LeBron Rises to the Occasion
For all the slack that LeBron James takes for not being “clutch” he sure does have a nag for showing up for the biggest games in the playoffs.
With the Heat down 3-2, facing elimination and playing in Boston James put up 45 points on 19 of 26 shooting, 15 rebounds and 5 assists when his team needed him most.
The array of shots that James hit all night were ridiculous! Turnaround jumpers, floaters in the lane, three pointers over defenders, and fast break lay-in’s, not to mention the put back dunk that basically broke the Celtics’ back’s (see below).
This isn’t the first time that LeBron has done something like this in the postseason. In 2009 against Orlando LeBron scored 49 points, grabbed 6 boards, and dished out 8 assists in a Game 1 loss. In 2007 against Detroit he dropped 48 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists on the Pistons in a 109-107 win in double overtime. He scored 29 of his 48 points in the fourth quarter and overtimes. He also scored 47 points, and added 12 rebounds and 8 assists in a 2009 playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks to move the Cavaliers to a 3-0 lead in the series. Even earlier in these playoffs James scored 40 points with 18 rebounds in Game 4 against Indiana with the Heat down 2-1 in the series.
The point here is that for all the criticism James takes for this and that, he is the most dominating player in the NBA and when he is called upon to carry his team he, more often than not, rises to the occasion.
"Best Athlete" Bracket Semis Announced
It’s time for the unveiling of the Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket Semi-Finals. For those of you who don’t know yet Jonnie Motomochi and myself are on a quest to find the best athlete in professional sports today. On our show, Sports Action on 88.7 KBVR, this past week Jonnie and myself debated about who should be considered the best athlete. We got nowhere so we decided to make a bracket with the top-16 athletes in professional sports today and break it down until there was only one athlete left standing. We have just finished the quarter-finals and here is how the bracket now breaks down for the semis.
LeBron James of the NBA‘s Miami Heat will face Calvin “Megatron” Johnson of the NFL‘s Detroit Lions in the finals of the Deion Sanders Bracket. James, the number one overall seed in the bracket, was able to beat out the UFC‘s Jon “Bones” Jones while Megatron, the number two seed in this half of the bracket, beat out the talented Carl Crawford.
In the Bo Jackson Bracket the number one seed, Blake Griffin of the NBA, will square off with Russell Westbrook of the NBA. Westbrook was the number two seed in this bracket and dispatched Cam Newton in the closest vote that the Bo Jackson Bracket has seen yet. Griffin was able to advance by beating out fellow NBAer Dwight Howard.
Again, the Finals of the bracket will be released at the beginning of our show, Sports Action, on Sunday when we first come on air at 8pm. Be sure to tune in to 88.7 KBVR or stream live at kbvr.com/listen. We will then announce the best athlete in professional sports today in the last half hour of the show.
"Best Athlete" Quarter-Finals
We have advanced to the quarter-finals of the first ever Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket. There were several upsets in the first round and could be many more before this bracket is all said and done. Here is how the bracket now breaks down.
In the Deion Sanders Bracket the top overall seed, LeBron James, moved on over Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade. He will face the only UFC athlete in the competition, Jon “Bones” Jones, in the next round after Jones upset fourth seeded Bryce Harper of the MLB‘s Washington Nationals. The Boston Red Sox’s Carl Crawford, a three-sport all-state athlete in high school and number six seed in this bracket, also pulled the upset over the Philadelphia Eagles’ DeSean Jackson and will face Calvin “Megatron” Johnson in the quarters.
In the Bo Jackson half of the bracket the second overall seed Blake Griffin advanced easily, and now will face Dwight Howard who beat out the Atlanta Falcons’ Tony Gonzalez, who has been called one of the best athletes in NFL history. Finally Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers upset fellow NFLer Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints, who played both basketball and football at The University of Miami, and will be facing Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder who dispatched the only soccer player in the bracket, Christiano Ronaldo.
