Lebron, Grow Up

Look, I know its tough to lose. I hate as much as anyone to lose, no matter what it is or who I am facing. I admire anyones competitive spirit, whether it is when they win or lose. The most important aspect about being competitive is having great sportsmanship. Even if it's just playing a game of Madden or a game of trivia, congratulate your opponent and move on the best you can. But for Lebron to just walk off the court and not congratulate Dwight Howard and the Magic is just bush league. After you spent all summer with Dwight, going to battle with him on the biggest stage (The Olympics) and you can't even congratulate him? That is just not right in my eyes. Lebron, you are arguably the biggest basketball star in the world. You are the face of the league and of a franchise. You can't just pick when its convenient for you to address the media or your fellow Olympic teammates. Even Mo Williams had the class to address the media and the Magic. And even after Mo guaranteed the Cavs would win game 4 and win the series. He was distraught and upset as well, but he earned some respect on my end for coming out and laying it all out there. If the Cavs would've won game 6, we would've seen Lebron and his teammates celebrating and rubbing it in (like they usually do), waving their towels and holding each other back. Then with Lebron addressing the media and saying all the right things like usual. But when the situation gets tough, he just disappears. That tells me the King has not arrived yet. When everyone is gloating over Lebron and yelling "King, King, King", you bet your butt he'll be right there to embrace it. But when people start saying "No ring for the King", you bet your butt he'll disappear. Even Dwight Howard was surprised by this. In an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols after the Magic had won, Dwight said this "I just thought he would've said something to me (looking disappointed as he said it) or said something to the team". I mean these guys were with each other day in and day out during the Olympics and you, Lebron, can't even congratulate one of your so called closest friends, after going to battle with him for 6 grueling games. Just look at the other conference finals, where Melo and Kobe embraced each other immediately once game 6 was over. They gave each other one of the most genuine hugs you will ever see. You didn't see Carmelo storm off the court in disappointment, you saw him embrace his mentor and Kobe said some words right back at him. I am not doubting Lebrons will to win or him as a person, but I am doubting his sportsmanship. Hopefully Lebron will address the media sometime or at least give Dwight a call and congratulate him. For all the great things Lebron does on and off the court, this really bothered me a lot. And for anyone who is as competitive as I am (I know that's you Dave) this bothered you as well.

Can You Say 30?

What a night for the Los Angeles Lakers. This Finals appearance makes it the 30th in Laker history. That's almost like saying "In every other year the Lakers are in the NBA Finals". So, after a tough and emotional series, the Lakers prevailed with ease in game 6 of the western conference finals. Led by Kobe Bryant, the Lake Show was as efficient on both ends of the court as any team could be in a 119-92 victory. The Lakers from the start to finish were moving the ball like no team left in the playoffs. Quick ball reversals and smart execution led to wide open 3's and uncontested shots. The Lakers just played a complete game. Early on Pau made his presence felt under the basket by blocking and altering shots. And Trevor Ariza, wow, what a game did he play. He really set the tone early on with his penetration and 3 point shooting. This then led to the Nuggets having to commit to him and allow #24 to take over. Late in the 2nd quarter the Lakers were playing sloppy by committing 11 early turnovers, but then Kobe took over. He played probably the best 3:30 minutes any basketball player can possibly play. He first nailed a jumper like usual and then hit another tough contested shot in the corner. Kobe then got to the line and converted both attempts. Then with about 28 seconds left, the Lakers had the ball and Pau gets the offensive rebound and finds Kobe in the corner and he drains the 3 with about 7 ticks left. Melo then gets the ball and takes it coast to coast and who else, yes Kobe comes out of nowhere and blocks his shot as time expires. At this point you knew the Lakers had a different look in their eyes. They looked so determined to end this series. Then in the second half the Lakers just took control and they never looked back. Kobe finished with 35 pts (12-20 from the field and 9-9 from the line), 10 ast, 1 to and 6 reb. He played within the game and made every right decision all night. Even George Karl said "I don't even think Jesus could have guarded him tonight". Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom also contributed monster games scoring 20 a piece and dominated inside all game. To win a game on the road in the playoffs is tough enough, but to win a road game in a close out game is incredibly tough. Especially winning in Denver, with that raucous crowd and having posted a 16 game winning streak at home heading into this series. If you had any doubts about the Lakers being able to win a championship, well, you shouldn't, because they look ready. So Cleveland and Orlando, watch out here they come. Stay tuned this weekend for a Finals preview.

Hey George, Shut Up!

I just need to write about what has been bothering me all day, George Karl. Where does this guy get off by being the biggest hypocrite in the NBA. He starts off his press conference last night by saying "I thought they got the benefit of the whistle. It just seems very frustrating for me to sit here … like it's the gamesmanship in the press conference on refereeing. I'm not going to get into [that] game. Phil is so much better at it than I am." And immediately after he says that, he goes on for about 10 minutes about the officiating. He continues and says "Carmelo [Anthony] got beat up tonight, and he had the same type of attitude and actions that we had that got us to the rim and got us a lot of easy baskets. Tonight they defended better, at least from the standpoint of the scoreboard. The stat sheet says they defended better. They blocked more shots. We didn't get as many paint points. But I'm not sure that's the case." Are you kidding me George? I mean really George you have to be kidding? I don't need to go on with any more quotes, because its the same non-sense. I have never seen a coach with so many excuses for his team then George Karl. This stems back to when he was the coach for the Sonics as well. I mean, has he been watching this series at all? The Nuggets have benefited all series from tight officiating and an overall plan by the refs to "control" the series. Finally Phil did say something, but he did not use it as an excuse like George. Phil was calling out Danhtay Jones for his dirty play and had to defend his players. And not once have you seen Kobe, Lamar, Pau or Phil making excuses like the Nuggets do after every loss. They really must feel like their &%$@ doesn't stink. Once the officials FINALLY let both teams play (like it's supposed to be in the playoffs, read this by Bill Simmons to understand where I am coming from), the Lakers could actually get stops without Melo throwing his body into anything and Billups flailing around. I really feel the Nuggets practice drawing fouls and getting to the foul line is their #1 priority, because its all George and any of his players ever talk about. Even one Nugget (who remains anonymous) said that the Lakers spent $50k wisely, because of what Phil said about Jones and he got fined. Not only does George look like a fool, so does his team. If all the Nuggets want to do is wait around for a call, then they certainly do not deserve to be in this position. George should take a lesson from Stan Van Gundy. If their is any team that should have gripes about the officiating its the Magic. Lebron just barrels into defenders and gets calls. I have hardly seen the Magic ever get the benefit of a call when it involves Lebron. So what Stan and the Magic do is just go about their business and win games. And for George to call out the officials on Melo is comical as well. Melo gets the benefit of so many calls. And for all of you conspiracy theorists Melo shot 13 free throws to Kobe's 10 last night and has consistently shot more free throws all series long. Kobe has been getting hacked consistently and hacked hard. He may complain during the game, but certainly doesn't make it an excuse for a loss or talk about it afterwards. Even after Dahntay Jones' dirty plays, Kobe responded by saying it was good defense (said it with a smirk). The Nuggets and their fans need to get a clue and if Denver is relying on the officials to bail them out, then they have no business being hear in the first place. So George, just shut up and coach!

