Andre Gomes

Tennis US Open: a beginning of a new dynasty?

andre gomes — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:42:00 GMT

The US Open is known for being a really exciting tournament, with their great night sessions and with the great crowd, knowing for making a poor match look like being worth of a million bucks. But this season, the US Open is even more exciting than the usual. We have a new number one in the men's side and with Henin's sudden retirement, we don't know a player in the women's side standing up and being the major favorite to win the tournament.

Just like I said previously, we have a new number one in the men's circuit, Rafael Nadal. However even though he is clearly the best player in the world right now, he has never performed like a true number 1 in this tournament, as he has never done better than quarter finals in here. This is clearly his worst Grand Slam and after the huge amount of tennis he has played lately, it is hard to see him winning in here. However, having in account how he has been playing lately, it's also very hard to see him losing in here, as he has just lost 5 times in the last 6 months. He has a very good draw in here and I don't expect him to have any kind of problem until the quarter finals, where he may have to face crowd favorite James Blake or David Nalbandian, known for being a terrible matchup for Nadal on fast surfaces. Still he is the number one candidate to win in here.

Nadal's main opponent for the win in here is Novak Djokovic, world number three and winner of the Australian Open this season, the only Grand Slam played on hardcourt in 2008 until now. Djokovic has shown several times that he can beat Nadal on a fast surface like this one and after reaching the final last season, he has the game and a great draw to get his second Grand Slam title of his career in here.

Roger Federer, winner of the past four editions of the US Open, is just the third biggest candidate to win in here. Why? His terrible season, with losses everywhere and to players he used to dominate. However Federer hasn't lost in here since 2003 and his Olympic Gold medal in doubles may give him some confidence. His draw isn't bad at all, but it will all come down to his form and his consistence in the baseline.

I don't see another player actually being capable of winning this tournament. Onto the Americans. Roddick and Blake don't seem to be in enough form to actually beat at least two Top 3 players (Roddick would probably need to beat all 3 to win the tournament) and lift the trophy. Former semi-finalist Robby Ginepri seems far from that level and Mardy Fish and the other American players seem to be capable of advancing some rounds, but they will end up losing the first time they face a tough task.

Some other players may be capable of creating some upsets like Del Potro (currently on a 20 match winning streak!), Ferrer, Davydenko, Murray or Wawrinka, but neither seem to be at enough form or have the necessary experience to stay calm on the second week of the competition, against an opponent in theory better than them.

If things seem to be open in the men's draw, things are even more opened in the women's draw, where there about 5/6 players, who can really win this tournament. In my opinion, two players stand a little bit from the others: the Williams sisters. Both Venus and Serena are former winners of this tournament, however neither has reached the final since 2002! They seemed to be clearly the best two players of the circuit in Wimbledon, but in the Olympics, they were prematurely eliminated, which make their performance in here be unpredictable. Still for what they have conquered and with all their experience at this level, I see them as their main contenders in here. However remember they will face each other in the quarter finals, which will make an amazing night session on that day.

Now onto the Serbians Ivanovic and Jankovic, world number one and two of the rankings. Both are injured, however Ivanovic's injury seems to be much more serious and I would be surprised if she goes further than quarter finals in here. Jankovic seems to be a much more serious threat in here, especially with her very easy draw, which should put her facing Dementieva in the semi finals. However Jankovic is knowing for failing at the later stages of Grand Slams.

The Russian armada has two contenders for the title: Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina. With Sharapova injured, it's Olympic champion Dementieva, who has the better chance to win for Russia this tournament. However she has never won a Grand Slam, even though she has more than potential to do it. Safina is having a career season and reached the final of Roland Garros and reached the final of the Olympics, however her serving problems should prevent her from winning her first Grand Slam in here. Russian number one Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is a former winner in here and defending finalist, seems to be out of form to win such a big tournament as this one.

This tournament is so open that some young talents like Radwanska, Azarenka or Wozniacki can make their breakthrough and steal this Grand Slam out of nowhere. On the other side, former winner and current mother Davenport can try to use her experience and great powerful serve and ground strokers to reclaim her superstar status. However a knee injury should prevent her from doing it. Without Henin (retired) and Sharapova (injured) and with some of the main stars of the circuit with small injuries, we can see a major surprise winner in here.Whoever wins this tournament will need to suffer a lot to do it, in open of the most Grand Slams of the decade.

USA Team Basketball: Redeem Team, Redeem Dream

andre gomes — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:38:00 GMT

The Redeem team has been confirming all the expectations that everybody had on them until now. They have been giving the crowd a very pleasant show in all games and much more important than that, as giving shows to the crowd doesn't mean winning games, they have been superior than all their opponents, which was their main mission for Beijing: get back to the number one spot in the world of basketball.

They are now in the semi finals and with medals very close to be conquered, but now one of their main opponents is their obstacle to reach the final: Argentina.

We all watched the United States slaughtering the Spanish world champions by 37 points and it would be legitimate to think that the same will happen in this game, however if there is a team which knows how the United States play, it's Argentina.

We all know Ginobili, Scola, Oberto, Nocioni and Delfino. They have all played in the NBA last season and their knowledge of the American style of play may offer the US something that they are yet to get in this tournament: an opponent which can actually slow down the pace.

Wade has been amazing, almost at the same he had when he carried the Heat to their title, but the player with most impact in these games has been Howard, who has been a beast, dominating the paint with powerful dunks. But with Scola and Oberto in the paint, Howard won't have the easy task he had in the previous matches, as they are smart guys capable of putting Howard in foul trouble.

Kobe had his best performance in Beijing on the last match against Australia and it looks like he is coming to his real level. He will be decisive in the two remaining games of the team in here.

Everybody expects an easy win of the United States in here and I remember they are listed as a 20 points favorite in here, but if this match becomes a ball game, then there the United States will try to do everything to avoid Manu Ginobili to get the ball. We all know Manu and his importance in clutch games. Manu in the Argentinian squad is the same Manu we watched in San Antonio and fortunately for Argentina (and Popovich of course), Manu is in great form, leading the scorers with 20.3 ppg and he will be the main threat for the American defense.

We all expect a good game and this will be another opportunity for the Redeem Team to show how hard they are committed to get the gold in here and when the effort combines with the talent, the mixture is too explosive for any opponent they can possibly face.

