2012-13 NBA Predictions

The NBA season is upon us, and it is already off to an exciting first week. So exciting, in fact, that I forgot to give you my season predictions for how this year will turn out. First off I want to start by saying that James Harden will not average 40 points per game, win the MVP, and lead the Rockets to the NBA Finals. I'm sorry to disappoint any die-hard Houston fans. I also believe that the Thunder, Lakers, and Celtics will all finish with records above .500, which their current records do not reflect. So, now I will begin to predict how I think both the Eastern and Western Conference standings will look like at the end of the regular season. 

Eastern Conference:

1. Miami Heat

2. Boston Celtics

3. New York Knicks

4. Indiana Pacers

5. Brooklyn Nets

6. Philadelphia 76ers

7. Chicago Bulls

8. Atlanta Hawks

Well I am definitely not alone with my prediction that the Miami Heat will finish with the best record in the east. I think the Heat are the clear favorites to repeat heading into this season, and with the additions of shooters in Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, they should end up with home court advantage throughout the playoffs. My second seed is Boston, and I really don't think that they will have a slow regular season like they have in the past couple of years. I believe that the youth the team has gained will help them win some more games during the regular season. I also think that Rajon Rondo will make a run at the MVP, due to an increase in scoring. Now, my three through six seeds could really finish anywhere, there is no clear best team out of those four. I think the Knicks will finish at three just because they have Carmelo Anthony, who thrived along with the  rest of the team under Mike Woodson late last year. I love the point guard tandem of Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd, and the Knicks have great scoring off the bench in J.R. Smith and Steve Novak. The Pacers are number four for me, because they have a very deep roster for the third year in a row, and now have the experience of making a decent playoff run last year. Now I have the Nets over the Sixers because of the injury to Andrew Bynum. He will miss a little time, and I do like Brooklyn. Both teams should be pretty even throughout the season, however, and it will entertaining to watch Joe Johnson and Deron Williams play together. The Bulls will make  the playoffs and finish above the Hawks, because of the return of Derrick Rose at some point this season. The Bulls also, as they displayed last year, have enough on their squad to win a lot of games in the Eastern Conference. I pick the Hawks to squeeze in ahead of the Bucks, simply because I think they have a better all-around roster. The backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis will be great to watch though. 

Western Conference:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

2. San Antonio Spurs

3. Los Angeles Lakers

4. Los Angeles Clippers

5. Denver Nuggets

6. Memphis Grizzlies

7. Dallas Mavericks

8. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Thunder are my number one seed, because of the combination of youth and experience they have, as well as the greatness of Kevin Durant. Durant should make another run at both the scoring title, and the MVP, while the addition of Kevin Martin will serve as a nice complementary piece to the roster. The loss of James Harden will not stand out as far as I'm concerned, because of the return this season of backup point guard Eric Maynor. The Spurs will finish ahead of the Lakers in the regular season, because the Lakers will take some time to mesh. As we have already seen in the first week, the health of the older Lakers is a legitimate concern. Even though the injury to Steve Nash is not a significant one, it is something to keep an eye on as the season goes on. As far as four through six, the Clippers will finish ahead due to another MVP-type season from Chris Paul. They have also replaced players like Mo Williams, Nick Young, and Reggie Evans with better players in Jamaal Crawford, Grant Hill, Ryan Hollins, and the return of Chauncey Billups. The Nuggets and Grizzlies could finish flipped, but I think the addition of Andre Iguodala will be enough to grab the five seed. The Mavs will get the seven seed ahead of the Timberwolves. I picked the Timberwolves, because I think the return of Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, as wells as the additions of Brandon Roy and Andre Kirilenko will be enough to sneak into the playoffs. 

Playoff Predictions:

First Round-

(1) Miami Heat v. (8) Atlanta Hawks 

Heat win 4-1

(2) Boston Celtics v. (7) Chicago Bulls

Celtics win 4-3

(3) New York Knicks v. (6) Philadelphia 76ers

Knicks win 4-2

(4) Indiana Pacers v. (5) Brooklyn Nets

Pacers win 4-2

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder v. (8) Minnesota Timberwolves

Thunder win 4-1

(2) San Antonio Spurs v. (7) Dallas Mavericks

Spurs win 4-1

(3) Los Angeles Lakers v. (6) Memphis Grizzlies

Lakers win 4-2

(4) Los Angeles Clippers v. (5) Denver Nuggets

Clippers win 4-3

Conference Semi-Finals-

(1) Miami Heat v. (4) Indiana Pacers

Heat win 4-3

(2) Boston Celtics v. (3) New York Knicks

Celtics win 4-2

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder v. (4) Los Angeles Clippers

