Published: Wednesday - April 23, 2008
Words by Mike Monson
NBA Playoffs
Lakers vs. Nuggets: Pau Gasol got his first taste of a post season victory on Sunday (April 20) when the Lakers beat the Nuggets 128-114. Even though it was the first game of a seven game series, this Laker team looked better then the Laker 3-peat teams with Shaq. Though Kobe was just 2-10 in shooting in the first half, it didn't matter much because the Nuggets were so
concerned with Kobe that the other Lakers where able to knock down shots. Bryant, by the way, finished with 32 points after shooting 7-16 in the second half. For his part, Bryant said he enjoyed his role as a decoy and admitted his second-half jawing with Martin helped "open up the basket" for his outside shot. He was pleased -- but not surprised -- to get a big game from Gasol. Gasol established career playoff highs with 36 points, and eight assists, and he also recorded 16 rebounds and three blocked shots. "It feels amazing, it feels great. I had a blast out there," Gasol said. "We did a pretty good job, we can do better. We're happy with the win, I'm happy with the win. Hopefully there will be many more. Every guy on our team is doing an amazing job out there, and I'm just one of them." Gasol, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic each totaled at least five assists. Of their 25 combined assists, the majority were to one another.
Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Nuggets. Allen Iverson also had 30 points before picking up two technical fouls with 2:10 remaining, calling for immediate ejection. Linas Kleiza scored a career playoff high 23 points and J.R. Smith added 15 before fouling out with 3:14 left. My prediction is that the Lakers take this in 5 games.
Suns vs. Spurs: The Suns needed to win game 2 on Tuesday (April 22) at San Antonio. But the Suns now need four wins in five games against a team that's knocked them out two of the last three postseasons. This time, the Spurs didn't need two overtimes to close out the Suns. The Spurs were down by as many as 14 in the first half until Phoenix's defense broke down and gave up a 27-11 run in the third quarter. The Spurs went up by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter after taking control in the third. Steve Nash led a 10-0 run to bring Phoenix within 96-91 with 2:44 left on the clock, but it didn't matter. The Spurs are in the Suns head, and not Shaq, Stoudemire or Diaw could come up with anything when the Suns needed some clutch play. It said everything about the Suns' sputtering second-half offense and everything about the havoc Ginobili can create at both ends of the court. I see the Spurs sweeping the Suns; I just don't see how the Suns can have any confidence after losing two games where they blew double digit leads. Even the Mavericks think the Suns are HEARTLESS.
Raptors vs. Magic: Two playoff games, two 20-point, 20-rebound outings for Dwight Howard. This time it was obvious he was the difference. Orlando's 3-point touch evaporated, but Howard's 29 points and 20 rebounds powered the Magic past the Toronto Raptors, 104-103, Tuesday night (April 22) for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Chris Bosh had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, but missed a 19-footer with 1.9 seconds left that could have won the game. Jason Kapono scored 20 points, Jose Calderon had 18 and Carlos Delfino added 16 for the Raptors. Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis each scored 18 for Orlando. Hedo Turkoglu made the go-ahead layup and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Cavs vs. Wizards: The Cavs overpowered and out-played the Wizards on Monday (April 21) to go up 2 games to 0. LeBron James scored 30 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16, and the Cavs played their best game since the Feb. 21 megatrade, blowing out the Washington Wizards 116-86. The 30-point margin of victory was the largest in Cleveland's 112-game postseason history, and the Cavaliers' performance was perhaps their finest 48 minutes since November. The Wizards let Lebron pick them apart with 12 assists and nine rebounds, barely missing his third career postseason triple-double. James went to the bench with 6:12 left. At that point, the Cavaliers were leading by 24 points when Coach Mike Brown let the bench warmers get in on the massacre when he inserted reserves Dwayne Jones and Damon Jones. "I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first round," said Arenas and "We don't think they can beat us in the playoffs three years straight." Those comments followed Wizards forward DeShawn Stevenson calling James "overrated." DeShawn Stevenson???? Never heard of him. I'm sure the Wizards wish they had Boston first. In the third quarter, Washington center Brendan Haywood was ejected for a flagrant foul on James. Haywood didn't make much of an effort to go for the ball and shoved James hard with both hands as he drove and the All-Star went flying out of bounds. "It was scary," said James, who compared it to when he got undercut as a high school junior and broke his wrist. "I knew it was going to be a tough fall. I bounced up, though."
