FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

Nike’s latest attempt at viral video marketing has Lakers star Kobe Bryant jumping over a car with his brand new Nike shoe…yeah so he really didn’t do it but still a cool video. How many Lakers haters wishes the Aston Martin took him out?

So the NBA season is slowly winding down and the playoff picture is getting a bit more clear as we have only a few more weeks left to play. Even though the seedings will probably change a bit 2 things are very clear - the Eastern Conference has only two teams with a real shot at winning the NBA Championship and the Western Conference will have the best playoff basketball by far. With that being said lets take a closer took at each Conference and where they stand.

NBA Eastern Conference

No offense to any team in the Eastern Conference but outside of the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and maybe the Orlando Magic does any team really have a shot against a Western Conference team? The Eastern Conference will have at least 1, maybe 2 teams make the playoffs with a losing record and its not like they are playing in the hyper-competitive Western Conference. Having a losing record when you play teams like the Miami Heat and New York Knicks does not say a lot about your team. Could one of the lower seeded teams make a run? Sure, anyone can but in the NBA’s Eastern Conference there are the Celtics and Pistons and then everyone else. In fact, the team I feel has the best chance of winning the NBA Championship is the Celtics, the Pistons are over-rated in a bad conference.

NBA Western Conference

The NBA should do away with the Eastern and Western titles and call these two conferences Division 1 and Division 2. The talent from top to bottom in the Western Conference is insane. Every single team that will make the NBA Playoffs will have at least 45 wins - the Eastern Conference will be lucky to have 3. In fact I would say that any Western Conference playoff team, from seed 1 through 8, have a shot at winning the NBA Championship if they make it that far. Right now the 7th seed is the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks! That means as of today the Los Angeles Lakers would play the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. That is just a bit different then the Detroit Pistons playing the Philadelphia 76ers don’t you think?

NBA Playoff Predictions

So here is how I see it going down this year in the NBA Playoffs. In the Eastern Conference it will be the Celtics vs. the Pistons in the Conference Finals with the Celtics winning in a series that goes the full 7 games. In the Western Conference I actually see Phoenix winning out, even though I am torn between them and the Lakers. With the NBA Finals being the Suns versus the Celtics I see the Suns winning.

So there you have it, I am predicting the Phoenix Suns as the 2007 - 2008 NBA Champions.

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers started off slow against the Dallas Mavericks but in the end Kobe was unstoppable. Kobe scored 22 of his 52 points in the 4th quarter and 8 in overtime as the Lakers took out the Mavericks 108-104.

Kobe scored 50 or more points for the 22nd time his career going 15 for 27 from the floor and drawing foul after foul - Kobe was 20 for 27 from the free throw line, 13 of which came in the 4th quarter. Bryant also grabbed 11 rebounds and had 4 assists. Pau Gasol put up another solid game for the Lakers putting in 17 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

Mavericks coach Avery Johnson expressed his frustration about his teams inability to stop Kobe after the game. “We gave him a single look, then we double-teamed him, then we gave him a triple-team and he split the triple-team and scored. We tried to zone him, we tried to funnel him in the trap for a zone and he went the other way. He didn’t cooperate on any of our defenses. Obviously he milked the free throw line on us and he just had it all going. He’s a great player. He has these. Lots of these.”

The Mavericks were led by Dirk Nowitzki who had a team high 30 points, Jason Kidd who had 11 assists and Erik Dampier who grabbed 17 rebounds.

The Houston Rockets kept up their winning ways even without their star center Yao Ming. Last night the Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 116-95 for their 14th straight win - the longest of any NBA team this season. The Rockets are 1 win shy of the franchise record set in their championship season of 1993-94.

Tracy McGrady, who led the Rockets with 25 points and 6 assists, tried to keep the winning streak in perspective. “It’s great. It was a short term goal of ours and we accomplished that. But despite our sweeping February, we still can’t be overconfident. We’ve got an offensive team coming in here Sunday and we’ve got to keep it going.” Despite the winning streak the Rockets remain in 7th place in the Western Conference.

With Yao out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot the Rockets called on (again) 41-year old center Dikembe Mutombo. Mutombo grabbed 13 rebounds and had 4 blocks against the Grizzlies, in his limited roll Mutombo has provided a much needed defensive presence down low.

The Rockets road gets rougher as they place the New Orleans Hornets twice and both San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in March.

I have been in a video mood recently - last week I came across this great video of Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant’s top 10 dunks of all-time. Regardless of what you think of the guy, he has skills.

During last nights Phoenix Suns game Shaq daddy made his debut - and showed the good folks in Phoenix how you slam dunk in someone’s face. I believe that was Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom getting the welcome from Shaq.

Shaquille O’Neal and Jason Kidd both made debuts with their new teams last night, unfortunately both the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks lost. However, both players impact on their respective team was undeniable.

