Lakers rallied Heat at the Staples Center

I would guess Shawn Marion was not really happy when he was told that he was going to be traded to the worst team in the NBA league, Miami.

The Heat has lost 27 of 29 games and future doesn’t look bright for the team that Shaq led to a first franchise championship just two years ago, and it also meant their 14 straight loss on the road. This time their defeat came in the hands of the Lakers, with Jordan Farmer shadowing Kobe Bryant as he scored a career-high 24 points over 21 from Kobe.

Final score was 106-88 and with this victory, Los Angeles maintained their dominance of a one-game-lead over the Spurs and two over the Suns and the Hornets, now the Lakers have 11 wins in a row, their longest strike since the 03’-04 season.

It seems like since the arrival of Pau Gasol who finished with 13, the Lakers have changed their course for good, and considering that Andrew Bynum hasn’t returned, I am kind of impressed with their plays, hopefully they will keep up with the rhythm until the end so we can see some incredible play-off matches, which are not too far away.

Celtics won on top East teams match

The 22 points from Ray Allen were more effective than the 29 from Lebron James, as the Celtics won to the Cavs at the TD Banknorth Garden 92-87.

But James didn’t left the court empty handed, as he broke the 10,000 points mark, making him the youngest player to do so, and just in 368 matches, he’s 23 which means that he did it being a year younger than Kobe, who reached the mark in 2003 being 24.

In despite of coming out with the record, it is probably a bitter sweet one for Lebron, as he didn’t managed to help his team to come up with the victory.

"It doesn't make me happy to do it in a losing effort but to be in the record books is a tribute to my team mates, myself and my family." He said.

Lebron suffered an ankle injury with just 4 minutes left in the first quarter, but x rays confirmed that it was just a minor lesion and so he came up fully energized to start the second. It seems like he didn’t wanted to miss the oportunity to play against Paul Pierce, his long time rival.

On the Celtics, Kevin Garnett, who seemed fully recovered scored 18 and had 11 rebounds on Boston’s third consecutive victory, and Pierce finished with 12.

Rosevelt Colvin out of the Patriots

It looks like the Patriots made a smart move and decided to let Rosevelt Colvin go, the 30 year old linebacker has being coming and going with injuries, first the one on his hip on 2003, just after getting traded from the Bears, such injury left him out of the football fields for one year while his team was winning super bowls. He was placed on the injured reserve again on November after getting injured on his foot in a game against the Eagles.

The Patriots took such decision knowing that it was his last year of contract and so they preferred to use the $5.5 million he was making as base salary to acquire free agents.

Adalius Tomas looks like the guy who will be mostly replacing him, but since he will be playing a different position than the one he is accustomed to, then the Pats will be left with an empty gap in the middle of their defense, but a switch on playing roles might come as a relief for New England.

Wise decision from the Patriots, as a player that is plagued with injuries is never going to deliver the same way as before, so bringing new blood and let him go might be what New England needs to start fresh this coming season.

Spurs survived poor first quarter and beat the Hawks

Manu Ginobili was named the player of the week by the NBA, and there are good reasons for that, he’s being crucial in the 3-0 mark from the Spurs after the All Star Break, averaging 30 points per game, he scored 44 against the Twolves, and had 30 against the Hornets, though he didn’t did as well against the Hawks, the Spurs most recent rival, as he ended with only 13.

The Spurs had a bad time in the first quarter against the Hawks since they scored a season low 5 points, but things started to change in the second and third as they sum it up to 57-48, an advantage that will give them a lead of at least 7 points during most of the rest of the match, and so the Hawks didn’t had no chances against one of the strongest contenders for the championship.

This was Tony Parker’s third game since coming from staying at the bench for 9 games in a row due to a swollen ankle, he finished with 15 and 9 assists, while Tim Duncan helped the Spurs with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Not an easy 89-74 victory for the Spurs, with the Hawks leading with 12 on the first half, sadly, they didn’t knew how to contend the efficacy of San Antonio, and lost for their second in a row.

McGrady helps with 24 on Rockets 12th straight victory

It was the debut for Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes playing for the Bulls after they were traded from Cleveland in the deal that sent Ben Wallace and Joe Smith to the Cavs, but we will need to wait for future matches to see them performing at their best since both got little playing time against the Rockets, who beat Chicago 110-97. Both finished with a combined 25 points.

Tracy McGrady was the man of the night with 24 points and 8 assists for Houston, it seems like McGrady is an essential piece in the game balance of the Rockets, since this is their 12 straight win and they've fallen only once in 17 matches since he came back from an injury that left him out for 11 games, at which time the Rockets were 7-4.

