NBA Playoff Predictions

Sorry this is a little late, but I figure I should set it up now and just update where the playoffs are at this point. I was going to post this tomorrow, but I figure I should post this before anymore games take place. I am just going to put my predictions after the match up and then say where the series is currently.

Western Conference

First Round
[1] San Antonio Spurs vs. [8] Sacramento Kings – 4-1 currently 2-0
[2] Phoenix Suns vs. [7] Los Angeles Lakers – 4-1 currently 1-1
[3] Denver Nuggets vs. [6] Los Angeles Clippers 0-4 currently 0-2
[4] Dallas Mavericks vs. [5] Memphis Grizzlies 4-1 currently 2-0

Second Round
[1] San Antonio Spurs vs. [4] Dallas Mavericks 4-2
[2] Phoenix Suns vs. [6] Los Angeles Clippers 4-1

Conference Finals
[1] San Antonio Spurs vs. [2] Phoenix Suns 3-4 (Hopefully, but I am thinking 4-2)

Eastern Conference

First Round
[1] Detroit Pistons vs. [8] Milwaukee Bucks – 4-0 currently 2-0
[2] Miami Heat vs. [7] Chicago Bulls – 4-0 currently 2-0
[3] New Jersey Nets vs. [6] Indiana Pacers 4-3 currently 1-1
[4] Cleveland Cavaliers vs. [5] Washington Wizards 3-4 currently 1-1

Second Round
[1] Detroit Pistons vs. [5] Washington Wizards 4-0
[2] Miami Heat vs. [3] New Jersey Nets 4-2

Conference Finals
[1] Detroit Pistons vs. [2] Miami Heat 4-1

NBA Finals (I am putting what I am hoping. I am expecting Spurs vs. Pistons. Pistons win 4-2)
[2] Phoenix Suns vs. [1] Detroit Pistons 4-3

I am hoping for a Suns Championship to go along with the Steve Nash MVP that should be announced soon.

Please feel free to post your comments and tell me I am a hack or that I have no idea what I am talking about. You would be wrong of course, but your feedback is always welcome.

The Life Aquatic

A few weeks back I was at the closing of Suncoast at Newpark Mall and I picked up a couple of movies. I watched one of those the other day and that DVD was the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. This isn’t your typical Bill Murray movie. It is more obscure, but I still found it to be quite entertaining and I recommend it to people looking for a more artistic comedy. One of the interesting parts of the movie was a Brazilian guy named Seu Jorge. He had scenes in the movie where he played David Bowie songs on his acoustic guitar. The cool part you ask? He sung the songs in Portuguese. That was pretty cool, maybe me have to think hard to recognize the songs. All in all, it was a fun movie to watch and I think some of you out there could enjoy it as well. Considering that mostly just family reads this, I will let you borrow it if you are thinking about watching it.

Quick Thoughts

Here was an interesting picture I came across the other day as the Washington Wizards took on the Milwaukee Bucks. Apparently a ray of sunlight got on the court from some area of the arena and the game was put on hold until the problem was rectified. The picture looks interesting like the two players were being put in a spotlight, but they were probably just trying to tan while they could.


Goodbye and Good Riddance! That is directed toward Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag who decided to finally call it a career finishing against the Warriors on Wednesday night. Why is my post so mean spirited in this case? Because Ostertag was a bit of a dirty player, never missed an opportunity to “lay the lumber” and cause a very hard foul. A lot of times, in my opinion, there was unnecessary contact and more often then not I think he should be thrown out of games for flagrant fouls that weren’t called. Oh well, I am glad he is gone, but I respect that he lasted this long. Goodbye to Jerry Sloan’s favorite whipping boy!

Sharks Congratulated

This is a quick post just to send out some congratulations. Although I do not watch hockey I do still check the paper in the mornings and check on the San Jose Sharks. I wan to congratulate them on their trip to the playoffs which begin on Friday. They are the fifth seed and will take on the fourth seed the Nashville Predators. Most importantly I want to congratulate two players in particular on the San Jose Sharks, Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo.


