Championship updates

The Celtics won then lost at home, and won then lost on the road. Based on my expert analytical skills, I predict this series to go at least 6 games. The Lakers and Spurs split in LA, then the Spurs took game 3 at home. A bunch of people who know a lot more about basketball than I do still feel the Lakers to be the better team in this series, and likely to emerge victorious. Then the discussion turned to whether or not this year's championship will mark the start of another dynastic run by the Lakers. Given that they've won exactly nothing so far, I'd have to go with a resounding yes!

In more important news, the Detroit Red Wings have taken a commanding 2 games to none lead in the Stanley Cup finals. Now winning the first two games at home is hardly cause for the engraver to start worrying about the correct spelling of Datsyuk, but the manner of the victories has NHL executives everywhere groaning at the prospect of Sidney Crosby NOT winning the ultimate prize. The Penguins have failed to record a single goal thus far in the Finals, and have looked pretty meek in doing so. It turns out that thus far in the playoffs, Detroit's best offensive line of Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Tomas Holmstrom has been their best defensive line, which is just fucking unfair. Given the ability to match lines, an advantage of the home team, coach Mike Babcock has been able to get his best defensive line out against Pittsburgh's top offensive line, while at the same time get his best offensive line out against Pittsburgh's weakest defensive players.

Heading back to Pittsburgh, look for the Penguins to try to match their Staal line against Detroit's Datsyuk line, freeing Sidney Crosby from the defensive duties he hasn't been performing anyway. Also look for Evgeni Malkin to show up, which would be nice considering as far as I can tell, Pittsburgh's best player this season forget to get on the fucking plane to Detroit.

All kidding aside, it is time to appreciate just how good this Red Wings team really is. With their ability to stifle opposing teams, even a one goal lead early in the first period is nearly insurmountable. Chris Osgood has been very good in net for the Wings, but by no means spectacular. In a way, it reminds me of Grant Fuhr, one of the winningest goalies of all time but far from one of the best. He just had the advantage of having Gretzky, Messier, and the rest of the 1980s Edmonton Oilers pumping 6+ goals a game by the opposing goaltender. Osgood went nearly 8 minutes in last night's game before he faced his first shot. It takes an incredible amount of focus to be ready at that point, especially since you know, I know, and Osgood definitely knows that woman in the 3rd row wasn't wearing any underwear. So tune in tomorrow night in spectacular HD (even on Charter!) to see if the Penguins get it rolling at home, or the ruthless winning machine in Detroit marches on to their seemingly inevitable championship.