The Los Angeles Lakers have knocked the Denver Nuggets out of the playoffs and are advancing to the Finals. Much to almost nobodies surprise, the predictable outcome invariably took place. Despite my firm belief that Denver was able to fight through the hardwood hell and come out alive, it just wasn’t possible.

Sadly, the Denver Nuggets faced execution in front of their home crowd. It must have been a deep and burning sensation of pain and joy to walk off the court with the home crowd giving you a standing ovation after losing in the Western Conference Finals.

With the newly charged offense as a result of Chauncey Billups at the helm, followed by a cast of supporting characters that just doesn’t sound right calling them supporting characters. Melo had times where he was playing absolutely out of his mind. Nene was battling through the paint with heart. The Birdman really thought he could fly and seemingly did with the amount of blocks he has racked up this series. Somebody should probably test his DNA. Seriously, it might actually be a good idea. Dahntay Jones, well, he did what he knew he could do. I’ll leave it at that.

The sad part, at least for me, is that I’m not a Nuggets fan. I really don’t feel good about the success of their season. I just really didn’t want to see the Lakers get through the beasts in blue. And as I said, I really had faith in the Nuggets and thought they could do it. Perhaps it’s just that I’m a Suns fan and really don’t enjoy seeing the Lakers do so well when my team is deciding whether to draft the best player for the position or draft out of need.

I’ve got one team left to bandwaggon for the rest of these playoffs just to keep my interest in the post-season and unfortunately, as of right now, they are down 3-2 and are looking to fight in enemy territory to stay alive. I’ll no doubt watch the rest of the post season no matter what but there will definitely be something missing. There will also be an interesting inner battle for me if the Magic were to advance to the finals — I really don’t care about the Magic. I would be forced to root against a team rather than for a team. I don’t particularly enjoy those situations.

For me, this year’s playoffs have been a chance to root for the underdogs who really put up a performance but just fall short each and every time. The Chicago Bulls really looked like they could pull out that extra juice and get passed the Celtics but they fell short. Denver really looked like they could get past the Lakers but they fell short.

For me and for likely many others out there, there will be one series that can change the game. One redeeming situation to bring some excitement back into this post season. We need another game winner from LeBron. We need an epic come from behind battle. We need to witness LeBron just get out on the court and show everybody just why they call him King James. This King… Think King of the jungle, this Lion, has been sitting in the shade getting teased by the jackals long enough. It’s about time he got up and just ripped everybody to shreds to prove just why they call him the King.

We need to witness a series that we’ll be telling our grandchildren about. For those of us that choose not to have kids, we need to witness a series that we’ll tell anybody and everybody about while wondering around the mall while senile.

Maybe my expectations are too high.

Maybe not.

There’s always hope.

It's Just Change for Phil Jackson

Earlier today, Phil Jackson was fined $25,000 for the negative comments he told the media regarding the officiating. Phil Jackson complained about Denver attempting 14 more free throws that game. Included in the barage of negative comments was what I feel to be a very legitimate concern.

Dahntay Jones was seen extending his leg even further while already out of balance the opposite direction in what can assume with 99% accuracy to be an intentional and dirty play. Apparently the league decided it was dirty because they have upgraded the foul to flagrant.

Coach Karl seemed convincing when he said “Everybody knows how we use him. We sic him on the best perimeter guy. That’s his job, that’s his assignment. A Bruce Bowen mentality and he’s done a good job with it. He’s done well with it.”

I’ve got to admit, Kobe Bryant himself had the best comment saying, “I just fell on my face for no reason. I’m a klutz.” He’s got a classy sort of sarcasm that has an underlying hate. I’ve got to give him respect for that.

Phil Jackson also expressed his concern for the quantity of fouls called on Luke Walton.

Bryant gets the credit with his 40 points as the Lakers beat the Nuggets, 105-103. Picture provided by Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images and ESPN.com

Kobe Bryant put his best on Carmelo Anthony, especially in the fourth quarter: pulling off a come-from-behind victory. That’s how you get it done! Bryant literally was popping bottles, as the song says it, and scored 40 points. What really made a difference were the dramatic six free throws in the final 30 seconds! Wow!

Kobe Bryant usually scores between 25-40 points when you see him. But this time, he was playing with an injury. What a guy! “Once I sensed we didn’t have the energy, I had to take it upon myself to lead by example,” number 24 told ESPN. “It’s just part of my responsibilities to this team.” Of course it is. Full Story

As we all know, the Cavaliers are running all over their opponents during this year’s playoffs. It all starts with the league MVP LeBron James. The Pistons and Hawks haven’t found a way to stop him, or even slow him down. the players surrounding LeBron make him even better. They start with a 5 that compliments his game perfectly. They have a corner 3 pt shooter, in Delonte West, a pick n pop guy in Z, a pure hustle guy in Varejao, and of course Mo Williams. That last name was very important. He can stretch the floor with his shooting and run their offense, but the biggest plus is that he can create his own shot. He relieves so much pressure of LeBron and just another guy that you have to have an above average defender on. The bench is deep with shooters, and rebounders that give their starters a blow without losing much production. Now when these guys can hold there own, you have to slow down LeBron James. You can’t stop him, but you can get him out of his comfort zone. It’s not as simple as simply staying in front of him however. Full Story

When the NBA world found out that the Celtics heart and soul Kevin Garnett was probably out for the whole playoffs, everyone thought the Celtics were in big trouble. Full Story

Now, I have a bone to pick. In fact, I have a whole corpse to pick.