Why Does the Media Overreact?

What has been incredibly prevalent in this NBA postseason has been the overreaction of all the media types. After a certain team loses that certain team now has no heart or plays with no intesity. Or after a certain team loses that certain team buckles under pressure or makes mental mistakes. All of these statements of course relate to a Lakers loss or a Nuggets loss. What gets lost in all of these statements is the fact that these were very close games and any one of those teams could've won the game. Basketball sometimes just comes down to making shots and missing shots. What people need to realize is that these are the conference finals. These four teams are all fabulous teams playing at a high level. Just because the Lakers won more games than the Nuggets doesn't mean the Nuggets are just going to roll over. Like I said, this is the conference finals people! These games are going to be tightly contested no matter what. My favorite media type who does this is Jay Mariotti. No one in the business does this better than him. I have never seen someone flip-flop more than him. As Kobe stated "some of these guys go back and forth more than a pendulum", and hes right. After Denver took care of Dallas so easily in round 2, sir Jay was certain the Nuggets wouldn't lose a game at the Pepsi Center. Lakers win game 1 and now the Lakers are the greatest team in the league and no one can stop them. Melo comes up huge for game 2 and now the Lakers are in serious trouble. Lakers win game 3 and they are a tough team on the road all of a sudden (I've thought this the whole season, 29-12 road record). Nuggets win game 4 and the Lakers have no answer for J.R. Smith. Why don't we all take a deep breath and report the facts, rather than ludicrous opinions. What gets me even more frustrated is that these media types never get held accountable for their claims. John Hollinger, Steve Aschburner and Bill Simmons all need to be held accountable for some of their comments regarding these conference finals. If they don't then they can just write or say whatever they want with no reprocussions. This has to stop.

This overreaction was also so prevalent in the Magic vs Celtics series. After the Magic blew a late game lead in game 5 to Boston, everyone and their mother started talking about Stan Van Gundy not being a good coach and the master of panic. Look, these things happen in the playoffs. Stan aka "Ron Jeremy" is a great coach who is just passionate about winning. He calls great plays out of timeouts all the time and puts his team in position to win every game. Its not Ron out their bricking shots, its the players. Also like I have said its a make or miss game sometimes. Just because the Big Aristotle called out Stan doesn't make him right. So lets all step back for a moment and enjoy these conference finals and please stop overreacting Jay Mariotti.

Reaction to Lebrons Shot and Lakers Game 3 Victory

As I was watching game 2 of the eastern conference finals I thought to myself "Cleveland is playing really well and they are only up by 8, that is not good". Then before we know it the Magic made a huge run again and put all the pressure on the Cavs. You could feel the pressure all the way in Phoenix as both teams made big basket after another. So we fast forward to the end of the 4th quarter, with the game tied at 93, 30 second lefts to play and the Magic have the ball. They pass the ball in and then inexplicably Sasha Pavlovic commits a foul and the shot clock resets, so the Magic now have the last possession. As they always do they put Turkoglu in an isolated spot at the top of the key, which gives him room to work. He takes it to the top of the key and pulls up and nails the jumper with 1 second left to give the Magic a 95-93 lead. At this point I was thinking "I am actually not surpised by this at all, Orlando may be the better team in this series or its just a serious match up issue for the Cavs". Either way the Cavs were going to go down 0-2 and the fans knew and I knew it. I haven't seen a stadium go silent like that in a long, long time. The Cavs still had 1 second and they still have Lebron James. For whatever reason the Magic had Turkoglu on Lebron (not Pietrus) and Lebron easily broke free for a contested fade away 3 and he nailed it! I could not believe it. The first words that came to my head were unreal and just simply amazing. That one shot not only saved the Cavs season, but it saved a city from walking off the ledge. It reminds me a lot in terms of importance to the shot Robert Horry hit in game 4 of the western conference finals vs the Kings. If Horry misses that shot the Lakers go down 3-1 and ultimately lose that series. This shot has the same feeling. Now the question is can the Cavs use this momentum and take game 3 in Orlando. If one team can come back from a shot like its the Magic. They have recovered from Iguodala's game winner, Thaddeus Young's game winner and Big Baby Davis' game winner. Game 3 will tell us a lot about where this series is heading.

What the Lakers did in game 3 was simply awesome. Its about time we start giving some credit to the Lakers. Over the course of the playoffs everyone has said "They have no killer instinct" or "They don't play with heart". Well last night the Lakers played a great road game with a lot of heart. The Lakers certainly proved to me that they know how to win on the road and they are better than any other team in the league at doing so. They kept it close all game, and in the 4th made a last surge. Jordan's Bulls were the masters of this and hopefully a win like that can bring a team even closer. I do however expect the Nuggets to rebound for game 4, because the Lakers look tired and beat up. Winning 2 consecutive on the road, especially in Denver is a daunting task. Win or lose game 4, the Lakers showed me a lot of heart and signs of a championship team.

The Most Important Players in Baseball

After watching some major players return from injury to join their respective teams it got me thinking. By position, who are the most important players in baseball? We have to factor in offense, defense, experience and how they help the other players on their teams. Its a really difficult question to answer and I am going to go through who I feel are the most important players in todays game.

Catcher - Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins - Joe Mauer is really good. Yes, we know this, but he is really, really good. He is hands down the most important catcher in baseball. Mr. Mauer may be the most important player to any team in the bigs. As a catcher he won the batting title and is an incredible fielder as well. For his career he throws out 41% of the runners that try and steal on him. That is an incredible stat, especially for a player that hits as well as Mauer does. Mauer also reverse protects Justin Morneau. Morneau's numbers have sky rocketed since the return of Mauer. Since his return Morneau is hitting .338, 7 HR, 15 RBI and an OPS of 1.18. The most important aspect to Mauer is how he manages games and calls the games for his young pitching staff. His young staff really struggled when Mauer started the year on the DL. As soon as Mauer came back the staff is starting to gain more confidence. The Twins have had only 1 losing season since Mauer came to the bigs and in that season he missed a lot of the season due to injury. Look at his numbers this year as well. He his hitting .417, with 8 HR, 24 RBI, and has an OPS of 1.319 (which is incredible). And he has done all of that in only 19 games. Watch as the Twins make a run this year in the AL Central, because of Mauer.

