Celtics - Lakers in Trouble?

Don't prepare for the Lakers-Celtics finals just yet. Monday night in Boston, the Black Irish could not send Superman and the Orlando Magic fishin' just yet as Rajon Rondo was finally outplayed at the point guard position by his counterpart Jameer Nelson. The Big 3 for the Celtics along with Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, and Rashard Lewis are the Magic's version of the "Big 3" but the key to this series starts and end with the Nelson vs. Rondo battle. Paul Pierce missed two 3 point shot under a minute to play but the biggest question is why didn't Ray Allen take that final shot. If the Magic win a pivotal game 5 tomorrow, expect this series to got the distance.

The Lakers took the Suns lightly and now find themselves tied 2-2 against Phoenix. The Stoudamire & Nash combination was ok but the bench for Los Suns were the deciding factor tonight. Kobe Bryant is probably giving his teammates a good lashing as he was the only offensive force for the defending champs. Phil Jackson's crew is only .500 on the road but great when playing at the Staples Center.

I'm still predicting a Celtics-Lakers finals but it's just taking a little bit longer.

The Black Irish

Tonight in Boston, the Black Irish aka Boston defeated the Orlando Magic in epic porpotion 94-71 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven. I'm truly dissapointed in Vince Carter in this series as he was acquired by the Magic during the draft of big series like this one. As a result we've come to realize that he is not playing like the Tar Heel or Toronto Raptor version and that's Vince is just a shell of his former self. At this point is his career, he should know when to turn it on and when to rely on Lewis, Howard, or Nelson. The Magic should have won game 2 but Vince Carter had a Nick Anderson moment missing clutch free throws down the strech. Another double-double for Rajon Rondo with 11 points and 12 assist including a nasty crossover on White Chocolate Jason Williams in the first half.  It's safe to say the natives in Boston will be chanting......BEAT LA....BEAT LA......BEAT LA.....BEAT LA....starting Tuesday.

Tomorrow the Los Angeles Lakers hope to comand a 3-0 lead against the offensive minded Phoenix Suns. Unless Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire commit to defense (yeah right) this series is just about over and David Stern gets his Lakers-Celtics finals ratings bonanza.

Well, my time in Clevaland was......ok but I'm ready to get back to Chicago.

Wizards Win Lottery - Conference Finals Recap

Congratulations to the Washington Wizards for winning the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery tonight in New Jersey. This team's 2009-2010 season was not a good one by dealing with the death of longtime owner Abe Polen, trading the core of their team (Antwan Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendon Hayword, and Deshawn Stevenson), followed by the season long suspensions of Javaris Crittenton for gun play. The upside for this franchise is that this team is young and now have the opportunity to draft John Wall or Evan Turner. The main question is with this young team do they draft Wall then trade Agent Zero who has a monster contract that no owner wants to touch. My theory is that the Wizards buy him out then let Arenas pursue other interest with another ball club then start fresh with John Wall as their point guard for the future. Wizard's assistant coach Sam Cassell will make sure John Wall learn the lead guard position from an NBA champion guard.

Game 1 of the NBA conference finals are complete as the Lakers and Celtics were both victorious. The Phoenix Sun could not find an answer for Kobe Bryant who dropped 40 who also made Grant Hill fall off this crossover. I'm not upset that he missed the floater but he still should have converted. The almost highlight of the game was Shannon Brown almost dunking over Michigan State alum Jason Richardson but took off too early. I was also very impressed with Derick Fisher's defense on Steve Nash after getting abused by Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams in the previous series. Game two is tomorrow at the Staples Center.

Boston Celtics took a 2 game to zero lead over the Orlando Magic tonight down in South Florida. At one point the Magic had a one-point lead but KG hit a key fade away shot over Dwight Howard (good defense...better offense). After a smart foul on Vince Carter by Paul Pierce which was his sixth, Vince had the opportunity to but his club up one with less than a minuet but the former Tar Heel had a Nick Anderson moment and missed both free throws. At the end, Orlando had to go the length of the court but Jameer Nelson missed a half-court 3 to send the game to overtime.

Both series are over and I'm already prepared for a Celtics-Lakers Finals.

Scared Straight - UNC Tarheel Version

First of all regarding last night, I believe Kobe's ankle was never hurt. The way he dominated Memphis and hit the game winning bucket was just pure Kobe. 'Nuff said!!!!

This is about my favorite college basketball team other than Illinois. WHAT IS WRONG WITH NORTH CAROLINA TARHEELS?!?!?! They need the Tar Heel version of scared straight version. Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Phil Ford are somewhere speechless. Dean Smith, Larry Brown, George Karl are somewhere crying. Vince Carter, Sean May, Rasheed Wallace are somewhere shaking their heads in shame. Eric Montrose and JR Reid should be on the phone cursing Ed Davis out. Ed Cota should be slapping Larry Drew II around for poor point guard play.

The traditional Tar Heel route is the McDonalds All-American game, shine on ESPN and the NCAA tournament, be seeded #1, nothing less than a Final 4 trip, then go lottery. This system has worked from Dean Smith to Roy Williams. The swagger, the heart, the cockiness, the killer UNC instinct has not been there and they also lost to Duke for the first time since 2007.

As Brendon Haywood cries to bed in his new Dallas condo, I hope Harrison Barnes can lead the Tar Heels back to the #1 spot they belong. The NIT is not expectable!!!!!!

Let Shannon Dunk

I know the NBA Dunk Contest is not until February but it's time to start thinking about candidates that should participate. Personally I'm endorsing Shannon Brown to enter the dunk contest. Please click here to learn more about Shannon Brown's campaign to enter the dunk contest. Other players I would like to see enter the contest is Derrick Rose, Will Bynum, Nate Robinson, LeBron James, JR Smith, Gerald Henderson, and Vince Carter.

I'm pretty sure only one of the names mentioned above will enter but the League needs to make it interesting by offering $1 million dollars to the winner. I guarantee the elite dunkers would participate then.

Take my poll and let me know who should dunk come All-Star Weekend in Dallas.