Rockets vs. Jazz: A 22 game winning streak doesn't mean much if your down 0-2 in the playoffs and that's where T-Mac and his Rockets are. Tracy Mcgrady had 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, but again managed to lose the game in the fourth quarter, as the Jazz pulled out their second win on Monday night in the best-of-seven series. McGrady, who has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs, fell just short of his first postseason triple-double, but he went 0-for-4 from the field and scored only one point in the final quarter. He scored 20 points in Game 1, but went 0-for-3 from the field in the fourth quarter of Utah's 93-82 victory. "I had no legs. I was on empty," McGrady said. "Banging with Matt Harpring, trying to rebound, trying to make plays for my team, trying to score, playing 43 minutes. That's a lot." Houston shot and rebounded better than it did in the first half of Game 1, but trailed by exactly the same score at the break, 47-41. Okur, who scored only four points in the opener, had 10 in the first half on Monday, including two 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds.
Celtics vs. Hawks: "I had to slow down as I ran through the tunnel and to hear the crowd, to hear the building rocking and the bleachers were shaking," Garnett said. "I had to take a minute for myself, man, just thank the Lord I was back in this position." The biggest trade of the NBA season was Garnett to Boston. It's not often that a trade on paper is actually as good in real life, but this trade has lived up to all expectations so far. Boston had the best record in the NBA this season and they look poised to make there run to the NBA championship without much competition except for maybe the Cavs. The Celtics led 26-13 with three minutes left in the first before the Hawks made it 29-27 on Marvin Williams' jumper with 10:39 left in the second. By that time, Atlanta's Josh Smith, second in the NBA with 2.8 blocks, already had three. Then Garnett, on Boston's bench with two fouls, returned and immediately hit a 14-footer to kick off the 6-0 run. "When we make runs to get back in the game, we can't let them make another run and go back up 10," Johnson said. With the score 35-31, Sam Cassell scored the game's next seven points, giving the Celtics a 42-31 lead with 5:11 left in the second. They pulled away in the third quarter behind their starting backcourt. They led 57-44 with eight minutes left in the period, before Allen's shooting spree preceded six straight Boston points by Rajon Rondo, who landed on the floor after his final basket that made it 73-55 with one quarter left. Rondo finished with 15 points. Ray Allen is in the playoffs for the first time in three seasons after going to Boston in an off-season trade with Seattle to provide a smooth shooting touch. He showed that when he hit his four consecutive shots, two of them 3-pointers. "Kevin did a good job in the second half communicating and getting the guys where they needed to be so they just couldn't get points in the paint," said Paul Pierce, who had 16 points.
Hornets vs. Mavericks: As dominant as Chris Paul was in his playoff debut last weekend, his encore was better. Paul had 32 points and a franchise playoff-record 17 assists, breaking Muggsy Bogues 1993 record of 15 assists, leading New Orleans to a 127-103 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night (April 22) that gave the Hornets a 2-0 lead in their first-round series. The series now heads to Dallas, where the Hornets have not won since January 1998. But that losing streak will end unless the Mavericks get some heart and faster players by Friday that can run with Paul and his supporting cast that are playing with championship confidence since the Hornets stormed back from a 12-point hole to win the series opener. Nowitzki led Dallas with 27 points, but spent most of the night looking frustrated, yelling at no one in particular after he threw one pass out of bounds. Brandon Bass was another bright spot for Dallas, muscling inside for 19 points. Reserve Jason Terry added 16 points and Josh Howard scored 10. The Mavs hoped Kidd would be a bigger factor in this game, but he finished with only seven points and eight assists. After Paul's dazzling 35-point, 10-assist torching in Game 1, Coach Avery Johnson said the Mavs would throw more double-teams at Paul, hoping to get the ball out of the star point guard's hands, but the Mavs double teams where about as effective as tae kwon do in a street fight. Paul easily split or dribbled around double-teams, scoring six points and assisting on eight baskets in the first quarter. "We'll take a look at some things, but we've got to have a better effort," Johnson said. "We've got to go home and get some home cooking. ... They protected their home court; we have a chance to go home and do the same thing. Like I've been saying all along, they are a No. 2 seed that deserves to be No. 2 and we've got to play much better."
