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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson Playoffs The
NBA conference championships roll on with the Celtics taking complete
command in the East. They went into Orlando and came away with
home-court advantage. Although the Magic came pretty close in game two
(95-92), they couldn’t build on that closeness on Saturday when the
series flopped back to Boston. The Celtics dominated 94-71. The
media started early Sunday predicting Orlando’s downfall in game number
four at Boston on Monday evening (after press deadline for this week’s
sports section). The word is that number four will sound the death
knell for the Magic’s run this season. The predictors say that even a
win would only forestall the inevitable. Over the history in NBA, 93 teams have gone up 3-0 and never lost a championship series. Factually,
across all pro sports, only four teams have come back to win a
championship after a 3-0 deficit. And if one needs an expert opinion,
Magic Johnson joined the SportsCenter crew on ESPN Monday and responded
with “none,” when asked what chance the Magic had in game four. The
West Conference finals were also generating a lot of interest and some
of it didn’t fly around Kobe. Not minimizing Bryant’s part in the
current run for a repeat ring, for truly he has put up his usual
awe-inspiring performances throughout the playoffs, 30-plus points (one
40-plus), with seemingly little effort. And the
whopping combined point spread in games one and two (33), made the
Phoenix franchise start to question its star players. Although denied
by Amare Stoudermire early on Saturday, it must have struck some chord
within for Stoudermire went out and hit 42 points with 11 rebounds on
Sunday. Phoenix just hopes that this will carry over to game four on
Tuesday which is also in Phoenix. During this
point in the season, one can always expect the unexpected. It would
seem that whenever any high profile conversation comes up in
basketball, John Calipari’s name will creep in. The latest rumor was
that King James would declare his free agency, bolt to Chicago and be
coached by the fast becoming legendary Calipari. Remember, the Bulls up and fired their head coach just as the playoffs got underway. But that was yesterday. Sunday
night (why do these things always happen at night?), the Cleveland
hierarchy fired head coach Mike Brown. It was a move which was
necessary, according to the Cleveland hierarchy – time for a new
direction. Brown had given them their best records in the history of
the franchise with the largest winning percentage of any coach. During
his five-year tenure he took them to the playoffs five times. The
word is that King James will have some input as to who the next coach
will be, that is if Cleveland wants him to tear up his free agency
certificate. And the beat goes on.
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