Iverson and the Pistons

Ok so the Pistons have been to the Eastern Conference finals 6 straight times, but have fell before reaching the NBA Finals. This year can be different though; we can see a team that is current trying to find themselves after losing Antonio McDyess and the arrival of All-Star points guard Allen Iverson.

With the help of Iverson, the Pistons took down the Lakers and granted them their first loss of the season. Such victory for Detroit can tell us what we can expect of a team looking an identity. Oh, before I forget… the Pistons also ended with Cleveland’s 8-game winning streak.

But in despite of looking like a bright team, the Pistons know that the Celtics are the team they need to beat in order to forget last year’s Conference Finals, when Boston took them down.

Last night the Celtics beat the Pistons by 98-80, and Rajon Rondo showed that he is real valuable asset for Boston as he finished with 18 points and 8 assists. ``I saw him play like this in the championship last season,'' said Iverson, who finished the game with 16 points.

Iverson arrived to Detroit in exchange of 3-time all-star Chauncey Billups and Antonio MycDyess, whom were traded to the Nuggets in exchange of the 33 year-old 2001’s NBA MVP. Iverson had wore jersey number 3 during his entire NBA career, but even though Rodney Stuckey was willing to give up the number to Iverson, NBA rules said there could not be a jersey number exchange before the season is over, and so we’ll be seeing Iverson wearing #1 this time.

This is the second time the Celtics beat Detroit this season, as Boston beat the Pistons by 88-76 on November 9, when Iverson made his debut with the team.

Maradona wins his first match as Argentina's head coach

Diego Maradona, I guess most people at least know his name, and he, along Pele, are the best soccer players the sport has seeing. Now that his adventures as a player are gone, the natural evolution of his brilliance had to be teaching others to play.

That is why the national soccer team of Argentina has given him the chance to be their head coach, and luckily for him, his first official game as coach turn into a victory.

Argentina beat Scotland on a friendly match on Wednesday at the Stadium where Maradona scored his first international goal back in 1979 on a 3-1 victory.

Maxi Rodriguez gave his country a 1-0 at Hampden Park, but for what was witnessed at the football field, Argentina is far away from being the team where Maradona used to play.

More than a former player turned to coach, Maradona is a symbol, it is the above-standard player most want to become, and that’s the main reason why he was hired, to put some pressure on Argentina’s most talented players and turn the team into one that is able to win a World Cup.

The team presented at Glasgow didn’t have either Lionel Messi or Juan Roman Riquelme as they were being rested.

Motivation is Maradona’s main weapon to coach his national team, and players like Javier Mascherano are aware of the fact that to have the best player his country has seeing coaching the team has brought more compromise and responsibilities to the group.

Currently Argentina is fourth on the South American qualification for the World Cup and Maradona knows that he has a very competitive group that can surely do more and qualify first.

Overall, a great moment for Argentina’s soccer.

NFL Playoffs

Week 12 starts tomorrow and the end of the regular season is getting close, so I’ve created this article about the playoffs, how they are held.

There are 32 teams at the NFL, they are divided in two conferences of 16 teams each, the AFC and the NFC, and both conferences are divided into 4 divisions of 4 teams each.

The playoffs takes place after the 16 regular season games are over, and only 6 teams of each conference will advance: the four division champions (Seeds 1 to 4) plus two more teams with the best winning percentages (Seeds 5 and 6).

When the teams are set, the Wild Card Weekend comes. Seed 3 plays the 6^th seeded Wild Card team, and Seed 4 plays the 5^th Wild Card team. Seeds 1 and 2 have the privilege of a bye week during the first round, which automatically grants them a pass to the second round.

Then it’s time for the divisional playoffs, where Seeds 1 and 2 faces the winners of the Wild Card Weekend. The survivors of the divisional playoffs games meet at the Conference championship games, and the winner of each conference advances to the Super Bowl.

In my opinion, the pressure is mostly concentrated in the AFC East, with the Jets leading 7-3, while Dolphins and Patriots (who will meet this week) are 6-4 and the Bills (whom started with 4 straight wins) are 5-5. So with 4 games ahead, anything can happen here, and I’m sure Brett Favre will surely like to win the division and lead his team on the road to the championship, after all… this might be his last year at the NFL.

If you enjoy betting sports, this information will surely be useful to you, especially when betting futures.

