It has been a while for Orlando but hey finally made it to the big dace and several questions rised on my mind, are the magic ready to take on the mighty lakers with their huge and talented team or they will just be another speed bump on the road to glory by the Lakers …

Dwight Howard and his team did a hell of a job against the favorite team to take it all Cleveland Cavaliers, they stopped the unstoppable Lebron James, Mo Williams and the rest and that is saying alot about a modest team, not many big names but a lot of heart and strenght, they are ready to take LA by surprise and steal at least one away from home.

Kobe Bryant looks forward, feeling he can acomplish another NBA title, the player match ups indicate that there is noone in Orlando that can guard Kobe, they will be double teaming him and still he will drop at least 30 on them every night but the real double threat here will be the silent one, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum that will be the key for the Lakers success, together they average about 35 points and almost 20 rebounds per game, the big man game will be a big factor for them to defeat the Magic and their big man Howard.

The odds on the series are:

Orlando Magic +230
Los Angeles Lakers -270

I feel the odds are just not really reflecting what’s going on here, the odds should be higher on the laker side, they are obviously the strongest team and the big time favorites to win it all.

The prediction will be the easy part, in my opinion Lakers will take the first two games at home, fly to orlando and steal one at Orlando only to come back to LA and celebrate there so my prediction is LOS ANGELES LAKERS WIN THE NBA TITLE IN 6 GAMES.

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NBA FINALS MAGIC VS. LAKERS BETTING ODDS AND PREDICTIONS

Kobe Bryant said his lakers needed more enthusiasm when they played away, they need intensity and coach Phil Jackson agreed, they need to get physically ready for this series against the very strong Nuggets, are the lakers ready to leave the last series behind and face forward to the Finals?? A lot of questions and we will provide some answers.

Los Angeles had the worst time against the Rockets, they looked weak and lazy when they played away from home, Houston made them look bad and Phil Jackson was worried sick about it. Kobe scores 20 plus a night and he can’t seem to give his team the help they need, Odom also cooperates but is not enough, they need to shape up their game on the raod if they want to go to the FINALS.

Denver and the Lakers played eachother four times in the regular season, here are the results from those games:

Nov 1, 2008
Lakers 104
Nuggets 97

Apr 9, 2009
Nuggets 102
Lakers 116

The Lakers lead the series 3-1 and they didn’t have Bynum for those games so he might end up making a huge difference in this series.

Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups will be roughing the lakers all over the court tomorrow night, they need leadership and a lot of luck, they have to score at least 30 points a piece to send the series to a 7th game.

This series will be an easy pick, LOS ANGELES LAKERS WIN THE SERIES IN 7 GAMES but they will suffer and sweat every minute on the court.

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NUGGETS VS. LAKERS SERIES ODDS AND PREDICTIONS

Dwight Howard and his Orlando Magic faces Lebron James and his Cavs in the Eastern Conferende Finals, both teams have healthy enough squads and they are young, eager to prove that they deserve to go to the next step, NBA FINALS.

Orlando Magic faced the Cavs 3 times in the regular season and here are the results:

Jan 29, 2009
Cavaliers 88
Magic 99

Apr 3, 2009
Cavaliers 87
Magic 116

It seems like the big man (Howard) and the overall physical game that the Magic brings controlled Mo Williams and Lebron James, and that is the card the Magic need to play in order to reach the Finals.

Lebron James impressive numbers is another factor in this series, his 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists and his great defensive stats shows exactly why he was named MVP this season, he plays with all his heart in every game and he is hungry for TITLES, not just one but all of them, he is ready to give us another great show.

No easy prediction here, Dwight Howard will be fighting the best team in the NBA so I am sure of something: THE SERIES WILL GO TO 7 GAMES and CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL ADVANCE TO THE NBA FINALS.

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MAGIC VS. CAVALIERS SERIES ODDS AND PREDICTIONS

Orlando Magic travels to Boston to face the Celtics on the last game of the series (tie 3-3). There is no tomorrow for any of these teams and they will be playing tough, both squads are ready to take everything they can no questions ask …

On the regular season they split the series 2-2 as follows:

Mar 25th, 2009
Celtics 82
Magic 84

These previous history makes us believe that both teams are well balanced but let’s remember that in some of these games Kevin Garnett helped his team, and he is not back yet so that might be the biggest difference for the last game of the series.