First Base - Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals - This is another easy one. Pujols is considered by many and myself as the best player in the game. Their is no doubt about it as well. He is an astounding hitter and incredible fielder. He leads by example and his teammates just follow. He is on pace to be historically good as well. No one talks about him, but he is quietly hitting .326, with 14 HR, 38 RBI and has an OPS of 1.1. You know why no one talks about him, because he does this year after year. He is a gold glove winner and a 2 time MVP so far in his illustrious career. He also won the batting title twice and led the league in hits one year as well. Every year Pujols is a triple crown candidate and he will win it one year. He is on pace to get his 3rd MVP award and probably will get many, many more. Not much else you can say about Phat Albert.

Second Base - Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers - Kinsler may not be as established as other second basemen around the league, but he is certainly the most important. He is a young leader who leads by the way he goes about the game. He goes all out, every night. He has power, speed and a canning ability to get on base. Right now he is leading his Texas Rangers into first place in the AL West. He is doing this without uber-OF Josh Hamilton as well. He is currently hitting .287, with 11 HR, 32RBI, 10 SB and has an OPS of .913, which is excellent for a second basemen. He leads off for the Rangers and is responsible for getting this team going and he certainly excels at doing that. Look for Kinsler to continue to produce and lead the Rangers to their first division title since 1999.

Short Stop - Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies - Short stop was a very difficult position to choose from, when you have the likes of Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes out their, but I had to go with the vocal leader Jimmy Rollins. Rollins may not be as flashy or put up the gaudy numbers as the other players, but he is more important to his respective team. And its not like Rollins puts up bad numbers either. He won the 2007 MVP award and is a 2 time gold glove winner as well. Rollins is the table setter for this team. They need his production and need him to get on base, so the big bats can drive him in. When he gets going the Phillies have easily the top offense in the bigs. Right now Jimmy needs too find his stroke. He is only hitting .234, with 3 HR, 27 R, 6 SB and an OBP of only .274 (which is awful for a lead off hitter). He does have 27 runs, and imagine if Jimmy was going how good this Phillies team would be. If the Phillies want to repeat as world champions they are going to need Rollins in a big way.
Third Base - Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees - Their is no coincidence the day A-Rod got back the Yankees starting crushing the ball and winning games. He is the piece that was missing for the Yanks. Even if he is not hitting well, his presence is the big difference. A-Rod has gotten a lot of flack over the years for not producing in the playoffs and its well deserved. The Yankees have yet to win a world series with A-Rod, because he just does not step up in the post season and hes that important. As A-Rod goes, so do the Yankees. And so far to start this season he has been nothing short of amazing. In 14 games back since his hip injury A-Rod is hitting only .200, but has 6 HR, 11 RBI and has an OPS of 1.01. Now those numbers aren't spectacular, so lets look at Mark Texeiras splits since A-Rod's return. Texeira just so happens to hit right in front of A-Rod. In the 14 games since A-Rod has returned Texeira is hitting .365, with 7 HR and 18 RBI. Those are monster numbers. The Yankees are also 11-3 since his return and are climbing up the standings. The Yankees will certainly be a major factor in October and its up to A-Rod if they have any aspirations of championship this year.

Left Fielder - Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs - As Soriano goes, the Cubs go. He is so vital to that team. He leads off for the team, yet he has the most power. That is important, because he is the king of the lead off home run. This immediately gives the Cubs a 1-0 lead, which is always very important. He is off to a very nice start this season hitting .265, with 12 HR, 25 RBI, 4 SB and has an OPS of .855. He is a world class athlete and player. Soriano keeps the club house loose and is certainly a character. You can tell his teammates love and respect him. The Cubs are a dynamite team, but in order for them to really be contenders and not pretenders this year Soriano is going to have to stay healthy and produce at a high level.

Center Fielder - Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians - He is absolutely the heart and soul of the Indians. He is a fabulous player with all of the tools to be one of the best. He has speed, power and a canning ability to make amazing plays in center field. He ignites the whole Indians offense, whether it be making a fabulous catch or getting on 1st and stealing 2nd. He also can hit the ball a very long way as well. So far this year Grady has hit 8 HR, 29 RBI, 7 SB and has an OPS of .734. He really needs to start getting it going very fast for this Indians club to excel. They rely too much on him and his performance directly relates to the terrible start of the Indians this year. And even when he is getting on base he has been caught stealing 6 times. 7 out of 13 times is a horrible percentage. He is also only getting on base at a .316 clip, which is also terrible for a player of his caliber. In order for the Indians to compete this year, Grady needs to get it going and get it going fast. That is why he is one of the most important players in the bigs.
Right Fielder - Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners - Ichiro is very similar in regards to Sizemore, a player that can kill the opposition with his legs and bat and glove. Everyone knows about Ichiro's bat, which is among the best ever, but his glove and arm are up their with the elite as well. Ichiro is an 8 time gold glove winner to go along with his 2 batting titles. He is such a special player and the Mariners need him more than ever. When he gets on base, which is alot, the Mariners chances of scoring go up dramatically. There is no coincidence during Ichiros top campaigns (2001 and 2003) the Mariners won the division or at least competed for it. He is an 8 time all-star, 1 time MVP and 2 time silver slugger winner. So far this season Ichiro has been great, hitting .335, with 4 HR, 16 R and 7 SB. The key with Ichiro's stats are how many runs he scores and that number needs to go up for the Mariners to win. But when its all said and done in todays game, I cannot think of a more important player to play right field then Ichiro Suzuki.

5/20 - Bet of the Night

So tonight's bet of the night is going to focus on the eastern conference finals, the Orlando Magic @ the Cleveland Cavaliers. Right now the Magic are 9 point underdogs heading into tonight's game. I like the Magic for numerous reasons and the main reason is momentum. I love betting on momentum, and as much as people or players say it doesn't exist, it does. The Cavs haven't played in over a week. That is an eternity when it comes to basketball time. Basketball is a game of rhythm and cohesion. Whenever a team is off for that long that team may come out lethargic or with just not as much energy as their foe. In this case the Cavs foe, the Magic just played a grueling 7 game series, which they won. The Magic come into game 1 with a great sense of purpose and rhythm that I am not sure the Cavs can match for this game. With all that said the Cavs are still spotting us bettors 9 points. 9 points in any game is a lot, but for a game in the eastern conference finals that is just way too high. Bet the Magic hard on this game and confidently, as my bet of the night is Orlando +9.

