Running Diary: Orlando, Too Much Magic for Cleveland

So throughout the game last night, I did a running diary. Of course, I did this with the intention that it was going to be a good game till the end. Little did I know that it would indeed only be good for the first half. But here it is....Game 6: Running Diary of the Lebrons vs the Magic!


8:13 - The TNT Tip-Off show is already cutting on Chuck early. Magic mascot brought 2 boxes of Krispie Kreme's to the set. Kenny opens the first one with no glazed donuts and Chuck denies vigorously. Chuck says, "Dem aint real donuts if dey aint glazed." Kenny pushes the envelope and opens the second one and to the secret delight of Barkley, they are all glazed. Going to be a great night.

8:22 - Kenny Smith says he called Scottie Pippen to ask him if he liked guarding the best guy on the floor or guarding a weaker guy, so he could roam and help out. Scottie said guard the best player so you can shut down a main option. Mike Brown....TURN ON TNT IN THE LOCKER ROOM!!!

8:23 - The over/under for Lebron/Kobe MVPuppets commercials tonight...2.5. The newest one is by far the funniest. "Lebron, you got over 20 triple doubles!...Can I haaaave one?"

8:27 - Stan Van Gundy: "It's Our Time, It is Our Time, It's Our Time, You Guys Deserved this!" Got a newsflash for you SVG. Cleveland has a guy named Lebron James...nuff' said.

8:28 - HAHAHA...TNT cuts to a shot of Tiger Woods and his trainer Hank Haley. Haley also trains Charles Barkley. So Chuck says, "Tiger Woods and me got 14 majors between the two of us!" Amount of Tiger's majors won: 14. (Game hasn't even started yet and we have 5 notes. Oh Boy)

8:37 - Reggie's Key's to the game just went up on the screen. Do you really think he comes up with them? I used to like Reggie. Now...Not so much.

8:38 - Referee's for tonight's contest: Bennet Salvatore and Steve Javie. Wow David Stern, you must really need the Cavs to make the finals, huh?

8:42 - Dwight Howard gets more stupid fouls then Lindsay Lohan has run-ins with the law.

8:50 - TNT just showed this graphic: 48.2 8.6 8.3 That's Lebron's averages for this series in case you were wondering. Are we sure he was conceived by humans?

9:00 - It sounds simple but if Orlando is making threes like this the whole game, you may want to start buying your Orlando Eastern Conference Champs hats.

9:03 - What does Wally Szczerbiak do well? Your response would be: Shoot 3's. He just air balled a 3. How is he an NBA Player?

9:06 - End of the 1st quarter. Nothing really stood out, except for the fact that Dwight Howard only has 1 foul. Orlando and Cleveland both hitting shots. And we have our first MVPuppet commercial. MVPPuppet count: 1

9:13 - Orlando has Rashard Lewis at power forward (the 4) and Hedo Turkoglu at small forward (the 3). So Mike Brown goes with a Gibson, M. Williams, D. West back court....Ladies and Gentlemen: Your 2009 Coach of the Year Mike Brown. Unbelievable.

9:16 - Pretty sure Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Marcin Gortat are brothers from another mother.

9:23 - The Cavs offensive playbook is absolutely horrendous. Reason No. 37 why Mike Brown is the Worst Coach in the NBA: Their offense consists of two plays, Iso-Lebron and this horrible play where Lebron hands off to Mo Will, runs off a pointless screen, only to passs back to exact spot the play started, and Lebron or Ilgauskas goes 1 on 1. How come I'm the only one writing about how bad Mike Brown is. It's so evident.

9:30 - Cavs have no answer for Rashard Lewis. Correction: Mike Brown refuses to have an answer because its too obvious to put the best player on the planet on him. God forbid. Hey Mike, maybe you could make an adjustment for once...just once baby comon.

9:45 - Halftime - Cle 40, Orl 58. Dwight Howard's interview at halftime, you can just tell they want it more. That all stems from their head coach. SVG motivates his guys and never settles for anything. Even though they were up 18, Dwight said they need to play better. Most underrated coach in the league: SVG.