Andre Gomes MLB Plays

andre gomes — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

CHICAGO CUBS at HOUSTON ASTROS

Yesterday the Cubs wasted all the good work of Ted Lilly by losing 2-1 at Houston, where the batters Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez were terrible with 0-12! The team have already gave signs of not being at 100% in their last game before the All Star break, when they lost against the Giants by 2-4 and yesterday they have confirmed this tendency. However today they will send to the pitch their ace Carlos Zambrano (2.84 ERA 10-3) who has been very solid during the whole season, especially in his last matches. Zambrano on the road hasn't been as solid as at home with 3.61 ERA and a record of 5-3, but he has been amazing in his last games. Against the Cardinals, he hasn't allowed any run in the 5 innings in which he pitched with 5 strike outs and against Cincinnati, he has only allowed 1 run in 8 innings and with also 5 strike outs. Besides that in the All Star game, Zambrano has only allowed 1 hit in the 2 innings he has pitched. His good form is evident:

"That's probably the best I've seen him in a long time," said Dunn of Zambrano, who has allowed a run and five hits over 14 innings in his last two starts.

So I expect Chicago to continue with good pitching performances today, as the quality today will be there. My doubts are with the pitcher that Houston will use today. Wandy Rodriguez is actually having a reasonable season with 3.48 ERA 4-3 and his numbers are good at home games, with 2.72 ERA and 2-2, but recently his form has been poor. Actually in his last three games he has a record of 6.90 ERA and curiously 1-0, however that is easy to explain, it's only necessary to see the teams they have faced: Washington, Atlanta and LA Dodgers. The first one isn't necessary to talk about its quality (or lack of), but against Atlanta and the Dodgers, these two teams were in bad phases and still he couldn't stop their attack. Zambrano has played against the Astros this season and he had a good performance with 2 runs in 7 innings, with a win by 3-2 against Houston, while Rodriguez hasn't played against the Cubs this season. The fact that the Cubs are currently on a mini slump and that made the moneyline for them to be at a reasonable price today. Sooner or later the Cubs will appear again in a good fashion and I don't think Rodriguez will be capable to continue the poor form of the Cubs batters today. Take the Cubs in here.

PLAY: 1* UNIT ML CHICAGO CUBS

KANSAS CITY ROYALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX

The team of the White Sox began in the best way this divisional series against Kansas, defeating them by 9-5. Today the series continues and in my opinion, the Royals will struggle again today, as the White Sox will send a pitcher, who has been very solid at home this season. Gavin Floyd is 10-5 and 3.63 ERA, but at home he becomes a much better pitcher, as his numbers come to 7-1 and an ERA of just 2.57 ERA. Actually his team record with him is 9-1. Floyd was terrible in his last match against Texas (on the road), as in just 3 innings, he allowed 2 home runs, 6 hits and 5 runs, which even against the best offensive team in the league is a poor performance, which he has already admitted. The best that could happen to him has happened, as he has now an home game to bounce back.

Curiously the Royals have been struggling on the road against right hander pitchers, as their record is just 13-22 with 3.6 runs per game and if when the games are at night, the numbers go to 5-13. This doesn't say anything necessarily, but when he see the White Sox winning 6 of the 7 games this season against them, the difficulties Kansas will have today are evident. The Royals will use Gil Meche as their starting pitcher (4.64 ERA 6-9) and he hasn't been playing well recently. Meche in his last 3 games had an ERA of 5.00 and went 0-1. He has faced the White Sox this season and his team lost by 6-2. This team of the White Sox played well yesterday and his offense showed to be in a good moment and this season when that happens, the team reacts well in the following game. They are 11-1 against the money line in home games after scoring 8 runs or more e 14-3 against the money line in home games after a win by 4 runs or more this season. That's why I love them today. Take the White Sox RL in here.

PLAY 1* UNIT ON RL CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Good Luck

Andre Gomes MLB Play

andre gomes — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:52:00 GMT

I like a play for tonight:

TORONTO at TAMPA BAY

If there are teams who may have been helped by the All Star break, certainly one of these teams was Tampa Bay. The Rays even leaded their division and they were one of the strongest teams in the league a couple of weeks ago, but they lost all their last seven games before the All Star break, so this stop was great for the team. Today they will face Toronto, which has been well lately, but they have been playing at home in their last games. Today they will send to the pitch the right hander Burnett, who is 4.96 ERA and 10-8 this season. It's curious to see that this will be the second game in a row for him, as he played in the last game of the team before the All Star break against the Yankees. Burnett has an away record of 4.34 ERA and 3-5 and recently he hasn't been fortunate against the Rays, as even though he is 6-3 against Tampa Bay, his last three games against the Rays were losses for his team.

Fortunately for Tampa Bay they play at home, where they have been very strong. The team is 36-14 at home, but when the games against right pitchers, these numbers are even better: 28-9 with 4.9 runs per game and when these games are at night, the numbers go to 22-6! Today the Rays will send the pitch the also right hander Shields (3.86 ERA 7-6), who was also a victim of a slump that hit the whole team, as in his last game at Cleveland, he allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in 6 innings. Today a normal bounce back by him is expected, as he has been very well at home with a record of 5-1 with 2.13 ERA. Curiously in his career he is 3-0 2.70 ERA against Toronto. The team of Tampa Bay has been dominating Toronto this season, having won 5 of the 6 games played between the two teams. The team is 23-6 against the money line as a home favorite of -125 to -175 this season and 14-2 against the money line in home games after scoring 2 runs or less this season. I expect a comfortable win of Tampa Bay today to get away of the slump they suffered before the All Star break. Take Tampa Bay RL in here.

Pick: 1* Unit on RL -1.5 TAMPA BAY

Good Luck

NBA Finals - Preview of the Series

andre gomes — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:42:00 GMT

BOSTON vs LAKERS

And today starts the NBA final which will bring more emotion and higher ratings than the previous finals, as the title will be discussed between the teams that the public and the NBA most wished: Boston and Lakers. In this analysis the main question is to know who is the favorite to win the final and if they are the fair favorite. The Lakers are the favorites to win the champion ship and the oddmakers clearly reflect that: Lakers with an odd of 1.50 (-190) and Boston with 2.60 (+160). Also the experts put the Lakers as the favorites to win the final and recently I watched on ESPN 7 of 8 experts picking the Lakers to be the NBA champions this season.

