NFL Conference Championship Stupidity

Posted on January 26, 2021 by admin

On Sunday, the NFL had its Conference Championship games. For the NFC Championship, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveled to Lambeau Field to play the Green Bay Packers. With about 40 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter and Tampa Bay leading 14-10, the Buccaneers appeared to being attempting to get in position for a field goal attempt. However, Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady threw deep to Scotty Miller for a 39 yard touchdown. Green Bay cornerback Kevin King, who should have known the most important thing to do on the play was to prevent Miller from getting behind him, let him run right past him, giving Tampa Bay a 21-10 lead. King will probably be on a different team after this incredibly stupid play.

Green Bay received the 2nd half kickoff. Aaron Jones proceeded to fumble on their 3rd play, which the Buccaneers recovered on the Green Bay 8. On the next play, Brady threw another touchdown pass, this time to Cameron Brate, to give his team a 28-10 lead. This was probably Jones’ last play as a Packer, because he was injured on the play, and Green Bay probably won’t be able to re-sign him, because they are already over the salary cap for next year, not because of this fumble.

The Packers then drove 75 yards on 8 plays on their next drive, ending with an Aaron Rodgers’ 8 yard touchdown pass to Robert Tonyan, who somehow didn’t make the Pro Bowl, even though he led all NFL tight ends in touchdown catches with 11 in the regular season.

Brady threw an interception on Tampa Bay’s next drive, to Adrian Amos of the Packers. Green Bay converted this turnover into another touchdown pass, this time to Davante Adams, cutting the Tampa Bay lead to 28-23. Then Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur decided to attempt a 2-point conversion, when they didn’t need to, especially since it was still the 3rd quarter. The attempt failed, and they still trailed by 5.

Tampa Bay added a field goal in the 4th quarter, stretching the their lead to 31-23, with less than 5 minutes left in the game. Green Bay then drove 58 yards in 9 plays, to the Tampa Bay 8 yard, where it was now 4th and goal. Here’s where it gets really stupid. LaFluer decides to kick a field goal, rather than trying to tie the game with a touchdown and 2-point conversion, with only 2:09 remaining in the game.

The field goal made the score 31-26 Tampa Bay. So Green Bay still needed another touchdown to win the game, with no guarantee that they would get the ball back. The only possible reason to kick a field goal in that situation, is if you were down by 6 points or less, and another field goal would tie or win the game. This was essentially admitting defeat. LaFluer might as well have waved the white flag in surrender. If you don’t think your team can score a touchdown from the 8 yard line, with the eventual MVP at quarterback, then you shouldn’t be a head coach. Can you imagine Vince Lombardi kicking a field goal in this situation? Never! Remember him? His name is on the Super Bowl trophy. Lombardi went for the touchdown in the Ice Bowl, when a field goal would have forced overtime, and that worked out pretty well. LaFluer is lucky that he has a 28-8 record with the Packers, or his job might be in jeopardy.

Tampa Bay ran the clock out, helped by a very late pass interference call on 3rd down, that without the penalty, would have forced a punt back to the Packers. Was the penalty a correct call? Yes. But the referees repeatedly ignored the Buccaneers holding Packer receivers throughout the game, including on Rodgers’ first half interception.

In the AFC Championship game, the Buffalo Bills went to Arrowhead Stadium to face the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. After taking a 9-0 lead, the Chiefs woke up, and scored 3 straight touchdowns to take a 21-9 halftime lead. After Kansas City pushed the lead to 38-15, Buffalo pulled to within 17, late in the 4th quarter, on a Josh Allen touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie. Still down 3 scores, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott ridiculously decided to attempt a 2-point conversion. Do you see a theme here? Buffalo missed the conversion, and effectively conceded the game.

Buffalo then converted a highly unlikely successful onside kick to get the ball back. Then with about 4 minutes left, they kicked a field goal, cutting the lead to 14. If they kicked the 1-point conversion after their last touchdown, they could have still had a chance to score a touchdown and 2-point conversion to bring them within 1 score, but McDermott ended that chance with his stupid decision.

Whatever happened to the chart that coaches have showing when they should, and should not go for 2-point conversions? Some of these coaches apparently can’t add and subtract, in order to figure this out.

