lakers2408

Let's pay some homage to the season that was 2009-1010.

A few things to look back at -

• The Oklahoma City Thunder, a great run even after a sluggish start. Coach Brooks had this team believeing in themselves and you can't deny the talent that is Kevin Durant.  A point in Russel Westbrook and a 4 in Jeff Green that will keep ths core dangerous for years to come.  Not to mention Serge Ibaka, a found role player who plays with grit and heart night in and out.
• The Charlotte Bobcats make their first post season in franchise history, albeit short lived Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace led the athletic team into the 1st round when it wasn't expected.
• The Sixers failed to live up to expectations even with star Andre Iguodala and a talented young gun in Louis Williams.  Hopefully better thhings on the horizon for Philly.
• The Nets and Knicks had lousy seasons, but continue to compile two talented rosters and expectations of signing LeBron James.
• The Bulls once again made the postseason after a strong finish to just hedge out Chris Bosh and the Raptors. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah tried to keep hope alive, but no one else fought with them.  Bad fire of Vinny Del Negro, the new coach has expectations galore.
• The Hornets slip from the postseason due to Chris Paul going down hard and early, but they will be back as Darren Collison showed his stripes and stars as a rookie filling a superstar role
• Big ups to Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry as these two rookies went neck and neck for ROY honors, honorable mention to the undersized, no ACLs DeJuan Blair to an amazing season with the Spurs.
• The resurgence of Manu Ginobili just wasn't enough as the Spurs fell to the Suns...
• The Suns with a Cinderella like story led by the vet Steve Nash and a resurgent Amare Stoudamire.  The Suns bench and role players were huge this season for this team and Grant Hill found new life.
• The Magic fell short of the rematch and the Cavaliers did what they do best, both teams with high hopes fell flat...
• Deron Williams recieved love for his game, but had to many key teammates hurt to make a strong push
• The Nuggets were the dissapointment of the NBA, although Coach Karl was diagnosed with cancer and was forced to be at home rather than leading his troops to battle.

To the Boston Celtics, who were to old, to injured and to out of it to compete. On their way to a 2nd finals appearance in 3 years the Celtics surprised critics world wide when taking down the Cavaliers, Heat and Magic.  They have been on a mission since the post season started and nobody but Celtics players anf fans knew it was possible.

The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and some huge game winners finished first in the West and fought their way through a young Thunder team, a beaten Jazz team and the surprise Suns.  They look to redeem themselves from 08 in what so far has been a classic series.


Which leaves us at game 6, the end is near for both teams, one victor and one defeated.  The Celtics hold the 3-2 lead, but are faced with a tall task of winning in LA. They have done it before, but certainly not under these circumstances.  The Lakers look to tie the series up and should come out firing, in what will be an epic game 6, tales will be written tonight.

"Tonight, We dine in Hell"


The season that was 2009-2010

Feel free to add your own or comment.

LeBron James acted like a baby out there last night, very disrespectful to the fans and to the Magic team.  When the Lakers defeated the Nuggets the other night, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups stayed on court to say congrats and to give hugs and handshakes.  Kobe Bryant and the Lakers did the same when they lost last year.  Carmelo then proceeded to the podium, distressed from the loss, but kept his part by giving the people and Nuggets fans something to settle on as the year for them ended.  LeBron James walked straight to the locker room without saying anything to anyone.  That's horrible sportsmanship... I have lost any respect I had for the guy.  Then he doesn't feel like giving closure in a press conference after the game to NBA fans and more importantly Cavaliers fans.  LBJ, you may have a great game, but if your only gonna be the cocky person you are when you win... then stop calling yourself the King.

 It is what it is folks... Were counting down the wins hopefully all the way. 

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 Los Angeles Lakers

First Round:     Vs. 

Look for a tough first round matchup in a series that leads to not be forgotten.  The Lakers lead the season series at 2-1, but only a fool would base the regular season series in the beginning of the second season.  Anything can happen, but we all know Kobe Bryant is hungry and with Derek Fisher to help lead the way this could be the year.  Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer may have other thoughts on letting the Lakers roll through regardless of whats being spoken...

Game 1: at Lakers April 19 3:00pm est.

