Hey Max Kellerman, listen up because I got a hot lead on the biggest bout since Pacquiao vs. Hatton. It'll be perfect for Friday Night Fights. No, it isn't anything invo
lving Floyd Mayweather (although July 18 should be marked on everybody's calendar as ya boy makes his return to the ring vs. Marquez). I am talking about stacking up the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs against the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs. This one may go the distance, Max. You've had excitement on both ends in the First round with even more buildup in the respective second rounds, more game seven's than I wish to count (although I will for your enjoyment) and a slew of superstars to go along with everything. So here it is folks, a match for the ages... "llllllllllllllllets get ready to rummmmbbblleee!!!!"tm. (Boy, I hope I don't get sued by Michael Buffer for that one)Round 1: The Upset
The first round of the NHL playoffs had as marquee of an upset as you can have, as the 8 seeded Ducks of Anaheim dethroned the 1 seeded San Jose Sharks. Winners of this year's President's Trophy, the Sharks had the best record in the NHL and were at one time the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Looks like those Mighty Ducks had other plans (do you think they implemented the "Flying V" into their offense?). They made it look easy, going up on San Jose 3 games to 1 before winning the series in six. I am shocked and appalled that the media didn't make a bigger deal out of this upset, which was no doubt monumental in hockey's storied history. The Sharks are only the fourth team in NHL history to go from winning the Presidents' Trophy to first-round elimination in the NHL playoffs. I just remember the uproar we all heard from the media in 2007 when the 8 seeded Golden State Warriors knocked off the perennial favorite Dallas Mavericks in the first round. You never heard the end of it. "Its one of the biggest upsets in NBA history," they would say. Well, I don't see how this is any different, if anything this is more impressive. This is a team that was completely restructured midway through the season, who were clawing at the end of the regular season just to make the playoffs and who had an inexperienced goalie at the helm in sophomore stud Jonas Hiller (the west coast's version of Varly) who replaced supposed All-StarJean-Sebastien Giguere. This was nothing short of a miracle, and clearly a first round match-up to remember.
The NBA playoffs were few-and-far-between in the upset department, with the biggest upset probably being the 6 seeded Dallas Mavericks unseating the 3 seeded San Antonio Spurs. This is actually a bigger upset than it looks. The Spurs rarely and I mean RARELY lose in the first round, hell they rarely even lose in the second round. In fact, this year marks the first time the Spurs have lost in the first round since 2000 when they fell to the Suns and their longest drought without an NBA finals appearance since 1999-2002 (Their last appearance was in 2007). Not only did they lose, but they got spanked, barely avoiding the sweep in a 4 games to 1 decision. The Mavs rallied to win 4 games in a row to close out the series and advance out of the first round for the first time since making the NBA finals in 2006 (Probably the last time Crystal Taylor was let out on parole too...). So yeah, I guess you could call this a pretty big upset. I didn't even think Dallas was going to make the playoffs this year but they managed to close out the regular season strong and showed everyone that they deserved to be there. The only hole in the story is that the Spurs were battling injuries all series. Tim Duncan was playing through soreness and all-star 6th man Manu Ginobli was on the sideline in a suit and tie. If those guys were playing at the top of their games, this would have most likely been a much more interesting series as this is typically one of the best rivalries in the West.
Advantage: NHL
Round 2: The Stars
As is usually expected come play-off time, fans have the privilege of seeing the league's best players square off to bring their team a title, and there was certainly no shortage of star power in either league so far this postseason.
The NHL got to see the emergence of two great young goalies that nobody even knew existed before April. Simeon Varlamov of the Washington Capitals and Jonas Hiller of the Anaheim Ducks were suiting up in the AHL gear earlier this season only to have huge coming out parties when their teams needed them the most. After a disappointing game one loss to the offensively challenged New York Rangers, Capital's coach Bruce Beaudreau decided to pull the veteran Jose Theodore for a 20 year old Russian kid who didn't know a word of English. The result? Genius. Varly recorded shutouts in 2 of his first 4 games and left the series as one of the league's best goalies. Hiller performed in similar fashion holding the surging Detroit Redwings scoreless through nearly 60 minutes in a grueling game two triple overtime thriller in the second round, recording 59 saves and propelling his team to a late (and I mean late) victory. Aside from the goalies the NHL gave us two of the best athletes to play the game since the Great One himself. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby lived up to their names in every way possible, combining for 26 total points in their round two match-up, including a game where both superstars recorded hat tricks. Can it get any better than that?
