5 fights that defined Manny Pacquiao's career

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao born December 17, 1978), also known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is an eight-division world champion, the first boxer in history to win ten world titles, the first to win in eightweight divisions, and the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). He is also a three-time The Ring and BWAA "Fighter of the Year", winning the award in 2006, 2008, and 2009.

Currently, Pacquiao is the WBO Welterweight World Champion. He is also currently rated as the "number one" pound-for-pound best boxer in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, BoxRec.com, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, NBC Sports, Yahoo! Sports,Sporting Life and About.com.

Aside from boxing, Pacquiao has participated in acting, music recording, and politics. In May 2010, Pacquiao was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of Sarangani. He is the only active boxer to become a congressman in the Philippines

But with this scintillating career, let us look back to the fights that perhaps boosted up his career from being an ordinary boxer into one of the sport's greatest ever. Here are the top five from my list.

Rank 5: Pacquiao - Morales III

Pacquiao and Morales fought a third time (with the series tied 1–1) on Nov. 18, 2006. Witnessed by a near record crowd of 18,276, the match saw Pacquiao defeat Morales via a third-round knockout at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. This was the last installment of the Pacquiao - Morales Trilogy making their rivalry as one of the most sought-after match ups of all time.

The catch weight was an issue with this fight since Morales was fighting at a higher division that time. Morales had difficulties in getting into the catch weight and ended up dehydrated before the fight. The dehydrated Morales was caught hopeless against the quicker Pacquiao. This ended up a great Trilogy between two great fighters. This was perhaps the end for Morales, but this was just the beginning for Pacquiao. 

Winning this trilogy with Morales, more opportunities opened up for Pacquiao in the Super Featherweight Division.

Rank 4: Pacquiao - Morales II

On March 19, 2005, Pacquiao moved up in super featherweight or junior lightweight division of 130 pounds, in order to fight another Mexican legend and three-division world champion Érik Morales for vacant WBC International and IBA Super Featherweight Titles. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. In this fight, Pacquiao sustained a cut over his right eye from a from an accidental clash of heads in the fifth round. He lost the twelve-round match by a unanimous decision from the judges. All three scorecards read 115–113 for Morales.

Pacquiao got matched up against Morales in a rematch which took place on January 21, 2006 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. During the fight, Morales escaped being knocked down twice, once in the second round by holding onto the ropes, and once in the sixth by falling on the referee. Pacquiao eventually knocked Morales out in the tenth, the first time Morales was knocked out in his boxing career.

This fight regained Pacquiao's reputation as one of the sport's emerging superstars.

Rank 3: Pacquiao - Marquez II

A controversial win but a career defining one.

On March 15, 2008, in a rematch against Juan Manuel Márquez called "Unfinished Business" after a controversial draw in their first encounter, Pacquiao won via split decision this time. The fight was held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. With the victory, Pacquiao won the WBC Super Featherweight and The Ring Junior Lightweight World Titles (as well as the lineal junior lightweight title), making him the first Filipino and Asian to become a four-division world champion, a fighter who wonworld titles in four different weight divisions. The fight was a close hard fought battle, during which both fighters received cuts. Throughout the fight Márquez landed the most punches at a higher percentage; however, the decisive factor proved to be a third-round knockdown, wherein Márquez was floored by a Pacquiao left hook.At the end of the fight, the judges' scores were 115–112 for Pacquiao, 115–112 for Márquez, and 114–113 for Pacquiao.

After the fight, Pacman intended to move up to the lightweight division to challenge David Díaz, the reigning WBC Lightweight World Champion at that time. And with that move of weight division, Pacquiao started dominating unchartered territories. 

Rank 2: De La Hoya - Pacquiao

The Dream Match.

Pacquiao defeated De La Hoya via technical knockout when De La Hoya decided not to continue with the fight before the start of the ninth round.

Despite no title belts being disputed, the bout received a lot of publicity since the two boxers were decorated, with Pacquiao being the current number one pound for pound boxer in the world as judged by The Ring, and a five-time world champion in five different weight divisions (Pacquiao was the reigning WBC lightweight champion at the time of the bout). Meanwhile, De La Hoya was an Olympic gold medalist and past holder of 10 world titles in six weight divisions.

