Baily's Sports & Stuff

As the Cavs entered Game 5,only one thing was on their mind. Win. That's excatly what they did. After blowing a 22 point first half lead, Cleveland led by a score of 56-55 at the half. Then, the Cavilers trailed by a score of 79-78 after 3. But they were able to pull away and win 112-102. LeBron had a triple-double with 37 points, 14 boards and 12 dimes. The Cavs led most of the game, but it wasn't till very late in the game that they put away the Magic. The Magic lead 3-2. Game 6 is on Saturday in Orlando. My pick: Magic in 6, but whoever wins Game 6 wins the NBA Finals [and the East]

The Nuggets needed a win tonight. They lost. The Lakers could have knocked Denver out of the playoffs since Denver would have to beat LA at home and on the road. Kobe helped lead LA to victory. Game 6 is Friday night in Denver.

He shoots and it's....... no good! Magic win! Key turnovers by LeBron, a nice OT performance by Dwight Howard and some key free throws by Orlando helped power them to victory. In the 4th, Rashard Lewis hit a 3 to put Orlando on top by 2, and then LeBron hit 2 free throws to tie it up. The Magic led for most of OT, but it was a 116-114 game at the end. LeBron scored 42 ad had 12 boards and 7 assists, and Howard had 10 of his 27 points in OT [an average of 2 points per minute. Cleveland hosts Game 5 on the brink of elimination.

Swish. Kobe Bryant has just hit the go-ahead three. That shot gave the Lakers the momentum they needed to hold off the Nuggets for a 103-97 victory. Kobe scored 41 and led the Lakers rally in the fourth quarter. Pau Gasol scored 20 and grabbed 20 points. Game 4 is Monday night in Denver.

Swoosh. LeBron James has done it again. With 1 second left, he turned around and hit an almost impossible shot to make to save Cleveland from a 2-0 deficit. LeBron scored 35 points. Taking the inbound from Mo Williams, LeBron turned and shot it just before the clock read 0.0 for the game-winner. Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 23, and Hedo Turkoglu hit the go-ahead shot with 1 second to go. Game 3 is Sunday night in Orlando. Fact: Lebron made the shot from 23 feet away, matching his jersey number.

Yankees vs Phillies: For Philadelphia and starting pitcher Brett Myers, lots of excitement is going into this game. The Phillies look to end NY's 8 game win streak, and they have higher chances with A.J Burnett starting, because if he doesn't show up then New York might lose. But, Burnett has a 5.02 ERA, which is very bad. I like New York in a close one 6-5, but don't be surprised if Philadelphia pulls it off. They have a better pitcher! Fact: Both teams lead their divisions. Red Sox vs. Mets: The Mets, hovering around 500 just want to beat the Red Sox so bad. In second place, the Mets want wins and Phillies losses. But losses are terrible because they move into third place. They aren't in a good position facing the Boston Red Sox, and even though Big Papi isn't doing well, the Red Sox have Jacoby Ellisbury, Kevin Youkillis, Mike Lowell and more. The Red Sox's starting pitcher is Daisuke Matzuaka, while the Mets are starting Johan Santana in the battle of 2 grea

NY Yankees: With 26 championships and the best trade ever, most people would agree over the years New York has been better. With a record one game worse than Boston [24-17] and on a 8 game win streak, New York wants their 27th title with Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, C.C Sabathia and A.J Burnett. But, in third place [down 1.5 games to Toronto], their first challenge: Keep their win streak going. Their second challenge, hmm: MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! Boston Red Sox: Many consider Boston's manager back in the year that they traded away Babe Ruth stupid. They consider it the stupidest thing in baseball. But, who needs Babe Ruth. The Red Sox have done better than the Yankees in the past few years, but can they keep that going. With a 25-16 record and up one game on the Yankees, the Sox need to hold that lead going into a 3 game series with the NY Mets, who are fighting to get over 500. The Yankees are the team of the past, the Sox are the team of the present, who will be the team of this year.

