All that Jazz, Missing a few Beats

The NBA's Utah Jazz had the unfortunate luck of facing the Charlotte Bobcats Friday night without three of their biggest stars. Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmut Okur were all MIA against CHA. Deron and Kirilenko both were injured, while Okur is tending to his critically ill father in Turkey. The final remaining star, power-forward Carlos Boozer, was promptly benched by the coach for foul trouble. The end result was a 104-96 victory for the upstart Charlotte Bobcats. The team received 23 points from Ray Felton and 22 from Gerald Wallace. Jason Richardson is currently out for knee surgery, but since there's no structural damage he'll only be out a mere week or two.

The Bobcats strung together several impressive runs which were helped by Boozer sitting out. According to game and team stats, Charlotte is the lowest-scoring team in the NBA this year, but against the depleted Jazz they managed to finish with a season-high in total points scored. And despite all the absences on the Utah roster, the Bobcats had to win the game in the final 30 seconds. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan credited the hustle of a young basketball club, but was quick to note Boozer's foul troubles as well as missing their floor general, Deron Williams, didn't help.

Utah looked like one of the top notch teams in the Western Conference as the season opened, as they were one of the few unbeaten. Coach Jerry Sloan achieved an amazing milestone, winning his 1,000th game, and to add to that, he's the longest-tenured coach with one team in the NBA right now. These days it's rare to find that sort of dedication to one brand of basketball, and one paycheck. His team may still be one of the best out west, but once the injury bug and foul trouble strikes, this team lacks its jazzy, energetic nature.

Cavs Force Game 7 & Lakers Advance

The Boston Celtics are now officially 0-6 on the road in the 2008 playoffs, as they lost again to the Cavs in Cleveland Friday night. King James had put the Cavs up by as much as 9, and Boston narrowed it to 3 with less than a minute to go. But Wally Sczerbiak hit a huge 3 pointer and Joe Smith hit crucial free throws to help seal the game, 74-69. Lebron led the way with 32 points. The Celtics will now head back to Boston for a 3:30PM EST game on Sunday. So we have another Game 7 to decide the next round of the playoffs. Will King James have another heroic performance like last year against the Pistons? This could be a classic game in Boston.

In the nightcap, Kobe and his Lakers invaded Utah to try to knock the Jazz out. The Lakers took control early in the game and continued it through the 3rd quarter up by double digits. Utah seemed frustrated by foul calls as they played to try to save their playoff lives. Down the stretch Utah charged back and behind several threes from Kirilenko were able to get back into this one. It was just a 3 point game after Fisher missed a free throw with under 20 seconds to go. However, the Jazz were unable to hit a tying 3 pointer with two tries at it. Lakers win 108-105 on the road and advance to the next round. Now they get 4 days of rest before meeting either New Orleans or San Antonio. Kobe scored 34 in the win to lead the way. Gotta give credit to Utah who definitely played the Lakers tough throughout this series, while we've been seeing blowouts in the Spurs vs. Hornets series. Derron Williams will definitely be fun to watch in the future, and it would have been great to see him versus Chris Paul next round.

So the two teams who didn't go 7 games in this round, Pistons and Lakers, also are capable of getting road wins in the playoffs. These could be the two teams meeting in this years Finals as they seem to have the ingredients to win games as needed.

Game 7 of the Spurs vs Hornets will be shown Monday night on TNT.

Celtics & Lakers Both Up 3-2

Wednesday night saw the Celtics back on "safeground" as they hosted the Cleveland Cavs in Boston. The Cavs were up by as many as 10 points in the first half, with Lebron James scoring 23 points in the half. Boston narrowed the gap to just 3 points heading into halftime. It seems as if the breakout star who's emerged for the Celtics is now Rajon Rando, their point guard. Rando led the way along with KG even though Cleveland kept it close down the stretch. Bostn was able to effectively defend Lebron in the 2nd half, preventing his typical scoring outbursts. A Delonte West lane violation sealed things in the final seconds, and the Celtics pushed forward with a 96-89 win. Boston now leads the series 3-2 and will try to eliminate Cleveland in their next contest. Detroit continues to await the winner of this series.

