Archive for April, 2008

2008 NBA Playoffs – First Round Preview

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

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The time has come for the most intense and entertaining annual 2 months in professional sports – the NBA playoffs. This year we have around 10 teams who could legitimately end up in the NBA finals! Drama is higher than its even been, hype is not something that we will need TNT and ESPN to fabricate, and its set to be the most entertaining Playoffs in recent memory. Let’s have a look at what’s on the agenda shall we?!

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1)LA Lakers vs (8) Denver

On paper, the Denver nuggets might just be the most talented team in the NBA. You have Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony who are two true superstars and actual All-Star starters this year. You have Marcus Camby the reigning defensive player of the year, along with Kenyon Martin who is getting back into his old scary self that earned him the first overall pick by the Nets some years ago. Then off the bench Linus Kleiza and J.R. Smith are two of the most high octane scorers period, forget the fact that they are coming off the bench. Nene at his peak can destroy just about any power forward in the league, and Najara could just be the most energetic/rugged player in the League. Yes, on paper they are THAT good. However, on the other side we have a man by the name of Kobe Bryant, who is capable of destroying 2 superstars, defensive beasts, energetic benches all by himself. This year however he won’t really have to, as Odom is playing the best basketball in his life, and Gasol has fit perfectly into the triangle offense. If the 3 point specialists Vujacic, Radmanovic, and Farmar start getting hot from beyond the perimeter, this could be a short series. But if the Lakers dont bring their A game, the Denver just have enough firepower to give Jack Nicholson a heartbreak or 4.

(2) New Orleans Hornets vs (7) Dallas Mavericks

If there has ever been a season where a Number 7 seed is considered a favorite over the 2 seed, then this has to be it. Let’s not forget Dallas are coming off a 67 win season, and they actually got better by adding a true Playoff veteran in Jason Kidd. New Orleans on the other hand have been the surprise team this year and have led the Western Conference for longer than any other team. However, everyone continues to doubt whether this team is for real and whether they have enough playoff experience to win a series. Their poor form at the end of the season sure didn’t help comfort critics, but with perhaps the MVP, the coach of the year, and the best player you never heard of (David West) – they can go on to win the Championship and no one could feel too surprised. They have, afterall, favorable season records against almost all top teams in the NBA.

(3) San Antonio Spurs vs (6) Phoenix Suns

Last year these 2 powerhouses met in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and everyone thought it was a early final. This year their clash has been pushed all the way up to the first round in what must be the two strongest teams to ever meet in the first round of the playoffs. You have San Antonio on the one hand which are the only dynasty since Jordan‘s Bulls and are the team to beat year after year. On the other side you got the Phoenix Suns who have 2 former MVP players (Nash and Shaq), a future MVP player (Amare), a one time ‘the next MJ’ player (Grant Hill), the 2nd best bench player (Barbosa) and perimeter defender in the league (Bell). And one of these two teams will be knocked out in the first round, holy crap! Oh and I didn’t even mention the bloodbath of a series these two teams had last year where there were broken noses, below the belt trashtalk, controversial suspensions, refing scandals, and an all out war on the court. I’d be surprised if this series doesn’t end in the 3rd overtime of the 7th game, with enough drama to make any Brazilian soap look tame in comparison.

(4) Utah Jazz vs (5) Houston Rockets

This is suppose to be the ‘boring’ series of the first round out in the Wild wild west – but I’ll assure you right here it’s not going to be boring…not one bit. If you are into UFC type fights, then you’re sure going to enjoy watching these two defensive minded and tough nosed teams beat the living crap out of each other. Of course, this is the NBA playoffs and the hype doesn’t end there. Last year these two teams met and Utah ended up upsetting Houston on its own floor in the decisive Game 7. This year despite Houston being the 5th seed they still have homecourt advantage due to a better record, and will need every one of their horde of Chinese fans to give them a lift… or perhaps burn down Carlos Boozer’s house. Without Yao Ming, the pressure lies on T-Macs shoulders to finally lift one of his teams past the first round. Last year he guaranteed victory and ended up crying in front of the press after the game 7 loss…this year he might totally Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise it.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Boston Celtics vs (8) Atlanta Hawks 

The best team in the NBA probably isn’t fearing an 8th seed in the weak East who couldn’t even manage to achieve a .500 record, but they should sure not take them lightly. The Atlanta Hawks, more so than the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers who are seeded higher, have a legit chance to upset the heavily favored Celtics. Why you ask? Their team is so athletic you could send them to the Olympics this Summer and rest assured they will come back with a handful of medals. Joe Johnson on a good day can be a poor-man’s Kobe Bryant, Mike Bibby a poor-man’s Steve Nash, Al Hornton a poor-man’s Dwight Howard… So you can imagine if things start clicking, the Hawks can become dangerous fast! If they don’t elevate their game however, this is gonna be a relaxed fall season front yard sweep.

