Thursday, October 31, 2013

Lakers

All right, I guess I owe it to +Hailey Fischer. Opening day upset: Lakers beat the Clippers. It was a close game most of the way,but the Lakers won.

The Lakers' main issue last year was their bench. Their issue may have been solved on Tuesday when the bench beat the Clippers. 72 points off the bench. It was a confusing decision by Mike D'Antoni to play the bench the whole fourth quarter in such a close game, but it worked. The surprise player, Xavier Henry, scored 22 points.

How? Just how? I'm in a loss of words of how the Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan could lose to Jordan Farmar, Jodie Meeks, Xavier Henry, Jordan Hill, and Chris Kaman? Is this the bench that the Lakers need(ed)? With Kobe returning soon, they may just be a title contender. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

NBA

YAY SO IT'S OCTOBER 28 TODAY.
 GUESS WHAT TOMORROW IS???????   THAT'S RIGHT! NBA SEASON STARTS TOMORROW! So the season kicks off with two great games. Chicago plays in Miami and the Lakers and Clippers square off in the Staples Center.

This is Derrick Rose's first regular season game since April 2012. This game is important because we haven't seen Rose play the Heat in a long time. A lot of people were looking forward to that ever since the playoffs of 2011. D-Rose has been phenomenal through the preseason averaging 20 points and 8 assists.

The other game, Lakers vs. Clippers... I can't express in words of how excited I am. The Clippers are near the top of my favorite teams in the NBA. What's not to like? LOB CITY! Chris Paul running the court and either Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan to lob it to. If that's no there, then they have pleeenty of three point options. They added J.J. Redick, Darren Collision, Jared Dudley, Byron Mullens, and Antwan Jamison only losing Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler. They even added Doc Rivers, one of the best coaches right now.

The Lakers. The big question. After losing Dwight Howard, they made a good move in signing a new bigman, Chris Kaman. Now can they perform? I think they can. Gasol may have a year similar to his first few years in L.A. having Nash run the point. Kobe (who needs no introduction) is Kobe. There's nothing more to say.

So here's the opening day of the NBA.  

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

NBA Live????

I usually don't talk about video games, but I can make this exception.

EA Sports is making a comeback with NBA Live 14. It makes sense, doesn't it? With next gen coming, it'll be with amazing graphics. I mean... NBA 2K14!!

 This is graphics. It was made on a computer.This.

Now it's NBA Live's turn. They've had big troubles competing with 2K. You can tell because they shutdown for 2-3 years.

Eh... This looks like current gen for NBA 2K12.

Well, once again, 2K wins. Sorry EA. At least you may win against Infinity Ward.

Monday, October 21, 2013

The NFC side of the Superbowl

Here's the NFC so far:
NFC WEST                          NFC EAST                        NFC NORTH                  NFC SOUTH
Seattle Seahawks: 6-1           Dallas Cowboys: 4-3          Green Bay Packers: 4-2  New Orleans Saints:5-1
San Francisco 49ers: 5-2       Philadelphia Eagles: 3-4       Detroit Lions:4-3            Carolina Panthers:3-3
St. Louis Rams: 3-4               Washington Redskins: 2-4   Chicago Bears:4-3          Atlanta Falcons:2-4
Arizona Cardinals: 3-4 ():)     New York Giants: 0-6          Minnesota Vikings:1-4    Tampa Bay Buccaneers                                                                                                                                                             0-6



We can eliminate a few teams. The Giants, Vikings, Buccaneers, Redskins, and the Falcons.

The Seahawks and Saints are definitely in the playoffs. Right now, the winners of the NFC East and South are unclear. The 49ers will most probably make it as a wild card. So right now, my playoff predictions are

Dallas Cowboys               Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears                  Seattle Seahawks                                              
                                                                          Seattle Seahawks              Seattle Seahawks
                                                                          New Orleans Saints      
Green Bay Packers           New Orleans Saints
San Francisco 49ers          San Francisco 49ers    


Many people would say it's too early to make predictions, but look at the Seahawks' remaining schedule

  • 8 OCT 28 5:40PMPDT   RAMS (3-4)
  • 9 NOV 3 1:05PMPST   BUCCANEERS(0-6)
  • 10 NOV 10 10:00AMPST   FALCONS(2-4)
  • 11 NOV 17 1:25PMPST   VIKINGS(1-4)
  • 12 BYE
  • 13 DEC 2 5:40PMPST   SAINTS(5-1)
  • 14 DEC 8 1:25PMPST   49ERS(5-2)
  • 15 DEC 15 10:00AMPST   GIANTS(0-6)
  • 16 DEC 22 1:05PMPST   CARDINALS(3-4)
  • 17 DEC 29 1:25PMPST   RAMS(3-4)
The Seahawks have five remaining home games, where they are amazing, nearly undefeated in the past few years.
The only games they have to fear are the Saints and the 49ers. Last time the 'Hawks played the Niners, they crushed them, 29-3. The Saints game just may be the NFC championship game. 


Now for the AFC, that'll be next.  


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

How the Timberwolves can make the playoffs.

