2007 NBA Playoff Predictions

• Given that it is NBA playoff time, I should make some predictions. I already said yesterday that I think it’s going to be Cavs-Spurs in the finals. Here’s the rest of my picks:

• Pistons over Magic in 5 games
• Cavs over Wizards in 5 games
• Raptors over Nets in 6 games
• Heat over Bulls in 6 games
• Mavericks over Warriors in 5 games
• Suns over Lakers in 5 games
• Spurs over Nuggets in 5 games
• Rockets over Jazz in 7 games

If that plays out, I think it’ll be Heat-Cavs in the East Finals and Spurs-Mavs in the West Finals.

Friday Night Quick Hits

• Given that it is NBA playoff time, I should make some predictions. I already said yesterday that I think it’s going to be Cavs-Spurs in the finals. Here’s the rest of my picks:

• Pistons over Magic in 5 games
• Cavs over Wizards in 5 games
• Raptors over Nets in 6 games
• Heat over Bulls in 6 games
• Mavericks over Warriors in 5 games
• Suns over Lakers in 5 games
• Spurs over Nuggets in 5 games
• Rockets over Jazz in 7 games

If that plays out, I think it’ll be Heat-Cavs in the East Finals and Spurs-Mavs in the West Finals.

• I saw the sun today. It’s been a long time since anyone in Connecticut could say that. The weather finally feels like spring, which means we’re probably a couple weeks away from me having to take the cover off my air conditioner (as an aside, I almost never have to turn the heat on in the winter, thanks to the warm air pushed out by the computers in my living room).

Dreaming of the Finals

Last night, I told myself I wouldn’t get too excited about the Cavs playoff hopes until the playoffs actually started. That lasted about 12 hours. The more I think about it, I think the Cavs are going to the finals.

Lisa and I were discussing this today at work, and as much as she doesn’t want to see a Cavs-Spurs series, that’s exactly what I see happening. And if it does, expect to see this highlight over and over again. In fact, go see it now. I’ll wait for you.

...

Ok, you’re back. Wasn’t that awesome. Let’s see it again. OK, I’m good now. Honestly, I don’t think the Cavs could beat the Spurs in a 7-game series, but getting to the Finals would be a huge step for LeBron. And it’s not out of the question. They’re going to have an easy series against the Wizards, then another relatively easy series against the Nets or Raptors (and I think the Raptors will win that one). Then they’ll get a tired team from the other side of the bracket, the side with the Pistons, Heat, Bulls and Magic. It’s not gonna be easy to get through all that.

Besides, things are going good for Cleveland these days. The Browns have the No. 3 pick in the draft, the Indians are 4-2 at home (even if 3 of those “home” games were in Milwaukee) and NBC’s “30 Rock” (a very underrated show) even featured Cleveland in tonight’s episode.

Go Cavs!

Playoffs?! You kidding me? Playoffs?!

That’s right, playoffs! The NBA playoffs officially start Saturday, but they really started tonight. And so far the Cavs are 1-0 in the playoffs.

Cleveland entered tonight needing a win and a Bulls loss to earn the 2 seed in the East, and a much easier road to the conference finals. Well, the win was pretty much a guarantee, with the Cavs hosting the Bucks, but the Bulls loss wouldn’t be as easy.

The Cavs game started at 7, so I saw the beginning of it at work, but had to follow it online at home. Once the Cavs wrapped it up, my full attention was on the Bulls-Nets game on ESPN. I even put on my Jason Kidd Nets jersey -- which I’m wearing in celebration as I write this, since the Nets beat the Bulls, giving the Cavs the 2 seed. Even better, the wounded Wizards held on against the Pacers, giving them the 2 seed.

All this means the Cavs will face Washington in the first round, and the Nets-Raptors winner in the 2nd round. Conference Finals, here we come!

NFL Draft approaching

So today at work I made a declaration regarding the NFL Draft. I only care about 2 things that happen in the draft (which takes place in a little less than 2 weeks):

• Who the Redskins pick in the first round

• Where Jamaal Anderson ends up

So, who is Jamaal Anderson? Well, according to Scouts, Inc., he’s the No. 2 ranked defensive end prospect in the draft (which, as an aside, would probably make him a good fit for the Redskins, though probably not at No. 6 overall). More importantly though, he’s the son of Dr. Glenn Anderson.