10:04 - Cavs start second half on an 8-0 run. Comon Lebron don't get my hopes up like this! Please be a good game, please be a good game.

10:14 - Someone lit a fire under Mo Will's ass. His team may still be down 14 but he's actually playing with confidence in the second half. By the way, Can anyone tell me what Dwight Howard's dunk percentage is vs. his free throw percentage? FOUL HIM ALREADY...HACK A HOWARD...JESUS H.

10:30 - End 3rd - Cavs are done. Sorry for the minor delay, I just spent the last 20 minutes arguing with my boy Ski about Lebron and Kobe. This is another argument for another article. Too much to say.

10:36 - 21 Point lead for the Magic. This is a despicable coaching performance/overall team performance from the Cavs. Lebron is absolutely wiped out. Can't go one on one for 7 games and expect to win the series. I'm just in a terrible mood now. Game is off the TV, Oceans Thirteen anyone?


Just some of my final thoughts on the series/game. Orlando made 12 threes, they will continue to live and die by them. Cleveland shot (gulp) 11-22 from the free throw line. 11-22!!! That's just discipline, which their coach does not instill in them. I've been saying for weeks now that the only team Cleveland could possibly stumble upon was the Magic. Cleveland could beat every other team in a 7 game series, but Orlando is just a horrible match-up for them 1-5. It's going to be a long off season for the Cavs. I posted this on twitter last night, "Cavs need to go out and sign Artest and Ariza because they will have the cap room. Then you have a swing rotation of Lebron, Artest, Ariza, and D. West. Then your best player doesn't have to guard the 2 best players on the other team because Artest and Ariza will. No wait that makes too much sense for Mike Brown." Can I just get a GM job somewhere? How do I apply?

Mike Brown: Far From Coach of the Year

If you haven't noticed, I'm on a blistering pace with my writings this week. There is just so much going on. After I finish one article, something crazy will happen the next night and then I'm forced to come on here and grace you all with my literary wizardry.

If anyone has payed as much attention as I have to this series, (you probably haven't, it's OK) then you might have noticed the horrendous coaching job done by Mike Brown in this series. I can not believe that the league elected him as coach of the year when he is getting out-coached by a man who has been deemed a, "Master of Panic." This of course would be Mr. Stan Van Gundy. I'm actually getting aggravated of hearing people say how bad of a coach SVG is because quite honestly, he's out-coaching everyone in the playoffs right now.

All this man has done has got his team up 3-1 on the Cleveland Lebrons. Take last night for example. The last play in regulation, before SVG called that brilliant timeout, they had a play designed for Hedo Turkoglu to get the ball back off of the inbound. And here is the difference between these two coaches. SVG saw that Ben Wallace was guarding Rashard Lewis. Ben Wallace couldn't guard me right now, let alone 6'10" Rashard Lewis. So what does SVG do. He calls a timeout and changes the play for Rashard Lewis. Then what happens next? Go-Ahead 3 point bucket by 'Shard.

Let's look at it from Mike Brown's perspective. You try to sneak Ben Wallace on Lewis because you know that Turkoglu is getting the final shot. So you see the SVG timeout and don't you think that he might have seen that? No. Of course not. Stubborn Mike Brown decides that he KNOWS Hedo is getting the ball so he doesn't adjust, and then we all know what happens.

My point is, Mike Brown doesn't even deserve to be in the top 5 for coaches of the year...Let alone the actual Coach of the Year. He makes no adjustments. He motivates NO ONE. Next time you watch a timeout in the fourth quarter, look for Mike Brown. He is walking around not talking to his team. Meanwhile, SVG is pumping his guys up, slapping rear-ends (he might like that), and motivating his players.

My buddy Showtime (fellow writer who hasn't posted in forever) and I had a conversation right before the final shot. He says, "Umm How the hell is Mike Brown the coach of the year, He doesn't do anything on the sidelines." And he couldn't be more right. Next I get a text message from my boy Fitz saying, "I think your coach of the year is actually a horrible coach."