In the late game, a sore lower back wasn't enough to keep NBA MVP Kobe Bryant off the court Wednesday night, as he suited up for Game 5 against the Jazz. Kobe scored 26 points despite his injury. This was a close contest throughout with Derron Williams (27 points, 10 assists) trying his best to keep Utah in it. In the closing seconds, Pau Gasol grabbed a huge offensive rebound and slammed it back to put the Lakers up for good. In the 111-104 Lakers win, Odom had 22 points and 11 boards. A full stat line saw Gasol getting 21 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. Right about now, it's looking like the Gasol trade was the best move made in the West. After all, Pau came from the same conference and now he's putting the hurt on opponents with the Lakers. I won't dare make the comparison, but quite possibly Kobe-Gasol is Phil Jackson's 2nd coming of Jordan/Pippen.

Again, it may be a great thing for the NBA Finals to see a revitalized rivalry with the Boston Celtics facing the Los Angeles Lakers. The Big 3 vs. the MVP, could be in the works.

Jazz & Spurs Even the Score

On Sunday the two Western Conference playoff series resumed with both of the home teams tying things up. It was almost a bit of a mirror of Saturday's East games, with the first game a close affair, and the second a massive rout.

Utah played host to the Lakers in Game 4 of their series. I watched most of the first half, but had to set the DVR for the second due to Mother's day plans. Luckily, I set the DVR to tape a half hour beyond the scheduled end time. The Jazz were up by 12 points with about 4 minutes left, but the Lakers were resilient. Lamar Odom played the role of hero to hit a key 3 as well as the tying basket to bring it to overtime. In OT, Utah was able to hit their foul shots as they should, and capitalized on a few LA turnovers to win it. We now have a 2-2 tie in this series after Utah's 123-115 win. The Jazz also continue to display an impressive home record this 2007-08 season.

In the late game it was another NBA playoff blowout, as the veteran Spurs really walloped the New Orleans Hornets in San Antonio. The Hornets will now remember the Alamo, as coach Byron Scott even said his team's intensity was horrible. The usually consistent Tim Duncan recorded 22 points and 15 rebounds in the victory. For the Hornets sake, hopefully this hasn't taken their momentum away. Once the Spurs machine is running on all cylinders, they are tough to stop come playoff time.

It's still tough to say which West team is going to get to the NBA Finals. Same goes for the East, but who wouldn't love to see the new look Lakers versus the new look Celtics for this year's trophy? Lebron & the Cavs versus Kobe & the Lakers, Celtics versus Spurs, Pistons versus Spurs..so many great possible Finals matchups to anticipate.

Celtics Advance, Lakers Mute Jazz

The Celtics pre-game intros includes a video of Celtics highlights on the jumbotron hanging high above the court. The video also shows KG and Pierce letting out primal screams to rile up the crowd. The Celtics fed upon that energy and came out intense in their game 7, Must Win against the Hawks. Piece seemed especially fired up as the team captain looked to lead the way. In the 3rd quarter, the Celtics had pushed out to an impressive 34 point lead. The Celtics D was extremely suffocating, preventing the Hawks from getting into any sort of scoring attack. The Celtics blew the Hawks off the court with a huge 34 point win. KG had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Marvin Williams had a hard flagrant foul on Rajon Rondo, leading to a Williams ejection and possible suspension next season.

The NBA analyst on ABC proposed the idea that maybe the Hawks hometown crowd gave them the extra motivation to win 3 games in Atlanta. Despite the loss, hats off to the Hawks for taking the best team in the NBA (record-wise) to the limit. This could help the Celtics in making them prepared for future tough games, or it may have worn them down to face a hungry Cleveland team. Jeff Van Gundy of the ABC commentary team suggested the Cavs have a great opportunity to steal Game 1 in Boston this Tuesday night.

In the second game of ABC's doubleheader, it was the Los Angeles Lakers playing against the Utah Jazz. It's already been reported that the star of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, will take this season's MVP award for his first time this coming week. At today's game in LA stars showed up like Tobey Maguire, Denzel, Diane Cannon, Jack Nicholson, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as rocker Glenn Frey and Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Kobe had his usual superhero type performance with help from his supporting cast. The Jazz hung close in the 4th but the Lakers ran away with it 109-98 behind Kobe's 38 point performance. Utah dominated in the rebounding category giving them more to build upon for Game 2.

