Spurs advance, Suns go home

The Spurs are another of the teams that just grabbed a ticket for the second round of the playoffs, as they ended with the Suns run in the post season by eliminating them on game five yesterday at San Antonio.

The Suns are done and so is their coach Mike D’Antoni who just got fired after almost 5 years in the coach’s chair for the Suns, and where he has watched his former team being eliminated by the Spurs on the post season on four ocassions, Maybe D’Antoni is the problem, maybe he isn’t but the fact is that he’s leaving the space for a new coach to take over and try to deal with a Phoenix team that needs to focus and come up with another face next season.

Now the Suns will have to deal with a Shaquille O’Neal who will undoubtely be slower as he’s turning 37 and a Steve Nash who looks more tired than ever, as he’s getting quite old too, so they will probably gonna be seeing less action and become friends with the bench. And so the trade of Shawn Marion for Shaq has being just a plain bad decission, one that Phoenix is still regreating.

Hawks tight it to 2-2 with Celtics

I am sure the Celtics never thought they would had it so difficult in the first round of the 2008 playoffs against the Hawks, in fact most critics and fans expected this round to be just a step for the second round and there to the finals.

Well, as always with the NBA, you can never trust that a team is going to keep on playing the same way every single game, and that is what happened with Atlanta, they barely made it to the playoffs and were 2-1 in the series, but yesterday playing at home they took down the almighty Celtics by 97-92 and matched it to 2-2.

Now the Celtics are flying home and following them are the Hawks, who will play at the Garden on Monday night against a Boston team that hasn’t had the same luck or consistency (however you want to call it) than in the regular season, of course this team has alot more to give and Celtics fans are hoping to see their team playing at their best to put the series 3-2 so they can go and do their thing on game 6 in Atlanta.

Remember when the Celtics traded Joe Johnson to Phoenix? Well Phoenix didn’t had his services too long either as they trade Johnson to Atlanta for Boris Diaw and so now Boston might be regreating that decision, since Johnson might be the man who can put an end to the best season of the Celtics in a long time.

Suns and Spurs are 3-1

The Suns should be thanking the supreme being for what happened yesterday at Phoenix, since they were just one game away from being eliminated from the playoffs.

Series was 3-0 against San Antonio, and they put things 3-1 in what it was probably their best game in the whole season.

"We came out and said, 'OK, the series is not over, we came out fired up and as the game was going, we tried to keep that fire up." Said Suns Boris Diaw who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds to help beating the Spurs 105-86.

If they manage to win one more on Tuesday playing at San Antonio, they will become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit, but we’ll have to wait to see that happening.

The Suns had the lead since the first quarter as they enter the second with a score of 34-14, holding Tony Parker, who had 41 points the previous meeting, this time the Suns only allowed him 18.

For Phoenix, Raja Bell finished with 27 while Shaq hitted it for 14 points and 12 rebounds, while for the Spurs, Tim Duncan ended with 14, while Manu Ginobili scored just a low 10 points.

Well, the Suns wasted their first game playing at home, and now that the series is taking over to San Antonio’s home, things doesn’t look good for Shaq’s team, and their meeting with the Spurs on Tuesday might easily be their last game of the post season.

Infamous David Ortiz shirt sells for $175 K

It’s all about the Red Sox this days, first rookie Justin Masterson made his debut yesterday at Fenway Park, and the same day, the David Ortiz shirt that was burried in cement in the new Yankee Stadium by Gino Castignoli, a life long Boston fan, became news again.

The shirt was sold through an auction in Ebay, where the bidding for the piece of memorabilia became a must-see for members of the Dana-Farber institute, where the money is going.

The lucky bidder and winner of the shirt was an owner of a few car dealerships in Mendon, Mass. Kevin Meehan bidded at the last 9 seconds going ahead for only $100.00 from the previous offer and he said that he would probably think twice before spending another $175,110 dollars in similar stuff, but his dad died of cancer in 2001 and he has being a regular contributor to the charity since then.

So what it started as an act of bad faith from a Red Sox fan, turned into 175 grand that would benefit alot of people. All the goods to the Dana-Farber institute and to Kevin Meehan.

Kobe scores 49 and seal second victory of Lakers over Nuggets

There was a time when you could say that the Lakers really needed Kobe to come up with victories, of course this was before the addition of Pau Gasol and the improved game play by Lamar Odom.

But this doesn’t mean Kobe has changed, he’s still the key man in Los Angeles, in fact he’s deserving the MVP more every day, every game, and he showed why yesterday in the second victory of the Lakers against the Nuggets playing at the Staples Center which Los Angeles won 122-107 with an outstanding 49 points and 10 assists from Bryant.

