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Injuries already starting to play a roll in the Association Kobe Bryant broke is finger and now his back is giving him problems. Just another day in the life of a pampered superstar.
It is a rough world in the NBA and Kobe has played a lot of games the past five years. Everybody needs a break now and again. I know Kobe could use one right now, but he would never take himself out of the line up. Kobe is to much of a professional for that. You would have to drag him out of the line up with him kicking and screaming the whole time. The Lakers are 29-9 and five full games up on second place Phoenix. They can afford for Bryant to miss a little time and get back right for the stretch run. If Kobe is smart he would miss the All Star game. Just stay at home and work out by playing with his two beautiful children. Boston's Kevin Garnett has been in and out of the line up. Boston can not afford having KG hurt during the playoffs and they should be extra careful with the heart and soul of their team. KG has not played since hyper extending his knee in a game Dec. 28th. That can be a tricky issue to deal with. Everybody knows how good the C's are with KG. The one season Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and KG played together in the playoffs Boston won it all. Boston will be able to hold on to the Atlantic Division regular season title if Garnett misses a lot of time. They are being pushed, if you will, by the Toronto Raptors (19-20), 8.5 games behind Boston in second place. Boston got some more bad news when Rasheed Wallace, starting in the place of KG, missed Boston's loss to Atlanta last night. The Hawks have been a problem for the C's all season. Out of their ten losses this season, three of them have come to the Atlanta Hawks. With or without KG Atlanta has had the Celtic's number this year. Boston (26-10) is just two game back of Eastern Conference leading Cleveland and a game up on Orlando.
X-Mas games fail to live up to the hype The stars were out and shining bright on Christmas Day, but the match ups failed to provide much drama as blowouts were the norm for the day. Five games were on the dockets Friday and only two, the first and the last were any good. The Miami Heat and the New York got things underway with a matinee in Madison Square Garden. Dwyane Wade dropped in 30pts and Michael Beasley added 19 and the Heat held on to win 93-87. It was a great start to a day filled with the best the NBA has to offer. Up next was the first blowout of the day and this one was a real snoozer. The Boston Celtic's and the Orlando Magic put on a show that would make a mother cry. It was 34-29 at the half. Magic center Dwight Howard was a robust 1 of 7 shooting in the first half and the game gave people a chance to run to a errand or open a Christmas present or get a plate of food and find a spot to watch the Lakers and the Cav's coming up next. Kobe against LeBron, How could it get any better then that. The match up is so hot a commercial was made just for the game. A rap by KRS-1 was way better then the blowout Cleveland put on the Lakers in LA. How the Los angeles Clippers got a game on Christmas Day is beyond me. Setting them up with the Phoenix Suns is another mystery. The Clips got blown out and it was worse then the score showed. Los Angeles and Phoenix will do good to forget this game. The Suns should because they might think it is easy to blow everybody out. Phoenix did back up the X-Mas day blowout of the Clips with a pounding of LA's other team, the Lakers 118-103 Monday night. Only a double overtime win at Sacramento Saturday prevented the Lakers from having a three game losing streak.
The cream is starting to rise to the top of the NBA Boston 14-4, Cleveland 13-5, Orlando 15-4, Denver 13-5, Los Angeles Lakers 14-3 and Dallas 14-5 are all leading their divisions and they appear to be heads and shoulders above most other teams chasing them. Four of the six teams have picked up where they left off last year. Cleveland and Orlando played for the Eastern Conference Championship last year as did the Lakers and the Nuggets out West. Boston and Cleveland seem to have their divisions wrapped up before Christmas. The C's are already eight full games clear of Toronto (7-13) who are in second place. Cleveland has a little more competition in the Central. At least Milwaukee is over .500, but just barely, checking in with a 9-8 mark. In the Southeast Orlando (15-4) is the only team being pushed in the East. Atlanta is 13-5, just a game and a half behind the Magic and Miami is also above .500 (10-7). Six of the eight playoff teams from the East have won more games then they have lost. Chicago (7-9) is the seventh seed and Charlotte (7-10) is the eighth and final seed out East. Washington is also 7-10 and snipping at the heels of the Bobcats. Out West things are a little more bunched together. All eight teams that are in the playoffs right now have won more games then they have lost. The Lakers have been playing like the World Champions that they are. Kobe Bryant is second in the NBA in scoring at 28.7pts a game right behind Carmelo Anthony (30.7pts). The Lakers are getting pushed by the Phoenix Suns who are right behind them at 14-5, but the Lake Show crushed the Suns 121-102 in a November match up. The Suns will get another shot at the Lakers when the two meet at the Staples Center Sunday night. Denver has the benefit of the NBA's highest scorer in Carmelo Anthony who is dropping in just over 30pts a game and perhaps the best point guard in the NBA, Chauncey Billups. Denver leads the most competitive division in the NBA (Northwest) by two games over the improving Portland Trailblazers who are 12-8. The only team holding down the Northwest is the sorry Minnesota Timberwolves, who at 2-16 are just baby steps in front of New Jersey in a battle for the worst record in the NBA. The Northwest boosts four teams with records that are over .500. After Portland, Utah checks in with a record of 10-7 and the team that could be running the division in two or three years, Oklahoma City 10-8. In the Southwest Dallas is three games ahead of a San Antonio (9-6) and Houston (10-8). The Rockets are holding down the last playoff spot in the West, but unlike the East, Houston will have to keep their head above water to make the post season. New Orleans has been a big disappointment this year. They have played bad enough to get their head coach fired. Byron Scott became the first head coach in the NBA this season to get the axe, but it has not made much of a difference for the Hornets, who are spinning their wheels at 7-11.
Phoenix shining bright out West He is back to his old tricks. Steve Nash has his Phoenix Suns off to a blazing hot start to the 2009-10 season. The Suns are now 7-1 after they beat Philly 119-115.
