Begrudging Congratulation to the 2012 NBA Champion Miami Heat

I watched all the finals games, even while I was in Brazil.  Lebron James dominated and deserves his first championship ring.  I really expected OKC to take it by their superior team focus, but LBJ/Bosh/Wade were too much, and support from the rest of the cast propelled MIA to the win.  Congrats Miami.

Celtics Embarrass the Heat, Continue to Win

I am a huge NBA fan, basketball is awesome, and while I have enjoyed the NCAA College Basketball Tournament, the Celtics are my true passion.  I have been stressfully following this lockout shortened season, and may have even overreacted about the Celtics in February.  However, they have turned it around in a big way, capped off by beating the Miami Heat in Boston Sunday afternoon.  They have been without Ray Allen for the past few weeks, but my boy Avery Bradley has stepped in and really delivered.

The Celtics win was the largest point differential loss that the Heat have faced this year.  Rajon Rondo went absolutely nuts, achieving his 18th triple double, and making the Heat PGs, Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers look like mannequins.  Pierce and Garnett both had great games, with Garnett absolutely shutting down Chris Bosh, and playing physical and angry as usual.  However, I was most impressed with Avery Bradley.  He was able to completely shut down former NBA Finals MVP, Dwyane Wade, blocking him in the dunk below.  This is a pretty impressive achievement for the youngster, who has really come into his own with Ray on the sidelines.

The Celtics have been 10-1 without Ray, which is pretty scary, if he is able to come back soon and keep up his hot shooting from the beginning of the season.  I think Ray should start, but he is a bit of a liability on defense, but his offense makes up for it.  Playing Kevin Garnett at center is a risk that Doc Rivers has taken to try and get more active and allow the offense to not be bogged down by a slow big like the useless Jermaine O'Neal or Shaq.  Greg Stiemsma is still raw, but he is playing with heart!  Pierce is still playing solid, and if he is on, then he is going to draw the best defensive player, leaving the other Celtics open to score baskets.

I am not saying they are going to win the NBA championship this year, but the Celtics are looking great.  My only fear is that they are peaking too soon, theres still 3 weeks until the playoffs start.

Celtics beat Knicks in OT!

 

I know that the other day I wrote a blog post panicing about my beloved Boston Celtics.  They are now on a four game win streak in which they have competed ferociously in all games.  KG looks rejuvenated and strong.  Pierce is making it happen.  Rondo is giving his big middle finger to all the trade rumors.  Tonight, he notched his second triple double since the all star break, with the ridiculous stat line: 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists, last time a player did that was Magic Johnson in 1983 with 17 rebounds and 21 assists, pretty good company!

How can you trade that guy for anything other than a star??  Why do you even trade him at all?  He's young and hes hungry.  It's going to be pretty lean without KG and Ray, but if the Celtics can pull in a scorer and a rebounder to replace those two guys, then they will compete again before Pierce retires.

I realize I am doing a complete 180* and although the Celtics are looking good in the past few games, they are not out in the clear.  The Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls are looking gargantuan in the East.  The Celtics have a 76ers, Trail Blazers, Lakers, Clippers Warriors stretch coming up, 4 out of 5 of those on the road.  This should bring them back to earth unfortunately...

Finally, nice purse Lebron LOL

Some Updates

Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, specifically Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry & Mark Cuban! Dirk will definitely be remembered better, not considered soft, now that he has an NBA ring. He briefly left the court right after the game, probably had to let a few tears go, and did not want to do it on the court, in front of cameras. Jason Terry's irrational confidence inspired him to get a tattoo of the Finals trophy on his bicep before the season. Jason Kidd was finally able to capture an NBA title, claims he has 2-3 more seasons. Although I am not a huge Cuban fan, he redeemed himself a little bit in the past 48 hours, in my eyes, check out the picture above!

