Posted 31 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
The Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers sqaure off in the 2009 NBA Finals. Not exactly the Finals anyone thought they would see. The Los Angeles Lakers return to the Finals after losing last season to the Boston Celtics. The Orlando Magic haven’t been to the Finals since being swept in 95′ by the Houston Rockets. The city of Orlando had to be the ONLYpeople that could have fathomed this outcome. But the Orlando Magic are quite worthy of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The Magic finished the season with the fourth best record, and during the postseason eliminated two of the teams that had better records, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. The defeat of the Boston Celtics in Game7 in Boston was a huge moment in Orlando Magic history. The Cavaliers never had a chance, too little and too much Dwight Howard spelled disaster. The only team left with a better record is the Los Angeles Lakers, who the Magic swept this season for the first time in franchise history. In both games Jameer Nelson was the leading scorer for the Magic, Dwight Howard had double-doubles in both games. Kobe Bryant had a triple-double in their first meeting and 41 points in the second game. The Magic are definitely the underdogs in the series but their recent play would say otherwise. The Lakers 
beta the Utah jazz in six games, then were put on the brink of elimination by Houston Rockets. The Rockets series taught the Lakers a lesson they carried into the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, close out teams when you have a chance. That’s just what the Lakers did in Game6 in Denver, crushing the Nuggets the entire game en route to the NBA Finals. The live by the 3, die by the 3 nature of Orlando could be its downfall in this series. Dwight Howard should have his way in the post, but Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis will have to continue their excellent play to win in LA and steal home-court. The Magic bench will be a liability in this series, Anthony Johnson, and Gortat, are no match for Jordan Farmer, Odom, and Shannon Brown. The Lakers have lost their last two Finals appearances, losing in six to the Detroit Pistons, and to Boston. Phil Jackson wants that 10th championship putting him pass the late Red Aurbach for most championships. Kobe Bryant would love to erase the statement, “You only have 3 Rings because of Shaq”. This series is the Lakers to lose, but Orlando has accomplished more so far this postseason than anyone could have imagined. On Thursday we will see which team wants it more.
Posted 24 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
The so called “Great Debate” rages on, as the world chooses who is a better player Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. We at The Truth Sports will let the numbers be the guide!
*Note LeBron is six years younger then Kobe.
Kobe Bryant
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Vitals
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LeBron James
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 |
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Lakers
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Team
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Cavaliers |
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|
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30
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Age
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24 |
|
|
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6-6
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Height
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6-8 |
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|
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210
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Weight
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250 |
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|
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Lower Merion (Pa.)
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High school
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St. Vincent-St. Mary (Ohio) |
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|
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13
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NBA experience
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6 |
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|
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13th overall, 1996
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NBA draft
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1st overall, 2003 |
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2008-09 STATISTICS
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|
|
|
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82
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Games played
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81 |
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|
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26.8 (3)
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Points (NBA rank)
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28.4 (2) |
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|
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5.2 (60)
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Rebounds (rank)
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7.6 (27) |
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|
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4.9 (29)
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Assists (rank)
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7.2 (9) |
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|
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1.46 (12)
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Steals (rank)
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1.69 (8) |
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46.7% (58)
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Field-goal%. (rank)
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48.9% (34) |
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35.1% (101)
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Three-point FG%. (rank)
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34.4% (109) |
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|
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36.1(38)
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Minutes (rank)
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37.7 (13) |
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|
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7 (79)
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Double-doubles (rank)
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29(T-14) |
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6.3 (4)
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Fourth-quarter points (rank)
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6.9 (2) |
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65-17
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Team record
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66-16 |
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CAREER CREDENTIALS
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|
|
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6
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NBA Finals appearances
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1 |
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|
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4 (2000-03, 09)
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NBA titles
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0 |
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|
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MVP (2008), All-NBA first team (2002-04, 2006-09), All-Defensive team (2000, 2003-04, 2006-09)Finals MVP(2009)
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Awards
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MVP(2009)Rookie of the year (2004), All-NBA first team (2006, 2008, 2009)All-Defensive team(09) |
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|
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11
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All-Star appearances
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5 |
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|
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2008
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Olympic gold medal
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2008 |
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|
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16
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Total Triple Doubles
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24 |
Posted 17 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
After a six day rest the Denver Nuggets prepare to fly to Los Angeles and take on the Lakers in Game1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. The Nuggets were a bump in the road of the Lakers march to the Finals last season, losing in the first round. But this years Nuggets is a far cry from the team the Lakers saw last season. The addition of playoff veteran Chancey Billups and uber hype man Chris “Birdman” Anderson have changed the demeanor of the team. The Nuggets have steam-rolled through the playoffs, embarrassing the New Orleans Hornets and over playing the Dallas Mavericks. The Nuggets are the the most impressive team this post-season next to the Cleveland Cavaliers who have yet to lose. The Los Angeles Lakers enter this series unsure of who they are. After losing big leads in Round1 to the Utah Jazz, it appeared the mighty Lakers had chinks in their armor. In Round2 the Houston Rockets put a serious dent in that armor pushing the Lakers to the brink of elimination, without Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming. Kobe Bryant said on Sunday following their Game7 victory over the Houston Rockets “We are bipolar”. The Lakers clearly showed a tendency to play at a higher more determined level at home. This would be a problem if they didn’t posses home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. But their “bipolar tendencies” will come back to bite them come Tuesday when the Nuggets roll into town. Chauncey Billups is the key that Denver has needed for years and has the Nuggets poised to make it to beyond this match up. The key for the Lakerswill be using their length to their advantage once again. Andrew Bynums howed up in the playoffs for the first time in Game7, Sunday with 14 points on 6-7 shooting, and Pau Gasol was huge with 21 points and 18 boards.The Nuggets are a much smaller team, but can match the Lakers offensively. Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in the Western Conference Finals is a must-see, but they will be out shined by the performance of Billups, super sixth-man JR Smith, and the post players of the Lakers. This series looks to go the distance with the winner being bruised and exhausted at the end.
