Weekend Sports Wrapup

Bulls
The Bulls quickly forgot their exciting victory against the Miami Heat on Thursday and went to business against the Bucks on Saturday, defeating them 83-75 and remained undefeated in the Central division. The Bulls got off to a slow start, but managed to keep the damage minimal as they went into halftime with a tie. What's becoming typical was the 3rd quarter run they put together to ice the game as they outscored the Bucks 31-20.

Knicks
Fans got excited over their first game against a bad team. Then they lost Friday night against the worst team in the NBA, the Cavs. So the Knicks were really untested until last night when they played the Heat. There was a lot of hype around the game because it was Melo vs. LeBron and since they play for the Knicks and Heat, the mnedia was marketing this around the revival of a rivalry that started back with Ewing vs. Mourning. The game met everyone's expectations because it was a relatively close one throughout although the Heat looked like they were going to blow out the Knicks at the beginning of the game. The Knicks went on a run just before halftime and it was single digit differentials from there on.

Giveth and Taketh Away

As expected, Apple updated the Mac Book Pro line. It was a week earlier than I expected though. I thought they would do it on the same day they introduce the iPad 2. So it was one of their quiet updates where they take down the store. I thought for sure they were going to put the Core i5 into the 13" because their competition had already done it months ago. They DID follow through on that. You can now get a Core i5 or i7 for the 13" model. However, they took away the NVidia graphics card and swapped in the Intel integrated one. Battery life also dropped from a claimed 9 hours (about 5 in real life) to a claimed 7 hours (probably 3 hours). So the update was an upgrade and downgrade at the same time... enough to cancel each other out. The new model isn't convincing enough for me to go after. It still loses to the ASUS models.

More to come next week when the iPad 2 comes out...

MVP vs. MVP

The Bulls won the first game of the season against the Miami Heat, but there's sort of an asterisk next to that game because LeBron James didn't play. The Bulls know how to play Wade and Bosh and have generally done well against the Heat. So last night's game was the true test. Miami was all healthy. The Bulls also had everyone back, including Noah. They got off to a very slow start in the first quarter. Though they managed to only be down by 8 in the first quarter, momentum was all in favor of Miami as they were finding the basket on several uncontested fast breaks. Those all came off missed long jumpers and 3's. The Bulls were only shooting 38% while the Heat were at 58%. The 1st quarter was pretty much held by Boozer and Noah. Without their cleanup plays, this game would've ben an early blowout. The 2nd quarter was a terrible offensive one for both teams, but you could also say it was tough defense. The 3rd quarter was the turning point in the game as the Bulls went on a 13-3 run lead by Rose. Miami managed to cut a 9-point lead in the 4th to recapture, but it was the Bulls who made the clutch shots at the end.

The game was tied in the final seconds as James and Wade managed to work their way at the FT line. Rose had the ball and had just beaten James off the dribble. Wade came over to help. Rose jumped up and passed to Deng who drained the. That was pretty much it as they forced James and Bosh to miss at the end. Bosh shot just 1 of 18 as the Bulls defense forced him to take tough jumpers.

There you go... Bulls beat the Heat twice. James or not... no difference. The Bulls are better and Rose is the MVP!

NBA Wednesday

Bulls
The Bulls lost an easy one against Toronto in Noah's return. The offense was there as everyone got their usual numbers. Noah even pulled down 15 rebs by the half as if he was never on the disabled list. But the defense was bad as they allowed the Raptors to shoot 60% and gave Demar DeRozan a nice highlight reel. Even though the Bulls didn't make any trades, the return of Noah could have the same impact as a trade. The team got used to playing and winning without him, so it could be an adjustment. And they've never really had Rose, Boozer and Noah at the same time for a long period.

Knicks
Melo and Billups went into last night's game pretty much cold turkey as it was less than 24 hours since the official deal, but everyone looked fresh. It seems like the team had a psychological rebirth. Melo had 27 points. Billups also added 21 and did a good job running the team. Stoudemire got his points in there, but also fouled out with his 15th tech... one more for suspension! The Bucks gave them a close game though, lagging behind in single digits the whole time. So last night's game was totally won with star power. They'll get better as a team with time.