There are a number of reasons that Miami lost, but the two most obvious in my opinion are Lebron and Spoelstra. Lebron is arguably the best player in the NBA, and possibly one of the most gifted athletes of all time. However, he disappeared in the second half of that series, just like he did in the series against my Celtics last year. I still can't comprehend how he did just decide to get to the basket, like he always does, which results in a better overall offense and free throw attempts for Bron. I am very mystified by that performance. Secondly, Spoelstra was less than competent in the series, and really in the whole playoffs. I know people love him, for some reason, but I am not buying it. The Heat had NO offensive strategy in the 4th quarters of almost all Playoff, and especially Finals games. They were leading for 95% of the first 4 games, and ended up only being able to split them. They gave up a 15 point lead with 7:30 to go, and that's not acceptable as a coach.

I was very happy with last night's NHL hockey game, where the Bruins were able to even up the series, drawing a game 7 in Vancouver tomorrow. The Bruins outscored the Canucks 17-3 in Boston's TD Garden, now they just need to replicate it in Vancouver, where they have struggled immensely. The game was basically over halfway through the first quarter, where the Bruins scored 3 goals in quick succession, and Luongo was pulled for the MA Native Corey Schneider, who was Boston College's captain and hails from Marblehead on the North Shore, who let in another goal making it 4-0 and time to book tickets to Vancouver. The rest of the game was pretty chippy, lots of penalties, and a final score of 5-2. Marchand punched Daniel Sedin in the face roughly six times, saying "he felt like it" in the post-game interview. I think we will see Luongo in the next game. My sportsbook has Vancouver -155, meaning they are roughly 58%ish percent favored to win, and I feel that is a pretty good line, I like the under 5, although I wagered on that same outcome on game 6, which I knew I had no chance to collect after the first period.

In other unrelated news, I have been thoroughly enjoying HBO's Game of Thrones. The characters are very compelling and I have always been a bit of a fantasy junkie, so this is right up my alley. The acting is good, as well as production, and the story is fantastic. In the most recent episode, the main character of the season Eddard Stark, who happened to be the most recognizable figure was killed off. This series really keeps you guessing, unfortunately I am going to pick up all of the books in the Song of Fire and Ice series that it is based upon. Also my younger brother celebrated his 21st birthday with a pig roast on Saturday, lots of beer and several shots were had by all, my wife Marina went a little overboard unfortunately ending our night a little earlier than I had planned, still fun though! The pulled pork from the leftover pig was excellent too!

NBA/NHL Finals Update

We are in the midst of both the NBA and NHL Finals. Unfortunately the Celtics are not anywhere near the NBA Finals, but as a huge basketball fan, I am still definitely into the series. Although Dallas was the underdog, they have a ton of support from the public, especially in my neck of the woods. The series is currently Miami -330 and I believe they are still at least 1 to 4 to win the series, although I don't usually like laying that much chalk. The first game went as much as I expected for the entire series, Miami basically in the drivers seat. Game 2 was going much of the same direction, and at one point Miami was up 15 and Lebron/Wade were chest bumping each other with big shit-eating grins. Then Dallas proceeded to go on a 20-2 run, winning the game by 2 to take the series back to Dallas even. Last night was Game 3 and although I did not watch the majority of it, I monitored the score, and Miami was cruising the majority of the game. Although they brought it within 2, Dirk had 2 chances at the end of the game, throwing away the ball in the first possession, and missing the shot over Haslem with 4.4 seconds to go, ending the affair. Wade and Lebron are too strong, and are starting to get Bosh going, so to restate, I do not think there is any value in taking Dallas for the series even at +300.

The finals of the French Open/Roland Garros (how about that for Anglicization) was surprisingly not Nadal v. Djokovic. The semi-finals of the open was the most exciting, Nadal destroyed Andy Murray in the morning, but the afternoon match of Federer/Djokovic were what people were anticipating. Federer who is a lot older, and not having quite the drive and motivation the Serb has. not to mention the momentum. However, Djokovic is not quite as strong on clay, and Federer who was +275 took the match in 4 sets, with a very convincing performance. I enjoyed the match immensely, and was looking forward to Sunday's final. Rain was threatening the match, but the day ended up going smoothly, and Nadal won in 4 sets. He won the first two, although they were fairly close, and was up 4 games to 2, when Federer hit the gas pedal, and won the set 7-5. Federer started the 4th set strongly up 40-0 and about to break the first game, but Nadal adjusted and was able to win that game and ultimately cruised to another Grand Slam victory.