Thunder win 4-2

(2) San Antonio Spurs v. (3) Lakers

Lakers win 4-2

Conference Finals-

(1) Miami Heat v. (2) Boston Celtics

Celtics win 4-2

() Oklahoma City Thunder v. (3) Los Angeles Lakers

Thunder win 4-2

NBA Finals-

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder v. (2) Boston Celtics

Celtics win 4-3

Yes thats right, I don't have either the Heat or Lakers in the Finals. I think that the Pacers will give the Heat a great series and then the Celtics will beat the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics improved perimeter play, along with a stronger Rajon Rondo will knock off Miami. I believe the Lakers will lose to the Thunder, because of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Although the Lakers big men Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol will have strong series, and Kobe will be Kobe, Durant and Westbrook will dominate their respective matchups. Especially Westbrook, because no one on the Lakers can guard him, unless they put Kobe on him, which will hurt his offense. In the Finals, I think it will go back and forth. Rondo will have a great series, while either Garnett or Bass will knock down jumpers all day over Kendrick Perkins. Of course this could, and likely will, not happen and everyone else will have picked the right finals of the Lakers and the Heat. But, I truly believe that there is a strong possibility of the season playing out as I have predicted, we'll see. 

Football and Baseball Make This Time of Year Truly Special

The leaves are falling, and baseball and football fill the air. Sports are all around us right now during this autumn of 2012, and I'm trying to take it all in. It is truly amazing what is going on in the world of sports right now in baseball and football, at both the collegiate and professional levels. 

In baseball the playoffs are underway, and the new wild card system worked out just the way Bud Selig wanted it. All four division series went the distance of five games, with multiple games ending in dramatic fashion. The Tigers went up 2-0 in its series against the Athletics before losing the next two on the road setting up a game 5 with Justin Verlander on the mound. Verlander delivered with a complete game four hit shutout of Oakland, and sent the Tigers to the ALCS for the second year in a row. In the other American League series the Yankees and Orioles went back and forth, much like the two sides did down the stretch of the regular season, with neither side giving an edge. The heroics of Raul Ibanez may have saved the Yankees, as he both tied and won game 3 with home runs. The Yankees took game 5 of the series at home with a complete game effort by their ace C.C. Sabathia. In the national league the series are equally exciting.

The Washington Nationals were in the playoffs for the first time in...a really long time. They took on the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals, who found away to get into the playoffs as a wild card. The series went back and forth much like the Yankees-Orioles series, and with similar dramatics. In game 4 Jayson Werth hit a walk-off home run to send the series to a deciding game 5 in Washington. Game 5 did not disappoint. The Nationals quickly jumped ahead 6-0 with the help of the long ball. However, by the time the game got around to the bottom of the 8th inning, the Cardinals had crept back to close the gap to 6-5. The Nationals got an insurance run in the 8th inning, and had the Cardinals down to their last strike with Carlos Beltran on third base. The Nationals closer, Drew Storen, proceeded to walk the next two batters, Yadier Molina and 2011 playoff hero David Freese. This set up little known second baseman Descalso to deliver a game-tying two-run single, which was followed by another two-run single from shortstop Cozma. The Cardinals advance to face the San Francisco Giants who came back from an 0-2 deficit, to win three straight games on the road, and move on the NLCS. 

While all of this baseball has been going on I have also been able to enjoy watching, the always exciting, college football. Now as a college football fan I do not really have a favorite team. I kind of have my favorites from each major conference, and root for those schools, while also enjoying other ranked matchups throughout Saturday. This college football season, like every other, has been filled with upsets of top-ranked teams. Most recently the number 3 school, South Carolina, fell to the LSU Tigers (my favorite from the SEC) in Death Valley. Also the number 5 team in the nation, the West Virginia Mountaineers, got destroyed on the road at Texas Tech. This now has left us with a top five of very familiar teams. At number five are the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who have not been this relevant for years. At number 4 there is Kansas St. which has quietly gone undefeated thus far. Numbers 1-3 are used to being at the top, Florida, Oregon (my favorite team from the Pac-12), and defending National Champion Alabama. Its all setting up for another fantastic college football season, and surely there are more upsets to come in the second half of the season.

Professional football has been confusing to say the least, some teams have done what we thought they would, and others have been questionable at times. Most expected the Texans and Falcons to be very good this year, but I don't know i they thought they would be this good. Both are undefeated, with the Falcons sitting at 6-0, and the Texans at 5-0, with a Sunday night football matchup with the Green Bay Packers just about to begin. The Packers were a squad many expected to have another strong season, despite losing early in the playoffs last year. This was still a team that went 15-1 in the regular season, and, headlined by a missed call at Seattle, have fallen to 2-3 and are in need of a victory tonight. Another team many expected to replicated the success of last year, the New England Patriots. The Patriots finished the regular season 13-3 last year, and made it all the way to the Super Bowl, before losing to the New York Giants. This year, However, they have struggled to stay consistent. The offense has looked unstoppable at times, and the defense arguably better than last year. But, the Patriots are now 3-3 after losing to the Seahawks in Seattle this afternoon, and questions will be swirling in New England all week long. 

