Author: lleonardbw

NBA Playoffs:OKC showing strong come back with Westbrook and Durant help;Heat one more away from advancing

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio vs. Oklahoma City: This series is a big one and it should go all the way and at this stage this series is doubt and you have no idea whose going to win it. The Spurs went up 2-0 they did it in pretty dominate fashion and one of the big loses in this series was OKC’s Serge Ibaka who was pulled out of this series when it started and everybody thought he wasn’t going to play again, not only in the series but the entire post season because the calf injury was that serious.

He misses the first two games, OKC had no real answer down low to stop the Spurs Tim Duncan and it was just a mess for OKC they couldn’t do anything and Ibaka miraculously comes back and in game three OKC wins that one 106-97 and before that game Ibaka was truly in doubt needless to say if he could play.

After watching that game three Ibaka was clearly playing really well, he may not necessarily have been at 100 percent but he’s darn close he had a huge impact in that game three and then in game four he had only nine points but the proof is in the pudding. You look at what Duncan did he had only nine points he was 3-8 with six boards and he just couldn’t get it going and in large part it was because Ibaka was down there.

On the flip side, in game four this game was not about Ibaka his defense was certainly key. It was OKC’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s show, these guys were amazing in the game they both shot 50 percent from the field. Westbrook was 40 percent and Durant was 31 percent. When those two guys are on the only other duel that is quite as potent in the NBA is Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Clay Thompson.

Miami vs.Indiana: The Pacers are a Jekyll and Hyde team because we saw that first round against Atlanta and they stunk, the Pacers were lucky to get out of that series alive. In the Second series against Washington the Pacers looked terrible for the first couple of games and all of a sudden they found their magic again.

The Pacers then took that second round series in six games and then early on in this series went against the Heat they looked really good in game one but the Heat squeaked out a win in game two, in games three and four the Heat just took it to them with 99-87 and 102-90 wins.

The Heat now have a 3-1 lead in the series with the Pacers on the brink, it’s not likely that anyone out there is picking Indiana for this series. In game four it was all Miami and the Pacers who went back to their old selves again. The Heat got out to a pretty solid start and never let go.

The Pacers Roy Hibbert did an disappearing act and Hibbert was pretty good that last few games but all of sudden he went back to zero points, five boards, he was a complete non factor in this one. On the other side of the ball the Heat’s LeBron James dropped 32, ten boards, five assists and it was a typical phenomenal LeBron game.

David Zizmor is covering the NBA Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:Taste of the World Cup served up at Candlestick Tuesday night

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The soccer fans came in droves and they were pumped up about World Soccer on Tuesday night at Candlesick Park as the U.S. Men’s team welcomed visiting Azerbaijan and this was an event that can facilitate 50-60,000 fans. This game was the first of three exhibition games before both teams take off to Brazil for the real deal next month at the World Cup.

This was special on the local angle as this is the last year before they blow up Candlestick Park and this tournament was something that the World Cup wanted to show case being at the Stick. This was an opportunity to say goodbye to the park with a big event.

The Brazil controversy: The citizens of Brazil or a great number of them have been protesting about the building of these new stadiums and villages in Rio that will accommodate the players, coaches, team personnel, media and the fans and after they leave these stadiums they will no longer be needed and be virtually a shell kind of like the Silver Dome in Pontiac.

What people forget that Brazil is larger than the United States territorial wise but it’s still a third world country. There’s a lot of poverty there, the Brazilian goverment has been criticized and FIFA will be selling tickets and concessions at top dollar and getting a hotel and dinning will be at top prices something the average citizen cannot afford and I read an article a couple weeks ago that the government of Brazil doesn’t know what is going to happen to those stadiums once the World Cup is done.

They are spending billions of dollars, it’s always controversial and most of those events make money and people seem to forget it’s a huge country and still it’s a third world country with profits going towards TV, FIFA and the hotels. It’s not a rich industrialized nation.

Media still talking about the A’s getting swept in Toronto: The Jays are very hot right now, they’re playing great ball especially at the Skydome and baseball is 162 games and you can have a team that can lose five, six or ten games in a row. Look what happened to the Boston Red Sox, they just ended a ten game losing streak it was the first team since the 1998 Miami Marlins to lose nine or more games in a row after winning the World Series.

