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Boston Takes 3-2 Series Lead |
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Monday, 14 June 2010 |
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If the Los Angeles Lakers do not repeat as NBA champs, don't blame Kobe
Bryant. Bryant tried everything last evening, including scoring the
first 19 points of the 3rd quarter. But it wasn't enough as the Celtics
held home court with a 92-86 victory. Overall Bryant scored 38 points
but the Celtic defense held the remaining Lakers to 48 points. The
Lakers try to even the series on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
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Saturday, 12 June 2010 |
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After Game 4's conclusion with a Boston victory, to the naked eye it
could be said that the teams have each held court, splitting the first
four games, with game 5 being the pivotal game in Boston. This becomes a
must win for Boston before heading back to LA for game 6 and a
potential game 7.
Bust what we have seen is that each team can win on the other's floor.
Will Bynum's knee isn't getting any better. While Nate Robinson
energized a geriatric Boston offense in game 4, what chance is there for
him to implode in LA with a vocal crowd? And then there's Kobe.
It will all come down to what we know. Derek Fisher getting Kobe the
ball and Kobe exerting his will over the other 9 players on the court.
He has nothing to prove, just win. Regardless of all the free agent
frenzy, he is legitimately the premier player in the league and
therefore the world. And the championship will going through him and
his will.
Game 5 is important because it puts one team one win from the trophy.
But they will still have to get that last win on Tuesday or Thursday
night.
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Lakers Take 2 - 1 Series Lead |
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Wednesday, 09 June 2010 |
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The defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers came into Boston last
night and restore order by defeating the Boston Celtics 91-84 to take a 2
- 1 series lead in the best-of-seven.
While Boston point guard Rajon Rondo is making a name for himself in
this year's playoffs, is there any greater under-appreciated player on
any NBA champion than Laker point guard Derek Fisher? All he does is
win (of course it helps kicking it out to Kobe for the finish). But
last night he went for 16 points, 11 in the deciding 4th quarter. He
never has been nor will be spoken in the same breath of some of the ball
magicians that are the eye of the fans, but when it comes down to it,
he has the rings on his fingers while others just the hype.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 |
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The NCAA this week played politics with its own people, the sports
media, Vegas, and anyone that has ever filled out a bracket sheet.
After opting out of its current television package with CBS, it re-upped
with a CBS / TNT combination that will allegedly allow for all
tournament games to be viewed on television.
It was also thought that the NCAA would expand the number of teams in
the tournament to 96 from its current 65. However, after much argument
on the campuses and in the media, the sly politicians set us up for a
minor bump, expansion to 68. And its brilliant.
Now don't get us wrong - there will still be an argument as to the 69th
team that doesn't get in. But, what it does is allow for a "play-in"
game that would most likely continue the current format where the winner
would play the 1 seed in the region. Where it gets sticky is does this
put three more lower D-1 conference winners as sacrificial lambs to the
#1 seeds? Shouldn't #'s 65, 66, 67, and 68, regardless of what
conference, have to be the "play-in" teams, matched against the lower
seeded D-1 conference teams (usually your Southern Conference, Ivy
League, etc.? To permit another SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Big-10, Big East team
in to quiet all the outcry is not what this should be about. It should
be about the best tournament field possible. Say what you want, but
this past year's tournament, so equally balanced, was exciting.
AND . . . the new structure permits the renewal of the oldest
tournament, the NIT. Everyone wins.
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Knicks and Nets on the Clock |
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 |
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The Knicks and Nets are on the clock.
With the passing of their seasons, both clubs are now officially looking
towards the July 1 opening of the free agent sign period. Unless you
have been in a cave in Afghanistan for the past several years, you know
that this is the summer of super star free agents, headed by LeBron
James and Dwayne Wade.
Both metropolitan teams have cleared considerable cap room in
anticipation of signing one, if not two of the free agents available.
There has been much speculation that both teams will land neither of the
big names, and potentially no one.
If you were the GM of the Knicks, who would you sign? Go to left column on this page and
vote for the free agents you would sign in our latest Game Over Poll.
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Monday, 12 April 2010 |
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Unless you had the volume down the whole tournament you would have had
to been deaf to the constant chatter regarding the proposed expansion of
the tournament field from 65 to 96. The addition to the tournament
will all but assure the retirement of the granddaddy of the tournaments,
the NIT (also owned by the NCAA).
The arguments are that expansion would assist coaches in keeping their
jobs as they will be able to reference their tournament appearances when
they are being considered for replacement. Another argument (the real
reason), is that another round of games on CBS is worth vast amounts
more to the NCAA than an ESPN-driven NIT. The NCAA funds a vast
majority of its other sports with the rake from CBS.
For the fans it means more potential upsets? Who are they trying to
fool here? In the 1st round #33 would play #96, with #'s 1 - 32 getting
1st round bye. The "upsets" at this level would have less of an
impact. And what-if #96 beats #33, are we really going to anticipate a
greater opportunity for # 1 to have a greater chance of ever losing its
1st round game to #96 than to #64? This is just a ploy to suck in more
dollars, not create a better competitive tournament.
What do you think? Should the tournament expand or stay as is? Go to http://www.gameovernyc.com/basketball/gonews/
and vote in the Game Over Poll. We'll announce the results for all
to see.
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Best College Team In The Land |
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 |
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The best team in college basketball this past season was not a men's
team. The University of Connecticut women's team, now two time
defending champs with a 78 game winning streak will attempt to
accomplish something next year that borders on the absurd: break the
all-time winning streak of 88 collegiate basketball wins of UCLA.
What Coach Gino Auriemma has accomplished is nothing short of a
dynasty. And this comes at a time in a converging dynasty of Pat
Summitt's University of Tennessee teams of the past 15 years. What
makes the UConn women's team hard to embrace where Tennessee is loved is
Auriemma. His "us against the world" mentality creates the maelstrom
that he orchestrates. Great teams, Wooden's UCLA squads and Summitt's
Tennessee teams have accomplished the unimaginable success with those
that would otherwise cheering for the opposition because they make it
about their teams and wanting to see the accomplishments they can
achieve and new, higher bars they set. Auriemma is right, it will be
UConn against the world next season as he pushes to accomplish the next
goal, but it will be he, not the team, that is against the world.
Either way, at least for this past season, the best collegiate team
dressed in a different locker room then the men, at every arena in the
land.
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