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NBA Trade: Utah Jazz trade All-Star point guard Deron Williams to New Jersey Nets

February 23rd, 2011

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Over the past couple of decades, the Utah Jazz have been one of the better teams in the Western Conference as they have appeared in two NBA Finals, always have one or two All-Stars each season and have had the longest tenured head coach in the league in Jerry Sloan (23 years). With that being said, the Jazz have always been considered to be a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference with a legitimate shot to contend for NBA title, but this season there have been some drastic changes in Utah that no one saw coming.

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Even though the Jazz have been a competitive basketball team in the West all season long, the first domino to fall in Utah was the head coach as Jerry Sloan decided to call it quits as a loss to his former team in the Chicago Bulls back on Feb. 8. Since that time, the Utah Jazz haven’t been able to win a game as they have lost four in a row (including loss to Bulls) with two losses to the Phoenix Suns and one against the Golden State Warriors.

Needless to say, the Utah Jazz have started to feel a sense of urgency as they have obviously lost their mojo without their leader on the sidelines. One of the main reasons for the departure of head coach Jerry Sloan was an argument with superstar point guard Deron Williams at halftime in the loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Once Sloan decided to resign from the Jazz after the loss to the Bulls, much of the blame was put on Williams as people were saying that the All-Star point guard may have pushed the veteran coach over the edge. These reports were denied of course, but on Weds. Feb. 23 things started to get even more interesting in Salt Lake City as the Jazz decided to trade away their face of the franchise to the New Jersey Nets.

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There was some speculation that Deron Williams might be on the trading block due to his recent dustup with Jerry Sloan and the fact that the team wasn’t confident that he would sign a contract extension, but with the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York going down, Utah was able to fly under the radar.

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Reportedly, the Utah Jazz have traded Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for point guard Devin Harris, rookie Derrick Favors and two first-round draft picks. There will also be some cash considerations involved in this deal.

The New Jersey Nets made another trade on Wednesday sending forward Troy Murphy to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for center Dan Gadzuric and forward Brandan Wright. There has also been talk of point guard Jordan Farmar heading back to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it is uncertain whether or not that deal will go down.

NBA Matchup: Milwaukee Bucks @ New York Knicks

February 23rd, 2011 admin

Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks Weds. Feb. 23, 2011 7:30 p.m. EST

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The New York Knicks made some pretty big headlines yesterday when they were finally able to get a deal done to bring superstar forward Carmelo Anthony to the Big Apple from the Denver Nuggets. Not only were they able to bring another big-name to play alongside Amare Stoudemire at Madison Square Garden, but they were also able to bring in some veteran leadership as well in the form of NBA champion point guard Chauncey Billups.

It could be argued that the New York Knicks gave up too much for the All-Star forward as they did have to part ways with promising young players like Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari to get a deal done, but they may have cemented their future with another superstar.

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Not only will Carmelo Anthony give the New York Knicks the much needed star power that flourishes in the Big Apple, but the addition of Melo could potentially bring in more big-names in the offseason like Deron Williams, Steve Nash (via trade) or Chris Paul. Those are just three of plenty of players that could end up with the Knicks in the next free agent period or via trade, but one thing is for certain, New York is finally relevant again in the basketball world.

Even though sometimes it can take a week or so to get a new big-name acquisition on the floor, the New York Knicks might have their new superstar in uniform and ready to go this Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Milwaukee Bucks.

This could be the perfect way to usher in Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks as the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t exactly the Boston Celtics and with New York taking on LeBron James and the Miami Heat this Sunday; this could be a good way to get some team chemistry going.

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Obviously, the true test on whether or not this new dynamic duo will work out is against the Miami Heat, but I believe this somewhat meaningless game against the lowly Bucks could be a barometer or things to come. Much like with the Miami Heat when they first started with their new players, the New York Knicks will need some time to get used to playing with each other, but being in the Big Apple they demand success almost immediately, so the pressure will be on.

It will be interesting to see what happens on Wednesday night in the Big Apple as this could be the beginning of great things to come for the New York Knicks, but unfortunately it will be a must win situation as the Knicks pulled a lot of strings and took a big gamble brining in one of the best offensive players in the game today.

