I’m going through sports withdrawal.

I don’t know why.

But I’m starting to show the symptoms.

Instead of gluing myself in front of the television set to watch Phil Mickelson choke away another U.S. Open, I’ve been watching the countless reruns of “Jon and Kate Plus 8.”

I cannot wait until August to find out if they’re going to get back together or if they’re actually really divorcing.

Instead of sitting around and watching the 2 Live Stews debate with Skip Bayless on “The Artist Formerly Known as Cold Pizza” about whether or not Brett Favre will be in a Vikings uniform next season, I’ve been out walking my dog or actually wanting to spend time with my family and friends.

Instead of listening to Jalen Rose predicting that the Los Angeles Clippers will be the eighth seed in the NBA playoffs next season in the Western Conference, I’ve been reading about the latest unfolding drama on “I’m a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here.” If you ask me, I think Heidi and Spencer are just hogging all the attention.

I think I’m going crazy. I need sports. And I need ‘em now. I might need help.

This is why I decided to root for the Cleveland Indians this baseball season. I wanted a team to enjoy cheering for while I tried to get through this “down period” of no NBA or college basketball and no NFL or college football.

But the Indians are stuck in last place in the American League Central and are standing at 29-42 and are 10 games back of first in the division.

I swear, that team has had me cursing them more times than I have cheered them. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even really care about them anymore. I know. I know.

There’s still golf to enjoy. There’s still The Chase in NASCAR. There’s still more than 100 games left for the Indians to make a turnaround and a late postseason surge.

There’s still boxing and mixed martial arts to enjoy as well, I guess. Oh yeah, the Tour De France is this summer, too. Also, I think Team USA soccer is playing in something. Yay! Not.

But there’s also tennis — without the world’s top player in Rafael Nadal. There’s no NFL, though ESPN says otherwise with the constant “Favre-Watch Part 882.” There’s no college basketball, just a bunch of scandals involving high-profile schools like USC and Memphis. There’s no Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. No more Most Valuable Puppets commercials.

There’s no Olympics. No Redeem Team, no Coach K, no Michael Phelps, no Usain Bolt, nothing. There’s no college football, either.

This is why I’m excited about the NBA Draft on Thursday night. It’s kind of a quick fix for my addiction to sports.

It gives me something to enjoy. We find out where our favorite college basketball players will be spending their professional careers. We find out which players from North Carolina (Sean May, Eric Montross), North Carolina State (Julius Hodge, Todd Fuller, Cedric Simmons) and Duke (Cherokee Parks, J.J. Redick, Mike Dunleavy) will be draft busts.

The draft day trades are also fun to watch. Which team will swap picks? Where will players with expiring contracts end up? How many teams will be dumping players off on different teams to try and save money and room for the 2010 offseason when LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade hit the free agent market.

I’m anxious to see where guys like Stephen Curry from Davidson and Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green from UNC end up. I’m curious to see how well Blake Griffin will do as a member of the Clippers.

I wonder if he’s really excited that he’s going to be a Clipper or if he wishes he could go overseas. I want to know if the Celtics will trade Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to the Pistons for Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince. I’d want to know why, too. I want to know if Al Jefferson and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first-round pick will be going to the Phoenix Suns for Amare Stoudemire.

It’s two rounds.

It’s one night.

It’s my favorite draft of all the major sports.

Then, it’s over.

And I’m back to having nothing again.

Back to the constant talk of steroids in baseball.

Back to Favre Watch. Back to seeing Roger Federer surpass Pete Sampras as the greatest tennis player of all time. It’s back to the same ol’ stuff. It’s back to the Yankee-Red Sox love affair.

Just give me sports. Give me football. Give me basketball. Give me the Indians winning. Give my boss the Cubs winning. Give me something to be excited about.

Give me an Indians-Cubs World Series. That’ll at least give me something to enjoy.

