Cleveland and Lebron James in a Dog Fight with Boston
May 4th, 2010 by Michael LockeWith the series tied at 1-1, Cleveland who was like a shoe in to win the NBA title this year is in a dog fight now. They say the series doesn’t start until the home team loses at home, well, it’s started. Boston beat Cleveland last night (in Cleveland). Check out the expert picks below from espn.com…
I guess you can’t argue with everyone picking Cleveland. Personally, my gut before the playoffs started was that the Cavs would win it all this year. They just looked stronger than everyone else, played tougher defense and is lead by a beast in Lebron James who’s starving for an NBA championship (similar to how Kobe Bryant was starving for his fourth ring last year). But Celtics is starting to look a little healthier than they have been the last couple months. Kevin Garnett has a little hop in his step and Rondo is playing like a superstar. After the first two games, the Celtics looks like the better team…and going back home to Boston for the next two could be very interesting. Now I’m not counting Lebron James out. He can definitely pull out a win on the road in Boston. But then again, his elbow seems to be an issue of late. We’ll just have to wait and see.
C’mon Joe Johnson, you can’t foul out!
April 29th, 2010 by Michael Locke
Just yesterday I was thinking about the upcoming free agents to hit the market this summer (of 2010). Some big names on the market, Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Lebron James, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson. Out of all the tops stars today, Joe Johnson is one that I think is highly underrated. For some reason he doesn’t get the star level media attention that the others get. And I was just about to blog about this subject in more detail, but instead I have to talk about what happened last night. Which I believe is probably why he’s not mentioned up there with Kobe, Lebron, Wade, etc. If you’re Joe Johnson, leader of the Atlanta Hawks, best player on the court, at home, series tied 2-2, game is on the line, tie ball game….You cannot foul out at that moment. No, No, No! Although I didn’t catch the entire game, but watching it on TNT, I thought this is Joe’s time to make a statement and finally begin to cement his name with some of the big players. Joe taking the game into his hands, in a tough playoff matchup against Milwaukee and winning the game would have done wonders not just for his free agency value (which I feel isn’t really affected). But would do major points for his marketing value, his value as a star player. Playing with 5 fouls, he drives to the basket out of control and someone draws the foul on him, he fouls out and the Atlanta Hawks at that point looked like a team without a go-to player down the stretch and end up losing the game and no is on the brink of elimination. For now, Joe remains where he stood before the series. He has another game to gain some marketing value back. I’m rooting for you Joe.
See recap of the game here:
http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300428001
Buffalo takes CJ Spiller with 9th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft
April 23rd, 2010 by Michael LockeI like this pick from Buffalo. Now if they would only move to Los Angeles, that would be way cool. Check out CJ Spiller Highlight reel (below), this kid has quicks like Chris Johnson.
BTW, the bills passed up on Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy with their 10th pick in the 2nd round and take Torell Troup (DT) out of University of Central Florida.
Ben Roethlisberger Gets Six Game Suspension
April 21st, 2010 by Michael Locke
Ben Roethlisberger gets a six game suspension, he deserves it. When are these athlete’s going to learn? Doesn’t he have a contract worth more than $100 million and he’s out at some club running into troubles with college girls. You would think from Michael Vick’s troubles and his stock dropping from $120 million dollar contract down to almost bankrupt, that he would learn. Nope!… in less than two years, he’s been accused of assaulting a woman, twice. Now either he’s got bad luck with women or he’s an idiot. Either way, maybe this six game suspension wakes him up and smacks some sense into him.
~ Mike
Kobe’s finger injury is taking him out of his game, may cost Lakers another championship
April 21st, 2010 by Michael Locke
I’m sitting here watching game 2 of the first round between the Lakers and OKC and I’m watching Kobe (still in his prime, only 31 years old) struggle and looking average. It’s troubling because if Kobe was able to play Kobe like, my Lakers might have a chance to repeat. But anyone can tell you Kobe’s struggling. He’s hurting. Personally, I think it’s the broken finger on his shooting hand that’s the culprit.
Since breaking the finger earlier in the year, he hasn’t been himself. He hasn’t scored over 40 points since then. And of late, he’s shooting horribly. And it’s not only the obvious missing shots, but it’s all the other small details that don’t show up in the stat sheet that Kobe normally gives you (what he gave the Lakers last year) that matters. I’m talking about the hustle plays, Kobe creating contact, Kobe going hard to the rim in crunch time, Kobe taking over a game and lockin’ players down, or going hard to draw a foul…and make his free throws. He’s even missing free-throws.
But Kobe missing shots is not the problem – well, maybe it is. But it’s really the small things that I’m seeing Kobe not do that’s troubling. He’s favoring his shooting hand throughout the game that’s causing him to settle and become average. Just saw him miss two layups in traffic, get blocked and struggle to get 14 points by half time when he would normally get 14pts with ease.
He’s struggling and to be honest, the finger isn’t going to heal itself until after the season. Because of this, I don’t see the Lakers beating tougher teams if Kobe is only going to play 50% of what he’s capable of playing.
“Kevin Durrant light in the Cakes”…, Charles, Kenny and Ernie discuss NBA Playoffs on TNT
April 20th, 2010 by Michael LockeI could watch these guys all day long. Hilarious…
