Running Out Of Magic

Wining just one of two in Orlando wasn't enough for the Boston Celtics.



While most teams would be happy splitting two games on the road in a series, the Celtics smelled blood. And let's face it, Boston is peaking at the perfect time. Other than maybe the Lakers , Boston has the best starting five in the NBA. Now healthy, the Celtics have proven they are one of the best teams in the playoffs.

So far in two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics have come out and controlled both games. In both contests, Boston has tanked in the fourth quarter only to show their resilience by holding on win both games on the road.

In game two, Orlando came back from a double digit deficit and actually took a one point lead late in the fourth quarter. Vince Carter showed his inexperience in big time playoff games, as he missed two crucial free throws which could have cut the Boston lead to one point with just over 30 seconds to play.


The Magic hunkered down and played defense one last time and J.J. Redick rebounded a Kevin Garnett miss with about seven seconds remaining. Redick took the rebound and dribbled the ball up court, wasting a few seconds before calling timeout. What was Redick thinking? You really wouldnt' expect that type of play from someone who went to Duke. But maybe Redick thought he was still playing college ball. So instead of the Magic down three and inbounding the ball at halfcourt with seven seconds left, Orlando had to inbound the ball behind halfcourt with just over three left to play.


Redick inbounded the ball about 10 feet behind half court! Why throw the ball so far away from the basketball with barely any time left? Jameer Nelson wasn't able to get a decent shot off and the Celtics won Game Two 95-92.


I don't mean to be hating so hard on Redick , because in his defense, he shouldn't have to be the second leading scorer for the Magic.

Orlando needs to wake up! In the first two games they haven't played with a sense of urgency until the fourth quarter when it's been basically too late.

The reason the Magic find themselves down 0-2 falls all on Rashard Lewis. Lewis is a guy making over $100 million! He was so key to Orlando's run to the finals last year.


Through two games, Lewis is 4-16 from the field, 1-9 from downtown for a total of 11 points! Through two games! This coming from a guy who in his career, averages nearly 17 points a game and shoots almost 40 percent from downtown !


That's the reason why the Magic are down 0-2.

Yes, Jameer Nelson being a no show in game two doesn't help. But what's even worse, the Celtics were able to win on the road with Ray Allen only scoring only six points and Garnett with only 10!


Rajon Rondo again is proving he just might be the best player in the NBA. No one has been able to stop him. What makes Rondo so great is how well the Celtics move without the ball. We know Boston can play defense, but on the offensive side, the team moves so well without the ball.

Paul Pierce told the Orlando crowd, "See you next year," as he was leaving the court. Pierce also tweeted something about getting the brooms out. Not only is Boston healthy, they're experienced and confident.


Rajon Rondo is the key to not only the Boston Celtics, but the entire playoffs. You can't stop the guy. If you try to stop him, the Big Three are gonna kill you. The guy can score now, too. If he drives to the basket, he's gonna draw attention which is gonna leave to wide open shots for other players. What ever happened to LeBron going to step up and defend Rondo? What happened there?


I can't wait to see until Derek Fisher and the Lakers try to contain Rondo! Better yet, what will Phil Jackson say to attempt to get into Rondo's head? And you know any day now Phil is already plotting about the inevitable NBA Finals of Celtics/Lakers that he'll make a premature comment.


One person who feels a lot better about himself is LeBron James. Boston has been the best team in the playoffs, and hey, Cleveland beat them twice.

Another Celtics/Lakers series is pretty much a for sure thing and the one thing that will not only save these lackluster playoffs, but maybe draw some attention from the "Summer of LeBron ."

Magic Choke Away Another One Late

Somehow the Orlando Magic find themselves done, down 3 games to 1. The Magic could easily be up 3-1. After being blown out in Game 1, Orlando has actually outplayed the Los Angeles Lakers the last 3 games.

Boy, does experience matter. Orlando was a missed layup away from winning Game 2. They had no chance in OT. And last night, they controlled the entire first half, blew the game in the third quarter, and then came back and had the game wrapped up in the 4th.

