NBA MVP Predictions

      The NBA has seen some great talent so far this year and I'm going to give my predictions for my favorites to win the MVP award this year. 

     Stephen Curry has played great this season and is on pace to make history with his 3-point shooting. Steph has played lights out this year and has his Warriors on an 18 game winning streak to start the season. He is averaging 32 points per game this season which leads the NBA, but he doesn't get enough rebounds or assists as an MVP should get. He also doesn't play great defense which makes is case for MVP go down in my opinion.

     My fourth favorite for MVP this year is Sacramento Kings center, DeMarcus Cousins. He is the best center in the league I my opinion and has had a stellar year thus far. He is averaging 27 points per game as 11 rebounds per game. The only reason he isn't higher on the list is because of his team's record. If he led his team to more wins, I would definatley have him higher up. 

    Andre Drummond is my third favorite MVP candidate. Drummond has played well throughout his career, but this season he has gone absolutely bonkers. He is a rebounding machine, with multiple 20 rebound games this season and many more to come. He averages 18 points per game and 17 rebounds per game this season. Another crazy stat is that he averages about five more rebounds per game than the next closest player. 

 

    My runner up prediction so far is Oklahoma City point guard, Russell Westbrook. I believe he was snubbed of the award last season and is looking to win the award this season. He got his best teammate, Kevin Durant back from injury and this has been helping him put up crazy numbers this year. He leads the league in triple doubles, and averages 27 points/game, 10 assists/game and 6 rebounds/ game. 

   I'm probably being biased right now because he is my favorite player, but my favorite to win MVP this season is none other than LeBron James. James is leading the Cavaliers to a 13-4 record so far and has played great so far averaging 26 points/game, 8 rebounds/game, and 7 assists/game. I feel like people overlook James as an MVP candidate every year because he puts up insane numbers every season. These offensive numbers are great from LeBron, but his defense has been outstanding. When LeBron is the closest defender to a shooter this season, they only shoot 27%, the lowest shooting percentage from any defender. 

Thanksgiving Football

L       Week 11 was a great week of football mostly because there was lots of football on Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving, the Detroit Lions manhandled the Philadelphia Eagles in a 45-14 victory. Calvin Johnson has played well this season but nowhere near where he is used to. In this matchup against the Eagles, he returned to his old self and caught three touchdowns form quarterback, Matthew Stafford, who is also looking a lot better from the earlier portion of the season. In the second Thanksgiving game, the Carolina Panthers faced off against the Dallas Cowboys. The Panthers easily won the game  and became 11-0, but the big dea about this game was the season ending injury to Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo. Romo fractured his collarbone and is out for the remainder of the season. This is huge for the Dallas Cowboys as they were looking to go on a late season run and potentially make the playoffs with Romo, but instead they will probably not be playoff contenders. In the final game of Thanksgiving, the Chicago Bears surprisingly bear their rivals in their division, the Green Bay Packers. This was a big win for the Bears, but also a huge loss for the Packers as they are hopeful Super Bowl contenders, they have lost four of their last five games and aren't on track offensively the past few weeks.

NBA Season

     The NBA season has been going on for about a month now and it has not been disappointing to say the least. There have been many great stars to the season such as the Golden State Warriors starting the season with a perfect record of 18-0. The Philadelphia 76ers have had the exact opposite of a good season as they have started 0-17 thus far. This comes as somewhat of a surprise to me because of the rookie star power of Jahlil Okafor who has been playing great this season. The 76ers have also set a new record of consecutive losses in Major American Sports history with 27 straight losses dating back to last season. The Eastern Conference champion, Cleveland Cavaliers have also started out strong and are currently at the top of the east this season with a 13-4 record. LeBron James however are not happy with this start as him and fellow veteran teammate, James Jones held a players only meeting to discuss how they are playing well as a team and they need to focus more. Personally, I think this is a great idea by LeBron because in order to knock off the Warriors, they are going to need to play their best and not slack off.

Peyton Manning Week 9/10

The Colts have been struggling mightily lately and needed a big win against the Broncos in week nine. The Colts did something that they haven't done all season, play the entire game. Normally, the Colts slack off most of the game and try to come back in the fourth quarter. The Colts played great defense against the Broncos all game long. However, in the fourth quarter, the Broncos drove all the way down the field but Manning was intercepted by Colts cornerback, Darius Butler. The Colts got the ball back and on a crucial third down, Broncos cornerback, Aqib Talib, tried to eye gauge Colts tight end, Dwayne Allen. There was obviously a penalty called, which gave the Colts a first down and just ran the clock out for the win. Peyton Manning also needed a little over 250 yards to become the NFL's all time leader in passing yards. The Colts' defense stepped up big time and stopped him three yards shy of his record. I don't know if that was a good thing or not for him not getting the record in Indianapolis because it would've been cool to see him break it in the stadium he played in for so many years but also it was crucial to stop him during the game so he didn't win. Peyton did go on and break the record in week ten against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, Peyton probably had the worst game he's ever had. He completed just 5/20 passes for 36 yards and had four interceptions. He got benched in the fourth quarter for backup quarterback, Brock Osweiler. It was later revealed that Manning had been playing with Plantar Fascia the past couple of weeks and that could've been a big factor in his poor play. I hope that this isn't his last game and that he is given another chance because he is a great player and I'd love to see him play at a high level a Peyton Manning took on his former team and the team that made him great, the Indianapolis Colts.