Tag Archives: playoffs

So Steve Nash . . .

5 Jul

While I was working . . .  on my tan at the beach yesterday the Los Angeles Lakers were working on acquiring point guard Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns. They sealed the deal by giving Nash a 3 year contract for $27 million and the Suns get 4 draft picks- 1st round picks in 2013, 2015, and 2nd round picks in 2013 and 2014. Nash has played most of his career with the Suns minus a brief stint with the Dallas Mavericks. So for Suns’ fans it was a bittersweet goodbye. On one hand Nash is 38-years old and nearing the end of his career. On the other the Suns really need to be rebuilding with younger talent.

And for us Lakers fans it is a mixed bag of very different emotions. No one was particularly attached to Ramon Sessions and apparently he felt it. Sessions left quicker than he came choosing not to exercise a one-year contract with the Lakers. This left the Lakers totally dependent on Steve Blake as a starting point guard. Blake who last season averaged 5.2 points a game was not everyone’s first choice. So they decided to fix the problem by acquiring Nash.

So the Lakers went from inexperienced Sessions to over the hill Nash. Wait didn’t the Lakers just get rid of Derek Fisher because he was aging out? And Fisher is a year younger than Nash. Anyways I digress from the point.

The Good News: Nash is a great players and definitely a very well liked person. It will nice to see two NBA idols, Kobe Bryant and Nash play together. And with the acquiring Nash it is looking less likely that Pau Gasol will be traded. This move definitely puts the Lakers in a better position for the Playoffs next year.

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LeBron No Longer an NBA Loser

22 Jun

Thursday night the Miami Heat embarrassingly beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-106. The Heat won the NBA Championship Title that they should have won a year ago against the Dallas Mavericks. It was a happy day for LeBron James who finally got a Championship ring and Finals MVP title. It was a sad day for comedians and James haters who will have to retire the jokes about him choking in the 4th quarter. What will we make fun of now? His sweat band?

Overall the Finals did not provide the excitement we had all been craving. After Game 1 the Thunder morphed into a different team it was hard to believe they had cruised over the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers. The death match between James and almost MVP Kevin Durant really didn’t amount to anything interesting. James provided that he was the real MVP by carrying his team to victory. Not only that but James did something very different from last year, he shared the ball. He proved the saying is true teams win Championships not individual players. James scored 26 points for the Heat but that was just two points more than Chris Bosh. More interesting old man Mike Miller scored 23 from the bench.

And with that the Thunder went to the locker room crying, a place the Heat remember from last year. There is no doubt that the Thunder will be back next year. Durant and Russell Westbrook will definitely be staying with the Thunder. The question is whether James ‘Please Save Now’ Harden and Serge Ibaka will stay if they become free agents next year.

Even though the Heat won last night commentators are already speculating how many more they will win.

-M

 

No More LeChoke? Heat Take Lead

20 Jun

Tuesday night the Miami Heat put themselves one step closer to winning the NBA Championship defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-98. That means that Game 5 on Thursday could be the last game of the series. The way the Thunder is playing it looking like Game 5 will be their last. The only guy who seems to want to win is Russell Westbrook who scored 43 points and had 7 rebounds.  Despite Westbrook having an amazing game he is still deserves some shit for not playing smart. When there were just 13.8 seconds left and the Heat won a jump ball(thanks to the awesome Shane Battier) Westbrook fouled Mario Chalmers. This is was pretty stupid seeing as how Chalmers is a 79% foul shooter. Westbrook should have let him take the shot then tried to drive the ball to the basket. Instead Chalmers made both free throws and put the Thunder in a two possession hole with no time to climb out.

But the real story of why the Thunder lost is not on Westbrook. James ‘the beard’ Harden played terribly, he was missing shots all over the place including wide open 3 pointers. In the last 17 minutes the only players scoring for the Thunder were Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

Where the Thunder stars lacked any support the Heat was the opposite story. Chalmers had his best game of the Playoffs. He had 25 points and managed to score while LeBron James was recovering from a cramp on the sidelines. James had 25 points and 9 rebounds. Dwayne Wade stepped up the plate too adding 25 points for the Heat. Overall, it was a great game for the Heat because they played as a team. And we all know teams win Championships not players.

-M

Russell Westbrook will not be altering his game, thank you very much

16 Jun

Fine Russell don’t adjust . . . let’s just see how that plays out.
-M

Devils Win Again . . . (Sigh)

10 Jun

I think it’s official that I am jinxing the Los Angeles Kings from winning the Stanley Cup. The Kings need only one more win to secure the Stanley Cup. And it looked like they were going to get it easily. That was until the New Jersey Devils woke up from whatever hockey coma they had been in and started to win games. The Devils won Game 5 last night against the Kings, making the series 3-2.

The Devils won, 2-1, Saturday night. This is the first time the Kings have lost consecutive games in the Playoffs. And I think it has everyone questioning, what’s going on? King’s goalie Jonathan Quick seemed like a brick wall when it came to scoring but now is definitely showing his cracks. Quick helped the Devils score one of their points. As Quick was trying to play the puck away from the net, Devils’ Zach Parise came and stuffed it in. Hockey is so hard to describe just watch it:

Now the question is can the Kings get the momentum back their way? Are they too beat up to bring this series home? We will find out soon.