This is the longest winning streak for Houston since the 93-94 season, and the game also served as the debut for another player that was recently traded, Bobby Jackson, who is coming from New Orleans, he scored 5 straight points just entering the court and finished the game with 14, while Luis Scola contributed with 17 and Rafer Alston ended up with 13 for the Rockets. While on the Bulls, Tyrus Thomas had 18, Andres Nocioni put up 12.

Even though they won, the Rockets remain 7^th in the West conference but are getting far more closer to the leaders, the Spurs and the Hornets.

Are these trades really working?

It seems like the trade between Miami and Phoenix is not working either way, since Shaq lost in his debut to the Lakers and we have Shawn Marion who hasn’t being able to help the Heat to win a single game.

Miami has lost 25 of its last 26, these are really god-awful numbers considering that they have a stronger team now.

Their last defeat came yesterday against the Rockets who are on a completely different position since the’ve won 14 of their last 15, which is the franchise’s longest winning streak since the 93-94 season when they started with 15 straight.

On the Suns, today they have a real hard test against the Celtics, and I am not sure if they will risk to have Shaq on the court for so long since he hasn’t adapted to the game play in full, it will be risky, but it might as well work to have his experience against the strongest team in the league, it’s just like a razor blade type-of-gamble.

Even though they lost, Marion had a good night with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Dwayne Wade finished with 33 for the Heat, while Tracy McGrady’s inspired playing leaded the Rockets with 23 points and Yao Ming scored 21 to help Houston in their 112-100 victory.

But in despite of their slash of victories, the Rockets are still 7^th in the West, which means that competition is tougher than ever.

No steroid-use consequences for NFL players

It looks like steroids had taken over the news lately, but only concerning the MLB, and so what happens to other professional leagues like the NFL?

There is some real concern out there as to why ball players are being accussed when guys like Rodney Harrison who tested postive for HGH in 2007 even had the chance to play at the Pro Bowl, and everything that is being said around Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite are pure allegations since nothing has been proved, but their careers are ruined, that is the only thing for sure.

So what is exactly going on with american sports lately? Baseball players have become the poster boys for drug-enhacement headlines, but honestly, things are probably far worst in professional football, just take a look at the pictures of some of the NFL stars from where they used to play in college, they couldn’t develop their bodies as quick without the juice.

And why did George Mitchell decided to taking it against baseball in the first place? If you think of professional sports, the MLB will be the last place you’ll need to look for steroids, since perfomance is more based on mental skills. I hope he also have the guts to come out with another investigation around other professional sports oganizations and clean the house for good, not just the backyard.

Kidd finally traded to the Mavs

It has been a while since the talks started around the Jason Kidd trade, the 34 year old veteran leaded the Nets since he arrived to the team, he took New Jersey to two finals and 4 straight playoff appearances.

But lately his heart wasn’t with the team, maybe the frustration of losing 9 straight games is what finally brought his desire to leave the team to the surface, and so in January 28 he made his decision public.

The trade also came as a consequence of Nets president Rod Thorn’s refusal to give Jason Kidd a contract extension, and so he responded by calling in sick and missing a game against the Knicks, that was the begining of the end of his era with New Jersey.

Kidd is now with the Mavs, his first team in te NBA, and quite possible the one that he will end his career with.

The decision was taken on time since tomorrow is the deadline for the NBA trade period, and it looks like this is one of the 3 big moves in the league lately, along with Shaq going to the Suns and Pau Gasol coming to the Lakers.

One thing is for sure, Kidd is going to be the perfect complement for Dirk Nowitzki and with his addition, the NBA West conference remains as the strongest one.

NFL: Muhammad, not with the Bears anymore

The Bears have decided to release Muhsin Muhammad, one of their stars for the past 3 years, there are a few reasons involved in the dismissal, the stronger says that the 34 wide receiver has being in decline every year, since he caught a total of 64 passes in 05, then 60 in 2006 and finally just 40 in 07, his lowest.

He’s also entering in the final two years of his contract and since this is the free agency period, he’s on perfect time to get signed by other team.

Muhammad started with the Panthers and spent 9 years with Carolina, in such time he went to the Pro Bowl twice, then he got signed to the Bears, who he led to the 2006 Superbowl, and in his time in Chicago, he started all the games, except one.

But in despite of releasing Moose, the Bears made a couple of unexpected moves, they retained Alex Brown, another old player who had one his worst seasons last year, since he started just a couple of games and his numbers dropped down drastically.

They also cut down another veteran, right tackle Fred Miller and decided not to pay Darwin Walker his $5.2 extension bonus and so he’s not a bear anymore either.

