Miami Stars Too Much For Chicago

The Chicago Bulls were controlling most of game 4 on Tuesday night. Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, and Luol Deng each put good numbers, and they held Dwayne Wade to only 14 points. So, you would think after reading that, the Chicago Bulls won the game right. No they didn't. In fact they almost lost by 10 points. Lebron James took the game over in overtime. This will be the biggest advantage for Miami for the next few years. Every team will always have 1 of those 3 too worry about. Well, let's get ready for a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks. I will take Miami to win the championship, because of their team defense. I will give a Miami vs Dallas preview by this weekend.

Dallas To Much For OKC

The Dallas Mavericks look like they are on the verge of advancing to their 2nd finals appearance in the 6 years after taking a 3-1 lead on OKC in the Western Conference Finals. After looking at game 3 it is clear that the Dallas Mavericks just have to much size and to much scoring for the Thunder to overcome. The Thunder came into this series with a 3 man scoring threat, but at the end of the day 8 is always better then 3. That's what is have been, Durant, Westbrook, and Hardin vs the 8 guys who can score on Dallas. There is no question that OKC will be in the finals in the couple of years, once they add a couple more scorers and defenders.

Durant Posterized Brenden Hayward

Don't even know why he jumped.

We Are All Nowitzness

Dirk Nowitzki dominated game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the western conference finals. The dude had 48 points without making any 3 pointers. He shot 12-15 from the field and 24-24 from the line, that's Jordan numbers. What can the Thunder do? Their big men can't hold him one on one. If you double him, Dallas has enough shooters to make you pay. You just have to pick your poison. Either way Oklahoma better hold better defense then that or it will be a short series.

Dallas Mavericks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Preview

The Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder should be a long series. They both matchup pretty good, each teams have advantages on each other, and both teams have go to scorers. This series will come down to the play of Russell Westbrook, and the play of Dallas's bench. I hope Jason Kidd has gotten plenty of rest because he is going to have his hands full with Westbrook. Jason Kidd is going to be going up against someone who is probably 15+ years younger, and probably 50,000 less miles on their legs. This will Kidd's worst nightmare, not only is Westbrook quicker and more athletic, he is also aggresive going to the basket. Kidd would rather go up against a guard that likes too settle for jumpshots, but Westbrook is not that type of player. The kay for Dallas will be Jason Terry and their bench. If Jason Terry can play at the same level he played with in the Lakers series then Dallas will be very hard to beat. Since the only real scoring threat to come off of the Thunders bench is James Harden, the Dallas Mavericks should hold a big advantage when it comes to the second unit. No need to talk about Dirk, or Durant, we all know that they will be effective in this series. I'm going to take Dallas in 7 games.

Taj Gibson Banging on Dwayne Wade

Bulls Dominate Heat in Game 1

Whatever strategy the Miami Heat came out with in the second half of game 1 need to be burned, put in a casket and buried. The Chicago Bulls dominated the Heat in the second half. They killed them in every aspect of the game. They out rebounded them on both sides of the floor, they out hustled them on both sides of the floor, and they played smothering defense holding Miami to just 34 points in the second half. Derrick Rose did whatever he wanted to the Heat's defense, and the Bulls big men outplayed Miami's. The only bright spot for Miami was Chris bosh. He put up 30 points and 9 rebs on 12-18 from the field, that's all-star numbers if you ask me. He's got a reputation as being soft and settles too much on the jump shot, but yesterday he played like true all-star, it's just too bad he didn't get to much help.

Now, I don't know if it was just Miami had a bad game, or if the bulls are just too much for them this year. Whatever the case the Miami Heat is going to have to make major adjustments in game 2. I knew coming in that Miami will be undersized in the middle, but I didn't know it would be so exploited. The Chicago Bulls dominated the heat on the offensive boards 19-6, that's 13 more chances to score just of rebounds. Not to mention the 16-9 turnover difference, that's 20 more times to score then the heat. Let's face it, if the big three of the Heat are not playing at a high level at the same time they will not win a game in this series. It is going to take every bit of effort and maybe more then it took in the Boston series for them to beat the Chicago Bulls. I think we will all have to watch game 2 to really see if the Miami Heat can compete with the Chicago Bulls.

Looking Ahead To Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls Series.

