All On L.A.
I just saw that the line for the Lakers-Suns game tomorrow is Lakers minus 2. I’m tempted to bet my whole 401K on the Lakers. They’ll win by 10 or more. The Suns have no size at all to stop them.
Posts Tagged ‘NBA’
The Best of Times
April 3rd, 2010 by Christian | 4 Comments | Filed in General
At Last!
With the opening of the baseball season tomorrow, the Final Four tonight, and the upcoming NBA & NHL playoffs, I think this is THE BEST time of year for sports.
For years, I thought fall was the best sports season of all, because of the start of the NFL season, the MLB playoffs & World Series, and the start of the NBA and NHL seasons.
But with the recent success of the Phillies, and my growing favoritism of baseball, spring has become king. And to wax poetic: the sun is warm and shining, the grass is green, the birds are chirping, and hope springs eternal once again.
What do you think? Which is the top sports season, Spring or Fall?
Tags: MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Opening Day
Johnny G’s 2010 NBA Power Rankings
February 24th, 2010 by Johnny G | 20 Comments | Filed in Basketball, General
2010 NBA Power Rankings
1. Los Angeles Lakers- With an overall record of 43-14, the Lakers are clearly the class of the NBA right now. With the injuries to Kobe Bryant, the boys in LA have also proven they can survive without their star for a period of time if necessary. The overall length of this roster provides a lot of problems for their opponents to address. Gasol, Bynum, and Odom down low are very difficult to handle on the boards and create mismatches all over the floor.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers- The Cavs made the biggest splash at the deadline, acquiring Antawn Jamison to take some of the pressure off of Lebron. James has proven he can do it all himself in the past but with Shaq and Jamison on board now, his task should be a lot easier. After the trade Big Z is expected to return to the Cavs through one of the ridiculous loopholes in the NBA bargaining agreement. This team is the favorite to come out of the East at this point.
3. Denver Nuggets- Sitting at 37-19, the Nuggets did not do much at the deadline, but did they really need to? Chauncey Billups playing at a career level, Carmelo Anthony taking over games by himself, K-Mart at the 4, and Nene in the middle, this roster is very dangerous. J.R. Smith coming off the bench is a pure scorer who can put the ball in the basket in bunches and the bird man is a defensive force. Watch out for this team in a crowded Western Conference. Thoughts and prayers go out to George Karl, who is in another bout with cancer.
4. Utah Jazz- On January 9th, this team was on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, sitting in the 10th seed. Since then all they have done is run off 17 wins in 19 games, pushing their record to 36-19. Jerry Sloan, the NBA’s longest tenured coach and recently inducted Hall of Famer is doing wonders with this group led by Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. This team will go as far as Williams can take them.
5. Orlando Magic- When this team is playing to their capabilities, the Magic have as deep of a starting 5 as you’re going to see. Jameer Nelson has recovered phenomenally since his shoulder injury of last year and Vince Carter is suddenly rejuvenated after having a counseling session with former coach Lawrence Frank. Matt Barnes has been a welcomed edition to the starting lineup and Dwight Howard is putting up double doubles on a nightly basis. They are likely to at least hook up with the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals.
Tags: 2010, Johnny G, NBA, Power Rankings
Sixers Win 5 in a Row
February 10th, 2010 by Johnny G | 10 Comments | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers
Go Ahead, I dare ya to try and take it!
That’s right you heard it here first. The 76ers have won five games in a row. Don’t look now but the once cellar-dwelling Sixers are now 20-31, leaving them just 4.5 games out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the East. Before this recent hot streak the Sixers were well on their way to a lottery selection in the upcoming draft at 15-31, with only the New Jersey Nets behind them in the standings.
If you look further into the winning streak the Sixers have beaten the lowly Nets with a record of 4-47, then traveled to New Orleans and beat the Hornets without superstar point guard Chris Paul. Next was their most impressive victory of the streak when they came back from an 11 point second half deficit to beat the surging Houston Rockets. Finally, just last night they trounced the horrendous Minnesota Timberwolves by 22.
The talent level of the teams they have beaten in this recent run is not the best, but for a team of the Sixers caliber, a five game win streak is impressive nonetheless. This recent win streak also causes an issue for many Sixers fan that did not exist just a week ago. Do you continue rooting for the Sixers to lose in pursuit of a lottery pick and the draft rights to Kentucky star point guard John Wall? Or do you root for the Sixers to win and capture that final playoff spot, even though they will certainly be eliminated in the first round after facing Cleveland or Orlando?
The obvious answer is to root for the lottery selection but it is not always that easy. Naturally you want to root for your team to win and for the opportunity to see them succeed, or at least for the Sixers sake, participate in the playoffs.
The constant throughout this win streak is the absence of former star and Philadelphia icon, Allen Iverson. Iverson missed all but the first game of the win streak and the overall energy on the team has been on the rise during his absence. One would think due to the success of the team without him that when Iverson returns to the team it will be in a bench role. How that will go over in the locker room remains to be seen.” The Answer” has averaged 14.4 points since his return to the city of brotherly love but the team has largely struggled since he was acquired.
