Bryant, Jackson champions again; Lakers down Boston to claim NBA title

Basketball Betting Lines

06/18/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant and the Lakers looked half- asleep at times during their most important game of the season, but in the end it was their suffocating defense that propelled them to a 83-79 Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics to capture their 16th NBA championship and second in a row.

Bryant captured his fifth title despite going 6-of-24 from the field for just 23 points, as the Lakers used their length to win the rebounding battle by a sizeable 53-40 margin. He also added 15 rebounds, while Pau Gasol provided a huge presence inside with 19 points and 18 boards. Ron Artest added 20 points in the win.

Boston held the lead for a majority of the game, but Los Angeles outscored the Celtics, 30-22, in a decisive fourth quarter, including 10 points from Bryant.

Historically, the Celtics had dominated the Lakers in the NBA Finals coming into this matchup, winning nine of the previous 11 series, including 4-of-4 Game 7s. Los Angeles, though, exacted some revenge for its 2008 loss to Boston and handed head coach Phil Jackson his 11th championship -- extending a record.

Paul Pierce led a balanced Boston attack with 18 points, but the Celtics didn't have enough firepower despite a heroic defensive effort for the first three quarters. Pierce also added 10 rebounds, although the C's clearly missed their center in Kendrick Perkins, who sat out the game after spraining his knee in Game 6.

Kevin Garnett added 17 points, while Ray Allen struggled with only 13 on 3-of- 14 shooting, as Boston failed in its attempt to win its second title in three years.

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NFL Football Office Pools : NFL Football Contests

NFL Football Office Pool Printable Schedules

Welcome to our free football office pool page. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury -- Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.