Nash has topped 20-assist twice already this year. Steve had 20-dimes in a Suns win over Golden St. in Phoenix's second game of the year. Nash has had games with 17, 14, 20 and 21-assists in eight games. The Suns only loss was to Orlando. The Magic limited Nash to just four assists, his lowest of the season. The Miami Heat out East is starting to make some noise. Who knew they would jump out to a 5-1 start behind the scoring of Dwyane Wade. Wade is 5th in the league in scoring (28.5pts a game). Dwyane is getting help from center/forward Jermaine O'Neil down low. O'Neil is scoring just over 14pts a game and he is pulling down seven rebounds a game while playing tough defense on the other teams big man game in and game out. The Heat is winning with rebounding and defense. They have been out rebounded twice this year and they are holding teams to just 41.6% shooting from the field. That ranks second in the NBA behind Detroit (41.4%). No T-Mac, no Yao Ming, no problem for the Houston Rockets who, at 4-2, are on top of the Midwest division, tied with the Dallas Mavericks. The Rockets made a great move by signing Trevor Ariza away from the Los Angeles Lakers. Ariza leads the team in scoring (20.2 a game) on top of playing great defense. Point guard Aaron Brooks is second in scoring (18.3). The Rockets got some good news when Tracy McGrady stated he should return to the line up in the next week. “Excited to get back and compete at a high level again,” McGrady said in an email to Yahoo! Sports. “For a full year I had to play on one leg against the best and I couldn't’t compete with anybody the way I was feeling. “It’s gonna be a relief to get out there and play knowing what I went [through] last season and this summer.” Even though it is still early in the season, there is a gap starting to form between the top teams in each division and the bottom feeders. There is only one division, the Eastern Conference Central, that is competitive from top to bottom. Chicago leads the central (4-2), a game ahead of both Milwaukee and favorite Cleveland. Detroit is 3-4 and Indiana is in last place, but just a game and a half behind Chi-Town. The next closes gap between the top and bottom of each division is 3.5 games. At 2-5 Washington is 3.5 games back of 5-1 Miami in the Southeast and Memphis is 3.5 games back of Houston. Memphis is 1-6 and reeling early on in the 2009-10 season. They do not know what is up with guard Allen Iverson who is away from the team due to personal issues. What that means, who knows. NBA players are people to and just like anybody else, A. I. could be having family problems. Unlike most people AI has the money to miss a few days of work. The are rumors that Iverson is contemplating retiring from the NBA, instead of playing for the last place Grizzles. A I is upset that he is not in the starting rotation. Iverson, who signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal in September, missed the preseason with a partially-torn left hamstring. He made his Grizzlies’ debut on the road a week ago in Sacramento. Iverson averaged 12.3pts a game coming off the bench for the Grizzles and he hit 57.3 percent of his shots. Not bad, but for a player like Iverson who is used to being a big part of the team, 12.3 pts a game does not get it done. Memphis already has a trio of young guards place. O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Mike Connelly make up a promising back court that needs time playing together on the court. The Grizzles missed on a chance to get a big man, which is what they need to go with the back court they have.
Lakers reload while the rest of the league does their best to keep pace Kobe Bryant will have one less hard nose defender to worry about after his Los Angeles Lakers went out and picked up swing man Ron Artest. Artest and Kobe have been going at it ever since Ron went over to the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers appear to be as good a bet as anybody to take the NBA Championship this season. Their only loss was Trevor Ariza, but that was a big one.
Artest can't get up and down the court like he used to and he is not a shut down defender against the best the NBA has to offer (and that's a lot of players) he once was. He can still play good defense and score which will take some pressure of Kobe and help keep him fresh for another run at the championship. You have to play a lot of games to win a title and a player like Kobe needs a little rest now and then. It is hard to picture anybody in the West knocking off the Lakers. The San Antonio Spurs will be heard from. The added some scoring punch when they brought in swing man Richard Jefferson to team with Tim Duncan and Co. Point guard Tony Parker now has another option to go to.Manu Ginobili has been banged up lately and Michael Finley is not the player he once was. Who comes next is kind of up in the air. Denver made a great run last year after trading for point guard Chauncey Billups. They added one of the best looking rookie's in Ty Lawson out of North Carolina. He has shown flashes of greatness in the preseason and he does not look like a rookie. The Nuggets are still a little small on the inside to compete with the big boys. The Dallas mavericks have talent at every position, but it will not be enough to un set the Lakers or Spurs at the top of the West. The Mav's will keep things interesting with Jason Kidd,Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard, Dallas will be able to score. It has been their defense that has been a problem, but forward Shawn Marion should help with that. Marion has been one of the NBA's best defenders for a few years now and he will add some toughness to the Mav's. Utah, New Orleans, Portland and Phoenix will battle for the remaining playoff spots out West. New Orleans was the up and coming squad two short years ago after point guard Chris Paul led them to the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs in 2008. The Hornets took a step backwards last year and they shook things up by trading center Tyson Chandler to Charlotte for center Emeka Okafor to help out on the defensive end. Utah has the one, two combo of point guard Derron Williams and power forward Carlos Boozer, but they will not know from game to game who else will step up and help out with scoring points. Portland is looking to make a move into the upper half of the Western Conference. They have one of the best players in the league with guard Brandon Roy. Portland will look to cash in on winning the Greg Oden lottery two years ago. Oden, a 7-2 center out of Ohio St. will try to stay healthy this year. The Trailblazers added point guard Andre Miller to the mix. The Phoenix Suns lost the big man in the Middle, Shaquille O'Neal, and they will now take yet another run at a NBA title with Steve Nash running the show. The Suns missed the playoffs last year despite Shaq having his best year in a couple of seasons. The Suns need to run to win games, but they will continue to miss the defensive play of Shawn Marion (now in Dallas). Out East a three way battle is looming. It could be one of the best races for the number one seed in years. Boston, Cleveland and Orlando all have what it takes to come out on top of the East this season. Boston is the only one of the three that has a championship and the big three (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce ready to rock and roll in the 2009-10 season. The C's missed their leader KG last year when he got hurt. KG's intensity and defensive effort are worth ten to fifteen wins a year alone. They will need him if they are to get past Cleveland and a very motivated Orlando Magic team that got a taste of the good life last year. Everybody and their momma thought King James and the Cav's would waltz right into the NBA Finals out of the East. A funny thing happened in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Magic found out just how good they are. In a big mans game Orlando had the best one in Dwight Howard. Howard is just now coming into his own and few players can guard him. The Magic are far from a one man show. Point guard Jameer Nelson, swing man Rashard Lewis help keep defense's honest. The Magic did not stand pat. they went out and snatched up Vince Carter to add a little more scoring punch. What about Cleveland, LeBron James and the rest of the team. Will he stay, or will he go. Nobody knows what Lebron will do once his contract is up at the end of this season. We do know he is trying is best to get a ring this year. In comes comes Shaq which will make the Cav's one of the best and funniest teams in the NBA. Look for most pre game introductions to look like a scene from a movie as the two do their best to blow off stream from a pressure packed race to the NBA championship. LeBron is hoping Shaq can play like he did last year in Phoenix and take some of the pressure of him. They now have somebody who can bang with Dwight Howard in Orlando. Howard destroyed the Cav's in last season Eastern Conference finals and the Cav's had to do something about it. Can Shaq hold up. That is the question. He has made the NBA finals everywhere he has played except Phoenix. LeBron would love for Shaq to add Cleveland to that list.
