2011 NBA Playoffs

"Trying not to overthink..."

1st Round East 1st Round West

1CHICAGO/8indiana (4-1) 1SA/8Memp (4-2)

2MIAMI/7Philly (4-0) 2 LA/7n.o. (4-1)

4ORL/5Atl (4-2) 6POR/3Dal (4-3)

6NY/3Bos (4-3) 4OKC/5Den (4-3)

In addition to the Knicks/Blazers upset predictions, be on a lookout for upset sleepers in the Memphis Grizzlies over the Spurs (besides old age, Manu recently injured his non-shooting elbow) as well as the Denver Nuggets potentially beating the Oklahoma City Thunder.

That's where things get tricky. In the West, the Lakers are my favorites but I can totally see OKC or Denver coming out. In the East, it'll be between Orlando, Miami, or New York. Because I predict it's going to take 7 games to beat the Celts then follow that up with a series win verse the top ranked Bulls, they'll run out of gas for the ECF.

And even more intriguing in the Eastern Playoffs are the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat. I was saying earlier that if the Magic can make their three's, then they're going to the Finals to play the Lakers. But because the Knicks will be waiting for the winner of the Heat/Magic series, I'm predicting Mia will win where they will face New York in the ECF in a rekindled '90s rivalry!

In a fantasy finals matchup before the inevitable NBA lockout and demise of Kobe Bryant, we will finally "witness" the manifestation of Nike's premature "puppet" campaign from 2 years ago in the form of Miami/Lakers championship matchup.

Now I must admit, ever since "The Decision" I've opened my loyalty arms to Lebron James and rooting for him for "More than a game" reasons---you know like the whole nation dubbing him the villain and being dissed by his former owner, Dan Gilbert.

Then there's the Kobe Bryant factor. Anyone who knows me knows I love Kobe. But those same people also know my affinity for Michael Jeffrey Jordan. So to root for Kobe now isn't rooting for Kobe verse the Heat or New York, rooting for now is rooting for Kobe versus history and possibly equalling or eclipsing the legacy of Michael Jordan----blasphemy!

With all that said coupled with my intuitive, metaphysical and observant side, I predict the Lakers will pull it off and send Phil Jackson in the sunset with his fourth 3-peat (marinate on those semantics). I mean, the last time there was an NBA lockout (1998), the team who most recently won the championship was a Phil Jackson led Chicago Bulls.

1st Finals Prediction: 45% Dice probability

LA 4 Miami 3

2nd Finals Prediction: 42% Dice probability

LA 4 Orl 3

3rd Finals Prediction: 13% Dice probability

LA 4 NY 2

Blowing My High

"You're blowing my high" is a popular euphemism that some people have adopted as their mantra when they're caught off-guard and must respond to pettiness. According to it's literal sense, it would suggest that one person is refraining another person from appreciating his/her's current inebriation with unnecessary chatter, physical movement, and drama.

When you hear "current inebriation" you automatically assume tipsiness from the wine or a buzz from the 'jet fuel.' But you can have a natural high as well. You can be high off the fact you got a new job, you can be high off of getting a promotion, you can be high off your moment of clarity and the last thing you need is someone intentionally trying to "humble" you with negative energy (i.e. your buddy saying something personally hurtful or sabotaging your blessing because your swag is on a hundred, thousand, billion).

But that sounds like more of a hater to me. When you "blow someone's high" , you're describing a transfer of energy. One source sucking up and depleting the energy of another, not to be confused with any parasitic analogies. The truth of the matter is, most of the perpetrators are innocent and they have no idea what their doing. Being the loquacious person that I am, I appreciate a good conversation but I've never professed to be a big phone person. So when we're "wrapping up" on the phone Great Grandma, don't try to extend the convo with 3 extra minutes of small talk and pauses. That's blowing me! When I get back to the crib from a long day, sometimes I don't want company. Not to be rude, but I don't feel like expending energy trying to be hospitable. Ive been servicing moe'foes all day now I have to deal with you?!?! That's blowing my high!

Maybe this is much ado about nothing and not worth the mention, but sometimes small things really blow me (*repressing Michael Scott voice)as well. And in my lifetime small things are crumbs from "Bitchassness" bread. Not the actual small thing itself, "but the principalities Smokie". I'm too anal (*Hush Michael!) and internalize things to death, and that "Bitchassness" trait really blows me. Trying to compete, battle and argue about every little thing? That's blowing my high. "You got it son." Are you really looking up stats and calling people up to prove something that has no significant implication or meaning in the bigger picture? Like a good writer friend of mine asks, "What does it profit?"

