TheSportsPACK

Indiana Pacers forward Paul George has decided that he plans to opt out of his contract at the end of the 2018 season.  George has spent his entire 7 year career in Indiana and has stated that he will like to return to his home state of California and play for the Lakers. A 4-time All-Star, PG has a career average of 18.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. After a gruesome leg injury in 2014, George came back in 2015 and averaged career highs in points, rebounds and assist.  Paul George didn't make an All-NBA team, disqualifying him for the "Rose rule", which would have allowed the Pacers to sign George to a 5-year $207 million contract. Now the most the Pacers can offer PG is 5-years $177 million. The Lakers can can only offer PG 5-years $130 million. I'm 99.9% sure Paul George is fed up playing in Indiana and will not mind the pay cut he would take by going to the Lakers. George is a Top-10 player in the NBA and is wasting his skill set in Indiana. For the P...

The Cleveland Cavaliers destroy Golden State 137-116 for their first win of the series. The Cavs score a NBA Finals record 86 points in the first half and finish the game shooting 53% from the field. Kyrie Irving lead Cleveland in scoring with his second career 40 point game in the finals. LeBron James continues his triple-double pace with 31 points 11 assist and 10 rebounds. Kevin Durant finished with 35 points while Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both struggled, shooting a combined 6-1 9 from 3 point range. The 21-point defeat is the first loss for the Warriors since April 1 0th. Kyrie Irving shot 56% from the field in the Game 4 win (cnn.com ) It's about time Cleveland show up to these finals. I knew LeBron and company were too good to get swept. 24 -45 from 3 point range as a team? That's how a team that is facing elimination supposed to play. The Cavaliers were way more physical than the previous 3 games. More importantly,  the role players for Cleveland decided...

The Golden State Warriors is now one win away from their second NBA title in 3 years after winning Game 3 118-113. Kevin Durant made a clutch three point shot with 45 seconds left to give the Warriors a 114-113 lead. Durant finished the game with a team high 31 points and 9 rebounds. Stephen Curry continues to have an outstanding series grabbing a playoff career high 13 rebounds to go along with 26 points. Klay Thompson also played big, scoring 30 points (16 in the 1st quarter ). LeBron James and Kyrie Irving played great for the Cavs. LeBron scored 3 9 points but only had 11 of those points in the second half. Kyrie Irving was struggling until his 16 point 3rd quarter and ended the game with 3 8 points.  Golden State can become the 1st team to finish a NBA playoffs undefeated The Warriors have beat the Cavaliers three different ways in three games. Game 1 Golden State played perfect team basketball (4 total turnovers ). Game 2 the Warriors turned the ball over 2 0 times...

The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 132-113 to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Kevin Durant had a game high 33 points along with 13 rebounds and 6 assist. Stephen Curry finishes with 32 points 10 rebounds and 11 assist, his first career playoff triple-double. LeBron James also had a triple-double with 29 points 11 rebounds and 14 assist. Kevin Love was impressive with 27 points and 7 rebounds. I'm not expecting the Cavs to come back and win this series, but I do expect Cleveland to come back at home in game 3 and get back to playing their game. Tristan Thompson having 4 rebounds is unacceptable. Kyrie Irving shooting 35% from the field is unacceptable. J.R. Smith having 0 points is mind blowing. On top of that the Cavaliers bench shot horrible from the field. Channing Frye 1-5 Iman Shumpart 0-6 and Deron Williams 0-5. Are the Cavs even trying? LeBron James is tired. James played 39 minutes in Game 2. He has been averaging 40 minutes per game in the pla...

ESPN's Marc Stine reports that Chris Paul is seriously considering playing for the San Antonio Spurs next season. Sources told ESPN that Chris Paul is intrigued with the idea of playing for Coach Gregg Popovich and Kawhi Leonard. Chris Paul has never played in a conference finals in his 12 year career and has an early termination option that would make him a free agent this summer. Chris Paul to the Spurs is a great move for both parties. The one aspect that has been missing from Chris Paul's career has been the fact that he has never played for a championship franchise. New Orleans has never been deep into the playoffs and the Los Angeles Clippers is notorious for losing despite recent regular season success. Chris Paul average 18.7 points and 9.9 assist per game in 12 NBA seasons Chris Paul will also play as Tony Parker replacement. I'm not saying that Tony Parker doesn't have any good basketball left. But at 35 years old, Parker would be best coming off the...