What more can you say about the direction of the NBA over the last decade. So many guys have turned the league's image around and strived to promote unity, charity and responsibility to appease many disgruntled fans and parents of younger fans. In this year's playoffs, we got the opportunity to see all of these guys compete against each other with class (this excludes you Derek Fisher and probably you too, Rajon Rondo). The "Redeem Team," who took home the gold metal in the 2008 summer Olympics pretty much all showed up for this year's playoffs. Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade unfortunately saw first round exits after disappointing performances by their teams. However, Lebron, Kobe, Dwight and Melo are all still alive and vying for a spot in their respective conference finals. You also got to see the defending champs scrap their way to victory after victory behind the leadership of all-stars Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. You got to see the most underrated player in the NBA dismantle teams on his way to a 7th straight conference final in Chauncey Billups. You also got to see fellow Olympians Dirk Novitzki (Germany) and Tony Parker (France) on the hardwood. The only place I would dock the NBA is the exclusion of the original blogging sensation, my boy Gilbert from this years playoffs...but I think that is destined to change next year.
Advantage: NBA
...we've got a real slug fest going on here, eh Maxy Boy? Let's move on to the next round. Ding!
Round 3: Game Sevens Galore
Wow, the NHL really hit the jackpot this season, especially in the second round with three of of the four possible match-ups going to a seventh game (too bad they have manatees in the scheduling department who refuse to stop airing two games at the same time). I will tackle the second round in a minute, but lets not forget the amazing round one match-up between the Capital and the Rangers. After falling behind 3 games to 1, the Caps rallied to win three in a row and beat the Rangers in game seven off of a Sergi Federov goal with time winding down in the final period. You also had the 6th seeded Carolina Hurricanes push and eventually break the third seed New Jersey Devils in a Game seven where the Canes came back from down one in the final two minutes of the game. Jussi Jokinen and Eric Staal each scored in the last 1:20 of regulation to beat New Jersey 4-3. This was also a series that included a literal buzzer beater by Jussi Jokinen in game four. Great couple of Seven game first round series.
The NBA also had the pleasure of seeing two first found series go to seven games, also both on the east coast. However, these two series couldn't have been more different from one another. On the one had, you had probably the most boring seven game series in NBA history, and on the other you has arguably the most exciting one of all time. The Hawks and the Heat duked it out in a seven game series that was about as exciting as watching hair grow. Not once in this series did a team fail to lose by double digits, with each team dismantling the other in successive games. How was this possible? How could these blowouts go back and forth with such predictability? I was more than happy when this series was finally over, but was bummed because I was really looking forward to it before the playoffs started. Whatever, I'll get over it because then there was the Bull-Celtics series. Another 1st round series that was so littered with overtimes it was like watching two series being played at once. I will get back to this game later, but lets just say it turned all of America into either a Celtics or a Bulls fan for two weeks. Kudos to a future match-up that could delight NBA fans for years to come.
Now, back to round two. The NHL really couldn't have asked for anything better this year. With Carolina v Boston, An
ahiem v Detroit, and the much anticipated Washington v Pittsburgh series all going to seven games. On top of that, Chicago scored 5 goals in the 3rd period to upset the Vancouver Canucks in a wild game six of their series too! The Anaheim v Detroit series was an unbelievable one, where the lowly 8 seed once again took a front-runner to the limit, falling just short in game seven by a score of 4-3. This was a series that saw a triple overtime game, that's right TRIPLE OT! The Boston-Carolina series came to an end in OT as well as Carolina upset the top seeded Bruins 4-3 last night. So now you are looking at a 5 and a 6 seed advancing to a conference final, amazing. Finally, you had the Caps/Pen series, which I will get into later, but lets just say this was another series littered with overtime's and game changing moments out the wazoo. Overall, there were seven games in the second round that were forced into overtime. Its been a great run for the NHL in the playoffs so far, I hope this will bring the NHL back to national prominence like it was 15 years ago.The NBA was fortunate enough to have two second round series make it to seven games. The Celtics-Magic has been almost as exciting as the Celtics-Bulls(or at least as exciting as it could be, I don't think we could have asked for a better encore), with the Celtics rallying from big deficits in two games, and almost coming back from a 28-point deficit in game one. The Magic have looked dominant at times and flat at others, but no doubt everything will be on the line come Sunday. Also the Huston Rockets accomplished what few believed, pushing the runaway Western Conference favorite LA Lakers to a seventh game as well. They have been doing it with stout defense and precision shooting when it counts. They are like a completely different team on their home court and it will certainly be a challenge to go into the Staples Center and knock off LA on Sunday. This has been an aggressive series with tons of technical fouls and ejections, all the more reason for fans to keep watching. Look forward to a couple of good game sevens this weekend.
