Joel Anthony might get criticized but I always stuck by you as a quality backup. You are my 30th favorite Canadian in the world behind several wrestlers and UFC fighters along with writers and Steve Nash..Juwan Howard finally won a ring, thanks for the amazing production this season. James Jones you are still a free agent bust, but way to go! Dexter Pittman thanks for elbowing that jack*** Lance Stephenson. It may have been dirty but St.Johns' fans approve of the elbow. If you ever want to try a rear naked next time you see him, by all means do it. I'm trying to thank the entire roster. Ronnie Turiaf thanks for wearing your pompoms through out the season for the Heat but next time you may want to try taking them off when you are playing basketball. I'm trying to think of who I'm forgetting on the roster. Terrell Harris can you leave the team so the Heat can sign D.J Kennedy. That would be nice but thanks for being a part of a championship team. Last but not least, the big fella himself Eddy Curry. You have garnered the most heat from basketball fans since LeBron James did the half hour special called "The Decision" Please stay on Miami and continue to gain heat from fans. You complete the bad boy image that the Miami Heat embodies. Also Eric Spolestra who should never wear a hat backwards again. I always defended you for leading some of those average Heat teams to the playoffs before the Big Three was assembled. Thanks for coaching the bad guys even if you look like an innocent young (or old) man.
Still a kid at heart
I'll still talk about the NBA finals but I had to get that out of the way. I'm really happy the Miami Heat won the finals and got the monkey off their back. I've ordered some of the memorabilia and I'm going to savor this because when the Heat won in 2006, I didn't know how a computer worked except NFL and NBA.com. Also Eurof***fest.com was a great site, but I don't recommend for people under the age of 14. Anyway I'm here on this lovely Monday morning pretty happy and excited. The summer has been decent so far but I'm waiting for a couple of special moments. It's going to be tough to top last summer because I had a woman usually with me. Those were some good times but as usual, I become too smart or tend to lose interest after she ignores me for three weeks so it had to end abruptly. For the last time, I'm going to be only really discussing about the finals and Euro Cup. After this edition, I'll be opening to different things. I know the NBA draft is this Thursday but I'm not doing a mock draft. I'll post my thoughts on the draft on Friday to make up for it. I'm pretty good with college basketball and I'm excited for a few things. Moe Harkless will be the first St.John's player drafted in years which is pretty great to see. Miami actually has a first round pick so I pray they draft a center so Ronny Turiaf will wear those pompoms and stay on the bench proudly next season. I just have a lot to cover and I'm trying to limit my blogs a bit because I've noticed that the more I type, the less viewers. People may get turned off by so much writing constantly so I'll limit it sometimes. When I need to type, I'm going to like an NFL preview. It has to be that either that or people really hate soccer which is a good possibility. Also I want to state that I'm not discussing the Sandusky scandal. We all know he's a sicko and I bet I can make plenty of good jokes but I'm not wasting time on it. He should rot in hell and I hope someone beats the hell out of him. I'm sure the entire world agrees with me on that one. Anyway I'm going to get into it because the intro has been going for far too long.
Finals Recap/Final Thoughts On NBA
I'm the king and I said it!