Thornton finished the season at the top of the league in points (125) and assists (96). The assists part he won by a massive 25 over the next closest player and won the points race narrowly by 2 points. Cheechoo won the Goal scoring race with 56 goals, which was two better then the next closest opponent. I just hope that the people voting for MVP look at what Thornton did for this team and give him the MVP trophy. I think he earned it because he turned the Sharks from a bottom of the league team when he arrived to a threat for the Stanley Cup Champions in less then a season. Go SHARKS!!!

Updating to the end of the Regular Season

Well, I have had some problems updating in blogger the last few games, so I am updating the final three games of the season right now. There are two games against the Portland Trailblazers and one against the Utah Jazz.


On Saturday the Golden State Warriors defeated the Portland Trailblazers, in Portland, by the score of 86-81. This game began the final stretch of games for the Warriors were the younger players got prolonged minutes so that the Warrior Organization could evaluate the talent they have. There was no Jason Richardson or Troy Murphy available for this game as well as Mickael Pietrus. This allowed Monta Ellis and Ike Diogu to be added to the starting lineup. This was a good game for the young guys. Monta Ellis had 11 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Ike Diogu had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Andris Biedrins had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Will Bynum had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.


On Monday, in Oakland, the Warriors took on the Trailblazers again with a similar result, but with a better gap as the Warriors won 94-79. This game saw the return of Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy, but in limited minutes. Mike Dunleavy was the high scorer for the team with 20 points. Ike Diogu had another solid game with 16 points and 5 rebounds, Monta Ellis had 8 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals and Andris Biedrins had 9 points to go with his 11 rebounds. This game was preceded by the Warriors fan appreciation night conference where Mullin expressed that he was not satisfied with the team and that the fans could expect him to make a “big deal” this off-season to try to get this team on track. I am not sure what that means or how he can guarantee a big deal to happen because he needs someone to trade with him for that to happen. Unfortunately Mullin blew it by also stating that Coach Mike Montgomery would be back next season. I really didn’t want to hear that and I think he is the reason that this team didn’t make the playoffs for the 12th consecutive year. This team lost 28 of their 48 games when they were within 5 points with 5 minutes or less left in the game. That is a clear cut sign that the coach does not know how to get the team to execute and have a killer instinct. That, along with bad player rotations makes me say that Mullin needs to dump Monty.


In the final game of the season the Warriors took on the Utah Jazz, in Utah, and lost 102-105. Thus ending the Warrior's four game win streak. It was the conclusion of a disappointing season for the Warriors, and of course they finished the last game like much of their season, with silly mistakes and poor execution in the final minutes of the game. Hopefully this team learns from all this and next season is better prepared to close out the final minutes of the games. Jason Richardson, Mickael Pietrus and Troy Murphy all found themselves in street clothes the final game to rest injuries since there was nothing to play for in this game. The Warriors once again were led by their young core with the leading scorer being Monta Ellis as he topped the 20 point plateau with 27 points, he also added in 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Ike Diogu added 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Andris Biedrins added 7 points and 11 rebounds.

So, that concludes the season for the Golden State Warriors. So you may be asking yourself “what can I expect from the Godfather’s blog now that the Warriors are done?” Well, I will tell you. I expect to post some thoughts about the post-season stuff including the awards, some of my thoughts about the Warriors so that this doesn’t happen again next season, some rumors I hear the Warriors to be a part of as well as some miscellaneous thoughts from my head. Well that is it for now. Oh yeah and one last picture to sum up the season.

What? Another win?

