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