Greetings all... Lots to get to today...
- Heat 97, Celtics 87 - The particulars first... Lebron and Wade were both tremendous last night... LBJ threw up a 33/7/5 and Wade had 34/10/5... there really isn't much you can do to slow that duo down when they both have it going... and Bosh played decent (only 9 FG attempts, but 14 and 11)... but there were peripheral (aka non-Wade/LBJ) reasons that Miami won... only 9 turnovers... and they also won the rebounding battle 38-30... On Boston's end, that's just a different team with Rondo slowed as he is... and they didn't get the type of big game they needed from any of the big 3 to overcome that loss... There's been tons of talk of the LA run ending... but I feel like Boston's run is more likely to do so... with the contract situation and pure age of KG and Ray (plus Pierce not getting younger, and Shaq basically done), this should be it for them as title contenders IMO... it's been a good run...
- OKC 99, Memphis 72... This was non-competitive... But it's encouraging to see OKC's extra gear... they totally swarmed Memphis defensively, and were able to absolutely cruise to the win even with only 30 combined points from KD/Westbrook... oh, and Westbrook took only 10 shots in 25 minutes... hmmm....
- Ex-NBA player, Robert "Tractor" Traylor found dead in Puerto Rico... the former Michigan stand-out (and the greatest 300-pound dunker ever) has a special place for me... obviously as a Michigan guy, I particularly enjoyed him, but he was also the likeness of the first jersey I ever owned... RIP big fella...
- Doc Rivers will "probably be back" as Boston coach... those were Doc's words yesterday, and while I don't particularly believe it, that's a nice sign for the Cs...
- Angels 1B Kendrys Morales is out for the season... kind of a big blow for them in that he was their best power hitter a year ago (pre-injury) but Trumbo has stepped in nicely, and they've been hitting enough to win so far....
A Braves Rant...
- Well that was fun last night, huh?... Craig Kimbrel entered with a 2-run lead in the 9th and promptly allowed 3 singles and a walk to see the lead evaporate, and the wheels came off in the 11th behind Scott Linebrink's 4 ER... the bullpen is a perceived strength for this club, and the bounds of the love bestowed upon Kimbrel and Venters have been crazy nationally... but Kimbrel has blown 3 saves already, and hasn't quite had the snap on his pitches that we saw late in 2010... that being said, he's not the issue (yet)... with Moylan out 8-12 weeks, there isn't a single reliable right-hander in the bullpen before the 9th inning, and that's an issue... Scott Linebrink is an unmitigated disaster... I don't have anything else on him... and I'm going to stop now... it's one implosion in May, and that's what it is, but the right-handed middle relief issue isn't going to evaporate...
What to watch for...
- Bulls @ Hawks - Game 6 - ESPN 8:00 - Well, here it is for the Hawks... I can't even summon a prediction here... if they show up? I think they win the game, honestly I do... because Chicago doesn't have the reps in this type of situation to put down a team playing well on their home court with the talent that Atlanta has... but scroll back, and realize that Atlanta showing up is far from a given... Go Birds...
- Nats @ Braves - Zimmerman vs. Lowe - 7:00 SportSouth - The Nationals are 7 games over .500 against the Braves since 2008... I don't even know what to say about that with how far the teams have been apart in the overall standings since that time, but they have Atlanta's number a bit... Zimmerman is the Nats' best pitcher, but Lowe has been good for the most part in '11...
Enjoy...
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