Paul Pierce has closed 2 huge deals this week:

1) He just signed a 4 year, $61 million dollar deal with the Boston Celtics since he became a free agent at the end of this year.

2) And most importantly, he just married his fiancée, interior designer Julie Landrum, in an oceanfront ceremony in California, People.com reports.

Paul Pierce, 32, and his interior-designer bride, 27, exchanged vows underneath a gazebo at The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, Calif. The couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Prianna, served as the flower girl, and fellow Celtics Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers were among the approximately 80 guests.

Paul Pierce was a cornerstone to the Boston Celtics during their tough loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the recent NBA finals. He has become one of the primary faces of the Celtics along with Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett.

Here are photos of Julie Landrum and the wedding:

Last nights game 7 in the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics was the end of an absolutely amazing, hard fought finals series. The game itself ended up being a very low scoring game, mainly due to the hard fighting on defense that both teams were putting  forward. So when the Lakers ultimately ended up winning to become the NBA champions, it goes without saying that emotions were running high in the Staples Center.

Ron Artest Interview

One of my favorite parts of the post game was when a sports broadcaster tried to interview Ron Artest on the court. She (the broadcaster) asked Ron Artest some question about the game, his performance, etc… but what she got back was a funny, humorous, and very entertaining response from Ron Artest.

Ron Artest basically blew off the question asked and just started thanking everyone he could think of for the championship victory.

The funniest, and most unexpected person who got a shout out….???

Ron Artest’s psychiatrist.

Your psychiatrist?  Really?

And more specifically, Ron Artest thanked his psychiatrist for helping him to be able to relax more…

Here’s the Ron Artest post game interview:

The Lakers were on fire tonight in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. I’m guessing that Kobe Bryant basically chewed out his teammates by telling them that if he has to carry the team, then you don’t deserve to be called champions. And how true it is…

Kobe Bryant, although he had a spectacular night, was not the only one scoring and driving the Lakers to a dominant victory tonight. The load was carried across all the Lakers players, from starters all the way to deep into the bench.

The Lakers were playing with an intensity that the Boston Celtics just could not contend with, and if they play like this on Thursday night, then it will be lights out for the Celtics.

Jordan Farmar dunks over KG Kevin Garnett

Perhaps one of the most exciting plays of the night during Game 6 of the NBA finals when Jordan Farmar slammed dunked over Kevin Garnett. Farmar took it straight to the hoop without hesitation and KG couldn’t do anything but watch.

Here’s the slam dunk video of Jordan Farmar:

Game 6 of the NBA Finals just went into half time with the Lakers up by 20 points against the Celtics. The Lakers look like a totally different team tonight against Boston Celtics. The most prominent characteristics that sticks out to me is the fact that people other than Kobe Bryant are scoring on the Lakers team. In game 5 in Boston, Kobe Bryant scored 49% of the Lakers total points – tonight, Bryant only has 29% of the total points scored. This means that the Lakers players are stepping up, being aggressive, and making plays on their own without relying 100% on Kobe Bryant. The momentum is clearly in the Lakers favor right now The Lakers are playing harder, being more aggressive, and appear to simply want it more than the Celtics do right now. And like I said, the Lakers are playing as a team allowing the scoring differential to be spread across to other players. If the Lakers come out and keep playing aggressive like they’ve been playing, then game 6 will go to the Lakers along with the momentum of the series. Not to mention, the psychological advantage that the Lakers will gain over the Celtics with a dominant win tonight.

Let’s get ready for the second half of Game 6 of the NBA finals in Los Angeles.

Apparently after you play the Lakers enough, and watch enough film, then you start to see a pattern emerge. And that pattern is that Kobe Bryant is the dominant force in the overall scoring of the Los Angeles Lakers.

I guess this is really something that we all knew.

But being the Boston Celtics, and preparing for the critical game 5 of the NBA finals, there was only one formidable strategy to follow – and that was to force Kobe Bryant to work for every point. And by focusing almost exclusively on Kobe Bryant to stop his scoring, then that would leave it up to the rest of the Lakers team to carry the weight.

And I think we just saw last night that the Lakers, without Kobe Bryant carrying the team to victory, really doesn’t have anyone who is capable of carrying the team.

Which means ultimately that the Boston Celtics’ strategy worked. And in fact, not only did their strategy work last night in defeating the Los Angeles Lakers, but the strategy is more than likely to work each and every night a team takes the court with the Lakers.

If the opposing team is capable of shutting down Kobe Bryant, or at least making him work tirelessly for every shot he takes and every point he scores, then the Lakers just are not able to run away with the game.