So it's not just me witnessing this. He's coach of the year because he fell ass-backwards into the greatest player of this generation, and could potentially be the greatest of all time. I'll tell you one thing. If Mike Brown doesn't get his act together, he's going to lose Lebron in 2010, and then he'll lose his job. If Lebron doesn't win the championship this year, I fully expect him to send a Text to Dywane Wade and say,

Lebron to Wade: "Look man, they got horrible coaches, horrible role players, and I can't play here anymore. You wanna just go to New York and win the next 10 championships?"

Wade to Lebron: "Hey man that sounds great, let's go play for Mike D'Antoni who we played for in the Olympics and just dominate the league for the next 10 years, See You in NY"

Don't think it can happen? Well think again. And you can all thank Mr. Mike Brown for it.

NBA Officiating is Officially Fouled Out

The talk of the National Basketball Association, or No Balls Association as Bill Simmons calls it, is the absolutely, horrendous officiating that is taking place in these NBA Playoffs. I can not remember a time in my life that it has been as bad as it is now. For years we have seen bad officiating in all sports, not just basketball. But I don't think we've ever seen it this bad.

Now let us first understand that Basketball is by far the hardest sport to official out of any of the four majors: Basketball, Baseball, Football, Hockey. And it's not even close.

Baseball it is pretty standard. The ball beats the guy to the base and he is out. The ball goes over the fence and it is a home run. Baseball is as black and white as it gets, and now with the installation of replays for home runs, I do not foresee as many questionable calls this year.

Football and Hockey are a little more gray but still pretty standard. In football, a guy jumps over the line, he is offside. Offensive linemen moves before the snap, it's a false start. The only real gray area is with Pass interference, and I myself will admit that it might be the single toughest call to make in sports. In Hockey, a guy crosses the blue line before the puck he's offside. We get it.

However, none of these sports even come close to the difficulty level of officiating a basketball game. Can you name me one call that actually is black and white in the NBA? Every single violation or call that can be made can be challenged or questioned. So it is no wonder why the NBA has been the most terribly officiated sport of the past 20 years.

Take Sunday night's game between Cleveland and Orlando, for instance. This game was by far the worst officiated game of the entire NBA season in my opinion. The game saw a combined 98 FG attempts. Ok, Pretty normal. But the next two numbers are completely outrageous. Combined the two teams launched up 43 three point field goals, so you would think that this would have resulted in less drives to the basket, which in-turn would result in less fouls called, which in-turn would result in less free throws right? That's just how basketball works right? Well how bout the combined free throws being 86. 86!!!! Are you kidding me? Someone please comment and tell me how that makes any sort of relevant sense. Add that to 58 personal fouls, 2 technical fouls, and a flagrant foul and we have the whistle blowing 60 times just on fouls!

We see all these advertisements and commercials about the leagues best players; Kobe, LeBron, Dwight, Carmelo, Chauncey Billups, Pau Gasol. The list goes on and on. Hell, I even wrote an article just on the commercials for Kobe and LeBron, so you know I'm into it. So why don't we let these athletes and marketable figures actually decide the outcomes of these games instead of letting aging referees (Yes, I'm talking about you Dick Bavetta, Joey Crawford, Bennet Salvatore) determine the outcome of these crucial playoff match ups. Your going to tell me 125 year old Dick Bavetta can still keep up with 24 year old Lebron James at full speed. His eyes haven't gone array just a little bit?

David Stern are you listening? The NBA needs to reevaluate it's officials. We need newer, young officials who are submerged in the new game, the new style of basketball being played today. I'm sick and tired of seeing Dwight Howard stand with his hands straight up in the air and alter a shot, but to no surprise I hear a whistle for a foul. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant can pump fake, get a guy in the air then jump 4 feet to the right while a defender purposely tries to get out of the way and he draws a foul. It's unreal.

For the NBA Playoffs sake, for the fans sake, for everyone's sake....we desperately need improved officiating.