The news is pretty old so I'm not going to talk about the finals that long. The reason I didn't do a post Friday was because I'm going by the Euro Cup schedule. I know that sounds wrong since I'm more of a basketball fan but it just works better. It also shocked me to see the series end so early especially with how the first three games were going. Game 5 literally shocked me because I didn't see the Thunder get completely outplayed. It seemed like the opening tip off that they look defeated and were forcing up bad shots. Russell Westbrook going 4-20 was pretty alarming considering how great he was in Game 4. He was the main factor in the Thunder collapse because Oklahoma City tends to feed off his energy. Westbrook just rushed his shots and wasn't hitting his mid range shot that was automatic in Game 4. Miami took control with a balanced attack which has been the common theme. Oklahoma City has been relying on two players for offense while Miami has gotten contributions the big three like usual but also a role payer. The first two games was Shane Battier, then it was Mario Chalmers. Game 5 was the shocking performance from Mike Miller, who still doesn't look like he can run properly. Miller has been fighting through injuries for a few years now and will never live up to that nice contract Miami gave him. It's a shame because I always saw Miller as a quality role player that can be a huge hit with his shooting. It never really got going until Game 5 where he was a huge difference maker. Miller hit 7 three pointers which is a finals single game record. Even when Oklahoma City was finally in position to put a hand up in his face, he hit the shot. It was a remarkable performance for Miller and it was great to see since I'm always a big believer in role players needing to step up. The game was at a breaking point at halftime for Oklahoma City where it became make or break. Miami put on a vintage 3rd quarter performance from the past few series with a fourteen point break through. The game was over by then with LeBron getting to the basket as usual. Perkins and Ibaka were irrelevant in this series although it was reported Perkins played with a partially torn hamstring. I'm not a Perkins fan but I respect him a lot so you have to give him credit for trying. Nobody really stepped up for the Thunder in the end with Durant only playing well when the game was competitive. Harden put up some garbage baskets in the end but he's going to be heavily criticized this off season even though he's the sixth man of the year. Miami is the rightful champion and people were eventually giving their respect to LeBron James.
I'd like to thank everyone who tweeted me to congratulate me since I'm considered one of the few long time Heat fans. Of course I got the bitter fans and this is what I'll say to them since I wasn't in the mood to speak to them. For all the people that are still bitter about LeBron James, especially Knick fans. Whoever wins the NBA finals, they'll have multiple stars and possibly three. Other than Dallas from last year, I don't think I can think of a team that didn't have three players that played at an all star level. Now the Knick fans will always be bitter about LeBron James not coming because New York is considered the best in basketball heritage. He wanted to win and what did New York have to offer him. They had Danilo Gallinari who played the same position even though I'm sure Knicks would deal him in a second if that happened. Knicks had absolutely no tools around them to make a serious plea to LeBron. They signed Amarie Stoudmire a few days before but so what. Amarie has already shown that he's a declining player after two years. Miami had Dwayne Wade who was performing as a top five player in the league. Wade won the scoring title in 2009 and came pretty close in 2010. It was clear that Wade was the true piece that would lure him to South Beach just like Bosh. So for all the bitter Knick fans, I have to tell you to get a clue again for the 400th time this season. I'm usually annoyed by Jet fans, but nothing gets on my nerve more than Knick fans.
The playoffs have officially ended and I must say this was the best playoffs in recent history. Last year had some cool moments but their weren't many long series. The playoffs had four series that went to Game 7 including Miami vs Boston which will be talked about for a long time. The conference finals were the highlight if you are just a fan of a team that didn't make the playoffs or a Knicks fan because your team can't win (friendly jab). The conference finals had so many epic games with so much twists and turns that it made twitter explode. The finals ended pretty abruptly but it still produced some high quality games. I just want to make quick ten points from the playoffs not involving the Heat.
1. Oklahoma City has a great future going forward. They have nothing to be ashamed of with their youth and growth as a team. This team will be a contender for years to come so people shouldn't be too hard on them. They will be consistently in the top two seeds of the West for years to come.
2. The interesting subplot of the playoffs has to be Derrick Rose. With the emergence of Rondo and impressive play by Paul, where does Rose rank these days? When he comes back which should be January, I expect him to be a man on a mission. It was a very unfortunate injury and it could leave Chicago playing catch up come mid season.
3. I'm not sure where Boston goes from here. Ray Allen will be gone but Rondo has become a superstar and Avery Bradley will grow into a key player. The problem with Boston is a bench and they'll need to make their 2 first round picks count. Boston isn't going away any time soon but they could possibly overhaul the roster.