But honestly! Do basketball players not watch other basketball games? Do they not learn from experience? Do they not understand Basketball 101?

With Orlando in control in the final minute of Game 4, up 3 points, Dwight Howard bricked two crucial free throws. Howard only needed one to basically seal the deal. And even missing both shots from the charity stripe, the Magic were still up 3 with less than 10 seconds remaining.

All they had to do was defend the three point shot, something you would think Orlando knows a lot about. And if LA doesn't drive the ball for an easy two, FOUL the guy before he has a chance to shoot a 3! Like I said before, Basketball 101!

Not only did Orlando fail to foul Derek Fisher, Jameer Nelson failed to get up in Fisher's grill and contest the shot.

Did we not learn anything from Memphis and the 2008 NCAA Championship Game? No, not cheating on your SAT's.

I know you can't put the total blame on the players. A lot has to fall on Stan Van Gundy who very much played the role of the Master Of Panic last night. I don't know what he told his team on that possession, but I hoped he told them to foul once the Lakers moved the ball past half court.

By not fouling Fisher, Van Gundy gave Phil Jackson, one of the most overrated coaches in NBA history, his record 10th Finals ring. I will write an article on why Jackson is one of the most overrated coaches in all sports in some other time. Really not much explaining to do there.

Orlando should have won last night's game by double digits. The reason they lost, free throws! Larry Bird used to call them "free points." The Magic were 22-37 from the "free point" line, just under 60%.

And with the game tied 91-91 with just over a minute to go in OT, it seemed like the Lakers had the ball an eternity. How many chances did Orlando give them before Fisher hit the game clinching 3? Like the whole second half, Orlando failed to crash the boards as a team.

And Kobe got away with a huge no call on Fisher's trey. Kobe hit Jameer hard with an elbow to a face that should have been an easy offensive foul. But at the same time, what's been fun about the last few games is the fact that the refs have been letting the teams play.

Kobe Bryant is the epitome of a street baller. You know, whenever he misses a shot, his hands immediately go up in the air and he has that astonished look on his face. "What! No Foul?!" Whenever he loses the ball, the same surprised expression. Everyone's played a pick up game with a guy similar to this. And how fun is that?

We've always heard about how important experience is when it comes to the NBA Finals. There was the Piston's trying to get over the hump in the late '80s. Even Jordan had his learning experience before polishing off 6 rings.

This same Lakers' team couldn't get over the hump last year against Boston, but are now proving last year's Finals lost has been a major stepping stone. But hey, you wouldn't think that with guys like Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher would need a learning experience.

The last three games of the NBA Finals have been great with two overtime games. But you could just feel Orlando not having the magic to finish a game off. (I know, good one.) If Kobe and the Lakers hadn't struggled from the line in Game 3, this very well could have been a sweep.

And speaking of Magic, one final note (since this will probably be my final post for a couple of weeks, I'm moving and will actually be going back to work for a week.)

I miss Charles Barkley and TNT's NBA coverage. I've heard that TNT's crew is covering the Finals on the NBA Channel. That must be on the same satellite feed as Versus, I don't get it but wish I did. I can't stand ESPN's studio crew and don't care to watch it. Really no personality there. Stuart Scott is stuck in 1997 and thinks he is still cool. Was he ever? I don't even know what Barry that is on the show. And Mike Wilbon, well, since the popularity of PTI, Wilbon has grown a huge head and is so stuck on himself that he's more worried about going out and being seen at the big city clubs. Like he's some big time celebrity.

And Magic Johnson? Yeah, Magic is one of the best players to ever dribble a basketball. But last night during ESPN's halftime "show," I heard Magic say, "Like I said before the game, if Odom, Gasol, Ariza and Fisher don't shoot well, the Lakers won't win."

Really Magic!!! That's the best your basketball mind can come up with? Duh! That's like saying the team that scores the most points will win the basketball game.