Anyway my comrades, the moral of the story is don't overwhelm people with all the extra energy. We have to learn to be more discreet. It's ok to be explosive and be your natural self, but it's also a time to fall back and be Freezer-Box-Ice-Cold. Take the initiative to recognize when someone is in their own zone or space then you shouldn't tamper. Don't be that person sobering up the mood, unless you're driving of course!

Mike Check Monday 4

Good morning everybody and "Happy Monday." As usual, it was an exciting and dramatic weekend in the world of sports: NBA playoff implications, arrests and Tiger nearly making a triumphant return in the Masters. I don't know what was more surprising -- Tiger nearly winning the Masters, Rory Mc Ilroy "choking" it away, or Charl Scwartzel winning it! Here's my take…Is my "Mike" on? Tiger Even during the pinnacle of Tiger Woods' accomplishments, I was never feverishly compelled to engulf myself in the game of golf. Over the years I suppose the effect of Tiger reached me in the form of up and coming black golfers (inspired and intrigued by Tiger) teaching me the proper etiquette (dress code, conduct) and basic rules of the game. That was circa 2004 and those lessons were only attained for future business settings in my quasi- "Wall Street/ Gordon Geiko" visions. Fast forward six years and I watched my first golf tournament at length (2010 Masters). It was cool that I actually knew what was going on and could follow the score, but the only reason I tuned in was to follow Tiger closely and observe how he would respond to his "transgressions" controversy -- a space unfamiliar and foreign to him at the time. Though he didn't win the tournament, he made a promising debut in his return to the PGA Tournament after taking a considerable amount of time off. Woods' advocates said it would only be a matter of time, a short time, until Tiger was back to winning tournaments and majors on A regular basis. As evidenced this past weekend in the 2011 Master's, we're still waiting. To his credit, Tigers seems way more patient than his constituency. While that may be a sign of confidence, with the uprising of a new generation of talented golfers ( Angel Cabrera, Rory McIlroy), it seemed be a changing of the guard at the start of the 2011 Masters. As soon as that seemed to be a possibility, the golf nation witnessed McIlroy melt down under the sun in a colossal implosion despite leading the tournament heading into Sunday's final round. Tiger furiously roared back and had the momentum. He was on the brink of doing something he had never done, even in his prime, and that was win a Major after trailing entering the final round. That story still has yet to write itself. If anything, McIlroy's "blowup" proved to be a testament of Tiger's brilliance of yesteryear. There's no way Woods would have squandered a palpable opportunity at victory. Right now, while Tiger is in a funk, no one has clearly supplanted him as the best golfer. We're just witnessing a random game of musical chairs with the last man standing symbolizing the arbitrary winner until Woods regains form. Luckily for Tiger, he can take solace in the fact that he's still roughly three years ahead of Jack Nicklaus' Majors record of 18 (if that's any consolation). Until then, he's technically not a bum. NBA Ok, give me a few moments while I wipe the egg off my face, or at least my MacBook. Last week I was making a last minute, if not moot, argument for Kobe Bryant being this year's MVP. Essentially I argued that Kobe should get it based off "career achievement" merits, especially if the Lakers pulled off Home Court Advantage throughout the playoffs. No sooner than I finished that claim, the Lakers "conveniently" fell into a four game losing streak that cost them HCA, metaphorically highlighted by Kobe letting the ball slip out of his hands in the last seconds of the Lakers' loss to Utah. Thanks Kob (This is why we must reward Kobe now; it's only a matter of time before Bryant throws on that figurative "Wizards" jersey). Now before I get my pass and license on the South Side revoked, I want to reiterate that Rose is resoundingly the MVP this year for reasons we all know, with none being more important then Doc Rivers' sentiment: "He should get it this year based off all the fourth quarter comebacks." I know my Chicagoan's who love Kobe because of Mike know where I'm coming from. It's just a shame that the most dominant and skilled players since Jordan only have 1 MVP each (Kobe and Shaq). There's no NBA player in the last 20 years who led his team to at least 3 championships that has failed to acquire at least 2 MVP awards except for Kobe and Shaq. At the end of the day, you must reward Superstar players for winning multiple championships. In most Christian traditions, Sunday is regarded as the holy day, and the subject of Sunday's sermon was the examination of morals. The Orlando Magic got a moral victory yesterday afternoon in the form of a Jameer Nelson, "couldn't get the shot off in time" loss to the Bulls. Without their big man and possible Def POY Dwight Howard, they came within .01 seconds of sending the game into overtime. That type of collective effort from the team should give the Magic role players confidence, and pay dividends in clutch situations later in the playoffs. Conversely, the Celtics took a moral loss on top of a real one. Instead of sweeping the season series, cementing the 2 seed, HCA , and mental edge over the Heat with their new makeover team, they got blown out by Miami. The loss of Perkins has put Boston in such a deep psychological (and physical) moat, that climbing out of that ditch may seem improbable. Jeff Green may be a fundamentally sound and overall skilled player, but the toughness, attitude, intensity and intangibles that Perk brought to the table are irreplaceable. Besides smothering defense, the Celtics calling card and strength was their chemistry. Their collective effort of All-Starts equaled that one mega superstar player they don't have. When they consolidated their talent and effort, they formed that one mega-star a la "Voltron." But I never saw "Voltron" form as one or was effective without his left leg, the Blue Lion. Perk was the Blue Lion. This from a team WHICH never lost a playoffs series with the starting lineup that won the 2008 title. Bonus tracks: Kyrie Irving: So Duke point guard Kyrie Irving is forgoing his collegiate eligibility and is headed to the NBA. By all accounts, it was the right decision as most experts project him as a Top 3 pick. I wonder if Coach K knew he wouldn't be a four year player when he recruited him. Manny Ramirez: The "Manny being Manny Show" unceremoniously came to an end on Friday. The former World Series MVP was caught with an illegal substance for the second time, and instead of serving a 100 game suspension, he abruptly decided to retire. While his actions may suggest guilt, I believe it was partially that, and Ramirez plainly being "over it." "Over" all the speculation, accu- sations and demonizations. Ramirez may not get into the Hall of Fame until years down the road, but if you juxtapose his numbers with the peers of his generation, and he's one of the best to have done it. They say when in Rome, do what Romans do. With that said, his numbers (as tainted as they may be) are killing his colleagues numbers that were equally tainted. In a sense, I guess he got the last word and performed the last scene in his ever unpredictable show. Gloria James: Say what you want about the distractions Lebron's mom has caused (I still attribute a certain scandal that happened last year during the playoffs as the reason Lebron lost his focus and matchup to Boston), but there are a couple of good things that came out of the latest "hotel" controversy. Number one, Lebron came right out to take questions, address the media and diffused most of the situation. Secondly, it showed Lebron's compassion and loyalty for his Mom. We all have siblings that embarrass us from time to time, but the act of exhibiting unconditional love speaks even louder!

