Saturday, May 24, 2008

NBA and general sports musings


Some quick thoughts on the Conference Finals of the NBA and other sports musings on a Saturday afternoon:

Lakers/Spurs: This series has gone how I thought it would. The Spurs are finally starting to look old and a team is taking advantage of it. New Orleans had a chance to do it, but they weren’t ready. The Lakers have a good mix of veterans and a young bench that is ready to step up.

I’m not going to say that this series is going to be a sweep; I have too much respect for the Spurs. However, as Barkley said last night, Horry and Finley are done and that’s going to be the downfall of the team. Duncan and Parker are going to give you a good effort and Ginobili is a talented player, but it’s over for them being a championship caliber team. They just can’t score.

Celtics/Pistons: Now Boston, you are in a world of crap. I picked Detroit in this series before it even started and I’m even more confident in my pick now. The Pistons are just too grimey, too grumpy and too smart to get intimidated on the road. If Boston thought that they could just keep winning all of their home games that was foolish.

Now the series goes to Detroit, which will be problems for the Celtics. The only way that Boston has a chance is if the Pistons do their usual cruising and lose focus for game 3. This can happen. However, I actually think the Pistons realize that they are close to finally returning to the Finals.

On to other sports:

-The Mets are going through a rough stretch right now, losing a lot of games and people want Randolph or Minaya to get fired. I think it’s too early to push the panic button and fire the manager or GM. Who are you going to replace those guys with? Also, I think the problems are more with the players then the front office. Is it Willie’s fault that the pitching has been sub par or that the guys aren’t hustling and making routine plays?

I’m not saying that Willie is completely innocent. I disliked how at the end of last season when the Mets were losing their lead in the standings Randolph has a lax attitude about it and acted like nothing was wrong with losing games. That may work in the Joe Torre, Yankees school of thought, where Willie was a coach for a long time, but the Yanks had a veteran crew that knew to stay focused and take care of business. Unfortunately, the Mets don’t have those types of guys.

Also, it’s May. Do I really care about May MLB baseball? Not really. If the Mets are still playing like this in July, then changes need to be made.

-I love college baseball conference tournament season. I’ve been following the SEC Tournament for Vandy, the ACC Tournament for Georgia Tech, the SoCon Tournament for College of Charleston and of course the A-Sun Tournament, because its my job and I’m here with Belmont. It’s just good seeing all of these games taking place at the same time.

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