NBA Playoffs Begin

It's been a while since I paid much attention to the NBA. I don't know why because basketball is a fast paced game and it should be right up my alley in terms of my almost non-existent attention span but it really isn't my cup of tea any more. I do like the playoffs though. I do think that the NBA could do away with the first round because it never goes against chalk. No upsets, no drama, just a way for the NBA to make an extra buck or five. One thing that is different is that the Houston Rockets are a good team again. It's unfortunate that the ComCastSports deal continues to frustrate local fans in that you can't sit down and watch a game every once in a while. The playoffs are different because they will be on TNT or TBS or ESPN and accessible. That's a good thing. So I'll watch as Houston squares off against the Portland Trailblazers. This should be a good matchup. Houston didn't back into the playoffs and I'm sure they don't feel lucky to just make it into the tournament. I'm equally sure that this may be one the best first round matchups ever. I was skeptical when Houston signed James Hardin last year but he's shown he is for real and I was even more skeptical when Houston signed Dwight Howard before the current season but he's been a good teammate from all appearances. The only negative thing coming out of Houston is their battles to stay healthy. Hopefully, the injury problems are in the rearview mirror and they make a real run at this thing. I am really hoping the Rockets can take some of the heat off the Astros for a while. Oh well, Game 1 is tonight and will be on TNT. Go Rockets.

The Rockets need to stay virtually injury free to make a deep playoff run.Keeping Beverly and Howard on the floor is so important for their defense.The first day of the playoffs were marked by the lower seeded road teams winning 3 of 4 games .The Rockets need to get out to a good start in the game and hold the home court advantage.I don't like being the late game at 8 30 .

I agree that it sucks that the game is coming on so late. I went to bed with Houston up 13 and I find out this morning that they lost in OT. The home court is in Portland now so we have a bit of a hill to climb now.

The Rockets can't find a solution to the Trailblazers. Twice in this series Houston has blown a double digit lead in the fourth qtr. At least Lamarcus Aldridge didn't score 40+ points. The Rockets held him to 29 but it just wasn't enough to stop Portland from taking a 3-1 lead in their best of seven series.

 

Forget I said anything about chalk in the first round. It's incredible what Washington is doing to Chicago. WTF man! The Atlanta Hawks are giving Indianapolis all they can handle while Dallas is surprisingly tied 2-2 with the Spurs. The Grizzlies and Thunder are tied for goodness sake. Golden State is tied with the Clippers but after Clippers owner Donald Sterling was taped by his girlfriend V Stiviano in a conversation they had over a posting she made with a picture of her and Magic Johnson it's understandable the Clips weren't in a good frame of mind yesterday. The conversation had Sterling ramble for 9 minutes about how Stiviano could be friends with minorities but not in public that sparked a huge controversy about Sterling being a racist. Stiviano is herself a minority being part black and part latina. The NBA is so coo-coo you'd think the whole lot of them are munching Cocoa Puffs. The only series that is going chalk is the Heat and Charlotte Bobcats with the Heat up 3-0 but if you watched the Bobcats are not rolling over and playing dead. They have been playing the Heat right down to the wire. Or at least they did in games 1 and 2. Saturday's game 3 was all Heat who ended up winning by 13.

As for the Clippers deal, they came out yesterday in warmups and they threw their jackets down at center court and shot around with their pregame shirts on inside out. The other teams that played yesterday wore black socks and it all was in protest of Donald Sterling and his remarks. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come on this subject.

The biggest news of the NBA playoff season is the word that came down from NBA commissioner Adam Silver's announcement today that LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life from participating in any and all NBA activities and functions. Sterling has also been fined the maximum amount allowed, $2.5 mm, for comments his girlfriend V Stiviano recorded and TMZ released last week that show Sterling to be a racist despite the fact that Ms Stiviano is a woman of color. The revelation that Sterling is a racist isn't a surprise as he has gone through a litany of court related incidents where Sterling was sued as a racist in his business dealings. I am not going to list his indiscretions but apparently the list is long and the question has been brought up today, why is this set of comments made in the privacy of his home more heinous than the actual damage he's done in his life discriminating against minorities in his business dealings? It's a fair question. Hall of Fame player, Elgin Baylor, actually sued Sterling for racial discrimination several years ago. Why no publicity during that case? Odd is the word here. It will be interesting to see if Sterling, who is a lawyer, will sit still and accept this banishment or will he sue the NBA and keep the case tied up in court until he dies. Hopefully, he sells the team and disappears with his money. Chances are he won't and this won't be the last of this issue. After all rich old men don't become rich old men by running away from adversity. I'm not sure I agree with the NBA decision now when they did nothing in the past. This is a media driven witch hunt and this action by the NBA seems to have delivered the pound of flesh demanded by the media and the mob who wanted his head on a plate. Something needed to be done a long time ago and the revelation that old Don is a racist was something everyone already new and they also knew what a tool bag Donald Sterling is. One thing I do agree with is that people like Donald Sterling have no place owning a professional sports team with the attitude he has for the majority of players on his team and in the organization.

