Friday, June 25, 2010
2010 NBA champs
The Lakers are NBA champs for the second consecutive year in a row by beating the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics. They won this year's championship series in renege to the year in 2008 when the Celtics triumphed over the Lakers. This year's champion Lakers won the 2010 NBA title because of Kobe Bryant's heroics in Game 7 in Los Angeles. He hustled for rebounds, he played defense, and most of all, he scored points for his team when it counted the most. The Lakers got contributions from Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, and Derek Fisher as L.A. built a six point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 7. Lakers sixth man Lamar Odom was a non-factor in the Lakers' championship victory in the final game, because he was unwillingly unable to make the big plays for his team. He showed support for his team by being a role player, saying that "we will win as a team." This is Phil Jackson's 11th championship ring, the most for an NBA coach in basketball history. Kobe Bryant noted that this was the most hardest championship series he has ever played in and it showed. The Celtics-Lakers rivalry has continued for 17 championship series and this series went the full seven games.
Friday, June 4, 2010
2010 NBA Playoffs
The playoff games of the 2010 NBA playoffs have had some entertainment value to them. I thought the most entertaining playoff series was the first round series matchup between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Bulls play so hard and work hard to compete that I really thought they could upset the Cavs. Of course, Cleveland won their first round series with Chicago in five games. In the matchup of the number two seed Orlando Magic and the seven seed Charlotte Bobcats, Stan Van Gundy-coached Magic team led his team to a 4 games to none victory. The competition was nonexistent. In the other series bracket between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks, I found this series to be very exciting. The Hawks were very spirited and athletic and full of speed and superior size. The Bucks were a scrappy bunch of players who were at the helm of Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles, whose none-no-sense approach to basketball made him well respected. It was an exciting series when Milwaukee won Game 5 in Atlanta 91-87 and were appearing to win the series in Game 6. At halftime of Game 6, the players for Milwaukee were so excited they could not hide their excitement that they were actually going to win the series. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, they still had another half to play and Atlanta came out flat. This Hawks team came out on fire and destroyed the Bucks in Game 6 of the third and fourth quarter. The Hawks won Game 6, forcing a Game 7 in which they won 95-74. The Celtics took care of the Miami Heat in five game straight no contest.
In the western conference first round bracket, I saw a terrific series between the L.A. Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. I thought at one point the Thunder were going to win the series because of their outstanding athleticism and competitive spirit and youth to overcome the more experienced Lakers. Nonetheless, experience prevails and the Lakers dispatched of the young Thunder team in six games. In a battle of Texas, the seventh seeded San Antonio Spurs faced the second seed, Dallas Mavericks. It was clearly an upset victory for the Spurs who reached the second round by defeating the Mavs in six games. The face-paced Phoenix Suns were no match for the half-court offensive team of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Suns were red-hot shooting the basketball and won the series 4 games to 2. In a battle between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets, both teams were struggling with injuries on both sides. The Nuggets' coach George Karl was out and the Jazz's best perimeter defensive threat Andrei Kirilenko was also injured. In what appeared to be a fiery series between the two teams with injuries, the Jazz won their side of the battle 4 games to 2.
In the semifinals, the Boston Celtics put the nails in the coffins of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James. Their stifling defense stopped the Cavs in their tracks. The Big Three trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen stopped the Cavalier offense with their defensive presence and prowess. Also, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins have grown in their roles alongside the Big Three. They have managed to fit their talents by adding speed, defense, and hot shooting to their arsenal. In the other semifinal bracket, the Orlando Magic swept the Atlanta Hawks 4 games to zero. The Magic proved that the Hawks' athleticism and size could not match up with the Magic offense contributions from the starters and the bench. In order to beat a team like the Orlando Magic, you have to almost play perfect basketball. In the West semifinals, the series between the Lakers and the Utah Jazz were none-competitive nonewhatsoever. The Jazz-Lakers series was not a fun series to watch, because the Lakers are too good offensively and Utah is a subpar team that does not know how to win playoff games consistently. Also, the competitiveness of the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs was not evident at all. There was precisely nothing the Suns could do to the Spurs that was very competitive otherwise Phoenix won the series 4-0. It was a total dismantling of the Suns offense running rampant and wild over the Spurs.
Overall, this was a very disappointing coverage of the NBA playoffs. NBA teams did not play very well against each other and this led to total annihilation of NBA teams over the other, like the Orlando Magic trouncing of the Atlanta Hawks, the Phoenix Suns four-game rout of the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers beating the Jazz in four straight games, and the Magic beating up the Charlotte Bobcats in four games. The only exciting games were the Bucks-Hawks series and the Thunder-Lakers series. If I were to give a rating of the NBA playoffs, I would give these games a seven out of ten.
In the western conference first round bracket, I saw a terrific series between the L.A. Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. I thought at one point the Thunder were going to win the series because of their outstanding athleticism and competitive spirit and youth to overcome the more experienced Lakers. Nonetheless, experience prevails and the Lakers dispatched of the young Thunder team in six games. In a battle of Texas, the seventh seeded San Antonio Spurs faced the second seed, Dallas Mavericks. It was clearly an upset victory for the Spurs who reached the second round by defeating the Mavs in six games. The face-paced Phoenix Suns were no match for the half-court offensive team of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Suns were red-hot shooting the basketball and won the series 4 games to 2. In a battle between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets, both teams were struggling with injuries on both sides. The Nuggets' coach George Karl was out and the Jazz's best perimeter defensive threat Andrei Kirilenko was also injured. In what appeared to be a fiery series between the two teams with injuries, the Jazz won their side of the battle 4 games to 2.
In the semifinals, the Boston Celtics put the nails in the coffins of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James. Their stifling defense stopped the Cavs in their tracks. The Big Three trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen stopped the Cavalier offense with their defensive presence and prowess. Also, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins have grown in their roles alongside the Big Three. They have managed to fit their talents by adding speed, defense, and hot shooting to their arsenal. In the other semifinal bracket, the Orlando Magic swept the Atlanta Hawks 4 games to zero. The Magic proved that the Hawks' athleticism and size could not match up with the Magic offense contributions from the starters and the bench. In order to beat a team like the Orlando Magic, you have to almost play perfect basketball. In the West semifinals, the series between the Lakers and the Utah Jazz were none-competitive nonewhatsoever. The Jazz-Lakers series was not a fun series to watch, because the Lakers are too good offensively and Utah is a subpar team that does not know how to win playoff games consistently. Also, the competitiveness of the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs was not evident at all. There was precisely nothing the Suns could do to the Spurs that was very competitive otherwise Phoenix won the series 4-0. It was a total dismantling of the Suns offense running rampant and wild over the Spurs.
Overall, this was a very disappointing coverage of the NBA playoffs. NBA teams did not play very well against each other and this led to total annihilation of NBA teams over the other, like the Orlando Magic trouncing of the Atlanta Hawks, the Phoenix Suns four-game rout of the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers beating the Jazz in four straight games, and the Magic beating up the Charlotte Bobcats in four games. The only exciting games were the Bucks-Hawks series and the Thunder-Lakers series. If I were to give a rating of the NBA playoffs, I would give these games a seven out of ten.
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