-M

Hello Game 7: Celtics/Heat Continues

8 Jun

The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics Thursday night, 98-79. The Heat have now tied the series and forced at Game 7 on Saturday. It was pretty outstanding comeback for the LeBron James the Heat who had struggled in the past two games to edge out the Celtics. In Thursday night’s game I think we finally saw how badly LeBron James wants that Championship ring. Can’t really blame him I would hate to be the only 3 time MVP in NBA history to not have won a Championship.

I mean literally James carried the Heat on his back scoring 45 points and 15 rebounds. That is almost half the points for the entire team. This is how insane it was James made 12 straight shots and had 30 points in the first half alone. He is only the 7th player in 15 NBA postseasons to have scored that much in a first half. He was so dominating that I forgot that Dwayne Wade was even still playing with him despite his 17 points for the Heat.

It was clear by the second half that the Celtics didn’t have an answer for James’ MVP performance. Celtics’ Rajon Rondo seemed a little stunned and missed shots he usually makes. He ended the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Half-way through the 4th quarter it was clear the Celtics had given up. Coach Doc Rivers put everyone on the bench- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

It’s now do or die for Celtics who need to lock down Game 7 on Saturday to make it to the Finals. If not we are looking at an MVP match up James verse should have been MVP Kevin Durant of the Thunder.

-M

 

Thunder Going to NBA Finals

6 Jun

Very few predicted that the Oklahoma City Thunder would be advancing onto the NBA Finals. The Thunder beat the favorite San Antonio Spurs 107-99 Wednesday night. Now the Thunder will move on to the NBA Finals to face either the Boston Celtics or Miami Heat.

There was a glimmer of hope tonight that the Spurs might just prove why they are so amazing. At one point the Spurs lead for the entire first half and into the 3rd quarter. But they just couldn’t keep with the Thunder’s scoring. Tony Parker literally missed every shot he attempted from the field and was only able to make lay-ups. There were no signs of the Manu Ginobili who rocked in Game 2 with him also missing from the field. In the end the only person who was hitting 3 consistently was Stephen Jackson. I feel like this was Game 5 all over again. Parker had 29 points and Tim Duncan added 25 points. And Jackson should definitely get a pay raise because he had 23 points.

The Thunder are just powerhouse scorers. Kevin Durant(who really should have been MVP) 34 points and 14 rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 25 points and 8 rebounds. James Harden took some tough shots again and made his mark with 16 points. It is really hard to see the Thunder being taken down by anyone at this point. Although that is exactly how I felt about the Spurs . . . so we will see.

-M

 

The Spurs I Used to Know

4 Jun

The beginning of the series between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder seems like a million years ago. In Games 1 & 2 The Spurs were undefeated and it seemed like nothing could stop them. Then in Game 4 everything changed and it has me asking, “What happened to the Spurs that I used to know?” I was so desperate for answers that I typed into google, “Why are the Spurs losing?” Not even google had an answer. But recommend other baffling questions I could ask like, “Why are the Kardashians rich?” and “Why are the Irish lucky?” So there you have it, the questions of the Spurs sucking is just as confusing to people as why the Kardashians are rich.

I am in no means a Spurs fan from back in the day, I simply picked them to take home the prize in my bracket. And we all know how loyal I am to my bracket. Monday night’s Game 5 was the chance for the Spurs to rise from the dead and take this series by the balls(literally). But that didn’t happen. In fact the opposite happened. The Spurs lost on their home court for the first time since 2009. The Thunder beat them 108-103.

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Kings Still King

31 May

I would like to start out this post by saying, “thanks a lot” to whomever programed the LA Kings/New Jersey Devils game at the same time as the Boston Celtics/Miami Heat game. My remote pretty much melted when the games were over. Both games were tied in the second half and had to go into overtime. I think I finally understand and appreciate sports bars with 20 televisions. My sad remotes state aside the Kings beat the Devils, 2-1, in game 1 of the Stanley Cup.

The winning goal game with 11:47 left in overtime. Anze Kopitar scored the goal on a breakaway(basically when it is just one player and the goalie). Kopitar used one of our favorite moves the fake out and distracted the goalie, Martin Brodeur.  I love that hockey is so low scoring that if a team makes a shot in overtime the game just ends.

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Heat Push Past Celtics, 115-111

31 May

I guess the Boston Celtics got my twitter message telling them to step up their game.  The Celtics played like a whole new team Wednesday night against the Miami Heat. Celtics’ Rajon Rondo had the 44 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.  Not only was a Rondo a scoring machine he scored all 12 of the Celtics’ points in overtime. And if you aren’t impressed by any of that then add to that he frequently used lip balm while on the court playing. As a girl I am excited when I can put on lip gloss and drive, I can’t even imagine doing it while playing basketball. Despite all Rondo’s effort and the fact that the Celtics lead for most of the game, they still lost, 115-111. The Heat now lead the series 2-0.

If you are true Celtics fans than you are blaming the refs for their loss . . . and you might have a point. When the game tied in overtime and Rondo was driving up for a basket you can clearly see the Heat’s Dwayne Wade hit him in the face. Rondo fell to the ground but there was no call. And it’s a little fishy that LeBron James alone took 24 free throws while the Celtics as a whole only took 29. Either everyone was aggressively on James out or the refs are huge Heat fans.

Game 3 is on Friday.

-M

 

 

 

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