Pacquiao had to step up two weight divisions (from lightweight), and De La Hoya had to go down one weight division (from light middleweight), to be eligible for the bout's welterweight division.

On December 10, 2008, HBO announced that the fight generated 1.25 million PPV buys totaling more than $70 million in PPV revenue. This fight was only the fourth non-heavyweight bout to have more than one million buys at that time, along with De La Hoya–Mayweather Jr. (2.4 million buys) in May 2007, De La Hoya–Hopkins (1 million buys) in 2004, and De La Hoya–Trinidad (1.4 million buys) in 1999.

The PPV card was the highest-grossing PPV event of the year in North America, ahead of UFC 91 (Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar) and WrestleMania XXIV.

The fight is notable for propelling Manny Pacquiao to full-blown superstar status in much of the western world (mostly in The United States), as Oscar De La Hoya symbolically "passed the torch", so to speak, to Pacquiao.

Rank 1: Barrera - Pacquiao I 

The fight that shocked the world. The fight that started the Pacman Juggernaut.

On November 15, 2003, Pacquiao faced Marco Antonio Barrera at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, in a fight that many consider to have defined his career. Pacquiao, perhaps an unknown boxer to American fans and who was fighting at featherweight for the first time, brought his power with him and defeated the well established Barrera via technical knockout in the eleventh round and won The Ring Featherweight World Title (as well as the lineal featherweight champion), making him the first Filipino and Asian to become a three-division world champion, a fighter who won world titles in three different weight divisions. This win opened up the doors for Pacquiao and the rest is history.

Ken Aldren Usman

http://osamabinaldren.blogspot.com/

Lebron, Wade provide league MVP a lesson in Superstardom

A repost from PINOY BASKETBALL ADDICTS
http://www.pinoybasketballaddicts.net/2011/05/lebron-wade-provide-league-mvp-lesson.html

CHICAGO—They don’t even remember what happened. They don’t remember what they just did. It was so fast and furious, and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had elevated so high that it was almost an out-of-body, out-of-mind experience.

“For the first time, my mind was free,” Wade said.

“We want to watch the last four minutes of that game (again),” James said.

What happened? They happened. The Decision happened. The Miami Heat happened. They beat the Chicago Bulls to advance to the NBA Finals with an incredible finish, giving the ultimate example, and reminder, of what superstardom is in the NBA.

It was a process, a long and painful road of teaching defense and teamwork, of learning from the highs and lows of a season. That’s what Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Funny, because to me it looked like James and Wade looking at each other with 3:14 left, trailing Chicago by 12, and deciding: OK. Now.

LeBron James and the Miami Heat are going to The NBA Finals after a late rally to close out the series and take Game 5 from the CHicago Bulls, 83-80. (AP Photo)
And then, well, wow. The Heat went on an 18-3 run, with eight points each from James and Wade. The Bulls’ star, Derrick Rose, kept missing, throwing the ball away, fouling. In one 60 1/2-second stretch, Wade had a four-point play and a rebound while James scored five points and had a steal, an assist, a rebound.

Before that, Wade had been awful the whole night. James struggled in crunch time throughout the regular season.

“(Wade) has got something different, a different makeup inside of him that he’s able to rise to the occasion regardless of what’s happening during the course of the game,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s proven that so many times, where he may have struggled for a game or even parts of a game, but when it’s winning time, there’s really not many players that are better.”

If you are still hoping for The Decision to fail, time is running out.

The Heat open The Finals against Dallas at home on Tuesday.

But James, Wade and Chris Bosh didn’t assemble a team just to reach the NBA Finals. Still, on Thursday, they combined to score all but 14 of the Heat’s points.

Spoelstra is right to some extent. At the start of the year, these guys couldn’t figure out how to play together.

But it all worked out eventually. It was a process. We have seen groups of NBA stars fail together in the Olympics.

That said, we just got another lesson that in the NBA, the team with the most and best stars wins. Miami has more stars than Dallas, too.

“Sometimes, you have to will it,’’ Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s a hustle play here, a hustle play there. That’s the difference.”

No. The Bulls hustled all they could. These final three minutes took me back to April in Houston, where Connecticut, with the stars, beat Butler, with teamwork, defense and hustle, in the NCAA national title game.