4. The Spurs are the odd team out when it comes to talking about great teams. It's really odd that they went from most dominant team in the playoffs to shockingly eliminated. I expect them to be back strong next season but they'll need their young role players to grow as players. They were major let downs when they went against a great team like Oklahoma City.
5. The team that will be going through serious changes has to be the Lakers. Where do the Lakers go from here? Pau Gasol will be the most likely victim and Ramon Sessions looks to be on the way out. They have one major young centerpiece in Bynum but where can the Lakers invest? Many questions surround them and I don't have a clue what they do. All I know is I expect some major changes.
6. How about another team that will be going through serious changes. Dallas Mavericks have to get rid of a lot of there aging players. They may not be able to re sign Jason Terry either due to his demands for a big contract. They will do all they can to sign Deron Williams who can make a Dallas serious contender. Dallas will need to get some young talent as well but they can be a top four team in the West by simply getting Williams.
7. Another team that has been long forgotten after making some serous noise in Indiana. Other than Oklahoma City, their isn't a better young team with great potential than Indiana. I'm not expecting any major moves but I expect players like George and Hibbert to develop more as game changers. They have a great roster and the bench is solid as well. Its just a matter of their young players stepping up after taking the champions to almost the brink at one point.
8. The West has so many good teams and this team has the most potential to succeed or possibly head to a downfall. They don't have to make any serious moves but the Clippers need to re group. They looked bad in the playoffs even when they won. Caron Butler wasn't the impact signing that they hoped for and DeAndre Jordan was a massive disappointment. Bledsoe and Young are nice pieces but the Clippers may need to make some changes with their system. Vinny Del Negro will be on the hot seat.
9. The two other young teams in the West I'm expecting some nice things out of especially the Nuggets. They are similar to Indiana except they play in the West which makes things harder. Gallinari, Lawson, and Faried should continue to develop but they may be one player away from being a major player in the West. Grizzles have the pieces but they need an outside shooter. The three point shooting was beyond ridiculous and it still shocks me how they didn't make it past the first round. O.J Mayo needs to go as well, he's becoming a major cancer to this team. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Randolph gone as well but at least he still has value to this team.
10. I can't leave out the Knicks because they are still an attraction thanks to their coach killing franchise player, overrated role players, and their nonsensical fans. They could make a push next season even though I'm not high on Mike Woodson. Iman Shumpert is going to be a big loss for first half of the season and it will be interesting to see if they keep Amarie Stoudmire. The positive thing is that the Knicks play in the East so they'll be in the playoffs and could make a run.
1. Oklahoma City has a great future going forward. They have nothing to be ashamed of with their youth and growth as a team. This team will be a contender for years to come so people shouldn't be too hard on them. They will be consistently in the top two seeds of the West for years to come.
2. The interesting subplot of the playoffs has to be Derrick Rose. With the emergence of Rondo and impressive play by Paul, where does Rose rank these days? When he comes back which should be January, I expect him to be a man on a mission. It was a very unfortunate injury and it could leave Chicago playing catch up come mid season.
3. I'm not sure where Boston goes from here. Ray Allen will be gone but Rondo has become a superstar and Avery Bradley will grow into a key player. The problem with Boston is a bench and they'll need to make their 2 first round picks count. Boston isn't going away any time soon but they could possibly overhaul the roster.
4. The Spurs are the odd team out when it comes to talking about great teams. It's really odd that they went from most dominant team in the playoffs to shockingly eliminated. I expect them to be back strong next season but they'll need their young role players to grow as players. They were major let downs when they went against a great team like Oklahoma City.
5. The team that will be going through serious changes has to be the Lakers. Where do the Lakers go from here? Pau Gasol will be the most likely victim and Ramon Sessions looks to be on the way out. They have one major young centerpiece in Bynum but where can the Lakers invest? Many questions surround them and I don't have a clue what they do. All I know is I expect some major changes.
