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Stupid Cubes
Mavs and the Nuggets played a great game tonight. Dirk Nowitzki came to ball today and singularly carried the Mavs to the finish line. He had a 44-13 night and hit 14/25 shots. Melo scored 41 in a losing effort and he was awesome too. It's interesting that both these guys had a rather quite season by their standards. Dirk is a former MVP and we are kinda used to his numbers and the Mavs were up and down this season. So there was not so much attention on him all season though he actually averaged more points per game than he did during his MVP year. In the case of Melo, I guess he has lost some of his sheen because of his suspensions and other extra-curricular activities. He was leading the league in scoring a couple of years back and was a MVP front-runner when he got suspended for a brawl. Plus he was always compared to LeBron until recently and now LeBron has taken off and separated himself. Melo's numbers were also a little down this year. But he has always been known for his 4-Th quarter heroics and even Kenny and Charles were talking about how pure a scorer he is. Kenny was saying he might even score easier that Kobe. Who knows - this year's finals might end up being all about LeBron-Melo instead of LeBron-Kobe.
But tonight, Dirk owned the 4-Th quarter. He was not going to let the Mavs lose. Dirk has had a great off-season so far. He has scored 31, 28, 35, 33 and 44 in the last 5 games. Those are legitimate superstar numbers. With all that said, the Mavs are not going anywhere unless they pair him up with another superstar. In other words, Dirk is much like KG or Pau Gasol. He is a better option 1-A than option 1. He needs that Paul Pierce or a Kobe around him. Thats what the Mavs are missing as far as winning a championship goes. Of course, Western conference semi-finals aint bad, but Cuban needs to get another guy to score with Dirk. Today was great for them, but Dirk can't do this every day. Speaking of Cuban, he is plain stupid and he was a big story today. Apparently he had a run-in with Kenyon Martin's mother on Saturday and referred to him as a thug and a punk. How classy! I do think Kenyon is a thug, but cubes had no bloody business saying that to his mom. Cubes is the wannabe thug himself who needs to be spanked by somebody and put in his place. I was hoping Kenyon would do it today since he wanted to meet him and deal with him face-to-face.
The best part of the story might be Kenyon's great quote - "I don't back away from nobody except the law.” Nothing happened today, but apparently a few fans were ejected around Kenyon's mom and his girlfriend. Thats amazing to me. How retarded are these fans that they would abuse the family of visiting players! How can you be so mean to such guests, especially to visiting women. I don't get that at all. Anyways, the series now moves to Denver and the Nuggets should take care of business on Wednesday. In the East, the Cavs buried the Hawks today. LeBron had a sub-par shooting night, but his team came through. Even Wally Szerbiak and Delonte West had impressive dunks. To borrow Delonte's phrase, how player is that? That dunk was very player of Delonte! The best part of the playoffs so far might be the fact that "Derek Fisher" has become a verb. I played basketball at the park this weekend and guys were routinely joking and saying things like "pull a Derek Fisher on him" and "I almost Derek Fisher'ed him". Even Antoine Wright asked the reporters after that missed foul on Melo on Saturday - "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to Derek Fisher him?". I love it!
But tonight, Dirk owned the 4-Th quarter. He was not going to let the Mavs lose. Dirk has had a great off-season so far. He has scored 31, 28, 35, 33 and 44 in the last 5 games. Those are legitimate superstar numbers. With all that said, the Mavs are not going anywhere unless they pair him up with another superstar. In other words, Dirk is much like KG or Pau Gasol. He is a better option 1-A than option 1. He needs that Paul Pierce or a Kobe around him. Thats what the Mavs are missing as far as winning a championship goes. Of course, Western conference semi-finals aint bad, but Cuban needs to get another guy to score with Dirk. Today was great for them, but Dirk can't do this every day. Speaking of Cuban, he is plain stupid and he was a big story today. Apparently he had a run-in with Kenyon Martin's mother on Saturday and referred to him as a thug and a punk. How classy! I do think Kenyon is a thug, but cubes had no bloody business saying that to his mom. Cubes is the wannabe thug himself who needs to be spanked by somebody and put in his place. I was hoping Kenyon would do it today since he wanted to meet him and deal with him face-to-face.
The best part of the story might be Kenyon's great quote - "I don't back away from nobody except the law.” Nothing happened today, but apparently a few fans were ejected around Kenyon's mom and his girlfriend. Thats amazing to me. How retarded are these fans that they would abuse the family of visiting players! How can you be so mean to such guests, especially to visiting women. I don't get that at all. Anyways, the series now moves to Denver and the Nuggets should take care of business on Wednesday. In the East, the Cavs buried the Hawks today. LeBron had a sub-par shooting night, but his team came through. Even Wally Szerbiak and Delonte West had impressive dunks. To borrow Delonte's phrase, how player is that? That dunk was very player of Delonte! The best part of the playoffs so far might be the fact that "Derek Fisher" has become a verb. I played basketball at the park this weekend and guys were routinely joking and saying things like "pull a Derek Fisher on him" and "I almost Derek Fisher'ed him". Even Antoine Wright asked the reporters after that missed foul on Melo on Saturday - "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to Derek Fisher him?". I love it!
Saturday, May 09, 2009
We are all witnesses!
Today was one of those "I am a witness" day. We watched absolute greatness in LeBron. He had a 47-12-8 night and was unstoppable. When this guy is on, he is just a treat to watch. Kobe is also unstoppable, but they are two very different players. It's a very interesting comparison. Kobe is still the best pure scorer in the league, but LeBron is quickly getting there. His jumper is getting better every day. But his strength, size, patience and passing ability make him a very different player than Kobe and probably a better player overall. We want to see them do it against each other in the same court at the highest level called the NBA finals.
The Atlanta Hawks had no defense for LeBron today. They let him connect on 15 of 25 shots. Their defense sucks and they have no size in the paint. They are clearly overmatched and they would be lucky to steal just one from the Cavs. They had big runs today and it seemed like they can keep it close. But the Cavs defense bottled them up for long stretches of the second half and LeBron was unstoppable on offense. It's time to bring on the Magic. May be they'll test the Cavs for the first time this off-season. A Boston-Cleveland series would have been great, but KG's injury seems to have killed the drama.
In the West, the refs blew a call and let Melo hit a game winning three against the Mavs. After calling all kinds of fouls and throwing people out for all kinds of offenses this post-season, the zebras failed to call a intentional "foul to give" hack on Melo. The defender stopped because he hacked Melo and was expecting a whistle and Melo continued the play and hit a game wining three. Very OUCH for Dallas. Apparently it was the same ref who refused to blow the whistle on Derek Fisher last year against the Spurs. Looks like this guy swallows his whistle at the end of games. One question I have is, did the coach screw up by not giving the refs the heads up? Coches usually do it just to be safe.
Here's a quick question for baseball fans. Who is the best pitcher in all of baseball? Not sure how many people will answer Zach Greinke. His ERA is a robust 0.51 and has 6 wins, both stats leading both the leagues. He has the KC Royals on top of the AL Central. Pretty impressive. He could be this year's Cliff Lee - a familiar, mediocre pitcher having an incredible season out of nowhere. But Zach didn't have too bad a season last year, though this year, he is gone out of control. Today he pitched 8 innings for a complete game, 0-1 loss to the Angels. Impressive, though I am sure it is frustrating for him to lose that way.
The Atlanta Hawks had no defense for LeBron today. They let him connect on 15 of 25 shots. Their defense sucks and they have no size in the paint. They are clearly overmatched and they would be lucky to steal just one from the Cavs. They had big runs today and it seemed like they can keep it close. But the Cavs defense bottled them up for long stretches of the second half and LeBron was unstoppable on offense. It's time to bring on the Magic. May be they'll test the Cavs for the first time this off-season. A Boston-Cleveland series would have been great, but KG's injury seems to have killed the drama.
