London Olympics 2012

The Olympic game has already completed more than half overall. I’m not a big fan of sports, but I do like Olympics because it is still one of few regular global events that are uplifting and peaceful. I understand that it costs a lot to host an Olympic, that’s why only relatively rich country can run them, and they have to try their best to make money in whatever way they can. I don’t know how the book is run. I only know that Greece overspent and put itself in debt, China super spent and many stadiums are wasteland after 4 years. London is smart with money, so it should end up alright. Put aside the money stuff like the broadcast rights, ticket prices, official sponsor claims, etc, to me, the most interesting part about Olympics is the human aspects, particular the background stories of athletes. Cuz, they are the real stars, and should be the focus of the whole event.

I can’t recall the names of most athletes, cuz that’s not really the point. My general impression is that those American gold medalists as usual will make lots of endorsement money afterwards, on Wheaties box, Disneyland ads, etc. Chinese athletes have been trained through hell because of the extremely intensive internal competition and the unbearable burden of expectation from their 1.3 billion countrymen. So, they just have to win Gold, and would cry for getting Silver. That’s really sad! They have won a lot of medals so far, I appreciate their winning performance, but actually I would be more interesting to see the performance of athletes from other smaller countries regardless they won or not. Cuz, how often do we see those athletes perform? In spite of the convenience of internet which would suppose to make everything easily accessible anytime anywhere just few clicks of buttons away. In fact, how often do we really click those few buttons? That’s why TV broadcast can still play an important role in Olympics, some of us just a bit lazy or passive to seek out what’s interesting in the event. We honestly do like to be fed some times. Internet on the other hand can be a good supportive tool for us to seek more info on our own after we found something interesting on TV. I think this dual roles model in sport broadcast is very effective and will continue in years to come.

I also like the aspect of culture display in Olympics very much. You can see not just different races and ethnicities of people, but also learn a lot from their clothes and behaviors. I saw many not-known-to-be-very-racially-diverse countries have multi-racial teams representation, not just their athletes, but also the staff team of coach, trainers, and assistants. That has shown that talents matter and globalization has a large role in fierce competition. The athletes’ clothes are also fascinating, usually their color and design represents their countries somehow, traditionally would be in line with their national flag. Nonetheless, as most of them are sponsored by Adidas or Nike, looking at some old reels from past Olympics and compared them to the current one, you can clearly see the change in design in sportswear, particularly more about the cutting as well as the materials being used. You can see how technology is being integrated in the design to enhance performance, maybe just to gain 0.01 sec of advantage that would be a difference in breaking world record or with/without medals. For example, I caught a glimpse of the diving event this time which has shown many divers with some bandages across their backs and limbs, that is something that you wouldn’t see in past Olympics. Those special bandages are very prevalent this time. I wonder what their function is. To relieve pain? Tighten the muscle or else?

Also, the look of athletes nowadays is more interesting than before. Athletes from most developing countries do look very plain and simple, unless it is required, they don’t have much make-up, accessories, etc to tell them apart from one another.  However, many American and European athletes have tattoos, unique nail-paints, and wild haircut to display their own personality. That also shows that the countries that they represent value individualism and personal freedom highly. However, the best of all to me is to see the athletes’ outpour of emotion after their performance. That makes them human, not machines.

Last but not least, for being a dad, I could also use this chance to teach my son about Geography, races, sports, cultures and customs. So far, I don’t think I’ve done enough in that regards, but hopefully, I can make up some before the whole Game is over. Cuz, there are only so many four years in our lifetime.

Few Thoughts on NBA Playoff (part 2)

Well, my beloved Boston Celtics lost Game 7 to Miami Heat over the weekend. Here are some further thoughts about that and beyond.

Heat vs. Thunder will be the showcase of the primary battle of NBA’s next generation of rivalry. Heat’s 3 stars are in their prime while Thunder’s duo are as good as them be at even younger age. As long as these two teams are healthy, it will be their first but certainly not their last NBA final battle. Personally, I’m not a ‘Heat-hater’, but I like Thunder, particularly Kevin Durant more. So, I will root for Thunder. My prediction is Thunder in 6.

Regarding Celtics’ future, I think it will be fine. The Truth will stay for 2 more years, and Rondo is about the hit his prime. They can lead younger players to become a decent playoff team. Of course, our dream would be KG and Ray Allen to be back for less money and stay on the team. Honestly, in spite of the high NBA mileages, their performance this year have shown that they still can play 2 more quality years before their skills decline enough to become role players on the bench, provided that they are healthy. KG is certainly is healthy now, and Ray would need surgery. It’s too hard to predict what they will do.

