L.A. Pride is a true sports enthusiast.  A former youth, and division II assistant basketball coach, who studied the martial arts, he enjoys and follows all sports, even hockey.  His quick wit and insight brings a fresh view to the world of sports. You may not always agree with him, but you will enjoy his highly opinionated thoughts.

Is it me …

Or have the games begun?  The NBA playoffs have started and are off with a bang.  The games are more intense and physical than during the regular season.  Every possession is played liked it is the last possession of the game and everyone is trying hard and playing defense.  It is as if the players really care about winning a game.  What next,  they’ll show some emotion?

Eastern Conference Playoffs

Philadelphia vs. Chicago                  Chicago leads series 1-0

New York vs. Miami           Miami leads series 2-0; NY has lost 12 straight playoff games over the years

Boston vs. Atlanta                           Atlanta leads series 1-0

Orlando vs. Indiana                  Series is tied 1-1

Western Conference Playoffs

Utah vs. San Antonio         San Antonio leads series 1-0; the old boys (San Antonio) are playing well

Dallas vs. Oklahoma City         Oklahoma City leads series 2-0; OKC has been extremely physical and has gotten to  Dallas

Denver vs. L.A. Lakers         Lakers  lead series 1-0 (Kobe believes the Lakers are contenders, not pretenders

L.A. Clippers vs. Memphis          Clippers lead series 1-0 (great comeback, by Clippers to take game one

(The Tuesday night games are not listed because we went to press before the games were completed.)

Playoff Police Blotter:

R. Rondo, guard Boston Celtics, suspended one game for bumping official.

R. Artist (World Peace-NOT), forward L.A. Lakers suspended six games for vicious elbow assault on James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder.

Playoff Emergency Room Report:

D. Rose, Chicago Bulls, torn ACL, out for the playoffs

.

I. Shumert, N.Y. Knicks , torn ACL out for the playoffs

R. Allen, Boston Celtics, Bone Spurs in Ankle, day to day

Amar’e Stoudemire, N.Y. Knicks, cut hand; day-to-day (lost a one round decision

with a glass enclosed fire extinguisher.  Amar’e threw the first and only punch.)

Caron Butler. L.A. Clippers, fractured hand ,out six weeks.

Our MVP and Coach of the year are:

LeBron James, Miami Heat, MVP. He carried the Heat this season and was flawless throughout the season.  His reluctance to take the last shot at the end of the game is the only criticism we have of him.  When LeBron is hitting his jumper, he is the perfect ball player.  He can post up, run the floor, pass the ball,  plays lock down defense, and stays healthy.

Greg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs, Coach of the Year.  ‘Pop’ did an outstanding job of shifting the focus of the Spurs from Tim Duncan to Tony Parker.  He allowed Parker to become more aggressive and run the team on the floor, without hurting anyone’s feelings.  Popovich managed the playing minutes of his aging players, during this condensed season perfectly.  Popovich did  a wonderful job , under less than ideal conditions and earned the number one seed in the west.

Too bad Michael Jordan can’t fire himself.  He did a lousy job as the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.  Pointing the finger at Paul Silas and firing him as coach was the cowards way out and a feeble attempt to shift the blame elsewhere.  Silas, who is a good coach, didn’t have the horses to run with the big boys, and that is the owner’s fault, Mikey.

The NBA Playoff picture; Follow this link to the match-ups:

http://www.nba.com/playoffs/2012/series/index.html

Is it me…

Or did ESPN broadcast the NFL draft?  The NFL draft is a marathon that goes on forever, and ever, and ever.  ESPN has analyst creating mock drafts that are discussed repeatedly, along with experts discussing the draft, players, and teams.  Enough already, it is overkill.  The results of the draft play out during the season.  We won’t know until they play the game who did well in the draft and who didn’t.

On paper some teams seemed to have improved via the draft, but they don’t play the games on paper.  Call me when your draftee has made the team and is contributing to  your team’s success. See previous year’s draft to see how many can’t miss prospects MISSED!

You can review the 2012 NFL draft here:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft

Did the Washington Redskins give RG3 a vote of  no confidence.  Rg3 is suppose to be the man in Washington and they (Washington) elect to hedge their bet by drafting another quarterback.  It is a business, first and foremost, as RG3 is learning.

NFL teams continue to adjust and shape their rosters;

A list of current NFL transactions can be found at:

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/transactions/

Is it me…

Or do hockey fans not get it?  Joel Ward, a carribean-canadian player for the Washington Caps, scored the  series-winning goal in overtime against the Boston Bruins  last week unleashing a multitude of racist tweets.   (I would be curios to know how many of these racist Bruins’ fans are Boston Celtics’ fans and how they feel about Paul Pierce).

 It’s a game  people, no one died and life goes on.

   These so-called fans hiding behind their  computers are truly cowards and exemplify what’s wrong with fans. Unfortunately this is not the first time this season that a black player has been subject to racist taunts by NHL ‘fans’.  Wayne Simmonds,  of the Flyers had a banana thrown at him as he was taking a penalty shot .   There are approximately 28 black players in the NHL out of 690 active players.

Is it me…

Or is it difficult keeping up with the Jones?

Jon Bones Jones, UFC light heavyweight champion, held a bit of a victory party. It has just been a couple of weeks since his big victory against rival Rashad Evans, but Jon Jones has another reason to celebrate. The New England Patriots drafted his little brother Chandler Jones in the first round 21st Overall.

Chandler was the first player from Syracuse to be drafted in the first round in over a decade. With this being the second brother of Jon Jones to go into the NFL, (Older brother, Arthur Jones plays defensive line for the Baltimore Ravens) and with Jon Jones being the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, is there any better current family of professional athletes?

Is it  me…

Or is 47 a bit old to be boxing?    Bernard Hopkins lost his light heavyweight title to Chad Dawson via a majority decision.  Hopkins, who is 18 years older than Dawson, landed his best shots via head butts and opened a nasty cut on Dawson with his head.  However, Dawson’s corner was able to control the bleeding and he controlled the fight throughout, winning 117-111 on two cards and 114-114 on the third (this judge must have dozed off during the  fight.  It was pretty boring.)

Hopkins at 47 has not announced his retirement, although his performance against Dawson  spoke loudly for retirement, will go back to Philadelphia  and weigh his options. His first option should be looking at collecting social security.  You’re too old to keep boxing Bernard.  Boxing is called ‘the toughest three minutes in sports’ because of  what it  takes to participate.  Bernard you’re tough, but not as tough as boxing.  At 47 years old you are asking to get hurt in the ring.

Speaking of retirement, is Floyd Mayweather so confident about his upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto, that he has already put the fight to rest?  There has been very little publicity about the May 5th. fight and Floyd hasn’t really insulted Cotto or got under his skin.  Floyd appears to be training and preparing for the fight, but he doesn’t seem worried about Miguel.

Cotto can fight, and could give Floyd some trouble.  However, Mayweather should win and retire to the county jail to begin serving his sentence.  Only in Las Vegas  do they  push back the date you are suppose to report to jail so you can have a fight and help fill the city coffers  Money talks!

Edited by D. Pride.