I am now going to leave so that I can watch both game one of the NLCS between the Cardinals and the Giants, and Sunday Night Football between the Packers and the Texans. This time of year may be the best for a sports fan. Heck, I even got to watch the Knicks play the Celtics last night in an exhibition game. Theres nothing like sitting on the couch and watching sports for hours...and then remembering you have homework due the next morning. It's going to be a long night.

The Red Sox Struggles

In all of my short years of watching baseball, never has my team shown such little chance of making the playoffs. I know I must sound a bit ridiculous seeing how the first year I started watching the Boston Red Sox was the year they broke the 86 year old curse of the bambino. Many Red Sox fans had to deal with the heartbreak that was caused by the team losing multiple chances to win a World Series. Whether it was game 6 of the 1986 World Series, when the ball famously went through Bill Buckner's legs, or the more recent events of the 2003 ALCS. A series that came down to a game 7 in Yankee stadium with a tremendous pitching matchup of the former Red Sox great Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez. The sox led five to two in the 8th inning, but could not hold on, as fan favorite Tim Wakefield gave up a walk-off home run to little known Aaron Boone. Most fans had to deal with all of that, while I walked right into the glory days for the sox. 

Despite knowing how lucky I am to have witnessed two World Series wins, and multiple playoff runs, I am still going to complain. 

This team has been struggling mainly, because of their lack of consistent starting pitching. The two leaders of the staff, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, have been terrible really, and despite a recent okay outing from Jon Lester, the two seem to be getting worse. Now the rest of the starters have not been great either, but their not supposed to be, in fact any strong starts from Aaron Cook or Feliz Doubront are just bonuses if you ask me. The offense has been great for the most part. It has been right up there at the top of the American League in most offensive categories. Despite that there still seems to be something wrong in the lineup. Maybe it was the lack of speed most of the season with both Ellsbury and Crawford missing the first half of the season with injuries. Or maybe its the catching situation. Jarod Saltalamacchia has shown great power in his bat, but the backup Kelly Shoppach has had a better overall record when catching for the Sox. 

There is also the fact that both Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia have not been hitting at their all-star standards to this point in the season. Gonzalez has raised his average in the last month, but has yet to show the power that is needed in the middle of the lineup. Perhaps the struggles have to do with management.

Now don't get me wrong I put the blame on the players first, but it is not wrong to explore the problems in team management. Of course new Manager Bobby Valetine has his fair share of critics as far as his managing goes, but that should not even be a part of the conversation, because if you ask me the biggest mistake of all was not re-signing Terry Francona last summer before the infamous September collapse. Communication has been a huge problem for this years Red Sox, and Francona always seemed to be able to communicate well.

Communication might have to be made soon as to which direction the Red Sox are going. Are they going to give up on this season and start looking forward to rebuild, or will they stick with this group and attempt to make a run at one of the two wild card spots. That question may be answered soon enough, as the Sox finish up a four game series with the Twins today. The Twins have the second worst record in the American League, and if the Sox lose today they will have been swept in a four game series at home, and will have really put a dent in their playoff chances.

But as I said at the beginning I really should not be complaining, because even if the Red Sox do not make the playoffs for the third straight year, I still have those two World Series victories to fall back on. That's two more than many past Red Sox fans ever had.

Summer On Smash: Free Agency in The NBA

NBA free agency has always been an eventful time for NBA basketball fans. It occurs soon after the end of the NBA finals, as well as the draft. This summer has been no different, in fact even more exciting than in past years. In the summer of 2007 the Boston Celtics big three was formed, when the Celtics acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, but those were both via trade. In the summer of 2010, LeBron James made his "decision" to travel down to the warm beaches of Miami Florida, and side with fellow All-Stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. This summer, however, has seen more big names being moved than any other year, whether through free agency or trade.