(2) Detroit Pistons vs (7) Philadelphia 76ers 

I’ll admit, I never expected to see the numbers 76 being mentioned this post-season next to the Detroit Pistons other than what they are likely going to concede per game against their first round opponent. Moving swiftly along, the Detroit Pistons are one team that likes playing against important teams and elevate their game when they do so. Last year they were the most impressive looking team in the playoffs until they bumped heads with the puny Cavaliers and seemed to have lost any form of motivation. The 76ers sure aren’t likely to get Rasheed fired up, and this could cost them big as the 76ers have shown that they can beat the top teams when they are in full flow with their high-flying and lightning quick young players.

(3) Orlando Magic vs (6) Toronto Raptors 

The Orlando Magic really haven’t got much attention this year even since their hot start to the season. No one expects them to win the East and a Toronto upset would in fact not be so upsetting. They have the pieces to make a run out in the East – Dwight Howard is the most dominant big man in the league today, Hedo Turkoglu can elevate his game to become a mix of Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant at times (no kidding!), and Rashard Lewis is able to light it up when the stage is big. Toronto is a really balanced team that will need Chris Bosh to be a superstar, and with Dwight Howard clogging the middle this will be a true test of what he is about…if you ask me, its ImBoshible.

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (5) Washington Wizards 

Last but most certainly not least, is my personal favorite matchup of the first round. Woww, where do I start? How about 2 seasons ago, when LeBron and Arenas had the most competitive rivalry in a playoff series in a long time. 40 points, 50 points, game winners, they were coming left and right each and every game. The Cavs ended up beating the Wizards after LeBron talked smack to Arenas during crucial freethrows which he ended up missing. I imagine those freethrows still haunt Gilbert to this day. Last year they met again, but the Cavs ended up making minced meat out of the Wizards after Caron Butler and Arenas had season ending injuries. This year the hype and rivalry has not died down one bit. DeShawn Stevenson and LeBron James ended up exchanging quite a couple words in their final head to head game of the season which DeShawn and the Wizards ended up winning. Stevenson said after the game that LeBron was overrated which escalated all the way into their rivalry being compared to a Soulja Boy vs Jay-Z rap beef. While everyone expects the Cavs to give the Celtics a serious run for their money in the second round, I believe the only way they will be able to do that is by wagering on the Washington Wizards…if you catch my drift.

 

Predictions for the First Round

 

Lakers over Denver in 5

Dallas over New Orleans in 7

Phoenix over San Antonio in 6

Utah over Houston in 5

 

Boston over Atlanta in 4

Detroit over Philadelphia in 4

Orlando over Toronto in 7

Washington over Cleveland in 7

  

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Chris Paul no match for Kobe Bryant

Monday, April 14th, 2008

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It’s ridiculous to think that the award for the league’s most valuable player during an 82 game season can actually come down to one single game. Yet that was the case on Friday night, as Chris Paul’s Hornets took on Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in what everyone believe to be the game that would decide the winner of this years most valuable player. Sitting at home watching,  I was indeed engulfed in the hype that had so succesfully billed this game as the most important game of the season. Truth be told, before I started watching I really wasn’t convinced that one single game should or could determine anything, let alone the most coveted individual prize in all of basketball…But as the minutes passed and both players displayed exactly what they had to offer on the grandstage – it was then that it became clear that this game would indeed seperate the two, but not exactly in the way everyone had envisioned.

Most people that watched the game will have taken the 15 points 17assists 6 rebounds by Paul, and the 29points 10assists 8rebounds and the W for Kobe and given the slight edge to Kobe Bryant on the track towards the MVP award. Yet, if anyone watched cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercisely enough, it should have been really easy to see that these two players that everyone has placed in a deadlock in terms of value…are in fact not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath.

The New Orleans Hornets this year, just like the Phoenix Suns of years past, are a team built around the point guard position. Stojakovic and Peterson are two of the deadliest shooters of our generation. Tyson Chandler is a player that can’t create anything for himself and will only score if a player creates a dunk opportunity for him. So when 3 out of 5 of your starters absolutely need the point guard to create something for them to be succesful – you can see why Paul has so many assists and has established himself as one of the frontrunners for this years MVP. However, this is also exactly the reason why he is totally out of his league when being compared to a player like Kobe or LeBron. Chris Paul has been handed over the ideal team for his skillset. He controls the ball 90% of the possesion and everything goes through him. So while Paul has done a tremendous job with this huge responsibility, he hasn’t exactly proved on a consistent basis that he can take over a game like Kobe, or make defenders look overmatched like LeBron, or control the defensive end of the floor like Kevin Garnett. Paul, if you will, is a one trick pony. He goes around screens, penetrates, and creates havoc around the paint area and as a result of the gifted shooters around him, the pogo stick known as Tyson Chandler, or the scoring machine David West – collects dimes faster than your local arcade. If the MVP award was solely based how much importance you have to your own team, then Paul would probably be have to be given the award…despite his replacement Pargo being more than capable of running the offense and even being more dangerous than Paul on some occasions.