Celtics & Hawks To Be Continued...

On Friday night, two teams were sent home from the postseason while 2 will play on in a Game 7. Cleveland defeated Washington to advance to Round 2, while Utah defeated the Rockets. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks continued to test the mettle of the top team in the East as they beat the Celtics, setting up a game 7 in Boston.

Atlanta had yet another impressive game against the C's, with a rowdy Atlanta crowd to back them up. The Hawks were up by as many as 7 down the stretch, with the C's battling back. Rajon Rondo threw up an airball near the buzzer in the 4th which could have been the game tying 3. Ray Allen also had several missed 3 attempts down the stretch. Even more debilitating was the technical foul called on Paul Pierce in the 4th. It was Pierce's 6th foul, which sent him to the sidelines to helplessly watch his team lose the game 103-100. Shelden Williams had 18 for Atlanta while Bibby had 17 and Joe Johnson had 15. The two teams will battle it out in Game 7 Sunday to decide who advances to Round 2.

It was deja vu in the other 2 series which ended Friday night. Cleveland sent Washington out of the Playoffs for the third straight season, while Utah ended Houston's postseason for the 2nd straight time. Another disappointment for T-Mac who has yet to win a 1st round playoff series. A dejected Yao Ming was shown on the bench, and you'd have to think if the big man had been manning the paint, Houston could have enjoyed victory. Utah will now face off with the LA Lakers starting Sunday.

As for Washington, they did have impressive performances this past season from All-stars Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, who had to step up when Arenas was injured. Arenas decided to sit out the remainder of the playoffs due to problems with the surgically repaired leg that hampered him this past season. Despite Antawn Jamison playing great on Friday, the Wiz just didn't have enough to compete with Lebrons' triple double performance. The Cavs now get to rest up and await the winner of Atlanta vs. Boston. This could spell real bad news for the Celtics as they will beat beaten up and facing last year's NBA Finals rep from the East.

Home Sweet Home!?

It pays to play at home in the NBA playoffs. The only teams to have successfully taken away some of the "home court advantage" factor in the playoffs have been Philadelphia and Utah. Utah of course owns a 2-0 lead over the slightly higher seeded Rockets, as they won both games in Houston. Philadelphia stunned the NBA nation by going into Detroit and pulling off a game 1 win. That series is tied at a game a piece now.

On Thursday night, several teams took advantage of being back home so they could get themselves back into their playoff series. Washington had quite an impressive win over Cleveland, blowing them out 108-72 for the Wizards' biggest playoff win ever. DeShawn Stevenson and Caron Butler figured big in the game, with Stevenson leading the way and using a "you cant see me" hand gesture after several big baskets. The crowd was on Lebron all night, chanting "over-rated" which as we and they all know is untrue. Kevin Duarant, Clinton Portis, Soulja Boy & Colin Powell were amongst the celebrity spectators for the game in DC.

Toronto was also back home Thursday night, hosting the Orlando Magic. Toronto stayed ahead in this one and won 108-94 behind 21 points from point guard TJ Ford. Jose Calderon wasn't too shabby either. The Raptors are now back into the series, down just 2 games to 1. I still don't see the Raptors taking this one, but the NBA is where amazing happens.

Houston traveled to unfriendly Utah for their Game 3. The Rockets had guard Raefer Alston back from injury which was good news. As mentioned before, the Rockets were down 0-2 to Utah, and it could become yet another first round loss for Tracy McGrady. We finally got an exciting, down to the wire contest here, amongst all the recent playoff blowouts (Celtics, Pistons, Cavs, Wizards, Hornets, etc). Houston ended it by pulling off a 94-92 win in Utah, which they really had to do. Houston had their backs against the wall as T-Mac said afterwards. T-Mac had 27 points and 7 assists. The returning Raefer added 20 points as well. Carl Landry had a huge block on Deron Williams to protect the Rockets lead and win. Unfortunately, Landry also took a shot during the game and lost some of his teeth...

