Channell Surfing 5/17

So I’m back and just going to jump right into it with some channel surfing. Priority goes 1) mavs/thunder 2) Brewers/Dodgers and 3) Bruins Lightning 

Mavs/Thunder Game One Western Conference Finals

1^st Quarter

10:50 2-2: First two baskets of this game are waved off, first for a travel and second for offensive goaltending.  Then Perk and Chandler get BS double techs, sorry refs this is the conference finals, things are going to get chippy, let it go.

9:23 8-2 D: Some nice ball movement early by the Mavs gives them an early lead.

6:24 13-12 O: Dirk has played really well so far but OKC getting out to the early lead. Chandler needs to step it up.

4:49 17-16 O: Corey Brewer with a nice bucket, I can never tell the difference between him and Ronnie Brewer.

3:47 19-16 O: Dirk goes to the bench early and the Dallas offense stagnates. Not a surprise.

2:56 19-16 O: Terrible fast break by Brewer. Tried to take on 2 guys while Peja just floated around the transition.

2:25 21-18 O: We head to our 2^nd break with OKC largely in control despite the slim lead.

17.6 25-20 O: Sick Alley-oop by Maynor and Harden.

End 27-20 O: Durant gets a transition bucket and OKC looks like a much deeper team so far.

2^nd Quarter

10:30 32-23 O: Daquan Cook with a bucket. If OKC wins the finals is he the most successful of the Buckeyes from that 07 final four team.

7:37 32-32: I tune back in just in time to miss a 9-0 Dallas run. But a few seconds later I do get to see a sweet shot by the Germanator. 

5:40 40-39 O: JJ Barea with a blow by.  How does he do it?

3:45 45-41 O: Great interior passing by Dirk. That always impresses me when guys are able to find teammates in traffic. It is just so difficult.

2:15 49-45 D: Huge run by the Mavs crowd really into it.

1:40 51-45 D: Dirk with a huge bucket, just shows why he’s so hard to guard.

End 55-48 D: Dirk really stepped it up in the later part of that quarter to give his team the lead. He really is a spectacular player.

3^rd Quarter

9:09 60-53 D: Tune in a little late from watching the Brewers and Hockey.  Didn’t miss much both teams on same pace to start the half.

8:42 61-53 D: Dirk is an underrated passer and that pass to matrix just showed that. 

8:02 64-57 D: Matrix really struggling with his nose injury.  Durant gets fouled by Chandler, that’s 4 on him. Durant gets his bell rung a little on the play.  The broadcasters discuss the merits of verticality, always a good conversation.

7:00 64-59 D: NEWS FLASH! Brendan Haywood is an absolute stiff.

6:24 64-59 D: Durant gets 2 quick fouls with Dirk posting up.  Interesting choice of strategy for Dirk to post Durant up.

6:04 66-62 D: OKC creeps back in with a sweet 3-point play by Westbrook. Taped one in and got the foul.

2:56 81-68 D: Dirk has been lights out in this game, but I just missed a good chunk watching the Brewers and Hockey, both of which were at important junctures.

1:51 83-71 D: This game is looking like my games in NBA live, just 2 scorers being basically unstoppable and any stop is huge.

53.6 85-75 D: Durant just looking a little flustered right now.  He did lead Team USA to a FIBA championship and is a great player but in college he only made it to the 2^nd round and didn’t even win the Big 12 tournament.

End 90-79 D: Harden just took a huge flop from Terry.  Got a tap in the face and fell like he got hit by Tyson, good to know the Arizona State drama program is alive and well.

4^th quarter

11:28 90-79 D: Dirk starts on the bench but quickly steps right back in.

10:45 92-83 D: What we’ve learned so far this quarter: One, Dirk loves to shoot free throws, two, Serge Ibaka can dunk when lobed to.

9:00 99-83 D: JJ Barea has sick moves.  Jeff Van Gundy then debates the merits of streetball etiquette with Mark Jackson.  Safe to say Van Gundy knows just as much about that topic as I do.  I’d defer to Jackson on this one.

5:00 104-95 D: The thing about shooting well is that it can lead to some dumb shots and that is what has happened to Dirk.  OKC on a run late.

4:18 104-95 D: Kidd tries to iso late in the shot clock. Not smart.  Dirk and Durant are making a living from the free throw line in this one.

28.2 119-110 D: The Jet comes out.  I’ve been watching the game but Dirk has been so good it has left me speechless.

Final 121-112 D: 48 Points for Dirk, 48.  The rest of the starters scored a TOTAL of 20 points, 20. Dirk more than doubled his fellow starters.  Durant did have 40 as well.  The difference in this game was that difference and the difference in the 2^nd and 3^rd scorers for each team.  Terry and Barea scored 45 while Westbrook and Ibaka went for 37.  Dirk can’t do this every game but the rest of his starters probably won’t go this cold either.  The same can be said to some degree for OKC.  Dallas leads the series 1-0, but game 2 should tell us more about how this series will go.

