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Monday, May 7, 2007
Just when you thought it was safe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After coming so close to perfection on my first round playoff predictions I’m inclined to snatch up my chips and cash ‘em in and run out of the NBA playoff casino as fast as I can.
Just when you thought it was safe to close the door on Blog Z for the playoffs (no, I’m not taking the summer off to the two or three haters who suggested it, I’m just sticking and moving like my homeboy Pretty Boy Floyd), he comes out of hiding.
So how’d I do in Round 1? Let’s see:
(1) Detroit vs. (8) Orlando Prediction: Pistons in 5. One over
(2) Cleveland vs. (7) Washington Prediction: Cavaliers in 4. Nailed it.
(3) Toronto vs. (6) New Jersey Prediction: Nets in 7. One over.
(4) Chicago vs. (5) Miami Prediction: Heat in 7. Oops.
(1) Dallas vs. (8) Golden State Prediction: Dallas in 6. Oops.
(2) Phoenix vs. (7) LA Lakers Prediction: Suns in 5. Nailed it.
(3) San Antonio vs. (6) Denver Prediction: Spurs in 5. Nailed it.
(4) Houston vs. (5) Utah Prediction: Jazz in 6. One under.
6-2 is pretty good, too good for me to run away from Round 2. So here are my fearless predictions for the Eastern and Western Conference semifinal series (I know a couple of them have already begun, but so what).
Detroit vs. Chicago Prediction: Pistons in 6. Bulls don’t have enough inside.
Cleveland vs. New Jersey Prediction: Cavaliers in 7. Cavs are my East dark horse.
Phoenix vs. San Antonio Prediction: Spurs in 7. Blood spilled. I love it.
Utah vs. Golden State Prediction: Jazz is 7. You’d think I learned my lesson.
Basketball isn’t the only thing on my mind these days. I was all over the place this weekend. I watched a Braves game, the playoffs, tons of PBS (the presidential election in France had some amazing subplots), boxing (more below), the Euroleague Final Four on NBA TV and that’s when I wasn’t reading or working on some stuff around the house (I made homemade pizzas on a dare from wifey Saturday evening, I came through with tasty results but it’s something I’ll probably stay away from in the future). A few observations:
Let me get this straight, Roger Clemens is going to be paid $4.5 million a month (or $750,000 a start) to work every five days or so? Good gracious. The next time someone tells you that it’s a foolish pipe dream to push your kids to excel in sports, slap them for me. Seriously, that’s got to be the best job in the world.
One of my boy’s in Dallas wanted to know who I thought was the bigger disappointment, Dirk and the Mavericks or T-Mac and the Rockets. That’s a tough one. Both of them had fizzled so many times in pressure situations that it’s hard to pick a winner (or loser, I guess). Dirk has at least been out of the first round before. I think his latest debacle should put to rest the argument about him being one of the league’s top five big-game players. But T-Mac’s continued failure on the big stage is simply not acceptable. Dude can’t even get out of the first round. Ridiculous.
I’ve had a hard time comprehending all of the outrage from the Lakers’ second straight first round exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Suns. Somehow, it’s the franchise’s fault that Kobe’s not surrounded by enough talent to fulfill his dreams. Uh, isn’t the he the cat that wanted it this way? He’s the one that wanted to be “The Man.” He was the one tired of toiling Shaq’s shadow and was tired of deferring to the big fella. Well, Black Jack, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Cinco de Mayo was sweet for ya boy Blog Z (and the rest of the folks from my hometown of Grand Rapids, Mich.), what with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s whipping of Oscar de la Hoya. I had a fantastic time watching the fight with my boy the Mad VP, his brother and son. I wasn’t worried about Floyd doing his thing. I was more worried that boxing’s crooked side would come out and spoil what should have been (and by all accounts was) a splendid fight. The judge that scored the fight for Oscar did his best to ruin things. But anyone that watched this thing knows that Floyd was the unquestioned winner. Oscar’s all hype man. He’s never defeated any of the other truly great fighters in their prime. Yet he’s talked about like one of the all-time greats. The media hype machine is powerful stuff when it’s revved up.
The Euroleague stuff was only somewhat interesting to me. I made it a point to watch David Andersen (the Hawks’ second round pick who plays for CSKA Moscow, who actually looked pretty good to me). He runs the floor well and has to be able to help them with their frontcourt depth by now. But his contract status is still a bit tricky, so I’m not sure if it’s viable to bring him over for this season. In general, I thought the picking were pretty slim. I did watch Tiago Splitter, but he didn’t look any different from Andersen to me. In fact, the style of play in Europe makes it hard for me to distinguish between the truly elite players and the scads of just good players.
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