The Lakers pretty much dominated this game, although they let the 22 point lead slip a bit the Lakers never really gave the Jazz a close shot at pulling the game from them.  Deron Williams struggled from the field shooting, however he did have a nice amount of assists.  Kobe Bryant looked to get his team invloved early and did while Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown stole the show. Lakers 113- Jazz 100.

Game 2: at Lakers April 21 10:30pm est.

  The Lakers take the series lead to 2-0 after a not so impressive victory.  Kobe Bryant started the night out as a facilitator dishing out 7 assists in the first half while Trevor Ariza continued to impress.  The Lakers got the lead up to 20, but that wouldn't last long as the Jazz made a fierce run in the second half.  Although Kobe turned his scoring mind on ( finished with 26 points and 8 assists), Deron Williams of the Jazz started heating up.  Williams finished with a game high 35 points and 9 assists.  My concern is if the Lakers cannot find a way to slow him down a bit;  The Jazz could easily lock this series up at 2-2 before returning to L.A.  Andrew Bynum played a little better than game 1 and made himself a little more assertive on the defensive side picking up a few nice blocks.  He will be needed more as the playoffs go on.  On a side note, Andrew Bynum has said he feels a bit of pain on the outside of the injured knee, but shouldn't be to large concern.  Lakers 119- Jaz 109

Game 3: at Jazz April 23 10:30pm est.

Game 4: at Jazz April 25 9:00pm est
  One left after the night Kobe Bryant came out and showed the world why he is still the best.  Kobe was making it look easy this night as the lakers took the easy victory. No need to go into depth, great perfomance both offensively and defensively.


Games 5: at Lakers April 27 TBD
It's over... The Lakers defeat the Jazz in 5.  Kobe poured in a smooth 31 and the Lakers took it to the Jazz for a full 40 minutes.  Yeah a full 40 minutes, that's when Paul Millsap and Ronnie Price decided they didn't want their season to end.  The Lakers led by 21 to have the Jazz go on one hell of a run and close the gap to 5.  Deron Williams came back in the game and seemed to not carry the same momentum that the bench had brought.  Carlos Boozer missed some bunnies and blew some boards while the Lakers gave the ball to Kobe to stop the bleeding.  Overall a great win and fast start to the playoffs for the Lakers, but they better check themselves and hold some leads if they want to get that trophy this year. 

The Lakers await the winner of the Rockets and Blazers series, the Rockets lead it 3-1 with the possibility of closing out in game 5.

 It's official, were ready for Round 2.


Second Round:      Vs.       

 
It all starts on Mondayt May 4th in Los Angeles.  The Rockets high on spirits after advancing past the first round in 12 years without an injured Tracy McGrady look to move forward with their superstar Yao Ming.  It looks as if he has come to play this post season and the smart play by Ron Artest and Shane Battier have definitely been huge additions.  The Lakers will be very well rested after they have waited nearly a week for their second round opponent... Kobe Bryant always plays well against Artest and us Lakers fans can only hope that trend continues.  Andrew Bynum will have his chance to show what he is made of as he has been designated to start at C.

Game 1:  Monday May 4th @ LA

  Wake up call Lakers.... Yao Ming was unstoppable, Ron Artest was consistant and Aaron Brooks was unguardable.  The Lakers thought talent was going to win this game alone and it sure didn't happen that way.  Pau Gasol was horrendous and Andrew Bynum looked lost.  Kobe was far from good taking 30 shots to get 30 points is never a good sign.  The Rockets now control homecourt after stealing the first game in very impressive fashion, the Lakers need to make major adjustments if they want any chance of getting out of this round. Rockets 100 Lakers 92.

Game 2:  Wednesday May 6th @ LA
 Kobe Bryant came out firing on all cylinders tonight pouring 40 down on the Rockets tenacious d and shooting 16 of 27 while doing it.  That appears to be the Kobe we missed from game 1 where it took him 31 shots for 30 points.  This series just got ugly, beginning with a Deron Williams type blow from Derek Fisher to Luis Scola.  That was followed by a Kobe "elobow" to Ron Artest which led Artest to be ejected.  Pau Gasol appeare to assert himself early and take Yao Ming out of this game which is what the Lakers will need to to do to take a game or 2 in Houston.  Look for a very close officiated game 3 on Friday night,  Lakers 111 Rockets 98

Game 3:  Friday May 8th @ Houston
  Great ball movement, great defense and one superstar catching fire = Lakers 108 Rockets 94
They did everything they needed to do to achieve the win and will need plenty more to achieve the series.

