MySports Today

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 119-92 in Denver on Friday night to advance to a 2nd straight NBA Finals.  It was also the franchise’s 30th trip to the NBA Finals – an NBA record.  Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 35 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.  Paul Gasol had another prime-time performance too with 20 points and 12 rebounds.  Lamar Odom added 20 points for the Lakers off the bench while Trevor Ariza chipped in 17 points.

Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough.  The Nuggets trailed the Lakers by 5 after the 1st period and 13 at the break and could never muster a strong comeback.

The Lakers will either face the Magic or Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.  The 2 teams will play Game 6 tonight in Orlando to determine the Eastern Conference representative.

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 106-103 at the Staples Center on Thursday night.  The series is now tied at 1, and the 2 teams will face off again on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Nuggets with 34 points and 9 rebounds.  Chauncey Billups scored 27 points in 43 minutes.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 32 points, while Pau Gasol scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.  Lamar Odom had a solid night in a reserve role – 10 points and 9 rebounds in just 29 minutes – but it wasn’t enough.  Holding the ball with the final shot down by 3 points, Head Coach Phil Jackson opted to keep the ball out of his star’s hands.  Instead of going to Kobe – whom Jackson felt would get fouled by the Nuggets to force 2 free throws – Jackson drew up a play for point guard Derek Fisher who missed a 3-point shot that would have tied the game.

This is shaping up to be a great series out west.  The Lakers will need to find a way to win at least 1 game in Denver if they don’t want to face an almost unsurmountable 3-1 deficit.  We’ll keep you posted…

The NBA Conference Finals are finally set – the Denver Nuggets (Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups) v. the Los Angeles Lakers (Kobe Bryant) and the Orlando Magic (Dwight Howard) v. the Cleveland Cavaliers (Lebron James).

Both Game 7’s on Sunday were disappointing lopsided victories for the Lakers and Magic.  The Lakers rushed out to a 51-31 halftime lead and never let off the gas pedal, cruising to a 89-70 win.  Pau Gasol had a monster double-double – 21 points and 18 boards, while Kobe Bryant scored 14 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 5 assists.

The Magic led the Celtics by 7 at halftime and 5 at the end of the 3 quarters, and most felt that the final collapse would occur in the 4th quarter as it had so many times this post-season.  The Magic, however, answered the call, crushing the Celtics 35-21 in the 4th quarter to run away with a 101-82 victory in Boston.  Hedo Turkoglu knocked in 25 points, while Dwight Howard finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds.  Ray Allen led the Celtics with 23 points, while Rajon Rondo had a solid game with 10 points, 10 assists and 6 boards.  But Paul Pierce only scored 16 points and Glen “Big Baby” Davis socred 13 points and grabbed only 4 rebounds.

The Nuggets play against the Lakers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday night at 9PM Eastern Standard Time.  The game will be televised on ESPN.   The Magic play against the Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Center in Cleveland on Wednesday night at 8:30PM Eastern Standard Time.  The game will be televised on TNT.

While the action on the NBA hardcourt has been great during the 2008-9 NBA playoffs, some off-court actions are taking center stage these days.

First – Mark Cuban – After the Denver Nuggets defeated the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday with a controversial no-foul-call finish, a fan reportedly called the Nuggets a bunch of “thugs”.  Mavericks owner Mark Cuban then looked at the mother (Lydia Moore) of Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin and told her “that includes your son.”  For an owner of a professional sports team to make a comment like this to a fan is a joke.  Cuban did later apologive to Martin’s mother in a post on his blog, but he did not attempt to apologize to her or to Martin during Monday night’s Mavs win over the Nuggets in Dallas.  In his “An Apology to Kenyon Martin’s Mom” post, Cuban did say that he should not have made those comments to Martin’s mother, but that the whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion.  Whatever…

Second – Glen “Big Baby” Davis – After Davis hit the game-winning jumper in Sunday’s 95-94 Celtics win over the Magic, Davis started celebrating and didn’t see a 12-year old standing near his courtside seats right on the court.  As Davis ran towards the Celtics bench, he bumped the young fan in the back and as the boy took a half step back his hat fell off.  The Boy’s father – Ernest Provetti – wrote a letter to the NBA demanding an apology from Davis and the Celtics.  Provett stated that Davis had “no regard for fans’ personal safety”.  Davis had this to say about the incident:  “If I’ve hurt anybody or I’ve done any harm to anybody, please forgive me because my intentions were just harmless.  Davis went on to say that if he knew that he had bumped the young man, he would have gone up to him and tried to apologize to him or make him feel better.  Guess what Mr. Provetti – when you sit in courtside seats, there is a good chance that a player could fall into your seats at some poitn during the game going after a loose ball or trying to make a play.  If you are worried that you or your son might get injured in those courtside seats – don’t sit there!  Plain and simple.

Third – Carmelo Anthony – His girlfriend – La La Vazquez – was caight on video struggling with an arena security guard during Game 4 of the Mavericks-Nuggets series in Dallas.  It is believed that the altercation started when Vazquez started fighting with nearby rowdy Mavs fans.  Vazquez was escorted from her seat.  Check out the Vazquez video here and no word yet on whether or not she will be allowed to enter the arena if the Nuggets have to return for a Game 6 in Dallas.

The West is all set; the East still has 2 Games 7’s this weekend before we know who the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic will face in the next round.

Here’s how the west will play out:

Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers – Monday, May 4th and Wednesday, May 6th at Staples Center.  The Lakers won the season series 4-0.

Dallas Mavericks at Denver Nuggets – Sunday, May 3rd and Tuesday, May 5th at Pepsi Center.  The Nuggets won the season series 4-0.

In the East, the Cavaliers and Magic have already advanced.

Game 7 of the Chicago Bulls – Boston Celtics series is Saturday night at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.  If the Celtics win, they will host the Magic on Monday, May 4th.  If the Bulls win, the Magic will host the Bulls on Monday, May 4th in Orlando.

Game 7 of the Atlanta Hawks – Miami Heat series is Sunday at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.  The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the winner of that series on Tuesday night at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Can it get any worse?  The New Orleans Hornets suffered the worst home-loss in NBA history at the hands of the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.  The Nuggets won the game 121-63 to take a convincing 3-1 lead in the best of 7 series.  The Nuggets took a 36-15 1st quarter lead and never let up.  The Nuggets outscored the Hornets in each quarter, holding the Hornets to just 11 and 13 points, respectively in the 3rd and 4th quarters.  Talk about packing it in and getting ready for the off-season.  What a joke of a performance by the the Hornets, especially during the playoffs.

The Nuggets had 7 players with double-digit scoring.  Carmelo Anthony led the way with 26 points points, while Chauncey Billups scored 17 points and dished out 8 assists.  The Nuggets shot 56.7% from the floor, including 10 of 20 from 3-point range.

On the other side of the ball, the Hornets shot just 31.5% from the field, including 2 of 15 from 3-point range.  Only 3 players scored in double digits for the Hornets – David West (14 points); Peja Stojakovic (10 points) and James Posey (12 points).  The Hornets franchise player – Chris Paul – played one of the worst games of his career – just 4 points on 2 of 7 shooting, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 turnovers.

Commissioner David Stern and the NBA should just cancel the rest of the series – why even bother playing Game 5 in Denver to “officially” end the series.  This series was over 12 minutes after the Hornets took the court on Monday night.  The Hornets should be ashamed of themselves.