DemonDave

Andrew Luck played pretty well today, first time I'd seen him play a full game. The Jags are pretty awful admittedly, but still he looked impressive. Anyone else watch MNF Saints-Eagles? Fascinating game, poor old Michael Vick had zero protection almost all night, all he would've been seeing wouldve been the black and gold batallion with nostrils flaring baring down on him. Even someone with his sublime scrambling abilities was left bamboozled. I did like the special teams play that the Eagles tried with success that was ultimately nullified by a penalty for forward pass unfortunately. For those who missed it: http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/riley-cooper-hiding/ Definitely one of the funnier looking plays Ive seen of late!

Curiosity got the better of me, it was 1987 since theyve won with a QB they drafted, unbelievable! http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/10spot-12week8/kansas-city-chiefs-need-draft-franchise-qb-adam-schefter-10-spot

I watched the Chiefs game today, it was a stinker! They were right in the game in the second half then just self destructed! So many turnovers and defensive touchdowns to the Chargers. And did you see the graphic they put up that they havent won a regular season game with a QB that they actually drafted since, it was something crazy like 1987(I may be wrong on exact year). Amazing stat! I actually felt a bit sorry for Cassell, a lot of his teams woes werent his doing - McCluster dropping a perfectly thrown sitter, turnover TD etc etc..

Also worth noting the spurs "Big 3" were not playing that night, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. Like any league around the world, this was a meaningless game right at the end of the long regular season. One team had their eye on the draft, the other intent on resting their ageing stars for the playoffs the next week. An amazing game by Smith yesterday! And the only incomplete pass was a very simple drop by Walker. I watched it live, but after the first couple of drives you could tell it was going to be a one-sided game with the depleted and slumping Cards O-line helpless to prevent the Niners rushing and sacking Skelton. And how about our defense? I love reading stories about how the Bears/Ravens etc are the best defensive team in the league. Suits me fine, just keep flying under the radar, especially when teams (with the exception of the Giants, and Marshawn Lynch last week) think they will beat us by running the ball. 9 attempts for a grand total of 7 rushing yards for the whole game for Arizona yesterday! Did anyone else see the jersey the Steelers played in at the weekend? Eek! they looked like bumblebees

I watched the Denver-SD game yesterday as well, albeit knowing the result, couldnt believe the way Rivers self destructed! That was an all time choke. Full credit to Peyton, he was putting the ball right between the numbers of his receivers too, a real great win - that division is theirs for the taking now given the Raiders and Chiefs are stinking it up again. Cant wait for tomorrow mornings game, Wilson has been mightily impressive for a rookie, lets hope we dont see too may skittle incidents either. I was totally shocked at the way the Giants dismantled the Niners game on Monday, it looked like the bad old days for Smith again and Gore didnt have a single carry in the second half. Be intersesting to see how RGIII goes against the Giants this week. Ravens lose their spiritual leader for the year, and possibly forever, but the Ravens are still cruising in their division. NFC North will be possibly the most interesting Division from here to the end of regular season, 3 genuinely decent teams on evidence so far. Could the Packers miss on the playoffs? Based on Rodgers game this week you'd say no but the VIkings and Bears intra Division games will be crucial. Falcons continue to roll, I havent seen a single game of theirs this year, is Matt Ryan in All-Pro form or have the whole team stepped up?

Going to be hard now for OKC, Miami have shifted the momentum their way massively, and are now at home for the next two(?). Cant see them getting beaten from here, unless Durant and Westbrook put on some stupendous shooting performances. Spoke to one of my friends who is now on the Heat bandwagon, giving me crap about Spurs missing out on the big dance again, and I asked him "Can you name any of their other players other than the Big 3?" "How awesome is LeBron" was his response.....

Both series locked at 2-2, heading back to the higher seeds home court. These two series have so many possibilities from here. Wow! I think given the Celts have been only managing it in OT means the Heat have more upside, whereas I think OKC have more potential room for upside in their series as well. Time will tell, Im so so busy at work but still trying to find time to sneak a look at the live updates!

Been watching most of these games on delay later at night on ESPN, which has been great. Even though knowing the result, its still good watching the machinations of the game. It certainly seems all but a formality it will be Heat-Spurs now. If ever Boston were gonna sneak a win in Miami it was yesterday, a herculean effort from Rondo but still they couldnt get it done down South Beach way. The third cog in the big three wheel in Miami in Bosh is still not back, but they still keep rolling along. Spurs were similarly convincing in their game 2 at home, in fact even more so. They were 20 odd points up at one stage, until a belated third Q comeback led predictably by Durant. The sheer depth of the Spurs roster after the pickups of Diaw and Jackson has meant they can easily cover if one of their stars has a bad night. They certainly run deeper than any of the other 3 teams right now. The tables turned for the first home games for Boston and OKC today and tomorrow, the home fans will be rowdy and hungry for an opening win. I expect these two games to be very close. As for the draft, after the season from hell the Bobcats had, they only end up with pick 2. Devastating that they wont get Davis, who has been the standout in the NCAA this year. His monobrow does scare me somewhat though.

