NBA Playoff Matchups in the East
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Cleveland has secured the top spot in the East for quite some time. As for the rest, here they are.
The matchups in the East for the 2010 NBA playoffs are finally… um… finalized and while the Cleveland Cavaliers have secured the top playoff spot in the conference a few weeks ago, the remaining few seeds were not determined until the final few days of the season.
As it turned out, the no.1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers will be taking on the no.8 seed Chicago Bulls, who secured the last playoff spot in the East after beating the playoff-pound Charlotte Bobcats, hence denying the Toronto Raptors of postseason play for the second straight year.
Kudos to coach Vinny Del Negro and the rest of the Chicago Bulls for overcoming a late-season injury to Joakim Noah and the publicized rift between coach Del Negro and team manager John Paxson. Congratulations guys, you’re in the playoffs.
Your reward? LeBron James. (I don’t know if the Bulls would still be happy about that in a few days…)
The Orlando Magic will be this year’s no.2 seed as they look to make a return to the NBA Finals when they take on no.7 seed, Charlotte Bobcats. Thanks to some key additions to the Magic roster, more specifically the addition of Vince Carter, the Magic have become an even bigger threat in the East.
And since the Magic will have the Charlotte Bobcats, a team that will be making their very first appearance in the playoffs, there should be no problem for Orlando to get past the first round. Who do the Bobcats have to guard Dwight Howard anyway?
Probably the most surprising team in the East this season is the Atlanta Hawks, who have secured the no.3 seed in the East this season. Yup, those high-flying Hawks are now one of the East’s three kings, supplanting the Celtics in the food chain to join the Cavs and the Magic.
They have the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round…
Betting on East this 2009 NBA Season
Friday, October 16th, 2009
It’s the East’s turn to have a champion.
I’m more of an East Coast kind of guy, I always find myself rooting for the East in All-Star Games and in the NBA Finals. Coming to the 2009 NBA basketball season, I have this theory that suggests this year is going to be the year of the East. Don’t believe me? Here’s why.
This somewhat weird theory of mine started in ‘04 when the Detroit Pistons won the title and shocked arguably the most talented Los Angeles Lakers team ever assembled with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant joined then by two other Hall of Famers, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. The Spurs won the title the following year only for the Eastern Conference to win it again when the Miami Heat won their first title in franchise history.
The following year, ONCE AGAIN (ho-hum…) the Spurs took it only for the East to take it back the following season when the Boston Celtics took the title in six games. In case you haven’t noticed it yet, the NBA championship has been alternating between the Eastern and Western conferences since ‘04 and since the Lakers won it last season, I bet it’ll be another team from the East that’ll be crowned champions come June.
Silly? Not quite. And since the Cleveland Cavaliers arguably made the biggest move of the offseason with the NBA title firmly in mind, this little theory of mine doesn’t sound too silly at all.
The Cavs learned winning 66 games in the regular season doesn’t mean a thing without a ring. LeBron James has a lot at stake this season with big Shaquille O’Neal in town.
Kobe won with Shaq. D-Wade won with Shaq. At 37, Shaq can still get it done 20 to 25 minutes a night. So with basically the same unit returning along with O’Neal, there’s no excuse for LeBron James not to win the championship this year. Fail and off to New York he goes.
So if the Cavaliers are your odds on favorite to…
Rasheed Wallace to sign with Celtics
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
This offseason just keeps getting better and better.
Everybody should be hyped up for the coming 2009 NBA basketball season now as early as July with the number of blockbuster deals we’ve seen.
Get this; Richard Jefferson is now in San Antonio, Shaquille O’Neal will now play with LeBron James in Cleveland, Vince Carter returns to his home state in Florida to play for the Orlando Magic and Ron Artest just joined the defending NBA champions Los Angeles Lakers. And just when you thought it won’t get any better, another deal comes out.
And the latest is Rasheed Wallace agreeing to play for the Boston Celtics for at least two seasons. Although nothing is final yet since free agents can’t officially sign with new teams until July 8 this Wednesday, ‘Sheed has committed his 34-year-old ass to Boston, grabbing this opportunity to play for a legitimate title contender now than waste the remaining few years of his career with the inept management skills of Joe Dumars in Detroit.