The Warriors came away with a somewhat surprising win last night against the powerhouse Phoenix Suns 110-102. The only reason it wasn’t as surprising was that the Suns were playing without, in my opinion, the soon to be back-to-back MVP Steve Nash. The Warriors also brought out a different starting squad as it looks like they are trying to see what the young guys have to offer. The Warriors switched from their recent lineup of Fisher, Richardson, Dunleavy, Murphy and Foyle to Fisher, Ellis, Richardson, Dunleavy and Biedrins. Murphy was out because of injury and Pietrus missed the game as well due to injury. There was no report about Foyle being hurt, but he still didn’t see any playing time. The Warriors played this game up-tempo, which should be their game plan every game in my opinion. They were lead by Jason Richardson with his 27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.


On the other side of the court Boris Diaw (the human Swiss army knife) started in place of Steve Nash at point guard meaning that he has played significant minutes at every position this year from center to point guard. He had a fantastic game with his third triple double of the year with 11 point, 11 rebounds, 16 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. That is a very admirable line for someone backing up the MVP.

So this extends the Warriors to a 2 game winning streak that could possibly go to 4 with their next two games against Portland, the leagues bottom-feeder. They play the Trailblazers tonight in Portland and again on Monday night in Oakland. Hopefully the Warriors play some good games and actually find a way to get this team ready to contend for the playoffs next year. I say it every year, but I will be saying it until they finally make it again. The streak is now at 12 straight years with no playoffs.

Infuriating win

The Warriors once again find a way to infuriate me and this time they do it with a win. The Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 114-102 tonight. The Infuriating part is that this game makes the Warriors 3-1 against Dallas this year. A team that is at the top of the standings as far as their record goes. The Warriors played well and that is the problem. They should have played more like this the rest of the season. The Warriors ran and that is their strength, but for some reason they hardly do it. Makes no sense to me and hopefully next season they have a coach that will force them too and that will limit a lot of their weaknesses. Jason Richardson was the Warriors leading scorer with 25 points, but it was the play of the young guys that won the game for the Warriors. Ike Diogu scored 19 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Warriors, and Monta Ellis had 17 points and 4 assists, but it was their energy and hustle that was the difference. That added with a solid performance by Andris Biedrins, who had 7 points and 5 rebounds, are the reasons the Warriors won this game. An important thing that came out of this game was a win that ended the losing streak and prevents the Warriors from having a double digit losing streak to end the season.

Next up for the Warriors on Friday night is the Phoenix Suns, who are lead by last season’s MVP and possibly this season’s as well, Steve Nash. He just so happens to be a Santa Clara University Alum like myself. This is a team that is just gearing up for the playoffs right now, and we can expect them to be at the top of their game. Counting this game, the Warriors only have 4 more games left in the season, the Suns, twice against the Portland Trailblazers and against Utah. The Portland games should be wins, the other two are up in the air. Here’s hoping that if we lose on Friday, it is at least entertaining and Suns games usually are.

Some more losing

I am going to update two games in this blog update, the game against the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers.


On Saturday the Warriors lost to the Denver Nuggets 92-95. The Warriors fell behind by 18 points in this game, rallied back to take the lead and still ended up losing in the end, to continue the losing streak. The Warriors were lead by Derek Fisher and Ike Diogu who scored 19 points. The games are just getting uglier as the season comes to an end. The Warriors are definitely looking forward to this season being over. The Warriors really need to be looking at the young guys primarily the rest of this season and see who they should be keeping and who they should be trading during the off-season. Jason Richardson missed this game as he injured his knee in the previous game.


Last night the Warriors lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, for the fourth time this season, by the score of 100-111. The Warriors have now lost 9 straight games. The Warriors were lead by Jason Richardson’s 20 points in his return from the one game injury break. Warriors weren’t in this game after the second quarter and a lot of that was also thanks to typical Laker game officiating. Lakers can’t do anything wrong and their opponents do everything wrong even when they do NOTHING wrong. This was clearly evident in a Jason Richardson drive to the basket (which he was fouled on) and it was called a jump ball, which the Lakers won and got a fast break dunk on. Laker games are hard to watch when you are a Warriors fan because as much as the league doesn’t want to admit it, the Lakers definitely get a kind whistle because of who they are and the Warriors don’t because of who they have been the past dozen years. The NBA definitely needs to look into cleaning up some of this officiating and “star calls” and start calling things according to their rulebook.