Record - 1-1

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Are the Cavs still playing? It seems like forever ago they swept the Hawks. So we have the Orlando Magic vs the Cleveland Cavaliers. This features two superstars and their respective teammates chosen very wisely to play along Lebron and Dwight. The Cavs come into this series having gone 8-0 and looked extremely impressive doing so. They easily took work of the pathetic Pistons and then bashed the Hawks. The one thing that worries me is the fact that they haven't really been challenged at all. Yes they have played fantastic, but the fact was their two opponents just weren't great teams. So it will be very interesting too see how the Cavs deal with adversity and have to pull out a game down the stretch. If you look at the regular season it really wasn't very close at all, with the Magic dominating in 2 of the games and had a very good chance to win the game in Cleveland. If the Magic play like they did vs Boston in games 6 and games 7 this will be a much closer series than people think. With that said here the keys for both teams.
Magic Keys:

• Momentum - The Magic won 2 huge games against the defending champs and 1 game on the road for game 7. This was huge for many reasons, but it is especially important to carry that momentum into game 1 of this series. The Cavs haven't played in over a week and Orlando just came off of its most emotional win of the season. If there is a game to steal in Cleveland its game 1. They must use those 2 games to fuel them to victory in game 1. If they let Cleveland come out strong, the Cavs may be too difficult to come back against.
• Dwight Howard - This one is obvious, but defensively Howard has to play BIG, literally and figuratively. He has to deter Lebron from the basket and force him to pass or pull up for a jumper. If Dwight can guard the basket and avoid foul trouble Lebron's strongest part of his game is taken away. Also Howard has to be a monster on the glass and punish Ilgauskas. As much as Howard can change the game offensively, in this series his defense is more important for the Magic then his offense.The Defensive Player of the Year has to act like it in order for the Magic to have a chance to win.
• Point Guard Play - The Magic point guards during the Celtics series never really showed up at all. In the regular series battles with the Cavs, Rafer Alston and Anthony Johnson played a big role in those games. You must use Ilgauskas in pick and roll situations at all costs. He is a big liability playing the pick and roll. Also Mo Williams isn't the best pick and roll defender as well. Alston has to play very big in this series for the Magic to win.

Cavs Keys:

• 3 Point Defense - The Cavaliers were the #1 team in the NBA in guarding the 3 point shot this year and the Magic shoot the most 3's of any playoff team. They average 22.5 3 point shot attempts per game. During the regular season vs the Magic the 3 point shot absolutely killed Cleveland. They have to be able to play Dwight Howard straight up and stay home on the Magic's shooters. Lebron should be able to neutralize Hedo, but the other Cavs especially Varejao have to stay home on Rashard Lewis or else he may get torched. I am curious to see what lineup Coach Mike Brown will use to stop Lewis.
• Delonte West - This is a very important match up for the Cavs. All of the other positions in this series clearly expose a disadvantage for both teams. The Cavs have the upper hand at the point guard position and small forward position. While the Magic have the advantage in the Power Forward position and Center position. Delonte West is the wild card. He played a fantastic series vs the Hawks in round 2. He has to hit open shots and get into the lane. The Magic will counter with JJ Redick and Courtney Lee. If West can outplay those 2 players that becomes a huge advantage for Cleveland.
• 1 on 1 vs Howard - This is a must for the Cavs to win this series. If they can use Ilgauskas and Wallace to guard Howard 1 on 1 and stay home on the Magic shooters, they will win this series hands down. If Howard starts to dominate and get the Cavs bigs in foul trouble they may have to double and free up the Magics great shooters. Stan Van Gundy is going to have to be creative and free up his shooters and put Dwight in great situations for him to be successful. This is going to be a very important aspect for both teams.

After reviewing both teams and analyzing this series its actually a lot closer than people may think. All of the media types and "pundits" feel this is a no brainer, Cavs in 5 or 6 at the most. I feel every game will be extremely competitive and give us great games to watch. The Cavs have yet to be tested and will need to step it up down the stretch to compete with the Magic. The Magic are coming off a very tight, physical series vs the Celtics and that actually gives them a slight advantage coming into this series. But when its all said and done the Cavs have Lebron James and I think his aggression and ability will carry the Cavs past the Magic in 7.

Prediction - Cavs 4 - Magic 3

Western Conference Finals Preview

Who would've thought the Denver Nuggets would be the team that has cruised to the conference finals and are considered by many to be the favorites? Because I certainly did not anticipate this happening and nor do I like it one bit. No matter how I feel, the western conference finals are upon us. The Nuggets come rolling in posting an 8-2 record so far in the playoffs, while the Lakers come in with a humbling 8-4 record. The Nuggets easily dismantled the Hornets and the Mavs, while the Lakers cruised passed the Jazz and got pushed to the brink by the Rockets. And no matter how well the Nuggets are playing, this series is going to be determined by which Laker team shows up. The Lakers are the superior team and with maximum effort and focus they should prevail, but that has been a problem thus far. I've seen Denver at their absolute best and I still do not feel that will be enough IF the Lakers stay committed to defense and stay focused throughout. Here are the keys to victory for both teams:
Denver Keys:

• Easy Baskets - This is of course a key for any team, but especially for the Nuggets in this series. If they fall in love with the 3 point shot and outside jumper they will lose this series. The Nuggets are at their best when they get out in transition and score at will. They are one of the best teams in the league at creating points off of turnovers with the notorious cherry picker Melo and JR Smith pushing the break. Also Nene and K-Mart are going to have to dominate the paint. When Kenyon falls in love with his jumper it really will hurt the Nuggets and he needs to attack at will. The Lakers are going to clog the paint and force Carmelo to take contested jumpers, like he did all year vs the Lakers (14.5 ppg during the regular season vs the Lakers). More on that next.
• Carmelo Anthony - During the season Melo really struggled vs the Lakers length, I mean REALLY struggled. His averages in the 4 games vs the Lakers are 14.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 7.8 rpg and shot a miserable 32.8% from the field. He really needs to find his groove and have more patience instead of pulling up from the elbow so early in the shot clock. With Billups now running the show, Carmelo can afford to be more patient and take what the defense gives him. If Melo plays like he did vs the Lakers during the regular season the Nuggets have no chance to win this series.
• Stay Composed - The Denver Nuggets have a lot players and coaches on their teams that have a history of imploding when it really matters. It ultimately starts with George Karl, the head coach. He has a history of being out-coached in big playoff series and especially against Phil Jackson. Karl needs to look to his team for leadership and only one player comes to mind and that's Chauncey Billups. Billups has a championship pedigree that he needs to instill into teammates during this series. He has beat Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson before and don't think he wont use that to get his team to believe. If the likes of K-Mart, Melo, JR Smith and Nene can all stay in control and out of trouble the Nuggets likelihood of winning this series increases quite a bit.

