The Week That Was

The second seasons for both the NBA and NHL began this past week, and each had their fair share of surprises. In the NBA, four of the eight road teams won Game 1 of their series. The Chicago Bulls put in an inspired effort, led by stud Derrick Rose's 36 points and knocked off the Celtics in overtime, 105-103. Hopefully, the Bulls can take another game in Boston but even if they don't they at least assured themselves a split. It will be imperative for them to sweep at home if they want to pull off the upset, because the chances of them winning another game in Boston are slim. The biggest upset of the weekend was the Philadelphia 76ers defeating the Orlando Magic. The Sixers were down by as many as 18 in the third quarter but staged a furious rally in the fourth. Andre Iguodala hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Sixers the win, and atone for missing two free throws a minute earlier that could have put the Sixers ahead. Other road teams that won were the Houston Rockets over the Portland Trail Blazers in a rout, and the Dallas Mavericks storming from behind to beat the San Antonio Spurts. The heavy favorites to reach the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers had no trouble in their Game 1's.

The Washington Capitals had one of their best seasons in franchise history but it appears one thing hasn't changed, they still choke in the playoffs. The Caps dropped the first two games at home against the New York Rangers and now face a must win at Madison Square Garden tonight. The Capitals switched goalies after starting goalie Jose Theodore performed poorly in a 4-3, Game 1 loss. They inserted rookie goaltender, Simeon Varlamov, for Game 2. Varlamov only gave up a goal, but was outplayed by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Caps star Alexander Ovechkin hasn't scored a goal yet and it is imperative for the Caps that he get off the schneid tonight.

News broke last week that the Washington Wizards are poised to name Flip Saunders their new head coach. Saunders has previously been the head coach of the Minnesota Timeberwolves and Detroit Pistons. Saunders teams have consistently done well in the regular season but faltered and fell short of expectations in the playoffs. Saunders is known as an offensive mastermind, and it is believed he can make the Wizards even more potent on offense than they already are. I think Avery Johnson would have been the better hire. The Wizards haven't lacked scoring punch all of these years, they have lacked defense. I think Johnson could have instilled that toughness. I don't think Saunders is a bad hire, and I think he can get the Wizards into the playoffs, but if the goal is to win championships I think Johnson would have been the better choice.

My flag football team, Ron Burgundy, dropped their first game of the season yesterday, 24-2. The game was closer than the score indicates as we had many scoring opportunities but couldn't punch the ball into the end zone. The team we played, The Show, were very good, especially this one girl they had who burned us for multiple touchdowns. We play again on Sunday, thankfully at 3 PM, as yesterday's 9 AM start time was not fun.