Reefer Madness here, checking in with a quick look at game four of the NBA Finals which goes tonight in Orlando. The Magic are looking to even up the series that many people thought (including myself) they didn’t stand a chance in, but so far they have proven to be the better team, aside from game one, despite trailing in the series. The first game the Magic looked overwhelmed by the whole finals atmosphere and got spanked by the Lakers’ experience, they are only one Courtney Lee alley-oop layup away from winning game two and leading the series. They are a team that lives by the jumper and dies by the jumper, and after setting NBA finals shooting records in game three they only won by four points. I do not think they will be able to repeat anywhere near the same type of shooting performance, but if they realize it early and start feeding the ball down low to the beast that is Dwight Howard he could put them on his Superman-esce shoulders and get it done. The Lakers have done well in limiting Howard’s offensive contributions, but you can only hold him down for so long, with a lower shooting percentage comes more offensive rebound opportunities for D12 and he will have his best game of the finals for sure, but will it be enough? I know if GOAT were here (and we all wish he were) he would be all over his boy Dwight tonight, but he’s not, so I hate to break it to you all but it’s not going to happen for you tonight. Kobe won’t allow it.

Game three was a bust for Kobe and he knows it. He shot only 50% from the free throw line, and talked about letting his team down after the game. Kobe has come a long way since his last championships with Shaq, he has matured both on and off the court into a more complete player and person. He is still grumpy as hell though when he doesn’t win. I expect him to have a dominant performance tonight to makeup for leaving more than the margin of victory at the charity stripe last game. That doesn’t necissarily mean dropping 40+ points anymore, but it might. Kobe has shown more trust in his teammates all season long than ever before in his career and has become a leader on the court. He will look to get everyone involved early and then look to take over down the stretch, and when the Magic throw everything but the kitchen sink at him he won’t be afraid to look for guys like Fisher or Ariza to make a big shot.

Key for me tonight is the Lakers’ energy off the bench, if Lamar Odom comes ready to play and gets his fair share of rebounds to keep Howard away from the offensive glass then I think the Lakers will take the win. If the Magic are able to get Howard involved early and often on the offensive end that is their best chance at winning. I don’t see them shooting 62.5% from the floor again so I don’t see them winning this game. I am picking the Lakers tonight 102-98.

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Orlando vs. Boston

If Kevin Garnett were able bodied (don’t they have cortisone in Boston?) I wouldn’t even waste my massively valuable time writing up this synopsis but since he isn’t, here I GO!!!  After a long series with Chicago we learned a few things about the “new” Celts,  #1 Paul Pierce isn’t as good as he thinks.  Sure he made some big shots but he also effed up a lot, i.e) fouling Noah on a bonehead play that probably cost them the game if not another over time. #2 Boston can get REALLY thin, REALLY fast up front (I am really trying to get a Big Baby joke in here but I am tired) and #3 Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen are part of an elaborate rouse by Ashton Kutcher to Punk the whole world into thinking these 2 DUDS could actually make and NBA squad.  As for Orlando, I think they are way too big for the Celts but not too deep for them.  If they can get O Town in foul trouble, I think they will be able to pressure their back up players into a big enough hole that they can’t recover but that is a LOOONG stretch….Magic in 6

Atlanta vs. Cleveland

If you skipped the first match up to get to this one you may want to go back to the first sentence and read slowly.  My time is valuable and the Cavaliers time is too.  I mean how is LeBron going to celebrate being MVP at 24 years old when he has to play these damn playoff games.  Cavs = good, Hawks = not good enough. Cavs in 4

Lakers vs. Rockets

I think this is a match up I am anticipating more than most people.  One of 2 of the worlds best players (depending on who you like better) vs. one of the worlds best defenders and piss off artists.  And if you don’t know who I am talking about, its Yao Ming and Sasha Vujacic…..No seriously, earlier in the year Kobe vs. Artest was AWESOME and gave me my favourite clip of the year which I posted on the site here.  I think people are MAJORLY looking past the Big Man and his band of merry men and just thinking LeBron/Kobe finals.  Houston is here for a reason, they have a deep team filled with role players that just come to play basketball.  Sure they don’t have T-Mac but T-Mac doesn’t have knees or a back so he would only slow them down.  What I think this series will come down to is how well Ming can play Gasol and how bad Artest can piss off Kobe.  If Ming gets in foul trouble consistently, Houston loses.  If Artest can piss Kobe off enough to make him shoot 50 times and forget his teammates, I think LA loses.  But…LA in 6