Kevin Garnett was the main part of the Timberwolves' organization from 1995-2007, even winning an MVP during his tenure there. Ever since trading him away and starting the rebuilding process, the Wolves have been in the bottom half of the league. Their draft pick in 2008, Kevin Love, is the main building block of the organization now. They have had draft success other times in Nikola Pekovic and Ricky Rubio. Their luck with Rubio was off to a bad start already for he had to finish up his contract in Spain. After he was drafted in 2009, he came to the NBA two years after finishing up his contract in Spain. Love and Rubio have suffered from injuries again and again, preventing the Wolves to reach their full potential. Kevin Love posted amazing numbers from 2010-2012 averaging 23 points and 14 rebounds; however, he only played 18 games in the 2012-13 season. Rubio also played a minimal amount, 57. During this season, Nikola Pekovic had a breakout year averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds on 56% shooting. He is in the top 20 for efficient scorers.

This off season, the Timberwolves made some key additions. In the draft, they had the 9th pick. They were trying to trade up to get Victor Oladipo. ( +Chinggis Khan). They failed. Instead, they picked the Michigan guard, Trey Burke. At the time, they didn't need a point guard (Ricky Rubio and J.J. Barea).They traded him for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, out of UCLA and Louisville, respectively. Many people underrate Shabazz. He is a great spot up shooter and Rubio can set him up perfectly. Gorgui Dieng can provide them with post scoring. They also added Kevin Martin, who averaged 14 points coming of the bench, only giving up Luke Ridnour. They also resigned Pekovic. They got rid of Andrei Kirilenko who was consuming up a lot of their cap space. They then signed the defensive forward, Corey Brewer. Their lineup is:
2013-14 Roster
NumPlayerPosHtWtDOBPrior to NBA/CountryYrs
11Jose BareaG6-017506/26/1984Northeastern/Puerto Rico7
13Corey BrewerF6-918803/05/1986Florida/USA6
4Lorenzo BrownG6-518608/26/1990North Carolina State/USAR
10Chase BudingerF6-721805/22/1988Arizona/USA4
33Dante CunninghamF6-823004/22/1987Villanova/USA4
5Gorgui DiengC6-1124501/18/1990Louisville/SenegalR
Bojan DubljevicF-C6-923510/24/1991GermanyR
Mickael GelabaleF6-721505/22/1983Pointe-Noire, Guadeloupe3
6Robbie HummelF-G6-821503/08/1989Purdue/USAR
12Othyus JeffersG-F6-521008/05/1985Robert Morris (Ill.)/USA2
20Chris JohnsonF6-1121007/17/1985Louisiana State/USA3
42Kevin LoveF-C6-1026009/07/1988UCLA/USA5
23Kevin MartinG6-718502/01/1983Western Carolina/USA9
15Shabazz MuhammadF6-622511/13/1992UCLA/USAR
14Nikola PekovicC6-1129001/03/1986Panathinaikos/Montenegro3
22A.J. PriceG6-218510/07/1986Connecticut/USA4
9Ricky RubioG6-418010/21/1990FC Barcelona/Spain2
1Alexey ShvedG6-618212/16/1988Russia1
32Ronny TuriafC6-1024901/13/1983Gonzaga/France8
7Derrick WilliamsF6-824105/25/1991Arizona/USA2

They have an amazing core lineup. If they stay healthy, they may even be a title contender.  All they need to do is stay healthy, especially Love and Rubio.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Start of a Season.

How will Dwight Howard recover after last year? Did he make the right choice in moving? How will he fit in with the Rockets? The NBA preseason started on Saturday and all of my questions were answered. Howard scored 19 and had 9 nine rebounds in a one point loss to the Pelicans. Despite the lost, you can see how Howard fits in with the team. Although he only had 9 rebounds, he led all players in that category. A total of 53% of shots were made, so there wasn't much to rebound. Last year, he shot an abysmal 49% from the line, a career low. This game, he was 7-11. Last year, on average, he shot nine free throws a game, making five. This game, he shot 64%. It's still not great, but it is a 15% improvement from last year.

His point guards, Jeremy Lin and Patrick Beverly, are both more than adequate which will help him. His backup, Beverley, is statistically almost the same as Nelson, his former point guard in Orlando, per 36 minutes, trailing by 2 points and 2 assists.
He's just the backup. Lin is much better and will mesh with Howard after a successful stint with two similar big men, Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire, in New York. After what happened in Los Angeles, people would argue that the same thing would happen with the lack of bench depth and Harden replacing Kobe. Right off the bat, Harden will not only keep up his scoring, but also help Dwight. Harden's play-making skills are off the charts for a shooting guard and can even play point guard sometimes. The Rockets have had bench issues last year, but they found new hope, for example Patrick Beverley. After trading away Patrick Patterson for Thomas Robinson and Francisco Garcia, some doubt sparked up. "Thomas Robinson? He's a bust!" Robinson provided support for post scoring, but it was Garcia who added to the bench's depth. The Rockets are built around post players and three-point shooters. Robinson was a good fit but they had to trade him to afford Howard. However, with other signings like Ronnie Brewer, Omri Casspi, and Aaron Books, their system became even stronger.

Now my next question is "Will the Rockets win the Western Conference?". They would have to get past the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and the Los Angeles Clippers. I guess we''l have to wait and see.