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Steph Curry try’s to dribble pass Tony Parker

Good evening sports fans. Who would’ve thought first and foremost that the Golden State Warriors would beat Denver and advance to the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs. Now here’s is something no one in the NBA counted on. Who would’ve thought that the Warriors would be facing the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of this years playoffs. Well they did. Are you ready for this. Don’t get me wrong, it is what you thought. The Warriors lost, and now they’ve lost a record 30 times since 1997. But what is real significant is that the Spurs who won, barely got out of the contest without having a heart attack. They did say that Tim Duncan had the flu, but even still, the rest of the team didn’t look like the Spurs we’re used to seeing. The Spurs who are the No.1 seed in the Western Conference, didn’t look like the No.1 seed. As a matter of fact, the best team in the Western Conference had to come from behind to win Game 1, of the Semifinals, of the 2013 NBA Playoffs in double overtime.

What was true is what NBA aficionados figured that the Spurs would win. But it didn’t go the way they said it would. According to the Inside The NBA panel led by Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith, and Shaquille O’neal the San Antonio Spurs should pummel the Warriors. I’m going to go on a limb here, but I’m going to say it now. The Golden State Warriors will win this series. Should I say it again so that it’s clear and my reading audience will know that I didn’t stutter. The Golden State Warriors will win this series, if Mark Jackson can convince this team to play as a team. The reason I say that is because tonight’s contest was really just a matter of playoff experience versus playoff youth. The Spurs obviously playoff experience with Greg Popovich, versus Mark Jackson’s playoff youth. You could tell. Golden State played with the want, the heart and the athletic desire to win the game, but the Spurs played like they’d seen this re-run before.

The Warriors starting guard Steph Curry played brilliantly. He finished with 40 points, 11 assists. Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes both had 19 points a piece. Jared Jack finished with 15 points. Andrew Bogut finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds. But the Warriors would need more than just brilliance to take game 1. It showed too. Because with all the great shots that Steph Curry made, he was still new to the playoffs and he’d never been to the second round before. Whereas Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Greg Popovich and the rest of the Spurs were well aware that it would take the team to win the game. You could see the differences in the two teams. At the beginning of the third quarter they asked Popovich how they were going too stop Steph Curry.  Pop just said, “I don’t know he’s pretty unstoppable.” Then he smiled and said, ” We’ll just have to work together to try to win.” It’s a lesson that Mark Jackson should be teaching his team. Greg Popovich smiled because he knew with everything Steph could do, eventually he would tire out and the Spurs would win as a team.

Tony Parker finished with 28 points, Danny Green added 22 points, Tim Duncan finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. I know it’s hard for us Warriors fans, but it’s a game like this that will define who the team is and where they’re going. This Warriors were ahead with 127-126 with 3.7 seconds left in the game when Manu Ginobli hit a 3 pointer to give the Spurs the win in double overtime. Ginobli finished with 16 points. It was later found out that his shot was not really supported by Coach Popovich. ”I went from wanting to trade him on the spot to wanting to cook breakfast for him tomorrow morning,” Popovich said. ”That’s the truth. When I talk to him and say, ‘Manu,’ he goes, ‘This is what I do.’ That’s what he’s going to tell me. I stopped coaching him a long time ago.” What was also significant is that Ginobli wasn’t hitting any 3 point shots most of the night. That’s why when he had the open look 3, I told my neighbor who was with me watching it, ‘He’s going to hit that shot.” The reason why I knew he was going to make it is because there’s a rule in NBA. Never give to many opportunities to veteran shooter.