In the West, the refs blew a call and let Melo hit a game winning three against the Mavs. After calling all kinds of fouls and throwing people out for all kinds of offenses this post-season, the zebras failed to call a intentional "foul to give" hack on Melo. The defender stopped because he hacked Melo and was expecting a whistle and Melo continued the play and hit a game wining three. Very OUCH for Dallas. Apparently it was the same ref who refused to blow the whistle on Derek Fisher last year against the Spurs. Looks like this guy swallows his whistle at the end of games. One question I have is, did the coach screw up by not giving the refs the heads up? Coches usually do it just to be safe.
Here's a quick question for baseball fans. Who is the best pitcher in all of baseball? Not sure how many people will answer Zach Greinke. His ERA is a robust 0.51 and has 6 wins, both stats leading both the leagues. He has the KC Royals on top of the AL Central. Pretty impressive. He could be this year's Cliff Lee - a familiar, mediocre pitcher having an incredible season out of nowhere. But Zach didn't have too bad a season last year, though this year, he is gone out of control. Today he pitched 8 innings for a complete game, 0-1 loss to the Angels. Impressive, though I am sure it is frustrating for him to lose that way.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Again?
Brett Favre is in the news again. Give me a break! After all the waffling the last few years and the high-drama of last off-season, this guy is at it again. We thought he finally retired for real after a bad end to last season and the Jets drafted a QB and even cut Favre. It seems like Favre has been busy since the very next day. The Packers told the Jets they have to give them more compensation if the Jets ever traded him to teams like the Vikings and the Bears, but it's not the Jets problems if they cut him and he ends up resigning with those teams. Seems like Favre is taking advantage of this scenario now. He is supposed to meet the Vikings coach Brad Childress soon and we should all be prepared for anything.
The rumors first started when we heard that Favre has hired a personal coach and the obvious question was - for what? You don't have to be that fit to drive tractors around Mississippi. I think something is definitely cooking and I personally don't mind it. Yes, he is making a fool of himself and hurting his legacy and making new enemies in Wisconsin, but I don't care. As a NFL fan, I like the story-line and watching a good player like that play, that too for a good team like the Vikings. He is not as good as he used to be, but he is still decent and the Vikings are better than last year's Jets. I feel for Sage Resenfels. He probably thought he got a starter's job finally, but now he might lose it again to a big name, older player who may not even be as good as he is! Stay tuned I guess.
In the NBA, the Lakers and the Celtics are back in the series with wins. Kobe was unstoppable today. He dropped 40 on Battier and was jawing him all night. It should be a nightmare for people like Battier trying to defend Kobe. But the story was the physical play on both sides. Playoffs are beautiful. These guys are now literally fighting each other and the refs are busy just keeping things in check. I am happy the hatred is picking up in the second game itself. The rest of the series is going to be a war. The Celtics-Magic also had a small incident today as the Celtics won big. My man Eddie House scored 31 and got involved in some extra-curriculars with Rafer Alston. Things have been testy throughout these playoffs. Goes to show you how important the playoffs are and how hard the guys play this time of the year.
Ron Artest showed flashes of his tough, combustible and weird character both on the court against Kobe and after the game in his presser. Today he spoke about a friend who got killed by a flying piece of metal right on the court. Is he for real or is he cooking up stories to keep us all entertained? In either case, I love it.
The rumors first started when we heard that Favre has hired a personal coach and the obvious question was - for what? You don't have to be that fit to drive tractors around Mississippi. I think something is definitely cooking and I personally don't mind it. Yes, he is making a fool of himself and hurting his legacy and making new enemies in Wisconsin, but I don't care. As a NFL fan, I like the story-line and watching a good player like that play, that too for a good team like the Vikings. He is not as good as he used to be, but he is still decent and the Vikings are better than last year's Jets. I feel for Sage Resenfels. He probably thought he got a starter's job finally, but now he might lose it again to a big name, older player who may not even be as good as he is! Stay tuned I guess.
In the NBA, the Lakers and the Celtics are back in the series with wins. Kobe was unstoppable today. He dropped 40 on Battier and was jawing him all night. It should be a nightmare for people like Battier trying to defend Kobe. But the story was the physical play on both sides. Playoffs are beautiful. These guys are now literally fighting each other and the refs are busy just keeping things in check. I am happy the hatred is picking up in the second game itself. The rest of the series is going to be a war. The Celtics-Magic also had a small incident today as the Celtics won big. My man Eddie House scored 31 and got involved in some extra-curriculars with Rafer Alston. Things have been testy throughout these playoffs. Goes to show you how important the playoffs are and how hard the guys play this time of the year.
Ron Artest showed flashes of his tough, combustible and weird character both on the court against Kobe and after the game in his presser. Today he spoke about a friend who got killed by a flying piece of metal right on the court. Is he for real or is he cooking up stories to keep us all entertained? In either case, I love it.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Fakers take a step back
Houston showed us yesterday why they have to be taken seriously. They are good, they are on a roll and they might have a couple of match-up advantages over the Fakers. One game does not a series make, but the Lakers lost a big one yesterday. I still think they come back and win the series, but they lost some mojo especially if you compare them to their eventual nemesis Cavs. We all know the Lakers are good, but the question is, why are they good? They are good because they have talented big-men who are real big in size and they got Kobe. They do have good shooting, a solid bench etc., but those 2 above are the biggest reason why the Lakers are good.
Houston has an antidote to both. They got Yao, World's biggest basketball player period. And they have Ron Artest and Shane Batiier - 2 guys that can bother, if not stop Kobe. Kobe was sick yesterday and went 14/31 for 32 points, with some of the makes coming late in the game against a soft defense. He is going to be back sooner than later with or without Battier hanging all over him. I don't think he is going to stay down for long. The Lakers will win this thing, but it won't be a walk in the park like it was the previous series against Utah. Even in that series, they just didn't consistently dominate. The next 2 games will tell us whether this game 1 was just a wake-up call for the Lakers or if they are in for a real fist-fight.
Speaking of fist-fights the Boston-Chicago series ended on Sunday with a good, but not a great game 7. The Celtics are now in another struggle as they lost another game 1 - this time to the Orlando Magic. This series might be curtains for the Celtics without KG. We may get to see Dwight against LeBron in the Eastern Finals. Speaking of LeBron, the Cavs walked into the Q and spanked the Hawks today. I am amazed at how mature and solid this team is. No rust, no doubts nothing. Another 34-10 game for the newly crowned MVP and his day was done in 34 minutes. The juggernaut just keeps rolling and with every passing game, they look better than the Lakers.
I am always pulling for the Fakers to lose, but like everybody else, I also want to see a Kobe-LeBron finals. Of course I want the Lakers to lose the finals for sure. Even if they get through the Rockets, seems like the Nuggets would be good and ready for them. They are looking really impressive and are handling the Mavs rather easily. I am sure they will be challenged a lot more on the road, but they are playing with authority at home. The threes are falling, the crowd is hopping and big-shot Billups is always lurking in the background. It's amazing how much this guy has meant to this roster. What was Joe Dumars thinking when he traded him for AI? That one move might have negated all the good things Dumars has done up to this point.
Good times in the NBA. But the only think worse than not having the Suns in the playoffs, is still having Cuban and the Mavs and Joe Johnson and the Hawks around this deep in the playoffs. Of course it's not JJ's fault he is not in Phoenix. It is cheapo Robert Sarver's fault through and through. He has repeatedly refused to pay young talent any money and has even traded away draft picks consistently - guys who would have made next to nothing under David Stern's rookie scale. And then he goes and takes on Shaq's gynormous salary when he is clearly over the hill. Talk about being penny-wise and pound-foolish!
Houston has an antidote to both. They got Yao, World's biggest basketball player period. And they have Ron Artest and Shane Batiier - 2 guys that can bother, if not stop Kobe. Kobe was sick yesterday and went 14/31 for 32 points, with some of the makes coming late in the game against a soft defense. He is going to be back sooner than later with or without Battier hanging all over him. I don't think he is going to stay down for long. The Lakers will win this thing, but it won't be a walk in the park like it was the previous series against Utah. Even in that series, they just didn't consistently dominate. The next 2 games will tell us whether this game 1 was just a wake-up call for the Lakers or if they are in for a real fist-fight.
