The Dog Days of February +NBA predictions that you care about

Props if you predicted this a place Diddy's head would ever be

It’s NBA the all star break, which can only mean one thing: Sports are dead. Every year, during the period between the Super Bowl and March Madness, sports are a dud. In other words, I have no life right now. Think about the sports that are going on right now:

- Regular Season College Basketball: Parents, if you want your kids to leave the house and gets some fresh air, here’s a new game: Tell them to go outside and ask random people to name 5 College Basketball players, and they can’t come back until they find someone who can. This should allow for about a weeks vacation to Hawaii with your significant other.

- NHL Regular Season: If the first game doesn’t work, ask the kids to find someone who can name 5 NHL players.

- NASCAR: If the second game doesn’t work...

- PBA tour Bowling: …

- NBA All Star Weekend: Every year I pump myself up for the Slam Dunk contest. I always see footage of MJ dunking from the foul line, or Vincanity’s crazy 2000 dunks, and I say to myself “This is the year I’m going to see an unbelievable dunk that I’m going to remember forever.” Then yesterday, I watched Andre Iguodola fold back the zero on his ‘ten’ poster for Jeremy Evans’ opening dunk. I watched Paul George glow in the dark and Chase Bundinger jump over Diddy. Memories!

Let me put it this way: Blake Griffin had a better dunk than all of them, and it was during a game.

The one sport that has kept this period remotely interesting, is the NBA. This has been one of the most intriguing NBA seasons in a long time, as the story lines keep pouring out like Lemonade during a hot July day. Will Linsanity continue? Can the Heat figure out their crunch time issues? Will Kobe ever win a sixth title? Why did Pitbull perform at halftime of the All Star Game? Who gave Pitbull a record deal? Does Pitbull sing or just yell with music in the background?

So in the spirit of Valentines Day, I’m going to spice things up during this dry period for sports. Here are my mid-season predictions, because who doesn’t enjoy reading some random dude with no credentials opinion about what’s going to happen in sixth months.

MVP: Lebron James- Nothing he does this season will matter unless he wins a championship. However, he’s having the best statistical season of his career, and has been a complete monster offensively and defensively. There’s going to be a strong push for Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Jeremy Lin (just kidding. But seriously have you had his ice cream?) but neither of them have come close to Lebron’s level of play.

Coach of the Year: Gregg Poppovich (Spurs)- He won it last year, but this year he’s doing even more with less. Manu Ginobili has been hurt most of the year, Tim Duncan is a shell of his former self and somehow the Spurs have the second best record in the West and just rattled off 11 wins in a row. Somehow Tony Parker + Tim Duncan’s brain+ a compilation of scrappy role players is getting it done. Pop is getting players like Danny Green, Matt Bonner and Gary Neal to all play way better than they should be. Raise your hand if you had the Green- Bonner- Neal combo getting major minutes on a chamionship contender. Now raise your hand if you’ve never heard of any of them.

Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers)- Ricky Rubio is going to get a lot of momentum, but Kyrie Irving is a shoe in for this award. He’s been far and away the best rookie and has made the Cavaliers a semi-contender for the eight playoff spot in the East. Imagine for a second, if Irving leads the Cavs to a playoff berth, and they play the Heat in the opening round. Lebron vs. the Cavs in a playoff series? Oops I just drooled on my roommates computer.

Western Conference Champion: Los Angeles Lakers over Oklahoma City Thunder- Yeah I said it. They’re currently the 5th best team in the West, and offensively are more difficult to watch than this.

But hear me out: the Lakers have to make a move before the deadline. I’m willing to bet Kobe is practically forcing Jim Bust make a move for another offensive threat. Even if the Lakers don’t make a trade, you would have to believe Pau Gasol is going to play better without all this trade talk. Andrew Bynum is playing the best basketball of his life and with each passing day, the Lakers are learning how to play in Mike Brown’s system slowly but surely. Finally, there’s the Kobe factor. It’s a shortened season, so there’s less wear and tear on his body come playoff time than in any other year. He came into this season the healthiest he’s been in a long time after having surgery in Germany, which supposedly worked wonders for his body. Next season he’s going to have to play the full 82 game season, in addition to the Olympics he’s going to play this summer which is definitely going to take a toll on his body. This has got to be the best chance Kobe will have for his sixth title, which will tie him with Michael. You would have to think, Kobe is going to do whatever it takes to get to the Finals. People are saying Kobe is taking his game to another level this regular season. I think he’s still holding back. Come playoff time, he’s going to go ultra- psycho- black mamba- terminator mode, and I think it will be good enough to carry the Lakers to the Finals. The Thunder are playing out of their mind right now, but I think this Durant- Russel Westbrook alpha dog struggle is going to come back to bite them. They may play a different style than the Lakers, but somehow, someway, Kobe will find a way to win. While I’m at it, I’m just gonna go ahead and say Kobe is going to solve world hunger.

Eastern Conference Champion: Miami Heat over Chicago Bulls- I’m going to keep this brief. The Heat are the best team in the NBA and I don’t know how much the Bulls have improved since last season, when they lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. They still don’t have another late- game scorer other than Derrick Rose. They hoped Richard Hamilton could be that player, but he’s past his prime and has been injured the majority the season. If they can get the sharp shooting Hamilton, they’ll have a shot at the Heat. Still, Lebron is playing the best basketball of his life, and the Heat are much improved in terms of personnel from last season.

The Finals: Heat over Lakers: I admit it, I have no balls, so I’m taking the easy way out and picking the Heat. We are finally going to get that Kobe vs. Lebron Finals the world has been waiting for. Lebron is finally going to figure out his Finals struggles, and win his first championship. Tim Tebow will be MVP.