Lebron, Have You Seen My Three Championship Rings??

Once again, Chit-Chat Sports is derailed by the ever so reliable Mr. Skowronski. I've asked this dude three times for his article on the Yankees and the state of baseball but he has yet to deliver. I can't blame him too much because he is busy this week graduating from Rutgers. But as rule number 74 from Wedding Crashers states: No Excuses, Play Like a Champion.

So now I'm going to come on and show you something a little off topic but it is truly hysterical. In fact, I want to meet the guy who came up with the idea for these three commercials/videos you are about to see.

Disclaimer: If you haven't seen these then you are lost in this world and need to be watching more Inside the NBA or NBA Playoffs in general.

Every year Nike comes out with a new type of basketball commercial during the NBA Playoffs. And we all remember these. The Dr. Funk commercials with Vince Carter as Dr. Funk. All Time classic. They then switched to the basketball commercials that pit the NBA's best stars in with the best street stars to create a Nike Basketball Freestyle Beat. These commercials had every major star from the NBA in them form Darius Miles to Kevin Garnett, to Rasheed Wallace, to Jason Williams to Baron Davis. These easily became my favorite Nike Basketball Commercials. And then LeBron James entered the league.

The next set of commercials were a collaboration of different versions of LeBron james called, "The LeBrons." These were the funniest of the three so far and quickly becoming my favorite. It featured various forms of "LeBron." You had Old LeBron, Junior LeBron, LeBron, and Pretty Boy LeBron. Everyone one of the commercials is truly hysterical and I didn't think that Nike would outdo themselves until now

If you haven't seen these commercials yet or understand the premise behind them then you've come to the right place. The newest commercials are called the MVP's. But the P stands for Puppets. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are the stars of this commercial, in puppet form. Kobe won the MVP award last year, and LeBron is the current MVP.

The three commercials (so far) are absolutely hysterical. They are epitomizing the relationship between Kobe and LeBron and the public opinion of the two superstars, as they are regarded as the two best players on the planet. LeBron was always, in a sense, in the shadows of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Now that LeBron has, in my opinion, surpassed Kobe as the better of the two, Nike Basketball is trying to promote the great debate, Kobe vs. LeBron.

The commercials represent the general opinion regarding the two. Kobe is the veteran superstar with the three championship rings and potentially on his way to the downside of his career. LeBron is the King. The new blood. The new style. The new breed. He has power, speed, athleticism, size, killer instinct, and now motivation. Oh I also forgot...He's 24.

So the commercials have Kobe and LeBron making fun of each other and taking comical jabs at their respective traits. In one of the commercials Kobe is asking LeBron, "LeBron, Have you seen my THREE CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS?" Kobe is trying to jab at LeBron for not having won one yet and telling LeBron that he has to be hungry. In another commercial LeBron is dancing around throwing powder all over the place as he his energetic for the playoffs. Where Kobe is quietly trying to rest himself for the playoffs.

If you haven't gotten a chance to see them, you are completely missing out on some of the best Nike Basketball commercials I've ever seen. They might even be in the top 5 commercials of all time, I don't know yet. But Here are the three must see videos, and keep reading the blog daily!!

Commercial 1:

LeBron is excited for the playoffs by throwing Powder everywhere.

Commercial 2:

Kobe is trying to poke fun at LeBron for Kobe having 3 Championships.

Commercial 3:

LeBron is trying to watch game film but is interrupted by a Kobe special announcement.

I Love Game 7s

Since Chit-Chat Sports just reached it's 1000th visitor, (Oh Yeah! we're doing big things) I was going to have a guest post on by one of my good friends, my boy Ski. But it seems that he wants to get the article he is writing to be absolutely perfect before he submits it to me. I told him that this is not a submission for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, but I can understand that he wants to make his debut article a good one. First impressions are always the best, right? Maybe?

