WATERCOOLER CHAT: HEAT AND SPURS IN FINALS THURSDAY NIGHT, NETS LOOKING FOR COACH, RAVENS TRIP TO WHITE HOUSE
BASKETBALL
The NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs begins Thursday night. The Spurs look fantastic, while the Heat haven’t exactly been playing the top level of basketball we are accustomed to seeing. However, LeBron James said in a press conference that he is tired of losing. And even though the Spurs beat his Cavs team back in 2007, LeBron said that he will not seek “revenge” per se.  James has a much better supporting cast this time around, and he’s not going to let the Spurs give him a hard time. LeBron is even more upset that the Spurs got to celebrate on the Cavs home floor. He said he will never forget that, so look for LeBron to be a complete monster Thursday night against the Spurs.
Elsewhere in the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets are still seeking a coach. The Nets are now a major market team full of some stars. They intend to be a top team in the East next year, but they need that strong coach who is going to pull the team together. Even though the Memphis Grizzlies made the Western Conference Finals, they still haven’t locked up their head coach Lionel Hollins to a contract. Hollins is one of the best coaches in the league at this point. He is responsible for galvanizing a Grizzlies team without a major star and turning them into a contender. The Nets wanted to talk to Hollins, but the Grizzlies have disallowed Hollins from speaking to them (they have that in their contract). Hollins has even said that he WANTS to coach the Grizzlies — that he loves Memphis. The Grizzlies better lock him up soon.
FOOTBALL
Finally, in the NFL, Wednesday was the Baltimore Ravens trip to the White House. This is an annual tradition in football, and one that doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. As an aside, Anquan Boldin, who was key to the Ravens post-seasons success couldn’t make the trip because he was with his new team: The San Francisco 49ers. President Obama even joked with the Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, saying that his MVP timing was fortuitous considering that Flacco was looking for a new big contract. At the end of the day, head coach John Harbaugh said that the Ravens have plans to be back soon.
