2015 NBA Playoffs First Round Predictions

The 2015 NBA Playoffs are underway. In the first round for the Eastern conference we have the #1 seed Atlanta Hawks playing against the #8 seed Brooklyn Nets. The Hawks are the favorite in this series. They have had an incredible regular season and were able to earn the #1 spot. They have been historically bad in the playoffs, having never made it past the first round. This year they have more than a good chance at beating the Nets and moving to the second round. The #2 seed Cavs are playing the #7 seed Celtics. The Cavs are the favorite by a long shot in this series. After a rocky start to the season, they have been clicking on all levels in the second half after some key additions to their lineup, including J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov, and Iman Shumpert. They should have no problem taking this series. The #3 Chicago Bulls are playing the #6 seed Milwaukee Bucks. The Bulls have also had a tough season after Derrick Rose has been battling injury after injury. Lucky for them, he has returned to the lineup and has been playing outstanding for the first two games. The Bulls have already taken the first two games in Chicago and they should be able to finish this series within the next 3 games. To finish off the eastern conference we have the #5 seed Washington Wizards playing against the #4 seed Toronto Raptors. This may be the closest matchup of the first round in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards started off hot in the beginning of the year but have since hit some bumps with injuries to starter Bradley Beal. Toronto is the favorite in the series. Having said this, I believe the Wizards can come out on top in this series and make it to the second round.
As for the western conference, to start we have the #1 seed Golden State Warriors vs the #8 seed New Orleans Pelicans. The Warriors this year have been outstanding. MVP candidate Steph Curry has been shooting lights out and this combined with the other outstanding young talent the Pelicans may have a hard time winning a game in this series. Next we have #2 seed Houston Rockets vs. the #7 seed Dallas Mavericks. James Harden, another MVP candidate, has carried this team all season and has looked unstoppable. This being said, the Dallas Mavericks are veterans in the playoffs, having won the Championship a few years ago. With future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, they have a good chance of knocking of the Rockets in this 7 game series. The #3 seed Los Angeles Clippers are playing the #6 seed San Antonio Spurs in our next matchup. Just like the Mavericks, the Spurs have a couple future hall of famers and 5 time champion Tim Duncan and two 4 time champions in Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli, they would be a hard matchup for any team. The Clippers did prove in the last game that they are prepared and are ready for the challenge. This may end up being a 7 game series, but I think the Clippers can come out on top. Finally, we have the #4 Portland Trail Blazers vs the #5 Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies have been undefeated in the regular season against the Trail Blazers. Portland does have some great young talent in Damien Lillard but are missing a key 3 point shooter in Wesley Matthews. I believe the Grizzlies should be able to take this series in 5 games.

Jordan Spieth

Last week I blogged about the masters. I think in the weeks and days leading up to the Masters, some of the biggest stories was Tiger coming back, Rory looking to win his first Green Jacket, or Bubba looking for his 3rd masters win in 4 years. What may have been overlooked was a young 21 year old kid named Jordan Spieth. During his memorable run at this years Masters, Jordan Spieth broke a number of Masters records. Jordan set records for best 36 hole score with -14, 54 hole score with -16, and tied with Tiger for best 72 hole score with -18, which Tiger accomplished back in 1997. Jordan got a birdie on the 15 hole in the 4th round to put him at -19, the first player ever to accomplish this feat at the Masters. He was able to set the record for most birdies in a Masters with 28, crushing Phil Mickelson's previous record of 25. It was at this point Phil Nantz exclaimed, "I've never seen anything like it." For that last remaining few people who may not have believed in him yet, he definitely got their attention. Continuing his reign of dominance, Jordan was the 2nd man in 100 years to go wire-to-wire while coming in at only 21 years of age. Walter Hagan accomplished this feat in 1914, but his numbers were not nearly the same as Jordan's. This means that Jordan stayed atop the leaderboard the entire weekend and retained the best score after each of the 4 rounds.  Finally, Speith is the second player since World War II to card three victories before turning 22. The only other golfer to accomplish this: Tiger Woods. There are many people who will say that Jordan's run still is not as dominant or impressive as Tiger Woods demolition of the 1997 masters. Tiger won that year by a margin of 12 strokes, an unbelievable victory in the sport of golf. Jordan won the 2015 masters by only 4 strokes. His performance is nothing less than extraordinary. The golfers at this years masters made one of the toughest golf courses in the world look like a putt putt course. All top five finishers were under par by double digits. The first golfer to go even was tied for 33rd. Jordan was able to fight off incredible runs by Rory who had an exceptional last round to finish at -12 and Phil who started to battle after the second round and finished tied for 2nd at -14 with Justin Rose, who was paired with Jordan in the final round. Jordan Spieth has made a statement with this win: the younger generation is here. At 21 years old, Jordan Spieth displayed incredible skill and nerves of steel at this years Masters in one of the most dominant performances since arguably the most dominant player in the sport of golf, Tiger Woods.

