Por Eduard Gygax

Para FOX Deportes / @FOXDeportes

Kobe Bryant está brillando y los Lakers llegaron a la marca de .500 por primera vez desde diciembre. En general, el equipo de Los Ángeles ha presentado una gran mejoría desde el All Star Break y los playoffs no son un sueño imposible.

La siguiente misión de Kobe y compañía es alcanzar a los Houston Rockets en la octava posición de la Conferencia Oeste y mantenerse allí hasta el final de la temporada regular.

Ahora bien, una cosa es alcanzar los playoffs…otra es hacer algo en esa instancia. Si los Lakers quedaran octavos en la conferencia,

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

During the 4th of July festivities, I was out doing what everyone would expect me to be doing while celebrating America’s independence. Drinking Corona’s, eating grilled food and enjoying fireworks illegally in front of my buddies house. Good times were had.

Of course, when I was leaving my partner’s house I decided to check Twitter. I’d neglected my timeline for a few hours and I figured I’d check and see what was going on. Then I saw my buddy Phillip Barnett, Lakers fan extraordinaire tweet the following:

Nash/Kobe/Shooter/Pau/Bynum is a nearly unstoppable offensive lineup. — Phillip Barnett (@imsohideous) July 5, 2012

I figured the man was just making a joke, but he kept talking about Steve Nash….and kept talking about Nash. Repeatedly. Did the Lakers really trade for Steve Nash? I called the man to confirm.

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

 Dear James,

Its funny that I’d even address you by “James” at this point. Why, you might ask? Well, its because frankly, we the people hardly even recognize who you are in these NBA Finals. You see, we’ve resorted to calling you “Jeff Harden” (courtesy of @blewis09 and @soulonice6) these days because the James Edward Harden, Jr. that I know is a man that I used to know eons and eons ago.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating on the eons, but just a week and a half ago you were the third piece of the triumvirate of superstars that the Oklahoma City Thunder employ to wreck havoc on all comers. You know, the sweep of the defending champions in 4 games. The destruction of the Lakers in 5 games. The triumph over the stodgy old guard that was the Spurs in 6 games. You remember those days? They were a glorious time. As a cunning pass to a shooter, a courageous drive to the rim, and a confident rise of your jumper proved that your game was as chaotic and beautiful as an ongoing session of salsa and merengue on the dance floor.

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

Well, we’re not actually moving to Miami. Unless I can talk to our editor about sending us on a field trip. (Rob, what up?) Let’s see how this goes…unless I don’t have a job here anymore. You know what, let’s just roll into my five points.

1. Someone please get Oklahoma City a 5-hour energy drink: I don’t want to beat this point into the ground, but the Oklahoma City Thunder simply can’t afford to keep digging holes to try and climb out of later in the game. Those moments of comeback are special, and the Thunder are well-equipped to do it. However, just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should have to all the time. Miami’s too good to allow them to be frontrunners, they were built to play that way.

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

I almost fell asleep during the game.

Traveling from Cincinnati to San Francisco is a long haul, and dealing with the three-hour time zone change left your favorite writer a tad winded when I was finally able to relax in my hotel room. (Don’t feel bad for me, I’m out here trying to pay the bills. We’re good.) All I wanted to do is order room service, get out of my suit, and watch game one of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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By Eduardo Maisonet III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka had the playoff game of his life in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals versus the San Antonio Spurs. Ibaka went a perfect 11-for-11 from the field, and was also perfect from the free throw line by making all four of his attempts to give him a career playoff high of 26 points. The Thunder defeated the Spurs 109-103 on Saturday night to tie the series 2-2.

This performance by Ibaka ended up being the second best shooting performance in playoff history, as only Larry McNeill of the Kansas City-Omaha Kings back in 1975 shot the ball better. McNeill’s 12-12 shooting performance trumps Ibaka, but Ibaka joins McNeill and a pair of former Celtics as the only four players to shoot perfect from the field in a playoff game while shooting 10+ shots. Scott Wegman shot 11-11 versus the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985, and Don Nelson shot 10-10 versus the Buffalo Braves in 1974.

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By Eduardo Maisonet III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

Let me get these things out of the way real quick.

1. I’m from Oklahoma.

2. I’m a die-hard Oklahoma City Thunder fan.

3. I’m the unofficial president of the Russell G. Westbrook fan club.

(A few points on No. 3. One, I don’t know if the G. initial is his actual middle initial. I have a weird fascination with athlete’s middle names since I found out that Brett Favre’s was “Lorenzo” and LeBron James’ was “Raymone.” But I digress. Two, the G. stands for Geronimo in my mind. Three, my favorite player in the league is Kevin Durant, but I “Stan” (ref. Eminem) the most because so many of you despise the man.)

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

If you know my allegiances, and know my background, then this will probably come off as being irrational.

Irrational is the only way I’m going to be able to get through this, so let me live for about 700 words or so, okay? Okay.

The San Antonio Spurs have hoodwinked and bamboozled the Oklahoma City Thunder for the first two games of the Western Conference Finals. There are many that feel like the Spurs are unbeatable at this point. Their passing at a remarkable rate, their low-post scoring has been top notch, shooting the lights out from three-point range and then they’ve got Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan as well.

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