So this happens to all of the teams and the A’s just ran into a very hot team like the Jays but look what happened they took the Detroit Tigers in the opening game of the homestand with a whopping 10-0 shutout laugher. One of the best teams in the American League and in first place in the A.L. Central. That’s baseball and the Tigers I think are the best team in the American League some other people might disagree and the A’s came back on Monday and scored ten runs.

Tuesday night the A’s are throwing Sonny Gray against the Tigers and Gray could be a future Cy Young winner against a guy who won the Cy Young last year the Tigers Max Scherzer. The Blue Jays they had something to prove when the A’s came to Toronto last week and thats what happened and then on Monday night everything went the A’s way. When your not playing well things go wrong the line drives over third base are foul, the potential doubles turn into long singles, and home runs hit the top of the wall or are grabbed just above the fence by the outfielder.

Baseball is a game of opportunities and when you grab that opportunity you keep winning and the Jays have a great line up with Melky Cabrera hitting .322, Edwin Encarnacion leading the Jays with 15 homers,Jaun Batista with 37 runs scored. My friend wrote about them and called them the Dominican Jays because they’ve filled that line up with six or seven Dominicans.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice of Oakland Athletics baseball and does News and Commentary weekly on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs:One more win to go for Kings and Rangers before advancing to the Finals

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by Larry Leavitt

Los Angeles vs. Chicago: The Los Angeles Kings seemed to find a way to get into another gear and they showed it again as the Kings won their third straight over the Chicago Blackhawks in game five at the Staples Center on Monday night. The Hawks have the depth to win but they just haven’t shown up yet.

Don’t expect the Hawks to lay down and let the Kings walk all over them but yes it’s pretty amazing how the Kings seem to ramp it up and everybody whose stepping in is stepping up and making a contribution. They’re showing a true team spirit and a sporting way to win.

The Kings are a different team since the first round and it’s unexplainable how the San Jose Sharks won the first three games off this Kings team and put them on the brink of elimination and they came back and won four straight. This Kings team is just like their re-energized like they have a new sense of health and energy to go out there and pound the boards.

The Kings aren’t scoring right away and that’s okay they know that it’s a long game as long as they play the full 60 minutes they can get them in the end and they’ve come back and played a real strong second and third period in the last few games. The Hawks need to weather the storm and stay on their game plan and the thing about Chicago their not capitalizing on some of the chances their getting.

Montreal vs. NY Rangers: The Montreal Canadiens are in much of the same position as the Blackhawks are one game from being eliminated. In the last couple games the Rangers have been absolutely phenomenal. Game four was back and forth at the Bell Centre, it was punishing, hard hitting, fast pace, they were countering off each others mistakes.

If a player’s puck bounces out early, they have to play defense quick, and then back and forth and their are passes out and they have to play defense quick again. In overtime games and sudden death the first goal wins. That’s the first mistake you see at the end of the game.

Game five was an overtime loss for Montreal 3-2, they played a good hard game, and they fought back and they came from behind with two goals. The Habs played at MSG in New York, they played tough, and they were countering all the right moves and the bottom line is at the end the Rangers Martin St.Louis puts one past Habs goaltender Dustin Tokarski.

The Rangers seemed to get a lot of breakouts, there have been passes right to guys who stretch passes going out and they find an opening and see the puck coming to their team and start skating down the ice and before you know it they put it on their stick and the Rangers can do some damage on offense, it’s great hockey play and the Rangers certainly learned how to adapt in this series against Montreal.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NBA Playoffs report: OKC needing Ibaka back healthy to try to tie things up;Can George get out of the fog after having bell rung?

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio vs. Oklahoma City: The Spurs who lead the Thunder 2-1 in the series and who had handled the Thunder in the last two games. The Spurs right now are at their most dominate phase in this series. They’re really just destroying OKC so far. One of the big reasons why OKC is struggling their power forward Serge Ibaka is out with a calf injury late in the series against the Clippers and when this Western Conference series started he was moved out for remainder of the playoffs as of Sunday he is listed as day to day.

It was a huge deal because Ibaka is a very unusual power forward, meaning he’s unusual in today’s game because he’s a true power forward, he’s big bodied who can push guys around he can hang with the elite scorers like the Spurs Manu Ginobili around the perimiter. Ibaka is also good at cleaning up on the glass and he’s an excellent shot blocker.