The Lakers are clear favorites for the title, with only the Celtics matching them on that picture, and it would not come as a surprise if these two meet at the finals.

Since Kobe Bryant became a true leader, Los Angeles are showing a different face, when you see this team jumping in the court, chemistry is flowing in the air and the Nuggets needs to match their rythm if they want to stay alive and win the 3 game of the series tonight at Denver.

And much of what the Lakers have done has alot to do with the work its coach is doing to keep the good name of a team that is probably the most popular in the NBA, and when Phil Jackson coached the Bulls, everybody probably thought the same thing about them.

Hornets - Mavs series is 2-0 with Chris Paul leading New Orleans

The Mavs, what can be said about them, well, I guess what jumps into mind is their lack of success in playoff appearances. Yesterday they fell to the Hornets by 127-103, really a slaughter considering the kind of team Dallas has ensambled, with current MVP Dirk Nowitzki and with the acquisition of Jason Kidd, they are truly not showing what they are capable of doing.

This is the 8^th consecutive loss on playoff road games for Dallas, starting with game 3 of the 2006 finals, and it meant the second loss for the Mavs in the 7-game series against the Hornets. And well, Nowitzki didn’t dissapointed, he had 27 points, but when team mates are not playing at his same level, it doesn’t matter if he comes with 50 each game, it is kind embarrasing for Dallas to know that the remaining 4 starters just scored a combined 32 points.

Now the Mavs are heading back to Dallas for games 3 and 4 and they still have a chance against a Hornets team that is not slowing down, on the contrary, they are playing better than ever and Nowitzki’s team hasn’t found a solution about how to stop Chris Paul, he played greatly on game one and played outstandingly in game 2, he’s scoring an average of 32 points per game and is fueling team mates with an impressive display of collective playing, in sum, he’s delivering, even more than what anybody would have expected from the MVP candidate.

Cavs took 2-0 lead over Wizards playing at Cleveland

The Cavs almost didn’t made it to the playoffs, and to be now 2-0 in the 7-game series for the first round of the 2008 NBA playoffs against a Wizards team that has all their key men healthy and ready to play, is just a breath of fresh air to their motivation.

And motivation is what they’re going to need now that the series is heading to Washington where the Wizards have taken rivals like the Celtics, to whom they won their season series 3-1 just a few weeks ago.

Lebron James is the man that is bringing the much needed motivation the Cavs were lacking at the end of the regular season, proof of that were his 30 points and 12 rebounds in Cleveland’s second victory over the Wizards by 116-86, and so are team mates Zydrunas Ilgauskas who contributed 16 points to the final score and Wally Szczerbiak who got 15. While for the Wizards, 3 players hitted for 12 points, those being Caron Butler, Darius Songaila and DeShawn Stevenson.

The Wizards truly need to stop with the trash talk on the court and start getting their set straight in order to clean their heads and be ready to beat the Cavs at home in order to get the series even and avoid being eliminated for the third consecutive playoff first round series.

Sixers surprise with win over Pistons at their first meeting for the playoffs

The Pistons, who are expected to make it throught the first round at the 2008 NBA playoffs drop a 15-point lead at the third quarter and lost against a Sixers team with almost-to-none experience in the playoff race.

So the Pistons fell at the first game, well I still think they won’t have any problems finishing with the right foot what they started with the left, but who knows, maybe the Sixers are coming more motivated than anybody would have thought, including Detroit.

The fact that the Sixers made it to the playoffs is remarkable, but what they’ve got is a 7^th seed, something that probably didn’t made them happy, though they proved with their win against the Central Division champions that just because they weren’t lucky enough in the regular season, things have to be same in the playoffs and they definitely are getting the Pistons worried.

Teams have bad nights, and this was the Pistons turn on that picture, with a final score of 90-86, we can take a look at how paired this series between Philly and Detroit is going to be.

Silva proves critics wrong

It is obvious that the Mariners have more chances this year, why? Well there is a reason, and that reason has a name: Carlos Silva, the Ace that Seattle has being asking for.

He came from the Twins in the middle of a cloud of doubts around his $48 million dollar contract with the Mariners, but as of now, he has turn those critics into believers, since he’s 3-0 since his arrival this season and is spected to be the highlight of Seattle this year.

Silva is trying to get more credit and more playing time as a starter, since as of now, Felix Hernandez and left-hander Erik Bedard are the ones doing the job he’s surely prepared to do also.

"He is a big part of this rotation, he competes. He always competes. He's a great competitor, and I like everything about him. He throws strikes, is a good team player and has been huge for us." Said Mariners manager John McLaren.