For KG to leave Boston, the reason may be that KG has never played cheap for the last 15 yrs, if he is asked to stay and perform at his current level for a cheaper price. I’m not sure if he can accept that. Given his age, I doubt other teams will play a high price to get him. So, he may simply retire for good. On the contrary, KG may stay in Boston because of his good relationship with Doc River and his teammates, and his character of being loyal to a team unless the team wants him to go. Also, if he can sacrifice and put his ego aside in 2007 to work with PP and Ray Allen, he may be able to put his ego on $ aside this time to stay with the team to make it work again. Who knows?

For Ray Allen, he is older, but as a 3 point sniper, that doesn’t matter. Given his work ethic and his way of taking good care of his conditioning, as long as he can recover from surgery this summer, he will still be a very formidable player on the court. I think fans in Boston love him and he likes Boston as well. However, it is all business, I would say it is only 50-50 that he will stay in Boston, what a shame if Danny Ainge lets him go!

Thank God for Rondo to stay this year without being traded. I dare Celtics to trade him in the next few years. Where else can you find someone better than Rondo? CP3 will stay in LA. Derrick Rose will stay in Chicago. Deron William? What makes people think that he is any better than Rondo who has developed his mid-ranged jumper this year? Rondo has almost a complete game with tons of triple-doubles and his competitive strength can take over a game and it showed. Consistency would be an issue only if you want to may it into one. He is about to hit his prime, it will be a fool to let him go. So, given Doc River will stay as well, Rondo and Doc would be attractive enough to get good players to play for Celtics. Would D. Howards consider to join the Cs? It would be a sweet dream for Cs fans if it comes true. Cuz, if D. Howards join Rondo, it would be good enough to go against Heat and Bulls (provided D. Rose becomes healthy again) in the East. Otherwise, Cs would only be good enough to be in playoff, but would be hard to reach Conference final.

Few thoughts on NBA Playoff

First of all, I’ve been a long time C’s fan. So, no matter what I’m rooting for them on the emotional side. However, putting that aside, I do have objective things to say about what I’ve seen so far about this playoff.

As of today, the Celtics just won Game 4 over Miami Heat and the series is tied at 2-2, same as the Western Conference between Spurs and Thunder. I’ve not got the chance to watch as many games as I want to, but based on 2 games of each conference and few in previous round that I saw so far, I do wanna share few thoughts about the games.

Celtics’ resilience is very respectful. We all know that they are old; they can’t run much and are injured. However, in the playoff with their half-court tempo that they play, it works into their advantage. They barely survived from the ‘should-not-be-that-difficult’ series with 76ers, many people thought they will be crushed by Heat in spite of the absence of Chris Bosh. Well, they didn’t. Celtics has been playing with the heart and emotion throughout the series so far, perhaps that’s the drive that keep them afloat. Heat is injured, but they are clearly overrated. In spite of all the hype and the real talent that LeBron and Wade have, they are still searching for their heart! Nonetheless, the game is played by 5 players; just 2 superstars are not enough. Though almost everyone says that the result of this series will be Heat-in-6, I will doubt that based on what I’ve seen so far. It will go to Game 7 and who know which team will win, it is so 50-50. Anyway, the only word that I think best describe this series is ‘Grind’.

On the Western Conference side, it is no ‘Grind’ at all. It is really a ‘fight’. Similarly, it is about an old experienced team against a younger team with superstars. However, I think the Thunders this year is no Thunders of last year. It is definitely an upgraded team. Just seeing in the eyes of Kevin Durant, he is just more patient than last year. Thunders have a great Game 4, the offense was amazing, besides Kevin Durant and David Westbrook, the rest of the players were involved and contributed. They just look dangerous and would kill the opponent if you fell asleep. However, what was amazing to me was that Spurs though lost, they could stay very close to Thunder scoring wise even though they didn’t play very well. When they play good, they are just hard to beat. Spurs has never been my favorite, not even like to watch their game. I don’t mind, and actually love low scoring games with lots of defense. That’s why I wouldn’t mind watching those old Piston games back then. Spurs are not that though in defense, they can score, but their games to me just somehow…boring. I don’t know why, that’s just my feeling. Anyway, I don’t know who will win in this conference. But, honestly, I think either team will beat either team from the East. Cuz, I think both Celtics and Heat are so beaten up with injuries that they are no match to the power of the West.

Thus, my objectively prediction is that the West will win the champion this year in this tired and short NBA season.