Game 4:  Sunday May 10th @ Houston
 Yao Ming out, no problem right?  Wrong, Aaron Brooks goes for 34 and Derek Fisher is still having a hard time finding him.  I think the lakers played the worst game they could play in one that could have meant the series ending in 5.  Kobe bryant was a non factor and the Lakers had turnover after turnover while leaving anyone who could shoot threes wide open.  Shane Battier started on fire lighting up a quick 15 points while the Lakers couldn't find a bucket.  Major adjustment will need to be made if they dont want to drop another at home. Rockets 99 Lakers 87, that score is very misleading.

Game 5: Tuesday May 12

Lets keep it simple, The lakers switched roles with the Rockets from Sunday and blew Houston out the door.  This may be the most impressive win I have seen as the Lakers finally kept a lead and actually built on it.  Lakers 118 Rockets 78

Game 6: Thursday May 14

Game 7: TBD

 The AFC East is making a stamp of approval once again in the NFL as possibly the toughest division of football.  For the longest time it most certainly was one of the most competitve.  All of the free agency moves by these teams have cause some stir amongst the NFL.  The biggest of course for the Bills when they aquired Terrel Owens.  The Bills have also signed a solid center and released some dead weight.  They are supposedly trying to get TE Tony Schefler from the Broncos.  They definitely have a shot at making some noise.  The Patriots are hoping to have Tom Brady back at 100% and they definitely will need him after trading away "first year sensation" Matt Cassel.  They have managed to shore up their RB situation in bringing in Fred Taylor.  Many people write that off, but remember when they took in old man Corey Dillon?  Championship ring folks.   They already had a solid wide out core with Randy Moss and Wes Welker, but they have added that third piece of the puzzle by signing Joey Galloway; who had a pretty solid year in 2008.  They are currently in talks with Julius Peppers who could shore up that d line and make them harder than they are already.  The Jets got younger by Bret Favre retiring, but lost a bit in letting Laverneous Coles vanish. They still have a solid defense is coached right and their offense could put up decent numbers if the qb is protected.  Last the Dolphins, who perhaps suprised everyone last year includin Miami fans.  The wildcat probably won't work the same this year, but Ted Gin Jr. started to show some life in 08 and the running back tandum of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams can still be lethal.  A year grown the Dolphins can compete.  So is the AFC East gonna be the toughest division in football, or is it a bunch of over hyped signings and releases which will inevitably lead to the Patriots taking another division title?

Welcome to Buffalo Terrel Owens and thank you for joining our Bills team that needs much help. First of all. Cowboys , Eagles and 49ers fans get over it!  When your teams were winnin with 81 in your offense, no one was saying how bad he was.  As soon as your teams start going down hill, well then the scape goat of its T.O.s fault.  The Bills haven't made the post season in a decade and they really have nothing to lose, so why the heck not?  I am a long time Bills fan and I was ready for something to happen... Little did I know the magnitude I was in for.  Look at some points I have to make and say I am wrong.

• Trent Edwards - Everyone keeps saying "oh, poor Trent... He is gonna ruin his career because of this cancer".  You know what, if he can't manage to throw the ball to either Owens or Evans, well then the guy is not cut out to be a quarterback in the NFL.  T.O. may be this and he may be that, but one thing I do know is the guy wants to win.  Trent Edwards will be fine.
•  I keep hearing all these people talking about how great our recieving core is and that T.O. will only take away from them.  Hello?  Do you all not know who the Bills are.  Our best reciever Lee Evans has a very hard time getting the ball because he has no one else on the team to take attention away from him.  Lets be honest, Josh Reed is a great possesion reciever, but he doesn't require Wes Welker like attention in that slot.  Roscoe Parrish is a specialty reciever and he is great at what he does, but he is not the consistant wideout to move the chains time in and out.  How does no one realize that over the last two seasons the Bills WRs have caught 15 touchdown passes.  Terrel Owens caught 25 td passes alone in those two seasons.
• Marketing - Do we not know that the Bills are lucky to get one primetime game a season?  Its very rare they do, but with T.O. in town now I think it is safe to assume the Bills will land at least one or two primetime gigs this season.  The Bills home is a wonderful place to watch a game, but fans do become disgrunteled after season and season and season losing.  Terrel Owens will help get those seasts full for all home games and definitely will increase jersey sles most likely.