A 6-time NBA All-Star, Joe Johnson, was one of many star players to relocate this month. Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for multiple role players and draft picks. The move sparked maybe the biggest free agent of them all, Deron Williams, to re-sign with the Nets, and give Brooklyn arguably the best backcourt tandem in the NBA. One team who would argue that statement is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers added a huge piece to its squad, one that it thinks has been missing for a while, an All-Star point guard. Well, not only did they get an All-Star, but also a two-time MVP winner in former Suns guard Steve Nash. The sign and trade deal almost came out of nowhere, as the Lakers had been Nash's biggest rival for years, while playing with the Suns. Nevertheless Nash ok'd the deal, not only because of the Lakers' potential, but also because he would be closer to his family in Phoenix. Another shocking move was made by a veteran All-Star guard, this time it was Ray Allen. Ray Allen had spent the past 5 seasons with the Boston Celtics, and helped them win a title in 2008, but after losing to Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals this past season, Allen decided to sign with the defending champion Heat. The move shocked most Celtics fans (including myself), but it was not the end of the world for Celtics fans, because they added a veteran shooting guard of their own. Longtime Dallas Maverick Jason Terry agreed to sign the Celtics just days before Allen decided to leave. Some think that the two are connected, but it has been denied by Allen. Terry was not the only Maverick that left the team, the point guard who led them to a championship just a year ago, Jason Kidd, left Dallas for New York. Kidd signed with the Knicks with the intention of mentoring the young breakout point guard, Jeremy Lin. It sounded like a great plan until Lin signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets. One that the Knicks intended to match until Houston changed the third year of the contract to $15 Million. Instead the Knicks decided to just trade for a former Knick point guard, Raymond Felton.

Despite all of these blockbuster moves none were the story of the summer in the NBA. The biggest story remains where is Magic center Dwight Howard going? Howard has expressed on many occasions that he is not interested in playing for the Magic next season, but no deal has been made yet, and the two sides do not seem to be able to figure anything out. All the blame is to go on Howard, however, as he made it clear that he would stay if the coach and general manager left. Well, at the end of the season Van Gundy and Otis Smith were fired, and Howard proceeded to simply change his mind. Howard is single handedly ruining the Orlando Magic's organization. After getting a brand new arena, and hosting the All-Star Game this past year, the Magic are now most certainly headed backwards.

Despite the problems in Orlando, the rest of the NBA is looking great. The league continues to get more and more exciting as more players change locations. Fresh rookies are preparing to make an impact on the league, and the 2012-2013 NBA Regular Season Schedule was just recently released. On October 30th the season begins in Miami, where the Heat will begin their defense of the NBA title against their rival of recent, the Boston Celtics. Can't wait? Me neither.

Snow Day

It's a snow day so I am relaxing at home and staying warm. What I want to write about today is the Super Bowl on Sunday. But I cannot ignore the fact that the Celtics have the best record in the eastern conference, and just beat the defending champs on Sunday. To me the Celtics proved on Sunday that they are arguably the best team in the NBA, but also that the Lakers have some work to do. There had been some concern with Los Angeles earlier in the season but everyone still thought that they would step up in the big games. But the thing is that they have lost to the Heat, Spurs, Mavericks, Celtics, meaning they have lost all of the big games against playoff teams this year, and have lost a bunch of games at home. Anyway Boston looks good heading into the second half of the season and hopefully they will secure home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
So back to the NFL and the biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1998 with Brett Favre, and they are taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers who will look fore their third super bowl in six years. The key for me will be the pressure that both teams bring on defense. Both teams have mobile quarterbacks, so when they bring pressure on the blitz they better make sure they tackle Rodgers or Rothlisberger. But I think both teams will score a fair amount because of the ability of both quarterbacks to make something out of nothing. In the end though I think the Packers will pull this one out because their corners and safetys are better than the Steeler's with the exception of the defensive player of the year Troy Polomalo. I'll take the Pack in this one 27-21.

