2011 NBA Playoffs

As the 2010-2011 NBA Regular Season came to a close this week, we are left with the 8 annual Playoff Matchups of the 1st Round. I'm sticking with my NBA Finals prediction that came at the All-Star Break, Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Lakers.

Eastern Conference

1. Chicago Bulls vs 8. Indiana Pacers


For the Bulls to Win : Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Carlos Boozer simply have to play basketball. Just like they've done consistently throughout the whole year, play as a team and play good hard nose defense. They're second in the league by allowing 91 point per game. Joakim Noah does not have to go out and dominate the boards, but yet simply cancel out Roy Hibbert. The easiest formula for them to win this series is carry the same team first attitude that's propelled them all season long.


For the Pacers to Win: Danny Granger needs to play better than his counterpart and MVP favorite Derrick Rose. He must lift the Pacers with big shots and provide a spark with tons of momentum, Derrick Collison needs to step up and be the sidekick to Granger, which means out performing Carlos Boozer. Roy Hibbert MUST shut down Joakim Noah on the glass if the Pacers are to have any shot in this series. In other words a perfect storm must happen in order of the Pacers to pull an upset.

Prediction: Chicago is way too talented to lose to a 37 win team in the first round, may be the most one sided series in the whole Playoffs. Chicago Bulls in 4

2. Miami Heat vs 7. Philadelphia 76ers

For the Heat to win: The Big 3 of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh must COEXIST like they've done at times for about 65% of the season. It seems once things to start going in the opponents favor, they turn into a bunch of individuals, this cannot happen if they are to win. As long as they play together, Miami should be fine(cautious optimism).

For the 76ers to win: Elton Brand must be a freak of nature and elevate his game, if he can top Miami's top scorer in each game the 76ers have a punchers chance when you couple that with the fact they play as a team. Philadelphia plays good enough but not great defense allowing 97 per game, banking on the fact it can keep them in these games enough for Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holliday to get in a rhythm.

Prediction: Miami has the home court advantage, plus the superior talent to get by the upset minded 76ers, I think each game will be a close fight but Miami pulls away in just about every one them. Miami Heat in 5 


3. Boston Celtics vs. 6. New York Knicks


For the Celtics to win: When they put their league best defense on the floor they shut down everyone and everything. This will be extremely paramount for the Celtics as the the Knicks score the second most points in the NBA with 106 per game. Kevin Garnett will have to prove he still has something left in the tank and try to stymie Amare Stoudemire, same goes for Shaq as his health comes into question with the playoffs beginning, the C's being short on big men.

For the Knicks to win: Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks MUST bring the playoff intensity that is required to win these kinds of games. No more lackluster defense, not hustling, and dogging plays. To win in Playoff time requires playing tough defense, something New York has struggled with all season long. We know the Knicks will score points, but Amare must stay out of foul trouble and dominate games alongside of Melo in order for the Knicks to advance.

Prediction: I can see the Knicks winning this series, but the playoff and finals experience of the Celtics will be too great in the end for the still unfamiliarity of the Knicks chemistry. Boston Celtics in 6

4. Orlando Magic vs 5. Atlanta Hawks 


For the Magic to win: Dwight Howard must dominate games like he always does, as long as Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy are on the same side, I like the Magic to win Playoff Series more than not, they have the experience as well as the fire power of others around them. J.J. Reddick and Jameer Nelson need to be the role players that compliment Dwight perfectly, the Magic must also make sure their 3 point game is on.

For the Hawks to win: First off the Hawks need to steal either game one or two in Orlando, If they come home to Atlanta down 2-0 the series might as well be over. Joe Johnson and Al Horford must play inspired basketball and also get contributions from Josh Smith. This team has a history of being disappointing come playoff time, they need a strong start out of the gate if things are to change.

Prediction: With home court advantage in favor of the Magic coupled with extremely poor play of the Hawks in recent games, it doesn't look good for Atlanta. Orlando Magic in 5

 Western Conference

1. San Antonio Spurs vs 8. Memphis Grizzlies

For the Spurs to win:  A Healthy Manu Ginobili would greatly help the Spurs, especially as this team has slightly declined since the All-Star break. Pure talent and experience far favors the Spurs, so the main chores for San Antonio would be to keep the dynamic scoring of Zach Randolph in check, as well as not receding the home court advantage to the Grizzlies.

