LAST SHOT

Ill start in the west, with the Spurs who play tonight in Oklahoma City. This isn't just a must win game for  the Spurs; this is a they have to win. The Spurs went from being the hottest team in the league, by winning 20 straight games. 10 regular season and 10 post season games. At one point, people were starting to wonder if the Spurs would actually lose a game in the playoffs. I thought it was one of the most blasphemous things Ive ever heard. People were just in the living in the moment, and that's fine. But to think that the Spurs would sweep OKC to get to the NBA Finals, and then sweep either the Celtics or Heat was just asinine. Now do I think the Spurs can win tonight in OKC...yes; but will they win, NO.

The Thunder crowd is one of the best, if the not the best crowd in the NBA. The Spurs are a veteran team with a lot a playoff experience. You can never count them out, never. But in the past 3 games, no matter what the Spurs did to get the game close or even when they had leads late it the game, OKC found a way to get it done. That's what championship teams do, they find a way to get it done. Doesn't matter if its ugly, at this point in the season...a win is a win. I'm taking the Thunder tonight by 10. #ThunderUp

Now to the Miami Heat. *woosah woosah woosah* Ok, I think I'm good now.

The Miami Heat are in the same boat as the Spurs...one game from elimination. Here is a team that most expected and were picked to win it all this year. Right now, it doesn't look that way. After losing to the Celtics last night at home in game 5. The Heat now travel to Boston to play game 6 and possibly the last game of their season. Somebody outside of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade has got to score more than t-9 points. The Heat have been exposed this series. Doc Rivers has had an excellent game plan throughout this series. Although the Celtics lost games 1 and 2 in Miami, they have clearly outplayed the Heat. Boston has made all the hustle plays and gotten stops when they needed them. Miami plays in spurts, and right now as a team, they are not good enough to turn it on and turn it off.

A positive note for Miami is that Chris Bosh played in his first game after missing the last 9 due to an abdominal injury. I expect him to play anywhere from 25- 32 min in game 6. At this point, the Heat have to play desperate. Boston has nothing to lose right now. If they win the game, they go to the Finals. And if they manage to lose, then they go back to Miami for game 7 where I believe they would feel comfortable doing. Nothing scares this Boston team. Miami needs to play a flawless game to win tomorrow night. Im still sticking with my pick, with Miami winning the series, but It does not look good.

HARD WORK

Justin Combs has EARNED an athletic scholarship to UCLA. A lot of people are taking offense to this. Why are they doing this; maybe because his father is hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.

When I was growing up, my dad and every coach taught me...if you want something, you got to work hard for it. Nothing is given to you, you must earn it. Thats exactly what happened with Diddy's son Justin. Neither athletic or academic scholarships are given to anybody. There is a process. You must work hard, study hard, and perform at the end of the day to get a scholarship. I think its a race issue, yet again.

Here we have a young man, who graduated from prep school with a 3.75 G.P.A, and was a 3 star recruit in New York. He had several offers from Division 1 schools; Virginia, Iowa, and Illinois were the other schools interested in Justin. Obviously, he was doing something right on and off the field. So what his dad has money, if I have the ability to go out and earn an athletic scholaship, then im going to do it. That is a proud moment for any parent, for their child to recieve a scholarship for their hard work they put in for 4 years of high school. Just because you have money and a certain type of celebrity status, that doesnt mean you are not human. Celebrities are humans and have a life to live as well. That just shows that Diddy was a responsible parent and gave his son the best. Did money help, yes. But, we can not blame Justin Combs for his father being a wealthy man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYqno-e8MaQ

To earn a full athletic scholarship, it takes more than just having a wealthy parent. If you have never been an athlete or played any sport, I dont think you should be able to comment on this. All youre looking at is that his father is the richest rapper in the industry, with a net worth of $550 million. Oh, and he's AFRICAN AMERICAN. Get over it people, everyone has the same opportunity...some just take advantage of the opportunity presented to him. LET THAT MAN COOK

Nicklas Lidstrom Retires

The Detroit Red Wings Defenseman time has come...he has decided to retire.

The 4 time Stanley Cup Champion and 7 time Norris Trophy winner has retired after 20 seasons with the Wings. Lindstrom set an NHL record by playing 1,564 games with a single team. He held off on retirement the last two years by signing 1 year contracts. And he could've signed another 1 year contract for about 6 million, but he knew it was time to call it quits. Lindstrom said,

"My drive and motivation are not where they to need to be to play at this level"

Nick Lindstrom was one of the best defenseman to play the game. In his career he had 264 goals and 1,142 points. After being very durable for 19 seasons, he missed a career high 11 games last season with a bruised right ankle and was out for another game with the flu. Last year Lidstrom won his last Norris Trophy. He was a finalist for the trophy for the 11th time in 13 seasons. You can not replace a Nicklas Lindstrom, you can only hope you get someone who has a work ethic he did and hope everything turns out for the best. Its only a matter of time before the #5 jersey is hanging from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena. It will be just the 7th jersey to be retired in Wings history. The latest to be retired is Lindstrom's former teammate, Steve Yzerman. Red Wings general manager said,

"I think he's been the most valuable player of his era and will go down as one of the greatest Red Wings of all time." 

THANK YOU FOR 20 YEARS IN HOCKEY TOWN!!!