My Jeremy Lin analysis

After 5 full games and started 4 of them, the NBA is officially under siege of the ‘Linsanity’. Unless you live underneath a rock in the past week, you must hear of Jeremy Lin, a ‘Linderella’ story of modern day professional sports. I would not go into usual introduction of what had happened in this first week that he become a sensational NBA success story for being New York Knicks’s prime point guard. Instead, I would like to talk about his value of a cultural icon-in-making and my prediction of his near future.

The States is a melting pot and there should be people of different races for people to look up to. Asian American has 5% of the population, but their representation in the mass media is way below that. That’s actually quite strange given that their buyer power is by no mean small as this segment of population are relatively highly educated and economically well off. I guess there are reasons for that. First of all, Asians are relatively quiet, they don’t voice out loudly enough to be heard. Secondly, though the Asian group is very diversified: the Laos are not similar to the Japanese, the similarity of Korean and Indonesian may limit to their taste of spicy foods, the Asian population somehow has a common culture to nurture their kids to focus on a relatively limited scope of careers. So, Asians of politicians, community leaders, athletes, people that are in front of the camera are far and between. As there are not jumping out to be seen and heard, so there is less incentive for mass media to pull them out when they are hard to be found.

Jeremy actually partially fit the profile. A devoted Christian young man with a strong family, a good education of being a Harvard economic graduate, and has a relatively quiet misdemeanor and a hard-working work ethic. What makes him so different is his career choice of becoming a professional basketball player. That’s such an odd choice that is quite unprecedented in Asian American communities. In spite of all the hype that the media is making of him this week, the most important thing is that what he has shown on the court proves that he is no fluke! He is a real deal, a legit point guard that can perform at highest level. Cuz, there are gonna be somebody out there in the league can’t stand his fame and wanna take it personally to prove he doesn’t deserve the hype. That’s gonna make him a marked man on the court in the next few weeks. On top of the tight schedule of games, he is gonna exhausted soon. Also, the potential threat is not just coming from other teams, but his teammate Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t be happy to share ball-in-hands minutes with Lin. How the coach gonna handle this will be very interesting. My guess is that Carmelo will adjust his own game. Otherwise, even if Lin stays silent, his teammates who benefit from Lin’s court vision and ball feeds will voice out, let alone the NY media, they gonna eat Melo up if Knicks starts losing because Melo is hogging the ball from Lin. But, this internal team issue remains uncertain at the moment.

Going back to Lin’s values, his surge in the spotlight is due the fact that he is so unique that he has no predecessor to look up to. Just put aside his cultural value aside for a moment, in these days and age, value certain comes with a figure, and Lin is combination of a list of factors that will do him a favor in make big bucks.

From zero to hero – he has a humble background, clean, working hard with real skills. But has no sport scholarships was offered, cut by teams, put into sub-league, been a benchwarmer. Nonetheless, he didn’t complain. Then, opportunity fell on his lap, he seized and made it! This kind of story is a favorite American story that fit the American ‘folklore’ or spirit, Obama would have no problem quoting his story in his State of the Union speech, teachers would have no problem citing him as an example in classes. When the national sentiment is not that good during these economic doldrums, an inspiring story of personal triumph from rag to famous should no doubt attract eyeballs.

Asian/Ivy League professional athlete – The Asian part attracts Asian fans and consumers of both domestic and aboard. Yao Ming, though he was not the first Asian/Chinese NBA player, he is the most successful one. He opened doors to show that what is possible. However, he is sent from China with 400M basketball fans with money to spend and he is not a home grown talent, but also being someone trained by the country to succeed. I respect for what Yao did and as a person, but Lin is different for being exactly not another Yao Ming. Lin is a purely American product. He is easier for most Asian Americans to identify with given how he was brought up and what he had gone through. There just aren’t too many Asian role models, Yao, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, etc all speak English with accent. The entertainers are in particular still famous for having the stereotypical trait of Asian - knowing martial arts. When you see a skillful Asian who speak perfect English and made it in a non-traditional profession, that certainly caught every Asian American’s attention. For fans aboard, in the absence of another Yao, Lin is the next best thing. I think it is silly to call him one of their own; but we just can’t stop them from doing so. The Ivy League part is as well intriguing. For people who didn’t know much about sports in the States, Ivy League schools don’t play along with the rest, for whatever reason, maybe they consider themselves more prestigious, traditional or else, athletes in those schools are basically overlooked by profession teams in sport though skill levels of many of which are comparable to the rest. I don’t know if it is the works of the ‘big boy’ networks or so. Anyway, so Ivy League alumnus occupies Wall Street, Capital Hill, Silicon Valley, but not in sports area, particularly on courts or fields. So, I guess those Ivy League alumnus, turning away from Bloomberg terminals, would still be happy to cheer Lin as one of their own, though they have a big belly rather than a six-pack!