Dr. Anderson is a deaf man, a former candidate for president at Gallaudet University, and someone my parents actually know, which is pretty cool to me. The Andersons were profiled by Tom Friend in a recent ESPN The Magazine special, which is a great read even for those who don’t have any kind of connection to the story.

Right now, Todd McShay has Anderson going 13th to the Rams, while Mel Kiper Jr. has him going 21st to the Broncos. Wherever Anderson ends up, I’ll be sure to buy his jersey.

As an aside, former Louisville QB and fellow CODA (child of deaf adults) Stefan LeFors is currently on the roster of the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.

Sunday Night Quick Hits

• Just got finished watching the 2-hour premiere of the new show “Drive” on FOX and I have to say I was impressed. It’s nice to have Nathan Fillion (aka Cpt. Malcolm Reynolds from “Firefly”) back on the air. Hopefully this show will last longer than some of the other new shows I’ve watched this year (“The Nine”, “The Knights of Prosperity”, etc.)

• I forgot to mention this in yesterday’s quick hits, but I finally beat “Hulk: Ultimate Destruction” after a month or so of playing. I bought the game a long time ago, but didn’t pick it up for awhile. Now there’s only, oh a dozen or so games in my collection that I haven’t finished yet, including a couple that haven’t spent more than a token amount of time in a system.

• Speaking of games, I think when I get some time, I’m going to move my vintage game systems to the basement and just leave the 360, Wii and PS2 hooked up to the living room TV (and the PS2 will move to the basement once I get a PS3, which will be shortly after never). Also, I need to get a replacement for my SNES, which isn’t working so well these days. Hey, I bought it for 20 bucks and got 2 good years out of it, so I’m not complaining.

• The weather here sucks. I like it cooler and I don’t mind the rain, but this is freakin’ ridiculous. It’s the middle of April. It shouldn’t feel like February. I blame Al Gore.

• Only 7 days left until “Heroes” returns. I can’t wait. This hiatus has been killing me, even more so than the fall hiatus for “Lost.” I need my Claire fix.

Buffy and Spike

My second “Buffy” video - it’s Buffy and Spike set to the Kelly Clarkson song “Addicted”. I thought this was a great song for the Buffy-Spike relationship, since it was so destructive but neither of them could give it up.

Director’s commentary:

- unlike my Buffy-Angel movie, I wasn’t trying to tell the chronological story of their relationship, I just wanted to capture the essence, so I’ve got a lot of shorter clips that aren’t in order from the series.
- I pulled a lot more video for this one, but found myself going back to the same four or five episodes that had really great scenes that fit the lyrics.
- I debated for a long time about using the scene from “Seeing Red” but decided it was a good follow up to the scene from “Smashed” that precedes it in the video. “Smashed” shows Buffy’s unhealthy addiction to Spike and “Seeing Red” is obviously the low point of Spike’s addiction to Buffy.
- Because of the flow of the song and the quick hit style of the clips, there are fewer iMovie transitions. I think the jarring jumps actually work better.

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning Quick Hits

• After months of bidding, I finally won a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 on eBay, and for less than I had previously been bidding. The copy I won isn’t a near-mint or mint condition copy, but that’s not what concerns me. I’m not a graded-level comic collector. I just like having key issues.

• I made a small mistake in yesterday’s D-Wade entry. The sick dunk I was referring to wasn’t an alley oop, it was just a fast break dunk. The pass was a little behind him but the stretch on the arm was more to avoid the defender, and had nothing to do with catching the pass. Still, it was a sick dunk.

• Dwight Howard had a crazy day today (35 points on 14-of-15 shooting) so we decided he needs a nickname. One of my co-workers came up with “Mr. Incredible”, which fits him well. Have you seen Dwight Howard’s upper body? The guy is huge.

• I’ve got Sunday off and I’m probably going to spend it working on my next “Buffy” video. I’m planning on doing the Buffy-Spike relationship set to Kelly Clarkson’s “Addicted”, but we’ll see how it goes, since I’ve got some other ideas kicking around as well.

D-Wade is back

I have to be honest -- I was a little saddened today when I read that because of knee tendinitis (something with which I’m far too familiar) Dwyane Wade wasn’t going to dunk anymore this season. He’s such an incredible in-game dunker that it’s tough to imagine him not doing it.

