daily dose of Sports

two days into the nba season and my fingers are already itching to post some of my thoughts about my fantasy basketball lineup. from the previous post, you can see my picks and this time, i'm gonna try to squeeze something out of my head to rate how well my players did on their first game/s. to start it off, chris paul had a good game in their season opener against the warriors. he racked up 21 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals., and a block but he committed 3 turnovers. so in cbs' head-to-head format, he got 49 points for his first game. not bad really as he has the most fantasy points of all players in the league. if you have chris paul in your lineup, don't trade him and always put him in the starting lineup. moving on to jose calderon. people are expecting this year to be the "real" breakout season for this guy as he does not have to compete with t.j. ford for playing time. his first game though is not that good although not too shabby either.

for people who want to know what it's like to be an nba team owner, a fantasy league is the closest answer. and with me following nba news so much, i once again signed up for a new team over at CBS Sports.draft day came and this is what i got for the 2008-09 nba fantasy basketball season: 1. chris paul (g)- i could have picked lebron over cp3 since i had the first pick in the draft. but, since it's a head-to-head league where assists are worth two points, i assumed that chris paul's mad passing skills would overcome james' rebounding numbers. plus, chris paul is the main reason why i won the championship in our league last year so i want an encore. hehe 2. jose calderon (g)- last year, i picked up calderon from the waivers and his assists numbers was so impressive that i just had to take him back, even if it means grabbing him while tim duncan, chris bosh, chris kaman, and rudy gay are still on the board. i just hope that calderon's ankle would heal properl

after affliction made the match between fedor and tim sylvia earlier this year, i thought fedor would be an irresistible bait for randy couture to join affliction's next show. but i was proven wrong as randy has now rejoined the ufc. now, would fedor finally jump to the ufc? god i hope so. couture's first fight after ironing out his differences with the ufc management will be against wwe's next big thing. yup! it's couture vs. lesnar, november 15, mgm grand, las vegas... mark that down folks. this is a battle which holds a lot of promise. after beating heath herring, lesnar finally proved that he belongs in the ufc. but with only 3 mma fights under his belt, will the 31 year old be able to fight the natural, captain america himself, randy effin' couture? we'll see soon enough. now at 45, couture can be considered ancient especially that he is in a sport which takes a lot of toll on one's body. but after his battles with the best that mma or the ufc ha

yay! after hours and hours of waiting, finally, i got to download google's new web browser , Chrome. and my first impression is that it's effin' awesome. what i first noticed about using chrome is that it makes my monitor look bigger than it really is. it is true what google said that you would not even notice the browser. while using chrome, you might not even notice the navigation toolbar. one thing that i'm not totally pleased about chrome is that there seems to be no way (yet) to install a google toolbar in the browser. so, from now on, i'd be using firefox 3 for business and chrome for pleasure since i can't add an seopen toolbar in chrome. hope google (or anyone for that matter) can come up with a way to add the google toolbar and the seopen toolbar to this new web browser. update : click the chrome logo to download the newest (& fastest?) browser in town.

folks, this post is not about sports. this is about google taking on microsoft's internet explorer and mozilla's firefox. you see, apart from sports, i am also into the whole world wide web thingy. hehehe.. i love my firefox but i'm really excited to try google's new web browser called "chrome". it's not that i'm unhappy with firefox but i just want to give this new browser a try. for more, check out this official post on google's official blog: official google blog: a fresh take on the browser and for the story with illustration (read: comic strip) click here . after reading the said strip, i became even more excited to try this browser. google said it will be available to download in 100 countries on tuesday. it's already tuesday here in the philippines so i'm just gonna wait around and see if i can score me a chrome today. hehehe...

