New Rivalry in the East?

Last night the Miami Heat took on the Brooklyn Nets it was the first time these two faced since Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce left Boston to go to Brooklyn. The game seemed very chippy and physical the entire night with in one instant Paul Pierce dropping his shoulder and fouling Lebron hard on what would be a wide open lay-up. The Nets ended up taking the victory 86 to 62 as it appeared the Nets were the more physical team the entire night. Both teams were lead by there centers Chris Bosh and Brook Lopez. Lopez had 14 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk manning the floor tough in the middle.Bosh had 16 Pts, 9 Reb, 1 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk trying to will his team onto victory. The real Drama came when Lebron made a comment stating that Kevin and Paul should both apologize to Miami Heat shooting guard Ray Allen who previously left Boston. When he left Allen was heavily critized by Paul and Kevin and now that they have also left Boston Lebron thinks that they should apologize to him. Paul Pierce responded in saying that they did not chose to leave Boston they were traded to the Nets so he doesn't understand where Lebron is coming from. Kevin Garnett came out and said that he will not apologize and Lebron should stay focused on his team and stay out of "Boston News". I feel like this match up of two of the best teams in the entire NBA will become one of the most heated rivalries in the league. I can not wait until they get to play in the regular season and if everything pans out right in the Eastern Conference playoffs. My favorite is the Nets because they are too star filled for the Heat and will handle them pretty steadily.

ESPN Countdown in Top 20!

The ESPN Countdown that i talked about in a previous blog has continued and now it is down past the 20's. They are already at the number 15 spot with more coming out later today. Some notable people till this point are Andre Igoudala coming in at 31., Tyler Lawson at 37 and Kevin Garnett coming in at 41. One of the most talked about people landing outside of the top 20 was Kobe Bryant who landed at 25 on the countdown. Bryant averaged over 27 points per game last season but this was still not good enough for the superstar to land a spot even close to his previous year ranking which was 6. Yes Bryant sustained a season ending Achilles injury which could be why he has substantially moved down. I believe that the ranking is too low for the Black Mamba and he will prove it this season on the court. Now coming in the no. 20 spot on the countdown was Deron Williams the point guard from the Brooklyn Nets. Deron is an excellent ball handler and has one of the best cross-overs in the game. Coming in 19th was the power forward of the Atlanta Hawks Al Hartford who was ranked 30th last year moving up over 10 spots. This was do largely due to his high point scoring and rebounding totals per game. Coming in 18th is the aging superstar Dwyane Wade. Wade moved down 12 spots in large part because he is aging and it is very eminent. Especially at the shooting guard spot age is very prominent and you can tell Wade is definitely out of his prime. Coming in 17 was LaMarcus Aldridge from the Portland Trail Blazers who moved up 3 spots from last years rankings. Coming in at 16 was another aging superstar that showed he still has life left in him Tim Duncan. The San Antonio idol moved up 11 spots from last year and due to his high level of play which took his team to the championship last year. Finally coming in at 15th was the scoring leader from last year Carmelo Anothony. Carmelo is a tremendous offensive threat and i believe that should be way higher on the list than just 15th.

ESPN Countdown Down To Top 50

For the past couple weeks ESPN has been counting down the 500 best players in the NBA. Which at 500 till about 300 you probably rarely if ever see the court so i assume it would be extremely hard and annoying to rate these players. So I tip my hat to the hard working people at ESPN for this. These countdowns always provoke discussion about players and where they are placed on the countdown. So now from 500 ESPN is down to the final 50. They have just released number 50 to 48 and will do increments of two like this every hour i believe. Coming in at no. 50 is Paul Millsap the power foward from Atlanta is one of the only players to average score over 14 points a game and 7 rebounds in the past 5 years. Paul moved up 3 spots from his previous ranking last year. Coming in at 49 is Ricky Rubio the point guard from Minnesota. Ricky averages over 10 points a game and 2 steals which he adds to his great floor leading skills. Rubio moved down two spots as last year he came in 47 in the rankings. Next in 48th place was small forward Paul Pierce who was recently traded to Brooklyn. Pierce is one of the best scorers of all time and is only this low on the list due to age. Paul has moved down substantially from last year as he was 28th in last years rankings. Well i will continue to keep you updated on the rankings as they come out. From here in Online Publishing block 4 im Eddie Hutschenreuter signing off.

Pacers move to 0-2 in Preseason!