76ers vs. Pistons: The Pistons -- who have at least reached the Eastern Conference finals the past five years -- trail only the San Antonio Spurs in playoff experience, while Philadelphia has the fewest combined games of postseason experience. "We've been here before," Richard Hamilton said. "A lot of guys on that team, it's their first time. .. They came out and played harder than us." The Pistons played well enough in stretches to lead 62-47 midway through the third quarter, but failed to stop the Sixers from rallying. Philadelphia went on a 10-0 run to get back in the game and took the lead midway through the fourth for the first time since late in the first quarter. The Sixers made just enough stops and shots to pull off the biggest upset in an opening game of a series during this postseason, with a 90-86 victory.
MMA
UFC 83: Georges St. Pierre avenged the biggest up set loss in MMA history at UFC 83 in Montreal on Saturday (April 19). He needed just 9 minutes and 45 seconds to dismantle Serra with more knees to the ribs then bombs have been dropped in Iraq. Serra Said in the post fight press conference that his camp prepared for what GSP was doing, but GSP was just too explosive for him. This is GSP's third straight win of total dominance with only one more contender (Jon Finch) left in the welterweight division. This makes me curious if he should even stay in the division. GSP is a very big welterweight and with Andersen Silva wiping out the middleweight division, there isn't any competition left for Silva, so GSP moving up could be a possibility. But when UFC president was asked if he would let GSP move up in weight to fight the middleweight champ, he said they would have to talk about it. A fight between GSP and Rick Franklin would also generate a lot of interest. Rich Franklin got back on track to earn a shot at a third beating by Andersen Silva, when he defeated an unconditioned, unprepared Travis Lutter. However, after Lutter's performance he does not deserve the privilege to fight professionally.
Chuck "The Ice Man" Liddell will not be able to fight on UFC's June 7 card in London, England, due to a badly torn hamstring. The 38-year-old Liddell (21-5) was set to fight Rashad Evans, himself a replacement for Mauricio Rua, at O2 Arena in the main event of UFC 85. Multiple sources tell BallerStatus.com that Sacramento, Calif.-based light heavyweight James Irvin could be the fighter to fill Liddell's spot, though the bout with Evans (11-0-1) has not been filled at this point. Irvin (14-4-1) knocked out Houston Alexander on April 2 at UFC fight SpikeTV. The UFC are slated to announce a new main event shortly, along with a full line-up of 13 fights for UFC 85, making it the biggest UFC event in over a decade. The event will include a heavyweight eliminator between Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum, a welterweight showdown between popular striker Marcus Davis and "The Ultimate Fighter" alumnus Mike Swick, a middleweight battle between Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites, and a light heavyweight clash between Luiz Cane and Jason Lambert.
EliteXC: They revealed Monday (April 21), it has re-signed Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano (she is pretty fine) and Robbie Lawler to long-term contracts, and all three athletes will take part in EliteXC's debut on CBS on May 31. The full, five-fight televised card includes: Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. James Thompson, champ Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for EliteXC middleweight title), Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young, Phil Baroni vs. Joey Villasenor, andJon Murphy vs. Brett Rogers.
NFL
Turns out Pacman Jones is not the tough guy he fronts to be in the strip clubs. The Associated Press reported that Adam "Pacman" Jones paid "extortion" money to a 29-year-old man arrested for a Las Vegas strip club shooting that left a club employee paralyzed back in 2007, police said. Arvin Kenti Edwards, of Renton, Wash., allegedly used go-betweens to reach Jones, who paid $15,000 in two installments after the shooting, according to a police report obtained Monday. "He paid $15,000 to his friends, who advised him that if he didn't pay the money then this guy would come after him," said Robert Langford, Jones' lawyer in Las Vegas. The 24-year-old Joneswent to Seattle on Friday (April 18) and picked Edwards from a police line-up, Langford said. He said Jones identified Edwards as the man who opened fire with a handgun a little before 5 a.m. Feb. 19, 2007, outside the strip club during the NBA's All-Star Weekend. Police have not provided details of the investigation that led to Edwards' arrest Friday on three counts of attempted murder with a weapon and three counts of battery with substantial bodily harm, all felonies.
Jones pleaded no contest Dec. 6 in Las Vegas to conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct in a plea deal that reduced two felony charges of coercion, which each carried a possible sentence of one to six years in prison. In return, he agreed to tell police what he knew about the gunman. However, Jones never acknowledged any role in the shooting. Police allege that Jones incited the brawl inside the club by showering strippers with cash and then became angry when the women picked up the money.
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