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This is the last post of my 2008 NBA Conference Semifinals series. We have analyzed the Western Conference teams, and yesterday we talked about Boston and Cleveland. Are Orlando and Detroit just as exciting to watch?
Orlando Magic vs. Detroit Pistons
They have 3 games played already. It seems to be a hard battle, where the Magic won’t just let Detroit crush them. During the first 2 games, the Pistons took a clear advantage and both victories. Orlando, on the other hand, had lost 9 straight playoff games to the Pistons.
During game 3, things changed. Orlando stood up and had a good game, taking an absolute lead during the last minutes. Now they are 2-1 and next game will say if the Magic are doing some real progress to turn the scores upside down or it was just a lucky play to make things more interesting.
Let’s just wait and see who goes home and who gets to stay.
Source: NBA.com
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The games are on and all the NBA teams are doing their best to get to the 2008 NBA Finals. On these days we have talked about the Western Conference teams that are facing each other, and their possibilities to be the winners. Now’s the time to start with the Eastern Conference teams. What are the odds for these teams when it comes to picking the winner?
Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
These 2 are giving probably one of the most expected NBA Playoffs shows. The Celtics started the 2007-2008 NBA Season with the right foot, no doubt about that. Since the very beginning Boston has been one of the big favorites, and with outstanding performance they slipped right into this Postseason. They also have some big players to put all their weight on, starting for Kevin Garnett. The Defensive Player of the Year is definitely a key figure that can’t be left out when making your picks on the Basketball Money Lines.
 
Garnett is one of the few current NBA players that can actually handle a face-to-face with Cavs’ King James. On game 1, Kevin Garnett managed to score 28 points, besides blocking LeBron so hard that the King was able to score only 12 points, and had 10 turnovers. The game ended in Boston’s favor, 76-72. Not bad at all! Other players like Paul Pierce add some spice to the team, but he has dropped a little bit on quality of performance.
The Cavs have had a decent NBA Season, and of course LeBron James has been their biggest weapon. However, it seems they’re not so unstoppable when they’re facing the Celtics. The Washington Wizards probably were an easier contender, since it was the third time in a row that they get eliminated by Cleveland. Maybe that has given the Cavaliers a confidence that made it all look easier. But they have a real challenge ahead, and only one of them will be left for the Eastern Conference Finals. Will King James be able to crush Garnett?
Source: NBA.com
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Still analyzing the Western Conference teams that are fighting to reach the Conference Finals, today is the turn for the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Hornets, teams that are currently about to play their 3rd game.
Are the defending champions just as strong as they were last year? Will the Hornets be this year’s surprise?
San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans Hornets
The Spurs have brought their usual Playoffs winning streak that leads them to the major events all the time. Even though their regular NBA Season wasn’t so amazing, they have proved they can do wonders when their asses are at risk. With the great help of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan they move fast and score a lot.
However, these 2 first games against New Orleans must have them shocked because it’s not as easy as they thought. Surprisingly, the Hornets are taking the lead, crushing San Antonio on both games 101-82 and 102-84. In game 2, the Spurs were playing so well it seemed they were going to win that one. But on the second half, the Hornets turned everything upside down
Source: NBA.com
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The NBA 2008 Playoffs are reaching the most interesting point: Just 8 teams are left to fight for the Championship. Even though there are some favorites, we can’t deny they’ve all done a supreme job and that’s why they are the best on this race to the NBA Finals. But what are the possibilities on each pair of contenders?
Today we’ll focus on one of the Western Conference pairs.
L.A. Lakers vs Utah Jazz
Some thought it would be harder for Utah to crush the Houston Rockets, who’d been having a great NBA Season. But just as it happened last year, the Jazz gave everyone an unexpected level of performance, getting their pass to Conference semifinals. They have solid (but not outstanding) players like Mehmet Okur adding some weight to the team (as we just saw during the first game against Los Angeles, where Okur scored 21 points).
The Lakers have the advantage of winning the first game (109-98), and now the second one will be at home. And whether we want to admit it or not, their arrogant Kobe Bryant is still one of the stars of the team. Just in game 1, he scored 38 points, 24 of them just on the first half. This potential ’08 MVP does a lot for the team and they definitely love him. Could the Jazz face Kobe Bryant’s experience, still being a great player? If they do, it will be really hard.
Right now L.A. has the upper hand. Let’s see how true that may be on the next game.
Source: NBA.com
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Things start to heat up at 2007-2008 NBA Playoffs. You can feel the tension and teams want to take it to another level. An act? Could be, but will do just fine for rabid NBA betting fans.
The Washington Wizards thought they would be heading home after Wednesday’s game. Well, they are! But they won’t be sitting and watching the games on TV (at least not yet). In what is rumored to be a bad play almost made on purpose, the Cavaliers let the Wizards win this one to have at least one more game.
Sure, one missed layup doesn’t mean you fixed the game. But you start to feel that way when you read Caron Butler’s declarations to press. He says he’d been messing with LeBron James during the entire game and, just a few moments before the match ended, he told King James to miss the shot and make things “more interesting” with another game.
Could that be possible? Cavs fans would feel offended to know they could be celebrating already their pass to the next phase, when just 4 teams will fight to be in the Eastern Conference Finals. Instead of that, Caron Butler made the layup with almost 4 seconds left and his last basket gave the Wizards some hope with a victory 88-87. It is often said that some teams lose on purpose in many sports to play more games and make more money. Could they be so obvious?
My choice is that King James didn’t actually do it on purpose (Caron is just taking the credit of it with too much arrogance), but he definitely felt pressured and influenced in some way by Butler’s comments. Now the results are 3-2, and even though they will be playing at Washington, I really doubt LeBron will let another one slip like that. Will this extra game really be a surprise? We’ll know very soon.
