Bryant Leads Lakers To Game Two Victory

The chants of MVP filled Staples Center as Kobe Bryant headed to the free throw line. Bryant's 20 points in the first quarter foreshadowed was was to come. After seeing Chris Paul score 32 points the night before, Bryant decides to surpass his performance by scoring 49 points of his own legitimizing his MVP candidacy. Bryant was also able to get his other teammates involved by contributing 10 assists. He was one shy of his playoff career high in both points and assists.

Allen Iverson, who faced the Lakers in the 2001 NBA Finals, tried to shoot Denver back into the game after trailing by ten points heading into the 4th quarter and that he did, for a brief moment. The Nuggets cut the 10 point lead in half but the Lakers MVP wasn't going to let that happen. Number 24 was in a great shooting rhythm through out the whole game and turned it up an extra notch in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. The final score was 122-107 in favor of Los Angeles.

Bryant did have some help from his supporting cast. Pau Gasol had a drop in his point total from game one scoring 18 points in game two. Derek Fisher and Luke Walton combined for 28 points and 8 assists. Unfortunately Lamar Odom had an off game, finding himself in foul trouble through out the whole game and only managed to contribute 4 points and 8 assists to the Lakers victory.

Denver made a line up change from game one by starting Kleiza in hopes of giving them both an offensive and defensive boost. It showed to be a good move by coach Karl when they only trailed by one at the end of the first quarter, 33-32. Carmelo and Iverson put up 23 and 31 points but at the end of the night it wasn't enough to withstand the Lakers, or should I say Kobe Bryant's, scoring tear. The Nuggets sent an extra man at Kobe but even then they couldn't stop MR. 81.

The series moves to Denver for game 3 Saturday at 5:30 with L.A. leading the series two games to none. We shall see how the Lakers deal with the pressure of playing on the road and what type of energy the Nuggets bring to the game playing in front of their home crowd.

Hornets Sting Mavericks In Game Two

KaAa-BoOoM!... That's the sound of the Dallas Mavericks getting blown out in game 2 versus the Hornets. After a 12 point loss in game one we expected to see a much competitive game two. The Mavs found themselves in a whole trailing by 10 points at the end of the 1st quarter and 16 points heading into half time. It was a game completely dominated by the Hornets having won every quarter in points scored. The final result, a 24 point victory by New Orleans and 2-0 lead in the best of 7 series.

NBA MVP candidate Chris Paul was unstoppable once again scoring 32 points and a franchise record 17 assists, previously owned by Mugsy Bougues (15). David West contributed 27 points of his own and 5 assists. On the other end we had Dirk with his typical 27 point game. Overall the Hornets had six of their players scoring in double figures compared to Dallas' four.

Wasn't the acquisition of Jason Kidd suppose to make the Mavs a playoff threat?... Well so far it hasn't given Dallas the results they anticipated. Kidd is averaging 9 points and 8.5 assists in comparison to Paul's 33.5 points and 13.5 in the first two games. If Paul continues to dominate games the way he is, there is no question who the winner of this series will be.

The Mavericks head home for game 3 on Friday with the tough task of stopping CP3.

The West Aint No Joke, But The East Isn’t Playing Around Either

The 2008 NBA Playoffs tipped off this weekend and what an opening it was. A weekend in which champions were tested and underdogs showed they belonged (at least for the first game they did). Some rose to the occasion while others collapsed under the pressure. Some didn’t stand a chance from the get go. Headlined match-ups did not disappoint.

We knew that this year’s playoffs would be this good but no one expected to be this good. Basketball fans witnessed everything from the upsetting loss of the Detroit Pistons to the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers to the double overtime war between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs. A game in which Tim Duncan hit his first three point shot of the year to send the game to double overtime. The Champs took that game thanks to Manu’s quick move to the basket for a tough finger roll and finish as the 2OT came to its closing moments.

The Houston Rockets came into the playoffs riding a wave of huge success after setting a franchise record by winning 21 consecutive games even with the absence of Yao Ming. Unfortunately Houston was hit with the loss of PG Rafer Alston, prior to the start of the playoffs, which didn’t help when they faced the very tough Utah Jazz. Houston was just man handled putting up no resistance to either Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko or Deron Williams.

Despite all the trash talk done by the Washington Wizards at the end of the regular season they still couldn't go past the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one. “Agent Zero” Gilbert Arenas tried his best coming off the bench lighting up the basket making jumper, after jumper, after jumper but was no match for the dominance of LeBron James (32 points).

I don’t know whether to even call the Hawks and the Celtics match-up a series? This is a real life David Vs. Goliath. The only difference with this is that the Hawks stand no chance of doing away with the Celtics. Superiority was shown from tip off by the “clad in green” leaving the red birds wingless. A dominating 24 point victory by the Celtics. Many declaring a series sweep of Atlanta… anyone care to argue with that prediction?

Moving on to more entertaining games that included the former number one seed (7) Dallas Mavericks battling the (2) New Orleans Hornets who didn’t even make the playoffs last year. Sad to say but the Mavs choked in the 4th quarter giving away a possible road victory. We also had the Orlando Magic, carried by Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Hedo Turkoglu, defeating the Toronto Raptors. Finally, we had the resurrected Los Angeles Lakers defeating the defensively challenged Denver Nuggets. The veteran Lakers along with their young supporting cast (Farmar, Vujacic, and Radmanovic) were too much for the Nuggets losing 128-114.

Overall, nothing to be disappointing about in this weekend’s opening games. Bringing much hype to the NBA, fans can’t wait to continue watching what could be a first round series match-ups filled with game 7 drama, specially in the Western Conference.

Can An 80s Rivalry Take Place Once Again In '08?

The Los Angeles Lakers have never met such a rival as the Boston Celtics. Sure there was the short lived Kings rivalry where they met in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. A series filled with drama that included Robert Horry's miraculous buzzer beater in game four. There was also Phoenix Suns hype that is most remembered by Raja Bell clotheslining Kobe Bryant. But there was nothing like seeing Magic Johnson face off against Larry Legend in the NBA Finals of the 80s. Unfortunately that rivalry went into deep hibernation with the fall of the Celtics as one of the elite teams.

All this was to change this season. The addition of the "Big Ticket" Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen by the Boston Celtics brought them from the clutches of having one of the worst record last season to the best in the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA for that matter.

The Lakers didn't fall far behind. They themselves added All-Star PF Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies for the inconsistent Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, draft right to Marc Gasol and future drafts picks. This was a small price to pay for what the Lakers got in return, the top seed in the Western Conference.

Now with the resurgence of both teams, basketball fans await the chance to witness a piece of the 80s in a possible Lakers Vs. Celtics affair in the 2008 NBA Finals!