Yesterday the Mariners had Silva as starter against the Ahtletics in the game that Seattle won by 8-1 playing in Oakland at McAfee Coliseum.

I think it wouldn’t take long to find out who’s who in the Mariners, and with good choices around, this team is spected to deliver a great deal of competition during the season.

NFL might come to Los Angeles

If you are from Los Angeles and if you are an NFL fan, then you probably will be pleased to know that the second largest city in the USA might enjoy professional football again in more than a decade since the Raiders moved to Oakland for good.

Developer Edward P. Roski Jr is the one behind the project, Roski Jr, who is part owner of the Lakers and the NHL Kings, is trying to convince NFL owners about the need of a professional football franchise in a city that is full of fans willing to pay for seeing NFL games live, and with a population of almost 4 million people, chances are that Roski’s dream might become a reality.

For the moment, Greg Aiello, a spokesperson for the NFL has said that coming with expansion teams is not in the league’s inmediate plans, but if an existing team is willing to move to Los Angeles, then, it might happen as soon as next year, when Roski Jr. can start with the contruction of the “Los Angeles Stadium,” a project he will be announcing tonight at the Staples Center, a venue which construction he is mostly responsible for.

The Stadium might be completed by 2011, and NFL games can be played at the Rose Bowl while its construction is completed.

For more information, go to the stadium’s official website:

http://www.losangelesfootballstadium.com/

Ronaldinho to Italy

Ronaldinho... a glorious career that might end in Italy, at least that is what it looks like with the recent trading rumors regarding the Brazilian super star.

The 28 year old player is pretended by different clubs, among those, the two professional teams from the city of Milan, the AC and Inter, but it looks like AC Milan has a “slight advantage” to make it with the services of Ronaldinho, this according Roberto de Assis, his brother and agent.

Even though he’s a player that is considered to be in decline, he will still demand at least 100,000 euros per week to the Rossoneri, whom is actually ready to pay him 12.8 million euros per season until 2012 and it might even offer 20 million euros to Barca so they can release his contract, that is still active.

I think Ronaldinho is just going through a rough stage of his career, but there are, at least, a couple more years of good soccer from him, and he move to Italy for next season, which is most likely what is going to happen, he will have people like Kaka or Clarence Seedorf, who is not willing to give out his number 10 t-shirt to the Brazilian ace, as when Ronaldinho came to Barcelona from the PSV 5 years ago, Juan Roman Riquelme was asked to switch number so Ronaldinho could have number 10, something that, according to Seedorf, is not going to happen.

Dwight Howard, the heart of the Magic

How far can Dwight Howard go? I guess is too early to say, but his future looks bright and promising.

At only 22, he has done stuff players his age only dream of, let take last November for example, when he because the youngest player to come up with 3,000 rebounds, he just won the most recent slam dunk contest at the NBA All Star Weekend in New Orleans and is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds steadily.

Now, many people compares him to Shaq, and reasons are valid, since he just helped the Magic to win their first division title since “The Diesel” was playing for Orlando back in the 95-96 season.

As of now the Magic is 50-30 with 2 games left on the board, one against the Hawks tonight and closing against the Wizards on Wednesday, playing at Amway Arena, where Superman music sounds when Howard jumps in the court.

But Dwight Howard is not the only man leading the numbers in Orlando, since team mates Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis have managed to combined for 386 3-points, the most for any duo in the NBA this season.

The Magic has a clear advantage, they are good at winning road games, they have a record this season for more wins outside Orlando, they are 24-16 at Amway Arena, and 26-14 playing in packed courts where the booing from rival crowds hasn’t seemed to affect their good moment, and so they are expected to come with a great post season show.

Lakers are first in the West

With their win from yesterday to the Spurs at 106-85, the Lakers are topping the Western Conference with half game ahead of Chris Paul’s Hornets, now Los Angeles is on its way of becoming the top seed of the conference for the coming NBA playoffs, and only two consecutive wins by the Rockets and one loss from the Lakers to the Kings this week will prevent it from happening.

For the Lakers, Kobe is still their main pawn, he finished with 20 points, while team mate Lamar Odom helped with 17 and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Pau Gasol contributed with 14, while for the Spurs, Tony Parker had 20 and Tim Duncan ended with 16 points.

The Lakers were leading by 2 points at the first quarter, but the Spurs took a run and matched things at 53 at the second quarter then Los Angeles would come up with a good display of basketball, playing an organized deffense and scoring everything they got on their hands, so they headed with a 12 point lead to the fourth, where they showed their dominance over the current NBA champions as the Spurs never managed to find their way to tighting the game.