Most of this decissions are coming since the Bears are looking to build up a young offensive line, and all of these old timers are not included in their plans.

I am sure Moose will get signed soon, since he still have alot to give and retirement is near, so he might as well give the best of him to step out with some glory under his arm.

NBA All Star: revenge came for the East as they pass the East 134-128

It was all about improvisation yesterday night at New Orleans, where the NBA All Star Game was held, with the victory coming for the underdog, the East, and with Lebron James, taking the MVP trophy for the second time in 2 years.

The big stars of the night were James and Ray Allen, the latest who came out of the game with 28 points, 14 just in the last quarter, which served as a big boost to finally come up with the victory for the East.

Last year, the East fell to the West in the hands of Kobe Bryant and Lebron wanted things to be different this time. "They beat up on us pretty bad last year, we didn't want to allow that to happen. We wanted to win." James said.

And win they did, with a final score of 134-128, revenged was well served, but there was a little sour taste at the end, since Kobe just came to the game as an spectator and could not deliver enough show as he played just 3 minutes, and could not compete with Lebron for the MVP award since he’s suffering of a fractured finger but he just decided to rest and not have surgery since he wants to help the Lakers get closer to the championship.

A player that might have played his last game for a East conference team is Jason Kidd, who might be traded to the Mavs from the Nets in the next few days, so he might be helping Bryant instead of James for the next All Star date.

Really an interesting match that also served as financial relief for a town that is still in a recovery process, charity organizations and New Orleans itself, they all had their share of famous NBA and Hollywood stars that came to the show, hands town to the NBA organization for their helping-oriented attitude.

Bill Belichick might have being taping since 2000

Bill Belichick, the Patriots coach, was caught taping the Jets secret signs on the 2006 season and was fined $500,000, while New England was fined with $250,000 and also they were revoked a first round pick, but it appears that Belichick is an old time cheater, since unknown sources are stating that he has being taping opponent;s deffensive signals since the 2000 season, when the Patriots obtained their first championship after passing the Rams, the most favored team at the time.

Comments are one day before the game, the Patriots took some team pictures in New Orleans, the place where the game was held, and it seems like one New England employee stayed and taped the Rams practicing session, but a Patriots spokesman is denied this allegations.

"The suggestion that the New England Patriots recorded the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI is absolutely false. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue," Patriots spokesman Stacey James told the press.

Washington DC senator Arlen Specter has being after this matter for a while now, just one day after talking with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, he said that he’s still concerned about it and that his investigations will go on.

An interesting fact is that Belichick might have being doing it for a total of 112 regular season games and another 15 post season matches, including 3 superbowls, so if him and his team were fined for a total of $750,000 dollars just for one game, what will be the total cost for the Pats and Bilicheat if Specter can prove more cheating from Billy boy? They surely might come short of cash.

Other sources are saying that Belichick might have been taping since as early as when he was with the Browns in the 90’s, but there is no confirmation of this either.

Tour de France will take place without defending champion

The Tour de France is not going to count with Alberto Contador this year, since his team, Astana, has being removed from the competition as per previous issued involving failed doping tests by former members of the squad.

Contador is the defending champion and it will be a shame not to see him competing this year, this is like removing the Giants from playing next season.

What is more strange is that other teams have gone through the same issues that Astana, and they have not being revoked the permissiong to participate this time, inconsistency from the organizers might be the key to the whole thing.

Another runner that will not be able to defent his third place from last year is Contador’s team mate Levi Leipheimer, who along with the spaniard, was part of the discovery channel team and when this one disolved, both went to Astana.

"I am in shock and I am very disappointed, as with my friends, family and supporters, I can't understand why we are not allowed to take part in the Tour and defend Alberto's title with two other riders capable of winning, myself included. We are all left wondering." Leipheimer told the press.

Nets with third win in a row, this time against the Twolves

The Nets are climbing stairs with caution, as their victory to the Twolves 92-88 meant their third on a row, a real achievement considering that before these victories they were coming from a bad strike that left them with 9 straight losses, the last one of those against Minnesota on January 27^th.

Even Kidd asked for a trade after that dark episode but team president Rod Thorn didn’t payed him too much attention since he felt that no deals will take place unless it is convenient for the team, now it seems like he’s trying to bring at least one grade A player to complement Kidd and Carter and try to make a run for the playoffs, an scenario that was just a blur spot on their road not long ago.

Jason Kidd almost got away with a record he’s being after for quite a while now, he’s short one point of becoming the third player in NBA history to obtain 100 career triple doubles, just after Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson, Kidd finished with 9 points, nine assists and and ten rebounds, while Vince Carter helped with 17 and 10 assists, while for the Twolves, Sebastian Telfair had 24 points and Al Jefferson scored 16 and had 11 rebounds.