Teams look to the future as another NBA Draft has come and gone
It can take four or five seasons before anybody knows how good a draft is. There are several players in the 2009 NBA Draft that have all the makings of being super stars. We can start at the first pick. Blake Griffin has the talent and work ethic to be a star in the NBA. He was the most explosive dunker ad rebounder in the NCAA's last year. I know a dunk is only two points and it is less then somebody hitting a three, but they way he was slamming the ball down it had to of counted as more then a bucket to some players in the other team. The Pro's have an answer for that. It is called putting a body on a body. Blake does have a little 10 to 15ft. jumper that will continue to get better. He could be a load to guard when the Clippers have the ball. Baron Davis should be able to play with the up tempo Griffin. How will Blake defend in the NBA, he is a great rebounder. Blake lead the nation in rebounding at 14.4 a game. He scored 22pts per game as well as a senior. He will have to get better defensively, but most players do when they get to the NBA. Memphis also went big with the second pick of the draft when Hasheem Thabeet came off the board. Just about everybody talked about Thabeet's defense, shot blocking and rebounding. He could be a beast down low, but he will have to bulk up a little to be able to deal with the pounding he will go through week in and week out in the rough and tumble NBA. Memphis now has a big man to go with guard O.J. Mayo and they hope the pair can lead the team out of the lottery. Guards dominated the rest of the first round. Oklahoma City got the ball rolling when they added Arizona St. swingman James Harden to a mix that includes Kevin Durant and Michael Westbrook. The Sacramento Kings did not get the number one pick, but they did get Tyreke Evans with the fourth pick of the first round. Evans is a big guard that should be able to take some of the heat off of high scoring Kevin Martin. Minnesota ran into a little with their pick. Spanish play maker Ricky Rubio at number five. Rubio started whining about how his mom does not like the cold weather up their in the Land of the Lakes. Now he might go back to Europe which would leave the T-wolves without their top pick. That did not seem to faze the team who said they would wait a year or two for the 18-year old Rubio to get a little stronger. Minnesota has the rights to Rubio for a few years and he will either have to play for Minnesota or work out a trade. The Golden St Warriors seemed to have got their man in guard Stephen Curry out of Davidson. Curry has one of the sweetest shots to come around in a long time. After acting like they could not wait to draft Arizona big man Jordan Hill, when their turn came up at number seven it was Curry's name that was called. Golden St. was also trying to work out a deal to get Amare Stoudemire from the Suns, but when Phoenix tried to re work the deal to include Curry, the Warriors backed out. Curry will be a good back court mate for Monta Ellis. Curry will surprise some people with his rebounding ability. He will have to become a better ball handler to bring the ball up in the association. Don Nelson has been known to be hard on rookies, But I have a feeling that he might give Curry a shot a little quicker then most of the rookies he has worked with. Jordan Hill (New York), Demar DeRozan (Toronto) and Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee) rounded out the top 10. In a big mans game 18 guards were taken in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft. It was also a great draft for the city of Los Angeles. They do indeed play hoops in LA. Four players that call LA home were one and done out of high school before getting drafted in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft. James Harden (Artesia) was the first cat from LA off the board when Oklahoma made him the 3rd pick. DeMar DeRozan (Compton High) spent a year at USC before Toronto took him with the 9th pick. Brandon Jennings (Dominguez High School, Compton) was taken by the Bucks at number ten. The biggest move of draft day did not involve any college players. It was the big man, Shaq daddy getting traded from the run and gun Phoenix Suns to the up and coming Cleveland Cavilers. Shaq did not fit with the Suns style, but he did have a good year last season in both games played and production on the court. In another big trade the Orlando added some scoring when they brought home Vince Carter in a trade with the New Jersey Nets. Carter will add some punch to a line up that looks like it will lose Hedu Turkoglu to free agency this off season.