Lakers Keys:

• Andrew Bynum - I really hate having to say this again, but he really is a major key to this series. If Bynum's hands and feet were as active as they were in game 7, the Lakers should win this series hands down. Bynum is truly the key defensively for the Lakers. If he can stop roaming the paint and just commit to staying between the basket and the ball, the Lakers defense goes from average at best to elite. Bynum has to be the anchor of the defense and altar any shot that comes near the rim. On offense he just needs to be active on the glass and ready for put backs. Nene will be a very difficult task for Bynum and hopefully Bynum isn't afraid to push back.
• Lakers Coaching Staff - In the series vs the Rockets I thought the coaching staff did not do a great job of preparing the Lakers. Also a big problem was Phil Jackson's poor substitutions for a lot of the series. Hopefully his stubbornness to leave Derek Fisher in most of the games will help payoff vs the Nuggets. When Phil left him in so long vs the Rockets, it almost cost the Lakers the series. Another big issue I had with the series was keeping Kobe on the bench to start the 4th quarter. This is especially bothered me when we cut the lead to 9 in game 6 at the end of the 3rd quarter and Phil left Kobe on the bench and let Sasha flounder out there. The lead ballooned up to 14 points and the game was out of hand. Kobe did not come in till the 6 minute mark. Phil rested Kobe all year, so he can play in these moments. Its the western conference finals, play Kobe as much as possible. The adjustments must be made in order for the Lakers to prevail.
• Stay Focused Please! - This one is easy, just stay focused and committed defensively. I know that sounds silly to say to a team in the western conference finals, but it really is true for this team. The Lakers have so much talent, that if they can acheive maximum effort they will win. The big, big problem is at times this team can fall asleep and blow games. Hopefully the Rockets series was just a match up issue, but this needs to stop and needs to stop now.

With all of that said this will be an excellent series. Denver is playing at a very high level and could easily knock off the #1 seed. Unfortunately for Denver its up to the Lakers to see who prevails in this series. If the Lakers can show emotion out their and out hustle the Nuggets they will win this series, no questions asked. My prediction is this is going to be a very entertaining series, with a few skirmishes thrown in the middle as well. The Lakers will gain their rhythm and win the first 2 games in LA. The Nuggets backed by the emotions of their crowd will win the next 2 at home to tie the series. Lakers come home to take game 5 and finish off the Nuggets on the road in 6.

Prediction - Lakers 4 - Nuggets 2

State of the Diamondbacks

Well lets just say they have not met expectations to start this 2009 campaign. The D-backs were supposed to contend for the NL West and NL Wildcard this year and so far they have certainly not looked anything like a playoff team. First and for most I would like to discuss the recent firing of Bob Melvin. I have felt for a long time that Bob Melvin needed to go. He was just not reaching the players. I worked for the Tucson Sidewinders and got to watch a lot of these guys in triple A and they looked great. They all played with a swagger and looked like a future world series team. That Tucson Sidewinders team did actually win the Pacific Coast League Championship that year. The kids were great when they were first brought up due to teams not having full scouting reports yet and getting by with mostly effort. Once other teams began creating in depth scouting reports, the D-backs just went south. And the voice of the team was just not getting it done. His lineups were always shaky and never let the players develop a sense of security and confidence. The way Melvin handled Justin Upton really bothered me especially. To start the season he only played Upton every other day, so he could start over paid outfielder (OF) Eric Byrnes. How can a young star in the making gain confidence when he consistently has to look over his shoulders? And when Melvin did play Upton he set him up for failure by always hitting him 8th in the lineup, which is notoriously a very difficult spot to hit in. The day Melvin played Upton 2 games in a row is the day he played great and made a difference in a victory over the Cardinals. This shows me that he does not understand how to develop players and he should stick with more veteran players. This flaw showed with the Mariners when he took over for coach Lou Piniella. He had great success with a 93 win, veteran team and won 93 games the very next year. After his 93 win season with the Mariners he only won 63 games and got fired. So I am not surprised or angry at all by the firing. What am I a little more surprised about is the hiring of A.J. Hinch as the manager. I respect Hinchs' ability when it comes to evaluating talent and bringing players through the minor league system. He has drafted very well and has a great eye for talent. Josh Byrnes made the unconventional hire of Hinch, because it was an unconventional hire. He figured if a traditional manager wasn't working he might as well hire someone different. Hopefully his intuition serves him well and Hinch becomes a fine manager, but I do disagree with the hire none the less. I feel Chip Hale would've been the better hire for this team. He just so happened to be the coach of that Tucson Sidewinder championship team. On that team was Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Miguel Montero, Carlos Quentin and Micah Owings. That team was loose and seemed comfortable with Hale at the helm. Now Hale is the third base coach and could have easily been promoted or at least given the interim tag and not commit 4 years to a first time MLB manager. Hopefully Byrnes knows something that we don't know.

Other news around the D-backs are the exciting arrivals of Gerardo Parra and Bryan Augenstein. These 2 youngsters hopefully can provide a spark to some of the struggling veterans, I.E. Chris Young. Parra certainly has a lot of life in his swing and has the looks of a very good major leaguer. He also has shown a surprising arm and moderate range. Augenstein looks to be a real keeper as well. His awkward delivery and height makes it very difficult for opposing hitters to pick up the ball. He seems to have decent control, which will only improve with experience. He has the looks of a future Brandon Webb with his sharp sinker ball and solid change up. Hopefully Webb can give him numerous tips on locating that sinker. I would also like to congratulate Max Scherzer on getting his first Major League victory. This was long overdue, but Max delivered another fine performance and picked up the victory. Lets hope Augenstein can pick up his first win sooner than Max did.

Flames All-Time NBA Team

So on the eve of 2 game 7's I thought it would be fun to construct my all-time NBA starting five and why. We are going to classify the team just like the NBA does, 2 guards, 2 fowards and 1 center. It doesn't matter if they played power forward or small forward, just simply the 2 best players. Lets Begin:

G - Earvin "Magic" Johnson, #32, Los Angeles Lakers - This was an easy one. He is truly the best point guard to ever the play game, and to be honest it's not even close. He is and was a true professional at every level. The only thing Magic knew how to do was win. He won in high school, college and of course at the NBA level. His career averages were 19.5 ppg, 11.2 apg, 7.2 rpg and 1.9 spg. He was the complete package. Watching Magic run the fast break was like watching Mozart play the piano or watching Picasso paint a picture. He was truly a magician out on the court. He won 5 NBA titles and had 8 NBA finals appearances. He was a 12 time all-star, 3 time finals MVP, 2 time all-star game MVP, 9 All-NBA appearances and 3 time league MVP. Magic is ranked 6th all-time on Basketball-References Hall of Fame probability rankings. He was the orchestrator of one of the greatest offenses in league history and revolutionized the game of basketball.