The Bulls missed about as many shots at Butler did.

I overstated that. This game was played 50 levels higher than the college one. But in the end, the message was the same: In basketball, the little engine really can’t.

I’ll never make the mistake again of thinking the little guy can win. This will be hard for Chicago, the city, to understand. It is used to Michael Jordan making the final shot, Patrick Kane scoring the winning goal. James said that people remember your failures more than your successes, but I disagree. It’s hard to remember Jordan failing at all.

But in Game 4 of this series, Rose had a chance to win at the end of regulation, isolating on James, and couldn’t score. And now on Thursday, Rose fell apart with the rest of the Bulls in that final 3:14. He even missed a free throw with 26.7 seconds left that would have tied the game. The result of carrying a team all year?

“I wasn’t tired,” Rose said. “Just making dumb decisions. I’m going to get better; I’m not worried about that. If anything, this is going to make me hungry.”

I believe it. Rose already was the league’s MVP this year for the regular season. But in the playoffs, he still has (had?) a bit of a learning curve to go. He still is not a superstar at the level of James and Wade.

In fact, James and Wade provided him a class. Superstar 101.

“We honestly don’t know what happened,” James said. “We know some big plays happened and we know we won the game. It went so fast.”

They can’t remember. Chicago will never forget.

MVP wants control of Sacramento Kings

HONG KONG—Businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan wants a majority stake if he finally decides to accept an offer to join a group of investors that will take over the struggling Sacramento Kings in the NBA.

“I have to admit, the idea is very titillating,” Pangilinan said during a recent briefing where he confirmed rumors that he had been invited to help keep alive the franchise of the financially strapped Kings.

As he does with most of his business ventures, however, he said he would not settle for being a passive investor.

“If we proceed, we’ll be seeking a majority stake,” said Pangilinan, who owns the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the Meralco Bolts in the Philippine Basketball Association and heads the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the governing body in amateur basketball.

“Whether we do it or not, it’s a great idea for a Filipino group to own an NBA team,” he said, adding that this would eventually open up the doors to having Filipino players or team coaches.
“It’s a great tribute to the country,” added Pangilinan, who was in Hong Kong to launch the new PLDT Global services for overseas Filipinos.

He said the group of investors was organized by retired former NBA All-Star Chris Webber, who was part of the Kings from 1998 to 2005.

Webber met with Pangilinan, chair of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company—among other firms—during a recent trip to Sacramento, where he visited the Kings’ home stadium, the Arco Arena.

He said he would need to invest between $200 million and $260 million for a stake in the Kings, and that this would be done in his personal capacity.

“That’s the ballpark figure [involved],” Pangilinan said.

If a deal pushes through, this will make him the first Asian to control an NBA franchise.

From one of the best teams in the NBA from 2001 to 2003, the Kings slowly lost their vaunted strength, and earlier this year failed to make it into the NBA playoffs.

The Kings have been suffering from financial losses in the past few years due to the team’s relatively poor performance.

The team is owned by the group of California businessman George Maloof Sr., which, due to its interests in US real estate, has had its own money troubles.

**Source: Pinoy Basketball Addicts

http://www.pinoybasketballaddicts.net/2011/05/mvp-wants-control-of-sacramento-kings.html

NBA FINALS: HEAT vs MAVERICKS

http://www.pinoybasketballaddicts.net/2011/05/nba-finals-heat-mavericks.html

a repost from Pinoy Basketball Addicts

Forward Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks will face the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

Back around the middle of March, it appeared the wheels were coming off for a pair of teams that had entered the year with championship hopes. In Miami, a home loss to Oklahoma City dropped the Heat to just 4-7 over their last 11 games, which included an embarrassing home loss to the Bulls after which coach Erik Spoelstra regrettably told reporters that players were crying in the locker room. In Dallas, the Mavericks had lost five of eight, all five losses coming against playoff teams.

The postseason was a month away, and bad signs were popping up in both cities. As Mavericks guard Jason Terry said, “The rhythm obviously isn't there right now.”

The rhythm is back, however, as both teams have made impressive postseason pushes into this year’s Finals. Dallas finished off the Thunder in just five games in the West, and the Heat matched that feat in the East, clinching their series with the Bulls in five games on Thursday. Dallas and Miami each enter the Finals having won 12 of 15 in the postseason.