Speaking of fist-fights the Boston-Chicago series ended on Sunday with a good, but not a great game 7. The Celtics are now in another struggle as they lost another game 1 - this time to the Orlando Magic. This series might be curtains for the Celtics without KG. We may get to see Dwight against LeBron in the Eastern Finals. Speaking of LeBron, the Cavs walked into the Q and spanked the Hawks today. I am amazed at how mature and solid this team is. No rust, no doubts nothing. Another 34-10 game for the newly crowned MVP and his day was done in 34 minutes. The juggernaut just keeps rolling and with every passing game, they look better than the Lakers.
I am always pulling for the Fakers to lose, but like everybody else, I also want to see a Kobe-LeBron finals. Of course I want the Lakers to lose the finals for sure. Even if they get through the Rockets, seems like the Nuggets would be good and ready for them. They are looking really impressive and are handling the Mavs rather easily. I am sure they will be challenged a lot more on the road, but they are playing with authority at home. The threes are falling, the crowd is hopping and big-shot Billups is always lurking in the background. It's amazing how much this guy has meant to this roster. What was Joe Dumars thinking when he traded him for AI? That one move might have negated all the good things Dumars has done up to this point.
Good times in the NBA. But the only think worse than not having the Suns in the playoffs, is still having Cuban and the Mavs and Joe Johnson and the Hawks around this deep in the playoffs. Of course it's not JJ's fault he is not in Phoenix. It is cheapo Robert Sarver's fault through and through. He has repeatedly refused to pay young talent any money and has even traded away draft picks consistently - guys who would have made next to nothing under David Stern's rookie scale. And then he goes and takes on Shaq's gynormous salary when he is clearly over the hill. Talk about being penny-wise and pound-foolish!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
It's only getting better.
Just when you thought it can't get any better, the Bulls-Celtics series just did. The series went from featuring 3 OT games in the first 5 games to 4 out of 6. And this one was a triple OT beauty. The series has now featured 7 OT sessions. It's not just that the games have been close, the quality of play has been tremendous. The talent on the floor is spectacular and the series has featured everything. Ray Allen has just been clutch. He had a 51 point game shooting 18/32 from the floor and 9/18 from downtown. He has been strictly alternating between on and off - bad game 1, 3 and 5 and great game 2, 4 and 6. He didn't get any help from Rando today.
The Bulls on the other hand, got another great game from D-Rose and John Salmons gave them the 35 that they usually get from Ben Gordon, who had an off night. All in all, the two teams are evenly matched and there is no quit in either of them. Can't wait for game 7, though the home teams have a great edge in those games usually. We have seen a lot of blowouts in game 7's, but it's hard to imagine a blowout in this series. The edge definitely goes to Boston and there are even some rumors KG might suit up. That would drive the home crowd nuts. Either way, it should be a fun one Saturday.
Orlando put the Sixers to bed today. I was kind of concerned that this series might go 7. Every year, you see a bad series or 2 go to 7 and you are like, why can't the other fun series go 7? That might still happen with Miami-Atlanta, but so far, we only have one quality game 7 lined up. All of the Western series are over. Houston made it to round 2 by beating the young Blazers today. The Blazers are probably disappointed, but they are a young team and they can learn from this. The Rockets were a tough matchup for them and the Rockets may even cause the Lakers some trouble. They have a huge guy in Yao to cause some issues for the Lakers in the paint and they can throw a couple of good defenders at Kobe in the form of Shane Battier and Ron Artest.
Speaking of Ron-Ron, a great series for him. T-Mac has never gotten out of the first round and this year, he gets injured and Ron and Yao get tot he second round. How ironic is that? T-Mac should be pissed. Of course it's not all his fault and T-Mac thinks they have a great team this year. But still, there is something about the overall toughness and the complete game that Artest brings. Overall, it probably helps a team more than T-Mac's offensive powers. Ron Artest now says Brandon Roy is the best player he has ever defended. He adds that he is the only guy to have scored 40 on him. He ranks him higher than even Kobe and that should be interesting to watch next series. He is essentially challenging Kobe to score 40 on him.
It was funny listening to Ron. The guy says Roy is the best player and refuses to acknowledge anybody else. Then he says somebody from his hood who is in jail used to be the best player he has ever played against and now Roy is the best. You can tell the dude is a little out there in the left field. Not that we didn't know it already, but who talks like that? But he looks genuine and sincere. There is something genuine about this guy. He is genuinely nuts and what can you do? He speaks his mind and does his thing. Plays hard and the fans love him as long as they are winning and he is reasonably under control. But then he can flip out anytime and go completely bonkers. An interesting character for sure.
The Bulls on the other hand, got another great game from D-Rose and John Salmons gave them the 35 that they usually get from Ben Gordon, who had an off night. All in all, the two teams are evenly matched and there is no quit in either of them. Can't wait for game 7, though the home teams have a great edge in those games usually. We have seen a lot of blowouts in game 7's, but it's hard to imagine a blowout in this series. The edge definitely goes to Boston and there are even some rumors KG might suit up. That would drive the home crowd nuts. Either way, it should be a fun one Saturday.
Orlando put the Sixers to bed today. I was kind of concerned that this series might go 7. Every year, you see a bad series or 2 go to 7 and you are like, why can't the other fun series go 7? That might still happen with Miami-Atlanta, but so far, we only have one quality game 7 lined up. All of the Western series are over. Houston made it to round 2 by beating the young Blazers today. The Blazers are probably disappointed, but they are a young team and they can learn from this. The Rockets were a tough matchup for them and the Rockets may even cause the Lakers some trouble. They have a huge guy in Yao to cause some issues for the Lakers in the paint and they can throw a couple of good defenders at Kobe in the form of Shane Battier and Ron Artest.
Speaking of Ron-Ron, a great series for him. T-Mac has never gotten out of the first round and this year, he gets injured and Ron and Yao get tot he second round. How ironic is that? T-Mac should be pissed. Of course it's not all his fault and T-Mac thinks they have a great team this year. But still, there is something about the overall toughness and the complete game that Artest brings. Overall, it probably helps a team more than T-Mac's offensive powers. Ron Artest now says Brandon Roy is the best player he has ever defended. He adds that he is the only guy to have scored 40 on him. He ranks him higher than even Kobe and that should be interesting to watch next series. He is essentially challenging Kobe to score 40 on him.
It was funny listening to Ron. The guy says Roy is the best player and refuses to acknowledge anybody else. Then he says somebody from his hood who is in jail used to be the best player he has ever played against and now Roy is the best. You can tell the dude is a little out there in the left field. Not that we didn't know it already, but who talks like that? But he looks genuine and sincere. There is something genuine about this guy. He is genuinely nuts and what can you do? He speaks his mind and does his thing. Plays hard and the fans love him as long as they are winning and he is reasonably under control. But then he can flip out anytime and go completely bonkers. An interesting character for sure.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thanks KG
The NBA playoffs can sometimes feel too long, especially during the early rounds. But thanks to KG, we have a great first round series. The Celts-Bulls series is just awesome. 3 of the 5 games have gone to OT and we have seen some macho performance from D-Rose, Ben Gordon, Rando, Ray-Ray and today, the Truth. With KG, this is probably a easy score for the Celts. But without him, these team are pretty well-matched and they have been going at each other pretty ferociously. D-Rose has slowed down since that ridiculous first game, but Rando has been consistent. This is becoming a breakout series for both these guards, though both of them had a great regular season. Can't wait for the next game on Thursday.
