daily dose of Sports

the hornets dispatched the mavs . the spurs proved me wrong and made me a believer in yogi berra's quote " it's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. " the tables are set and i can't wait for the second round to start in the west. it would be the grizzled veterans versus the young upstarts. the favorite to win it all again, the san antonio spurs , versus the team a few expected to make it to the playoffs nor get past the first round, the new orleans hornets . the san antonio spurs is not overrated nor underrated. they are simply under-appreciated. but with the exciting plays of manu ginobili and tony parker, i find that really perplexing. maybe its the way they dominate other teams which made them, well, boring to some. tim duncan is no kevin garnett. he does not have the flashy moves of other nba superstars playing his position. but timmy knows how to win, and make it look easy. with the spurs' big three and a deep bench, they can e

finally, andre iguodala got his game going in the playoffs this year. but his 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists were just not enough to beat the determined pistons who became the first team in their series to win back-to-back games. final tally of game 5 of the-best-of-seven series is 98-81. ai2 or iggy as iguodala is often called has had a bit of a slump entering the first four games of the series. but when he stepped up his game, his teammates got cold. frustrating eh? andre miller who has just been amazing in the first four games only finished with 13 points after missing nine in the first half. miller , iguodala , and sophomore louis williams were the only sixers to reach double figures with williams scoring 16 off the bench. chauncey billups led the second-seed pistons with 21 points and 12 assists. richard hamilton scored 20, rasheed came up with 19, and tayshaun prince with 17. game 6 will be in philadelphia and the sixers will be looking to take care of their h

the new orleans hornets will now be advancing to the second round of the nba playoffs after they dispatched the dallas mavericks 99-94 in game 5 of their best -of-seven series. leading the way as usual is chris paul who came up with a triple-double posting 24 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. david west scored 25 points for the hornets and tyson chandler came up with another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. this means the hornets will be facing the winner of the spurs-suns series which i predicted to be taken by the suns . but then again, i could be wrong, just as wrong as predicting that the nuggets will win over the lakers in 6 games. you know you've got a problem when your starting center has fewer rebounds than the opposing team's pointguard. now, chris paul is not known as a good rebounding pointguard, that distinction is owned by the mavs' jason kidd . but in game 5, chris paul showed that he can do what kidd can do. apart from elimina

while it is unfortunate that i cannot follow what is going on in the euroleague , i am still interested about the league. after all, great players in the nba came from europe. also reports about the nba expanding to europe got me more interested on who's who in the euroleague . since its playoffs time in the nba, i started a bit of a research to kill time actually and found a list of notable players from cska moscow who made it to the nba . the list included three names which i am familiar with and they are on teams still playing after the regular season. first is ak-47, andrei kirilenko. yep, he's still playing for the jazz although he is no longer the ak-47 before the arrival of carlos boozer and deron williams. the russian though proved that he can still score after leading the jazz in game 1 of their best-of-seven series against the houston rockets. a bit of a trivia on adrei kirilenko : this guy came up with a statline considered to be one of the closest to a quin

as chayee puts it: "the sun has set for phoenix". but are they done? i don't think so. my predictions have been wrong like matt serra beating gsp in the second fight. but it won't deter me from proclaiming that the phoenix suns will be the first nba team to make it out of a 0-3 hole. i've said it a hundred times and i'm gonna say this again, the spurs is a different team in the playoffs. it's where they thrive. manu ginobili , tony parker , and tim duncan can enforce their will in these playoffs games. sure, they are under appreciated, but they are the best at what they do. so what made me said that the suns can still get back in the series en route to the second round? well, it could be that i'm too hungry to think straight. or it could be because of steve nash . this guy plays soccer. he also won two mvp trophies. he can also take over a game if he wants to. i'm sure he wanted to take over games 1, 2 and 3. but game 4 is a different zo

ahhh.. smarty jones, how close you were... the kentucky derby, the preakness stakes... no idea what i'm talking about? well, if you have been tuned in to sports news after the turn of the century, then smarty jones would have rung a bell already. how about triple crown? yep, horse racing. for people not familiar with the triple crown, it's just like a three-peat in the nba, only that it involves horses and one can win it in a span of a little over 1 month. the first of the triple crown races is the kentucky derby and it's just a few days away. need help betting? well, if you are looking for reliable kentucky derby picks , there's your link. not sold yet on the doc's betting picks are you? hmmm... are you familiar with the trifecta? in the nba, that's three-point shot. in horse racing, that's correctly "guessing" which horse will "make it to the podium" in correct order. well, you see, the experts at doc's hit the trifecta la

nascar would have a burnout competition , not surprising? well, how about a formula 1 car making donuts? impossible? not really as nick heidfeld just created some donuts using bmw sauber 's car. the stunt was done for the people working for the team as a thank-you to the support that the team has been getting from its employees and fans alike. although heidfeld damaged the car's front wings while making those donuts, i'm sure he won't get into any trouble with the team boss.