I'm anticipating an eastern conference finals matchup with the Miami heat and the Chicago Bulls. Not to forget about the Atlanta Hawks but I don't think they can beat the Bulls 2 straight games. Whoever wins the Miami, Chicago series will likely go on to win the NBA championship. I don't see any team that's left in the west that can beat either one of these teams in a 7 game series, plus the east would have home court advantage. The Miami vs Chicago series should be the longest series of the playoffs this year, but how this playoffs has been going who knows. The questions for the Miami Heat coming into this series will be can Miami's big men handle Chicago's bigs, and can Miami slow down Derrick Rose. Will Anthony Randolph be able to deal with Joakim Noah's hustle and energy, and will Chris Bosh be able to outplay Carlos Boozer. Bosh holds the height advantage over Boozer, but can Bosh deal with Boozer's power. Then there's Derrick Rose. I wonder who Miami will have primarily holding Rose. Will they put Wade on him or one of the smaller guards? Wade would probably be the most effective, but he will waste a lot of energy on the defensive end, and you run the risk of getting him into foul trouble.

As for the Chicago Bulls the biggest question for them is how are they going to slow down the big 3. Lebron James is playing at the highest level of his career, Dwayne Wade has been his all-star self, and Chris Bosh seems to always show up when they need him most. The most important thing that the Heat might have going for its self is "motivation". The Heat has to be so motivated to prove people wrong and win a championship in their first year being together. Lebron James should be especially motivated to finally shut people up about the "Decision". The Miami Heat will also have to get the production from their bench that they got in the Boston series. With considering all the intangables, I think the Heat will win this series in 6 or 7 games. I don't think James and Wade will be denied this opportunity to win a championship.

Miami's Youth To Much For Celtics

We all knew that the "Decision" and the addition of Chris Bosh would pay dividends for the Miami one day. We didn't know if that day would come this year or next. I've always said since the whole Lebron, and Bosh signing that the Miami Heat would win a championship by year 2. With a 98-90 win in overtime against the Boston Celtics to take a 3-1 lead in their series, the Miami Heat are well on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami's youth combined with all that talent was just too much for the Celtics to overcome. You have to give the Celtics credit, with all the injuries and the fact that they are the oldest team in the NBA they atleast threw a punch. They didn't roll over and quit like last year champs, they put up a fight. The fact of the matter is the Boston Celtics do not have the legs and with the injuries they will not beat the Miami Heat 3 straight games. Expect to see the Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls in the eastern conference finals.

How Can Lakers Return To Championship Status

What happened to the Los Angeles Lakers? Was it that the past seasons have finally caught up with them, or did they just face a much better team? Whatever the case may be there was obviously something not right about the returning champs. At the start of this series who would've thought that the Lakers would be sweep by the Dallas Mavericks? Who would've thought that Dallas would come out in game 4 and just embarrass the Lakers the way they did? This series reminded me so much of the finals where the Lakers were beaten by the Detroit Pistons, and we all know the drama field year that was. Ever since the playoffs started you could see that something just wasn't right.When the Lakers let the Hornets come in and dominate them on their home floor. The only reason they survived that series was because they were just a far superior team then the Hornets. But the Mavericks matched up better with the Lakers and exploited them. Evey Laker in this series was a non-factor. Kobe Bryant has too many miles on his legs to carry this team on his back for long stretches at a time. And it was the same story for Gasol, Odom, and Bynum, they just were not aggressive enough. I never thought that I would see a Phil Jackson team dominated in a close out game the way they were in game 4.

    What's next for the Lakers? They need a new coach. They need to and some youth to their roster, especially at the point guard position. And they need players that are hungry for a championship. The move that I see happening is that Dwight Howard will end up in L.A.. I think he is tired of playing for Stan Van Gundy, and he should see that with the roster they have down there now, that there is no championships making it's way to Orlando no time soon. The Lakers would probably have to let go of Bynum, and Odom, or Gasol and Odom. My guess is that Andrew Bynum's days in a Lakers uniform is about up. He's injury prone, and he's probably getting to the point in his career where he wants more touches and be a focal part of a team. Lamar Odom is such a under achiever in the NBA. This guy is 6'10, can handle the ball, pass the ball, rebound the ball, but he's all left handed. If the Lakers can land Howard, and and some youth to that line-up and bench, they should be primed for another run at the championship.

