The Boston Celtics just won their 17th NBA title by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in game 6 of the NBA finals tonight by a score of 131-92. It was a HUGE blow out victory for Boston (the biggest in NBA finals history.

The Celtics played flawless basketball and the Lakers were pretty much done by half time. Paul Pierce won the MVP for the 2008 NBA Championship playoffs. Kevin Garnet, Ray Allen and others all contributed with great games. Ray Allen tied the NBA record for number of three pointers made in a Championship game, by hitting seven three pointers.

It was fun to watch… well it was fun for me to watch, since my Father’s side of the family is from the Boston area and I have been a Celtics fan for a LONG time.

Anyway, congrats to the Boston Celtics organization an all their fans.

Here is a run down of the first round from last night’s 2007 NBA Draft:

1 Portland Greg Oden – C
2 Seattle Kevin Durant – SF
3 Atlanta Al Horford – PF
4 Memphis Mike Conley – PG
5 Boston Jeff Green – SF
6 Milwaukee Yi Jianlian – PF
7 Minnesota Corey Brewer – SG
8 Charlotte Brandan Wright – PF
9 Chicago Joakim Noah – PF
10 Sacramento Spencer Hawes – C
11 Atlanta Acie Law – PG
12 Philadelphia Thaddeus Young – SF
13 New Orleans Julian Wright – SF
14 Los Angeles Al Thornton – SF
15 Detroit Rodney Stuckey – SG
16 Washington Nick Young – SG
17 New Jersey Sean Williams – C
18 Golden State Marco Belinelli – SG
19 Los Angeles Javaris Crittenton – PG
20 Miami Jason Smith – PF
21 Philadelphia Daequan Cook – SG
22 Charlotte Jared Dudley – SF
23 NY Knicks Wilson Chandler – SF
24 Phoenix Rudy Fernandez – SG
25 Utah Morris Almond – SG
26 Houston Aaron Brooks – PG
27 Detroit Arron Afflalo – SG
28 San Antonio Tiago Splitter – PF
29 Phoenix Alando Tucker – SF
30 Philadelphia Petteri Koponen – PG

Last night, the San Anotonio Spurs finished their sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers to win their fourth NBA championship since 1999.

First, I would like to say congratulations for a job well done. The Spurs play great fundamentally sound basketball and it wins them championships.

Are they the best NBA team in history?

Well, they are one of only four teams to win at least four championships. The other teams are the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. Speaking of that last team… the Lakers won three championships in a row from 2000-2002. If they hadn’t split up Shaq and Kobe would the Spurs have won the next few championships?

What do you think? Are the Spurs the best NBA team ever? Are the Lakers the best NBA team ever? How about Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics or Michael Jordan’s Bulls?

The San Antonio Spurs won game one of the 2007 NBA Finals, by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 85-76. What they did best was take Lebron James out of the game. They basically dared the rest of the Cavs to beat them.

I personally don’t think that the Spurs will be able to hold James to such low numbers (14 points, seven rebounds, four assists) every night, but in game one the Spurs showed why everyone considers the West so much better than the East this year….

The 2007 NBA Championship starts tonight. I think this is a great match-up, between two really solid teams. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

While the Western conference seemed much better than the Eastern conference this year and San Antonio has to be the favorite in this series, Lebron has shown signs of living up to his billing. King James might just win a championship this year.

So who do you think is going to win it this year? The Cleveland Cavaliers or the San Antonio Spurs?

The winner of this year’s NBA Draft Lottery was the Portland Trailblazers. They managed to get the first pick in the draft this year. They are expected to take 7 foot center Greg Oden from Ohio State. Greg is projected to become one of the top big men in the game.

Now that the 2007 NBA draft order is set…

Here is the order for all the picks in the 2007 NBA draft:

1. Portland
2. Seattle
3. Atlanta
4. Memphis
5. Boston
6. Milwaukee
7. Minnesota
8. Charlotte
9. New York1
10. Sacramento
11. Atlanta (via IND)
12. Philadelphia
13. New Orleans
14. L.A. Clippers
15. Detroit (via ORL)
16. Washington
17. New Jersey
18. Golden State
19. L.A. Lakers
20. Miami
21. Philadelphia (via DEN)
22. Charlotte (via CLE and TOR)
23. Chicago2
24. Phoenix (via BOS and CLE)
25. Utah
26. Houston
27. Detroit
28. San Antonio
29. Phoenix
30. Philly (via DEN, GSW, DAL)

Unfortunately, my Houston Rockets have a pretty low pick and they could really use a top 10 pick this year. Albeit, their new coach (Rick Adelman) should improve their offense quite a bit.

How did your team fair?

Today, Dallas Mavericks Center Dirk Nowitzki was the first European player ever named NBA MVP. Dirk certainly had an excellent regular season. From Tim Duncan to Kobe Bryant you could have made a case for quite a few players being right for the trophy. However, Dirk really did have a great year.

Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks won 67 games (not many teams have done that). He scored 24.6 points per game, had 8.9 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game, and shot over 90 percent from the free throw line. Not bad…

A lot of you have been making your case for who should win on this post. Now that it’s official what do you think? Should Dirk have won?

The official announcement isn’t due until next Tuesday, but ESPN is reporting that Dirk Nowitzki is scheduled to be the winner. It’s unclear how definite this is, but I guess we’ll all find out next Tuesday.

The other day the 2006-2007 All-NBA team was announced. The only thing that was a bit of a surprise was that Lebron James was missing from the first team. Many people thought that he would be on the first team. Steve Nash was the only unanimous selection.

