Playoffs and More

Well, I've been away for a little while. And in my absence plenty has happened. So let's start with the NBA and move right along from there. 

The San Antonio Spurs swept the Memphis Grizzlies in 4 games to advance to the NBA Finals. They will take on the winner of the Miami Heat/Indiana Pacers matchup where the Heat lead 2-1. The Spurs last appeared in the Finals in 2007 where they went home Champions after taken out the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat & Pacers kick off game 4 tonight, and whoever is going to end up taking this series, needs to do so as fast as possible to not allow the Spurs to get any rest. Should this matchup go into Game 7, well then my money is on the Spurs. 

In the NHL, the Penguins and Bruins have advanced and will play each other in the Eastern Conference Finals. Meanwhile the Sharks and Blackhawks have forced Game 7's with the Kings and Red Wings respectively. Kings & Sharks will play tonight. Red Wings & Blackhawks will play tomorrow. 

Briefly, Congrats to Tony Kanaan for winning his first Indianapolis 500 race. It was quite a race, but a crappy way to end the race for the fans under a caution flag. 

And I'll cover this just because it intrigues me the most, the Crosstown Classic between the Cubs and White Sox kicked off last night where the Cubs crushed the Sox 7-0 under Jeff Samardzija's complete game 2 hit shutout. Cubs are now 20-30, White Sox are 24-25. 

Notre Dame Qb Everett Gholson is no longer enrolled at Notre Dame for his failing grades. The Qb hopes to be able to return to Notre Dame in December. 

The NFL Season kicks off in 100 days, and I for one am ready for Fantasy Football! Like I said last time, once the Fantasy season begins to kick off, I'll be giving my rankings on each position to better help you with managing your team. 

NBA Playoffs Conference Finals

With the Pacers beating the Knicks yesterday, the Conference Finals are all set up. 

EAST                                               WEST
Pacers vs Heat                                  Grizzlies vs Spurs

The Spurs will host the Grizzlies later today. The Heat will host the Pacers on Wednesday. The Spurs have looked lackadaisical in their series with the Warriors, but with the sudden emergence of Tony Parker, they could make a run. And though the Grizzlies' Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol have been the best front-court duo in these playoffs, I'm not impressed with them yet. Their series with the Clippers, well was expected. They beat them last year, and the Clippers really have been up and down all season. And the Grizzlies match with the Thunder was unimpressive. Though they did have to come back and pull ahead in a few of those games, I think that series says more about the Thunder's inability to maintain a lead especially without Russell Westbrook, than it says about the Grizzlies ability to come back. So I have the Spurs winning that match. 

Now the Heat-Pacers is a matchup I am heavily looking forward to. My two favorite teams! The Pacers have not lost at home this post-season, but the Heat have only lost once. The Heat can play without Dwyane Wade, but Game 5 against the Knicks showed the Pacers do struggle without key players. If the Pacers can come in and beat the Heat in either Game 1 or Game 2 and keep up the home-crowd momentum, I would definitely give them this series. The Heat won't make past mistakes though, I look for this series to go to Game 6. The Pacers need to win Game 1 to discourage the Heat. If not, I expect the Heat to go onto the Finals. 

In other news, Oxbow is the winner of the Preakness derby. Orb finished 4th. Soccer-star David Beckham announced his retirement and had an assist in his final game. Dwight Freeney has finally found a new home. The former Colt, has agreed to terms with the San Diego Chargers following their loss of Melvin Ingram. I can't wait for those two Chargers-Broncos games where we will see Freeney face off against Manning for the first time. What will be even more interesting is how well Freeney will be able to read Manning, and vice versa. 

And in fantasy football news, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is set to have yet another surgery. The way he's been going, I have to knock him down on my draft list. But once fantasy football really starts moving, I'll do a list of the Top-5 or 10 for each position. 

NBA Playoffs Round 2 Games 3 & 4 NHL Playoffs Round 2

We're at that point in the NBA Playoffs where you can really tell which teams are just running out of steam and don't have much more of what it takes to get them to the next round. Games 3 and 4 proved that for many of the teams, and not just the losers. The Knicks and Pacers haven't played Game 4 yet, but both teams are running out of steam. The Bulls in Game 4 were just horrific, and even the Heat seems to be running out of gas. The Spurs always start falling in the later rounds because of the teams age, and the Thunder, without Westbrook, clearly don't have enough to push them over the edge. Here are the results from games 3 & 4. 

Game 3                                                                  Game 4
Heat-104                                                                Heat-88
Bulls-94                                                                  Bulls-65

Spurs-102                                                              Spurs-87
Warriors-92                                                           Warriors-97

Thunder-81                                                             Thunder-97
Grizzlies-87                                                            Grizzlies-103

Knicks-71                                                              Knicks-(tbd)
Pacers-82                                                               Pacers-(tbd)

The Heat and Grizzlies lead their series 3-1. Spurs and Warriors tied 2-2. Pacers lead the Knicks 2-1. Miami held Chicago last night to its franchises worst ever shooting percentage and amount of points. Nate Robinson went 0-12 from the field. Thunder also have showing how weak they have become down the stretch and not being able to maintain games. Grizzlies and Warriors look like they still have a lot of energy left and are ready to go. I'm rooting for Pacers-Heat conference game so I can really just root for both teams. We'll see how things play out in these last couple games.

