Can anyone beat Golden State for the NBA Championship?

As we creep towards the NBA post season the same question exists that we had when it began: Can anyone beat the Golden State Warriors?

With any sport upsets happen (just ask Leicester City in 2016) so of course it can be done but there are only a handful of realistic possibilities:

Last year the Houston Rockets took the Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals and were up three games to two before going down to defeat. Probable MVP James Harden has never been better and is averaging over 36 Points per Game, which is up by more than five from what led the NBA last year.  The Rockets don’t have a starting five that is as talented as Golden State but the best player on the court won’t be a Warrior and in Basketball that gives you a puncher’s chance.

While Houston is the team that most people think has the best chance in the west to upend Golden State, it is the Denver Nuggets that could win home court in the conference and unless you’re in the state of Colorado, you are not expecting Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and company to upend the Warriors even if they are the top seed.  Is this not perfect locker room material for a team that had such an accomplished regular season?

Of course if Charles Barkley is right it is the Portland Trail Blazers that will be the Achilles Heel for the defending NBA Champions.

Should Golden State do what is expected of them and win the West there are two teams in the Eastern Conference that could pose trouble for them.  

The Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors have been battling it out for dominance in the conference with the Bucks poised to lock up the pole position.  Like a possible series with the Rockets, the Bucks don’t have a more potent five than Golden State, but they do have the best player on the court with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Most betting sites in NJ, which is the only state you can bet in USA, place Harden on the second position in favor of winning the MVP title, if Harden does not win the MVP it would be the “Greek Freak” who at present has the highest PER this season (30.5) and is the most complete player in the NBA.

If the Bucks can’t win the East, it will likely be due to the Toronto Raptors who went all in this year in trading for Kawhi Leonard and hoping that he will resign in Jurassic Park following taking the Raps to their first NBA Finals.

With all due respect to either the Bucks or Raptors they will have to advance to the final round with less wear and tear than Golden State to have a realistic shot to win.

Of course, that is why we play the game!

The career of arguably the best Punter ever has officially come to an end as Shane Lechler officially retired today.

Lechler played collegiately at Texas A&M where he would become one of the few Punters to be drafted as he selected in the 5^thRound in 2000 by the Oakland Raiders, a team that through having Ray Guy in the 1970’s knew the value of having an elite Punter.  As a rookie, Lechler would be named a First Team All Pro and finished second in Yards/Punt. This type of performance would be consistent of what Lechler would do as a Raider.  In his 13 seasons in Oakland he would be named a First Team All Pro six times, including a three year stretch from 2008 to 2010.  Seven times he was in the Pro Bowl, which also consisted of a streak of five straight years from 2007 to 2011.  Stat wise he was a four time leader in Punting Yards and five time league leader in Yards per Punt.  He would play his final five seasons in the NFL with the Houston Texans.

At this time, Lechler retires with the most Yards per Punt (47.6) and accrued the second most Punts all-time (1,411).

As Lechler did not play last season, he is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023. While Lechler is recognized as having been elite as his position, his spot on the gridiron was as a Punter, a disrespected trade in Canton.  Ray Guy was considered to be revolutionary at the position and he had to wait until he was a Senior Candidate before he got in.  

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Shane Lechler the best in his post playing career. 

One day…

One day we will attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony as it was a bar discussion about inductees (more so who wasn’t in) that was the genesis for Notinhalloffame.com in the first place.  But that day wasn’t yesterday and from multiple sources here is what we know transpired at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  

The show kicked off with Stevie Nicks performing “Stand Back”, which got the crowd on their feet only for their jaws to drop at that level when Don Henley came out on stage where the duo sang “Leather and Lace”.  One duet followed another as her inductor, Harry Styles joined her to take the late Tom Petty’s role in “Stop Dragging My Heart Around”.  Nicks closed off her set with, what else?  “Edge of Seventeen”.  After her set, Styles would then officially induct Nicks who is now officially the only female to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. 

While the electricity was in the air for the first inductee it was impossible for that emotion to carry over for the night’s second inductee, Radiohead.  David Byrne inducted them and only Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway were on hand to accept.  There was no performance by the two.

Next up were Simon LeBon and John Taylor of Duran Duran who were on hand to induct Roxy Music. Taylor extolled the coolness of Roxy Music and described them as a genre on to itself.  Bryan Ferry would do all the talking for the group as they accepted the induction.  They would then go into a six song set of “In Every Dream Home a Heartache”, “Out of the Blue”, “Love is the Drug”, “More Than This”, “Avalon” and “Editions of You”.

Stevie Van Zandt came out to honor this year’s Rock and Roll singles, which were chosen based on their influence on Rock and Roll.  This was created last year and it is just as confusing this year as seemingly nobody knew ahead of time what the songs would be nor was there anyone on hand who performed the songs to accept this honor.  

The songs were “Maybe” by The Chantels, “Tequila” by The Champs, “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong, “Twist & Shout” by the Isley Brothers, “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las and “Gloria” by Shadows of the Night”.

Maybe they will explain this in better detail next year.

Trent Reznor came up next to induct The Cure.  Only lead singer Robert Smith spoke on the band’s behalf.  They then went on to perform five songs, “Shake Dog Shake”, “A Forest”, “Lovesong”, “Just Like Heaven” and “Boys Don’t Cry”.  

Up next was Janelle Monae who inducted Janet Jackson.  Jackson’s speech focused on her family and referenced often her brothers who were inducted some time ago.  Janet did not perform and it was speculated that since HBO has the rights to show the ceremony later and the just aired “Leaving Neverland”, an expose on her brother Michael was the reason she did not sing.  

Susanna Hoffs then inducted The Zombies who played the exact four songs you expected (wanted) them to with “Time of the Season”, “This Will Be Our Year”, “Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There”.

Following an In Memoriam section, Brian May of Queen came out to induct the evening’s final inductee, Def Leppard.  Only Joe Elliott spoke during the acceptance speech.  They launched into their set of “Hysteria”, “Rock of Ages”, “Photograph” and they finished with the perfect rock and roll fun choice of “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.

The inductors and inductees finished the night on stage with a jam session punctuated by singing “All The Young Dudes”.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to again congratulate the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class!

Regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 players ever of every MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA team.  Once that is done, our plan is to then look at how they honor their past players and executives by way of retired numbers, franchise halls of fame etc.  As such, it is important to us that last night the San Antonio Spurs retired the #20 of Manu Ginobili.

In what now has to be considered an absolute steal, San Antonio drafted the native of Argentina 57^thoverall in 1999 and he would join the team in 2002 after starring in Europe.  Ginobili would play his entire career with the San Antonio Spurs which would span 16 seasons and 1,057 Games.  He would be chosen for the All Star Game twice (2005 & 2011) and was an All-NBA Third Team Selection twice (2008 & 2011).  The Argentine star’s selfless and unique style of play meshed perfectly with San Antonio where he was part of an elite triumvirate with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker where they would the team to four NBA Championships (2003, 2005, 2007 & 2014).  The Shooting Guard would be named the Sixth Man of the Year in 2008 and scored 14,043 Points with a career PER of 20.2.

Ginobili joins Johnny Moore (#00), Avery Johnson (#6), Bruce Bowen (#12), James Silas (#13), Tim Duncan (#21), Sean Elliott (#32), George Gervin (#44) and David Robinson (#50).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Manu Ginobili for earning this prestigious honor.