Here Come The Rockets

The way the Houston Rockets and their fans were celebrating tonight, you would have thought they had just won the NBA Championship. The Toyota Center was in a state of pandemonium after the Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 92-76. Confetti was flying, and players were on top of the media tables pumping up the raucous capacity crowd, which then began the chants of "Beat LA". With the win, the Rockets won the best of seven series 4-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997. Rocket fans will get what they wish, which is the honor of facing the top-seeded Lakers starting Monday night in Los Angeles. 

If the regular season was any indication of how this series will play out, then expect the series to be short. The Lakers won all four games, and their average margin of victory was 13 points. In addition, the Lakers forced an average of 19 turnovers in the four games. I'll have a preview of all the second round matchups once they are official, but my prediction right off the bat is that the Lakers will win this series in five or six games.

I can't help but to laugh at the fact that the one year Tracy McGrady is not playing in the playoffs, his team advances to the second round. For those of you who may not know, T-Mac has never gotten out of the first round of the playoffs in the seven times he has been in the postseason. T-Mac had season-ending surgery on his knee in February which was an injury that the Rockets are probably thankful for now. I do feel bad for the guy, I mean he's been criticized his whole career for never getting out of the first round, and then the ONE year he can't play, his team advances. 

Ron Artest is officially the biggest idiot in the NBA. He has said several times now that Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers is the best player he has ever faced. What's wrong with that statement? Hmmm, well maybe the fact that Artest has faced LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, all of whom are players that I would guess are just a bit better than Roy. I know Kobe Bryant will not use Artest's statement as motivation to put on a clinic, but I can only hope that Kobe makes Artest look like the retard he is for making such a stupid statement. 

The Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls series is the best non-finals series I have ever seen. The Bulls won in triple overtime tonight, forcing a Game 7 which will be in Boston Saturday night. Four out of the six games in the series have gone to overtime. I hope the Bulls can pull off the upset, but I have a feeling Boston will win, and it won't be close.

 

Monday and Tuesday are my last days of classes, and then I start finals. Tomorrow's forecast in Phoenix: Sunny with a high of 95. And now I'm off to the midnight showing of X-Men. 

1 Series Down, 12 More Wins To Go

To nobody's surprise, the Los Angeles Lakers advanced to the second round of the NBA Playoffs after they defeated the Utah Jazz 107-96 in Game 5 last night in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, and Lamar Odom added 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who will now have several days off before facing the winner of the Houston-Portland series. 

There was never any doubt in my mind that the Lakers were going to win this series, although I can say the way the Lakers played in this series was not close to championship caliber basketball. Yeah the Lakers scored more than 100 points in each game, yeah they shot 50% from the field in the series, but this team did not play to their full potential. Utah outrebounded the Lakers by more than six per game, and the Laker bench was incapable of holding a lead throughout most of the series. In Game 5, the Lakers were up by 22 points in the fourth quarter, yet the starters had to come back on the floor once the lead shrank to six. Let's not forget Andrew Bynum was a virtual non-factor in this series. Bynum averaged a whopping five points in the series, and managed to lose his starting job to Lamar Odom in the process. The matchups were probably a reason why Bynum did not start, but come on, Bynum is supposed to be the man that makes the Lakers unbeatable in the playoffs, he should be able to put up more than five points a game. The fact is he will definitely get more playing time whether the Lakers play Portland or Houston in the next round as Pau Gasol is too soft to guard either Yao Ming or Joel Pryzbilla/Greg Oden. 

I was very impressed with Lamar Odom in this series. He definitely made the most of his time in the starting lineup, as he averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in the series. This just did not seem like a playoff series for me, I don't know maybe it had something to do with Laker fans treating it like regular season games. I can't say I really blame them, I mean at this point does anyone really think the Lakers won't make the NBA Finals? That's the time when the fans will start being loud and standing up during the game (Or maybe not since most of the fans will probably be celebrities). 

Nonetheless the Lakers are moving on, four wins down, 12 to go until the championship. The Lakers will have to wait to see whether they will be playing the Houston Rockets, who the Lakers beat all three times in the regular season, or if they will be playing the Portland Trail Blazers, who the Lakers split a four-game series with in the regular season. All signs point to the Lakers facing the Rockets, as Houston has a 3-1 series lead against Portland. Only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win. I can't say I really have a preference, the Lakers will win regardless of who they play, but if I had to pick I'd say I hope they play the Rockets since I hate Ron Artest and would love to see Kobe Bryant make him look like a fool much like he did in the regular season. 

The Dodgers lost to the San Francisco Giants 5-4 last night. In attendance was Barry "The Roidhead" Bonds. The man is treated like a God in San Fran. I can only wish that some day Giant fans will take their ignorant heads out of their butts and realize Bonds is the biggest cheater to have ever played baseball. If they honestly believe Bonds has never taken steroids in his life, then they have to be about as dumb and helpless as someone who decides to root for the Los Angeles Clippers. 