The first team was made up entirely of Western Conference players. It consisted of Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant.

Here are the voting results for all of the 2006-2007 “All-NBA” Teams:

(First-place votes in parentheses)

First Team
F — Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas (125), 634
F — Tim Duncan, San Antonio (94), 573
C — Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix (36), 494
G — Steve Nash, Phoenix (129), 645
G — Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers (128), 643

Second Team
F — LeBron James, Cleveland (64), 494
F — Chris Bosh, Toronto (8), 234
C — Yao Ming, Houston (38), 333
G — Gilbert Arenas, Washington 295
G — Tracy McGrady, Houston (10), 278

Third Team
F — Kevin Garnett, Minnesota (5), 225
F — Carmelo Anthony, Denver (1), 142
C — Dwight Howard, Orlando (1), 108
G — Dwyane Wade, Miami (1), 241
G — Chauncey Billups, Detroit 86

Other players receiving votes
Carlos Boozer, Utah, 127; Shaquille O’Neal, Miami, 70 (3),; Jason Kidd, New Jersey, 58; Marcus Camby, Denver, 42 (2),; Shawn Marion, Phoenix, 41; Allen Iverson, Denver, 39; Tony Parker, San Antonio, 39; Vince Carter, New Jersey, 15; Deron Williams, Utah, 15; Josh Howard, Dallas, 11; Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers, 8; Mehmet Okur, Utah, 7; Baron Davis, Golden State, 6; Michael Redd, Milwaukee, 6; Ray Allen, Seattle, 5; Richard Hamilton, Detroit, 4; Joe Johnson, Atlanta, 3; Ben Gordon, Chicago, 3; Chris Paul, New Orleans, 3; Paul Pierce, Boston, 2; Ben Wallace, Chicago, 2; Jason Terry, Dallas, 2; Eddy Curry, New York, 2; Luol Deng, Chicago, 1; Chris Webber, Detroit, 1; Jermaine O’Neal, Indiana, 1; Pau Gasol, Memphis, 1; Tyson Chandler, New Orleans, 1; Manu Ginobili, San Antonio, 1.

Does this mean that Lebron is out of the running for the NBA MVP?

Should Kobe win it this year? What do you think? Here’s some good video to back up his claim for the MVP:

Dwayne is probably my favorite player to watch in the NBA right now. He just has a certain quiet confidence about him that I really like. He has been injured, so who knows how he will do in the playoffs, but should he be this year’s MVP? Check out this video:

He certainly makes a good case for himself. He is a lot of fun to watch. Check out this King James video to see why he should be the 2007 NBA MVP:

These video highlights make a good argument that he should be.

For all you rabid Steve Nash fans—  a little video gift:

A very belated congratulations to the University of Florida Gators for winning two men’s college basketball national championships in a row.

Wow, were they good this year!

The pinnacle of March Madness is upon us. The Final Four is set and there is no shortage of intruiging matchups. Florida, fresh of its 85-77 win over Oregon, has claimed the Midwest region. The Western region champion Bruins of UCLA will face off against the Gators in a rematch of last year’s championship game. The Bruins are hoping for a much better outcome than last season’s matchup in which they were run out of the building. From the East region the 2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas defeated the North Carolina Tarheels in overtime to reserve their spot in the Final Four. The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the very athletic Tigers of Memphis to claim the South region title. In what is perhaps the most anticipated one-on-one matchups in the Final Four, the fantastic freshman Greg Oden will face off against the 7ft. 2 Roy Hibbert of Georgetown. Each is regarded as a defensive game changer who causes teams to alter shots in the lane. The star studded lineup of Florida is hoping to have repeat success against Ben Howland’s UCLA team, but the talented Arron Afflalo will do his best to keep the Gators at bay.

There’s really only one important piece of news in the Sweet Sixteen—  Vanderbilt is still in it.  Let’s face it, Vandy is never going to bring home a football championship, so basketball is their only shot at a major national title. 

March 22 is the next round, which will see the following:

Kansas vs. Southern Illinois—  I guess I’ll go with Illinois on this one.  When in doubt, I usually choose an Illinois team.

Pittsburgh vs. UCLA—  I have no real opinion on this one—  Pittsburgh?  Just because.

Ohio State vs. Tennessee—  You can’t cheer for Vanderbilt and Tennessee, so I have to favor Ohio State in this game.

Texas A&M vs. Memphis—  Clearly, as a Texan, I have to root for A&M, even if I normally favor the Longhorns.  (As you can see, my picks are in no way based on who is expected to win.  It’s all about who I like, which quite often in the NCAA Tournament gets me just about as far as people who like to think they can predict who will win.)

Then on the 23rd:

Florida vs. Butler—  Florida is, of course, favored to win, but I’d like to see Butler pull off a win.  Florida showed they could be vulnerable to a loss when they played against Purdue, so it’s not as though it’s an impossibility.  My husband went to FSU, so it’s forbidden to hope the Gators win.  I guess that leaves me cheering for Butler.

Oregon vs. UNLV—  I don’t have any strong feelings on this one.  My son likes Oregon, so we’ll go with them.

North Carolina vs. USC—  This comes down to who I want to see face Vanderbilt, when they annihalate Georgetown (okay, I’ll settle for a win).  Well, North Carolina was predicted far and wide to win the East, so I’d probably prefer that they lose.  But USC is playing better than some expected…  Hmm.  It’s a difficult decision.  USC did beat the Longhorns, which makes it hard for me to want them to win.  So, I guess I’ll be going with North Carolina for this one. 

Vanderbilt vs. Georgetown—  Do I really have to tell you who I want to win this one?