Let’s start with Shaq and his game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaq contributed last night with 15 points and 9 rebounds, not bad since he hasn’t played in a few weeks. Despite the 130-124 loss to the Lakers, the Suns obviously can and will play better once Shaq gets his “legs back” and / or used to his new teammates. At times Shaq looked lost when he wasn’t hanging below the rim as usual. Shaq definitely made an effort to move around more and even ran some fast breaks, but really how long can that last? Shaq needs to find his place in the Suns game that suits both him and his team. After the game Shaq played the good teammate card. “I haven’t been this happy in a long time. I will take the blame for this loss because I wasn’t in tune with the guys. But give me four or five days to really get in tune and I’ll get it.”

Now on to Jason Kidd’s debut with the Dallas Mavericks. It is obvious from watching this game that Kidd is going to really help the Mavericks, his ability to make plays and find people is unmatched. Last night he spent a bit to much time trying to pass it to his new teammates, but that is to be expected. Just looking at the box score you can see that it was not a typical Kidd night, he only scored 8 points and had only 5 assists. However, do not let last nights game or the box score fool you, once this team starts to click and the big guns, Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki, get a feel for how Kidd plays everyone better watch out.

It is obviously to early to make any sort of judgment, in fact we can only truly judge the trades after the NBA season is over, but from what I saw last night both teams will be better off then before the trades. The only question is did they improve enough to win a NBA title.

Oh and on another NBA note, the New York Knicks lose to the Philadelphia 76ers last night by 40 points. 40 points! The 76ers aren’t even a good team, again how does Isiah Thomas still have a job?

Shaquille O’Neal will be making his first start as a member of the Phoenix Suns against his old team the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni announced the news after today’s practice. This has to be making the NBA gods drool with glee - the Lakers, as you all should know, is the team Shaq Daddy helped to win three NBA championships and we all know about the “feud” that went on between Kobe Bryant and Shaq.

Shaq, who was acquired in a trade with the Miami Heat, hasn’t played in a game since January 21st and will probably play around 20 minutes tomorrow night. Shaq playing the good team player role said “I’m not looking to put up historical numbers. Whatever these guys ask me to do, that’s what I’ll do.”

When actually playing this season Shaq has averaged a un-Shaq like 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. However, the bigger question is how the Suns and Steve Nash will fit Big Daddy into the their Run and Gun offense. Shaq can neither run or gun…he kind of jogs and pounds.

Last night the Los Angeles Lakers showed that the trade they made to bring Pau Gasol to L.A just might have been a brilliant move. In the Lakers 117-113 win over the Orlando Magic, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant combined for 66 points but more importantly in only their third game together, looked like they have been playing together for years.

Gasol scored 30 points and had 9 rebounds, Kobe put in 36 points, had 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Gasol, who was 12 for 15 from the field, showed how is a scoring weapon from inside or out. Also, Gasol showed his defensive skills keeping Magic center Dwight Howard in check (and in foul trouble) all night long.

After the game Kobe couldn’t stop raving about his new teammate. “With all his skills, it’s going to be a seamless transition for us,” Kobe said. “He has the ability to do everything on the floor, whether it?s pass, shoot, rebound or defend. Adding him makes us a very strong team.”

Gasol also had positive things to say about his teammate.  “Having Kobe takes a whole lot of pressure off my shoulders,” Gasol said. “This is an amazing opportunity for me and I want to make the very best of it every single night.”

The Lakers now head to Miami to play the Shaq-less heat, the Magic are playing Lebron and the Cavaliers.

Kobe Bryant might have had his best day of the year yesterday. In one 24 hour period Kobe scored 46 points in the Los Angeles Lakers 121-101 win against the Toronto Raptors and the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol, giving Kobe another scoring threat down low and maybe a good run at a NBA title.

First the Game: Kobe and the rest of the Lakers appeared to have played with a level and energy and excitement unseen in a long time, everyone was obviously jazzed up about the prospect of bringing Gasol to town. “We understood that this was a game that we had to get and we came out with a lot of energy,” Bryant said. “That being said, I think everybody is a little excited about the opportunity that we have in front of us.” Bryant shot 19-for-28 and showed off numerous crowd pleasing dunks on his way to 46 points. Sasha Vujacic scored 22 points and Jordan Farmer added 13 for the Lakers - who were coming off losing four of the last five games. Andrea Bargnani scored a career high 28 points to lead the Raptors. Chris Bosh put in 22 points and 15 rebounds and Jose Calderon added 17 points.

Now the trade:  The Lakers gave up a career under-performing center- Kwame Brown, a unused rookie - Javaris Crittenton and a couple future NBA Draft picks. In return they get a proven scoring threat who, along with Andrew Bynum (when he returns) and Lamar Odom , will give the Lakers and Kobe their best front-court in a very longtime.