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Bayern Munich – Thomas Muller Unexpected Shift Brings Perfection
Except for more goals, Bayern Munich played the perfect match, with everything going for them. An early, lucky goal by David Alaba, and 90 more minutes of constant pressure and fantastic football, that should be enough to pull them through the quarterfinals. A lot of this was enabled by Toni Kroos leaving the match so soon, and the introduction of Arjen Robben to the right wing, while Thomas Muller was shifted to the middle.
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FC Barcelona – Lionel Messi Runs Out of Luck
Staying healthy for so long is a matter of luck, among other things. Lionel Messi scored a goal that should have opened the floodgates towards a comfortable away win for Barcelona and securing a semifinal spot. Instead, Messi limped off with a hamstring injury that should keep him out of the second leg, while Barca have a complicated job ahead of them.
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Los Angeles Lakers – The 2013 NBA Playoffs Conspiracy
No one really believes and trusts the NBA officials, or the league itself, with David Stern sitting on top of the mountain. When you see the kind of calls the Los Angeles Lakers have been getting or getting away with in recent games as they attempt to make the final spot into the NBA playoffs, you can’t help to think that there’s some foul play involved, or at least wouldn’t be surprised to hear about something along those lines going on.
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New England Patriots – Fixing the Offense, not the Defense
While usually it is the defense and secondary of the New England Patriots that get most of the criticism for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick missing out on a fourth Super Bowl ring these past few years, taking a look at some of the numbers suggest that their offense is just in need of a fix, at least when you look at their playoff performances and not the regular season.
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The 2013 College Basketball AP All-Americans
Although the AP votes for All-Americans before the beginning of the NCAA tournament, leaving a few who think that the final results regarding the five first-team players should be different, it seems to be somewhat of an agreement that most of the guys on the 2013 list – Trey Burke, Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter Jr., Kelly Olynyk and Doug McDermott are deserving to be on it.
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10 Most Valuable MLB Teams
Five divisions from both leagues make up the 10 most valuable teams in Major League baseball, with two coming from the NL Central (Cardinals & Cubs), the AL West (Angels & Rangers), NL West (Giants & Dodgers), NL East (Mets & Phillies) and the AL East (Red Sox & Yankees).
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Utah Jazz – Al Jefferson Gets His Chance to Star
After a couple of games with the backcourt and especially Mo Williams setting the tone for the Utah Jazz, Al Jefferson went to work to bring back the dominance to what has been the team’s stronger unit over the last couple of years, the frontcourt, enjoying one of his more productive stretches of the season, coming at the perfect time.
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Boston Celtics – Tanking Their Way to the NBA Playoffs
There’s lottery tanking, and then there’s the playoffs kind, when you know you’re not going to finish in a better position than you’re already in so you rest players as much as possible. The Boston Celtics aren’t going to finish above the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference, so Doc Rivers prefers battling his battles without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, not leaving himself much of a chance.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin Continues to Thrive on his Own
With James Harden still missing and Chandler Parsons not playing as well, the load on Jeremy Lin to carry the offense of the Houston Rockets was greater than ever, this season at least. You know what? He had no problem being the man with the spotlight on him, as expected, having an excellent game while enjoying a very good one from Omer Asik in the paint to prove the point of his importance to Kevin McHale one more time.
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Memphis Grizzlies – Mike Conley Can Play Offense Too
Most of the praise the Memphis Grizzlies receive has to do with their defense, and while the frontcourt duo of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph is appreciated for what they do on offense as well, the chance for Mike Conley to earn the same accolades for what he does with the ball is rarer, but still something that happens once in a while.