Kobe, Lakers get over the hump Los Angeles did not waste any time putting away the Magic in game five. There was none of the lackadaisical play that haunted the Lakers in the Western Conference playoffs. Kobe came out hot, scoring 11pts in the first quarter to help erase an early Orlando lead. Kobe would end up with an even 30pts in the series clinching win. The Lakers had five players score in double figures. Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher and Trevor Ariza all went for more then 10pts. They each picked a couple of minutes taking over game five. It was the team effort Kobe had always dreamed about. They did not stop on offense. Coming into the series many people thought LA would have a lot of trouble with Dwight Howard down low. The Lakers took him out of the series from game one. His 1 of 6 shooting from the field was a sign of things to come for Howard. In the five games of the series Howard never made more then five shots from the field. Howard was a monster on the boards, but he was never able to get off one of his thunderous dunks when it seems like he jumps to the top of the backboard before slamming the ball through the rim. The Magic won the only game Howard scored over 20pts. He was 5of 6 from the field in game three, scoring 21pts and pulling down 14-rebounds. The Magic shot a NBA Finals record 63% in game three. That shows how good the Lakers played to win the series if Orlando had to shot the lights out just to win a game in the 2009 NBA Finals. That was their first and only win in nine finals games for Orlando. Houston swept Shaq and Penny Hardaway back in the 1995 NBA Finals. If the Magic can stay together they could make it back to the finals in the next year or two. If Dwight Howard can find somebody to teach him some moves he will be the most dominate scoring machine in the NBA with his rebounding ability. Now that he has had a taste of the good life how will he respond to improving his game. He has to be honest with himself and work on what needs to be worked on. With him it is his post moves. Adding a 10 to 15-foot jumper would not hurt either. It has been quite a year for Kobe Bryant. He has gone to a pair of NBA Finals while finding time to win a gold medal in last year's Olympic's. I can not think of any other person in basketball that needs a break more than Kobe.
Trouble in paradise Cleveland's rise to NBA champions got a whole lot tougher Sunday night after Orlando showed that they are for real with a 99-89 win at home to take a 2-1 series lead over the East's #1 seed. It is becoming clear that Cleveland has the best player (King James) in the series, but the Magic have the best team. Cleveland's bench was nowhere to be found in game three against Orlando. Orlando sub Mickael Pietrus 16pts were twice the amount of the entire Cav's bench in a game three that saw LeBron James torched the Magic for 41pts, but the rest of the Cav's made just 18 of the 5o shots (48pts). Orlando center, Dwight Howard, scored 14 of his 24pts from the free throw line. Howard made 14 of 19 from the free throw line and the Magic had five players score in double figures. The three LeBron hit at the end of game two is the only thing keeping the Cav's in this series. The Magic are getting better and better with each game at stopping the rest of the Cav's offense not named LeBron James. LeBron has been doing it all for Cleveland in the series. He is getting worn out by Orlando who doing a good job keeping a fresh player on him when he has the ball. Pietrus has been doing a decent job of guarding James. Of course you can't control him, you can only contain him. Cleveland has no answer for Howard in the middle. If Dwight Howard ever learns any offensive moves he will be un-stoppable. His bull rush, power dribble to the right can be guarded, but at a price. Fouls. He can foul people out and Cleveland does not have much depth in the middle. Howard scored his 24pts in just 28-minutes. He sat out most of the game after getting to early fouls himself. When he was in the game the Magic made sure to get him his touches. The Cav's are going to have to figure out how to get some scoring by somebody other then James. Point guard Mo Williams has not had any of the 30pts outburst he seemed like he had once a week during the regular season. This is playoff basketball. It is a different story when you only see a team once every two months. When you get a chance to play somebody over and over again you get used to what they like to do. Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Rafer Alston are out playing the Cav's starters every game. Game four is Tuesday nigh in Orlando.
The NBA Playoffs are back It has been quite some time since we have had so much drama in the NBA playoffs. Both Cleveland and Los Angeles have been turning it on when they needed on their way to a berth in the Conference finals of the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Cleveland had been cruising through the 2009 playoffs until Orlando hit town. The Los Angeles Lakers have had a curious 2009 playoffs. It seems like they play when they have to. For the first time in the playoffs they have to every game against Chauncey Billups and his Denver Nuggets. Kobe Bryant has put the Lakers on his back leading them to a 2-1 series lead against Denver. The Nuggets have given LA all they can handle. After winning when they wanted to against Houston in the second round, LA has had to sweat out each game against Denver. Kobe helped put them over the top in game three with a three pointer to put LA up for good late in the game. Nuggets defender J. R. Smith was all in Kobe Face, but Bryant calmly hit a twisting, off balance shot and LA was on their way to the series lead. The lakers also took back the home court advantage and now Denver must wonder what they can do to slow down Kobe. The Nuggets played a good game and they still lost at home. Their road win in LA is now a distant memory and the Nuggets must find a way to close out LA a the end of games. That means stopping Kobe Bryant. Kobe went for 41pts. It was the second time in the series that he has hit the 40pt mark, both Lakers wins. Hold Kobe to under 40 and Denver has a chance. What can you say about Lebron james. The three pointer he hit at the end of Cleveland's game two win in the Eastern Conference Finals was what turns players into legends. Every Cleveland fan had given up hope when the Orlando Magic's Hedo Turkoglu hit a little runner to put the magic up by two with one second left. Just when it looked like the favored Cav's would go down 0-2 in the series LeBron James cleanly caught the in-bounds pass and sank a three from the top of the key in the face of the Orlando defense. Game over. LeBron stated that the shot he hit to win the game was one of the biggest in his life. It was the biggest so far in the history of the Cav's and it had the look of when Michael Jordan hit a game winner against Cleveland over Craig Ehlo a twenty years ago. The shot heard all the way around Cleveland and Ohio only tied the series up at a game each. Orlando has shown that they are more then a worthy opponent for the Cav's who skated through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Cav's looked like they were in control, up by more the twenty in the game, but the Magic climbed back into the game. It was more the just center Dwight Howard dominating inside. The Magic got production from Hedo, 21pts, and Rashard Lewis, 23pts. Howard made his presence felt with 18-rebounds and ten points. Orlando has made 19 of their 43 three point attempts. With Howard roaming around down low Cleveland can't close out on the Magic's outside shooters.