You look at all the great shooters of the past, Reggie Miller, Larry Byrd, John Paxon, John Stockton, Ray Allen, and our own Steph Curry who is becoming a great shooter. You ask the defenders that had to guard them and they’ll tell you, never give veteran shooters too many chances because if you do you will pay dearly. Tonight it was Manu Ginobli, and the team that paid was Golden State.” On the last play, it wasn’t for me; they just left me open,” Ginobili said. ”I set a screen for TP (Tony Parker) and they both went with him and left me open on the weak side. When I caught it I just saw Brazemore flying. I just gave it a lot of air and it went in. I wasn’t even an option. They told me just go screen and stay far from the play. The play was for Tony or Boris. And they got confused.”

The reason why I believe Golden State can win this series is, because this happened in round 1 against Denver. The Warriors lost game 1 to the Nuggets by 2 points, but they won the series. Why? Because the outlasted Denver. ”We had a heartbreaker in Game 1 of the last series (against Denver),” Curry said. ”A last-second layup by Andre Miller. So we’ve been here before. But we know how to come back. We’ve been a resilient team all year. To have an opportunity to go 1-1, we still have a chance to do that.” If you didn’t watch the game, you missed just how tired San Antonio was from playing against the Warriors. The Warriors did something that hasn’t been done to the Spurs in a long time, and that is to push the number 1. seed to a double overtime at San Antonio. You could tell because it was affecting the Spurs physically. You should have saw Tony Parker. He was exhausted. That goes for Duncan, and Ginobli. They had to use the young second team just to stay in the game.

San Antonio can celebrate tonight. They got the win. But if Mark Jackson can coach like he’s suppose to, the Warriors can and will win this series. I do think that Mark Jackson should let the press know that the reason why they lost is because he didn’t coach them to play team ball in the last minutes of the game. He should be telling Steph to set up plays and not to take every last shot. He’d already got 40 points. It was time for the rest of the team to contribute. He needs to let him know that no matter how much he wanted to win it’s still the team that wins games not one person. Think I’m lying ask Michael Jordan. Hey, he went 8 seasons without a title before he started playing team ball and then the Bulls won a title. Am I telling the truth or am I just talking? Tell me what you think. Drop me line at our website, and remember, it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

Evening sports fans. I’m sure by now you’re aware that the San Francisco Giants have went beyond the odds, and have done something in the post season that no other MLB team has ever accomplished. They won a post season record seven straight games to win the NLCS. Richard Ewing here of ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM In what was looked at as really the impossible, has become not only possible,  but has been done. The San Francisco Giants humble the St. Louis Cardinals with a stunning 9-0 beat down at AT&T Park in front of thousands of a cheering sea of orange and black.

I have to admit I should be ashamed of myself. I had lost faith when they were down 3-1 to the Cardinals, and for them to come back it just seemed impossible. I was covering them pretty closely at ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. And then as you probably know I’ve got bills to pay so it was off to work I go. After watching MLB Tonight on the MLB Network, and spotted coverage of the post season playoffs on ESPN. The Giants playing ability did what it did to all of us, made me pay attention, and to go to my blog at ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM, start writing about them, and don’t stop. The Giants surge came in the third inning when they put together 4 runs and were ahead 4-0.

Because you show respect to your opponents, and we are talking about the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals, your thinking surely the Cardinals will respond. But no, it was quite the contrary. St. Louis had no answer for San Francisco’s pitching. The main reason why? Is because of a combined effort from Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong, and Matt Cain’s dominance from the mound. Last night it was Matt Cain. Yes Matt Cain. You know, the same Perfect Game Matt Cain. Cain kept the Cardinals scoreless for 5 2/3 innings. He had good relief pitching support from Affeldt, Casilla, Lopez, and then Romo shut down the Cardinals season. The Giants have changed the view of baseball’s aficionados by having the “I’m not quitting” attitude.

They did it against Cincinnati when they were down 2-0 in the NLDS. The Reds are at home now. They did it again against a great St. Louis team. After these last two situations, I don’t know about you, but if I’m the Tigers, I’d rather loose the first two games and do what the Giants did, come from behind and win. The Giants bats were wide awake and they were hungry. Hunter Pence hit a double that appeared to have hit off his bat 3 times after it shattered from impact. Marko Scutaro, who became San Francisco’s “Orange Badge Of Courage” player after being practically ran over in game 2 went 3 for 4 hitting. And really it was that type of attitude.