Denver vs. Dallas

I have previously stated my disdain for the Mavericks and their style of play and nothing afforded me more happiness then seeing them get beat on Sunday while I was nursing a WICKED hangover (THANK YOU PACQUIAO).  I think Denver is WAY too deep, too dirty and too well rounded to even get sucked into the Diggler’s one man band act.  Billups is better than Kidd (at this point in their career), anyone is better than JJ Barea, JR Smith is Jason Terry with attitude, Melo and Dirk are  fairly even, Martin is a real thug as opposed to Josh Howard and Nene is a REAL beast as opposed to Ericka Dampier (shout out to the Big Shaqtus).  I can see the Mavs lulling the Nuggets to sleep for a game or two so I will say….Denver in 6

Let me know what you guys think in the comments section….PROVE ME WRONG CELTICS!!!

Peace!

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As I mentioned/showed before, Rondo Bruce Lee’d Brad Miller on a pivotal play in OT on Tuesday and wasn’t penalized by Stu Jackson like D12 was for his mishap.  Then last night during the best basketball game I have watched  EVER, Rondo and Kirk “the Hobbit” Hinrich got in a wee skirmish in the first quarter.  During a rebounding scenario, Hinrich and Rondo were out near the 3 point line when they got “tangled” up, so Rondo deciding he didn’t like the manwich he was making with Kirk decided to toss him into the scorers table.  Rajon was assessed a flagrant foul and it was said the league was going to look at the play again.  Last night, Stu Jackson reviewed the tape and proclaimed there would not be any additional penalties assessed to either Hinrich or Rondo.

I know the foul on Miller was tic-tac and this foul wasn’t necessarily ALL Rajon’s fault.  But I can only imagine the penalty a guy like Artest or even ‘Sheed would receive if they pulled this move off, especially, two days after they went after a dudes head!  I am posting the video below so you guys can let me know what you think.  Does Stu have a man crush on Rajon or is he just the victim of wrong place wrong time all the time???

P.S  I like how Hinrich responds after he bounces off the scorers table.  I didn’t expect him to be so GANGSTA, he gets some street cred from me for that move and subsequently I lose TONS of street cred for admitting that in a public forum.

Peace!

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In final seconds of OT in the Celtics/Bulls game, Brad Miller had a WIDE open lay up to tie the game and essentially bring the game into double OT.  On his way to the basket, Miller was met by 3 Celtics, Rondo, Pierce and Perkins.   Both Perkins and Rondo fouled Miller but Perkins was legitimately going for the ball, while Rondo was WAY behind Miller and went for his head..  All Rondo could really do to prevent the lay up at that point was slap Miller in the face and that is exactly what he did. 

Now this where I have a problem with the Howard suspension.  Should D12 have been suspended?  Most definitely!  Everyone knows Dwight is one of the biggest dudes on Earth and a cheap shot to the head by him or anyone else should not be tolerated. With that being said, why wasn’t Rondo assessed a game suspension as well?  As far as I know, the NBA states that any blow to the head its considered a flagrant and then the league reviews the play and decides if any further action should be taken.  I have heard that the league reviewed both plays but I would really like to know the difference?  Is it because Rondo is a smaller person or because it looked “less lethal”?  I watched both things happen and it really looked like Miller was worse for the wear compared to Dalembert? 

So what do you think?  Below is a video of both incidents, so let me know if you think either, neither or both deserved the punishment they got.  Try and watch this ASAP as the NBA loves to take their videos down randomly.

Peace!

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Some of you may ask, “How did you post about the playoffs and the Jays, if you computer was ‘broken’ “.  And then I’d be all “I know you are but what am I”.  (Sorry, I haven’t been on here in a while and I am excited OK)  This is something I actually had lined up before my comp went down but never really got to it.  We have ghostwriter, who has actually been with us from damn near the start.  Sin City (I just made that nickname up) he has posted about 6 stories on here and we are slowly going through the old stories and marking them. That way you all don’t get confused and think I learned how to write actual, entertaining story with structure as opposed to, well, THIS I guess…

Upcoming stories that you can look forward to being disappointed in: Anderson “The Sleep inducing Spider” Silva: What happened and what’s next?, GoatDiesel and Bryan Colangelo Sitting in A Bar…D-R-I-N-K-I-N-G, NHL Mock Draft, NBA Mock Draft, Playoff predictions and much much more….

