Election Countdown

Although it is foregone conclusions on most states, there has normally been an all out war at the frontlines of a few battleground states.

And as we've seen in recent Presidential elections, it has been close or statiscally close to call.

This year, it is as close as it can ever be. Yes too close to call just yet.

NBA 2022 Finals Game 6

The series swings back to the East Coast and the Warriors is the visiting team.

In the first quarter, the home team jumped on a double digit lead right away. But the visiting team came back and  cruised to a double digit lead of their own, up to the end of the first half.

With the momentum on the visiting team and the third quarter typically their quarter, the lead was barely double digits when the buzzer sounded at the end of 3/4s of this game. 

We go to the fourth quarter and this is when the hungrier and more poised team eventually came up with the W. 

Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

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NBA 2022 Finals Game 5

 

The series is now a best of three. First to win two, wins the crown.

Now it is back to West Coast and the Celtics is the visiting team.

In the first half, the home team jumped on the home court advantage. 

The third quarter was the shocker though. And then the fourth quarter was when the winner finally pulled through. 

Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

NBA 2022 Finals Game 4

The Celtics hosted the Warriors again.

And again the first half was a toss-up (like the first two games).

The third quarter went one way (barely though). 

And the fourth quarter was close until the last few minutes.


Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

NBA 2022 Finals Game 3

Now it is the Celtics turn to host the visiting Warriors.

And with the trip across time zones, it looks like the series has changed momentum.

In the first two games, the first half was a toss-up. In this game the home team was in control from start to finish.

The third quarter as usual went the team who normally comes out blasting from halftime. But it wasn't enough.

The fourth quarter, goes the way as the norm.


Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

NBA 2022 Finals Game 2

The Warriors hosted the Celtics again.

And again the first half was a toss-up.

The third quarter went one way and the fourth quarter was the reverse of game 1.


Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

Boston achieved what they set up to do, steal one game on the road. The series shifts to the East Coast and it's Golden State's turn to steal one on the road.

NBA 2022 Finals Game 1

So basketball fans were waiting for this night. The Warriors finally host the Celtics for Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals.

The first half was a toss-up.

The third quarter went one way and the fourth quarter another.

Let us watch the full game highlights or relive it.

 

NBA Finals 2022 Set

Western & Eastern Conference Champs

The Golden State Warriors will host the Boston Celtics on June 2nd. And finally the games will be nationally televised.

The Warriors will hold home-court advantage in this series because they finished with a slightly better regular season record than the Celtics.

If the regular season games will be any indications, this will likely be an exciting if not a long series. 

The Warriors and Celtics split their regular-season games. Both teams have shown that they can win on the road as well on their home court, so one team winning their away games will probably be the key to this series.

AFC & NFC Championship Highlights

Super Bowl LVI

The two most unexpected teams are playing in Superbowl 2022, February 13.

AFC

The Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC championship game over the Kansas City Chiefs.

AFC Championship Full Game Highlights

The Bengals were down for the first three quarters of the way and began a sensational comeback in a game that felt like the superbowl already.

NFC

And then the LA Rams also coming from behind (after scoring the first touchdown) to beat the 49ers to win the NFC final game.

NFC Championship Full Game Highlights

Men's Olympic Basketball - Shocker

American Arrogance

The United States has dominated men's olympic basketball since the start. 

Granted the Soviet Union beat the US in a freak win in 1972 and that they didn't compete in the 1980 Moscow games, they have always touted that they were the best in the world. And they were.

And the third place finish in Seoul Korea 1988 happened. The resulting shame was unbearable, the best of the best vowed to send only their very best players and so they did in 1992.

Dream Team

The Dream Team of Michael, Magic, Bird, Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing, Robinson, Drexler, Pippen and the rest of the team needed to prove to the world that the US is still home of the greatest basketball players and that the NBA is still the best league on the planet.

And every four years since, they sought to send their very best.

But of course they became complacent and arrogant again. And so have another big loss again in 2004 in Greece. 

Redeem Team

The result was the Redeem Team of 2008 -- a team composed of Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Kidd, Carmelo, Dwight, Paul, Bosh, Deron Williams and others.

Of course, they achieved what was expected of them, like the original Dream Team but again after several years of basketball dominance, complacency and arrogance are to be their worst enemies again.

2021 Tokyo

After France beat the Americans in the Basketball World Cup in 2019, France once again beat them in the first official game of the 2020 Olympics (being played in 2021) -- the first official Team USA lost since 2004.

I dare say, this could be the start of a second Redeem Team in the making. Americans just haven't learned their lesson. Or American basketball players of today just do not care to show the world that they are the best anymore or worse if they are not even the best in the sport that they originated and love anymore.

(American football is not an Olympic sport, USA Men's soccer team didn't make the cut. Baseball is a relatively new Olympic sport and the  US Men's baseball team have not even won an Olympic gold medal in baseball yet.)

   

Opinion - NBA Finals 2021

Final Thoughts

Some fans of the Phoenix Suns may not like this opinion piece as it could be a hard read, especially for any team who waited a long time to get back to both the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Finals. 

