Apparently Joakim and his Gator buddies are still celebrating their National Championships, except now, Joakim, everyone knows about. The guy who has done nothing but disappoint and piss off his teammates will apparently now have to deal with some legal issues due to his arrest for having a open alcohol container and possession of marijuana.

Now that the Bulls have the number one pick in the upcoming draft, Noah will need to be on his best behavior. He’s not going to be the hot commodity (not that he ever was). Whoever the Bulls pick will have to remember that they can call Noah to score some dope. I’m not sure he’d share with someone who’s not in “Gator Nation”.

When one takes a look at the Eastern and Western playoff picture, it is easy to see that there are a host of differences between them.  The end of this season will contain a wide array of games between powerhouses in the East as well as a more level playing field in the West.

West:

The West is wide open. The top 6 seeds’ records are within 3 games of each other and any one of 4 teams could still win the conference before the regular season is said and done. All current 8 seeds have winning records by 16 games or more, and Golden State, who is next in line, is also 16 games over .500.

Although there will be higher and lower seeds in the West, you can’t really base many predictions based on seeds.  Although second seed New Orleans has been solid through the season, they have also been questioned all season and conditions may be ripe for New Orleans to fall early in playoffs.  The top 7 seeds are of similar quality in the West, and the 6 or 7 seed team may be on same level in terms of talent as a a 1 or 2 seed.

East:

Meanwhile in the East, the story is a complete opposite. Teams are much more staggered, with Detroit and Boston standing a level above the rest. All but the top 3 seeds (Boston, Detroit and Orlando) are less than 10 games above .500, and Atlanta, the 8^th seed, is 6 games under .500.

Despite the atrocious nature of the Eastern Conference this year, don’t count out Boston or Detroit if they get to the finals. This year each team has had considerable success against the top 9 teams in the West. Boston is 13-5 against the 9 possible playoff teams in the west, including a spotless 2-0 record against the top seeded Lakers. The biggest obstacle in the East which may give Boston trouble would be if they played the Washington Wizards, who match up with them well and have managed to beat Boston in all three meetings during the regular season. Detroit has also has good success against the West, also earning a 13-5 record when playing possible Western playoff teams.

image courtesy of turtletrader.com

Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach (1917-2006)

Dwayne Wade. He not only hit the shot that took Game 5 of the NBA Finals to overtime, but he also ices the victory with 2 foul shots with 1 second left. This guy is out-of-this world amazing. I remember watching him in the NCAA tournament when he was with Marquette. He was fun to watch then. I definitely didn’t peg him for the next superstar though. It seemed like he wasn’t flashy enough. He didn’t talk trash, he was a team player both things not typical of the NBA superstar. But it looks like with his performances in this year’s Finals (dropping 28, 23, 42, 36 and 43 points respectively), he’s solidified his place as an ‘A List’ superstar in the NBA. I couldn’t be happier to see it. A guy who is humble, a team-player, and a quiet leader stepping up to lead his team to a 3-2 lead over Dallas.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my first professional basketball game this evening. It was a game between the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in Chicago. A couple of things about the atmosphere before I get to the game. First of all the halftime entertainment by “Kenya Boyz African Acrobats” (I believe this was the name of their group) was outstanding. It was a combination of dance, and acrobatics. If you get a chance, check these guys out. Second, I just have to say that I really enjoy the United Center venue. It’s always kept very clean, and it’s very easy to navigate.

Now, onto the game. The Bulls came out and were shooting the ball really well. Andres Nocioni had a career night, pouring in 26 pts and 10 rebounds. He went off, early and often. It was good to see. I haven’t watched too much basketball in the last few years, but what I have seen of the Andres Nocioni, I really like. He’s gritty and not afraid to mix it up. So early on it was pretty much Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich for the Bulls offense. Luol Deng was a strong contributor as the game went on.

There were a couple things that just didn’t make sense to me.

1. Early on the Bulls were getting dominated on the glass. They would allow the Magic to easily get offensive rebounds. This must have lead to about 3 or 4 easy baskets.
2. What happened in the 4th quarter? The Bulls shooting went south… way south.

They ended the game shooting 42.4% from the floor. Most of those misses came in the 3rd and 4th quarters when Ben Gordon (5-17) was throwing up ill-advised threes, and everyone else seemed to be just settling for midrange jumpshots that just weren’t falling. Finally as the Magic got back into it and the game clock wound down, Kirk Hinrich decided to take it to basket, and he drew a foul. That dribble penetration was there for Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng all night. Rarely did they pursue it. Nocioni repeatedly took the ball to the hoop and was rewarded with foul shots and a couple of rim-rattling dunks.

I’m not sure why the Bulls went cold. It seemed like there was a lack of discipline out there. I’m a huge fan of Coach Skiles, but he’s got to get these guys focused if they’re still planning on landing the 8th spot in the NBA playoffs.

Besides the disappointing finish, my first NBA experience was definitely a good one.

I have to say. I have never liked Reggie Miller. And today on the Dan Patrick radio show, he went ahead and gave me more reason to not like him.

He, Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman were discussing the Antonio Davis into the stands episode that happened in Chicago the other night. And in the process of discussing fan behavior and players interaction with them, he called fans “drunk idiots”. Now I know that it was probably the heat of the moment (BARF!), but he’s got to realize that without those “drunk idiots” he wouldn’t have had a job for 18 years getting paid an inordinate amount of money (career $99,051,748 via Basketball-Reference.com). Ungrateful bastard.

And oh yeah, Reggie, your sister is still a better player than you.