And it seems like the Twolves are not showing any signs of being that stable and competent team from the days of Kevin Garnett, as they have lost 23 of 25 road games so far and along with the Heat, they are currently between the worst teams in the league.

Kobe and Gasol lead the Lakers over the Bobcats

Kobe Bryant had a great night yesterday when the Lakers took down the Bobcats 106-97 with Bryant scoring more than 30 points on 3 straight games.

Pau Gasol, the big man that Los Angeles needed since the departure of Shaq is also doing an outstanding job since he’s been vital for the Lakers recent wins and this time he ended up with 26 points.

This victory also meant something different for the Los Angeles team since they fell to the Bobcats 4 times at Charlotte over the past two seasons, two on each.

The Lakers are now 6-2 on their largest road trip in team history and with just one game to play away from home, if they win against the Twolves tomorrow, they will finish 7-2

Los Angeles have also signed DJ Mbenga for the rest of the season since his 10 day trial period is over, though Phil Jackson says that this has nothing to do with the return of Andrew Bynum, who is expecting to be substituted by Mbenga at least for another month or so.

With things like this there is a real struggle to see who’s the best power trio or power duo in both conferences, with the West commanded by the Spurs, and soon with the return of Bynum, the Lakers too, and the East leaded by the powerful Celtics.

I am assuming a final between Los Angeles and Boston, but who knows, maybe Duncan and company will be able to take down the Lakers and try to defend their title or maybe Lebron will lead the Cavs to their second playoffs instead of the irish phenomenon, but until then, we’ll have to wait and see who the real deal is.

Pro Bowl, last one for Hawaii and tributes to Taylor

It’s not all the time that we can see a rookie receing the honors of MVP, this time the honors went to Vikings Adrian Peterson, who scored two touch downs and ran for more than 100 yards to help the NFC to win at the Pro Bowl.

And it seems like this is going to be the last Superbowl that’s being played at Hawaii, due to a contract that expires next year and NFL authorities are looking for other posibilities, included the one of playing the Pro Bowl at the same place than the Super Bowl, but it seems like NFL players and the Hawaiian community are looking to expand the contract since that is one of the biggest sporting events held on the state and a source of income for many local charities and social services which benefit from the appeareance of football stars in their events to collect funds.

"The commissioner is making a lot of decisions but I don't know about moving the game, I love Hawaii and I want to keep coming." Said Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens who had two touchdowns on Sunday.

There was a player that was present at the game but just in memory, Sean Taylor, who was honored by Redskins tackle Chris Samuels, long snapper Ethan Albright and tight end Chris Cooley, all who wore the 21 in their shirts as part of the tribute, Taylor was voted symbolically by fans to be one of the Pro Bowl starters.

"Sean's family was out here, we wore the 21 jersey and we honoured him in the right way. We all know he should have been out there." Samuels said.

The best way to pay tribute to a well missed player who died on November 27 as consequence of his house being robbed.

42-30 was the final score and the two interceptions by Chargers Antonio Cromartie were not enough to prevent the AFC from losing.

At the end everybody wants to see alot of touchdowns and that is what we got at this Pro Bowl 2008, I think the tradition of playing in Hawaii should continue, as the game has being played in this island since 1980 and it is more a tradition than anything else, and maybe it also serves as obligated vacations for some NFL stars, and a community that depends mostly on tourism, would stop preceving the benefits that this game brings with it.

Yankee Stadium price elevates to $1,3 billion

It looks like the Yankees will be playing in a state of the art Yankee stadium for the 2009 season, since the construction of their new ball park in on the run.

Costs have elevated significantly, since the budget for the construction was originally of 1 billion dollars but different enhancements such as $150 million dollar giant video screen and another $138 million in food and beverages costs, and lastly, $50 million product of different lawsuits from neightboors since two parks were dismissed for the construction of the new concrete monster, which elevated the numbers to $1,3 billion.

The Stadium will be a resemblance to the old Yankee stadium from 1923 before it was remodeled in the 70’s, the big difference will be on the inside, since the one from Babe Ruth’s era didn’t count with party suites, a member only restaurant and a martini bar among others as this one.

We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost.

But the Yankees are not the only New York team to come up with a new ball park, as the Mets are securing a $800 budget for their new home that will also be ready for the 2009 season, and while the new Yankee Stadium is set to receive 53,000 fans, the new CitiField stadium will hold around 42,500.

Best two Eastern teams gave a great show but the Cavs won to the Celtics

Two of the best teams in the NBA had a fierceful battle for the victory on Tuesday night, but the Celtics fell to the other best team in the East, the Cavs.

