Russell Westbrook (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
A significant story in the 2013 NBA Playoffs isn’t who is playing, but who is not. Prior to the playoffs, it was well known the Los Angeles Lakers would not have Kobe Bryant, the Boston Celtics would not have Rajon Rondo and the Chicago Bulls would not have Derrick Rose.
However, the injuries continue to mount in the postseason as well. In the Western Conference quarterfinal, the Golden State Warriors lost their star center David Lee with a hip flexor for the postseason. Lee led the NBA this year with 56 double doubles. Then in game two of the Western Conference quarterfinal, Oklahoma City Thunder all-star point guard Russell Westbrook injured his knee after having surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear.
Meanwhile, the injuries in Los Angeles continues to mount for the Lakers, with not only Bryant, but Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks out as well. In game three’s loss to San Antonio, the Lakers were forced to play with their fifth and sixth ranked guards! Yikes!
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!
A team playing away from home has finally won in the third round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
Last night in San Antonio, Kevin Durant scored 27 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 108-103 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference Finals.
Even though Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 50 points, I felt the best player on the Thunder in game five was James Harden. Playing with his hockey beard, Harden scored 20 points and was a +24 on the court.
So far in the conference finals, the home team had won the first eight games. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have each won their first two home games heading into game five in south Florida tonight.
Sunday night in Boston, the Celtics beat the Heat 93-91 in overtime as point guard Rajon Rondo scored 15 points and 15 assists for a double double. As Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are all getting up in age, this is becoming more and more Rondo’s team. Still for the Heat to win the series, they will need to do a better job defending Allen who had four three pointers in game four.
This weekend is a big tuneup for Canadian Olympic medal hopeful Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, British Columbia. The reigning Diamond League Champion is set to compete in the 2012 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon (Saturday, NBC, 1pm) , a major track and field event in Armstrong’s preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Armstrong will also be competing this weekend against a very deep field–reigning Olympic Gold medallist Tomasz Majewski of Poland, and Americans Ryan Whiting (World Indoor Champion), Christian Cantwell (2009 World Champion) and Reese Hoffa (2007 World Champion). Hoffa has the seasonal best throw of 21.73m.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–ATP–French Open Tennis– Men’s Third Round–(13) Juan Monaco–ARG vs. (19) Milos Raonic–CAN–9am–TSN–For the first time in his career, Canadian Milos Raonic has advanced past the first round of the French Open. In his win Thursday, Raonic defeated American Jesse Levine 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. Levine, a native of Ottawa, has publicly stated he considers himself 100% American, making him a present day Greg Rusedski (represented Great Britain despite being born in Montreal), as a player that turned away completely from his Canadian roots. Monaco will be the slight favourite due to his experience on the clay. He has been on the ATP Tour now since 2004 and the clay is his best surface.
The Boston Celtics are off to the Eastern Conference Final.
In my weekend sports preview, I blogged that Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen needed to be much better than they were in game six for the Celtics to move on.
In Saturday night’s defensive battle, 85-75, won by Boston over Philadelphia, Rondo and Allen came to play. Rondo had a triple double, 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Allen had 11 points, but was an impressive +19 when he was on the basketball court.
It is nice to see the for and against statistic being shown more and more in basketball box scores. We have seen it in hockey for years, and the statistic is now being shown in the NBA.
With the win, Boston will now play the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals starting Monday night in south Florida. Meanwhile, the Western Conference Final starts tonight in Texas with the San Antonio Spurs entertaining the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The internet certainly is a great time-waster, isn’t it?
Whether you’re trying to get through a long day at school, a long day at work, or just a long day in general, the internet is always there to offer a helping hand, usually in the form of completely random, useless information. In our case though – it’s viral videos!
Here is a glimpse into what is happening in the world of viral sports flicks at the moment:
Let’s start off on the slopes with this stunning video from fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton (via The Nosebleeds) – he got pro snowboarder William Hughes to wear an LED suit and shred some pow late at night! (VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP!) (more…)
The Boston Celtics are the first franchise in the 2011 NBA Playoffs to advance to the second round.
Sunday afternoon from the Big Apple in New York, Kevin Garnett scored 26 points as the Celtics defeated the Knicks 101-89.
It was an outstanding team effort for Boston, as Rajon Rondo (21 points), Ray Allen (14 points), Glen Davis (14 points) and Paul Pierce (13 points) also got into double digits.
I think the loss of Chauncey Billups due to a left knee strain was extremely significant for the Knicks. It left the Knicks without stability at the crucial point guard position. Toney Douglas displayed respectability at times, but not the consistency that was required throughout a four game series that was necessary to pull off a stunning upset.
Earlier in the day, the Philadelphia 76ers stayed alive against the Miami Heat with a 86-82 win. Miami still leads the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal 3-1. The winner of the Miami-Philadelphia series will play Boston in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The tension in Vancouver right now must be astronomical. Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks will try to avoid becoming only the fourth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as they travel to Chicago to take on their arch-nemesis, the Chicago Blackhawks (Game Six, Sunday, 5:30pm, CBC). They have two chances to prevent history, but the tension should be significantly more if they have to go back to Vancouver for game seven.
