Heres a statement thats bound to ruffle a few Laker fan's feathers. 

The Lakers were lucky to sneak away with a game 1 victory.  How often do we see a team shoot 14% in a 4th quarter and still be in a position to win inside 2 minutes?  And NO I don't attribute this to a stingy Laker defense.  The Spurs have been doing this all season against many different teams.  They go through stretches where they have trouble scoring.  In the final 18 minutes of game 1 the Spurs could only manage to score 20 points.  2 of those came on a dunk by Kobe off a Timmy miss.  So really we can say that they only managed 18 points in 18 minutes, yet they stll had a chance to grab homecourt in the closing minute of the game!

Scoring is something that can be on one night and off another.  Defense, however, is always going to be a constant.  How many times do you hear a commentator say a player is having an off night on defense?  The point im getting at is that the Spurs are going to be playing defense no matter what. 

Are the Spurs going to have anymore scoring droughts during this series?  Highly likely.  Will they go 18 minutes and only manage 20 points again?  Probably not.  I think its going to depend on who steps up for their respective team.  If fisher and odom can manage more than 12 points combined than they stand a great chance at winning.  On the flip side if Manu can manage more than just 10 the Spurs stand a great chance.  The Spurs shooters also have to demonstrate that they can knock down open threes.  I think the Spurs will shoot better in game 2 and if the play defense as well as they did in game 1 they will not only win game 2, but the series.

Opinion:  Is Jason Kidd being a crybaby for wanting to be traded or does he have every right to not want to play on a bad team?

Ok, in my opinion, I can understand why the guy might be upset.  He plays on an mediocre team with little to no shot of doing anything come playoffs.  I could understand why this late in his career the guy's priorities have changed.  Its no longer about the money.  The guy wants a legit shot at winning a title, something the Nets don't really provide.  BUT.....

Come on now Kidd!  You are a professional athlete!  You get paid to play the game.  Sitting out a practice and demanding a trade is a childish move that shows a complete lack of professionalism on your part.  KG played on a really bad Minnesota team last year.  Did we ever see him skip practice and cry like a 13 year old girl who refuses to yield until she gets her way?  He went out there and played the game, because thats what he is paid to do. 

These drama queen NBA superstars make me sick.  They don't know how the real world works.  In the business world if you hate your job you don't just not show up to work one day and demand you be assigned to another position.  Thats not how things work.  You go to work and do your job, period.  The worst part is that when these prima donnas whine like little babies they usually end up getting their way.  The fact is Kidd should be out there with his team because thats what he is paid to do.  Make your requests known to your GM but do it privately.  Not in a huge media spectacle for everyone to see.  Its not fair to your team.  Oh wait...TEAM??  Most of these guys don't know the meaning of the word.  Growing up my coaches always used to say the old cliche that there is not I in team.  Well thats true, but there is a ME.

Tonights loss at Utah only reaffirms one thing for the Spurs: One of the few things left for the the defending champs to prove, winning back to back titles, will likely elude them yet again. 

After the loss I decided to look back at their schedule and was pretty horrified at what I saw.  The Spurs have not had a quality win since December 7th.  No, I don't consider beating the Bynum-less Lakers last week a quality win.  So taking that win out of the mix it has been   over 7 weeks since the Spurs have beat a team with a winning record.  After discovering this very alarming stat I decided to see how many quality wins, that is beating teams with winning records, the Spurs have had on the road so far.  To my chagrin I found that the last quality win the Spurs registered on the road was...well...the 2007 NBA Finals in Cleveland. 

Thats right the Spurs have yet to beat a quality team on the road this season.  They beat the Hornets at home on November 9th, if you can call any win that early in the year a quality win.

The traditional Rodeo road trip will be probably more critical than ever this year.  The Spurs during the Tim Duncan era don't typically start playing their best basketball until February and March, but this season might be unlike any other during Duncan's tenure.  The Spurs have to prove to themselves that they can beat a winning team on the road.  With a game against the Suns looming on Thursday they will get that chance very soon. 

Jimmy please just stop embarrasing yourself.  Do you actually think any of us are fooled by this 'objective analyst' facade you are putting up.  The worst part is that I am a Cowboys Fan!! The latest article by ole Jimmy, however, is ridiculous.  Granted there were a few good points in there, but in no way are the Cowboys better than the Patriots right now.  You notice I do emphasize the right now. 

I don' t think the Patriots will go undefeated, even though they should.  By the time they are playing the G Men in week 17 they will have already locked up homefield throughout the AFC playoffs.  There will be no need to play their starters for more than a half.  The Giants, however, will very likely be jockeying for playoff position.  Especially if they are playing to lock up homefield advantage in the first round.  I doubt you will see Brady in the 2nd half of that game, unless we see Belichick get greedy, which is a very good possibility. 

As far as the Cowboys or Pats argument there is really no comparison here right now.  The Patriots are superior on both sides of the ball.  Does this mean the Cowboys can't beat them?  Not at all.  As we have seen in the last couple of weeks the Patriots are more than capable of being beat.  Dallas has the right tools to do it.  If the 'Boys hadn't fallen behind so quickly in their week 6 meeting they might have been able to execute the gameplan they needed.  Run, run, run.  Instead they fell behind by 14 quick and were forced to play from behind most of the game. 

Running the ball against the Patriots is beneficial in many aspects.  None more important than keeping their offense off the field.  If the Cowboys can use their two headed monster of Jones and Barber to wear down the defense, you might see a different outcome than when the two met the first time.  If you go three and out against their D, then you are in for a long day.  Again, the Cowboys have the right tools , if they can stick to and carry out the gameplan effectively.  I noticed when the teams first met that the Patriots can be run on.  In fact, in the second half of most of the games i have watched, they have been an average run defense at best.  Couple that with the fact that the Cowboys score more points in the second half than any team in the league, and you have a recipe for an upset.  The most important job of the Cowboys if these teams meet again in the Super Bowl, will be to not let the Patriots come out firing on all cylinders like they did the first time around.  The Patriots are undoubtedly the better team.  But the Cowboys can beat them if they are able to keep Brady off the field.

Im sorry I just had to get on here and rant. 

I wanted to throw out some *props* to my man Merril Hoge.  His latest edition of NFL power rankings has the Patriots first, the STEELERS SECOND, and the Cowboys third!  Great job at being an objective analyst Merril!

Lets be serious here for a second.  Are we talking about the same Steelers team that lost to the Jets two weeks ago?  The Steelers team that BARELY squeaked out a win against the WINLESS Dolphins last week?  I guess it was the win against a 4-8 Bengals team yesterday that really showed what a powerhouse Pittsburgh is.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, just finished off an impressive win against one of the top five teams in the league in the Packers.  Not to mention destroying that same Jets team that beat the Steelers by 31 points on Thanksgiving.  A Cowboys team whose sole loss this season came against the best team in the league.

I guess its just coincidence that Hoge played all but one year of his career with those same Steelers.  COME ON NOW!  It is so blindly obvious that Merril is providing his rankings based on his own personal bias that its not even funny.  Im not even sure the Steelers should be in the top five the way they have been playing the last few weeks. 

I just really needed to get that off my chest. 

PS if anyone agrees with old Merril I would love to hear you present any type of convincing argument as to why the Steelers should be ranked #2.