And you better believe that the Boston Celtics are going to come into The Staples Center tomorrow night for game 6 with the exact same strategy in hand – shut down Kobe Bryant, and more than likely you’ll win the game.

It will be interesting to see if the Los Angeles Lakers actually go down in game 6 tomorrow night!

It was clear watching game 2 of the NBA finals last night between the Lakers and the Celtics, that I was watching basketball at the absolute highest caliber that I’ve ever seen before.

From Ray Allen setting an NBA final’s 3 point record, to Kobe Bryant coming in to close the half and scoring 3 pointers at will – last night’s game 2 of the Lakers vs. Celtics was amazing to watch as a basketball fan.

The Lakers seemed to have a pretty easy way of coming back from a pretty big deficit in the first half. I though for sure with this come back that the Lakers were going to come into the second half and start pulling away from the Celtics.

But the hard fought efforts of people like Rajon Rondo, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis, the Celtics were able to fight off the relentless attacks of the Lakers and end up winning game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals is now heading to Boston on Tuesday night with a 9pm tip off.

I have to say however, that unless Boston can come in and play at the high level of caliber of basketball each and every game, then the Lakers will end up winning the NBA finals. The Lakers are a refined machine, losing does not come easy for these guys.

I just found a great site on TNT where you can watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the Phoenix Suns live online. This live online stream features “commercial free” broadcasting, which means you will not be taken to a commercial break.

Instead of commercials, there seems to be one camera that is locked onto Kobe Bryant constantly, regardless of whether he is on the floor playing or on the bench.

WATCH LAKERS VS SUNS ONLINE LIVE HERE

Right now, in the 2nd quarter, the game is very close at 42 – 41, Lakers are up. The Phoenix Suns have a great record playing on their home court. However, the Los Angeles Lakers are still favored to win this game 6 match up.

If the Lakers win tonight’s game 6, then the Lakers will be meeting the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals with Game 1 on Thursday night.

If the Phoenix Suns win tonight, then Game 7 of the Western Conference will head back to The Staples Center in Los Angeles this coming Monday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers have topped the Phoenix Suns in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers proved to be too strong for Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and the Phoenix Suns.

Even though there were moments where the Phoenix Suns looked like they could topple the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 at the Staples Center, ultimately the Lakers were too strong.

The Phoenix Suns were playing sloppy, taking forced shots from the perimeter and in my opinion, just over powered and outplayed by the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers are proving that they have too many weapons to be stopped by a team like the Phoenix Suns. And even if players like Andrew Bynum aren’t 100% and only grab four points and four rebounds, the Lakers are still too strong for the Phoenix Suns to contend with.  The Los Angeles Lakers have Lamar Odom who poses just as much of a match up challenge with his ability to play every position and dominate inside and out. Odom earned a career playoff high 19 rebounds to go with his 19 points in Game 1.

The good news for the Los Angeles Lakers is that Kobe Bryant signed a contract extension.  Kobe Bryant signed a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The contract extension should also end rumors that he might try to leave the Lakers to go team up with a superstar in another city.

From the looks of Game 2, I’m going to predict that we’ll see the Los Angeles Lakers sweep the Phoenix Suns and meet up with the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

What do you think?

Do you think we’ll see the Los Angeles Lakers sweep the Phoenix Suns?

And if the Lakers do meet up with the Boston Celtics in the final, who do you think will come away with the NBA championship?

This is something I’ve been wondering ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers went down in flames to the Boston Celtics during the playoffs. The rumors about Gloria James, Lebron James’ mother, and Delonte West having an affair broke during the series with the Boston Celtics. And it seemed to me that once the rumors of the Gloria James and Delonte West affair broke out, the chemistry with the Cavaliers on the court and specifically with Lebron James himself, really seemed to break apart.

If I were Lebron James, I’m not quite sure how I’d react to news about my mother having an affair with one of my teammates. I would have to say though, that with as much money that Lebron James is getting payed, you’d think that even with the distraction, he would be able to push through for his team.

If Lebron James did lose it and break down mentally due to the affair rumors, then I’m also having to question the maturity of Lebron James.

Granted, Gloria James and Delonte West are both adults. So really, if they were seeing each other, then at the end of the day, what does it matter to Lebron anyway. Sure it would be a bit ackward, but losing your focus and causing your team to lose in the playoffs?

So even if Lebron James was affected mentally over the affair rumors between his mother Gloria James and teammate Delonte West, should Lebron completely shut down and throw away any chance Cleveland had whatsoever at beating the Boston Celtics?

Again, I’m only asking the question here – was Lebron James affected by what was happening between Gloria James and Delonte West?

