The NBA season is mercilessly coming to an end, and I, for one am looking forward to a prolonged lockout next season. The rest of the country isn't, as evidenced by the ratings from the Western and Eastern Conference Finals. Plus, the NBA and David Stern couldn't be more pleased with this year's match up between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks. These teams met in the finals just five years ago where Dallas took an early 2-0 lead in the series but then proceeded to choke it away to give Dwyane Wade his first title. Now that Wade has hooked up with his two best friends in Chris Bosh and LeBron James, to go along with a cast of pretty talented role players like Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mike Bibby, Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller. The Heat have one very talented team and the fact that Bosh, Wade and James score nearly 75 percent of their team's points in the postseason is no mistake, they have designed it that way. Erik Spoelstra has done an excellent job this season keeping everyone's mission focused to win a title, and they very well may do it.
However, they are also running into another great team, and I mean team with the Dallas Mavericks. most folks associate Dallas with just Dirk Nowitzki, and for good reason, he has been the face of the franchise for 12 seasons, and has been a dominant player in the playoffs, averaging over 28 points a game, including over 32 in the Western Conference Finals victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas has a good reason to believe in themselves as well, since they want revenge on the Heat from 2006, and they want to prove themselves to everyone that they can win a title. Dallas is a team of veterans, as they average just under 8 years of experience. Rick Carlisle has expertly led this group of savvy veterans into this title clash and they could do it. Plus, it doesn't hurt that noted talker Mark Cuban, the Mavs owner has stayed surprisingly silent throughout the playoffs, which hasn't been detracting from his team's success.
Both teams have a lot of veterans, and both teams are deserving of this title, but I think Miami will do what they set out to do at the beginning of the season, win a title to show to everyone that Wade, Bosh and James all made the right decision to join together and win this title.
Pick: Heat in 6.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Western Conference Finals Preview/prediction
As a foreword to this, I did not write this, I passed it off to someone else of much better knowledge than myself on the subject of basketball, my good friend Timothy Smither. Here is his preview and prediction of the Western Conference Finals.
Back in the mid to late 90's I was a fan of two teams in the NBA. The Seattle Supersonics (now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder) and the Chicago Bulls (and honestly who wasn't a fan of MJ and the Bulls). They both met each other in the 1996 NBA finals. Chicago prevailed in the end, as Michael Jordan had an emotional game 6 win to end the series on Father's day. Fast forward to the 2011 playoffs, and I believe they will both meet again (15 years after the first time they met) for a rematch. The Bulls are currently playing the Heat and if they keep up their level of ball playing they will be well on their way to the finals. The Thunder are about to square off with the Dallas Mavericks. It's hard for me to assess this match-up. I know it will be tough for the Thunder to win this series for a few different reasons, but I believe the Thunder will beat Dallas in 6. They won't beat Dallas if it goes to 7. The challenges that the Thunder are facing are that it is the first series they do not have home court advantage, Dallas has become well rested after sweeping the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, Dirk is seemingly unstoppable, and the bench for Dallas poses a real threat as they did for Los Angeles. I think that as long as Durant puts up some big points as he is known to do alongside of Westbrook they will keep up with Dallas. But they have to play defense and their bench has to step it up. I am not sure who will be able to guard Dirk. Maybe Perkins can do it or maybe even Durant. If they cannot stop him hopefully they will look to close out other options. Forgive me for my bias but let's go Sonics! I mean, Thunder.
Prediction: Thunder in 6.
Back in the mid to late 90's I was a fan of two teams in the NBA. The Seattle Supersonics (now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder) and the Chicago Bulls (and honestly who wasn't a fan of MJ and the Bulls). They both met each other in the 1996 NBA finals. Chicago prevailed in the end, as Michael Jordan had an emotional game 6 win to end the series on Father's day. Fast forward to the 2011 playoffs, and I believe they will both meet again (15 years after the first time they met) for a rematch. The Bulls are currently playing the Heat and if they keep up their level of ball playing they will be well on their way to the finals. The Thunder are about to square off with the Dallas Mavericks. It's hard for me to assess this match-up. I know it will be tough for the Thunder to win this series for a few different reasons, but I believe the Thunder will beat Dallas in 6. They won't beat Dallas if it goes to 7. The challenges that the Thunder are facing are that it is the first series they do not have home court advantage, Dallas has become well rested after sweeping the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, Dirk is seemingly unstoppable, and the bench for Dallas poses a real threat as they did for Los Angeles. I think that as long as Durant puts up some big points as he is known to do alongside of Westbrook they will keep up with Dallas. But they have to play defense and their bench has to step it up. I am not sure who will be able to guard Dirk. Maybe Perkins can do it or maybe even Durant. If they cannot stop him hopefully they will look to close out other options. Forgive me for my bias but let's go Sonics! I mean, Thunder.
