In sharp contrast to the NHL, where both semi-final series are tied at two games apiece, both NBA semi-final series are one sided and almost certainly will produce a Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers finals series.
The Warriors, who at (67-15) easily had the best regular season record, ripped the Houston Rockets, at Houston, to take a commanding (3-0) series lead. The Rockets did stay close in the two Warriors’ home games (games 1 and 2).
No NBA team has ever come back from a (3-0) series deficit and it will not happen in the Golden State/Houston series.
Hence the Warriors will make their first finals appearance since they swept the then Washington Bullets, now known as the Wizards, in the 1975 finals.
The New York Rangers bounced back, as they so often do, with a (5-1) series squaring win in game four at Tampa, vs the Lightning.
This is the third time the Lightning have made the NHL semi-final round, with the previous two Lightning semis going to the home team in the seventh game.
In 2004, en route to winning their only Stanley Cup and with current Rangers player, Martin St. Louis, a star player on their team, the Lightning won game seven of the “semis” at home, vs the Philadelphia Flyers.
In 2011, the Boston Bruins won at home in game seven of the semi-finals vs the Lightning, en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
All three Lightning semi-final series, this one included, have “stood” at two games apiece, after 4 games.
In the previous two, the home team won the next three games. If that pattern persists, it will be the Rangers in seven games, which is my “in series” prediction.
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a truly riveting play, “A Queen for a Day” at the Theater of St. Clement, located at 423 West 46th Street in New York City.
The four person cast of David Proval, Portia, David Deblinger and Vincent Pastore all were superb. Richard O’Brien also appears in a minor role .
Proval’s performance was mesmerizing. Playing an organized crime figure with a complicated past, he was on stage throughout the 90 minute show and did some of the finest acting I have seen in “many a moon.”
He and his fellow cast member Vincent Pastore are best known for roles as organized crime members on the superb HBO show, “The Sopranos.”
Proval played “Richie Aprile” and Pastore was a character known as “Big Pussy.”
Portia also really stood out in her interesting, mysterious role. The excellent performances of the entire cast makes “A Queen for a Day” a play I highly recommend.
“A Queen for a Day” is directed by John Gould Rubin and written by Michael Ricigliano Jr. It is an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable production.
For more info, click here and here.
David Proval: Mesmerizing
Trust me, I have nothing against the city of Cleveland and its sports teams.
However, this LeBron James and J.R. Smith led Cleveland Cavaliers run through the weak NBA East truly diminishes the Cavs’ and James’ accomplishment to this point.
The series victory vs the Hawks is a virtual, foregone conclusion, though when the so called “experts” call it such, watch Atlanta rally a bit.
However, this is the NBA and television dollars “demand” James, not Atlanta vs the West winner in the NBA finals.
This is not to imply wrongdoing or that Cleveland is not the better team. It is that I “knew”/sensed James and the Cavaliers would be in the NBA Finals this season.
The “odds people” agree as the Cavaliers about a 2 to 1 favorite when the series began and are now 5 to 1 favorites to make the NBA Finals for the second time in the 45 season history of the franchise.
The NBA Eastern Conference Final series matches the East top seed Atlanta Hawks and the East two seed Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite the lower seed and not having home advantage, Cleveland is roughly a 2 to 1 favorite to win the series, which begins tonight in Atlanta.
The Hawks moved to Atlanta beginning play there in the 1968-1969 NBA season. The team advanced to the semi-final round in each of their first two seasons, losing each series, going (1-8) in the games.
This will be their first semi-final round appearance since those first two seasons as the Atlanta Hawks.
Though the Hawks will exceed that one game win total in this series, I predict the Cavaliers to win the series in six games.
The “construction crew” will continue to “pave the road” for LeBron James in the so much weaker NBA Eastern Conference.
In coaching the Houston Rockets to a quarterfinal series victory vs the Los Angeles Clippers, in which his team overcame a (3-1) series deficit, Rockets’ coach Kevin McHale became the first person in NBA history to both coach and play on a team to accomplish such a come-from-behind feat.