Yesterday on October 10th the Houston Rockets put a ROUT on the Indiana Pacers in the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines. Houston moved to 1-1 in the preseason in their dominating win. The Rockets beat the Pacers 116 to 96 early yesterday morning. Leading the Rockets in scoring was James Harden who picked up 21 Pts, 5 Reb, 4 Ast and 4 Stl he defiantly put on a good show for the fans watching. Leading the Pacers in scoring was Paul George who ended the night with 17 points and 4 rebounds. The Pacers all night looked out of sync which was not good for them especially because The Rockets were clicking together so well. The Rockets had 6 people over double digits with 3 of the players coming off the bench. Dwight Howard played alright but only picked up 6 rebounds granted he did only play the first half this number may not seem low but a player of his stature is capable of much more. Howard did have a monstrous block on all-star shooting guard Paul George. The Rockets looked very good yesterday and Rockets fans are hoping that there will be much more of this high level of play to come. They were moving the ball around very well and had many people contribute to the win. They played as a well-oiled machine. The Pacers on the other hand did not play so well. They looked out of tune all night and were not contributing well off the bench. Bad news for Pacers fans is that besides Paul George the Pacers need to find someone they count on scoring. Good news is that it is only the pre-season. There is no need to get worried just yet the Pacers are a good team who will figure out how to win.

Future Outlook!

With the season approaching quickly I'd like to give my outlook on how the season will unfold before us. The Eastern Conference will be easily harder than the Western Conference as many teams heavily improved this off-season. The pre-season favorites Miami Heat will be contenders as long Dwayne Wade is able to stay healthy. They will be lead by their superstar Lebron James the problem I have with Miami is their backcourt is very weak and Chris Bosh is no where near the superstar he used to be. I feel like they will fall short of another Championship run this season. My favorites in the Eastern Conference is the Indiana Pacers. Led by shooting guard Paul George the Pacers are a force to be reckon with in the NBA. The defense of the Pacers is rock solid led by the big man looming in the paint Roy Hibert. The return of Dany Granger also add much depth to the team. My team to watch in the East in the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets added two superstars this offseason in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett this makes their starting line up one of the best in the league if not the best. Where I feel like they will be weak is at the coaching position. I do not know how Jason Kidd will turn out as being the coach especially coaching such a super stared filled line-up. My favorites in the Western Conference is the Clippers. The Clippers have enough talent to make the championship and with new addition Doc Rivers calling the shots I feel like they could go all the way this year. In order to improve this year the Clippers will have to improve their free throw percentage which was mediocre at best. In a league where anything can happen it is very hard to predict what will happen in the long run but from what I see this pre season my NBA championship game is the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Clippers with Indiana taking it all.

Pre-Season Kicks Off!

NBA is back everybody! The pre-season kicked off a couple nights and it give NBA fans a little taste of what is to come. One of the big games in the pre-season already was when the Chicago Bulls faced of against the Indiana Pacers. This showcased two teams that both have the potential to be representing the Eastern Conference in the Championship in June. The Bulls pulled out the victory 82 to 76 but the big story was all-star point guard and former MVP Derrick Rose returned to the court after missing the entire season last year due to a ACL tear. The star gave the Bulls the spark that they missed all last year and you could see that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the East. Rose had 13 points, 2 steals, 3 assists and picked up 2 rebounds. One he picked up one rebound of his own shot with showed his determination and willingness to work the entire time on the court. On top of the Bulls Scoring chart was Taj Gibson who lead the team with 18 points. The Bulls were also lead in scoring by Loul Deng who had 15 points with Jimmy Butler (shooting guard) scoring 11 points. The Pacers were led by all-star shooting guard Paul George and power forward David West who both had 14 points. The big man in the middle Roy Hibbert picked up 11 points with 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Making his first start from last year’s injury was small forward Danny Granger who the Pacers hope will help put points on the board. Granger had a relatively quiet night only scoring 6 points with 0 rebounds. Granger was not on the court for a relatively long amount of time which could be the reason for his average performance. The Pacers and Bulls was a great sneak peek of what is to come.

Season Starts Withen Month!

Well this is the first blog for my online publishing class with the wonderful National Basketball Association. With the season looming around the corner starting on October 29th on a Tuesday ESPN has put out their first power rankings for the league in their preseason edition. Appearing at the top was no surprise the back to back world champions Miami Heat who were led by all-star small forward Lebron James. James and all-star shooting guard Dwayne Wade hope to make it a trio in championship titles which is very well possible. In the off season the Heat picked up Oden and Beasley which was almost all they could do because of the Luxury Tax. The main struggle for the Heat will be making it out of the East which is much tougher than previous years. Number 2 on the power rankings were the Indiana Pacers who gave the Heat all they could handle last year in the Eastern Conference finals losing in game 7. Coming back from injury is Dany Granger who will defiantly add to the scoring duo of Roy Hibbert and Paul George. Coming in 3rd in the rankings was probably one of the most talked about teams this off season due to the drastic changes they made the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn picked up Kevin Garnet and Paul Peirce to add to Joe Johnson, Derron Williams and Brook Lopez making this one of the best starting line-ups in the league. The team will be led by recently retired point guard Jason Kidd we will see if his coaching skills will be as good as his basketball skills. Coming in 4th was the first team from the western conference the Los Angeles Clippers. This is due to Doc Rivers one of the best coaches in the NBA if not the best to go along with the high powered and talent filled line up of L.A. I believe it will be a disappointing season if the Clippers do not make it at least to the Western Conference Finals. Rounding out the top 5 were the runner ups from last year the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs are riddled with Veterans that know how to win always making them a contender.