the nba has the slam dunk competition, the mlb has the homerun derby, thus, it is only fitting that nascar should also have a crowd-pleasing spectacle in the all-star. this year, five drivers will be tearing up their cars' tires in a burnout competition. the said contest is a part of nascar's all-star festivities. one driver already named to participate at the said event is clint bowyer. i don't know about you but i'm gonna watch out for this. :D complete report here .

chris paul will finish not lower than second in the MVP balloting in my humble opinion. and if people who voted for kobe did so because they were not sure how cp3 would fare in the playoffs, they must be shaking thier heads. i bet chayee won't agree. hehehe but even the most loyal kobe bryant fan would agree that chris paul had two mvp-caliber performances in his first two career playoffs game. the feisty guard from wake forest broke the franchise record for assists in a single regulation playoffs game after dishing out 17 helpers in the game 2 of the series between the new orleans hornets and the dallas mavericks. the next two games will be in dallas and surely, avery johnson would be doing everything in his power to win the two games at home. dirk nowitzki , josh howard , jason terry , jerry stackhouse , jason kidd , big names with great skills. but somehow, they cannot come up with an answer to cp3's dominance in the series. i'm rooting for the hornets and i ho

the suns gambled in obtaining the services of shaq to help them get past the san antonio spurs . much has been said about this so i'm no longer going there. the series between the suns and the spurs will be shifting to arizona with the spurs holding a 2-0 advantage after manu and tony took over game 2 of the series. how would the suns fare in their homecourt and what would be the key to finally winning a game in this series? well, i don't know really as i'm no expert. again, am just typing here what comes to mind. first off, shaq is no longer the stud that he was with the lakers or the heat in his first season there. but, the big guy can neutralize tim duncan by matching him point for point. sure, timmy's a better perimeter shooter than shaq, but shaq owns him in the paint. so, shaq should get the ball where he can easily score. he may not be as fast as he once was but his size and strength would no doubt give him that distinct advantage inside the paint a

this has got to be one of the weirdest thing to happen in the nba this season. yep, its even weirder than the rockets winning 22 straight games, weirder than the hornets making the plaoffs. according to yahoo! sports , benny the bull, the chicago bulls' mascot moonlighting as an ordinary person going by the name of barry anderson is being sued by dr. don kalant sr. after the mascot allegedly pulled kalant's arm as the mascot was falling down. before the accident, kalant rasied his arm to get a high-five from benny. kalant, an oral surgeon complained that when benny pulled his arms, it was hyperextended resulting to a torn biceps muscle. what's weird is that kalant finished the game before having his arms attended to. i'm not a doctor nor have i experienced tearing a bicep muscle but i think that it should hurt. now, the bulls are not exactly playing great basketball towards the end of the season so i am not sure why kalant would have had stayed to watch the game

gilbert arenas a.k.a. agent zero and deshawn stevenson had their fun with words before the series between the wizards and the cavs started. but the wizards now looked like a team that can beat boston three times but does not have what it takes to beat lebron and co. in game 2 of the series, the cavs crushed the wizards to take a 2-game advantage before the series moves to washington. lebron had a near triple-double with 30 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds. the cavs recorded their best game in the playoffs with a 30-point beating of the wizards, 116-86. the wizards' "big three" of arenas , caron butler and antawn jamison failed to rise to the occasion as they were held to just 28 points by the cavs. with this series looking to be more and more dismal for the wizards after caling out lebron james , i would not be surprised if the king takes over in games 3 and 4 to secure a sweep.

the atlanta hawks is by no means a bad or a poor team. but when paired up against the boston celtics the hawks look really inferior. game of the best-of-seven series between the two ballclubs saw the celtics winning 104-81. much has been said about the celtics like their bench stepping up and the big three playing like they have been together for years. in game 1 of the series, paul pierce , jesus shuttlesworth , and kevin garnett need only play for not more than 35 minutes to beat the hawks. the big ticket scored 16 and grabbed 10 rebounds for the celtics while rookie al horford proved that he belongs in the nba with a 20-point 10-rebound playoffs debut to lead the hawks. with the way the celtics manhandled the hawks , i would not be surprised if the celtics sweep the series.