McHale was a great player, playing on three NBA championship teams with the Boston Celtics, including the 1981 team that overcame a (3-1) series deficit in the semi-finals, to beat the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 1981, in a game six I recall staying up to about 2 am to watch (as it was a “delayed tape” broadcast beginning 3 plus hours later than the 8 pm start). McHale’s Celtics overcame a 17 point deficit, I believe in the second quarter.
This year McHale’s Rockets incredibly overcame a 19 point late third quarter deficit for a road victory in game six on the road.
By the way McHale and the Celtics went on to win the 1981 NBA title and as was the case in 1986, the team they beat in the NBA finals was the Houston Rockets.
Kevin McHale as a Celtic
Kevin McHale as a Coach
In 1994 both the NHL New York Rangers and NBA Houston Rockets won the seventh game of their league’s final series at home, to win the championship.
This year each team overcame a (3-1) quarterfinal series deficit and a dire situation in a game in which they faced elimination to advance to the league semi-finals.
The Rangers not only trailed 3 games to 1 in the series but trailed the Washington Capitals (1-0) with less than two minutes to play in game 5.
However the Rangers rallied to win that game, and the next two to sink Washington (and currently lead their semi-final series vs the Tampa Bay Lightning one game to none).
The Houston Rockets faced overwhelming adversity in game 6 at Los Angeles vs the Clippers when they trailed by 19 points with less than 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Rockets rallied, outscoring the Clippers (51-20) the rest of the way to win game six and then won game seven at home yesterday rather easily.
NBC got what it wanted as American Pharoah eased to victory on a wet track in The Preakness Stakes. Now NBC ratings and advertising revenue goes up, as the horse bids for the “Triple Crown” 3 weeks hence in New York.
Speaking of New York: which market do you think NBC wants for its NHL Final series? New York or Tampa Bay?!!
The one they want, New York (Rangers) won their semi-final series opener (2-1) vs Tampa Bay (Lightning).
If the schedule for the finals is the same as last year and if the Rangers win the series vs Tampa Bay (they are pretty big favorites and NBC supported), three weeks hence on a Saturday, New York will have a triple crown bid at its Belmont Park (give yourself three hours to get out of the parking lot after the race) and then game two at the Rangers home, Madison Square Garden.
On top of that, NBC is assured a big market as the Western Conference winner will be either Chicago (Blackhawks) or the L.A. area Anaheim Ducks. Trust me, there is not much Don Quixote or others like him can do about it.
Both of this season’s surprising conference top seeds, the Golden State Warriors of the West and the Atlanta Hawks of the East, advanced to the conference finals with wins on the road in “game six” victories last night.
The Hawks ended a streak of 15 straight quarterfinal series losses by overcoming a (2-1) series deficit, and eliminating the Washington Wizards.
The last time the Hawks made it this far was 1970 when they lost to the L.A. Lakers in the Western finals. Yes, Atlanta, a city far to the east of this country, was in the West Conference/Division at that time.
The Warriors also overcame a (2-1) series deficit and advanced to their first Western Conference Final since 1976, eliminating the Memphis Grizzlies.
In glancing at the cover of today’s Wall Street Journal, I noticed there was a tribute to talk show host David Letterman in its pages.
Letterman is retiring and as someone whose late night talk show days ended around this time 23 years ago when Johnny Carson retired, this news moves me, not at all.
Other than the fact Mr. Letterman impressed me with limited if any extra takes or mistakes the two times I attended a taping of his show, I have little good to say about him.
Not only that, but I witnessed first hand a bit of Letterman rage on the road. The episode occurred as I sat in the passenger seat of my cousin’s car.
Letterman, thinking my cousin had denied his chances of “making a red light without extra waiting time,” (it was not my cousin’s driving but that of another car/driver that forced Letterman to wait) drove to the right of the cousin’s car yelling. Next, albeit safely and without any danger, he pulled to the driver’s side, again yelling before driving off in his car.
So help me and this “sign” tipped the scales to write this, as I thought of this, the television voice transmitted information about car crashes at the Indianapolis 500 practice sessions this week.
One can mull over that those crashes took place in Letterman’s state (Indiana) and his state of mind, while driving.