What's even worse, I'm sure on the postgame show, Magic said something like this, "I told you before the game those four players need to shoot the ball for Lakers to win. And the second half they came through." Note: I have yet to see the postgame "show."

How right you are Magic.

As for Orlando, do they really want to win Game 5 and have to travel back to LA and get blown out.

Kobe Leads Lakers As Magic Disappear

When Kobe gets that look in his eye, Mamba's zoned in and there's no stopping him. Kobe single handily took over Game 1 of the NBA Finals as the Lakers routed Orlando.

LA basically only needed the 2nd and 3rd quarters to seal Game 1. Orlando actually had the lead after the first and were even up 33-28 in the second quarter when Mamba stole the show. Bryant had 30 points in a 16 minute span from the second quarter into the the third. The game was well over by the start of the 4th quarter.

In 38 minutes, Kobe had 40 points, 8 boards, 8 dimes, 2 steals and 2 blocks while hitting some ridiculous shots.

As for the Magic, call it stage fright. They just couldn't hit anything. You know the old saying, "Live by the 3, die by the 3. After putting on a 3 point clinic against Cleveland, Orlando shot just 8-23 from downtown in Game 1. The Magic shot 30% overall.

And it's not like the Lakers were playing great defense. Orlando had their shots, but they just couldn't hit anything from wide open 3's to missed layups. A lot of their shots weren't even close.

How does Dwight Howard only attempt 6 shots, making just 1! Howard did get to the line 16 times but finished with only 12 points. The Lakers outscored Orlando 56-22 in the paint.

Mickael Pietrus was the Magic's leading scorer coming off the bench with 14.

The entire starters for Orlando had a combined 46 points, shooting 11-46. That's 24%! Kobe had 40 by himself!

The good news for Orlando, it's just one game. We've seen this team catch fire and when they do, the best player on the planet can't stop them. They've dug themselves deep a couple of times in the playoffs. They were down 2-1 in the first round to Philadelphia. In the Conference Semifinals, they were blown out in Game 2 at Boston. They were down 3-2 to the Celtics.

The bad news? Phil Jackson coached teams are 43-0 when they win Game 1 of a playoff series.

One other note. The Conference Finals wrapped up last Saturday night. That's a 4 day layoff. And now Game 2 of the Finals isn't until Sunday night, at 9pm EST. That's one! playoff game in a week! What the hell are you thinking David Stern. Especially after last night's blowout Game 1, this great post season has quickly lost momentum. Why not Game 2 Saturday night prime time. Do you realize how many people will be turned off by the Game 2 late start on a Sunday night. Did you look at the World Series ratings in the last few years?

And it's between Games 1 and 2! It's not like there's travel involved between the games.

Magic Put A Choke Hold On Cavaliers, Go Up 3-1

Hold up on producing more of the Kobe/Lebron puppet commercials, as much as I love them. And the Vitamin Water "Great Debate?" Gatorade might want to go after Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony. So far the winner of the advertising sweepstakes might have to be T-Mobile, although I don't know one person who subscribes to T-Mobile as their carrier.

I'll tell you right now why Orlando is so good and have dominated Cleveland in the last 3 plus years. Orlando's game plan is basically playing 4 guards/small forwards and one dominate big guy. The Magic try to work the inside game with Dwight Howard, if he's double teamed, they can kick the ball out to where they seem to have 2 to 3 guys wide open. If you don't double team Howard, Superman will eat you up. See the overtime period in last night's game.

And with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao, the Cavaliers basically start two centers. On the defensive end, neither Ilgauskas or Varejao can take on Howard one on one. And with Orlando's other 4 players on the floor being so quick and athletic, Ilgauskas or Varejao will caught inside and never make it out to defend the 3. We've seen Varejao in Game 1 get burned by having to come out and try to guard Rashard Lewis's game winning 3.

And with the smaller lineup, the Magic are able to quickly get back down the court and halt any fast break points for the Cavs.