6. How about another team that will be going through serious changes. Dallas Mavericks have to get rid of a lot of there aging players. They may not be able to re sign Jason Terry either due to his demands for a big contract. They will do all they can to sign Deron Williams who can make a Dallas serious contender. Dallas will need to get some young talent as well but they can be a top four team in the West by simply getting Williams.
7. Another team that has been long forgotten after making some serous noise in Indiana. Other than Oklahoma City, their isn't a better young team with great potential than Indiana. I'm not expecting any major moves but I expect players like George and Hibbert to develop more as game changers. They have a great roster and the bench is solid as well. Its just a matter of their young players stepping up after taking the champions to almost the brink at one point.
8. The West has so many good teams and this team has the most potential to succeed or possibly head to a downfall. They don't have to make any serious moves but the Clippers need to re group. They looked bad in the playoffs even when they won. Caron Butler wasn't the impact signing that they hoped for and DeAndre Jordan was a massive disappointment. Bledsoe and Young are nice pieces but the Clippers may need to make some changes with their system. Vinny Del Negro will be on the hot seat.
9. The two other young teams in the West I'm expecting some nice things out of especially the Nuggets. They are similar to Indiana except they play in the West which makes things harder. Gallinari, Lawson, and Faried should continue to develop but they may be one player away from being a major player in the West. Grizzles have the pieces but they need an outside shooter. The three point shooting was beyond ridiculous and it still shocks me how they didn't make it past the first round. O.J Mayo needs to go as well, he's becoming a major cancer to this team. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Randolph gone as well but at least he still has value to this team.
10. I can't leave out the Knicks because they are still an attraction thanks to their coach killing franchise player, overrated role players, and their nonsensical fans. They could make a push next season even though I'm not high on Mike Woodson. Iman Shumpert is going to be a big loss for first half of the season and it will be interesting to see if they keep Amarie Stoudmire. The positive thing is that the Knicks play in the East so they'll be in the playoffs and could make a run.
Euro Cup Recap
This was a pretty disappointing quarterfinals in terms of watching as a casual fan. I didn't see one great game that made me want to watch it again or watch twenty minutes of highlights. I actually got to watch every game even though I almost fell asleep during France vs Spain. I'm a bit letdown but the semifinals should be able to deliver.
The legend going up against a favorite of mine in Scott Parker.
Portugal 1 Czech Republic 0- It was a pretty dull game that seemed to rarely trouble Portugal defensively. Czechs didn't pose much of a threat even when they went on the counter. I can't remember a moment where Rui Patricio had to make a save. The Czechs deserve praise for hanging in there and really giving Portugal tough looks to force saves out of Cech. It seemed like the more the game went on, the more frustrated they were getting. Raul Miereles would blast every shot over the bar consistently and everyone had that feeling of doubt. Eventually Cristiano Ronaldo took over and continued to be a threat. I'm pretty sure that Denmark performance really angers him and now he's going to play like a mad man. He's back to making it great runs and using the step overs in a quality way. He was a force all night and eventually scored the winner off a strong header from Moutinho. Portugal clearly deserved to go through even though they may have wanted to score more to gain more confidence headed into the showdown against Spain. Then again in the knock out stages, you win in any way possible. Portugal did have an injury go down with Heider Postiga and he'll miss the semifinal game. I don't think it's a big loss since he has underperformed but with the lack of strikers, it will hurt in depth purposes. The man of the match was clearly Cristiano Ronaldo who was a threat all game. He's back on his world class form and was clearly better than anyone on the pitch.
