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.

Rockets Steal Game 1 In LA

OK, I said it before this series started, I really like the way Houston's starting 5 matches up with the Lakers' starting 5. Of course the bench is always key in the playoffs. I'm not surprised the Rockets won last night, but I still don't see this series going more than 6 games.

Houston probably played their best game all season. Yao was dominant with 28 points and 10 boards. He even forced himself back into the game when it looked like he was done when his knee collided into Kobe's late in the game.

Ron Artest finally decided to show up for the playoffs. He was big last night, 21 points and 7 assists. The Rockets need Artest to step up like this if they are to have any chance. Aaron Brooks looked nice with 19.

Maybe the most underrated, obscure player in the NBA is Luis Scola. Your average fan and just about everybody outside of Houston has no idea who this guy is. Scola had a quiet 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Pretty solid play from a no name power forward. Scola has a real nice jump shot, plays solid defense and never gives up.

The Rockets were fortunate to win this game when you look at the lack of performance by their bench. Von Wafer has really been the spark off their bench failed to score last night.

Kobe put in his standard 32 points but only went to the line 5 times.

Both teams were pretty dismal from downtown, the Rockets were 5-18 and the Lakers just 2-18. The deciding factor in this game was free throw shooting. Houston was 25-29 and LA just 12-19.

So who was the more aggressive team?

The Lakers' major problem in the first round vs. Utah was LA's lack of killer instinct. The Lakers would get up 20+ points and then let the Jazz go on a run and make the game close.

If the Lakers have any weakness, they are way too soft. And last night they ran into a hungrier more aggressive team.

Roy Leads Blazers To Even Series

The Portland Trailblazers adjusted from Game 1's blowout loss. The adjustment, stop Yao Ming. Ming got into trouble early in the 3rd quarter and Portland was just barely able to take advantage.

After going perfect in Game 1, Yao only attempted 6 shots in Game 2 and finished with just 11 points, as the Blazers were able to hold on to a 107-103 victory.

The series is now even at one apiece with Game 3 Friday night at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Brandon Roy led Portland with 42 points, tying Clyde Drexler for second place for most points in Blazer franchise history.

Drexler actually was courtside providing commentary for Houston's local affiliate. Drexler and the rest of the Houston press criticized the officiating throughout the entire game. True, the game was called a lot tighter than Game 1 and even seemed to favor the hometown Blazers, but Yao Ming allowing attempting 6 shots the entire game was the difference and had nothing to do with the officiating.

I could call out the officiating too, saying it was definitely one sided in favor of Portland, but I'm just not going to that. It was. And I could give you many examples.

At halftime, Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge had 35 of Portland's 53 points. When it was said and done, the duo accounted for 69 of the team's 107 points.

Von Wafer provide a huge spark off the bench for the Rockets, finished with 21 points. Ron Artest was hot from the start. He had 15 points in the first half, but was failed to show in the second when his team needed him most, scoring just 4 points.

After scoring just 2 points in the first half, Game 1 hero Aaron Brooks awoke in the second putting up 21. Shane Battier failed to show on both ends of the court with only 3 points on 1-2 from the field.

Both teams shot just over 50% for the game.

The 3 Most Influential Trades This Year

Last year, the Celtics and Lakers played for the NBA Championship. Both teams made the Finals because of moves by their front offices. The Celtics, brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, making them one of the most lethal teams in the league. The Lakers got Pau Gasol from Memphis for practically nothing, Kwame Brown.

This year, the Cleveland Cavaliers finally got Lebron some quality help in Mo Williams. And Wow! What help Williams ended up being. Did anyone ever think Mo Williams was this good?

This season, Williams is averaging 17.8 points per game and shooting .436% from 3 point land. He's also putting in over 4 assists per game and grabbing over 3 boards a game. For his career, Williams is averaging 13.5 ppg and shoots .386% for 3 pointers.

Last year, Cleveland went 45-37 overall and 27-14 at home. This year, the Cavs had the best season in franchise history. Going into their final game tomorrow, Cleveland has locked the best record in the NBA at 66-15 and 39-1 at home!

The 1986-86 Boston Celtics went 40-1 at home and won 67 overall. The Cavs can tie both those marks tomorrow night when the host the Philadelphia 76ers. Cleveland will most likely rest all its starters and the 76ers are still jockeying for playoff position.

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who went 72-10 finished 39-2 at home.

And how about this, Joe Smith, who Cleveland sent away in the trade to acquire Mo Williams, is back with the Cavs!

Number 2. Chaunecy Billups to the Denver Nuggets.

Talk about another steal! Early in the season, the Nuggets dealt past his prime Allen Iverson to Detroit for the experienced team leader Billups.

Last year, the Nuggets finished 50-32 and squeaked into the playoffs as the 8th seed just 2 games ahead of Golden State. The Nuggets were then swept in the first round by the Lakers.

This year, Denver sits at 54-27 and are one win away from securing the second seed in the Western Conference.

As for Iverson and the Pistons? AI has been hurt, benched and has never really accepted his role as not being the number one go to guy for the Pistons. Without Iverson, the Pistons seem to play better and are a shadow of what the franchise has been this decade. Currently, Detroit is 39-42 and will be the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Hello Cleveland! Good bye in the first round Detroit. Boy how times have changed.

Nubmer 3. Ron Artest Houston Rockets.

When the Rockets picked up Artest, there was a lot of speculation whether the ticketing time bomb would ruin the team or give Houston a legit big 3.

And when T-Mac made is annual return to the disabled list, it looked like the Rockets were done. They even waved the white flag and traded starting point guard Rafer Alston.

Since T-Mac's last game, the Rockets are 22-7. Artest has fit in perfectly as the Rockets are a scrappy, defensive team, exactly how Artest plays. Houston held Chris Paul and the Hornets to only 66 points Monday night.

Now, the Rockets are a win away from locking up a division title and maybe even a possible 2 seed in the playoffs.