before the tip-off, a lot of people must have been saying that there is no way the 76ers would continue their stunning run into the playoffs especially against a team like the detroit pistons . the sixers proved though that they are for real (or at least for one playoff game) after defeating the pistons 90-86 in game 1. andre miller led the 76ers with 20 points while rasheed wallace led the pistons with 24 points. although the pistons are ready to take on the young 76ers team, they were inconsistent. that enabled the sixers to keep moving in for the kill, which eventually they did. with one win in michigan, the sixers may have had achieved one of their goals in the playoffs. predictions predictions... this series would be a roller coaster ride. if iguodala does not choke, look for the sixers to take this series.

i was expecting the series between the lakers and the denver nuggets to be a high-scoring affair. well, they did not disappoint as kobe bryant and pau gasol came up with great performances to draw first blood, 127-114, in their series with the eighth-seeded denver nuggets . gasol scored 36 and grabbed 16 boards while kobe scored 18 of his 32 points in the last eight minutes to put the game away. kobe bryant , arguably the best individual player in the game is looking to get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since shaq left for miami. the past years without shaq, kobe was without a really strong supporting cast. this year, the lakers saw andrew bynum stepping up his game. although the youngster is not suiting up yet for the playoffs, he is one of the reasons for the early success of the lakers this season. kobe also has gasol now and the spaniard's game 1 performance just shows how tough the lakers are. still, i'm rooting for the nuggets.

lebron scored 32, chris paul scored 35, tim duncan had 40, dwight howard has 25 in his team's series opener. by looking at the scoring output only, one might think that dwight howard did not dominate the raptors as the three aforementioned stars did to their first round opponents. but that's not really the case as howard really imposed his will on the outmatched toronto raptors . the guy grabbed 22 rebounds and swatted away five shots. if that's not dominating then i don't know what is. howard's great game led to the magic taking game 1 of the series with a 114-100 win over the visiting toronto raptors . howard's dominance in the paint is coupled with rashard lewis brilliant defense. while lewis is known more for his offense, he showed that he can play some D after containing all-star forward chris bosh for most of the game. bosh only made 4 out of 11 field goal attempts. the rest of his 21 points came in from the free throw line where he was 13 for 1

with a double-double from deron williams and carlos boozer , the utah jazz beat the houston rockets 93-82 in their series opener. the jazz also received a lot of support from andrei kirilenko who led the team in scoring. williams scored 20 points and dished out ten assists while boozer scored 20 and grabbed 16 rebounds. the rockets are already without yao ming going to the playoffs. the rockets are also without rafer alston in the series opener. although tracy mcgrady scored 20 and had 7 assists and luis scola scored 14 and grabbed 13 rebounds, it was not enough to propel the rockets over the jazz. shane battier led the rockets with 22 points.

ok, i was wrong.. in the first fight between gsp and serra , the new yorker got the best of gsp. but georges st. pierre has come back from that loss to reclaim the gold that he lost. at ufc 83, the second fight between these two warriors was stopped by the ref after multiple knees by gsp to serra's side in the second round. props to five ounces of pain for the coverage and for jolly for the live updates. with gsp proving that he is one of the best in mma, i'm looking forward to a possible match between him and the spider . update: check out this video of georges st. pierre versus matt serra II .

hopkins talked the talk and he walked the walked, but at the end of the day, it was not enough to upset the visiting welsh warrior joe calzaghe . hopkins knocked down calzaghe in the first round but it was not enough to keep calzaghe down. the welsh fighter found his rhythm after the first round knockdown and became the aggressor with hopkins employing the punch and clinch strategy. calzaghe would go on to drop a tired hopkins by the tenth round. although calzaghe could have had finished hopkins with rock-hard lefts but the wily hopkins held on to calzaghe. according to the sweet science , the three judges scored it 114-113 for hopkins, 115-112 for calzaghe, and 116-111 for calzaghe. the welsh fighter remains undefeated and showed the world why he is one of today's best fighters.

michael bisping has been disrespected by charles mccarthy and he paid for it. in their ufc 83 encounter, mccarthy only lasted a round. bisping rocked mccarthy with knees just before the end of round 1. the ref stopped the fight and bisping showed mccarthy why he needs to stop dissing people who can beat him up good. hehehe... complete results here . (yup, it would cover the GSP-Serra fight).