My rankings for stupidest decision in the conference championships are:

#3- Kevin King, for letting Scotty Miller run right past him for an easy touchdown.

#2 – Sean McDermott- for going for the 2-point conversion that cost his team any chance to mount a comeback.

#1 – Matt LaFluer – for cowardly kicking a field goal, rather than attempting to tie the game with 2 minutes left.

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Kobe, COVID-19, and Riots

Posted on June 6, 2020 by admin

The first half of 2020 has been really eventful, mostly in bad ways. On January 26th, Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash, along with his daughter and six other people. Kobe had won 5 NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was a global superstar. As the world was mourning his passing, and millions were coping with this tragedy, another global problem started to rear its ugly head in the United States…COVID 19, the Coronavirus.

COVID 19 started in Wuhan, China and quickly spread to other countries, and became a global pandemic. It started hitting the United States hard in March, which caused all sports to end their seasons by the middle of that month.

Some sports like, NASCAR, UFC and the PGA have started back to competition now, without fans in attendance. The NHL and NBA are planning to resume their seasons, probably with extended playoffs starting soon, and ending right about when the next season would normally start. The reason for the extended playoffs are for the teams who were in contention for the final playoff spots when the season was stopped, that lost regular season games in which to catch up. The NHL will expand from 16 to 24 teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, and the NBA will go from 16 to 20 or 22 in the NBA playoffs.

Then on May 25th, George Floyd, who is black, was taken into police custody after being accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit 20 dollar bill. Several minutes later, Floyd died, as white police officer Derek Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Chauvin was later arrested for 3rd degree murder, which later was changed to the more serious 2nd degree murder charge.

The results of this incident started with outrage and protests, and of course, led to rioting. The rioting seemed to go on almost without response for a few days, then the police intervened, and the National Guard was also called in. (The rioters didn’t maintain social distancing of 6 feet from each other, which is required for safety from COVID-19). The verbal outrage from the black community has continued, and anything other than total agreement with whatever they say, is met with accusations of racism, and/or other name calling. I can’t even go on the ESPN app on my phone without being bombarded with videos of athletes shooting their mouths off.

Drew Brees, the white quarterback of the New Orleans Saints was roundly criticized for saying that he would never support someone who disrespects the flag. Amazingly, this patriotic comment from Brees, was roundly criticized by blacks, some even going as far as saying his reputation has been tarnished, that he will never live this down with his teammates, and even that he should retire. Brees apologized the next day, but that wasn’t enough. Apparently, when it comes to saying anything not 100% in lock step with the Black Lives Matter community, we as Americans are no longer entitled to freedom of speech, which is the First Amendment to the Constitution. By the way, how about “All Lives Matter”, instead of just Black Lives Matter; that seems less racist to me.

To sum up, an idiotic white cop, used extreme physical abuse on a black prisoner which caused his death. He has been arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. Protests are fine, as long as they are peaceful, but rioting is never acceptable, to a so-called intelligent, civilized population. People who had nothing to do with what happened to George Floyd, are having their stores looted and property destroyed by these ignorant rioters. Their excuse is they are angry. What? That’s no excuse at all for their criminal behavior. Because of the rioting, cities around the country enforced a curfew, as early as 6 pm for several days. A lot of law-abiding citizens aren’t even home from work by that time.

By the way, I thought Colin Kaepernick and other players were taking care of this police brutality situation by kneeling during the National Anthem before NFL games. Games in which Kaepernick wouldn’t even play, as a back-up quarterback. This is what Brees was most likely referencing with his comment that he doesn’t condone disrespecting our flag, which is exactly what this behavior does. How has that worked out for you, Kaepernick?

I realize this post is not politically correct, but I don’t care. No matter what anyone says, I still believe in the First Amendment.

It’s time to move on… Let’s get back to normal life in the United States of America, and start playing and watching all the sports again, first without fans in attendance, and later with filled stadiums and arenas. We’ll get through all this, and hopefully end up better in the long run. God Bless America!

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Why I Always Root Against LeBron James

Posted on June 13, 2018 by admin

The NBA Finals just finished last Friday with the Golden State Warriors winning their third championship in the last 4 years. For some reason, most of the attention during this 4-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, was focused on LeBron James. Yes, his team, whether it was the Cavaliers or back when he was with the Miami Heat, has made the NBA Finals 8 years in a row. But when you lose 5 of those 8, and 6 of 9 overall, doesn’t that make him more of a player that has, but rarely wins the big one?