I was not able to watch 24 last night. There was too much on TV, and I have to admit that I turned from the Laker game at 9:00 so I could watch WWE Monday Night Raw (The Lakers were up by 22 at the time, cut me some slack). I have to keep up with the WWE as it's possible I may be doing a wrestling show on the ASU student radio station next year. I'm still upset I won't be able to go to Summer Slam, which is at Staples Center this August. I'll be starting my sophomore year the day after, so I guess that's a legitimate reason not to go.

Today was the beginning of what should be a very stressful final two weeks of school. I finished the rough draft of my paper on the use of steroids in professional sports (Hey I knew that Barry Bonds cheating would help me sometime!) Finals start a week from today. Tomorrow's forecast in Phoenix: Sunny with a high of 89.

The Return of the King

Last night Kobe Bryant proved why he is the best player in the NBA. After going 5-24 from the field in the Lakers' Game 3 loss, the reigning MVP went 16-24 and scored 38 points and led the Lakers to a Game 4 victory in Salt Lake City. Kobe finally put his stamp in the series, and pretty much ended Utah's season at the same time. The Lakers now lead the best of seven series 3-1 and will most likely finish off the Jazz tomorrow night in Los Angeles. Last night was just another one of the numerous amazing performances from Kobe. Coming off his second worst shooting performance in playoff history, Bryant came out on fire in Game 4. He scored 13 of LA's first 15 points and went 6 0f 8 shooting in the first quarter. Kobe was the reason why the Lakers were even competitive in the first quarter, as the rest of the team shot 2 of 10 from the field while trailing Utah 25-20 at the end of the quarter. The Lakers took control of the game in the second quarter, during which Kobe scored 11 points. Kobe picked up right where he left off in the third quarter, as he shot 4 of 5 from the field and finished with 10 points. Bryant was able to set up open teammates due to the double-teams he was receiving from the Jazz, which resulted in a number of three pointers for the Lakers. At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers led by 19 and the game was well in hand. I have never seen any athlete with the will, passion, and fire as much as Kobe has. He sent a message last night that he will do whatever it takes to win a championship as he willed his team to victory in a game that the Lakers needed to win. Kobe wanted no part of a tie series headed back to Los Angeles, and he did everything in his power to make sure it did not happen. When Kobe takes over and when he plays with the fire that he did last night, there is no one in the NBA that can stop him, just ask Utah. Game 5 of the series is tomorrow night at 7:30 in Los Angeles.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the first team into the second round of the playoffs, as they completed the 4-game sweep of the Detroit Pistons. The Chicago Bulls evened out their series with the Boston Celtics in a double-overtime thriller today in Chicago.

The Dodgers took 2 of 3 games from the Colorado Rockies this weekend. The Blue Crew have a record of 13-6, which is tied for the best record in the National League. I watched The Wrestler this weekend for the second time, and I still think Mickey Rourke should have received the Oscar for Best Actor. Speaking of wrestling, the WWE Backlash Pay-Per-View is tonight. Only two and a half more weeks until I am done with my freshman year of college

Really?

Well I can't say I'm really surprised by the outcome of Game 3 between the Lakers and the Jazz, in fact I predicted Utah to win this game. I think irritated is probably the best word to describe my mood at the moment. The Lakers had a golden opportunity to put away the Jazz, and they blew it. Consequently, the best of seven series is now 2-1 in favor of the Lakers, after an inspired Carlos Boozer led the Jazz to a 88-86 victory in Salt Lake City. Boozer scored 23 points and grabbed 22 rebounds for the Jazz. Deron Williams struggled from the field all night long, so it was only fitting that he hit the game winning jump shot for Utah with 2.2 seconds left. The Lakers once again blew a big lead, as this time they were outscored 28-18 in the 4th quarter. The Lakers were up 64-51 with 4:31 left in the 3rd quarter before they were outscored 22-8 over the next 8 minutes of the game. A few stats stick out to me and probably will to anyone who will read the box score: First the Jazz outrebounded the Lakers 55-40. The Lakers shot 37% from the field, after shooting 58% in the first two games in the series and Kobe Bryant went 5-24 from the field. The Lakers shot a whopping 16-26 from the free throw line. I don't even know how many Pau Gasol missed in the 4th quarter alone. Oh yeah and Andrew Bynum graced the Lakers with his presence in this game by playing a grand total of 7 minutes before he fouled out in THE 3rd QUARTER. Good lord I could have gone out there and stayed on the floor longer than Bynum, 7 minutes is unacceptable. The players of the game for the Lakers were Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. The two big guys combined for 41 points and 23 rebounds. The consolation I will take in this loss is that even though the Lakers had one of their worst games of the entire season, they were still in position to win. Kobe missed a potential game winning 3 pointer at the buzzer. If you were to tell me at the beginning of the game that Kobe would be throwing up bricks and Andrew Bynum would play 7 minutes in the game, and that the Lakers would only lose by two, I would have been surprised. It's frustrating because the Lakers could gave gone up 3-0 and virtually put away the Jazz. Now Utah is full of life, and they have a chance to even the series in Game 4. I won't be surprised one bit if Utah wins Game 4, but considering that the Lakers can't play any worse than they did in Game 3, I'm picking them to win Game 4 and take a 3-1 lead. The Lakers have lost 10 out of their last 12 playoff games in Utah. I really hope the Lakers rebound from this pathetic performance and take care of business in Game 4, which is Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in Salt Lake City.