Changing of the Guards
Since Melo was hogging all the news headlines, the Nets made a big move under the radar that caught weveryone by surprise. They dealt away Harris, Favors and 2 1st round picks for one of the league's best point guards, Deron Williams. This could be a move like the Kidd/Marbury one during the Nets' best years. The Jazz, I think got the equivalent back. Harris is solid and Favors has a lot of potential. Also in the trades was Kirk Hinrich, moving from the crappy Wizards to the contending Hawks.

Get Me Outta Here!

This is a recent commercial that kind of pokes fun at how quickly rumors can spread. There is some realism to it because many players "tweet" and update their Facebook pages. They can put themselves out into the media without reporters or agents now... and sometimes it can cause problems.

Starbucks on the Train

Apparently, Starbucks moved into my train this morning as several passengers were lounging around, drinking various breakfast beverages.

Tall
One guy had a very small cup... a half sphere that was a little larger than a shot glass. He was seated and pouring hot coffee from a thermos into the cup/cap. Steam was coming out of it and the aroma making half the train smell like a Starbucks counter.

Grande
Across from the guy drinking the tall was another guy drinking a real Starbucks grande. He took sips from the open flap in the lid.

Venti
OK... this last one isn't a coffee, but it's weird enough to write about. Standing by the door was a Marine eating his breakfast. He took bites out of a piece of garlic bread and drank gulps of some custom juice he had inside a quart-sized juice container.

Fortunately, no accidents happened with these drinks, but if the train had made a sudden stop, I wouldn't want to be standing next to any of these guys!

Melo to NY

It was a no-brainer and the Knicks finally pulled the trigger on the Carmelo Anthony deal. The Nuggets pretty much lost everything and got very little back. They gave up Melo, Billups and a couple of role players and got back Gallinari, Chandler, Felton and Mozgov. They managed to cut the deal without losing their rookie sensation, Landry Fields. I think the Nuggets could have requested him and the Knicks should still have made the deal. Billups is a significant upgrade over Felton and almost as important as Carmelo.

So where does this put the Knicks? I think it gets them to a mid to top playoff seed. Before the trade, I thought they were an 8th seed or would just barely miss the Playoffs. So it was a good move on their part and it puts them in position to get another star over the Summer.

All-Star Weekend (Part 3)

The All-Star game was OK, but still a showboating contest. The West won 148-143 because the whole showboating style favored the no-defense Western contest. All of the top scorers did their thing... Bryant had 37, Durant had 34, James had 29 and Stoudemire had 29. James had the second (Jordan had the first) triple-double in NBA All-Star Game history with 12 rebs and 10 asts to go along with his points. Rose finished with 11 pts and 5 asts. The West was leading for most of the game and it looked like they were going to have an easy win, but the East pushed it in the 4th after a LeBron James speech. If the East pushed it and played seriously the whole game, they would've had it.

I mention this every year, but I'd like to see the All-Star game count like in baseball. We have the skills challenges already for people to showboat. The game itself should be played like a real game because there's more to it than fancy dunks and undefended fast breaks.

All-Star Weekend (Part 2)

The slam dunk contest was surprisingly good last night with original presentations by Ibaka, McGee and Griffin. Griffin was expected to win and he followed through with the best dunks of the night, but it was a close one. Griffin made some classic dunks, but with new additions to them. He did the Vince Carter hanging elbow one, but with some extra cocking back motions to display more hangtime. McGee did an amazing double dunk with 2 balls and 2 baskets. He later did a dunk with 3 balls, but although it looked impressive, he was hanging on the rim for it. Ibaka did dunk while grabbing a hanging teddy bear with his teeth. He also did a freethrow line takeoff.

Griffin had the best overall, but I think McGee's final dunk was better... a reverse one-handed jam. Griffin jumped over car with an assist by Baron Davis. While the presentation and props were nice, if you take away the car, the dunk was plain and had less height & hangtime than Ibaka's freethrow dunk. One thing Griffin does that few dunkers do is he poses his body in the air like Jordan used to do. It's the reason why Jordan's freethrow dunk is the best of all time though others have done the same.

All-Star Weekend (Part 1)

Charles Barkley said that the NBA's All-Star weekend is better than any other sport last night and that really sums it up. The NBA really does it like no other sport. In the NFL, the only game that people party around is the Superbowl and that's about half a day's festivities. Baseball also has an All-Star weekend, but it doesn't really encompass a city like the NBA and they have a lot less events. The NBA really involves the entire city and there are events all day long from Friday to Sunday. Kids are involved. Celebrities are involved and there are parties all around town hosted by stars of the sport. It's really like a mini Olympic Games.