Denver was in trouble. Down most of the game, in front of thousands of screaming Laker fans, if they didn't win they'd be down 2-0. But, that didn't happen. Carmelo scored 34 points, Chauncey Billups added 27 as the Nuggets stunned LA Thursday night at the Staples Center. Late in the game, Nuggets on top by 2, Trevor Ariza got a jump ball, but he fumbled it and Denver picked it up, which could have been a reason why Denver won since Billups hit the free throws [3-4]. With the win, Denver ended a 11 game losing streak vs. LA. Game 3 is Saturday at the Staples Center.

All Orlando really needed was to win. They got more than that. Depsite LeBron's 49, the Orlando Magic rallied from a 15 point halftime deficit to beat Cleveland, 107-106. The Cavs lost for the firat time this postseason. Rashard Lewis led Orlando's comeback, and hit the GW 3 with 14.7 seconds left. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 30 points. Many people said the team shouldn't have been relying only on LeBron, since Mo Williams did well. Game 2 is Friday in Cleveland at 8:30 PM ET.

More than ANYTHING, the C's wanted to repeat. Those chances are gone. Dwight Howard scored 12 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, Hedo Turkolugo scored 25 points and dished 12 assists as the Magic beat the defending champs 101-82 Sunday night. The Magic led pretty much the whole game, but only led 66-61 entering the fourth, since Boston was on a run. But in the final quarter of Boston's season, the Magic pulled away for good. Orlando shot 51.4 % from the field and 61.9 % from 3 point land. That shooting helped power them to victory, which gives them a berth to play Cleveland in the Eastern Conference. Game 1 is Wednesday in Cleveland at 8:30 PM ET.

As Los Angeles prepares for Game 7, they get a shiver down their spine. How have the Rockets forced 7 games? Without Houston's 2 best players, they are still even up at 3 heading into Game 7. Houston has been without Yao AND T-Mac most of the series, but has it been Luis Scola's impressive play, Ron Artest's points, Aaron Brooks leadership or has it been Kobe has been a ballhog and fails to make his shots. It could be that the Lakers are just on a slump. Whatever it is, it won't matter if the Lakers hold off Houston at the Staples Center Sunday, which would give them the series and the rights to face the Nuggets in the Western Conferece Finals. They should win, considering how they barely lose at home, but they lost Game 1 at home 100-92. They won Game 5, the last game they played at home 118-78, outscoring Houston by 47 [112-65] but Houston won the last game and is hot.

The game went back and forth. But the defending champs couldn't hang on as Orlando took a 83-75 win over Boston to force Game 7. The C's led 62-61 entering the fourth, but couldn't hang on as Dwight Howard had another 20-20 game with 23 points and 22 boards. The C's led by ten in the third, but Howard, Hedo Turkolugo and Rashard Lewis led the Magic's rally. Rajon Rondo led Boston in points with 19. Many people expected to see the Lakers take Thursday's game. At home, Houston prevented that by the leadership of Aaron Brooks. Brooks scored 26, Luis Scola had 24 and grabbed 12 points, including 14 and 7 in the first. Kobe had 32 for the Lakers. The Rockets led 17-1 early in the game. The Lakers couldn't rally in time as they lost 95-80. Carl Landry, Brooks, and Scola powered the Rockets by LA. Game 7 is Sunday the 17th at 3:30 ET time in Los Angeles.

The Mavs needed to avoid elimination. To do that, they needed to win. Denver led most of the game, but Dirk had 19 of his 44 points in the 4th quarter as the Mavs defeated Denver 119-117. The Mavs overall playoff record is 5-4. Melo and co. did everything they could to defeat Dallas, but Dallas still won. The Nuggets lead 3-1. Denver hosts Game 5 on Wednesday, where they hope to advance. BBD Sports Update: Caps, Pens go into 7 after Caps win in OT. Blackhawks advance to Eastern Conference Finals, where they will face the Ducks or Red Wings.