Most important and closest to me is the NHL Stanley Cup Finals and my boys the Boston Bruins. Tonight is the first game in Boston, and the B's are in a 0-2 hole to the heavily favored Vancouver Canucks. The weird Swedish Sedin twins, the biter Alexandre Burrows, and Ryan Kessler have dominated the series, although both games were decided by one goal. The first was a defensive/goalkeeping showcase with the Canucks scoring with 20 seconds to go in the game, and everyone here in Boston was crushed. The most memorable part of this game Burrows clearly biting Patrice Bergeron, although the NHL claims they lacked evidence to suspend him. Saturday night, they played game 2, which was a much better showing, the Bruins dominated the 2nd period, scoring on a power play (very tough for us to do this playoff) and taking a 2-1 lead. I knew that the Canucks were going to come out strong in the 3rd period, and managed to tie the game up. After that it looked like it was simply their game to lose, even though it was a tie. The Bruins played solid defense and had several chances, but it seemed like the Canucks were going to win. However, they lasted through the 3rd and went to overtime. Amazingly, Burrows beat Chara and scored after 11 seconds of OT and everyone was crushed once again. Burrows, who probably should not have been in the game was involved in 2 of 3 of the Canucks goals, much to the dismay of Bruins supporters. Bruins have a must-win game tonight at the Garden 8PM EST.

Beer/NBA Playoffs

Summer is on the horizon here in Boston, although the forecast for this coming week is fairly bleak. I have been fairly depressed since the Celtics could even bring their Eastern Conference Semifinals series to 6 games against the Heat. Rondo, the tough sonnovabitch, played with what can only have been "immense pain." Apparently, if it were during the regular season, he would have been out 5-6 weeks. LBJ & Heat Co. hit a high percentage of low percentage shots, and we could not answer. At least we got Doc for 5 more years ($7mil/yr) which means even after the Big 3 fade into retirement, good players will want to come to Boston. I will post some more of my thoughts about what the C's need to do after the season is over. As far as sports go, I will be watching the Bruins, but probably not posting much, as I have nothing to add to any discussion. Heat/Bulls should be a good series, although if gambling were legal (to quote BS) I would put a bit on the Heat to win the series today, even after last night's unconvincing performance in Chicago. Like I said at the beginning of the playoffs, if Carlos Boozer is your second best player, you aren't winning a championship. Taj Gibson is one of my favorite bench players though.

Picked up a bunch of great beer over the past couple days. Thursday I found a 12 pack of the Sam Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed mixed twelve, down the street, and a lone Narragansett Summer pounder. Friday, M and I were in Providence, so I stopped at Nikki's and picked up a mixed six with some Pretty Things Jack D'or, Pretty Things East India Porter, Newport Storm Summer, SN Torpedo, BBC Lost Sailor, and a Dale's Pale can, hoppy, summery, everyday drinkers. Saturday, M and I were in Boston, and I popped into Bauer Spirits on Newbury St. to see if they had anything interesting, and came upon a bottle of BBC's Saint of Circumstance, which they apparently brewed after receiving the wrong type of hops from their wholesaler. The hops were of English origin, and the IPA was nothing like an American IPA, hops were subdued, lots of malt, I really liked it, but would not buy again, and it will probably never be brewed again, so I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to!

Narragansett Summer is going to be a mainstay for me this summer. 4.2% ABV, so it's pretty damn drinkable. Hopped with Citra hops, and although it is pale, definitely drinks like a hoppy wheat beer, a little brother of Lagunitas Lil' Sumpin Sumpin but available in 16 oz cans #winning.

