Basketball Talk

Basketball Talk will be NBA Talk for Today

With NBA All-Star Weekend exactly a month away and the end of the regular season 3 months from today, I wanted to talk about the NBA on this blog. I think I can start getting some NBA playoffs talk going now since about 20 games have been played in the shortened 66 game season.

Conference Leaders

In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the top with a 15-3 record and a 2 game lead over the Denver Nuggets. Young stars Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook have kept the Thunder rolling since making it to the Western Conference Finals last season. This was as expected by NBA analysts who felt that a shortened season will be to the advantage of the Thunder who have a young and deep group of players.

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls after having their hearts crushed by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals last season have surged ahead this season with a 16-4 record and look on course to get the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row. Read more about Basketball Talk will be NBA Talk for Today

His Airness says that only Kobe Bryant deserves to be compared to him

I was watching the Denver Broncos take on the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional playoffs last weekend and was excited for the match-up between Tim Tebow and Tom Brady. Then I happen to come across this Nike commercial on TV about the Kobe System. People had always asked me about who inspired me and I had stated that it was without doubt Kobe Bryant. Then everybody would rebuff that he was an NBA player and how could I use him as a role model. Well, this ad definitely shows that anybody can take inspiration!

College Basketball games to Watch out For

Today has been exciting watching the divisional playoffs and seeing the San Francisco 49ers advance to the NFC Championship by beating the New Orleans Saints in a thriller. Furthermore, Brady, Gronkowski and the Patriots are up 45-10 against the Denver Broncos with Brady throwing a record 5 touchdowns in the first half of a post-season game.

As wonderful as football is going to be, it’s that time of the year when we look ahead to March Madness. I want to list some of the games that I’m greatly looking forward to watching.

Thursday, January 19 - Cal at Washington: The newly formed PAC-12 has a good game in Seattle which the Golden Bears should win to gain momentum and topple Stanford in the standings before heading to the Big Dance.

Sunday, February 5 – Michigan at Michigan State: I guess I need to give some love to my favorite conference the Big Ten. Michigan State is on top of the Big Ten standings with a 4-1 record and Michigan is number three with a 4-2 record. I know that Michigan State travel to Ann Arbor next Tuesday, but I am looking forward to this one because it is a lot closer to the Big Ten Tournament.

Saturday, February 11 – Kentucky at Vanderbilt: I love Kentucky basketball and they had to be included here. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are on a hot streak and it should be a very exciting game to catch some Big Blue Nation action with ESPN’s College GameDay crew in town.

NBA back with a bang and some NCAA projections

Christmas Day Season Opener

So the NBA is back! Fans were very pleased with its return on Christmas Day as evidenced by the TV ratings. The game that I was looking forward to greatly after having my roast turkey and sweet potato pie (highly recommend it; those Southerners sure have great cuisine) was the Chicago Bulls at the Staples Center taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. This was a great game that unfortunately ended in a one-point loss for my favorite team the Lakers. However, it was record-setting and went down as the third most-watched regular season game ever on ABC.