And speaking of Rashard Lewis. Lewis has turned into Robert Horry in this series with his clutch shooting. It was Lewis who hit the dagger 3 in Game 1. And it was Lewis who hit the biggest shot of the game in last night's Game 4. With Orlando down 98-97, Lewis hit a turn around 3 to put the Magic up 2 with 4 seconds left.

The play of the game occurred right before that shot. Mickael Pietrus missed a 3 and Delonte West failed to secure the rebound as both he and Howard fell to the floor and the ball went outbounds giving Lewis and Orlando one more shot.

And Pietrus has been amazing off the bench. If there was a "6th man of the playoffs," it would have to go to Pietrus who had 17 off the bench.

With Shaquille O'Neal sitting courtside, it has been Stan "Master of Panic" Van Gundy who has done a tremendous coaching job. In overtime last night Mike Brown decided to go small and defend Orlando's outside game leaving Varajao guarding Howard one on one. Howard had his way in the overtime with 10 points, 8 of the 10 coming on dunks or layups.

How was Mike Brown the Coach of the Year? He played Lebron James the entire second half and overtime, giving James no rest. Brown never seemed to call a play on the offensive end, giving the ball to Lebron and basically telling Lebron, "Your the coach, you need to do everything. You see Van Gundy running up and down the sideline motivating his team and Brown just stands there looking lost in space, not even breaking a sweat.

Yeah, Lebron carried the team again with 44, but James also had 3 turnovers in the last 3 minutes of regulation and 3 more turnovers in OT. Some one else needs to step up for Cleveland.

All 4 games have been really competitive with 3 of the 4 games coming down to the last shot. Cleveland has lead at halftime in 3 of the four games, but have crumbled in the second half. The Cavaliers have been known for their defense, but have a hard time getting a stop when they need it.

And we all credited the acquisition of Mo Williams, but he's failed to show up in this series and when Cleveland needs him most. After guaranteeing victory last night, Williams went 5-15 from the field and didn't score after the third quarter.

Williams and Delonte West were a combined 0-6 from downtown.

Hey, let's face it. Maybe Cleveland isn't the team we thought they were. They had a dominate regular season, but they beat up on the inferior competition and won the games they were suppose to win. They were 1-2 against Orlando. 0-2 against the Lakers. 1-1 vs. Houston. 2-2 vs. Boston. There's 7 of their 16 losses. They did go 2-0 against Denver but both those games were earlier in the season when the Nuggets hadn't quite gelled yet.

And Cleveland was 2-2 against the Washington Wizards, a team that only won 19 games.

Now Cleveland has their backs to the wall and now must win 3 straight against a team they've only beaten 4 times in the last 3 years. Orlando is a team that lives and dies by the 3. They've definitely been living so you would think there due to cool off. History and stats are greatly against Cleveland, but you can never count out a Lebron James team.

These playoffs may just be the best ever.

Witness!

With just one second remaining on the clock at Quicken Loans Arena, I sat in utter disbelief. How can the Cavaliers be down 2-0 after a dominant season and playoff run? And on their home court!

Hedo Turkoglu had been a hero for the Magic again. Turkoglu had just given Orlando a two point lead and a seemingly 2-0 series lead. Only one second remained and Cleveland, a city miracles had forgotten about, needed just that.

Lebron's winning three was one of those classic moments in sports that makes you jump off your seat and yell. One of those moments that reminds us all why we love sports.

That shot changed the series. And the last two years, there have been two instances where I jumped up and down and screamed out of control. The Giants' improbable Super Bowl victory and last night. It was one of those moments where years from now you'll remember exactly where you were when you witnessed that shot.

That shot brought back so many Michael Jordan memories-the Craig Ehlo shot, the the Byron Russell shot. Lebron's shot will go right up there with every miraculous Jordan moment. It will be up there with every other Playoff buzzer beater-Magic Johnson's running hook shot to beat the Celtics and all of Robert Horry's buzzer beating, series clinching shots.