The Spurs were fighting for that first seed, and one victory over Los Angeles was all they needed, but the Lakers are playing really good entering the last stages of the regular season, and the West is getting more interesting each game.

Mavs cliched playoff berth

Now that the Mavs have Dirk Nowitzki back in shape, they are playing their best basketball, Proof of that is the game they won yesterday to the Jazz, another team that is also delivering a great show every time they jump in the court, but last night it was the turn for Dallas, who won to Utah by a 3 pointer from Nowitzki within 0.9 seconds for the final and leaving the score at 97-94.

This is the 50^th victory for the Mavericks, and with a little help by the Warriors who lost to the Nuggets, they clinched their 8^th consecutive playoff berth. The Dallas story is much different than just a few weeks ago, when their chances to make it to the post season were dim.

It also helped the fact that Carlos Boozer wasn’t at his best since he came up with only 10 points, while for the Mavs, Nowitzki scored 32 points for the second time in 5 games, while team mate Jason Terry helped with 21 – all in the second half – and with a Jason Kidd is already adapted and playing quite well, Dallas is hoping to have a great playoff run.

Pandemonium in san Francisco

The prostests against the Olympic games that are going to be held in China are getting really serious and it seems more like a guerrilla warfare than a pacifist march, specially now that the torch is in US ground.

Just 100 yards separate the Pro-Tibet supporters from the Pro-Chinese demonstrators and none of the two groups was willing to give a step back.

"We tell our people not to be aggressive, but we can't guarantee they won't react with violence if the Chinese supporters come at them." said Team Tibet leader Jigdol Ngawang.

But something more was going on, as Team Tibet’s organizer Giovanni Vassallo and his co-leaders cell phones got strangely hacked and bombarded with random bogus messages, he wondered if the Chinese government had something to do with it...

"This shouldn't be happening in America."He said.

Wizards would try to win their season series to the Celtics tonight

The time has come for the Wizards to prove that they are playoffs material, they already clinched a spot, but they are just getting their two stars back to play together, and they have a hard task in winning their last 5 games, 4 of those against playoff teams that includes 3 top teams in the East.

Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas are the guys on which Washington are setting their hopes, Jamison was out for two consecutive games due to shoulder problems and Arenas has played two matches since his return after a 66-game absense due to knee surgery.

Tonight they will try to become the second team to win their season series against the best team in the NBA, the Celtics, and if Jamison and Arenas are ready, then we might see what is coming for the Wizards in the NBA playoffs.

"We can really put our foot on the pedal in these last five games and do what we need to do to win all five games, we want to be able to feel good about ourselves going down the stretch." Jamison said.

Another guy that has done a good job during Arenas recovery has being Brendan Haywood, who scored 25 points against the Bulls on Saturday; Caron Butler has also being essential for the Wizards, he, along with Haywood and Jamison are all scoring 20 points per game in average, he’s warning other teams to be careful about understimating Washington: "If I was on the opposing team and I looked at this squad, I would be scared because we can cause a lot of matchup problems." He said.

Kansas clinch first championship title in 20 years

Well this March Madness was full of surprises, first, all number one seeds made it to the final four, then the might Tar Heels fell to the JayHawks, and then the Tigers, who had more chances of making it to the title fell to Kansas, who just clinched their first championship in 20 years.

Memphis had the control of the game yesterday at San Antonio, as they were leading 60-51, but as we have seeing with teams that had all the odds on their favor lately – not only on basketball, but in most sports... remember the Patriots? – they lost some escencial shots and allowed Kansas to put things even and so the game went to over time.

The JayHawks finally sealed the victory at 75-68, and all the credit goes to their inspired playing, as they took down two of the best teams in the league, the Tar Heels, that were leaded by Tyler Hansbrough, one of the most promising players of college basketball and quiet possible a future NBA star, and then they manage to say goodbye to the Tigers, a club that finished their season setting up an NCAA record for most wins with 38, and with guys like Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, another two players that are looking to have a bright future in the NBA.

At least we withnessed one of the best final four rounds and one of the most unexpected outcomes in NCAA finals in history.

Kobe MVP?

Who is the most clear candidate for the MVP position? Well I wouldn’t doubt to say that Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul, Kobe being the favorite.

But where do we leave Lebron James? He’s a great player and has had a great season, individually speaking, but when it comes to his team, he hasn’t being able to do much for the Cavs, that sometimes have looked like one-man squad.

While Kobe, who at one point was one of the most hated figures in the NBA, has grown mentally and has become a leader for his team, he’s not playing for himself anymore, he’s doing a great job leading the Lakers, who have great chances to steal the championship trophy from the Spurs, who were recently hummiliated by the Jazz.

