When many started to doubt the determination and winning spirit of the Warriors who faced elimination last Saturday night in Oklahoma, Klay Thompson led the team with 41 points to force a Game 7.
73 wins was not enough for Klay Thompson though. He made an NBA record scoring 11 3-pointers and imagine it could have been more. He said it himself when interviewed after the game. He missed a few good looks in the first half and was visually upset with himself. Then in the second half he just turned on the nasty.
What happened to OKC? They choked. Plain and simple. Durant with 29 points and Westbrook with 11 assists did well but not great. In a Game 6 on your homecourt trying to put a away the Warriors so there is no Game 7 in California, you have to be GREAT. Both teams took a while to warm up in the 1st quarter, missing a lot of shots. Durant played selfish basketball in the first half. They still managed to lead by 13 and more at some points but the Warriors kept coming back within reach and closed in to be within 5 for halftime.
In the second quarter, OKC starters were in foul trouble then eventually both teams went over the limit. OKC failed to get crucial rebounds and for Suga, if your rebounds are not on point, forget about winning the game.
In the 4th, the other Splash Brother, Steph Curry came alive when it counted. No worries folks, there is no sibling rivalry here. Curry sealed the deal when he hit that floater over the energized, Serge Ibaka to take a 5-point lead with 14s remaining in the game. OKC marginally outscored the Warriors for 3 quarters but choked in the 4th with Warriors outscoring them 33-18. Warriors 108 – 101 OKC was the final score.
GAME 7 will be tonight at 8pm in California! The Cavs who destroyed the Raptors in Game 6 await the winner for the Finals.
What a crazy few days in the NBA! This is not a season to gamble on. If you are, bet the total opposite of how you would usually bet. The outcome of games have been wild.
Photo: The Score
Firstly, LeBron James won an Oscar. The Raptors came with all claws out on Saturday night to take Game 3 with a 99-84 win. The game belonged to DeRozan with 32 points and Bismack Biyombo with 26 rebounds and some crazy blocks!
Watch “LeBron James Flop vs Raptors |Game 3|East Finals| 2016 NBA Playoffs” on YouTube here:
On the West side, OKC destroyed the Warriors on Sunday night in their home town to take the lead in the series 2-1 with a 133-105 win. Durant and Westbrook were unstoppable with 63 points combined and the Splash brothers’ pool has run dry. They had no answers. Then the drama! Draymond Green needs to humble himself real quick. His stats for most annoying or disliked player in the league by NBA fans are going up as we speak. He kicked Steven Adams in the balls and the controversy is that he did not get suspended, he just got a flagrant 1, which was upgraded to a flagrant 2. If he gets another flagrant he will be suspended. He just might at the rate he has been going. He needs to take a page out of Westbrook’s book this Playoff season because the Wild has certainly come out of Westbrook. He has been keeping real cool and that is dangerous for opponents. That just leaves his athleticism to do the talking.
Watch “Draymond Green Kicks Steven Adams in the Groin | Warriors vs Thunder | Game 3 | 2016 NBA Playoffs” on YouTube here:
The Raptors showed up again in Toronto last night and this time it was all Lowry with 35 points. Biyombo had 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. He continues to strive to be like one of his mentors, Dikembe Mutombo who was famous for the craziest blocks in NBA History. Biyombo even uses his gimmick. They may say he can’t because he is not Mutombo but he surely is acting like him.
This block was one of the highlights of the game.
Watch “Bismack Biyombo Blocks LeBron James | Cavaliers vs Raptors | NBA PLAYOFFS | 5.23.16” on YouTube here:
Raptors led the majority of the game that included 16 point leads and more and finished the game with a 105-99 win. The Cavs have now dug themself in a hole like the Warriors. How will they respond when they head back to Cleveland if the Raptors keep this up. The Raptors are playing with pure heart.
The Cavs await the Raptors or Heat for the Eastern Conference Finals after sweeping the Hawks. The Raptors-Heat series is drawn 2-2 and they will play in Toronto tonight at 7pm. The Heat players have been plagued with injuries but they still managed to level the series. Can D-Wade win it for them again?