Lebron has taken the weight of Cleveland, the NBA, the Playoffs, his team, sports in general, on his shoulders and has thrived like few others. And he loves it.

And wow! How about these playoffs! That's two games in a row the Eastern Conference Finals have given us a last second shot to win the game. Just two nights ago we saw Mo Williams attempt an impossible shot to win Game 1. Williams got a great look and nearly drained it. Last night Lebron hit the winning shot in the exact spot Williams had missed.

This series could be 2-0 in favor of either team. But thankfully it's tied and we can only hope for 5 more games half as exciting as the first two.

That shot killed Orlando. Instead of having a choke hold on the series, their confidence and momentum have got to be shot. They played unbelievable basketball in the first two games. Orlando battled back down 23 on the road in the toughest arena for an opposing team to play in. They held Lebron in check the final minute last night. James turned the ball over twice in the last minute. And after all that, the series is tied.

Just when Orlando had swung the choke artist reputation off their backs and over to the Cavaliers, that shot changed everything. I can't wait till Sunday.

Magic Hand Cavs First Playoff Loss

Wow! What a game! Maybe the best game of the year so far. It's definitely up there with the Lakers overtime win at Boston back in February. And you can pick a few of the games from the epic Chicago/Boston series.

Orlando did something that had only been done twice in 45 games at Quicken Loans Arena, beat Cleveland. The Magic did something which hadn't happened in the postseason, beat Cleveland.

Halfway through the game, it looked like Cleveland was gonna roll to another double digit playoff win. They were having their way with the Magic. Lebron was dominating, the Cavs were hitting their shots and they led by as many as 16. Mo Williams even calmly drained a 67 foot shot to end the half. We've all seen the highlights of the Cavs playing Horse during their time off.

And anyone who questions Lebron's outside jump shot, he was hitting from everywhere on the court, shooting 20-30 from the field and finishing with a career playoff high of 49 points.

But a funny thing happened in the second half. It was Cleveland, not Orlando who blew a double digit lead. And Lebron's supporting cast failed to show up.

After hitting just 2 three pointers in the first half, the Magic went 7-12 from downtown in the second. Orlando outscored the Cavaliers 30-19 in the third quarter to pull within 4. Lebron scored 13 of Cleveland's 19 in that quarter.

The fourth quarter was dramatic basketball. Orlando was able to steal the lead and even led by as many as 4. But Lebron willed his team back in the game. And Mo Williams and Delonte West, who both struggled shooting, each hit a key 3 to keep Cleveland in it.

It looked like Lebron had the dagger when he drove to the basket on Dwight Howard drawing Howard's 6 foul and getting the and 1. The Cavs were up by 2 with about 26 left.

A great call by Steve Van Gundy to go for the 3 and win. Dwight Howard had just fouled out so there was no way Orlando would win in overtime on the road. Rashard Lewis hit his biggest shot of his career with the winning 3 with just 14.7 left.

Cleveland got one more shot and you knew who was getting the ball and taking it to the rack. Orlando closed in hard on Lebron with 3 defenders and Lebron quickly kicked it out to Williams who found a wide open Delonte West. But West couldn't get the shot to drop. Moments ago, West had hit the same shot.

Still, Lebron hustled to wrestle the down the rebound and it turned into a jump ball. Lebron tipped the ball to Williams who nearly made an impossible shot.

Orlando's Big 3 of Howard, Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu were huge down the stretch. Cleveland has no answer for Howard down low. Howard dominated the paint and finished with 30 points and 3 rebounds.

Lewis had just 5 points in the first half but was Mister Clutch. Along with the game winner, Lewis had 15 second half points.

And how about Turkoglu? After inconsistent play for most of the playoffs, Turkoglu has been solid in back to back games. After setting his personal playoff best with 12 assists in Game 7 against Boston, Turkoglu dished out 14 dimes tonight in Game 1.
He finished with 15 points.