Christian – Christianity is power in the States, remember how much money ‘The Passion of Christ’ made, how Tim Tebow’s fame exploded just months ago, and how many people use bible as reason/excuse to explain the world in Yahoo/forums in the States. There are saying comparing Lin to Tebow is not exactly right, the latter rose with legit backing of sport machine and all that. I don’t care that much. Cuz, being a successful and openly devoted Christian in this country does invite challenges from non-Christians. I think as soon as one non-Christian criticizes Lin for being too Christian, 3 Christians are gonna jump out to defend him. That’s a double-edged sword, but I would prefer to have it than not. Believing every Christian is equal in front of God, Christian of all races and background would no doubt support Lin, particularly when openly devoted Christians are rare in the league.

Being a Knicks – This team has sunk for so long, specifically since Patrick Ewing was gone. Isaiah Thomas made it a mess, the onboarding of Amare/Melo didn’t deliver as it was thought so far. For an important sport city in the States, fans there are devoted but they could be harsh as well. For being disappointed so long in the Mecca of basketball, suddenly a white, no, an yellow knight coming from nowhere (actually from the end of the bench) gave so much excitement to the fans, how can people not getting fire up? For being in a professional basketball team is great, but being a New York Knicks, that adds tons of additional value when you become successful. That’s why Chris Paul III was dying to go to NY even he was the franchise player of Hornet, as Charlotte is no New York! You make it in NY, you make it in the States! New York can offer all the perks for any celebrity. Being a favorite of local fans who include all financial/media/marketing/advertising professionals, the sky is limited for financial returns.

Those NY marketing folks can sell anything, they can sell a cat to mouse. With Lin in their hands, they slice and dice his potential and appeals, you can tell Lin’s upcoming endorsement deals are gonna be massive, as they won’t be just for NY, but for the whole nation and to the World as well. If Lin can stay healthy, keep smile and perform, given his young age and the rest, he will be the most bankable and richest Asian athlete in the world in next few years.

Trust me, balloon will come back to earth eventually, his fame does too. However, I think he is for the longer run. His next contract will be big, may not be Yao Ming size, but will be closed. Though he is not a franchise player, and I doubt he will be, his youth, skills and marketing strength should command multi-millions easily. As I said, I think he deserves success, it is a result of being equipped and lucky as well, to be playing for the right team at the right time and place.

Let Linsanity continues.

2012 Super Bowl

I'm said that Patriots lost to Giants this year. I think Bill and Tom will have the bitter taste of defeat by the same opponent in two Super Bowls in the mouth for the rest of their lives. That's just sad! Yes, I know Giants played a great game, but being a fan of the Patriots, I just can't help but feel upset of the this loss...

Last week, I had a dream of the score of this Super Bowl to be 23-26 that Patriots won. What a wishful thinking and it just proved that I shouldn't bet (not that I did in fact) based on what I saw in my dream. Anyway, it is tough to be a winner, but even tough to pull oneself up after defeat. I hope the Pats will recover, well, they have months to heal... :(

My latest thoughts on NBA 2011

My favorite team Boston Celtics was out by Miami Heat. I was not surprised by the result, given that Rondo was playing with one arm and Shaq was too old to recover. The bench couldn’t perform at expected level. So, here it goes for the season. Well, Doc is gonna be back for 5 more years. It is kinda interesting that he wanted so much to go back to Orlando to be with his kids in college, to see them play sports, etc a year ago. Now, he would coach 5 more years and don’t miss his kids’ games no more! I guess money talks. Anyway, it would be interesting to see what Danny Ainge will do in the unknown off-season given the possible lock out. Anyway, I will just stay tune.

Fortunately, my second favorite team Chicago Bulls is cruising along, beat Miami Heat in the first game of Eastern final. I guess the Bulls will win. I just don’t want Heat to be in the Final. Yes, the new Big Three will win championship soon or later, but I prefer the latter. Also, I doubt they can win 6-8 rings as they wished. Cuz, the Bulls is for real and I think Bulls will be the most dominant team in the next 5 years at least, provided they don’t suffer heavy injury. Bulls is playing as a team, yes DR is dominant, but he is also a guy that bring the team together. So, they will be tough to bit as Tom Thibs’s air-tight defensive schemes just suffocate most individualistic players. I love teams play as a team. So, go Bulls all the way this year and they deserve the ring!

Dallas will win the West, though I like Thunder, particularly after reading news story about Kevin Durant. What a humble kid he is! Similar to DR, I think they are much better young players as role models than those flashy LBJ, Carmelo Anthony, etc. However, I still like Bulls better. Thunder would be a great team rising in the West.