Well, that didn’t last long. With 50 seconds left in tonight’s game against the Pacers, Wade threw down an incredible alley-oop jam on a fast break. The pass wasn’t great, and Wade had to catch it on the way down, but that made it look even more impressive.

Now, I’d still take LeBron over D-Wade every day of the week and twice on Sunday, but I gotta give Flash his props. He’s one of the most exciting players in the NBA today, and the league is better for having him healthy and on the court.

What's wrong with LeBron?

Let me start this out with this disclaimer: I’m a huge LeBron James fan. I used to run a website called LeBronJamesNews.com. I think he is the best pure talent in the NBA today.

That said, not all is right in the mighty kingdom of LeBron. What I speak of are his troubles in the so-called “clutch.” Now, “clutch” is hard to define -- and to be fair, a basket in the first quarter counts for the exact same amount of points as a basket in the fourth quarter -- but let’s run this stat by you. In the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, in games in which the Cavaliers are tied or trailing by 3 points or less, LeBron James is shooting 0-for-11 from 3-point range. No matter how you slice it, that’s a problem. Strangely though, my problem isn’t with the 0, it’s with the 11. Why is LeBron James, admittedly not a great three-point shooter, taking so many 3s in key situations?

Well, there are two problems that have conspired to result in that stat, and I’m going to state pretty bluntly here.

Problem #1: LeBron’s teammates are terrible.

This isn’t really his fault, but it’s causing a huge problem for his game. Let’s flash back to January of 2006. There was a span of games in which LeBron passed the ball off in those “late-and-tight” situations, causing the media to jump on him. Why wasn’t he taking those shots? Isn’t he the superstar? Who wants Flip Murray taking game-winners when you’ve got LeBron?

Now, add that criticism to the years of watching guys like Eric Snow, Flip Murray, Anderson Varejao, Damon Jones, Daniel Gibson, Larry Hughes (do I need to go on) miss shot after shot, and you can understand why the guy with “crazy court vision” (to quote one of his early Nike commercials) is reluctant to pass the ball, even when he’s double-teammed 25 feet from the basket at the end of a game.

Problem #2: LeBron can’t shoot free throws.

Again, to be fair, the guy’s not Shaq, but he’s not Larry Legend either. He’s finally back over 70% (70.3 entering tonight’s game against the Nets) but spent much of the season in the 65-68% range. More importantly, he’s missed critical shots down the stretch. He missed 3-of-4 in a 17 second stretch on Feb. 1 against the Heat, and exactly a month later, went 0-2 in the final 17 seconds against the Mavericks.

Add these two problems together, and what do you get? A player who will always have the ball in his hands down the stretch, but is reluctant to take it to the basket, and is more reluctant to give it up to an open teammate when the double-team comes.

Now, with LeBron it always comes back to MJ. Early in his career, MJ didn’t have the free throw problem (he was an 85% shooter), but he did have the teammate problem. He didn’t always trust them. It was Phil Jackson who taught MJ to trust his teammates and be willing to give it up to them in key situations. When that started to happen, lanes opened up for MJ, because the other defenders on the floor couldn’t sag off their man, for fear of a precision MJ pass (see: Jim Paxson, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington, et al).

This brings us to problem #3, aka “The Real Problem”: Mike Brown. Now, I like Mike Brown. He seems like a nice enough guy, and he’s a great assistant coach. He’s just not a head coach. There’s nothing wrong with that -- there have been tons of coaches throughout the years who were fabulous assistants but terrible leaders. It’s the backup QB theory. The most popular guy in town is always the guy carrying the clipboard, but once he’s under center, he’s also under fire. Mike Brown can’t take that heat, so it’s time for him to get out of the kitchen, and get out of LeBron’s way.

One other thing I need to mention here: LeBron James’ career took a turn in the Summer of ’05, when Michael Redd decided to re-sign with the Bucks. I understand why Redd made that choice -- it was an extra guaranteed year and another $20 million in guaranteed bucks. But Redd could have been the Pippen to James’ Jordan, and James would have had the teammate he could have trusted to make the open shot. Instead, James is still looking for that missing piece, and Redd is a very rich man who’ll be watching the playoffs from the comfort of his couch.