Posted 09 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
Let me start by saying that The Truth Sports is a fan of NBA players. first..Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Tayshaun Prince, Tim Duncan, Shaq to name a few. We try to watch each NBA game without bias towards one team, but during the Western Conference semifinals matchup between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers we are having a hard time not rooting for the Rockets. The Houston Rockets are the absolute definition of an underdog. Rooting for underdogs is something that is done with ultimate sensitivity. The majority of the public is rooting for the Lakers, even native Houstonians that haven’t ever been to Los Angeles. They are fans of winning, and the Rockets haven’t won it all in nearly 15 years. Or they just chose to root for a team that is consistent. 15 years is a small amount of time when it comes to the Chicago Cubs, or the Milwaukee Bucks, but even when Houston was winning back-to-back titles no one outside of Houston cared. Hakeem Olajuwon is a top ten all-time NBA player but the world could care less. Sports Illustrated didn’t even put the Rockets on the cover after they beat the Knicks in the 94′ Finals. The city had to beg for a cover and SI delivered a “special SI” for the city. If the Knicks had won that series SI would have run commercials for championship merchandise around the clock. The Rockets are a team that seem to start off each season with a solid roster “on paper” , but it never ends that way. Rocket uniforms have been donned by Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, James Posey, Stromile Swift, Bobby Jackson, and Walt Williams. All of these players had impacts but none of them could get Houston over that hump. The Rockets traded for Steve “Franchise” Francis and paired him with a 7’6″ Asian-born player Yao Ming, but still remained underdogs. Then the unthinkable happened and the “Francise” was traded for a scoring champ, an all-star, the person that would erase the underdog tag from the Rockets. But Tracy McGrady could not fight off the injury bug, and seasons were lost to back, shoulder and knee problems. The Rockets continued to add role players that would help to erase the underdog tag. Shane Battier, and Luis Scola, were all pieces of the puzzle needed to erase the underdog tag. The signing of Ron Artest before this season spelled the end of losing and a return to the mountaintop. The Rockets fought to the 5 seed in the playoffs and after 12 years got out of the first round. This seemed like the ticket to a different level of respect from the NBA, but the Rockets were far from gaining any real respect. The series with the Lakers has seen Shane Battiers face bloodied, Ron Artest elbowed(and called for a foul) and officials that keep their whistles in their pockets when Yao has the ball. Of course a fan of any team feels his/her team is treated unfairly from time to time, but no team is more disrespected, underrated, or simply passed on then the Houston Rockets. Hopefully one day they can again prove the world wrong! GO ROCKETS!
Posted 07 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
On Wednesday night in Los Angeles the Western Conference Semifinals got physical. Playoff physical. The Lakers suffered a tough lost on Monday, and questions about their toughness arose again, just like in the Finals against Boston last year. Well Kobe Bryant wasn’t going to let his team go down 0-2. Kobe finished with 40 points on 16-27 shooting, but his outstanding play was overshadowed by a barrage of technicals, flagrents, and two ejections. The game got a little chippy following a nasty rejection by Lamar Odom of Luis Scola. The two exchanged words, but the refs(namely Joey Crawford) let the talking continue. On the next trip down Odom was fouled by Scola and the techs started to flow, Scola , Luke Walton, and Odom were all hit with technicals with seconds left in the third quarter. Moments later Derek Fisher anticipating a screen from Scola, applied a football like move sending Scola flying back, and sending Fisher to the showers. With 7:00 minutes remaining in the 4th, Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant fought for a rebound when Kobe threw a quick elbow hitting Artest in the throat. Artest amazingly was whistled for the foul. You could immediately tell Artest was not gonna let this one slide,”I knew I was going to get a technical foul. The point was to let the refs know this guy was elbowing me,” he said. “I know I went over there with no punches, no shoves to the face, just a confrontation. I told him, ‘You’re hitting the wrong person. Don’t you know you’re hitting Ron Artest?’ I’m not retaliating, I’m done with that.” Artest got in Kobes face following the call and was hit with the fastest two techs ever seen, although one technical for Ron Artest counts as two. Ron Artest showed great composure for a person that is labeled as having a short fuse. The NBA VP of Violence Stu Jackson has tons of tape to review. Derek Fisher probably faces the worst punishment in a series that is a long way from being over. Game 3 is Friday in Houston, and look for the refs to take control of the physicality early on. In a series that drew blood in Game1 and double ejections in Game2, we can only expect Game 3 to continue the level of physical play. But if the Lakers thought the path to the Finals was gonna be easy the Houston Rockets have shown in the first two games that its only going to get tougher from here.