For the Grizzlies to win:  With the Grizzlies best scorer in Rudy Gay being sidelined, all the attention turns to Zach Randolph, he'll need to produce big games night in and night out if Memphis is to have any shot at upsetting the number 1 seeded Spurs. Marc Gasol will need to play like his brother and the Grizz best bet is to steal one game in San Antonio to have a punchers chance.

Prediction: Spurs are too talented and Memphis too short handed, simple as that, the Grizzlies will avoid a sweep however. San Antonio Spurs in 5

2. Los Angeles Lakers vs 7. New Orleans Hornets

For the Lakers to win: Kobe, Gasol, and Lamar Odom just need to go through the motions. Who knows if Andrew Bynum will be 100% for the series, it'll most likely have little impact either way. The defending champs just need to execute the playoff style basketball that they always seem to turn on come mid April.

For the Hornets to win:  With New Orleans top scorer David West out with a torn ACL, massive production is needed by Chris Paul, the Hornets are very outgunned in this match up and need Emeka Okafor to step up as well, everyone needs to raise their intensity times 10. The fact is the Hornets must score lots of points, something they've failed to do all season, averaging 94 a game. Trevor Ariza and Jarret Jack need to fill some big shoes with timely buckets. 

Prediction: I stand corrected, this is the most lopsided affair in the whole playoffs. Los Angeles Lakers in
4

3. Dallas Mavericks vs 6. Portland Trail Blazers

For the Mavericks to win:  Dirk Nowitzki needs to out play Lamarcus Aldridge every single game at the power forward position. From their, the Maverick regulars should be able to handle Portland's regulars. Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and J-Kidd all need to play smart efficient games, and most importantly, Dallas needs to win the first two at home, they don't want to head to Portland tied 1-1.

Fort the Trail Blazers to win:  As stated above, except the opposite, Aldridge needs to outplay Nowitzki. This is going to be the key matchup that defines the series. Which Power Forward will assert his dominance. Whichever one does, their respective team will likely win the series. Quietly sneaking under the radar are Wesley Matthews and Gerald Wallace, they both need to score 20 plus every night and elevate Portland's 96 game average.

Prediction: A hard fought series, just falling short of a 7th game, I'm taking the experience and slight talent edge of Dallas. Dallas Mavericks in 6

4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs 5. Denver Nuggets

For the Thunder to win: They need to slow down Denver's league leading 107 points per game attack. The Thunder need to slow the pace of the game down extremely, no fast breaks, yet instead stagnant play calling style basketball. The Nuggets love to run and that needs to be taken away. Containing Danillo Gallinari from behind the arc is also important. Other than that, Kevin Durant and company mots play the dominant team play that they've used perfectly all year.

For the Nuggets to win: Their young inexperienced players such as Wilson Chandler and Danillo Gallinari need to mature in a heartbeat. Push the basketball at ball times and make the Thunder hustle back to defend, Denever has the speed and quickness to turn this into a marathon, Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton will be key in orchestrating this.

Prediction: I can see either team winning this series, but once again I'm going with the experience to determine the winner. Oklahoma City Thunder in 7

Knicks Win 5th Straight, Bosox Remain Winless

First thing's first, Uconn won the national championship making my Finals prediction wrong, finishing my final tournament record at 39 of 63 Correct 62%

The Knicks have now reeled off 5 straight wins after falling to 7th place in the East with a 35-38 record during mid March. Thing's have taken a turn for the better though as the Knicks have now won 5 straight and regained the 6th spot after beating Philly 97-92 last night.

They also clinched a postseason birth for the first time since 2004. Which means playoff basketball will return to Madison Square Garden.

After all the years of Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury, rebuilding, losing, losing, losing, and more losing, the Knicks have finally rewarded their fans with an above .500 record and a chance to make a playoff run.

Congratulate the unsung heroes though, Danillo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler. Despite being in Denver now they helped the Knicks for most of the season while also being the trade bait to land Carmelo as well as a championship. With 4 games left, playoff breakdowns await us.

0-5, I know the Red Sox still have 157 games left to play, but come on...0-5. With a Sox loss tonight the Red Sox could fall to 0-9 by Monday with Yankees coming to Fenway this weekend.

The Problem, Starting pitchers for the Sox haven't exactly dominated, nor have they had timely hitting.

Carl Crawford was supposed to be the spark, but he appears to be... spark-less.