The Masters

From April 9 to April 12 one of the biggest events in golf will take place in the beautiful Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The best golfers from around the world will battle it out for the extremely rare and coveted Green Jacket in the 79th annual Masters Tournament. The big headline this year is Tiger Woods's announcement to return to glory at the Masters after a 9 week hiatus from the PGA tour. When asked what Tiger had done in preparation for the tournament, he replied with a simple, "I worked my ass off." It has been ten years since Tiger won his last Masters Tournament back in 2005. This year he will have to go up against some big names like two time winner and reining champion Bubba Watson, the young and talented Jordan Speith, and of course, the world's number 1 greatest golfer today, Rory Mcilroy. Nike recently came out with a spectacular commercial in preparation for the tournament. It depicts a young Rory watching Tiger's performances through the years as he dominated the Masters. It was an absolutely perfect way to pin these two superstars up against each other. This years Masters Tournament will definitely be one for the ages.

Final Four

This Saturday starting at 6 PM the Men's NCAA Final Four begins in Indianapolis. With ticket prices ranging from $200 to $2000, this weekend will be one college basketball fans do not want to miss. The first game starts at 6 PM with Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils taking on Mr. March himself, Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans. Right now Duke has a 51% chance of winning. Lead by their star Freshman Jahlil Okafor, Duke has not disappointed this season. Even with big loses to NC State and Notre Dame in the regular season, Duke has proved to be one of the top teams in college basketball. Even when Okafor is shut down, they still have point guard Tyus Jones and 19 freshman standout Justice Winslow who helped Duke sneak past Gonzaga in the Elite 8. With all this said, Coach Tom Izzo of the Spartans has proved that once he enters the month of March, he does not like to lose. The Spartans are the only non #1 seed in the Final Four. They started off as a 7 seed and battled their way to the top.
At 8:30 PM, two #1 seeds battle it out for a chance at the championship. Undefeated Kentucky takes on #1 seed Wisconsin for what could be the game of the year so far. Kentucky was able to fight off a very talented Notre Dame team who probably gave Kentucky their biggest scare of the year. Karl Anthony Towns was unstoppable down low and in the end it was Andrew Harrison this time who came through with two free throws to put the Wildcats up by 2 with only seconds left on the clock. Wisconsin beat Arizona in another nail biter. Sam Dekker came through in the end with some big threes and Frank Kaminsky was outstanding as always. This is the second consecutive year that Wisconsin has made it to the final four and they are going to be looking for a much better result than last year.

Floyd vs. Manny

Lets take a look at what we have going on in the sports world. The basketball regular season is almost at an end with the playoffs just around the corner. The cricket world cup has been underway for the past few days. March madness once again has not disappointed with one of the most exciting first weekends in tournament history. The baseball preseason has given fans a reason to break out the gloves again.
On May 2nd of this year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, one of the most anticipated boxing matches of the past years will take place between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather is considered the best boxer today at 38 years old with 47 wins, 26 of which came from knockouts and the other 21 from decision. He is a five decision world champion and has won ten world titles in his career as a boxer. Manny Pacquiao, coming in at age 36, has won 57 fights and lost only 5. He was undefeated up until a few years ago when he was knocked out for the first time in his illustrious career by Rustico Torrecampo.
Many believe that, although Floyd is 2 years older than Manny, Manny is out of his prime. Manny's career has been longer than Floyd's, having fought 11 more fights than Mayweather. There is much speculation that Mayweather kept putting off this fight to wait until Manny was out of his prime so that he was sure he would be able to win.
Regardless of what people say, this fight will go down in history. Both of these boxers have been waiting a long time for this fight and have had much time to prepare. They will both be in great shape come May 2nd. The fight is set to generate over $74 million from about 15000 tickets sold. I am very excited to see these two boxing superstars battle it out in the ring.