Ibaka is a defender who you have to take care of and be mindful of and he can also score on the offensive end. There aren’t that many two way power forwards in the NBA these days. When you have one guy like him and you lose him it’s a really big deal and Ibaka was kind of a third wheel on that Thunder team.

OKC’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were great on the scoring but they weren’t so fantastic on defense is concerned. Ibaka was the reverse he was a great defender and a good offensive player but he’s great on defense. Ibaka was a great part of OKC’s weaponary and when you lose one part of that trifecta its a huge deal.

Miami vs. Indiana: It’s not going to be too crazy for Indiana trying to get back into this one, Miami hasn’t been able to play lights out basketball. If you look at game three the Pacers were up 15 points and Miami had to stage kind of a serious rally to get back and then right in the middle of the fourth quarter it was getting out of hand and the Heat were able to cruise right at the end of the game.

The Pacers were in the that game until late so if the Pacers can hold on and collect some of those problems in terms of defending LeBron and getting more production out of their team players like Paul George. They’ll make a game of it, keep in mind that George got kneed in the head by the Heat’s Dwayne Wade in game two and a lot of people didn’t think he would be able to play in game three because of a concussion.

It’s entirely possible George who is far and away the Pacers best player was in a little bit of a fog, if George can recover a little bit and get his head about him and play with a little more clarity in game four the Pacers are going to be in better shape. All the other players were doing pretty well, shooting guard Lance Stephenson had a great game for the Pacers in game three.

It just kind of went all for not when LeBron took over later in the game, Indiana has proven that they can hang with this Miami team and game two was very close until the end. In game one the Pacers kind of threw the gaunlet down, Miami has another game at home and if they win it and go up 3-1 they’ll be clearly in the drivers seat.

David Zizmor is covering the NBA Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors arena at Mission Bay: With Prop B losing in the polls could W’s have waited after the election for Piers 30-32?

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Proposition B the initiative to limit height restrictions at San Francisco’s Waterfront for any construction over 40 feet unless voter approved was winning with authority prior to the Golden State Warriors land purchase at Mission Bay for their new arena after forfeiting relocating to Piers 30-23 after political pressure from the Waterfront neighborhood.

Prop B was being touted by former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Prop B campaign co-chairman Jon Golinger as a shoo in winner in the June election.The tables have since turned and in an odd turn of events as recent polls suggest since the Warriors announced their move to Mission Bay that 1,000 San Franciscians surveyed and 845 who were registered to vote in the city 31 percent were in favor of the measure and 33 were against.

At the time previous to the Warriors purchase of Mission Bay, Prop B was winning at a significant margin some reportedly at almost double of the current polls at close to 60 percent. That number has tapered off now at 31 percent. The Warriors had they not have purchased Mission Bay Prop B might have passed easily.

The Warriors could have made the announcement that they would not build at Piers 30-32 and waited for the election results, if Prop B was to fail they could have had a shot at Piers 30-32. Since the Warriors did purchase Mission Bay land for their new arena voters took it as a victory and abandoned the Proposition as if it won already. Therefore a great number of voters polled previously will not be showing up to the polls in June to vote for Prop B leaving those opposed in the bigger margin.

Since purchasing Mission Bay things have definitely quieted down for Golden State as Agnos and the Waterfront neighborhood are satisfied with the Warriors Mission Bay choice. However the Warriors could have said they wouldn’t build at the Waterfront and waited for the election results to see if B would pass and then make a decision then. A SurveyUSA poll showed that Prop B was losing 29-25 percent another SurveyUSA poll showed those who said they were committed to vote would defeat Prop B 32-27 percent. The San Francisco election is on June 3rd.

Golinger said, “A lot of people think we already won, I have litterally gotten that on the phone” and so with that thought in mind voters who were going to vote in favor of B will not show up at the polls to vote in favor of the measure leaving the opposition a chance to defeat the measure.

While it’s already too late for the Warriors as they are now committed to Mission Bay, the Giants would be free to build their towering retail and condo mega village near AT&T in Parking Lot A and Forest City which owns the real estate at Pier 70 would be freed up too to build towering retail and condos and with no height limits in the way if B loses and they would be free to build the towers they wanted for that local in the Dog Patch neighborhood off third street.