The Cavs and Lakers are done for now. Cavs were realy impressive sweeping the Pistons. The Lakers have been a little less impressive, but still they won the series 4-1 rather easily. The surprise so far has been the early elimination of the hobbled Spurs. A new challenge for their stellar front-office. I am very curious to see what they do and how they rebuild. This series could have been very different with Ginobli and a healthy Duncan, but they are getting old now. Except Tony Parker, everybody is old and even if they had won against the Mavs, they were not going too far anyways. So they got to make some changes. As for Dallas, they are looking good and may even make it to the Western Finals.
I was thinking about Dallas. Cuban looked stupid when he let Nash walk and Nash killed them the very next playoffs. It was BEAUTIFUL to watch! He also let Finley walk soon after. But a few years later, the Mavs are still playing and Finley and the Spurs are eliminated and the Suns are not even in the playoffs. Cubes should be happy. But it was still a mistake to let Nash go and by trading for Kidd and paying a steep price for him (Devin Harris), I guess he accepted it. I hope Nash and the Suns do better than the Mavs at least next year. I hear some interesting rumors involving Shaq and Tyson Chandler. Not sure why the Hornets will do it, but it's all about money these days and Shaq's salary comes off the books after next year. Chandler might be an interesting center to pair up with Amare and Nash.
I heard something I couldn't believe. The Yankees have seats that cost $300+ per for season tickets. Thats around 25K for a 81 game season. Damn expensive for a baseball ticket. Apparently they are having problems selling their seats and are giving "half-off" deals. That I can believe in this economic climate. I hope you all saw the 23-V-24 ad from Vitamin water. Genius timing for this AD. Not sure how much they are paying LeBron and Kobe for this AD. We are going to see this Kobe/LeBron hype all spring and it's going to be awesome if they both make it to the Finals. Kobe's nickname "Black Mamba" is getting popular these days. I think it's a cool nickname to have.
The Cavs and Lakers are done for now. Cavs were realy impressive sweeping the Pistons. The Lakers have been a little less impressive, but still they won the series 4-1 rather easily. The surprise so far has been the early elimination of the hobbled Spurs. A new challenge for their stellar front-office. I am very curious to see what they do and how they rebuild. This series could have been very different with Ginobli and a healthy Duncan, but they are getting old now. Except Tony Parker, everybody is old and even if they had won against the Mavs, they were not going too far anyways. So they got to make some changes. As for Dallas, they are looking good and may even make it to the Western Finals.
I was thinking about Dallas. Cuban looked stupid when he let Nash walk and Nash killed them the very next playoffs. It was BEAUTIFUL to watch! He also let Finley walk soon after. But a few years later, the Mavs are still playing and Finley and the Spurs are eliminated and the Suns are not even in the playoffs. Cubes should be happy. But it was still a mistake to let Nash go and by trading for Kidd and paying a steep price for him (Devin Harris), I guess he accepted it. I hope Nash and the Suns do better than the Mavs at least next year. I hear some interesting rumors involving Shaq and Tyson Chandler. Not sure why the Hornets will do it, but it's all about money these days and Shaq's salary comes off the books after next year. Chandler might be an interesting center to pair up with Amare and Nash.
I heard something I couldn't believe. The Yankees have seats that cost $300+ per for season tickets. Thats around 25K for a 81 game season. Damn expensive for a baseball ticket. Apparently they are having problems selling their seats and are giving "half-off" deals. That I can believe in this economic climate. I hope you all saw the 23-V-24 ad from Vitamin water. Genius timing for this AD. Not sure how much they are paying LeBron and Kobe for this AD. We are going to see this Kobe/LeBron hype all spring and it's going to be awesome if they both make it to the Finals. Kobe's nickname "Black Mamba" is getting popular these days. I think it's a cool nickname to have.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Day of the Stafford
The Lions picked Matthew Stafford with their number 1 pick and signed him to a 78 million dollar deal of which 41.7 mill is guaranteed. Amazing, considering how bad the economy is doing. We always knew top athletes made boatloads of money and I personally had no issues with that. I am not one of those guys who begrudged these guys making a lot of money or said things like "I can't believe he makes 16 mill for throwing a stupid ball around". In fact, I sometimes argue that top-notch athletes like LeBron or MJ during his peak were grossly underpaid if you consider their overall impact on the business. But even I look at this 78 million differently in the light of today's economic climate. It sounds too high and kinda wrong that a kid out of school is making that kinda money, especially Stafford who was not that big a name in college football and especially in a town like Detroit which is in economic shambles. I have not even heard of this guy until the draft-hype kicked in.
Two interesting points to note here. One, looks like the economy has had close to zero impact on the NFL. We all know the NFL is the king in our culture and I don't think they are going to have any issues selling season tickets. They may lose some money on TV ads from businesses, but I guess thats more of a problem for the TV channels who have already signed long-time contracts with NFL. I see a lot of reports about how the NBA is going to be in trouble because of the economy and I see some impact on MLB too early this season. This Stafford contract is another proof that NFL is just different. Secondly, timing is everything in life. We see this time and again with QBs in the draft. You can make 10 times more than what you deserve if you enter the draft in a year with not too many good QB options and if the team at the top needs a QB. The Niners and Alex Smith are a good example of this from a few years back. I don't know how good Stafford is going to be, but he is pretty lucky to be where he is today. This is not a loaded draft and the Lions were desperate.
Speaking of the Lions, they changed their uniforms recently and I thought that should fix all their problems after their 0-16 season! Why even spend time and money on the draft? Anyways, they had 3 drafts on day 1 and I hope they do better in their first, full, post-Matt Millen year. The draft this year was not too interesting. Not many big-time names. Not many offensive stars. Very few explosive running backs in this draft. Mark Sanchez was probably the most popular name and he went to the Jets. Thats a good match for now. The Raiders as usual shocked everybody with their 7-Th pick by drafting somebody who is tall and runs very fast. I think that dude might have been available on Monday post-draft! Thats how much of a reach that pick was. The Niners picked the bigger-named WR in Michael Crabtree, who for some reason had fallen down the draft-boards. At the end of the day, this draft was kinda boring with very little action and recognizable faces.
In the NBA, Kobe killed the Jazz. As simple as that. After missing 19 of 24 shots in game 3, he come out today and made 18 of 24 shots. I don't remember seeing anybody look that unstoppable. He was just scary-good today. If I am LeBron, I hate what I saw today in Kobe and I hope he doesn't pull something like this against the Cavs in the finals. He rarely even hit the rim today with his jumpers. It seems like the Spurs are done. Timmy is not healthy, Ginobli is out and the rest of the Spurs are too old. Parker can only do so much and his 43 was not enough against the Mavs. Like I had predicted, dope-head Josh Howard is killing the Spurs and when he is on, the Mavs are not easy to deal with. We might have a 6 over 3 upset here and a Denver-Dallas semis in the future. Thats not too bad because the Spurs can be boring at times. It might be rebuild time for the Spurs and Timmy might be slowing down finally.
Two interesting points to note here. One, looks like the economy has had close to zero impact on the NFL. We all know the NFL is the king in our culture and I don't think they are going to have any issues selling season tickets. They may lose some money on TV ads from businesses, but I guess thats more of a problem for the TV channels who have already signed long-time contracts with NFL. I see a lot of reports about how the NBA is going to be in trouble because of the economy and I see some impact on MLB too early this season. This Stafford contract is another proof that NFL is just different. Secondly, timing is everything in life. We see this time and again with QBs in the draft. You can make 10 times more than what you deserve if you enter the draft in a year with not too many good QB options and if the team at the top needs a QB. The Niners and Alex Smith are a good example of this from a few years back. I don't know how good Stafford is going to be, but he is pretty lucky to be where he is today. This is not a loaded draft and the Lions were desperate.