Dwyane Wade: Where Amazing Happens

 

Dwyane Wade has quickly become one of my favorite players in the NBA. As a matter of fact, I would say Wade is my 2nd favorite player in the game behind Kobe Bryant of course. I watched Game 2 of the Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks game last night, which the Heat won 108-93 to even out their series at 1. For most of the game I was in awe of Wade's play. He started to take over the game in the 2nd quarter when he scored 13 straight points for the Heat, and ended up with 21 points in the 1st half alone, which was more than he scored in all of Game 1. The Hawks put several different players on Wade, but it really didn't matter, no one was going to stop him. Wade ended up scoring 33 points, and was 6 out of 10 from 3-point land. Other than LeBron James or Chris Paul, I really don't know if there is a player who is more valuable to his team than Wade with the Heat. Last year Wade missed most of the season with a bad knee, and the Heat won a grand total of 15 games. This year with a healthy Wade the Heat won 43. Wade led the league in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game while dishing out over 7 assists per game as well. Wade is a true class act and really is a pleasure to watch. I remember the first time I really started to follow Wade was in the 2006 NBA Finals, when over 6 games he averaged 34.2 points and led the Heat to an NBA Championship. I'm pulling for the Heat to win their series with the Hawks as it would most likely set up a Dwyane Wade-LeBron James showdown in the 2nd round.  For the time being Wade is my 2nd favorite player, however I see him being my favorite once Kobe retires.

Game 3 of the Lakers-Jazz series is tonight. I'm hoping the Lakers can come away with a split in Utah and then finish off the Jazz in Game 5, which would be in Los Angeles. Utah is a great home team, and their fans are very passionate and will certainly be very loud. I'm predicting Utah to win Game 3 and then lose Game 4.

The Dodgers lost again last night. Manny Ramirez hit his 4th home run of the season in the losing effort. Looks like Man Ram is finally starting to heat up a bit. The Dodgers are 10-5 and still hold the top spot in the National League West.

I went to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday with my MCO class, thus the picture of the Tiger. It was a fun trip; I got to see a Giraffe up close for the first time in my life. I'm looking forward to Above The Rim tonight and of course the Laker game. I love having no classes on Fridays; it's nice to know my week ends today. Next week is my last regular week of school, with finals soon after. Today's forecast in Phoenix: Sunny with a high of 96

 

            

Too Close For Comfort

Well it certainly wasn't pretty, but the Los Angeles Lakers took care of business in Game 2 with 119-109 victory over the Utah Jazz. The Lakers now have a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series, which will shift to Utah on Thursday. Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 22, and Lamar Odom scored 19 off the bench for the Lake Show, who once again showed they do not have the "killer instinct" of a champion. The Lakers were up by as many as 22 points in the 1st half, yet allowed Utah to get back in the game much in the same way as they did in Game 1.  Utah pulled to within six points SEVEN times in the 3rd quarter, yet were never able to get over the hump. Every time Utah made it interesting, the Lakers would either get a big basket, or Utah would turn the ball over. Utah was led by point guard Deron Williams, who notched a career playoff-high with 35 points. Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, who once again were without their injured center Mehmet Okur. I'll take the win from the Lakers, but I certainly was not happy with the way they played. The Lakers committed 21 turnovers, and missed five free throws in the 4th quarter that kept Utah in the game. If the Lakers want to win the NBA Championship, they MUST have the instinct and the will to put teams away when they have the chance. It is unacceptable to have a 22 point lead in the 1st half and let almost all of that lead evaporate. I hope Phil Jackson really gives it to the players in practice, because the fact of the matter is if the Lakers played the way they did tonight in Utah, they will lose one if not both of the games that will be played there. The Jazz are a completely different team at home as they went 33-8 in the regular season at EnergySolutions Arena, and they will have the support of their fans, who will be loud throughout the whole game unlike the fans at Staples Center tonight. I can't complain too much though, after all seven Lakers scored in double figures, including Shannon Brown who is quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team. Hopefully the Lakers intensity will pick up a bit, they will need to be on their A game in Utah. I think the Lakers will win one of the games in Utah, but I can't see them taking both. Game 3 is Thursday night at 7:30 in Salt Lake City

