Monday 9 April 2012

No Playoffs for the Raptors






With Sunday evenings loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Toronto Raptors were officially eliminated from Playoff contention.

   Not only did the Raptors lose the game, but they lost forward Andrea Bargnani to a calf injury in the first half. With only 9 games remaining on the schedule and no chance of making the playoffs I think it's best for the Raptors to shut down their best player Bargnani for the remainder of the season, I only say that because he's already missed a good chunk of the season due to an on-going injury to his calf and it's better for the team to not risk anymore damage and play him for the remaining meaningless games.

Also this years draft is going to be the deepest it's been in years, so in my opinion(and I hate saying this as a big sports fan) it's in the Raptors best interests to lose as many games as possible to get a very high pick in the NBA Lottery which will be taking place in late May.

But next season the Raptors have no excuses and it'll be time for them to make a push in making the playoffs, as it's been four seasons since the Raptors played those extra games in late April/Early May

Nard Dogg

Blackhawks Playoffs 1st Round





Being a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks I have experienced the highs and lows of supporting this team from the Windy City

    On Thursday, they will be in Phoenix as they face off against the Pacific Division winners Coyotes. Some might say oh their facing off against a division champion and thats not good news, but to me it's the greatest news. Had the Blackhawks beaten the Red Wings on Saturday in regulation they would of instead faced off against the Nashville Predators of whom is in my opinion one of the scariest teams in this  seasons playoffs.

The Blackhawks lost three of four games against the Coyotes this season, but I still feel that they'll have no problem Coyotes because other than the stellar play of goalie Mike Smith, they haven't really shown much promise of being a team capable of making it to the second round, heck they have never gone past the first round since moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix back in 1996.

Prediction: Although it looks like Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews won't be ready for the start of the series, I feel that with the teams already stacked forwards in Kane, Sharp, Hossa & the recent emergence of Stallberg will prove to be too much for the Coyotes to handle and the Blackhawks will win the series in 6 games.

Nard Dogg

Lamar Odom & the Dallas Mavericks part ways



The Dallas Mavericks and Lamar reached an agreement on Monday that will let Odom leave the team without getting released.

In Odom's only season this year with the Mavs he played his worst season of his career posting career lows in every single statistical category you can think of. Now I understand he's gone through many personal tragedies in his life, but the way he handled his Mavs tenure really irked me. Last season with the Lakers, he won the Sixth Man of the year which is given out to the best bench player in the NBA.

His downward spiral all began just before this season when the Lakers attempted to trade him to the Hornets, only for the deal to be called off by NBA comissionar David Stern. As word was got around that a trade was getting worked out, Odom acted like a complete baby by crying on a LA radio station about his displeasure in getting traded from the Lakers of whom he had spent his last 7 seasons with. The Lakers then traded him a couple days later to the Mavericks where he just spent the past four months of his abismal season acting like he didn't have a care in the world.

I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for Lamar. If he wanted to take time off basketball he should have done that without causing the Mavericks organization a headache all these months. Now they can breath a sigh of relief as Lamar will no longer suit up for them, so they can now concentrate on defending their NBA Championship. Good riddance.

Kobe Bryant is a God

When it's all said and done,Kobe may not leave the same legacy as the "GOAT" Michael Jordan, but you can't deny his heart. Kobe was awful on Saturday, going 0-15 from quarters one to three, posting the worst shooting performance of his career. It wasn't until there were only 7 minutes left that he hit his first field goal, but he still finished by hitting the game-winning three pointer. As he made the shot you can see Hornets guard Trevor Ariza just smiling like he knew it was going in. Heck, everyone in the building knew it was going in. The next night he shakes it off and explodes for 40 points in a win vs Golden State. The "Black Mamba" is truly one of the best ever and I'm not looking forward to the day he retires.


Nard Dogg