And finally we have Kevin Garnett, who is also a great candidate, but all in all he is part of something bigger than himself, he is one among the the trio that has leaded the Celtics to one of their best seasons in history, so if we come up with names in Boston, Paul Pierce would be another strong candidate for the MVP.

Bengals fires Chris Henry

Another brilliant career wasted, this time for former Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry who was arrested after hitting an 18 year old man in the face and breaking the rear window of his car with a beer bottle.

Bengals President Mike Brown was just fed up with the series of arrests (four as of now) and bad behaviour from Henry, who is 24 and who, according to critics has a promising future.

His problems with the law that started in 2005, have involved drugs, guns and fights and alcohol.

"The Bengals tried for an extended period of time to support Chris and his potentially bright career, we had hoped to guide him toward an appropriate standard of personal responsibility that this community would support and that would allow him to play in the NFL. ... But those efforts end today, as we move on with what is best for our team." Brown said.

When the news got out, many fans wrote emails to the Bengals, and only few (if none) were in support of Henry, who could had a brilliant future in Cincinnati but that managed to waste it with self-destructive behaviour.

The Bengals has had a bad span of bad conduct from a few players, 10 saw the interior of a jail cell in a 14 month period that goes from April 2006 to June 2007, and now they are trying to present a different image of the team by firing Henry, who might play for the Cowboys or the Raiders, two teams that really doesn’t care about their player’s past.

Mavs rallied Warriors in Nowitzki's return

Even though they now have Jason Kidd in their team, the Mavs leader is still Dirk Nowitzki, who came back for his first game with Dallas after a springed ankle that kept him out of the courts for 11 days.

And it seems like his return was all Dallas was waiting for to come up with probably one of their best performances of all season, this time against their West conference rivals, the Warriors.

The final score of the game speaks by itself about the dominance of the Mavericks over Golden State: 111-86, yesterday it was all inspired playing by Dallas, and if they can manage to keep on performing the same way for their final seven regular season games, they might as well get a playoff spot, an eight or a seventh, maybe even a bit higher.

The Warriors were missing alot of shots in the first and the second quarters, which gave Dallas the opportunity to take a sustancial advantage over a team that looked tired and Mavs Josh Howard, who finished with 28 points was all about fantasy plays along with team mate Jason Terry who was continously breaking Golden State’s poor defense and ended with 31 for Dallas.

The Mavs truly have a championship-caliber team, but by playing at the South West division, one of the thoughest of the NBA, they need to stay away from injuries from key players like Nowitzki’s and they surely have a chance.

Celtics with fourth straight victory

Boston is a completely different team than last season’s, when they finished with only 24 wins and the second worst record for that year, now the Celtics are making history by winning 59 -- 60 if they managed to beat the Pacers tonight -- games and achieving the third-best record in their franchise history.

Their most recent victory came yesterday against the Bulls 106-92 and Boston is now 3 games away from clinching the top seed in the East Conference playoffs, on the other hand, Chicago will need to beat the Nets and Indiana in order to go for their fourth straight postseason appearance.

But the Bulls have a men of trust in Tyrus Thomas, who ended with a season-high 24 points and even got some good comments from Boston’s Garnett: "Tyrus has a lot of potential. Obviously, that's no secret. It's all going to be about what he wants to do in this league, if he's able to listen and follow direction and have a work ethic." He said.

For the Celtics, Ray Allen finished with 22 and Kevin Garnett with 20, while Paul Pierce ended with 17 to give Boston their fourth straight win and keep it 6 games ahead of the Pistons in the conference standings.

Santana with oustanding debut

Definitely the Mets are one of the teams to watch for on this 2008 MLB season, and proof of that is the outstanding performance by their new acquisition: Johan Santana.

Santana, who is a two-time Cy Young winner, help New York to win its first match 7-2 against the Marlins, a team that ruined a 7 game lead in the NL East on the final day of last year’s season and it ended with the Mets dreams of making it to the postseason

The Mets have won 30 of their last 39 openers, while the Marlins have lost 11 of the last 12 matches at home against New York. Santana’s start with the Mets is a real good one, he finished with seven innings, two runs, three hits and eight strikeouts against the Florida on Monday.

New York knew that after losing Tom Glavine to the Braves, they had to come up with a good pitchers to help them part of the show this season, they were first betting at Jeff Wilpon, but soon after they signed Santana on a six year contract for a lump sum of $137.5 million.

Now the Mets are strong contenders for the championship, even more than their fellow state rivals, the Yankees.