The Boston Celtics found out that Leon Powe will be out for the rest of the playoffs. That's the nail in the coffin for the defending champs. Even if the Celtics win their series against the Bulls, they won't get past the 2nd round with virtually no big men. The Celtics will be lucky if they can even get past the Bulls with Kendrick Perkins and Mikki Moore holding down the paint. Cleveland should now be almost assured a trip the NBA Finals, especially if they continue to play they way they did tonight against Detroit. The Cavaliers have a 2-0 lead over the Pistons after their 94-82 win. The Portland Trail Blazers evened their series with the Houston Rockets after they won by a score of 107-103 tonight. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Houston Astros today by a score of 8-5. The loss ended the Dodgers' eight-game winning streak. I was a bit disappointed, but you can't win them all right? I can't say I have much focus on the Dodgers right now, and I probably won't until the Lakers stop playing. 

I get to go to the Phoenix Zoo tomorrow with my MCO class, how lucky am I? I forgot to mention it's going to be 100 degrees tomorrow too....great

The Champs Rebound

Well the Boston Celtics avoided disaster by defeating the Chicago Bulls 118-115 in Boston Monday night. The defending champs evened out the best of seven series at 1, and more importantly avoided going to Chicago down 0-2. Ray Allen redeemed his dismal Game 1 performance, in which he shot 1-12 from the field, by hitting a 3 pointer with 2 seconds which gave the Celtics the lead. Allen finished the game with 30 points, although the true hero in this game in my opinion was Boston point guard Rajon Rondo. Playing with a sprained ankle, Rondo had a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 16 assists, and 12 rebounds while adding 5 steals. I'm very interested to see how Boston plays on the road without Kevin Garnett. Last year the Celtics were horrible on the road in the first two rounds of the playoffs, losing 3 games in both Atlanta and Cleveland. We shall see, hopefully Chicago can take care of  business on their home-court and put the Celtics on the verge of elimination. Game 3 of the series is Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in Chicago.

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown was named the NBA Coach of the Year. I couldn't disagree anymore with this choice, as I felt this award could have gone to a number of candidates not named Mike Brown. First off let's talk about Nate McMillan of the Portland Trail Blazers, who would have been my pick if it was up to me. Portland went 54-28 this year, which was 13 games better than last season. If Portland had the tiebreaker over Denver in the regular season, they would have been the #2 seed in the Western Conference. Please tell me at the beginning of the season who would have thought that Portland would be this good??? I'll answer that question...NO ONE! Yeah people thought Portland would be a dangerous team that would probably make the playoffs, but as the #4 seed and a win away from the #2 seed? No way! If you were to tell me at the beginning of the season that Cleveland would be the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, I would have believed you, after all they do have LeBron James who is arguably the best player in the NBA. The point is, Portland exceeded expectations and Nate McMillan did the most with the least amount of talent. I really have to wonder how much of Cleveland's 66-16 record was because of Mike Brown coaching or how much of it was the fact that LeBron had an MVP type of season putting up ridiculous numbers. You could also argue Rick Adelman of the Houston Rockets or Greg Poppovich of the San Antonio Spurs were more deserving of this award. Both coaches led their teams to the playoffs in a superior Western Conference without two of their best players in Tracy McGrady and Manu Ginobili respectively.  Heck you could even say Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics was more deserving of this award for the work he did with a Celtics team who played without Kevin Garnett for the last couple weeks of the regular season. This is only the beginning of the awards for Cavaliers fans as LeBron James will almost certainly be named MVP in a few weeks. The MVP talk will be a good one, I still think Dwyane Wade is the more deserving candidate, but LeBron will get it since he is on the better team.

 

Game 2 of the Jazz-Lakers series is tonight. Hopefully the Laker fans in attendance will actually be loud during the game, and not just in the final seconds chanting "We Want Tacos" like they were in Game 1. I'm expecting the Lakers to win this game by 10 points or more.

Yesterday was 4-20, and I was really amazed at the amount of idiots on Facebook who made their statuses something related to smoking weed. I mean do people really think they're badasses because they are saying that they smoke weed? 

24 was very good last night, as was Monday Night Raw. Today's forecast in Phoenix: Sunny with a high of 99 degrees!