The Boston Celtics wanted him bad too. A contingent from the Celtics organization, including owner Wyc Grousbeck, president Danny Ainge, head coach Doc Rivers and Boston’s ‘’Big Three’’ of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all descended on Wallace’s suburban Michigan home for a three-hour meeting with the free-agent forward.
During the course of the meeting, the Boston Celtics offered Rasheed Wallace a contract using their entire mid-level exception. And since everything is just whacked as fas as the Detroit Pistons and their chances of playing for a title again are concerned, ‘Sheed didn’t think twice.
Besides, he’s good friends with Kevin Garnett already…
Can Magic beat the Celtics in Game 6?
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Has the magic fizzled away from Orlando after one Glen Davis’ shot?
After making the game-winning shot at the buzzer to tie their best of seven series in the 2009 NBA Playoffs to two games each, Glen Davis instantaneously made every Celtic fan forget about Kevin Garnett.
Well, not really, but after Glen Davis helped the Boston Celtics win Game 4 in Orlando, a game the Celtics can’t afford to lose, you can bet your ass that he just tripled his little fan base in Boston.
If it wasn’t for that 21-foot jumper at the buzzer, the Boston Celtics would’ve been down in this series 1-3 to the Orlando Magic, facing elimination in Game 5 at home. But thanks to Davis, the Celtics now have homecourt advantage back with an opportunity to take the series lead for the first time in the second round.
Of course, Glen Davis could’ve just ran along happy with his improbable buzzer-beater in Game 4 to tie the series, but NO, he had to shove a 12-year-old kid while he ran like a ‘’raging animal with no regard for fans’ personal safety’’ towards the Celtics bench.
Yup, a ‘’raging animal with no regard for fans’ personal safety’’ was exactly the way the kid’s father, Ernest Provetti, described Boston’s new hero. The kid’s father was, in fact, so freaking pissed about the whole thing that he’s demanding an apology from Boston’s homicidal maniac.
Provetti said that he already e-mailed the NBA office demanding an apology from the 300-pound Celtic. NBA spokesman Tim Frank already confirmed the league received the e-mail but declined to comment on it.
Glen Davis scored 21 points in the game, that includes TWO crucial shots he made in the final minutes of the game. Yes, Davis made one crucial shot prior to the game-winner he made that led to him shoving a poor 12-year-old kid in Orlando.
If Glen Davis makes another…
Can Boston beat Orlando in Game 2?
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Apparently, the Magic didn’t buy the ‘’KG out for the playoffs’’ news they’ve been hearing about lately.
In case you haven’t heard, the second round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs are finally underway and in the East, we have two teams that were just fortunate enough to hold on and win over their pesky first round rivals.
The Philadelphia 76ers got the attention of the entire Orlando Magic roster when they were able to steal the precious homecourt advantage from Disneyland during Game 1 of their best of seven first round series.
They even got Dwight Howard suspended for the critical 
Game 6, setting themselves up for what would’ve been one of the biggest shockers in this year’s playoffs. Unfortunately, Orlando pulled through, eliminating the pesky Sixers in six games.
The Boston Celtics, on the other hand, went through an obviously harder hurdle. Unlike Orlando, Boston was extended to a pivotal Game 7 by the Chicago Bulls, a team looking to repeat what they accomplished a couple of years ago when they eliminated then defending champions Miami Heat, in the very first round.
Unfortunately for them, it didn’t happen, and the Celtics managed to close out the Chicago Bulls with Kevin Garnett still wearing a fashionable suit.
This Wednesday, the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics will meet for Game 2 of their best of seven second round series with a spot in the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals at stake and as far as the Magic are concerned, they’ll be ready for Kevin Garnett, in uniform or in street clothes.
‘’I don’t have any idea if he’ll play, but we watched film on him,’’ Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said. ‘’Besides that, it’s not like you’re going to go, ‘Kevin Garnett? I never heard of him. What does he do?’ I think we can make that adjustment pretty quickly. I think we all have a pretty good idea of who Kevin Garnett is.’’
The Magic went 0-2 against the Celtics in…
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