Monday, May 25, 2009

Change Gone Come

Regularly blogging just isn't going to work.

Now stream of consciousness and completely random pointless articles about nothing.

And Charles McPiffenberry. More McPiffenberry.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Cavs in 6



And that still won't stop me from using a Dwight Howard picture!

Smart money says Cavs in 6, I'll take the smart money. I'm getting a little tired of some people saying the Cavaliers are going to sweep the Magic. I don't see it, they don't have the match-ups. Sweeping the Organization Formerly Known as The Pistons and the Hawks hardly means the same will happen to Orlando.

Cleveland is more disciplined. They have a better defense. They have LeBron James. Orlando has more weapons offensively. They do a great job spreading the floor. They have Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard is the key to this series. If he decides to be great, the Magic can steal this series. The same can't be said for anyone on the Pistons or the Hawks. The problem is Dwight hasn't shown he can be that guy that can take over a series and have a stretch of mind blowing days. I'm talking some 30/20 games that bring memories of a young Shaq. He's the best center in the league right now (Ming is injured to often), but not because he's at that level yet. He's soft of the best by default, the product of an extremely weak group of players that has career power forwards like Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire playing extended minutes at the position. Dwight can elevate his legacy now and regain some of that hype that he had during All Star Weekend. Now the Magic just have to actually get him the ball!

There isn't much to say about Cleveland. They are the best team in the playoffs right now, I can't see anyone stopping them. Both Denver and LA are capable of beating them, but we'll board that train when we get to it. LeBron James is just amazing, and he has his team believing they are good. Mo Williams is doing the exact same thing he did in Milwaukee, except people now care. He seems to be feeling himself a bit too much as well. (Not a Cavs fan. AT ALL.) Courtney Lee is a great defensive match-up for him, I'm looking forward to it. And as much as I'd like to see the Cavs lose, they are just too good. My worst fears might be realized, Cleveland with a major sports championship. Just disgusting. Please end my nightmare Orlando, please...

May 19 Was A Good Day



Got the Blackout 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition (Blackout 1, Blackout 2, and a small poster) and Relapse. They are pictured somewhere in this completely pointless, and borderline weird photo.

Clippers Win The Draft Lottery



The Clips are veterans of this thing, so they are rewarded with another #1 pick. Unfortunately for them it comes in a draft where the consensus top pick happens to play a position that the Clippers have plenty of players and a ton of money tied up in. Michael Olowokandi was the last consensus pick when they had the top pick in 2009, and that worked out well. Clippers could shock the world and go another direction here, but Blake is a solid pick. His size is often criticized, but height isn't everything.

It's more likely his career is already over. Grizzlies could reunite some young players from the Spanish national team by adding Rubio to Marc Gasol, that'd be interesting. It also would spell the end of Mike Conley's tenure as the future PG there. I'm interested to see how things will play out in the month leading up the draft.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Do Or Die: GAME 7

Got to love the Game 7. Captivating in any sport, especially basketball. Rockets/Lakers. Celtics/Magic. A blowout and a good game.

Rockets @ Lakers

The Rockets have been admirable winning 2 of 3 games without Yao Ming, but the Lakers aren't about to lose this one. They are simply the better team and Houston won't be able to just get by playing harder. As I type this, the Rockets are already down 11 and are 2/15 from the field. They are taking horrendous shots, missing lay-ups, and not attacking the basket. They don't have any scorer to get them out of these kind of ruts since Ron Artest has been offensively inept the last 3 games. Kobe's legacy is safe, for now. It still remains to be seen will the Lakers win a championship, they aren't looking like they can beat the Cavs right now. And I can't overlook the Nuggets, right?

On a side note, anyone else notice that Derek Fisher just isn't good anymore?

Celtics @ Magic

Orlando is the more talented team, but they don't have the heart or grit of the Celtics. It's carried Boston this far, but can it carry them to the Eastern Conference Finals? Orlando has struggled mightily to close out games in this series, so you have to wonder if they can close out the series. Dwight Howard needs to get his touches and they have to avoid falling in love with the three. Courtney Lee has to keep up the intensity and play well.

Really the Celtics just need Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to play well in the same game for once. Perk has done a good job bothering Dwight, and they are getting contributions from players like Glen Davis and Eddie House. I think they are tough to beat if that happens, but I really think Orlando's talent will win this game.