Speaking of the Lions, they changed their uniforms recently and I thought that should fix all their problems after their 0-16 season! Why even spend time and money on the draft? Anyways, they had 3 drafts on day 1 and I hope they do better in their first, full, post-Matt Millen year. The draft this year was not too interesting. Not many big-time names. Not many offensive stars. Very few explosive running backs in this draft. Mark Sanchez was probably the most popular name and he went to the Jets. Thats a good match for now. The Raiders as usual shocked everybody with their 7-Th pick by drafting somebody who is tall and runs very fast. I think that dude might have been available on Monday post-draft! Thats how much of a reach that pick was. The Niners picked the bigger-named WR in Michael Crabtree, who for some reason had fallen down the draft-boards. At the end of the day, this draft was kinda boring with very little action and recognizable faces.
In the NBA, Kobe killed the Jazz. As simple as that. After missing 19 of 24 shots in game 3, he come out today and made 18 of 24 shots. I don't remember seeing anybody look that unstoppable. He was just scary-good today. If I am LeBron, I hate what I saw today in Kobe and I hope he doesn't pull something like this against the Cavs in the finals. He rarely even hit the rim today with his jumpers. It seems like the Spurs are done. Timmy is not healthy, Ginobli is out and the rest of the Spurs are too old. Parker can only do so much and his 43 was not enough against the Mavs. Like I had predicted, dope-head Josh Howard is killing the Spurs and when he is on, the Mavs are not easy to deal with. We might have a 6 over 3 upset here and a Denver-Dallas semis in the future. Thats not too bad because the Spurs can be boring at times. It might be rebuild time for the Spurs and Timmy might be slowing down finally.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
You can hear the draft
This weekend is the NFL draft. So tread carefully around the sports TV channels. This is the week you brace yourself for some serious information-overload. You will hear irrelevant details incessantly about dudes you have never heard of and some of whom, you may never hear about again. This is the week when ESPN will pimp Mel Kiper Jr. more than it does Derek Jeter, MJ and LeBron combined. And the draft day is Christmas and New Years rolled into one for Mel Kiper Jr. Luckily for us, there is some NBA playoffs for a little distraction if these guys start going nuts on us.
I know that NFL is king and it has become a year-round sport for ESPN. They could probably telecast a live show just showing all the 60 year-old assistant coaches in the NFL shaving their grey beards, and it'll outdraw most other sports on TV. But still, ESPN can get on your nerves with how serious they take this draft stuff. It's almost like they are running a never-ending half-time show since the last Super Bowl. It's like the season never ended for these guys. Even the GMs take a few days off from football, but ESPN doesn't. Now, they have also started following college football year-around. It's hard to decide what's worse - watching Auburn offense play against Auburn defense in Mid-April or watching Mel Kiper go on and on about a place kicker.
So If you hear stupid terms like "high-motor" and "4.4-40", don't think they are talking about some washing machine. They are indeed talking about real and rather large human beings. If you see a giant table with 16 guys sitting around and talking about a 20 year-old, you know you are where you want to be - or where you don't want to be, depending on where your head is. Don't be surprised that Mel Kiper keeps saying "he is 5-Th on my board". Yes, nobody cares about Mel's board, but ESPN has convinced him otherwise. He seriously thinks the GMs are drafting straight out of his draft-board. So sit back, relax and be prepared to hear Mel Kiper Jr speak without breathing for 5 straight minutes about an outside linebacker who may or may not be drafted in the fifth round.
I know that NFL is king and it has become a year-round sport for ESPN. They could probably telecast a live show just showing all the 60 year-old assistant coaches in the NFL shaving their grey beards, and it'll outdraw most other sports on TV. But still, ESPN can get on your nerves with how serious they take this draft stuff. It's almost like they are running a never-ending half-time show since the last Super Bowl. It's like the season never ended for these guys. Even the GMs take a few days off from football, but ESPN doesn't. Now, they have also started following college football year-around. It's hard to decide what's worse - watching Auburn offense play against Auburn defense in Mid-April or watching Mel Kiper go on and on about a place kicker.
So If you hear stupid terms like "high-motor" and "4.4-40", don't think they are talking about some washing machine. They are indeed talking about real and rather large human beings. If you see a giant table with 16 guys sitting around and talking about a 20 year-old, you know you are where you want to be - or where you don't want to be, depending on where your head is. Don't be surprised that Mel Kiper keeps saying "he is 5-Th on my board". Yes, nobody cares about Mel's board, but ESPN has convinced him otherwise. He seriously thinks the GMs are drafting straight out of his draft-board. So sit back, relax and be prepared to hear Mel Kiper Jr speak without breathing for 5 straight minutes about an outside linebacker who may or may not be drafted in the fifth round.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Rose rocks
The NBA playoffs are underway and the weekend featured a bunch of games - some of them good, some of them bad and few of them great. There were also some great personal performances from some names old and some new. LeBron and Kobe didn't do anything to change our opinion that they are on a collision course. LeBron had a 38-8-7 game on Saturday and Kobe was Kobe on Sunday - nailing ridiculous jumpers to kill Utah runs. They both won without being really challenged. There were also some strange results as a bunch of road teams won. Philly beat Orlando and Dallas beat San Antonio on the road. Rockets beat Portland which had no answer for Yao Ming. I thought Portland was the team thats supposed to be loaded with young, big bodies, but seems like none of them are big enough for Yao as Yao didn't even miss a shot.
The guy who was really impressive and who served me a plate of crow for lunch was Derrick Rose. I love his game, but he had a big-time coming out party on Saturday against the Celtics. I was dogging the Bulls and saying how the Celtics can beat them with or without KG, but Derrick Rose was so awesome he showed me why and how the Bulls could beat the Celts with or without KG! Dude had 36-4-11 and shot 12-19. Numbers that are some kind of rookie records at various levels. I think nobody except MJ has scored like that in a playoff debut. The Celtics clearly missed KG and both Ray-ray and Pierce went AWOL. Rando was the only guy who showed up, but his 29-9-7 was not enough as the Bulls took it in OT.
I still think Boston takes this series, but nothing is going to be easy without KG. You realize how important he is on both ends of the floor when he is not playing. They came back and won today's game behind some solid shooting by Ray-ray. We can't over-analyze 2 close games, but if I have to put some money, I'll still put it on Boston. But Rose had 36 the other day and Ben Gordon dropped 42 today - another MJ type performance and apparently he is only the second guy outside of MJ to score 40+ for the Bulls in the playoffs. Of course MJ did it 38 times or something. Ridiculous! So lets see what they do the rest of this series. It should be a good one.
San Antonio came back and won against Dallas at home today as well after losing to the Mavs on Saturday. I expect the Spurs to win too when it's all said and done. Tony had 38 today and he needs to play at a high level to get the Spurs through. Manu is out and Timmy is hurt. But Timmy holds the cards for the Spurs and the dope-head Josh Howard is the key for the Mavs. That guy is hard to handle if he is doing good. This should be an interesting series too. Orlando lost at home to Philly and I still think the rest of that series may not even be that interesting if Orlando wakes up, which I expect them to anytime now. Denver blew out New Orleans as Chauncey went nuts with 36 points. He has been a God-send for the rich-and-creamies and lets see where they end up. At the end of the day, this playoffs is about 3 teams - Lakers, Cavs and may be the Rockets. Denver and Magic have an opportunity to step up and fill some of the void especially if Duncan is ineffective. But will they ? We will know over the next few days and weeks.
The guy who was really impressive and who served me a plate of crow for lunch was Derrick Rose. I love his game, but he had a big-time coming out party on Saturday against the Celtics. I was dogging the Bulls and saying how the Celtics can beat them with or without KG, but Derrick Rose was so awesome he showed me why and how the Bulls could beat the Celts with or without KG! Dude had 36-4-11 and shot 12-19. Numbers that are some kind of rookie records at various levels. I think nobody except MJ has scored like that in a playoff debut. The Celtics clearly missed KG and both Ray-ray and Pierce went AWOL. Rando was the only guy who showed up, but his 29-9-7 was not enough as the Bulls took it in OT.