King James wins first MVP, second round opens with a couple of surprises His time has truly arrived. LeBron James has gone from the next great one to one of the greatest players in the game today and he started on a path to try and become the greatest player to ever play the game. Of course that is a lofty goal, but if King james keeps improving on his already massive skills, who knows. LeBron captured his first MVP award Tuesday easily beating out Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. James has taken an all so ran and turned them into one of the best teams in basketball and he has Cleveland on their way to another berth in the NBA Finals. It is not often that so much skill comes with a player who is a true professional at such an early age. King James showed respect to where he came from by accepting the 2009 MVP award at his old high school, St. Vincent/ St. Mary's High School in Akron, Ohio. James said he wanted to go back to where it all began for him. King James has been the next one ever since he was a high school sophomore. he has more then lived up to the expectations. LeBron is putting the finishing touches on one of the greatest seasons in NBA history. The 24-year-old scored 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists on average per game in his sixth season in the NBA. James received 109 first choice votes out of the 121 and he received 1172 points, with Bryant on 698 and Wade 680. James, 24, is the youngest player to win the award since Malone won it at age 24 and 16 days in 1978-79. Wes Unseld was 23 when he won it in 1968-69. James celebrated winning the MVP by going out and scoring 34pts as Cleveland pounded the Atlanta Hawks 99-72 in a game that was not that close. After needing seven games to get past the first round for the first time in ten seasons, the Hawks had nothing up against the well rested Cav's. James added 10-rebounds and four steals. Mo Williams added 21pts for the Cav's who are looking to get back to the NBA Championships for the second time in team history. Cleveland is yet to win an NBA Championship and that was one of the goals LeBron set for himself when he came out of high school and was drafted by the Cav's, his favorite growing up as a kid. Cleveland has been pounding teams so far in the playoffs and they have not won a game (they are 5-0 so far in the postseason) by less then ten points. With Boston falling apart at the seams there might not be anybody capable of testing the Cav's until they reach the NBA Finals. Who they could see there is anybodies guess after the Lakers were slapped around a bit by the Houston Rockets in game one of their Western Conference semi finals playoff series. Los Angeles came off a little vacation of their own after waiting a week for Houston to win their first round series against Portland in six games. Houston seems to like the role of underdog. They beat the higher seeded Trailblazers in Portland game one to take control of that series and they are hoping that their game one win in LA will help them get past the Lakers as well. Kobe Bryant will have something to say about that. Bryant was off in game one against Houston. He scored 30pts, but he needed 30-shots to do it. The Rockets did a great job of staying in Kobe's face all game and he was never able to relax. Ron Artest, Yao Ming and point guard Aaron Brooks, the smallest player in the league, took turns lighting up the Lakers in game one. Ming led the way with 28pts, including eight in the fourth quarter when the big man returned to the court after missing several minutes when he banged knees defending a Kobe Bryant drive to the basket. Artest scored 21 and Brooks chipped in 19. The Rockets even withstood a furious lakers comeback that saw LA take a late lead in the fourth quarter. Instead of rolling over as they have in their four losses to the lakers during the regular season, the Rockets jumped back out to a ten point lead in a matter of moments to take back command of the game and shock the home crowd in LA. If LA wants a better showing the rest of the way they will have to take better shots. They were just 2 of 18 from three point land in game one against the Rockets. That will not beat many teams, especially in the playoffs. Also there defense was lacking. Aaron Brooks drove into the key and scored lay ups over players much taller then him. Everybody is taller than Brooks, but that did not stop him for making point blank lay ups in the faces of a few Lakers. Good defense leads to easy shots on offense and I am sure Lakers head coach Phil Jackson made note of that after his teams game one loss.
NBA heads into the PLayoffs Teams all across the NBA are starting to make their move for some kind of home court advantage if they have action at making the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers are running away with the Western Conference's best record. They are the only team in the West with more then 50 wins (56). Next is San Antonio and Houston (47). Are the lakers that much better then everybody else in the West. It looks like it. Cleveland seems to be on their way to locking down the best record in basketball with a current 10-game winning streak rolling right along.
He scored 22-pts, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out 11-assits in the win. He became just the second player to have over 2,000pts, 500-rebounds and assists in four straight seasons. The Big O, Oscar Robertson, did it six times. The win also set a franchise record for wins in a season. The Cav's are 58-13 with 11 games left in the season. The 1988-89 and 1991-92 teams won 57-games before losing to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the playoffs. Now the Boston Celtic's stand in the way of Cleveland. The C's just want to get healthy in time for the playoffs. The defending NBA champs welcomed back Kevin Garnett to the line up after KG missed 13-games due to a knee injury. Boston fell from the top spot in the East to third in the East behind the Cav's and Orlando while KG was out. The C's enjoyed their home court advantage during last year's run to the title. If they road to the finals goes through Ohio then we might be witnessing the business end of the LeBron James era. He will be judged on how many championships he wins during his career. I Guess if you are a superstar you should act like you want to get traded during the off season. For a second year in a row, remember Kobe last season, a star hints at leaving and then the team goes out and becomes the best in the conference. The West is being ruled by the LA LAkers. Denver is reaping the benefits of what has turned out to be the best trade in the regular season when they swapped Allen Iverson for point guard Chauncey Billups. Denver is second in the West right now, ahead of San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans and Utah. At the time of the trade Denver was in the middle of the pact out West. The Phoenix Suns have had the biggest fall. And 24pts loss to Dallas put a huge damper in the Suns chances to make the playoffs in 2009. Steve Nash seems to have lost a step and one of the better season from Shaq in a long time, but they are on the outside looking in, four games behind the Dallas Mavericks with just eight games to play. Can anybody stop the Lakers out West. San Antonio is trying to get healthy for a long run in the playoffs. They added Drew Gooden to provide some scoring and rebounding off the bench. Getting Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker on the court at the same time will be key for the Spurs. All three have missed time this season. The Spurs have put Manu on the self for the rest of the season and he has been a big factor both off the bench and in the starting line up for San Antonio the past few years. Will Houston make some noise in the playoffs. The Rockets are 4th in the West and just a game behind the Spurs for the top spot in the Southwest division. Yao Ming and Ron Artest have carried most of the load for Houston, but they have got great play from guards Aaron Brooks and Von Rafer. The Rockets did something few teams ever do when they are in the middle of a playoff season. Trade your starting point guard. Houston has gone 18-9 since shipping Rafer Alston over to the Orlando Magic. The Rockets have four games left. Three will be on the road, but two of those are against the Sacramento Kings and the Golden St. Warriors. teams they should beat with a division title on the line. Houston closes out the season with a home game against New Orleans and a road game against a Dallas squad that appears to be holding on to the 8th and final playoff spot out West.
