Round 2 kicks-off with Some Interesting Match-ups & Fierce Rivals

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals Match-ups:

The Eastern Conference Round 2 Match-ups are particularly intriguing this season for a few reasons. The fact that the Orlando Magic failed to make it to the 2nd round after making it all the way to the finals 2 seasons ago & the fact that the past few seasons, both Lebron James and Dwayne Wade have both been defeated by the Boston Celtics & they're taking it very Personal.

Boston Celtics
vs.
Miami Heat

Chicago Bulls
vs.
Atlanta Hawks

Western Conference Semi-Finals Match-ups:

The Western Conference Round 2 Match-ups are almost as intriguing as the Eastern Conference match-ups this season.  The Dallas Mavericks have been absolutely dissapointing for the last 3 seasons in the Playoffs,  but this year they managed to get to the 2nd round & will certainly have their hands full with the Lakers.  The Oklahoma City Thunder were the surprising team in last seasons Western Conference taking the Lakers to 7 games in the 1st round, and now they're going up against an equally surprising Grizzlies team who just pulled off a 1st round win over the #1 seeded San Antonio Spurs to put themselves into the History books.  Only 3 teams that were ranked #8 have ever upset the #1 seed in the 1st round of the playoffs ever, so they're a force to be reckoned with in this years post-season. 

Los Angeles Lakers
vs.
Dallas Mavericks

Memphis Grizzlies
vs.
Oklahoma City Thunder

It's Been Quite a Surprising 1st Round of the Playoffs !!!

The San Antonio Spurs have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble with the Memphis Grizzlies.  The Grizzlies lead the series 3-1 & absolutely must win the next 3 games to advance in the playoffs.  This will not be easy since the game after tonight's game 5 in San Antonio will go back to Memphis for Game 6. 

Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets also find themselves in an elimination game on Thursday vs. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.  The series has been a close one so far with the Lakers only up 3-2 & the next game being played in New Orleans.

Lebron James & the Miami Heat need to win tonights game 5 on their home-court in Miami so they can finally knock the Sixers out of the Post-Season & begin preparing for their next playoff opponent: the Boston Celtics- who just finished sweeping the New York Knicks 4-0.

The Chicago Bulls are moving-on in the playoffs after defeating the Pacers in 5 games.  The Orlando Magic are having some troubles in the 1st Round & they really have to buckle-down & win the next 2 games vs the Atlanta Hawks if they have any hope in moving-on in the Playoffs this season.

Will There Be Any Upsets in Game 2 of Round 1 ??

Chris Paul & the New Orleans Hornets
Beat the Lakers in LA in Game 1. Can

they pull out another Upset in the City of Angels.?

Marc Gasol & the Memphis Grizzlies were as
surprised as anyone when they upset the San
Antonio Spurs in Game 1 in Texas, but can
they do it again?

2011 NBA Playoffs 1st Round Match-ups !!!

This may look confusing, but it's just All 4 match-ups in both Conferences

2011 NBA Playoffs Bracket

EASTERN CONFERENCE BRACKET:

(1) Chicago Bulls

vs.                 >Bulls lead 1-0

(8) Indiana Pacers

(4) Orlando Magic

vs.                 >Hawks lead 1-0

(5) Atlanta Hawks

 

(3) Boston Celtics

vs.                  >Celtics lead 1-0

(6) New York Knicks

 

(2) Miami Heat

vs.                  >Heat lead 1-0

(7) Philadelphia 76ers

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE BRACKET:

 

(1) San Antonio Spurs

vs.                     >Grizzlies lead 1-0

(8) Memphis Grizzlies

 

(4) Oklahoma City Thunder

vs.                     > Thunder lead 1-0

(5) Denver Nuggets

 

(3) Dallas Mavericks

vs.                     > Mavericks lead 1-0

(6) Portland Trailblazers

 

(2) Los Angeles Lakers

vs.                     > Hornets lead 1-0

(7) New Orleans Hornets

Current NBA Standings- Eastern/Western Conference !!!