The Rockets live to fight another day after winning game 5 in Houston last night by 10, 108-98. Dwight Howard was good and ESPN said last night was the best game he's played in the series. James Hardin came up big too scoring 17 points but it was Hardin playing defense, something he's bashed about all the time, that helped make the difference. Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin had 20 and 21 points respectively as Houston spread the ball around and played complimentary basketball on both ends of the court. The Rockets defense also had something to do with Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge having, by far, the worst game of the series, The Rockets held Aldridge to a mere 8 points on the night. If Houston brings the same intensity on both ends of the floor in game 6 in Portland Friday night then there WILL be a game 7 back in Houston. It would be so sweet if Houston does come back and win if for not other reason that to rub it in on A J Hoffman and Fred Faour on the ESPN radio show The Blitz who wrote off the Rockets when they went down 0-2 in the series. Those two guys are the most negative douche bags I have ever heard and they have absolutely nothing good to say about any of the Houston franchises. They will talk at length about their favorite TV shows though. (BFD!)

 

> The Bulls are gone while Washington moves on--major surprise.

> The Spurs have rebounded and lead Dallas 3-2. I think the Spurs close out the Mavs tomorrow night in Dallas.

> Brooklyn is up 3-2 on Toronto.

> The other real shocker so far has Atlanta up 3-2 on Indiana--Indy is 1 seed for crying out loud!

> Memphis is up 3-2 on OKC and the Thunder has to play game 6 in Memphis.

> The Clippers are up 3-2 on Golden State and the Donald Sterling banishment from the NBA is being given credit for the pushing the Clips over the top out of the joy of the news. Fact is the Clips are better than GS and should beat them. Game 6 at GS.

And all the while Miami gets a break as they closed out their series this past Monday vs the Bobcats. BTW the loss by Charlotte will be the last game played as Bobcats. Beginning next season they go back to being Hornets. When the original Charlotte franchise relocated to New Orleans in 2002 they became the New Orleans Hornets. Their name was changed to Pelicans at the end of the 2012-13 season. Charlotte launched an expansion team in 2004 as the Bobcats. When New Orleans changed their name to the Pelicans Charlotte obtained the rights to the Hornets name. As you may remember prior to the 2009-10 season Michael Jordan and a group of investors bought the Bobcats which made Michael Jordan the first former NBA player to be the majority owner of an NBA franchise. After some struggles the first 3 years of his ownership Jordan's Bobcats qualified for the playoffs for only the second time in franchise history with the 2nd best record in franchise history. They fell to the Heat but they put up a heckuva fight however the Heat are just a better team right now.

 

 

 

 

The Rockets and Trail Blazers were as evenly matched as it can get going into the first round of the playoffs. They both had identical 54-28 records, the Rockets were the 4 seed to Portland's 5 seed by a tie-breaker, and 3 of the 6 games in the series was decided in overtime. For whatever reason Portland seemed to be able to close better than Houston who lost 3 double digit leads in the fourth quarter in the series and they lost all three. The Rockets led 98-96 with seconds left in game 6 Friday when Damian Lillard threw up a 3 at the buzzer that was nothing but net giving the Blazers a one point victory and the series. That has to hurt and hopefully the Rockets will use this experience to get tougher mentally going forward. It's nice to see the Rockets back in the playoffs and it will be nice to see how they progress. James Hardin and Dwight Howard are the real deal although Hardin struggled some during this series with Portland. It is my sincere hope that the Rockets and Astros get their TV deal worked out so we can see them play more often. The Rockets are back and are worth a look and the Astros are getting there.

 

The 2nd round of the playoffs begin today. Here are the matchups for the second round.

Eastern Conference

Heat vs Nets

Pacers vs Wizards

Western Conference

Clippers vs Thunder

Spurs vs Trail Blazers

 

Go Spurs!

The Heat and the Spurs won easily last night and it sure looks like they may be on a collision course to meet in the in the NBA finals.

 

On Monday the Pacers fell to the Wizards at home and the Clippers beat OKC on the road. The Pacers have put a picture of Roy Hibberd on milk cartons in Indiana trying to find out where he's gone. You wonder what's up with the Thunder as they have been less than spectacular in the playoffs so far. Kevin Durant did win NBA MVP and he collected his award last night giving a speech as emotionally charged as if he was being inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. Pretty awesome speech though. A bit long but worth a look.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6qfdGNkuM

I've strayed away from the playoffs a little bit and is it any wonder. The divisional round was pretty friggin boring. It pretty much went chalk and even the continuing Donald Sterling ordeal couldn't make it interesting. Although, the last game between OKC and the Clippers turned out a bunch of Hollywood's regulars even though it was the Clippers and not the Lakers. Hell, even Jack Nicholson was there. It didn't matter though because there was just too much Kevin Durant for LA to handle.

