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.
So the Bulls and the Celtics series has FINALLY ended with the good guys coming out on top!!! With Boston winning and the Hawks pulling out the “W” over Miami, the door has opened to the glorious second round of the playoffs. As I love to do, I am going to force feed you all my theories on how these series will play out and then when I am horribly wrong, I will blame it all on you!!!
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!!!
OK, I have NO evidence to back that up but Jackson must REALLY like Rondo. For those that don’t know, Jackson is the NBA’s fun police. Anything goes wrong, Jackson slaps your ass with the proper suspension, for example, Dwight Howard’s “people’s elbow” on Sammy Dalembert which Jackson thought warranted a 1 game suspension. (So did I, for the record).
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.
Written on April 29th, 2009 by goatdieselone shout
First things first, whoever taped that fake Rangers game last night and somehow transferred it to my PVR, GOOD ONE!!! I thought for a minute there, the Rangers actually lost to Caps last night Ha Ha Ha….Ok, so maybe it wasn’t a big joke but that slimy goal Semin scored sure was a big joke. Ovechkin may be the best player in the game but god damn can he please start wearing a full visor and tint that mothereffer blacker than tar. Because if I have to stare at that putrefying mug while he celebrates for at least another 4 games, I either have to stop eating 6 hours before a game or just listen to games on the radio instead.
Sin City had his choices for the first round and did pretty damn good, going 5/8 and he was 1 goal from being right in the Rangers series (think I’m bitter???). Well since my computer was pooched I never got to call my picks for the first round (I was 7/8 by the way…that was a blatant lie) now I will give you my 2nd round choices and I encourage Sin City and even our baseball guru The Sheik to get in on the fun, HECK, all of you should chime in too!!!
ROUND 2, LET’S GET IT ON!!!
Vancouver vs. Chicago- Let me tell you first off, this series is my favourite and my least favourite at the same time. Favourite because I love both the teams and least because I want them both to be in the Western finals, which is obviously impossible. Both Chicago and Vancouver looked fairly sexy in their respective first round series with goaltending as opposed to goal scoring being the difference in both series. But in this series, I like the ‘Nucks. Better goalie, more experience and the only Canadian team left. Vancouver in 7.
Anaheim vs. Detroit - What can you say about Anaheim? No one in their right mind thought they would actually help fulfill San Jose’s destiny as playoff choke artist but they did! What does that mean in their next series against the boys from Motown? The same thing War means to Edwin Starr, “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, HUH!!!”. Detroit in 5
Pittsburgh vs. Washington – Let me tell you right now, if the NHL was a 13 year old boy, the series would be Miley Cyrus in a shower. Gary Bettman must be harder than a slab of marble tile right now just thinking of having Sid the kid vs. Ugly Alex for a possible 7 games. As for me, I will get a bucket ready for all the close ups of Ovey and a pillow ready for all the interviews with Sidney Crosby. Either way, this series will be great for the young NHL superstars and for creating some excitement for hockey in the States in a time that it desperately needs it. Pens in 7
Boston vs. Carolina – Two teams with two very different first rounds will be meeting in this match up. Boston will have been off for over a week before their first game on Friday, while Carolina will only have 2 days off. So I guess this story comes down too, who do you think has the bigger advantage? The team who came back from a 3-2 series deficit to beat the favoured team at their own rink? Or the team who swept a team that squeaked in the playoffs? For me, when it comes to the playoffs and hockey, I gotta believe the more rest the better.
Written on April 14th, 2009 by goatdieselno shouts
I am literally writing this in the dark, well thats a lie, I just can’t see what I am writing. I know the site has been “dormant” for about a week and the thing that sucks is I have A BUNCH to write about!!! I MET WITH BRYAN COLANGELO and had a pretty good convo with him, which I really want to share with you all. Speaking of Bryan, I also want to let you guys know what I think of the Raps season, what went wrong and what they HAVE to do this off season to improve. Then there is the NHL and NBA playoffs about to start. I know I will miss the first few gamesof the NHL but I will be back with the match ups and the keys to each team getting out of the first round.
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…