The question I put in here is if this is a fair price for the series. Boston had to deal during the whole season (and this includes the playoffs) with the pressure to win, that the Big 3 were yet to win anything and they had to win, etc... Suddenly they stopped being favorites and this may actually favor the team. I remember Boston had the best record in the regular season with 66 wins (more 9 wins than the Lakers) and an impressive ATS record of 51-30-1, however, what really matters is what happened in the playoffs and that's the main reason why the Lakers are the favorites today.

The Lakers come to this final having just played 15 games in the postseason, while Boston needed 20 games and two Game 7 series to advance into this final. However let's not forget the opponents both teams had to face, also reflect the difficulty of the series. Lakers didn't have problems against Denver and Utah, because both teams played in the same way of the Lakers, but without the quality of LA. On the other side, Boston faced Cleveland and Detroit, who playing at the same way of Boston, had way more experience in the postseason than the Celtics. The only important series for the Lakers were against the defending champions, the Spurs. But almost the whole series was decided on the Game 1, when the Spurs couldn't take advantage of a 20 points lead already in the second half of the game.

So we will quickly see that we are in presence of two teams with very different styles: offense vs defense! The Lakers have the best offense in the postseason with 105.9 ppg and 47.8% FG with Kobe Bryant on-fire, but on the other side, Boston is the best defense with just 87.2 ppg allowed. The Lakers are 8-0 at home games in the postseason and Boston is 10-1, but we cannot forget the problems Boston had to win on the road, I remember the 0-6 away record they had in the first two series and this also explains why the Lakers are the favorites for this final, as cannot forget that in the final the order of the games is 2-3-2, so the Lakers will play three times at home in a row. However the momentum for Boston is quite good right now. Boston won two of three games they played at Detroit and in the last one, they were down by 60-70 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but they were able to comeback and to win the game and the series, so Boston will also come confident for this final.

Another important factor is that the Lakers for the first time won't have home court advantage in this postseason and even though, this isn't surely decisive, the truth is that the Lakers started their three series in this postseason taking the lead by 2-0! Unlike Boston, who saw this advantage being taken away after losing the Game 2 of their series against the Pistons at home. So, what will happen if the Lakers lose tonight? It will be the first time in this postseason that they will be in disadvantage in a series.

In the matchups a lot can be said about the positions where Boston and the Lakers may have an edge over the other team, but this advantage can easily disappear. Kobe will be unstoppable, Boston will try to limit him, but with the way he has been playing lately puts him on a different level above everybody else. On the other side, a lot has been said about Ray Allen and his bad moment, but that's not exactly true as Ray Ray is coming from his two best games he has played in the postseason (Game 5 vs Detroit: 9-15 FG and 29 points and in the Game 6 he has made 6-12 FG and 27 points). Paul Pierce will have an edge in theory over Radmanovic, as the Celtics captain has been playing at a good level recently and let's not forget he was defended by Lebron and Prince in the last two series, who surely are better defenders than Radmanovic can ever dream to be. The guards battle will be between Fisher (experience) and Rondo (youth). Fisher isn't shooting well in this postseason, but his experience will be important, while Rondo has been alternating great performances with weak ones, but everytime he has played well, Boston won, so this duel will be extremely important. At last we have the frontcourt duel which has been receiving a lot of different opinions in the last week. Pau Gasol revolutioned the Lakers and Odom, even though he isn't consistent, has clearly improved with Gasol on his side and he played very well in the series against the Spurs. On the other side, we have Boston with Garnett and Perkins who has been dominating the interior game in this playoffs and against very strong teams in the frontcourt, like Cleveland and Detroit. I remember Boston was the 4th team in the league in terms of rebound margin in the regular season with +3.0 rpg and already in this playoffs, the numbers are even more impressive, with +3.25 rpg, especially as they have played 13 of their 20 games in the postseason against Detroit and Cleveland. The interior game of the Lakers is more "finess" and the key in this series will be how the Lakers frontcourt will fit against the most powerful and aggressive frontcourt of Boston.

With all these factors, there are arguments for both teams to be champions, but to get the title, they will need to show these arguments in the field.

Boston vs Detroit Eastern Finals Series Preview

andre gomes — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:20:00 GMT

Eastern Conference Final Preview - (1) Boston Celtics vs (2) Detroit Pistons

If we asked before the playoffs, which teams would make it to the Eastern Conference Final, about 90% of the inquire people would say Boston and Detroit. And the other 10% were probably fans of Orlando and Cleveland. These two teams were clearly the best two teams of the East during the regular season and their superiority over the other teams of the East was so big, that this final can be everything but a surprise. But the surprise was how Boston reached this conference final. Nobody was expecting them to win both previous series by 4-3, while going 0-6 on the road. Detroit after a terrible start of the playoffs, found themselves again and only dropped three games in the post season until now. That's half of the games Boston dropped to reach this stage of the playoffs. Also Detroit had a whole week to rest, while Boston played the Game 7 of the series against the Cavs two days ago. Detroit had time to rest and recover their injured players, while Boston had to fight a lot to reach this conference final. So the main question in here is: Can Detroit take advantage of the tiredness of Boston?

First of all, Detroit hasn't been exactly the best team in conference finals lately. Actually they are 1-11 (!) ATS in the Conference Final over the last three years. Obviously that doesn't change the fact that they are together with San Antonio, the most experienced team in this type of games and that they have one of the strongest rosters in the league. Also their fighting spirit is huge and they are capable of recovering from very tough situations, like the Game 4 at Orlando in the conference semi finals. But still Boston is an extremely tough opponent, tired or not, and Detroit will need to play at their best level to reach the NBA final once again. Billups and McDyess are now fully recovered and if it's true that they will be fresh for tonight's game, it's also true that they haven't played a single game in seven days! So, will they be more rested or more rusty?

For Boston it's the opposite. They will be tired, but they haven't stopped playing, so their level of competitiveness is at their highest possible. It's not easy to win to final two Games 7 in a row and they have done it. Also it's true that they have home court advantage in this series and that they are 8-0 at home in the post season. They have been terrible in the road, but if they don't lose a single game at home, they will win the title! Obviously it's not good to go 0-6 on the road, during the playoffs, but Boston is stepping it up when it's necessary and they have already showed that they can handle the pressure and that they want to get the title really bad. Also Boston continues to be the best defense of the league, only allowing their opponents to score 86 ppg in this post season. Also in the regular season, they have create a lot of problems in the paint to Detroit, obligating Detroit to shoot far from the basket. The Pistons have attempted 20, 21 and 16 3pts shots in their games against in the regular season, something not very normal in Detroit, especially in these games where they don't shoot much more than 70 FG attempts per game.