For Cleveland, Bron-Bron had one his best all around games ever with 49, but Williams and West shot a dismal 10-32.

The biggest factor of this game, the bench. It's been said that Cleveland has one of the best second 5's in the league. They were outscored by Orlando's bench 25-5! Mickael Pietrus came off the bench with 13 points for Orlando.

And the night before we saw Kobe hit all his free throws down the stretch, Lebron missed 3 crucial foul shots in the fourth quarter.

Game 2, a must win for the Cavaliers, is Friday night. Enjoy the Conference Finals. Both series's should be a real treat.

2 Days In A Row With No NBA

This seems like somewhat of a prelude to the dog days of summer. Two days straight with no NBA Playoffs. Good thing the Preakness is this afternoon.

Game 6 of the Lakers/Rockets series was the most watched basketball game ever on ESPN with 7.35 million viewers. If ESPN wants that trend to continue, they better hope they have the Lakers/Nuggets in the Conference Finals. Now that'll be a series.

As for the Magic/Celtics, I still think Boston is the better team. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that Orlando is better. Pierce, Allen and Rondo alone make Boston the better team. What, you like Howard, Turkoglu and Lewis?

The reason this series is going 7 is the fact that neither team has a bench. Which ever team can get double digits from their bench will win Game 7. Instead of Big Baby and Leon Powe coming of the bench for the Celtics, they have Brian Scalabrine.

RIP Wayman Tisdale. Tisdale put Oklahoma basketball on the map. That's two NBA legends lost in the past week.

MLB-The Yankees rallied for three runs in the 9th off Twins' closer Joe Nathan to win 5-4. Melky Cabrera won the game with a bases loaded walk off single. Cabrera has bounced back so far this year and is batting .330. As for Nathan, he had only given up 2 runs all season.

A-Rod played his first game at the new stadium and was 0-1 and drew 4 walks. He's now batting .136 since his return.

Brett Gardner had the first ever inside the park home run at the new stadium. Earlier in the day, Gardner had visited a girl at a children's hospital and promised her he would hit a home run. Remind you of Kramer telling the sick kid he'd have Paul O'Neil hit a home run for him?

Nick Swisher has cooled off, now batting .248.

The Yankees have now won 3 in a row and are 18-17, 4.5 games back.

Boston has lost 3 in a row leading Terry Francona to bench Big Papi. Wow! The Sox blew a 4-0 lead last night and lost 5-4 in Seattle.

Zach Greinke is now 7-1 with a .60 ERA as the Royal beat Baltimore 8-1 and are tied for first place in the Central. For his career, Greinke is 41-46 with 3.97 ERA. Did anyone see this guy coming? And could you imagine a Kansas City Royal starting the All Star Game for the AL?

I saw somebody's preseason college football top 25. Nebraska was 20th. Ole Miss was number 7! I would love to go to Oxford for a Gameday.

Boy is Ron Artest a dream player for the media or what. You have to watch this Lakers/Rockets series just to see what this guy will do next. I love how he stuck his tongue to Kobe.

What Am I Doing Up?

It's tough to go 2-2. We were treated to another classic Boston comeback in the first game last night. And the second game, the Rockets/Lakers is still going on with the Lakers up like a gazillion points.

The Celtics won Game 5 last night in typical Boston fashion. They were weak for more than 3/4ths the game but did just enough to hang around and the Orlando went flat.

The Champs looked left for dead with Orlando up double digits in the fourth quarter. But the Magic are a "live by the 3, die by the 3" team. When it came down to it, Orlando could not hit a jumpshot. They had terrible possessions down the stretch, couldn't run an offense.

And what a coming out party for "Big Baby." After sinking the winning shot, yeah the same one that changed this series, for an encore, Glen Davis scores 22, including 2 big buckets towards the end and nailing two big shots at the line. Did somebody say Kevin Garnett?

There was also a Stephon Marbuy sighting. Marbury couldn't have showed up at a better time for the Celtics, sparking them with 12 crucial points off the bench.

