Where Is My Remote?

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch at my parents house and I'm wearing out the remote to their televison. Tonight, I'm gonna be flipping back and forth from the The Stanley Cup Playoffs and the NBA Finals. NBA on ABC and NHL on NBC. Both games are pivitol and are very much worth watching.

I turn the channel to NBC. Hockey! The Pittsburch Penguins are fighting to stay alive as they are down in this series 3-2. In game 5, the Pens laid a giant egg losing 5-0. The Detroit Red Wings are playing in Pitt - a tough place to play.

The Pens are riding the Evgeni Malkin wave this postseason. He leads the team in goals and points. Don't forget about the kid, Sidney Crosby. He lead the team in assists and, along with Malkin, are two of the best 1-2 punches in the NHL. Since they haven't won a Cup yet, I wouldn't say they are like Jordan and Pippen. More like Stockton and Malone. If fortune falls in their favor and the stronger, smarter Red Wings don't play their best hockey, the Pens will force a deciding game 7.

Strength and smarts come from experience. The Wings have just that. With veteran skaters like Chris Chelios (24 yrs in the NHL) and Nikolas Lidstrom ( 16 years), the Red Wings have experience, leadership, and success on their side. When you add a star like Henrik Zetterberg, you have the recipe for championships. The Red Wings are trying to repeat as the raisers of the Stanley Cup. They are one game away.

Flip the channel to ABC to see how game 3 of the NBA Finals are going.

The Magic have to win this game. How big of a miss was Courtney Lee's missed alley-oop at the end of regulation in game 2? It was a tough shot. It wasn't a typical lay-up. He put up that shot from nearly below the backboard. The Magic are a good team though. They seem to be lost and out of sync certain moments in a game. They some how always find a way to get themselves back into it. They have three games at home. They've got to win! Being swept would be embarrassing...especially after defeating the Cavs in 5 games. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis carried the team with their shooting in game 2. Howard has got to be a bigger threat. He's getting the fouls and knocking down his free-throws but he late in the game, Howard tends to disappear. I was confused at the end of game 2 why Howard was setting the pick for Lee to get open. Seeing just how close Orlando came from winning that game, I don't think that so much.

In this game 3, the Magic are in a must win. Three games in Orland arrived just in time for the Magic. They are a good enough team to not be swept but they don't have the experienced players on their team like the Lakers.

What can I say about Kobe? Not much...he's just Kobe. I just watched him get fouled and put up a twisted shot from three for the four-point play. Kobe is...well...just Kobe. Not much you can say. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm............................Adam Morrison looks good on the bench. I bet he would top the best dressed list of players not playing the NBA Finals.

It's NHL and NBA tonight. If you have a few moments free...somehow, check out the MLB Draft. Should be interesting...for a while.

Someone Missed the Memo

The NBA, Nike, ESPN sent out a memo to the entire country a couple of weeks ago. The memo pretty much said that Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will be playing the Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. The memo was sent out by way of ESPN specials comparing the two super stars. They both are lottery picks out of high school. Both had immediate impacts in the league and so on and so on. You might have seen the Vitamin Water commercials show city locals explaining how their star is better than the other. The add the for Vitamin Water only ties in when at the very end someone says, "they both get their vitamins." I think the commercial is selling Kobe and Lebron as a product instead of Vitamin Water. Oh and how could I forget the two puppets. Lebron throwing his chalk into the air and covering the house. Kobe copying his highlight tape over Lebron's game film. In one commercial, both LBJ and KB were being annoyed by some little kid. I think that was imagery of the response of these commercials...annoying!

All this media coverage on how great it will be to see Lebron and Kobe face each other in the finals. Then here comes some punk seven-footer named Dwight Howard who ignored all the press Lebron and Kobe was receiving. Instead of allowing a media feeding frenzy to take place, Howard led the Orlando Magic to a lopsided four games to two series win over the Cavs. 

I think Dwight just got fed up with all the puppet commercials like I did and decided to be the spoiler of it all. 

So now it's Kobe versus Le...oops I mean Dwight. See, I'm so used to hearing Kobe versus Lebron, I almost said it. Kobe and Dwight...doesn't have quite the same ring as the other but we are going to have to get used to it; game 1 is tomorrow.

There are some interesting comparisons and history between these two teams. The last time the Magic were in the Finals was 1995 when they were led by another big man, Shaquille O'Neal. He lost to a very good Houston Rockets team. Shaq was then traded to the Lakers in the off season of the 96-97 season, he met up with then rookie, Kobe Bryant. The duo went on to win three NBA Championships in 00-02. 

Shaq then went on to play for the Miami Heat. After winning a championship with the Heat with Pat Riley,  Riley stepped down as coach and was filled in by Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy was Shaq's coach when he left Miami to play for the Phoenix Suns. By the way, Van Gundy and Shaq are not good friends. They are known for exchanging words about each other on camera during interviews.

So now in the present, the Magic are lead by  another big man in their run for the Finals. The Magic are coached by a former coach of the Shaq( the old big man) and are playing against Kobe, who with Shaq created a new era for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tomorrow starts the NBA Finals and there is plenty to look forward to. Will the Magic be able to suppress Kobe? Will the Lakers have an answer for Howard? Only time will tell. What I do know is that the in the puppet commercials, the new one should be Lebron moving out and Howard moving in. Maybe all three can be together. This time, Lebron will sit on the sidelines while Kobe and Dwight duke it out for a ring.