Here is how the quarters look:
Deion Sanders Bracket
1. LeBron James vs. 5. Jon “Bones” Jones
2. Calvin Johnson vs. 6. Carl Crawford
Bo Jackson Bracket
1. Blake Griffin vs. 5. Dwight Howard
2. Russell Westbrook vs. 6. Cam Newton
We will post these on social media so people can vote, or you can vote by leaving a comment on this page. Voting will close tonight at midnight and the results will be announced in the morning tomorrow.
Another Michael Jordan? Don’t Bet On It
I recently took to my Twitter account, @RealKigerPlews learn about it, to post about an interview that Jonnie Motomochi and myself were doing with an Oregon State baseball player when I saw a picture that really caught my eye (see below).
Courtesy of @KobeLogic |
The picture sums up just how great Michael Jordan really was, and how less and less recognition he is getting for it.
All I hear from people now-a-days is who most closely resemble Jordan, Kobe or LeBron. Now to be fair LeBron and Kobe are two of the greatest players that the game has ever seen, but they are no Jordan.
Jordan is the undisputed king of basketball, but to understand just how great, and why Kobe, LeBron and all others aren’t even in the same class as him you need to dig a little deeper.
Jordan won 6 NBA titles, the 10th most of all-time by a player, Bill Russell has 11. Jordan won 5 MVP awards during his career, second to only Kareem Abdul-Jabar’s 6. He is one of only four players in the history of the NBA to win both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Award during their career. MJ is also the only player in NBA history to win NBA Finals MVP six times!
This is just a small sample, but it accurately shows just how special Jordan was and how he will, in all likely hood, never be surpassed as the greatest player in NBA history.
Official NBA Playoffs Picks
Almost mid-way through the NBA Playoffs me and Jonnie Motomochi have gone back and forth on our picks and who we feel is playing the best. This week on the show I made my final picks for the rest of the playoffs. Here they are:
Conference Semis
Spurs already advanced
Lakers/Thunder- Thunder in 5 (ends tonight)
Celtics/Sixers- Sixers in 6 (hasn’t changed)
Heat/Pacers- Heat in 7 (had them in a sweep, didn’t happen that way I guess)
Conference Finals
Thunder/Spurs-Thunder in 7 (best series of the playoffs thus far)
Heat/Sixers- Heat in 5 (Philly doesn’t have the height of Indiana, but the Sixers will make the games close)
NBA Finals
Heat/Thunder-Heat in 6 (Bosh will be back and finally at full strength, LeBron finally wins title)
The individual match ups in the NBA Finals will make it one for the ages. LeBron and Durant will battle, Westbrook and Wade will provide highlight reel plays, Bosh and Ibaka will bang down low and hit their outside jumpers. Spoelstra and Brooks are two of the best young coaches in the NBA right now. This will be the best NBA Finals since the 1998 Bulls/Jazz Finals.
Sports Action 5-20-2012
This week on the show Jonnie Motomochi and myself will be playing a game called “Who’s It Gonna Be?” in which we will be talking about head-to-head individual match-ups in sports today and choosing who we feel is the better of the two athletes. Examples include Rory McIlroy/Rickie Fowler, Kobe Bryant/LeBron James, Andrew Bynum/Dwight Howard, Peyton Manning/Tom Brady, Matt Kemp/Josh Hamilton, and Steven Stamkos/Evengi Malkin. Leave comments of the player debate that you most want to hear and don’t forget to listen to 88.7 KBVR at 8 p.m. on Sunday night, or stream live on KBVR.com, to tune in to Sports Action with Kiger Plews and JTMoto.
Matt Kemp is having a great season but is he better than Josh Hamilton? Courtesy of Keith Allison |
Josh Hamilton might be the undisputed king of baseball right now Courtesy of kla4067 |
NBA Playoffs Begin
Blowouts, Bull injured, big comebacks, and bumping into referees. The NBA Playoffs have officially started ladies and gentlemen and through the first two days there has been more to talk about than there was the entire season.
Courtesy of afagen |