I can do this. I can fight this addiction. I’ve been told that if I don’t think about sports, I’ll get over this addiction a lot quicker.

If I watch something that doesn’t remind me of sports, I won’t want to think about them. It’ll help football season get here quicker.

Until then, it’s back to my regularly scheduled rerun of “Family Matters” on Nick at Nite.

Except this one has Larry Johnson playing Grandmama.

Great. Just great.

It’s about more than just winning and losing when it comes to high school sports.

It’s about building a brotherhood (or sisterhood), an unlikely camaraderie between teammates, building trust and chemistry with people that you can take with you for the rest of your life.

It’s about the memories. It’s about the uncommon bond between a group of strangers at the beginning of the season and becoming allies, friends and brothers (or sisters) by season’s end.

To me, that’s what high school sports represent.

I’ll always remember my friends, teammates and brothers on the wrestling team at Southern High School in Durham. I’ll always remember the enemies I had at the beginning of the season and how we grew close by season’s end, all thanks to the bond that we shared during the season.

It’s simply unforgettable. Those moments live with you forever and ever and it comes to the point where you want your children to have the same kind of memories that you had. The same kind of enjoyment and satisfaction that you enjoyed, high school athletes today hope their children enjoy those same moments and create their own life-lasting memories, too.

That’s why I think the hires of Burton Cates at Lee County and Eric Puryear at Southern Lee are perfect for both schools’ football programs. Both schools are trying to rebuild into contenders and both schools are trying to become more successful on the gridiron.

When it comes to hiring new coaches, it doesn’t get much better than either Puryear or Cates. Although both coaches are coming to the schools under completely different circumstances, both seem to know what they’re doing and seem very well qualified for the positions.

Everyone knows that it’s going to take time for both coaches to be successful in their transition seasons at Lee and Southern, but the two can bring something back to the programs that has been missing.

Excitement.

It’s more than about winning and losing on the field. To be successful in high school athletics, you’ve got to do it off the field, too.

Former Lee County coach Jody Stouffer won off the field by helping more than 20 players achieve their dreams of playing football at the next level. Several players have said that Stouffer served as a mentor and was like a father figure to them.

That’s why there was the shock from some players, parents and fans that Stouffer had resigned.

The players he helped get into schools like Campbell, Duke, Florida Atlantic and Lenoir-Rhyne, among others, all seemed grateful to Stouffer for his help and dedication to their success. If it wasn’t for him, they might not be where they are right now.

He might not have won as much as some would have liked on the field, but everything Stouffer did for the Yellow Jackets will sit with them for the rest of their lives, I’m sure.

Bill Maczko, unfortunately, did not win off the field. Southern Lee didn’t have a single football player sign with a university this year. The coach didn’t win over the parents and didn’t win over some of the players. It just wasn’t a good fit for the school.

It’s time to put the past behind us and move on.

Puryear had nothing to do with any of the behind-the-scenes mess that went on at Southern Lee as far as the coaching search is concerned. He had nothing to do with Maczko nor his short-lived era at Southern Lee.

Cates had nothing to do with the forced or unforced resignation of Stouffer at Lee County. He had nothing to do with the 3-8 and 2-9 seasons the Yellow Jackets had in the past two years.

Instead, these two are the architects in rebuilding not only football programs.

They’re also in charge of rebuilding the trust of the community and the trust of the players.

One school had that trust in Stouffer and another school didn’t with Maczko.

But none of that matters anymore.

What matters from this point on is what Cates and Puryear do during their time at Lee County and Southern Lee.

It’s now time to focus on the Cates and Puryear eras in Sanford.

Now is the time to move away from the past and look toward the future and see how many memories these experienced coaches can give these high school athletes.

After all, that is what high school sports are supposed to give us.

Congratulations to Jonathan McCurry for winning the 33rd Brick Capital Classic at Sanford Golf Course this weekend. McCurry won the tournament in dramatic fashion when he held off his future UNC-Pembroke teammate, Carson Lanier, on the final hole to win the first Brick Capital of his career.
Below is the story from Tuesday’s paper that explains just a little of what happened in Sunday’s final round.