2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Its that time of year again. The 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is underway as we speak. Brackets have been made, bets have been placed, and tourney weekend is in full effect. If you have followed men's college basketball this year, I'm sure you know who the favorites are this year. The Kentucky men's basketball team enters the tournament 34-0, the first team to enter the tournament undefeated since Indiana did so back in 1976. There are already rumors flying from sports analyst saying this years Kentucky team could compete in the NBA playoffs. I am an avid believer that no college team could truly compete at the professional level. This being said, Kentucky may be able to give some teams a run for their money. They are entered into the tournament as a #1 seed. The last time they were seeded first, back in 2012, they went on to win the championship. I don't see anyone in the midwest region really being too much of a competition for Kentucky. The #2 seed, Kansas, lost to Kentucky earlier this year by something like 30 points. As far as true competition, I believe that Wisconsin and Duke are two teams that could really give Kentucky a run for their money. They each have NBA caliber big men, Frank Kaminsky and Jahlil Okafor, who may be able to subdue some of the Kentucky big men. I look forward to seeing how things pan out and am very excited for the games.

Chip Kelly

This week the Philadelphia Eagles made a huge trade for arguably their best player. The Eagles traded running back Lesean Mccoy to the Buffalo Bills for line back Kiki Alonso. In six seasons with the NFL, Lesean Mccoy is third in total rushing yards with 6,792 and fourth in rushing touchdowns with 44. As for Kiki Alonso, he may be a no name to most people, but not for head coach Chip Kelly. Kiki played for Chip Kelly at Oregon where Chip was the head coach for many years. Kiki had a key interception in his junior year in the Rose Bowl against Russell Wilson and the Wisconsin Badgers to ultimately win the game for him and then head coach Chip Kelly. Many Philadelphia fans are upset about this trade. Mccoy, or Shady as Philly fans called him, was a huge part of the Philadelphia Eagles and a very exciting player to watch. As far as the trade goes, I believe that Chip Kelly knows what he is doing and made a smart choice. I believe the ultimate end goal is to get quarterback Marcus Mariota, who also played for Chip Kelly at Oregon for a few years and won the Heisman Trophy last year with a very impressive season. He has wowed fans and NFL scouts for years now and he could be the perfect fit to run Chip Kelly's offense. Kiki Alonso was injured last year with a torn ACL but he put up very impressive numbers his rookie year. It is hard to say who really won this trade. As of now it seems the Buffalo Bills came out on top but I'm sure Chip Kelly has some tricks up his sleeve that he will pull out later on in this offseason.

Derrick Rose

Two days ago Derrick Rose, star point guard for the Chicago Bulls, tore his meniscus in his right knee for the second time. This is his 3rd leg injury that requires surgery in the past few years. His first injury was a freak accident. He went up for a rebound and when he went up his knee gave out. This took a while to come back from. Then, relatively recently after recovery from his first injury, he injured his other leg. This started to worry many people in Chicago. People began to compare him to Brandon Roy and how his career is over because he has bad legs. He came back this season and was looking like the old Derrick Rose. Now this.
I love Derrick Rose as a player. He is a player that all players should look up to. Before he was drafted number 1 overall in the 2008 NBA draft, Chicago asked both Derrick and another potential number 1 pick Michael Beasley what the worst part about college basketball is. Michael Beasley answered with something along the lines of he didn't like it when the refs made bad calls. When they asked Derrick Rose he answered with one word: losing. This is how Chicago knew they wanted him and he did not disappoint. In the 2010-2011 season Derrick Rose became the youngest player ever in the history of the NBA to win the MVP award.
Derrick Rose does not deserve to have these injuries happening to him. When it all comes down to it, he has bad legs, and that may not be something that will change. Derrick is such a humble player as well. After he signed a big contract with Chicago, a reporter asked him if he was excited or ready for the fame. He replied by saying he doesn't want to be famous, he just wants to bring a championship back to his hometown.
So this blog is for Derrick Rose. Here's to a speedy recovery, and hopefully he can stay healthy from here on out and finish his illustrious career in the NBA.