Bruins/Lightning (Tampa Leads Series 1-0)

2^nd Period

4-3 B: I tune in just in time to see LaCavilier score on a power play.  As much as it would probably be nice for my friend Chris who lives and works in Tampa to see the Lightning in the Stanley Cup finals I want Boston to win this series because I just think their tougher and better in goal. I also like Original 6 teams.  Since there is no NHL team in Wisconsin I am a fan of the Nashville Predators because their AHL team is the Milwaukee Admirals.  Since I need some rooting interest whenever I watch a game my next priorites are: 1) Teams with former Badgers, 2) American Teams, 3) Original 6 teams, and finally 4) the team with the better goalie.  So all that being said I want the sharks to win the cup.  In a trump over the previously set-up criteria next would be Vancouver because a) Tampa recently won a cup and b) Boston has won a championship in Football, Basketball and Baseball in the past decade.  They don’t need anymore championships.

3:08 5-3 B: Big goal for Boston.  The PA guy ends his announcement of the goal with a Ric Flair style “WOOO” which the crowd repeats. Just one more reason to root for Boston in this series.

End 6-3 B: I tune out of this game and miss another goal. I’m not having much luck here.

3^rd Period

14:24 6-4 B: There have been 10 goals scored in this one and I’ve seen 2 of them.  Just some terrible luck.

4:00 6-5 B: Missed another one but after being basically a blow-out this one just got interesting.

1:00 6-5 B: Get back to this one just in time for the Bolts to pull their goalie for the final minute.  I wish this game happened last night so I could have watched more of it.

Final 6-5 Boston Series now tied at 1-1.  Even though that got the win, letting up 5 goals is troubling for team that relies on defense and goaltending. Scoring 6 goals is nice but I’d rather see my team do what it does best rather than get a extraordinary production from an unusual place.

Brewers/Dodgers

Top of 1^st inning

This game got underway just before halftime of the Mavs/OKC game so I tune in with Fielder stepping to the plate and 2 runners on. He beats out the tail end of the Double play to keep the inning alive and bring C-Mac to the plate.  Big time hit but caught at the wall.  Good start for the crew hopefully they can keep it up. Tied 0-0

Bottom 1^st

Wolf Rolling through 2 batters brings up Eithier.  Eithier walks and Wolf quickly goes down 2-0 to Kemp and he hits a 2 run homer to give the Dodgers the early lead, obviously not what the Brewers need.  Maybe I should have said anything about how well Wolf was doing because now 3 have reached in a row.  Wolf gets the next guy out and now the Brewer bats need to get going. Dodgers lead 2-0

Top 3rd

Uneventful 2^nd inning while I was tuned out, LA still leads 2-0 and Wolf is up for the crew.  He promptly hits a lead-off double.  Way to help yourself out at the plate.  Brewers play a little small ball and move wolf to 3^rd for Hart.  Hart walks but Braun strikes out and Fielder flies out and the Brewers fail to score despite a lead-off double handing things over to the top of the order, unacceptable. 2-0 Dodgers

Top 4^th

Scoreless bottom 3^rd for LA, the rain is coming down pretty hard, I wonder how long they’re going to play in this.

Bottom 4^th

Wolf is running into some trouble with the bottom of LA’s order.  Gets out of a bases loaded jam with a 3-1 count. 2-0 LA

Top 6^th

Kemp steals extra bases from Fielder.  Man does Chavez ravine hold baseballs.  Overall it was an unproductive inning with some potential. 2-0 LA

Top 7^th

Bottom of the order goes 1-2-3.  Helps when you’re getting strikes a foot outside the strike zone, just saying.  Is there anything the Brewers can do about the bottom of the order or are they just kind of stuck?  If they are stuck that proves to be a problem for them. 2-0 LA

Top 8^th

Again the Brewers struggle despite getting a lead-off double.  Weeks does get to 3^rd with 2 outs and Prince coming up. He walks to bring up Casey who blows it.  I’ve been disappointed with him this season.  Is this the year he falls off after overachieving?  2-0 LA

Bottom 8^th

LA tacks on another run.  3 runs in this game is insurmountable. 3-0 LA

Top 9^th

Brewers go down without a whimper.  They failed to hit at all in this one and split the 2 game set with the Dodgers.  All together not too bad, with a two game series in San Diego next they have a legit chance to get back to .500 coming back for a home stand.  I am down with that.  I’m not saying settle for mediocrity, but you have to walk before you can run.  This team has some serious concerns in the bottom third of the batting order right now.  Again just sweep the Padres and come back home at .500 and we’ll go from there.

We’ll that does it for me a long but very entertaining night of sports.  I know its been a while since my last post and I do want to get back at it and stick with it here for the next few weeks. I will work on crafting my NFL lockout article and my how to improve the major sports leagues of the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL.  I really haven’t gotten any true articles up here or synthesized my thoughts into an article or review and I’d really like to do that.  Tomorrow night however I’ll basically be doing the same thing I did tonight.  We’ve got Sharks/Nucks, Heat/Bulls and Brewers/Padres so I’ll be all over those three tomorrow night.  Also be on the lookout for a UWO Titan baseball season review.  G’night y’all.

TTFN