I still think Boston takes this series, but nothing is going to be easy without KG. You realize how important he is on both ends of the floor when he is not playing. They came back and won today's game behind some solid shooting by Ray-ray. We can't over-analyze 2 close games, but if I have to put some money, I'll still put it on Boston. But Rose had 36 the other day and Ben Gordon dropped 42 today - another MJ type performance and apparently he is only the second guy outside of MJ to score 40+ for the Bulls in the playoffs. Of course MJ did it 38 times or something. Ridiculous! So lets see what they do the rest of this series. It should be a good one.
San Antonio came back and won against Dallas at home today as well after losing to the Mavs on Saturday. I expect the Spurs to win too when it's all said and done. Tony had 38 today and he needs to play at a high level to get the Spurs through. Manu is out and Timmy is hurt. But Timmy holds the cards for the Spurs and the dope-head Josh Howard is the key for the Mavs. That guy is hard to handle if he is doing good. This should be an interesting series too. Orlando lost at home to Philly and I still think the rest of that series may not even be that interesting if Orlando wakes up, which I expect them to anytime now. Denver blew out New Orleans as Chauncey went nuts with 36 points. He has been a God-send for the rich-and-creamies and lets see where they end up. At the end of the day, this playoffs is about 3 teams - Lakers, Cavs and may be the Rockets. Denver and Magic have an opportunity to step up and fill some of the void especially if Duncan is ineffective. But will they ? We will know over the next few days and weeks.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Playoff time
The NBA playoffs are starting tomorrow. First and foremost, I have to mention that the Phoenix Suns won't be in it. I was watching their last game against the Warriors and was wondering if anybody thought at the beginning of the season that this would be a game between 2 lottery teams. But here were the Suns, just finishing their slide down the down-slope and closing shut the proverbial window of opportunity. It was amazing to see how the Suns looked like a championship caliber team against the Warriors and even the Warrior announcers talk about the Suns like they are so much better than Warriors. But the bottom-line is, they are both lottery teams. Thats how crazy the West is. The Suns are 10 games over 500 and 17 games over the Warriors and they both looking in from the outside. Some people say the Suns are old while the others say they under-achieved big-time. I think the truth is somewhere in-between. Thats life in the West I guess.
The playoffs should be good, though it's gonna be long and slow as usual. With KG being questionable for the playoffs, I think we might as well cancel the Eastern playoffs and send the King to the Finals. The Orlando Magic can make some noise, but I think the Cavs are too tough and too legit for the Magic. There's no point doing any in-depth analysis of the Eastern playoffs, but it'll still be fun to watch because of the great talent on display in the form of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. I am sure Wade will give us a highlight reel or three before it's all said and done. The Cavs-Pistons first round series will be mildly interesting because of the history and the rivalry, though these Pistons are not the same. It's too bad that KG's injuury alters the Eastern landscape. The Bulls still think the Celtics are lying. Two things. First and foremost, how the hell did the Bulls make the playoffs? What kind of conference is this stupid L-East? Secondly, why would the Celtics lie to beat the lowly Bulls? The Celts can probably beat the Bulls without KG, Pierce or Allen and with Eddie House's right hand tied up.
The real games are going to be in the West, though even the Western contests are not going to be as good as in the past. Couple of reasons for that. The Lakers are too good and they are going to go all the way to the Finals anyways. The other teams may be very good, but they still don't have a chance against the Lake-show. Secondly, the Spurs are not as strong as they used to be. Duncan is hobbled, Ginobli is out and the team is glacier-old. I can't believe they were one shot away from ending up 5-Th and starting the playoffs on the road. But the Mavs-Spurs series should be fun though. I will watch it for old time's sake. Utah would have been a challenger, but they have been injured all year and they have to deal with the Lakers in the very first round. New Orleans and Portland are still too young and Denver is Denver. I can't believe that Denver finished second in the West. That proves my point about how West is not "THE WEST" anymore. That leaves Houston. I think Houston is a sleeper and we will see how they do. They can cause some trouble even to the mighty Fakers.
One thing is for sure though. The NBA badly wants a Lakers-Cavs finals and it wants the Cavs and LeBron to win it all even worse.
The playoffs should be good, though it's gonna be long and slow as usual. With KG being questionable for the playoffs, I think we might as well cancel the Eastern playoffs and send the King to the Finals. The Orlando Magic can make some noise, but I think the Cavs are too tough and too legit for the Magic. There's no point doing any in-depth analysis of the Eastern playoffs, but it'll still be fun to watch because of the great talent on display in the form of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. I am sure Wade will give us a highlight reel or three before it's all said and done. The Cavs-Pistons first round series will be mildly interesting because of the history and the rivalry, though these Pistons are not the same. It's too bad that KG's injuury alters the Eastern landscape. The Bulls still think the Celtics are lying. Two things. First and foremost, how the hell did the Bulls make the playoffs? What kind of conference is this stupid L-East? Secondly, why would the Celtics lie to beat the lowly Bulls? The Celts can probably beat the Bulls without KG, Pierce or Allen and with Eddie House's right hand tied up.
The real games are going to be in the West, though even the Western contests are not going to be as good as in the past. Couple of reasons for that. The Lakers are too good and they are going to go all the way to the Finals anyways. The other teams may be very good, but they still don't have a chance against the Lake-show. Secondly, the Spurs are not as strong as they used to be. Duncan is hobbled, Ginobli is out and the team is glacier-old. I can't believe they were one shot away from ending up 5-Th and starting the playoffs on the road. But the Mavs-Spurs series should be fun though. I will watch it for old time's sake. Utah would have been a challenger, but they have been injured all year and they have to deal with the Lakers in the very first round. New Orleans and Portland are still too young and Denver is Denver. I can't believe that Denver finished second in the West. That proves my point about how West is not "THE WEST" anymore. That leaves Houston. I think Houston is a sleeper and we will see how they do. They can cause some trouble even to the mighty Fakers.
One thing is for sure though. The NBA badly wants a Lakers-Cavs finals and it wants the Cavs and LeBron to win it all even worse.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
NC stands for No Contest
North Carolina showed us all how superior they are to the rest of the competition. They put Michigan State in it's place just minutes in to the game. It was obvious that there was a huge class difference between the two teams. It was like a Ferrari racing against a Geo Metro. The Spartans could not match Carolina's size, speed or shooting. They proved Tom Izzo right since he had said earlier that if both teams played well, Carolina will win for sure. I was expecting Izzo's coaching to be the great equalizer, but there was just too much talent differential for him to make a difference.
Too bad Michigan State couldn't hang with the Heels. There was a lot of talk about how the state of Michigan was battered by the economic downturn and how this teams kinda brought them together and provided some distraction. I was not there to see the communal impact of this event, but from all accounts, it sounded like it had some potential to be a feel-good story. But it was not meant to be. Unfortunately the Spartans ended up spoiling the finals because I am sure UConn would have given NC a much better fight. But then again, we can't blame the Spartans for UConn's under-achievement.
Roy Williams now has 2 rings in 4 years. He has cemented in place among legends and in the hall-of-fame. He has probably replaced coach K as the premier coach in the Carolinas and might even surpass Dean Smith as a legend when all is said and done. Of course thats assuming he doesn't get caught pimping for one of his recruits or something crazy like that. It's amazing how he was considered incapable of "winning the big one" just a few years ago at Kansas. He moves to NC, wins the big one and all of a sudden he is now a genius among geniuses. His team was just to good and was never even challenged in this tourney.
North Carolina made this year's tourney a little uninteresting at times. I don't remember a NCAA tournament in recent years with so little drama. Ironically, the big-name schools seem to be getting bigger and better in the NCAA tournament which is supposed to be the great equalizer while the talk of parity is rampant these days in other sports like NFL and college football. The NCAA committee should screw up more to make the tournament more competitive. It seems like they are on-the-dot with their seeding and ranking of these teams the last few years.
