Happy Monday!
This week on (the award-nominated) 15MOF we watch the Edmonton Oilers slip further down the standings and try to figure out what’s wrong, we look at a couple of big streaks in the NHL & the NBA (one of which just came to an end), and we look ahead to the main event at UFC 158 between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz.
In the GABBYs: Canadian baseball, bees, Brittney Griner, Brett Cook, Cuneyt Cakir and Beitar Jerusalem. The Punchline this week is the Indoor Football League!
Happy Monday!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we look at the drama leading up to the first overall pick 2012 NHL Entry Draft and a couple of big trades that happened on draft day. As well: a look ahead to game one of the CFL season, the latest on the NFL’s bounty program, some Euro 2012 controversy and a look at some boxing news.
In the GABBYs: The Miami Heat, Evgeni Malkin, R.A. Dickey, David Nalbandian, Nicklas Bendtner & Joel Peralta. The Punchline this week is LeBron James!
(LeBron James, Wikimedia Commons)
The Miami Heat have won the 2012 NBA Finals.
On Thursday the Heat trounced the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 to win the NBA Finals 4-1.
LeBron James was selected as NBA Finals MVP, the same year he won the NBA MVP in the regular season. James recorded a triple double (26 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds). James led the Heat in all three of the major statistical categories in game five.
Another reason for Miami’s game five rout was the spectacular three point shooting from Mike Miller.
Miller, who played with a bad back throughout the playoffs, went seven for eight from beyond the arc. In all, Miller had 23 points.
Former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh had 24 points, while Dwyane Wade had 20 points. This is the first time that Bosh and James have won an NBA Championship, while this is Wade’s second.
LeBron James (Wikimedia Commons)
The Miami Heat are very close to winning their their second NBA title in franchise history.
On Tuesday night in Miami, the Heat got a double double from LeBron James (26 points, 12 assists) in a 104-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers also came up huge for Miami with 25 points each.
The real story from game four is the status of James, who was experiencing cramps late in the contest and had to sit out for some key minutes. When he was on the court however, he was dominant. James delivered a key three pointer to break a 94-94 tie with 2:50 left. The Heat would not relinquish the lead after that.
In other NBA news, the Charlotte Bobcats have hired Mike Dunlap as their head coach. He most recently worked as an assistant coach at St. John’s University and has previous NBA experience as an assistant coach in Denver.
LeBron James (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
The Miami Heart are back on top of the NBA Finals.
Sunday night in south Florida, LeBron James scored 29 points and 14 rebounds in a 91-85 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 2-1 series lead.
A major reason why the Thunder lost Sunday was that they couldn’t seem to get things together offensively in the fourth quarter where they were only limited to 18 points.
The Heat also won despite the fact that Dwyane Wade turned the ball over five times, including once to Switzerland native Thabo Sefolosha who recorded a key steal and went to the basket for an easy lay up late in the game.
Former Raptor Chris Bosh is also playing very well on his side of the court for Miami. On Sunday he had 11 rebounds to go along with his 10 points.
LeBron James (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
The Miami Heat have tied the NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder at a game apiece.
Thursday night in Oklahoma City, the Heat got off to a fantastic start by outscoring the Thunder 25-8 during the first quarter.
The Thunder had the better second half, outscoring the Heat 55-43, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Heat won 100-96 to win game two.
A major difference in game two was LeBron James’ excellent shooting from the free throw line. He seemed to struggle from the charity stripe in the Eastern Conference Final against the Boston Celtics, but was a perfect 12 for 12 on Thursday. James also scored 32 points in 42 minutes of action.
Three other Heat players that are playing at a high level are Dwyane Wade who had 24 points, Shane Battier (17 points, including five three pointers), and former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh, who had a double double (16 points, 15 rebounds).
The Miami Heat have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final by beating the Boston Celtics 101-88 on Saturday night in south Florida. The Heat won the best out of seven Eastern Conference Final 4-3 and will play the Oklahoma City Thunder.
LeBron James led the Heat attack with a double double 31 points and 12 rebounds.
James, was solid but the Heat had great performances from Shane Battier and Chris Bosh, who were a combined 7-for-13 from downtown. Dwyane Wade also added 23 points.
The Heat are headed to their second consecutive NBA Finals. They lost last year in six games to the Dallas Mavericks. This is the third time the Heat have qualified for the NBA Finals. They beat the Mavericks 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
Drew Doughty (Wikimedia Commons)
The Los Angeles Kings are one win away from capturing their very first Stanley Cup. On Saturday night the Kings will play the New Jersey Devils (CBC, 6pm) leading the Finals 3-1.
The Devils meanwhile are taking a game-by-game approach according to all-star goaltender Martin Brodeur. In game four, the Devils had a solid third period and stayed alive with a 3-1 win. For the Devils to make the Stanley Cup Finals interesting, they will need a solid performance from Ilya Kovalchuk, who only has one goal in four games so far, and that one went into an empty net.
The Kings are getting great production from Drew Doughty, who leads all blueliners with 14 playof points.