tim duncan is not known for his outside shooting. well, he can shoot it with the best of them in the preimeter but this guy has never taken a lot of threes in his career. he doesn't need to since he's got a great inside game. but when the san antonio spurs needed a three, tim duncan proved that he is indeed clutch as he sank a three with seconds left to force a second overtime. the spurs would go on to beat the phoenix suns 117-115. tim duncan finished with 40 points, eclipsing lebron james' 32-point outing as well as chris paul's 35 points for the hornets . the big man also grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. tony parker scored 26 and manu ginobili scored 24 off the bench. michael finley added 13 for the spurs. the game would have gone to a third overtime if not for ginobili who, with 15 seconds drive to the basket and made a layup. amare stoudemire led the suns with 33 points but fouled out in the first overtime period. shaq was in foul troubl

the kid who carried my fantasy team to the playoffs, chris paul, made his playoffs debut against the dallas mavs. in his first playoff game, cp3 did not do well... he did great. halftime, the hornets are down by twelve and german sharpshooter dirk nowitzki had been imposing his will on the hornets. when the second half came around, it was all chris paul as the mvp candidate put together a 7-0 run all by himself. but the come-from-behind win would not have been possible without support from david west who scored 23 points and grabbed 8 boards. tyson chandler has a double-double to show for with 10 points and 15 rebounds. peja stojakovic scored 14 for the hornets. chris paul had a great nigh with 35 points, 10 assists, 4 steals, and only a single turnover. dallas need other guys to step up if they want to move to the second round of the playoffs. game 1 of their showdown with the hornets saw only three mavs in double figures. nowitzki had 31, josh howard with 17, and jason

lebron james proved to the wizards once again why he is king when the cleveland cavs beat the washington wizards 93-86 to take game one of their best-of-seven series. as usual, LBJ led the cavs with 32 points and great plays down the stretch. this would be the third time that the two teams are facing each other in the first round with the cavs holding a 2-0 edge over the wizards. while the wizards have the distinction of being the only team to beat the boston celtics three times this year, they still need to get past the king. lebron received a lot of support from zydrunas ilgauskas . big z scored 22 points along with 11 rebounds. an interesting thing to note though is that even with his 32 points, the night did not end well for lebron (somehow) as he missed two free throws. by that time though (21 seconds), the cavs are already up by six, 90-84. looks like agent zero & co. needs to find a way to beat lebron and the cavs or they would have to admit that calling out lebron

fans of the new york knickerbockers (including me) have been waiting for this all season long: isiah thomas has been fired from his coaching position. after two seasons with thomas leading the knicks from the bench, the team has become the most dysfunctional team in the nba if not pro sport in general. as a knick fan, i have followed the team's progress or lack of it this season and i honestly think that isiah thomas remaining as the coach for next season is impossible. early in the season, i was kinda excited because i thought that zach randolph will be a good addition to the knicks. well, his performance is not as dismal as that of curry or of starbury but it is not exactly enough to make the knicks a contender in the east. as the season drags on, it became clear that the team has a lot of problem to deal with. donnie walsh, the new team president saw it fit that firing thomas will be the first of the many steps that needs to be taken to heal the ballclub. next i think would

i think it's safe to say that not many of us expected the lakers to sit atop the western conference when the 07-08 nba season started. in fact, i think that many people expected the denver nuggets to finish the regular season better than the lakers. the playoffs will start between these two teams with the nuggets being the last team to make the cut in the crazy western conference. with kobe and pau gasol providing the one-two punch for the lakers, denver's "answer" would be "the answer" and carmelo anthony. iverson is no doubt one of the best ever to play the game. he's a competitor and he obviously love the game. he can create his own shots and is capable of scoring at will, just like kobe. this match-up between the nuggets and the lakers can be expected to provide the thrill that only the nba playoffs can offer. i remembered the series between the 76ers and the bucks back in 2001 when allen iverson and ray allen traded 40+ points games. that show

april 19, undefeated and undisputed super middleweight champion joe calzaghe wil face former undisputed middleweight champ, and the ring light heavyweight champion bernard hopkins in las vegas. if you haven't heard of calzaghe, i blame you not as this guy made a name for himself in the uk. while hopkins ridicules calzaghe's opponents, no one can deny that calzaghe's going undefeated in 18 years is impressive. in fact, it's even more impressive than the rockets' longest winning streak . hopkins is 43 years old and looks like 43. he may have had beaten winky wright but this does not make him any younger. while calzaghe is not young at 36, the pride of welsh will have the upper hand in terms of youth. experience-wise, calzaghe is not far behind hopkins. predictions predictions... calzaghe is faster, hopkins talks more trash (by a mile), calzaghe's jump into light heavyweight could mean a meaner punch, hopkins is sometimes crafty and sometimes downright crude.