The Warriors should beat the Trail Blazers in California tonight at 9:30pm to advance to the Western Conference Finals. They will await the winner of the Spurs-OKC series.
On Sunday, Durant came alive in the 4th quarter, the Spurs fell apart and KD won the game for his Momma, who is the real MVP. OKC leveled the series at 2-2.
They headed back to San Antonio for a crucial Game 5 last night. OKC led the 1st quarter 22-16. Then it was all about the Spurs for the 2nd and 3rd quarter. But in the 4th, putting bad calls aside with acrobatics from Steven Adams and Westbrook swatting imaginary flies from his eye saying he was hit by Parker, the Spurs failed to make crucial shots. In particular, Aldridge and Parker. They went cold. While on the other side, Westbrook was hot and unstoppable. His athletisism was impressive resulting in steals and speeding through the paint. His last steal, then the and-1 in closing seconds sealed the deal for the Thunder’s Game 5 win over the Spurs. Westbrook ended the night with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists.
81% of the time, whoever wins Game 5 usually advances in the series. With Spurs’ performance during the season, they would have been expected to beat OKC. But it’s always about match ups. OKC has always been a serious threat to the Spurs. They lucked out with Ibaka’s injury the last time they met in the Playoffs. Now Ibaka may not be as much of a threat, but Westbook is unstoppable. When he is guarded by Kawhi, Durant will take care of everything else. If they happen to lock down those two, there are Waiters and Steve Adams who will do the job. Steve Adams’ game has improved tremendously. Someone should cut his hair. Old man river walk, Tim Duncan has to be present for the Spurs’ defense and to get crucial rebounds. Diaw is not playing as well who used to be a key part of the Spurs’ defense and facilitator for plays and magical ball movement. Danny Green works hard but is not where he needs to be yet for defense, then the Defensive Player of the year, Kawhi Leonard can’t do it all on his own. Ginobili is a ticking time bomb. Parker crumbles under pressure. West makes too many unnecessary fouls and Aldridge fails to make clutch shots. Leonard and Aldridge want it but the rest of the team seem comfortable with their previous rings and accomplishments. Let’s hope some desire to move forward is ignited and they can force a game 7.
Either way, the Golden State Warriors will beat whoever emerges as the winner and beat the Cavs as well, who will reach the Finals, to start their dynasty. Steph Curry is back and he came back scoring 40 points, 17 of which were in overtime. Or can OKC just upset everybody? They surely look hungry. Let’s watch and see.
There have certainly been some crazy endings to the last couple of games in the NBA Playoffs for both the East and the West recently.
Kyle Lowry of the Raptors made a crazy buzzer beater from the half court line the other night to force OT with the Heat but Dwyane Wade was on fire and they couldn’t hold him back. Heat won 102-96 to take the lead in the series 1-0.
Watch “Kyle Lowry Buzzer Beater to force overtime in Raptors vs. Heat Playoff Game!” on YouTube here:
Suga had Miami to win this series but with the recurrence of blood clotting in Chris Bosh’s left calf over the All-Star break keeping him out of the games, it will not be an easy task to overcome the Raptors. Their fate to meet LeBron and the Cavs is now at stake.
The Cavs – Hawks series will be dead. Cavs won easily 104-93.
But the last 13.5s of the Spurs-OKC game with OKC leading 98-97 in San Antonio was madness! So many things happened and no fouls were called for either team. The most obvious foul was the offensive foul on Ginobili on the inbound, players were scrambling all over the place and falling on the court and most hilariously, a Spurs fan (no it wasn’t Suga) grabbed the arm of OKC’s Steve Adams! Even though no fouls were called, at the end of the day, Ginobili should not have passed the ball to go for a 3. Shame on him. This win for OKC levelled the series 1-1. This will be the most exciting semi final series.
Watch “Dramatic Finish in San Antonio | Thunder vs Spurs | Game 2 | May 2, 2016 | 2016 NBA Playoffs” on YouTube here:
Watch “Spurs fan grabbed Steven Adams’ arm on the final possession Spurs vs Thunders” on YouTube here:
Last night, Trail Blazers led Warriors for the majority of the game with a 11-point lead into the 4th quarter. Lillard was on fire and Klay Thompson was not. Then Blazers forgot they had to play a 4th quarter and it all went downhill from there. They started to trail again.
