Where Amazing Happened

Chris Paul signed for the Clippers

So at long last the start of 2011-2012 NBA Season is creeping into sight. At times through the early autumn it looked like there was not going to be a season at all, due to the NBA Lockout. During the lockout, teams could not trade, sign players, and they could not access NBA team facilities, trainers or staff. Some players signed contracts to play in other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia including Deron Williams and San Antonio Point Guard Tony Parker, both have since returned to their teams. The lockout officially ended on December 8 and the pre-season tipped off on December 16. Due to the Lockout causing some of the season to be cancelled, teams will now play 48 conference games and 18 non-conference games in a 66-game schedule. The season will begin on Christmas Day.

Although a little bit delayed, the trade and free agent frenzy did not disappoint. Rumours of Dwight Howard to the Lakers were quelled. Portland talisman Brandon Roy retiring early due to injuries. Trade rumours of Chris Paul heading to both LA teams, eventually he was traded to the Clippers with two future second round picks, with Guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, Center Chris Kaman and a first-round draft choice going to New Orleans. Richard Hamilton signing for the Bulls. The Lakers lost Lamar Odom to Dallas who also signed Vince Carter. The Lakers signed Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts. And the Raptors signed nobody of any use.

Christmas Day will see a number of blockbuster games begin the season. A rematch of the 2011 Finals as Miami faces Dallas. East number 1 seed from 2011 The Bulls visit the Lakers. And the Knicks with new addition Tyson Chandler host Boston at Madison Square Garden. The late game sees Golden State face the rejuvenated Clippers squad with Paul, Billups and Griffin at the helm.

An interesting pre-season exhibition game took place last night between the Clippers and Lakers. A resounding 114-95 win for the Clippers shows that the Lakers may not have bragging rights in Los Angeles come April 28 when the Play-offs start. The Raptors will have a very good chance of getting the number one draft pick this year. And I believe whoever wins the East will take the Championship, Miami or Chicago.

Is a change of power coming in LA? Will the Heat get to the Finals again? Can Dallas go back-to-back? Or will the veterans of Boston or San Antonio give it one last go? Answers to all these questions will start to be discovered on 25^th December.

ESPN's NBA Rankings Part 2

Wade and James in a Miami Heat game

Two-time reigning scoring champion Kevin Durant was ranked at #6 with a rating of 9.62. Durant can be a little aggrieved with this spot due to his crazy scoring ability and out-right skill, fair enough the guy might not be able to play defense as well as Bryant but he isn't in the team on his defensive merits. People may argue that Durant deserves the #1 spot or at least #2 but for now he will have to make do with #6, maybe another scoring title can get him to the heady heights of #5 next time.

At #5 is a player many though would be occupying the #2 or #3 slot, me included. 2011 NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki took his Dallas team all the way to a championship last year with an above average backing crew. Nowitzki swept the Lakers, beat Durant and his team of upstarts, then shut down Miami's big three (2 of which we are yet to see). If this doesn't give reason for a player to be at #2 at least then I am not entirely sure what does. He averaged 23 PPG at over 50% shooting and has an unstoppable one-legged fade-away.

#4 is an awful choice, don't get me wrong Chris Paul is a premier player but he is not better than the 3 maybe 4 previous players mentioned. When Paul is healthy he can win games single-handedly but the players previously can do that and with more success. Paul has never made the Conference Finals and has always had a relatively good team to do it with. His argument for 4th cannot be sustained unless the Hornets make the West Finals at a minimum.

The remaining 3 players could all have possibly tied for first place. Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and LeBron James. Wade was ranked 3rd with a rating of 9.72. There can be no argument to say that these 3 players are not the 3 most dominant players in the NBA. People will say, Howard cannot shoot FT's, Wade cannot shoot the 3 as well as many would like and of course LeBron James doesn't turn up in the 4th Quarter (or any derivative of that) but that does not take away the fact that all average over 22 PPG and all above 5 PG in another category with LeBron averaging 26, 7 and 7.

James is a player who received a lot of hate for moving to Miami and people love to hate him, but love him or hate him he is the best player in the league and will be for the next 3-4 years.

ESPN's NBA Rankings Part 1

ESPN asked 91 experts to rate each player on a 0-to-10 scale, in terms of the current quality of each player and over the past month they have been releasing the results from 500-1.

Unfortunately bringing up the rear in 500th place was PF Lovay Allen who was drafted in this years draft at a fairly respectable 50 by the 76ers. Allen was given a dreadful rating of 1.22/10 which must be close to my rating. The worrying thing as a Raptors fan was that 3 players were ranked in the 401-500 bracket with our highest ranked player Andrea Bargnani coming in at 81, which is harsh in my opinion.

On October 7th the rankings broke into the Top 50 and this is when it started becoming contentious. One of my biggest issues with these early Top 50 rankings was that Steph Curry was ranked 3, yes a whole 3 places above his Golden State team-mate Monta Ellis. Ellis averages more points, rebounds and assists than Curry and the big argument as to why Ellis was ranked so low was his FG% which is only .29 worse than Curry. Ellis can change and win games on his own but I'm not sure I could say the same about Curry.