Here’s the story:
SANFORD — Jonathan McCurry held off his future UNC-Pembroke teammate Carson Lanier on the final hole to win the 33rd Annual Brick Capital Classic golf tournament on Sunday at the Sanford Municipal Golf Course.

McCurry (67-71), who finished with a total score of 138 to win his first career Brick Capital Classic, and Lanier (67-72), who finished with a total of 139, were tied for the lead headed into the 18th hole.

McCurry two-putted the par-5 final hole for par, while Lanier chipped the ball about three feet away from the pin but missed the final putt to lose the tournament by a stroke.

“I’m still kind of in shock,” said McCurry, a former Southern Lee standout. “I got hot on the back nine again and that really helped things as far as my round is concerned. Overall, I thought I played an up and down round. It still feels good to win, though.”

Lanier, who won the tournament in 2007 and was a runner-up in 2008 was proud to see his future teammate at Pembroke win his first Brick Capital Classic.

“I told him before that if there was anyone I wanted to see win it, other than me, it was him,” said Lanier. “He’s been playing in the Brick Capital for a while and he finally pulled it out. He birdied three holes in a row (14, 15 and 16) and he definitely deserves it. I’m happy for him”

Although he felt proud of his victory, McCurry still felt bad about what happened on the final hole to Lanier, calling it a “bittersweet moment.”

“That’s not the way you want to win,” said McCurry. “It was tough to watch that happen to a very good friend and a future teammate at UNC-Pembroke. It was kind of a bittersweet moment to see that happen.”

Lanier, who came into the tournament concerned about his putting, knew that as soon as he saw the ball bounce off of the putter-head and he saw the ball go to the right of the hole that he had missed it.

“It was just a routine putt that I could probably make 20 out of 20 times with my eyes closed,” said Lanier. “As soon as I hit it, it kind of squibbed right on me sort of like a horseshoe and it just didn’t go in. It just didn’t go in.”

As soon as he heard the crowd cheer in disbelief that Lanier missed that final putt, that’s when it finally hit him that the tournament was over.

“When I heard the crowd that’s when I thought to myself, ‘Wow. Did I just miss that?’ And I did,” said Lanier. “It was a tough way to go out.”

Lanier and Shane Parker finished tied for second as each scored a 139. Micah

Lawrence, a Lee County golfer, tied with Jonathan Blackard for third with a 140.Lawrence finished the tournament with a 71 while Blackard fired a 72 in the final round.

McCurry and Lanier entered the final round tied for the lead with a 4-under 67.

Through the first eight holes on the final round, however, Matt Rhodes held a two-shot lead. Rhodes double-bogeyed the ninth hole to surrender the lead back to Lanier.

Lanier, McCurry, Blackard, Lawrence and Parker were all tied for the lead with a 3-under through 15 holes. Lawrence and McCurry each made birdie on the 15th hole to get back into contention.

With the five-way tie for the lead after 15 holes, the pressure started building for McCurry. Luckily for him, he was able to keep cool and come through in the clutch.

“It all pretty much came down to the final three holes,” said McCurry. “That kind of pressure can kill you and ruin your game. I just continued to play my game and not worry about the pressure.”

On 16, Lanier and McCurry birdied to take the outright lead with one another. Lanier bogeyed 17 after hitting his first shot to the left of his tee. His second shot landed in the ditch and somehow he managed to two-putt the ball in for the bogey.

Craig Sturdivant won the first flight by finishing the tournament with a 142. He was the recipient of the Bobby Powell Medalist Award for the low round on Sunday.

Kyle Wicker (152), Tom Aguilar (157), Lacy Tripp (161), Mitch Darroch (169) and Steve Garcia (177) all won their respective flights. Dean Hundley, who finished with a 145 for the tournament, won the senior flight.

