NBA

There were two Game 7’s in action on Sunday, each with a prize of a spot in the Conference Finals.

First up, it was the Los Angeles Lakers vs. a very pesky Houston Rockets team.  Houston has been absolutely resilient playing without their two best players — Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming.  But they have been able to force the mighty Lakers into a Game 7.  Unfortunately, however, the Rockets were simply out of gas by the end, and Kobe and the Lakers were in get-it-done mode.  The Lakers led throughout the game, and Pau Gasol had a monster day for the Lakeshow with 21 points and 18 rebounds.  The Lakers advanced with ease, and now must face an extremely dangerous Denver Nuggets team that thinks they can beat anybody right now.  Plus, keep in mind that Kobe will have to travel to Denver in a playoff environment.  And because of his serious trial there, he isn’t exactly well liked.  LA Lakers 89, Houston 70.

Next up, it was a prime time matchup between the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics.  This was the second Game 7 Boston had to deal with in the playoffs, as the Chicago Bulls pushed them to the brink in Round 1.  Plus, this series was just as good as the Bulls/Celtics series, as a few of the games came down to last minute clutch shots.  Well, Boston did what they could behind a key performance from Ray Allen (he had 23 points), but the Magic simply played better and wanted it more.  Their man was Hedo Turkoglu, who put up 25 points and 12 assists.  Dwight Howard also had a great game nabbing 16 rebounds.  This sets up an incredible matchup between the hungry Magic and seemingly invinsible Cleveland Cavaliers.  And as an item of note, the last time they played, Orlando crushed the Cavs.  This will be a great series.  Orlando 101, Boston 82.

BASEBALL

The biggest surprise of the baseball season so far has been the Toronto Blue Jays.  They have come out of nowhere to sit atop the super competitive AL East (a division which boasts the Yankees, Red Sox, and last year’s World Series reps — The Devil Rays).  And a big contributor to all of this has been their ace pitcher, Roy Halladay.  On Sunday he went for a major league leading 8th win against the Chicago White Sox.  Well, he got it with ease, even striking out 8 batters.  He is on fire this season, and the city of Toronto is stoked that they have the long dormant Blue Jays to root for again.  Toronto 8, Chicago White Sox 2.

OLYMPICS

And in some Olympic related news — Michael Phelps is swimming again.  But this does not look like the same Michael Phelps who won a record 8 gold medals in last year’s Olympic Games.  In fact, he lost the 100m freestyle, an event that is really all about speed swimming.  He finished second to French superstar Frederick Bousquet.  Of course Phelps was very hard on his efforts after the match, but bottom line — he seems beatable right now.