Tiger Blood

Tiger Woods is preparing to recapture his swagger with a breakout performance in the Master's this week. I'm personally rooting for Tiger, but I fear if my assumptions are correct, then it maybe a while (if ever) until Tiger returns to form. What are my assumptions? Well around the time Tiger went through the media storm surrounding his personal life, his personal physician Anthony Galea was arrested for distributing illegal steroids. This is the same doctor who was associated with Alex Rodriguez and his steroid scandal. Im not accusing Tiger of anything, but where there's smoke there's fire. All I know is a direct affect of steroids are problems with the knee, as evidenced with Barry Bonds and several other baseball players linked to steroids. I know Tiger's knee issue was a torn ACL, but I think this is too much of a coincidence. If everyone assumed Bonds and McGwire were on steroids when they blasted 70 homeruns then why isn't any one questioning Tiger and his unprecedented dominance before his doctor's arrest compared to his disappointing play following the arrest? Infidelity may have been his best friend in masking his even darkest secret. I wonder what would have been the result if we sampled Tiger's blood pre-scandal era. Can we say not winning?

Mike Check Monday 2

Good Monday my fellow Mike Morning quarterbacks. It was another good weekend highlighted by the commencement of one sports season (MLB) coupled with the imminent closing of another: basketball (NCAA and NBA). Earlier in the week, the best HS ballers in the nation concluded their season with All-Star game pageantry while the NFL owners continued to lock the players out . Jalen Rose/Grant Hill agree to disagree and the "Worm" Dennis Rodman gets his jersey retired in Detroit. Without further adew, the dilemmas, discussion, and discourse of Dice!

NBA Season Winding Down

As the NBA reaches the stretch run of its grueling 2010-11 season, a lot of questions remain unanswered. Probably the most intriguing two questions right now are: 1 Who will finish with the best record in each conference and 2 Who's the league MVP (don't laugh Rose nation, it's a legit question)?