Great Sports Weekend For The Green Machine

If this weekend is any indication of how the Lakers and Dodgers will fare for the rest of their respective seasons, then I'm going to be a very happy guy. The NBA Playoffs began yesterday, much to my delight. This is the best time of the year for NBA fans, there really is nothing like the atmosphere of playoff basketball. The Lakers opened up their mission for a championship with a nice 113-100 victory today in Game 1 versus the Utah Jazz. Kobe Bryant led the purple and gold with 24 points while Pau Gasol added 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. However the two Lakers that I was the most impressed with are two that really didn't get much attention during the regular season: Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown. Ariza was lights out, scoring 21 points while shooting a ridiculous 8 of 10 from the floor. Brown added 9 points and 3 assists in 22 minutes off the bench. This was the first playoff game in Ariza's career, while this was also the first time Brown played more than 1 minute in a playoff game. Many Laker fans feel that Ariza's absence in the postseason last year was one of the reasons the Lakers did not win the title. Ariza is a strong, athletic and talented player. I thought he made a mistake when he left UCLA after his freshman year a few years back, but he has come a long way in his time in the NBA and has done nothing but marvelous wonders in his time with the Lakers. Shannon Brown came to the Lakers this season at the trade deadline, when he was acquired along with Adam Morrison from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Vladimir Radmonovic. I was very happy with the deal at the time, I was never really the biggest Radmonovic fan as I felt he was too inconsistent and underachieving to be earning the salary he was getting, so I was glad to see him get shipped out of town. I never thought Brown would get much playing time at the point guard position, with Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher already battling for their share of time, but the last few games of the regular season and today Brown has played brilliantly. He ran the offense well, he made his shots when he was open, and played somewhat decent defense on Jazz guard Deron Williams. When all is said and done, if the Lakers can get the kind of performances from their role players like they did today, they will beat the Jazz in 5 games or in a sweep. To put it in perspective, Andrew Bynum had 7 points and played 20 minutes in this game, yet the Lakers won by 13. Game 2 is Tuesday night at 7:30 in Los Angeles.

I wasn't all that impressed with the other playoff series. 4 of the other 7 games were complete blowouts, with the exceptions coming from Boston-Chicago, Dallas-San Antonio, and Philadelphia-Orlando. Chicago Bulls Point Guard Derrick Rose put on the best performance I have ever seen from a rookie playing his first playoff game. Rose had 36 points and 11 assists to lead the Bulls to a Game 1 upset victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics. I'm interested to see how the Celtics respond in Game 2, I still thought they would win this series even without Kevin Garnett, but after watching Game 1 I'm not so sure anymore. I can't say I would be upset at all if the Celtics lose to the Bulls, I would just love hearing the bandwagon Boston fans complain that the only reason they lost is because of Kevin Garnett's injury. Funny because every Celtic fan gave Laker fans a hard time last year when Laker fans complained that Andrew Bynum's injury was why the Lakers didn't win the title; it's funny how karma works isn't it? LeBron James was very impressive, and right now all signs point to a Lakers-Cavaliers finals matchup. I would love to see Kobe make short work of the Cavs in the finals just like he did in the two games this regular season. Maybe then people will finally realize Kobe is still the best player in the league. I really don't hate LeBron, much to the contrary of what people think, I'm just realistic and don't buy into the fact that he will be the next Michael Jordan. I am still standing by a statement I made earlier this year: LeBron James will not win an NBA Championship in Cleveland. It won't happen as long as Kobe Bryant is still with the Lakers, and Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are still in Boston. If LeBron wants to win a title, he should sign with another team next summer when he is a free agent. I'm sorry but when the second best player on your team is Mo Williams, you're not going to win a championship even if the best player on your team was Michael Jordan in his prime. Unless Cleveland brings in a SUPERSTAR, LeBron won't win a title there. And for those of you saying Mo Williams is an All-Star, yes he was, but he was AN INJURY REPLACEMENT. If you are the point guard on the team LeBron James is on, you should be able to average more than 4 assists per game, which is what Williams averaged in the regular season. I could go on for a while on this subject, but I'll save it for another time, maybe once the Lakers win the title in June.

By the way the Los Angeles Dodgers are on an 8-game winning streak. They are 10-3 right now and their offense is looking very good. Manny Ramirez finally hit his first home runs this weekend, while Andre Eithier and Matt Kemp participated in batting practice against the Colorado Rockies' pitching staff this weekend. So far the Blue Crew have scored 5 or more runs in 7 of their 10 wins. I hope they keep this up, I really didn't expect them to be this solid this early in the season. If they keep this up the whole year, maybe I will be able to celebrate a Dodgers World Series Title for the first time in my life.

There are 2 weeks left of school for me and then finals week. My two favorite shows are on tomorrow night: 24, and of course WWE Monday Night Raw. All is good right now, except for the fact that it will be close to 100 degrees all week.....only 3 more weeks in the desert until I'm back in glorious Southern California for the summer.