So, my prediction is that we are leaning towards another very long series and this one is really too close to call. Boston is tired, but true superstars like Garnett or Pierce can find energies that they weren't supposed to have. Yes, Detroit is more experienced and they are rested. But Boston still has the home court advantage and while they have it in the series, they have to be considered the favorites to get to the NBA finals. But if Detroit is capable of doing what nobody has managed to do in this post season (win a game at Boston - and they are probably the team in the league more capable right now to do it), then the story of this series may be different.

Andre Gomes WNBA Play

andre gomes — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:10:00 GMT

CHICAGO at SEATTLE

Seattle receives today Chicago in the first game of the season, in a year where there is a lot of expectations for the team. The Storm have an amazing start lineup and the expectations are really high. On my research I found that that yesterday already 13.000 tickets have been sold for this game, which is an amazing number and it's at the same level of the attendance of the games of the Sonics in the... NBA! The starting lineup is consisted by five All-star players who are all in good physical shape. Yolanda Griffith, Swoopes and Cash were part of the training camp the whole time, while Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird came from Europe where they played in the off-season. In the preseason all three players that I've mentioned played at a very good level, especially Yolanda who in the last preseason game made in 18 minutes, 14 pts 9 reb and 2 steals. The positive fact of Jackson and Bird have come late to the training camp was that they are both playing at Seattle for a couple of seasons and they were also team mates in Europe, so there is already a good team chemistry.

Lauren dominated not only the WNBA last season, as also she was elected the MVP of the biggest European competition: the Euroleague. Today they will play against Chicago, which is a pretty good and young team. There is a lot of hope in the Sky on Fowles, who was the number two pick in the draft, but it will be hard for her to play well in her debut game. Fowles will be defended by Yolanda and Lauren, two very tough defenders and also two former best defender of the season award winners. So it will be normal that she will struggle a little bit today. Already in the preseason when Chicago faced the Sparks, Fowles shot just 3-13 FG, while being defended by Lisa Leslie, which shows how she still struggles, while being defended by a top player.

Today I expect a blowout of Seattle, as the team has been improving very well in the preseason and in the last game against Indiana, they had a very good ball movement, with 19 assists and just 10 turnovers. With Lauren Jackson in great shape, the Storm are too strong and powerful for this young Sky team. Seattle is very tough at home and last season they had a home record of 12-5 at home and in the season opener in 2007, they defeated Houston by 82-67, without any problems when they had a spread of 7 points. Take Seattle in here.

PLAY 1* UNIT ON - 7.5 SEATTLE

Good Luck for the opening day

WNBA 2008 - Preview Western Conference

andre gomes — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:05:00 GMT

As I've already referred on a previous article about the WNBA, this league isn't as followed by the media or has the same level of interest as other competitions, but it still has the potential to bring long term profit to a bettor. From this perspective, I'll pay attention to the league and I'll closely follow it and you all know, when I follow something closely, that means I'll give my max effort to follow it.

Here is the preview for all WNBA teams this season.

Western Conference

Sacramento Monarchs

Sacramento was used to be in the later stages of the league in the previous seasons, but now this seems unlikely to happen this season. The team is now on a rebuilding phase and even though they have players who are capable of doing interesting things, they aren't already on their prime and especially their rivals in the West are stronger than ever. Team's legend Yolanda Griffith went to Seattle and this leaves Sacramento with Brunson and Powell for the frontcourt and it's asking too much to them to replace Yolanda. Both players had amazing seasons in 2007 (Brunson 11.5 ppg and 8.9 rpg / Powell 12.8 ppg and 5.6 rpg), but the problem is that in the West the frontcourt of the teams is very powerful and without Yolanda, Sacramento will struggle in this point. This problem got even worse when Yolanda's natural replacement DeMya Walker got injured and she's out for the season.

Last season Sacramento was extremely strong at home, posting a 12-5 record and this season with them not having the top team status they used to have, some great opportunities to bet on them at home may happen. The team has still a slight chance to reach the playoffs, but ask the team to do it is too much, mainly thanks to the other teams in the West, especially Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Antonio.

Houston Comets

Far away are the years where the Comets used to dominate the league and it looks like they will continue far from this scenario this season. If last season the Comets had a record of 13-21, beginning the league with 10 defeats in a row and losing their best player Swoopes in the 3rd game of the season! However, on the side of the bettor we can say it was an excellent year for them, as they were the moneymookers of the league with 20-13-1 ATS and from their 13 wins, 9 were as the underdog.

For this season Houston ended up losing Swoopes, who joined Seattle and so the team has now just two players capable of deciding a game: the all-star Tina Thompson who had a good season in 2007 with 18.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 2.8 apg and also the center Snow who finished last season with 10.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg. It's curious to see that the players who joined Houston this season were almost all veteran players. So we won't see the team not struggling at the beginning of the season, due to the high experience of their players and also we might be looking to a team who will play on a slower pace this season. Probably this team can develop into an under machine. About their chances this season, I think it's better to forget it. The Western conference is too strong for them to think about reaching the playoffs in 2008.

Los Angeles Sparks

From hell to heaven in just one season, it seems to be the sentence which describes better what happened with the Sparks last season, where they had one of the worst records in the league, and this season where they are one of the major favorites to win the league. The explanation is simple and it has to go with the players who didn't play last season and the actual roster of the Sparks. Lisa Leslie was out last season due to pregnancy and the Sparks also saw one of the top players of the league, Chamique Holdsclaw, to decide to retire early in the season. But to make things worse, Temeka Johnson was also out for most of the season. That's why the team finished with a weak 10-24 record last season.

But for this season everything has changed, not only because they had the top pick in the draft, Candice Parker, who seems to be a true superstar, as also Lisa Leslie has comeback, with Milton-Jones also returning to Los Angeles, after a period in Washington. This team begins this season with an extremely strong roster and surely they will have one of the best records at the end of the regular season. The form of Leslie can make the Sparks be the top pick to win the title or just be one of the contenders to get the ring. Anyway together with Seattle, the Sparks are the team which most people expect to see in the WNBA final.

Minnesota Lynx

Minnesota has again one of the youngest teams in the league and that last season had consequences, as the Lynx lost 11 games by seven points or fewer. They simply couldn't finish the games well. On the other side Minnesota was the moneymakers on the over last season, with an impressive record of 23-10-1! The biggest weapon of the team was Augustus, who had an average of 22.6 ppg and who is preparing for this season to have identical numbers.

The team looks to have more talent this season, with the inclusion of the free agent and All-star player Anna DeForge, who came from Indiana, but the injury of the PG Harding will make things hard for the Lynx. Harding was preparing to be the rookie of year last season, until she got injured. Minny can be capable of doing interesting things, as they have a superstar like Augustus and she can solve a game alone in a moment of inspiration, however we can't forget Minnesota is part of the Western conference and the level of their opponents is too high for Minnesota think about reaching the playoffs this season.

Seattle Storm

If we were in 2004 and Seattle had this roster, I would say that they would have the starting team of the Western All-Star team. Bird, Swoopes, Cash, Jackson and Griffith are all all-star teams. But we are in 2008 and not in 2004. The major difference is that there are some doubts about the physical shape of some players and naturally being Seattle a team with a short roster, they will depend from how much time can these five players stay healthy. The team last season just had a record of 17-17 and I said just as they had the best player of the league and the soon to be named MVP Lauren Jackson, who averaged 23.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 2.0 bpg! But the team was extremely short, with few options in the bench and it's only necessary to see that from the 80.4 ppg they had last season (2nd best in the league), 68.7 ppg came from their starters.

For this season there are a lot of expectations for this team and they are clearly a team for the present and not for the future, with so many veteran players. Lauren Jackson comes from a great season in Europe and she was considered the best player who was playing on that continent and it's secure to say that she is the best player in the world right now. In a conference so competitive like the West this season, if this team of Seattle is capable of preserve the health of their starters, then they are a serious contender to win the conference.

San Antonio Silver Stars

With the trade of Becky Hammon last season, nobody in the Silver Stars staff was expecting the team to improve so fast. But the truth is that Becky was one of the strongest contenders to the MVP title and the Silver Stars finished the regular season with a record of 20-14 and they were in the Western conference final, where they were eliminated by the future champions, the Mercury.

The team this season is even stronger and they have everything to give for the title. With the return of Erin Buescher, who was injured most of last season, San Antonio gains more consistence and more options in the attack. However the big news of San Antonio this season is the return of Ann Wauters to the WNBA. The huge Belgian center had amazing numbers in Europe this season, averaging 17.7 ppg and 9.1 rpg for Russian power CSKA Moscow this past winter. Together with Young, they make the Silver Stars frontcourt extremely strong. However the season hasn't started well for the team, as guard Crossley suffered a season-ending knee injury and she was extremely important for the team last season, coming out of the bench and averaging double digits points. Still this team is extremely strong and combines youth and experience very well, something that can make the Silver Stars one of the strongest contenders to win the title this season.

Phoenix Mercury

The Mercury are the defending champions and so they are the team to beat in the league, however the Mercury won't have the conditions they had last season, as not only their opponents are now stronger, as they also won't be as strong as they were last season. The most important fact is that the most decisive player of the team last season won't play this season in Phoenix, at least until the Olympic Games are over. I'm talking about Penny Taylor. Which team can replace a player with these numbers (17.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 49.9% shooting, 37.8% from three, 88.4% at the line, 1.5 spg, 2.9 apg)? That's almost impossible, so Phoenix will have a tough task this season.

The positive side of the team is that they are already adapted from last season to their up tempo system. The coach of the team isn't Paul Westhead anymore, who joined the Sonics, but Corey Gaines who was one of Westhead's assistants last season and who should maintain the same style of play from last season. I remember that the Mercury until the All-star break last season had a record of just 11-9, to then finish the regular season with a record of 23-11. So there will be a margin to think the same for this season, with the eventual return of Taylor after the Olympic Games. The team with their high paced tempo was the team with most points in the league, managing an amazing 95.8 ppg in the post season. This season their task will be harder without Taylor, but the Mercury have a deep roster and players like Pondexter and Taurasi who are in great form and make the most dynamic duo in the league. It will be on their shoulders that the offensive game of Phoenix will be carried. With Taylor back after the Olympics, then the Mercury will have the chance to try to defend the title with more confidence.

WNBA 2008 - Preview Eastern Conference

andre gomes — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:56:00 GMT

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Dream

Atlanta is the new team in the league and with this new entry both conferences have now again seven teams each. Surprisingly or not the city seems to like the new challenge and in the first preseason game of the team at home against the LA Sparks, 8000 fans watched the game in the crowd. Wow! But the truth is that this team won't be able to do much in their first season in the league than do what their name exactly says: dream! With Atlanta being a new team, they wanted in the expansion draft new players who have potential to help the team in the future and not in the present. So Atlanta won't have any superstar this season who will be able to solve some games on her own and the scenario isn't the best for them in 2008. Just remember that when Chicago entered the league they went 5-29 in their first season.

The only players who are known by the public and have some ability in order to help raising the team to a competitive level are the guards Betty Lennox and the Brazilian Castro Marques, who are coming from good seasons in 2007. With the competitiveness which will exist in this season, it will be hard for Atlanta to even reach 10 wins this season, but they will be a team that with some momentum will be capable of becoming a moneymaker for us.

Washington Mystics

The Mystics were involved in a fight for a playoff spot until the last game of last year's regular season, but they ended up losing the last spot to New York. The team ended the regular season with a record of 16-18, which is quite good as the team began the season with a 0-8 run! Yes, eight straight losses! In the middle of this losing streak, they changed the coach, they traded some players and the team began playing way better. The Mystics have first of all the All-star player Allana Beard, who had a good season in 2007 even while being physically limited, ending the season with a tam high of 18.8 ppg. The center Sanford had also an excellent season after the losing streak, ending the season with career highs of 11 ppg and 7.1 rpg.

The main news for this season is the trade of forwards, with Milton Jones leaving the team and the veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin joining the Mystics. The main objective of the team for this season is to have more experience in the paint and more defensive abilities. For that it was also important their choice in the draft, which was Crystal Langhorne, who was in China with the US team and who has been impressive in the training camp. She's coming off a senior season in which she averaged 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game and she will be important to make more competitive one of the weakest points of the Mystics last season, the paint. If Beard continues to be at the same level she was last season, then the Mystics will be more competitive this season and they will be able to think in reaching the playoffs. This team last season won 9 games while being the underdog, so they are really a moneymaker team.