Kobe Bryant

The main reason I am writing this is to talk about the Top 10, 15 players and their spots.

Blake Griffin came in at #10 he was undoubtedly the Rookie of the Year but to place him higher than Carmelo Anthony #12 and Amare Stoudemire #13 is purely due to him being over-hyped. He is not better than either of them, full stop.

Number 14, Steve Nash, shoe-in Hall of Famer, one of the best PG's ever ranked 5 spots lower than Deron Williams who has been majorly over-rated in my opinion. Nash lead the league in assists, made 90% of his FT's and lead his pretty awful Suns 6 games away from the West playoffs, on the flip-side Williams was traded to New Jersey from Utah both of whose teams finished with a worse record and with arguably better rosters.

Number 8 was a brilliant choice. Derrick Rose, reigning MVP due to his performance last season, yet after thinking the 7 players ahead of him are all better than him and the 492 players behind him are worse. After taking the Bulls to the East Finals and averaging 25 PPG and 7.7 APG he deserved MVP, he may not win it again but he will not be seen as the 8th best player in the league for much longer.

Wherever Kobe Bryant was ranked unless it was the #1 slot, there would be controversy. If you haven't guessed by now he came in a #7. Maybe he deserved #6 but anything higher wouldn't be correct. On the simple logic that the players ahead of him are better. If this were any season before this up until about 7-8 years ago he would have been 1,2,3 or 4 but he is ageing and players like Rose and #6 Kevin Durant are peaking. There is no doubt that he is an amazing player who has achieved amazing feats over his career and he will be remembered for winning Championships and not being ranked 7th on ESPN's Rankings.

The remaining players which I have written about will be posted on Friday.

England Selection Problems

Selections for international friendlies often spark headaches amongst puzzled football fans. With England's friendly with the world's 2nd best team, Holland on Wednesday night, Mr. Capello issued his squad.

First of all without even getting into the argument of what player should be picked and why and vice-versa, why oh why did the FA decide that the best date for a friendly was 3 days before the start of the Premier League season. It is beyond ridiculous and it will give managers such as Arsene Wenger and Sir. Alex all the more reason to impose minute limits on players and therefore making a mockery of the game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Manchester United youngster Danny Welbeck, although he did play well in patches for Sunderland last season he is nowhere near England quality. If Capello was looking to include a young striker then he should have looked no further than Daniel Sturridge who was a revelation at Bolton during the back-end of last season, scoring 8 goals in 12 games. Another surprise was that Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker was included as he has only appeared 3 times for Spurs. Although both Walker and Welbeck are promising young players Holland coach Bert van Marwijk has more quality players at his disposal, for example Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. He has included young Georginio Wijnaldum of , Feyenoord who could win his first cap, I have bought him on every single Football Manager game since 2006 and he is brilliant not to say that is anything to go by.

Danny Welbeck in action for the Under 21's

Capello's reign as England manager has not been the smoothest at all. Since last summer when England failed and he selected Emile Heskey over Darren Bent many fans have been calling for his head. A player whose head has been called for many a time, would have been in my squad had I been England manager. Joey Barton, amid all his history and current contract issues last season he was brilliant and more than earned his spot ahead of players who had poor season like Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick. Barton has only played once for England and this should have been his second cap. Another player who has not been recognised by Capello is Kevin Nolan now of West Ham. Having scored 30 goals in the last 2 seasons from midfield, surely he would have been a shoe in to gain his 1st cap, but the likes of Barry and Carrick were selected. Capello branded Barton 'too dangerous', it is obvious why he made those comments but Barton seems (note I used the word 'seems' as I don't want to tempt fate) to have moved on and matured over the last season, maybe he could give lessons to a certain Mr. Balotelli. http://bbc.in/qjBeju

As for players being removed from squads and having minute caps, this friendly will have more than any other and even then, there are usually mass substituions to please each manager. Arsene Wenger has said that Jack Wilshere 'can be picked but he will not play', this is understandable as Wilshere picked up a knock against DC United in pre-season, this begs the question, why select him? Barton or Nolan amongst others could have been picked and featured in the game. As for Manchester United players of which there are 4 and 3 probable starters, Sir Alex Ferguson will not allow Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Young to play the full game, they will be hauled off among many others, like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.

After the European Championships in 2012 another selection will have to be made, that of a new manager. Personally I believe Stuart Pearce has done a good job with the Under 21's and deserves a chance, the usual names will be thrown in like, Harry Redknapp and Steve Bruce but Pearce will remain a front runner in my opinion. As for Wednesday only time will tell how England will fare against a side of Holland's quality.

Liverpool Quickly Becoming A Force Again

This seasons transfer window has only been officially open for 9 days and there has already been a number of big transfers in the Premier League, with Liverpool leading the charge in order to rebuild their squad.