Klay Thompson then started to make shots when it counted, ending the game with 27 points and the Defending Champs quickly erased the 11-point deficit in the 4th to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Trail Blazers have no chance.
Photo: www.nba.com
So what’s the status of the NBA 2016 Playoffs now?
Witnessing NBA history last night was surely a treat. The Golden State Warriors made history at home, the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. They beat the Memphis Grizzlies in a blowout game, 125-104 led by Stephen Curry with 46 points to win the NBA-record 73rd game breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins.
The determined Defending Champs’ 24-0 start to the NBA season was definitely a contributing factor to the record.
Congrats to the Warriors and to Coach Steve Kerr who was also a part of that 95-96 Bulls team.
However, since that game was a blowout, all eyes went to Kobe Bryant’s last NBA game when he was at 50 points. Jay-Z told him during the game he traveled all the way there to see it and Jack Nicholson was there as usual, happy to see Kobe perform so well in his last game. Kobe went further to score 60 points! He not only made the Lakers win a game versus the Jazz, 101-96 (well win a game period), he has now scored the most points by a player 37 or older. He passed the great, Michael Jordan who scored 51 at 38 years in the 2001-2002 season and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who scored 46 at 38 years in the 1985-86 season.
Kobe was extremely winded after the game but was happy that his kids got to see him play in his true element and that his teammates actually didn’t want or beg him to pass the ball for once.
Watch “Kobe Bryant 60 Points Highlights | Jazz vs Lakers | April 13, 2016 | NBA 2015-16 Season” on YouTube here:
His teammates were happy for him and embraced him after the game.
When Kobe spoke to reporters after the game, he finished by saying ‘Mamba out (drops mic)’.
Farewell to Kobe Bryant, a true legend in the NBA.
The Warriors managed to hold off the Spurs not once but twice, to equalize the record of 72 wins by the Bulls of the 1995-1996 NBA season.
After the Warriors beat the Spurs last Thursday, they joined the Bulls as the the only other team in the NBA league to have 70 wins in one season. The Spurs were also close to joining them in that prestigious category but fell short and are currently at 65 wins with two more games left to play. Both on Thursday and last night they played without one of their key defensive players and facilitators, Boris Diaw who has a minor injury and it costed them big time. In order to beat this Warriors team, the best hands have to be on deck. Warriors won 92-86 last night with Stephen Curry scoring 37 points as they recorded their names in history and also stopped the Spurs’ 48-game home win streak. Note that Curry could have scored 40 points if his shot that made the basket from the Spurs’ 3-point line wasn’t released after the buzzer. Just amazing.
So what is the mind frame of Steph and thw Warriors now? According to ESPN Score Center, Steph Curry said they put themselves in position to win 73 games and they will approach it the right way.
Tune in this Wednesday to witness history (Yes, Suga is calling it) as the Warriors face the Grizzlies at 9:30pm.
Last night the Golden State Warriors suffered a terrible loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime, 124-117. After the Warriors were leading by 17 points they should have never allowed that loss to happen.
What happened?! 24 turnovers, Splash brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson missed a lot of shots, they went for 3s when there was limited time left in the game and they should have just gone for jump shots and most importantly, Shabazz Muhammad from the Timberwolves came up big scoring 35 points and Andrew Wiggins also of the Timberwolves was on fire scoring crucial clutch shots and the game winning shot.
Watch the recap of the game here:
Before last night’s loss, they had a 55% chance of breaking the Bulls’ 72-win record. With the loss, they are now 69-9 with a 15% chance of breaking the record.
Warriors Coach, Steve Kerr (Past Chicago Bulls player) stated that the Bulls felt the pressure and had a few losses on the final stretch as well.
The Warriors also failed their first attempt to join the Bulls as the only team to win 70 games in a season. This brings the San Antonio Spurs on their heels as well with their current 65-12 record.