But still, no one can take away the fact that the Suns balled out this season, continuing from their incredible run to end the bubble of the previous (pandemic) season. But this year, everything just aligned and made it so that it wasn't meant to be the year for them (not just yet). 

Basketball Smarts, Shooting & Defense

They did everything right, continuing that winning streak to end the last season. This year, CP3 carried his young wards but in the end, we saw right before our eyes why Paul still hasn't won a ring just yet, inspite of all his skills and smarts.

Their coaching has been tremendous as well, just with the occasional lapses here in there (normal for everybody). But those miscues were just enough to lose them games 4 and the pivotal game 5. 

Losing a game at home was the key to this finals series. Not holding serve was the turning point.

Game was Even

Game 5 was even in almost every aspect and the referees were better at least compared to all previous games in this series. Yet, even with the big boost from the Phoenix home crowd, we could see that the visiting team was just the slightly better team (players and coaching staff) and they were the better prepared team.

Killing the Bucks right off the opening tip and all throughout the first quarter didn't do the Suns any good, if anything it led to a complacency and an over confidence that did them in the rest of the way. The same thing almost happened to the Bucks in their home court in game 6, but they held on.

Breaks

The Suns had most of the breaks this post season, injuries to all the top players of their every opponent plus getting the calls when it mattered. The referees just had to give CP3, Booker and the rest of the Suns team these calls because of their crafty and cunning ways of drawing (or selling) the fouls.

But all of these combined, also became their downfall. The finals was a different tournament, everyone has to play through the physicality and the miscalls, and the coaching staff should be able to call the timeouts at just the right time, adjust the matchups (offense and defense), and manage the substitutions just right.

Pressure

The Suns were never down in any series match-up this post season and so when they finally went down 2 games to 3 and were facing elimination, they cracked under the pressure.

The Suns having been spoiled by favorable calls and the injuries to every team they met, was just not able to adjust and they were just less prepared mentally and emotionally, for the spotlight and the pressure.

Salute to winning the Western Conference Finals, the West was a much harder conference as usual, lady luck smiled on the Suns but she also frowned on them at the finals. 

If there was an injury to any of the top players of Milwaukee, they could have swept this finals as well, like they did Denver.

Deserving

But they deserve to be in the finals no doubt. Now, if Davis, Murray and Leonard played, it would have better prepared the Suns for this finals, and against a Bucks team without a major injury to their top players.

Who knows, if the referees didn't ejected Jokic in that pivotal game 4 which led to the Suns sweeping the Nuggets, then it could have better prepared them.

In the end, I think it worked against them as having the "easier" path to the finals didn't do them any good. Plus being the one with an injury in their line up in the finals was almost like karma. 

Congratulations to the 2021 NBA Champions, the Milwaukee Bucks, they were just the better prepared team.

And let us stop with our whining with the referees. Champions play through both the good calls and the bad ones and they do not look at the refs to win them games. They adjust. They play to win. And when they lose they blame no one else but themselves.

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Suns vs Bucks Game 6 Highlights

NBA Finals

For the pivotal game 6, we could finally see if the Milwaukee Bucks can win it all on their home court or if the Phoenix Suns can win on the road and set up a win or go home game 7 at their home court.

Booker, Ayton, CP3 and the rest of the Suns are trying to get back on their winning ways again. While the Bucks are trying to not miss out on this opportunity to win it in front of their home crowd. And besides going back to Phoenix to win a second time on the road will be harder.

3 Great Games

For a third straight game we have seen this series getting better and better.

And as we have said many times before, this is the finals.

Players need to play to win and not play not to lose. Players need to make plays to score and not just trying to get the referees to bail them out with a whistle.  Coaching staff needs to do a better job at motivating, match ups, substitutions and time outs.

Flopping or falling on the floor to incidental and touch fouls and constantly whining to the refs have no place in the finals.

So let us watch the highlights of game 6 and see how things went down.

[After three great games we finally put an end to this series. No complaints, the team who was able to adjust was the team who won. Congratulations to both teams, but there can only be one Finals Champion.]

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Suns vs Bucks Game 5 Highlights

NBA Finals

After both teams hold court by winning at home, the series is down to a best of three, and we go back to Phoenix.

CP3 and the Phoenix Suns are trying to get their game back and winning games again. While the Milwaukee Bucks is trying to be the first team in this series to win on the road.

If game 4 was the best game so far of this finals, this one is on par with it. This game showed good defense and better offense from both teams.

This is the Finals

As we have said time and again, this is the finals. We should let the players play. 

But playing not to lose than playing to win, looking at the referees to bail you out, whining to the refs when you don't get the call, shooting the basketball to draw the foul instead of to make the shot, flopping or falling on the floor to incidental and touch fouls have no place here.

So let us watch the highlights of game 5. Let us see how things went down.

[The home team holding home court is typical of a finals game. A series isn't out of the ordinary until the visiting team wins a road game. Now it is.]