Has Brian Scalabrine ever got more face time? If you don't watch a Celtics game, he looks like Jackie Moon.

A controversial call near the end of the game when the officials overturned a shot clock violation because they said the ball grazed the rim. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, Orlando still wasn't gonna make a shot.

And what was "Master of Panic" Steve Van Gundy thinking having Dwight Howard intentionally miss the second free throw? Howard made the first, cutting the game 2 points. Considering his free throw shooting, he was more than likely gonna miss the second. But hey, if he makes it, than that puts the pressure on Boston to sink both of theirs and you still have a chance to tie the game.

Bad showing by Van Gundy, not showing confidence in his players.

Boston teams just seem to hang around. Orlando could have, and should have won Game 4. The Magic should have won this game. Now, the Magic are on the brink of elimination with a possible Game 7 back in Beantown.

I said the Celtics are the second best team in the East without Garnett. So it's no big surprise how Boston will win this series. I think they could even win one game against Cleveland.

God I hope so...Because along with the Celtics' win, the Bruins stayed alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Red Sox came from behind to beat the Angels.

As for the Rockets/Lakers? This was the type of game we expected to see in Game 4. You have to wonder, how does one team play so great and then come out and look horrendous?

The Lakers were smart early and took advantage of the size mismatch. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol can easily have their way down low. This game was over by the end of the first quarter. The only reason to continue watching was to see if Ron Artest would explode.

But, it's just one win. The Lakers are only up 3-2. And now have to travel to Houston to play another game. If the Lakers lose this game and have to play 7, anything is possible. No matter how bad the Lakers won tonight, it still looks bad that they have to play at least 6 against the Rockets. They were going 6 with Houston when they had Yao, but with Yao out and that no show in Game 4, the Lakers do not look like champions.

They just don't have that killer instinct. And I really think they're in trouble against Denver. Hold off a little bit for that Kobe/Lebron Finals.

Oh, Ryan Zimmerman went 2-5 last night to extend his hitting streak to 30 games. That's something Nats' fans can get excited about.

Roy "I own the Yankees, not the Steinbrenners'" Halladay is now 16-5 against the Yankees. The Blue Jays have the AL's best record at 21-12 and are 6 1/2 up on the Yankees.

NBA Playoffs Heating Up!

I'll start with this. Yesterday's NBA action brought more excitement than the entire 2009 NCAA Tournament. 3 of the 4 games were decided by 3 points or less, and the other game, you got to see more Lebron James domination.

Bulls even series at 2 with dramatic double overtime victory against Celtics

Once this game went to the first overtime, it was already considered the most exciting series of the first round (I think Orlando/Philly might have something to say about that now). Up 3 with time running out, Chicago had the game won in regulation but then decided not to cover Ray Allen. Allen nailed a wide open 3 point bomb to tie the game and send it to overtime. Remember Allen won Game 2 for Boston on a last second 3.

In the first OT, the Celtics went up by 5. Chicago hung in there and where down 3 with 9 seconds left. Boston was looking to foul but somehow Ben Gordon was able to get an open look and bury the tying 3 pointer.

The second OT, Chicago never trailed. John Salmons finished with 20 points including hitting 4-4 from the foul line in the last 26 seconds. Down 3, Boston still had a chance to tie the game. But it was Salmons again coming up big blocking Paul Pierce's 3 point shot to end the game as the Bulls held on, 121-118.

The Bulls had all 7 players who took a shot score in double figures.

Derrick Rose finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, but also had 7 turnovers.

Rajon Rondo, looking like the best player in green, had his second triple double of the series-25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

End of an Era as Pistons swept by Cavs

For the last 6 years, Detroit has been in the Eastern Conference Finals. This year is a changing of the guard as the Piston's were barely a bug hitting the windshield on Lebron and the Cavs' drive to the Finals.

Cleveland played Game 4 like the previous 3, they won by double digits. There may have been more Cavs' fans at The Palace in Auburn Hills as Cleveland won 99-78.

