What a great way to finish a great season. Lakers came back in the final 5 minutes to grab their 16th championship and make Kobe look a fool. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely agree, Kobe is by far the best player in the league. He can make shots even if they blind folded him, but his character and childish attitude will still dominate headlines. Seriously, he is the only player who has his wife and two kids waiting for him in the tunnel AT HALFTIME?!?!?!!?? She really does not trust him. Would you?

To sum it all up, Congrats Lakers. Probably won’t get a three peat with all these free agents out on their market.

With that said, I think the Warriors need to make a splash this offseason. The new season has begun. I think with all these playoffs going to the full extent of 7 games, it gave the Warrior front office an opportunity to spend more time on how to retool their team. This season, their were plenty of headlines but I believe the one that dominated most, was the lack of size the Warriors had and even when they did have big men, their big men was on the sidelines for most of the season.

The Warriors have the 6th pick of the draft, which I think we picked well last season with Stephen Curry. Monta Ellis famously stated he believed that he and Curry couldn’t play together. How funny it is that the backcourt, though smaller than most is by far the strongest part of the Warriors offense.

With the 6th pick, news outlet has been reporting that the Warriors have been looking at Kentucky center, DeMarcus Cousins. However, there are other reports saying the Warriors are looking to trade down. No word on whether the rumors are true. They also have the 14th pick in the second round so we’ll see what we can pick up towards the end of the draft.

The biggest thing for the Warriors is to get healthy. If no other changes happen, such as resigning free agents, attracting a marquee name, trades, etc. the Warriors have to get healthy. The biggest reason why the Warriors didn’t have a better record wasn’t because they lacked skills or heart, but because they didn’t have enough men to sustain the tempo they needed in order to win.

I’ll be look forward to see what the team does with their draft picks. If the Warriors do keep their draft picks, I’ll be more intrigued on who they pick. June 24 at Madison Square Garden. Be there.

Yes, the Warriors aren’t in Game 7, or in any Game 7 this season but nevertheless, this Game 7 is a great way to end the NBA season. My favorite time of the year is sometime during the fall when the new season starts, but it always has to end with one team being on top of every other team in the L.

For these two storied franchises, Game 7 is the perfect way to end the season. Let’s start from the beginning. The Boston Celtics came out the games blazing, with an impressive 26-9 win record. Critics, analysts said that was the Celtics of old, the Celtics that could contend. Then came the injuries and the Celtics stumbled into the playoffs and earning only the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. No one had considered the Celtics to be where they are right now, fighting for the title against their most hated rivals, the Los Angles Lakers. The defeated Miami in 5 games, while it took 6 games to defeat the King and another 6 to defeat Superman. This has been one of the most amazing stories of the playoffs as the 35+ year old team has made the young look like fools.

As for the Lakers, they left off from the season ago. With barely any tweaks to their roster, minus the Ron Artest-Trevor Ariza switch, the Lakers look the same, feel the same and are playing with more togetherness than before. They blazed through the regular season, earning the number one seed in the Western Conference and home court throughout the playoffs. Though they seemed to stumble a bit in the first round, needing six games to defeat the pesky Oklahoma City team, they ran over the Jazz and methodically picked apart the Phoenix Suns. Now they’ve earned the right to play the Celtics with the opportunity to be back to back champions once again.

This has been the most historical rival, I think, throughout sports. Out of the 63 NBA championships, 32 are owned by either the Lakers or Celtics. Historically, the Celtics have the edge in championship series against the Lakers with a commanding 9-2 lead. But this season’s Lakers seem to be stronger and hungrier than those in the 2008 season. Tonight will be about who wants it more, w ho has better intensity and who has the hunger and desire to win bragging rights for another year.

No matter how it ends, though I want the Celtics to win!, they are two great teams that no matter how it ends, they deserve a big round of applause as they both have fought through some kind of adversity.

There is no better way for an NBA season to end and I can’t wait for the results!

Because the playoffs are alive for one more night, no news of Warrior movement has been heard. I suppose that’s good right? I mean most of the news that come out of the Warriors of late, have not been the greatest….considering, 1)We are now two seasons removed from surprising everybody by making the playoffs and then defeating the number 1 seed in the west, the Dallas Mavericks, 2)Stephen Jackson is whining once again to the point where he is a distraction to the team and then he’s traded to the Bobcats, who I might add, MAKE, the Eastern Conference playoffs, 3) The Warriors have a depleted bench for THE ENTIRE season, literally going with only 6 people available on daily nights, 4) Nellie finally surpassing Lenny Wilkins- I mean there were people speculating whether on not the Warriors could actually do it this season or would Nellie continue coaching just to make that mark, now we’ll see where his head is really at, 5) The Warriors again have a losing season and 6) Finally, the Warriors are changing ownership, maybe moving from the Oracle arena, but nevertheless with a change in ownership, there will be some changes to the team and hopefully for the better.