Advantage: NHL
Round 4: The "Game-Defining" Series of a Lifetime
OK folks, this is what playoffs are made of. The series that you will be telling your children about 20 years from now, and there was one from each of these leagues.
The NHL was extremely fortunate to have its two biggest stars go head to head for a grueling seven game series culminating in a 6-2 whooping in Washington D.C.. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby out matched each other night after night in an "Anything you ca
n do I can do better" series that saw 3 overtimes, two hat-tricks in one night, a total of 26 points scored between the two players and a never say die mentality (well...until game seven anyway). This was as good as it gets folks. This was the Magic v. Bird of the NHL. Not since Wayne Gretzky have we seen such prowess on the ice as we have from these two young guns. It ended in an upsetting fashion (especially for Washington Fans) but I think the NHL got exactly what it expected. This rivalry is far from over, and with the help of this second round series, we are looking at one of the all time great match-ups in any sport for years to come.Equally as exciting was the first round series between the defending champion Boston Celtics and the pesky Chicago Bulls. Nobody gave the Bulls a chance in this series, but after a game one win in overtime, people were beginning to come around. Much like its NHL counterpart, this series saw four games go into overtime, including one double overtime and one triple overtime game. There was more excitement packed into these seven games than in the entire 2008 playoffs combined. It was incredible, and although there wasn't much on the line, being that it was only a first round match-up, this is still going to be remembered as one of the greatest series in NBA history, and with all the great match-ups that have happened in the NBA that is saying a lot. You had the emergence of two young guys who no doubt will leave their mark's on the NBA in the coming years in Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, as well as a rag-tag supporting cast on both teams that nobody gave any credit to during the regular season. I was especially impressed with the way the Celtics were able to compensate for the absence of their best player Kevin Garnett and string together a title defense that is a good as any in recent memory.
The scary thing is, this may not even be the best match up in this year's playoffs. We are one series away from potentially seeing the NBA's version of Ovechkin vs. Crosby, as Kobe and the Lakers and Lebron and the Cavs are both still alive for a spot in the NBA finals. Forget Magic v. Bird, this match up between two guys, two former teammates on team USA, who took the league by storm will be as hyped as any NBA finals someone my age has ever seen. I know the Lakers are looking a little flat down the stretch, but if they manage to pull this off we are looking at a historic NBA Finals...I can't wait!!!
Advantage: NBA
Winner: NBA
So there you have it folks. The final bell has sounded and the decision has been made. The NBA playoffs still reign supreme. It was a closer than expected bout, but the NBA still has the potential for a marquee match up, while the NHL's best has already past. Its amazing how close this fight really was though. Look for the NHL to only get better in the years to come. There is no doubt the intensity level is better in the NHL, but with a series like the Celtics-Bulls and the thought of a Cavs-Lakers final, it was just enough to edge the phenomenally exciting NHL playoffs out of the winners circle. Hope you all enjoyed the fight. Back to you in the studio Max....
That's it everyone. Make sure to watch the Preakness Stakes this weekend. Looks like Horse Racing will be the first sport to integrate sexes as front runner Rachel Alexandria looks to take the crown from a group of feisty Studs. Look for Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird to give her a run for her money...this is gonna be good. Also, the O's (15-20) are staring down a 9 game road trip as they look to get back to .500. They beat the Royals last night, but are facing Zack Grienke tonight (6-1, 0.51 era...oh lord). God speed boys, god speed.
some statistics courtesy of espn.com
Until next time...
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