Since the return of Kenny Dalglish at the start of January Liverpool have looked a completely different side to the one that was playing in the months prior. New addition Raul Meireles struggled under Roy Hodgson but really showed his true quality under Dalglish as he scored 5 goals in 6 games at the start of Dalglish's tenure. Losing a world class striker like Fernando Torres would hurt any team but due to Torres' influence and the percentage of the teams goals he scored it hurt Liverpool a lot. They needed a replacement imminently, Luis Suarez a young yet potential packed player from Ajax signed for £22.5 million and became the clubs record signing. Then merely an hour and a half later Andy Carroll who had had a good start to the season at Newcastle joined for a staggering £35 million eclipsing the fee paid for Suarez. Liverpool rescued their season securing 6th place having been 19th after nearly 10 games of the season.

Jordan Henderson with Director of Football Damien Comolli

As they look to the future and on trying to build on a very successful second half of the season, money will have to be spent in the summer transfer window. They have quickly jumped out of the gates snapping up two players who have proved they can play at high levels in the Premier League; Jordan Henderson from Sunderland and Charlie Adam from Blackpool. Many say that they overpaid again for Henderson after overpaying for Carroll, they forked out £20 million for the 20 year-old England international. However Henderson has a very very bright future ahead of him and I am sure he will become an integral part of both his club and the England set up in the not so distant future. Charlie Adam then eventually signed for an undisclosed fee that is believed to be somewhere in the region of £7.5 million, a bargain? Most definitely after the season he had last year scoring 12 goals and being nominated for the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

Manager Kenny Dalglish has promised more signings and they have been chasing England Winger Stewart Downing but Aston Villa are demanding £20 million which could prove to be a stumbling block for the Reds. Another player linked with a move to Merseyside is Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia. A player that has been heavily linked with a number of Premier League clubs is 23 year old attacker Juan Manuel Mata from Valencia, with both Manchester sides also chasing him, Liverpool will have to overcome a £25-30 million asking price for the Spanish player.

Liverpool could well be a safe bet for 4th place next year if the sinking ship of Arsenal loses 2 world class players in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas. Spurs have also said they need to sell before they buy. A striker is  atop their list and typically strikers cost more than everyone else, which maybe opens the door for clubs to swoop for Gareth Bale and Luka Modric.

With Dalglish at the helm and an abundance of top quality players at his disposal Liverpool may well be climbing back to the heady heights of the top of the Premier League very soon.

Harry Potter Signals The End Of An Era

July 15th signals the end of an era, as Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released across the world.

It will have been 14 years and 16 days since the release of J.K Rowlings first novel (The Philosopher's Stone) and £9.2 billion has been amassed along the way along with countless awards for both the movies and novels. Author Joanne Rowling was listed as having a $1 billion fortune when Forbes latest billionaires list was published and in October 2010 she was named as 'The Most Influential Woman In Great Britain', 15 years ago only her friends and family would know who she is and now she has sold over 400 million copies of her Harry Potter books and had an effect on many peoples lives, including mine.

Harry, Ron and Hermione aged 11 in The Philosopher's Stone

I have grown up around the progression of Harry Potter, books being released, acting becoming better and SFX massively advancing. My experiences of growing up around it will be nothing compared to those of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (Harry, Hermione and Ron for those who have lived in a cave for 14 years). All three started filming for the first film when they were just aged 11, the screen has seen them grow from innocent young children into young adults with more to tell about their lives than most people. Collectively they have picked up 15 awards, £85 million and the admiration of the world.

Many famous lines have come from the Harry Potter films and people all over the world reciting them in conversation, but perhaps the most recognisable of all is the most nostalgic. 'You're a wizard Harry.' The moment when Harry realises he is magical and the journey of the viewer begin. Since that point of magic Harry Potter has gone on to be the highest grossing film series of all time by totalling £3.93 billion at an average of £562 million a film and with Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows arriving soon, both of those figures will sky-rocket as I believe it will be the highest grossing of the series, which interestingly is The Philosopher's Stone.


Even though the series will have been concluded the franchise will not stop there, as with the Lord of the Rings and more notably Star Wars which was originally released in 1977 it will stay fresh and continue to sell merchandise to great effect due to the massive effect it has had across the world. Harry Potter World at Universal Studios will still attract as many customers as it does at the moment because so much money and time would have not gone into it if people would not visit it when the film series is over.


On July 15th 2011 we will continue our adventure with our heroes still trying to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes. It all ends where it first started, in the beauty of Hogwarts Castle and its grounds. With what promises to be an epic battle and struggle to overcome the darkness Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will provide an apt ending to a near perfect series of novels and films. On July 15th 2011 we will end our journey and forever remember the Harry Potter novels, films, games and all manner of merchandise as one of the best selling most influential ever to grace this earth.

Mavericks 1 Win Away From Glory

After the first 4 games the 2011 NBA Finals was tied at 2-2. Dirk Nowitzki - arguably the MVP of this years finals so far - came through a bout of flu to pull the Mavs square in Game 4. And last night Dirk had his supporting cast on hand as they battled offense against offense and came out on top 112-103.

Nowitzki scored 29 to lead everybody yet again. On hand to give the Mavs an extra push over this checkpoint line were J.J Barea, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd who collectively shot 10-15 from behind the 3 point line. Although Miami did play well offensively and shot 53% from the field they just could not execute down the stretch missing 4 of their last 5 shot and committing 3 turnovers over a 2:44 period. Miami turned the ball over 18 times compared to Dallas' 11 and although there was not much separation anywhere else on the Box Score, Dallas' 13 3-pointers proved to be the difference.

Mid-way through the 2nd Quarter Dwyane Wade has hurt after being fouled by the Mavericks Brian Cardinal. He would leave the game twice for treatment and return both times to good effect. Top scoring for Miami with 23 points and shooting 10 for 12 at the free throw line. With Wade off the floor LeBron James needed to take up the reins and dominate the game and despite having a triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) he was yet again not his dominant self bringing into question his proficiency when the game is in the line.

With 33 seconds remaining and the shot-clock winding down, Dallas found themselves up by 4 but needing another basket to put the game to bed, Enter Jason 'Jet' Terry, he was left with nowhere to go and heaved up a miracle from way deep. 20433 people inside the American Airlines Center were holding there breath. The ball hit nothing but the bottom of the net and Jason Terry started up the jet engines as he wheeled away to the Mavericks bench knowing he had just hit the dagger that showed Miami they were ready to win the championship and gain revenge for 2006.

With both teams now heading back down to Miami, Dallas only needs to win one of 2 games to be crowned champions. Do not count out the Miami Heat yet, the reason they acquired James and Bosh to accompany Wade was to win titles, they will not go down without one almighty fight. Sunday night 8pm ET will see Game 6 and the Miami Heat fighting for their season and the Dallas Mavericks fighting to make history. Expect a classic, and expect a certain Mr. James to finally show up and show his worth.

Game 1 & 2 NBA Finals

The First 2 games of the 2011 NBA Finals were split, the Miami Heat won Game 1 and the Dallas Mavericks Game 2. In both teams wins, they used their trademark assets to great effect. Miami's suffocating defense won them Game 1. Dallas' fighting spirit and Number 41, won them the second.


Dallas' Shawn Marion said: "You hold a team to 38 percent shooting and 92 points, for us, that's usually a victory,"


In game 1 neither team shot the ball well, Miami shot 38% FG and won by 8. Dallas was held to 37%. A credit to Miami's defense when they can win a game whilst shooting a meagre 38%. Former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh got off to a good start scoring 6 of Miami's first 8 points and it wasn't until 14 minutes had passed with the score at 20-18 (DAL) that a 'non-big 3' Miami player scored when Mike Miller drilled a 3 to put them back up by 1. With 13 points at the half Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Bosh were leading all scorers.
Another big factor to Miami's win was that they out-rebounded Dallas by 10. Although both teams had 30 Defensive rebounds. Miami had 16 offensive compared to Dallas' 6. Giving the Heat 10 shot-clock resets and much more momentum especially with a loud, passionate Miami crowd on hand.


In the 2nd Half Dwyane Wade took over the ball game scoring 15 of his 22 points. Dirk Nowitzki tried to keep his team close throughout shooting 12-12 from the free-throw line and finishing with 27 points, leading all scorers. Miami's three-headed monster proved too much for the Mavs. LeBron was fed by with for an alley-oop pass with just under a minute to go that provided a fitting exclamation point as Miami proved they have awesome offense to go with their defense that helped them through game one. The Mav's fell behind in a play-off series for the first time this year.


Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena, Miami saw Game 2 of the Finals. Question marks were raised over Nowitzki's head as to how he would perform, due to the torn tendon in his left finger. By the end of the night, there were no question marks. Nowitzki had 24 and a game winner to cap a brilliant comeback from Dallas. "Dirk knew it was coming to him," teammate Jason Terry said. "He does what he always does. He comes through in a big way." They were down by 12, then D.Wade nailed a corner 3 which sparked a celebration with LeBron James. They seemed confident of the win, so did all in attendance apart from the team wearing blue, they would have nothing of it. Miami's defense was nowhere to be seen down the stretch with Nowitzki scoring Dallas' final 9 points. So many times over his career Nowitzki has come up clutch for the Mavs, but this may be the most important yet. Going down 2-0 and facing a confident Heat side is the stuff of nightmares. for the Heat now they need to win one of the next 3 games in Dallas for the series to head back to Florida.

Wade had his best play-off game this year scoring 36 (13-20) but it was to be in a losing effort. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will be looking for the same kind of output in the remainder of the series. How long that will be is too hard to judge. We are where we were before any baskets had been made. Miami has undoubtedly the better roster, but Dallas has strength in depth and a man that can seemingly make any basket when the going gets tough.

Sunday night 8pm ET sees Game 3 and a chance for one team to get another edge in this back and forth contest. I predict Miami in 7. LeBron James will take the finals MVP, however do not be surprised at all if I a way off with this prediction.


Were in it for the long haul!

Rockstar Games - Top Of The Charts

Are Rockstar Games the most consistent game developer out there? Some of you may believe EA or Treyarch bring out the best games, but can it be argued that Rockstar games have not released a bad game?

Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Red Dead Redemption and now L.A Noire. For many of you, your favourite game may have just been mentioned. All of these games have an open world, free roaming settings in their games, which gives the player a sense of being there and more control over their player, be it John Marsden from Red Dead or CJ from GTA: San Andreas.

They are not however free from controversy. All of the GTA games have caused controversy at some point or another, but it is nothing compared to what came about when the game Manhunt was released. The game was linked to the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17, on the 27th of February, 2004. The game was subsequently dropped by GAME and Dixons. As well as being removed from these stores, it is completely banned in many countries, including Germany, Ireland and New Zealand.

Controversy aside, Rockstar's figures do not lie. GTA is considered by many as the best franchise in the gaming industry, with its sense of freedom and 'no-good attitude'. It has generated perfect or near perfect reviews and scores on almost all of the games, and has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. The GTA series was started in 1997 and has continued to grow ever since that day. In my opinion the best installment is San Andreas. IGN has San Andreas at the top of their 'Greatest Ever PS2 Games' http://bit.ly/mwtNaq. I may have to disagree with them there as I believe NFS Underground 2 is. Rockstar though are not satisfied with bringing out a few top level games and have just released L.A Noire.

Based in post-war LA, which is a perfect recreation of the real-life post-war LA. It has the same recognisable HUD as its predecessors and the same feel to it. Some aspects have been changed though as you control a Cop and not a Serbian War Veteran as in GTA IV. You cannot simply wreak havoc and get police chases because, well, you are the police. Civilians will always jump out the way of your car as well so running them over is out of the question. The Xbox 360 version recieved a 91.3% rating by GameRankings, which is obviously a good score.

I believe the reason why Rockstar always deliver great games is because they do not have the contract to release a game every year as with Call of Duty and many sports games. They have all the time they want to create a perfect game and have done on many occasions. With L.A Noire set in a 'real-life' L.A, Rockstar have gone the extra mile in bringing what is great about their games into action. Making them perfect. What the future holds i do not know, maybe another GTA game. Lets hope so because it is guaranteed to be a hit.

Last Weekend of the Premier League

With only 1 team relegated (West Ham), that means there are another 2 up for grabs. Blackpool seem to be doing there best to take one of those places after having an amazing start to the season. Wolves are extremely erratic, having beaten Chelsea and Liverpool this season, they cannot seem to string wins together. Charles N'Zogbia is single-handedly helping Wigan, Birmingham and Blackburn have just been sucked into the battle although they have a good squad of players.

Blackpool, Wigan and Birmingham are all on 39 points whilst Wolves and Blackburn are one 40. With Blackpool away at the Champions Man United I fear for them and their mercurial manager Ian Holloway. Birmingham face Spurs whilst Wigan go to Stoke. Many possible outcomes are available but I believe Birmingham's stay in the top league may be over. As I previously mentioned Charles N'Zogbia is saving Wigan on his own and if he plays well against a downhearted Stoke Wigan may well stay up.

At the top Man United will be presented with the trophy at the end of their game vs Blackpool. Chelsea are virtually guaranteed 2nd. Arsenal need Man City to drop points at Bolton if they are to reclaim 3rd having been in the title hunt not too long ago. A massively rejuvenated Liverpool squad can benefit if Spurs drop points and take 5th having been 18th earlier in the season. As for the Golden Boot, Berbatov and Tevez top the charts with 20 each whilst Darren Bent and Robin Van Persie are on 17. Tevez looks to be the player who will win it as Berbatov may not start again for the Champions.

DJ Campbell of Blackpool said, "I'm trying to let the lads know it's not a nice feeling to be relegated". Whether this will fire up his team remains to be seen. By 4pm on Sunday they will need to be or it would have been a short stay in the Premier League.

End Of The Road For This Bunch Of Lakers?

They struggled to overcome the Hornets, eventually winning 4-2. Then got cleaned up by an inspired Dallas Mavericks squad. Are this group of Lakers finished?

Dallas looked more like the 2-time defending Champions and before the play-offs they were being written off completely. Dirk Nowitzki and his Mavericks kept the Lakers under 95 points in all 4 games. Showing that not only was their defense top notch, but the Lakers offense was second pushing on to third rate. The 36 point blow-out in Game 4 to complete the sweep was the story of the series. Dallas were immense and the Lakers awful.

After Game 4, former MVP Kobe Bryant was asked. "How shocked are you at being swept?". He replied with all that was needed a simple 'Very', with a look of a defeated man on his face. In stark contrast to the Lakers and Mr. Bryant. Jason Terry of the Mavericks said. "We're locked in and all have the same goal". The unity and good performances was what won it for them and as if to prove that the Mavericks
bench scored 86 points in Game 4. The final score Dallas 122- 86 Lakers. Yes the Mav's bench matched the output of the Lakers whole team!

Speculation that Laker coach Phil Jackson will retire at the end of the season may have dispirited the Lakers, but to be the 2 time defending champs and getting swept in the Conference Semis is embarrassing. What was also embarrassing was how they lost their discipline, when they knew that it was all over. Lamar Odom was ejected for rasing his elbow to Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bynum was ejected for an awful foul on JJ Barea. Barea was inspired throughout the series and it was not the first time a quick, energetic PG had terrorised the Lakers this year. Chris PAul of the New Orleans Hornets. was causing major problems but did not have enough of a backup cast to bring his team past the Lakers. Barea however not being the starting PG evidently did have the players around him to cause major problems to the Lakers.

Without the 11 time champion coach Jackson and with Kobe advancing in years will the Lakers crumble? The uprising of the Clippers and Blake Griffin will also disturb the Lakers camp and fans. Dallas however will be looking forward to the Conference Finals, having slaughtered the Lakers, they will feel they can beat anybody now.

Miami vs Dallas in the Finals. Miami to win.

NBA End of Season Awards

So... The end to another 82 game schedule for 14 teams, whilst the other 16 travelled onto the Playoffs.

The Toronto Raptors finished at a poor 22-60 but promising ends to the season from DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and new boy James Johnson have given me hope for next season. The top draft pick is in our sights after finishing with the 3rd worst record in the league. The honour of the worst however went to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ended the season losing 15 straight...

Enough ranting about bad teams and onto the Title of this post, the NBA End of Season Awards. Although the All NBA teams have not been released yet, all of the individual awards have.

MVP: Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls)
Becomes the first Bull to win it since a well known player called Michael Jordan. At 22 he becomes the youngest ever winner. Dwight 'Superman' Howard came in second as he carried a very lackluster Orlando Magic team through to the Playoffs yet again. 2 time reigning MVP LeBron James could only score enough points to finish third and what would an MVP race be without the presence of the ever-green Mr. Kobe Bryant. In my opinion D Rose is more than worthy of this honour. He managed to keep the Bulls on track whilst his supporting cast was getting injured, most notably Carlos Boozer and Joakhim Noah. By keeping them on track he guided them to the best record in the league, this nobody would have predicted at the start of the season.

Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin (LA Clippers)
Slam Dunk Champion, All-Star, numerous records broken. Blake Griffin's rookie year has not been quiet. He was unanimously visited ROY behind John Wall (Washington Wizards), only the 3rd person to do this in the history of the NBA. He had people talking about his scoring, his rebounding, his Clippers reaching the Playoffs and these two monster dunks on the Knicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VLEGtRuz4. I am 100% that Flight 32 or Quake Griffin as he has been called will be even better next season and the LA Clippers will make the Playoffs within the next 2 seasons.

Most Improved Player: Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
To put it simply, he was unbelievable this season. Posting MVP calibre numbers most nights, he has not helped by the fact that he was on the worst team. 53 straight Double-Doubles.Only 3 other players managed 53 across the whole season. He is the first player for 29 years to average at least 20 points and 15 rebounds a game. When he posted 31 points and 31 rebounds he came the first player to do so in 29 years. To prove he was the 'most improved' he was the only player to rank in the top 10 in biggest jumps from the previous season. PPG went up 6.2, RPG was +4.4 and 3p% was up .089%. An easy decision to make, now all he and Michael Beasley need are other decent players on their roster.

Coach of the Year: Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls (again))
Thibodeau tied the record for most wins in as a rookie head coach with 62 and led the Bulls to their first Divisional Title since the Jordan era. He is only the 7th coach to win the award in his first season. The Bulls defense was what made for their success, Thibodeau drove them to top 3 defensive stats and they were second in points allowed at 91.3

Sixth Man of the Year: Lamar Odom (LA Lakers)
Odom was a catalyst for the Lakers to achieve another playoff season. Starting Centre Andrew Bynum was out for most of the season and Odom could come of the bench more often than not and provide a spark that would win the Lakers many games. He averaged 14.4 PPG, 8.7 RPG and ranked 19th in Double-Doubles. All of this came after coming of the bench more than he started. Jason Terry (Dallas Mavericks) could have won the award for a 3rd time in a row, but that would have been too monotonous.

As for the Playoffs now, Bulls and Hawks are tied at 1-1, I predic the Bulls to go on and win that 4-1 maybe 4-2. OKC and Memphis are also tied at 1-1, OKC will win that in 6. LA Lakers are seemingly in trouble at 0-2 vs the Mavericks, this series will go the full 7 and the Mavericks will win 4-3. Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The Heat are up 2-0 and Boston isnt showing any sign on resistance, maybe a sweep is on the cards but 4-1 seems the most reasonable result. Although I have just tried it is too hard to predict the Winner, but I think it may go to Dallas, if they overcome the Lakers, if they do not, the Trophy will be heading to South Beach, Miami.

500 Word Speech On The Salaries Of Professional Athletes

This is a short 500 word speech on the Salaries of professional athletes for an assignment.

Do professional athletes get paid too much? How much is too much. More than their clubs will pay them or more than the public deem necessary.

The answer is more than their clubs will pay them, therefore professional athletes do not get paid too much. The average yearly wage of a Premier League footballer is £1,761,136. If the chairmen of all the 20 clubs thought that figure was too much then it would be lower, as the players do not put forward the contract offers.

A common argument that will continue in this country is; should soldiers get paid more than footballers? Whether they should or not is not the point, it is the fact that the government pays the soldiers not Russian billionaires like Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich who can afford to pay his players large amounts. The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is £14,300 and they take their job knowing what the salary is and also the danger that is involved.

It is not only Premier League footballs that receive high salaries 2 two reigning NBA MVP LeBron James will earn $14,500,000 this year, that is the equivalent to £8,904,446. He is good enough to receive a high wage and the Miami Heat General Manager decided to offer him that amount, would you turn it down? The answer to that question is no, nobody would. James is working in his dream job that he chose to work in and is receiving his wage, no matter how large it is.

Professional athletes are not paid a lot of money just so their teams can secure their services, they are also advertising icons. Wayne Rooney received £600,000 a year from Coke Zero to be the face of their product. Tiger Woods received $90,000,000 a year back in 1999. Again the fact that neither Rooney nor Woods would have asked for this amount and still received it shows how companies as big a Coke and Nike can pay stars that much and still rake in profits.

Everybody in a capitalist society gets paid depending on their value and services in the so called market place. If sport and football is the number one spectator sport in our country then the players will keep on receiving these kinds of wages, because the clubs owners will be receiving money from gate receipts, merchandise and other such oddities.

The argument that sports players receive too much money is completely powerless and will never affect how much they receive in the future. It is only because professional athletes receive much more than the average wage that people argue against it and think they are looking out for the wider public. If soldiers were to receive the same amount as athletes people would then complain about that. Do not say you wouldn’t, people’s thirst for money will overtake any of their morals so Soldiers would receive the same amount of slander as athletes do now. Surely that is immoral?

Inception Move Review

Leonardo DiCaprio has portrayed many characters over the years including the love stricken Jack Dawson in ‘Titanic’ and famous con-man Frank Abagnale in ‘Catch Me If You Can’, but his performance as Dominic Cobb in the multi award-winning ‘Inception’ may just be his best yet.

Cobb along with his companion Arthur played by ‘(500) Days of Summers’ Joseph Gordon-Levitt are seeking to persuade Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to disband his father’s business after his inevitable death, through the art of inception.  ‘No idea is simple when you have to plant it in somebody's mind.’ Thoughts that are planted in a subjects mind are manipulated by their sub-conscious leading to an outcome, in this case for Fischer to break up his fathers business.

An architecture student (Ellen Page), a chemist (Dileep Rao), an impersonator (Tom Hardy) and a business man (Ken Watanabe) join Cobb and Arthur to create a team capable of performing inception. Tom Hardy brings humour to the high octane action with a number of witty one-liners and relaxed nature, whilst Ellen Page showed her talents to the fullest effect again by performing at a similar level to the outstanding DiCaprio.

The element of sub-conscious and the mind make this blockbuster relevant to everybody as we all want to know what goes on inside our minds. DiCaprio’s portrayal of such distress and desperation is something that keeps the audience on edge as this is Cobb’s last chance of sorting out his life.

 It has become the 25^th highest grossing film of all time and won multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects which after watching it should come as no surprise.

A truly remarkable storyline backed up by great performances and the best ending to a film I have ever seen makes this film a must-see.

A short 300 word review of Inception for an assignment. Let me know what you think.

End of the Regular Season

The NBA's regular season is coming to an end and seeing as the last time I posted it was around the All-Star game, that means I have been lazy.... True.

In the Eastern Conference there have been major changes. The Bulls (54-20) are the #1 seed, the Celtics (51-22) are crawling to the finish line and lots of trade action has seen many of the rosters re-shuffle. Throughout all his change the Cleveland Cavaliars (15-59) are still the worst team in the Association and the Heat (52-23) are still as erratic as Emile Heskey.

Meanwhile in the West, San Antonio (57-17) are still the best team in the League and the Dallas Mavericks (53-21) achieved their 11th straight season of 50+ wins. Kevin Love's seeminlgy never-ending streak of Double-Doubles came to an end at 53 and Jerry Sloan resigned as Head Coach of the Utah Jazz (36-39) after an amazing 23 seasons there.

