Must See Sports - Second Weekend of March, 2011

Have you ever wanted to witness a special milestone? Today is your luck day, then! This is the 100th edition of The Daily Hat Trick. Thank you so much - each and every one of you - for reading and making my one time collection of rants into something that dozens of people around the world, apparently, consider worth their time to read every day. With your continued support, that figure will be "hundreds" in the near future. Thank you. Thank you.

Without delay, here are this week's "Must See" events.

Thursday, March 10


Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat

Folks, I do not think I need to do much explaining about why this game is “Must See” and important. Unless you are just a causal fan of the NBA, you know that the Heat need a win…any win…in the worst way and a win over the blazing hot Lakers could be a regular season defining moment for the Heatles. I just don’t see that happening.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Relax, the crying will continue! 1

Ordinarily, if you have followed “Must See” on The Daily Hat Trick for any extended period of time, you know that I try to give a little background on the teams and some key players and any statistics that stand out. Do I really need to talk about who the key players are for the Lakers (Kobe, Pau, and Lamar) and Heat (LeBron, Wade, and Bosh)? No. Do I need to tell you that the Lakers need every single win they can get to get a grip on the #2 seed in the West and keep their razor thin hopes of catching the Spurs alive? No. Do I need to tell you that the Heat are in the midst of a terrible, and highly publicized, tailspin, threatening to derail everything they have worked for this season, with no losing teams in sight on their schedule to stop the bleeding? No.

Advantage: Lakers


Friday, March 11

Let’s just hope the officials that called the Rutgers-St. John’s game are not involved in any future Big East Tournament games (or hope that the games are not close). The following are my best guesses as to who may advance in the tournament by Friday and Saturday and are not worth the paper you could print them on. Regardless, if you like college basketball, I think you will be very entertained by the final rounds of this conference’s tournament, regardless of the participants.


NCAA Men’s College Basketball
Big East Championship Tournament - Semifinals

Hat Trick Probables:
Pittsburgh Panthers (1) vs St. John’s Red Storm (5)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2) vs Louisville Cardinals (3)

EVENING UPDATE (10:00 pm 3/10/11) - Syracuse Orange (4) vs Connecticut Huskies (9) - So apparently it is a good thing you did not listen to me. Kemba Walker of Connecticut had ice in his veins, draining a clutch, game winning basket in the final seconds and Syracuse was able to out physical and outlast the Red Storm. Connecticut's win would be "shocking" to me were it not for the fact that this is the Big East. Those of you that read regularly have heard me ramp up my observation of the unpredictability of this powerful and talented conference. Today's upset by UConn over Pitt is a continuation of that unpredictability. My gut tells me that UConn coach Jim Calhoun and Walker have the hot hand and Syracuse...I never know which Orange team is going to show up. Don't bet the farm (or even a patch of grass on the farm) on this one.

Advantage: Connecticut

Saturday, March 12

Listening to me could be a bad idea if you associate with tools like this guy. 3

I am not a gambler, nor do I play one on TV. If I did place wagers, though, I would lean in the following directions.

NCAA Men’s College Basketball
Big East Championship Tournament – Championship Game

Hat Trick Probables:
Pittsburgh Panthers (1) vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2)

Advantage: Pittsburgh

UPDATED PROBABLES:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2) vs Connecticut Huskies (9)


Connecticut's carriage turns back into a pumpkin and the Irish stake their claim to a #1 regional seed in the Big Dance.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Sunday, March 13

As I said, my predictions are worth the paper you can print it on, but I don’t think I am making headlines by expecting Duke and UNC to be in the championship. Assuming that this third meeting between these two teams happens, put this in BOLD PRINT: “GAME OF THE YEAR”

“But Eric, didn’t you say that last Saturday’s Duke-Carolina game was the ACC regular season game of the year?” Absolutely…. This is post season; this is this biggest game, regardless of conference; as the season wears on, the stakes rise and there is possibly a #1 regional seed at stake, in addition to a conference tournament championship. How many marbles could be missing from this bag? The answer: none! This game is for all of the pre March Madness marbles.

2

NCAA Men’s College Basketball
ACC Championship Tournament – Championship Game

Hat Trick Probables:
North Carolina Tar Heels (1) vs Duke Blue Devils (2)

Advantage: push


Monday, March 14

San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat

I am one of the people in the minority that, in general, is rooting for the Heat. My NBA fanhood, for the longest, has been 1) Hornets 2) Lakers and then the rest depends on who is facing whom. And I certainly do not want to see a Southwest Division rival of the Hornets win an interconference game. So I do not say it lightly when I say that the Heat appear to be going down in a ball of flames (pun intended) with zero relief coming from the schedule.

I will leave the door open for a possible Miami win on two fronts. The Heat are at home, not in San Antonio, where victories have been impossible for Eastern Conference teams this year. Also, conventional wisdom would dictate that guard Tony Parker returned from his calf injury at less than 100%, indicated by the number of minutes played in his first two games back. However, his performance against the Pistons last night would throw that assertion to the wind.

Advantage: Spurs

♪ Every-body hurts! ♫ 4

Orlando Magic at Los Angeles Lakers

The Magic have closed within striking distance of the Southeast Division leading Heat. Two weeks ago, this seemed all but impossible. However, thanks, in part, to Dwight Howard living up to his “Superman” moniker and, in part, to the Heat choking on their own press clippings, lately, Orlando has a chance to regain first place in its division.

I don’t think those chances will be helped much on Monday night, though. The Lakers, at the moment, appear to have tightened all of their loose ends and are playing like two time defending champions. They are also in the Staples Center for this match.

Advantage: Lakers

Good luck finding the Magic to charm this snake. 5

Wednesday, March 16

Oklahoma City Thunder at Miami Heat

I will not keep beating the dead horse about the Heat’s tailspin. In fact, I think this matchup may be their best opportunity to snap out of it. The Heat are at home. Thunder center Kendrick Perkins has yet to suit up for OKC, missing the last seven games with a knee injury. The Heat are weakest in the middle and, whether Perk plays or not, they will not face the force they would face if Perkins were completely healthy right now. The Thunder are a good team, but can be beaten, even on their best night. The Heat have to snap out of it at some point. Distractions or no distractions, The Heatles are simply too talented to keep losing indefinitely.

Advantage: Heat

Thank you for a great first hundred editions!

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1) Image from huffingtonpost.com
2) image from charmcitysportaholic.wordpress.com
3) image from dvdcorral.com
4) Image from arkhilario.com
5) Image from terezowens.com