Here are a few of the reasons that I always root against LeBron James. I first heard about him when he was in high school. A certain sports magazine made me sick of him even before he skipped college to go straight to the NBA. By the way, how did this poor kid end up driving a Hummer during his senior year in high school? Was this even investigated? I know that he said that his mother gave him the Hummer. That sounds wrong in a few different ways.

So the Cleveland Cavaliers made James the first choice in the 2003 NBA Draft. He did stick around for 7 years with the team that drafted him, even getting to his first NBA Finals in 2007, where his team was swept in 4 games by the San Antonio Spurs.

James didn’t get back to the NBA Finals until 2011, where he began his streak of 8 years in a row. But he was now with the Miami Heat, where he basically created this so-called super team that was supposed to win the championship how many times? Wasn’t it 7 or 8 times? James joined previous champion Dwyane Wade, and recruited Chris Bosh to join them. Well in 2011, the Dallas Mavericks, and mainly Dirk Nowitski took them down in 6 games.

The next year the Heat did win the championship against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games. The idle worship from the media reached another a new level after this goal was finally attained. 2013 brought another championship for the Heat, thanks in large part to Ray Allen hitting the winning shot in Game 6, to stave off elimination and force a Game 7, which they also won.

This Miami Heat team would surely become an all-time dynasty now, right? Not exactly. In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs slammed the door in their face in 5 games. So James of course, worked harder, did all he could to win another championship in Miami right? Nope. He went back to Cleveland, where fans burned his jersey when he left, to join Kyrie Irving, and he recruited Kevin Love to join them. Does this sound familiar?

The problem with this was that a team was developing in Northern California, that hadn’t won a championship in 40 years. The Golden State Warriors met the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals in 2015. The Warriors, led by Stephen Curry, beat the Cavaliers in 6 games. James probably would have left there, but he was under contract for at least one more year.

The Cavaliers regrouped and made it back to the finals in 2016, against the Warriors again. This time Golden State was up 4 games to 1, and blew the series. Cleveland won the last 3 games, with a huge assist from Kyrie Irving, James won his third title. This was his most impressive championship in my opinion. I thought it was over going into game 5.

Last year, guess who was in the finals? Golden State and Cleveland again. With the addition of Kevin Durant, the Warriors won in 5 games. Irving scored 40 points in Game 4, to delay the inevitable for one more game. But this would be the last finals that Irving and James would play together.

This year, it was 4th time’s the charm, with Golden State meeting Cleveland in the finals for an unprecedented 4th consecutive year. Without Kyrie Irving, who wanted out of Cleveland, the Cavaliers were basically a 2-man team. Irving is now on the Boston Celtics, who lost to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals in 7 games, but Irving missed the entire series because of injury.

The 2018 NBA Finals resulted in a 4-game Golden State sweep, although Cleveland had a good chance to win Game 1. So James is now 3-6 in the NBA Finals. He can opt-out of his Cleveland contract now, and he will, because he wants to be on an immediate contender, which is what Cleveland was when he went back there. Hmmm.

All these comparisons to Michael Jordan are laughable to me. Jordan is 6-0 in NBA Finals. He had to try to get past the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics early in his career. The Lakers won 5 championships, and the Celtics won 3 in the 1980s. Then he had to fight with the Bad Boys in Detroit. The Pistons won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990. That was what Jordan had to contend with in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics and Pistons. Jordan also took a really bad team in Chicago, to 6 championships in 8 years. It would have been 8 straight, if he didn’t play baseball in between the three-peats.

The Eastern Conference is getting better, with the Celtics and 76ers coming back to prominence, but in the last 8 years, it’s been a joke. James had a clear trip to the finals, to play whoever survived in the Western Conference.

James is a great basketball player, but why is most of the attention focused on the best player on a team getting swept in the NBA Finals? I heard Irving left Cleveland because he didn’t want to be in James’ shadow anymore. Maybe he didn’t like his big mouth, that he shoots off about any time a racial or political event takes place, usually without knowing the facts.