I started Thursday’s column as a joke.

Shaquille O’Neal, the man who used to play for both the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers and has had problems with both team’s coaches, is a big catalyst in the 2009 NBA Finals.

It all started as a joke about how the Magic will have the revenge factor on their side in their quest to dethrone the Lakers en route to their first NBA Championship in franchise history.

Shaq played for the Lakers from 1992-96 and the Magic let him go to the Lakers via free agency in ‘96. So, the Magic could play the revenge card on the Lakers for stealing their big man, who went on to win three NBA titles in a row with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

But as I continued thinking about it, Shaq really does have more to do with this year’s finals than I originally thought and that’s the reason as to why I wrote about the Shaq-esque scenarios in the 2009 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic.

Here is Thursday’s column:

Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James would have been much more entertaining than

Kobe vs. Dwight Howard in this year’s NBA Finals.

Oh well.

We didn’t get it.

But that doesn’t mean the 2009 NBA Finals won’t be enjoyable.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more excited I am about the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic capping off what has been an amazing NBA season when the finals tip off at 9 p.m.on ABC.

And it’s all thanks to one person.

Shaquille O’Neal.

That’s right, Shaq.

The Big Aristotle. The Big Fella. Kazaam. Steel.

He alone is making these NBA Finals enjoyable, for me at least, and he’s not even playing in the series.

Let’s look at the scenarios that Shaq has set up with the Magic and Lakers, which could make these finals something to remember.

Kobe can’t win without him First off, we have the whole, “Kobe can’t win a title without Shaquille O’Neal, so how good of a player is Kobe?” talk going on. If there is ever a time for Bryant to win his fourth NBA title, it’s now. The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to get better because they will get LeBron the help he needs and deserves (don’t be alarmed if they go after Shaq, either), the Boston Celtics will have a completely healthy unit returning that will be looking to win its second NBA championship in three years, the San Antonio Spurs will be back with a healthy Manu Ginobili, the Dallas Mavericks will be better, the Denver Nuggets will be better and will have a full season with Chauncey Billups and the New Orleans Hornets should be improved as well.

Yeah, so maybe Shaq wouldn’t have won the NBA Championship without Bryant as well like Kobe mentioned in an interview earlier this week. But Shaq has won a title without Kobe and has been to the finals without Kobe as well (while he was with the Magic), so Kobe must win it this year to solidify his status as an all-time top-5 NBA player.

Phil Jackson vs. Stan Van Gundy
Phil Jackson coached Shaq while he was with the Lakers. Shaq and Phil didn’t quite get along. Phil made some comments about Shaquille’s work ethic months after Shaq won his fourth title with the Miami Heat. Jackson said that Shaq was the only player he has ever had that wasn’t a worker. Shaq responded later on with, “How can Benedict Arnold be reliable in what he says?”

Stan Van Gundy, coach of the Magic, also has had a war of words with his former player when Van Gundy was coach of the Heat. Van Gundy criticized the big man for flopping when the Magic played the Phoenix Suns earlier this season and Shaq responded by calling Van Gundy the “Master of Panic.”

Now these two former Shaq coaches are going up against each other in the NBA Finals, with the Magic looking to win their first championship in the history of the franchise and with Jackson looking to win a 10th NBA championship and move past Red Auerbach for the most all time.

It’ll be interesting to see if Shaq was right about Van Gundy panicking in the Finals.

Superman vs. Superman
Dwight Howard has stolen Shaquille’s Superman gimmick and has used it to make a name for himself in the NBA. Shaq played for the Magic from 1992-96 and then they let him become a Laker via free agency from 96-04. He developed the Superman gimmick when his career started in 1992.

Howard pretty much adopted it two years ago when he won the NBA’s SlamDunk Contest and then it became even wilder when Nate Robinson adopted the Krypto-Nate persona to dethrone Howard in this year’s dunk contest.