In the Eastern conference, it's for the Bulls to lose. They have a commanding 3 game lead over the Celtics with six games remaining for both, including a head to head matchup this Thursday (April 7). If the Bulls win that game, it's pretty much over for the C's and Miami's shot at number one is improbable with them trailing 2.5 games and succumbing to a season sweep by Chicago. EAST WINNER: Chicago

The Lakers still have a chance in the West despite a similar 2.5 game deficit to the conference leading San Antonio Spurs. The caveat for Los Angeles is momentum. Even though they were caught napping against the Nuggets on Sunday, LA is starting to peak (17-2 the last 19 games) and conversely San Antonio just ended a six game losing streak, their worse slide since 1997. The Lakers/Spurs showdown April 12 should determine the #1 seed. WEST WINNER: Los Angeles

MVP TALK:

Just as I was about to take the last swig of my Derrick Rose MVP Kool-AID, I had to sit my glass down and take note of the noise Kobe and crew were making in Tinsel-Town. Yes I concede the award to Rose because I never imagined the Bulls would be in this position at the beginning of the season and if anything, the Bulls have less talent then the Celtics or Miami (If it wasn't for the lack of closing in the clutch moments in nationally televised games, Lebron's numbers merit MVP talk. They're the same numbers he won the award with last year, only now he's sharing headlines/ball with Wade/Bosh).

But if Tim Duncan can get a lifetime achievement award in the form of making this year's All-Star team, then why can't we apply the same mentality towards Kobe for MVP? When the smoke settles in Bryant's illustrious career, he may be the NBA's career leading scorer along with as many or more championships than the G.O.A.T, Michael Jordan. It would be ashame if Bryant only had one MVP to show for. I don't understand how Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Lebron James combine for 5 MVPs in the last 6 years yet they have a combined 0 championships. Imagine how many MVPs they'd possess if they had 1 or 2 rings. The consensus reasoning why Kobe has been slighted in MVP consideration in the past was because: 1) he played with Shaq, 2) he was too young, and most common 3) voters flat out hated on him. Well this is his 15th season and he's not getting young anymore. Phil Jackson has already stated this is his "Last Dance" with the Lakers, so this could be Kobe's last run as a champion. If not now for Kobe, when? In two years, his Laker jersey will look like the Washington Wizard uniform donned by his "Airness", or at least Bryant's play will. And we know all know how that story ended. If the Lakers don't finish with the best record in the vaunted Western Conference and the Bulls finish first in the East, I'll give it to Rose. But if the Lakers finish first in any scenario, then we must crown Kobe. I mean, didn't Chris Paul have a similar year Rose is having now in 2007-08 when Kobe last won? Precedence has been set. Give Kobe the hardware.

NCAA Tourney/Austin Rivers

Tonight is the big game in men's College Hoops as the UCONN Huskies take on the Butler Bulldogs in the National Championship game. Even though the Bulldogs are making their consecutive appearance in the title game, the Huskies have to be the favorite when it comes to the "eyeball" test. We usually reserve terms such as "team of destiny" for Cinderella-esque teams, but it's something about UConn that imply their destined to win it all. Maybe it's their resiliency. Maybe it's their coach, but we all know it's Kemba Walker. I made the comparison to Ben Gordon the last time I described Kemba, but I see a lot of Jason "Jet" Terry in him as well. Butler has a couple of good players they can boast as well. Matt Howard won his conference's player of the year 2 season's ago and Shelvin Mack presents a whole new dynamic for Butler. To summarize his impact, in one key stretch run versus VCU, Mack made a three pointer, drove to the basket, then made a medium ranged jumper in a succession of plays that seemed like one sequence!

In collegiate sports, championships usually boil down to coaching, and this matchup features two opposite ends of the spectrum. You have a wily veteran in Hall of Fame Coach Calhoun, already an owner of two rings versus the young and genius tactician Brad Stevens. I think the role players on the Huskies are bigger and more skilled then the role players on Butler. UConn fans will be saying "U Can!" at the end of the night, as Coach Calhoun will cut the nets for the third time. UCONN 69 Butler 64

Directly under the radar of March Madness were the High Schools' Award Tour of All-Star games. The most heralded and famous All Star game is the Mc Donald's game, which was held in Chicago and featured the nation's #1 player in Austin Rivers. Doc's son was impressive, as he showed the whole repertoire. He has crispy handles, good ball control, seems like a leader capable of running a team, has the leaping ability and shooting skills Coach's crave in their stars, and most importantly has the "it" factor. Im definitely an Austin believer!

Baseball

The season started without much fan-fare, and why should it be when it's a 162 game season? I'll be terse given my team, the Detroit Tigers stumbled out the gate. For arguments sake, I'll pick my second team, the Yankees to beat the Phillies in the World Series. We'll revisit that pick in October.

Other Observations

The NFL is still in a Lock-Out, and thankfully the national media hasn't given it too much credence. Not that the NFL isn't popular and forfeiting games in September due to a lockout wouldn't be a sports crisis; everyone is just under the assumption the two sides are going to figure out how to divide nine billion dollars and not jeopardize future commerce.

