NBA Playoffs

Now that the NBA playoffs are about to start, I would like to blog about the incidents that are going on between teams. Recelently the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder and I was extremely upset because the Lakers are my favorite team and I want them to win it all. These two teams will also be matched up in the playoffs as number 1 and 8 seeds, the Lakers being number 1 and the Thunder being the number 8 seed. The Lakers arem't doing so good right now and are on a slump entering the playoffs while the Thunder's are on a really good role winning a lot of their games. They also have the scorring champion in the NBA who averages about 30 points per game but the Lakers have Kobe bryant who is one of the best players in the world. So this will be a great series to watch to see who will come out the winner. I of course will be rooting for the Lakers who are the defending champions in the NBA and are looking for the repeat but it won't be easy. They have had to battle injuries and many other problems that have prevented them from reaching their expectations. This series will also be a very good one because there have been recent comments that might have fired up some players and a coach. The Lakers coach, Phil Jackson was fined by the league of $70,000 in the last two weeks for comments related to the NBA's officials, but Jackson decided to talk back and prove his pint he said "You can't do that anymore in the NBA". They don't allow you to do that. I guess it was last year, I wasn't aware that the rules have changed, but they tell me that last year they stopped letting coaches spin. You have to be very honest and straightforward and never have any spin with what you say". He was trying to say that the refs. did not allow him to say certain things trying to prove his point. He continues to say "I think we can get to be robotic like that. You guys would probably enjoy us just having stock answers to give to you, 'Everybody played and they played hard.' Things like that." Which means the same thing but just using different words.

Jackson's most recent fee came as a result of his statement about Oklahoma City's and the leagues leading scorer Kevin Durant, saying that the "referees are treating [Durant] like a superstar." And "As far as the calls that he gets on the floor, I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar; he gets to the line easy and often. He's got the ability to create fouls. That's a big part of scoring, to get to the foul line."Durant was very angry about the comments from the Laker coach and felt disrespected, he said "Because it's taking away from what I do.That's part of my game, getting to the free-throw line and being aggressive. If you say that I get superstar calls or I get babied by the refs, that's just taking away from how I play. That's disrespectful to me."On Friday, Jackson said he did not hear Durants responses but he doesn't understand why he is getting mad by saying he "was just straight forward and honest about the game. I really didn't know what he was upset about. It really wasn't that upsetting. He shot the most free throws in the league; he made the most free throws in the league. He shot the most shots in the league; he made the most shots in the league. I voted for him on the All-Star team; he made the All-Star team. We know he's a great player, congratulations." Jackson was fined earlier in the month for comments after a game against San Antonio. He said the "referees turned against us" after technical fouls were given to Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant. He also singled out veteran official Bennett Salvatore by saying, "With Bennett you don't know what you're going to get."Jackson paid $12 million to coach the Lakers this season and was asked if the fines could be a tax write-off at the end of his media session Friday. Because of all this drama happening between the Lakers coach and Oklahoma's best player, this series is going to be a very fun one to watch. It starts on Friday and I can't wait to see my team win.