G - Michael Jordan, #23, Chicago Bulls - This was even an easier pick. If Magic was the best point guard to ever play, MJ was the best player to ever the play the game. He took the game of basketball to whole other level. Magic and Bird put the NBA on the map and MJ made it mainstream. He was one of the most feared and fierce competitors to ever play the game of basketball. His resume is pretty startling as well. He averaged for his CAREER 30.1 ppg as a shooting guard playing in a big mans era. He averaged 30.1 ppg when there was no such thing as hand check rules as well. He also averaged 5.3 apg, 6.2 rpg and 2.3 spg respectively. MJ was also an all-time defender. He could lock down any perimeter player and was maybe the best help defender to ever play the game. His favorite defensive move was to strip another player and steal the ball and lead the fast break. All these stats are great, but what was even more impressive was Jordan's 6 NBA titles in 6 NBA appearances. Air Jordan was a 14 time all-star, 1 time defensive player of the year, 3 time all-star game MVP, 6 time finals MVP, 10 All-NBA appearances, 9 All-NBA defensive team appearances and 5 time league MVP. He also has the #1 ranking according to basketball-references Hall of Fame probability rankings. He will go down as the best player to EVER play the game.

Other Guard Candidates - Oscar Robertson (1 title, #11 HOF Prob), Jerry West (1 title, #13 HOF Prob.) , Kobe Bryant (3 titles, #12 HOF Prob.), John Stockton (all-time assist and steals leader, #74 HOF Prob), Isiah Thomas (2 titles, #29 HOF Prob) and Clyde Drexler (1 title, #39 HOF Prob).

F- Larry Bird, #33, Boston Celtics - Now things get a little more interesting with the selection of the forward position. Bird just so happens to be the easy selection. Larry Legend is considered to be the best pure shooter the game as ever seen. Also a fierce competitor that could score at will and change a game from beyond the 3 point line. He was the consummate teammate and all he cared about was winning. Bird also has put up some pretty gaudy numbers as well. He had career averages of 24.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 6.3 apg and 1.7 spg. Those numbers speak for them self. He also won the NBA title 3 times. Along with his rings he was a 12 time all-star, 1 time all-star game MVP, 2 time finals MVP, 9 All-NBA appearances and 3 time NBA MVP. Bird is also ranked #5 in the Hall of Fame probability rankings. Larry still to this day is considered the greatest shooter to ever play.

F - Tim Duncan, #21, San Antonio Spurs - The forward position was very, very difficult to pick just one. There are many amazing forwards to play this game. But after narrowing it down I had to go with the Big Fundamental. Timmy is one of the best low post defenders to ever play the game. His will and focus on the basics has led him to win 4 NBA titles. Duncan is also a big game player. When his team needs a victory you can always count on Duncan to drop a 33 point, 19 rebound game to win. Also in today's game, he is one of the few players who is a true professional, on and off the court. To go along with all of this is Tim's phenomenal numbers. He has career averages of 21.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 3.2 apg and 2.4 bpg . So far in his illustrious career he is an 11 time all-star, 1 time all-star game MVP, 3 time finals MVP, 10 All-NBA appearances, 8 All-NBA defensive team appearances and 2 time league MVP. Timmy is also 8th on the Hall of Fame probability rankings. With all that said Tim Duncan belongs on this team.

Other Forward Candidates - Karl Malone (2nd all-time scoring leader, #9 HOF Prob.), Elgin Baylor (#14 HOF Prob.), Kevin Garnett (1 title, #17 HOF Prob.), Moses Malone (1 title, #19 HOF Probability), John Havlicek (8 titles, #20 HOF Prob.) Charles Barkley (#21 HOF Prob.) and Julius Erving (1 title, #25 HOF Prob.).

C - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, #33, Los Angeles Lakers & Milwaukee Bucks - The center position in the NBA is easily filled with the most all-time greats. I could have chosen 5 other different players and no one would have flinched. The reason I went with Cap was because he had the total package. He was a phenomenal defender (arguably the greatest shot blocker to ever play) and had the most dominant scoring move we have ever seen, the sky hook. Not only was Kareem a great player, he was a winner at every level. He was the best player on the best college team of all time at UCLA and won 6 NBA titles. People have said that Kareem is the best pure basketball player to ever play. Sky hook after sky hook, he scored at will, whenever he wanted too. He was the igniter of the show time Lakers with his great rebounding and outlet passing skills. Kareem played 20 NBA seasons and is the all-time scoring leader in NBA history. His career averages are 24.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 3.6 apg and 2.6 bpg (over 4 bpg in his prime). To go along with his is ridiculous stats are that he was a 19 time all-star, 2 time finals MVP, 10 All-NBA appearances, 5 All-NBA defensive team appearances and 6 time league MVP. He is also #2 on the Hall of Fame probability rankings. This was very hard to choose, but Kareem definitely deserves to be known as the greatest center to ever play.

Other Center Candidates - Bill Russell (11 titles, #3 HOF prob.), Shaquille O'Neal (4 titles, #7 HOF prob.), Wilt Chamberlain (2 titles, #4 HOF prob.), Hakeem Olajuwon (2 titles, #15 HOF Prob.) and George Mikan (5 titles, #24 HOF prob.).

5/15 - Bet of the Night

After starting off this segment 1-0, we are going to look to improve to 2-0 tonight. Tonight's bet is centered around baseball. We are going to take the Reds on the road vs the Padres. The Reds are the favorites at -125. This is a simple bet using momentum. Momentum does exist in baseball especially if the streaks are 3 or more. Right now the Padres are on a 6 game losing streak and the Reds are on a 3 game winning streak. The odds say that both of these streaks will continue. What also improves these odds are the pitching match ups. The Reds have Harang going and the Padres have Correira going.

Record - 1-0

Lakers vs Rockets Game 6 Diary

This is a running diary of me watching the game, emotion after emotion!

12:00 left in the 1st 0-0 - OK, lets get this going! We look ready, I'm feeling it tonight. But boy am I nervous about this one. I DO NOT want to go back to LA. We have to win the 1st Quarter! Why does Van Gundy get to call games for the Rockets. He coached this team 3 years ago!!! He has very serious ties to the Rockets organization and shouldn't be calling the game. It pains him to say something positive about the Lakers.