Something else to note is that All-Star weekend is more about having fun than the actual game itself. Because it doesn't count like in MLB, the game is more of a show than a competition. In a way, Saturday's skills challenges are more exciting than the actual All-Star Game.

So far, the rookies beat the sophomores for the 2nd straight year. Atlanta won the Shooting Stars competition and Stephen Curry won the Skills Challenge. The Bulls have a strong presence this weekend with Gibson in the Rookie Challenge and Shooting Stars, Rose in the Skills Challenge and Steve Kerr in Shooting Stars. I think the Bulls Shooting Stars would've been nicer with Korver instead of Gibson... imagine Korver & Kerr on the same team!

James Jones just won the 3-Point Contest. It's never who you expect as everyone pretty much picked Ray Allen! It's proof that a game 3-point shooter isn't always a good contest 3-point shooter

42

Derrick Rose put up one of the best performances of his career against the best team in the NBA, sending the Spurs on only their 10th loss of the season. Rose seems to play even better when it's a nationally televised broadcast as he scored a career high 42. Most of those were highlight reel worthy shots. My favorite was a lay-in where he rolled the ball horizontally off the board. He really has amazing control of the ball and his body to be able to maneuver around 3-4 big defenders on the Spurs. Oh... and a battle with yet another top point guard, Tony Parker, Rose wins again. Parker himself also had a great night, scoring 26, but he cooled down in the 2nd half. The Bulls lead for most of the game, but it was close until the 4th quarter where Rose led a 13-3 run. Defense during the final minutes sealed the deal as the Spurs couldn't take advantage of the few Bulls misses. Something else to note in this game is that these were 2 of the top defensive teams in the league, but last night they were in attack mode, shooting well over 50% from the field.

The Bulls protect their home record, current streak and go into All-Star Break a solid 22 games above .500 and 2 games back from the Heat and Celtics. I knew they'd be above .500, but never imagined they'd be 2nd in the East and 5th overall!

Payback

The Charlotte Bobcats came into the the United Center last night with 2 previous wins in their pocket. The Bulls responded well and played a good games against Jordan's team. They lead for most of the game, though not by blowout numbers. The Bobcats made runs, but the Bulls were able to match them shot for shot whenever the lead looked like it was going to get cut. As with typical Bulls games this year, 4th quarter gameplay sealed the deal as they pulled away and won by a final score of 106-94. Deng had a big night with 24. Rose had 18 pts/13 asts. Boozer (16), Gibson (11) and Korver (15) also scored in double figures.

Tomorrow's game will be a big one... against the Spurs and their best record in the NBA on TNT.

Sword of Azrael: 201102

Death by Fiery Sword
The Death by Fiery Sword penalty is a no-brainer. It goes to Maksim Gelman for his 28-hour murder spree. He started by stabbing his stepfather for not letting him borrow his car. He then drove to over to some girl, Yelena Bulchenko who he was stalking (not even friends or dating). She wasn't home, so he killed her mother. Then he waited for her and killed her. He then carjacked and stabbed a driver and ran over a 60 year old man. He carjacked and stabbed another man after that. The next day, he stabbed another man on the 3 train, but his victim was an MMA fighter and was able to fight back long enough for the cops to get there.

Excommunication
Fired, should be any cop involved in the case above. How could someone murder 4 people in 28 hours and get away with it. This guy should've been caught after the first murder, especially since he didn't attempt to lay low or cover up.

Clockwork Apple: Cane Timer

During one of my transfers, I have to walk from one end of a platform all the way to the other to cut time if the train is not in the station yet. I know I'm still making good time if an old lady with a cane can bad wig passes by. She sits at the far end of the incoming trains and does the exact opposite of me. She walks from the far end up to where I enter. It would make sense for her to probably sit on the other end so she could be near the stairs when she gets off. However, she's in the same spot every day. Maybe because she walks slow, she purposely sits in the last car to let the angry rush hour crowds out first. It's pretty much all clear by the time she makes her walk. Just after she passes me, the next train arrives and I'm at the other end for perfect positioning.

