Must See Sports - Second Weekend of February 2011

First and foremost I would like to apologize to The Daily Hat Trick readers for dropping the ball in last week’s “Must See”. I omitted the North Carolina-Duke game, a thriller, by the way, from last night. This was a major oversight, not a snub. Since I began including more college basketball in this series, I had UNC-Duke in the back of my mind, among other big games. To boot, this is “Rivalry Week”, as dubbed by ESPN. This was (what I hope is no more than) a yearly brain fart at The Daily Hat Trick.


I could blame it on the Super Bowl. I could blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-al-co-hol. But just blame ME. My bad, guys!

As much as I'd like to go Jamie Foxx and shift the blame, the Duke-UNC SNAFU was all my fault, Hat Trick Fam! 1

Without further adieu, here is this week’s Must See.

Thursday, February 10

Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics

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This should require no explanation of why this is “must see”. It is the Lakers versus the Celtics for the final time in the 2011 regular season and probably a preview of the NBA Finals in June. So I will skip straight to the high level preview of the game.

The Lakers and Celtics are in first place in the Pacific and Atlantic Divisions, respectively. The Celtics are in first place in the Eastern Conference while the Lakers have fallen to third, behind the San Antonio Spurs and the CaRon Butler-less Dallas Mavericks, who have been BLAZING hot since the return of All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki from a knee injury.

Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal and guard Delonte West, who has returned to practice, are not expected to play due to injury. Celtics forward Paul Pierce has missed practice due to illness, but is expected to play.

The Lakers have no significant injuries. However, they have been front and center in the latest chapter of Melo Drama, as in Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers have been inconsistent, compared to years past, but they have been very strong under the boards. I cannot fathom the Lakers trading reserve center Andrew Bynum, who averages as many points and rebounds off the bench and many starters, for Carmelo Anthony, who is a top 5 player in the NBA (Kobe, LeBron, Kevin Durant, Dwayne Wade) but gives the Lakers no additional advantage under the boards or on defense, where no team, much less a team running a triangle offense, can afford to regress come playoff time.

The only reason I would not call this a no brainer for the Celtics, who win 85% of their games at home and spanked the Lakers in their own building two weeks ago, is because their bench has more nicks and dings, all at one time, than the average NBA team. These are two closely matched teams and bench play can be a scale tipper. But I think that Boston, at home, plays too well and is drama-free at the moment.

Advantage: Celtics

Friday, February 11

Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks 

This is a longshot to be an NBA Finals preview, but those odds will skyrocket overnight if the Knicks win the Carmelo lottery, to the chagrin of Lakers fans. As of now, though, there is no Melo. And, on a team whose defense takes a worse pounding than Rodney King would at a convention of cops at an anger management seminar, the probable absence of centers Ronny Turiaf and Eddy Curry will not improve the slim odds of the Knicks winning on Friday. Still, forward Amare Stoudemire and the high scoring Knicks are usually worth the price of admission.

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Advantage: Lakers

Los Angeles Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers

This may be the ultimate trap game. First of all, if you are a Clippers fan, you have to be thrilled that the expression “trap game” is being used in reference to your team at all. It means that there are actual expectations and that your team is expected to win. I cannot recall the last time this was the case for L.A.’s “other team”. Thank Blake Griffin for making this team relevant, at any level, again.

The Clippers have a winning record in calendar year 2011 and, frankly, if they played as well on the road as they do at home, they might be in the Western Conference playoff race. With two months remaining in the season and the always existing possibility a hot run by the Clippers and a cold streak by the Utah Jazz, Portland Trailblazers, or Nuggets, a playoff run is only slightly far-fetched.

So why is an inter-conference matchup of two sub .500 teams “must see”? Because you could be witnessing history! A (27th consecutive) loss by the Cavs would give them the dubious distinction of having the longest losing streak in the history of all major American professional sports, eclipsing the 26 consecutive losses by the 1976-1977 Buccaneers (random trivia – which team did the Buccaneers beat to snap the streak in ’77; hint: it was played in the Superdome...DOH!!!).

So why do I think this could be a trap? The Clippers DO play poorly on the road. The Cavaliers have been within striking distance of some respectable teams, late in games, lately. And nobody but nobody wants to be the biggest loser of all-time. Last, point guard Mo Williams, whose absence coincided with the Cavs play going from “bad” to “the word ‘bad’ would be offended”, practiced earlier this week and may return Friday, just in the nick of time to help spare Cleveland the ultimate embarrassment.

Advantage: Cavaliers (you read it HERE first, folks – and it will be deleted here first if Cleveland looses badly)

Yes, I picked Cleveland. If Blake Griffin comes looking for me, tell him I'm out of the country. 3

Saturday, February 12

NCAA Men’s College Basketball

The closer the calendar gets to March, the better Saturday college basketball action is. There are four games of which anyone, with the free time available, considering him or herself to be a college hoops fan needs to see at least one.