A bit late to see these posts but here goes. The biggest weakness last year for the Niners was their receiving corps. Crabtree is not and i dont think will ever be more than a slot receiver, certainly not the #1 target we were after. Josh Morgan took off to the Redskins after showing a bit, and Kyle Williams and ted Ginn Jnr..well..lets not relive the Giants game again..A team cant be relying, as good as they are, on two tight ends in Davis & Walker to make all of their big pass plays. SO they picked up Mario Manningham from the Giants who had a very good year. We were always going to use our #1 pick on a receiver, but had no hope without trading up of getting Blackmon or Floyd. Jenkins was a surprise to many draft pundits, he has speed but his separation after catch isnt great. Time will tell. They also took a gamble on 36 year old Randy Moss, who is apparently in as good as shape as he's been after a year on the sidelines. Who knows if he will make the final squad or not, it didnt cost us anything to do though. We lost our starting nose tackle Snyder, so used our third round pick on a replacement for him which was also understandable. Not sure about our 2nd round pick, another running back, given we have AllPro Frank Gore, soph Kendall Hunter who showed quite a bit in his rookie year as a third down back, and picked up Brandon Jacobs from the Giants also. I guess like any draft it will take a while to determine if it was a 'good' draft for teams or not. Really looking forward to seeing RG3 in particular, he and Cam Newton may well become the prototype upon which future QBs are based. Luck will be more of a traditional pocket passer, and at the same time this type of QB has also flourished the last couple of years with yard records for passing regularly being broken by teams starters.

Game 1 is underway in the AT&T Centre, at work so only watching the live scores on the box score. What say we for predictions on here? I'm going 4-2 for my Spurs, their win streak is growing but every time we got to 11 or 12 in the regular season we seemed to have a letdown game. Chalk up two at home before dropping one. All we need is Manu Ginobili to fully find his rhythm. In the East, I'm tipping Miami over Boston 4-1. Its a credit to the creaky Celtics that they've got this far, but James & Wade will be hard to beat for youth and athleticism. They will need Bosh back in a hurry though.

Fantastic win for the 76ers today, wow! They were upto 18 behind at times in this game. Certainly lights the spark on this series, will be a fascinating one. We almost saw another big incident between Metta World "Peace" and Westbrook there, I agree with the commentators a double technical in this situation is a bit of a copout. If this game hadve been in Oklahoma the crowd would be absolutely giving it to MWP right now. Spurs are nicely placed in their series against Clippers, the balanced offense really does make it hard to match up on, double team Parker and you open up Ginobli and Neale and the like. Even Boris Diaw is having an impact... D Wades blowup with the coach really didnt look good, in line with his terrible game. On Mike and Mike on ESPN last night they floated the theory that Wade and LeBron are too similar, and that maybe they should try and trade DWade to somehow get Howard. Interesting hypothetical!

So any accusations of Lakers or Clippers players 'getting cold feet' in the playoffs will be not necessarily unwarranted?

Well the Nuggets won again, back to 3-2 now! Bulls get one back to force a sixth game, as do the Hawks at home to Celts. Just watching the replay of that game now, Pierce limping around, the creaky old bones of the Celts will not appreciate an elongated series. If some of these games goto 7 it will definitely be an advantage to Oaklahoma and San Antonio who had relatively easy sweeps.

I think Ive watched Chris Bosh pop up about 50 times now, strangely hypnotic! Grab Office Space on DVD, its a cracking movie from the mind of Mike Judge, who bought us Beavis and Butthead. Revolves around life in a cubicle in the workplace and the frustrated employee comically reaching boiling point, a classic!

Haha thats a classic scene from "Office Space" theyve borrowed from there! I think the Knicks are doomed in this series regarless. I've seen the Rhondo incident, and fair enough he got a suspension, you cant aggresively bump up to the ref like that. The pressure is well and truly on the ageing Celtics to get one last playoff series out of the Dads Army trio of Pearce,Allen & Garnett.

Shocking news for Rose and the Bulls. Thats two teams in the playoffs now without their top banana for the entire playoffs (Rose/Bulls & Howard/Magic). just hoping the Spurs can avoid any first round stumbles like last year!

This thread has morphed into a positive ray of light around here in these dark days, I love it! All because I commented on the punny headline from a serious news story.. Carry on...

"Lamb choice cut for Dees" Ugh, who's the funnyman writing these puntastic titles for these articles, Ugly Dave Gray? So does he replace Prendergast, or was his a different title?

