The ultimate NBA rivalry has come down to a Game 7, of course. Did anybody really expect anything different? It's the NBA playoffs, therefore, it has to last as long as possible. Seriously, this is ridiculous. The first playoff games were played in mid-April, and we are STILL not done in mid-June. That is 2 whole months! Why?
For one thing, every series is best-of-7, and that itself is bad enough. I would love to see 3-5-7-7 format, or at the very least make the first round 5 games again. But then, teams will get multiple days off between games, maybe even a week between series. And Mark Cuban tries to complain that the NFL is arrogant because they schedule the Draft to primetime, bumping a playoff game. Why not? There's gonna be another hundred playoff games before we're done. Every other sport (with the exception of college football, but that is a whole different level of stupidity and discussion for another time) ends its playoffs in a month. Even the World Cup will only last one month. It's just plain ridiculous.
But enough of that rant. We're down to one game left. Boston at Los Angeles. Every analyst you listen to has been talking about how great this series is for basketball because all the history and bad blood between these teams will stall free agency talk. First of all, no it will not. This is one of, if not THE, most exciting free agent classes in the history of sports. LeBron, D-Wade, Bosh, Johnson, Nowitzki, Stoudemire, and a number of others good players. There is no avoiding this talk. If that bothers you, get over it, because it's not going anywhere until the dust has settled and everyone has a contract.
Secondly, I disagree completely that this series is good for basketball. It's the defending champion versus last year's defending champion. I did not want to see this. I want some new teams in the finals. This is a game for the East Coast-West Coast media bias. And, it's not going to do much for the league trying to guard itself against conspiracy theorists. But, alas, these are two teams we've got.
Personally, I've been rooting for Boston. Not because I'm a fan, but because it's Kobe. You either love him or hate him, and right now, I dislike him. I also can't stand half of LA's players or their coach. I just see nothing but arrogance surrounding that team. Also, I like Doc Rivers and Rajon Rondo, and I have no dispute with the Big 3. No one thought they would get this far, but they did, and for the most part, with good health.
Can they steal Game 7 and take the championship on the Lakers' own floor? Yes, they can. They took Game 2 with Ray Allen's record performance behind the arch. Will they? As much as I want them to, it does not look good. Some people argue "well, they went to LA with 2 games needing to win 1, and most of the teams who have been in that position in the Finals have won." True, but if you want to argue stats, then we're forgetting two very important ones that were discussed earlier this series. Phil Jackson's teams have never lost a series after winning Game 1 (which the Lakers did) and when tied 1-1, the team that wins Game 3 has always won the series (which the Lakers also did).
The Celtics seemed to have a duality crisis. Half the time they're the 2008 champions; the other half they're the aging team we saw in the regular season. If they want to win Game 7, they have to play like '08 again. Problem here is in 2008 the Big 3 (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen) was what carried the team to victory. This year the Big 3 have needed help from Rajon Rondo and the supporting cast of bench players, so don't expect all 3 players to show up again out of the blue and take over the game. So what will it take for them to win?
One of two things needs to happen (or both may need to happen at this point). The first thing is one of the Big 3 needs to step up and put the team on his back one last time. I say the Big 3 because as good as Rondo can be, he can't carry the team. His best games usually involve around 20 points and a ton of assists, and while that is helpful, those assists usually are going to one player who is completely on fire. Rondo himself cannot carry. Is KG that player? Well he hasn't been playing terribly in this series, but he also has not emerged as the young, beastly KG we all remember once, so I would not expect it from him. Pierce could, similarly to how he did in Game 5, but that was a home game. Pierce has been terrible on the road most of the season, although he did have 24 in the Game 1 loss. But that's just it, Pierce's best is not always enough. So while he has the greatest chance to be that player, he may not be enough unless he can completely match Kobe.
The best bet, in my opinion, is for the Celtics to replay Game 2; in other words, Rajon feeding the ball to a red-hot Ray Allen. Allen has been either on fire or ice-cold in this series. If he gets hot, as he can, it will completely draw attention to him, and open the floor for other players. The other thing that needs to happen is from the Game 4 victory/Game 6 loss. The Celtics bench played amazing in the Game 4 win, but were outscored by the LA bench in Game 6. Can the young players motivate themselves without the home crowd at their backs?
Like I said, I want the Celtics to win, but the odds are against them. My prediction: Lakers 107-91. Kobe gets his 5th ring, Phil gets his 11th as a coach (13th total if you count his two as a player). Ugh...that hurts to say.