In other news, the MLB season is off and running. How do you know it's early days yet? When you check the standings and see the Toronto Bluejays at the top of the AL East. Thats a dead giveaway that the season is still too young to matter. The World champs have lost both games to the Braves and Tim Lincecum didn't have a great start today for the San Francisco Giants. Neither did Brandon Webb for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I just thought those are some mentionable things from the first 2 days of the season.
Too bad Michigan State couldn't hang with the Heels. There was a lot of talk about how the state of Michigan was battered by the economic downturn and how this teams kinda brought them together and provided some distraction. I was not there to see the communal impact of this event, but from all accounts, it sounded like it had some potential to be a feel-good story. But it was not meant to be. Unfortunately the Spartans ended up spoiling the finals because I am sure UConn would have given NC a much better fight. But then again, we can't blame the Spartans for UConn's under-achievement.
Roy Williams now has 2 rings in 4 years. He has cemented in place among legends and in the hall-of-fame. He has probably replaced coach K as the premier coach in the Carolinas and might even surpass Dean Smith as a legend when all is said and done. Of course thats assuming he doesn't get caught pimping for one of his recruits or something crazy like that. It's amazing how he was considered incapable of "winning the big one" just a few years ago at Kansas. He moves to NC, wins the big one and all of a sudden he is now a genius among geniuses. His team was just to good and was never even challenged in this tourney.
North Carolina made this year's tourney a little uninteresting at times. I don't remember a NCAA tournament in recent years with so little drama. Ironically, the big-name schools seem to be getting bigger and better in the NCAA tournament which is supposed to be the great equalizer while the talk of parity is rampant these days in other sports like NFL and college football. The NCAA committee should screw up more to make the tournament more competitive. It seems like they are on-the-dot with their seeding and ranking of these teams the last few years.
In other news, the MLB season is off and running. How do you know it's early days yet? When you check the standings and see the Toronto Bluejays at the top of the AL East. Thats a dead giveaway that the season is still too young to matter. The World champs have lost both games to the Braves and Tim Lincecum didn't have a great start today for the San Francisco Giants. Neither did Brandon Webb for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I just thought those are some mentionable things from the first 2 days of the season.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Sunset!
The Suns finally are done for the season. They are still mathematically alive, but barely. After todays embarrassing loss to the hated Mavs, they are 4 games back with 5 games to go. Even the Mavs can't choke this one away orr can they! As a true fan, I am disappointed and would have loved to see them in the playoffs. Actually I think I am more disappointed just because they lost to the Mavs. I hate that. I want Nash to kick their butt every time. But part of me is happy that they didn't make it to the playoffs. They have no shot against the Fakers, especially without Amare and what's the point getting there and losing to the Fakers? Let the Mavs do the honors instead.
Also, making the playoffs gives the team and the management a false sense of accomplishment and pride (I never understood why) and I don't think Sarver and Kerr deserve it this season. In the NBA, 16 out of the 30 teams make it and it only means you are not in the bottom half. Big deal! If you don't make it to the NBA playoffs, it is an insult, but I don't think making it is any kind of achievement. Plus the NBA playoffs with it's 7 game format is probably the hardest to pull off any kind of upset. It's not a one-and-done deal like the NCAA or even the NFL playoffs and you don't have any specialists like a baseball pitcher who can swing a series one way or the other. I understand the playoffs are a lot of fun for the fans and the players and is more money for the owners, but if you are not a young team and you are not going to get out of the first round, it's no big deal.
But by missing the playoffs completely, Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr have to look in the mirror and come up with a plan. How do you fix this? Where is this thing going and who is going to stay, who's going to go? They can't hide behind the playoffs and they have to come up with some answers for these tough questions. Coach Gentry will be sold as one of the answers and to be fair to him, he is definitely improved the team, but it's going to take more than just him to push this team up the brutal Western playoff hierarchy. Suns may have to take a big step back and reload again. I don't think there is any quick fixes here. Shaq had a decent season thanks to the Suns training staff, but he is not the old Shaq and is grossly over-paid. Can the penny-pinching Robert Sarver deal with that in this economy without the playoff revenue?
Amare and Nash are still good, even great, but they are not the best at their positions anymore. Amare never got there though he looked like he could and Nash has vacated his top spot to Chris Paul. Nash is still awesome like he showed the other day against Houston with a 25-17 game, but he can't defend the young PGs anymore. Not that he was ever too effective stopping them. I think they need to hold on to Nash and try and move the other pieces for younger pieces. Nash is not getting younger and we shouldn't be rebuilding around him, but the dude is still good, he makes everybody around him better, he is fun to watch and good PGs are hard to find. Shaq and Amare can be and should be moved for younger pieces and/or cap space and we will go from there. That would be my recipe, but who knows what Sarver and Kerr will be cooking this summer.
Tomorrow is the NCAA championship game. North Carolina will win easily like it has done all season. I expect a rather lame end to the tournament much like most of the games have been. Too many blowouts all over the place on TV these days including the 2 NBA games today. Somebody from the Spurs stop LeBron James! It's a good time to welcome baseball back again. Philly lost to the Braves 4-1 today though I don't understand why the Giants and the Dodgers were still playing a spring training game today. Weird!
Also, making the playoffs gives the team and the management a false sense of accomplishment and pride (I never understood why) and I don't think Sarver and Kerr deserve it this season. In the NBA, 16 out of the 30 teams make it and it only means you are not in the bottom half. Big deal! If you don't make it to the NBA playoffs, it is an insult, but I don't think making it is any kind of achievement. Plus the NBA playoffs with it's 7 game format is probably the hardest to pull off any kind of upset. It's not a one-and-done deal like the NCAA or even the NFL playoffs and you don't have any specialists like a baseball pitcher who can swing a series one way or the other. I understand the playoffs are a lot of fun for the fans and the players and is more money for the owners, but if you are not a young team and you are not going to get out of the first round, it's no big deal.
But by missing the playoffs completely, Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr have to look in the mirror and come up with a plan. How do you fix this? Where is this thing going and who is going to stay, who's going to go? They can't hide behind the playoffs and they have to come up with some answers for these tough questions. Coach Gentry will be sold as one of the answers and to be fair to him, he is definitely improved the team, but it's going to take more than just him to push this team up the brutal Western playoff hierarchy. Suns may have to take a big step back and reload again. I don't think there is any quick fixes here. Shaq had a decent season thanks to the Suns training staff, but he is not the old Shaq and is grossly over-paid. Can the penny-pinching Robert Sarver deal with that in this economy without the playoff revenue?
Amare and Nash are still good, even great, but they are not the best at their positions anymore. Amare never got there though he looked like he could and Nash has vacated his top spot to Chris Paul. Nash is still awesome like he showed the other day against Houston with a 25-17 game, but he can't defend the young PGs anymore. Not that he was ever too effective stopping them. I think they need to hold on to Nash and try and move the other pieces for younger pieces. Nash is not getting younger and we shouldn't be rebuilding around him, but the dude is still good, he makes everybody around him better, he is fun to watch and good PGs are hard to find. Shaq and Amare can be and should be moved for younger pieces and/or cap space and we will go from there. That would be my recipe, but who knows what Sarver and Kerr will be cooking this summer.
Tomorrow is the NCAA championship game. North Carolina will win easily like it has done all season. I expect a rather lame end to the tournament much like most of the games have been. Too many blowouts all over the place on TV these days including the 2 NBA games today. Somebody from the Spurs stop LeBron James! It's a good time to welcome baseball back again. Philly lost to the Braves 4-1 today though I don't understand why the Giants and the Dodgers were still playing a spring training game today. Weird!
Friday, April 03, 2009
Happy Cutler
Jay Cutler is out of Denver and got what he wanted. He is now a Chicago Bear, though I am not sure if being the Bears QB is what he wanted. I feel like it's good for Chicago and not too good for Cutler. Chicago gets a proven, talented QB - may be it's first since the 18-Th century. Thats the problem for Cutler. I don't know if the coaches there, their system, the city, the weather etc. etc. know how to use and leverage a good QB. I think he would have fit well with the Jets, Vikings or even the Niners, though it might have taken longer with the Niners. But in any case he makes the Bears better for sure. Cutler is good.