 The good news, Its April, the Rays are also 0-5.

If your a Red Sox fan are you concerned yet? John Lackey and Josh Beckett have been total duds the last two seasons including the start of this one, and they're stuck with them for 4 years. With half a rotation and a sub par/almost terrible bullpen, the Sox could be in trouble.

Step down from the ledge though and revisit at the end of May, only then can you have a fair gauge on all 30 Mlb teams.

As Yankee supporters though, we're loving it :)

Yankees-Tigers, AL East, Sox Swept, -- NCAA National Title Game

If your a Yankee fan, which I assume many of you are, it was a pleasant weekend. The yanks took 2 of 3 from Detroit and start the season on a high note.

The season is about 1.7% complete, which means it's still very meaningless to look for patterns and trends in these games.

However, Positives: Mark Teixeira is avoiding his notoriously slow starts, hitting 3 run homes in the first 3 games, A.J. Burnett pitched decent in his first outing of the season, look for him to build off that.

Don't Put too much stock in Boston being swept to open up the season, they'll be times where the Red Sox will be 5 games back and they'll be times when the Yankees are 5 games back. That all happens over the course of a 162 game season, it's just how it is.

And wouldn't ya know it, loud mouth Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles are 3-0 and reside in 1st place, interesting to see how long before they start to fade.

The 2011 NCAA Tournament will be coming to a close tonight, a matchup that features runner-up from last year, Butler Bulldogs, and the Big East's savior, the Uconn Huskies.

My Final Four Predictions were correct as I picked Uconn and Butler to meet for the Title Game, 2 of 2 100% Correct. Entire Tournament - 39 of 62 , 63% Correct

3. Uconn vs 8. Butler - I will admit this is the toughest game of the entire Tournament for me to pick. Like I've been saying how can I go against Kemba Walker and Uconn after they stormed through the Big East Tournament and then on short rest continue to power past every opponent night in and night out on their way to this very game.

What more can you say about Butler, they lost to Duke last year in the Finals and entered this year's Tournament as an 8 seed. Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard seem so determined to finish what they missed out on last year, knocking off juggernauts like Pitt and Florida, being gritty, finding ways to win games, and it's landed them back to the very spot their dream ended one year ago.

This time, butler won't be denied, the experience they gained in last years finals loss and will trump the Huskies in a thriller from Houston, dreams do come true, what a Senior send off it will be for Howard and Mack. Prediction - Butler

Final Four Preview and Opening Day

So the time has come once again for another Final Four and one that might feature the most unlikely of teams in recent memory. The combined seeds add up to 26, an enormously high number for the last four teams left in College Basketball.

My Elite 8 Predictions were almost all correct. 3 or 4, 75% Correct. Entire Tournament - 37 of 60, 62% Correct

3. Uconn vs 4. Kentucky - John Calipari vs Jim Calhoun. Brandon Knight vs Kemba Walker. I like the latter in both matchups. At this point in the tournament it seems insane to even think about picking against Kemba in any sort of game. Although Brandon Knight has become Mr. Bigshot for the Wildcats down the stretch , I still believe they're too young to win at this level. Prediction - Uconn

11. Vcu vs 8. Butler - So how many of you had this matchup as one of your final four games? I'll be the first to admit I thought Butler would lose in the first round to Old Dominion as well as USC beating VCU in the play-in game. They've both had unbelievable underdog runs to this point, the only difference is, this is Butler's second year in a row doing it. That will give the Bulldogs the edge over Coach Smart's Rams in this battle of Cinderella's. Prediction - Butler


OPENING DAY 2011

Yesterday marked the Opening day for numerous teams around baseball, including the New York Yankees.  Although it's impossible to judge a baseball team on just one measly game, the Yanks looked solid posting a 6-3 Victory of the Detroit Tigers.

The bullpen was absolutely perfect, Joba, Soriano, and Mariano, all pitched 1-2-3 scoreless innings. I'm sure the Yankees are banking on this to be the formula for winning after 6 solid innings from a starter.

Jeter went hitless and still remains 74 hits shy from 3000.

Tex and Grandy were the heroes of the game however, Mark hit a colossal 3 run home run to give the Yanks their first runs of the season. Granderson then broke a 3-3 tie in the 7th inning with a solo shot to put the Yanks up for good.

1 game down , 161 to go.