Talented UST Basketball Player Founds 'True You' Clothing Business « CBS Minnesota

Talented UST Basketball Player Founds 'True You' Clothing Business « CBS Minnesota



Cool piece on one of my former teammates at the University of Saint Thomas, Marcus Alipate.

GSW vs HOU Western Conference Finals - NBA Playoffs 2015

Congratulations to both the Warriors and Rockets on making it to the Western Conference Finals. Both franchises haven't been to this round of playoffs for a number of years. I'm still surprised the Rockets made it this far after the meltdown by the LA Clippers. I wish the Spurs would have made it to the WCFs instead of the Rockets because I believe they are the only team that could have beat the Warriors.

Houston stands no chance against the Warriors. In the 4 game regular season series, the Warriors swept the Rockets 4-0. That included 2 games at Houston. The first game of the regular season series was the closest game of the series, which the Warriors won by 11. Followed by a 12 point victory at Golden State. When the MVP contest was as close as could be, the Warriors thumped the Rockets in Houston by 25. In the season finale of the series the Warriors won once again by 13 at Golden State. A regular season sweep doesn't define what the playoff series will result in, but to me I think there is a clear indication that the Rockets don't match up well with the Warriors.

It will be fun to watch the MVP and MVP runner up play against each other, but Curry will show why he ultimately is this season's MVP over James Harden. Dwight Howard will get very frustrated this series with the swarming defense the Warriors play and the tough-nosed defense of Andrew Bogut. The Warriors have so many weapons and play too good of defense to lose this series.

I will give the Rockets the benefit of the doubt of not getting swept because they did beat the Clippers in a 7 game series after being down 3-1 and down 19pts in the 4th quarter on the road in Game 6. Unless they play miraculous, I don't see any surprises in this series.

Golden State will win the series 4-1. The Warriors will lose a game in Houston due to Houston's desperation not to get swept.

Warriors win 4-1

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Cleveland Cavs Eastern Conference Finals

After a tremendous first 5 games of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Chicago Bulls series, Game 6 was the opposite of the first 5 games. Expecting another down-to-the wire game and maybe a Chicago win to force Game 7, Game 6 was everything but that. Derrick Rose started off really hot, scoring 10 in the first quarter, which led many to believe that he would play hero again and force a game 7 with a tremendous effort. After that first quarter he hardly did anything. He finished with 14 points on 7/16 with no FTs made or attempted. One could make the argument that the only Chicago player that played halfway decent was Jimmy Butler, but even he shot very poorly at 8/22 and posting a -25 +/- rating. The Bulls' front court was a non-factor as well. Combining for just 21 points between Noah, Gasol, Gibson, and Mirotic, the Bulls were destroyed by Tristan Thompson, who recorded a career best 17 rebounds.

With Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving twisting his knee/ankle in the 2nd quarter, you would think LeBron was going to have to carry the team on his back and have another remark game like Game 5. No, not this game. He had another horrible shooting night, but excelled in other areas, nearly notching a triple double with 11 assists and 9 rebounds to go with his 15 points. His teammates finally stepped up and played great. The small-ball game plan worked. The line up of Thompson, James, Shumpert, Smith, and Dellavedova was the line up that pushed the lead past 20. All the players in the line up had a +/- of +19 or better. Cleveland's bench was the key to winning Game 6. All the Cavs' role players played great, including James Jones who came off the bench to knock down 3 three pointers in the game.

After a competitive half, both teams came out of halftime with no offense. At one point, the teams were shooting a combined 3-23 6 minutes into the 3rd quarter. It was horrendous basketball to watch. The lack of a comeback by the Bulls helped lock the win in for the Cavs, as the 4th quarter was very undramatic as well.

Moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the Cavs is something Cleveland hasn't done since you guessed it: when Lebron led them there in 2009 in his last game as a Cavalier before going to the Miami Heat. Making it to the ECF marks 5 consecutive seasons for Mr. James as he waits to find out who his next opponent will be. This one will be different though. He has a new team, full of young stars and a few veterans. The young guys like Kyrie, TT, Dellavedova, and Shumpert have never made it this far, let alone played in the playoffs besides Shumpert. This will be another true test against a very talented and defensive minded Washington Wizards or a tough, well round team that plays great team basketball in the Atlanta Hawks. Either team will definitely test the Cavs to the brink, but I believe the Cavs have what it takes to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007.

Stephen Curry KIA NBA MVP 2015

Steph Curry NBA MVP

Steph Curry was the obvious MVP of the 2014-2015 NBA season. He lead his team to the best record in the league and was top 6 in scoring and assist per game. He had an unbelievable season that can only get better if the Golden State Warriors win the NBA Finals. Hopefully the Houston Rockets advance to the Western Conference Finals to have a battle between the 1st and 2nd place vote-getters Curry and James Harden.
I predicted the MVP results in March correctly. Here are the results:

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NBA PLAYOFFS 2015 2nd Round

Round 2 is going to be awesome! Game 7 of the Spurs-Clippers series was one of the best games of recent NBA Playoffs. I was very shocked the Clippers pulled it off, but hats off to them. I think the Spurs losing surprised the majority. I had them beating Houston in the second round and eventually going to seven with the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Now with the Spurs out, I think the Rockets have a lot better chance of advancing against the Clippers. With that being said here are my predictions of the 2nd round:

GS vs MEM 
Earlier in the season I had the Grizzlies as the #2 seed. This is the series of better teams, because whoever wins this series will be the Western Conference champion. The Grizzlies are going to struggle with the pace when they play at Golden State, but they are one of the top defensive teams in the league. If they grind it out by dumping it down low, I believe Memphis can keep it close and steal one on the road. GS wins 4-3

HOU vs LA
This series is really up for grabs. Houston played very well against Dallas and the Clippers were sensational in their seven game series against the Spurs. Chris Paul being a tad beat up could hinder the outcome of the series. I also believe that because LA played a brutal seven game series will make them start down 0-1. Game 2 could be a chance to even the series, but I think the Clippers with go back to LA down 0-2. Even down two games, LA will even the series after Game 4. The deciding factor will be Houston owning home court advantage and winning Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. HOU wins 4-3

ATL vs WASH
After watching Atlanta struggle against Brooklyn, I am very hesitant to pick them to beat the scorching hot Wizards. How Atlanta plays is why I think they will win the series. They are a good defensive team and an excellent offensive team that shares the ball. The scary thing is that the Wizards are playing unbelievably. Sweeping the higher seed Raptors and averaging nearly 10 point more per game is a recipe for success. I wouldn't be surprised if Washington won, but I think Atlanta is the better team. ATL wins 4-3

CLE vs CHI
This will be the most popular series of the 2nd round. The Cavs are on role after sweeping the Celtics and the Bulls won convincingly against the Bucks after 2 games of missed opportunities.There are a few concerns for both teams. The biggest: Kevin Love out for the rest of the playoffs. Though he has has under performing season, his importance and role on the court hasn't changed. His ability to stretch the floor enabling Lebron and Kyrie to get to the hoop, will be seriously jeopardized now that he is out. I think James Jones and Mike Miller will play big roles in this series filling in for Love, but they don't bring the rebounding ability as Love does. Lebron and Kyrie will have to up their games and production in order to move on.
The Bulls have concerns as well. Blowing game 4 and 5 didn't help them at all. Yes game 6 was a convincing win, but that put more wear on the whole team and especially Derrick Rose. Rose will be the deciding factor in this series. If he can play near his former MVP self that we saw glimpses of in the Milwaukee series, I think they have a good shot of winning. I still don't think they will beat Cleveland, but expect this series to be a physical one. CLE wins 4-2