Prediction: Thunder in 6.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
NBA Eastern Conference Finals
The time has come for the Heat to show if they really do belong in the NBA Finals, as they now face the top seed in the East, the Chicago Bulls, who are making their first trip to the Conference Finals since Michael Jordan's last season in 1998. But, now the Bulls have a very good young core beginning with the league's MVP, Derrick Rose. Rose leads Chicago in points per game and assists per game, which will be incredibly hard for any of Miami's combo of point guards to defend. Luol Deng will be key for the Bulls, as he defends LeBron. Deng is one of the better defenders in the league and can definitely wreak havoc on Miami's scoring chances.
These teams are just about equal, but the biggest thing is coming into this series, Miami lost all four regular season games to the Bulls. LeBron had a chance to go to the Bulls when nearly every team in the league was trying to woo him to their city. LeBron will find out that he made a mistake when he didn't go to Chicago when the Heat lose to the Bulls in six games.
These teams are just about equal, but the biggest thing is coming into this series, Miami lost all four regular season games to the Bulls. LeBron had a chance to go to the Bulls when nearly every team in the league was trying to woo him to their city. LeBron will find out that he made a mistake when he didn't go to Chicago when the Heat lose to the Bulls in six games.
NHL Conference Finals preview
I have not had my computer for the past few weeks due to a fan error, so hence no blogging on the NBA conference semis or an April game of the month. Right now the NHL conference finals are about to begin on Saturday with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins, while the Western Conference will begin on Sunday in Vancouver. Allow me to begin with the East. As usual, my friend Bryan Miller will do the Western Conference Final.
Eastern Conference Final: Boston vs. Tampa Bay
Both teams have had significant layoffs since their last conference finals appearance, as this is Tampa Bay's first trip since winning the Cup in 2004 and Boston's first since 1992, where they lost to the Penguins in four games. Both teams had almost the exact same path to get here, as both teams went to game seven in the quarters and then swept their respective opponents in the semis. Both teams also have relatively old goalies who are pretty darn good. Boston has a Vezina trophy finalist this year with Tim Thomas, 37, and he won only two years ago. While Roloson, being 41 is old and has lost some of his reflexes, he's still better than most. Roloson brings a veteran grittiness to a team filled with young stars like Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Steve Downie.
Tampa has depth of scoring, meaning that they could score at anytime on any of their three lines, which makes them a dangerous team, plus Boston's beat of a defenseman, Zdeno Chara cannot be out there 60 minutes per game, as its impossible to be a top flight player playing that long. Tampa could also easily win this series with their power play alone, as they have been excellent in killing it, only giving up 3 goals in 54 chances, while scoring in 12 of their 45 chances.
Boston however, seems to be a team of destiny, to get past their biggest rivals in the first round, the Canadiens in a physical tough series going seven games, then killing off and shaking off the monkey off their back from last year against the Flyers when the Bruins were ultimately dispatched in seven games after having a 3-0 lead. Finally, they would love to capture their sixth Stanley Cup and first since 1972. Boston is likely to be dominating the game when it's a regular 5-on-5 game, with Boston scoring over two goals a game more when it's at full strength. The biggest thing for Boston is when a leading scorer like Patrice Bergeron will be back, as he has been the sixth leading scorer in the playoffs. Both teams are very equally matched, but it will ultimately come down to goaltending, and I will go with Thomas over Roloson. Go with Boston in seven.
Same info taken from: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2011-05-12-eastern-conference-finals-preview_N.htm?csp=34sports&dlvrit=110938.
Western Conference
#1 Vancouver Canucks Vs. #2 San Jose Sharks
During the Regular season the Canucks were 3-0-1 against the Sharks with two wins in the San Jose. United States star Ryan Kessler finally showed up last series against the Nashville Predators. He scored big time goals and had some big defensive plays. The Sedin twins were kinda silent in the first two series which is surprising don't be too surprised if they break out of that bubble they are in and put on a show. Roberto Luongo played fairly well last series after his shaky first series. He will need to be on top of his game for the Vancouver Canucks to do anything in this series. The defensive six for the Canucks are all very talented and contribute in their on unique way and will need to help out Luongo in every way possible and not leave him hanging. Any lurking injures for the Canucks could be hurtful to them cause they have great team chemistry going and throwing someone new in there could be disastrous.
Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks are going to have to bounce back have a hard hitting and draining series against the Detroit Red Wings. Patrick Marleau finally got that monkey off his back scoring the goal that helped get the Sharks past the Red Wings. Big Joe Thornton has been very consistant this postseason like others which is needed from him being the captain and a great set up man. Look out for Dany Heatley who seems to be the sniper to go to with the Sharks. Ryane Clowe leads the sharks with 13 points this post season expect a lot out of him this series. Rookie phenom Logan Couture has been doing amazing things all season and postseason. Expect him to make a big splash this series because the pressure and big game atmosphere doesn't seem to bother him. Antti Niemi is back to the conference finals in back to back years with different teams. He will have to stand on his head like he did last year and this postseason so far. He is the key to the Sharks winning this series. Dan Boyle and the defensive core for the Sharks will have to contribute offensively and defensively for the Sharks to set the tempo for the Sharks in this series.