Grant Hill and Jalen Rose recently reconciled their public dispute, or at least reconciled in the sense of agreeing to disagree. I'm glad that whole situation opened up much needed dialogue in the Afro-Am community, and it was positive to see these men handle that situation in a mature and progressive manner.

Dennis Rodman got his number 10 retired during halftime of the Pistons/Bulls game, and it was deservedly so. I loved how all the Bad Boys (sans Laimbeer) supported Rodman, especially after that "roller coaster" speech. Of course Dennis was humble and said he didn't deserve that honor because he "didn't play in Detroit long enough." That's hogwash! Dennis made his name in Detroit and like Isiah implicitly said (paraphrasing): "When you go to the Hall of Fame, make you sure you go in as a Piston!"

Farewell to one of the best women collegiate hoopers to ever play in Mya Moore. She finished her career with over 3000 points, a 90 game winning streak, and two championships at the University of Connecticut. She was a joy to watch.

Wakc Fux!

Wakc Fux

First and foremost, let me explain what a "wack fuck" is. It's NOT in the obvious context of a flavorless, lame dude who displays NO sense of hustle or progression. In the Fux subterranean, a wack fuck is someone caught up in the treacherous traps of technology: Texting, TwoKay, and Twitter. For alliterative purposes, any video game of one's choice could replace "TwoKay (NBA2k11)" and Facebook could easily interchange with Twitter…the whole point is if you're lost in the mazes of the Matrix or grinding on the grids of Tron----meaning letting your gadgets overwhelm your time and merit your devotion, then you maybe a wakc fuck!

Common Symptom's of Wack Fuckness (Video Games):

- Getting into blood boiling, emotional yelling matches over the Madden or 2k that lead to real life beef's and text wars.

- Your homie comes to your crib to play video games at 3 pm….he leaves @ 9pm then you hop right online to play some more games!…

- It's Friday Night and you're playing playing NBA 2k11.

- You get real curt and snippy at your Mom, or friends that call you during your game…and when you mess up on a play, you blame whoever it was on the phone for distracting you!

- You accurately recall stats and wins from previous games that happened weeks, months and sometimes years earlier! ("champ bailey had four user picks in the superbowl…" "68-0/77-9", etc.")

- You go to bed watching SportsCenter imagining the real highlights are the highlights you had against your man in a win….or going to bed uber salty, having trouble going to sleep, then having nightmares on the simple mistakes that contributed to the close loss.

- You get so mad you break the game, joystick or living room items (i.e. coffee table)

(Social Network: Twitter/Facebook)

-Doing the traditional and cliched compulsive update ("Im making a sandwich…i'm watching shark week…going to get a haircut.")

-OD OD'ing with the postings (anything over 5 Facebook Updates/day is unacceptable, include video uploads. ….thematic hashmark tweets i.e. #thisiswhyi'mawackfuck)

- Getting emotional and initiating Facebook/Twitter e-beefs…like cats are really threatening each other with the physical harms and boasting their sexual exploits. knock it off! *hov voice

(Texting)

-When you have a convo with someone face to face, you receive a text while someone asks you something and it takes you 25 seconds to reply "what you say?"

- You're texting someone who is in the same room you're in having a quasi-covo.

- Arguing/beefing on text. Things can easily get out of context when you don't hear the tone in someone's voice when dealing with delicate subject matter.

Do you know someone like this? Do you despise someone like this? Is this person you? If so, then you or someone close to you is a wakc f@#k. If it takes one to know one, then you'll be highly interested in the social commentary and criticism of contemporary, pop-culture @ Fuxwitme.com. In the blog-featured section of Fuxwitme.com, we'll concentrate on all genres ranging from movies , music, tv shows to video games. Fux wid'it.

DICE'LER'S LIST

Me and a couple friends of mine (Donnie, Flu, Lim) recently concocted a list of classic 80 movies, but Robbie McFarlin, this is for you:

11 The Joys of Motherhood-Buchi Emecheta

10 Invisible Man-Ralph Ellison

9 Things Fall A part-Chinua Achebe

8 The 4 Agreements- Miguel Ruiz

7 Divine Revelation of Hell- Mary K. Baxter

6 Why I love black women---my old man (havent read yet lol)

5 I may not get there with you (MLK)---my old man (havent read yet)

4 Fab Five-Mitch Albom

3 Their Eyes Were Watching God--ZNH

2Autobiographies of Malcolm X/Ben Franklin/Fred Douglass

1- My favorite book of all time----THE ALCHEMIST---PAULO COEHLO

*shout out to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" too....I never fully appreciated/absorbed it the way I should've.