being sports-minded, i'm always open to try new sports as long as i can cram it into my busy schedule. so, after the green team was eliminated from our basketball tournament , i decided to give airsoft a go. egged on by my officemates jad , lenard , and john , i purchased my own AEG, a type of airsoft gun. i bought mine from sir sonny and i must say that i am truly impressed with the thompson m1a1 i got from him. so for all filipinos out there looking for a trusted seller of airsoft guns in the philippines, i would definitely recommend sir sonny. i have yet to take a good pic of my tommy gun so i'm gonna post more pictures of it here later on. for now, all i got is this: although a newbie or greenhorn or a rookie (or whatever they call newcomers to the sport), i have already participated in a large-scale game. it was the jungle blizzard in iriga city. i did not come prepared for the said game as i do not have vests or battle dress uniform for that matter. but i manage

this space in teh internetz has been forsaken as of late due to the author's busy schedule or laziness (i'm betting on the latter). before this space lose its page rank, i decided it's time once again to update it and start with ewing going back to the new york knicks. patrick ewing, (the junior version that is) has been shipped by the houston rockets to the knicks in exchange for the rights to frederic weis. weis if you remember is the french 7-footer drafted in 1999 but never played in the nba. and oh yeah, he was on the receiving end of vince carter's dunk of death . ewing was drafted this year by the sacramento kings in the second round and was shipped to the rockets in the ron artest trade earlier. now this gets a little interesting as frederic weis was picked 15th overall by the knicks in 1999 even though ron artest was still available. sure, only a handful of people back then had an idea that artest would be one of the best lockdown defenders in the nba but

the offseason have been occupied with talks about teams clearing cap space for 2010 when the class of lebron james, dwyane wade, and chris bosh become free agents. new jersey unloaded richard jefferson by trading him to the milwaukee bucks which made gilbert arenas say that he felt sorry for rj because, according to agent zero, nba players avoid playing for the bucks. the new york knicks are also said to be aiming to land the king when his contract with the cavs expires. the offseason has also seen the draft decided between michael beasley and derrick rose with rose being picked first overall by the chicago bulls. but i think most of the stories in the offseason surrounded around the l.a. team almost everyone forgot to mention, the clippers. before the start of last season, the clippers looked to make it to the playoffs but saw that hope crashing down when elton brand, the face of the franchise, suffered an injury in the offseason. without elton brand, the clippers might have expec

in a move done to clear cap space, marcus camby found himself dealt to the l.a. clippers for what could be nothing. you see, in the trade, the clippers got camby in exchange for a future conditional second-round draft pick. if next year, the denver nuggets get to pick ahead of the clippers in the second round, they would surely not avail of the compensation. that would make dave winfield , the mlb outfielder traded for dinner, more valuable than camby. hehehe.. but seriously, i think that the addition of camby in the clippers' lineup makes the clip a stronger one although some might not categorize them as playoff contenders yet. with the starting lineup of cuttino mobley , baron davis , al thornton , camby, and chris kaman who came from a breakout season, i think the clippers would be even better than the nuggets. sure, my predictions have been busted time and time again, but with the new look of the clippers for the next season, and being a big fan of camby since his new y

in australia, even people who are not into horse racing know who phar lap is. for those who are not familiar with phar lap, here's a good article to read. among phar lap's accomplishments is winning "the race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup. another horse that can be considered as a legend in the said race is makybe diva who won the prestigious Melbourne Cup three times. and the next legendary horse that will come out of Australia would definitely have to win the race even against long Melbourne Cup odds . while the triple crown may be the most popular series of events in horse racing, one should not discount the Melbourne Cup as a lesser event. for more than one hundred years, the said event has squeezed great performances from horses. and this year i expect it to be better. while most people will be attending the Melbourne Cup for the racing, some people would go there for the race and fashion. you see, at the Melbourne Cup, they have this award given