Had either the Bulls or Thunder advanced out of their respective conferences, the stakes for these Finals wouldn’t seem quite so high—both are young teams that will have chances to get back to this stage for years to come. For the Heat and the Mavericks, there is a lot on the line:

Miami

One of the more interesting fluctuations in the NBA this year has been the expectations for the Heat in the wake of them bringing together LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. They entered the season with visions of topping Chicago’s 72-win 1995-96 season, and set the bar absurdly (and to some, obnoxiously) high when, during an introduction that felt more like a championship celebration, James counted out the number of rings the Heat might win—he suggested they might win eight.

But the Heat looked like a flop in the first month of the season, turned dominant in December, flopped again ... and so on. Every winning streak, it seemed, turned Miami into title contenders. Every loss exposed them as overrated.

Now, though, expectations for the Heat are back at a high. They have played at their best over the last month, and are looking at a series that can establish themselves as a championship team for years to come, a chance to validate the controversial decision James made last July to leave Cleveland for South Beach—one that came with extraordinary backlash from fans, the media and even Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who guaranteed that Cleveland would win a championship before James.

At the time, though, James—as well as Bosh and Wade—claimed winning was the motivation for the move. And a championship remains the best way to truly wipe aside the negative reactions to what happened last July.

Dallas

The Mavericks are simply running out of time. Star power forward Dirk Nowitzki has carried them to this point, and one has to wonder, at age 32, just how many more performances like this he has left. Additionally, his supporting cast is almost universally nearing the end of the line—Jason Kidd is 38, while Shawn Marion, Peja Stojakovic and Jason Terry are all 33.

For both Nowitzki and the Mavericks, there is redemption at stake. This franchise has been to the Finals only once before, and that came in 2006—against Wade’s Heat. Dallas won the first two games, then dropped four straight to lose the series and wind up hung with an oft-repeated label: soft. The following year, the Mavericks won 67 games and earned the No. 1 seed, but were upset by Golden State in the first round. Before this year, they had lost five of their last six playoff series and, whether it is fair or not, Nowitzki has been handed the brunt of the Mavs’ reputation for softness.

In these Finals, though, all of that can change. Nowitzki and the franchise can wipe clear the memory of ’06 and eradicate the word “soft” as the go-to adjective for Mavericks basketball. Nowitzki seems to know it—he didn’t do much celebrating in the wake of the conference finals win. “I was already thinking about the Finals,” he said. “This is nice for a day, but we set our goals in October to win it all. We haven’t done it yet.”

Heat vs Mavericks, breaking down the match-ups

A most awaited rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals is what we will see in this NBA Season. The Miami Thrice will face the Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks. 2006 was triumphant for the Heat but it is an entirely different story now. With a different cast for both teams. The two teams have pretty solid line ups and have shown impressive stats and plays through their respective conferences, but now let us go deep down and analyze the possible match-ups.


STARTERS


1. POINT GUARD


Heat: Mike Bibby vs. Mavericks: Jason Kidd


As we can see, both of these point guards were not that athletic compare to their previous opponents, but they proved that they could stand in front of stronger and quicker guards like Russell Westbrook, Andre Miller, Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose.
Yes, both of these guys are hungry for their first NBA Championship Ring. Both are wounded through several NBA battles and have acquired enough leadership skills to lead their team into better plays in the finals.
Skill-wise, they are identical, with good passing skills and a decent three-point shot, but I think that JASON KIDD has his edge over Mike Bibby.
Jason Kidd has been in the Finals for two seasons back in New jersey along Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson, while Mike Bibby only appeared in the Western Conference Finals. Jason Kidd would have that enough experience to outshine Bibby in the Finals. The Mavs might start with JJ Barrea, but this is the Finals, Barrea has no finals experience yet, so it would be smarter for the Mavs to start with Kidd.