Western Conference Playoff Preview

Here is my look at the first round playoff series in the Western Conference 

#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs. #8 Utah Jazz

The Lakers took two of three in the regular season, faltering once in Utah. Andrew Bynum is back for the Lakers, which means trouble for any team standing in their way. Up first for the Lake Show is a Utah team that went 33-8 at home this season, but stumbled on the road with a 15-26 record. The Jazz played a great part of their season without star power forward Carlos Boozer, and were led by Deron Williams who averaged 19.4 points and 10.7 assists this season. While Utah is a dangerous team and can be very pesky, the fact is they don’t have the depth or athleticism to match that of the Lakers. There are far too many weapons for Utah to stop in this series. Unless the Jazz can prove that they can stop Kobe Bryant OR Lamar Odom, OR Pau Gasol, OR Andrew Bynum on a regular basis, they simply will not win this series. LA is the more physical team and their bench has been phenomenal all year. The Lakers are 9-0 all time in first- round series as a #1 seed, and I expect the Lakers to continue that streak rather easily. It will be tough for Utah to win a game at Staples Center, where in the regular season they lost two games by a combined 26 points. The home-court advantage for Utah at EnergySolutions Arena is great for the Jazz, but it won’t be enough to keep the Lakers from winning a game or two. In the end, Utah’s 1-20 road record against teams with winning records gives little hope for the upset. Depending on whether the Lakers win one or two games in Utah will determine how long this series lasts.

Pick- Lakers in five

#2 Denver Nuggets vs. #7 New Orleans Hornets

In my opinion, this is the most intriguing matchup of the first round. This matchup features two of the premier point guards in the NBA with Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups. Billups has been the MVP for Denver this season, establishing himself as the leader of the team, and turning Denver into more a defensive oriented team. Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets in scoring this year, averaging 23 points per game while grabbing 7 rebounds as well. Denver’s bench is much better than New Orleans, and features energy players like J.R. Smith, and Chris “The Birdman” Anderson (who ironically are two former Hornets, and are one of the biggest reasons why Denver's bench has been so good this year). New Orleans is led by Chris Paul; an MVP candidate averaging 23 points, 11 assists, and 3 steals per game this year. Paul has stepped his game up even more since the All-Star break, averaging 25 points and 11 assists. The problem is Paul’s supporting cast really isn’t that great outside of David West. The Hornets low post presence consists of Tyson Chandler, who has been battling injuries all year and really has found no rhythm. They were 24^th in the NBA in rebounding this year, the lowest rank of any playoff team. Both teams had nearly identical defensive ratings in the regular season, but Denver’s offense has been superior to that of New Orleans. The Hornets struggled mightily down the stretch, going 10-11 in their final 21 games, while the Nuggets have been eliminated in the first-round of the playoffs six years in a row. With home-court advantage, and veteran leadership from Billups, the Nuggets should advance to the second round.

Pick- Nuggets in six

#3 San Antonio Spurs vs. #6 Dallas Mavericks

 This could be the upset of the first round in the Western Conference. Manu Ginobili is out for the Spurs, Tim Duncan’s knees aren’t in the best shape, and the Mavericks will have Josh Howard back. Dallas is 33-19 in games that Howard has played in this year, while San Antonio is 22-16 without Ginobili. Dallas has been a very up and down team this year, and always seems to have trouble guarding Duncan and Tony Parker. The positive for the Mavericks is that they have arguably played their best basketball down the stretch. I think Dallas has the upper hand in this series with Ginobili not playing. Lets not forget the Spurs have just as much trouble guarding Dirk Nowitzki as the Mavericks do guarding Tony Parker or Tim Duncan. Ginobili is so important to this Spurs team that I am picking the upset here and going with Dallas. The combination of Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, and Josh Howard plus the likely Sixth Man of the Year Jason Terry will be too much for San Antonio to stop.

Pick- Mavericks in six

#4 Portland Trail Blazers vs. #5 Houston Rockets

This is going to be a very interesting series in the fact that if someone is going to beat the Lakers in the Western Conference, I really think it will be one of these two teams. Portland exceeded many expectations this year, winning 13 more games than last year and turning the Rose Garden back into one of those venues where nobody wants to play. Both of these teams are fairly even on paper, and the Rockets have played very well without Tracy McGrady, going 22-8 since his injury that ended his season. I think they only thing in this series that favors in Portland is home-court advantage. The Blazers went 34-7 at the Rose Garden this year, while winning eight games by 15 or more points since the All-Star break. The Rockets took two out of three from the Blazers during the regular season, with the lone loss coming thanks to Brandon Roy’s miracle three pointer at the buzzer. This will also be the first trip to the playoffs for many of the players on Portland, which works in Houston’s favor. Houston should have the advantage on defense with guys like Ron Artest and Shane Battier guarding Brandon Roy, and the Rockets ability to crash the boards with Yao Ming and Luis Scola will be a lot for Portland to handle. Having said all that, I still like the Blazers to win this series, their slow paced steady of play will not be affected in this series. The young players on Portland have improved quite a bit during the second half of the season, which should bode well in the playoffs. I think this series will go all seven games, with home-court advantage giving the edge to Portland.

