Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 189 of 274)

      Kobe steps out of Shaq’s shadow. Lakers win NBA Finals.

      June 14, 2009 /

      http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-06/47501420.jpg

      Trevor Ariza should not be so surprised. He played great. Anyway…

      Kobe did it, after a few failed attempts and a whole lot of drama he has succeeded in leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the top of the NBA, and finally without Shaquille O’Neal there to throw his coattails under everyone. This marks Kobe’s 4th championship, tying O’Neal’s tally.

      Other big news is of course Phil Jackson winning his 10th championship, making him the all-time leader for coaches. For more on that look a couple of posts down.

      You can check the box score here and see the stats for yourself, but of all places, Canada.com seems to be the first place with a nice summary of the game:

      Despite falling behind by nine points in the first quarter, the Lakers stepped on the gas in the second, reeling off 16 unanswered points, a run keyed by Trevor Ariza, and took a 56-46 lead at the half. The Lakers were in front by as many as 18 in the second half and didn’t allow the Magic a rally to send the series back to Los Angeles.

      The 15 titles by the Lakers are two shy of Boston’s all-time record. It was also a sense of redemption for the Lakers, who lost in the Finals to the Celtics last year. It’s their first time raising the trophy since 2002, the last of three consecutive championships.

      Over the course of this series, the Magic never seemed to have things go their way. In fact, watching the games, even when Orlando was winning by considerable margins I felt like it would only be a matter of time before the Lakers steamed back. The inconsistency of the Magic play didn’t instill any confidence in me, and it doesn’t seem to have done much for the Orlando players either.

      Credit Kobe Bryant though, he may not have had any incredible performances in this series, but his excellence each night more than enough makes up for it. He’s a deserved Finals MVP.

      I’m not going downtown tonight.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, News

      Lebron James a poor sport after Cavaliers loss?

      May 31, 2009 /

      http://themiclounge.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nba_a_jamehowa_580.jpg

      There’s been a lot of talk flying around after last night’s ousting of the Cavaliers by Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. One of the most common lines has been about Lebron James’ behavior following the game. Refusing to shake hands and subsequently skipping the post-game press conference has put all kinds of opinions out there as to the ups and downs of his reaction to the loss. Coupled with recent comments by Lebron (which you’ll find below) and a congratulatory e-mail he reportedly sent to Howard, blogs have been burning up with comments. Robert Littal from Black Sports Online had this to say:

      From NBA.com

      “It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” he said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”

      Someone needs to tell Lebron James to grow the hell up. You win like a Champion you lose like a Champion no matter how hard it is. I am very disappointed in him. A competitor and winner respects his opponent regardless of the outcome.

      Lebron sounds like a spoiled rich kid who when he lost “took his ball and went home”. He has a long way to go in his maturity to be considered The King of the NBA. Wasn’t even man enough to call Dwight Howard. An email? Seriously Lebron? You would have been more successful on Twitter.
      Once again I am very disappointed in his behavior.

      Well, I can’t deny that LeBron acted a little bit poorly after the game. As “The King” I guess he should really be able to act like one. However, perhaps this just goes to show that he’s human. Let’s remember that he spent his whole season with his eye on the championship, racked up the NBA’s best record, won the league MVP award, and swept his previous playoff opponents. That’s quite a bit to see go up in smoke in one night.

      Continue reading »

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Kobe Bryant and Lakers finish off Rockets in Game 7, look to Denver

      May 17, 2009 /

      http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0505/nba_g_kobe01_576.jpg

      Well, the Lakers finally made it out of the Western Conference semi-finals. Certainly took them long enough. Arash Markazi from Inside the NBA at Sports Illustrated had an interesting quote after the game:

      When Kobe Bryant was asked what he learned about the Lakers after a grueling seven-game Western Conference semifinal series against the Rockets that culminated with an 89-70 win Sunday, he didn’t hesitate before answering.

      “That we’re bipolar,” Bryant said with a straight face.

      Ya think? While I still whole-heartedly feel the Lakers are the best team in the West, it makes the upcoming series against the Nuggets seem like less of a sure-fire thing. The Lakers, and Kobe Bryant especially, really need to get their act together, take the proper meds or whatever, and regain some consistency.