Dallas Mavericks Takes 3-0 Lead on Champs

Who would have thought when the playoffs started that the defending champs the LA Lakers would be in any series down 3-0. The truth is that if you have seen the Lakers play throughout these playoffs you can see that these are not the Lakers of last year. Pau Gasol, and Ron Artest have been mostly invisible in games, and the Lakers bench have not been effective. But lets give the Dallas Mavericks a lot of credit for raising their level of play and bringing it to the champs. Dirk Nowitzski, and Jason Terry have been playing lights out, Jason Kidd has finally learned who to shoot, and Tyson Chandler, and Brendon Hayward are out playing the Lakers bigs. The Lakers can thank Portland for the Dallas team they are playing now. When the Mavericks lost game 4 at Portland and gave up that huge 4th quarter it woke them up, and they raised their level of play since then. I honestly thought that after the Lakers game 2 lost that the Lakers would come back and win 4 out of the next 5 games to win the series, but after going down 3-0 the Lakers run championship run if just about open.

Is It Time For The Lakers To Panic

After going down 2-0 to the Dallas Mavericks and losing home court advantage, is it time for the Lakers to panic? The traditional answer would be yes. Traditionally, a team that loses their first 2 games at home in a series would be pretty much done. I have thought from the beginning that this would be the easiest series for the Lakers throughout the playoffs and through the finals. That's why believe the Lakers will still win this series, even though they might need 7 games at this point. To be a Lakers fan is to deal with so much frustration. You don't know which Lakers you're going to get on any given night.
You don't know if the Lakers that won like 14 or 15 games after the all-star break, or if you're going to get the Lakers that are down 0-2 to the Mavericks. The Lakers after the all-star break were an aggressive team on both sides of the floor. These Lakers almost seem like they are just going through the motions most of the time. You can see frustration on Kobe's face when the rest of team is not aggressive and the frustration on the rest of the teams face when Kobe is too aggressive. When the Lakers are clicking they can't be beat, but can they get it clicking fast enough to win this series. I say yes.

What Happened to the Sweet Science: What's the State of Boxing

As a long time fan of professional boxing, what happened to the sweet science? What happened to the days where family and friends used to get together and all pitch in to purchase a ppv boxing match? Or the days when boxing matches and boxers meant more socially in the world. What happened to the days when being the champ meant something to people. Those days are pretty much now over. If you ask the average person who is the Heavyweight Champion of the world in boxing, and they would probably say Mike Tyson. There are only two mainstream names associated with professional boxing these days and those names are Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr... Of course to your more knowledgeable boxing people they will argue that there are many more talented boxers then those two, but the fact is that those are the two most popular active boxers of today.

The heavyweight division in boxing is not even relevant in the United States. I don't know about you but I don't even know the last time I seen a heavyweight boxing match of any kind being advertised on a ppv. When you do see anything on boxing on TV you better believe that either Mayweather or Pacquiao is on that card. It's a real shame that boxing can't find a way for the two most recognizable names in boxing to meet up in a fight. It's also a shame that boxing have fell so far from grace that MMA has far passed professional boxing in popularity. I don't know is boxing can reach that level it once was at, but I sure miss it.

Heat Too Hot For Celtics/ Grizzles Out Play Thunder

Game 1 Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat

The Miami Heat out shined the Celtics in game 1 of their 2nd round playoff series. The Heat pushed the tempo and kept the Celtics off balanced for most of the game. Even when the Celtics made a run the Heat answered with one of their own. Dwayne Wade and Lebron James were dominating on both sides of the ball. While on the other side, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo were not a factor. When the Heat perimeter players are hitting outside shots the Heat are almost impossible to beat. The recipe to beat them is to clog the middle and don't let James, and Wade penetrate the defense. In game 1 the Celtics tried to make them jump shooters but they just kicked it out to the shooters until the defense loosened up. The Celtics didn't really get anything out of their bench. Jeff Green, Delonte West, and Glen Davis have got to be aggressive on offense and defense. I wouldn't expect game 2 to play out the same way. I think Boston will take care of the ball better. I think KG and Rondo will have a better game in game 2. I'm taking Boston to win game 2.

Game 1 Memphis Grizzles vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Memphis Grizzles dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder in their game 1 playoff matchup. Zach Randolph is in rare form, and Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley have raised their game another level as well. The Grizzles dominated the Thunder the same way they dominated the Spurs, with good defense and pounding the ball into the inside. The Grizzles are a prime example of a team playing as a team. They are sharing the ball, making the extra pass and helping on defense. With respect to the Thunder, Russell Westbrook was breaking down their defense and getting to the hoop when he wanted, but when he got their he couldn't finish. The Grizzles can't stop Westbrook or Kevin Durant, but they can stop everyone else. With Russell Westbrook controlling the ball and taking as many shots as he takes it's hard for the rest of the team to get a rhythm. I expect the Thunder to come out and beat the Grizzles in game 2, but it will be a long series.