Behind The Scoreboard - Claude Vinson


Thursday, May 11, 2006
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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson

NBA moves to ‘Elite Eight’

If you haven’t seen the excitement in the current NBA playoffs, then you haven’t been watching. OK, OK, so it wasn’t very exciting seeing the team down the road crash and burn in their third unfortunate attempt to move to the next level in the NBA playoffs.

Did the Griz really have a chance? To win a game in the series, yes. To win the series, no.

Their best game came in number three when they went down in overtime to the Mavericks, the first night they played at the Forum. The next game was the worst of the series, a 26-point spread at 102-76.

The Griz made history, clearly a mark the Griz hierarchy was desperately hoping to avoid. They are the first team to lose 12 consecutive games in the playoffs, an indelible mark on a team which has struggled throughout its existence.

What does the headshed have to do to ensure that there is no 16 losing mark? It will have to take a lot of hard work, and oh yes, a couple of superstars would help.

And speaking of superstars, so much for the comparisons of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. They have been the subject of much press.

Now that the Lakers’ run has come to an end, a run that a lot of the sports world didn’t foresee early on, James is now being compared to “Jordan the Great.”

In paying due to outstanding performance, one would have to give the Lakers some props. After dismal seasons following Jackson and the Shaq (with the return of Jackson), they pushed the Suns to game seven after leading the series 3-2.

And now the field has been pared from the “Sweet 16” to the “Elite Eight.” That loud thundering noise heard way out West last Tuesday was not an earthquake, it was the Clippers winning their first playoff series.

From here on out it will be the Suns and the Clippers, Mavericks and Spurs in the Western Conference and the Heat and the Nets, the Pistons and the Cavaliers in the Eastern.

The Pistons and the Cavaliers have already had their first installment on Sunday in which the Ben Wallace combine showed the James machine how it is done.

And the Spurs and Mavericks had the battle for Texas all over again with the Alamo band holding sway. The Spurs have already stated that they are picking up the gauntlet which the Pistons have thrown.

How in the world do you fix the odds on one like this?

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