Had several of the SA Lat 48's and gave a couple away to people who were visiting. I enjoyed the Simcoe and Zeus varieties the most, as they were the hoppiest, but I even enjoyed the Hallertau and EKG varieties, which I was surprised about. Was somewhat pissed that I could have picked these up as singles at Nikki's though, instead of buying the entire 12pk for 16$

Sierra Nevada Torpedo is one of my favorite IPAs, and is super reasonably priced, according to SierraNevadaBill on BA they will be releasing this in 16oz cans along with 12oz cans of the Pale Ale, looking forward to this!

Also St. Bernardus ABT 12 quad for good measure!

In closing, Half Acre Brewing out of Chicago got some great advertising time on the Chi/Mia game last night, some dude was wearing one of their tee's behind the scorer's table! Craft Beer FTW

Celtics 0-2

The Celtics have gotten off to a terrible start in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They lost the first two games to the Heat in Miami and are coming home to play the next 2. I am feeling a lot less confident, but I am certainly not saying that they are drawing dead. The first game on Sunday was awful, the Celtics were down the entire game, and Miami and Wade had their foot on our necks the whole way. Some terrible officiating including the Pierce ejection, and 2 miscalled flagrant fouls (that have since been changed) would have resulted in potentially 7 extra points in Boston's direction.

Game 2 went down last night, and the Celtics looked a lot better, however they were not enough for the Heat. Bosh had a solid game 2, much better than his Sunday performance. KG played bad again, missed a ton of shots, got owned by Wade on a sick crossover move, and got owned again by Lebron at the end of the game going for a layup. Rondo and the bench played pretty well, but lack of significant contributions from the rest of the Big 3 resulted in the L. Lebron seems to have settled into his role as the #2 option for the team, but his amazing skill allows him to take over games at will, which he did in the second half.

Game 3 is going to be insane in Boston, and a win is vital, Shaq being back in the lineup could shake things up. I am looking for a huge game from the entire Celtics roster and hopefully the Heat will struggle like they did during regular season games at the TD Garden. Around the rest of the league, I see no way that the Hawks can actually beat Chicago, but in the West both underdogs are totally live. Memphis is playing some scrappy basketball, and as long as Mike Conley does alright, we could definitely see them knocking off OKC. Lakers should be able to beat Dirk and the Mavs, although Pau and Odom are going to need to get angry to win! Go Bruins!

NBA Playoffs Semifinals

I am so hyped for the upcoming series, especially for my Celtics. The Knicks were not as much of a problem as advertised, to be fair, Chauncey was injured as was Amare, but the two games in MSG were not playoff basketball. Boston has had plenty of time to rest and the Heat are going to be a real opponent. Ultimately, I don't see them having enough to beat my Celtics.



I admit that I am a bit of a homer (GO BRUINS!) but lets look back at the regular season games between the Heat/C's. Record was 3-1 in our favor. Let's throw out the first game and the last game as they are not fair representations of both squads. Celtics were 2-0 in the middle games, Rondo dominated, and Wade struggled. I expect a lot more of the same. Lebron/Wade/Bosh will dominate at least 1 game, possibly 2, but I don't see this series going to 7. The Heat lack the entire package that Boston has. We will have Rondo distributing the ball, bigs causing trouble in the paint, a better coach, and two wings who arguably shoot better than Lebron/Wade. Lebron has choked against Boston in previous playoffs, and I am expecting more of the same. The Heat gave the Sixers tons of opportunities to get back in games, and just looked generally streaky, while the Celtics play with precision and consistency. This might be our last year, but Boston will take this series in 6, and I am going to be betting the underdogs and under on total points in almost every game.


Looking forward, the Bulls should take care of Atlanta/Orlando without much of an issue, which worries me, because Boston will be tired from playing hard against Miami, we will cross that bridge when we get there! (and are you really scared of D. Rose?) Oklahoma City and the Lakers are going to be the two teams I am worried about in the West. The rest of the conference does not have much of a chance. Grizzlies were not able to put away the pesky Spurs who hit a couple of shots late, (and then covered the 6.5 spread in OT) but I hope ZBO and Tony Allen and crew will finish them off this weekend.