Monday, May 22, 2017

Finally Something Exciting Happens

These NBA playoffs have been boring. Blow out after blow out. Bad team after bad team. The Cavaliers had a 20 plus point lead when LeBron James finally showed he's capable of being human and actually have a bad game. The 11 points he scored against the Celtics in game 3 lead the Cavaliers to the snapping of their perfect record in these playoffs. Now only one team stands undefeated in the playoffs and that's the Golden State Warriors, who unlike the Cavaliers, have many more options on offense than the Cavaliers do. Kevin Love actually showed a pulse in this game and yet they still lost. Kyrie Irving where has he been? politely waiting for James to carry him to another title? I'm not trying to take anything away from Irving. He's a talented young player with the potential to carry a team, but 29 points 2 rebounds and 7 assists in 40 minutes in a game where LeBron didn't have it isn't going isn't going to cut it.

The Cavaliers are going to make the NBA Finals. They're going to go up against the Warriors, but without a competent Irving and Love the chase for back to back titles is going to be futile for LeBron and the Land. The Cavs are better than the Celtics, and better than the Wizards, and better than any other team out of the East, but the Warriors are really good and their role players would be able to compete against some of the lower level teams out of the East. Without Irving the Cavs don't stand a chance. LeBron deserves blame for losing game 3, but let's not forget Irving's 29 and Love's 28 points (6 of which came in the second half) won't cut it especially when the Warriors look as good as they do. It took a lucky bounce from a kid named Smart to finally bring some excitement to these proceedings.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Oh, The Clippers

The Clippers have gone from a joke during the regular season to a joke in the post season. The Los Angeles Clippers just haven't been able to break through. Before the Clippers became contenders they were a lack luster group of players who played through the 82 game season and was habitually in the lottery. Until recently, when the Clippers were able to hire Coach Doc Rivers away from Boston and then draft talented players like Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan while also getting Chris Paul from New Orleans in a shady deal that initially was supposed to send him to the Los Angeles Lakers, but then commissioner David Stern shut the trade down to the Lakers deciding that it would make the league unbalanced (which is funny considering the state of the league right now).

So now with a core of  Paul, Griffin, Jordan, three potential hall of famers, while being lead by a hall of fame coach, and an ever growing supporting cast, the Clippers were finally able to put together a wining season and a march to the playoffs. That first run resulted in a series win over the Grizzlies, but then a sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. In the 6 years the Clippers have in contention they haven't made it passed the Conference Semi Finals and crashing and burning in the playoffs. The Clippers would have leads on their opponents and somehow would cough it up. Injuries and bad luck have taken their toll especially on Griffin who always seems to get hurt at the wrong time. Now the Clip show, Lob City, or whatever clever nicknames they have are out of the playoffs, again, and now have to decide what they're going to do with Griffin who can be a free agent and JJ Reddick who also is supposed to be a free agent. Doc has a lot to work to do or he may be done.