LeBron James wants to win a championship in Cleveland before 2010. They haven't lost a game this year in the playoffs. They swept Detroit in the first round, and finished off Atlanta with an 84-74 win. That was the closest game Cleveland had in the playoffs. They led at the half by 2 but trailed 15-22 after 1 quarter. The Cavs will face Orlando or Boston, who are tied at 2. BBD Sports Update: Glen "Big Baby" Davis hit the buzzer beating shot to power Boston by Orlando in Game 4, to even the series up at 2. Game 5 is Tuesday in Boston.

Barry Zito takes the ball out of his glove. He gets ready to throw. Mike Loretta swings and misses. That was one of his 5 strike outs, but he did more. As Zito got his first win of the season, the Giants got around 4 or 5 double plays and had amazing fielding in a 3-1 win. Aaron Rowand hit a sac fly, Edgar Rentaria hit a long sac fly and Pablo Sandoval hit a RBI single with the bases loaded for the Giants scoring Casey Blake had a RBI double for the Dodgers, their only run of the game. Rafael Furcal grounded out into the game-ending double. Brian Wilson was the closer in the game. The Giants are 15-13 and have won 2 in a row. They had 10 hits, the Dodgers had 9, and the Giants are second in the Pacific Division and the Dodgers are first.

The Cavilers have showed domination in the playoffs, with a 6-0 record after a sweep of their bitter rivals Detroit Pistons, and creaming the Hawks 99-72 and 105-85. LeBron James, MVP of this year has powered the Cavs to the 1 seed in the East, a 66-16 record and to where they are now: up 2-0, in the second round. Cleveland blew Detroit out in Game 1, won 94-82 in Game 2 but the games got closer in Detroit. In Game 3, LeBron had 25 pts, 11 rebounds and 9 assists in a 79-68 win. In Game 4, LeBron took control with 36, 13, and 8. Against Atlanta, LeBron James scored 34, grabbed 10 boards and the Cavs won 99-72. Cleveland led 49-44 at the half, but then outscored Atlanta 50-28. In Game 2, the Cavs won 105-85, as LBJ had 27 points, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocks. Expect more from Cleveland! Game 3 is Saturday in Atlanta, and Game 4 is on Monday in Atlanta.

The Boston Celtics knew they had to even the series or they would probably be toast. Eddie House and Rajon Rondo prevented that. Rondo had 15 points, 18 assists and 11 rebounds while House poured 31 on the Magic as the Celtics blew Orlando out 112-94 to even the series. House went 4-4 from downtown and went 11-14 on field goal shooting. The Celtics shot 51.3 from the field, while Orlando shot 44.3. The C's led by as much as 26, while Orlando didn't lead by one point at any point of the game. Game 3 is Friday night in Orlando. I would watch the Rondo-Rashard Lewis matchup, and I would watch what Magic Dwight Howard is doing.

Are the San Francisco Giants actually making a run for the playoffs? The 13-12 team who beat the 20-8 Dodgers twice, ended the Cubs win streak and have a winning record [almost 500.] looks like a good team with good, experienced players. Brian Wilson, yes the pitcher who can throw a ball 100 mph leads the Giants in saves with 6, Bengie Molina in homers with five and RBI's with 23, and Pablo Sandoval in batting average with 319. If the Giants beat rivals like the A's and Dodgers, and upset top contenders like the Marlins in 2 of 3 or even a sweep, it could be playoffs, sweet playoffs. They have to hit well and watch every mila-second of the game, and they should have their lives be pitch, catch, hit. Keep your eyes peeled Giants fans.

Guess who's got King James? The Atlanta Hawks do! The Hawks finished off the Heat in Game 7, one of 2 seven game series. In all of the games, the score was double digits. Joe Johnson was double or triple teamed most of the time, but still managed to lead the Hawks to victory with 27 points, 18 of them coming off 3 pointers. It was the Hawks's first time going to the second round since 1999, but they might have wished for a better reward then LeBron James and the Cavilers, the only team who swept their opponent in the first round [Detroit], and they had a league best 66-16 regular season record. Atlanta shot 11-23 from 3 point land, while Miami shot a terrible 4-19. The Hawks and Heat both shot 22-25 from the free throw line. Atlanta led by as much as 19 [85-66], and Miami's biggest lead was six.