He should take a tip from Michael Jordan, who is still 3 championships ahead of James, even though he played 4 years of college basketball, which James didn’t, and spent almost 2 years playing baseball. When pressed to get political at certain times, Jordan basically refused. James has the right to free speech, but I have the right to not like what he says, and always root against him.

So to sum up why I always root against LeBron James. The media made me sick, and continues to make me nauseous, with their idol worship of him. He keeps switching teams, when his plans don’t work out exactly how he wants, and he shoots his mouth off about non-basketball related topics. By the way, Stephen Curry and company have now won as many championships in the last 4 years, as James has in 15 years.

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Are The Seahawks And Colts In Trouble Already?

Posted on September 23, 2015 by admin

After 2 weeks into the 2015 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts are both 0-2. How much trouble does this put each team in as far as making the NFL playoffs? Only about 10% of teams that start the season 0-2 even make the playoffs, let alone do anything once they reach the playoffs.

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys are the only glaring exception as a success story, starting the season 0-2. They repeated as Super Bowl champions that year, after re-signing running back Emmitt Smith following the 0-2 start.

I think the Colts are in more trouble with their poor start than the Seahawks. The Seahawks who won the Super Bowl 2 years ago, and then were a last second interception away from winning another one last year, can improve their flailing secondary immediately by re-signing safety Cam Chancellor, who is currently holding out for a new contract. Although he should not be rewarded for holding out one year after signing a 4-year contract.

The Seahawks are in a tough division, maybe the toughest in the entire NFL, the NFC West, and they are currently the only team without a win in the division, after their 27-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. The Arizona Cardinals lead the division at 2-0, while the St. Louis Rams and the San Francisco 49ers are each 1-1.

However, the Seahawks have a pretty easy schedule for their next 6 games. They do play 3 teams that are 2-0, but one is the Carolina Panthers, which won’t stay undefeated very long, and another is the Dallas Cowboys, who look like a MASH unit, with Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, and Jason Witten injured. Only Witten might be back when Seattle comes to town on November 1st.

The Colts aren’t in that much trouble either. They are in the AFC South, which is an easy division. The other teams in the division are the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans. Only the Jaguars and the Titans have a win, so the Colts are winless, but only one game out of first place in their division at this point.

The problems with the Colts lie in their offensive line, which has been juggling players at every position other than left tackle, and at quarterback. Yes, I’m talking about Andrew Luck. After the 20-7 loss to the New York Jets on Monday night, Luck has more turnovers than anyone in the NFL since the start of last season. This may be a surprising statistic considering many have anointed him as the next great quarterback.

Indianapolis will probably still win their division, even with the 0-2 start, but Seattle will have a hard time catching the Cardinals, although they do play them twice later this year. I think both teams will still make the playoffs, especially if Seattle gets Chancellor back soon. The Colts do need to cut way back on their turnovers, and shore up their offensive line somewhat, and they should be fine. There are still 14 games left in the season, so it’s not time to panic.

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Ronda Rousey – The Most Dominant Athlete Today

Posted on August 4, 2015 by admin

The most dominant athlete in any sport today, is a woman, Ronda Rousey. She is a mixed martial arts fighter in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). On Saturday night at UFC 190, she extended her undefeated streak to 12, with a 34-second demolition of previously undefeated Bethe Correia of Brazil, in Rio De Janeiro.

Rousey, who is from the United States, had extra motivation for this fight, when Correia mouthed off about the suicide of Rousey’s father. Rousey said she crossed the line, and showed the beatdown you receive once that line has been crossed.

This was the 11th first round submission or knockout in Rousey’s 12 fights. It brings to mind the domination of a young Mike Tyson in boxing. Tyson’s first 12 fights included 9 first round knockouts. The only bad part of both of their performances is the brevity of their pay-per-view experiences. You can’t blame them for being that good, but the short fights are disappointing.

Rousey dedicated the match to recently deceased wrestler, Roddy Piper, who Rousey took the nickname “Rowdy” from. Normally, Rousey wins by submission, but this time Correia, who questioned her punching power, learned that she had plenty.

Rousey’s popularity keeps rising with each dominant win. It doesn’t hurt that she’s attractive, especially outside the ring. At first, UFC President Dana White said he wasn’t interested in having women fight in the UFC. I’m sure he’s very glad that he changed his mind. He says that Rousey is the reason he did change his mind.