Trade deadline comes and goes,but injuries take center stage There was not much of a splash to the NBA trading deadline this year. No big names traded places. Instead teams dumped salaries in an attempt to get ready for a free agent frenzy come 2010. There are two NBA championships to be won before the best class of free agents ever hit the market after the 2010 season, but only one team, Orlando, addressed a need for this year. The Magic reached out to the Houston Rockets and brought in point guard Rafer Alston to replace the loss of Jamar Nelson who is out for the year after getting hurt. No new help for King James over in Cleveland. The Cav's will roll with LeBron and Mo Williams leading the way. King James has the most help he has ever had since Carlos Boozer left for Utah. Cleveland is 44-11, just ahead of the defending NBA champions Boston Celtic's in the race for home court advantage in the playoffs. Boston was a non factor also, making zero trades, but they did make a move by trading point guard Sam Cassell to the Sacramento Kings. Sac has since cut Cassell loose. Boston is now trying to replace Sam with Stephon Marbury who was just let go by the New York Knicks. Marbury has not played all year after being sent to the bench before the season started by the Knicks brass. Marbury sued to get his release and after a hearing, New York granted it to him. Boston is looking to give Rajon Rondo some help at the point guard position, but adding Marbury is a risky proposition. He does have a history with power forward Kevin Garnett. The two played with each other during the early years of their careers in Minnesota.
Chris Webber gets his day, Kings lose 111-107 to the Jazz A full house came out to thank former Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber for all the great memories he help give Kings fans as they battled the Los Angeles Lakers for supremacy in the Western Conference of the NBA.
The current version of the Kings sat and watched the halftime tribute to Webber and then proceed to waste a ten point second half lead and lose to Utah. Once again the Kings defense let them down. Point guard Deron Williams limped around on a bad right leg, but it was good enough to score a game high 34pts. against Sacramento. The Kings were led by Kevin Martin's 37pts and they had five players score in double figures. The difference in the game was that Utah shot .527% from the field in the game to Sac's .434%. What that translates to is the Jazz making 39 of the 74 shots while the Kings sank 36 of the 83 attempts in the game. Three more baskets with nine less shots. That's all it takes to win or lose a game in the NBA. Sacramento's defense is giving up the most points in the league this year. You can't win games with defense like that and it should be the Kings number one concern heading into the off season. Referee's cost C-Webb and his Kings a shot a playing in the NBA Championships and they helped them lose on C-Webb night after watching his jersey get hoisted up into the rafters. The benefit of the ref's calls for the Jazz was Williams who was a one man show for the Jazz late in the game with a badly bruised thigh. Kevin Martin and Williams took over the game in the fourth quarter. The two combined for 29pts alone. Martin scored 19 by himself and the Kings still could not pull it out. Williams 12 in the fourth was just just enough to spoil C-Webb's night which helped sellout Arco for the first time this season. Photos click here
Sacramento gets thumped by Chicago This one was so ugly, I don't think even a mother could find something good to see in it. The Chicago Bulls did something they had not done since before the turn of the century, beat the Kings in Sacramento. Behind 20pts from Loul Deng and Ben Gordon, the Bulls ran away with a 109-88 win. Sacramento was never really in this one. Once again the Kings defense let them down. Sacramento has given up over 100pts their last 10-games, which includes a current eight game losing streak. Kevin Martin was one bright spot for the Kings, scoring 27pts in the loss. Down 20 early in the second quarter, Martin's 19-first half point help the Kings cut the lead down to 54-43 at half time. All hope was lost in the third quarter when the Bulls out scored Sacramento 29-20 to carry a 83-63 lead into the fourth quarter. Sacramento is the only team in the NBA to have not beaten a squad from the other conference. The Kings are now 0-21 against the East this season.
Kevin Martin returns, but the losses keep mounting The Sacramento Kings do not want to think about it, but the 2008-09 season is just about lost as far as making the playoffs is concerned. The team did get some good news last recently when all star guard Kevin Martin returned to the lineup after missing 22-games with an ankle injury. Martin has come back into the lineup with a vengeance, averaging almost 30pts a game during the Kings recent road trip. Martin busted loose for 45pts in a 122-117 loss to the Indiana Pacers. That loss was a part of a four game road trip that saw the Kings loss all four. Sacramento has not won since Martin made his return in a 92-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Martin went for 20 off the bench in that one. Martin’s presence has put a damper on the scoring out put of fellow guard John Salmons, who was the team’s bread and butter on the offensive end during Martin’s time out of the line up. Can the two co-exist in the offense? They will have to in order for the Kings to wins some games this season. Having two scorers helps keep players fresh and it stresses out the defense, because you can only afford to double team one player at a time in the NBA.
