Love this fact from ESPN.com's mobile site: Juwan Howard is the only member of Michigan's "Fab Five" to play in the NBA Finals. Other impressive stats from last night's Game 1. Jason Terry scored 12 points in the first half and ZERO in the 2nd half. Dirk cannot do it all alone and now that Dirk has torn a tendon in his left (non-shooting) middle finger, Terry, JJ Barea and Kidd really need to step up. Dallas' bench in Game 1 was 4 for 22 from the field scoring 17 points which was the lowest of the postseason. (They averaged 39.4 points per game from their bench in the first 3 rounds.) The first quarter was the lowest two-team output quarter of the NBA Finals in the shot clock era as it was 17-16 Dallas. The announcers declared LeBron player of the game but I completely disagree and believe that it was Dwayne Wade that was the player of the game by posting 22 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks as well as playing lock-down defense the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter in the 92-84 win over the Mavericks. LeBron had 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists and 1 block so the crowning was not unfounded. Game 2 Thursday night 9pm on ABC in Miami. Prediction: Heat win 100-96 behind LeBron's 34 points.
Other NBA news: Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement via Tout a social media video feed from the Boston Celtics and the NBA. Shaq, Big Diesel, Superman or any other nickname you want to call him by played for 19 years, making 15 all star games, and winning 4 championships. Shaq scored 28,596 points (5th all time) and had 13 seasons with 20 ppg and 10 rpg (most all time). Farewell to an excellent player and a great rapper and movie star... just kidding about the last two but hey Kazaam! is legit to rewatch for a good laugh.
NHL Stanley Cup Finals start tonight and Vancouver center Manny Malhotra is unlikely to play in Game 1 but he was cleared to play after a very scary eye injury that threatened his career that he suffered in March. Malhotra is the Canucks best face-off man at 61.7% and could be a big balance to the weapons for the high powered Canucks offense. Boston will really need Tim Thomas to be at his best and get timely scoring from their big trio of Lucic, Krecji and Bergeron to have a chance against the 2-1 favorite Canucks. While I am rooting for the Bruins, I predict Vancouver to win in 5. Game 1 prediction: Vancouver 3-1 behind Ryan Kesler's 2 goals on NBC at 8pm tonight.
Other NHL news: Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to TrueNorth sports and Entertainment and will move to Winnipeg for next season. This is the second time Atlanta has lost a hockey team (1980 Flames moved to Calgary) and it really pulls at my heartstrings a little too much, since I am still bitter over the Hartford Whalers' move to become the Carolina Hurricanes.
Tennis was busy as well. Yesterday saw Roger Federer run through Gael Monfils in straight sets setting up a semifinal match with Novak Djokovic who advanced by way of walkover against Fabio Fognini. The only French player left is Marion Bartoli as she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, while defending champion Francesa Schiavone beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Today Li Na beat the lowest remaining seed (4) Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova destroyed Andrea Petkovic 6-0, 6-3. The men's matches today were also straight setters as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray breezed through Robin Soderling and Juan Ignacio Chela respectively. Top 4 men's seeds are still alive and give us a "dream semifinals".
And since it is June 1st, baseball call ups of highly touted prospects will be more common and more furious soon. A few big names that you should be looking out for are 2nd baseman Brett Lawrie of Toronto, outfielder Dustin Ackley of Seattle, outfielder Desmond Jennings of Tampa Bay, and starting pitcher Jordan Lyles of Houston (who was actually called up yesterday and pitched 7 strong innings in a no decision giving up 5 hits, 1 earned run, while striking out 4).
Around the League, the Washington Nationals pounded Cliff Lee and the Phillies 10-2 yesterday, as Lee gave up 6 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings while rookie Danny Espinosa went 3 for 4 hitting 2 home runs and driving in 4 runs. The Yankees beat the A's for the 9th straight time, 10-3 behind Freddy Garcia's 7 good innings and Granderson's 17th home run. Carlos Marmol became the latest "high pick" closer to blow up as he gave up 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning giving up 5 hits and 1 walk while blowing his 3rd save of the season.
Biggest Winner of the Night: The "Big 3" in Miami. They got the monkey off their back in a big way by winning game 1 at home and really taking control of this series right from the beginning. They combined for 65 of the 92 points for the Heat.
Biggest Loser of the Night: The last man mentioned in the post- Carlos Marmol who became the latest victim of "closeritis" a day after Joakim Soria lost his job for the Royals as Marmol blew the save against the Astros by only recording 1 out and giving up 6 runs.
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