Connecticut Sun

If there was a ranking for most changes on a team during this off-season, the Sun would be a real contender for the first place. If last season they were involved in a major trade, this season they have done it again and the objective if to try to change the style of the team. Katie Douglas went to Indiana and Connecticut got the powerful Tamika Whitmore. The team now got more defensive consistence and it will be hard for them to repeat the 19-14-1 O/U they had last season. The Sun last season ended the regular season with a 18-16 record and also 18-16 ATS, but it's curious to see that from their 18 wins, 8 were gotten playing as underdogs, which gives them a respectable 45% of upsets. Besides this trade, Nykesha Sales, Margo Dydek, Kristin Rasmussen, Le'Coe Willingham, Megan Mahoney and Erika DeSousza also left the team or at least won't play for the Sun this season, which represents 45 ppg of the 75 ppg they had last season.

So the challenge will be big for Connecticut this season, but although all these changes they still have a good team and they have in their roster one of the most dominant centers in Europe, Sandrine Gruda. I don't believe the Sun will be capable to fight for the title this season and their season performance will depend from the team chemistry they will be able to get and how quickly they can adapt to the ballclub and to the new style of play. The sooner they can adapt to that, the most wins they will get this season.

Chicago Sky

This will be the 3rd season of the franchise and team once again look ready to evolute in an explosive way. The Sky in their debut season had a record of 5-29 and last season they finished with a 14-20 record, but being one of the moneymakers of the league with an ATS record of 20-13. This season Chicago promises to be even stronger and they have all the conditions for that. The key of the success is the young players of their roster and who were always top picks in the previous drafts. If Candice Dupree was two years ago and last season Armintie Price was considered the rookie of the year, this season it was the center Fowles who was the 2nd choice in the draft and has potential to be a superstar.

It's curious to see the destiny of this franchise to be on the shoulders of very young player and as every young team, there will be good and bad runs, however if they start the season well they can be a serious threat, as with confidence they can go far. The frontcourt of the team is extremely powerful and Fowles will bring lots of aggressiveness in the fight for the boards and she will also free Dupree from the defensive tasks. The weakest point of the team is clearly the backcourt and this will decide the success or not of the team this season. If they can solve this problem, then Chicago will surely reach the playoffs this season.

New York Liberty

The Liberty were a big surprise last season, as not only they managed to reach the playoffs, as they almost caused an upset in the first round of the playoffs against the reigning champions Detroit Shock. The team was the youngest team in the league and they showed exactly that by winning the first five games of the seasons, just to have a mid season losing streak of 7 games. For this season there weren't major changes in the roster, barring the fact that Wauters left the team. New York to continue with the same roster from last season and expect that the team can be more experienced this season. One of the main problems of the team last season was that the offense of the Liberty couldn't score, especially in the paint (last in the league in points per game and in points in the paint). The fact that they don't have a go to player maybe explain this struggle, especially at the end of the games.

However the experience that the team got by reaching the playoffs last season makes everybody expect the Liberty to reach the post season once again. At least they have a starting advantage over the other teams, as the roster is basically the same from last season.

Indiana Fever

Can a team depend so much from one player? If the answer is yes, then that team has to be Indiana. Tamika Catchings leaded the Fever last season in scoring (16.6), rebounding (9.0), assists (4.7) and steals (3.1), until she got injured and screwed all chances of Indiana to win the title. The worst is that Catchings is still injured and she will miss the first 5/10 games of the season. Only with Catchings is that Indiana can think about something ambitious for this season.

The major news for this season was Katie Douglas joined the team, coming from Connecticut. Douglas averaged 17 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 3.7 apg last season and she will give a big help to Indiana in the attack and also in the defense. Actually Indiana with Douglas, Catchings and Bevilaqua have a great role of excellent defensive players. But just like last season, the major problem of this team will be the attack, as in the defense Indiana was one of the best teams of the league last season. The team will struggle at the beginning of this season, at least until Catchings won't be able to play. Also six players of their roster played in Europe during the off-season and the team didn't have time to develop a chemistry between the probable starting team, as not even a single probable starter has played at least one game during the pre-season. Catchings will be the key of this team and if she can comeback at 100% soon, then Indiana can be a top contender in the Eastern conference.

Detroit Shock

Detroit wasn't able to conquer two back to back titles, as they lost in the final against the new champions Phoenix Mercury. Even though the team managed to make a good season, even having the best regular season record with 24-10. However they didn't have the click they needed to become champions again and that click has a name: Cheryl Ford. She had a very tough season with a lot of injuries and if she was at 100% in the playoffs, then Detroit would have other arguments to face Phoenix, as it's good to remember that Detroit went 13-2 last season with Ford in the lineup.

The major news this season was the fact that Swin Cash went to Seattle, after some arguments with the coach. The team hired two young players that if they are capable of playing well, they will help Detroit in continuing to be one of the best teams in the league. A curious fact last season was even though Detroit went 12-5 at home, they were only 4-12-1 ATS in those games, all because of huge spreads to cover. With the injury of Ford, Nolan and the swingwoman Pierce had to step it up and they had amazing seasons. The doubt this season has to go with the ability of Ford to keep herself healthy and if she manages that, then we will have Detroit fighting for the title once again, especially as they are part of the Eastern conference, easily the weakest of the two conferences this season.

Detroit to win the East?

andre gomes — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:54:00 GMT

Detroit to win the East?

Detroit is officially the first team this season to have reached the conference finals. Well, if you look to what happened in the last few seasons, this can be considered everything but a surprise. The roster is basically the same for seasons. If we look to their six players most used in the playoffs (Rasheed, McDyess, Maxiell, Prince, Hamilton and Billups), the last one to join the team was Maxiell in the 2005 Draft! And this fact makes them so close that this alone makes them already a very dangerous team, as they know their teammates so well that they could play blind-folded! Also this fact turned them into a very dangerous team in ball games, where they can easily comeback from big deficits without any kind of panic, like it happened in the Game 4 of the series against Orlando, where after trailing by 11 points at half time, they simply started to play with more aggressiveness and they were able to come back into the discussion of the game and win it by one point. This is the main reason why they have to be considered as a natural contender to win this season's NBA final. Besides the Spurs, no other team is so good as the Pistons in the post season and no other team has the experience that they have in the decisive games of the season. In case you haven't noticed, Detroit has reached the Eastern conference final every single year since the 2003 playoffs. No other team has even came close to make such thing during this period.