Shaq has called Howard out on it, too, by saying that he’s not impressed with someone using something he invented it two decades ago.

Let’s just hope that the Superman of this era doesn’t break the hearts of the Orlando Magic fans by leaving the team the first chance he gets when he becomes a free agent in 2012.

If he does leave Orlando for a better team, that, too, would be a Shaq-like move that Howard would “borrow.”

But if there’s one thing the Magic have shown in the postseason, it’s that they don’t need Shaq anymore to get to the big one.

The jury is still out on whether or not Kobe needs him to win it, though.

After these Finals are over, I think it will be fair to say that Kobe can finally put that question to rest.

My Prediction: Lakers in 7

I wonder if Shaq agrees.

LILLINGTON — George Coltharp Jr. is ready to turn Western Harnett into a contender.

Coltharp, who was introduced as the Eagles’ new head football coach on Tuesday, replaces Mark Kirk. Kirk left after just one year on the job to take over the football program at Neah-Kah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach, Ore.

Coltharp has seven years of experience as an assistant and head coach was the head coach of Westover from 2002-06. In his third season with the Wolverines, he guided them to the second round of the 4-A state playoffs for only the second time in the school’s history. For the last three years, Coltharp has served as an assistant principal at Westover Middle School and Douglas Byrd High School.

“I’m excited about this opportunity,” said Coltharp. “I’ve been wanting to get back into coaching for a while. I met with the kids earlier and they’re excited and they’re ready to get right to work.”

Coming to Western Harnett was an easy choice as soon as Coltharp stepped onto the campus.

“The proximity was right and the timing was right,” said Coltharp. “Coming to Western Harnett just felt right. I felt like I fit at Western Harnett and that’s my biggest reason for coming to Western.”

Western Harnett principal William Wright said he is proud of the hiring of Coltharp and feels that he is the right man for the job.

“I think he’ll be great for our kids,” said Wright. “The biggest thing I think he can do is reinstall some confidence back into our program. I think he’ll do very well at Western Harnett.”

The search for Kirk’s replacement came down to nine candidates. Other than Coltharp, only one other candidate had previous head coaching experience.

“He best fit our needs and was the one candidate that had the most head coaching experience,” said Wright. “We’re definitely excited about having him come to our school and take over our football program.”

Before becoming coach at Westover in 2002, Coltharp was an assistant at E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville. He has coached NFL players like Jason Hunter of the Detroit Lions, Tank Tyler of the Kansas City Chiefs and former Wake Forest star and now NFL rookie Aaron Curry of the Seattle Seahawks.
Coltharp played college football at East Carolina and Appalachian State. With his years of playing and his years of coaching, he feels that he can use the experience gained to improve the Eagles.

“I’m a young guy,” said Coltharp, 33. “But I do have experience. I bring experience and enthusiasm. I’m passionate about winning and I think this program can go in the right direction.”

In his one season, Kirk helped the Eagles snap a 26-game losing streak that had been hindering the program for three seasons. The Eagles finished the 2008 season with a 4-8 overall record and sustained a 55-10 loss to Harnett Central in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. It was the first time since 2005 that the Eagles had made it to the playoffs.

“Coach Kirk came into a program that was not winning and put some confidence and hope back into the team,” said Wright. “My hope is that

Coltharp continues the trend that Kirk set and keeps the program going in the right direction and I think he will.”

It’s not just Wright’s goal. It’s Coltharp’s hope as well.

“Coach Kirk did an amazing job with this program,” said Coltharp. “I know all about rebuilding. I took Westover to the playoffs in my third year. The main thing I want these kids to do is to have fun while playing at Western Harnett. We’re going to be moving into a new conference this season and it’s a way for us to start a new legacy. I want our fans to know when they wake up on Saturday morning that their team had a fight on Friday night. I’m excited to get things started.”

This whole WWE vs. the Denver Nuggets scheduling debacle can only end one way.