However, the award is the league’s most valuable player, not a team’s. If you dont understand the logic, imagine a team with all guards and players under 6 foot 3. Except there is one center, and you can imagine that under these conditions this player will collect 15+rebounds, and be by far the most important player on the team and more valuable to his team than any other player is to his own team. Should this player get the MVP? No, I certainly hope not.

 Let’s take a look at Kobe for a second. He is able to draw double teams on a consistent basis and ends up creating the space and time for his teammates much like Chris Paul..without even having to move a single step. The defense is always playing catchup when 3 players have to guard 4, and this is an advantage that won’t show up on the stats sheets, but it is far more valuable than any statistic could suggest. So Kobe is easily able to play the facilitator role that Paul is admired for, and if he was to have the ball in his hands the whole time like Paul, you can be sure he would be averaging 10+assists. Yet, this aspect of Kobe’s game is only a fraction of what he is about. His ability to score at will, his defensive presence, his post up game, his 3 point game, his morale breaking plays and demeanor, his clutch ability…all of this is impressive, and the fact that he can do any one at anytime depending on his team, the score, the situation, the matchups…is what ultimately elevates him to a level that Paul will persevere to match throughout his career.

 Kobe has played alongside a dominant big men, and shaped his game accordingly and won three championships. He has played alongside one of the worst teams imaginable (Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown), and carried them on his shoulders to the playoffs and near playoff upsets. He has now adjusted his game to first turn Brynum from laughing stock to a legit All-Star, and now Gasol from forgotten cavemen to superstar playboy. He has never had the perfect team built for him like Paul has had, and yet…anyway you look at it he has been able to thrive and retain the tag as the world best player for the past half dozen years. You might be thinking to yourself now that past seasons shouldn’t be taken into consideration when deciding this year’s award – but we do it all the time (teams’ strengths, players’ abilities, expectations of them…they are all based on past seasons).

If you really watched the game cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercisely on Friday night, and ignored what the commentators were saying, and what the stats said…you would have seen everything that I mentioned in the above paragraphs. The 17 assists by Paul were by no means all spectacular, he was not a factor on defense, his team didn’t suffer with him out, he didn’t have the ability to take over the game by himself down the stretch, and he really wasn’t feared as much as some of his teammates were. And yet, as everyone acknowledges, that was a typical CP3 game and he wasn’t far off his 100% self.

If you had put Paul on that team with Kwame, Parker, Walton, Odom….would he really be as good? Does Paul really have that amazing ability to put his stamp on the game no matter the circumstance? I’m not so convinced. As I watched Chris Paul on Friday night, and the near dozen times I have seen him before this season, I didn’t get that feeling that he was the best or most valuable player in basketball. Apart from several lightning quick coast to coast drives, and several neat passes, I couldn’t make out why this player was being billed as highly as he has been recently. Sure the stats dont lie, but do they tell the whole story? Does Stojakovic make those incredible three pointers in people’s faces just because the pass came from Paul? I just can’t see such a big gap of Paul compared to the average starting point guard (Rafer Alston) , than I see when I compare Kobe to the average starting shooting guard (Jamal Crawford).

You can say what you want but at the end of the day, Kobe is a better player than Paul and more deserving of the MVP award. We saw it on Friday, we saw it the 78 games before, and we saw it the past 3 seasons. Give the award to Paul if you wish, but come June…you will be thinking hard and long about what was so damn special about anyone not named Kobe Bryant.  

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Internet Piracy – Hope for humanity

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

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It’s kinda funny isn’t it – the internet has turned millions of otherwise innocent people into true criminals. In fact, I’d be surprised to find any experienced internet user who hasn’t infringed some copyright law in one way or the other. Even the most moral of mothers and fathers must have watched an ‘illegal’ Youtube video or downloaded some random mp3 track. And yet, even tough the world is now full of ‘thieves’, no one really seems to really care besides the music labels and perhaps movie/tv studios. Even the little FBI warnings at the beginning of movies threatening prosecution or the reported lawsuits filed by the RIAA on individuals for lifesavings don’t seem to bother the average citizen.