But ok, now they are into the conference finals, but can they advance into the NBA final and win it? Why not? First of all, besides having the most experienced team in the league, they have also showed they are motivated enough to fight for another ring. Their opponent in the conference final will be either Boston or Cleveland. The Celtics looks far from the level they have showed in the regular season and they have already dropped five games in the post season. Even if they win this series against the Cavs by 4-2, they will reach the conference final having played more three games than the Pistons, so it would be a very hard task to win three very long series in a row, as nobody is expecting Boston to beat Detroit by 4-0 or 4-1 in the conference final, right? The Celtics are yet to win a game on the road and they have been keeping themselves in the post season, thanks to their home games. But Detroit has already won at Boston this season and they are one of the strongest road teams in the league. It would be a very hard task for Boston to win four home games in a row against Detroit, especially in the post season, where all four games would probably be ball games, where the Pistons are extremely strong.

But if the opponent of the Pistons is Cleveland? Well, Cleveland has defeated Detroit last season in the conference final, which was considered as a big upset, but the team of Cleveland has changed and they can't isolate Billups like they isolate Rondo in their current series against Boston, as that would be the end of them. Lebron pretty much decided the conference final last season on his own, but that would give an huge motivation for Detroit to try to stop him in a potential conference final this season between these two teams. As Detroit would have the home court advantage in this series, I think on a close series, they would end up winning and going into the NBA final.

So, is Detroit the new favorite of the East? Well, probably but it's way far from a done deal. Both Boston and Cleveland have enough basketball to beat them, but Detroit can now rest and watch the rest of the series between Boston and Cleveland from the tv and that's an huge advantage for them.

NBA: Looking ahead in the Western Conference (Part II)

andre gomes — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:35:00 GMT

If you missed the Part I of this article yesterday, please read it before you read this one. So now let's talk about the series between the Lakers and Utah.

Utah won yesterday at home by 123-115, needing an overtime to win the game after dominating about 90% of the game. It's true that the Lakers yesterday were the away team closer to win a game in this series, but also it would have been easy for Utah to get nervous (like Orlando got last Saturday) and end up screwing their chances to win the series, by losing this game in the overtime. But they played extremely well in the clutch moments of the game and their win in the overtime was never in doubt. This is the kind of win that really motivates a team. After Boozer played an amazing Game 3 with 27 points and 20 boards, this time it was Deron's time to step it up, shooting 9-13 FG and 3-4 3pts, scoring 29 points and assisting his team mates for 14 times during the game. Utah was mostly perfect in all aspects of the game, making 32 assists and just 14 turnovers and only sending the Lakers 25 times to the FT line, an huge improvement from the previous three games of the season. Boozer and Okur had double-doubles and the team showed they have solutions in the bench, outscoring the Lakers in bench points by 39-16.

If Utah played a great game, the same can't be said about the Lakers. First of all, Kobe literally disappeared in the game after a good start. He ended up just shooting 13-33 FG, 1-10 3pts and 6-10 FT! He obviously still scored 33 points, but so many misses especially in the overtime clearly put the team in bad position. Also Fisher, Vujacic and Farmar combined one single assist in 72:59 min in the field! The team just made 20 assists during the whole game, with Kobe making 10 of them. Actually the team if we exclude Kobe had just 10 assists and 9 turnovers, showing that the ball movement was far from perfect yesterday. The only factor that maintained the Lakers in the game and took it to overtime were the good individual performances of Gasol and Odom, which helped the team in not getting outrebounded by Utah for the first time this season.

This game showed us that Utah is playing like a team and the Lakers are just being competitive thanks to some individual performances of their main players, as their point guards can't assist nobody to save their lifes. With Utah coming to the 5th Game at LA with some momentum, the Lakers really need to perform better as a team, as it was showed yesterday, Kobe is the best player in the league, but it won't decide all playoff games on his own. If the Jazz are capable of playing an ugly game, like they did for example when they won by 77-66 at New Orleans, I wouldn't be surprised if they won the Game 5 in Los Angeles and then at home in the Game 6, only an amazing performance of the Lakers would save them from a premature elimination. Everybody is underrating Utah and they have showed that they are inferior to any team in this league. Remember what they did at Boston? Either the Lakers steps it up in the next game at home or Utah will reach the conference final for the second season in a row.

NBA: Looking ahead in the Western Conference (Part I)

andre gomes — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:07:00 GMT

If in the Eastern conference we know that Detroit will be in the conference final and that we will probably know what to expect from the series between Boston and Cleveland after tonight's Game 4, the Western conference semi finals are on-fire with both series being tied at 2-2 right now, with the home team winning all eight games and covering the spread at the same time. And with so very little separating the quality of Lakers/Utah and Hornets/Spurs, we can't predict even just one of the finalists of this conference this season. But let's start with the series between the Spurs and the Hornets today and tomorrow I will talk about the series between the Lakers and Utah.

Everybody is considering the Hornets as the favorites to win the series, as they just need to win all their four home games in this series. And the crutial word in here is "just". Do you think defeating at home the Spurs by four times in a row in a playoffs series is easy? In the past three seasons, the Spurs have lost their first two road games in a series for four times. Do you what happened in their third road game of those series? They won it in all four series.

2004/2005 Season:

Western Conference Semi Finals:

# Game 3 @ Seattle: Seattle 92, San Antonio 91

# Game 4 @ Seattle: Seattle 101, San Antonio 89

# Game 6 @ Seattle: San Antonio 98, Seattle 96

NBA Final:

# Game 3 @ Detroit: Detroit 96, San Antonio 79

# Game 4 @ Detroit: Detroit 102, San Antonio 71

# Game 5 @ Detroit: San Antonio 96, Detroit 95 (OT)

2005/2006 Season:

Western Conference First Round:

# Game 3 @ Sacramento: Sacramento 94, San Antonio 93

# Game 4 @ Sacramento: Sacramento 102, San Antonio 84

# Game 6 @ Sacramento: Sacramento 83, San Antonio 105

Western Conference Semi Finals:

# Game 3 @ Dallas: Dallas 104, San Antonio 103

# Game 4 @ Dallas: Dallas 123, San Antonio 118

# Game 6 @ Dallas: Dallas 86, San Antonio 91

These aren't certainly good news for the Hornets, as they don't if they lose the next game at home, the series will be over in the Game 6 at San Antonio. It's true that the Hornets have easily defeated the Spurs in the first two home games, but three major things have changed since that: First of all, Bowen is now defending Peja and not Paul. Since that change was made in the Game 3, Peja has just scored a combined of 14 points in two games, after scoring 22 points in the Game 1 and 25 points in the Game 2. Also Duncan doesn't have fever and flu-like symptoms anymore. That was shown where he shot 10-13 FG, while scoring 22 points and grabing 15 boards. The third factor has to go with the change in the starting lineup, with Ginobili now not coming from the bench anymore, which is helping the defense of the Spurs in stopping the backcourt players of the Hornets.