With some of the top male stars in the UFC testing positive for drugs, including Anderson Silva for steroids, and Jon Jones for cocaine, Rousey has become the rising star of the sport, and perhaps the biggest star overall now.

Like all dominant athletes and teams, they will have many fans always rooting for them, as well as fans hoping to knock them off the top of the heap. This only helps the popularity of a sport in this position. Who knew that the women’s portion of the UFC would become this big, this fast, mainly because of one person, Ronda Rousey?

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The U.S. Women Get Revenge In Winning The World Cup

Posted on July 7, 2015 by admin

The United States women won their first World Cup soccer championship since 1999 with a 5-2 win over Japan in the finals in Canada. Carli Lloyd was the brightest star as she had the first hat trick in a Women’s World Cup final ever, and she only needed 16 minutes to do it. This was the 3rd World Cup title for the Americans.

The other 2 goals for the United States were from Lauren Holiday and Tobin Heath. Holiday slipped in a goal between Lloyd’s 2nd and 3rd goal, while Heath put the final nail in the coffin, finishing the scoring in the 54th minute.

Japan did stage a bit of a comeback, after falling behind 4-0 early. Yuki Ogimi scored a goal at the 27th minute, while their other goal was actually an own goal, accidentally knocked in by Julie Johnston of the United States. This win avenged the World Cup final loss to Japan in 2011.

Lloyd not surprisingly won the Golden Ball award as the best player of the tournament, while Hope Solo of the United States goalie won her 2nd straight Golden Glove award, given to the best goalkeeper of the World Cup.

The television ratings for the Women’s World Cup final was the highest rated soccer game in the United States of all time. The telecast had an 18.3 rating at its highest point. By contrast, the highest rating for a men’s soccer game in the U.S. was during last year’s World Cup at 9.1. Yes, the women had a tv rating just over double of the best rating the men ever had.

It just goes to show you that most of the United States still doesn’t care about men’s soccer at all, mainly because they aren’t very good. While the interest in women’s soccer is much higher, because they actually have a good chance to win a World Cup, which they have now done 3 times. Plus it doesn’t hurt when some of the girls on the team are nice looking, like Alex Morgan.

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The Golden State Warriors Are NBA Champions

Posted on June 17, 2015 by admin

The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, to win their first championship in 40 years. Andre Iguodala won the Finals MVP, scoring 16.3 points per game, as well as doing by far the best job of defending against LeBron James. Iguodala hadn’t been in the starting rotation the entire playoffs, until head coach Steve Kerr started him in Game 4, with the Warriors down 2 games to 1.

The Warriors responded by winning 3 games in a row to win the title. Reigning league MVP Stephen Curry scored 25 points in Game 6, and became the 6th player ever to win his first MVP and first championship in the same year. The last player do accomplish this feat was Shaquille O’Neal in 2000.

Kerr became the first rookie head coach to win a title since Pat Riley back in 1982. The Warriors didn’t come out of nowhere to win the NBA Finals. they achieved the 3rd best record ever, regular season and playoffs combined, at 83-20. Only the Chicago Bulls in 1996 and 1997 had better records, and they had that guy named Michael Jordan on those teams.

I’m actually surprised that Cleveland even won 2 games in the Finals. After losing Kevin Love early in the playoffs, and Kyrie Irving at the end of Game 1 of the Finals, LeBron James was basically a 1-man gang. He did get enough help from guard Matthew Dellavedova and center Timofey Mosgov to win Games 2 and 3, but Dellavedova especially was largely ineffective after that.

When the Warriors changed their lineup, taking out Andrew Bogut, and starting Iguodala instead, their team was smaller and faster. Cleveland didn’t have an answer for this change. While James kept putting up big numbers, he didn’t get much help from the rest of the team. It might have been a different story if Irving and Love played the whole series, but I think Golden State still would have won.

The Warriors have a very bright future, with such a young team. Their oldest player is 32-year old David Lee, and he doesn’t even start anymore. Curry is 27 and Klay Thompson is 25. They will be strong competitors for the championship for many years to come, as long as they keep their core intact.