Max

Friday Night

No I am not going out and partying on a friday night, instead I am a 15 year old boy so I'm watching the Celtics and the Bulls. I love the Celtics and I can honestly say that they have the best defense in the league as a starting five. Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, and O'Neal (maybe Perkins when he comes back) play the best half-court defense and can absolutely shut down teams. The bench however seems to keep up the offense sometimes but fails to do the same on defense. The bench's bigs are good defenders but not great. Anyway I think the Celtics are the easy pick to come out of the east right now. Even though they have the same record as the Magic, they seem to be more consistent. The Celtics never lose by more than 5 or so, where as the Magic seem to lay eggs some games and the next game completely turn it around and look like the best team in the NBA. The co-best team in the NBA with the Celtics are the Lakers. I know the Lakers have lost 4 straight games for the first time since April of 2007, I don't think there is any doubt in anyones mind that the Lakers are still the favorite out west.
Since I know this is what everyone is thinking about I will talk about LeBron. Yes, I watched the game last night. I thought going in that the Cavs would have a chance to win because of the whole situation, and what would be a playoff atmosphere. Instead the Cavs got destroyed and LeBron had his best scoring game of the season, but there was still a playoff atmosphere. But I got to talk about the beginning, I am not lying when I say that those were the loudest boos I have ever heard. I mean as soon as he stepped on the court that crowd was prepared to boo. You got to see that for Cleavland they had been preparing for this since July when LeBron had "The Decision", so they had all sorts of creative cheers, shirts, poster, etc. My favorite cheer was "your Wade's Pippen!", and my favorite t-shirt was "the lyin king" with a picture of James with a lion's mane. He should have handled the whole summer situation a lot better, but now that it's over that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that he still won't apologize. Even when he got the opportunity when Craig Sager asked him straight up if he wanted to apologize, but he didn't. I'm not sure if he doesn't think he did anything wrong, or he doesn't want to say that he was wrong. Either way he makes things that shouldn't be complicated, complicated.
I am also so excited for the Patriots Jets game on Monday Night Football. It doesn't get any better than arguably the two best teams in the NFL on Monday night. The big thing I think will be the Patriots defense against the Jets much more multi-dimensional offense this year. I still don't think the Pats defense is that good even though they have some very good players on d. That's why I think it will be extremely important for the offense of the Patriots to keep the ball and therefore limit New York's possession of the football. The NFL media still can't seem to buy the Falcons though. I don't know what else they have to do. They have the best record in the NFC, they have beaten the Packers, Ravens, and Saints who are all considered Super Bowl contenders, and they have not lost at home, and over the last three years seem to have the biggest home field advantage in the NFL.
Short note about college football is that it now looks like we are definitely headed towards a Oregon Auburn BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona. While Boise State thought that they might have a chance this year they ended any argument with there overtime loss last week in Nevada. I'm excited to hear that TCU will be joining the Big East which is great. Mainly because UConn might make a BCS bowl game and they are 8-3, while other teams like LSU with only two losses, most likely will not make a BCS bowl game. Anyway I might be just saying random stuff now so I'm done for now.

-Max

Sunday

It's Sunday, which means I'm sitting at home watching football and eating as much as possible. I'm watching the Falcons Packers game right now and I am very impressed with the Falcons defense. Sure they caught a break with Rodgers fumbling in the endzone, but they have actually looked very good. For me I looked at this game as two teams who have great offenses, and one team that has a great defense, that team is the Green Bay Packers. But today it has been the Falcons who are showing up on defense, and leading right now 10-3 in the third quarter. It might be because of their great home-field advantage. The Falcons with Matt Ryan as their starting quarterback for the last three years are 18-1 at home. Which to me is amazing seeing how Ryan was a rookie in '08, and the Falcons struggled to an 8-8 record in '09. I'm also watching the Giants Jaguars game, the Jaguars are leading 17-9, and yet I still see the Giants as a team that could win the Superbowl which angers me. Even though the Giants have lost the last two weeks to the Cowboys and the Eagles, and are getting run over by the Jags, something about that team scares me. The Giants started 1-2 and everyone thought they were terrible. Then they turned it around to a 6-2 record and they looked like the best team in not only the NFC but the NFL. The offense can look unstoppable at times with both the power run game, and the explosive pass game. But then the Giants lay an egg and look like a confused team. But just the fact that they can look so good a times scares me. Because I think everyone remembers when the Giants hit their stride during the playoffs a couple of years ago and upset the favored and undefeated Patriots. So even if the Giants lose today and you hear all over ESPN that they are a terrible team don't listen, because they just might squeeze into the playoffs and beat your favorite team (if you have not noticed I'm a Pats fan). By the way the score of the Packers Falcons game is now tied at 10. Right after I tell you how great and surprising the Falcons d is Green Bay marches down the field and scores. Later tonight the Bears play the Eagles and the Chargers play the Colts, two great games. The Bears will look to slow down Michael Vick and the Eagles offense, and I hope they do because Vick is on my opponents fantasy team. The Sunday Night game is going to be great, Philip Rivers is having a great season and is really helping my fantasy team. Vincent Jackson will also be returning tonight after being suspended during the beginning of the season both by the NFL and the San Diego Chargers, I also just picked him up on my fantasy team, but enough about me. Alright that was just a quick update on the NFl today. Quick note the Heat lost to a good team last night yet again and continue to talk about this "process" which I guess means they have some sort of evil master plan to take over the NBA. Well I think they have already succeeded seeing how they are the only thing that anyone talks about while the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and Magic quietly just keep on winning. Have a good week.