The real losers in this would be the Warriors who could have had an brand new arena at Piers 30-32 just like they wanted if they waited out the election and not have had purchased the land at Mission Bay, but too late they already are committed to Mission Bay.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings new arena developments for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings downtown arena: Arena opponents determined to block $255 M “secret subsidy” by the city

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Photo Courtesy SacBee
Photo Courtesy SacBee

by Jerry Feitelberg

Sacramento Citizens lawyers Patrick Soluri and Jeffery Anderson told the Sacramento City Council on Friday that they will continue their lawsuit to pursue blocking the subsidy that will pay for the city’s share for the Sacramento Kings new arena of $255 million, the Kings share is $222 million. Soluri and Sac Citizens were turned down by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley in their attempt to stop the city from paying $255 million out of public subsidies.

Souluri during the meeting with the city council argued that the Kings are benefitting from back room deals that were’nt part of the subsidy. Soluri also said that the parking garages owned by the city should not have been part of the subsidy as well. The city plans to use parking revenue to help pay back the $255 million subsidy.

Frawley said that the term sheet that was voted on by the city council last year approving the arena terms was not binding. Frawley had indicated as much on Thursday and that he would toss out the Sac Citizens lawsuit. The City said that the garages are in bad shape and that they are in need of repairs and that the garages are worthless and shouldn’t be counted on the term sheet as an expenditure of the subsidy.

The Citizens group argued that the secret subsidies included the garage, but there was nothing secret about the city garages being part of the deal as Soluri and Anderson argued. Also that erecting digital advertising billboards on city property also should not be part of the subsidy.

Dawn McIntosh an attorney representing the city said that all the terms was aired on TV, radio, newspaper print, and internet and that there was no secret back room deal made concerning the subsidy by the city’s part, (there was full disclosure through the media concerning) “any secret deal they think might have happened” said McIntosh.

In Feburary Frawley ruled that arena opponents who tried to have signed petitions to get a ballot measure to question if public monies should be used for any new sports or entertainment facilities be built on the public’s dime was thrown out because the ballots were legally flawed. Frawley was assigned to preside over the “secret subsidy” hearing which he tossed out the arena opponents arguement Friday.

The lawyers also argued against the Kings getting city owned land valued at $32 million and that the city had valued the billboard and garages at zero. This fight isn’t over yet according to Soluri and Anderson who are putting together a voter referandum that would overturn the city council’s vote last Tuesday to approve construction on the new arena. The City Council approved the new arena in a 7-2 vote. The city argued that the financial term package can’t be part of the referandum.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs:After win Canadiens still need to fight their way out of NY;Hawks & Kings game 3 match up

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by Larry Leavitt

Montreal vs. New York: The Canadiens game three, overtime win 3-2 in New York was a hard fought. The battles were big a lot of hitting and a lot of extracurricular activity, there were a number of non calls by the refs. The game was fast, there was a lot of pressure on New York on the Canadiens defense.

The Habs defense stood up to the task and the key thing is the last three goals. The Canadiens scored on a deflection that banked off the back boards towards the net and one of the Rangers kicked it in on the Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundquvist.

At the opposite end with just seconds left to go,the Candadiens could not hold off the six on five with Habs goaltender Dustin Tokarski pulled again. The Rangers shot a bank shot, a fluke goal off the back of a Canadiens skate and into the net that tied it up at 2-2 all.

Of all things the final goal actually flipped up in the air and almost hit a Canadien in the throat and came right back down and went into the goal. The Habs will take a goal anyway they can take one. If you got a win, you got a win and it doesn’t matter how the puck went in as long as it goes in and it’s legal.

Chicago vs. Los Angeles: The Blackhawks really had the Kings on the road at the United Center for the first period and a half and they actually let the Kings back into it in game two for the 6-2 loss. Then the flood gates opened in the third period when the Kings scored all those unanswered goals.

The Kings have the momentum in this series, the Hawks had a lot of chances and they just didn’t bury them in the back end of the net. In the playoffs you’ve got to take advantage of it every chance you can get.