Tags: Basketball, Johnny G, NBA, playoffs, Sixers, talksportsPhilly
The Answer is Back in Town
December 2nd, 2009 by Johnny G | 13 Comments | Filed in Basketball, General, SixersThat’s right, on Wednesday morning the 76ers reached a deal with former MVP and Philadelphia icon, Allen Iverson. Hopefully Iverson can add some type of spark to an extremely stagnant and boring basketball team. With the injury to Lou Williams sidelining him for almost 8 weeks, the Sixers had an opening at guard but as much as they say this was a pure basketball decision, having Iverson on this team will certainly boost ticket sales for a franchise that is now 2nd to last in ticket sales in the NBA.
Can Iverson return to the play of his glory days? Most likely not but whatever he gets accomplished on the court will in all likelihood be a major improvement over Willie Green and Royal Ivey. If Iverson can distribute the basketball to teammates, this team may be able to sneak into the playoffs with a lineup of Holiday, Iverson, Iguodala, Brand, and Dalembert. Regardless of his performance though, this signing will make the Sixers somewhat relevant again. This is the first time since the Elton Brand signing where anybody in the City of Philadelphia cared one bit about the 76ers and that can only be a positive.
Iverson is expected to make his debut Monday night against another one of his former teams, the Denver Nuggets. It will bring back some fond memories when he is announced on Monday night and I’m sure we can expect a long standing ovation for the former MVP. I will be there on Monday night and quite frankly, I have not been this excited about a Sixers game since #3 left for Denver. I’m sure many other 76ers fans feel the same way.
What are your thoughts on the signing?
Tags: 76ers, Allen Iverson, basketball team, city of philadelphia, denver nuggets, fond memories, iverson iguodala, NBA, royal ivey, Sixers, standing ovation
$10 for Comedic Relief: A Night with the Sixers
November 10th, 2009 by B.J | 9 Comments | Filed in Basketball, General, SixersAfter suffering from a serious case of Phillies Withdraw, I have come to realize that I must take up a new hobby to pass the time from now until the start of Spring Training. Between Notre Dame fighting for another trip to the Gator Bowl, the Eagles and their poor clock management, and my beloved St. Joseph’s Hawks basketball team projected to finish 9th in the Atlantic 10 ( with 14 teams in the conference, it could be worse), I have come to the conclusion that something must be done to cure my sports addiction. And no, I’m not a hockey guy. So the natural answer would be the National Basketball Association’s dying local product, your 2009-10 Philadelphia 76ers.
My brother and I decided to go down to the “gut-wrenching” contest on November 6th. Immediately, I knew that the night was going to be a struggle. When asked where we were parking, my brother responded by saying, “Broad and Bigler”. Initially, I was puzzled, because I sure as hell knew it wouldn’t be a mass exodus from the Sports Complex after this one. His reasoning for parking about a mile away from the Wach? He didn’t want to spend more on parking than what he was about to shove out for a ticket. Reasonable excuse, my friend.
We arrived at to the Box Office around 6:45 P.M. Shortly after, we were told that our tickets would not be able to print due to a problem with the Internet Service. I realized that General Manager Ed Stefanski must have traded his internet server for a conditional second round pick in 2023. I found this hard to believe, considering the server was more productive than Samuel Dalembert. Oh, don’t worry readers, I’ll get back to your main man Sammy D shortly.
After the fiasco with the printers at the box office, we walked into the Wachovia Center at 7:05, which was much to my excitement, considering I wouldn’t have to listen to Public Address announcer Matt Cord announce “Number 9…from the University of Arizona…AN-DRE…I-GU….DALA-DALA-DALA” I would like to take this time now to officially thank the people at the Box Office for managing to screw up the ticket situation and keeping me at the right place at the right time.
Now to the problems with the team/game/product. First off, I truly believe that this organization feels obligated to giving playing time to Samuel Dalembert. Yeah, I know, he’s the most overpaid player in the league. And I know that, at times, human beings are capable of being tricked and/or deceived. But it’s one of those ‘fool me once, shame on you’ type of deals. Sammy stole money from this organization, but we are capable of learning from our mistakes. While Sammy is still grabbing balls of the rim and swatting balls away that have already grazed the rim (with all that money, he could have invested in a few Goaltending for Dummies books), there is a young man by the name of Jason Smith fighting to work his way on to the court. I truly believe that this Smith kid is a bright spot for the future. He’s an athletic big man (who understands goaltending, none the less) who has somewhat of an outside shot and has an eye for the open man.
Tags: Basketball, clock management, comedic relief, ed stefanski, hockey guy, mass exodus, national basketball association, NBA, philadelphia 76ers, public address announcer, samuel dalembert, Sixers, wachovia center
The Very Best in City Living!