Denver won out big in this deal too. The Broncos got quarterback Kyle Orton, two first-round draft picks, a third-rounder and a fifth-rounder thought Cutler was a known problem-child at Denver. Looks like somebody was DESPERATE. I wouldn't have given anything more than Orton and a first rounder. Some would argue even thats a little high. This might explain why the other teams couldn't pull it off. I do think draft picks are a little overrated when it comes to QBs because a proven QB is worth a first rounder for sure. They are not as easily replaceable as other positions through the draft. Finding "A QB" in the draft is easy. But finding "THE QB" is not. But still the Bears overpaid for sure.
The Broncos are screwed in the short run. No QB and a new coach. Broncos' kid-coach Josh McDaniels is the reason for all this mess. What was he thinking when he went after Matt Cassell in a trade? I mean forget the fact that he is a new guy in town and didn't establish any relationship with his spoilt-brat QB. Why did he even want Matt Cassell instead of Cutler in the first place? Just because he worked with him in New England and Cassell did well with Moss in that offense for one year? Cutler has his issues and he does behave like the 20 year old kid-sister of Paris Hilton, but Josh shot himself in the foot not knowing what he has in Cutler - both in terms of his football skills and his personality. I can easily argue Cutler is better than Cassell as a QB.
Now the NFL's only girl QB is in Chicago. She wanted out and she is talented. In some sense everybody won out in this trade.
Denver won out big in this deal too. The Broncos got quarterback Kyle Orton, two first-round draft picks, a third-rounder and a fifth-rounder thought Cutler was a known problem-child at Denver. Looks like somebody was DESPERATE. I wouldn't have given anything more than Orton and a first rounder. Some would argue even thats a little high. This might explain why the other teams couldn't pull it off. I do think draft picks are a little overrated when it comes to QBs because a proven QB is worth a first rounder for sure. They are not as easily replaceable as other positions through the draft. Finding "A QB" in the draft is easy. But finding "THE QB" is not. But still the Bears overpaid for sure.
The Broncos are screwed in the short run. No QB and a new coach. Broncos' kid-coach Josh McDaniels is the reason for all this mess. What was he thinking when he went after Matt Cassell in a trade? I mean forget the fact that he is a new guy in town and didn't establish any relationship with his spoilt-brat QB. Why did he even want Matt Cassell instead of Cutler in the first place? Just because he worked with him in New England and Cassell did well with Moss in that offense for one year? Cutler has his issues and he does behave like the 20 year old kid-sister of Paris Hilton, but Josh shot himself in the foot not knowing what he has in Cutler - both in terms of his football skills and his personality. I can easily argue Cutler is better than Cassell as a QB.
Now the NFL's only girl QB is in Chicago. She wanted out and she is talented. In some sense everybody won out in this trade.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Photo Finish
The Elite 8 today gave us the best game of the tournament so far after a bunch of blowouts in the sweet 16. Villanova and Pittsburgh played a beauty at Boston today. Nova won 78-76 after almost giving it away. The long-range, in-bounds play that Nova guy tried with the game on the line was one of the craziest things I have seen in a long time. Goes to show how these guys are still college kids who can do really dumb things. How do you throw that pass at the point in the game? Thats what makes up good drama I guess. So Pitt ties the game up with 5.5 secs to go. Nova then ran a great in-bounds play as if to erase the horrible previous effort and Scottie Reynolds drove all the way to the paint and hit a tough shot. Game over for Pitt and one more blow to my bracket.
Big East is dominating the elite 8 this year with 4 teams with the Big-12 sending 2 and one each from the Big-10 and the ACC. The Pitt-Nova game was a great advertisement for the Big East and U-Conn made it a great day for the conference when they handled Missouri. That game was close at times, but U-Conn really had this one covered for the most part. I am really excited for the NC-Oklahoma game tomorrow. What makes this game unique is that it has almost NBA-level star-power with Blake Griffin and Psycho-T and all the other Carolina names. Hope it lives up to the hype. Louisville on the other hand should handle Michigan state rather easily and send Rick Pitino to the Final-4 again. Speaking of Pitino, Kentucky apparently found out Billy Gillespie was not Pitino as they got rid of him amidst some weird drama after just 2 seasons. I was surprised how quickly this thing went south.
I was hoping for a photo-finish in the NBA playoff race, but the Suns are trailing Dallas for the 8-Th spot by 3.5 games with 9 games to play. Looks like it's over. I would have liked to have seen them play under the new coach and the old system with a healthy Barbosa and Amare. They have been playing better lately, but the Porter era put them in a big hole they couldn't get out of. Then the injuries happened and now I am not even sure if I want them to make the playoffs just to get eliminated by the Fakers. I would rather let some other team suffer that ignominy. At least if Amare and Bobo were healthy, we could kid ourselves that the Suns have a legitimate shot at an upset, but this group will have issues in the first round of the playoffs. Lets hope Dallas screws up the last 2 weeks, but at this stage it's nothing more than a hope and a prayer.
Good game tomorrow on ABC as the Mavs visit the Cavs and the King. Anytime LeBron is on TV, it's becoming must-see TV. He is fast becoming a phenomenon much like MJ was. LeBron had better numbers last year, but he is blowing up this season because of where his team is and how he is playing lesser minutes because of the blowouts and home dominance. In other news, Gilbert Arenas stopped blogging and started playing today after a year. He started off in style by hitting his first 3. But he needs to put in a couple of solid years to erase the last few to avoid being remembered as the next Penny Hardaway or Grant Hill. Both those guys played for the Suns well past their prime and I hope I don't see Gilbert Arenas in a Suns uniform in 2014 making 20 mill a year.
Big East is dominating the elite 8 this year with 4 teams with the Big-12 sending 2 and one each from the Big-10 and the ACC. The Pitt-Nova game was a great advertisement for the Big East and U-Conn made it a great day for the conference when they handled Missouri. That game was close at times, but U-Conn really had this one covered for the most part. I am really excited for the NC-Oklahoma game tomorrow. What makes this game unique is that it has almost NBA-level star-power with Blake Griffin and Psycho-T and all the other Carolina names. Hope it lives up to the hype. Louisville on the other hand should handle Michigan state rather easily and send Rick Pitino to the Final-4 again. Speaking of Pitino, Kentucky apparently found out Billy Gillespie was not Pitino as they got rid of him amidst some weird drama after just 2 seasons. I was surprised how quickly this thing went south.
I was hoping for a photo-finish in the NBA playoff race, but the Suns are trailing Dallas for the 8-Th spot by 3.5 games with 9 games to play. Looks like it's over. I would have liked to have seen them play under the new coach and the old system with a healthy Barbosa and Amare. They have been playing better lately, but the Porter era put them in a big hole they couldn't get out of. Then the injuries happened and now I am not even sure if I want them to make the playoffs just to get eliminated by the Fakers. I would rather let some other team suffer that ignominy. At least if Amare and Bobo were healthy, we could kid ourselves that the Suns have a legitimate shot at an upset, but this group will have issues in the first round of the playoffs. Lets hope Dallas screws up the last 2 weeks, but at this stage it's nothing more than a hope and a prayer.
Good game tomorrow on ABC as the Mavs visit the Cavs and the King. Anytime LeBron is on TV, it's becoming must-see TV. He is fast becoming a phenomenon much like MJ was. LeBron had better numbers last year, but he is blowing up this season because of where his team is and how he is playing lesser minutes because of the blowouts and home dominance. In other news, Gilbert Arenas stopped blogging and started playing today after a year. He started off in style by hitting his first 3. But he needs to put in a couple of solid years to erase the last few to avoid being remembered as the next Penny Hardaway or Grant Hill. Both those guys played for the Suns well past their prime and I hope I don't see Gilbert Arenas in a Suns uniform in 2014 making 20 mill a year.
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