Terrel Owens has yet another chance to make up for the dumb things he has done, but one thing I know for sure is it cannot get any worse than it has been the last 10 years!

Attention"  Thank you all who participated, here we go...

The CBS NBA Mt. Rushmore:

• Michael Jordan
• Magic Johnson
• Bill Russel
• Wilt Chamberlain

There you go folks, there is your Mt. Rushmore of the NBA, suprising to see how people voted. 

Runners up:

• Larry Bird
• Kobe Bryant
• Jerry West 
• Three way tie : George Mikan, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Oscar Ribertson

It's amazing to see how Kobe finished 6th with all the people who cannot stand him on this site.  Lakers players dominated the votes, but it was not predominant Lakers fans voting.

Mindfull Votes:

• Shaquille O'Neal
• Pistol Pete Marovich
• LeBron James
• Tim Duncan

One Hit(vote) Wonders:

• Hakeem Olajuwon
• Phil Jackson
• Jason Kidd
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Yao Ming
• Chris Paul

Thank you all for participating, but its all over now.  Go ahead and discuss what you think about any of the results.

In a June 1998 Fortune story titled, "The Jordan Effect," a team of financial writers estimated that NBA superstar Michael Jordan was responsible for having an economic impact of at least $10 billion.

"During his time in the NBA, Jordan has parlayed his breathtaking skills and overwhelming cross-cultural appeal into an industry, and he's done it more effectively than any sportsman before him," wrote Fortune editor Roy S. Johnson. "The man has his own line of underwear, for heaven's sake."

It would seem that anyone on his way to generating $10 billion for various fast food chains, shoe companies, soda bottlers and movie studios could afford to make a friendly wager on the golf course now and then. But for Michael Jordan, whose moneymaking ability depended almost as much on a vice-free image as it did on athletic prowess (Gatorade had built a campaign around "Be Like Mike," after all) there was more at risk than mere dollars and cents.

The risks began to catch up with him in late 1992, not long after his Chicago Bulls won their second NBA Championship in a row. In October, he was called to testify in the criminal trial of James "Slim" Bouler and asked to explain why Bouler – a convicted cocaine dealer – was in possession of a Jordan-signed personal check for $57,000. The NBA superstar first claimed it was a business loan, but while being questioned under oath he changed his tune, admitting that it was actually payment on gambling and poker losses over a single weekend.
 
Turns out MJ was an even bigger gambler (and worse golfer) than most anyone had suspected: In early 1993, San Diego businessman Richard Esquinas revealed in the dreadfully titled Michael and Me: Our Gambling Addiction … My Cry for Help that he had taken Jordan for more than $900,000 in golf-related wagering. Right around the same time, Jordan was spotted at the baccarat pit of an Atlantic City casino in the wee hours of the morning before Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals.

After the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls secured their third NBA Championship in a row, the NBA launched an investigation into Jordan's gambling habits to see whether he had violated league rules. Four months later, His Airness shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement from professional basketball.

"Five years down the road," he said at a press conference, "if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back."

"Was there a trade-off?" asked sports columnist Dave Kindred in The Sporting News. "Hey, MJ, you ‘retire,' we drop the ‘investigation.' Was Jordan advised/ordered by NBA commissioner David Stern to go away – go play baseball or something – and let the gambling stories die?"

If the conspiracy theories are right – and there is plenty of evidence that Jordan retired for his own reasons, like his father's murder in July 1993 and his complaints of basketball burnout after leading the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team" – then the trade-off worked beautifully: After spending a year in minor league baseball, Jordan announced his return to the NBA on March 18, 1995 with a press release consisting of just two words: "I'm back." The Jordan-led Bulls would enjoy another "three-peat," winning the NBA Championship in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

It looked as if the gambling stories were dead – at least until 2005, when Ed Bradley grilled Jordan during a "60 Minutes" profile.

"Yeah, I've gotten myself into situations where I would not walk away and I've pushed the envelope," Jordan told Bradley. "Is that compulsive? Yeah, it depends on how you look at it. If you're willing to jeopardize your livelihood and your family, then yeah."

Sited source: rezoom.com