The playoff series has been like this:

7:00 PM ET, May 14, 2009
Celtics 75
Magic 83

Both teams stole one game away and defeated the other viciously at home, Dwight Hoaward performance yesterday with 23 points and 22 rebounds showed exactly what a powerful player can do against a team without Kevin Garnett, you cannot hold a monster like Howard without a lot of luck, and yesterday Howard proved that the Celtics might need more than luck to hold him at Boston on sunday.

The game will test the will of the current NBA Champions, they need to put this series away and face yet another HUGE challenge against Lebron and his Cavaliers, they might have their hands full after all and Dwight Howard and his Orlando Magic might do a better job against Lebron James but my prediction will be CELTICS WIN GAME 7 and go to the Conference Finals.

Celtics could be chewing more than they can handle by going into the Eastern Conference Finals but there is no doubt in my mind that Paul Pierce, Rondo and Allen will apply themselves and will take the Celtics to the next step, experience is on Boston side on sunday.

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MAGIC VS. CELTICS SERIES BETTING ODDS AND PREDICTIONS

It was a complete night for the Boston Celtics Boston, they received the trophy which they gained in the previous season of the NBA and soon they opened the new campaign with a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 90 to 85.

The Cavs is outlined like one of the main stumbling blocks that will have the Celtics in their eagerness to revalidate the title of the East Conference and to gain by second consecutive year the right to play the NBA finals.

So to give the first blow last night it was important for the players of Doc Rivers, they took advantage of the 27 points scored by Paul Pierce, who was the best player of the night.

In the other side the best numbers was headed – it could not be of another way by LeBron James, who closed his first action of season 2008-2009 with 22 points.

Peculiarly the five points of difference between these players were the same that marked the victory of the hosts.

Pierce cried. Pierce surely played motivated by the previous ceremony, because he was moved during the activity in which the league awarded the defending champions, and with tears rolling by his cheeks, he received the champion trophy.

With the trophy, the Celtics was crowned officially by 17th occasion in their history and the first time from the season of 1986.

Before initiating the inauguration of the present season, Pierce said that “since I was a kid I always dreamed with a moment like this”.

In the act, the team owners made delivery of the ring of champions to all the Celtics players, at the moment in which the champion’s flag was hoisted to the ceiling of the Banknorth Garden.

The ring is made of 14 white gold carats and a total of 92 diamonds and emeralds. In the central part it has a figure of an emerald clover, surrounded by 64 diamonds.

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Celtics grand opening

Game 6 betting odds Celtics -4.5 total 191.5
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The 2008 NBA Finals in a nostalgic matchup that takes up back to the 80’s an era of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird what some would say is the most storied rivarly in professional sports.  Now instead of Magic and Bird we have Kobe and Pierce or Kobe and Garnett or maybe even Kobe and Allen. Regardless, we have a great matchup that many pundits, bloggers, self professed handicappers, and basically anyone in any kind of media outlet suggesting that this series would be over in 5 games in LA.  I was the only guy I knew saying the Celtics in 7. I know, I know its easy to say now that they are up 2-0, but I have been busy and am now just getting to my monthly Laker Hating, very slackass on my part and I apologize. So lets get on with it shall we:

Game 1:  Celtics 98 - Lakers 88  Both teams kept it tight and the met all expectiations providing for a high energy, emotional opening to the 2008 finals and preview of what we can expect for the rest of series.  When Paul Pierce went out with hurt knee and they had to carry him off the court there was a slight tremor that went off around the world and I will tell you the cause, that was the collective force of everyone around the globe tightening their sphincters at the exact same time. LOL…… And then in the second half a strong wind spurred the globe to move out of alignment with his triumfate return and the subsequent exhale of all those who had tightened up earlier.  Pierce played brillantly and without him I don’t think they can get it done.

Game 2:  Celtics 108 – Lakers 102 Game 2 has been clounded with whining from Lakers fans about the disparity of free throws granted, I mean if Kobe and Odom would have focused more on scoring rather than crying to the refs then perhaps they would have capped off the return from a 24 point deficit and won, but rather than play they did what all Laker fans do, cry cry cry….  I have to admit, I thought the Celtics were going to piss it down their legs after giving up that huge lead and it seemed like the clock couldn’t run down fast enough for them.  This concerns me because they really needed to crush the Lakers before a flight across the country and 3 games at the Staples Center.   Now it looks like we may be heading back to Boston with a 3-2 deficit, unless…… The Triumverate  that is Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen can come together and collectively will themselves a win in LA which could completely discombobulate Kobe and the gang and almost guanreentee the Celtics a Championship.

Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday night at 9pm est. in L.A. the current spread is Lakers -9 which is probably right on considering the Celtics will be a little jet lagged, I don’t expect them to win or cover.  All you Laker babies have a chance to recoup some of thos losses from game 1 and 2 as I expect the Lakers to come out and crush them, give the points.

Updated June 11th

Game 3: Lakers 87 – Celtics 81 Wow I was totally off on my above prediction, the Lakers almost lost it!  I mean as bad as KG was playing I thought for sure the lakers would have their way with them like Kobe and a maid in a Colorado Spa.(sorry I couldn’t resist) But really, the Lakers played piss poor Kobe was the only starter who broke double digits in points and they had to rely on a man named Sasha to save their bacon.  Very embarrassing for the Lakers at home despite the win.  They have got to do better than that to hold off the Celtics and Kobe cannot do it by himself, if KG would have just sunk 9-21 instead of that dismal 6-21 the C’s would have all but locked it up.  Lakers fan should be very concerned… 

Updated June 13th

Game 4: Celtics 97 – Lakers 91 The basketball gods had nothing to do with it.  This was all on the Lakers and the typical arrogance they display.  They had the Celtics beaten down to the ground and left for dead when leading by as much as 24 points in the second quarter closing out the half with an 18 point lead.  Lamar Odom looked unstoppable as he continually drove to the hoop without being challanged and was shooting field goals at will without pressure.  It seemed like they had total control of the game, Kobe was playing the part of field general attracting all the attention while setting his boys up for the shot, he finished with 10 assists and only 17 points a far cry from his usual 30 points and maybe 4 assists. Everything seemed to be going right for the Lakers while it was going utterly horrendous for the Celtics, they had no fire under them, they weren’t being aggresive on offense and were basically inviting the Lakers to shoot the ball and then……(cue dramatic highlight music) With the start of the second half Paul Pierce led his Celtics out with inspiration and immediatly cut the defecit to 2 points with alot of help from James Posey in the 3rd quarter.  The Lakers obviously stunned by this quizi ressurection of what they thought they had killed off was now trailing by 2 and caught them by surprise, in a desperate scrammble to regroup Kobe tried to rally his troops but it was to no avail and needless to say they were caught with their pants down and no vasiline in sight.  The hats and shirts have already been ordered in Boston and I am issuing a state wide suicide watch for the state of California so should you have friends or relatives that reside there please for petes sake take away ALL of their potentially harmful instruments, I’m talking guns, knives, grenades and most importantly…TOE NAIL CLIPPERS!!!.   Can you imagine the effect that another Boston win in LA to close out the series could do to that town?  All motivation and fun loving antics would cease to exist, Jerry Buss would start dating women over 25!!!(well maybe not 25 but at least 20), a permanent dark cloud would settle on LA, oh and then we would have to hear about the game 2 free throw disperity as being the reason they didn’t win the Finals and how they were robbed by the league because they control the refs and then file formal complaints and then some more bitching and moaning and they maybe even another Kobe holdout this summer, there are so many variables thats its not worth it.  This is why I am calling for the Lakers to win in game 5 and send it back to Boston where they can close it out in game 6.  The Boston fans deserve it.  The current spread for game 5 has the Lakers favored -6.5 with a total of 190.5.   Bet the Lakers, they probably know they are done but they don’t want to lose it all at home, they have more pride than that…