Felix Hernandez, meet Ntozake Nelson

Like I said, something always happens to restore my faith in sports. Maybe it’s a guy dropping 81 in an NBA game. Or a guy running scoring four touchdowns seemingly every week in the NFL. Or a guy tossing a no-hitter -- or coming damn close.

Felix Hernandez -- who just turned 21 on Sunday -- threw a gem Wednesday night, taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning and ending up with a complete-game one-hitter. This happened in Fenway Park, where all the focus before the game was on the much-hyped Daisuke-Ichiro showdown. It’s nice to know that sometimes a great sports story can overshadow “the story”.

I don’t have all my resources at my fingertips here at home, but I believe Felix is the first opponent to come into Fenway and throw a 9-inning one-hitter against the Sox since Mike Mussina’s near-perfect game in 2001.

Last week, Felix became the youngest Opening Day starter since Dwight Gooden. Hopefully, Felix will have the career path that Doc SHOULD have had.

Even if he doesn’t, for one glorious night, Felix Hernandez made me remember why I love sports. And for that, he’s my Ntozake Nelson of the Night.

Sports Day

I’ve been rewatching the old TV series “Sports Night” on DVD lately, and I’m reminded how much I loved it when it ran. I also have a whole new perspective on the show. And while “Sports Night” isn’t a realistic portrayal of what happens behind the scenes, there are some times when it’s dead on.

Take today for example. There was lots of news on what is called the “Duke Lacrosse Case.” Only the case really has nothing to do with lacrosse and everything to do with sexual assault, false accusations and lawyers on both sides doing everything they can to get more face time on TV. This comes one day after a Tuesday in which the big sports stories were the response by the Rutgers women’s basketball team to bigoted comments by radio host Don Imus, and the NFL suspending Adam “Pac-Man” Jones and Chris Henry for 1 year and 8 games respectively for off-the-field conduct detrimental to the league.

What do all three of these sports stories have in common? Well, they consist of no actual sports. No games were played, no teams won, no teams lost, no one threw a ball or shot a puck or even executed a triple axel on ice. There were no shining moments, no one was simply the best and no radio announcers couldn’t believe what they just saw.

What does this have to do with “Sports Night”? Well, in the pilot episode, Casey, one of the anchors, is thinking about leaving sports. When his broadcast partner Dan asks him why, Casey responds that he’s tired. Dan asks “Tired of what?” Casey’s response:

"But first this: Sacramento power forward Jayson Grissom was released by a judge in Houston this morning after posting a $50,000 bond." Which, by the way, he paid in cash he happened to have in his pocket.

He goes on to add:

Any atrocity, no matter how ridiculous or hideous or childish, it doesn't matter. I make it sports. Ten cent bag man whacks a skater's leg with a crowbar, that's sports. Second round draft pick gets cranky in a Houston bar, and that's sports. And let's not forget the mother of all great sports stories: a double homicide in Brentwood.

Trust me, there is nothing more depressing about my job than constantly having to do stories like this. I would love it if we never had to talk about the Adam Joneses and Don Imuses and Mike Nifongs of the world, but we do.

This story does have a happy ending though. At the end of the episode, Casey’s faith in sports is restored, thanks to the incredible accomplishments of an African distance runner named Ntozake Nelson, who at 41 years old breaks a world record. Now, I don’t plan on watching any distance races tonight, but the great thing about sports is there’s always an Ntozake Nelson out there just waiting to do something incredible -- on the field of play -- that, even if for just the briefest of moments, makes you forget about all the Jayson Grissom types.

Least likely to respond, my ass!

So, Pooz e-mailed out this survey today with his responses, and for #41, his answer was me. Well, fuck that. Here’s my responses for the whole damn world. If you want to respond, then e-mail me, or post in the comments.

1. FIRST NAME: Adam
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Multiple people
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? This afternoon
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Damn right.
5. FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey

6. DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN? My sister has enough for my entire family
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Depends on who I was. Like, I mean, if I was Derek Jeter, then probably not. (then again, if I was Derek Jeter, I’d do the world a favor and go the fuck away).
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Does this blog count?
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No... never... (that was sarcasm... it doesn’t come across well on a blog)
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? God, I hope so, though I haven’t really looked lately.

