The NBA playoffs are underway... all 8 series kicked off this weekend... and here are my scatterbrained thoughts on what I saw and heard...
- Hawks over Bucks... Probably the most "meh" of all the games... Hawks get early lead, Jennings goes nuts... Hawks hold on... the talent spread is pretty large in this series without Bogut in there, and Jennings probably won't put up 34 again... Kind of what we thought we'd see... better team wins
- Orlando over Charlotte... Another early lead/late comeback sort of game... Howard didn't hit double-digits in either boards or points (although he had 9 blocks, wow) and Orlando still wins? Yikes... Jameer was as good as he can be though with 32, 6, and 4... Charlotte has to get something out of their frontline (sans Wallace) to contend in the series and they didn't....
- Lakers over Thunder... 1st quarter score... 27-13 LA.... and that was the game... OKC played them better than even the rest of the way but you can't give the champs a 14-point lead that quick... Durant was un-Durant-like (7-24 FG, 1-8 threes) and was clearly pressing... An indicator that it could be a series though? How bout Russell Westbrook torching Fisher (as we knew he would) with 23 and 8 on only 16 shots... that's a good/great matchup for OKC....
- Dallas over SA... The Spurs could've won this game and that's a very good sign IMO... Dirk was masterful (12/14 FG, 12/12 FT and 34 points) and Butler/Kidd were fairly effective for Dallas.... Dallas also won the rebounding battle.... and the Spurs got 4 TOTAL points from Jefferson and Hill... and this was a game to the final minutes... I'd be oddly encouraged if I was a Spurs fan... and for all that "Tim Duncan is done" talk... he was pretty much unguardable at times... at least by the guys Dallas can throw at him
- Blazers over Suns... in the effort of full disclosure, I didn't see much of the 2nd half... sigh... but I have seen enough to know that I'm wildly impressed by Portland's gumption here... Andre Miller was as good as he gets (an efficient 31 and 8), they got a career night from Nic Batum (18, 5 and 5 with lockdown D) and Camby kept them in the game on the glass... and to win that game despite the breakdowns late (Camby's missed dunk, Bayless missed FTs, etc.) is a testament to them without Roy... For Phoenix? That's kind of a big/bad loss... They won the glass... got decent bench production, 25 points from Nash, and still lost a home game to a team without their best player.... I think we may see a 7-game classic here...
- Cavs over Bulls... Another throttling early and stagnant play late... Derrick Rose was fairly awesome (28, 10, 7) but he got underwhelming help from his fellow Bulls, and they need top-level performances from pretty much everyone to compete with Cleveland in Cleveland... Lebron was on mini-cruise control and finished with under his averages in each category... just an across-the-board team effort from them.. and Shaq played well and looked to be in surprisingly good shape....
- Celtics over Heat... Ugliest game of the weekend... Miami absolutely died late, especially offensively, in scoring 10 4th quarter points and blowing a double-digit lead... Wade was efficient and good, but 6 for 28 shooting from O'Neal/Wright/Chalmers leads to ineptness.... Boston wasn't impressive either, but Paul Pierce woke them up in the 3rd quarter, and Tony Allen may have the best game I've ever seen him play on both ends...
- Nuggets over Jazz... Can somebody get a hand up on JR Smith? lol... That was a text I sent to my friend Ryan mid-2nd half when he was going nuts... and uncontested nuts... if there's anything I know about JR, it's that he's unguardable when he has it going... and he was... but Melo was unguardable from the tip... they just had no answer... 42 points on 25 shots... and they don't have anyone long enough to handle him without AK47... CJ Miles actually was fairly good defensively, he's just not long enough, and Melo is dominant when he can shoot 15 footers over guys... Even bigger trouble for Utah now without Okur for the rest of the way... Nuggets should win this thing by 6 I think....
Baseball and other stuff....
- Pitching Line of the weekend - Ubaldo Jimenez (duh)... the 6-walk no-hitter with 7 k's... really weird game.. he couldn't find the strikezone for 5 innings.. goes to the stretch and is absolutely flawless after that... well done
- Batting Line of the weekend - Alberto Callaspo - 3-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI in Sunday's win for Kansas City... raking son...
- The Braves take the series with Colorado behind a Sunday walk-off hit from Jason Heyward and some pretty good pitching... Win series... Win series... Win series... that's the name of the game....
- Here's a Braves theory I heard this morning... Hear me out here.... Chipper Jones should hit lead-off for the Braves... I scoffed initially... but think about it... takes a ton of walks (career .400+ OBP), doesn't have alot of power anymore (sorry to burst everyone's bubble here), and a switch hitter to matchup against anyone.... yes, I know this isn't an ideal situation... but this is a team without a capable lead-off hitter, especially now that Prado has settled into the 2 spot, and the McLouth/Cabrera being your most speedy guys even though neither guy has high OBPs (Melky career . 329 and McLouth .342)... Maybe I'm crazy and so is the guy who I read saying this... but it's an idea...
- Boston is quietly not good right now... 4-8 to start the year, and they are down 8-0 as I type this to go to 4-9... For all the pitching/defense talk, they've allowed 61 runs in 12 games... not very impressive...
- Livan Hernandez hasn't allowed an earned run this year.... and I really want someone... anyone... to write me back on twitter (@browismyhero) or comment this blog if they know what I'm talking about when I mention Livan Hernandez and Eric Gregg in the same sentence... come on, somebody come through....
- What to watch for tonight: TNT Playoff Doubleheader... 8:00 - Bulls/Cavs and 10:30 - Jazz/Nuggs...
Done and done...
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