Ohio State Buckeyes (1) at Wisconsin Badgers (14)

There are two things I am becoming more convinced of by the day in this college basketball season. The first is that the eventual NCAA champion is going to come from one of two conferences; the Big Ten is one of them. The other is that Ohio State is for real and has the best chance of any team I have seen in decades to go undefeated.

Wisconsin has the best chance of any team remaining on the Buckeyes schedule, except for Purdue, to hand OSU a loss. Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger, however, is money. Just…money. After surviving a scare at Northwestern two weeks ago, the Buckeyes appear as sharp as they have been all season, with two convincing conference wins since then.

Wisconsin has recorded three straight Big Ten wins, including a real confidence builder against Purdue. The 1-2 punch of forward Jon Leuer and guard Jordan Taylor, at their best, are capable of giving Ohio State a run. The problem for the Badgers is that, beyond their two best players, they are a team that does not score a lot of points, is average at moving the ball around and creating points, is not a high percentage shooting team, and can barely grab a rebound during a shoot around, let alone a Big Ten game. Ohio State will need to play well, but should remain unbeaten after this game.

Advantage: Ohio State

Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger dunks on the Florida Gators in November
Dear Wisconsin: We believe in you! Regards, Nobody
Dear Jared Sullinger: Hope you like Ohio because there are ping-pong balls in our future.
Regards, The Cleveland Cavaliers

Pittsburgh Panthers (4) at Villanova Wildcats(10)


As I said, the Big Ten is one of two conferences that I believe will be singing “One Shining Moment” at the end of the NCAA tournament. The other conference is the Big East. This conference is more loaded with legitimate contenders than at any time I can recall in recent memory. The only harm that may come to the Big East, come tournament time, is that they all have to beat up on each other, much like the SEC does in football.

Pittsburgh and Villanova should be a clash of the Big East titans at The Pavilion in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh may be playing basketball better than any other NCAA team at the moment, behind the stellar play of its backcourt, which has featured guards Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker. Unfortunately, Gibbs will miss this game and possibly the rest of the month of February with a knee injury.

Villanova has its own dynamic duo in Corey & Corey - guards Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes. They are both healthy. Villanova is at home and Pittsburgh is ripe for a loss against a tough opponent until Gibbs returns.

Advantage: Villanova


Syracuse Orange (13) at Louisville Cardinals (15)

Syracuse has hit some recent speed bumps, losing four of its last six games after an 18-0 start, including a home loss, last night, to Georgetown for the first time, ever, since John Thompson III has been the Hoyas coach. Coach Rick Pitino and his Cardinals are getting hotter, beating #5 Connecticut recently and going on the road to take #7 Notre Dame to overtime before losing. Something is not right, at the moment, in upstate New York and I do not see a trip down south to play a confident Louisville team changing that.

Advantage: Louisville

I had a little trouble telling the difference between the Congressman and the mascot. 5

Kentucky Wildcats (18) at Vanderbilt Commodores (24)

Neither one of these teams has looked particularly sharp in the past week, both dropping multiple SEC games, including losses by both to a Florida Gators team I recently called “smoke and mirrors”. Apparently the smoke was in MY eyes. Still, Kentucky, though on the road, has the services of forward Terrance Jones and guard Brandon Knight, both of whom I expect to be playing in the pros next season.

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These are two teams that appear evenly matched on paper and Vanderbilt has several players, particularly John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor, who can score points when called upon. Still, games are not played on paper and I think when a John Calipari team is at its best, it can beat any team on its level. In light of the recent stumbles by the Wildcats, I expect a recovery and a high level of play on Saturday.

Advantage: Kentucky

Sunday, February 13

Miami Heat at Boston Celtics

What more needs to be said? The Heat Index of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh go the Garden in a Sunday afternoon battle with Boston’s Big Three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. As far as I am concerned, you can tack on point guard Rajon Rando and call it the “Big Four”, as all of them are on the 2011 Eastern Conference All-Star team.

There's more where this came from, pal! 6

That said, the Heat are on fire and the index could bust through the top of the thermometer. Boston has some temporary depth issues due to injury and only Paul Pierce knows how well Paul Pierce might feel on Sunday. The real kicker is that all of The King’s horses and all of The King’s men are healthy and, since the return of Chris Bosh from injury in late January, the Heat appear to match the hype and expectations that were attached to them this past off-season.

Advantage: Heat

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1) Image from connect.in.com

2) Image from cw56.com

3) Image from javedishaq.blogspot.com

4) Image from alligator.org

5) Image from brooklynmutt.com

6) Image from tribune9.com