Suns vs Kings preview

Terry Porter is the new coach for the Suns and with a good season start, it looked like Phoenix was the same team than last season, but they slowed down a little, that is why they are looking to continue climbing in the scoring ladder, and they will have a great chance on Friday against the Kings, the team with the worst defense at the NBA.

With Mike D’Antoni, the Suns finished third in the NBA in scoring, averaging 110.1 points per game last season and were first in field goal shooting also.

The reason why the Suns had slowed down in scoring is because Porter is a more defensive coach, and let’s not forget that Phoenix has one of the oldest rosters at the NBA with guys like Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Nash topping the list of veterans.

But I think they will be a different team against Sacramento, as they are back in the list of the league leading in scoring with an average of 100.9 per game. They know it hasn’t being easy, but they know they can stay as one of the best and finish big this season.

And the Kings seems like an easy rival as they are giving an average of 105 points per game this season, and are also allowing a 41 shooting percentage from the three-point range.

I was one of the people with negative opinions about the arrival of O’Neal last year to the Suns, but he’s been with the team less than a full season, and this one of his last seasons at the NBA, so he will likely go well-remembered, that is why he needs to prove people like me that he is a valuable asset for the team and not just a shinny name on the Phoenix roster.

Overall I think the Suns are a good team, and most likely will win this game against the Kings without major problems.

Lakers beat Hornets and are 7-0

If no further injuries on starting players occur, we might as well say that the Lakers have what it takes to be one of the teams on this season’s NBA Finals.

Los Angeles is currently the only team on the league that is undefeated with a current 7-0 record. Their last win came in front of the Hornets, whom got close at the end of the game, but reigning MVP Kobe Bryant made a three-pointer that took Charlotte’s hopes out of the map for good.

Final score was 93-86 with Bryant ending with 20 points (same as Derek Fisher) while teammates Paul Gasol and Andrew Bynum had 14 a piece for the Lakers. On the other hand, Chris Paul, who finished second last year in the voting for NBA MVP, helped Charlotte with 30 points.

As of now, no team has scored 100 or more points against Los Angeles in this young NBA season, the only team that approached to that number were the Mavs on Tuesday on their 106-99 loss against the most notable basketball team in California.

The Lakers are certainly more aggressive this season. They are still probably hurt by their loss at the finals of last year against the Celtics, and I think they will rely on defense a lot to come up with the expected results this year. Andrew Bynum is certainly an important part of that defensive system, and along with the current team-play mentality of the Lakers, it will be difficult for rivals to match their whole performance.

Just a proof of Los Angeles effective defense is their first quarter against the Hornets, as they hold Charlotte to just 17 points, and just another 13 on the second one.

With the loss, the Hornets proved that they are not at their required level just yet, and the Lakers are looking to prove that their good season start is just a glimpse of what is coming ahead.

Titans and Lions, best and worst at the NFL

What has become an outstanding season for the Titans has become a nightmare for the Lions, as these are the two teams on the league whom currently are in opposition to the other, with Tennessee holding a perfect 9-0 record and Detroit with a 0-9 record.

Besides 9 straight victories on the current season, the Titans just broke a franchise record with a 12-straight regular-season wins including their last games of last year. On the other hand, the Lions are close to their worst losing streak at the NFL since 2001 when they lost 12 games in a row. Detroit might even be close to become the first team in NFL history to go 0-16. In fact, the Lions have been defeated 16 times in their last 17 games and currently hold an NFL-worst 31-90 record since 2001.

Now let’s check on the team’s current standings. We got the Titans leading the AFC South while the Lions are last at the NFC North where the Bears are leading with a 5-4 record.

But not only Titans and Lions are far ahead of each other: On the underdogs side we got the Bengals and the Chiefs whom just have a single victory for the season, on the other hand, the Giants have lost one game this season.

Interestingly, the Titans next rival is Jacksonville, a team who just beat the Lions by 38-14 on Week 10, while Detroit will try to come up with their first victory of the season in front of the Panthers, whom are 7-2 and leading the NFC South.

I think Detroit’s offensive coordinator Jim Colletto played an important part on the Lions last defeat since he lined-up veteran Daunte Culpepper (who signed with the team just 4 days ago), instead of giving the chance to rookie Drew Stanton, even though fans and the media had been asking for Stanton to become the Lions starting quarterback.

Now its just a matter of watching the games to come and see when is it that these two teams are going to loose their current winner-loser correspondent status.

