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Can Dirk Nowitzki lead the Mavs to a NBA title?
By Brandon Pemberton
www.brandononsports.WordPress.com
Well the NBA Finals start on Tuesday night and Lebron James and the Miami Heat will face off against Dirk Nowitski’s Dallas Mavericks for the NBA title. I will breakdown the series from my point of view and give you who I think will win it all. I know everyone likes the Heat and believes Dallas will be pushovers, but don’t count them out that easy.
Coaching
A day after the Phillies optioned Vance Worley to AAA Lehigh Valley, they have called up left handed relief pitcher Mike Zagurski. One of two things will happen now that the roster moves have completed.
One is the rotation will skip the 5th starter spot. The Phillies have an off day coming up and don’t necessarily need a 5th until June 8th. The other option is to temporarily insert Kyle Kendrick into the rotation.
Kendrick has succeeded this year taking over for Chad Durbin without missing a beat. Personally, I’d rather just skip the start and keep Kendrick available in relief. I don’t think Kendrick would be successful past three or four innings, so why mess with his confidence.
Tags: kyle kendrick, Mike Zagurski, Roster moves, Vance Worley
Two quick thoughts today, so I’ll label it as a double header. With the Phillies win today, the Phillies have won 34 of 54 games (.630). Why is that significant? Because 54 games is officially one third of the season. I can’t believe we are this far into the season already. It seems like they just broke spring training. I would think that the most amazing part of all it is how much the offense struggled so far and the number of injuries that they have the record that they do.
Underated
The second thought is the significance of Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz. Ruiz has to be the most underrated catcher in baseball. We all love Chooch here in Philly, but nationally, he is a “nobody”. Statistically speaking, Ruiz is currently the top rated National League catcher, and third ranked catcher in all of Major League Baseball, according to current Elias Rankings.
Tags: Carlos Ruiz, Random thoughts
It all comes down to this
After a long grueling season for both the Heat and the Mavericks, they find themselves as the two final teams left in the quest to win the NBA title. Most had written the Mavericks off after they finished as the three seed in the Western Conference. In fact many analysts picked the Mavericks to be upset in the first round by the Trailblazers, well not only did they get through Portland, but they swept the defending champion Lakers, and smoldered the Thunder in just five games.
The Heat have found themselves with an easier road to the finals. They have won each of their three series in five games. While they have been tested in quite a few of those games, they have yet to actually be tested in a series. We haven’t had the chance to see how they handle a critical situation, such as a Game 4 while being down 2-1. The Heat have picked up their play at the right time, which is a key aspect in the playoffs.
The Mavericks present a different kind of test for Miami. Dallas has been burring the jumpers from any area of the floor. The only team in the playoffs that could match the Mavericks in the veteran department was Boston, however Dallas’s vets have been playing at a much higher level and more importantly they are getting some key minutes from their bench, let’s take a look at some of the keys to this series for both teams.
(All stats gathered from NBA.com/statscube)
Tags: 2011 NBA finals, Chris Bosh, Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade, Heat, Heat-Mavericks, Heat-Mavs, LeBron James, Miami Heat, NBA, NBA finals, NBA playoffs 2011
Derrick Williams might be the Cavs choice with the #1 pick
Derrick Williams PF/SF
20 years old Sophomore
6′ 8″ 248lbs.
Arizona
Derrick Rose's horrible play in the 4th quarter cost the Bulls in their series versus the Heat.
By Brandon Pemberton
www.brandononsports.WordPress.com
The Chicago Bulls were the number one seed coming into the NBA Playoffs and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, carried by the play of the league’s MVP Derrick Rose. But in this series the Chicago has blown leads going into the 4th quarter in games four and five due to turnovers and too many empty possessions down the stretch of games. There is enough blame to go around and I will share my thoughts on who and why deserves it.
Derrick Rose: His play in this series just wasn’t good enough. Yes he didn’t have enough help and the Heat keyed in on him, forcing him into taking bad shots late in the shot clock, Rose made bad decisions with the ball and turned it over too much. His averages for the series were: 23.4 ppg, 6.6 apg, 4.0 rpg and 3.8 turnovers while shooting 35% from the field and 23% from three. Bottom line is this, he is the best player on the team and the Bulls has too many possessions in the 4th quarter where he turned the ball over, took a bad shot, or didn’t get a shot for a teammate.
Washington Bound?
Expect to see a lot of Michael Martinez and John Mayberry in the next week. With Shane Victorino eligible to come off the disabled list next Friday, they are the two obvious choices to be moved. Michael Martinez was a Rule V Draft pick last winter and must be offered back to the Washington Nationals. John Mayberry could easily be optioned back to the minors also. Both offer versatility in the field, but Mayberry has more of a power potential.
Longterm at 27? Doubt it.
Personally, I’d prefer to keep Mayberry as Martinez doesn’t really seem to be catching on. Mayberry definitely has a chance to be a starting corner outfielder in 2012. While Martinez has more range than Mayberry, Mayberry has age on his side. Martinez will be 30 next April and Mayberry will be 28 in December.
2012? 2013?
Tags: Domonic Brown, john mayberry jr., Jonathan Singleton, Michael Martinez
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
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