And if Lebron James was affected by the situation, do you think Lebron actually just gave up and let playoff series come to close?

The Boston Celtics took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals last night against the Orlando Magic. Although this is only game 2, with a lot more basketball to be played, some people might be thinking that the Orlando Magic could possibly get swept by the Boston Celtics.

And this theory might even be reinforced by the fact that the Boston Celtics are 32-0 in the playoffs – pretty strong numbers indeed.

Apparently that’s what Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics super star player, was thinking as well when the following tweet emerged from his Twitter profile:

“Anybody got a BROOM?”

That tweet came directly from PaulPierce34 – the “verified” Twitter profile of the Boston Celtics player.

But there’s only one problem with this tweet – based on the time stamp of the message, Paul Pierce was actually talking with reports when that tweet was posted. So what happened? Did Paul Pierce’s Twitter profile get hacked?

There is no question about the authenticity of Paul Pierce’s Twitter profile. His account has the official “Verified” Twitter logo that comes directly from Twitter, and is common for high profile Twitter accounts.

The “Anybody got a BROOM?” comment sent the media into a frenzy and the tweet even made it’s way into an interview with Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard. When asked about what he (Dwight Howard) thought about Paul Pierce’s tweet, Howard said, “Pride come before a fall.”

Paul Pierce’s representatives are now stating that without question, the Twitter account has been hacked and that Paul Pierce did not send out that message.

And of course, if you visit Paul Pierce’s Twitter profile now, you won’t find the update because obviously he deleted it.

According to Pro Basketball Talk, Paul Pierce’s Twitter updates mostly come from the web or via SMS (text messages from a mobile phone). However, the “anybody got a BROOM?” tweet was generated through the twitterific platform.

And as I mentioned earlier, support for the Paul Pierce Twitter hack theory is that other people saw Paul Pierce talking with reporters at the time of the “anybody got a BROOM?” update.

Here’s what some of the supporting tweets said about Paul Pierce:

“RT @taramanis @athleteint I saw [Paul Pierce] talking to other reporters when these were sent… no cell in hand.”

What do you think?

Do you think that Paul Pierce would actually say something like this through his Twitter profile?

Do you think that Paul Pierce’s Twitter account has been hacked?

And finally, will the Boston Celtics sweep the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals?

I wrote an article on Saturday (I believe it was) and I entitled the article Lebron James attacks mom over Delonte West affair rumors.

The photo that I used was the one where Lebron James was being held back by some Boston Celtic players from his mom – Gloria James. But the photo happened to be taken in 2008 when Gloria James was upset over a hard foul on Lebron from Boston players.

The problem is I used that photo as the image for my article, and portrayed the image to be as if it was Lebron James trying to attack his mother Gloria over the Delonte West rumors.

I mean the image fit to a tee – and I really didn’t know any better or any different.

The image made me think it was actually related to the Gloria James and Delonte West affair rumors because:

1)  The news about the affair broke while Lebron and Cleveland were playing the Boston Celtics in their playoff series.

2)  The rumor involved Gloria James – Lebron’s mother (who was in the image with Lebron and the Boston Celtic’s players.

So I saw the image and assumed (incorrectly) that this was Lebtron trying to attack his mother over the Delonte West rumors.

I made some people pretty upset with that article – so to everyone I offended, “I’m sorry!”

It was a bad mistake on my part – bad “journalism”.

You aren’t able to see the article in question here since I removed it from this blog.

Dwyane Wade Slam Dunks Over Kevin Garnett (Video)

Well Miami fans, you might want to start reconsidering sending Dwyane Wade on his way to another NBA franchise.

Dwyane Wade still has some serious heat, and dunking the ball over Kevin Garnett shows just what Dwyane Wade can still do on the basketball court.

Here’s Dwyane Wade slam dunking over Kevin Garnett:

Kevin Garnett Ejected (YouTube Video)

During the Boston Celtics vs. the Miami Heat game 1 playoff game, the tension between these two teams showed in a big way. Tempers flared after Paul Pierce tumbled to the ground in front of the Miami bench with an apparent right shoulder injury with 40 seconds to play. Miami’s Quentin Richardson stood defiantly over Pierce and suggested he was exaggerating the injury, to which Kevin Garnetttook umbrage, expressing it with an elbow to Richardson’s head when pushing and shoving ensued.

Kevin Garnett Ejected (YouTube Video)

Before Saturday, the Celtics and Heat didn’t have any playoff history. But in the fracas that ensued in the waning moments of Boston’s 85-76 Game 1 triumph, this series ratcheted up to an intensity typically reserved for Celtics-Lakers.