Best Point Guard in the NBA

The game after Derrick Rose totally outplayed Deron Williams, one of the best point guards in the NBA, he went up against another one in Chris Paul. Rose led the way with 23 pts and 6 asts compared to Paul's 15 pts and 6 asts as the Bulls won last night. Shortly after Rose was criticized for his defense, he took out 2 of the best and again proved his MVP status. The Bulls trailed most of this game, but creeped in during the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The Hornets just shutdown, so the final 97-88 score doesn't indicate what a close game it actually was through the halfway mark in the 4th. All active Bulls scored. The starters all put up double figures except Bogans and there was good support from the bench as all active players scored. The Bulls are now 20 games above .500 and 2 games behind 2nd seed Boston. Miami jumped ahead to #1 by .5 games... unless they lose this afternoon.

NBA History

It was somewhat of a historic week in the NBA with a whole bunch of different and unrelated things:

Jerry Sloan
After the Bulls game, Jerry Sloan shocked the world by abruptly announcing his retirement. It marked an end of an era because he's basically the only coach in the NBA that hasn't been fired! He's the longest tenured coach by a long shot in all of sports and ends with a solid 1,221-803 record. The Jazz have been one of the most consistent teams over the past few decades, never dropping to the bottom even after the retirements of Malone and Stockton. Many think the sudden retirement had something to do with a halftime altercation between Sloan and Deron Williams, though both deny it. Sloan did say "There's only so much energy left and my energy has dropped." So the argument with Williams could have been the last straw.

26-in a Row
The Cavaliers went from the best team last year to rock bottom this year as their losing streak hit a record 26 before they stopped the bleeding. So it's in the books now. The longest losing streak in NBA history stands at 26. This really shows what type of impact a LeBron James can have on a team. It also justifies him leaving.

Allen's 3's
Ray Allen surpassed Reggie Miller in most 3-pointers made in NBA history this week in the Celtics' loss to the Lakers. It was a TNT broadcast, so Reggie Miller was present to witness the milestone and pass on the torch.

X-Men: First Class (Preview)

It looks like Marvel is resetting the X-Men saga in their movie line as another "origins" movie will be coming out on June 3... X-Men: First Class. It's going to follow the early years of Professor X and Magneto. I'm sure they'll also slip in other characters and mess up the comic book timeline. The nice thing about these type of X-Men movies though is because they're in the past, they have a sense of realism to them. There are no hi-tech aircrafts or computers. X-Men Origins: Wolverine had this type of feel to it. While I'm a comic loyalist, I can still put aside the disconnections and enjoy this one.

Jazz vs. Jazz

Last night was the first meeting between the Utah Jazz and Chicago Jazz since Boozer, Korver and Brewer moved over the Summer. An exciting game was anticipated and didn't disappoint. Both Derrick Rose and Deron Williams played great games for their team. It was close all throughout, with the Bulls leading by a few most of the time. Aside from Rose on the Bulls, it was also an ugly, gritty game. The Bulls were actually outrebounded and lost in almost every other category on paper. They won the defensive battle and hustle plays though. Despite getting double figures from only 2 players (Rose-29 & Boozer 14), every player who had minutes contributed a little. As usual, they came up with the clutch plays in the 4th. During the final minutes, both teams traded blows and Utah came within 1 a couple of times. All of the former Jazz players came through with key plays... a clutch 3 by Korver, steals by Boozer & Brewer, and Brewer's free throws to seal the game.

With the win, the Bulls once again avoid the first 3-game losing streak of the season. They improved their record to 35-16 and are still in the 3rd seed. They dropped one down with the 2-game losing streak and are 2.5 games behind Miami.

40 Degrees Warm

The past couple of weeks have either been plagued by a huge storm or dealing with its aftermaths. The main reason why we still have Christmas snow under the piles is because the temperature never really got warm. It got just above 32 on some days, but not enough snow melted before the next storm. This Sunday and yesterday finally stayed a solid 38-42 degrees, which melted a lot of sidewalks to more than the single file we've been dealing with. It's also amazing how our bodies adapt to the cold. After weeks of 0-30 degrees, just going outside when it's 38 actually feels warm. I didn't even feel like wearing a winter jacket yesterday and I didn't feel cold.

Today was originally forecast to be snow showers, but the high temperatures brought more rain to melt the snow piles. The storm that was supposed to come Thursday and Friday veered off, so maybe we'll finally get rid of this month-old snow!

