The Sports Review

You’ll likely be watching a lot of the Miami Heat this season whether you’re a fan of the  LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh superteam or not. Miami will certainly be one of the leaders next season in the sale of 2010-2011 NBA tickets, but the league expects to see a number of teams benefit from the busy free agent market this summer. Many NBA rosters have been realigned due to all player movement giving teams like Chicago, New York, and Dallas. A media maelstrom will without a doubt descend upon South Beach once we near the NBA season with James, Wade, and Bosh making the Heat the most star-studded team in recent NBA history. In a short period of time, Riley has added key contributors like Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, LeBron’s teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the Heat’s big three. In the East, Chicago could become a legitimate contender this year with their offseason acquisition of Utah Jazz trio Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Brewer. While the originial Three Amigos in Boston could benefit from the addition of the O’Neal brothers -Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal -coming off the bench.

Like the 28 other teams in the NBA that didn’t win the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh sweepstakes, the Chicago Bulls can’t truly call the 2010 off season a home run. The Bulls, however, have done a great job improving their roster from a year ago with a number of key signings. Carlos Boozer was the first name to sign on the dotted line in Chicago, providing explosiving young point guard Derrick Rose a top low post scorer to partner with. The Bulls then when on to sign Boozer’s Utah Jazz teammates Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer. Kover’s accurate outside shooting could prove highly effective when Rose attacks the basket on the offensive end of the court. The 6-7 small forward will be a nice option for Tom Thibodeau’s team either as a starter or coming off the bench. Korver’s teammate Ronnie Brewer can, like Rose, score off the dribble. Boozer’s chemistry with former teammates Korver and Brewer will allow the Bulls to hit the ground running next season. Former Golden State Warriors guard C.J. Watson also inked with the Bulls last week, giving the team another shooter to come off the bench. The Bulls will need a complete team effort to compete with the Heat, Celtics, and Magic, but the city of Chicago can expect their team to be contenders in the Eastern Conference this season.

The day we’ve all been waiting for is here. At 11:00 PM CT last night, NBA teams were allowed to begin talking to the long list of available NBA free agents about trading teams. At the center of the free agent hoopla is reigning NBA MVP LeBron James. It’s been reported that today that James met with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets to discuss the possibily of the shooting guard heading East. Franchise executives traveled to Cleveland to present their proposals to “The King” including Nets’ Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni. It was also reported that the Knicks, along with the Atlanta Hawks, offered free agent guard Joe Johnson max contracts today. James has meetings tentively lined up with at least the Heat and the Bulls in the coming days. Other free agents on the market include Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudamire, Rudy Gay, and Paul Pierce. Needless to say this will be the most exciting off season in professional sports history.

I’ve just looked at the official clock on the NBA website and yes, it is exactly 8 days and 5 hours until the first game of the new season. While the preseason is fine and all, it just doesn’t cut it. It’s too tantalizing. Starters aren’t in long enough, the game really doesn’t matter, and even if your team wins it might not mean much. The regular season, now that’s where it’s at. Every minute counts, every point, every foul. Games have meaning and the team’s stars see a full workload. Only 8 more days until NBA game tickets become worthwhile…

The Atlanta Hawks are on a signing spree and the latest addition to their basketball team is the super star player of the Orlando magic team Maurice Evans. The deal between Evans and the Hawks was carried out last Tuesday and the Hawks are very much excited about the prospect of seeing Evans play for their team in the upcoming season. Moreover, Evans will provide the Hawks team with the much needed boost in the offensive side and his three point shooting ability is known to one and all associated with basketball. Maurice Evans is slated to have signed a 3 year deal with the hawks for about $7.5 million. Hawks fans are booking their tickets well in advance to avoid last minute problems.

The New York Knicks were not able to win either of their back to back contests held on Friday and Saturday and were defeated 114-93 by the Minnesota Wolves on NBA Saturday. The Knicks who have been exhibited raw young talent for these games could not get the better of the Wolves young team. The Knicks, one of the leading sports outfit in America, lost the game handsomely in spite of having six players scoring double digits in the game.

The Head coach of Knicks Isiah Thomas said that the Knicks played the America’s favorite sport, basketball, very poorly in the first quarter and gave away 42 points. This is the main reason for their debacle in this game and the coach acknowledged that the team pulled up their socks in the second quarter and played well in the remaining quarters. The Knicks were totally disappointed to loose two games in a row and have vowed to review their present situation in a bid to sail through these trouble waters and come up with a good performance in the remaining games.

On 3rd February Washington Wizard played a home game, which was in doubt in the last first quarter after the Kobe Bryant guard of Los Angeles Lakers’ drained a long jump shot. He patted Wizzard all star Caron Butler on his Back while going back on the defense side. This action seems disrespectful but they are friends and have played together in 2004-05 season. Game results are Lakers at 103 while Wizards at 91, which is not the usual sellout crowd record of fans cheering for visitors. They have came earlier for encouraging Bryant and his team but stayed late for the winners’ Lakers (30-16) who walked off the court with the victory. The match also had many interesting points for both Bryant’s and Laker’s fans but cheer has rolled through Wizard after the en route of scoring 30 points on 10 – 15 shooting with 6 rebounds and a pair of assists. Bryant was heavy for Wizards, repeatedly looked a step slow defensively while shot 43 from the field continuously. The coach Eddie Jordan later said that we had to play as one team to defeat Lakers or any other team, who has won a NBA 1982 Championship as a Laker.

The New York Knicks attempt to halt a seven-game losing streak when they visit the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. The Knicks play the finale of a three-game road trip. Yao Ming scored 30 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out six assists to lead the Houston Rockets over New York, 103-91.

The two worst teams in the NBA meet on Tuesday night in Minneapolis (The Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat). With each trying to snap its longest losing streak of the season. Miami (8-26) has dropped seven in a row since defeating Utah on Dec. 22, losing by an average of 10.1 points. Minnesota (4-29) has lost its last eight games by an average of 15.2 points. Center Al Jefferson has been one of the team’s few bright spots. The Heat snapped a six-game losing streak at Minnesota with a win there last season.

Marvin Williams, a 24-year-old Atlanta Hawks forward shot in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, in Atlanta. As a result, the Hawks defeated the Heat 117-111. Williams matched his career high with 26 points.