Tuesday, April 26, 2016

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons Playoffs Round 1

On April 17, the NBA playoffs started with the Cleveland Cavaliers playing against the Detroit Pistons. In the first game it was a nail-biter for the Cavs. They only won 106-101. I thought that the Cavs would blow them out, but the Pistons put up a good fight ant stayed with them. Kyre Irving led all scorers in the game with 31 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. LeBron James also had 22 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebounds. Kevin Love contributed a lot for the Cavs with 28 points and 11 rebounds. In the second game, the Cavs beat the Pistons again, but blew up them out this time. The final score of the game was 107-90. LeBron James led all scorers in the game with 27 points. Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith contributed a lot to the Cavs with 43 points combined. This series is looking like it is going to be a blowout.

On April 22, the Cavs played the Pistons in the third game of a best-of-seven game series. In this game, the Cavs beat the Pistons 101-91. Kyrie Irving of the Cavs led all scorers again with 26 points and 4 assists. LeBron James and Kevin Love both contributed with 20 points each and 25 rebound combined. The series was now 3-0 in favor of the Cavs and the Cavs were looking to get a four-game sweep heading into game 4 on April 24. In game 4, it was another nail-biter. The Pistons kept on fighting throughout the whole entire game, not letting up a big lead. With 43 second left in the game, Kyrie Irving makes a clutch three pointer to put them up by 4. Ten second later, Reggie Jackson (Pistons) made a dunk making the game a one-possession game. 11 seconds left and the Pistons get a rebound, they have no timeouts and started to run down the court. The Cavs were running to get back on defense, with 1 second left Reggie Jackson shoots a three pointer... and misses! The Cavs sweep the Detroit Piston and are heading to the second round of the playoffs. The final score of the game was 100-98.

Monday, April 25, 2016

NBA: Golden State Warriors Record Breaking Season

The Golden State Warriors made history with the most wins ins a single season. They had an amazing season with 73 wins and 9 losses. They beat the 95-96 Bulls' record, 72-10. The Warriors started of the season great winning their first 24 games including the preseason. Then they had a tragic loss to the Bucks. No one was injured, the Warriors just played bad. The Warriors then went on a little win streak winning 5 games in a row. They lost to the Mavericks on December 30 and the score was 114-91. This gave them their second loss in the season. The Warriors beat all of the top-tier teams, and lose to the bad teams. After their lost to the Mavericks the Warriors on another 7 game winning streak and then lost to another bad team, the Nuggets. Two games later, the Warriors took another loss to the Detroit Pistons. They then took their anger out on the next 11 teams to go on an 11 game winning streak, blowing out most of the teams. Coming near the end of the season, the Warriors lost to the Trailblazers to end their streak. The Warriors lost on March 6 to the Lakers making their record 55-6. They were only able to lose 3 more games for the whole entire season if they wanted to beat the Bulls' record. They lost on March 19 to the Spurs and loss both on April 1 and April 5. They won the rest of their games and beat the Bulls' record. The Warriors were heading to the playoffs hoping to bring another championship to Golden State.

In the regular season the Warriors' team led the league in multiple categories. They led the league in total points and assists. They also came fourth in rebounding. Stephen Curry led the league in scoring averaging 30.1 points in the season and also led the league in steals averaging about 2 steals a game. Klay Thompson wasn't far behind him in 12th place for points per game. Draymond Green came in 13th place in most rebounds per game and came in 7th place in most assists per game. Stephen Curry is also top ten in assists per game. If the Warriors keep this up during the playoffs, there is no doubt that they can win another championship.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

NBA: Playoffs

The NBA playoffs are when the top eight teams of each conference go head to head to get to the finals to go up against the opposite conference team who made it to the finals. The Western Conference has been the better conference of the two for the last couple years. Of the last 10 NBA champions, 6 of the teams have been from the Western Conference. There have been 30 Western Conference team winners and 36 Eastern Conference team winners in NBA history. The teams going to the playoffs this year are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and the Detroit Pistons for the Eastern Conference. For the Western Conference the teams going to the playoffs are the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trailblazers, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, and the Houston Rockets.

In the finals I think it if going to be the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Western Conference. In the first round for the Western Conference I think the Warriors are going to beat the Rockets, the Clippers are going to beat the Trailblazers, the Thunder are going to beat the Mavericks, and the Spurs are going to beat the Grizzlies. Then in the second round, the Warriors will beat the Clippers in a 4-2 game series, the Thunder are going to beat the Spurs in a 4-3 game series. Then in the Conference finals, the Thunder are going to beat the Warriors in a 4-3 game series.

On the Eastern Conference I think the Cavaliers will be able to get to the finals easily. In the first round the Cavaliers are going to beat the Pistons in a 4-0 game series, the Boston Celtics are going to beat the Hawks in a 4-3 game series, the Miami Heat are going to beat the Hornets in a 4-2 game series, and the Pacers are going to beat the Raptors 4-3. In the second round the Cavaliers will beat the Celtics 4-1 and the Heat will beat the Pacers 4-3. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Cavaliers will beat the Heat in a 4-2 game series. In the finals I think the Cavs will win the first game, lose the second, lose the third, win the fourth game, lose the fifth, and lose the sixth game. Then Kevin Durant will become NBA Finals MVP.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

NBA: Kobe's Last Game

On April 13, history was made when Kobe retired. It was a historic night because the Warriors also beat the 95-96 Bulls' record. The Warriors' record was 73-9. The Lakers were playing the Utah Jazz. On Kobe's last game, there was a Kobe-fest outside of Staples Center and it was very crowded. Most of the people standing outside of Staples Center didn't even have tickets. I went to this game and my tickets were supposed to cost 3-4 thousand dollars, but I got them for free. It was 2,000 dollars just to get to the very top seats in the arena. Everyone in Staples Center got a free shirt, a free lanyard, and a free book of Kobe. Every seat in the arena was filled and no one was sitting down.

In the whole game, there was never a silent moment. Every second was loud. Kobe was taking all of the shots and was not passing the ball. He missed his first 5 shots, but then he came back and scored 15 points. Utah was winning 21-19 at the end of the first quarter. Kobe kept shooting and he was making a lot of shots, but in the second quarter, the Utah Jazz outscored the Lakers 36-23. The score was 57-42. The Lakers started to come back and they scored 24 points and allowing 18 points. The score was 75-66 at the end of the third quarter. The Kobe went clutch in the final quarter and the Lakers scored 35 points, and allowing 21 making the final score 101-96. Kobe scored 60 points in his final game. He made history with his career and ended it with a bang.