Jason Whitlock comments this past week on the FS1 talk shows " Speak for Yourself" and 'The Herd" regarding Lebron James handling of the vandalism that happen to his home were ridiculous. He said and I quote " that Lebron is not a victim, racism only effects poor people." Chris Broussard begin naming guys like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Henry Lewis Gates, and Jason Whitlock responded, " poor people." Seriously? Who the hell are you to say these are poor people or to just designate racism to only poor people. This isn't being an uncle Tom this is Jason Whitlock being ignorant and insulting to every American rich or poor, black or white who have experienced racism. This isn't the first time Jason Whitlock has degraded his own race though, he has made awful remarks regarding Mike Tomlin and Kobe Bryant as well for ratings. He figures as long as I say these controversial things about the black race and the black athletes, I will keep the rig...

Wednesday at 6:44 a.m., the Los Angeles home of LeBron James was vandalized with N-Word graffiti. LeBron said "My family is safe." and went on to say "But it goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America, especially for African-Americans, is living every day" FS1 analyst Jason Whitlock commented on James's home being vandalized by saying that "racism is primary an issue for the poor. It's not LeBron James's issue." and that he has "removed himself from the damages and ravages of real racism." I completely disagree with those comments. Not only that but I believe that the mentality that Jason Whitlock has is the number one problem in our fight for equality. Mr. Whitlock is not the only African-American that feels that money and fame can put you "above racism". This thinking is more common than you may believe. The problem with thinking that way is that you are dividing African-Ameri...

The Golden State Warriors blowout the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-91 to take the 1-0 lead. Kevin Durant had a game high 38 points 9 rebounds and 8 assist, shooting 53% from the field. Stephen Curry played outstanding finishing with 28 points 10 assist 6 rebounds, making 6 3-pointers LeBron James finished with 28 points 15 rebounds 8 assist, while Kevin Love grabbed a game high 21 rebounds game high with 15 points. Man... I wasn't expecting this. I was looking forward to a good game since the rest of the playoffs been such a drag. Half of me wants this to be a great series full of "scrappiness" and close games, but the other half of me know what time it is. And this Game 1 blowout is what time it is. The Warriors have been waiting on this moment since the day Kevin Durant signed. Golden State threw the best punches time after time after time. There were a few times, especially in the first half where the Cavs had life but Durant was too much. twincitiesbusinessradio.com ...

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors are getting ready to start an epic NBA Finals maybe the greatest we've seen in the last 15-20 years! This is Ali vs Frazier, Tyson vs Holyfield, Mayweather vs Manny, I could go on and on.. This two teams come into this series with a combined record of 24-1 in which the one loss was an obvious fluke! You have the best player in the world in Lebron, The best scorer in the world in Kevin Durant, The best shooter in Steph, the best ball handler in Kyrie, and the best defender in the game right now in Draymond! I didn't even get to mention the perennial all stars Kevin Love and Klay Thompson name! This is set up to be one of the greatest playoff series in history!  First things first there is no underdog in this series, let's stop that. The Cavs are on the same level as the Warriors are. If the Cavs beat the Warriors it's no upset they just win! Dallas beating Miami was an upset, Detroit beating the Lakers was an...

According to ESPN's Ian Begley, the Minnesota Timberwolves is interested in signing 3-time All-Star Derrick Rose this offseason. At 28 years old, this will be Rose first time being a free agent. Last season for the Knicks, Rose played 64 games averaging 18 points a game with 4 assist and 4 rebounds.  Frequently injured, Rose played 64 out of the Knicks first 74 games before missing the remainder of the season with a right knee meniscus tear. Minnesota has a huge question mark coming into this off season at the point guard position. Starter Ricky Rubio will be an unrestricted free agent this off season. Rubio is a solid point guard and consistently among the league leaders in assist and steals, but lack scoring ability and the athleticism that is the trend in today's point guard game. Kris Dunn, 5th pick in last years draft, has the athleticism and the size at 6'4 205 lbs but had a disappointing rookie season, only averaging 3.8 points per game. Rubio is a great poi...

