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Now that one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history is finished it’s time for the 2007-08 playoffs to take us to the next level. Other than Celtics/Hawks, the match-ups should give us entertaining basketball. All of the series won’t go seven games, but the level of competition will be at an all-time high.

I’m only gonna post my first round predictions right now, but my entire NBA Playoffs bracket will be over at Ball Hype. They’re having an NBA Playoffs Pick ‘Em Contest that’s free to enter, and the top prize is an iPod touch. I have the Eastern Conference sticking to the script for the most part, but deciding the Western Conference was painful..

Here are my first round picks:
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Shaquille O’Neal has missed over 25% of the Miami Heats’ games this season, and he’s gonna miss the all-star game for the first time in 14 years. All of the people that didn’t like Shaq from jump are finally getting their chance to say I told you so… Yes. 16 years and 4 championships later, you finally told us so.. Since Shaq can’t get on the floor with the Heat, he’s helping another one of his teams off the court. Read the full story

There’s been all kinds of stories about athletes making it big time and then squandering their opportunity. Whether it’s been drugs, bad investments, or pure stupidity, athletes that are supposedly living the life have ended up in turmoil. The story of Luther Wright is one of the worst that I’ve heard.

After being drafted by the Utah Jazz in 1993 it was all downhill for Luther Wright. His first season was bad, I mean really bad.. He averaged 1.3 points and .7 rebounds, and in January 1994 Luther experienced his first manic episode. He entered a mental institution after the season and never suited up for the Jazz again. Wright moved back to his home state of New Jersey where he got caught up in drugs and alcohol. The absolute low point came after Luther had two toes amputated at the hospital while high and crack, and instead of staying off of his feet, he hobbled back to a crackhouse on crutches.

Wright, a man that admits his size had more to do with him playing basketball than his desire, has started to pull himself together. He’s not working but he is engaged and recently learned that 2 of the children he was paying child support for aren’t his.

It was his size, 6′8″ in the 8th grade, that got him into Seton Hall and eventually into the NBA. All too often we deem athletes larger than life, immune to weaknesses, and time after time we are proven wrong. I’m hoping Luther Wright is big and strong enough to pull through this.

At rock bottom, Luther Wright finds salvation. Courtesy of The Desert News via The Newark Star Ledger

Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Brown of the Newark Star Ledger

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Congrats to the Utah Jazz for moving on to the Western conference finals. The Jazz closed their series against Golden State with a 100-87 game five victory. Utah already defeated my Secret team, and now they’ve taken down Cinderella. These are my Utah Jazz highlights from the series:

•  Derek Fisher showing incredible fortitude and heart after everything he’s been through.
• Carlos Boozer opening the eyes of the people that didn’t know about him. He was serving people for the second straight series. 
• Jerry Sloan getting Utah to the Conference finals again. He’s never been coach of the year?!?!
• Deron Williams playing like a vet. Game 5 notwithstanding.
• Mehmet Okur, Paul Millsap, Matt Harpring, and Gordon Giricek playing their roles well.
• Andrei Kirilenko leaving his tears in the first round and causing havoc for Golden State’s offense.

I don’t know anybody that’s not impressed with Utah. When the Jazz got out to the hot start at the beginning of the season, a lot of people didn’t believe they were for real. I was one of those people. The lack of playoff experience from key players had me thinking Utah would flame out in the playoffs regardless of their record. I admit it… I was wrong. Another thing I was wrong about is Utah’s style of play. I didn’t get to see them too much this season so I assumed they were a slow it down, grind it out type of team. They can play that way, but they just proved in the G. State series that they can run up and down the court too.

As far as Golden State is concerned, what can I say? They pulled off the great upset in round 1, but seemed to be out of gas and definitely over matched in round 2. Baron Davis put the league on notice for next season, and Stephen Jackson proved that the Kings have to trade Artest just to put some miles between Jackson and Ron-Ron. The unfortunate thing is, G. State was in game 5 until they started acting like the 3 point line was an alligator infested moat protected by a 12 foot, 100,000 watt electric fence. I couldn’t believe how the Warriors would stop at the line and jack a three whether they were on a fast break or 1 second into the shot clock. The Warriors need to grow up too. All of the complaining, technical fouls, and cheap shots really put G. State’s nice postseason story in an ugly light.

So again, congrats to the Utah Jazz. The winner of the Suns/Spurs series is going to have it’s hands full in the conference finals.

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Arash Markazi goes fishing with LT. Thank you Fan Nation

I hope you didn’t buy an Akili Smith jersey. Thank you Just Call Me Juice

Lindsay Lohan nip slip. Thank you Larry Brown Sports (NSFW)

An unhappy mother’s day in the bay. Thank you Golden State of Mind

Visual proof that the Spurs are a dirty team. Thank you Miss Gossip at AOL Fanhouse

Rapper The Game released from jail. Thank you All Hip Hop

The rich get richer in Utah. Thank you Our Book of Scrap

The real worth of your favorite baseball team. Thank you The Hardball Times

Shaun Livingston is walking again, fiending for snack food. Thank you Yay Sports

Suge Knight is shooting.. a reality tv show. Thank you XXL

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The 10 PR commandments. (music PR) Thank you Street Census (peeped at Nah Right Lite)

Utah’s Dee Brown is out of the hospital. Thank you B. Shoals at AOL Fanhouse

The most mediocre baseball players of all time. Thank you The Smittblog

The Top 25 Hip Hop albums of all time. Thank you Straight Bangin (scroll down)

Pee your pants for the Brewers. Thank you Pee Your Pants For The Brewers

The Mav’s collapse was predictable. Thank you Hoops Hype (Eddie Johnson blog)

Take a look at these golf babes. Thank you Golf Babes

Freddy Roach got paid to train Oscar De La Hoya but it still cost him. Thank you Max Boxing

Chris Rock, Never Scared, “tired of defending Hip Hop” flashback. Thank you Nobody Smiling (NSFW language)

Yankees pitcher Chien Ming Wang gets his groove on. Thank you Matt at AOL Fanhouse

**UPDATE** I’m not sure how I missed this but The Starting Five has a good and lengthy interview with Dave Zirin. Great stuff in this interview. **UPDATE**

Props to Ball Hype for making this easy to put together.

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