you better believe that. yes, the son of hall of fame bound patrick ewing is the first pick this year in the draft... the harlem globetrotters' draft that is. while patrick ewing jr. has been drafted in the second round by the sacramento kings , the globetrotters may have seen something from him which no nba team has. sure, you can say that the globetrotters play a different kind of game... and i will second that. hehehe. anyway, according to this report , the other picks were: "2008 State Farm College Slam Dunk Champion Sonny Weems of Arkansas, William Bullard of Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, Siena long-distance marksman Tay Fisher , Sudanese big man Longar Longar of Oklahoma, and Auburn high-jumping sensation Donald Thomas , an Olympian hailing from the Bahamas and the reigning men ’ s world indoor high jump champion." where do you think ewing jr. would go? he might not be inked by the kings so i think he has a fallback

the babyface assassin, marco antonio barrera who played a major role in the rise of the newest pound-for-pound king manny pacquiao is looking to cut his ties with golden boy promotions. well, that might not be too much of a loss for golden boy, but considering barrera's popularity in mexico, they (golden boy promotions)would be hard-pressed to find someone who can fill the legend's shoe. according to philboxing.com , barrera is not too keen on continuing his career with golden boy after it failed to give him a fight after he lost to pacquiao for the second time. so what does the babyface assassin has in mind now? well, it looks like he will be contacting pacquiao to work on promoting boxing events between filipinos and mexican. as a filipino who has a lot of respect for mexican fighters, i would love to see this happen. barrera has a stable of young fighters and so does pacquiao. they are both legends in their respective countries, and what more, their fighters fight in t

after seeing the hornets lose to the spurs in the western conference semis, i decided that the sports world truly hates me so i quit writing... not! but the hornets loosing that game 7 did took something out of the joy of sportswriting for me. so, i did not post anything about the west nor east finals and even the nba finals. with the offseason offering a lot of things to write about, as well as the mlb in full swing, f1 championsip heating up, pacquiao rewriting asian boxing history, and lots more, i am officially back. that's it for now, am gonna catch some Zs and be back to post some more.. like the babyface assassin cutting his ties with golden boy.

i still remember the first time i saw the octagon of the ultimate fighting championship and two combatants facing each other both willing to mete out punishment. back in 1993 when only eight fighters are entered in a ufc event, it is uncommon for fighters to wear MMA Gloves . after the initial years of the ufc though, fighters found out that having good MMA Gear is as important as fighting spirit, technical skills, devastating power, and lightning quick reflexes in the octagon. apart from the Real Gear for Real Fighters worn by ufc fighters, much has changed in the landscape of the MMA world. today, mixed martial arts is growing so fast that new mma promotion companies have sprung out. take for example the elite xtreme combat or elitexc. the said outfit recently aired on primtime over cbs with kimbo slice headlining the event. although a lot of mma fans are still not sold on slice, they surely are sold on fedor emelianenko. fedor is considered by many to be the best heavyweight

i have been a fan of the boston red sox since they blew away the yankees in 2004 after being down 0-3. last year, when they went on to win the world series, i was rooting for them. although i'm a fan of the d'backs especially randy "the big unit" johnson and the giants with barry bonds, my allegiance is with the red sox. so i am excited that manny ramirez is just a homerun away from being the 24th player in the league's history to hit 500 homers. although manny seems to be in a bit of a slump recently, number 500 i believe is just around the corner. his 499th career homer came in tuesday's game against the seattle mariners. they lost the game and i think manny would rather have the W than his 499th homer. here's hoping that manny's 500th career homerun will power the red sox to a win. how about a grand slam on the bottom of the ninth with the red sox down by three?