The Warriors need to win each of their next 4 games to break the Bulls’ record and 2 of those games will be versus the Spurs!
It is still possible but Suga thinks they are likely to equal the record and not break it. Draymond Green of the Warriors said he cannot wait for the regular season to be over and all of the hype in the media about them breaking the record could have had an impact on their focus during the last few games.
The pressure is on and the Warriors already seemed burnt out but let us see how much fight they have left in them.
What a weekend in Sports! Congrats to Calabar and Edwin Allen for winning the oh so entertaining and inspiring ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics’ Championships! With 16 finals to go, both schools led the field and there was no turning back.
Our young Jamaicans put on quite a show, looking very promising for our future in Athletics. Suga’s main concern though is the workload put on the star athletes. There needs to be some kind of stipulation put in place for the Boys and Girls to run only a certain amount of events, ideally 2, because once they excel in individual events they are further pressured to run relays to help their team and school. The star athletes should also be restricted from running the heats for their teams in relays. Careful consideration needs to be given to this matter in order for them to make the transition like our legend, Usain Bolt.
With all seriousness aside, who took Champs for Suga?
Junelle Bromfield of STETHS with 4 GOLD medals! Junelle won the Class 1 Girls’ 400m, 800m, 1500m and anchored the 4×400m relay. She was absolutely exceptional and did not even blow after any final she ran. Amazing. She also blew away her rival in the 400m, Ashley ‘Felix’ Williams of Holmwood who beat her recently so she was on a mission and the revenge was sweet.
Ashley ‘Felix’ Williams, as her nickname suggests has a very similar running style and looks like USA’s athletic star, Allyson Felix. Ashley won the Girls’ 200m impressively.
KC’s Akeem Bloomfield continued his reign in the Class 1 Boys’ 400m, of which he holds the record from last year.
The tall, powerful, Dejour Russell of Calabar was upset by his teammate, Michael Stephens in the Class 2 Boys’ 100m after he could not recover from his usual slow start, but he got the opportunity again to win Gold and did just that in the Class 2 Boys’ 110m hurdles.
Another disappointment was Defending Champ of the Girls’ Class 2 100m, Shellece Clarke of Edwin Allen. She was not fully on form, had a poor start and failed to medal. She was also pulled out of the 200m event.
Instagram: @issachamps
Back to the winners! Christopher Taylor of Calabar! In addition to breaking the Class 2 Boys’ 400m record early in the heats in 46.33s, he also won 4 GOLD medals and ran a beautiful and strategic anchor leg in the last race of Champs, finishing ahead of KC’s Akeem Bloomfield in the Boys’ 4×400m relay. Akeem ran out too hard but had too much work to do anyway by the time he received the baton. Fantastic end to the Championships.
Then there was a big NBA game on Saturday night as well!
The San Antonio Spurs held the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry to 1 for 12 on 3 pointers in their 87-79 win over the Warriors. It was Curry’s worst stats for 3-pointers this season.
What happened? San Antonio’s superb defence and LaMarcus Aldridge with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Check out some of the high class defense action below!
Watch “Danny Green becomes the 1st player to block a 3-pt attempt by Steph Curry in 15-16′ season” on YouTube here:
Then there was another massive block sacrificing his body! Watch “Danny Green Rejects Stephen Curry | Warriors vs Spurs | March 19, 2016 | NBA 2015-16 Season” on YouTube here:
The IAAF 2016 World Indoor Championships also occurred over the weekend in Portland, USA.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson beat the Dutch, Dafne Schippers in the SEMIS but did not have as fast of a start in the finals, where Schippers edge her to win the 60m in 7.10s.
Watch “Dafne Schippers Wins 7.10 Women’s 60m Final Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix 2016” on YouTube here:
Asafa Powell was impressive in the semis, but as usual choked in the 60m final. He had a bad start and was edged out by USA’s Trayvon Brommell.
But who really came through for Jamaica?
Omar Mcleod!
I will leave you with Jamaica’s Omar McLeod’s win.
Watch “Omar McLeod 7.41s Wins 60m Hurdles Final – IAAF WIC in Portland 2016” on YouTube here:
