Sonnet: Natalie Portman

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Are Techs' Too Easy Now?

Sunay night the Heat and Celtics battled it on the court, literally. The game was talked about in anticipation because both teams are Finals contenders. Many people were waiting for this match up in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals hence the reason for the technical fouls. The technicals were between Paul Pierce and James Jones and then Paul Pierce and Dwyane Wade. The argument arose if technical fouls were beginning to be called for anything. This is a serious dispute becuase in any professional sport when players are given fouls, card, or technicals they have to pay a fine for misconduct. Apart from this, they begin to get bad reputations around the media. This is the first technica called on both Paul Pierce and James Jones:

video 1
The second pair of technicals and the one that got Paul Pierce expulsed from the game and potentially causing their loss was this play almost immediatly after:


video 2
Whatever the call should have been, doesn't matter. This wont be the last time that they get to see eachother. Emotions are going to be running high when they meet again in the American Airlines Arena.

Tippin' Off The Playoffs

The Semi-Finals began Sunday night. Heat-Celtics and Bulls-Hawks in the East, Thunder-Grizzles and Lakers-Mavericks in the West. Both of these series are promosing.

Lets talk a little about the Memphis Grizzlies. They surprisingly made it into the Playoffs finishing 8th in the Western Conference. Unfortunately they had to play the 1st seed San Antonio Spurs that were coming off a winning spree to finish off the regular season. The series seemed like a sweep in favor of the Spurs, having more than 30 years of experience on their team and even more with their outstanding head coach: Greg Popolovich. This didn't prove to be true. The Grizzlies out played the superstar team in six games. The Grizzlies ended an era of the Spurs, and decided offically the future of Greg Popolovich.

This young and energetic Grizzlie team is not pulling off a lucky streak because last nast they beat the menacing Oklahoma City Thunder 114-101. The game was a duel between two young teams. Although the Grizzlies almost swept the Spurs and have taken a 1-0 lead against the Thunder I'm not filling in my brackets yet because this series will go, to at least, six games.

Old News But New History

This Tuesday LeBron James will revisit his natal team: the Cavs. This match up doesn’t decide the fates of the teams in the post season. With the worst record in the league (14-58) the Cavs will have to watch LeBron James play for the Heat and for the first time in 6 years (when LeBron was drafted) the Cavs will not be in the 2011 Playoffs.
Miami has already begun to think about the post season. LeBron knows that he will not be welcomed with open arms to the Quicken Loans Arena. Although, he said, “Can't get no worse than it was December 2nd,'' after the humiliating 118-90 win over the Cavaliers James said, “"That was a huge step for us.”
Head Coach Byron Scott (Cavs) said that he doesn’t think that the arena will get that crazy as it did back in December. "I don't think it's going to be quite that crazy,'' Byron Scott said when asked. He says that the fans already know what happened last time LeBron went to Cleveland. Although shutting out the Cavs the last time they played, LeBron and the Heat know what happened a few weeks ago when the Lakers strolled into Cleveland and ended up losing.
LeBron James is known to be a clutch player around the league, and the Cavs know that. This Tuesday LeBron will be reunited with his old teammates and fans. After being ridiculed in every stadium this season, Miami, is used to the boos and shouts of the fans. Hopefully LeBron wont feel the pressure of his former city.

Taboo and Basketballs

Last Night, as I sat in front of my computer and looked for blogs to write about: I couldn't. The reason was because I had a basketball final the next day. As I went from blog entry to blog entry and read more about basketball, the anxiety got worse. And I began to think about what makes athletes do the things they do. Since I was a younger I could remember doing certain things before a football game: wearing a "lucky" shirt or buying the same gatorade flavor. The thought of having rituals pre or post game was interesting. So, I investigated. I found out that most athletes have superstitions that they avoid to feel confident. "Athletic superstitions and pre-game protocol rule the sporting world," said Kurtis Larson. And I agreed. Michael Jordan would play with his North Carolina Tarheels shorts underneath his Bulls uniform. In case this doesn't gross you out, Mark McGwire used the same protective cup from highschool. And we cannot dismiss the most famous one today, LeBron James' chalk throwing in the air. These rituals may even include swagger. All these superstitions were fascinating to read. They ranged from a simple use of an item of clothing to wanting multiple shots to the face. As I thought more of these taboos, I concluded that they're as important to a player as the actual game. After reading about the things that professional athletes do, it made me think that no matter how good they are, they wouldn't be as calm if it weren't for these rituals.

Miami And The League

After Miami's 5 game losing streak last week they were undoubtedly the center of ridicule. The rants began from NBA news reporters who spoke strictly upon facts and analyzed the reason why the Heat were struggling, but these were turned into attempts for fans to get a piece of the Heat.

Unfortunately for those who don't appreciate what Miami has done over the past few months, the 5 game losing streak was snapped against the ominous Los Angeles Lakers. Last Thursday, El Heat and Los Lakers(Latino Week) faced off in the American Airlines Arena. The Heat walked away with the win and left the Lakers with something to think about on their flight back across the country.

I was given the inspiration to write about this after watching Miami glide over the number one seeded Spurs and once again proving to be better then they are given credit for. Before the game, I read an article that suggested the same, Miami would need beat the Spurs in order to stop all those rants.

Anti-Star Weekend?

This weekend Los Angeles will host the 2011 All-Star Weekend: Dunk Contest, Three-point Shooting, and the East vs. West. This is the funnest and most enjoyed weekend in basketball for anyone who follows the NBA. The questions begin to circle around, who will win the Dunk Contest? Or, I want to see the West tumble the East(West vs. East).

All these questions surround this event, who will play? Who's going to be the starting 5?However; the questions aren't to debate. I read an article a few nights ago that intrigued me. The article was a debate between two widely known NBA anylists, Chris Broussard and Ric Bucher.

In the article, it mentions that the Weekend is supremely interesting, but, "I think it could use some sprucing up." Said Bucher, who then brought up the idea of a One-on-One tournament. Broussard responded simply, "I'd love to see a one-on-one competition as well, but only if the game's best players participated." Precisely. I thought when I read, no one wants to see "Von Wafer and Shannon Brown" play in a One-on-One. You want to see "Kobe Bryant versus Dwayne Wade in one semi, and LeBron James versus Kevin Durant in the other," pointed out Broussard, that's the reason why the Weekend is what it is, because you have the elite players on one team.

I asked myself, why do I watch the All-Star Game? It was simple, because you get to see something that doesnt happen very often. Like Dwayne Wade playing side-by-side to Amare Stoudamire and Paul Pierce. It's unimaginable. We always criticize the winners of the Dunk Contest or the 3-Point Contest because we know that LeBron James would win everything. And thats why those players dont content, because they have too much to lose when they do. If people saw LeBron James lose the Dunk Contest then he would compromise his status and so I think these tournaments are interesting because you watch ordinary players compete against one another and see the actual talent in the NBA.