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2008 NBA Playoffs Day 3

Just two games on the NBA Playoff slate Monday night with Washington and Cleveland resuming their series, and Utah going back into Houston for their Game 2.

Cleveland gave the most dominant performance of the playoffs so far winning by 30 points over the Wizards. Lebron racked up 30 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds in the impressive victory. Cleveland had a 13 point lead at halftime, then pulled away in the 2nd half. Clevleand now leads 2 games to none over Washington, who thought it would be a good idea to trash talk Lebron and the Cavs before the games began.

Cavaliers Top Wizards 116-86 for 2-0 Lead in NBA Playoff Series

On the other hand, any of the Utah Jazz could have talked trash about T-Mac before their series and been ok. Utah did more of the same against Houston tonight, picking up a win to go 2-0 in the series. T-Mac was 1 assist shy of a triple double, playing a brilliant game despite the losing effort. A dejected McGrady was shown leaving the court prior to Deron Williams giving his postgame interview to Craig Sager. Game 3 is Thursday night at 10:30 PM. This could be yet another disappointing early exit for T-Mac in the playoffs.

NBA playoffs: Jazz take 2-0 series lead

A look at Tuesday's Playoff schedule:

Toronto Raptors vs. Orlando Magic 7:30 PM (NBA TV)
Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics 8:00 PM (ESPN)
Dallas Mavericks vs. New Orleans Hornets 7:00 PM (TNT)
San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns 9:30 PM (TNT)

Also of note, Brendan Haywood had a hard foul on Lebron James during their Game 2 and was ejected. TNT also decided to jump all over the Lebron James comments towards Deshawn Stevenson who called him "overrated". Lebron had said Stevenson calling him out was like Soulja Boy calling out Jay-Z. TNT analyst Marv Albert discussed it during Monday night's game, then later TNT's genius staff superimposed Marv's head on a dancing figure while Soulja Boy's hit "Crank Dat" played.

2008 Begins: Around the NBA

Just like 2007, all good things must come to an end. That includes the Jazz ending the Trailblazers' 13 game win streak. Utah 111-Portland 101. This makes the Pistons own one of the hottest streaks in the NBA.

The Magic pulled off a 112-110 win in OT against the struggling Bulls. Toronto edged out New Orleans 107-102 , and the Bobcats made a nice fourth quarter run to win their game.

Players of the week for last week, were Chris Paul and Paul Pierce. Paul had an incredible 40 point effort and Pierce had a 38 point effort as their teams added wins.

Kiki Vandeweghe returns to the NBA, this time in a top exec role with the NJ Nets.

TheStar.com discusses the upcoming mic check for Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell.

Boston Herald discusses how the Celtics are more than star power.

ESPN's Daily Dime looks back at 2007 and ahead to 2008 for the NBA.

NBA Season Begins...

Last night the NBA season opened with just 3 games on the schedule. Here's a quick look and some thoughts.

Jazz defeated the Warriors 117 to 96

Carlos Boozer scored 32 pts along with 15 boards. I expect him to be in the top 10 maybe even top 5 scorers this season and to have a big All-star season for the Jazz this year. Deron Williams added 24 points and should continue to become the star player h was looking like last year.

Spurs defeat Blazers 106 to 97

Opening night action was supposed to see the big rookie Greg Oden match up against the champion Spurs. However, Oden is out for the season, so Mr. Duncan reigned supreme with 24 points and 13 rebounds, after getting his championship ring.

Rockets 95 to Lakers 93

The closest game of the night, Kobe Bryant showed his usual scoring prowess with 45 points total. T-Mac went off for 30 points and added 6 rebounds. Big man Yao added 25 points and 12 boards. It was Shane Battier who hit a tiebreaking 3 pointer with just 2.5 seconds left in the 4th quarter. A close contest, but the Rockets should be one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the West, and the Lakers may be as well.

Eight games on Halloween night, which include the Bulls taking on the Nets, Seattle vs. Denver, Dalls visiting Cleveland, and Milwaukee facing Orlando. See the full lineup here.