Spurs, similar to the Cs, is just too old as a team. It’s time to rebuild. Lakers is interesting, they are not as old as people think, but I just can’t see they will be better next year. With the Phil Jackson’s Zen management, those wild characters just can’t be contained. I don’t see them doing any better next year than this year. Will Phil retire? Maybe, more interesting would be…will the famous triangular defense retires with him? I know Rex Winter (if I remember the name right) is the real master of Triangular defense, but I don’t know if there’s gonna be any successor to that….hmmm…..

NBA 2011 predictions

I'm quite tired lately, both on the works and family sides. However, that hasn't stopped me from reading news, particularly my favorite topics...

NBA regular season is getting close. Based on my gut feeling, I would make following bold predictions, let's see if I'm right or wrong in few months.

Eastern Conference:
Celtics will beat Heat in 6 games
Bulls will beat Magic in 6 games
Celtics will beat Bulls in 7 games to go to the Final.

Western Conference:
Lakers will beat Mavericks in 5 games
Spurs will beat Thunder in 6 games
Spurs will beat Lakers in 7 games to go to the Final.

Final:
Celtics will beat Spurs in 6 games -> 1825!

Celtics 2010-2011 is Expendables!

With the latest addition of Shaq to Celtics, the Cs is basically a team of senior citizens in the NBA for the coming season. Well, I don’t mean to put the team down, rather I like what Danny Ainge does so far. Losing Tim Allen is a shame, but at least he keeps Nate Robinson. Jermaine O’Neal is a roll of dice considering the cost and the potential return. In contrast, regardless there have been so much negative words on the signing of Shaq by Celtics, I think this is a great deal! Cuz, the team got him at bare veteran minimum, but the upside would still be great. He is somewhat like another Sheed Wallace, you don’t get him for regular season, but for the critical ‘moments’ in playoff. I think Shaq still has some gas in the tank to make timely contribution in those moments when they come. Regarding the chemistry in locker room, with a tight team of all will-be-hall of famers, I think Shaq is smart enough to know what to say and what to expect. So, Danny Ainge has assembled a formidable team of veterans, like the actors of the movie ‘Expendables’, to deal with the young running guns in most NBA teams. I think the team will be interesting to watch if not more than what the Heat will do in the next 2 seasons.

What Doc River gotta do is the same as last year, to keep the stars healthy and injury-free if possible, just grinding through the 82 regular season games with about 50 wins, just good enough to be in the playoff. Then, let the ‘real’ games begin. Cuz, Celtics is a half-court team that emphasize defense. Looking back, the crucial components of past championship teams are health, defense, experience, stars, and role players that perform or even had breakthrough games. Celtics have plenty of those, at least on paper. So, it will be exciting to see how they perform. Also, what should be watched out is how Rondo, Perkin and G Davis will develop in the next 2 years. Cuz, I believe they will be the core of Celtics two years down. Certainly, with all the contract expiration from the all stars, the team will have a deep pocket to maneuver in the future market. My guess is Rondo will be the cornerstone player that won’t be traded. All the rest are not. Anyway, I would say that I trust Danny Ainge on this strategy which should be both good in the short and long run.

Looking around the league with dust settled. The landscape is pretty much set. Lakers will be invincible in the West. Suns, Maverick, and Spurs would not post much challenge to Lakers. I like Nuggets, but they are still not good enough. So, Lakers is expected to cruise all the way to be in Final next year. On the East, it is more interesting. All eyes will be on Heat, the new big threes now have a bunch of good role players and veteran around, it will be up to team chemistry and the skill of the coach to make the team all the way to the Final. On their way, besides Celtics whom I believe will be their opponent in Eastern Conference Final, Orlando doesn’t do much but still good, and I like Bulls very much. They have a good coach and a young core that will be the team to watch in next few years. Still, both Orlando and Bulls should still be no match to Heat or Celtics in next season.

Well, that’s my thought on the upcoming NBA season.

NBA 2010

Now, Lebron James announced that he is gonna join Dwayne Wade and Christ Bosh in Miami Heat in coming NBA season. So, the fiasco is over and the real works begin. As the free agent bonanza of this off season is about to be over when most of the big names have announced their new home, the coming season is gonna be very interesting to watch. I’m sure analysis of what will happen this year is gonna be done to death in the next few months. I just wanna put my two cents of thought in this circus.