Cricket

Cricket is a game not many people in America follow. It is a bat and ball game somewhat similar to baseball. There are 11 people on each team. There is a bowler, who is essentially a pitcher, and 10 other fielders who attempt to get the batter out. The batsman hits until he is dismissed, or out. The bowler and fielders must dismiss 10 out of the 11 players on the opposing team to end the inning.
I would like to focus on five of the best cricketers of all time and some of their accomplishments.
First on the list coming in at number 5 is Kapil Dev from India. Under his captaincy, the India cricket squad won their first world cup title in 1983, the same year that the Baltimore Orioles won their 3rd World Series Championship. Coming in at 6 feet tall. Kapil Dev is considered India's greatest fast bowler and one of the greatest bowlers of all time.
Next on the list is Vivian Ricahrds of West India. This right handed batter, also known as Viv or the Master Blaster, is one of the greets batters of all time. Coming in at 5' 10", Viv finished his career with 8,540 runs in in 121 test matches. As a test captain, he won 27 of 50 matches, losing only 8.
Coming in at number 3 on our list is Garfield Sobers, Gary Sober for short, one of the greatest all around players to ever play the game. He played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974 as a left handed bowler and batsman. Gary is known for being the only player ever to hit six sixes in a single over on six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. In the 1975 New Year Honours list, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Gary with a Knight Bachelor for his services to the sport of cricket.
At number 2 on our list we have former Indian cricketer and batting guru known as Sachin Tendulkar. His is one of the younger players on the list being only 41 years of age now. This batting legend as scored a hundred 100's in his career, a feat that may never be accomplished by another player ever again. He is one of only two players to ever score a double century in an ODI match. His illustrious career is marked by many awards, including the Arjuna Award for outstanding sporting achievements and the Rajiv Ghandi Khel Ratna award for India's greatest sportsman. He won is 1st World Cup in six appearances in 2011 as part of the Indian team. He is also the wealthiest cricket player on the planet, with a net worth of $160 million.
The number 1 greatest cricketer and batsman to ever play the game is the one and only Sir Don Bradman of Australia. Coming in at only 5'7" Sir Don, or the Don, is widely acknowledged as the greatest test batsman of all time. The Don's career test batting average of 99.94 is considered by many  as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport. On December 10, 1985, Bradman was the first of 120 inaugural inductees into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

2015 NBA All Star Break

This weekend from February 13-15, the NBA has its annual All Star weekend. This should be a particularly exciting All Star weekend, with new faces in both the 3-point shooting contest and dunk contest.
Lets start off with the starting lineups for each team. On the eastern conference, we have familiar faces Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James, two fan favorites, even with Carmelo being on arguably the worst team in the NBA this year. John Wall is having a spectacular season with the Wizards and will start at guard. Pau Gasol is having a great year after a trade from the Lakers to the Bulls. Finally, new comer Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors makes his first start in his first ever all star game appearance. Mike Budenholzer from the Atlanta Hawks will coach the eastern conference this year. The Hawks have had a great season so far, starting off with 41 wins and only 10 losses.
There were two injuries to two key starts on the Western Conference. Blake Griffin and Kobe Bryant, both selected for the starting lineup, will not play in this years all star game due to a staff infection for Griffin and a recent torn rotator cuff for Kobe. Damian Lilliard from the Portland Trail Blazers will take the place of Blake Griffin as starter and Demarcus Boogie Cousins will replace Kobe in his first ever All Star appearance. Marc Gasol, Anthony Davis, and Steph Curry finish off the starting 5 for the Western Conference. Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors, will coach the western conference. He will have two of his star players, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, on his roster.
The always entertaining celebrity all star game, featuring stars such as Kevin Hart, Snoop Dogg, and Spike Lee, takes place at 7 P.M. on Friday.
The Three Point Contest and the Sprite Slam Dunk contest take place Saturday at 8:30 P.M. after the Degree Shooting Stars and the skills challenge. I am going to focus on the three point contest and the dunk contest. The three point contest is particularly exciting this year as teammates Steph Curry and Klay Thompson go head to head in a 3-point shooting battle. Wesley Matthews, JJ Redick, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Korver, and Marco Belinelli round out the rest of the 3-point squad. At this point, it is a toss up as to who the favorite is. In my opinion, I would love to see a Steph Curry vs. Klay Thompson shootout in the finals. James Harden and Kyle Korver are my two other favorites to make the finals.
The final event on Saturday is the Slam Dunk Contest. It has not been as exciting these past few years but seems to have a fairly stacked lineup this year. All participants are competing in their first ever dunk contest. They include Zach LaVine, Victor Oladipo, Mason Plumlee, and the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is my favorite to win it this year.
Finally, the main event, the NBA All Star game starts at 8:30 PM on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Phelps