Oh Well anyway I decided that in order to give him more time before he loses his blogger-virginity, I would come on here and give you a preview of my favorite games of the NBA playoffs, or any playoffs for that matter (I caught myself watching the Boston Bruins game the other day, that's how much I love these games), and of course I'm talking about game 7s.

There is nothing more exciting in a playoff system then a game 7. They are specifically designed to make fans go insane, and make followers go crazy for them. Hell, they are even designed for unpopular bloggers to write articles on them, but I digress.

Today we are blessed to have two game 7s in the greatest sport every created (I'm biased). The first of these two NBA contests is between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Houston-less Rockets, as I'm calling them now do to their injuries, are missing their two best players and are still taking the western conference darlings to 7 games. But I have sad news for the Houston Rockets.....we could be in for a 50 point game from Kobe Bryant. Kobe is due, and I just have this feeling that he might absolutely erupt for 50 tonight in front of LA's finest actors/actresses/musicians/celebrities and he'll be claimed the world's best player tomorrow by every sports-talk show, blog, or column. But you know what? Chit-Chat Sports will not be fooled....no one is better then Lebron James right now.

The game hinges on two factors...The Lakers Bench...and the Houston Rockets ability to hi the three ball. When the Lakers are firing on all cylinders, it is because EVERYONE is involved on both ends of the floor. When they stand around and let Kobe do his thing, they become stagnant and beatable. Houston HAS to hit shots tonight. It sounds simple and cliche but it is the truth. If Aaron Brooks is getting in the lane and creating things for Shane Battier and Ron Artest, those guys HAVE to knock down those shots for them to have any chance. They're getting by on emotion and hard work, but Game 7s are won with execution and defense. Very simple.

Prediction: Kobe goes for 55 and the Lakers win in Overtime. (By the way if this happens, I'll be in heaven...Overtime Game 7 comon!)

The second game pits the Orlando Magic trying to dethrone the reigning champ, Boston Celtics. This is the series that is so unpredictable because if Orlando would just give their best player the ball this series would be over 3 games ago. But of course they have one of the most overrated coaches in history, in Stan Van Gundy, and he decides to give the ball to Hedo Turkoglu in crunch time. Really Stan? Hedo has 1 MOVE!! Bill Simmons has been saying this for weeks, he has one move....step back 3 pointer. So please, Stan, give the ball to Rashard Lewis in crunch time. The guy is 6'10" and plays like a 2-guard. He is a mismatch from hell, so let him rock. Every team may need that inside force, but you need guards to win games for you. Dwight can't win a game for you, it has to come elsewhere.

Now if Ray Allen keeps shooting 16 percent from three point land, and Paul Peirce keeps running up and down the court like hes 67 years old, then they're going to be in for a long night. (Honestly though, how is Paul Peirce unguardable....he hits fall aways...he cant drive, just get up in his business....God I wish i was 6'8") The Celtics go as Rondo goes now. If he has a big game then chances are Celtics win.

Prediction: For some reason I have a feeling Orlando wins on the road...I know odds are they wont, but I feel like Dwight Howard's going to have one of those 35-24 type games.

Follow me on twitter tonight, I'll be updating every time something ridiculous happens.

http://www.twitter.com/tderigg2

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Of course I didn't forget America's Favorite Running Segment....my Hip-Hop segment that doesn't have a name yet. This is off that new Drake single, Best I ever Had....really like this dude Drake.

"But money ain't the issue
They bring dinner to my room and ask me to initial
She call me the referee
Cause I be so official
My shirt ain't got no stripes but I can make yo p**** whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistle.


Had to put this one on too...still Drake but this is off his mixtape, this is called..Ransom feat. Lil Wayne

"Last place Drizzy is the n**** in the lead now
Weezy told me just write every single thing you need down
then he got it for me and I’m happy as can be now
bout to start ballin’ like I’m coming OFF A REBOUND!!
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Expect Ski's guest article next. Enjoy the Game 7s!!

Tweet! Tweet!