A tag-team steel cage, hardcore match with Mark Cuban and Vince McMahon teaming up to take on the team of Nuggetsforward Kenyon Martin and Denver owner Stan Kroenke in a winner-take-all brawl for control of the Pepsi Center.

If the team of Cuban/McMahon wins, Cuban gets to own the Pepsi Center and McMahon will get to host Monday Night Raw in the Pepsi Center however many times he wants.

If the duo of Martin and Kroenke wins, McMahon will be banned from the state of Colorado forever and Cuban must apologize to Martin’s mother and to Martin for calling him a “thug”or a “punk” and he must do it face-to-face in the middle of that very ring and not via blog or Twitter.

Now, that would be some darn good TV.

Instead though, we could be given another Stan-Van meltdown under pressure. We could be given another former Duke standout “trying” to shut down Kobe. We could be given another sweep from the LeBrons as the Cavaliers try to march through the postseason unbeaten.

Instead of getting a tag-team wrestling match, we could very well be given the matchup everyone has been waiting to see all season long in the NBA Finals.

Kobe vs. LeBron.

Winner take all.

That, too, would be some pretty entertaining TV.

But will it happen?

Find out in my predictions of the conference finals of the NBA Playoffs, with my

Eastern pick today and the West pick coming on Thursday.

Eastern Conference Finals
#3 Orlando Magic vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers
Orlando Magic
OK, so they ended the reign of the defending champions, beating the injured and tired Boston Celtics in seven games. So, they’re 3-0 when someone calls out the coach for making terrible decisions down the stretch. So, they rallied to win the final two games after trailing to Boston 3-2.

Does this mean that they’re going to be able to stop LeBron and the Cavaliers?

No.

The Magic did win two of those four games on the road and that serves them well considering they’re going to be forced to be in Cleveland for the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals. I think if Dwight Howard can be the superstar he’s supposed to be and if Hedo Turkoglu can continue hitting shots the way he did in Game 7 in Boston, then the Magic could possibly steal a game in Cleveland.

They won’t, though.

This series will be typical Orlando Magic basketball. They’ll build a big lead in Cleveland early in the game and then they’ll blow it late in the game. Ask the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, they’ve all witnessed it.

It’s time to see just how good of a coach Stan Van Gundy really is. If he fails to get Howard the ball again in the crucial moments of a pivotal game, the Magic will lose badly. If Stan-Van wants to prove Shaquille O’Neal wrong and prove that he’s not the “master of panic,” he better show it in this series and make some smart decisions, like getting Howard more than 10 shots in a game.

Cleveland Cavaliers
There’s not much to say about the Cavaliers that hasn’t already been said.

Considering how they haven’t played in forever, they’ll be very well-rested against a team that had to travel to win a seventh game in Boston and now has to travel to Ohio for the first game of this series.

And that bodes well for the Cavaliers.

Look, there’s one reason why this team is 8-0 thus far in the playoffs.

And his name is LeBron James.

Against the Pistons, he was good. Against the Hawks, he was even better.

Now that he’s playing on tons of rest, I’m expecting him to be sensational in his second appearance in the conference finals.

This is a team that lost just twice at home during the regular season. This is a team that has played much of these playoffs without LeBron in the fourth quarter. This is a team that has won every playoff game by double figures.

While I’m not predicting a sweep for the Cavaliers, I still think they will be the team representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

Prediction: Cavs in six

But who will Cleveland play?

Check back tomorrow.

The second round of the NBA Playoffs are in full swing and it’s fairly obvious that the Cavaliers are going to be representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

But I’m not so sure anymore about who will win the West. Especially with the way the Denver Nuggets have been playing and the way the Los Angeles Lakers lost a big a home game against the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

With that in mind, I’ll go ahead and give you my breakdown of the Eastern Conference semifinals now, with my thoughts about the West coming Friday.

