Cleveland Cavaliers

   On Wednesday night I attended the Wizards game vs. Cleveland and it was great to see Washington come away with a win, especially in front of a legion of Cavalier fans (where they came from I don’t know).  While the Wizards were able to seize a victory against one of the best teams in the East and an immanent rival, it is still hard to ascertain whether this team is any good.  After a dreadful first half by just about every player on the team I was absolutely fuming in my seat.  It didn’t help to be transplanted in between a Cleveland fan who would say “terrible shot” during all of Antawn Jamison’s trick hooks and a Ohio family of six that probably amassed a total of 3,000 pounds.  The father of that Lebron-rooting herd fittingly donned a t-shirt with the slogan “I’m not going to call you stupid, but I’m thinking about it.” 

Continue reading "Thoughts on the Wizards: Are They Good?"

Every Monday, with the assistance of the good people over at www.basketball-reference.com, I like to take a look deep into the statistics of teams and players from around the league in a little post I like to call “Fun with Box Scores”.

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The NBA league pass is awesome, but nothing beats a good TNT double-header.

Tonight, we get a great TNT double-header.

The night starts off with Cleveland at Miami. I’ve written this before, but LeBron vs. Wade is the best head-to-head matchup to watch in the NBA right now. These guys always bring out the best in each other.

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LeBron James makes his only trip to Madison Square Garden tonight. 

For the past two seasons there has been plenty of talk about LeBron bolting his hometown of Cleveland for the bright lights of New York City. 

Continue reading "LeBron Makes His Only Trip to "The Garden" Tonight"

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school. 

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will ensure that he will never again be the dominant force he once was. 

The Ugly 

Cleveland Cavaliers 

It’s not exactly time to panic; it’s just an 0-2 start. But it’s the way that they went about doing it that makes Cleveland the ugliest team of the first two days of the NBA season. 

Continue reading "First Impressions"

Last night I was listening to an interview with former NBA head coach P.J. Carlesimo on 106.7 The Fan.  He was commenting on the opening days of the NBA regular season, specifically about the Eastern Conference and his thoughts on who were the better teams.  Not surprisingly he named the top three teams as the “factors,” those being Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando.  He said that there are not any teams even close to those three but on the outside looking in is the Washington Wizards.  The Wizards were the only team he mentioned as the fourth best team and he said this about three times.  These comments got me thinking about what the Wizards need to do this regular season to take the next step and breach that label, in what areas can they improve to develop into the fourth Eastern Conference power? 

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Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Continue reading "NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts"

Disappointing news for NBA fans everywhere, courtesy of yahoo: 

"LOS ANGELES (AP)—Blake Griffin’s (notes) NBA debut has been pushed back indefinitely after the Los Angeles Clippers revealed late Monday night that their No. 1 overall draft pick has a broken left kneecap.

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The once infamous Lebron James getting dunked on tape is finally out for all to see. But all you see is a bunch of hype over nothing. Like the rest of the sports world, I had built up this monumental

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of trades involving the Wizards’ 5th pick going to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers (gag), and the New York Knicks.  While nothing really seems to be of substance, as www.bulletsforever.com has acknowledged, they are impossible to ignore.  Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Javale McGee are some of the notables that many teams, as many as 14, have expressed interest in.  As we approach the draft, the fans’ opinions seem to be forming an almost consensus for Davidson guard Stephen Curry.  The Washington Post conducted a poll that resulted in nearly half the votes garnered by Southern Conference product.  DraftExpress.com now has the Wizards slotted for Jordan Hill with the 5th selection while both SI.com and ESPN.com are predicting James Harden.  What do the Wizards need?  And should they draft for need or get the best player?  Both possibilities, in my opinion, may indeed overlap.  
I believe the most glaring need for the Washington Wizards is at the guard position.  The Wizards have addressed the frontcourt pretty aggressively in recent years with the draft of McGee, Pecherov, and grooming of Andray Blatche.  What appears to have happened is a negligence of the need for a guard, evident in the acceptance of Roger Mason, Jr.’s departure.  Right now as the roster stands the Wizards possess a superstar in Gilbert Arenas but no significant contributor behind him.  Stevenson could very well be done as the only thing he can do these days is talk trash.  Even at his best he would be most effective coming off the bench.  His occasional 3-point hot streak and solid defensive play would be a nice commodity in a reserved role.  Nick Young is on the verge of being a solid 2 guard but an upgrade is certainly possible given the team’s draft situation.  He might be at the point in his career when a little competition wouldn’t hurt.  Mike Jones might not be a Wizard for long but I believe he could give quality minutes in a reserved role.  He is not good enough to be the back-up point guard any more.  I could see his best-case-scenario being reduced to the role of an Anthony Johnson, not the primary back-up but a solid third option for sporadic minutes.  I like Jarvaris Crittenton a lot, he is around 6’5” with good speed and a nice work ethic.  With the overstock of combo guards in this draft the Wizards may be able to pick a player that would still allow Crit room to develop as a role player.  You have to like his prospects with his size and athleticism, he is just a classic case of a player who entered the pro’s too early, only he has a chance to actually make it in the Association.  