Then again, watching that same talent blow a game wouldn't be uncommon either.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Joell Ortiz Covers The Classics



Ever since the formation of Slaughterhouse, Joell (as well as Crooked I) has been growing on me. Joell Ortiz Covers The Classics is a "Jackin' for Beats" style mixtape where he just spits bar after bar on a ton of different tracks. Definitely you download this.

Grab it at OnSmash

Monday, May 11, 2009

May 19th Will Be A Good Day



I buy about one album a year, but that will change the week of May 19th. You get the much anticipated and recently leaked Relapse from Eminem, as well as another album from hip hop's most entertaining duo. Blackout 2? How about a How High 2? I love that movie. Tracks I've heard from the album have been promising, especially the cuts featuring Raekwon & Ghost and the track with UGK. Can't really go wrong with this album from 2 legends.

I've already heard (and downloaded...and burned) Relapse, but I will support good music and buy the actual disc. I don't feel like reviewing it, because I'd just be talking to myself, but it was a pretty good album. 3AM has grown on me since I've heard the entire thing, and Beautiful might be the best song on the album. Got to love the random Christopher Reeves shots on the CD. It's kind of strange seeing him talk about the same things he did almost 10 years ago, in terms of pop culture, but that's just Em. Nick Cannon recently caught feelings because of some lyrics about him and Mariah carry on the track entitled Bagpipes from Baghdad. Overall, I'd give the album a 4/5.
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Laying here trying to enjoy this Hawks/Cavs game. It's really not a game, Atlanta is scared of the Cavs.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Dead Hawks Walking



More like stumbling actually.

Seems as if the Cavs will walk to the conference finals and face the winner of Orlando/Boston. They will then end up in the finals, and I have to deal with another month of Mike Tirico hanging from LeBron's jock strap. He turns into a typical Cavs fan anytime LeBron does something semi-nice. Disgusting. Jeff Van Gundy wouldn't stand for that.

Boring, boring day. Relapse leaked, Wale's mixtape didn't come out (to my knowledge). Ahh well, I accomplished one key task today. I priced shampoos at Target.

And Now It Starts to Get Good

Some pretty chippy games tonight.



Eddie House had a career high 31 points tonight. Seems like Skip caught feelings and slapped him. But he slapped Eddie House like he was his little brother, and will now likely miss Game 3 because of it. Smart.



This sequence is amazing. Kobe elbows Ron Artest. Ron Artest gets the foul.



After pleading his case, Ron Artest takes the matter into his own hands and confronts Kobe face-to-face. I'm not exactly sure what happened here, but Ron Ron ended up out of the game and Kobe was free to bow again.



Derek Fisher is now definitely suspended because he just laid a Brian Dawkins like hit on Luis Scola. Scola did fold like a bad hand, but he sold it well. Luckily for the Lakers, Derek Fisher hasn't been good for about 2 years.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Rock The Bells is Coming to the D!




I will not have to drive to Chicago to catch this concert. Instead I can just make the little 20 minute drive to DTE. This is greatness, bask in it. This line-up is just piff. Charles McPiffenberry approves.

That reminds me, Charles McPiffenberry needs a logo. Hmmmm...

Once Again Back Is The....Oh Who Cares?



I suck at blogging and getting people to care about what I write, but apparently I'll continue to do it.

First off, what a relief that the Celtics escaped the Bulls. I hate when the teams I'm rooting for get upset. You have to hear about it for a year and see it all on ESPN, it's just annoying. But I assume just avoiding ESPN in general would leave me a lot less annoyed. Anyway, the Bulls put up a great fight and should be able to carry this experience into the next season much like Atlanta. I knew I could count on Ben Gordon to start feeling his own shot a little too much and start becoming a low percentage chucker. Plus you can't rely on John Salmons putting up 30-plus points every game. Ben Gordon hit all those shots and most likely won't get a long term deal with the Bulls because it's Kirk Hinrich has a hard to move contract and it's just easier to give Salmons his minutes. Now some other team is bound to overpay for some streak shooter. Funny how the business works.