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 4 Atlanta Hawks

The Cavaliers I wasn’t too sold on LeBron James coming into this season. I thought he was another product of hype and I never thought he would live up to the pressure facing him since his rookie season. I’m sold now, though.

The guy is good. The guy is very, very good and was also very deserving of the league’s MVP award. LeBron and his cast of Mo Williams, Delonte West, Joe Smith, Anderson Verajao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas have all been unstoppable this season and they have made King James a much better basketball player.

There’s a reason why the Cavaliers have home court advantage throughout the entire playoffs. There’s a reason why they only lost two home games the entire regular season. There’s a reason why they are the East’s favorite to cruise to the NBA Finals. James had 34 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the Cavaliers’ 99-72 demolition of the Fighting Joe Johnsons in Game 1. James had 22 of those points by halftime and he didn’t even play in the fourth quarter.

The reason why the Cavaliers are so dangerous is spelled: L-E-B-R-O-N. This is a team on a mission to bring a title home to Cleveland.

The Hawks

Get the ball to Joe Johnson, please. You’re not going to win a game this series if he only has 11 points. I know he was 5-of-10 shooting, but he needs more touches if the Hawks are going to find a way to win a game in this series.

Mike Woodson, the head coach of the Hawks, needs to make some adjustments to get more production from the bench. Cleveland’s bench outscored the Hawks’ bench 20-10. The Cavaliers are much deeper than the Hawks and that’s going to cause trouble for them in this series. Atlanta only has Marvin Williams, Solomon Jones and Zaza Pachuilla. They’re going to need more production from other role players like Acie Law, Mario West and Flip Murray if they want to match up with the depth of Cleveland.

Prediction: Cavaliers in 5.

No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 3 Orlando Magic

The Celtics

After a thrilling first-round series against the Chicago Bulls, I thought the Celtics would be a little vulnerable headed into game 1 against the Magic. Despite eventually losing the game, the injury-plagued Celtics erased a 28-point deficit against the Magic, with Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo struggling from the floor. Despite losing, the Celtics shouldn’t fret. Allen will not shoot 2 of 12 again from the floor. Rondo also won’t shoot 2 of 12 either and he also won’t commit seven turnovers in a game again. The bottom line is that the Celtics were tired from their seven-game, seven-overtime series against the Bulls in round one.

If the Celtics are going to win, they’re going to need more from Allen in the rest of the series, and we all know he is capable of playing much better than his 9-point performance in game 1. They’re also going to need Pierce to step up when it counts and get these guys playing championship caliber basketball.

The Magic

They won game 1. Big deal. This team is not going to win the series if it continues losing big leads late in games. The Magic did it against the Philadelphia 76ers in round one and they almost did it again in game 1 against the Celtics. And the Magic aren’t going to win if they continue to forget about Dwight Howard in the middle.

There were several instances in game 1 where the Magic just simply left Howard out of the plays. Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Redick and Rashard Lewis would do all the work and Howard would just board their misses and set it up and do it again. The Magic can’t win and won’t win unless Howard gets more touches in the paint. When you have a force of that kind specimen playing for you, he should touch the ball at least once every possession.

Prediction: Celtics in 6

Last night, I found myself doing something that I haven’t done in quite a while.

I got upset about a 111-109 loss by the Charlotte Bobcats to the Boston Celtics.

I wasn’t just upset, though.

Words like ‘demoralized’, ‘depressed’, ‘devastated’ and ‘angry’ aren’t good enough to describe how I felt, either.

My whole night was ruined.

The Bobcats played their tails off but Ray Allen and the Boston Celtics, the defending NBA Champions, stuck a dagger in the heart of this one Bobcat fan when he drained a 3-pointer with about three seconds remaining to practically give the Celtics the win in double overtime.

The Bobcats, who were coming off of a big victory against the Lakers at home on Tuesday night, played extremely well for a team that should’ve been tired and sluggish from playing at home the night before and having to travel for this game.
But they took the defending champs and outplayed them for 57 minutes and 58 seconds.