People are gonna put Miami as the instant favorite considering the brightness of three ‘young’ all stars. Some people may compare the 2010 Miami to the 2007 Celtics when Ray Allen, KG, and Paul Pierce were first put together to form the ‘big three’ who eventually won the champion in their first season together. However, I don’t think that’s gonna happen to Miami. Yes, they will win a champion or more, but not this year. The difference are (i) the ‘bench’, (ii) mentality the second.

Celtics 2007 has a decent bench besides the big three. PJ Brown, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkin, James Posey, Tony Allen are all fine role players at the time. The rest of Miami 2010 is still pending to be filled. However, the team has only jump change of $ to spend to do that. With that, they will most likely fill the team with players of D-league quality. Surely, there may be surprise, but that’s just a best wish. They can only hope to find players who would only wish to strike for the chance of getting a ring but playing at minimum money. This kind of players do exists, but will be far and between these days. For any unknown to be good enough to be ‘surprise’, that may take more than a year to work within the team and whether Pat Riley can pull any rabbit out of his Armani hat in next year or two. Regarding ‘mentality’, the big three of Celtics 2007 are veterans that were beaten up in the lead for decade without getting a ring. They had already passed the stage of chasing their individual glories. So, they could work together to make sacrifice for the team to win. I doubt that will happen to Miami this year. Not with D.Wade already got a ring and LBJ’s attitude towards the game as a team spot. Even the sharing with spotlight would be an issue. The new young big three may be good friends off the court, but would they get along on it is gonna be very interesting to watch. Off course, I could be wrong, but…unless the disclosed contract of those 3 players will show that they get less money than it was predicted, i.e. a sign that they don’t mind to leave some money on the table for Pat Riley to fill the rest of the team with decent players, I would say that Miami is not gonna be as good as what they look. The end of the day is that basketball is a game of 5 players on the court, and a champion team is never composed of a 3 headed dragon.

In view of the rest of the league, the Knicks got one star, Bulls got one, Clippers and the Nets got none. Lakers remain the team to beat in the league. Celtics’ core will come back for their last dance (with Doc River as the coach). Cavaliers, Jazz will be in misery for years to come. I would rank the top teams in the league in next year as follow: Lakers > Celtics > Bulls > Miami > Magic > Suns > Spurs/Mavericks. Let see if I’m right about that…..:)

Sick of LBJ

LeBron James is gonna have an 1 hour special on ESPN this Thursday to announce his whereabout in the next x years under a $100+ contract that we will sign with “?” That “?” can be Cleveland or Miami or Chicago which are the front runners of the Lebron sweepstake this offseason in NBA.

To be honest, I don’t really give a shit where he is gonna sign. As a fan of basketball, don’t get me wrong that I don’t like stars. I like to watch star players playing. What I don’t like are those hyper-inflated stars who are made into something bigger than they are, not who they may become. I’ve no doubt that LBJ has shown all the potentials of how great he can and will be, but he is NOT there yet. My feeling is that he is still more interest in chasing individual glory than Championship. 2 times regular season MVP, that’s nice but so what? The bottomline in NBA for fans and most players are rings!

LBJ is great in regular season and fun to watch, but I don’t see a shift of his mentality during the playoff. The prime example is Game 5 against Boston. He just had no fire in his eyes, no killer instinct! That’s what separates him from Kobe or Michael. Unless he is seriously about chasing ring, I don’t think it matters where he will be next season.

Lakers won banner#16 and the aftermath for the Celtics

As I predicted yesterday, Lakers won the 2010 NBA trophy over the Celtics. It was a hard fought game, credits got to go to all players involved. Yes, I'm a Celtics' fan. Loss on my favorite team is hard to swallow. There have already different theories coming up on why they lost: Kendrin Perkin's absence, the big threes are too old, Rasheed Wallace was over-fatigue, the ref called too many fouls on the C's etc. People can form whatever judgement they want. It really doesn't matter what caused the loss, the fact is that they lost! Down the road when most people look back the history, all they will see is that Lakers won and Celtics lost. That's it.

Well, as NBA for this season has officially come to an end. The Lebron+everyone hunt will be the main story until dusts settle. The power landscape of NBA will certain change and next year will be an exciting year. The Lakers will have challenges ahead of them. Will they be able to 3peat? Nobody knows. However, I'm sure Celtics' great run will come to an end with Doc River's departure, Ray Allen's signning to another team (not because he doesn't wanna stay, but because Ray's agent doesn't want his client to sign for a small amount that Celtics will offer). Also, Paul Pierce and K.G. have piled up so much mileage that they just can't beat the younger guys in series. Yes, Rondo is their bright future, but not able to elevate the team by himself until after the retirements of Paul and K.G. in 2012, when the team can free some $$$ to sign another 1 or 2 all-stars to join the C's. The team will probably be a 2nd around play-off team at most, depending how the power landscape will be shaped this summer.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. Teams move on, so do lives.

