In the East:
· Does any team really have a shot outside of
Chicago and Miami? I don’t think so. With the physical way these two teams played
each other last night, I am starting to get excited for what we might see in
the Eastern Conference Finals. I only
hope Derrick Rose will be healthy for it.
· Tough break for the Orlando Magic. The most dominant player in the game, Dwight
Howard, needs back surgery to repair a herniated disc and will miss the rest of
the season and the Summer Olympics. This
team has been struggling of late and without Dwight, their playoff run might
only last 4 or 5 games. The only good
thing is that this team looks like they have the #6 seed in the East, and will
avoid the Heat/Bulls in the 1st round. Any chance the Magic wish they traded Dwight
earlier this year? If there is one
thing I know, its that once you have back surgery, your never the same. For a team that doesn’t have much talent on
it other than Dwight, a significant injury to him will hurt this team’s chances
not only this year, but next year as well.
Tough loss for the Magic.
Hopefully he can come back next year healthy, but a bad back is something
no player wants to deal with.
· The Knicks have the 7th seed pretty
much locked up. I think they would have a great shot at winning their 1st
round match if they get the 6 seed, but with 4 games left and 3 games back of
Orlando, a 1st round matchup with the Bulls or Heat looks like a
formality. It should be an exciting
series either way, but I don’t think the Knicks have enough to win against
either of those teams.
In the West:
· This conference is the more entertaining
one. There are 3 or 4 teams that could
come out of the West. OKC, San Antonio,
Lakers, and even the Clippers have a shot.
· Has any team in the history of the NBA been as
good as San Antonio and have the least amount of media attention? Its unbelievable to me that nobody is talking
about this team. They currently sit at
#1 in the West, and have arguably the MVP in the league in Tony Parker. They do not play with any flash or
style. They have arguable the best
coach in the league in Gregg Popovich, have a first ballot hall of famer in Tim
Duncan who is still quietly having a solid season, and like I said before, have
Tony Parker playing arguably his best basketball of his career. Look out for this team.
· A lot of pressure will be on Oklahoma City. This team has been the up and coming team for
a couple years now and a lot is riding on this team in this playoff run. A playoff loss and some major changes could happen
this offseason. Russell Westbrook will
probably be sent out and I’m sure questions will begin to be asked about the
coach, Scott Brooks.
· The Lakers will go as far as Kobe Bryant can
take them. Say what you want about Pau
Gasol and Andrew Bynum, who have both been great, but when the game gets tight,
the ball will be with Kobe. He’s
delivered many times in the past. Will
he be able to carry them again?
· I hope Lamar Odom never gets another job in the
NBA again. He should be embarrassed for
what he did this year. I’m glad Dallas
waived him. His name has also been
removed from the 20 player list for players being considered for the U.S
Olympic team. Good. I don’t want this guy representing my
country. I would rather take guys with “questionable”
character than this guy.
On the Diamond…
· Great series win for Oakland this week over the
Angels. I didn’t think the A’s would win
3 games against the Angels all season, let alone the first series of the
year. Big three wins over Dan Haren, Ervin
Santana, and CJ Wilson. Last night’s win
was a gift though. Only 3 hits and the A’s
scored 4 runs. I still think the Angels
will be fine. A couple bad errors and a
few walks from their pitchers cost them last night. Albert Pujols has struggled, however last
night he ripped three doubles. All his
swings looked good. This guy will break
out big time this weekend. You can mark
that one down right now. Don’t look
now, but the A’s are 7-7! One of the
only good things I can say about this team is that at least their starting
pitching has been great. Bartolo Colon
pitched on Wednesday night and threw 38 consecutive strikes! That’s unbelievable! I don’t think a pitching machine can even do
that. What a great bargain for Billy
Beane and the A’s signing Bartolo to a $2 million contract. He is 3-1 on the season and looks better and better with
every start. The A’s starting pitchers have
only given up 14 walks on the season, the best in baseball.
· I saw on Twitter the other day that Yoenis
Cespedes is not on the list for potential home run derby contestents. Very disappointing. AL Candidates are Jose Bautista, Miguel
Cabrera, Robby Cano, Prince Fielder, Josh Hamilton, Paul Konerko, Evan
Longoria, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, and Mark Reynolds. This is a great list, I just wish Yoenis was
on it so America can see how much this guy can pound the ball.
· This is a great weekend for baseball. We have Yankees/Red Sox starting up today in
Boston. It’s the celebration of 100
years of Fenway Park today as well. This
series is always entertaining. I can’t
wait to see the Paul Talarico tweets (@Talareeks) during a Yankees/Red Sox
series.
· Another great series, one that I think is better
than Yankees/Red Sox is the Tigers/Rangers in Detroit. Both teams have been awesome so far this
year. The Rangers and Yu Darvish earned
the win last night in Game 1. The
Rangers look like the best team in baseball right now and the Tigers are right
there with them. Saturday’s game between
Verlander and Neftali Feliz looks like the best pitching matchup in this
series.
· One more shout out to Cliff Lee and Matt Cain
for the pitching performance they put on Wednesday night. An 11 inning game played in about two and a
half hours, which ended with the Giants winning 1-0. Cliff Lee went 10 scoreless innings and Matt
Cain looked dominant as well, going 9 shutout innings. Sometimes the East coast has to stay awake in
order to watch some good baseball.
Between this game and Bartolo “the Pitching Maching” Colon throwing 38
consecutive strikes, Wednesday night was a great night for some quality
baseball.
On the Homefront…
On the Homefront…
· I’m really looking forward to Saturday
night. UFC 145. Jones vs Evans. I am obviously rooting for the hometown boy
Rashad Evans, but this fight is going to be a tough one. These two guys hate each other. It should be a great fight. Can’t wait.
· I haven’t read it yet, but I did buy it and I
have heard many good things about it so I am going to promote it now. I’m looking forward to reading Tim Brown’s
new book, “Imperfect”, the remarkable journey of Jim Abbott and his
unbelievable professional baseball career.
It should be a great read.
· I said on here a couple weeks ago that I needed
a lot of help in the fantasy playoffs of DSC NBA. Thank you Kevin Love for receiving that
message. From an 0-5 start, to a 3rd
place finish for my squad. Further proof
that all you need to do is get in the playoffs.
Once your in, you never know what might happen. Also, as I thought, The Guru took home the
championship. Congrats Dave Zona on your
back-to-back championships.
That’s all I have for now. Until next time…
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