World Cup Picks
First of all, as I'm typing this, Uruguay has a 2-0 goal lead over South Africa, making one of my picks for that group look really great. Anyway:
Picks for Group D: Australia (No. 20), Germany (No. 6), Ghana (No. 32), Serbia (No. 15)
Germany is a no-brainer here, even before their 4-0 destruction of Australia. The goal differential from the game alone will force out Australia even if they tie. Serbia does not have enough firepower to move on. Ghana features a great mix of veterans from the last World Cup and young players who lead the country to a 20-and-under World Cup championship. Germany and Ghana moving on.
Picks for Group E: Cameroon (No. 19), Denmark (No. 36), Japan (No. 45), Netherlands (No. 4)Netherlands is another surefire pick to come out of their group. Supposedly, Denmark and Cameroon were the teams fighting for second place, but Japan stole a 1-0 game from Cameroon, so at the moment it's all up in the air. But Japan's next game is Netherlands, so they may not get another point until they play Denmark, which again would be an upset. Cameroon still has to go through Netherlands, but they could force a draw there. Had Denmark only lost by one goal, I would have picked them since they went through the Dutch first, but Cameroon can force a draw and recover from the first game loss. Netherlands and Cameroon advancing.
Picks for Group F: Italy (No. 5), New Zealand (No. 78), Paraguay (No. 31), Slovakia (No. 34)
Both games in this Group so far have ended in a 1-1 draw, which, in the words of Charles Barkley, is "turrible". The defending champs of Italia have to make it out of this group, despite their aging and injured roster. After that it gets a little tougher. Slovakia's goal on New Zealand appears to have been an uncalled offsides, but they also displayed defensive dominance. That is, until stoppage time, when New Zealand scored the clutch goal to force the draw...which is good, I guess. Italy and Paraguay, who forced a draw with the defending champs, will move on.
Picks for Group G: Brazil (No.1), Ivory Coast (No. 27), North Korea (No. 105), Portugal (No. 3)
Ah yes, Group G. Also known as the "Group of Death", featuring 2 of the Top 3 teams, an extremely underrated Ivory Coast, and...North Korea, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. Brazil has the only win so far but it was a sloppy, half-hearted 2-1 effort against North Korea. If Portugal or Ivory Coast can defeat Brazil, and the other can draw, Brazil could be knocked out early. It's tough to imagine, unless you're soccer expert Tommy Smyth, and I like the way he thinks, while I do not like the way Brazil has been playing. In a shock, Portugal and Ivory Coast make it through.
Picks for Group H: Chile (No. 18), Honduras (No. 38), Spain (No. 2), Switzerland (No. 24)
As the only top 10 team in this group, Spain has to...wait what? Switzerland beat Spain. Oh...well good thing I'm making these picks now. Yes, Switzerland beat Spain 1-0 earlier today, and no team who lost their first World Cup game has ever won the whole thing. Chile defeated Honduras earlier 1-0. Can Spain recover? At this point they have to, and I have to believe they will beat Honduras next. Chile, who already has the win, will play the Swiss next and beat them to automatically qualify, leaving them indifferent to their game against Spain. Spain and Chile advance.
Extras: This is gonna be a part of my blogs where I kind of cover other events going on in the sports world that have caught my attention, for good or bad reasons.
First off, I've been thinking about putting the Big 12 ordeal into a blog, but the landscape keeps changing by the hour, so it's kind of hard to put anything definite down on paper...or typing. I will say that I am happy Texas decided to keep the Big 12 together.
Second of all, the U.S. Open begins this week at Pebble Beach, and Tiger Woods appears to have...no chance. Phil looks to win to increase his chances at jumping Tiger in the world rankings, and I'd love to see him do it.
Lastly, Albert Haynesworth, who signed a $100 million deal the previous offseason with the Washington Redskins, and then had a mediocre year with 37 tackles and 4 sacks, wants a trade. His reason? Because they're switching to a 3-4 scheme, and that's going to lower his numbers. Boo, freaking, hoo. You don't like the scheme the team picked? So what? Where the hell is some advisor for this guy? Is he trying to piss off everyone, including the fans? If I were the Redskins...well I wouldn't have signed him for that much in the first place, but now that you got him, you have to get rid of him. Trade or release. He's a leech that will ruin your whole team.
Anyway, that's all for this now. Hopefully the NBA Finals will come to end Thursday night, though it wouldn't shock me if the NBA decided to add a couple more games to the series.
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