This off-season is very important to the Warriors as they have to add able bodies to their bench. We traded Stephen Jackson for a couple of nobodies, including Raja Bell, whom we paid to sit on the bench cause of his injuries. Most of the Warriors should spend this off season getting better and getting healthy. Most of the season was about how the Warriors didn’t have enough bodies to compete and how many games ended with the Warriors losing because they couldn’t get breaks for Ellis and Curry.

For Curry, this off-season will see how hard he worked in the summer and continue to mature on the court in his sophomore season. Will he hit the sophomore slump or continue his durable play like Kevin Durant did in his sophomore year following up a terrific rookie year.

And, of course, will we trade Monta this off-season? There have been rumors throughout the year, that the Warriors have the idea of shopping him around for some other players while he still has value. Though I’ve read numerous comments on how he and Steph Curry can not play together, I believe that they make a great dynamic backcourt. Yes, they are small in comparison, say Kobe and Derek Fisher, but I think that having a strong backcourt eliminates some of the headaches a coach may have. We just need a couple of role players. But at the same time, say Monta could be traded for a franchise player like a Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson or even Lebron James, I say the trade would be a good thing for the Warriors and something that they can’t pass up. I just hope that whatever the front office decides to do, that it is better for the team and not just about numbers and dollars.

So far, no news is good news. At least we all know where the Warriors stand. After Game 7 tonight, maybe some ruffling of feathers will come about.

So, this is the probably one of the last chances Beantown will have the opportunity to basically, “Steal” home court back. Boston has to win this one, cause winning two in LA isn’t impossible, but very, very hard to do. Don’t get me wrong, the Lakers are good, but I’m a Boston fan. I’ve always been a Boston fan since I was a kid and there would not be a better feeling if the Celtics took another championship from the Lakers. But the battle has only begun, as this three game series will forever change the dynamics in this storied rivalry.

I’m almost annoyed how the commentators, writers, critics, etc are saying how this is a re-match of the 2008 championship series and how things are almost the same but then slightly different and this would be revenge for the Lakers if they win, etc.

Again, everything has changed in two years. Although this is a re-match of the same teams, the teams are not the same. What I want to convey to all readers, either Laker fans Celtic fans or just bball fans, is that this is not the same championship series as 2008. The teams are different, the dynamics are different and the players are older. You literally have to be 30+ to play for Boston, minus Rondo, and the Lakers have had two years to gel, mold, and watch their bench players like Andrew Bynum and Shannon Brown emerge as a scoring threat. The chemistry that the Lakers develop can’t be taught, bought or even calculated. Their chemistry was built on trust among the players and ability to co-incide with a head case like Kobe. I give most of the Lakers credit, playing along Bryant, though brilliant is difficult. It would almost be easier to play with good players rather than a great player.

As for the Celtics, the emergence of Rajon Rondo has eased the pressure of the Big 3. Granted, every night, we all expect something from the Big 3, since they were all at one time great players of their own. But with each season and especially these playoffs, the wear and tear of the aging Celtics are catching up. They are clearly aging every season and this maybe their last shot at glory in NBA world. However, the Celtics look to be in great hands in the future, as the Rondo has broken the single season assist record, recording two triple doubles this season, and being a pain the butt for the other teams. As the Celtics have show this playoff, their resilience and capability to depend on other people besides the Big 3 has been their strength as well as their weakness. Games 2 and 3 have shown how important PGs are as both Rondo and Derek Fisher each won that game for their respective teams. But as Game 4 showed, the starters are suppose to cancel out and the bench plays a vital role in winning championships.

Even as a Celtic fan, I believe that the Lakers have a much deeper bench than the Celtics. But in Games 2 and 4, the reserves for the Celtics have out shined the Lakers.

Tonight, as Game 5 will serve as a turning point for both teams, I believe that whoever wins Game 5 will win the championship. What I do know though, is that great basketball will be played and a champion will be crowned.

GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!

Sad news for all of sports worlds today. John Wooden, 99, died this afternoon in Los Angles. The winningest coach in UCLA was battling health conditions for a while. According to ESPN, Wooden was already admitted into the hospital on May 26 and was in grave condition yesterday. He holds many records in the NCAA including the 88-game win streak, that has yet to be broken. An iconic figure throughout the basketball community, Wooden made a impact in all sports both the women’s and men’s sports. Not only is this a loss fro the sports world, but it is a loss of a great human being who has touched many lives. My condolences are sent out to the Wooden family.