-Max

Thanksgiving Time

Hello everyone it's Thanksgiving time again that means football this Thursday as well as some basketball games both college and NBA. For football there will be the classic Lions and Cowboys home games, the Lions are hosting the 8-2 New England Patriots who are coming off another classic Brady Manning showdown and are looking to be yet another Super Bowl contender come this winter. The Saints will be in Dallas looking more and more like the team that made an incredible championship run giving their city a boost. The Cowboys on the other hand were looking to become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl at home. But these Cowboy shave been a mess with some weeks showing up on offense but not defense and the other way around. But the last two weeks have looked like the team that many expected to see this year after they got a big win in New York and then at home against struggling Lions. This match-up could be a very good game because both teams are coming into this week hot and while one team is playing to prepare for the playoffs, the other is playing for pride. The last game of the night will be the Bengals and the New York Jets. This one has two teams going in opposite directions, the Jets are 8 and 2 but have been struggling to get by three mediocre teams in the Lions, Browns, and Texans. The Bengals have not lived up to the expectations and are only making news because of their wide receivers talk in the press. Bengals receiver Terrell Owens says that Jets corner Darrell Revis is "an average corner". But now I'll make my predictions for these games. The Pats will win in Detroit easily, the Cowboys will show up for a third straight week and knock off the Saints for the second year in a row during the regular season; and the Jets will win another close one against the Bengals with Owens playing well yet again but Ochocinco will get shut down by Cromartie.
In the NBA for some reason someone thought that the Washington Wizards against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Sacramento Kings taking on the L.A. Clippers were great Thanksgiving match-ups. Well guess what? They're not. Thankfully the Miami Heat take on the Orlando Magic tonight in Disney World, but if I were you I would stick to football on Thursday. But about the Miami Heat, recently they lost yet another game to a below .500 team, the Pacers, and just last weekend they lost at the buzzer in Memphis. This Heat team is starting to really annoy me, they just keep thinking of excuses for their play on the court. Whenever they win they are amazing and a championship contender, but when they lose they tell themselves that this whole thing is a process, and that they are still getting used to each other. Well if I remember the 2008 Boston Celtics brought three stars together and they started great right off the bat, and if they lost there was no excuses. They finished the year 66-16 and won the NBA championship. Now if the Heat want to consider themselves championship contenders than they have to not only start playing like it, but also hold themselves accountable for their miscues. So as winter is just starting to come so are the NFL playoffs, Bowl Championship Series, and the NBA and College basketball seasons are just getting into full swing. That's it for now, happy holidays and eat a lot.

-Max

NBA Season

The NBA season is coming up at the end of this month, and what better way to start off the season than with the Celtics and the Heat, two of the NBA's more talented teams this year. That game could very well preview the Eastern Conference Finals in May, the Heat of course are getting all the headlines because of their high activity in free agency this summer. The 2 biggest free agent signings were LeBron James and Chris Bosh, combined with Dwayne Wade alone would be a huge threat in the league, but with the addition of some solid veterans like Mike Miller and Eddie House, this team is looking like the 2008 Celtics team, except younger and maybe better? Of course Miami isn't the only team in the NBA if you may have forgotten this summer, there is another team out west who happens to have won the last 2 NBA Championships, the Los Angeles Lakers. This Lakers team, at least on paper, looks even better than last years team, who fought hard to beat the Celtics in 7. Both the Heat and Lakers look to be the leaders of their respective conferences at the moment, but don't sleep on lots of other teams who feel disrespected by the media for all of the hype involving the Heat.
The Orlando Magic seem to stand out the most, they won 59 games last year, had the second best record in the league, and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before being knocked off by a red-hot Boston team. The Magic are led by their center and best player, Dwight Howard. But this is just for the regular season, and when it comes to playoff time I see the Celtics as the better team and maybe the best in the east. There will still be some teams trying to challenge the set top 3, the Hawks are still very skilled and athletic. They are led by Joe Johnson who signed a huge contract this offseason that will keep him in Atlanta for a long time to come. They still have great young talent, Josh Smith is a stat-sheet-stuffer at the power-forward position, Al Hordford is maybe ready to become one of the great centers in the league soon, and Marvin Williams is solid at the small-forward. Atlanta has Mike Bibby as their veteran point guard, and the clutch and explosive Jamaal Crawford coming off the bench, Crawford won sixth-man of the year award last year. The Bulls are the only other team that I could see challenging the top teams, they decided to use free agency as a chance to pretty much steal the Utah Jazz's players; they signed Ronnie Brewer (an athletic player who plays good defense), Kyle Korver (a sharp shooter who broke the NBA record for three-point shooting last year), and the biggest of all Carlos Boozer, the all-star forward who will miss the beginning of the season because of injury. CJ Watson should also help Derrick Rose, as he will be a nice scorer off the bench.
In the West all of the teams as always have a shot. The Gizzlies are still very young and talented but because they play in the west they might miss the playoffs yet again. The Hornets are looking to improve with the help of having Chris Paul back and healthy, and ready to try to get back to the level as his play in 2008. The teams that should be at the bottom of the playoff picture should be the Suns, Spurs, and Jazz. The Trailblazers and Mavericks will be very good once again but the Mavs just never seem to be able to get all the way, and now 2006 looks like that was their chance to win the franchise a title. The Blazers however are a team that should just keep getting better if they manage to stay healthy, which last year they could not accomplish. They had so many injuries last year, but this year they bring a young team led by all-star Brandon Roy. But the two best teams that seem most ready to take on the Lakers and snap their streak of 3 straight western conference championships, are the Thunder and the Nuggets. The Thunder gained so much from last years playoff berth, one in which they nearly knocked off the champion Los Angeles Lakers, who finished them off in a tough fought 6 game series. Westbrook, Durant, Green, and Harden are the young players who will only get better, and Durant is going into the season as the MVP favorite. The Nuggets are coming into the season quietly because of last years early exit from the playoffs, which from my observation was because of the loss of George Karl. Karl had to step away from the team last year because of health reasons, before he left they were on a roll but then his departure along with Kenyon Martins injury slowed them down the stretch of the season.
Now I will show you my regular season predictions for the playoff picture and the awards.