Clueless

I overheard a conversation on an evening commute between a man and woman who worked together in the same company. The woman was talking about buying basketball tickets for out of town family visiting the city. One of the things she asked her male friend was where the Knicks are from... New Jersey? Seriously... she thought they were from NJ! Over the past decade or so, the Knicks have been terrible, but it's just common knowledge, even for non-basketball fans that they're from NY. It just sounds right... NY Knicks... like NY Yankees or NY Mets. It doesn't quite have the same ring to it when you replace NY with NJ. If she gets those tickets, hopefully, she's not one of the ones attending!

That was already enough for a blog entry, but the conversation shifted to TV at one point. The man was explaining how he had just setup his TV and cable service. When he watches some shows, he gets Spanish language instead of English. He went on to say that they are popular shows on nationwide English channels and was perplexed at why they would be broadcast in Spanish. The answer is the idiot has his system with SAP on. But from his point of view, he did nothing wrong. He thinks it's broadcast that way. If he has the problem, then everyone else must have it too. Sorry... only you, idiot!

I'm sure glad I don't work with whatever company these 2 clueless colleagues do!

Weekend Sports Wrapup

Bulls
The Bulls played terrible last night against the Warriors, ending their winning streak, but I guess they can't win them all. They had to run out of gas sooner or later. Rose had 9 turnovers, all in the first half, which kind of defined the game already. If he had one more, he would've had a pts/asts/to triple-double. Scoring was not bad as everyone contributed, but the defense just wasn't there. They allowed Monte Ellis to have a 33-point career night. Despite all the early mistakes, this 101-90 loss was all in the 4th quarter as the Bulls were outscored 28-18.

Super Bowl
I honestly didn't watch a single minute of this, but the Green Bay Packers won 31-25. It's just weird that everyone watches the Super Bowl even if their team is not in it. It's not like that in any other sport. Anyway, the season is over, which means more TV spots for the NBA!

Thank You, Andy!

It was official yesterday that Andy Pettitte will be retiring from baseball. While many Yankees fans were not giving up hope that he could rejoin the team mid-season, we all had a feeling this was coming. The Yankees desperately need him to start, but I'm also happy for him. He had an amazing career and is retiring after one of his best seasons. Like Mike Mussina, he's going out in his prime rather than getting forced out with deteriorating skills. Pettitte has always been modest and low key, but his accomplishments are insane:

- 19 post-season wins (best in MLB history)
- 42 post-season starts (best in MLB history)
- 263 post-season innings (best in MLB history)
- 173 post-season K's (2nd in MLB history)
- 5 World Series rings
- 240 wins (13th in MLB history for left-handers)
- 1,823 K's as a Yankee (2nd in history)
- 203 wins as a Yankee (3rd in history)
- 2,251 K's (16th in MLB history)

Thanks for the memories, Andy!

Rose vs Griffin

Rose is the best player in the East and right now Blake Griffin is stealing the show in the West. So the Bulls vs. Clippers last night made an exciting game. I'm sure LA fans who bought tickets at the beginning of the season weren't expecting anything. The Clippers were pretty much back to their losing ways without Elton Brand, but all of a sudden, they started to pick things up towards the end of the first half of the season as Blake had a couple of exciting games, including outplaying Kobe Bryant. The big man showed that he could could move quickly and have dunks good enough for a mid-sized player.

The Bulls went with the same strategy as what they did to the Magic... let the big man do his thing, but shut everyone else down. Griffin already had 25 by the half, on pace for a new career high. The problem for the Clippers was, no one else was really in a rhythm and the Bulls still had the lead, shooting over 50%. Despite the hot start, Griffin only ended with 32. The Bulls had solid points from their big 3... Rose (32), Deng (26) and Boozer (16).

So that's 6 in a row now. This latest win is against a strong team despite it's record.

Groundhog's Day

It seems almost ridiculous to have Groundhog's Day this year. There are still mountains of snow everywhere and we've gotten used to the weekly storms. Last night, the piles of snow got a nice thick glaze of ice from the sleet. So there's no sign of Spring coming anytime soon. Both Punxsatawny Phil and Staten Island Chuck did not see their own shadows because the overcast sky didn't create any. That, in this dumb superstitious tradition means that we're supposed to get an early Spring. Sorry... both groundhogs are wrong!

I can't believe this event is a big deal. Crowds of people actually go out to watch this. The groundhogs care nothing about their own shadow. They just want to eat the nuts that the hosts are trying to feed them. I'm sure there's also a dollar value that goes into these events... something that again should be cut during recessions.