Sacramento cans Reggie Theus making the list six before the X-Mas holidays It has not been a kind first two months of the year for coaches of struggling teams in the NBA. The Kings made it a record six before the new year when they let Reggie Theus go last week. Photo by Greg Ashman
The Kings have not been able to build on their season of last year when they just missed out on the playoffs. Expectations rose because of last season and when the Kings could not stay in the race for a playoff spot, the Kings had seen enough to let Theus go. The job was handed to assistant coach Kenny Natt. The Kings won their first game under coach Natt, but they have dropped three in a row since. Philly sacked Maurice Cheeks after he led them to a 9-14 start to the 2008-09 season. Randy Wittman was let go after Minnesota started 4-15 this year. P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma Thunder 1-12) and Eddie Jordan (Washington 1-10) must have seen it coming, but ex Toronto coach Sam Mitchell was just 8-9 when he was let go. Sure there are high hopes north of the boarder, but it is still early in the season and the Raptors might have jumped the gun on letting Mitchell go. Sam was the NBA's coach of the year two short seasons ago when he guided the Raptors to 47-wins. That is a team record and Mitchell should have been given a chance to turn things around this year. Toronto is just 3-8 since Mitchell was let go and they have fallen off the pace in the Eastern Conference. Teams are having less and less patience with their head coaches. The money being paid players have put a lot of pressure on coaches to lead teams to a winning record.
Boston and the Lakers look to see each other in the finals once again The Boston Celtic's and Los Angeles Lakers have started out the season looking like the teams to beat in their respective conference's. LA has started out 12-1 with Kobe Bryant playing more and more like a MVP every game. In Boston the three headed monster rears it's head almost nightly. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen each take turns leading the Celtic's to a victory's this season. Boston is 14-2 after coming back to beat Golden St at home. Once again the Celtic's are at the top of the list when it comes to giving up points. As in they don't give up many. Boston only allows 89pts a game. They are the only team in the NBA to not give up more then 90pts a game. Can the Big 3 improve on their defensive performance from last year. Yes they can. the more they play with each other the better they will get. That does not bode well for the rest of the association. Cleveland is playing like a run at a championship is not out of the question. LeBron James pulled a Kobe Bryant during the off season making it clear that he wanted to leave. Not right away like Kobe did last season, but soon enough as early as 2010. The Cav's started this season 10-3 and it is one big happy family again. New point guard Mo Williams has been the one thing LeBron needed. A person who did not need any help getting off a good shot. LeBron has played his entire career with players who, for the most part, needed to be set to score. Williams does not mind shooting the ball at all. Mo does not hog the ball. He seems to have a great sense of when King James needs a break from running the O and when to look for his shot. LeBron is still doing his thing, scoring just over 29pts a game. Williams drops in 17pts a night. One of Cleveland's losses was a season opening 90-85 defeat to the Celtic's after watching Boston raise a 17th champion banner into the crowed rafters of the Boston Garden. Mutiny in the Big Apple The drama between the New York Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury finally came to a head last week when the two-time All-Star refused to play at Milwaukee last Friday. New York had just eight active players after executing a pair of multi-player trades earlier in the day. It was the first time all season Marbury was on the active roster. New head coach Mike D' Antoni wants little to do with Marbury, but Stephon is making 22-million in this, his final year of one of the worst marriages in the history of sports. Injuries forced New york to play with eight players again in a 110-96 loss to Detroit a day before thanksgiving. The loss dropped New York, who was just in second place a few days before, to 7-8. They are now in their more familiar spot of last place, but just one half game out of second place. New York's big trades brought in Al Harrington from Golden St. Point guard Jamal Crawford went west. Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley were also added in a trade with the Clippers. The Knicks were in second place and playing well when they deals were pulled off. Surprisingly Marbury was not part of the deal. New York dumped a lot of salary in order to make a run at at King james in a year and a half, so why not try and get rid of Marbury's 22-million dollar monster. Swingman Quentin Richardson came away from the Detroit loss upset at Stephon, saying he did not feel like Marbury was a teammate anymore after Marbury told Coach D Antoni a few hours before the game that he would not play. Can you imagine that. As many players as there are trying to make it to the league and he does not want to play. I hope he knows that it does not last forever. If New York does not want him around, they should send he to the D-League or release him and get a player the team can use, instead of sitting Marbury on the bench.
The more things change, the more the stay the same Their has been quite a mix up in the world of the NBA. First, the Seattle Supersonic's are no more. They have packed up their things and hit the road, moving to Oklahoma City. They changed their name and took the Golden St. Warriors mascot with them. Golden St. had been using Thunder to entertain fans for years, but when the Supersonic's left Seattle, the name stayed and Oklahoma was forced to find a name for their new team. Thunder was chosen and the Warriors mascot was out of a job. One of the leagues better players (Ron Artest) has taken his show on the road and he will now play for his fourth team in the NBA, the Houston Rockets. Artest spent the last few seasons in Sacramento and he is looking to make a deep run in the playoffs with center Yao Ming and swing man Tracy McGrady. T-Mac heads into the 2008-09 season as damaged goods. He is playing with a sore left shoulder and needs surgery at some point to help it heal. The rigors of playing in the NBA will not allow that to happen, but McGrady will give it a go and postpone surgery until after the season is over. If he makes it that long. McGrady played in only two preseason games this year in order to give his shoulder more time to heal. The injury bug has already made it's way around the Association. In San Antonio Manu Ginobili will miss the first month or two with an injured ankle. This has not seemed to hinder the Spurs much in the past. Manu has missed time the past couple of years and playing year round could be a reason why. Manu has helped his country, Argentina, qualify for World Championships and Olympic's which extended his seasons. The Spurs have gone pretty deep in the playoffs since he has been there. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are back and hungrier for a NBA title. LA got exposed in the finals by Boston on the inside in the championship series. Pau Gasol could not match up with the Celtic's big men and do not think the rest of the NBA did not take notice. Andrew Bynum should take care of that. The Lakers young center came into his own last year before an injury cost he the playoffs at the end of the season. LA could have used him and his muscle in the finals. LeBron James let it be known that he has thrown Cleveland's hat into the NBA Finals contender's ring on the eve of the 2008-09 season. The Cav's got over the hump and played for a NBA title two years ago before two of what is now the Big 3 in Boston showed up. LeBron has not had much help in Cleveland. The Cav's free agent signing and draft picks have not added up to much and LeBron could still use some help with scoring and defense. The Cav's made another attempt to get King James some help with the signing of point guard Mo Williams. Mo has the ability to score on his own. That will allow James to get a break on the court. It is hard to carry a professional team on your back like LeBron did when the Cav's made the finals two years ago. King James is getting better and oh how good it is too be young and good. I better make that great. LeBron seems like he has hit another growth spurt, adding an inch or two over the summer. Can Detroit make another deep run into the post season The Pistons have made the final four the past couple of years but they have just one championship ring to show for it. Beggars can't be choosey and Detroit has had quite a run with the nucleus they have. Can Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton lead Detroit back to the final four and beyond.
