After being less than 5 seconds away from being eliminated in their playoff series againt the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns came back to win game 6 in overtime and then blew the Lakers away in game 7, 121-90. I guess I spoke too soon in saying that the Lakers would make it through to the second round of the playoffs.

courtesy of nba.com

The second round of the playoffs has San Antonio versus Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers versus Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons versus Cleveland Cavaliers, and Miami Heat versus New Jersey Nets.

In my opinion, there is only one really easy to pick series and that is Detroit over Cleveland. San Antonio and Phoenix are both favoured to win their series, but they are facing two hot teams that could easily surprise their opponents and make it through to the conference finals. If Miami plays the same way it did against Chicago, they will have a hard time getting past a New Jersey team with Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, and Jason Kidd playing exceptional basketball.

I think Detroit will make it through in 5 games, San Antonio in 6, Phoenix in 5 really close games, and New Jersey in 6. Time will tell.

So Mr. Attempted Sexual Assault gets a $10,000 fine and then Raja Bell gets slapped with a one game suspension because of this (see video).

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So basically the NBA is saying that it’s ok to molest a fellow player, but if you grab a player by the shoulder (initial contact was nowhere near his neck) and bring them to the ground then that’s worthy of a suspension. Does anyone really think that Kobe Bryant being on the receiving end of the clothesline had nothing to do with the suspension given to Raja Bell? Bell has done a great job defending Bryant through this series, and without him guarding Bryant in tonights game at the Staples Center, I expect the Lakers to win and advance to the second round. I bet Commissioner David Stern will love the ratings numbers he sees in the second round since it will be L.A. (one of the biggest media markets) and not Phoenix (nowhere near the biggest media markets) that will be playing.

Australia hasn’t had a World Champion Formula 1 driver since 1980 when Alan Jones won the championship driving for Williams. Mark Webber is Australia’s only driver in Formula 1 these days, and although there has been a lot of hype about his abilities, his best finish has been third in the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix. It hasn’t helped that he has been a driver on teams like Jordan, Minardi, and Williams. It was promising when he signed a contract with Williams because they were an established team with a great history; unfortunately, the car has not been the strongest and he hasn’t had the expected results.

Now there are reports that Webber is on the shortlist of candidates to replace Fernando Alonso once Alonso vacates his seat with Renault to drive for McLaren next year. Webber needs to make a choice - stay loyal to the team that gave him his first legitimate opportunity or jump ship to the most reliable team with an even better chance of winning. If anything has been proven over the past two seasons, it’s that Renault is the standard that all other teams are trying to emulate.

Webber has come out and said that he wants to stay at Williams through the end of his contract, provided Williams picks up the option on his contract. I say he jumps ship now and give himself the best chance to win a championship. That chance exists with Renault; it doesn’t exist at the moment, with Williams.

Watching the Clippers and the Nuggets play the other night with some friends, I came across a moment that was reminiscent of John Hopoate. Click on the video for actual footage of the incident involving Chris Kaman of the Clippers and Reggie Evans of the Nuggets.

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Needless to say, there is really no room for that kind of behaviour in any sport. Mrs BBQ pointed out that if this incident had occurred in any other type of setting, it would be cause for sexual assault charges. Kaman was incredibly restrained in only reacting the way he did - he would have been well justified to beat the living crap out of him. I believe that Evans should have been suspended for multiple games, but unfortunately, he only received a $10,000 fine for what they called “unnecessary and excessive contact.” You don’t say?