If there is a team in the league who has a coach that can solve any problem between games, that coach is Popovich. After the changes he has made in the team, the Spurs have been dismantling the Hornets pretty easily, while alternating two tactics: using Parker and Ginobili to make penetrations to the basket and being aggressive in the defense, using Duncan who has now more space as the Hornets need to be concerned to what Parker and Ginobili can do if they aren't double teamed. With the series being so close and putting face to face the reigning champions and the team with most post season games in the last decade against a team with almost no experience at this level, it's hard not to think that experience will either give the Spurs a road win in the Game 5 or 7. But the Hornets have been underrated hundreds of times this season and they have already proved that they can beat anyone, anytime. Right now the series is pretty much 50/50, as the Spurs have the experience and a coach who is a genious, but the Hornets still have the home court advantage and it won't be easy to defeat them, as they are extremely good in close games, even against teams so experienced like the Spurs.

NBA: Looking ahead in the Eastern Conference

andre gomes — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:10:00 GMT

After yesterday's one point win at Orlando, Detroit has 99% sure clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference final. More than that, Detroit showed once again an amazing ability to bounce back from struggling moments and thanks to an amazing fighting spirit, to take advantage of the bad moments of their opponents, like it happened yesterday with the terrible second half of Orlando, after leading by double digits at halftime. More than that, Detroit is likely to reach the conference final with just 10 games played, while using most of their bench for a long time in several games, as they have secured most of their wins after two or three quarters in the game, not needing to put their starters in the field for a long time. Also the team showed yesterday that they can win very hard games, even without one of their stars. Can you imagine Boston winning at playoff game in Orlando without Garnett or Cleveland without Lebron? Detroit did it without Billups and after trailing by more than 10 points at half time! So if you ask me, can Detroit win the Eastern conference final? It won't be easy, but they have a good chance if they continue to play like they did in the second half of yesterday's game.

Another advantage that Detroit will have over their opponent in the conference final is that they will be way more rested for this crucial series. Unless Boston wins tomorrow, the opponent of Detroit in the conference final will have at least two more games played than Detroit in the playoffs and they will only finish the series at the end of the following week. But the main advantage of Detroit in that conference final is that neither Cleveland and Boston have showed the fighting spirit that Detroit has showed in some tough games at Philadelphia and at Orlando. Cleveland had an amazing opportunity to get home court advantage against Boston in the Game 1 of the series and they missed it. Also they had a great opportunity to get an easy 4-1 win in the series against Washington and they lost at home, needing to play a 6th game in the series to finally win it. Also Boston is looking terrible on the road and these problems can easily get transported to their home games, as their confidence is decreasing each time they get humiliated on the road, like it happened yesterday once again.

I'm not saying that Detroit will win the conference, but right now they have to be considered as the team in better position to do it. Because they really want it and especially they are stepping it up in every important game they are having right now. On the other side, Boston is struggling on the road and they can even be eliminated by the Cavs, if Lebron finally starts making those easy lay-ups he is missing right now. But if that happens and the Eastern conference final is between Detroit and Cleveland, it won't be the Cavs still trying to adapt from their mid-season big trade that will stop these Pistons which are showing why they are one of the most respected teams in the league once the post season arrives.

Andre Gomes NBA Preview: Cavs vs Boston game 3

andre gomes — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:34:00 GMT

Game 3 of this series today and Boston lead the series by 2-0 right now. So it's not hard to say that today's game is a must win game for the Cavs, as if they end up trailing in the series by 0-3 against Boston, this season will be over for them. All the hope of Cleveland is on Lebron's shoulders, he is the key for the Cavs and if a superstar like him is shooting 19% from the field, there is no way his team can win a series against the regular season champions. Lebron shot an combined of 8-42 FG in the two games at Boston and this is the worst for the first two games of a series by a player with 30 attempts since Joe Fulks shot 17.6 percent in 1948 with the Philadelphia Warriors. Besides that Lebron also committed 17 turnovers in these two games and the bookies and the public expect a bounce back from him today, as the Cavs opened as favorites for this game by 1.5 points. Actually the line is now at 2 points and this won't be an impossible task for Cleveland, as frankly Lebron can't play worse than he did in Boston. However there are some things that favor the Celtics in here.

First of all, Boston will give an importance to this game different from the usual playoff road game, as this is a statement game for them, because they lost the three road games they played in the series against Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs. On the other side, a lot of people are talking how this will be a re-edition of the series between the Cavs and the Pistons last season, where the Cavs were 0-2 down when they played their first game at home in the Game 3, but there is something nobody has talked yet, as this is the first time a team has defended Lebron so well since... the Spurs won last season's playoffs final last season without dropping a single game! So Lebron is the keymaker for this game and everything will rely on him if the Cavs still want a shot to win this series.

Can Lakers win this season?

andre gomes — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:59:00 GMT

If at the beginning of the season we would ask Kobe Bryant if in the playoffs the Lakers would be considered together with Boston as the favorites to win the championship, probably Kobe would say that we were insane and to leave him alone, while he was searching for another ballclub. But with the development of Bynum and later with the Gasol trade, here they are, with most power than never. Don't forget that the Lakers are 27-5 since Gasol joined the team! But most important than that is that the team looks unstoppable in the playoffs: 6 games, 6 wins and 6 spreads covered. Kobe is the new league's MVP and he is helping his team mates to improve. However I think the Lakers are yet to struggle and surely they will end up struggle somewhere.

The Lakers in these six playoff games just needed to care about the offense and we are yet to watch a playoff game where their defense is actually tested. In other words, we are yet to see the Lakers having to play an ugly game in order to win, in where their defense will need to be at their best in a match against a team like the Spurs, Boston, Detroit or even Cleveland. Until now this hasn't happened. In the six playoffs games they have played until now, the Lakers have always scored more than 102 points, to an impressive average of 115 ppg! We all know the mythical expression that the championships are won thanks to the defenses, but until now the Lakers have just won games thanks to their attack. They really need a real test to their defense. Will that just happen in the final against Detroit or Boston?