Jordan Newgard's Boston Celtics fan blog

It's odd, I have my site at bostoncelticsnews.com, and I have only posted one thing NBA related. Well, how about I make it two? 

On MLK night, the Lakers took it the Cavs. If this game didn't showcase why the Lakers are the best team in the league right now, I don't know what does. For the average person who just looks at the NBA as a whole, the Lakers are the team right now. But, as Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. Breaking it down, here are my rankings for teams that I think have the best shot at winning the championship. 

1. Boston Celtics.
Why? Well let's see, they have the experience, they have the fire power, they have the adage that Kevin Garnett won't let this team down, they have the inside precense to offset any of the teams that can opose them. Yeah, they went through a slump, but face it, there was no way that they were going to continue on the run that they were on. They came out hotter than anytime, and it was almost certain that they were going to hit a slide. If anyone wants to make the arguement that they could easily be upset in the playoffs because they went to all those game 7's last year, well that was last year. They had three guys who had never won anything, and why wouldn't they be a little shaky? Once it gets to that ever-so-glorious playoff time, the Celtics will be settled down, knowing that they have done it before, and that nobody really believes they can do it two years in a row.

Continue reading "NBA Wrap-Up"

I think when your sub-sub-sub concious is trying to tell you something, you should really heed to that advice. Last week I talked about long layoffs, and low and behold three of the home teams were upset. Is that going to happen regularly? I hope not, because all the money that was won from the first round of the playoffs would continiously get blown on the second round games. Before I get down into the games this up coming weekend, I want to try to break down the four games that were played. So, with random stories about my past put aside for now, let's get into it.

 New York and Phili wrap-up
I just couldn't see how the Giants could have blown this game, but they managed to do because Eli turned into a high school quarterback who can only throw the ball deep and hope his receivers come up with it. I don't recall how many times Manning tried to bomb the ball down field 15+ yards and be off the mark. He must be stuck in thinking that Plaxico is standing down field towering over his defenders or that  everytime he lobs it up into the air, much to my chagrin, and that some random receiver is able to pin the ball against his head. Anyway, Manning was terrible, and I kept thinking that entire game that they needed to pound the rock more, Jacobs was getting six yards a carry and then they would put in Ward and he'd get stuffed at the line. Apart from that, they would try to run Jacobs off tackle and feed him sweeps and I'm thinking just go striaght up the gut. The start of the game was just a bad omen when Manning totally missed a wide open Steve Smith on I think the first play of the game that would have went for a touchdown. I don't see why they didn't try screens or shorter passes, but even then Manning would try to force, squeeze, stuff, whatever other adjective along those lines to his tight end Kevin Boss. Without Plax drawing double coverage down field, Manning turned back to what he really is, just an average quarterback.

Continue reading "NFC/AFC Championship game picks"

We always here about things like this happening in another town in a different county or in a different state altogether; events that have no bearing to our lives whatsoever. We walk into another school while on a basketball trip and see a glass case perched on a wall close to the entrance which has an asortment of different items arranged around a picture set in the middle. The pictures differ from town to town, sometimes it may be just a normal school picture of a student with small heirlooms hanging around the image, other times it may be a student's athletic picture and his or her varsity letter nearby. There always seems to be a small passage included that can be read, describing the person's life and passions. In every case though, the glass case holds the same meaning, a memorandum of a life taken too early.

Continue reading "To an Athlete Dying Young"

When I was a sophomore in high school playing on the JV basketball team, we went into our Christmas break undefeated and feeling pretty good about ourselves. Over the break we were scheduled to play one game against a team from the division below us. We practiced a few times, nothing too serious, and went into the game feeling good. But the week and a half layoff killed us and we lost by four, our only loss of the season.

What does that have to do with anything regarding the NFL playoffs in any way, shape, or form? Probably nothing at all. But I just wanted to try to make a connection with teams dealing with a significant time gap between games. As an adage, remember last year the Bucs were happy with their position in the playoffs, I wanna say the fourth seed, and rested starters for a decent amount of time and pretty much knew they were going to take on the Giants. What happened? They came out rusty, and the Giants were able to win. Nobody really knew that it would be en route to the Super Bowl but still. Not to mention at the same time the Giants played their starters all the way through the season and went on to, like I said, win the Super Bowl. 

Continue reading "Picks for the NFL weekend"

I may be an over-the-top, totally subjective fan, but I know where to draw the line. Yes, I am always totally optimistic when it comes to my favorite teams, but when I sit down and think clearly about the broad outlook of things, I can do it objectively, and I hope I got the subjective and objective terms right and used them correctly.

Anyway, with that being said, I would like to dish out my take on how the Finals will be won. Without trying to create any drama or mystery of my picks, I'll tell you them right now for free. I have the Lakers winning over the Cavs. Why? Because of the feeling that nobody in the West will be able to overtake the Lakers stacked roster this season, especially if they trade Lamar Odom for something useful, and I have been saying all season that if the Cavs and LeBron are seriously going to contend for a title, it will be this year or bust. Next year there will be too much hoopla surrounding LeBron's impending free agency decisions and I believe that will cause some unnecessary stress on the team as a whole. They have the team to do it this year, and they are tied with the Lakers for the NBA's best winning percentage.

Continue reading "NBA Championship Preview"