Even after Allen’s big 3-pointer, Raja Bell had a great look from beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded. Game-winners don’t get much better than that. Unfortunately, the iron was unkind and my beloved Bobcats lost.

What I noticed while Game Casting this game on CBSSports.com (Don’t laugh. This team isn’t on TV anywhere around here), is that the Bobcats are a tough opponent for any team and that Larry Brown is a damn good coach.

The acquisitions of Raja Bell and Boris Diaw have worked out very well. Gerald Wallace is becoming a star. Emeka Okafor can grab some big rebounds and Raymond Felton can really be crucial in the clutch.

Even if they don’t make the playoffs this year, the Bobcats could be a dangerous team in the Eastern Conference next season. That’s if, and only if, Michael Jordan and company can make some smart decisions in the NBA Draft and keep guys like Raymond Felton and Gerald Wallace on the team.

The thing that lost the game for the Bobcats, though, was the horrible foul discrepency. The Bobcats went to the line just seven times. The Boston Celtics, on the other hand, went to the charity stripe 26 times, hitting 18 of them.If the fouls were called evenly, the Bobcats would have won this game.

Apart from the uneven foul calls, the Bobcats clearly outplayed the Celtics. They had seven players in double figures, with G-Wall leading the way with 20. They outrebounded the Celtics 44-40 with Okafor and Wallace leading the way with 10 boards apiece.

From what I noticed after last night’s game and Tuesday’s victory against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, it’s that the Bobcats are dangerous and if they make the playoffs, they can be a very dangerous opponent for Cleveland, Boston or Orlando.

This is a team on a mission right now.

And the mission is simple.

To outlast the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons and secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

If they can sneak into the playoffs and win the final seven games of the regular season, the Bobcats will be 41-41 in the Eastern Conference, which would be the most wins in franchise history.

Even if they don’t win and make the playoffs, the Bobcats have shown me that professional basketball is back in Charlotte with everything the team has done this season.

They can do it, though.

And I will be rooting for them every step of the way.

Afterall, this is the NBA and anything is possible.

This is the video of Houston Texans runningback Ryan Moats being pulled over by a jerk of a cop, who is clearly on a power trip. Moats was being pulled over for running a red light to get to the hospital to see his ailing mother-in-law, who later passed away and Moats was unable to say goodbye to because of all of this.

I hope that this cop loses his job for this. I understand that running a red light is against the law and Moats did have an attitude with the officer at first, but if my mother in-law were dying I’d be a little flustered, too.  But sometimes what’s right isn’t always ethical and what’s ethical isn’t always right.

The cop, who still hasn’t apologized verbally to Moats, has been placed on indefinite leave pending an investigation on this whole matter. I doubt anything new will come of this. But, seriously, something should. What gets me about the video is the fact that he continues to yell at Moats about his attitude and threatens that he can screw him over in a big way. Then the nurse comes out and tells the officer that Moats is needed upstairs because his mother in-law is in code blue and the officer responds with, “I’m almost done, here.”

Show some compassion, buddy and let the guy go see his ailing mother in-law. I hope this guy is fired.

It’s a two-part video:

Part one:

Part two:

Well, the Chargers couldn’t pull it off.

And although on paper it looked like Shelby was going to have Northwood’s number in Saturday’s 2-A State Championship, the Chargers didn’t disappoint and didn’t embarrass themselves.

Shelby might have won by double digits (62-50), but the Golden Lions had one heck of a fight on their hands. Northwood wasn’t going to give this one up quite easily.

Congratulations to the 29-2 Shelby Golden Lions, the NCHSAA 2-A State Champions and congratulations to the Northwood Chargers for one heck of a season and one heck of a postseason run.

Later, I will have postseason quotes from Northwood head coach Russ Frazier and Shelby head coach Aubrey Hollifield.