Week 10: Broncos beat Browns

Week 10 started early this time with a game on Thursday between the Broncos and the Browns. Denver came up with an important 34-30 victory which is leaving them with a 5-4 record and first at the AFC West. Games on Thursdays will continue for the rest of the regular season schedule.

The Browns are now 3-6 and third at the AFC North. This was the debut night for Brady Quinn as starting quarterback for the Browns, and even though he performed well, the rest of the Cleveland team did not, and therefore the loss was served. Quinn, the former Notre Dame star, waited 25 games to become the main man at the Browns offense, he got the job after Derek Anderson poor performance on Week 9 against the Ravens, on a game the Browns lost by 37-27.

Quinn was more than ok on his debut, throwing two touchdown passes to Kellen Winslow at the first half.

The 25-year old quarterback achieved his childhood dream as he had been a long time fan of the Browns, he even has a picture of himself wearing the #19 jersey for former Browns Bernie Kosar.

Denver entered the fourth quarter of this game trailing 23-13 but Jay Cutler came up as the hero for the Broncos and brought his team back to the game. This meant Cutler’s 5^th career 4^th-quarter victory.

This meant the eight straight victory for the Broncos to the Browns, and without any doubts, we can say that Denver has become Cleveland’s arc-rival by excellence as they have beaten the Browns 3 times in AFC title games.

The Broncos will play the Falcons and the Browns will visit the Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium for Week 11, and with Buffalo’s good season, is hard to believe that Cleveland will come up with a road victory.

Iverson signs with Pistons

The last time the Pistons were champions was back in 2004, failing by little the next year. This meant Detroit’s third NBA title in franchise history, and just last season, they were close to start dreaming again with a championship trophy but were eliminated in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals.

This year, the Pistons are ready to do whatever it takes for another shot at the title, and that is why they had brought Allen Iverson into the team. Iverson is fully aware of his new responsibility with a team that is expecting him to play at a top level in order to be a contender this year.

Allen Iverson has been an NBA scoring champion and part of the first-team All-NBA, and he believes is time to add a title to his career. “I haven't accomplished my No. 1 goal, and that's to win a championship. I'm willing to sacrifice whatever I have to sacrifice to get it done. I've tried it my way plenty of times. I've tried it many ways, and it hasn't been done.” Iverson said.

And exactly that was the mentality of Kevin Garnett when he was told that he will be playing along Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the three whom hadn’t won an NBA championship before last season.

The 33 year-old point guard is arriving to Detroit in exchange for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb.

Iverson has been given Billups #1 shirt, and for some fans that comes as a some sort of disrespect for a player that was valuable and decisive for the Pistons recent successes. The question is: will Allen Iverson perform better than Billups? My guess is that he will, as Iverson is truly one of the best players of the past decade and has a lot to give to this, his new team.

Week 9: Steelers beat Redskins

Jason Campbell couldn’t do it against Pittsburgh’s defense as he ended up being sacked seven times during yesterdays Washington’s loss at FedEx field against the Steelers.

Before this game, Jason Campbell had 271 yards without interceptions (249 this season alone). The 26 year-old quarterback is having his best season at the NFL so far since he was picked up by Washington at the 2005 NFL Draft.

Clinton Portis, the NFL’s leading rusher was also stopped successfully by Pittsburgh as he was held to 51 yards on 13 carries.

The game finished 23-6 and it meant a valuable road victory for Pittsburgh, whom is now heading the AFC North with a 6-2 record. This is the first time in three tries this season that the Steelers beat an NFC East team (their latest defeat came against the Giants last week. On the other hand, the defeat is leaving the Redskins at 6-3 and in second place at their division.

Now, the question is: Was Ben Roethlisberger seriously injured on the game? Well apparently Big Ben told the training staff his shoulder "popped out" on a play for a touchdown; Roethlisberger abandoned the field and was sidelined for the second half. The Steelers declined to comment on the gravity of the injury, which was a pre-existent one.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t happy at all to see his starting quarterback going down, as if Big Ben is unable to perform at his best or stop playing, he will clearly be ruining Superbowl plans for a team with the current top defense at the NFL.

Pittsburg will face Indianapolis (whom just win against the Patriots) at week 10 and surely Big Ben will be needed against Payton Manning, The Steelers are hoping he’ll be fine, and chances are he’ll be.