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Or is it dilemmi? Either way.

As the entire NBA world eagerly awaits the potential match-up of Kobe and LeBron in this year's finals, they also can't help observe it's getting increasingly difficult for them to get there. The Magic and Nuggets are hitting their strides at the right time, with bench players stepping up at crucial moments, Van Panic and Karl making good coaching moves, and both team's point guards acting as the leaders they can be. Even if the current and future MJ's of our time average 50 a game for the rest of the playoffs, it won't matter. That's not how you reach the Golden Summit (Yes, I just used "Golden Summit" as an analogy for the Finals. Deal with it. I like it.).

Continue reading "Kobe and LeBron facing similar dilemmas"

Steroids has officially gone postal.

The list of all-star players who have been revealed to be using steroids: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, now.......MANNY RAMIREZ.

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If Kobe Bryant expects to win a championship this June, he needs to trust his teammates more. If he doesn't, the Lakers will not only struggle to win the Finals, they may have trouble even getting there. Last night's loss to the Houston Rockets, putting them down 1-0 in the series, is to me, enough cause for concern. Phil Jackson needs to sit down Kobe and tell him the same thing he told Jordan: trust your teammates more.

Continue reading "Memo to Kobe: Be like Mike"

Say Swine Flu keeps spreading. Say it gets worse, like "Outbreak" worse, and the majority of people in the US get it, including LeBron James. I still don't think I could beat him one-on-one. Even if it was first to score. Or if we played "PIG." Remember when Jordan had the flu in the '88 playoffs, and he dropped 47 against the Knicks, AT the Garden??? We spectators/bloggers/sports fans seriously over-estimate the flu. If LeBron had swine flu, not only would he stuff me like a Quizno's Torpedo, he would still be able to beat the following athletes/teams:

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I'm a Kobe fan. Huge Kobe fan. He's practically my generation's MJ. Nothing against MJ, I just never saw him play much. I went to the United Center once, when I was seven, and all I remember is Scottie Pippen's crew-cut and cotton candy. Also, I'm from D.C., so the fact that MJ ruined the entire development and chemistry of an up-and-coming Washington Wizards team, just so he could milk a little more limelight, doesn't really sit well.

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Arenas, Haywood, and What Could Have Been

Up 7, three minutes left in the Washington-Cleveland game. Still plenty of time to blow it, if these are the same Wizards who've been playing all year. Then Mo Williams puts up a shot from the perimeter as Brendan Haywood stands intimidatingly in the paint. The Cavs have taken a lot of perimeter shots on this night, especially when Haywood's been on the court. Williams' shot clangs off the iron, and Gilbert Arenas, like Haywood playing in his second game of the season, goes up for the clutch rebound. As he comes down, Arenas whips the ball down the court to a streaking Antawn Jamison for the breakaway dunk. Up 9. Now it's real. All game long, the crowd has wondered if it should believe, wanted to believe, hoped to believe, and the players on the court seemed to be doing the same. Now they believe. You can see it on Nick Young's face as he takes an Arenas pass and charges to the hole with 1:30 left. You can see it in Caron Butler's eyes as he leaps up to steal the Cavs' inbounds pass down 5 and with 50 second remaining to essentially put the game away. You can see it in the body language of all the Wizards as LeBron does what LeBron does, finding open teammates, hitting long three after long three, and generally defying every rule about how basketball is supposed to work. The Wizards team that has played most of this season would have collapsed, folded, stopped playing defense and started throwing up bad shots on the offensive end. Instead, they keep hustling, keep getting after the boards, and let an eerily calm and collected Arenas take control of the offense. And, lo and behold, Arenas, Haywood, Butler, Jamison and the crew make more plays down the stretch than the King.

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The Boston Celtics have definitely proven their worth as a championship team. Their cinderella story has came true the previous season and now comes the hard part. It's time to defend and it's time to prove that they are deserving to be called NBA Champions. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett will have their hands full this season as many teams have improved their line-ups.

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R THE WEST

ROOKIES WIN OVER SOPHOMORES

PLAY-OFFS:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1) Boston Celtics

2) Cleveland Cavaliers

3) Detroit Pistons

4) Orlando Magic

5) Philadelphia Sixers

6) Toronto Raptors

Continue reading "PREDICTIONS for the NBA 2008-2009 SEASON"

"It's not a game, it's an arms race" - Kanye West and Fallout Boy belt this hook over and over again on a recent hit with that same title. In that context, Kanye and the Fallout Boy guys are referring to the battle of musical artists not only surviving in a competitive worldwide market, but one with hindrances around every music sharing online ripping program. While that's an issue for another day and another blogsite, it's relevance is crucial when talking about the current state of Major League baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Continue reading "From the NBA to MLB, the Arms Race Has Begun"