Eastern Conference
1. Miami Heat 67-15
2. Orlando Magic 59-23
3. Boston Celtics 55-27
4. Atlanta Hawks 48-34
5. Chicago Bulls 48-34
6. Miliwaukee Bucks 45-37
7. New York Knicks 43-39
8. Charlotte Bobcats 41-41

Note: If the Knicks manage to aquire Carmelo Anthony this year I could see them getting over the Bucks, Bulls, and Hawks.

Western Conference
1. Los Angeles Lakers 62-20
2. Denver Nuggets 58-24
3. Oklahoma City Thunder 56-26
4. Portland Trailblazers 53-29
5. Dallas Mavericks 52-30
6. Utah Jazz 52-30
7. Phoenix Suns 50-32
8. San Antonio Spurs 50-32

Coach of the Year: It will most likely be given to Eric Spoelstra no matter what but don't sleep on first year coach Tom Thibbideou of the Bulls, or Mike Danntoni for the Knicks.

Sixth Man of the Year: There will be the normal canidates of Jason Terry, Manu Ginobli, Jamaal Crawford. But James Harden on the Thunder could step up in his second year in the league, also CJ Watson of the Bulls could play very well as he is a great scorer coming off the bench for Derrick Rose.

Most Improved Player: Tony Parker could take this award because he had a tough season last year because of his injuries, and this year he will look play all-star basketball for the Spurs.

Rookie of the Year: Everyone looks to John Wall but I think Wes Johnson will win because he will have a bigger role in Minnesota, while Wall will be playing with Gilbert Arenas.

Most Valuable Player: Right now Durant is of course the front runner but I would not be surprised to see Dwyane Wade make a run and just maybe win it, he will be great with Bosh and James on his side.

Playoff Bracket:
First Round:
Western Conference
(1) Lakers 4 vs. (8) Spurs 2

(4) Trail Blazers 4 vs. (5) Mavericks 3

(2) Nuggets 4 vs. (7) Suns 2

(3) Thunder 4 vs. (6) Jazz 3

Eastern Conference
(1) Heat 4 vs. (8) Bobcats 0

(5) Bulls 4 vs. (4) Hawks 3

(2) Magic 4 vs. (7) Knicks 1

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (6) Bucks 1

Conference Semi-Finals:
Western Conference

(1) Lakers 4 vs. (4) Trail Blazers 3

(2) Nuggets 4 vs. (3) Thunder 3

Eastern Conference

(1) Heat 4 vs. (5) Bulls 2

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (2) Magic 2

Conference Finals:
Western Conference

(1) Lakers 4 vs. (2) Nuggets 3

Eastern Conference

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (1) Heat 3

I see the Lakers making it to the finals but not easily. They will have very tough battles against a team that has owned them for the past few years in the regular season, the Blazers, and against the Nuggets who after losing in 7 games may be losing Carmelo Anthony to free agency. The Celtics will come out of the east, they will beat the Bucks easily in the first round, then have a strong series against the magic because no one can guard Pierce. In the eastern conference finals they will out last the Heat because of their experience, depth, and ability to win big games on the road.

NBA Finals:

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (1) Lakers 2    Finals MVP Rajon Rondo








I honestly see the Celtics as an improved team this year, and despite the Lakers off-season moves to bring in Matt Barnes and Steve Blake, they don't look much better to me. The Celtics will get game 1 on the road and in game 5 at home they will get a little bit too excited and let the Lakers steal one. But in game 6 they will show why they are the best road team in the NBA and raise banner 18 in Boston.