Dwight Howard was suspended for one game.

Yeah, only one game.

Full Story

Time and time again the Celtics vs. Bulls series has proven itself to be the best of the 2009 NBA playoffs. More often then not, the Celtics and Bulls have ended up playing overtime in this round 1 series. The games always seems to be close and the winner can never be decided until late 4th quarter. Full Story

Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo’s performance against the Bulls has been nothing short of incredible yet he’s not getting that much love, well, considering he’s 0.3 assists off averaging a triple double.

He’s putting up 22ppg which I’m sure none of us expected him to come close to before the series considering he averaged half that during the regular season. 22ppg, that’s more than guys like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony who are often talked about when discussing the best scorers in the league

He’s averaging more rebounds than the top-tier big men such as Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan, Josh Smith and many more. Despite those guys being over one foot taller than Rajon Rondo.

He’s even dishing out more assists than everyone except CP3 & D-Will at 9.7 but he is averaging around 2 less turnovers per game than both of those guys.

This is one of the best Playoff performances I have ever seen yet he still isn’t getting as much hype as if someone like Dwyane Wade or LeBron James were to do this same thing. Why? Rondo should be on the front page of all the websites and blogs that have anything to do with Sports and when you open the front page of the Sports section in your newspaper, you should see Rondo’s face.

The thing that makes this performance even more amazing is that during the regular season he was just an average point guard and he’s now suddenly turned into what looks like a young Oscar Robertson. If there was an award for the Most Improved player during the playoffs, there wouldn’t even need to be a vote.

Rajon Rondo has really stepped up and taken this Boston team on his shoulders while they are missing their leader and whether or not Boston wins this series, if Rondo keeps this play up I think it’s going to go down as one of the best performances in NBA Playoff history.

2009 NBA Playoffs

It has been 8 days since the 2009 NBA playoffs began and the most interesting series we have is between the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. I don’t care if you’ve been a Lakers fan for the past 30 years, watching the Lakers methodically bully the Jazz isn’t exciting. The only way for the Jazz to win a game that series is to come out with some truly amazing effort and hit every single open shot they get, and then a good half of their contested shots.

Dallas is manhandling the Spurs without Ginobili and an unhealthy Tim Duncan. Denver is playing against a team that already seems to have vacation plans. Houston and Portland can get interesting but there really just isn’t a storyline to get hyped up about with this matchup. If you can think of one let me know because I’d like some excitement or at least something to help keep my interest up while watching these games.

In the east we have the Cavaliers running over the Pistons. Two years ago this matchup was made for the ages but these are two different teams. The Pistons are falling apart and the Cavaliers are as solid as ever. The 76ers are somehow holding their own against Dwight Howard and the Magic and lead the series 2-1 despite having an overall -5 point differential for the 3 games.

After the Heat lost to the Hawks by 24 in the first game, Dwayne Wade and company decided to step it up winning the next two games by an average of 22. Wade scored just 19 points in the first game then went off, as we all expected, to score 33 in game two and 29 in game three.

Predictable Outcomes Make for Terrible Playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers are essentially expected to win at least 12 playoff games this year. That puts them in the finals. Anything less than that is going to shock the nation and might just make things a bit more interesting. The Lakers of the last two years have increased their ability to move the ball dramatically. Various reasons have put the Lakers in the forefront of the western conference. Part of it was acquiring Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies for Kwame Brown. That single move actually hit two birds with one stone because getting rid of Kwame Brown and his negative overall impact was helpful to the team as well.

The combined loss of Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan’s health are too much for the Spurs to take out the Lakers. Portland is too new. Houston is too injured. The Mavs are too dodgy, though, they might make it interesting.

The only team that was expected to be a challenge this year for the Cavaliers was the Orlando Magic who are currently not looking like they really want to prove it. The Celtics can’t do it without KG. The Bulls are too young but could provide for some excitement.

Earlier this season I expected the Heat to be a lot better than they were. With Marion/O’neal and their Number 2 Draft Pick Beasley combined with a healthy Dwyane Wade I really expected the Heat to be able to be a legitimate contender in the East. The fact is that O’neal is too old to dominate the game like he used to and Beasley just didn’t come out the gate nearly as strong as I expected.

Watching the inevitable is like watching paint dry. You know what’s going to happen. You know the likely outcome.

The Best Playoff Series

And here we are, back to the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls match up. This is what we have to cherish. The battle of the old and experienced (minus 1) who still know how to get things done vs. The young, talented and hungry. There is no way I could make a legitimate attempt at describing how exciting this series is without seriously violating some copyright laws so instead, you should all go check out why Bill Simmons wrote Celtics-Bulls is one for the ages.

The Payoff

Unlike previous years where we legitimately had multiple teams fighting to make it to the NBA Finals, we are left with just two, the Lakers and the Cavaliers. It may prove to be one of the best Finals match ups of the decade. With the ultimate battle between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant taking place in the biggest spotlight, we may very well be left with one redeeming factor for how unexciting the 2009 NBA playoffs have been so far.

With the Kobe vs. LeBron (or Kobe vs. Jordan) arguments taking place all over the internet, we might actually get to see the two go up head to head with a chance to add more gas to the flamewars.

The fact still remains that the playoffs don’t consist of the Lakers and Cavaliers (make it 4 with the Bulls and Celtics). Unless we see some more interesting story lines begin to develop, this has to go down as one of the worst NBA Playoffs ever. It’s either that or I’m just an angry Suns fan.