Suns vs Bucks Game 4 Highlights

NBA Finals

This will be the second game in Milwaukee and we're not going to say how the game was won in case you haven't watched it yet.

Defending Home Court

The Bucks are again trying to hold court, by winning their home games. And the Suns will definitely bounce back from that beating they got in game 3. For sure Booker and Ayton will bring their usual A-game and they sure did.

For a long stretch there, the Suns were getting the good end of the calls and the non-calls again.

But as we have said, this is the finals. Flopping and selling slight contacts will only get you so far. Ticky tack fouls has no place here. And these players shouldn't be constantly looking at the refs to bail them out.

Best Game So Far

Both teams should accept the outcome of this game and this was a great game.  If I may say so, the players on the court won it for their team and the coach of the other team had a big hand in their team losing this one.

In the end, players from both teams should get ready to play their best once again for game 5.

First to Win 2

This is now a best of three series. And barring anything bad, such as injuries and one sided officiating then the odds are we will be looking at a game 7.

So let us watch the highlights of game 4 and watch how things transpired.

[The home team holding home court is typical of a finals game. A series isn't out of the ordinary until the visiting team wins a road game. If both teams hold court, then game 7 is a winner take all event, as should be the case.]

SUNS FANS

Suns vs Bucks Game 3 Highlights

NBA Finals

It's the Milwaukee Bucks turn to host the Phoenix Suns for game 3 of the 2021 NBA Championship.

The Bucks are looking to make this a series by holding court and winning their home games (good home record by the way). And the Suns wants to finish this early like they did the Denver Nuggets in their series.

The Finals is Different

But this is the finals. Flopping and ticky tack fouls have no place here. Granted the Suns' been getting the benefit of the doubt from the referees plus their opponents are usually a good player down, I don't think this will be the case this time around. Although both Booker and CP3 really have mastered their moves that get the refs to call fouls on those guarding them and they do have a great record on the road.

So let us watch the highlights of game 3 to see how everything transpired.

[When you're used to the home crowd and getting calls your way and then calls go the other way, it throws your game off and it changes the game. So the home team holding home court is typical of a finals game. A series isn't out of the ordinary until the visiting team wins a road game. Two good teams usually go the whole seven games. And just hope the referee let the players play and don't be a big factor on who wins it all.]

Suns vs Bucks Game 2 Highlights

NBA Finals

The Phoenix Suns hosted the Milwaukee Bucks for game 2 of the 2021 NBA Championship.

The Suns are looking to continue doing what they have been doing right. And the Bucks needed to do the necessary adjustments.

There were some adjustments for sure. The referees calls are not like it was in the first game. So let us watch the highlights of game 2 to see what happened.

[The home team holding home court is typical of a finals game. A series isn't out of the ordinary until the visiting team wins a road game.]

NBA Finals: Suns vs Bucks Game 1 Highlights

West vs East

So the best of the West will go a best of seven game series with the best of the East for the 2021 NBA Championship.

As we have mentioned time and time again, injuries have been a big factor of this season. And Giannis (Bucks) will play (injured or not). 

The highlights of this first game between these two Conference Champions, we can watch below:

BUCKS SUNS GAME 1

[The home team holds court. And the winning points margin is basically the difference in free throws made.]

Car Theft on the Rise

Car Theft

For sure, the pandemic has brought with it multiple problems. 

One of them is that there are more desperate people or people with a lot of time in their hands. Plus there are a lot more idle cars being stored unattended, cars not being used or parked out in the street.

So even though street parking rules may not be enforced in your area, this does not mean that cars left parked in the streets are "safe".

Stolen Car Parts

One of the statistics that law enforcement have noticed is not only the rise of car thefts but also the rise of stolen car parts.

And one of the parts frequently stolen are catalytic converters.

It does not take much to take one out of your unattended vehicle. 

Stolen Bicycles

And not only that, bicycle theft is also on the rise.

So be forewarned.

Image Credit: 2carpros.com

Christmas Day Bombing Solved

The horrific Christmas morning bombing in Nashville Tennessee has appeared to have been solved.

The lone suspected bomber, Anthony Warner, was confirmed to have perished in the bomb blast.

Here is the latest press conference from News Channel 5 Nashville:

TIPLINE: 1-800-CALL-FBI

California Stay At Home Order is Triggered By ICU Capacity

The new stay at home order by California Governor Newsom is based on each regions ICU capacity.

When the intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in a region drops below 15%, then the new regional stay at home order will take effect.

Check the Official Covid-19 California Website for details.

ICU Capacity

• Socal Region is currently at 0.0% ICU capacity
• San Joaquin Valley Region is currently at 0.0% ICU capacity
• Bay Area Region is currently 13.7% ICU capacity

All three Regions have a Stay at home order in effect right now.

• Greater Sacramento Region is currently 16.2% ICU capacity
• NorCal Region is currently 28.7% ICU capacity

Covid-19 Articles