The Cavaliers will be back, assuming that James doesn’t opt-out of his contract. I don’t think he will, this year. But if they don’t win a title next year, he will move on to try to build a team somewhere else I’m sure. Loyalty to the Cleveland area be damned. He should stay in Cleveland, but that’s not the way he’s been in the past.

It’s nice to have a team like the Warriors win the championship that hasn’t done it in 40 years. Although the Cavaliers has never won one. In fact, the last title by any Cleveland team was the Browns in 1964, and that was before they joined the NFL. That streak will extend for at least one more year.

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The Chicago Blackhawks Are Stanley Cup Champions…Again

Posted on June 16, 2015 by admin

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night, to win the National Hockey League Championship for the 3rd time in the last 6 years. Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane provided the only scoring, and defenseman Keith also went home with the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player.

The Blackhawks were able to celebrate winning a championship on home ice for the first time in 77 years. Although the Stanley Cup was late in its arrival, it wasn’t too late for the excess capacity crowd of 22,424 to stick around to celebrate with their team.

The Lightning only scored a total of 2 goals in the final 3 games of the finals, all wins for Chicago. Tampa Bay ended their playoff run with the only 3-game losing streak of their entire season. Their captain, Steven Stamkos, ended the playoffs with an 8-game streak without scoring a goal.

Between Stamkos’ lack of productivity, and the injury problems that hit the Lightning during the finals, Chicago was just too much for them. Goalie Ben Bishop played almost all of the finals despite tearing his right groin in a Game 3 win. Tyler Johnson broke his right wrist early in the series. Nikita Kucherov missed Game 6 due to running into the Chicago goal post in Game 5, and incurring an injury somewhere in the area between his neck and right shoulder.

Injuries are a part of sports though. You can’t take anything away from the Blackhawks, who after winning the Stanley Cup 5 years ago, had to dump several players due to financial reasons, only to win it again in 2013, and today. Head coach Joel Quenneville continues to climb the ranks of the greatest coaches in NHL history. He now has 114 postseason wins, and 3 championships.

Every game in the finals was decided by one goal until Game 6. In fact, neither team even had a 2-goal lead in any game until Kane scored 14:46 into the 3rd period. Kane and Captain Jonathan Toews didn’t have a particularly good finals, but Kane finished the playoffs tied with Johnson for most points scored at 23, while Toews was tied with Keith for 4th. Kucherov was 3rd with 22.

Keith was the unanimous choice for the Conn Smythe, and finished the playoffs with 21 points, and easily the best plus/minus with a +21. He also led everyone who played at least 7 games in the postseason in ice time, with 31:06 minutes played per game. He richly deserved to be named the most valuable player.

The long hockey season is now over, but because the season lasts 8 months, we only have to wait until October, for the next regular season to begin. Will the Blackhawks be able to win back-to-back titles, and 4 in 7 years, or will someone else step up, like these young and talented Lightning, the Anaheim Ducks, who took Chicago to 7 games in the conference finals, or some other team. We shall find out…in 12 months.

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The Cavaliers Lose Game 1 Of The Finals and Kyrie Irving

Posted on June 6, 2015 by admin

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors in overtime 108-100. They also lost their starting point guard Kyrie Irving in overtime, for the rest of the Finals, with a fractured left kneecap.

The Cavaliers led most of the way, including establishing an early 14-point lead, but the Warriors kept chipping away until they were tied at 73 at the end of the 3rd quarter, then the teams were tied at 98 at the end of regulation. However, overtime was all Golden State. They outscored Cleveland 10-2, and Cleveland’s only points were by LeBron James with 8 seconds left.

James had a huge game with 44 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, but missed the possible game-winner at the end of regulation, to force overtime. Irving had 23 points in the game, but only one other Cavalier was in double figures, center Timofey Mosgov had 16 points. Tristan Thompson did have 15 rebounds though.

The Warriors were led by MVP Stephen Curry‘s 26 points and 8 assists, while Klay Thompson heated up in the 2nd half, to finish with 21 points. Golden State had 5 players in double figures. So where does this leave us with Irving out for the rest of the Finals? How much of a chance does Cleveland still have? Almost none!