9:23 left in the 1st 1-6 - Bynum looks like he has cement on his feet, not good! Ariza is being aggressive, I like it. This start reminds me too much of game 4 (pounding beer).

7:30 left in the 1st 1-13 - Please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD go inside to Pau Gasol! This is unreal how this is the exact start to Game 4. Kobe, stop taking contested 20 footers when we have 2 7 footers and their tallest guy is at 6'9. I am about to toss this computer out the window. UGH!!

6:20 left in the 1st 3-17 - WE MADE A BASKET!!! I love watching us give up lay ups and open shots (2nd beer has been cracked).

4:50 left in the 1st 3-19 - Pau Gasol looks like me guarding Scola out there, and Kobe continues to take AWFUL shots. Go to the basket and move the ball!

1:59 left in the 1st 9-23 - I am so speechless at this point. Pau is a completely different player defensively. For some reason Fisher continues to shoot 3's as his percentage is plummeting below 20% now. We are not moving the ball or cutting or anything. Phil please pull everyone out of the game and put players in that want to win this thing. At least if we lose lets lose trying and wanting this.

End of 1st 15-27 - Thank God for Farmar keeping us in this game with 2 huge 3's. I honestly can't believe Pau tonight, Scola is kicking his butt all the way back to LA right now. We need to come out of the 2nd quarter on fire. WAKE UP!!!! WAKE UP!!!!

9:26 left in the 2nd 21-33 - Kobe is shooting us out of this game. Kobe please move the ball and stop letting Battier face guard you all night. Battier gets away with murder guarding Kobe. I know he's a great defender, but seriously he gets away with way too much. Farmar came to play, is anyone else going to join him. Love pushing the tempo, Jordan! Lets get a defensive stop please.

8:28 left in the 2nd 21-33 - Scola just flopped so hard, wow!

4:59 left in the 2nd 27-42 - We have to cut this to single digits by half time. Kobe needs to be great and make every one else on the floor great. Penetrate and kick please, Fish, make a 3 this quarter.

4:30 left in the 2nd 27-42 - Battier really needs to cut that out. It is such a dangerous play. That's how Lamar got hurt in Game 4. Battier slides underneath the player while in mid-air to draw a charge. It is so dangerous and it is cheating. Bad bad call on Kobe there.

3:19 left in the 2nd 29-42 - Please pull Fisher, please pull Fisher, please pull Fisher. What is Phil thinking right now? Can it get any worse?

2:19 left in the 2nd 31-46 - How is that a technical foul!!!! What has this league come too! Kobe gave him a love tap on his chest. I am shocked right now. I am so speechless. This is game 6 of the 2nd round and refs are calling that crap. This is a serious serious issue. Artest is such a cheat too and I just lost a lot of respect for him after that play. I didn't expect that from Artest. Thank you Kobe for calling him out on it.

Halftime 36-52 - I honestly can't believe how bad Pau played. He made Luis Scola look like 1st team All-NBA. Fisher needs to not play period in the 2nd half. He is really struggling out there. Please stop half-ass doubling, Pau. Play your man straight up. Ariza does not need help on Ron Artest. We shot 31% from the field and that is just so bad. We need to come out with some passion and fire. Pau needs to get it going and Kobe needs to take Battier and create for everyone.

9:16 left in the 3rd 43-52 - Yes! that is how we come out of the half. We needed that 7-0 run badly. Nice rotations and we finally have our hands up and active. It is so important for us to get our hands on passes. Kobe, keep attacking at all costs. Good things always happen when you do that Mr. Bryant.

5:58 left in the 3rd 52-54 - WOW what a change. Is this a different team? We are playing so well on defense. We are rotating, rebounding and getting amazing ball pressure. Kobe is penetrating and Bynum is looking like a different person. We need to continue the pressure. I love it! The Lakers have to continue to apply the pressure. And Battier continues to get away with murder.

4:17 left in the 3rd 54-62 - The Rockets just got a little momentum back. Big three by Brooks. I still cannot understand how Fisher is in this game. He is killing us on offense with missed wide open 3's and Brooks is killing him on defense. Somehow Fisher consistently loses Brooks and Phil is blowing it by leaving him in. We have to close this quarter out strong!

.54 left in the 3rd 65-70 - We cannot get a stop right now. Lets d-up!!!

End of 3rd 65-74 - We really let it get away there at the end of the quarter. The Rockets started making ridiculous shots. Those shots hopefully wont fall in the 4th. Overall it was a great quarter and cut it to single digits. This is a game of runs and we have one more big run left in us (hopefully).

9:14 left in the 4th 69-76 - Odom has played inspiring defense all game. He has been our most consistent defender all game. If we could just hit an open jumper that would certainly help cut into this lead. Emotions are running at an all-season high right now for me. The texts are coming in by the dozen and my wonderful girlfriend is giving me massages. Its time to man up and finish this game!

6:24 left in the 4th 71-81 - Artest hits a ridiculous 3 and Landry makes a big play even though he did use his off arm. We are letting this game slip away. The nerves are creeping really high right now. Must find a way.

5:00 left in the 4th 73-82 - Look I am not one to complain about officiating, but they have missed several crucial, crucial calls. Aaron Brooks blatantly kicked that ball. I have no idea how you miss that. This crew has been horrendous. I know Bennett Salvatore isn't reffing this game, but it sure feels like it.

2:59 left in the 4th 75-90 - I didn't realize Battier could slap hands with Kobe when he shoots. No wonder he is so good at guarding him. Man, this Houston team was just relentless tonight. The game is over unfortunately. I really do not know how we only have 75 points right now.

Final Score 80-95 - I have to give a lot of credit to the Rockets. I am sick and tired of everyone jumping all over our backs because we are having trouble with this team. The Rockets are a legitimate team that play with a ton of heart and have talented players all over. This was by no means going to be a cake walk. None the less I am still very disappointed in the Lakers as a whole. The Lakers now fall to 1-6 in our last 7 vs the Rockets when Yao does not play. Collectively as a team we have to regroup...AGAIN (not sure if I can take much more if this).

5/14 - Bet of the Night

Welcome folks! While we prepare for Lakers vs Rockets and watch Celtics vs Magic I thought I would share my bet of the night and my reasoning for this. This is a feature I will run every night I make a sports bet and keep a tally of all my bets of the night.