The trade deadline came on 24th February and with that came some monster deals. Carmelo Anthony was traded to the NY Knicks (37-38) along with Chauncey Billups and most of NY's roster going the other way to Denver (45-29). With many expecting the Knicks to surge up the East and the Nuggets to plummet down the West. Not the case. Since the trade the Nuggets are 14 and 3 whilst the Knicks are 9 and 12. Did it take the Denver Nuggets nearly 7 seasons they maybe better without one of the best players in the League? Kendrick Perkins was traded form Boston to the OKC Thunder. Why? Perkins' presence is possibly one of the biggest intangibles in the league. He has made Oklahoma City a much bigger team and more of a threat in the off-season.

With only about 6 or 7 games left for each team until the end of the 82, my metaphorical money for the Championship is on the top 3 seeds from each conference. The Bulls, Celtics and Heat from the East and the Spurs, Lakers and Mavericks from the West. I believe it to be that tight this year.

Derrick Rose, LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki are my front runners for MVP honours. Blake Griffin has to win the Rookie of the Year, even though he has been a bit over-hyped. The most improved player is nailed down on Kevin Love. Coach of the Year in my opinion is Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls, he would get Rookie of the Year for me, that is if Coaches were allowed to win it. The best I can hope for the Raptors (20-54) is that we get the best Draft pick possible come June time.

I will try not to be lazy and update this more throughout the Playoffs and with other posts as well....promise.

Everything Is Broken!

1 broken record, 1 broken body and 1 broken team!


Saturday brought about two of the above; the broken record and team. The Premier League is the best league in the world and it showed why it is with an extraordinary day of action. Arsenal 4-0 after 68 minutes against Newcastle only for the game to finish 4-4. Louis Saha scored his first Premier League hat-trick and then one more bagging 4 in a 5-3 Everton win over struggling Blackpool. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick in 22 minutes as Manchester City beat West Brom 3-0. All of his added together and more means that a whopping 41 goals were scored on Saturday, a new record for the Premier League. Maybe most surprising of all I was treated to watching Manchester United lose. It was the first loss they had suffered this season and it came at the hands of bottom club Wolves! Even with the adding of some 'Fergie Time' Wolves managed to defend their goal for the whole second half. Man of the Match George Elokobi said. 'I said to the boys, 'We've got to play for 50 minutes in the second half. We know against United we'd get about five minutes of extra-time.' Many of United's opponents believe that they receive more added time when they are losing.


If you want to know how much fortunes can change in a year ask the people of Cleveland and most importantly the Cleveland Cavaliers. This time last year they had the best record in the NBA and were looking like they could win the Championship, a year on from that they have lost the best player in the league and their longest serving player; LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. As if that wasn't enough, they now own the worst record in the NBA (8-43) and the longest losing streak in NBA history. The streak shows no sign of ending.


Sadly something that does look like it could end is Robert Kubica's Formula 1 driving career. Kubica was involved in a crash as he took part in a rally. His car crashed into a wall leaving him with horrible injuries. A broken arm and leg, he may have to have his hand amputated as it was crushed in the collision. Kubica finished 8th in the final driver standings in 2010 and 4th in 2008. He has recently been labelled as a future champion by former F1 champion Mario Andretti. Reports are saying that he may miss the whole season which begins next month, but Kubica has received backing from fellow drivers that he will be able to race this year.


I told you everything was broken, hopefully you enjoyed my second post. They won't all be this long, unless you like them long... No seriously I just wanted to show off in this one. Thinking about it again I maybe shouldn't have put the Kubica piece at the end because it will be freshest in your memory and it isn't nice to think about.


Peace Out!

NBA All-Star Game 2011

The 60th NBA All-Star game will be held in LA on February 20th. The highlight of last year's game will not be repeated as NBA fans flooded to The Cowboy's Stadium, Dallas, to make a record for the most people to attend a basketball game, this being 108,713! Both rosters are now full of exciting, world class basket-ballers. 4 former MVP's including current two-time reigning MVP LeBron James will join the party. 3 first timers, most notably Blake Griffin the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year. 2011 promises to be a game that may just live up to its predecessors.

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard will now see the All-Star game as a formality having collectively been selected for it 32 times. It is not these players who have caused the biggest stir in the league this year it is LA Clippers Forward, Blake Griffin and Minnesota Timberwolves Big Man Kevin Love who have. Love who has posted 34 straight Double-Doubles and became the first player since Moses Malone in 1982 to score 30 points and grab 30 rebounds in a single game finishing with 31 and 31. Love's selection only came about last night when Commissioner David Stern chose him to replace the injured Yao Ming, Love was informed before the T-Wolves match against the Toronto Raptors (my favourite team). Former NBA player Charles Barkley was not in a forgiving mood when he heard the news that Love have originally not been selected ( http://on.nba.com/hTrKe1 ). Blake Griffin has taken the NBA by storm in his Rookie year with his high octane performances and crowd pleasing dunks, Griffin becomes the first rookie since 2003 to be chosen for the All-Star game.

The All-Star game is always exciting and with the worlds most exciting players it can only mean one thing... double the excitement of course. The All-Star game can be seen on ESPN on 20-2-11 and will be a spectacle to behold.