In case you haven't heard, there is this new thing called, Twitter, on the Internet nowadays. If you haven't seen or used this lovely feature by now, let me be the first to tell you....you're missing out. Now, I joined Twitter this past weekend because I was bored out of my mind on Saturday night after I watched Lebron James prove to me that he is the second coming of Christ in human form. Seriously, David Stern, just give Cleveland the championship trophy right now, it's OK, go ahead...just save the rest of the league the embarrassment because Lebron is on an absolute mission. Anyway, back to Twitter. This service might be the most intelligent, genius, dumbest, most idiotic service I've ever seen. The premise is that you "Tweet" (hahaha, how old are we 3?) on your page and whoever follows you gets to see what you are doing all day. Great, just another thing we need to stalk people, like Facebook wasn't enough already. So while you're "Tweeting" (haha, I will laugh every time I hear or say that because I'm a 6 year old kid) you can also follow other people and see what they are 'Tweeting" about.

So when I registered this Twitter account I thought I was just going to find some of my friends on it and we were going to stalk out each others lives even more than we do already. But Lo and Behold, I find that nearly EVERY SINGLE major sports figure has one of these things. It was like finding out that everything you put on your Christmas list as a kid was underneath your tree in the morning. I mean, isn't this what we all want as "regular" people? We always want to see the latest gossip, news, fights, and drama that these celebrities and sports figures go through on an everyday basis. And now we have it streaming live to us whenever they feel like it. Take for example, my favorite Twitterite (Twitterean? Twitteran?), Shaqueille O'Neal. Every couple of hours or so Shaq posts on his twitter about what he's doing and it usually is hysterical. I sign on my name just to see what he's going to write because it's incredible. And don't think Shaq is the only one that does this. EVERYONE is on it. Currently I'm following: Shaq, Steve Nash, Peyton Manning, Terrell Owens, Baron Davis, Mark Sanchez, JR Smith, Michael Phelps, Carmelo Anthony, Champ Bailey, and Knowshon Moreno....and that's just the sports figures I've found in 3 days!! I've also found dozens of other celebrity-like figures such as: My favorite writer, Bill Simmons, Mark Titus - Club Trillion (great blog you should read), P-Diddy (funniest on twitter by far), Ashton Kutcher, Snoop Dogg, and ESPN's First Take.

The point I'm trying to get at is, how much closer can we possibly get to our athletes? Between Facebook, Myspace, and now Twitter the need for reporters and newspapers is just being thrown out the window with no regard. Why tune into the news or watch ESPN for an hour waiting to see the latest news on your favorite player when you can just sign on to Twitter and see exactly what every super-duper star is doing at every minute of the day. Availability of our athletes has become the most changed thing in the entire sports world, in my opinion. Gone are the day's of sideline reporting, newspaper columns and interviews and welcomed in now are the times of Twitter, YouTube, and Podcasts. The information can never come fast enough to us fans. E-mail has been replaced by Text messages because, quite frankly, E-mail is too slow. Radio shows have been replaced by Podcasts that can be downloaded and taken everywhere. And gone are interviews and replaced with Twitter. No longer do we need these "ancient" technologies that, 10 years ago, were the cream of the crop.

So for the time being I'm going to Tweet away on my Twitter page until the next amazing technology comes out in which we can telepathically know what each star is doing at every second of his or her life. That may seemed far fetched but 10 years ago....Twitter was far fetched.

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You can follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/tderigg2 Or you can just read my posts on the right hand side of the page, I have them linked to my blog. Since we're talking about Twitter I'll hit you guys with a line from a new Remix I heard last week. It's Red Cafe, Jadakiss, P-Diddy, Fabolous, and OJ Da Juiceman on the Hottest in da Hood Remix. I've received advice that this may not be the best running segment I could choose (thanks professor!) but I'm going to stick it out and see if you guys like it. On to the lyrics from Fabolous' verse...

"Ayo Truthfully, how could they mistake you for me...
Your a joke, an imitation, a spoof of me.
Call the referee, I consider it foul,
They just...follow my swag, Twitter my style.
Knowin I can make it go down...No draino,
Son, I'll get all up in your a**....No rainbow."