2. SHOOTING GUARD


Heat: Dwyane Wade vs. Mavericks: Jason Terry


The Jet vs The Flash. 
Though Jason Terry had impressive games in this playoffs, we cannot deny that Dwyane Wade is a better over-all player compare to Terry.
Wade has clear advantage over Terry in terms of quickness, athleticism, clutch-shooting and of course, leadership. Wade was a proven scorer and had lead the Heat when they won the 2006 NBA Finals over the Mavericks and he was crowned as NBA Finals MVP. Also, Jason Terry was inconsistent in the playoffs compare to Wade. In this playoff, Wade averaged 23.9 PPG, 7.30 RPG, 4.2 APG compare to Terry's 17.3 PPG, 1.90 RPG, 3.2 APG.
Since 2006, Wade has improved into a better player, having so much exposure in International Tournaments and even through highs and lows in the NBA.
Wade, now with a better support cast won't hesitate to repeat his stunning performance in 2006 against the Mavs.


3. SMALL FORWARD


Heat: Lebron James vs. Mavericks: Shawn Marion

The Matrix vs. King James. 
Both are hungry for a taste of NBA Championship.
There's no question, Lebron is one of the best players in NBA today. Though Shawn Marion is a good player, we cannot deny the fact that Lebron would just eventually devour him with his speed, power and athleticism.
Lebron has been a man on a mission in the playoffs averaging  25.9 PPG, 8.70 RPG,  5.4 APG. These numbers are quite impressive despite the fact that he is sharing the lime light with two other superstars.
Lebron has also something to prove in front of the anger of the Cleveland fans that he relinquished. He must prove that his decision to move to the Southbeach was right.
And also, Michael Jordan won his first title in his 7th season. This is Lebron's 7th season. If the people insist that Lebron is the next Jordan, the pressure is on Lebron. there's a pressure for him to win a ring this year.


4. POWER FORWARD


Heat: Chris Bosh vs. Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki


Long guys with good shooting touches. A key match-up for this series.
Recently, Chris Bosh had proven that Miami has their Big Three and not the so-called Big 2.5. Bosh was impressive in their last playoff encounter with the top-seeded Chicago Bulls. Bosh was averaging 18.5 PPG, 8.90 RPG, 1.1 APG all in all in the playoffs. Bosh is in fact more athletics and could bang bodies more compare to Dirk.
On the other hand, the league's former MVP's numbers in this playoffs were eye-popping, averaging around  28.4 PPG,  7.50 RPG,  2.7 APG and has been the man of the ball game for the Mavericks.
With these, Dirk has a slight advantage to Bosh. But let us look at their clutch performance. Nowitzki has recently noted as the "German Clutch" because of his hot hands and sharp three point shooting during crunch time which is a huge lead for him.
Despite Dirk's softness in defense, he still got the edge over Bosh because of his deadly outside shooting that could spread Miami's defense. This could open up a lane for slashers like Shawn Marion and Jason Terry.


5. CENTER


Heat: Joel Anthony vs. Mavericks: Tyson Chandler

No offense to Joel Anthony, but all NBA fans know that Tyson Chandler is the better Center. 
Statistically, Chandler is averaging 7.3 PPG, 9.30 RPG, 0.3 APG compare to Anthony's 3.3 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 0.5 APG.
Chandler has that length and quickness advantage that could be exploited by him with this match up against Anthony. Joel Anthony however has that inside defense that can stop slashers. 
Still, Chandler has advantage since he could finish plays like alley-oops and pick and rolls, better than Anthony.




THE BENCH AND X-FACTORS


Heat: Mike Miller, Eric Dampier, Udonis Haslem Eddie House, Juwon Howard, Jamaal Magloire, Mario Chalmers, Dexter Pittman, Zydrunas Ilgauskas


vs.


Mavericks: JJ Barrea, Peja Stojakovic, Rodrique Beaubois, Corey Brewer, Caron Butler, Brian Cardinal, Brendan Haywood, Dominique Jones, Ian Mahinmi, DeShawn Stevenson



 If we talk about the X-Factors, the Miami Heat could have a lot of those like Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller who could ignite the crowd and start a run for a team, wherein the Dallas may lack.
But the Heat's bench was not that deep compare to the Mavericks, but was proven to give the necessary spark for the team. However, if Erik Spoelstra would stick to that 8- man rotation,and knowing that the Heat's scoring production was mostly coming from the Big Three,  the Mavericks bench can take advantage and could tire-up the whole Miami squad. With a good player rotation for the Dallas, the Mavs could win this "Battle of the Bench".