The NFL owners voted to make most touchdown celebrations legal again. This includes group celebrations, using the ball as a prop and snow angels. Celebrations that will still be penalized include, dunking the goal post, miming weapons and any sexually suggestive action. Mixed responses have came from the decision. Players are excited that they can  have fun after a touchdown without costing their team 15 yards. NFL coaches, such as Bengals Marvin Lewis are against the rule changing saying that players should play the game "The right way." Rodger Goodell, NFL Commissioner (nesn.com) I'm excited that the NFL will stop penalizing players for celebrations. It made no sense to me in the first place. I'm a firm believer in the saying "If you don't want me to celebrate, stop me." I understand the rule in college football. Most college football players have no intentions on playing NFL football, so there's no need to rub it in kids faces when your p...

LeBron's 11 point performance in Game 3 shouldn't be a cause for any panic. The Celtics are without their leading scorer Isaiah Thomas for the remainder of the series. There's no way the Celtics come back in this series. Brad Stevens is a top 5 coach in all of basketball. The way he draw up plays out of timeouts will put the right player in position to score every time. Avery Bradley was wide open for that game winning three. Much credit should be giving to Boston for coming out and competing on the road and down 21. But we all know how this series is going to end. LeBron not scoring in the 4th quarter only tells me that he was taking the night off. LeBron can score whenever he wants. Boston is notorious for their defense but holding James to 11 points will not be the norm. At this point it's clear that the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will be in the Finals. It will be best if both teams conserve as much energy as possible because this year's finals wil...

Coach of the Year Finalist - Mike D'Antoni Houston Rockets, Eric Erik Spoelstra  Miami Heat, Gregg Popovich San Antonio Spurs Mike D'Antoni is my favorite to win this award. The main thing I look for in a Coach of the Year is the turnaround in team record. Last season the Rockets were 41-41 and turned it around to 55-27. Popovich is a mainstay as a  Coach of the Year finalist. The Spurs have been title contenders for as far back as I can remember. Surprised Eric Spoelstra a finalist. I like the job he's doing with Hassan Whiteside and that roster but the Heat missed the playoffs. Feel like Utah's Quin Snyder should've been a finalist. The Jazz missed the playoffs last season and had a losing record. This season Utah finished 5th in the west and knocked out the favorite L.A. Clippers. Sixth Man of the Year - Lou Williams Houston Rockets, Eric Gordon Houston Rockets, Andre Iguodala Golden State Warriors My preseason pick for this award was Eric Gordon and I'...

 Yesterday's Game 1 one matchup couldn't have been going any better for the San Antonio Spurs in which they jumped out to a 14 point lead at the end of the first quarter and eventually adding to that going into half leading by 20 points and holding that high powered Warriors offense to only 42 points. Steph Curry came out cooking in the second half even before Kawhi went down in which he hosted 19 of his 40 in the 3rd but the obvious changing moment in the game was when Kawhi attempted a jump shot and ZaZa Pachulla who has a history of questionable plays closed out and Kawhi Leonard landed on his foot reinjuring that left ankle that kept him out of Game 6 vs the Houston Rockets. bing Was it a dirty play? In my opinion it was a basketball play that was committed by a dirty player so he really can't get the benefit of the doubt. It is a play we see happen multiple times over the course of a season, and in the game of basketball it is a surprise that it doesn't happen...

 I wrote an article earlier this year explaining why I believed Lebron James wasn't the greatest player of all time and why I still believe that, but its time that even his haters give him his credit. This brother has been balling and that's an understatement. He's in one of those zones that few players could really get into where its absolutely nothing an opposing team can do to stop him. Through the first 8 games of the playoffs the Cleveland Cavaliers are 8-0 and Lebron is just averaging 34 points 9 rebounds and 7 assist per game at this point in the playoffs. Of course we Lebron haters love to bring up the competition side of things but lets be honest for a second maybe the East isn't that bad, maybe Lebron is just that much better then everyone else. If Lebron continues to shoot the 3 ball the way he is not even that super team from California ( Golden State Warriors) are going to beat them in 4 times out of 7. The league needs to be on High Alert because th...