Posted 02 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA
A lot of talk coming out of the Eastern Conference first round series between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls was that it was the greatest playoff series ever. The absence of Kevin Garnett aside from a fly suit and diamond earrings keeps me from agreeing with the majority. Not having the Defensive Player of the Year on the court completely changes the Celtics. Their record and aura came from a stifiling and focused defense. No KG and they are totally diffrent. The lost of Leon Powe adds even more to the departure of their mystique. The series was hard fought by both teams, but it was only dramatic due to the overtimes and Rondo smacking and throwing elbows. The Chicago Bulls are young and had nothing to lose, but would have been gravely outmatched had KG been there. The series will be easily forgotten if the Houston-Lakers series goes 7, or if Cleveland and the Lakers meet in the Finals and that goes seven. So relax, enjoy good basketball and dont rush to give every 7 game series the greatest ever title.
Isaac Burns Murphy (April 16, 1861 – February 12, 1896)is considered one of the greatest race riders in American history. He was the first jockey to win the Derby on three occasions and consecutive runnings: Buchanan, 1884; Riley, 1890; and Kingman, 1891. “Kingman” was owned and trained by Dudley Allen and is the only horse owned by an African-American to win the Derby. Murphy remains the only jockey to win the Derby, Oaks and Clark Handicap in the same year, 1884. Ike or the “Colored Archer” as he was dubbed in reference to the prominent English jockey of the time, Fred Archer. Isaac Burns (Murphy) was born in 1860 on David Tanner’s Pleasant Green Hill Farm in Fayette County, KY. His father enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and died as a prisoner of war at Camp Nelson along the Kentucky River. His mother moved to Lexington where the family lived with her father Green Murphy. Upon becoming a jockey at 14, Isaac changed his last name to Murphy in honor his grandfather. Isaac Burns Murphy’s career inspired a long list of firsts. The son of a former slave, Murphy rose to prominence in a field that was dominatedby African American jockeys at the time. Born in 1861 in Fayette County, Kentucky, he first worked as an exercise boy at Lexington stables, and acquired his first race mount in 1875 at the age of 14 as a replacement rider. Murphy won the race and launched his career. Murphy ultimately rode 628 champions, winning 44 percent of his races (no other rider since has come close). Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro said: “There is no chance that his record of winning will ever be surpassed”. Murphy was the first rider voted into the Jockey Hall of Fame and the first to win successive Derby crowns (1890 and 1891). This distinction went unmatched until another outstanding black rider, Jimmy Winkfield, won the coveted “Run for the Roses” in 1901 and 1902. Murphy was known for his skill, his honesty and his loyalty. He once refused to let champion Falsetto lose the 1879 Kenner Stakes, even though gamblers enticed him with bribes. Isaac Murphy also owned and trained horses during his career. He retired in 1892 to become a horse trainer. Murphy died of pneumonia in 1896 at age 36. He was belatedly inducted into the Jockey’s Hall of Fame at Saratoga in 1955. His body was re-interred at the Kentucky Horse Park in Fayette County in 1977. Isaac Burns Murphy was the fhe first jockey to be inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Since 1995 the National Turf Writers Association has given the Isaac Murphy Award to the jockey with the highest winning percentage for a given year in North American racing, from a minimum of 500 mounts.
Posted 01 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category MLB
A-Rod on allegations: ‘I’m not going there’
Alex Rodriguez has become the scariest baseball player ever. Of course the pretty boy always had a large ego and pretty narcissistic, but the talk from Selena Roberts new book has Rodriguez as possibly evil. Taking steriods in High School, paying folks to take his SATs, and tipping off pitches to batters, all seem insane for a sport god like A-Rod. The exposing of his steriod usage during his Texas Rangers days was the first sign that A-Rod wasn’t what we thought him to be. The wholesome fresh faced kid from Florida who seemed to be the second coming of Ken Griffey Jr, had fooled us all. A-Rod has quite a bit of image resurrecting ahead of him. Can we ever trust any ball player again? The moment they begin to hit home runs at a consistent rate, how can we be sure its not drug related. The fact that Major League Baseball essentially turn a blind eye to his steriod use at the time, simply showed us they are about the dollars and not the rules. The highest paid player in baseball history, the future home run king*, is a cheat. How can baseball justify having any records when the large majority of record breakers over the last 10 years have all been linked to steriods. It almost feels as if MLB has to start over records-wise, or at least scrap the 80′s and 90′s records. Alex Rodiriguez is not alone when it comes to cheats, its just he is the most paid and popular of them all.