 Pick- Blazers in seven

Eastern Conference Playoff Preview

The NBA Playoffs start in two days. This is the time where legends are made, and legacies are born. There are many interesting questions to ask ourselves as we get ready for the start of the postseason: Will Kevin Garnett's injury cost the Celtics a chance at a repeat? Will this finally be the year LeBron James wins the title? Can Kobe silence his critics by winning a championship without Shaq? Here is my first round preview, starting with the Eastern Conference

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #8 Detroit Pistons

The Cavs are making their fourth consecutive postseason appearance, and this year marks the first time in franchise history they are a #1 seed. The Pistons have made the postseason eight years in a row, which is the third-longest active streak in the NBA. This is not the same Pistons team that we have seen in years past. I have said all season that the biggest mistake this team made was trading away Chauncey Billups. They traded the heart and soul of their team for Allen Iverson, who by the way is hurt and won’t be playing in the playoffs. Smart move Joe Dumars! I’m sure Piston fans are happy with that! I forgot to mention Cleveland is led by a guy named LeBron James, maybe you have heard of him? LeBron led Cleveland to a 66-16 record, and also led his team in total points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals, which is a feat accomplished by only 3 other players in NBA history. Cleveland’s record at home this year was an astounding 39-2, and the last time the Cavs played the Pistons in a playoff series was 2007, when LeBron single handedly beat Detroit and led Cleveland to the finals. The point is, Detroit has nothing that can stop LeBron, and this Cleveland team is on a mission to win the title. As great as Detroit has been in the past, their time is up. Maybe if they still had Chauncey Billups I would reconsider my pick, but I don’t see any way how Detroit makes this series interesting.

Pick- Cavs in 4

#2 Boston Celtics vs. #7 Chicago Bulls

The Celtics received horrible news today when they found out that Kevin Garnett’s knee might keep him out of the playoffs. The good news is KG’s absence probably won’t have any effect on the outcome of the Celtics first round matchup against the Bulls. In the 25 games KG has missed this year, the Celtics have a record of 18-7, including a 12-2 record in the final 14 games with losses coming at Orlando and at Cleveland. Leon Powe has been a solid replacement for KG, and lets not forget this Celtics team still has the best defensive mindset of any team in the NBA. The Chicago Bulls are a very young team, and have improved a lot over the past few weeks. The additions of John Salmons and Brad Miller have done great things for this team. The problem is even without Kevin Garnett, the Celtics have rolled through Eastern Conference opponents this year, with the exception of Cleveland, and Chicago probably will be no different. Look for this to be a learning experience for Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, and the rest of the Chicago organization.

Pick- Celtics in 5

#3 Orlando Magic vs. #6 Philadelphia 76ers

This to me is the one matchup where an upset is very possible. The Sixers have played very well this year, even with the loss of Elton Brand early on in the season. Theo Ratliff, Samuel Dalembert, and Reggie Evans are all very capable of playing physical down low with Orlando sensation Dwight Howard. While Rafer Alston has played well for the Magic since he was acquired at the trade deadline, Orlando will miss their All-Star leadership of Jameer Nelson. Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu have been great complements to Howard this year, but the Sixers are very capable of playing great defense on those role players. I like the backcourt of Andre Miller and Andre Igoudala for Philadelphia, and Thaddeus Young has made his case to be the most improved player in the NBA this year. The key for Philadelphia will obviously be whether or not they can contain Dwight Howard. Howard has shown he is capable of having games where he can score 20 or more points and grab more than 20 rebounds, however he has also shown he can disappear on any given night. I like the Sixers chances of shutting down Howard, and I like Philly’s role players better than Orlando’s, however I am still going with the Magic based on the fact that they have steamrolled through opponents this year even when Howard hasn’t been at his best. I won’t be surprised if Philadelphia wins this series, but I look forward to seeing a Magic-Celtics showdown in the second round.

Pick- Magic in 6

#4 Atlanta Hawks vs. #5 Miami Heat

This will by far be the most entertaining series of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. It will be a high-flying team in the Hawks against a high-flying one-man show in Dwyane Wade. The Hawks are a great home team but are a horrible road team. Look for this series to go on home court advantage most of the way. The thing is, I see Miami being able to win one in Atlanta because of Dwyane Wade, which is why I am picking the Heat to win this series. The last time Miami was in the playoffs in 2006, they won the NBA Championship due to one of the best performances in playoff history by Wade during which he averaged 34.6 points per game in 6 games. He should be the MVP this year even though it will be LeBron as he took a Miami team that won 15 games last season under his wing, and led them back to the postseason almost single handedly. Wade can take over a game whenever he wants, and I don’t think Atlanta has what it takes to slow him down. In any case, this will be a fun series and I expect this one to go all the way.