Sad to say that the Warriors are in this mix. With that said though, there are a few series that have wrapped up and ready to get into second round. First and foremost, I like to root for the underdog, only cause no one expects them to win and you always find out who the true stars are. Well the playoff series between the really underdogs of Oklahoma City versus the Lakers have been a series to watch! Who could have though that the Thunder would win back to back games against the powerhouse? Clearly, something is not clicking with the Lakers consistently. The first two games in LA, were close, but the Lakers still pulled out the victories. When they went to Oklahoma, not only did they fold under pressure, they were demolished in game 4. Then they come back to LA and destroy the Thunder. So what does that tell us? The Lakers are not playing consistently and they are having issues with a team that is young. Clearly, if you have young legs, you can run and out-hustle the Lakers. On TV, the always make sure to tell you that the Lakers are the youngest team in the play offs, maybe even the league at a tender age of 25 years and so many odd days. It is clear that the Thunder are young, by their inconsistent playing. Staying close the first two games, winning the second two games and then being demolished by the Lakers game 5, but they’ve also showed everybody else in the league that the Lakers

Ever since the Warriors’ season has ended, there have been few posts. Mostly cause the first round of playoffs were boring, minus the Thunder and Lakers, and the second round was even more boring, minus the Celtics and Cavs. Think about it. Magic blew out their opponents in the first 8 games by double digits and contributed to the rest of league as most of the series were sweeps or 4-1. Only the Celts and Cavs came to Game 6.  So now here we are in the conference finals as both the Celtics and Lakers (no surprise right?) are up 2-0 on their foes. I honestly didn’t think the Lakers have any competition throughout the playoffs until they were in the finals. The Spurs were too old, the Mavs didn’t have chemistry, the Jazz had too many injuries and not enough talent and Portland, well Portland is always on the brink. But to have the Suns come out of all those mediocre team was sorta a surprise too. Clearly, the competition the Suns were facing were not even close to their task now. Lakers are clearly the superior team (even if they didn’t look like it against the Thunder) and do not look like they are slowing down They are playing good basketball, not great, but good, which should get the to the finals. Who they’ll be playing is up in the air.

Both the Magic and Cavs rebuilt their teams in the off-season to compete with Lakers in the finals. All three outlets, the Cavs, the Magic and the media thought it would be the Cavs or the Magic meeting the Lakers and THAT would make great basketball. But no one counted the Celtics to disrupt this media frenzy. The Celtics did very little to rebuild their team. Their starting 5 is the same from when they won the whole thing, except a little wiser and older. They signed Rasheed Wallace to take the place of KG if he ever became injured (which he did) but has failed to live up to his contract till now. In Round 2, Rajon Rondo took over the series, outshining the King himself and causing Cleveland to go into an early free agency. In that series, Wallace started to wake up contributing on both the offense and defense. And now in Round 3, Wallace and Co are ganging up on Dwight Howard, causing the Magic to scramble on what is going wrong and down 0-2 going into Boston.

So who has a chance? Honestly, no one would have thought and old, injured team would be able to compete with two fully re-loaded teams. But right now, I’d say that Boston is playing solid basketball and are the hot team right now. As Game 2 has shown, it doesn’t matter if Howard has a big game or not (30 points in Game 2 vs 12 points in Game 1) if his teammates do show up. The Celtics are making the Magic beat them by not using Howard and so far, no one other than Jameer Nelson is at the Eastern Conference Finals. Think going to the TD Garden will make it easier? Probably not, as the Celtics have shown that they have the ability to win on the road.

Either way whoever plays the Lakers will be a bit more tired as the Lakers have had an easier road to get to the finals (hopefully right Laker Fans?) and look like they’ll sweep the Suns. I think the Finals will be fun to watch as it will be a rematch of the 2008 games or see if the Magic have what it takes to knock off the defending champs.  No matter what, I still wish the Warriors were in the finals!

The title doesn’t really mean that the Warriors are in post season, but take it literally, after season. The Warriors finished near the bottom (again) and it doesn’t seem any different from any other year. The only good thing is that we can start off a new fresh season next year with more twists and turns. There are several good things that came out of this year besides the dismal ending.

First, I’d like to thank all my readers for reading this blog. It may not be the most popular, but I appreciate everyone’s comments. I also appreciate all those who have stopped by and read some of my writings.

Second- Let’s all congratulate Coach Nelson on surpassing Lenny Wilkins as the all-time leading wins as a coach. It has obviously taken a lot of headaches and a lot of wins, but I am happy that Nellie has achieved his goal, especially, coaching a young team, where consistency is not always the case. With that said, I think it’s time for the Warriors to head in a different direction and hire another coach. Obviously, as great as Nellie’s system has worked in the past, it is not working for these Warriors and/or it is not producing wins. I’m not paying Nellile, but as a fan, I want wins, not just records.