      Their general level of play is high enough that most teams can’t touch them even on an off night, but the Denver Nuggets have a lot of fire in their eyes. Their games haven’t been as well publicized as any of the other potential conference finalists. But as any Detroit fan can tell you, with Chauncey Billups leading them anything could happen when he meets the Lakers.

      If Los Angeles can come into their next game on Tuesday with the same level of desire they showed against Houston today, they’ll get past the Nuggets handily. But with even the star-player admitting the team is mentally out of control, it’s anybody’s guess who will show up. If only this kind of wild variety made for more interesting basketball! The Houston/LA series was defined by a succession of surprise blowouts, something pretty boring for a neutral and bad for TV. I’m hoping the Nuggets can keep the Lakers on their toes.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Sans Yao Ming, Rockets blast sleepy Lakers

      May 10, 2009 /

      http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-05/46813353.jpg

      Well, the Lakers are on their way to the NBA Finals to face Cleveland and give us a legendary match-up, oh wait a second…Seems the Houston Rockets, sans Yao Ming, weren’t quite ready to give up the ghost on this series. At least for one night, they showed the Lakers that they were able to step up their game when necessary. Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 34 points and Shane Battier drained 5 threes’ to lead the charge right over the dumbstruck Lakers. As quoted by the Associated Press on ESPN.com, Battier had some valid observations after the game:

      “I’m not surprised,” said Battier. “It almost sounds cliche, but we’re a resilient group. We talk about bouncing back. Through adversity, through lineup changes, through trades, through injuries, we’ve never quit and we’ve never stopped believing.”

      It was a serious spanking applied to the Lakers, and it’s something the Lakers need every few games or so. I don’t think I’m going out on a ledge here by saying that despite the loss, the Rockets don’t have a prayer of beating the Lakers in this series. The only real weapon Houston had that the Lakers seemed unable to fully counter, Yao Ming, is out with a broken foot.

      Besides, Yao Ming wasn’t the turning point anyway, it’s not like the Rockets had much of a chance even with him at 100%. Now that LA’s had this little slap in the face, they’re gonna get real mad, and the next game would be a triumph for the Rockets if they can even keep it respectable.

      That’s just what the Lakers do. They get lazy and get beat, then remember why they’re the most dangerous team in the league and win. It’s a lack of focus that may get them in trouble in the Finals, but isn’t going to be enough to worry anybody until then.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Pistons swept and looking to clean house

      April 26, 2009 /

      http://mikedorazio.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/rasheed-wallace-rip-hamilton-480.jpg

      First off, pardon the crap pun in the title. With the Detroit Pistons now officially swept by Cleveland, Pistons fans are looking toward next season, as are the columnists. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com writes:

      By letting Iverson and his $22 million walk along with Rasheed and his $13.7 million, Detroit will have roughly $17 million in cap space this summer.

      With only a few other teams significantly under the cap and most teams trying to cut payroll rather than add it, the Pistons are in terrific position to improve their club. Impact players who are likely to be available as free agents are Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Ben Gordon, Marvin Williams, Hedo Turkoglu, Charlie Villanueva and Anderson Varejao.

      On top of that, several teams may be looking to trade good players merely to gain financial relief, as New Orleans attempted to do at the trade deadline with Tyson Chandler. Detroit is in position to take advantage of whatever fire sales may take place around the league.

      Detroit will have a very different face in the next season. Since their championship run in 2004, it’s been quite a steady rate of decline for Rasheed Wallace and company. Their victory over the highly favored Lakers was, while admittedly not the most exciting brand of basketball, nonetheless a wonderful series to watch. Despite the obviously overpowering talent of the final year that Shaq and Kobe were together on the court, the Pistons managed to generally outplay and outshine them in all 5 games. Their victory was a great upset and a wonderful example of a team beating individual talent.

      Will that same mentality exist in Detroit at the start of next season? I can only hope so. In this time when a superstar seems a necessary component to winning, the Cavaliers for example, it was quite refreshing to see fundamental and basic basketball strategies win the day over the flashier favorites.

      This year’s playoffs don’t have much of a hope for something like 5 years ago happening again. The Lakers look like pretty heavy favorites (in fact the only team with a semi-shot at beating them is Lebron James and the four other guys he plays with), but with Joe Dumars still a proponent of the solid-D, pass-heavy team play of past Detroit teams, it may be a great year next time around for Pistons fans, but something of a snoozer for everybody else.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

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