NBA Matchup: Miami Heat @ Boston Celtics

February 13th, 2011 admin

Miami Heat at Boston Celtics Sun. Feb. 13, 2011 1 p.m. EST

Coming into this NBA regular season, all the attention around the league was centered on LeBron James and the revamped Miami Heat. Even though the Miami Heat weren’t the only team to add big-name players in the summer as the New York Knicks (Amare Stoudemire, Raymond Felton), Chicago Bulls (Carlos Boozer) and Boston Celtics (Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal), LeBron James and company have quickly struck up some team chemistry and are playing as good as any team in the league.

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With a 39-14 record and a first seed in the Eastern Conference, there will be a lot of things on the line this Sunday when the Miami Heat travel to Boston to take on the second seed in the East in the Celtics at TD Garden. This will be a huge game to say the least for both clubs as the Heat will look to show they can beat the best of the best in the East and extend their win streak to nine games while the Celtics will be trying to get back on track after dropping two straight to the Charlotte Bobcats and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In my opinion, right now the Boston Celtics are the best team in the league. They may not have the league’s best record (38-14) and just lost two games in a row to two teams that have beaten this season, but they play consistently well on both ends of the floor every single night. Not only is their consistency impressive, but they also play the best team basketball in the league by getting everyone on the squad involved every single game.

As for the Miami Heat, they have played much better than I anticipated as they have been able to get some team chemistry going quicker than thought possible. The one thing that the Heat do that I believe will be their undoing in the playoffs is playing one-on-one basketball.

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Obviously, when great teams like the Heat struggle on offense it can take one superstar to step up offensively to get the team back on track. Kobe Bryant has done it for years for the Lakers, Carmelo Anthony does it well for the Denver Nuggets and Kevin Durant has made a career out of scoring at will, but on this team it doesn’t work too well in my opinion.

The one guy that tries to do this on the Miami Heat is LeBron James. It is by no means an easy task to go from the man in Cleveland to one of three All-Stars in Miami, but at times it seems to be this team’s Achilles heel.

Against the Boston Celtics this Sunday, I believe Doc Rivers’ and company will look to make this game in which the Miami Heat are forced to play one-on-one and as a result the defending Eastern Conference champions should beat them yet again.

NBA Matchup: Los Angeles Lakers @ Orlando Magic

February 12th, 2011 admin

Los Angeles Lakers at Orlando Magic Sun. Feb. 13, 2011 3:30 p.m. EST

A few days ago, the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers were surrounded by trade rumors involving the Denver Nuggets superstar forward Carmelo Anthony. With the Lakers struggling against the best teams in the league in the first half of the NBA regular season, the rumors started to circulate around the league that the defending champs were ready to send Andrew Bynum to the Mile High City in exchange for the All-Star forward.

Coming into Thursday matchup against the arch rival Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers were considering their second matchup with arguably the best team in the league as a way to see where they stand. In their first meeting, the Lakers were able to keep up the Celtics through the first half, but where then dominated in the second half and lost in convincing fashion. This loss was one of the main reason for the Lakers getting mentioned in numerous trade rumors around the league.

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Fortunately, in their second with the Celtics in Boston, the Lakers were able to come out on top with solid performances from Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and most importantly Andrew Bynum. With this win over Boston, the trade rumors have started die down a bit, but they could just as easily ramp up again if they lose to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic this Sunday.

A win over the Magic would be huge and quite possibly just what the Lakers need to regain some momentum moving forward. Even though Kobe Bryant and company seem to have gotten that edge back with the win over the Boston Celtics, the Orlando Magic are another beast entirely in terms of how they play the game compared to the Boston Celtics.

The Orlando Magic may not be playing at the high level that the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics are playing right now, but they are still one of the best teams in the league and have a legitimate shot of being NBA Finals bound at season’s end. With that being said, they will give the defending champs a run for their money on Sunday, especially since it will be the Lakers fifth game of their seven game road trip.

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The Celtics play with the philosophy of spreading the ball around and getting the best possible shot on every single possession. The easiest shot is the best shot for Doc Rivers’ squad, but the Magic play a little different as they are basically a team with a dominant center in Dwight Howard surrounded by perimeter shooters.