 

So the Eastern Conference finals feature who was supposed to be featured, the Heat and Pacers, although the Pacers won with smoke and mirrors because they played like crap for the most part. The Heat had little trouble beating Brooklyn as they continue to cruise through the playoffs. Even though the media tried to drum up a little drama but there just wasn't any there. Game 1 is tomorrow at 3:30 pm. I'm sorry all you Lebron haters out there but I'm rooting for the Heat.

 

The Western Conference finals begin Monday night and feature San Antonio and OKC. It's hard to say who should be the favorite and IMO you would be right to choose either team but this might be the really, really, really last hurrah for the Spurs. They keep getting written off but they keep coming back. San Antonio may just have the slightest advantage because, due to a strained calf suffered in the Game 6 game against the Clippers, it looks like power forward Serge Ibaka will be out for the series. I believe I'm rooting for the Spurs.

 

As for the finals, if it happens to be San Antonio vs the Heat I will be torn because whoever wins I will be happy for them and I'll feel just as bad for the losers. Is there some way both can win? No? Crap. At least both these series should be more entertaining that the divisional round games.

 

 

The 1st games of the conference finals are in the books and there was one surprise, the win by Indiana over Miami, and one mild surprise, San Antonio's one sided win over Oklahoma City, The Spurs and Thunder series was a toss up in a lot of people's minds and likely a 50-50 split in poll to who people believed would win. Maybe Serge Ibaka's loss is a bigger deal that people thought. The Pacers seemed to wake up on Sunday afternoon from the extended nap they have enjoyed getting to this point. It appeared the Pacers went rumblin', stumblin' and bumblin' into the Eastern Conference Finals but the team that won an EC best 56 regular season games, for a game anyway, woke up and posted a convincing 11 point win. The difference in the game was the 42 to 26% 3-point shooting advantage by the Pacers and they got to the foul line 37 time to the Heat's 19 times. The Pacers outscored Miami by 19 point just at the foul line. The fact that Miami's 3-point shooting was almost non-existant really hurt because the Heat depends a lot on the 3 ball. To lose by 11 wasn't bad as it first looked but we'll see if it was an off shooting night for Miami or good D by Indiana who took advantage of the size mismatch they had going in. We'll learn a lot from game 2 tonight.

Admit it you were counting Miami out after the Pacers won the 1st game. Game 2 wasn't exactly a statement game for Miami but they came back and won and took home court advantage right out from under Indiana's nose. I thought the most interesting stat was this; every single point in the 4th quarter was either scored by or assisted by Duane Wade and LeBron James. I wonder if the Heat are in the Pacers heads yet?

 

Go San Antonio!

It seemed like a week between games this past week but it was only three days. After playing Tuesday the Heat and Pacers resumed their series on Saturday while the Thunder and Spurs last played on Wednesday before resuming the series on Sunday. Both series are 2 games to one but the Heat appear to be more in the driver's seat more than the Spurs seem to be. Miami lost the opener but came back in game 2 to tie it up. Back in Miami the Heat won by 12 to take the series lead and solidifying their home court advantage. The Spurs have home court advantage and the loss yesterday didn't change that but the unexpected return of Serge Ibaka sparked the Thunder as they handled the Spurs easily winning at home by 9 106-97 but trust me this game wasn't that close. By the last 5 minutes of the game Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had all the starters off the court with backups left to finish the game. The backups didn't do half bad. With the Thunder at home now it will be up to San Antonio to find a way to beat the Thunder at least once in their place. The 2-2-1-1-1 format isn't as desperate as the 2-3-2 format but the Spurs need to put their foot on the OKC or they could very well be in trouble.

The Heat and Pacers play tonight and Indiana will be in big trouble if Miami wins and puts up a 3-1 lead in the series. I think the Pacers are in trouble anyway and I'll be surprised if this series goes past 5 games.

The Spurs/Thunder series is a home court series. The home team has won every game and by a big margin. Last nigh the Spurs thumped OKC by almost 30 points to take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series. So, as the script seems to have been written OKC will stomp a mudhole in San Antonio when they play game 6 in OKC on Saturday and the Spurs will win game 7 next Monday in a semi close game sending the Spurs to the NBA Finals.

 

The other day Miami went into Indianapolis and got beat by 3 in a game where Lebron James missed a big chunk of the game due to being in foul trouble. This is just a temporary reprieve because going back to Miami tonight the Pacers can take solace that they just won't have to lose the series in front of their home crowd. Yes, I said it, the Pacers will lose tonight. I think it's as close to a guarantee as you are going to get. Now, if and I mean a big if, the Pacers win tonight, Miami could be in trouble in game 7 back in Indiana. That said, Miami ain't losing and they have a week to rest up for the Spurs.