am joining bloggers around the world in condemning human rights violation. there's a lot of things i can say about this as a friend of mine was gunned down for his beliefs. but i would rather have bob marley spread the word that we should stop this unnecessary war as we are only killing our own brothers. war by bob marley until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned everywhere is war, me say war that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes me say war that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race dis a war that until that day the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained now everywhere is war, war and until the ignoble and unhappy regim

the hornets lost two games in san antonio. the lakers lost twice in salt lake city. both series are tied and there have been a lot of predictions on how the rest of the games in these two series will go. san antonio looks like the champions that they are but the series is going back to new orleans. the lakers' kobe bryant is hurting and andrew bynum will likely be out for the postseason. one cannot deny that the hornets can topple the might spurs and the jazz can finally reach the western finals after years of frustration. but tv people are rooting for a spurs-lakers showdown. the reason is starpower. los angeles is known for its popular citizens and san antonio is popular because they have the spurs winning the championship every other year. if the hornets and the jazz advance to the finals, tv people are afraid that supporters outside utah and new orleans would sleep. sure, that's a possibility. but what about the deron williams versus chris paul story line? is that

me and frnz and chayeee have been playing hoops for a few months now on tuesdays, thursdays and sundays. and since today is tuesday, we're off again after work to the hardcourt. here's hoping that i don't screw up again on those easy layups i have been missing almost every game. chayeee has always played like kobe, frnz plays like allen iverson, and olops, they say he's the ronny turiaf of our group but he plays like a ben wallace on defense but with more offensive production. me, i'm not too good at it so i am wishing i have basketball hoops at home where i can practice. and if only i could afford one, i think i'd buy one from dazadi . i mean for a sports-inclined person like me, dazadi is the perfect place to shop as they have all the right products from basketball hoops to billiards tables. look at it this way, if i want to have my own court at home, i would not only need hoops right? i would also need to have the right basketball court dimensions .

let me start it off with this play-by-play call on cbs starting with the foul on bruce bowen : NO 1:15 Chris Paul made Slam Dunk (17 PTS) SA 1:22 Lost ball turnover on Brent Barry, Stolen by Chris Paul NO 1:39 Chris Paul made Finger-roll Layup NO 1:50 Defensive Rebound by Chris Paul NO 1:50 Chris Paul missed 2nd of 2 Free Throws NO 1:50 Chris Paul made 1st of 2 Free Throws SA 1:50 Shooting foul on Bruce Bowen yup!, that's all paul . but as you can see, paul only scored 17 points. that means somebody from the hornets took the responsibility of scoring and that guy is david west who scored 30 for the number 2 seed hornets en route to to a 110-82 win over the san antonio spurs . peja stojakovic added 22 while tyson chandler grabbed 15 rebounds. as for paul, he was in foul trouble in the first half with three personal fouls before halftime. cp3 also struggled from the field missing all his jumpshots in the first half. he came alive in the second half and finished the ga

the la times reported that kobe bryant has won the mvp balloting . lakers fans are surely celebrating. for their sake, i hope this is the real deal. i don't know what kobe fans would say if the la times somehow got it wrong. well, espn quoted the story so it might be true. but since it is not yet announced, i'm still arguing that cp3 is the mvp this season. fox sports also quoted the report . one comment caught my attention and it goes something like kobe finally playing good team basketball as gasol has improved his game after joining the lakers mid-season. hmmm... gasol's a great player and the reason why he is performing better in los angeles is that he plays with kobe. any player of gasol's caliber would benefit from having a teammate who draws a flock of defenders every game. so, i'm not buying that reasoning. sure, playing with kobe has improved gasol's chances of scoring and rebounding, but i don't think it is proper to say kobe has helped g

last year's draft saw the portland trailblazers picking up greg oden with their first pick. then, seattle went with kevin durant and durant would go on to become this season's rookie of the year (uhm, rookie of what year exactly? shouldn't it be called the rookie of the season or something? hehehe). the university of texas standout, a 6'9" swingman with a wingspan of almost 7'5" led all rookies in scoring with 20.3 per contest. i must admit that i was more interested in oden as i was wondering how he (oden) will be able to match up with the league's premier big men. but durant showed that at his young age, he can ball with the best in the nba. i also admire the kid's professionalism, his dedication to his craft. in the first months of this season, he kept shooting threes which really hurt his shooting percentage. but he soon learned that it would be easier to make shots if he throw them up closer to the rim. by the end of the regular seaso

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