Lebron James had a great night as usual with 33 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds, and helped his team to beat Boston for the second time this season.

One point made the difference as the final score was 114 to 113, but the Celtics had the win on their hands with the score 110-108, but Boston’s defense was so concerned about stoping James that they allowed Ira Newble alone and so he went through irish territory and along with Daniel Gibson, gave Cleveland the victory.

"We've been tremendous on the defensive end and for our standards, they scored too many points," Boston’s Ray Allen said.

One important factor to mention is that Kevin Garnett did not saw action as he missed his fourth straight game due to a abdominal strain, but the Celtics don’t want to blame it on the loss of Garnett.

"He's not going to be around for the next couple of games. I'm not going to allow them to use that." Said Boston’s coach Doc Rivers.

Maybe Rivers wants to avoid the nasty talks but his team is not the only one who get to suffer when a key player is left on the bench for injuries, let’s talk about the Lakers and Andrew Bynum, if it wasn’t because Pau Gasol is playing for Los Angeles, they will also be completely dependant on other players to do twice their regular labor, as Kobe.

So beating the leading eastern conference team is not something easy to do, and the Cavs and king Lebron are thanking the providence for this victory.

Shaq might join the Suns

Empty seats at the American Airlines Center and the face of dissapointment of Pat Riley after every game are just a few reasons that might lead to the departure of Shaquille O’Neal from the Heat and start a new campaign with the Suns.

Probably O’Neal wants to finish his career soon, as he is already 35 years old and he might want to end it with a team that can be a potential contender for the title, and the Heat has being in decline for a long time now.

But is it a good decision for the Suns to acquire Shaq? He is surely not the player from a few years ago, and this current Phoenix team is fast and offensive and bringing Shaq would represent a complete change on the way the Suns are playing.

If Shaq makes the trip to Phoenix, Shawn Marion might head to Miami, and the Heat will lose their best deffensive man on him, but at the same time with O’Neal on the team Amare Stoudemire can go back to his regular power forward position.

The Western conference style is a symbol of quick moves and fast playing, and considering that Shaq is going through his worst season so far, scoring an average of 14.2 points per game, it will be an outstanding achievement if he can lead the Suns to a championship series.

One thing is for sure, Shaq has left a spirit of competition on Miami, he raised the passion for the Heat when he arrived, more than just a famous NBA player, people considered him a rockstar, one of the guys who defined the face of sports in the 90’s and that is still regarded as one of the most valuable players in NBA history.

Clemens close to face prison

The hearing for Roger Clemens involving illicit drug usage is set for next week, but this morning he had to visit the House Committee in order to have a talk with congressional investigators in order to get everything ready for the hearing which came as a result of the Mitchell report, on which Clemens appears as having being injected with steroids by his former trainer Brian McNamee.

As of now, the Seven-time Cy Young Award-winner might face serious criminal charges if he continues to deny the usage of the illicit subtances, and if he is proved otherwise by a testimony of old friend and also pitcher for the New York Yankees Andy Pettite who did admited to having being injected with H.C.H. in 2002, which validated the testimony of McNamee.

I’m not saying he actually did it, but it seemed odd the fact that Clemens started performing better since he met McNamee, winning 4 of his 7 Cy Young awards just after that, and why would Pettite lie and compromise his friendship with Clemens due to third party allegations?

I think Clemens is drown in deep muddy waters and his reputation and awards might go down with him, I think if he can come up with some honesty, he’ll safe at least part of what he did before all this dark episode of baseball started.

Dolphins are still the only undefeated champions in the NFL

The Miami Dolphins are still the only undefeated champions in NFL history, with a 17-0 record, something that must be carving inside the minds of New England players as even though their record is of 18-0, they fell at the end, and sadly, the end is what everybody remembers.

“I don't take joy in the fact the Patriots lost. But I do relish and savor the fact that there has been only one unbeaten team in the history of the NFL." Said former Dolphins tight end Jim Mandich.

The Patriots could not find an answer to the overwhelming display of potential and the hard-to-crack deffensive line from the Giants last night at the University of Phoenix Stadium where New England fell 14-17 with a pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress for the winning touchdown with only 35 seconds left on the clock.

Certainly nobody expected the Giants to make it to the most watched game in the planet, and more surprisingly was their victory to the Patriots whom were far more superior than New York in the regular season, even betting houses were giving New England a gross advantage of -15, but Eli Manning didn’t wanted to be left behind by his brother and so he did all he could to obtain the MVP honors, as Payton got it last year when the Colts took down the Bears.

Indeed, this was the less expected outcome by everyone, except for the Giants who never gave up.