If Chicago wasn’t in Vancouver’s head to begin the series, they certainly are now. That’s what happens when one team beats another by a combined score of 12-2 in 120 minutes of hockey action.
Roberto Luongo needs to simply be better as well. He had a save percentage of .786 in Game four and a save percentage of .667 in Game five. That’s what happens when you give up ten goals on forty shots. But, according to TSN, Canucks’ head coach Alain Vigneault hasn’t given up on Luongo just yet. He’s giving Luongo the Game six start.
But Luongo has not been the only Canuck off his game. The Sedin twins have been a combined -9 over the last two games.
At the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, I thought that the New York Knicks were in an excellent position to knock off the Boston Celtics.
Now, due to some serious injury concerns, the Knicks are the heavy underdog, down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Amare Stoudemire did not play the second half of game two because of back spasms, while Chauncey Billups did not play at all because of a left knee strain.
In the Knicks’ 96-93 loss to Boston on Tuesday, Carmelo Anthony performed admirably with 42 points, but without Billups and Stoudemire, New York will have a tough time getting back into the series.
On a positive note for the Knicks, I felt the rest of their core players were the major reason why the Knicks were competitive. Toney Douglas and Jared Jeffries combined for 24 points.
Prior to the start of the 2010-11 NBA Regular Season, the Miami Heat were the odds-on favourite to win the NBA Finals. Now many aren’t so sure. But I think it is fair to say it’s a slam dunk they’ll advance to the second round.
(1) Chicago Bulls vs. (8) Indiana Pacers–
Bulls Top Three– Derrick Rose 25.0 PPG, 7.7 APG; Carlos Boozer 17.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG; Luol Deng 17.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG
Pacers Top Three–Danny Granger 20.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG; Darren Collison 13.2 PPG, 5.1 APG; Roy Hibbert 12.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG.
Analysis: The 2010-11 Chicago Bulls may not be as good of a team as any Bulls squad in the 1990s during the Michael Jordan days, but they are currently an elite team in the NBA heading into the postseason. Rookie head coach Tom Thibodeau deserves a lot of credit for improving the Bulls by 21 wins and from eighth place in the East to first. The other is the addition of Carlos Boozer, who had a terrific career in Utah. If center Joakim Noah stays healthy (averaged a double double), this series will end fast. Bulls in four.
The Super Bowl of Curling takes place Sunday from London, Ontario. Luckily, for all sports fans, probably the four best teams in the country are left in the field.
The entire nation of Canada is also represented. Kevin Martin’s Alberta rink represents the West. Jeff Stoughton’s Manitoba rink represent Central Canada. Glenn Howard’s Ontario rink represents Eastern Canada, and Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland rink represents Atlantic Canada.
But have you ever seen a number one seed more of an underdog to win the Brier than Gushue is this year? Martin, Howard and Stoughton simply have stronger and consistent teams throughout their lineup.
It’s been a funny season for the Boston Celtics so far.
Their 26-7 record leads the Eastern Conference, despite the massive run the Miami Heat have been on since late November. The Celtics have their own “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to compete with the Wade/James/Bosh tandem of their conference rivals. So it’s been a good season on the court so far.
Off the court though, it’s a different story!
Lets start with Pierce – Celtics fans are upset this week after “The Truth” was hit with a $15,000 fine by the NBA for “throwing an object” into the stands in a recent win over the Pacers, the same game that saw him drink a fan’s water. According to ESPN (via Celtics Hub), the league won’t confirm what he threw, but it might have been his gum.
Pierce was subbed out after picking up his second foul with eight minutes left in the first quarter. A FoxSports feed of the game shows him taking his gum out of his mouth and giving it a flick as he passes the scorer’s table. It was nothing crazy, there was no big wind up or anything. Was that it? The NBA won’t say… (more…)
It’s Monday morning and that means that it’s a new episode of 15 Minutes of Fame.
This week, Jim and Geoff talk about the Edmonton Oilers and the loss of Ryan Whitney, their leading point-getter and their best defenseman. Then Geoff and Jim debate the successes and the failures of the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh this week.
In this week’s GABBYs on the good side: Dustin Byfuglien’s scoring prowess, Tiger Woods’ cash haul and Canada’s success at the Spengler Cup.
On the bad side: PETA’s anger with Nate Robinson, Yao Ming and the NBA all-star game and Brett Favre’s career.
In Quick Hits: Dwayne Roloson is traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, did Steve Yzerman steal him away from the New York Islanders? The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team ends its consecutive wins streak.
Check it out:
Lot’s more after the jump. Click “continue reading.” ———————> (more…)
As a child I was led to believe by my schoolyard chums that Wednesday was ‘opposite day,’ at least when it suited whatever it was we were talking about…So I ask you, what is the opposite of a vote of confidence?
Lets let LA Clippers point guard Baron Davis take this one; he’s probably used to hearing it from the fans when he’s not playing well (like right now) but he, of all people, can take it a step further as his team’s owner has taken up heckling him! (more…)
The internet certainly is a great time-waster, isn’t it?
Strange Times in Beantown
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