One player though nobody is talking about is New Jersey’s defenceman Bryce Salvador who has 13 points. Just how unexpected has Salvador’s point production been? Well his NHL regular season career high came in 2009 when he had 16 points in 76 games!
LeBron James (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
The Miami Heat were in a do or die situation Thursday night and their star player came through in flying colours.
LeBron James scored 45 points and 15 rebounds as the Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 98-79 to tie the Eastern Conference Final 3-3.
James played 44 of a possible 48 minutes and was a +22 while on the court. Game seven will take place Saturday in Miami with the winner playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
The Heat dominated the Celtics in the first half, outscoring them 55-42. Celtics’ forward Brandon Bass committed a foul with three tenths of a second left on Dwyane Wade that led to two Heat free throws.
In other NBA news, the Toronto Raptors announced on Thursday they will be shopping their number one pick, eighth overall for a proven scorer to compliment Andrea Bargnani. Two players the team is interested in are Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies and Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers. It is also expected they will make free agent all-star point guard Steve Nash a strong offer. Meanwhile, center Jonas Valanciunas, the Raptors’ first round pick, 5th overall, is expected to join the team next season.
Kevin Durant (J. Smith, Wikimedia Commons)
There’s no doubt in my mind that Kevin Durant is the best player in the National Basketball Association.
Saturday night in Los Angeles proved it.
Durant made a game winning three point shot with 13.7 seconds left as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 103-100 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Final. Durant’s 26-foot shot over Metta World Peace might have just been the most significant shot in his basketball career. The Thunder are now in the driver’s seat as the series shifts back to Oklahoma on Monday.
In other action, the Miami Heat tied the series at 2 with the Indiana Pacers with a 101-93 win today. Sunday, LeBron James had his best game of the playoffs as he knocked down 40 points and 18 rebounds. Another player who played at a high level was Dwyane Wade. The 2006 NBA MVP had 30 points of his own after a silent game three.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs can close out the Los Angeles Clippers tonight with a win. Yesterday Tony Parker had a double double (23 points, 10 assists) in a 96-86 San Antonio win. The Spurs completely dominated the second half in this one. The Spurs were once down 53-43 at the half, but outscored the Clippers 26-8 in the third quarter.
LeBron James (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
LeBron James of the Miami Heat has been named the Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association.
On Saturday, the announcement was made official.
James was third in scoring with 27.1 points per game, and second in overall points with 1683. My pick was Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Durant meanwhile had 1850 points, almost 200 more points than James.
My other arguments for Durant is that Oklahoma City (47-19) had a better record than Miami (46-20), play in a stronger conference and if you take Durant out of the lineup the Thunder are nothing. If you take James out of Miami’s lineup, they still have Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
In other NBA news, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 96-87 last night. Pau Gasol led the way with 23 points after playing poorly in game six. The Lakers now play the Thunder in the second round. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers play the Memphis Grizzlies this morning.
The only upset on paper in the first round was Philadelphia’s series win over Chicago. But I saw that coming as soon as Jalen Rose tore his ACL in game one.
Happy Tuesday!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we’re discussing some potential trades from around the NHL, Alex Ovechkin’s work ethic and news that former Oiler Mike Comrie is calling it a career. As well, we look at what the Edmonton Eskimos did in the opening days of CFL free agency, what LeBron James said about returning to Cleveland and the circus that surrounded the recent fight between Vitali Klitschko and Dereck Chisora.
In the GABBYs: Teemu Selanne, the Detroit Red Wings, Brad Marchand, the Rochester Knighthawks, Roburt Sallie and Brazilian soccer club XV de Jau. The Punchline this week is the “Piggyback Bandit,” Sherwin Shayegan.
Nice Guys Finish…
“Nice Guys Finish Last / If You Catch a Jeter Blast / Don’t Let The Taxman Know That, He’ll Tax Your Behind!”
What a whirlwind week it must have been for NY Yankees fan Christian Lopez!
He’s the guy who caught the home run ball that made Derek Jeter the first ever Yankee to reach 3,000 career hits last weekend, and it’s safe to say his life hasn’t been the same since. Rather than hold the ball ransom and try to sell it for hundreds of thousands of dollars (which he would have gotten), Lopez gave it right back, and his generosity was rewarded…and then some!
The team apparently gave him luxury box tickets for the rest of the season (including the postseason) and some team swag, but the story doesn’t end there. A few news organizations reported this week that Lopez could (and probably would) end up being taxed on the gifts he received from the Yankees, a bill that might total as much as $14,000! Like the good sport that he clearly is, Lopez was quoted as saying that he’d pay the taxes if he had to, and “the IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them.”
Well, it turns out that the cell phone salesman won’t have to hold it against the IRS, because someone’s got his back! (After the Jump: More on Lopez, plus a SICK hockey goal & MLS goalie scores in debut) (more…)
Happy Monday!
The guys from “15 Minutes of Fame” are back at it for another week, breaking down the top stories from across the world of sports. This week, we’re discussing the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup (and the city of Vancouver’s reaction), we make some NHL Awards & Entry Draft predictions, and the Edmonton Eskimos kick off the preseason!
In the GABBYs: The Capitals run up the score, Boston continues to win, Terry keeps his tattoo and lots more!
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