HAHAHA....I'm the Hottest Blogger in Da Hooooooooood

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Expect a guest blog post in the next week as a celebration of our 1000th visitor. That's right...we're doin big things at Chit-Chat Sports!

Kobe "We're not losing this game" Bryant

For those waiting for a Kobe Bryant sighting in these 2009 NBA Playoffs...look no further...

I had been waiting all through the first round and the start of this second round for the Lakers, and mainly Kobe Bryant, to show me what all the fuss is about over their team. Deemed as the Western conference champions before the playoffs even started, they had played very lethargic, lackadaisical, and with no real sense of urgency. Hellooo??? This is the NBA Playoffs. The end of the road. And now the Lakers were playing with this swagger that did not warrant them the pre-conceived title of consensus "Western Conference Champs." However, last night that all changed.

This all changed because one player, arguably the world's best player, decided it was time to start playing Kobe-basketball. Last night Kobe Bryant decided that he was going into "We're Not Losing this Game" mode. Mr. Bryant dropped 40 points on the Houston Rockets last night in game 2, and it's not that we haven't seen him score like this in these playoffs before. It's the way that he was scoring that may have changed the fate of the rest of the western conference's competitors. Kobe was hitting fall aways, he was dunking, he was driving to the hoop, he hit threes, he hit leaning jump shots, he hit shots with Shane Battier playing the best defense you could have possibly played on an individual, hell he was even throwing himself passes to score. In a nutshell, Kobe was unguardable. Shane Battier is one of, if not, the best perimeter defenders in the league and couple that with Ron Artest who is another top tier defender, and Kobe still destroyed them last night.

In a game that saw 2 ejections, and roughly 3 or 4 technicals and flagrants Kobe kept his composure and just hit shot after shot after shot. Battier and Artest are both pit bulls, in the words of Kenny Smith of TNT. They are the perfect type of defender for guys like Kobe. They play physical, they make life hard on Kobe and other great scorers. However, last night is just further proof that a truly great scorer will ALWAYS beat impeccable defense. It's just the nature of the game. Battier, Artest and co. played impeccable defense on Kobe all game....yet they could not hold Kobe in check because he just knows how to will his team to victory. He scores when he has too, he facilitates when he has too, and when it's time to get a must win...(and this kills me because I have a man-crush on Lebron) Kobe is your guy to get that win.

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I'm going to try a new segment that I know some of my friends will appreciate. I am an avid Hip-Hop fan and listen to new music daily. So I'm going to start throwing up some of my favorite lines of current songs and some all-time greats. So if you enjoy hip-hop you might enjoy this part of the segment. Haven't thought of the name yet, but I'll just peep Baseball Tonight's swag and call it America's favorite running segment.

This is off the new Jadakiss Album on the song called "What If"

"What if B.I.G. missed the party, what if 'Pac missed the fight?
What if you was caged in?
What would you change then?
What if there was no Rocafella law for +Made Men+?
What if hate ran through me?
And what if Portland
Would've drafted Jordan
Instead of Sam Bowie? <---------WOWWW _________________________________________________________

Just a quick wrap-up of my opinion of the playoffs so far. How odd was the Hawks-Heat series? I mean seriously, every game was won by more than 10 points but it went 7 games. Dywane Wade tanked that game because he didn't want to get embarrassed by the Cleveland Lebrons.

I was really pulling for the Bulls man, I wanted my Bulls to be back but they'll have to wait till next year. I'm already giddy at the fact that they might actually play small ball and run THE ENTIRE YEAR next year instead of just the playoffs.

Denver is on an absolute tear. They do everything. They have guys that can score, defend, rebound, play physical, get in your face, provide energy, and most of all they have a bonafide leader in Chauncey Billups. I don't know how I missed on them when I was predicting the playoffs...they are dirty.

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Breaking news as I was writing this: Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for taking PED's. I may or may not write on this, considering I hate writing about steroids. Stay tuned.