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Not a chance.
12. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Rice Krispies
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? For the first few weeks after I get them, yes, but then I usually get lazy.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not particularly, no
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Mint Chocolate Chip

16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? their hair (I’m weird like that)
17. RED OR PINK? Red
18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? To quote the late, great Chris Farley, “I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem.”
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Eleanor
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? You’re an anonymous web browsing person -- I couldn’t care either way

21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I’m wearing neither (though I am wearing Carolina blue Nike shorts and white Nike socks)
22. THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Rice Chex
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Wednesday’s Episode of “Bones” on my DVR
24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I’d be one of those crayons that used to be light blue, but got mixed in with a darker color (like Burnt Siena) and now is a weird semi-melted mess and stuck at the bottom of the crayon box with the wrapper missing -- or Brick Red (I always liked Brick Red)
25. FAVORITE SMELL? Rainshower

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My boss
27. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Indeed (except when he impugns my responding abilities)
28. FAVORITE DRINK? Diet Coke
29. FAVORITE SPORT? The National Basketball Association
30. HAIR COLOR? Red like the fires of Hell. (“Simpsons” reference alert)

31. EYE COLOR? Blue
32. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope
33. FAVORITE FOOD? Pizza
34. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Scary
36. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black

37. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter. Fat people and summer don’t mix
38. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
39. FAVORITE DESSERT? My dad’s homemade cheesecake
40. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? No idea -- for all I know, no one will ever see this.
41. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Ditto -- but I wouldn’t dare say Pooz (who’s disqualified since he already did it)

42. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? The Amazing Spider-Man #539
43. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? “How I Met Your Mother”
44. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The low hum of my computer when it’s running fine; the acoustic version of “Because of You”; a roaring fire in a fireplace; My ringtone (the “Buffy” theme song); the voices of my niece and nephew
45. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Is Sarah McLachlan an acceptable answer here? (actually, I much prefer the Beatles to the Stones)

46. THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? California
47. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Writing
48. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Silver Spring, MD

Buffy and Angel

So I’ve had this idea kicking around in my head for a few months now, but I didn’t think I’d get around to editing it for awhile. It’s a video of the Buffy-Angel relationship, set to the song “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan. Cliche, I know, but I liked it. Plus, I think for my first attempt at doing something like this, it came out pretty well.

Some quick thoughts on the process (think of this as a director’s commentary):

• iMovie seemed to add some little hitches in the video whenever I made a transition or split a clip. My guess is that had to do with the quality of the source video (which wasn’t great).
• I had to modify some of my original choices for video clips, and I ended up going a little longer than I’d like on “End of Days” and “Chosen” but all in all, I’m happy with the representation of episodes.
• FYI, the first clip is actually from the end of Season 2, but in the timeline of the show, it comes before anything else. The last clip is from the first episode -- the first official meeting of Buffy and Angel.
• I wish I’d had more transitions to choose from, and more flexibility in distributing the transitions between clips -- guess it’s time to learn Final Cut Express.

Feel free to leave comments expressing your enjoyment or hatred of the clip (or enjoyment or hatred of the Buffy/Angel relationship). I may do a Buffy/Spike video next (and I do have a song in mind, but I’m open to suggestion). I’ll never do a Buffy/Riley video, because I hate Riley.

Serenity Now

So I’m sitting around after an uneventful day today, and another day off tomorrow, and I’m thinking -- gee, now would be a good time to update my blog.

Yes, I really suck at updating this, but I’m gonna give it a go. Hell, I finally finished script #16 for “Internal Damnation” so if I can do that, I can definitely update my blog more often.

Pictured above are my reaver weapon props from “Serenity”. They’re the newest addition to my Whedon-verse collection, and they’re fantastic. They’re also much sharper than my previous sword replicas. In fact, I believe they could actually hurt someone if I wanted to use them for such (so don’t cross me! -- kidding!)

Also today, I attempted to sell my sister on the name “Batman” for a child. She wasn’t buying it. Oh well, just one more boy’s name for me to save (also on the list: “Superman”, which my sister summarily rejected). For a girl, I like the name “Gwendolyn Stacy” in part because it’s Spider-man’s first girlfriend, but also because it sounds like a normal name that I could sell a future wife on. At least more so than “Buffy Anne”.

Last note, from the world of sports, LeBron is frustrating the hell out of me. He needs to develop a better option in the clutch than “dribble out the clock and fire up an off-balance three”. Otherwise my Cavs playoff beard will be shaved much sooner than later.