BASKETBALL

In the NBA, only one playoff game last night (because the Lakers/Mavs series ended QUICKLY!)  That game was a pivotal match-up between the Atlanta Hawks and the Chicago Bulls.  The Bulls have taken a lot of criticism lately for not closing out this series sooner, but had no intention of losing on their home court.  The trick to stopping Atlanta is not letting their offense get hot at any point.  That’s why the Bulls played lock-down defense in the 4th quarter.  They weren’t taking any chances with the Hawks going on a 3-point shooting spree, and stifled the Hawks to just 15 points in the 4th.  Point-guard Jeff Teague has been an unlikely rookie star for the Hawks, putting up 21 points and 7 assists for Atlanta, but there’s simply no stopping Derrick Rose at the point-guard position.  Rose had another stellar night with 33 points and 9 assists, as the Bulls cruised to victory to send the series back to Atlanta.  However, Atlanta is very tough to beat on their home floor, and this series could be going 7.  Chicago 95, Atlanta 83.

Elsewhere in the NBA, a little gossip out of Miami.  Heat superstars Dwayne Wade and LeBron James publicly said yesterday that they owe their new partnership (along with Chris Bosh) to the Boston Celtics.  What?  Well, here’s why.  Wade and James said that Boston laid the blueprint for “joining forces”.  In 2008, Boston brought in both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play along fellow all-star Paul Pierce.  LeBron stated, “Seeing guys make sacrifices to come together and play as one. They set the blueprint and went out there and did it. They won a championship. They competed every year.”  So clearly, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are all making “sacrifices” right now by not being alpha-dogs.  But what good is being an alpha-dog if you don’t even come close to winning a title?  Either way, Miami looks like the hottest team out there right now.  We’ll see if they can finish off the Celtics and then get past the Bulls/Hawks.

FOOTBALL

Finally, in the NFL, Reggie Bush is tweeting some controversial messages again.  Yesterday he tweeted RE: the lockout, “Everybody complaining about the lockout! Shoot I’m making the most of it! Vacation, rest, relaxing, appearances here and there! I’m good!”  His 1.6 Million followers didn’t exactly appreciate that sentiment.  They seemingly want Bush working hard every minute of the day to move toward getting another Super Bowl ring.  Bush had to come out publicly and say he was joking about that.  This has only generated attention because of the tweet that caught people’s eye at the NFL draft — when the Saints drafted Alabama running-back Mark Ingram and Bush tweeted, “It’s been fun New Orleans”.  Drew Brees, however, has come to Bush’s defense saying that Bush is just a hard-working player who wants to prove himself.  Brees continued by saying that he could empathize with how Bush felt because he experienced the same thing when he was starting QB for the Chargers, and they drafted Philip Rivers.  So for all you Tweeters out there, keep an eye on Reggie Bush — he’s been highly entertaining.