REALLY DUDE

So last night before OKC and the Spurs tipped off, rapper Lil Wayne was there to watch the game. Wayne loves his sports, and has been seen at various arenas sitting courtside. Only thing is, he didnt quite make it inside of the arena. When he didnt get into the arena, he went to twitter and posted:

"Was going to go to the Thunder game tonight but was denied by the team to be in their arena. Wow. Smh. Go Spurs!"

After being "denied" entry, Wayne texted ESPN's Colleen Dominguez and said,

"They denied me the tix. Didnt want me in their arena. They also said if I do come, I can only sit behind the bench, not on the floor & that I wouldn't be able to get any special escort nor entrance. They said its the 'Oklahoma way'."

Thunder Spokesman Dan Mahoney said Waynes representatives contacted the team about ticketsand wanted to sit on the front row, and none of those seats was available. Oklahoma City sold out every home game during the regular season and playoffs this season. Common sense would tell you that a playoff game would sell out, but I guess not to everybody. Mahoney also said, "We'd love to have him at a game, but like anyone else, he needs a ticket."

With that said, REALLY DUDE....youre just gonna show up to a playoff game with no ticket, REALLY DUDE!!!

GAME ON

The San Antonio Spurs have finally lost a game. This is the first lost the team has suffered since April 11. They were riding a 20 game win streak heading into game 3 in OKC last night, but the Thunder had a different idea.

BAM...ZAP...BOOM!!! I had to reach back into my childhood real quick. But that's how the game seemed last night, as the Oklahoma City Thunder blitzed the Spurs from the opening tip of game 3. OKC got out to a quick 8-0 lead. San Antonio would make a run of their own, but the lead wouldn't last. Thabo Sefolosha was locked in defensively. Thunder head coach, Scott Brooks made a few changes for game 3.
The first thing is, he went to a smaller line up for longer stretches of the game. The second thing was, putting 6'8 wing man Thabo Sefolosha on Tony Parker. You could tell it bothered TP. Parker finished the game with 16 points on 6-12 shooting from the field. Sounds like a good game, but its more than the numbers.

The Thunder were able to switch most screens when the Spurs went pick and roll, and were just a step ahead the whole game. Throughout the game you could tell that the Spurs settled for shots sometimes. The Thunder also got a great contribution from their front line. Ibaka and Perkins were very active on both ends of the court. They combined for 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, and 6 blocks. That's what they need from those two. They need their presence to be felt on the court and I think its safe to say, it was definitely their last night.

San Antonio had been averaging 109 points per game during their month and a half winning streak and had been held to double digits twice. Parker and Duncan didn't play in the final 15 minutes of the game, and Popovich pulled the plug after three straight turnovers allowed the Thunder to reach a 23 point lead early in the fourth quarter. Now the series begins. In another must win game for OKC coming up Saturday night. We will see if they can keep themselves from being on the brink of elimination.

OT THRILLER

53 minutes were played in last nights game with Miami and Boston. Rajon Rondo played all of them...Kevin Garnett played 45..Ray Allen and Paul Pierce played 43...LeBron played 48 minutes...D.Wade played 44...im just tired thinking about this.

Pick it up in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter. Ray Allen tied the game at 99 with 34 seconds to go in the game. Next possesion for the Heat, LeBron missed a lay up got the offensive rebound and then, it was that time again. The LAST SECOND SHOT.  LeBron gets the ball back at the top of the key with Rondo guarding him; dribble...dribble...dribble...pull up from the right elbow...and CLANK!!! OVERTIME

From there on, you can call it the D.Wade show. He scored 8 of 23 points in OT. Including a 3 point play where he was fouled by Garnett and while Wade was on the ground and proceeding to stand up the two ballers from Chi-Town starred each other down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mtn-sT5VBM

Rondo scored all 12 of Boston's points in the overtime period. He finished with 44 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds in the game, One of the most unbelievalble performances ive seen by a point guard or anybody period in the playoffs. The only thing is, they lost. In the postgame conference Rondo said, "We lost, simple as that."

This was Miami's fifth straight game in which they outscored its opponent by double digits in the 3rd quarter. In each of the previous 4 games, Miami never trailed in the final period. Miami was down by 15 in the1st half and by as many as 11 in the 3rd quarter, before a pair of 3 pointers by James started a comeback. Wade made consecutive jumpers midway through the 3rd to shake off a slow start to his night. Moments later, Wade set up Haslem for a 3 point play with 2:55 left that gave Miami its first lead, 73-71, since the opening minutes. Game 3 is in Boston Friday at 8:30 on ESPN.

The #1 Pick Is....

The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery took place yesterday in New York. This is always an exciting time of the year, especially for the team that didn't do so good the year before. What that does is give that team a better chance at getting the #1 pick in the draft and the best player coming out of college.

In this case, it didn't work out for the Charlotte Bobcats. They lose again and the season hasn't started yet. Instead, the New Orleans Hornets get the #1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft next month. The good news for the Hornets comes after a season in which they traded All Star point guard Chris Paul and a couple of years where they couldn't do much to upgrade the roster while the league was looking for a buyer. Its safe to say, the Hornets should have a solid season next year, by adding future #1 overall pick in the draft Anthony Davis to add with the pieces from the team last year. Sorry Bobcats!!! #FEARTHEBROW