MLB October Preview

The NFL lately has left me forgetting about baseball and the great season that has been going this summer. That along with the fact that the Red Sox are now out of it. But now most of the playoff spots are set around the league. The Twins have taken their division and still have a chance to take the top spot in the American league. The Rangers have had their division wrapped up for a while and will get a big boost with Josh Hamilton re-joining the lineup. The Yankees and Rays are now battling for the division with the loser getting the wild card, both are also leading the AL in wins. In the National League the Phillies stormed back against the banged-up Braves to take the division by a healthy lead. The Reds have taken the central division on a walk-off home run by Jay Bruce earlier this week. Meanwhile out west the Giants seem poised to take the division with a 2.5 game lead on the Padres, and the Padres trail the Braves by 1.5 games in the wild card. I personally would like to see the Giants and Braves finish off the Padres and go to the playoffs.
But right now in the national league it really looks like the Phillies are going to be the team to beat in the playoffs, led by the return from injury of some key players like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. As well as the NL Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay, who is having yet another great year. The MVP should be Joey Votto who amazingly did not make the All-Star team this year despite being near the top of the list in many offensive categories. In the AL Felix Hernandez should win the Cy Young because of his amazing ERA, and Josh Hamilton will probably win MVP despite being injured for the few weeks.
It's all setting up to be another exciting October in baseball. Right now what I see is the Yankees playing the Phillies again in the World Series, and for the second year in a row, capturing the championship over Philadelphia. What I would like to see is the Cinncinati Reds beating the Texas Rangers in the World Series, game 7, walk-off, home run, in extra innings, despite that being the perfect scenario it could still happen. Many things can happen in baseball and as I learned when watching the Tenth Inning, a film by Ken Burns, players can even break records that never seemed possible to break. But while some were broken by players who supposedly used performance-enhancing drugs, it seems to me that everyone at some point and time used them during the steroid era. This means that the best player of the steroid era really was the best player, because everyone was doing it. Steroids also does not necessarily take someone out of the Hall of Fame, Barry Bonds was arguably the best player in the game and a sure Hall of famer before he used steroids. So I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the baseball season and even if you are a big football fan don't forget about America's other game, baseball.
-Max

NFL Season Predictions

My predictions for the upcoming NFL season. This is before week one, where I was surprised to see the Steelers and Seahawks get big wins to start off the season. Also here are the playoff predictions and Super Bowl Champion. (* Wild Card Team)

AFC Standings:

AFC East              AFC North          AFC South       AFC West
Patriots 11-5          Ravens 11-5        Colts 12-4        Chiefs 11-5
Jets 11-5 *             Steelers 10-6       Titans 11-5 *    Chargers 9-7
Dolphins 7-9         Bengals 9-7         Texans 8-8       Raiders 6-10
Bills 2-14              Browns 3-13       Jaguars 3-13     Broncos 6-10


NFC Standings:

NFC East              NFC North        NFC South         NFC West
Cowboys 11-5      Packers 13-3      Saints 11-5         49ers 10-6
Giants 8-8             Vikings 11-5 *   Panthers 11-5 * Cardinals 7-9
Eagles 7-9             Bears 6-10         Falcons 8-8        Seahawks 6-10
Redskins 5-11       Lions 5-11         Buccaneers 7-9  Rams 1-15


AFC Wild Card Round:                                        NFC Wild Card Round:
#6 Jets 13 at #3 Patriots 21                                    #6 Panthers 17 at #3 Cowboys 31
#5 Titans 27 at #4 Chiefs 17                                 #5 Vikings 24 at #4 49ers 10

AFC Divisional Round:                                        NFC Divisional Round:
#5 Titans 14 at #1 Colts 24                                   #5 Vikings 24 at #1 Packers 27
#3 Patriots 21 at #2 Ravens 24                             #3 Cowboys 31 at #2 Saints 24

AFC Championship Game:                                  NFC Championship Game:
#2 Ravens 21 at #1 Colts 17                                 #3 Cowboys 13 at #1 Packers 27

                     SUPER BOWL XLV:

                  Packers 31        Ravens 24

Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV Champions

So those are my predictions, I picked the Chiefs to win the division because of their running back duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones (who the Jets should not have released coming off a career year in New York). The Packers will win the Super Bowl over the Ravens because their secondary will make more plays than the Ravens young inexperienced secondary. With players like Collins, Bigby, and defensive player of the year Woodson, they should be able to make just enough plays on d to defeat the Ravens new-look offense. This is my first post so I would like to thank any of you that read this. I will be posting more on the new seasons of professional and college football; the playoff races in baseball; the NBA; college basketball; and from time to time a little NHL and soccer or "futbol".

-Max Belleau