AnotherHotCornerHasBeen

The long anticipated finals between Kobe Bryant and the Lakers and LeBron James and the Cavaliers is not going to take place after all. The Orlando Magic ousted the Cavs from the playoffs last week, rather easily I thought, so King James will have to wait for his coronation till a way down the road, if he ever gets a crown.

So Thursday it will be Dwight Howard and the Magic against the LA Lakers and Kobe. It should be interesting to see how the matchups of big men play out.

Not many people gave the Houston Rockets of winning a game in the playoffs series against the Los Angeles Lakers, much less to win the series. The Lakers had won all the 4 meetings between the two teams in the regular season. But the Rockets put together a solid game defensively and a nice game offensively in the first game. They won by eight points on the court in LA, and never trailed by more than one point at any time in the game!

I am a fan of the Houston Rockets and totally enjoying the phenomenal winning streak they are on right now. But I wonder if 22 are enough. There are 16 games left in the season. The next four games are against playoff teams. If they were to split those four games the streak would be over and the Rockets would be able to get the streak off their minds and the playoffs in focus!

Now that the Houston Rockets’ winning streak has reached twenty two, and it includes having beaten the Lakers, whom many have picked to win the NBA Championship, maybe the national sports media will have to admit that the Rockets have become legitimate contenders. But probably not!

Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are certainly a powerful combination and are going to win a lot of basketball games together. The Rockets had gotten off to a 6 and one start to the season. But last night the Grizzlies reminded the Rockets that someone else on the team is going to have to hit a shot once in a while to assure the victories.

Tracy McGrady is a big star in the NBA and a loved figure in Houston. This past weekend he hosted a Softball game as a charity fund raiser. He was able to get lots of other players and stars from other realms to come into Houston to participate. He was able to raise and donate $175, 000 to help upgrade the library at an inner city high school!

 Good Job, TMac

I was out of touch with civilization last week when the San Antonio Spurs finished off the Cleveland Cavaliers for the NBA Championship. But I was not surprised by the sweep. San Antonio has a team that know how to close out a series and the talent to get it done. There were other teams in the Western Conference that my have been more talented, but none had the skill and the will of the Spurs!

Do you think the San Antonio Spurs are expecting to win another NBA title this year? Do you think they are coolly confident, trusting in their past experience and the skills of their top players in the brush away the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers? Or is it possible that they are having some little secret doubts as they look at the talent coming from the east and they see themselves several years ago?

Do you think Lebron James is excited about his first trip to the NBA finals? Do you think he is so young and trusts and his talent so much that he believes he can scale the mountain and take the title home in his first opportunity? Or do you think he is having some doubts right now because a the reputation of the San Antonio Spurs?

The NBA Finals will begin tomorrow night, pitting the established San Antonio Spurs against the upcoming powerhouse Cleveland Cavaliers. I was surprised that the Cavs had beaten the Spurs in both regular season games between the two this season. It makes me wonder about the matchups. But it is hard for me to imagine the young and comers taking the proven winners in the best of seven series that is the Finals!