Onto the 2nd Round Amigos:

Magic 95, Celtics 90

Tale of two games. The Magic looked good for about the first 32 minutes of this game, absolutely destroying the Celtics. They were up 28 and all of their outside shots were falling. And then someone told the Celtics the game counted, and they quickly mounted a comeback. Orlando's threes stopped falling, Dwight stopped getting the ball, and players such as Brian Scalabrine and Eddie House stepped up and hit big shots. Orlando dodged a couple of bullets when up only four in a Rondo turnover and a Ray Allen three that hit every part of the rim before falling out.

Now I'm well aware that the goal for Orlando was to win one of the first two games on the road, but they went from making a statement to looking extremely vulnerable. The pressure is still on Boston (and Ray Allen) to show up to Game 2 and win, but doubt has definitely been cast in my mind. Before the series I thought Orlando would take this in 6, but I now have some hope that Boston might be able to pull this series out. Orlando still goes away from Dwight Howard, far too often for my taste, to take bad threes. My bias towards everything KG won't let me pick against the Celtics, so give me Boston in 6.

Rockets 100, Lakers 92

When the Rockets first got Ron Artest, it was theorized that they could now compete with the Lakers because of their improved defense added to the tandem of T-Mac and Yao Ming. Subtract T-Mac, add in a motivated Ron Artest, and you have that same team that some experts (Scoop Jackson, mostly) predicted to win the championship. Now while I don't think the Rockets are capable, they can obviously bother the Lakers. No other team can throw a defender like Shane Battier to follow Kobe around, and switch him off with a guy like Ron Artest. Artest also gives them a guy who matches up beautifully with Lamar Odom. Add Yao Ming in the post, and it forces Pau Gasol a little bit further from the rim. It also makes Andrew Bynum more important, because he's the only real size that can bother Ming. The Rockets did a great job controlling the pace of the game, and forcing Kobe to shoot the ball 31 times for only 32 points. It's well known one of the ways to stop the Lakers is to force Kobe to be a volume shooter, and the Rockets did a great job of doing that in Game 1.

As much as I would like to see Houston pull the upset, it's just not likely. Kobe usually responds to a bad game with a really good one, and LA is still the superior team. When Kobe is finishing out a close game hitting clutch shots and drawing double teams, the Rockets really have no one to go to that can match him. Post players don't really thrive in those situations, and you can't really rely on Ron Artest to carry you offensively. The Rockets have all the tools to make this one interesting, but won't be able to pull it off in the end. I think the Lakers take this one in 6 or 7, but it will be better than most people initially anticipated.

The more games there are, the more Ron Artest soundbites we get. Much like cornbread, "ain't nothing wrong with that."

Cavaliers 99, Hawks 72

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind the Cavaliers will win this series. Atlanta might challenge them once or twice, and even steal a game, but they have no shot to win. They haven't shown near the level of consistency it would take for them to make this a competitive series, and they still struggle on the road in the playoffs (with the exception of Game 4 against Miami). The Cavaliers will make this one quick.

Congratulations for LeBron James for winning the MVP. He's the best player in the league right now, you have to respect that. I still despise the Cavaliers, but credit is given where it is due.

King James
Big Z, The Great
Daniel, The Manservant

Who can stop that?

Nuggets 117, Mavericks 105

For the second time, a close game gets blown wide open in the 4th quarter by a big Denver run. Josh Howard went out early, and Dallas never really had a chance in this one. The Mavericks' opporitunity to pull an upset likely went out the window the same time Josh Howard went out with an injury. I'll admit, I thought this was the year that the Mavericks overachieve and Dirk diverts some of the criticism he's been getting pummeled with since the 2006 Finals. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case. The Nuggets are playing the best basketball of any team in the West, the Mavericks don't look to be the team. But it's too early to count them out, Dallas is a pretty good home team. They also have a nice little 3 day layoff before their next game, so Howard can get heal up an extra couple of days.

The Nuggets are such a feast or famine team in my eyes, because of their erratic play. JR Smith can either bury you with threes, or bury the Nuggets forcing them up. They can make some pretty dumb turnovers between Birdman and K-Mart, and Anthony Carter can play like Anthony Carter. Chauncey Billups really helps this team calm down, and his impact shouldn't be ignored. He's well on his way to his 7th consecutive conference Finals.

Nuggets take this one in 5, but Dirk proves his worth to a small segment of people.