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The one glaring problem for the Orlando Magic is the fact that they struggle when Dwight Howard can’t get going inside the paint. When that does happen, they kick it out to their perimeter shooters and start jacking up threes all night long.

With that being said, I believe the Los Angeles Lakers will be extremely tough matchup for the Orlando Magic as Dwight Howard will be surrounded by players like Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Along with the Lakers clamping down inside the paint, Kobe Bryant seems to be back to form and will be nightmare for the Magic’s guards.

This could ultimately turn out to be a close game, but in the end the defending champs should come out on top and continue their resurgence as a legitimate title contender once again. This will mark the first regular season matchup of two between these NBA heavyweights with their next meeting being in Los Angeles on Mar. 14.

Super Bowl XLV: Battle of the QBs

February 6th, 2011 admin

All anybody has been able to talk about heading into Super Bowl XLV has been how good these defenses of the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers are and how they will be able dictate the game. At some level, I don’t totally disagree with the fact that this game could be won on the defensive side of the football, but Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger haven’t really been given the credit they deserve as to the league’s best quarterbacks.

Obviously, with an entire two weeks at their disposal, NFL analysts have talked about Big Ben and perennial Pro Bowler Aaron Rodgers, but it has been the defense and players like Clay Matthews and Troy Polamalu that have dominated the headlines.

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Here is a breakdown of the two quarterbacks in Super Bowl XLV and how I think they could be the key to victory for their team this Sunday in Arlington, Texas:

Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers

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There only a few players at the quarterback position in the league today that I see can call themselves a Super Bowl champion. Tom Brady of the New England Patriots comes to mind, the Indianapolis Colts four- time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and his little brother Eli Manning of the New York Giants, but only a select few have won more than one Super Bowl title and that’s where the Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger comes in.

Even though he may not put up the numbers like Tom Brady or be as intimidating to opposing defenses like Peyton Manning, Big Ben is the total package at the quarterback position in terms of being a leader on the football field.

Big Ben isn’t the type of quarterback that throws for over 300 yards and three touchdowns, but he is as hard to stop as most of the elite quarterbacks in the league today. Not only does he seem to make the right play at the right time, but he is also incredibly hard to bring down as he’s built like some lineman that protect him.

Ironically enough, even though he has the frame of some of the biggest players on the field, Big Ben can also run and is known for his elusiveness when outside of the pocket.

Despite all of these qualities though, the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback might have his work cut out for them as he won’t have Pro bowl center Maurkice Pouncey (high ankle sprain) snapping the football and will be trying to avoid Clay Matthews’ pass rush.

Obviously, Big Ben has an impressive resume and is no stranger to these pressure situations, but it will be tough to win a third Super Bowl title this weekend against a hungry Packers’ defense.

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Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Only a few quarterbacks in the history of the NFL have been able to follow up careers of Hall of Famers. Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers was able to follow in the footsteps of Joe Montana and win two Super Bowl titles, but that is the only big-name that has really been able to defy the odds.

When Aaron Rodgers came into the league he had to sit behind Green Bay Packers legen

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d Brett Favre. Not only was Favre considered a God in Wisconsin, but he was also perhaps the toughest quarterback ever to play in the NFL as he never missed a game.

That can be tough for promising young quarterback to play a backup role, but Aaron Rodgers pulled it off beautifully as he was patient in waiting for his turn which has finally arrived.

With the confidence of the entire Green Bay Packers franchise behind them, Rodgers has been able to go full steam ahead and has quickly become one of the best quarterbacks in this league. Not only does he possess all the skills of an elite quarterback in terms of dominating in the passing game, but he can also be extremely dangerous with his feet as he can scramble with the best of them.

Coming into this game in my opinion, Rodgers is without a doubt the best of the two quarterbacks as he possesses the ability to take over games single-handedly and put the offense on his back to lead them to victory. The Steelers defense might pose some big problems for Rodgers during Super Bowl XLV, but ultimately I see the Packers gunslinger win his first Super Bowl title this Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.

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