 What is the reason for this recent phenomenon – is it that people think music/video should be free, is it that its just so damn easy to steal stuff on the internet, or is there perhaps a deeper layer to this ‘crime of our times’?

One of the most important, and certainly most shocking things I learned at school (besides  stuff in sex ed class of course), was that Communism, in principle, was actually a great ideology. All through my upbringing I was led to believe that it was the most evil thing on this planet – but as my history teacher explained, in a perfect world we would be governed by Communism. If people weren’t so selfish and greedy, then it would be the way towards the most harmonious society imaginable.

What does this all have to do with internet piracy you wonder, well in fact it has everything to do with it. You see, the main reason why people ‘steal’ on the internet isn’t because it is a much more conveniant way to obtain music (altough it sure is more conveniant), and it certainly isn’t because they don’t believe it is a crime – it is actually because of the communist/collectivist mentality rooted deeply inside every human’s brain. Music label execs, multi-million dollar artists aren’t regarded with much compassion in the eyes of the average citizen just working to get by. In their mind, they shouldn’t have to forego a large chunk of their earnings just so the rich get even richer. It is this type of psychological communism that gives moral citizens like you and me the moral freedom to commit crimes.

While it makes perfect sense that a Chinese person making 100$ per month gets the Britney Spears album for free rather than foregoing their sons’ school money to purchase it – it doesn’t make it legal in the eyes of the law. But what is the law at the end of the day… simply a set of rules to help society function better. Will society function better if this person starves and helps Britney make another 5$ or will it be better if he stays alive and Britney Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercises 0.000000001% of her revenue. You could argue that the Chinese person shouldn’t buy this album in the first place, but then again will this really help Britney’s cause or will it just take away from the one of the only available methods of entertainment for this poor bloke in China.

Laws are laws, but sometimes they shouldn’t just be broken they MUST be broken. Will I wait at a red light on an empty street if I’m driving my dieing grandmother to the hospital? Absolutely not, #@*!& the law! At the end of the day, beyond the laws, rules, guidelines, policies governing us all, people are looking after themself. Ironically it is a form of extreme selfishness that leads to this communist mindset. No one will ever feel like making sacrifices to their personal living for people much more fortunate than themselves unless they have to. 

At the same time, people wouldn’t commit these ‘crimes’ against those less fortunate than themselves. Charity fits into the opposite side of the spectrum of internet piracy - people give money to those less fortunate than them because they want a more balanced society. Of course, the amount of people ready to give away their money to randomers is a much smaller proportion than people ready to commit internet piracy. The psychological explanation behind this might be tied to a proffesor’s study that people are 2.5 times more motivated to perform an action if it prevents them from losing something, compared to gaining that exact thing. So people are more motivated to do something to make sure they dont Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise their equality status than doing things to make sure others are on the same equality. Or you could just say that people are selfish and care more about themselves than others if you wana be boring about it.

What’s the lesson to take away from this all? Capitalism is wrong? No, thats not it – that debate was settled half a century ago. What we must take into account is that an extreme form of capitalism should not see government support. I’m in full support of our current economic and political systems where succesful people get more than those who aren’t. Without this system, society would cease to progress. However, when these companies and societies start getting greedy to the point where they use the law to ruin the lives of those not so fortunate, thats when I have a problem. It shouldn’t have to be extremes – where either we are a cutthroat society where everyones ready to backstab each other for a dollar or two, or no matter what you do you will still be equal with everyone else. The balance that must be achieved is that succesful people should continue to reap the benefits of what they sow, and those less fortunate should try the best they can to contribute back to society and give back when and IF they can. The government doesn’t start sueing homeless people who don’t pay tax for using the street lights on the streets do they? So these music/TV/movie industries shouldn’t get mad at poor people who download their goods – they don’t actually Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise anything, because the poor wouldn’t have bought the good in the first place.

Of course, there are thousand complications that stem from this sort of outlook – how poor do you have to be to deserve exemption from having to pay for non-exclusive non-exhaustive goods? This is a tough matter to agree on, and in our society there will of course never be these sort of exemptions for poor people. The law doesn’t discriminate, and I don’t see an ‘entertainment welfare’ support seeing the light of day anytime soon. It is indeed a Darwinist state we have become, and the rich will continue to get rich whilst the poor will continue to be poor.

But as the internet has showed us, there is yet hope for those less fortunate! Hundreds of years ago it was the scum and nobodies of society that commited piracy in the seas in hopes of a better life. Today it is again the poor, young, and less fortunate who have a chance to get even with society on the virtual domains of cyberspace. Only difference is, this time no one’s really getting hurt and I have to say – this time around…. I’m siding with the pirates.

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