Third- What a fantastic pick the Warriors took with Steph Curry. Sure there were other great players out there, but I think we made a decision to keep rebuilding a team and he is definitely in the plans for the future. It must have been tough on the rookie to lose a lot, winning makes everything a lot easier, but the lack of a bench, all the injuries that piled up, gave Steph an opportunity to find his niche in the NBA. He’s not the next LeBron or Kobe, but he is a threat no matter what. And to all the haters that say Monte can’t play with Steph, it’s ridiculous! Monte had one of his best seasons and clearly it’s not just cause he’s good, but he had good support. As you watched DWade last night, he can’t carry a team without help. I think this is a great back-court. I just hope we keep it intact or if we do trade one, for some value back and not some random pieces that end up sitting on the bench injured. (Yes, I’m looking at you Raja Bell!)

Fourth- As dismal of a record the Warriors put up this season, the last ten games ended on a good note. The Warriors posted a 6-4 record, beating good teams such as the Portland Trailblazers,  the Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors. It was a positive feeling for the future and good high note to end the season.

I’m looking forward to the off-season to see what moves the Warriors make. The biggest move should come by soon, as the selling of the Warriors are up for bidding. With new owners, the team will definitely go in a different direction than the direction they have been heading now. I want to see who the Warriors will end up picking in the draft to develop or as trade bait.  There are several areas the Warriors need to fill, such as a dominate big man or another guard. The Warriors really need size and strength in those two areas. The only place we are set is the back-court. And the Warriors need to fill out the bench with less injured-plague players.

Keep checking in as I will periodically update with playoff news. So far, the playoffs have been as advertised. The games have been intense and fun to watch. The match-up to watch is the Lakers vs OKC. Everyone knows that the Lakers will win this first round series but I am hoping that OKC drags out that series to 7 games. Not only would that be good basketball, but it will give the second round team an advantage. I really don’t want the Lakers to repeat……..

I know this blog is suppose to be about the Warriors, but I can’t help but putting my two cents in about college basketball. Did you see the boy’s finale? It was an intense game,  but well worth watching! I’m not going to lie, I was rooting for the underdog, Butler, the whole time. I am a little disappointed that Duke won, but last night’s color commentator said it perfect. No one lost that game, just Duke was able to get more points at the end of the day. You can tell that Butler played their hearts out. No one would have thought that Butler would have made it this far into the tournament let alone the championship. During the game it did look like Butler might pull off the upset. They were keeping pace with Duke and were battling at both ends of the court. In the end though, the Blue Devils slowly put away Butler with outstanding belief in their offense. However, it was such a nerve wracking game that even the last shot to beat the buzzer was so close Butler could almost win the whole thing! It was a fantastic game to watch and one of the most memorable championships that I can remember.

With that said, tonight is an equally exciting game on the women’s end. UCONN is riding a 75 game win streak and are playing the last team they lost to, the Stanford Cardinals. I hope that it will be a good game and unlike the other blow outs UCONN has given to other teams.

One thing I wanted to note. Last night’s the men’s finale was on cable, so that everyone can see. Tonight’s women’s game is on ESPN, which is fantastic since it was only a decade ago when ESPN would never televise a woman’s game, but it makes it difficult for those who don’t have ESPN to watch this game. Now I understand that many more are interested in the men’s game and for good reason, but do not rule out the women’s game either, since they do make up more than half of the population on earth. The women’s game might be a big slower and not as athletic as men, but you have to watch how good these Division I athletes are. Forget the fact that they are women, and only put them in the aspect that they are successful student-athletes. The game is changing and changing quite rapidly. Just watch Britteny Griner, who at 6-foot-8 has dunked 4 times this season and had a record setting 40 blocks this NCAA tournament. And she’s only a freshman. Or watch tonight and see how athletic Nnemkadi Ogwumike from Stanford is and only imagine how good her little sister will be when she joins the Cardinals next year. Finally, watch the athleticism and gracefulness Maya Moore plays with as she continues to be the engine for these UCONN Huskies. Watch these ladies compete, not play, compete and let me know if they deserve an opportunity to have the entire nation watch them.

Next couple of posts will pretty much wrap up the Warriors season. It’s been a long and rough one,  but not without excitement. With the last victory against a decent team, the Toronto Raptors, the Warriors mustered a 113-112 win in Canada to help Nellie secure win # 1, 1332.  Not only did the Warriors gain a solid win, they also move Nellie to tie Lenny Wilkens’ win record. Any win the rest of the season will give Nellie the all time win record as a coach. Withstanding a 42 point performance, Warriors’ Corey Maggette scored 31 points and Stephen Curry scored 29 points while dishing 12 assists in securing the win. The Warriors will have an opportunity for Nellie to break the win record tonight against the Washington Wizards.