NHL Playoffs has moved to Round 2. Many of the games took an exciting turn and went in Game 7. 

• Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1
• Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3
• San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0
• LA Kings beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2
• Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 4-2
• Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1
• New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitols 4-3
• Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3

So that leaves the matchups as. 

East                                                                  West

Penguins vs Senators                                         Blackhawks vs Red Wings

Bruins vs Rangers                                              Kings vs Sharks

Some really good matchups in this round. Especially the Blackhawks and Red Wings. Should be an exciting round of hockey!

In other news, the top high school recruit Andrew Wiggins has committed to playing for Kansas. Former Lions receiver Titus Young was once again arrested. Charles Woodson is meeting with the Denver Broncos. Running back Felix Jones has signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia. I hate to mention him at all, but Tim Tebow was offered a job with the Philadelphia Soul. The Arena league football team. Tiger Woods outlasted Sergio Garcia and won the Players Championship. 

NBA Playoffs Round 2 Games 1 & 2

Because Games 1 & 2 were fairly closely scheduled, I waited until now to post about the games. Things are really getting tense on the floor and you can sure tell that every team out there is fighting for this Championship. So Here are the results from games 1 & 2. 

Game 1                                                      Game 2
Bulls-93                                                      Bulls-78
Heat-86                                                      Heat-115

Pacers-102                                                 Pacers-79
Knicks-95                                                   Knicks-105

Warriors-127                                              Warriors-100
Spurs-129                                                   Spurs-91

Grizzlies-91                                                  Grizzlies-99
Thunder-93                                                  Thunder-93

So amazingly enough, every matchup is tied at 1-1. Bulls and Heat are getting fierce. And while I think the Thunder will hold off the Grizzlies, the Warriors are the team to watch in the West. This young squad is outgunning the aged Spurs. They are making every game a must-watch. I'm rooting for the Heat and Pacers in the East Finals. Thunder and Warriors in the West. 

Not much in the NHL Playoffs yet. A couple teams have a chance to clinch into the next round tonight. 

Couple of other things. Red Sox DH David Ortiz has been accused of using PED's and Red Sox pitcher Clay Bucholz was accused of throwing a spitter. So it goes without saying that the Red Sox have many eyes on them now. 

NBA Playoffs Round 1 Conclusion

The first round of the NBA playoffs ended yesterday. And while we had 6 games 6's, only one of those went to Game 7. So let's get the final tallies of each game and then we're off to Round 2. 

Game 6

Nets-95                                                               Nuggets-88
Bulls-92                                                               Warriors-92

Knicks-88                                                           Clippers-105    
Celtics-80                                                            Grizzlies-118

Pacers-81                                                            Thunder-103 
Hawks-73                                                            Rockets-94

Game 7

Bulls-99
Nets-93

So the Warriors, Knicks, Grizzlies, Thunder, Pacers, and Bulls have all now advanced. Here are the Round 2 matchups. 

Bulls vs Heat                    Grizzlies vs Thunder
Pacers bs Knicks             Warriors vs Spurs

After seeing how the first round played out, Heat and Spurs go some much needed rest. And I think both those teams will meet in the Finals. 

In other news, Orb won the 139th Kentucky Derby. LeBron James has won his 4th MVP award, missing only 1 vote to be unanimous. Only other person to be off 1 vote was Shaquille O'Neal. The NHL Playoffs are in full swing, but because they are off schedule with the NBA Playoffs, I won't get into the details. 

NBA Playoffs Round 1 Game 5

Game 5 has come and gone, and surprisingly, no one else has advanced yet. So while the Heat and Spurs are getting some much needed rest and relaxation, everyone else is working their butts off just to stay alive. Now, because the NBA and NHL playoffs are slightly off, I won't be doing a Game-by-Game recap for the NHL. I'll just post on here when a team advances. So with that, here are the results of Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs. 

Bulls-91                                         Warriors-100
Nets-110                                       Nuggets-107

Celtics-92                                      Grizzlies-103
Knicks-86                                      LA Clippers-93

Hawks-83                                      Rockets-107
Pacers-106                                    Thunder-100

The Pacers, Bulls, Warriors, Grizzlies, Thunder, and Knicks all lead the series 3-2. Really looks like the loss of Westbrook is killing the Thunder. Tonight the Bulls and Nets and Warriors and Nuggets square off. I predict the Bulls will advance, and the Warriors-Nuggets will go to Game 7. Tomorrow everyone else plays, and I think the Knicks, Grizzlies, and Thunder will advance. Hawks and Pacers go to 7. 

The Trailblazers Damion Lillard was voted as Rookie of the Year. Chris Paul with a finger injury is likely to play tomorrow, Blake Griffin is still in question with a leg injury. 

And if you want some funny news, teams in the Canadien Football League don't even consider Tim Tebow a viable option at starting quarterback.