2010-2011 Division Regular Season Standings
Eastern Conference
Atlantic	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Boston3a	55	25	0.688	0.0	36-14	12-3	32-8	23-17	5-5	L 1
New York6x	42	38	0.525	13.0	28-22	10-5	23-17	19-21	7-3	W 7
Philadelphia7x	41	39	0.513	14.0	25-25	9-7	26-13	15-26	5-5	W 1
New Jerseyo	24	56	0.300	31.0	13-37	3-13	19-21	5-35	1-9	L 3
Torontoo	22	58	0.275	33.0	14-36	5-11	16-24	6-34	2-8	W 1
Central	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Chicago1e	60	20	0.750	0.0	37-13	15-1	35-5	25-15	9-1	W 7
Indiana8x	37	44	0.457	23.5	28-23	9-7	24-17	13-27	6-4	L 1
Milwaukeeo	33	47	0.413	27.0	25-26	6-10	21-19	12-28	5-5	W 1
Detroito	29	51	0.363	31.0	21-29	7-8	21-19	8-32	4-6	W 3
Clevelando	17	63	0.213	43.0	13-37	2-13	11-29	6-34	4-6	L 2
Southeast	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Miami2se	56	24	0.700	0.0	36-14	12-3	30-11	26-13	8-2	W 2
Orlando4x	50	30	0.625	6.0	34-16	11-5	28-12	22-18	6-4	L 1
Atlanta5x	44	36	0.550	12.0	31-19	9-5	24-16	20-20	4-6	L 4
Charlotteo	32	48	0.400	24.0	20-30	3-12	20-20	12-28	4-6	L 6
Washingtono	22	58	0.275	34.0	15-35	3-13	19-21	3-37	5-5	W 1
Western Conference
Northwest	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Oklahoma City4nw	54	26	0.675	0.0	32-19	13-3	30-10	24-16	8-2	W 4
Denver5x	49	31	0.613	5.0	29-21	9-6	32-8	17-23	8-2	W 1
Portland6x	47	33	0.588	7.0	29-21	10-6	29-11	18-22	7-3	W 2
Utaho	37	43	0.463	17.0	19-31	6-9	20-20	17-23	1-9	L 2
Minnesotao	17	63	0.213	37.0	7-43	1-15	12-28	5-35	0-10	L 13
Pacific	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
L.A. Lakers2p	55	25	0.688	0.0	34-16	11-4	29-11	26-14	5-5	L 5
Phoenixo	38	42	0.475	17.0	21-29	9-7	21-18	17-24	2-8	L 2
Golden Stateo	35	45	0.438	20.0	20-30	5-11	25-15	10-30	5-5	L 1
L.A. Clipperso	31	50	0.383	24.5	18-33	7-9	22-18	9-32	4-6	L 3
Sacramentoo	24	56	0.300	31.0	15-35	7-8	11-28	13-28	6-4	W 1
Southwest	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
San Antonio1w	61	19	0.763	0.0	38-12	10-6	36-5	25-14	4-6	W 4
Dallas3x	55	25	0.688	6.0	33-17	6-8	28-12	27-13	6-4	W 2
New Orleans7x	46	34	0.575	15.0	27-23	9-6	28-12	18-22	6-4	L 1
Memphis8x	46	34	0.575	15.0	30-20	8-8	30-11	16-23	8-2	W 2
Houstono	42	38	0.525	19.0	24-26	5-10	25-15	17-23	6-4	W 1

 x-Clinched Playoff Berth | e-Clinched Eastern Conference | a-Clinched Atlantic Division | c-Clinched Central Division |
 se-Clinched Southeast Division | w-Clinched Western Conference | sw-Clinched Southwest Division |
 nw-Clinched Northwest Division | p-Clinched Pacific Division | o-Eliminated from Playoffs contention

{As of right Now, Nearly All of the playoff seeds are established in both conferences with the exception of the 2nd & 3rd Seeds in the Eastern Conference}--Which will be between either the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics & the Miami Heat played this past Sunday and the Heat came ut on top, where the Heat for the most part Spanked the Celtics back to the 3rd seed, with the Heat fully establishing control of the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference }

As long as the Heat win their last 2 games of the Season , they will have the 2nd seed going into this years Playoffs which begin this coming Sunday, April 17.

The UCONN Husskies are National Champions !!!