Germany 4 Greece 2- The biggest mis match out of the four games was still very much one sided despite the score line. Germany didn't look sharp for most in the first half when it comes to shot selection. They seemed to rush and really didn't put any good strike on the ball. It was clearly one sided with Germany attacking in the final third through out. Eventually they got on the board with Phillip Lahm well taken goal. Lahm may have joined the top five goals of the tournament with a perfect chest down then bent it in the far left corner. Lahm was a threat all night like he always is but you don't get to see enough of his shooting skills since he's left back. It was a joy to watch even though Germany clearly was holding back due to the Greek defensive wall forming. Greece was up to their usual tactics which was to defend for their lives then go on a few counters. Shockingly enough it worked and it was a great counter. Giorgio Samaras who has had an awful tournament finally scored for Greece after Sapligidis led the counter well. Sapligidis really played well despite being swarmed whenever he got the ball. He's a workhorse that never stops running and can dribble to create some space. Eventually after the goal, Germany stopped messing around and the game was over in 20 minutes. Sami Khedria made a strong cut and put a simple foot in to score a quality goal. Then the Greek goal keeper Sifakis made a horrible effort trying to go for the clear out and Miroslav Klose just had to put it easily in. He was clearly too aggressive when the defender clearly was in position to clear it out. Greece was getting torn apart the entire match and the onslaught didn't stop until Marco Reus got a well deserved goal off great ball movement. Germany showed another top quality performance and go into the semifinals full of confidence. I haven't mentioned him yet but the man of the match has to be Mesut Ozil. He was the playmaker all game and leading the attacks for Germany. He reminds me of Luka Modric in so many ways expect that he uses his left foot as his preferred foot. Ozil will always be a problem for any defense with his pace and distribution skills but he was attacking in the heart of the Greek defense and that really stood out to me.
Spain 2 France 0- Many people including myself said that this game could be the best from the tournament. Based on all the full games I've watched, this had to be the worst. It was painful to watch with France really trying to create but eventually getting fatigued. They never seemed to look united and capable of pulling off the upset. Everyone has heard about the locker room incident with a few players and they still look very distant from each other. When the game dwindled on even when players like Samir Nasri came on, they look defeated. It was another tough game for Karim Benzema who is so talented but he never looked capable of scoring. I'm a big fan of Benzema so it was frustrating to watch and Spain just completely controlled him. This was typical Spain that scores one goal then controls possession. They looked fairly comfortable through out the game despite playing with no strikers to start the game. Jordi Alba stood out to me through out the game with his pace and finding open spots in the defense. France failed to contain him which led to a great cross to Xabi Alonso who expertly headed it down. Alonso is a true veteran and was smart to head it down because that's how most goals are scored from headers that are from a decent amount of distance. It was well taken and Spain seemed to be in cruise control. Even when France tried to bring on attacking players, they looked even worse with players like Malouda and Menez not making any sort of impact. The only attacking player that really showed anything was Frank Ribery who once again showed how hard he works and how he really improved on his dribbling. Ribery had a solid game but Spain was prepared for him and continued to double team as the game went on. Spain's midfield continues to win games for them with simple control on the ball and always being able to track back defensively. It's a great method and they looked to be back in form after an average performance against Croatia. The man of the match has to be Xabi Alonso with his two goals and his constant harassment of French midfielders. Alonso is moving into that Michael Ballack role as one of the best defensive midfielders that can be an offensive figure just like he is defensively.
Italy 0 (4) England 0 (2)- It was safe to say my prediction of a midfield struggle wasn't really on point along with the score. Italy clearly out played England but simply couldn't get that shot to go in. It was an impressive performance by Italy who looked confident on the ball and created chance after chance. Andrea Pirlo continues to show that age doesn't matter with his command of the midfield. He still provides quality passes whenever he's asked upon to make them. It was a struggle to watch though since I was supporting England and I didn't think they would be this out classed. England had some great moments to score like Glen Johnson who should have scored in that part of the box. Then Danny Welbeck who was lost the entire game missed his only good chance of the game. It was a constant struggle with England when trying to attack. Rooney never looked to be in shape and Ashley Young had a terrible tournament. Italy had to be let down that it couldn't be finished in regular time because the chances went begging. Danielle De Rossi nearly had goal of the tournament with a volley from thirty yards out that struck the post. It was struck perfectly but it had to be denied by the wood work. Mario Balotelli looked lively through out but he also had some bad misses including taking too long on a break away before being stopped by John Terry. England's defensive really deserves credit because they cleared out so many crosses and near goals. John Terry may not be the nicest guy you've ever met but he's an absolute workhorse and truly loves his country. He had a great tournament along with Joelon Lescott. I think England may seriously consider keeping this two going forward until injury happens or a really bad run of form. They really work well together and made a formidable duo. As the game wore on, penalties always seemed likely and it eventually happened. England always looked likely to lose with their history and it happened again. Ashley Young hit the cross bar and Ashley Cole took one of the worst penalties I've ever seen. He clearly showed where he was going and Buffon easily caught it. It was a lame attempt and Italy got the winner. Andrea Pirlo was man of the match but he'll also win most creative penalty by chipping it down the middle. Pirlo is a true Italian legend and today was the game that will always cement his legacy.