Updated June 16th

Game 5: Lakers 103 – Celtics 98 They almost did it again.  The Lakers seemed to have scrapped the team ball effort in the first quarter and just gave Kobe the damn ball as he had 15 points alone and a huge lead over Boston.  Going into the second quarter with LA up by 18 points it seemed that a routing was inevitable especially after Game 4’s dissapointment, but then Pierce and co. came out swinging and went on a 15-0 run to literally freeze the Lakers who went 7 minutes without scoring once. The Lakers barely got out of the second half with their lead cut to 3 and you could tell the pressure was getting to them, Jordan Farmar of all people started copping an attitude and Kobe should have reached back and pimp smacked him like the little bitch that he is. With the start of the second half you could tell right off the bat that there was a very real possibility that the finals could have ended that night in LA regardless of the desire for the Celtics to win it all at home and at one point I kinda felt like Boston was even holding back a little.  I did see an improvement from the Lakers in the second half as far as spreading the ball out but, they still lacked that finish them off aspect that is required at this point in the season.  The Lakers failed to put together any significant runs in the second half and Pierce who had 38 points and played all 48 minutes kept the pressure on them stalking the Lakers like Dr. Buss at a Senior Prom. *Note, if Paul Pierce does not get MVP then there is something really wrong with America.  Quick Fact: The Lakers have not covered the spread even once this entire series!  Thats gotta be heartbreaking to the Laker faithful and by the way the state wide suicide watch is still in effect and not so much for the fact that they are undoubtedly not going to win the Finals, but for all of the money LA bettors have lost so far on them.  Not to mention the odds to win the series line which was as high as -350 at some places.  Now the Lakers have to fly all the way across the country just to get whipped in front of a bunch of Bean Towners.  If you read at the top of the post I predicted Celtics in 7 but it looks like 6, these guys have got to be tired, they went 7 games in just about every series to get here and I wouldn’t blame them if they forego the drama and jsut get it over with on Tuesday night, they earned it. The current spread has Boston -4.5 with a total of 191.5, I think the Lakers keep it tight on Tuesday and 4.5 is hard to call its only 2.5 baskets, but I think Boston goes out with a bang and crushes their SOULS!!!  Take Boston and then think about how funny its going to be when Paul Pierce goes up to Kobe after the game and invites him to the after party…

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2008 NBA Finals: Lakers vs Celtics Betting Odds

“It’s the Spurs who have to answer the questions now. Why haven’t they found a way to counter what the Hornets are doing? Why do they keep falling out of the game in the third quarter? Actually, they might not want to know the answer to that one, like a woman trying on a dress that’s one size below realistic and asking if it makes her look fat.” LMAO!!! 

That was great, could not have been put any clearer. The younger and some would say hungrier Hornets seem to be having their way with the Spurs like a puerto rican hooker in the NY Jets locker room and theres nothing they can do about it.  So in case it wasn’t made clear I think the Hornets win the series in 6.  Chris Paul and is team of unlikelys will no doubt be facing the Lakers of scummy Los Angeles.  Anyone who has been a loyal reader of my blog will know that I am a staunch Laker hater and this leads to my next prediction. Lakers will LOSE to the Hornets!!! and talent will have nothing to do with it, it will all be the attitude of the Lakers team who really like to get high on themselves and that will ultimately be their downfall.  They get waaay too cocky in LA and they will get caught slippin and the feel good team of the year, THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS (that name just doesn’t flow right) will whip them and possibly force another tantrum from Kobe Bryant which would make for more great blogging material in the summer when Baseball just doesn’t cut it.  So theres the pick, hate or love it, theres something to be said for the underdog raising up against popular belief and reinvigorating sports fans with shock and awe and make the NBA’s slogan, “I Love This Game” ring true.

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2008 NBA Semi-Finals Predictions Hornets

I mean they are giving this guy $20 million this year!  And what are they getting for it? An over the hill, overweight 36 year old has been whose ego is so big that it is laughable and I am almost embarrased for him because he doesn’t know how dumb he looks also he has now given himself yet another new nick name in Phoenix, (cue the drumline…..In an announcers voice)”Ladies and gentlemen your Phoenix Suns are proud to welcome the newest edition to the team, put your hands together for……The Big Cactus“ Give me a break!!! What a douche, this is the same guy that made mafia references to himself as the God Father while in Miami.  So what have we learned? 1. Shaq’s numbers have seemingly taken a nose dive kamikaze style and wouldn’t even be considered a threat by my hometown highschool basketball team. 2. Shaq has continued the ego trip that has made him the douchbag that he is today by giving himself another new nick name that sounds totally retarded. And 3. Actually we didn’t learn this, but I am imforming you of this fact right now, Shaq was only brought in as name recognition and someone to rough up Kobe who is easily shaken, his presence will stir up the Western Conference and force teams to rethink their game plans(they can draw alot more charging penalties now).  Shaq will be there to push around Yao Ming, heckle Dirk, punk Greg Oden, bitch slap Kobe and physically abuse Andrew Bynum who is definantly not ready for the likes of Shaq Fu (this kid can’t even get into the bar yet for christs sake, whats he doing in the NBA?). 