Who knows if it was the defense of UCONN or the Off-Night of Butler,

but either way you can't expect to win the Championship when you shoot

18% from the field, even though the Husskies shot only 35%.  Whatever

the reason, Kemba Walker and some help from the UCONN bench

simply out-played Butler for the majority of the game.  It makes a lot of

sense that Kemba would lead them to victory in the Championship game

since he had led the Husskies the entire year and had a huge part in getting

UCONN to the Championship.  It was well deserved in my opinion.

The 2011 NCAA Tournament has come down to it's Last 2 Teams

This years Final Four was oddly matched but wildly entertaining !!

The Final 2 teams, who both had incredibly difficult journey's to

get to this point in the Tournament are: the BUTLER bulldogs & the

UCONN husskies.  These two teams will meet Monday night for the

Championship game, the most important game their is in College basketball.

Kemba Walker of Uconn and Matt Howard of Butler will try to lead their

respected teams to victory.  Both of these players have played phenominally

throughout this years tournament to help will their teams farther than anyone had

predicted of either team. 

My FINAL prediction is that UCONN wins the 2011 NCAA Championship! 

The Stage is Finally Set for the Final 4 !!!

                                 

Houston.... Hope you're ready for next Weekend !!!

Even though I'm still pretty bummed about the Wisconsin game,

it's hard to deny that just when you think you can't be surprised

anymore, the NCAA tournament continues to live up to it's

dramatic hype.  We saw UCONN beat Arizona, which was

their 9th consecutive win counting their last few regular-season

games.  We witnessed the true intensity of March-Madness

with Butler defeating the #2 ranked Florida Gators in an

intense Overtime win.  Then we saw Kentucky prevail

against UNC in a close game to move on to the Final Four.

Finally, we got to see the under-rated VCU Rams

completely shock everyone by defeating the #1

ranked Kansas Jayhawks to earn a trip to the Final 4.

The 1st 4 teams advance to the ELITE 8 !!!

Thursday night was as an Exilerating start to the the Sweet 16 as i've ever seen, and it sure had some surprising upsets.  The #5 Arizona Wildcats (led by Sophomore Forward Derrick Williams with 30 pts.) upsetting the #1 Duke Blue Devils had to be the biggest shocker of the entire tournament thus far !!  Sadly, my sleeper team to go to the Final 4, the #4 Wisconson Badgers lost in a close game to #8 Butler bulldogs.  Kemba Walker, the star Junior from #3 UConn husskies, led his team with 36 pts. to beat #2 San Diego State.  Finally, Jimmer Fredette (the #1 scorer in college basketball this year) saw his season come to an end when his #3 BYU cougars lost to the #2 Florida Gators in OT, despite his scoring of 32 pts.
We'll see tomorrow night which 4 teams will make it to the ELITE 8 to play the other 4 winners of tonight:
#3 UCONN, #2 FLORIDA, #5 ARIZONA, & #8 BUTLER.........

The 2011 NCAA Men's Tournament

The Tournament is finally down
to the Sweet 16. There were
some surprising last minute
upsets mixed-in with a few
not-so surprising victories. I had
a rough Round 3, but my
bracket from the Sweet 16 &
on is still pretty strong. We'll
have to see what happensbut
i'm confident in this years
Tournament that my predictions
for the Elite 8 and the Final 4
will soon happen.

The Heat keep Winning, The Knicks continue Losing !!!

The Miami Heat and the New York Knicks are likely to be matched-up in the 1st round of this years
NBA Playoffs.  The Heat are currently ranked 3rd in the Eastern Conference, while the Knicks are

going In/Out of 6 & 7th place.  At the same time

the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls are going In/Out of 1st place in the Eastern Conference

standings. 
I'm not sure who will be playing who yet in the
Playoffs, but i can assure you with less than 15 games remaining the race is still very close, especially in the East.
With multiple important games coming-up, be sure to vote on the match-ups in my recent polls.

Major NBA Match-Ups with Playoffs 1 Month Away !!!!

The NBA Playoffs are now only a month away, yet there are still many exciting Match-ups yet to come.
Tonight we'll see 2 of the best teams in the Western Conference face-off against 2 of the best teams in the Eastern Conference:  Lakers vs. Magic & Spurs vs. Heat
Most ESPN Nba analysts that I"ve kept up with have picked the 2 Western Conference Teams; the Lakers and Spurs to win against the Magic and Heat, but I"m going the opposite route and taking the Magic & Heat to both find victories tonight on Espn.
My reasons for picking both the Magic & Heat are relatively simple.
I give the advantage to the Orlando Magic because Kobe Bryant sprained his ankle yesterday vs the Mavericks and so he won't be at full strength.
I give the edge to the Miami Heat because they're confidence is being restored after just getting out of a 5 game slump at the end of which they beat the Lakers.

