Great Night for Watching Sports

So tonight the sports watching slate for me consists of a nice combination of Tigers v. Royals, Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals in both the NBA and NHL.

Though the Tigers game is just a mid-season game between divisional rival, the pitching match-up is intriguing. Edwin Jackson brings his 2.55 ERA, 9th in the majors, against 7-1 Zach Greinke and his ridiculous 0.82 ERA. I expect nothing other than a solid pitcher’s duel based on the high quality of pitching and low level of hitting by the teams participating tonight. The Royals rank in the bottom half of the majors in batting average and most other hitting categories. The Tigers on the other hand have been very up and down as of late when it comes to hitting. They are coming of a 13-1 of the Royals but, in the previous series against the Rockies they only managed 8 runs over 3 games. Also, I'm not convinced that Jackson is the pitching stud that he has been so far this year. In his years with the Tampa Bay he was a very up and down pitcher with a 4.85 ERA. I'm hoping that a solid outing tonight will convince me that he is as solid as he has appeared to this point.
The Tigers in my mind will win the division this year considering the suspect pitching of the White Sox, the suspect hitting of the Royals, the average play of the Twins and the atrocious play of the Indians this year. The Tigers could have a shot at a World Series title this year if they can keep up what they have been doing thus far and with the addition of another decent bat in the lineup as well as one more reliever.

Game 4 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals is tonight with the Pittsburgh Penguins looking to sweep the Carolina Hurricanes. I'm not going to waste my time describing what I think is going to happen because Pittsburgh is going to finish off the Hurricanes tonight. Instead I'll focus on the two teams’ efforts thus far.
The Hurricanes basically just over achieved this post season, simple as that. They came in as a six seed and did a heck of a job upsetting the Devils in the first round with shear toughness on defense. I feel that actually got lucky playing a team like the Bruins in the second round. The Bruins finished the season with the second best record in the NHL but with a young team that really only has one season of playoff hockey under its belt. In all likelihood next season Boston will be in the conference finals next season barring major changes to their roster this off season. Carolina simply out matched the young bruins and even though the Canes have not been in the playoffs since their Stanley Cup winning year in 2006 they have a lot of carryover from that team.
The Penguins on the other had I feel underachieved for a good portion of the season. The defending Eastern Conference Champions came back this year with a lot more experience having been to the Finals the year prior. The team is quite similar to the team they had last year minus a couple of key pieces that will inevitably result in their demise again this year. The loss of Ryan Malone, whom I felt was a real presence in front of Chris Osgood in last year's Finals, was shipped off to Tampa Bay due to Pittsburgh's cap situation. Also, the loss of Marian Hossa, whom was by far the best player on the Penguins a year ago in the playoff, to the Red Wings is a major hit to the potency of the Penguins. Obviously in the Wings top the Penguins again this year it will sting a little more have Hossa and the opposite side of the ice.
Okay, so Pittsburgh finishes the series tonight and Detroit finishes tomorrow, are we really going to have to wait 9 days for the Stanley Cup Finals to start?

My main focus for tonight will most likely be with Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the LeBrons AKA Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic. This series is very intriguing mostly due to my hatred of the Cavaliers and the fact that Orlando has outplayed them thus far. As has been noted by a number of news outlets the reason for the struggles of Cleveland has been the match ups. They have been using Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao as the primary defenders against Dwight Howard. Problem is Ilgauskas is too slow and Varejao is too weak. They should try to use Ben Wallace a bit more even if he isn't that tall. Ben did a half way decent job on Shaq in the 2004 NBA Finals, even if he is just a shell of what he was then. The two players that have caused the most problems for Cleveland have to be Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. Defensively they have no real options for both of them. LeBron James seems to be focusing on Turkoglu for the most part but is sometimes shifted over to Lewis but then that leaves either Delonte West or Varejao to cover the other. West is too small and Varejao is not agile enough to stay with the slashing big men with range. I really don't see much of cure for the problem out there for Cleveland. On the defensive end I've been really impressed by Orlando's ability to keep Mo Williams and Delonte West in check. The stellar D of Courtney Lee is much the reason for this. Not to mention Mickael Pietrus, one of my favorites since he was drafted by Golden State, has be fantastic against LeBron even if he is averaging 41 PPG.
The game 1 win for Orlando was a huge confidence builder if for no other reason than it was a win in Cleveland where the Cavaliers were nearly perfect during the regular season. Game 2 was a virtual carbon copy of game 1 with the exception of one of the most over hyped shots in basketball history. Sure it was a great shot but by no means was it anything we hadn't seen before and in a Game 2 no less. Game 3 was Orlando's going away and that is the game that I think really scares Cleveland. They had hardly any production from anyone not named LeBron. Keep in mind also that Dwight Howard was out a large portion of the game due to foul trouble and Hedo Turkoglu was a lowly 1-11 from the field. If Cleveland can't get it together they are in serious trouble. I haven't heard anyone mention this but this series seems to be mirroring the 2004 NBA Finals and awful lot. Magic in six simply due to the fact that Cleveland has game 5 at home but don't be surprised if this one is done in 5.

That was one heck of a first post hopefully I can keep it coming.