Source: Chicago Tribune
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Roger Clemens, Paul Pierce. The last few days have brought more controversy than exciting action in the Sports World. Famous names are flashing all over the place, but just because of bad scandals.
Former baseball star Roger Clemens is on the news headlines again. Besides his bad reputation for the possible use of steroids, he seems to have something else to worry about: it was recently discovered that he had a decade-long affair with country singer Mindy McCready, which started when she was just 15. Not exactly what you want to hear about your baseball field idols. What happened to all the good sports-related stuff he should be remembered for? Sports people have always been surrounded by scandals, but it’s really sad when you realize that those dumb actions can actually outshine the golden Yankee years.
Stepping into a much more active zone, the 2007-2008 NBA Playoffs are giving a lot to talk about… and again it doesn’t have much to do with basketball. A part of the Celtics divine-dunk trinity seems to be also in the polemics club: Paul Pierce was fined with $25,000 for making an offensive gesture to Atlanta Hawks’ Al Horford after he taunted him. Many have associated the “B” sign made by Pierce with gangs and some kind of threat. Other have jumped immediately to say it’s not gang-related and it’s something Paul Pierce does all the time. Funny thing is, the video that showed the moment is not available anymore. In the end, how come people are talking about the Celtics and Paul Pierce but not for the outstanding performance they should be showing?
There’s a lot going on for the true sports betting fan. However, it seems players are busy doing controversial stuff instead of focusing on what really matters and what let them into the spotlight in the first place: their game.
Source: TheSportsPoint , AP
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It seems the San Antonio Spurs always get infected with the NBA Playoffs fever. Even though their regular NBA Season wasn’t as shocking as many expected, now they’re going strong for another title and they’re making it very clear to the Phoenix Suns.
Last Tuesday the Spurs took a bigger advantage on Phoenix, taking the victory 102-96 on game 2. Adding this to the previous 117-115 result, San Antonio celebrates a 2-0. It was about time the Spurs acted like the Defending Champions for once this year!
The San Antonio star trio was present too: Tony Parker with 32 points and 7 assists, Manu Ginobili (Sixth Man of the Year Award!) with 29 points, and Tim Duncan with other 18 points. This was too much for the Suns, even when they had the advantage during the first half.
Conference Finals will be here soon and maybe last year’s story will be repeated. The Spurs do way better under pressure, it seems. Will they be holding the trophy one more time?
Source: NBA.com
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NBA betting fans should better be ready with their calendars because the NBA Playoffs Schedule is out. Some of the last games have already defined the ones that go with the biggest advantage, like the Lakers, that now place themselves on top of the Western Conference Playoffs spots. But starting on Saturday, April 19th, many teams will be fighting for the spots that really matter at the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
We will be watching the 7 games of round one for what’s left of this month. The NBA Semifinals will start on May 5th, and after the corresponding 7 games we will all be part of the Western and Eastern Conference Finals, which will start on May 20th (Eastern Conference) and May 21st (Western Conference). If everything goes as planned, we will have the 2007-2008 NBA Finals starting on June 5th.
We’ll have the LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics (one of the huge favorites!), Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. If you are a fan of any of these 16 NBA teams, you really have to write the dates down so you can enjoy the NBA rush!
For specific dates, don’t forget to check the NBA Official Website
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On the fierce race to the 2008 NBA Playoffs, one team has actually stood up without us noticing so clearly. The New Orleans Hornets are having one of their best NBA Seasons in history and they are right there, ready to kick some Playoffs butt.
Wednesday night they gave a good proof of it, by beating the Timberwolves 122-90, with 19 points and 16 assists courtesy of Chris Paul and 22 points scored by David West.
Would you have placed the Hornets on top of the Western Conference when this NBA Season started? I never imagined I would see these guys right above the defending champions, the Spurs. This last win just gave the Hornets a franchise record of 55 wins.
Playoffs will be very interesting with these new figures on the map. The unexpected teams that will be fighting for a spot on the finals will add a lot more excitement to the NBA betting action. Do you picture your favorite team as the underdog now?
Source: NBA.com
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I know, you must be thinking “Why would I care about Photoshop? I want to read about things I can bet on!”. I know this doesn’t sound related to sports, but you’ll see it actually is. Now that Adobe has released its first Photoshop online, you could get something good out of it.
Adobe has invited everyone to test its beta version of Photoshop Express Online and give them feedback on how it works, features, etc. It can store up to 2GB for you.
If you have no idea of what Adobe Photoshop is, let me tell you: this is a program created to work on images and design, for example to create posters, or even modify simple pictures, like adding text to them, changing its size, or adding some cool effects to them. It’s like Paint, but more complex and with the possibility of more tools to work on your pictures. You should give it a try, there are millions of online tutorials for those who want to get started. Online Photoshop is here: http://www.photoshop.com/express.
And why is this related to Sports? Well, it could be really helpful for you if you want to be a part of our upcoming BookPerHead Forum Contest, where all you have to do is choose a picture of the ones we are going to give, modify it and try to make it the coolest and most creative NBA Picture. The winner will get $200 cash and $100 in exchange for great prizes. And all that just for having fun with a picture! *Please read restrictions so you don’t post something that doesn’t qualify*.
The Bookie Corner NBA Contest will be open on Monday, March 31st for participation and will last until the NBA Finals. There’s plenty of time! You can use Paint or try to take it a little further with Phothoshop. Don’t forget to check our BookPerHead Forum on Monday and join our community if you aren’t there yet!
Source: Technology News Daily
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