The Cavaliers are already missing Kevin Love, who has been out since early in the playoffs. That means without Irving, 2/3 of their Big 3 is injured. While James is clearly their best player, one player does not a team make. Even with 44 points from James, and the Warriors not playing particularly well, Golden State still won, and Irving played almost the whole game.

The NBA Finals should be over within 5 games. I think Cleveland might win either Game 3 or 4 at home, but that’s it. Golden State was going to win the series anyway, but the Irving injury just makes it easier.

Speculation has already started about how long Love will be with Cleveland, and don’t forget, James can opt-out of his contract at the end of this year. Yes, all the praise heaped on him for his loyalty in returning to his hometown team, but his contract allows him to leave after the Finals are over, if he wants. I don’t think he will, but he does have a history of leaving when the going gets tough.

He left Cleveland, who drafted him, so he could join Dwyane Wade and lure Chris Bosh to the Miami Heat where he was going to win how many, 9 Championships? Was that how many he said? 4 years later, and 2 titles won, he came back to Cleveland, to join Irving, and lure Love, to create another Big 3. He is in his 5th straight Finals, which hasn’t been done since the Boston Celtics were in it 10 years in a row, from 1957-1966, but after James loses this year, he will be 2-4 in NBA Finals in his career. Enough about him.

I’m looking forward to the crowning of a new NBA Champion in the Golden State Warriors, who haven’t won a title since 1975. Head coach Steve Kerr, in his rookie season, knows a little bit about winning championships himself. He won 5 as a player; 3 with the Chicago Bulls and 2 with the San Antonio Spurs. He actually made over 45% of his 3-pointers attempted, in his career. It will be interesting to see how many championships he will win as a head coach, 2015 will be his first.

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The Blackhawks Face The Lightning For The Stanley Cup

Posted on May 31, 2015 by admin

The Chicago Blackhawks will play the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Stanley Cup, starting on Wednesday in Tampa Bay. The Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, to advance to the finals for the chance to win their 3rd title since 2010. Tampa Bay also needed 7 games, to dispense of the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals, with a 2-0 win in Game 7. Both conference finals went the full 7 games for the first time since 2000.

Chicago overcame a 3-2 series deficit to Anaheim, by winning Game 6 at home, before their Game 7 win on Saturday night. Their captain Jonathan Toews took command of Game 7 with an early goal in the 1st period, then added another before the period was over.  The Blackhawks pushed the lead to 4-0 on a bogus goal, that was kicked in by Marian Hossa. The referees let it count, thereby making the mountain too high for the Ducks to climb.

Although I’m biased, because I’m a Ducks fan, I’m certainly not as biased as the referees were in this series. Chicago frequently hit Ducks players in the face with their sticks and were not called for penalties. In Game 7, Anaheim’s Nate Thompson was bleeding from the mouth from one of these incidents, which should have been an automatic double minor, but of course no penalty was called. The Blackhawks would dive on the ice to take penalties, and it usually worked to their advantage. They may have won the series anyway, but it would have been nice to see the Ducks only have to defeat the Blackhawks and not the refs too.

In the east, after the 7-3 beatdown administered to the Tampa Bay Lightning at home in Game 6, the New York Rangers were the heavy favorite to win Game 7 and the series at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, and for good reason. The Rangers hadn’t lost a Game 7 at home, in any series, or when facing elimination since Henrik Lundqvist has been their goalie since 2005.

But all that came to end with the Lightning’s 2-0 victory in Game 7. Tampa Bay did have some statistics on their side too, mainly from this postseason. The Lightning are now 9-0 in the 2015 playoffs when they score first. Their goalie, Ben Bishop, shut out the Rangers in consecutive road games in this series, and extended his scoreless streak against them in New York to an amazing 145 minutes and 43 seconds.

Bishop was the first goalie in NHL history to record 2 shutouts as well as having 3 games giving up at least 5 games in the same playoff series. This wild sway in productivity however worked out for the Lightning. They are now seeking their first Stanley Cup Championship since 2004, the only other time they were in the finals. The Rangers haven’t won the Cup since 1994.

Tampa Bay will now face the Chicago Blackhawks for the title. The Lightning were 1-0-1 against the Blackhawks in the regular season, winning 4-0, and losing in a shootout. I picked the Lightning to face the Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals, and I will stick with Tampa Bay to win the Cup. The series will go the 7 games.

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