Last nights playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets may have been one of the more shocking things the NBA has seen in quite some time. Something from tip off just wasn't right about it. The Spurs were without their one Superstar Kawhi Leonard but that never became a story because of how easily they destroyed the Houston Rockets wining 114-75. REALLY!!!! On your home floor, with the sharpshooters that you've acquired and potential MVP in some people eyes you score 75 points against a team that's not only missing they best player but also their best defender. THATS INSANE!!!!!!! But that's not even the biggest issue... bing        James Harden is the issue and this is a HUGE problem for the Houston Rockets IF they have championship desires and not just selling tickets. James Harden had ZERO interest in last nights game, basically selling the city of Houston out the same way he did OKC in the finals against Miami. In big moment...

The Rockets were in full control the entire game and tied the series with the Spurs 2 games a piece. Without Tony Parker, San Antonio struggle to move the ball on offense. Kawhi Leonard is one of the best players in the NBA but one of his very few weaknesses is that he not a very good passer. Kawhi can score but can't set others up to score.  James Harden played a great game scoring 28 points and 12 assist. People love to say that Harden is not a "pure point guard" but what does that mean? Because Harden is the best in the league at setting teammates outside of LeBron James. No he doesn't control the ball like a Chris Paul but in this new age of basketball your point guard is your shooting guard. He has to get assist and score points in bunches. If your point guard not doing that it's going to be real hard to compete in the NBA.  define.com This is the most interesting series of the playoffs to me because it is a clash of basketball philosophies.  Coach Po...

The Wizards slapped the Celtics 121-102 to even the series at 2 games apiece. John Wall is doing whatever out there on the floor. A couple arguments been on my twitter timeline lately about Wall. First one is "Is Wall a top 5 point guard in the NBA?" and "Is John Wall better than Kyrie Irving?" Right Now Wall is definitely top 5 in the NBA. Averaging 28 points and 12 assist per game in this series, John Wall is going the rare ability to finish at the rim and pass the ball at the highest level. In this series John Wall is averaging 28 points and 12 assist. I'll leave the Wall versus Kyrie debate up to you, but Wall has the Wizards just 2 wins away from its first eastern conference finals since 1978. cinsradio.com Washington is just a better team than the Celtics. They have more fire power on offense and a much better rebounding team. The series is even but the Wizards were up by 14 and 17 in both losses respectively. As far as toughness go Washington is t...

Cleveland complete their 2nd straight sweep with a 109-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are 2-8 in their last 10 games versus the Cavs in the playoffs. raptorsrepublic.com Dwane Casey will be a great NBA coach, just not for this team. Toronto will most likely fire Casey, who has been the coach of the Raptors for 6 seasons. The Raptors have been to the playoffs 4 consecutive years but has a record of 17-24. Despite injuries to stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, Coach Casey still found a way to win 50 games two seasons in a row.  The Raptors are not built for the playoffs. DeMar DeRozan scores in bunches but can only do so 2 points at a time because his range is limited to 20 feet. Toronto is not a bad defensive team, ranking 11th in defensive efficiency. When it comes to LeBron and Kyrie there is nothing DeRozan or Lowry can do. play.esea.net During this series it looked to me as if the Raptors already knew they were swept. Kyle Lowry never shows up f...

The Warriors took a 3-0 lead versus the Utah Jazz Saturday night with a 102-91 win. The Warriors are now one win away from their 3rd consecutive western conference finals appearance.  purpleandblues.com Utah is no match for this Warriors team and we all knew that coming in. I'm just happy that the Jazz beat the Clippers because Doc Rivers is one of the most overrated coaches in NBA history, but thats another story. The Jazz have the right coach in Quin Snyder. Snyder preaches ball movement and tough interior defense. Rudy Gobert is a future all-star. The 4th year big man averages 14 points 12.8 rebounds and leads the NBA with 2.6 blocks.  The biggest question for Utah is the future of Gordon Hayward. Hayward has been the go-to guy for the Jazz, getting them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. A lot of teams that need a scoring spark are looking to sign Hayward this summer including the Celtics, Heat and Clippers. Utah is talented but they don't have eno...