Just discovered this thread! Still love the NBA. Its a bit more palatable this year with a shortened schedule too, the normal season is just too long for mine, 82 games! Not as bad as the MLB I guess. I'm a Spurs man, have been since The Admiral got drafted and I decided I needed a team so thats how I chose Spurs. Great to see Patty Mills getting some court time and hit 7 points yesterday for SA. The Spurs and Thunder are clearly the teams to beat out West, the Spurs will be keen to atone for last years first round ousting after being #1 seed at the hands of Memphis. In the East, its pretty clear Chicago and Miami are the two standouts. Some of the rookie class from this year have been pretty good too, Irving as mentioned and Ricky Rubio, although now done for the year with injury, was a joy to watch with his sublime passing game. Roll on the playoffs!

Gee the Broncos didnt really get much in the trade for Tebow either did they? Considering how big "Tebowmania" was during their playoff run this year, youd think he would have a bit more currency. I guess he preferred to be in a 'big' market, it will be interesting how big Rex handles the two QBs, I cant imagine Sanchez, hardly a popular figure with the Jets fans and media at the best of times, wouldve been to happy with the newfound competition. Im with Macca on this one, Sanchez gets the incumbency, and then after one game will be sitting it out by the big cooling fans on the sidelines while Tebow does his usual of offering nothing in the first half before running his team to victory almost singlehandedly. Noo Yoik now has the two biggest pro sport sensations of the past couple of years in the one city! A photo of the two together is surely an inevitability.. The Broncos have taken a big calculated risk shipping Tebow out and bringing in a 36 year old coming off a very serious neck injury. And signing for five years? Hmm. The Dolphins,Texans and Jags are the big losers out of all this. All were in the hunt for his services, as were the 49ers, they still crave and do not have their 'marquee' quarterback. The Niners risked disenfranchising Alex Smith when they courted Manning, but thankfully Smith re-signed after holding talks with Miami. He is no 'star' but he fits Harbaughs system, and with Mario Manningham and Randy Moss as upgrades at WR this year should at least have a viable target long this year that isnt a tight end. Roll on the draft, and Luck and RG3 getting into the pro systems, cant wait to see these two start for the Colts and Skins next year!

The same Redskins that won just five games all year and finished bottom of their division! Just shows that the Giants were not a real dominant force all through the regular season, merely a slightly better than average team. They just happened to catch form at the right time of year...

After going 0 for 2 last weekend with my tips, I feel this could be the kiss of death! After watching both games, I'm going to pick the Giants. They have form and momentum on their side. Having said that, the Pats are on a decent winning streak too, but I just feel the giants three pronged attack of Nicks, Cruz and Manningham are in top form. The Pats have Gronk, Hernandez, Branch et al, but if that catch in the final 20 seconds hadve been caught, we'd be talking about the Ravens right now. Cant wait, as usual for the Superbowl, got the day off work, plan to get settled on the couch for a huge day!

Of course I'll be picking SF for the win. We beat them mid-year, and despite them almost scoring on the final drive (A timely Justin Smith bat-down put paid to yet another Manning fourth quarter TD drive) I felt we handled them well that day, importantly our defence was pretty effective. Admittedly the Giants are peaking form wise but my heart and head are pointing in the same direction of a win for the team in red and gold. As for the other game, its a tough one. The Ravens havent even been tested in the playoffs, despite the Texans best efforts last week. Ray Lewis is a beast. Ditto Ray Rice. The Pats dismantling of an out of their depth Broncos was predictably clinical. I feel against a stiffer defensive setup that the Ravens present, then the Pats will be beaten. So to a dream matchup in the Superbowl, "the Brothers Harbaugh". What a great promoters dream that would be. Only I dont want to see a repeat of the Thanksgiving massacre, where the Ravens D consistently blitzed, and the Niners O-line fell apart. It was the only time Ive seen it all year done so effectively, theres no reason if this game happens we wont see it again. Smith became nothing more than a punching bag for the Ravens. It was brutal, ugly and highly effective. Still Frank Gore was playing hurt that day, hes back in business now. If this matchup does occur, it will be the top two ranked defences playing off, quite ironic in a year where quarterbacks were smashing historical records all over the place!

I dont know how happy Macca will be today, the Giants, somehow, managed to beat the Packers at Lambeau. I've taped the game so cant comment on how it looked, gee not many people saw that coming though! the Ravens did what they needed to against the Texans, who had their chances in the last quarter. So it sets up an AFC Championship game of Ravens @ Patriots and NFC Championship game of Giants @ 49ers I'm going to go with Patriots in a tight one, Brady was sizzling against Denver, and while the Ravens have the second best defence in the League after the Niners, I think NE have too many targets: Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Branch, Ochochinco et al. I think the Niners can repeat their effort from during the season and beat the Giants at home also. Hakeem Nicks and co will find it a bit tougher against SF's secondary next week. Cant wait!

Whos got it better than us? Nobody! I still cant wipe the grin off my face, that was an unbelievably hectic finish to that game.When Jimmy Graham rumbled for that TD I was sure it was all over. Great final drive by Smith who surely now has to be recognised as a legitimate top grade quarterback. Vernon Davis came up with those two huge catches in that drive. Now, bring on the Packers or Giants!