Coach


Heat: Erik Spoelstra vs Mavericks: Rick Carlisle

Erick Spoelstra had prove himself to be a deserving coach for the Miami's Big Three even though he was criticized all through out the season due to his poor player rotation. However, Spoelstra's defensive tactics were impressive as shown by their previous encounter with the Bulls, wherein they were able to shut Derrick Rose during the dying period of the game. That defensive strategy is lacking for Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle. Carlisle's strategy is about running and gunning, and as we all know, defense always win the Championship. So it would have been an advantage for the Heat when we talk about coaching and their defensive blue prints. 

After dissecting all the match ups, we can say that these two teams really had a lot of talents. It is hard to predict who's gonna be the 2011 NBA Champs. The Heat may had the Big Three, but Dirk's Dallas Mavericks has a better support cast. Who'll gonna win? Nobody knows. But for me based on what was stated a while ago, but it is arguable, if Spoelstra sticks to that 8 man rotation, I think Dallas would win in 7 games due to player fatigue. But if the Heat continues to exhibit their defensive prowess, they could reverse that situation and win this in 7 games.

But who knows? All we know is that this will be an epic series. 2011 NBA Finals. HEAT vs MAVERICKS. Brace yourselves.

Ken Aldren Usman

http://osamabinaldren.blogspot.com/

I Thought..

I Thought.. | Sportales

a guest post from a friend, fellow NBA Fan and fellow Iskolar ng Bayan, Stu Saldajeno He is also an administrator of Kasali ang School Ko sa NCAA or UAAP (My School is a Member of the NCAA or UAAP) page on Facebook (http://facebook.com/ncaauaap), a page for students of Philippine schools participating in the Philippine NCAA and te UAAP. This is the first time I rewrite someone’s article as a guest post in my blog. Follow him on BlogSpot (http://therealsuperstu.blogspot.com/) or add him on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/batangproject8).

Read more: http://sportales.com/shooting/so-close-and-yet-so-far-for-the-young-guys/#ixzz1NXjzsYRy

With the 2011 NBA Final 4 going to start in just a couple of hours at that time, just after the Oklahoma City Thunder walloped the Memphis Grizzlies to earn the last ride to the Conference Finals, I was thinking “Repeat ‘96″. I had the Chicago Bulls in seven against the Miami Heat and the Thunder in six against the Dallas Mavericks. I was pretty confident that the Bulls and the Thunder (formerly the Seattle Supersonics) would set up an as-intense-as-the-first-time rematch of the 1996 Finals.

Now, after a bunch of Taj Gibson posterizers, intense banging of bodies between Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer, some more from Kendrick Perkins and Tyson Chandler, the renaissance of “The Matrix” (Shawn Marion), and clutch moments from Dirk Nowitzki, it’s now the other way around. It’s the Mavs and the Heat again in the Finals. A repeat of the 2006 Finals, I only got to the idea of it just after the Heat built a 3-1 lead in the East Finals, a day after the Mavs closed out Game 4 of their own semis clash with a 28-6 run to turn what would have been a 2-2 standing entering Game 5 to a 3-1 commanding lead with a chance to close the series at home. Turned out, another late-game performance from Dirk turned what could have been a blowout win by OKC on the road and a big chance to make a miracle to a celebration at the American Airlines Center. Now that the Heat silenced the United Center earlier and avenged their loss in the 1997 semis to the Bulls, it’s official! Miami vs. Dallas in the finals again after five years!

Unfortunately, what may have been the start of the changing of the guards was postponed for a moment, but I still believe that the future is now. Blake Griffin is expected to turn the Los Angeles Clippers, usually the whipping boys, to a West powerhouse and steal the show from its more well-known “brothers”, the Lakers. John Wall and JaVale McGee will surely make an impact with the post-Gilbert Arenas Washington Wizards. Oklahoma City and Chicago are expected to be back again in the playoffs next year. The Memphis Grizzlies will definitely be a team to eat next year. Yao Ming is set to return next year as well. Simply, the NBA is prepping up for that changing of the guards. The future is now at hand.

PEACE OUT YO!!!

Read more: http://sportales.com/basketball/i-thought/#ixzz1NXildXBW