LET’S GO RANGERS…GAME 7 IN WASHINGTON…ITS ALL YOU!!!

Peace!

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Like I “tweeted” earlier (man, thats the WORST word) the reason the website has been down is my tech wizard and personal Shaman DAG is in the jungle with no internets.  Thus leaving the GoatDiesel with formatting problems out the cornhole (man, thats the BEST word).  I am trying all I can with the pea brain I own but I still can’t figure this Houdini writing thing out.  I am hoping by the weekend I can kidnap and coax a web dude to help me out.

So PLEASE don’t give up on me, for once I am actually not being lazy and drinking my nights away.  Well I am not being lazy anyway…

Peace!

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Peace!

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I have been hearing for years how Iverson is a bad seed and all about himself but I just thought it was because he was on crappy Philly teams and had no one there to really help him and he was sick of carrying a team on his shoulders.  Then he went to the stacked Nuggets a few years ago and I thought “this is where AI will thrive with some weight off his shoulders” and it didn’t happen there then either.  Then he got traded to Detroit which had me shaking my head for weeks and my friend Darkman said it best “That trade was the biggest steal for the Nuggets and the worst for the Pistons, you’ll see”.  Lo and behold, he was right.  The Nuggets got the sturdy team oriented unselfish PG they have needed to get over that hump in the Western conference and the Pistons got…6th to 8th seed in the East? 

Detroit was always a team that got by with their unreal belief in themselves and their team unity.  Obviously either the loss of Chauncey really hurt their pysche in Motown or AI is really that bad a teammate or both.  I still to this day don’t know why Joe pulled the trigger on that trade because even if it was to save cap for next year, why did he do it so early?  That may be something we never know but this is something I do know for sure, he regrets it.  The Pistons have looked flat since the trade and I haven’t seen them mount one of their 4th quarter “lets try now” comebacks in a long while, well actually, since Mr. Clutch left town and it must suck for Piston fans.

With AI out for the season we will now get to see if he was the problem or if the Pistons magic has just ran out with their aging stars finally peaking. One thing we know for sure Iverson won’t have to worry about practice anymore!

Peace!

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Since I have been M.I.A the last few weeks, let me give you some quick thoughts on what I have seen throughout the tournament.  First things first, Blake Griffin is a BEAST that should be a good pro and will most likely be effective, even next year.  He has an NBA body, unreal athleticism and from what I learned from watching the tourney and that hip toss is this guy is composed. Secondly and in contrast, I am not sure Tyler Hansbrough will be as effective as a singular player but in the right team setting he can provide tough D.  In the first half against OU last game when ”Psycho T” was guarding Griffin he was held scoreless.  The 9 minutes Hansbrough was off the court Griffin put back a quick 11 points.  I just think Tyler is too small to be a PF in the league and not quick enough to be a SF but as strange as this sounds, sometimes I am wrong.  Thirdly and lastly, March Madness is the BEST and college basketball is so much different then NBA ball its refreshing.  No players getting iffy calls because their jerseys sell well, no players taking 6 steps before a shot and my favourite, WAY BETTER TEAM DEFENCE.  People think college ball games are weak because they only score about 60-80 points in a normal game but it’s not that they can’t score, its because the team D is so respected by the players and they just seem to really all defend a lot better than the NBA players.  I guess if I was getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball, I wouldn’t really be too concerned about D as much as kid playing for millions while in college. But then again, I am not particularly well known for my defence in my Men’s League either and trust me, I’m not getting paid to play in that so…Maybe I am just way off.

Well if you are interested in checking out your standing in the Madness Pool click here and as for a playoff pool for Hockey or Basketball, I am into that.  I will be letting you guys know in what format you will be losing to me soon enough…Watch the site for updates.

Peace!

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Yup, you read correctly… 6 TIMES in one play. Someone needs to nail down Corey Maggette’s shoes, that man has faster feet then Muhammad Ali!  If you think this is a one time thing, check out the video after the jump (pretty old and sketchy) but clearly shows Dan Majerle  takes about 8 steps in a PLAYOFF game back in the day!

This is a good one for the GoatDiesel comments:

Do you think the NBA needs to crack down a bit on it’s loose footed players?

Thanks to @ajv for the tip on this ridiculous video.

Peace!

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