Pick- Heat in 7

Western Conference preview to come tomorrow

 

Thoughts On The Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers 2008-2009 regular season came to an end tonight with an impressive 125-112 victory over the Utah Jazz, who ironically will be the Lakers opponent in the first round of the playoffs. The Lake Show finished the regular season with a 65-17 record, 2nd best in the NBA, and 8 games better than their 57-25 mark last season. Despite the fact that the Lakers didn't have the best record in the NBA, you can argue that they were the best team in the league this year. Their record against the top 10 opponents in the league this year was 21-7, and included sweeps over the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. Sure the Cavs may have had more wins, but their record against the Lakers, Celtics and Magic was a combined 2-6. Sure they can beat up on the horrible Eastern Conference teams, yet they stumble when they play tough competition. Life is good for the Lakers, why? Well for one Andrew Bynum is back, he is healthy, and he is playing like the dominate force he was before he hurt his knee in January. In tonight's game against the Jazz, Bynum scored 22 points, had 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. There is no one in the Western Conference that serves as a legitimate threat to beat the Lakers, as they went 17-5 this year against the other 7 playoff teams in the conference. Lets not forget this is a Laker team that clinched the #1 seed in the Western Conference over a month ago. This team really has no excuse not to be in the NBA Finals, and for that matter not to win the NBA Championship. Their starting lineup of Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum is the best in the league, however the real strength of this Laker team which separates them from others is the depth of their bench. Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, and Shannon Brown have all been great role players this season. Laker fans used the excuse that Andrew Bynum was hurt during the playoffs last season when asked how they lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Well this season there is no excuse, the Lakers have shown they can beat anybody, anywhere. They were the only team that beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland this year, and they beat the Celtics in Boston without Bynum. All this to say come June, Laker fans should expect another banner to be hung in the rafters of Staples Center. Anything short of a championship will be considered a failure for the Laker faithful. It has been 6 years too long since Laker fans have been able to flood the streets of Figueroa. Come Sunday night, you can throw those 65 wins in the garbage. For Laker fans, the NBA Playoffs is the real season. My predictions on the 1st round of the playoffs will come tomorrow night once all the seedings are final.

THINK BLUE

As a Dodger fan, there really is nothing more that I enjoy than a nice Blue Crew beat down of the San Francisco Giants, which was exactly what happened today. In the home opener for the Boys in Blue, the newest member Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle, leading Los Doyers to an 11-1 rout. Hudson became the first Dodger to ever hit for the cycle at Chavez Ravine. A stadium record 57,099 were on hand to watch the blowout. I have to wonder how many people that were there actually were there to watch the Dodgers or if they were just there to watch Manny Ramirez. I love Dodger fans, but they need to realize that this Dodger team has much more than just Manny. Perfect example is Andre Eithier, an ASU alum I may add. Eithier hit 2 Home Runs today and had 4 RBI. Other great young talent on this Dodger team include Russell Martin, James Loney, and my personal favorite Matt Kemp. I was at 2 of the 3 games this past weekend when the Dodgers came to town to play the D'Backs. I would say 90% of the Dodger fans I saw there had some sort of Manny Ramirez gear on. He has become the Kobe Bryant of the Dodgers, the fans come out to watch the dude, and hey I don't blame them, he was lights out in 53 games last year, but lets not get caught up too much in Manny-Mania. I'm still shocked he hasn't hit a Home Run yet, and for my fantasy team's sake, I sure hope he starts knocking some out of the park soon.

Getting back to the Giants though, other than the Boston Celtics, I really don't know if there is another sports franchise I hate more than them. Granted, a big part of my hatred comes from the fact that for 14 years, the biggest douche bag thats ever played baseball was the star of the team. I'm talking about Barry Bonds of course, the "All-Time Home Run King Who Never Roided Up" yeah try saying and truly believing that, its impossible. The guy was a jackass to the media and to his teammates too. I'll give the guy credit for being able to hit, but his constant denial of not taking steroids really is ridiculous. There is no way that a guy who is 37 years old can hit 73 Home Runs without being on some substance, there just isn't. Mark McGwire took steroids, Sammy Sosa took steroids, and so did Barry. 

Speaking of steroids, I just finished watching another edition of WWE Monday Night Raw. Why I watch wrestling I don't know, its fake, the storylines are stupid, and the dialogue is worst than whatever the dumbest movie out there is, but for some odd reason I find myself in room 234 with 4 other dudes watching it every Monday night. As my buddy Drew put it best, "It's the soap opera for males". It's entertaining and funny because it is so stupid, but hey thats all I really care about, anything that can take my mind off the huge workload of school is great. It's amazing that a month from now I'll be back in Agoura Hills for the summer. Seems like yesterday I was just movin out to the desert. I've had a great year, made some incredible friends, I will definitely be enjoying every moment from here until my last final May 13th

And So It Begins

So I decided to give in and start one of these things. After all, I am at a journalism school and writing is required, so why not write about stuff that I actually want to talk about in my free time? In my News Writing class a couple weeks ago, one of the professors said its good to practice writing at least 500 words a day, so I figure I'll give my best attempt to do that. I'll try to blog every day, but the majority of the stuff that goes up here will probably be sports related. Should be fun, I'm looking forward to it