I agree with you Eagle Eye about Miami winning tonight and I also believe LeBron will do well and definitely not be in foul trouble.Larry Bird supposedly told Lance Stephenson to stop the antics like blowing in LeBron's ear.I guess he remembers all the annoying things Dennis Rodman did to try to get opponents to lose focus.LeBron's look was priceless though.

Miami is up in the second quarter by double digits and LeBron is shining.Lance Stephenson wipe of LeBron's face caused a reaction from James.Stephenson is playing hard and well and now got a flagrant foul penalty 1 for unnecessary contact.

That's Stephenson's game. Piss off the opponent and he's cheap shotted LeBron a few times. I'm glad the refs nailed him. Stephenson must have watched the ESPN show about the 80s Detroit Pistons and he's trying to be a new millennium Bill Laimbeer.

The Heat are up 60-34 at halftime. Stephenson needs his ass kicked and you gotta give LeBron a lot credit for the restraint he's shown so far.

The Heat are still dominating leading Indiana by 32 with 6:30 left in the 3rd.

Paul George has not played well and James has been great in all aspects.Antonio Davis the former NBA forward and now an ESPN analyst compared Stephens antics to Rodman reaching in other players shorts to change their focus.Veterans would counsel him to not react to such antics .I agree James has acted like a true professional.

The Heat are trying to play four corners to kill clock. I wish they'd keep up the pace and bury these fools. I can't stand watching Houston because it's too close. I can't take the pressure! I hope they can maintain their one run advantage for just one more out and one more inning. Crap.

The Heat put a smack down on the Pacers 117=92 that wasn't that close. It was cool to hear the Miami fans send Indiana into the off season singing the Na-Na-Hey-Hey Song. Stephenson deserved no less. Whatta douche. Tonight was a good sports night with the Astros eeking out a 2-1 win over the Orioles on TV no less and the Heat making me look like I know a thing or two by trouncing the Pacers.

 

Astros game ticket - $25 per seat

Heat winning 4th trip to NBA Final - $90 K per player

Look of self satisfied smugness - Priceless!!!!

As right as I was about the Heat I was wrong about the Spurs. I thought they'd go to OKC and lose because I really believed that was home court series. It took overtime but San Antonio prevailed with a 5 point win and now it's Spurs vs Heat II. It should be a good series but I think Miami plays defense better than OKC and LeBron is the best player in the league and that counts as an advantage for Miami. So now both Miami and San Antonio get a breather. Miami gets 6 days, the Spurs 5 when they begin the finals on Thursday with the Spurs getting home court to start the series. This is one series that I'm torn about. If either wins I'm happy and I will feel sad for the loser as well. It's too bad they just can't declare them both champions but that's kind of an un-American thing to think isn't it? We gotta have a winner and a loser or playing the game is meaningless. I get it but I like both teams. I guess all we can do is hope they play well and nobody gets hurt. Speaking of which, Tony Parker missed the second half due to an ankle injury. If it's not too bad then the days off should help.

 

One more thing, there's something just wrong about basketball and hockey in June. I have always thought that.

Thanks for the update... ;) ;) ;)

Thanks for the update... ;) ;) ;)

 

You're welcome! Welcome to the site.

San Antonio is not too proud to take advantage of a situation like the A/C unit going out at their arena last night. The Spurs are old, aren't they? Isn't that what all the "experts" say? It's apparently a load of crap because this team of old men played 48 minutes of basketball. As for the Heat, their best player, LeBron James, couldn't take the heat of the San Antonio arena. James had to exit the game half way through the 4th quarter due to severe cramping. When James left the game the rest of the Heat wilted under the pressure of the San Antonio Spurs team, their crowd and the arena and not one of these 2 time champions stepped up to try to fill the void left by King James. Not Dwayne Wade. Not Chris Bosh. Nobody. What was a dead even contest became a Spurs blowout of a flameless Heat. Hopefully, the Spurs will fix the damn A/C and LeBron will hydrate a little better. It was a pretty good game until James had to leave. A game that Miami looked more in control of than SA. As Crocodile Dundee might say, "No worries, mate." Miami can win game 2 and still steal home court advantage. It's no shame to lose to a good team on the road. The Heat lost the Eastern Conference Championship opening game to Indiana and came back and won game 2 in Indy and for all intents and purposes that series was over. Now, SA is better than the Pacers but it doesn't mean all is lost. Somebody has to lose and last night it was Miami. Tomorrow night it will be a whole new ball game and who knows what will happen. That's the beauty of having two good teams duking it out. Every game is an adventure. I'm looking forward to round 2 of this heavy weight match!