Both of these teams had 3-0 leads this postseason and blew that lead before winning their respectful game 7's. I expect this series to be a long and tiring series 7 games will be needed for these two great organizations.
Final Prediction: #2 San Jose Sharks in 7 Games. Advance to their first ever Stanley Cup Finals.
That does it for the NHL Conference Final previews. I'll be posting quick short previews and predictions of the NBA conference finals later today.
Eastern Conference Final: Boston vs. Tampa Bay
Both teams have had significant layoffs since their last conference finals appearance, as this is Tampa Bay's first trip since winning the Cup in 2004 and Boston's first since 1992, where they lost to the Penguins in four games. Both teams had almost the exact same path to get here, as both teams went to game seven in the quarters and then swept their respective opponents in the semis. Both teams also have relatively old goalies who are pretty darn good. Boston has a Vezina trophy finalist this year with Tim Thomas, 37, and he won only two years ago. While Roloson, being 41 is old and has lost some of his reflexes, he's still better than most. Roloson brings a veteran grittiness to a team filled with young stars like Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Steve Downie.
Tampa has depth of scoring, meaning that they could score at anytime on any of their three lines, which makes them a dangerous team, plus Boston's beat of a defenseman, Zdeno Chara cannot be out there 60 minutes per game, as its impossible to be a top flight player playing that long. Tampa could also easily win this series with their power play alone, as they have been excellent in killing it, only giving up 3 goals in 54 chances, while scoring in 12 of their 45 chances.
Boston however, seems to be a team of destiny, to get past their biggest rivals in the first round, the Canadiens in a physical tough series going seven games, then killing off and shaking off the monkey off their back from last year against the Flyers when the Bruins were ultimately dispatched in seven games after having a 3-0 lead. Finally, they would love to capture their sixth Stanley Cup and first since 1972. Boston is likely to be dominating the game when it's a regular 5-on-5 game, with Boston scoring over two goals a game more when it's at full strength. The biggest thing for Boston is when a leading scorer like Patrice Bergeron will be back, as he has been the sixth leading scorer in the playoffs. Both teams are very equally matched, but it will ultimately come down to goaltending, and I will go with Thomas over Roloson. Go with Boston in seven.
Same info taken from: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2011-05-12-eastern-conference-finals-preview_N.htm?csp=34sports&dlvrit=110938.
Western Conference
#1 Vancouver Canucks Vs. #2 San Jose Sharks
During the Regular season the Canucks were 3-0-1 against the Sharks with two wins in the San Jose. United States star Ryan Kessler finally showed up last series against the Nashville Predators. He scored big time goals and had some big defensive plays. The Sedin twins were kinda silent in the first two series which is surprising don't be too surprised if they break out of that bubble they are in and put on a show. Roberto Luongo played fairly well last series after his shaky first series. He will need to be on top of his game for the Vancouver Canucks to do anything in this series. The defensive six for the Canucks are all very talented and contribute in their on unique way and will need to help out Luongo in every way possible and not leave him hanging. Any lurking injures for the Canucks could be hurtful to them cause they have great team chemistry going and throwing someone new in there could be disastrous.
Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks are going to have to bounce back have a hard hitting and draining series against the Detroit Red Wings. Patrick Marleau finally got that monkey off his back scoring the goal that helped get the Sharks past the Red Wings. Big Joe Thornton has been very consistant this postseason like others which is needed from him being the captain and a great set up man. Look out for Dany Heatley who seems to be the sniper to go to with the Sharks. Ryane Clowe leads the sharks with 13 points this post season expect a lot out of him this series. Rookie phenom Logan Couture has been doing amazing things all season and postseason. Expect him to make a big splash this series because the pressure and big game atmosphere doesn't seem to bother him. Antti Niemi is back to the conference finals in back to back years with different teams. He will have to stand on his head like he did last year and this postseason so far. He is the key to the Sharks winning this series. Dan Boyle and the defensive core for the Sharks will have to contribute offensively and defensively for the Sharks to set the tempo for the Sharks in this series.
Both of these teams had 3-0 leads this postseason and blew that lead before winning their respectful game 7's. I expect this series to be a long and tiring series 7 games will be needed for these two great organizations.
Final Prediction: #2 San Jose Sharks in 7 Games. Advance to their first ever Stanley Cup Finals.
That does it for the NHL Conference Final previews. I'll be posting quick short previews and predictions of the NBA conference finals later today.
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