Utah Jazz

I'm a Kobe fan. Huge Kobe fan. He's practically my generation's MJ. Nothing against MJ, I just never saw him play much. I went to the United Center once, when I was seven, and all I remember is Scottie Pippen's crew-cut and cotton candy. Also, I'm from D.C., so the fact that MJ ruined the entire development and chemistry of an up-and-coming Washington Wizards team, just so he could milk a little more limelight, doesn't really sit well.

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only have 10 wins, but how many of those would they have without Durant?

Mehmet Okur, Center, Utah Jazz (17.3, 8.4, 1.8) – My decision for the last wild card spot came down to a trio of big men: Okur, David West and Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq has had a phenomenal year, his best in some time, but he is the beneficiary of his own personal schedule, and has been sitting one end of back-to-backs every time the Suns have games in consecutive days. But if Shaq can’t play every game of the regular season so he can rest, maybe he should use the all-star break to recuperate.

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With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

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Ready to kick it old school?  David Stern is (kudos to anyone who sends me a photo of Stern wearing a track suit and break-dancing on a piece of cardboard), and so am I.  The Eastern Conference Finals gave us all a taste of the old school NBA rivalry between the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics, and now we're fixed for a main course of only the choicest and most intense NBA rivalry in the history of the league.  That's right, we are headed towards a Lakers v. Celtics NBA Finals for the first time in 21 years, and I've got to admit (even though it's damaging to my masculinity) that I am giddy about the prospects of this match up.

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Today's tangent is inspired by Raymond (shockingly, with me on this one) and Matt Stauffer, who has posed a challenge to me by asserting that the Celtics will lose to either Detroit or the winner of the Western Conference for a few key reasons.  Following the game one victory for Boston, I thought I'd address a few of his concerns (convenient that I waited until a resounding Celtics victory to start talking smack, isn't it?).  Hey, hey, easy now, I'm not fixin' to start a war or anything, in fact I respect the feedback and the fact that somebody is actually reading my posts (anyone else? ...Beuller?).  I'm only out to address the argument and provide as complete a rebuttal as I can, so without further delay, let's get started.

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Now that's more like it.  The Celtics have put the Hawks on the ropes with a resounding and convincing victory in game 5 last night.  Everything that was going wrong for Boston in games 3 and 4 seems to have been solved by playing in front of their home crowd, and similarly, everything that was going right for the Hawks evaporated into thin air as the road team.  I suppose that it just goes to show how huge an advantage a raucous home crowd can be in a playoff series.  That being said, I think that the Celtics are poised to break the cycle in this series and finish the Hawks off in game 6 in Atlanta.

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iation’s best perimeter players.  Though his team lost for a second straight time to the Utah Jazz, Tracy McGrady did it all for the Houston Rockets coming up just one assist shy of a triple-double.  Meanwhile, LeBron James punctuated a 30-point blowout of the Washington Wizards coming up just one rebound shy of a triple-double himself.

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We have been waiting for this moment for months.  No, I’m not talking about the Jason Kidd trade to go through (which it did today).  I am talking to about the second half of the NBA season to begin.  The first three and a half months can be such a drag, and usually are but in the second half, everything picks up.  It is a two-month stretch run to the playoffs.  This is the time when teams like San Antonio and Detroit flip their switch on and look to be playing their best when the playoffs begin.  The flurry of trades that have gone on in the last two or three weeks has just made the second half that much more interesting.  The NBA season is about 20 games too long and it kills ratings but now is the time to jump on the bandwagon.  These next couple months of the regular season and the playoffs are going to be some of the best basketball since the ‘80’s.  The NBA, where exciting happens.

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