For the series, Lebron James averaged 32 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists.

This was also probably the last game for Rasheed Wallace as a Piston.

Orlando blows another lead, Turkoglu's 3 bails them out

Here's what we've had in the other exciting first round series:

Game 1 was Andre Iguodala.
Game 3 was Thaddeus Young.
And Game 4 was Hedo Turkoglu and Orlando's turn for last second magic.

If we've learned anything from this series, it's no lead is safe, Dwight Howard can actually hit free throws, and chances are, the game is gonna come down to the final seconds.

Orlando led by 10 points with 4:30 remaining in the game. Then Philly went on a 12-2 run and tied the game at 81 on Samuel Dalembert's easy bucket with just under 15 seconds left.

Orlando had the last shot and it was Hedo Turkoglu's 3 point shot that gave the Magic a 84-81 win and tie the series at 2 apiece.

Rockets lose early lead, comeback to survive Game 4

Houston was finally able to get their big man back into the series. After going perfect in Game 1, Yao Ming had not been nearly as dominant in Games 2 and 3.

Yao came back in Game 4 with a solid performance as the Rockets held off the Trailblazers, 89-88 to go up 3-1. Yao finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

The Rockets were up 50-44 at halftime, but lost the lead as Portland finished the third quarter on a 13-1 run to go up 70-64 after three.

Offensive rebounds and second chance points were key for the Rockets in this game, especially in the 4th quarter. Shane Battier hit a couple of three's to put Houston ahead for good. Battier was huge with 14 points, 8 boards, 6 assists and shot 4-6 from downtown. Houston as a team was 9-16 from downtown compared to Portland's 7-15 from behind the arc.

After averaging 20.3 ppg through the first 3 games, Aaron Brooks was a no show with only 5 points. In fact Rick Adelman kept Brooks on the bench a good chunk of the game. Brooks and Kyle Lowry both played 24 minutes. Neither really helped their team as Lowry finished with just 4 points on 1-6 shooting.

Brandon Roy again led all scorers with 31 points. He was 13-13 from the charity stripe. But he was the only one getting to the line for the Trailblazers, as they were 17-17 as a team, Roy getting 13 of the 17 foul shots.

Yao Ming has been dominant against Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla. The two Portland centers have been almost nonexistent. Last night they combined for 4 points on 2-3 shooting and 15 reboudns. Oden had no points and 3 rebounds alone.

NBA Line of the Week for 3/10 to 3/16

If you haven't been paying attention to the NBA, or all you hear about is how this is Kobe's year to win the MVP, Lebron James and Chris Paul continue to put up crazy numbers leading their teams to the playoffs. Baron Davis also stepped it up last week, but this week's Line of the Week goes to the Orlando Magic and Turkey's own Hedo Turkoglu.

Turk has been a great role player throughout his NBA career. Now, he's helping Orlando quietly become one of the Eastern Conference's best teams. Last Monday (3/10) Turk recorded just his second ever triple double as the Magic knocked off the Atlanta Hawks 123-112.

Currently the Magic are 45-25 good enough for the third best record in the conference.

Turkoglu's line for the game: 23 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds.


Also noteworthy, the Denver Nuggets. Lost in Selection Sunday in the Rockets' 22 game win streak, the Nuggets lit up the scoreboard with a 168-116 crushing over the Seattle Supersonics. Denver set a season high for total points and 84 first half points. They had 8 players in double figures!



Marcus Camby contributed another solid performance with a triple double in 26 minutes!
His line: 13 points, 15 boards, 10 dimes for the big fellow!, and 4 blocks.

It got ugly fast for the Sonics, who gave up 168 points to the Nuggets, the third-most in regulation in NBA history.

173-Suns (vs. Nuggets) Nov. 1990
173-Celtics (vs. Lakers) Feb. 1959
169-76ers (vs. Knicks) March 1962
168-Nuggets (vs. Sonics) March 2008