NBA Playoffs Part Deux

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!!!

Peace!

Rajon Rondo: Stu Jackson’s…Son?

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.

Peace!

Kobe vs. Artest: The Lost Trash Talk Tape

The clever people over at The Basketball Jones have uncovered a mysterious lost tape from the Houston vs. L.A. game on March 11th, 2009. The video clearly shows the level of trash talking that Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest were involved in during the game.

View discretion is advised.

Kobe and Artest: The ‘Lost’ Trash Talk from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.