Not that I have that much to say. My prediction for the NBA Finals is the Lakers in 5. I don't see how the C's come close, kind of like the '87 Finals between Bird's Celtics and Magic's Lakers.
I'm not a fan of Kobe's, but was really impressed by his play against the Spurs. It's been written many times by actual sports writers, but Bryant really seems to trust his teammates. And he is making his teammates better, much better. Oldsters may recall that that was an early knock against Jordan, one he rectified with 6 championships, turning Scotty Pippen into one of the NBA's Top 50 players of all time, and setting up journeymen like John Paxson and Steve Kerr for game-winning - and in some cases championship-winning - shots.
As impressed as I was by Kobe and the Lakers, I was equally unimpressed by the Celtics. Neither Eastern Conference team looked that good, and I had trouble staying awake most games even with Sheed on the court. Paul Pierce played well the entire series, rising to the occasion when needed. But both KG and Ray Allen seemed to shrink at key times.
Conversely, almost every Laker - Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Derrick Fisher, even bench guys like Vujancic - rose to the occasion when needed. That confidence and that ability to be comfortable in those situations - along with the best player in the planet - will lead to another Laker title.
- Sad that the Finals will be without Sheed or Ginobili, two of my favorite professional players;
- My complete top 5 list of favorite NBA players, for the record, is in order: Brendan Haywood, Antawn Jamison, Manu Ginobili, Sheed, and Raymond Felton. If it was top 10 professional players it would be those five, plus Dimitris Diamantidis, Theo Papaloukas, David Noel, Vince Carter, and Rayshawn Terry;
- This is obviously the dream match up for the NBA, like Yankees-Dodgers or Red Sox-Cubs for MLB. I wonder how the ratings will be. I'm always surprised how low NBA ratings are. Ratings for this season's playoffs are up, but despite being up are only around 3 percent (of televisions on). As a comparison, women's college softball draws 2 percent.
One last NBA note. It seems that Ty Lawson may get drafted late in the first round. Most draft analysis has him going between the 20th and 30th pick, though the Wizards, who draft 18th and need a back up point guard, have scheduled a work out for Lawson.
I don't think it makes sense for Lawson, Wayne Ellington or Danny Green to go pro this year. This draft is fairly deep, unlike next year's draft, and all three could use another season to round out their game and thus increase their standing. The draft has a very rigid pay scale, and lottery picks in particular make a serious amount of money. But all first round picks get a guaranteed contract. A guaranteed contract is a guaranteed contract, so if you are going to be a first round pick I guess it's hard to say 'no' to the NBA.
Carolina Baseball Update
Carolina's baseball team is the overall 2nd seed in the NCAA baseball tournament, and is hosting a regional (though in Cary not Boshamer, which is being renovated) this weekend. The Heels are shooting for their third consecutive trip to the College World Series, and have lost in the finals the last two seasons.
- The Heels won last night, defeating Mt. Saint Mary 18-6. Folks may recall that the Heels waxed MSM's basketball team in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament. Carolina's regional looks like a Division II tournament. Besides MSM, Elon and UNCW are in Cary with the Heels.
- We've seen Andrew Miller, who pitched for Carolina in the College World Series two years ago, pitched twice this season against the Nats. The first time we saw him pitch he was a bit shaky. But we saw him again two weeks ago dominate the Nats, and he pitched seven shut out innings.
Greek Football Update
Never thought I would be excited about soccer, but I am geeked up about the upcoming Euro 2008 tournament. The tournament starts June 7th. As some of you know, Greece is the defending champs. Their 2004 win was arguably one of the biggest upsets in European football history. Not only did Ellas defeat Portugal - the host country - twice including in the championship game, they also defeated the defending European champs France. Defeating the defending champ and the host nation had never been done in European football history. Finally, when Greece defeated Portugal to open the tournament it was their first win ever in an international tournament.
Anyway, it's unlikely that Greece will repeat. But they did get a favorable group, so they should at least advance to the final eight. Their group consists of Spain, Russia and Sweden. The top two teams advance (there are four groups of four teams) from each group, and I think Greece and Spain should advance.
Let me know if you want to join me to watch Greece play. Their first game is June 10th against Sweden; since that's a work day that will be a TiVo game. But I will definitely watch their game versus Russia - on June 14th - live so let me know if you want to join me (and Evan and Ariadne) for that Byzantine battle.
