Bay Area Sports Blogging

After an epic fail by the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics are up 3-1 in the NBA Finals. With such a deficit, it is almost certain that the Celtics will win the series. The only question remaining is who on the Celtics team should get MVP honors.

The candidates are the Boston Three Party, otherwise known as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. All three players have been vital to the success of the Celtics, but there can only be one.

The NBA Finals will start Thursday night with the LA Lakers visiting the Boston Celtics for game 1. There has been a lot of comparisons to the historical match-ups between these two teams in the 80s and even earlier. But all that talk is just filler to sell newspapers. These two teams have their own identities, and they will need to build their own legacies.

Legends are born in the playoffs, but they are immortalized in the Finals. So far this year, the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant has proved to the league just how clutch he is, making shot after shot in the fourth quarter to send the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs home in five games. It is a great run, for sure, but without the championship, Kobe's great run may well be forgotten.

The NBA has announced that it will start issuing fines for players that flop fouls. Various NBA personnel attending the games and watching video reviews will mark cases of potential flopping. Then the league will review the play(s) after the game to determine if indeed a flop took place. The keyword in the statement issued is that only clear cases of flopping would be fined.

This new rule change can help clean up the game. Floppers exist on both sides of the court, offense and defense. The players should be out there playing real defense, not just flailing their arms around hoping for a call. Some offensive players dribbling in the paint would sprawl over the floor, hoping for a call. That's not basketball.

The NBA is set to hold the 2008 NBA draft lottery this Tuesday, May 20th.  The draft lottery is the process in which the order of the first 14 draft picks are assigned to NBA teams.  The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs are in the lottery and have a chance at winning the #1 pick.

Although each non-playoff team has a chance at getting the first pick, the team with the worst record has the highest chance.  The initial list of teams is sorted by worst win-loss record.  The worst team, the Miami Heat, is at the top of the list and has a 25% chance of winning the first pick in the draft.  The non-playoff team with the best record, the Golden State Warriors, have the lowest chance of winning the first pick, at 0.5%.

As NBA teams are eliminated from the first round of the playoffs, change is inevitable. The Dallas Mavericks lost to the New Orleans Hornets in the first round, and the Mavericks fired head coach Avery Johnson. The Phoenix Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs, and there is talk going around that Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni could be gone.

Professional sports is all about winning now. If a team can't demonstrate that they can be legitimate contenders, changes will be made. As the coach for the Dallas Mavericks, he hasn't been as productive in the playoffs. Most, if not all, of the Mavericks key players on the 2006 NBA Finals roster and their 66 win season were acquired by their former head coach, Don Nelson. Avery Johnson landed on a good team waiting to explode and that the success of the Mavericks came from brilliant planning by Don Nelson.

With the loss to Phoenix, the Golden State Warriors are officially eliminated from the playoff race. The Warriors gave it a good run this year, winning 48 games so far, with one game remaining on the schedule. The coming offseason will be filled with uncertainty and important decisions.

First and foremost is the contract situation with the players on the team. The only Warriors guaranteed to be back next year are Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Brandan Wright, and Marco Belinelli. Baron Davis has a player option for 2008/2009 that he could opt out, but early indication from Diddy says he will return. Baron could earn $17 million for the 2008/2009 season, so I think chances are good that he will return for one more year.

With the loss against Denver, the Golden State Warriors' chances of making the NBA playoffs is next to nill. To get in, the Warriors would need to win all three games against the LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns, and Seattle Supersonics while the Denver Nuggets lose two out of three against the Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, and/or Memphis Grizzlies. It is mathematically possible, but I've stopped believing.

The Warriors don't have a bench. The starting five can match up against the rest of the league, but once any of the starters get into foul trouble, or need to take a rest, there is no help from the reserve players. Baron, Jackson, and Ellis simply cannot play 40+ minutes a game.

From what was considered one of the deepest draft class of all time, the NBA rookie class of 2007 gives us only two candidates for Rookie of the Year considerations: Kevin Durant and Al Horford. Both rookies played big roles for their basketball teams, with Durant having started every game for Seattle this season.

Top pick Greg Oden could have made it a three way dance, but he has yet to play in the NBA due to season ending knee surgery last summer. Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, and Al Horford were the three top draft picks of 2007, with Oden coming in at #1, Durant #2, and Horford #3. Picks #4 (Conley Jr) and #5 (Jeff Green) were able to help out their teams, but not as much as Durant and Horford.