Spoken Thought

NBA Playoffs 2008 Part 2

Yesterday kicked off the first day of the NBA Playoffs, and what a group of games they were. After all of the build up that went into it, I’d say that the games delivered.

Cleveland Cavaliers - 93
Washington Wizards - 86

This was Washington’s chance to back up all of the talk that preceded this game. During the beginning of the game, DeShawn Stevenson did hold Lebron James to 0-4 from the field. Gilbert Arenas did come out and shoot the ball, lights out. The best shot of the game came from Arenas, at the end of the first quarter, shooting a 3 pointer from about 10 feet behind the 3 point line. For some reason, however, he must have lost faith in his jumper. Enter Lebron James who basically took over, making over 80 percent of his shots in the second half.

Highlight of this game was an alley oop from Daniel Gibson to Lebron James that seemed near impossible to catch.

There was still some trash talk (from both sides) during the game, including a little altercation at the end of the half, but all that really mattered was the win, which Cleveland took.

San Antonio Spurs - 117 (Double Overtime)
Phoenix Suns - 115

This, to me, was the best game of the night. Double Overtime (almost triple), second half come back, home game, for the defending champion Spurs. Again, there was a lot of talk that the Phoenix Suns would’ve won the series last year if Amare Stoudamire hadn’t missed that one game. Not to mention, the Phoenix Suns actually traded for Shaq for this purpose (to defeat the Spurs). But still, the Spurs found a way to pull out the victory, climbing up from being down throughout most of the game.

In the beginning, the Spurs did look a little rusty, but as the game went on, we saw them shake right back into championship form.

End of the 4th quarter, Spurs down by 3, Michael Finley hits the trey to send the game into the first overtime.
End of overtime, Spurs down by 3 again, Manu Ginobili drives, and kicks it back to Tim Duncan, who hits a trey of his own (his first 3 point field goal of the season) to send the game into the second overtime.
End of the second overtime, the Spurs have the 3 point lead, Steve Nash gets the ball in the left corner and shoots a fade-away 3 pointer. He connects.

The game is tied, and its up to Manu Ginobili to finish the game. He lets the clock wind down for a bit, and then drives to his left and completes a close fadeaway shot off of the backboard. Spurs win.

What a first game. This will definitely be an interesting series to watch now that the Spurs are playing in championship form again.

New Orleans Hornets - 104
Dallas Mavericks - 92

I wonder how many basetkball analysts are going to switch their picks, to win the series, after watching this game. As you may recall, everyone, so far, has talked about how young the New Orleans Hornets are and how unprepared they are for the playoff atmosphere. With a 12 point win over the Dallas Mavericks (the more experienced team), how is it looking for the New Orleans Hornets now? But again, lets not get ahead ourselves, the series isn’t over until it’s over.

The Dallas Mavericks came out swinging taking a double digit lead over the New Orleans Hornets coming into the third quarter. During halftime, something must’ve been said or done, because something clicked with that team. They got with the program en route to a 104-92 victory over the Mavs.

Jason Kidd was shooting fairly well in the first two quarters, but once Chris Paul took over, and the Hornets began running away with their own lead, his shot went stale. But he wasn’t the only one. No one with a Mavs jersey on seemed to be able to convert in the second half. They only had 9 field goals in the second half, collectively. To put it into perspective, Chris Paul, alone, had 10.

Utah Jazz - 93
Houston Rockets - 82

I’ll admit, I didn’t pay much attention to this game. The first three were enough for me. That’s not saying that I didn’t see it. I do think the Jazz are a better matchup for the Lakers, if they do get by the Nuggets. The Lakers have not done well against the Rockets, but fortunately for them, the Jazz can take care of that.

The Jazz came in as the 4th seed (because they led their division), but Houston had the better overall record. So, coming into this series, Houston had the home court advantage. That’s pretty much out the window now that the Jazz have taken game 1 in Houston. Sidenote: The Utah Jazz had a sub .500 record on the road during the regular season, but had the best record, in the league, at home (losing only 4).

I do appreciate Tracy McGrady’s game, but I just don’t see this being the year that he gets passed the 1st round. He may prove us all wrong, who knows.

Luis Scola has a pretty good career ahead of him. For some reason, I see him playing for the Spurs at some point.

Today’s games should be pretty fun to watch. Not much trash talking from this bunch, but thinking about it, I don’t think there’s much reason. Here are the games:

Toronto @ Orlando 12:30pm TNT
Denver @ Los Angeles 3:00pm ABC
Philadelphia @ Detroit 6:00pm TNT
Atlanta @ Boston 8:30pm TNT

Aside from the Lakers-Nuggets game (if the Nuggets decide to play defense), I don’t see any truly close matchups here. If Dwight comes out to play, I’ve got the Magic winning over the Raptors, hands down. Then you have the Detroit Pistons series, and the Boston Celtics series. Not much else to say. Nonetheless, I’ll be watching all of these games to see what I can expect from the favorites later on.

Working More Effectively

Oftentimes we all find ourselves getting a bit lazy. Too lazy to type up a couple pages of content. Too lazy to set up those websites that we meant to get around to. Too lazy to complete that design or that program that we’ve been holding off all week. I’ll be among the first to admit that I go through these periods of laziness myself.

What I’ve noticed though, is that there are a lot of factors that we tend to overlook when trying to cure ourselves of this lack of motivation. A few examples being:

A Clean Workspace:
At times, my workspace can get as crowded as a New York City subway during rush hour. If the same can be said for you, then it might be in your best interest to clean that up. I’ve found that I personally work better when I have a clear path between myself and the monitor in front of me. It gets me into that ‘zone’ so to speak.

Eating Healthier:
Normally, I’m not a very healthy eater, but I do my best work when I’m eating healthy and drinking lots of water. I’m not saying that you need to go all out and become a vegetarian, not at all (I know I’m not going to), but when you’re working, try to get some water close by. It might ultimately lead to you making a few changes to your diet here and there.

Working Out:
You don’t need to go all out and buy a bowflex, but I’d say a couple minutes for exercising from time to time is a good thing. Personally, I exercise at least 4 mornings a week, as soon as I wake up. It gets my mind going and my body on alert. You really don’t need to be obsessive with the exercise routine as far as working efficiency goes. You’re looking for something to get your juices flowing.

Talk to People:
Get a few conversations going with some people. Even if it isn’t about ‘business’, it still helps to converse with others to keep your mind active and absorbant. Conversation, in my opinion, is like a mental exercise. The levels of conversation that you choose to take part in, and the people that you choose to speak with, effect how quickly, and at what level, your mind progresses.

There. Four fairly specific things, that you might have overlooked or taken for granted, that you can do that will positively effect the way you work. Now, for the obvious things:

Lay Off of the Blogs and Forums:
Honestly, I understand if you’re new to the industry and you’re really just looking to learn. At some point however, you need to reduce the amount of time (by a lot) that you spend reading, and use it toward learning by experience.

Lay Off of the Other Common Sites Too
When focusing on a particular work, leave the other sites that you often visit, alone. Unless, ofcourse, it will help you with what it is that you’re working to complete.

and lastly…

Just do it:
This is probably the most common/popular message out there to the slackers. There are plenty posts across the web relaying this message. Hell, there’s a an entire sneaker campaign built around these three words. It’s pretty self-explanatory. You know what you want to do. Just do it.