Next up for the Warriors tonight is the Dallas Mavericks, who the Warriors have had their number in Dallas, but it has been quite the other story here in Oakland as Dallas one the previous meeting 93-102. Dallas is still fighting for the best record in the Western Conference, so I expect them to Battle since they still have something to play for. The Warriors on the other hand seem to be playing for a better pick, so losing isn’t so bad for them anymore. Besides, with all the losing they have done this season, they are probably used to it.

Finishing the season strong... or the opposite

Well the Warriors lost another close one tonight to the Houston Rockets 93-100. The Warriors have now lost 7 games in a row. It appears that they are tanking the season for a better draft pick (not really, but it feels that way). The Warriors are in sole position of the 6th pick as it stands right now. Jason Richardson led the Warriors with 29 points tonight. The Warriors had a 6 point lead with about 2:30 minutes left, but they still found a way to lose. That has been their MO this season. I believe the Warriors have now lost 28 games that they were leading or tied with 5 minutes left in the game. This just proves that they can’t close out games yet. They are young and hopefully learning for next year.

Next up for the Warriors tomorrow night, is the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets are firmly situated in the playoffs as the third seed right now and so they will be a tough game for the Warriors. I still can’t root for the Warriors to lose and improve their chances of getting the #1 pick, but I am not as upset as I would become earlier in the season since there is n chance for the playoffs anymore.

The Streak continues... 6 Losses in a row

The losses are adding up and I have fallen behind on updating them. Mostly the reason is that these past three games were all losses and also not televised, so the analysis will be short.


First off the Warriors lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves by the score of 104-106 in Overtime. This seemed to be a typical Warrior performance, where they played well toward the end, but just not to the buzzer. The Warriors were lead again by Jason Richardson who finally had a 20+ point game again in scoring 33, and Derek Fisher added 22. Troy Murphy, Monta Ellis and Mickael Pietrus also scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough for the win. Jason Richardson missed a three pointer at the buzzer which would have won the game.


Next up for the Warriors were the Memphis Grizzlies. Now this was a train wreck of a game. The Warriors lost 75-100. It can mostly be attributed to the second quarter. The Warriors were outscored 9-29 in that quarter. So towards the end of the game a lot more of the subs were getting some run. The Warriors were lead by Derek Fisher’s 17 points. Troy Murphy chipped in 13 and Ike Diogu scored 10. Jason Richardson was held to only 9 points, it has been a long time since he has scored under double figures.


Tonight the Warriors lost to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 109-114 in Overtime. The Warriors were beat by the point guard tandem of former Warriors Speedy Claxton (21 points and 7 assists) and soon to be voted Rookie of the Year Chris Paul (17 points, 16 assists, 11 rebounds and 6 steals , second triple double of his career). The Warriors were once again lead by Jason Richardson (24 points and 8 assists) and Derek Fisher (22 points). The Hornets had a chance to win this game at the end of regulation, but their shot at the end of the game just rolled off the rim, but they still won the game in Overtime.

Next up for the Warriors are the Houston Rockets on Friday night at 7:30 pm. This is the return for the Warriors from their road trip which was an unsuccessful 0-3. The Warriors have fallen to second to last in the Western Conference, only ahead of the lowly Portland Trailblazers. They are currently the tied for the sixth worst record in the league with the Orlando Magic, who are surging right now. So potentially the Warriors are looking at the sixth pick in this years draft unless they start winning some games and move to a worse pick. The teams below them have a much worse record and shouldn’t be passing them up unless they win all the rest of their games and the Warriors lose all theirs. The Warriors have 8 games left and out of those games I can only see them winning 2 games with how they are playing. Both of those games are against the Trailblazers. Here is a little Picture to surmise how I feel about this team this season.