The football season has come to an end. The New England Patriots have won their fourth super bowl title under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. The NHL just finished up all star week a few weeks ago and is back under way. Tiger Woods is still playing awful golf. The NBA is well under way and about to be at the half way point with the NBA All Star Weekend. The MLB is finishing up a semi-exciting offseason with players such as Giancarlo Stanton and Max Scherzer signing huge deals.
I want to put all this aside and talk about a different sport that is coming back in this upcoming 2016 year. There have been rumors surrounding the upcoming olympics that one of the all time olympic greats, Michael Phelps, may return for one last run. I have had the pleasure of meeting Michael Phelps a few times. Michael Phelps grew up one county over from me in Fallston, Maryland. When I was younger, around 11 or 12, we both swam at the annual All Star meet at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. I have met him a few times and even swam in the same cool down lane as him. Now as for the upcoming Olympics, I'm sure there are tons of people who are going to say he is washed up and he is in no shape to swim after he got his second DUI and he hasn't trained nearly as much as he had in 2008 where he made history by earning 8 gold medals or even in 2012 where he was still able to rack in 4 golds and 2 silvers. As for these people who doubt the aging Michael Phelps, they are wrong. I have seen him compete multiple times in person and on television. His recent past mistakes, the DUIs and the marijuana picture and his playing golf instead of training, are all factors that may hurt him in the upcoming Olympics should he choose to compete. No matter what he does, he is still the greatest swimmer of all time. People will still be out there competing to try and beat the great Michael Phelps. He is, was, and will always be a great competitor. He may not be able to rack in 8 gold medals like he did in his prime, but should he compete, I can guarantee he brings home a few more golds. I believe that he still has the ability to break world records and astonish people all over the world. The greatest olympian of all time is not done yet.

Super Bowl XLIX

On Sunday, February 1, 2015, at the University of Phoenix in Glendale, Arizona, the New England Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks for the 49th annual Super Bowl. Tom Brady, a veteran future hall of fame quarterback, faces off against the young but still very talented reigning super bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson and the dominant Seattle defense. Now I am from Baltimore and am an avid Ravens fan. So, in attempt to write an unbiased blog, this will not be about the actual game. Instead, it will be on why the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday in which kids don't have school and people don't have to go to work. Obviously, there are many super bowl parties that go on during Super Bowl Sunday. For those fans who are rooting for the team who wins, they will obviously be very happy and want to celebrate, possible consuming some alcoholic beverages. For those fans rooting for the team that loses, they will clearly be upset and most likely stay up mourning the lose and most likely consuming even more alcoholic beverages. In either scenario, neither group of fans will be in any shape to work the next day. Instead of making them come in and go to work and most likely not be very productive and potentially make a costly mistake that could harm their employer or the company, they could have the day off and have them come back in fresh and ready to work on Tuesday.
The Super Bowl in itself is one of the most watched television event of they year, in most cases the most. It is by far the biggest sporting event in America, second in the world to the Fifa World Cup. Last year there was over 100 million people watching the Super Bowl. This year I expect there to be much more. The hype that goes into the two weeks before the game is unlike anything else. People all across the nation, employees and their bosses and their bosses and students alike would greatly appreciate a day off after one of the biggest television event of the year.

There has been a lot of controversy in the most recent AFC championship game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. According to NFL sources, the New England Patriots deflated 11 of the 12 game balls given to them by 2 pounds. This would clearly give an advantage to New England quarterback Tom Brady, however slight that advantage may be. The score of the game ended up being 45-7 in favor of the Patriots. Regardless of the deflated footballs, the New England Patriots were the better team in that game. That is besides the point. The Patriots had no need to deflate footballs. Even one of the Indianapolis Colt's tight ends even tweeted something along the lines of the patriots could have used bars of soap and still won.
The main issue with Deflategate is the ethics of the situation. Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, has been known to cheat or perform sketchy acts in the past. He was disciplined years ago for spying on opposing coaches play books during the games. This has been known as Spygate. Back to the ethical issues with Deflategate: the fact that there was no need to deflate footballs is a huge issue. This whole scenario is another act of shady behavior by the Patriots. Many people believe that the Patriots should forfeit the Superbowl. This may be a bit harsh. They should definitely be disciplined in the form of draft picks and fines.
For any possible future scams that the Patriots may be involved in, Deflategate should be considered the final straw. They cannot keep breaking the rules and getting away with it. The next time something like this happens, the NFL should put their foot down and dish out some serious punishment.