NBA Play-offs

1

Well we are in the thick of the play-offs at the moment. A lot of dramatic events occurred in the first round with both prior year finalist being beaten. The Dallas Mavericks was a big surprise.

Some cracking first round matches. The Gem was the Utah Jazz overcoming the Houston Rockets. The rockets went 2-0, with the Jazz bringing it back to 2-2, before they went into the decider at 3-3. The last quarter of the final game was breath-taking to watch. Around 9sec on the clock level at 99 all and the Jazz just pulled ahead.

My money is on my team though, the Phoenix Suns. They have it all this year. Lost out to the Dallas Mavericks last year (throw it away if the truth be known) in the Western Conference Final. We were missing Stoudimere last year through injury and Raja Bell was fooked (could only play a few minutes before having to go to an Oxygen tent in the dressing room. Both fully fit this year and with Nash on fire and in line to get a 3rd MVP I can’t see them losing. I know they are 1-0 down but that was because Nash was taken out of the game. Watch out Nash will break the record for number of assists. He made 23 in game 4 against Lakers and in his current form he can certainly break the 24 record.

My Prediction is Suns v Pistons final.

2

Only start taking notice of this when the play-offs start like your typical Munster rugby bandwagon supporter. Great win for the Suns over the Lakers - they really demolished them. Love watching Nash play and hope they win it for his sake.

3

Here’s the latest standings from NBA.com. It’s at the conference semi final stage at the moment. Need to pick up my interest in this now. Suns and Spurs should be a real battle. Hoping for a Suns/Pistons final but I wonder if LeBron can carry the Cavs to one?

Western Conference:

(2) SUNS vs. (3) SPURS
Gm 1: SAS 111, PHX 106
Gm 2: PHX 101, SAS 81
Gm 3: Sat., May 12 @ SAS, 8 ET, ABC
Gm 4: Mon., May 14 @ SAS, 9:30 ET TNT
Gm 5: Wed., May 16 @ PHX, TBD, TNT
Gm 6*: Fri., May 18 @ SAS, TBD, ESPN
Gm 7*: Sun., May 20 @ PHX, TBD, TBD

(4) JAZZ vs. (8) WARRIORS
Gm 1: UTA 116, GSW 112
Gm 2: Wed., May 9 @ UTA, 9 ET, TNT
Gm 3: Fri., May 11 @ GSW, 9 ET, ESPN
Gm 4: Sun., May 13 @ GSW, 9 ET, TNT
Gm 5*: Tue., May 15 @ UTA, TBD, TNT
Gm 6*: Thu., May 17 @ GSW, TBD, ESPN
Gm 7*: Sun., May 20 @ UTA, TBD, TBD

Eastern Conference:

(1) PISTONS vs. (5) BULLS
Gm 1: DET 95, CHI 69
Gm 2: DET 108, CHI 87
Gm 3: Thu., May 10 @ CHI, 9 ET, ESPN
Gm 4: Sun., May 13 @ CHI, 3:30 ET, ABC
Gm 5*: Tue., May 15 @ DET, TBD, TNT
Gm 6*: Thu., May 17 @ CHI, TBD, ESPN
Gm 7*: Mon., May 21 @ DET, TBD, TNT

(2) CAVS vs. (6) NETS
Gm 1: CLE 81, NJN 77 | Presser | Video | Buy
Gm 2: CLE 102, NJN 92 | Presser | Video | Buy
Gm 3: Sat., May 12 @ NJN, 5 ET, ESPN
Gm 4: Mon., May 14 @ NJN, 7 ET, TNT
Gm 5*: Wed., May 16 @ CLE, TBD, TNT
Gm 6*: Fri., May 18 @ NJN, TBD, ESPN
Gm 7*: Sun., May 20 @ CLE, TBD, TNT

THE FINALS DATES:

June 7: The Finals, Game 1, ABC
June 10: The Finals, Game 2, ABC
June 12: The Finals, Game 3, ABC
June 14: The Finals, Game 4, ABC
June 17: The Finals, Game 5*, ABC
June 19: The Finals, Game 6*, ABC
June 21: The Finals, Game 7*, ABC

4

What a game last night. The Suns hammered the Spurs. The first half was tight but then Nash turned on the style. Defo will get the MVP this year. Also Thomas and Marion were the unsung heros. They kept Parker and Duncan under wraps. The two teams in the other semi final in the western conference are pure sh*te.

In the Eastern Conference the Pistons are well above any of the other 3 teams and surely can’t blow it.

5

Well Dirk got MVP this year. The Mavericks did have a fantastic regular season, so even though it didn’t go to Steve ou can’t begrudge Dirk getting it.

Update on the play-offs. Pistons, Jazz and Cavaliers are all 3-1 up in their series and should wrap it tonight and tomorrow.

The other match is a cracker. NAsh played awful in the first half in game 3 in San Antonio on saturday. He failed to score and his free throw taking was rubbish throughout the game. Also Bell, Stoudimere and Coach D’Antoni lost the plot giving away fouls. We were rightly beaten. Defending was shocking with Suns 2 points in the lead with a minute left in the 3rd Quarter they gave up 3 3-pointers unchallenged. Spurs had control from then on.

Last night though again in San Antonio, in another close match the Suns tied the series 2-2. Parker played well for Spurs and to be honest I wasnt confident of us coming back. Suns were round 4 points down with 4 minutes and finally pulled it back to levelwith 2 minutes to go. Marion again came up trumps. I wish he could jsut put his heart into every quarter though. Anyway with a minute left Suns went ahead by 3 and intercepted a Spurs attack. While Nash was runnning up with 18seconds left he was taken out of the game by Robert Horry, body checked right into the scorers table. Hory ejected from the match. The Suns bench reacted though and there may be suspensions for some of staff and players. Hopefully not. Game ended 104-98

Game 5 in Phoenix on wednesday night is going to be a real battle.