Well Helloooo, Jarrett!

Pop the Champagne folks, we are two roster spots away from making some sort of noise in the east next season.

It’s official, the Pacers have decided not to match the offer the Raptors have made for Jarrett Jack. Jack, who is 25 years young, was a former teammate of our own Chris Bosh and is happy to rejoin him again:

"It took a minute, but I was able to secure a contract for four years," Jack said. "I'm looking forward to playing with Chris (Bosh) again. It will be like our freshman year (at Georgia Tech) all over again." (Indystar)

We finally got a back up PG that doesn't mind backing up and can actually start for some teams in the league. IF Jose, for some reason, misses a game or two, the team will not have to fret like they did all last season.

The Press Conference will be held tomorrow afternoon.

I find it funny, Jack and Ford have somewhat switched places. Luckily Jack is not like Ford and there shouldn't be problems with his role on the team, he understands this is Calderon's team to run. Good job again BC.

Next funny thing. So the Cavs stole AP, and now they have signed Jamario Moon to an offer sheet! Seriously! Remember when both AP and Moon were both starters for our team? Now Cleveland interested in both of them, but not as starters. Would this really keep Lebron in Cleveland? hmmm, I think that's the important thing here. We will wait and see.

The finals are here and I have my predictions!!

First, Chris Bosh finally broke out the Big announcement. He is signing a deal with…. Warner Music Canada to produce a unique DVD and CD to be released in the fall of 2009. Chris also announced that he has become the first athlete in the world to launch his own application for iPhone and iPod. Exciting isn’t it? Didn’t think so.

On to the more interesting stuff. The finals will start this Thursday June 4th. After finishing off the Cavs in gorgeous fashion, The Magic are making only their 2nd finals trip in the past 25 years. The Lakers, However, are no strangers to the finals, and are looking to do what they failed to do last year. It is clear that the Lakers are the heavy favourites, but the Magic have just proved anything is possible. It also helps that the Magic swept the Lakers in the regular season and are extremely confident right now

Now the last time I made predictions I went 8/12. This Time I’m predicting the Magic win this in 7. I’m 0-3 in the last 3 years for my finals pick, so I think I just jinxed the Magic.BUT  I believe the Magic have a chance to upset again, so I will stick with them.

Just one more thing, The Nike Puppet ads were good, but they, and everybody else, jinxed suggested a Laker/Cav, I mean, Kobe/Lebron final. I‘m just happy that did not happen, because just like the Denver Nuggets, The Magic had just as much right as The Lakers and The Cavs to be in the final. Unfortunately the Nuggets gave up in game 6 after they played so well to get themselves to Conference Finals.

SO two things everybody learned (Unless you honestly never knew before) in the Conference Finals:

1. The game is a TEAM game. One can show flashes of carrying a team, but in the end, it will not work. Even children know going 5 against 1 is a big disadvantage. And It sucks even more when you think you have that TEAM but they don’t show up when it matters the most. Lebron is ONE of the best players in the game today, but he CANNOT carry a team. Ignore game 2 and game 5, because that wont happen all the time.
2. The game is about MATCHUPS. case #1: Rashard Lewis, a crafty PF, against the likes of Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Lewis has been a matchup nightmare to most teams in the league. A big part of his game is the 3 ball. Something he shoots pretty well. When a big comes out to guard him he fakes them out or beats them off the dribble, If the 3 is NOT available. Most bigs can’t keep up with that. case #2: Pau Gasol (another crafty big) owned the Nuggets bigs, when his teammate decided to throw him the ball. He kept the ball high, crashed the boards and never shied away from contact (can’t believe I just said that). Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu were others or caused their opponents fits

TSN, ABC, and NBATV will be covering the Finals. Cross our fingers for a seven game series.

SO LETS GO MAGIC!!

Hehe.... Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors 7ppm EST

SO the effort that Triano hoped for was...there somewhere. But when you turnover the ball 19 times.... this happens:

High Expectations is a Bitch

On to better things. Jay is ready to redeem himself, our first sub .500 team since Charlotte I think. Funny, Indiana is saying the same thing.

Who: The Triano Raptors and The Indiana Pacers

Tip-off: 7:00 Tonight or 7:15ish
Where: ACC
TV/Radio: The Score, The Fan (590 AM)
Standings: Pacers (7-13) and Raps (8-12)
Header of the Day: Maceo and Rasho and TJ, OH My!
What the peeps are saying: They don’t care about the score they just want know who does better. TJ or JOSE

Notes: The Pacers are currently on a 3 game losing streak.... They have beaten both LA and Boston this year and are the only team to do so....The Pacers are 2-8 on the road this season.....They have had the hardest schedule so far this season....This is the first time the teams will be meeting since their blockbuster trade... the game on Wednesday will be the 50th all-time meeting with Indiana and the Pacers have won 31 times vs. the Raptors....Kris Humphries is out with tendinitis. Expected back next week.

Starting Line-ups
Cleveland:
PG: Terrance Jerod Ford
SG: Marquis Daniels
SF: Danny “No teeth” Granger
PF: Troy “I won it for us against Boston” Murphy
C: Rasho “We miss you” Nestervic

Toronto:
PG: Jose “Uno, DOS...” Calderon
SG: Anthony “Black Eye” Parker
SF: Andrea “I wear boxers not briefs” Bargnani
PF: Chris “This team is lame” Bosh
C: Jermaine “...” O'Neal

Some ‘Hehe’ pictures:

The Pacers Record