Shaq will make his debut as a Sun tonight against none other than the Lakers, which is perfect because I am a staunch Laker Hater and would like nothing more than to see them get pounded.  The game will be in Phoenix and televised on ESPN the current spread on the game is Phoenix -4 with the over/under total 222.  Obviously they don’t expect much defense in this game which I think is a mistake, the presence of “The Big Cactus” should raise some pulses and disrupt the rythem of the game for both teams. Take the Under 222 right now! Get it before the odds makers read my blog and figure out the mistake they have made.

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Shaq’s Back in the West and Kobe is Wetting the Bed

First of all, this has to be one of the most over thought trades I have seen in a long time.  The 10 time allstar went to Boston in exchange for not 1, not 2 but 5 players!!!  In return Minnesota will be welcoming Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota’s conditional first round draft pick previously obtained in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade. Minnesota also receives cash considerations in the deal.  

So now that Boston has acquired or should I say bent over and spread the cheeks to get Garnett, what should they expect?  Well I would assume that with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on the same squad you would be looking at a top tier team in the east but it is the EAST, and they really aren’t that good.  I would also like to know who the Celtics plan on subing in for these guys if they get into foul trouble, they traded away their whole team for a 5 year contract with a guy that is over 30!  So now I would expect Boston to go and pick up some no name guys that they can sign for the minimum because they are already over the cap. 

The fact is is that Danny Ainge has put waaay too much stock into Garnett and should have been more focused on drafting talent to develop what he already had.  Now the team is maxed out and they don’t have enough bodies to fill the roster so there will be no one to sub in that actually produces so their fate is sealed should someone get hurt.  Ainge would have been better off using that money to bring in some young talent for the future, all he did was pull a Mitch Kupcheck, he spent a ton of money to to try and buy a championship in a year, just like Kupchek did when he brought in Karl Malone and Gary Payton to the Lakers for that one uneventful season.  Boston winning another championship would be very good for the NBA not to mention the dismal Boston franchise that for the last 10 years has been going nowhere fast, but I just don’t think that this Allstar cocktail that Ainge has mixed up will have what it takes to win it all. What do U think? Let me know and I will answer all comments.

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Kevin Garnett in Boston!!!

Now there is a video of him bad mouthing the whole organization that he claimed he wanted to be a part of his entire career.  Plus he had to throw out that they should have traded Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd, and Kwame Brown for Ron Artest.  I mean if that doesn’t make a team uncomfortable, I’m not sure what will.  Maybe if Kobe was more of a leader than a whiner he would have sucked it up and used what he had to advance farther in th payoffs, but thats not how he sees it.  Boo Hoo poor Kobe, does he really think that he should be winning the championship every year or what, it takes time to build a winning team, look at the Suns for example, you don’t see Steve Nash or any of those guys bitching about not winning because of the front office.  They took responsibility for their own losses.  Plus the disrespect the Kobe is showing to guys that have been building teams before he was born it just too much, although I said yesturday that Kobe most likely will not be going anywhere, now it seems that he has given Dr. Buss no choice but to get rid of him which is a shame, because it seems like Dr. Buss is a nice guy and one of the winningest owners in the league.  To bad Kobe is forcing his hand like this.  Anyways back to the 24 second video, it was up on youtube and then taken down and is now available for purchase at thekobevideo.com, however a private party has offered to purchase the video for $100,000 so the owners of the video have stated that they will hold the video until they reach an order threshold of 50,000 to then distribute it to purchasers, if the order is not met then they will simply sell it to the private party.  What a way to spend $100,000 and its for a video that is 24 seconds long which breaks down to $4167 a second.  I mean dammmmmmmmmmn!!! Now maybe if it was a video of Paris Hilton in the middle of a womens prison love fest with Lindsey Lohan and Brittny Spears I could understand the expense.  Kobe please shut your trap and just earn your paycheck by playing up to your ability.  This is turning into a media circus and this will stigmatize him where ever he goes, his head is just too big to realize it.

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Kobe Sage Part 2