Game 7

Yes, everybody is watching the World Cup, the once every four years event. However, we are still in the first round of the top 32. So, I will leave it that way for now.

NBA, my favorite spectator spot, has reached the final game for this season. Game 7 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, a rivalry for the ages. Being a long time C's fan, I can't help but rooting for the big three to play the last game together amid Ray Allen's departure in the next season. Yes, there are still a lot of unknowns, but it is just my hunch that 'this is it!' for the big three. Tonight is gonna be the final act for them to play together on the same team, probably the last time they will reach the climax of the career since they won't their first rings two years ago. I've tremendous respect to their games. Paul Pierce become an outstanding all-around player, Ray Allen, still the second best crutch shooter (for me just behind Reggie Miller) but with great defense, and Kevin Garrnett, the best defender of his post. I hope they will win their second ring, but my wish is one thing, reality is the other (maybe).

Kobe is still Kobe, the best player since MJ. To me, he is just MJ of his generation. In terms of desire to win, he is second to none. It is ultimately up to his sidekicks on whether they want their rings as badly as Kobe is. Also, the home court would favor the Lakers, I don't care how much others discount that fact.
At the end, who want the rings most will win. I first read that from Rick Fox and then from Magic Johnson. I think that's true.

For Kobe, it is more of his personal pride of winning his 5th ring, revenge against the big three for Lakers' lost in 2008, and the scare of losing to the same team which would certainly discredit him as the best Lakers. However, for the big three, this will be their final act, could be the last time they will reach the final in their celebrated careers. I'm sure they want to go out at top with a big bang then anything else. Yes, they are not retiring after this season, but they will be too old to adjust to new coach, or even new team to get to be championship in next one or two years. By then, they will be simply too old! So, let's see who will win.

My hope is for the Celtics, but my hunch told me it will be the Lakers.

Lakers - NBA Champion of 2009

Well, my previous predictions about the playoff results are all wrong. I'm fine with that cos that is the fun part about following up sports. Lakers finally bit Magic by 4-1 to win the series. Kobe Bryant, as the closest resemble of MJ, got it done thsi time, learning from last year against the Celtics. Well, Magic is no Celtics who are much more seasoned and experienced. Anyway, Phil Jackson won his 10th rings which is amazing. Well, haters can say all the want, but a fact is a fact, he is legendary coach of basketball, that's something can't be denied.

There are a lot of what ifs....like Yao didn't get hurt, KG didn't get hurt, etc. I think it is just better to wait till next season. I'm still rooting for the Celtics and Rockets. Hopefully, they can do better next year. For this year, the season and playoff are over. Kobe and his gangs are gonna meet Obama later this year. Good for them.

NBA Playoff 2009 Prediction

While there have already been many similar predictions done by others on the web, I just wanna share mine to see how the end will be.

East Coast:
Cleveland will beat Atlanta 4:1
Boston will beat Orlando 4:3
Cleveland will beat Boston 4:2

West Coast:
L.A. will beat Houston 4:2
Denver will beat Dalla 4:2
L.A. will beat Denver 4:3

Final:
Cleveland will beat L.A. 4:3

My 2009 NBA All Star Games Prediction

Well, I'm a fan of NBA since I was a kid. Anyone who know NBA knows that NBA All Star Game is show of popularity and glitz. What I want to talk about is that I think something unpleasant to Chinese fans will happen in this year's All Star Games.

The 5 starters of each coast are voted by fans, the rest players are selected by NBA insiders. For the past years or decades, things have been fine. i.e. star players on winning teams usually got high votes. Those star players are usually quite talent and entertaining. As NBA was largely an U.S. centric game, though the champion has been called the World Champion. Those votes were come from U.S. fans mostly. However, as NBA is a 'global' business in these days, you can tell how David Stern, the commissioner of NBA has been salivating the Chinese market. Then, we got Yao Ming. Yao has been in the All Star Games since he joined NBA. Luckily, he is a talent and has getting more and more dominant in the center post. So, with the decline of Shaq, Yao has been voted as the starting center for the west coast for few years. Fans and critics are largely ok with that, because he is really talented in his position. If he is not the best center in NBA now, he is certainly in the top three, so it has been fine.