Training camps start in the Association Boston returns as the odds on favorite to win it all in 2008-09. They return all the key elements from last year's championship run. The Celtic's should be better with the confidence of being defending champs. They never lacked that last season. Who will step up to challenge Boston is anybody's guess. Can LeBron get Cleveland back to the finals. Will Detroit step back up.
LA was exposed in the finals, but at least they lost to a better team. Kobe played fine, but players such as Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom did not show up. Getter their center,........., back will help a lot in the middle where they were exposed as soft by the Celtic's. Houston adding Ron Artest adds some spice to things in the West. The Rockets now have a triple threat with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, but things have gotten off to a bad start. McGrady just informed everybody that he has hurt shoulder that will need surgery after the season and he will be playing with pain all year. Can San Antonio make another run at a Championship. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Co. return a year wiser and hungry for their fourth championship. Manu will miss the first few months of the season with an injured ankle and the Spurs are hoping he will return at full strength in January. How will Phoenix do with center Shaquille O'Neil in the mix for the whole season. How many games will the big man play. He has not come close to playing a full season in years. The Suns know this and it will be up to Steve Nash to lead them past the rest of the West and into the finals. Nothing less should satisfy the team or their fans. Since the Suns have not gotten to the finals with the play of Nash and Co. and trip to the finals might not be in the plans for this bunch. Another team that could be heard from in the Utah Jazz. The feature one of the best one two combo's in the game with point guard Deron Williams and power forward Carlos Boozer. They both helped team USA claim gold in Beijing last summer and they want to bring that championship feeling to the state of Utah. 48-34. That was the best record to ever not make the playoffs since the field went to 16 in 1984. That belonged to the Golden St. Warriors. GSW did as much right as they did wrong. On the good side, the Warriors topped the NBA in scoring in 2007-08. They also gave up the most points in the league. Defense will be and always has big a pretty big deal in basketball. Scoring more points then the other team is the only way to win, but preventing the other team from scoring is the best way to out score them. Get it. Hopefully the Warriors will get it.
I need a program please Players and agents have been busy this off season. Golden St., for instance, locked up their two best young players, guard Monta Ellis and center Andris Biedrins to multi year contracts. GSW also matched the off sheet guard Kelenna Azubuike signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, keeping the valuable back up in the fold for three more years. Both were heading into the last year of their contracts and the Warriors did not want what happened to Baron Davis happen to either Ellis or Biedrins. With them locked up Golden St's roster is just about set Golden St. helped off set the loss of Davis by signing forward Ronny Turiaf away from the Lakers and point guard Marcus Williams from New Jersey. After two years of watching the team improve, Warriors fans will have to cross their fingers and hope the wins continue. Golden St. won 48-times last year. That was the most in NBA history for a team that did not make the playoffs. Baron was the straw that stirred Golden St's drink the past two and a half years. Will Monta be able to step up now that he will be defense's main focus will Davis gone. How will Maggette fit in. The warriors did not do much to address their defense, or should i say, lack there of. The Warriors gave up a league high 108pts a game last season. The only team to be in the top ten in points given up to make the playoff last season was the Phoenix Suns. Sacramento will now have to make do without the services of forward Ron Artest after the veteran signed a contract to play for the Houston Rockets. Artest should fit in with Houston who need some muscle to keep teams from pounding on Tracy McGrady. The West got a little more interesting with that move. Artest stated he wanted to stay in Sac, but after watching players like Baron Davis and Elton Brand sign big deals he opted out of his contract with the Kings to play in Houston. He know has a chance to win a title, or at least compete for one. Can he help T-Mac get out of the first round of the playoffs. Houston was snake bit in last year's playoffs when Yao Ming got hurt.
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C's bring NBA championship back to Boston Finals MVP Paul Pierce has had a magical year. After making a conference finals a few years ago with Boston it looked like Pierce would play his career out in Boston on some average teams. Then came two thunder bolts of lighting with trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Boston was handed a NBA title, but there were some questions. Could they compete against the West. How would they handles LeBron James or the Detroit Pistons. In the end a first round match up with the 8th seeded Atlanta Hawks proved to be their biggest challenge. Atlanta took Boston to seven games before the C's spanked them at home in game seven. After that it was all down hill. Boston got help from every part of their line up in the finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were a constant force against LA, but it was the play of Ray Allen that helped put them over the top. Allen came into the playoffs after a season that saw his scoring average hit the lowest since he has been in the NBA, but the finals brought out the best in him. 2006 second round pick Leon Powe showed he belonged with a monster 22pt in just 21-minute out burst in game three of the finals. Where do they go from here. The C's will head into the 2008-09 season as the clear cut favorites once again, but now they will have confidence on their side. With their core being young, the C's could win two or three more in the next five years.
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Nash had another monster game with 21pts and 20-assists. Nash was the model of efficiency against the 76ers. Nash needed only nine shots (Steve made six of them) to get his 20pts.
Ariza came into his own last year and he had a big hand in a few playoff games with his defense and scoring ability. Ariza, now in Houston, will find it a little harder to get open on a Rockets squad missing center Yao Ming (all season) and Tracy McGrady (six weeks). 
In the West The Los Angeles Lakers return all of the main parts of a team that got past the tough Western Conference before losing to Boston in the Finals.