The Hawks are a good team and their not out of it, it’s just that watching the game you couldn’t believe that Chicago wasn’t not taking advantage of all the chances they had.Of course as the teams got worned down the Kings started coming back, wow they came back with a vengence.

The thing about the Hawks is they have so much depth, it’s not just the first, second or third lines. Everybody on Chicago is equally as important. Although the big names Marion Hossa, Jonathan Toews, and the second and third line guys are keeping the pressure on. The Hawks have talent up and down the line up and the Hawks are not one team that’s going to just roll over.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants: A’s line up has different star everyday; Is Tulowitzski getting help in hitting .550 at home for May?

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by Michael Duca

Oakland A’s update: The first thing you have to do if your willing to work for A’s General Manager Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin is you have to understand that your going to be used in the way that you might be used by other ball clubs.

The A’s were big on versatility, depth, platooning,and are using guys in ways that will allow them to succeed and A’s catcher Derek Norris might end up hitting .400 at best this year but he might get 400 at bats and hit .325. Which is much better than hitting the extra 100 at bats or 150 at bats.

A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson is very solid at third base particularly when you consider that he started his career as a catcher and not that long ago, he came up to the Major Leagues as a catcher. He’s hitting .270 you don’t want to let that fool you because his on base percentage is a much higher number than that.Donaldson is driving the ball with authority and he’s driving the ball out of the ball park and key times.

A’s manager Bob Melvin not one to gush about the success of this team and it’s almost laughable to think that Melvin has a single gush in him anywhere. Melvin is as low key as you can possibly be. He let’s his players go out and have fun and do the gushing for him. Guys come and guys go and they don’t miss a beat, Johnny Gomes is there and is the heart and soul of the team and is gone and immediately a player like Josh Reddick now is that heart and soul.

SF Giants update: Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow was not coming right out and saying that the Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was getting stolen signs which lends to some suspicions as to why Tulowitzki is hitting at a .550 clip at home at Coors Field and Kruk said you have to wonder, “Tulowitzki right now is swinging the bat better than anyone in this game, and I’m thinking it’s so good that you have to be a little skeptical how he does it.”

It’s the third week of May and almost the fourth week of May and Tulowitzki is hitting over .550 at home. You have to chew on that one for a little while for that to make sense to you. He’s hitting over .550 at home, that means for every hit that the A’s Josh Donaldson has got this year Tulowitzki has two.

Signs when stolen are stolen by third base coaches from catchers who don’t hide them well enough, that’s not that easy on a consistent basis. So if there is signs really being stolen their being stolen by the aid of some kind of equipment some place in the ball park.

The biggest sign stealing controversy was the 1951 New York Giants who went on a rampage to catch the Dodgers after being 13 games out in August and it persisted there was some kind of sign stealing going on despite the fact that there was the evidence that the Giants had hit better on the road than they did at home.

In both cases in Denver or at the Polo Grounds which you have to realize is centerfield is about a mile and half away and in Denver the scoreboard is in left field and it’s not in center field. So it’s not that easy to hide somebody.

What you have to have there is have a spotter scope and a high powered set of binoculars because if you zoom in close enough to see a catcher’s signs your going to have to have them on a tripod in order not to wobble so much that you can’t see.

There may be little proof on how Tulowitzki is doing it but he’s hitting a super human skill this month.

Michael Duca does A’s and Giants commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Kings trying to protect the net in game two; Rangers take upper hand into game three

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CHICAGO, IL - MAY 21: Dustin Brown #23 of the Los Angeles Kings checks Johnny Oduya #27 of the Chicago Blackhawks as Anze Kopitar #11 of the Los Angeles Kings looks on in the first period of Game Two of the Western Conference Final during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at United Center on May 21, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – MAY 21: Dustin Brown #23 of the Los Angeles Kings checks Johnny Oduya #27 of the Chicago Blackhawks as Anze Kopitar #11 of the Los Angeles Kings looks on in the first period of Game Two of the Western Conference Final during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at United Center on May 21, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

by Larry Leavitt

Chicago vs. Los Angeles: The things that we’ve seen with the L.A. Kings as we’ve seen in rounds one and two their never out of it and the Kings could be down 3-0 and still win the series. The Kings will be a little more prepared on Wednesday night in Chicago.