Semifinals Prediction
Face palm!
Spain 1 Portugal 0- I'll be missing this game due to work but I look forward to seeing full highlights. This game is a rematch from the round of 16 at the World Cup and I'm sure the rivalry still is strong. I just can't see Portugal scoring with Spain defending Ronaldo just like defending Nani. It will be up to players like Nani and Raul "please stop shooting it to Row Z every time" Miereles to make an impact. Hugo Almeida will likely start and will have to make the most of his chances. Spain will probably control the game and get that one goal which they can sit on. The game will have lots of fancy dribbling and passing but shooting may be limited. This game will end in regular time.
Germany 2 Italy 1- I'll be able to watch this game and it should be a great one. Germany is the last team left that I was actually rooting for. I think Italy will give them more problems than people realize. Italy seems to be in a groove and Pirlo will love the fact that Scheweinsteiger will likely be out. He still has to deal with Sami Khedria which will be a problem but this will be a great show down. Germany's defense has a few cracks especially Jerome Boateng who was poor against Greece and the reason for two goals. Italy could make him a target which could lead to a goal. I'm still going to pick Germany though because they'll test that inexperienced back four of Italy. It could be more but I think Buffon will make some top quality saves. This will also end in regular time to start up a rematch from Euro 2008.
Final Word/Plugs
I'm really going to miss basketball since it's my 2nd sport. I'm sure I'll be discussing basketball during the summer with free agency and trades. It will only be happening if something major happens after the first day. I'll probably do something before free agency where the team needs are and who they should possibly sign. I need something to talk about in July other than life, wrestling, and UFC. I'm going to talk about the draft Friday and who are the winners/losers. I'm not going to be watching the draft live but I'll probably tweet some thoughts. It won't be a long post but I'll probably recap each team rather than each pick. Its much easier and far more productive so look out for that. I'll also recap the semi finals of the Euro Cup then give a pretty massive preview of the finals. The last thing I'll cover Friday is the one year anniversary of the CM Punk shoot. I know I haven't covered much wrestling lately and I have a decent amount of readers that love wrestling. I'm a huge fan as well and I promise to talk more about coming up. Don't worry I'm not going to be covering soccer like this during the year. I'm a fan of the English Premiership League but I'll only talk about it on occasion along with World Cup qualifying. I plan on getting into more wrestling including Friday looking back on CM Punk shoot promo. It was the coolest moment ever being a fan of the business where I knew it was a work and it wasn't real to me. It was real to me when I was 5 and the attitude era was in full force. Everyone knows how many epic moments with Stone Cold, The Rock, Undertaker, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, and the list goes on. In terms of being a fan knowing how things work and being an intelligent fan, Punk's promo was the greatest thing I've witnessed and it made Punk one of my active favorites to one of my all time favorites. I'll talk more about it Friday but I'm excited to watch it again because its six minutes of pure genius and emotion. That's all for now so I wish you all the rest of the week. I'll be back Friday with all the great stuff in the sports world where baseball is irrelevant!
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