Nonetheless, 2009 is a different story. The cause is Yi Jianlian. He is a good player, but not a star, at least not yet. However, he is second in vote after Kevin Garrnett so far. That's not good from basketball prospective. His votes, undoubtedly mostly of them are from China. I can understand they want to see their player in All Star Games. However, they got Yao already, if they just blindly vote whoever is Chinese, that's not good. Cos, my prediction is that if Yi Jianlian is voted as a starter for the East Coast. Then, the other 4 starters and the rest players of the East will not actively pass balls to him and he will be hacked by the 4 starters and all the rest of the West (excecpt Yao, but I doubt he will help Yi out as he plays the opposite team). If you think that is not gonna happen, you will be surprise! Cos, it happened before, I remember that when Shaq was young and stupid, he verbally challenged the centers of the west in one of the All Star Game in the 90s, then he got hacked by Kakeem and David Robinson whenever Shaq wanna go to the basket, u know playing defence in All Star Games are usually a second thought, people just wanna dunk, slam and striking poster post. So, Shaq got hacked.

For Yi, he will be hacked not because what he said or what he will say, but because he will be voted blindly by the Chinese fans. Those players will punish him to show that he doesn't belong there, at least not yet. That would be embarrassing for Yi and for the Chinese. I hope that won't happen, but based on the current signs, it is very likely that will.

Michael Phelps as Aquaman!

Since 'The Dark Knight' has broken so many boxoffice records, other comic book hero movies, such as 'Iron Man', 'Incredible Hulk', 'Hell Boy 2', 'Spiderman', 'X-Men', etc are also doing really well, I'm sure hollywood will keep making this kind of movies until they all become 'Batman and Robin' or 'Catwoman'.

As 'The Dark Knight', 'Iron Man', and 'Incredible Hulk' receiving not just great financial returns but also critical claims, one of the reasons is that they hire some real actors to lead the movies rather just some pretty boys. However, whether the movie is good or not, the CG is fantastic or not, that's up to the people behind to pull the strings. A leading man must fit the role. Michael Phelps, the new Olympic legend, has a good look and a fantastic body, he can act or not...that's not something I know, but I think he definitely fit the role of 'Aquaman'. He can swim, Man HE CAN SWIM. Well, the diving part.....CG can help....but with him leading the role, I'm sure that is a great marketing scheme. Will u go to see him as Aquaman? I will!

Olympics Medal Lists

Does anyone see something different about defaulted medal count list showed in Yahoo.com, the U.S. site versus the Yahoo sites of few other countries: Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, U.K. and Germany?

India's performance in Beijing Olympic

This is just a thought that come to my mind upon reading some articles about prediction of China's performance in this Olympic. Cos, those articles say that the number of medals that China will win this time will be even more than those by the U.S. Certainly, the first reason is about home court advantage. That's something that no need to be disputed. However, other reasons have also been raised, most of them are related to population and economy. Namely, when you have large pool of population, probability wise, there should be more natural gifted athletes. Also, as China's economy is growth so fast, most resources can be inserted into sports trainings, etc. So, the performance should be inproved, and so on.

Well, I don't know if that is really true or not, we won't find out whether China will perform as good as those predictions. Even if those predictions come true, I would still very much doubt of those explanations of economy and population. Cos, as the subject suggests, then India should do pretty good as well. On the contrary, so far what we heard about Indian athletes are still about hockey, hockey and hockey. That is something make say: hmmm........!

2008 Beijing Olympics

Well, it is a spectacular opening ceremony last night in Beijing. Everything has a positive and negative sides. For Olympics, I always like to look at the former, particular the athletes who have trained all their lives to excel in their own sports and perform at the highest level in front of the world. I will put the politics, national pride, and all those things aside. Just stay focus to look at the athletes and cheer for them. I don't care who end up win the most gold medals, cos what matters are the gold medalists are working very hard to win, and those who didn't win any medals are not 'losers', cos if they are losers, then what are we?

Just hope games will be fair, and take place in peace!

Celtics is the Champ!

Too bad I didn't take a day off to watch this game but only found out the result at lunch time at work. Anyway, the loopside win against the Lakers in Game 6 sounds so incredible that I think it will deserve repeat watching for many Celt's fans. In NBA, I only follow 2 teams, one is the Celtics for long time sake and the second is the Rockets just for Yao. I'm quite excited that Celtics finally won the championship for the first time since 1986.

The more I read about KG, Paul and Ray, the new 'Big Three', the more I like about them. They are so diverse in terms of characters. What I like them is about the unselfishness and willing to foresake individual gain for the common good for the team. That's really what team sport suppose to be. Yes, I know that Piston did that as well few years back. But what Celtics did is with 3 stars, that's always more difficult with all those big egos, fame, and power involved. However, they did it and worked as a team. Such team spirit is what is needed these days. I'm happy for them. Let's see what they can do next year.