The Kings had to face a quick turn around to start the series after playing seven games with the Anaheim Ducks in the second round. The Hawks had a few extra days off and it showed in their skating and ability to have fresh legs in game one. The Kings have had a couple days off they’ve seen what their opponent’s got and they should be better prepared for Wednesday night against the Hawks.

The Kings want to protect the net against the Hawks offense and there are two main ways that you can score a goal the first one is the goalie can’t stop what he can’t see. So if you have somebody in front of the goalie you can’t see the puck when it’s coming. So how do you get something by the goalie when you can’t see it coming?

The second one is the quick passes and crosses the east-west passes, side to side when you have the goalie moving or the feed pass before the redline behind the goal off front when the goalie is hugging that corner expecting you to do a wrap around or something and you shoot it above ice he has no time to react.

Jamie Quick the Kings goalie was the victim of both those circumstances in game three Wednesday night at United Center.

Montreal vs. NY Rangers: If the Rangers are smart they would take advantage of the fact that the Candaiens don’t have their number one goalie in net Carey Price, the Habs for that matter don’t have their number two goalie in net Peter Budaj was pulled for the third string goalie after game one and the Canadiens are now starting goaltender Dustin Tokarski.

Tokarski started game two and will also start game three, Tokarski is a rookie goalie and played a few games in the season and went 2-0 during the regular season and was sent back down to the minors and now they brought him up. The Canadiens are playing the trump card but the Canadiens have to play a lot better hockey and help Tokarski out.

The Habs need to try to control better in the zone and really grind the boards against the Rangers. The Rangers right now are just playing hot, hot, hockey right now their on a roll and I don’t know if the Rangers can be stopped right now.

You know if your in the NHL you have to be prepared and especially in the playoffs and if your a back up you have to be prepared and getting blitzed 7-2 in game one did Budaj in. You have to be prepared at any moment to step in and be on your A game. Which is one of the tougher jobs in the NHL and your almost a cheerleader on the bench and when your called out in the game you get serious and concentrate.

Some goalies really have made a huge mark for themselves in doing that and being able to come in and be in the game and save the day. Tokarski is going to have to do a lot better in game three than he did in game two and be prepared but realistically it’s really all about the Montreal defense.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NBA Playoffs: Heat-Pacers take talents to South Beach on Saturday for game 3

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by David Zizmor

Miami vs. Indiana: The second game of this series was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, when you look at the final score 87-83 your defintely not going to get very pretty basketball but the bottom line for Miami is that they won a game on the road in Indiana and the series is tied 1-1.

The old adage is the playoffs series doen’t start until the team wins a game on the road and Miami just did that. So were into the thick of it now, it’s 1-1 going back to Miami and the Heat are the defending champs despite Indiana having the number one seed.

This will be a tough series and what we’ve seen so far is the Pacers has kind of regained it’s mojo whatever they had at the end of last season when the started off at 40-12. The Pacers seemed to have found it again and it almost got them booted out of the playoffs while they were finding it.

Somehow in the middle of that series against Washington the Pacers rediscovered themselves and their playing really good sound basketball and they won that first game 107-96 rather handily. They had the problem that the Heat had in game one that the Pacers didn’t perform and they didn’t get any production out of their back up guys. So this could very well be a see-saw series.

Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio: The Spurs who lead the series and the Spurs did a good job in game one of asserting themselves and establishing their game. You have to figure after game one that OKC is going to go out and make a few adjustments to try and counter that.

I’m not getting a great feel from this OKC team they’ve had issues back and forth all season long in terms of their consistency and their defense and I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to hang with San Antonio over seven games without Serge Ibaka. That was the big blow to OKC and it didn’t happen in this series as Ibaka went out in the tail end of that Clippers series.

Ibaka was such a key player for them and everybody talked about Durant and Westbrook for OKC and rightfully so because their fantastic players they’re All-Stars and Durant is an MVP, Westbrook is one of the best point guards in the league.

Ibaka is a very good scorer and a fantastic defender and when you going against a team that has Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli and Duncan who put up 20 points and ten boards you need Ibaka out there and make him work. Remember Duncan is getting the numbers but you he’s 39 years old, to have Ibaka out there it’s like in the Miami series the Pacers Paul George makes LeBron work for those points in rebounds.

David Zizmor covers the NBA Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com