Tonight's bet is the Over/Under (O/U) on the Lakers vs Rockets Game 6 @ Houston. The O/U for tonight's game is 198. My bet for tonight's game will feature the under. Why you ask? Well these teams have played each other 9 times this year. In those 9 games the combined score was under 198 for a record of 5-3-1, which goes in our favor. Also another factor is Yao Ming played in 7 of those games and that certainly hurts this games chances from topping the 198 point. Also when you average the scores of those 9 games it comes out to 195, which is also lower than 198. The Lakers have played the Rockets on the road 4 times this year and 3 out of the 4 times the total was under 198. With all that said I am taking the under tonight.

Record - 0-0

Lakers vs Rockets Game 6 Preview

After a phenomenal win in Game 5 the Lakers will face a very difficult task in Game 6 at Houston. This Rockets team has so much resolve and poise led by Battier and Coach Adelman, so we know they will not go down easy. Especially after the Lakers made the Rockets look like the Washington Generals on a BAD day. So I am going to go through what I think are the keys for both teams to win and then my prediction.

Keys for the Rockets:

• Dribble penetration - Without Yao Ming this becomes the most important key for the Rockets to win this game. The main culprit is Aaron Brooks getting penetration and completely breaking down the Lakers defense. This makes the Lakers over compensate and allow the Rockets to reverse the ball to the weak side where battier is wide open for a 3. By the way does that guy ever miss in a big game? And who doesn't want that guy on your team?


• Ball movement - The Rockets become victims of dribbling way too much and get caught on the strong side and hoist up bad shots (that's you Ron Ron). If they attack the Laker offense early and move the ball it will free up cutters and passing lanes. The Lakers can sometimes be lackadaisical in the early part of the shot clock, so they need to attack early and often.


• 3 point shooting - In both the Rockets wins they made more 3 pointers then the Lakers and in all 3 losses they got out shot by the Lakers from downtown. Whats even more important than making the 3 is defending it. The Rockets will have to move through back screens and rotate very quickly or the Lakers will burn them from the Arc as they did in Game 3 in Houston. The Lakers were 3rd in the NBA in 3 pointers made per game this season. Also when the Lakers start making 3's it really fuels their defense.

Keys for the Lakers:

• Tempo - This is a must for the Lakers. They need to push the ball at every opportunity and score early in the shot clock. When Battier is on his heals, Kobe can attack much easier and create easy scoring opportunities. He did this very effectively in Game 5 and I think this will also quiet the crowd early on. If the Lakers can reach the 100 point mark they should win this game, because the Rockets cannot score that many points.


• Andrew Bynum - Which Bynum is going to show up for Game 6? The lazy, clumsy Bynum or the energized, playing with purpose Bynum? This we do not know and he is a key to this game. He needs to be a monster on the glass and get Houston's thin front line in early foul trouble so they can bring in Mr. Brian Cook, formerly known as The Matador, "Olay!". Hopefully with Bynum starting he will start the game dominating like he did in Game 5, when he scored the first 6 points in the game. Cmon Drew!!


• Killer Instinct - The Lakers hopefully watched Denver close out their series vs Mark Cuban, I mean the Dallas Mavericks (seriously that guy needs to take it down a notch, I love him, but he really needs to set a higher standard and be a man about it) and realized that they need to win to give the Nuggets the least amount of rest as possible. They have to take the fans out of it early and rip the Rockets hearts out. I am depending on you Mr. Bryant and you Mr. Jackson to get these guys ready. I have faith though!

My prediction for this game is the Lakers get out to an early lead and the Rockets keep it close, but don't have enough in the 4th as the Lakers pull away for a 104-95 victory to clinch the series.

Thoughts On Man-Ram & Steroids

My first reaction to hearing Manny Ramirez was using steroids was "so..?" I feel we have all become so numb to these steroid allegations and to be honest its getting a little old. I am to the point that I really don't care any more. My opinion has always been that pitchers benefit more from drug use then hitters do anyways. My reasoning is that hitters still have to locate the pitch, time the pitch and drive the ball. If pitchers use drugs the most important thing it can do is heal your arm much, much faster and thus pitchers can pitch longer into games and be more dominating. If juiced pitchers are pitching to juiced hitters...who cares? Yes its the morality of the issue, but in the next few years we are going to find out that A LOT more players were juicing then we think today. So lets all just take a deep breath and enjoy a great baseball season.

First Post - Lakers Game 5 report

Welcome to the wonderful world of Joey. This my first post of many and look forward to hearing all of your comments.

I wanted to start things off by commenting on my beloved Los Angeles Lakers. As you will all come to realize I have a strong passion (obsession) with the LA Lakers. For those of you who know me, you definitely know what I mean. I wont get into the details about it YET, but I would like to comment on Game 5 and my overall feeling with this series. So here we go....

Going into game 5 my first thought was no way we lose this game, we will bounce back and dominate. After listening to the so called "pundits" proclaim the Lakers have "no heart" or "Lakers are in trouble", it got me thinking; for the first time this post season I am actually wavering for a moment. I was a nervous wreck for the last 3 hours of work. I must have watched 10-15 YouTube clips of Laker highlights the rest of the day. It especially doesn't help when my colleagues are walking by my desk whispering Aaron Brooks every time they walk by or see me. The day FINALLY ended and I can go home and regroup for this huge game. My stress relief and confidant Ken (my brother) came over and I could then calm down. He's a great optimist and can ease the nerves with his wit and humor.

The Game starts and Houston scores on their first possessions and we fell behind 7 points. At this point I have become numb to the Lakers lack luster play at times and just thought to myself no way we lose this game, and kept running that thought over and over again. Then all of a sudden we woke up! I mean we WOKE UP. The ball was moving, players cutting vigorously and with a sense of purpose and the shots were going down. What I noticed most was how active our bigs hands and feet were. Pau was getting his hands on every ball that came his way and for the first time all series I saw a sense of purpose with his rotations on defense. Weird Pau, you work hard and look how good you can be defensively. As usual my other confidant Dave was thinking the same thing. The constant texting of "Damn Pau came to play tonight" really couldn't have been said enough. I commented before the game that Bynum is a much better starter than as a bench player. As Bill Simmons says "Some players just can't come off the bench" and I believe Bynum and Farmar are 2 of these players. For whatever reason their game does not translate as well off the bench. Either way you look at it, we forced turnovers, rotated on defense and knocked down open shots. Sounds pretty easy and really with that much talent it should be that easy.

We don't need to go over the rest of the game because we won by freaking 40 points! I honestly needed that, I had to stay away from all media outlets for the last 2 days. I respect what Houston did in Game 4, but come on. Many media members were questioning if Houston was better without Yao and had a complete 2 day love fest with the Houston Rockets. They are a team with a lot of heart, but no way better without Yao. And the Lakers may be a better team with Bynum starting, only time will tell.