That “Were not giving up even if you hurt us.” attitude. That’s why Scutaro who finished hitting .500 in the post season gets the MVP nod of the National League. What was also significant is that both of these teams the Cardinals and Giants are teams that won the World Series in a two year span and met to compete for the World title. First time that’s happened in MLB history. It was 8-0 in the eighth inning when Brandon Belted a home run that was the dagger in St. Louis Cardinal’s heart. The rain continued to fall and Giants fans could care less. Their Giants had just turned the “Impossible” to “I’m Possible.” The World Series starts tomorrow and the San Francisco Giants have taught me a lesson, never give up.

So thank you San Francisco Giants for a great season. I’ll be writing about our San Francisco Giants. Because really they’ve giving me something to write about. For more Bay Area Sports, highlights and insider news about your Bay Area Sports, remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 25 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

What’s up sports fans? We have a new category to All Bay Area Sport.com with some pretty risky content. It’s Bay Area X-sports. I managed to get some friends to let me record some of their risky road escapades while they are riding, driving or jumping. One of my first is a local guy out of Redwood City, CA. Goes by the name of Daniel Vega. You can check him out in the Bay Area X-sports category and as ususall we’ll be updating new stuff every week. We also got a really nice piece from the California 5 you definitely want to catch the video clip on this piece it pretty awesome I know I wouldn’t try it. Once again guys it’s free and always on ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM Bay Area Sports Magnified!

What’s up sports fans? There’s an age old proverb in sports, “When you hot, you’re hot!” The Sharks right now are searing hot. 8 straight wins and in first place in the Pacific Western Division, and improve to 38-21-6, with 82pts. In this game it was Dany Heatley who  supplied the offense and  Antii Niemi who was at the  core of San Jose’s  defense. When you watch San Jose there isn’t one guy that you can put your finger on night after night to defend against. One night it could be Logan Couture, next night it could be Joe Thorton, Joe Pavelski or it could be Ryan Clowe and tonight it was Dany Heatley.

This team is well balanced, and it shows with different players performing  every night. “It’s fun to play them,” Heatley said. “We really respect them. Tonight you could feel it in the crowd. The fans were really into it. It’s getting to that point at the end of the year coming toward the playoffs. You can feel the fans get excited. Against a team like Detroit, we notice it for sure.” Heatley scored two goals his 24th and 25th of the season, Antii Niemi finished with 26 saves, and you have to credit San Jose’s offense. If Niemi only let 1 goal out of 26 saves get by him,  it means that San Jose’s offense is keeping the pressure on opposing teams defense.

Detroit did respond on a goal from #96 Tomas Holstrom. Heatley used his backcheck skill to break up a 2-on-1 break toward Antii Niemi, which heatley stay with it and broke up the play.  “I would have loved to have seen him score the third one, but he got the two that counted,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I’m sure that will help his confidence and he’ll feel better about his game.” Both teams played pretty evenly. In just about every category the two teams were even, except two and they are on hits and face offs.  It is nice to see San Jose dominate on face offs, they had 37 to Detroit’s 25. Patrick Marleau scored a unassisted goal in the third period with 3:58 to play.

“The bottom line is we have to skate better than we did tonight as a group,” coach Mike Babcock said. “Our big guys in particular have to skate better, but they played hard minutes last night. But the bottom line is we think we can skate better as a team and we can spend more time in the offensive zone. But I wasn’t disappointed in our effort tonight.” With Joe Pevelski, Dany Heatley, Joe Thorton, Logan Couture, Ryan Clowe, and the stopper Antii Niemi all contributing each night it can make having a defensive scheme for the Sharks very difficult. The real question is can the Sharks play the same way in the playoffs. Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!