NBA Standings:The Top 8 Teams in the East/West- Roughly 24 Regular Season Games Remaining

2010-2011 Conference Regular Season Standings
Eastern Conference
Eastern	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Boston	42	15	0.737	0.0	29-7	10-1	25-5	17-10	6-4	W 1
Miami	43	17	0.717	0.5	29-10	9-2	22-6	21-11	7-3	L 1
Chicago	40	17	0.702	2.0	23-10	12-0	26-4	14-13	7-3	W 2
Orlando	38	22	0.633	5.5	25-11	8-4	23-9	15-13	7-3	W 2
Atlanta	35	23	0.603	7.5	24-12	8-3	17-9	18-14	5-5	W 1
New York	30	27	0.526	12.0	20-12	6-4	16-12	14-15	5-5	W 1
Philadelphia	30	29	0.508	13.0	19-20	6-5	19-9	11-20	7-3	W 4
Indiana	26	32	0.448	16.5	18-18	6-6	16-14	10-18	5-5	L 2

Western Conference
Western	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
San Antonio	49	10	0.831	0.0	31-5	8-3	28-2	21-8	8-2	W 3
Dallas	43	16	0.729	6.0	24-8	6-5	22-8	21-8	9-1	W 6
L.A. Lakers	42	19	0.689	8.0	24-11	9-3	21-8	21-11	7-3	W 4
Oklahoma City	36	22	0.621	12.5	22-16	8-2	20-9	16-13	5-5	L 3
New Orleans	35	26	0.574	15.0	18-19	6-4	21-9	14-17	3-7	L 1
Portland	33	25	0.569	15.5	21-16	8-5	20-8	13-17	7-3	W 1
Denver	34	26	0.567	15.5	20-18	7-4	24-7	10-19	5-5	L 1
Memphis	33	28	0.541	17.0	19-18	3-7	20-8	13-20	6-4	L 1

The All Stars will meet twice this Week !!!

This Weeks Game Predictions !!!

The 2 Key NBA Match-Ups this Week:

This Thursday, the Miami Heat are playing the Chicago Bulls for the 2nd time this season.

The 1st game the Bulls ended up beating the Heat by 3 points, and the Bulls were playing
without one of their key players, Jaokim Noah.  BUT, the Heat were playing without
their best player Lebron James.  So i have setup Polls for yall to vote on who you think
will win tomorrow night on TNT. 
{I pick the Heat to win this game}--Who do you think will win.....?

This coming Sunday, the Miami Heat are playing the New/Improved New York Knicks.
We know the Knicks were good without Carmello Anthony, and now they'll be put to
the test with 2 All Stars in their lineup.  But let's not forget how dangerous the Heat's
Big 3 are, especially in key games.  I've set up another Poll for yall to vote on who you
think will win this game this weekend.
{I believe the Heat will prevail in this Epic Playoff type matchup}
Who do you think will win.....?

NBA Trade Deadline is Finally Over !!!

The Biggest Trade News in the NBA:

Carmello Anthony is Finally taking his talents to the Big

Apple to join Amare Stoudemire and play for the

New York Knicks, which is Melo's dream team to

play for.  The Knicks are also getting Chauncey Billups,

so at least we know they have the 3 out of 5 spots

established.

The Utah Jazz made a last minute move themselves

by trading away their All Star point gaurd in Deron

Williams.  In return the Nets gave up their young and

talented back court.  They do still however have an All

Star center in Brooke Lopez.

Celebrity ALL STAR Game !!

Look Girls, it's Justin "Fricken" Bieber, he was the MVP of the 2011 ALL Star Game.  I'm sure he would love it if more of yall visited my Sports Blog.  And if you do visit more frequently.....There's A LOT more BIEBER-FEVER where this came from. :) 

2011 NBA ALL-STAR Game !!!

                                  The 2011 NBA All Star Game was this past Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  All the Superstars put on a show; especially Lebron James & Kobe Bryant.  They battled till the very end of the game.  Kobe Bryant lead the West with 37 points/ 13 Rebounds, and was awarded the game MVP, Even though King James got himself a Triple Double with 29 points, 12 Rebounds, & 10 Assists.  The West won the game 148-143.

Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat

On Sunday afternoon, the Celtics & Heat squared off at the Boston TD Garden.  The Heat were leading going into halftime, but thanks to lazy defense and some "questionable" calls by the refs, the Celtics had a huge 3rd quarter that put the Heat down by 13 pts.  They did come back to within 1 with a minute left in the 4th quarter, but Mike Miller missed a wide opened 3 pointer to tie the game with 3 seconds left. The final score was 85-82. The Heat lost to the Celtics for the 3rd time this year, so if they meet in the divisional round of the playoffs Boston will now have home court advantage.  All 3 losses were by 8 points or less, so needless to say they were all Very close games.

Duke vs. North Carolina- Epic Rivalry !!

The Duke Blue-Devils played North Carolina Tar-Heels this past week in a very close game. Duke came up with a 5 point win after trailing the frst 3 quarters.  Duke's Point Gaurd Nolan Smith had a career best 35 pts to lead the Blue Devils to victory.  While freshmen Tyler Zeller of North Carolina also had a great game with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Late in the game, Seth Curry (off the bench) had 22 pts, and 5 assists that really helped motivate Duke in the end of the game. He was arguably the player of the game.

There was a lot of anticipation this past week leading up to Superbowl XLV, and for good reason.  The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers had recently been to a Superbowl and won 2 years ago in Superbowl XLIII.  So, going into this game people were saying that their experience was enough for them to come away with a Victory, even though the Packers were favored to win. 
The first team to put points on the board was the Green Bay Packers with a 29 yard from Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson for a touchdown.  Next was Nick Collins of the Packers with a 37 yard interception return for a Touchdown.  The first points for the Steelers came at the beginning of the 2nd quarter with a 33 yard field goal from Shaun Suisham.  Later on in the 2nd quarter, Greg Jenning caught a 21 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers for another Green Bay Touchdown.  Then with :47 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, Hines Ward caught an 8 yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger for the Steelers first Touchdown of the game. 
The 3rd quarter opened with an 8 yard run from the Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall for another Pittsburgh Touchdown.  At the very begginning of the 4th quarter, Mendenhall gets hit hard by Clay Mathews of the Packers and fumbles the ball.  It's then immediately recovered by Green Bay's Desmond Bishop.  Not long after that, Rodgers throws an 8 yard pass to Greg Jennings for his 3rd Touchdown of the game.  A few  minutes later, Roethlisberger throws a 25 yard Touchdown pass to Mike Wallace with &:34 left on the game clock.  They also brilliantly succeeded in their 2 point Conversion attempt.  So at this point, the score is 28-25, the Packers are only up by a Field Goal.  With 2:07 left, the Packers had to settle for a 23 yard Field Goal by Mason Crosby to make it a 6 point game.  Down by a Touchdown, the Steelers attempted to march down field with only 2 minutes left in the game to try to score a game winning Touchdown.  Tragically, they came up short and couldn't convert on 4th and 5. 

The Green Bay Packers win Superbowl XLV !!!
The Most Valuable Player Award goes to none other than Aaron Rodgers, the Game-Winning Quarterback.

Welcome to My Spring Sports Blog

My name is William Rafferty and i'm from New Orleans, Louisiana.  I'm currently a sophomore at Lynn University.  Since I was much younger i've always had a passion for sports.  My favorite sport is probably professional basketball.  As yall will no doubt find out, my favorite athlete in the world is Lebron James of the Miami Heat.  On a side note, I am a very big fan of both the New Orleans Saints & Hornets.  I love a decent number of sports including: Football (NFL & NCAA), Basketball (NBA & NCAA), but thanks to the NBA basketball season being so long, my favorite sport would have to be Professional Basketball.  I'm partial to Soccer, Baseball and Hockey; mainly because i didn't grow up watching that many games of those specific sports.  That being said, i still follow all of them when the Playoffs roll around.  So, my goal with this blog is to be as informative as i can be in updating my followers with the latest events taking place in the world of Sports. I hope everyone enjoys the blog.