april 19 in montreal, georges st. pierre would get a chance at redemption. he can take back what he lost to matt serra. in what could be the biggest mma event this year, gsp and matt serra will be sharing the limelight with rich franklin who will be fighting travis lutter. also, michael bisping will be looking to destroy charles mccarthy who just dissed him. predictions predictions... hehehe.. ok, gsp is said to be the lebron james of mma . but unlike lebron, gsp has won the biggest prize but lost it due to complacency. yes, he did not take serra seriously and he got beat for that. today, gsp said he is focused and people around him keep on saying that when st. pierre (who prolly has the coolest nickname in all of mma) is focused, he is pretty close to being unbeatable. understandably, gsp is favored to take back his belt. but serra would no doubt will come prepared. with his reach advantage, gsp would look to win this by strikes although he has proven that he can wrestle. ser

it's official , with the help of chris paul and kobe bryant, my fantasy basketball team went on to win the championship in our league. of course, chris paul with his assists and points made it possible for the team to even get to the playoffs. kobe bryant's great plays this season with improvement in the assists department is also much appreciated. but, my mvp would still be chris paul. hehehe... the great thing about joining a fantasy league is that you get to act like a multimillionaire trading players worth millions of dollars. also, it gives the mind some exercise since you have to be always up to date with what's going on in the nba. for example, when tj ford went down with that scary injury in the early part of the season, jose calderon proved to be a great fantasy stud as he dishes out assists like they were bead necklaces during mardi gras. also, when the kings started out without martin, artest and bibby; beno udrih and john salmons gave a lot of fantasy teams

two of my friends at work are rooting for kobe bryant to win the podoloff cup, that's the nba mvp. chayeebwoi of secretingredientsetc said it's about time they give it to the kobester. after years of being ignored for the mvp, kobe stepped up his game in the leadership department. in october last year, the lake show was in utter chaos. kobe lambasted the front office and demanded to be traded. trade talks concerning kobe were still around in the month of november. but something apparently changed as the lakers started winning games without kobe scoring 40+ points. the lakers went on to the top of the west in december with bynum showing why he is touted to be the next big thing LA. bynum went down though and the lakers started to loose its grip on the top spot in the western conference which started becoming really wild. the slide was stopped with the arrival of pau gasol in a steal from memphis. the trade between LA and memphis would have been turned down by other team

this is for the guy (that's you chayeebwoi)who keeps asking me to post something about the black mamba. here he is, kobe bryant in nike's viral ad campaign jumping over an aston martin. Real or Fake? Kobe Bryant jumps over Aston Martin!!! Uploaded by dunksforlife by the way, is it just me or the man driving the aston martin looks like his airness, michael jordan? pause the clip at 00:45. update: pause at 00:44 to see ronny turiaf flash the talie pose .

the last week of the nba regular season means teams are jockeying for playoff spots. this is also the time of the year when fantasy basketball team "owners" get ready for the playoffs. luckily for me, i managed to get to the finals. it started about four months ago since our league started late. my first pick in the draft was chris paul who by the way is my bet for this season's mvp. after a week or two, i received a trade offer for jamal tinsley and jeff green for kb24. after consulting a friend (a kobe fanatic) of mine regarding the trade, i agreed to the trade. that trade made my team's appearance in the playoffs possible. with kobe and cp3 in my lineup, my team finished in the top four and eventually beat another team in the semis. today, i'm behind by three points. am pinning my hope on mikki moore to pickup his performance as he only has three points in his last outing. the latest game between the lakers and the clippers also proved to be disastrous f

michael schumacher will be back for the bahrain grand prix, paddock talk reported . the reason why the seven-time world champ will race once again is that brazilian felipe massa injured his wrist at the malaysian grand prix. now, people wanted to see how lewis hamilton would fare against the great schumi and come raceday, we will see just how can the youngster match up against the legendary driver. also, kimi would now be driving the same car as schumacher and we will see just who the better driver is (or at least i hope so). people who will watch the bahrain gp because of the "interest" brought on by the FIA president max mosley will be in for a treat as schumacher will be looking to put ferrari back on top of this year's constructors' championship. in other formula one news, FIA president Max Mosley is under fire after this . regarding this issue, the times reported: "Among car manufacturers involved in Formula One there was particular disgust in Germany wh