Regardless of the outcome, jn...

[JoMal]

May the best team win.

The T-Wolves are a talented and dedicated team and deserved the #1 seeding in the west with their strong finish. Whoever wins the game today will have to turn it up a notch when facing the Lakers, who have clearly focused their mission once again in the post season.

As for my Kings, I am proud of the fact that they have gotten to a seventh game at all in the second round, as their basketball execution has been subpar for months now. Win or lose, they have at least competed when their injuries (and their coaches decisions), once again, has limited their rotation. Regardless of how they fare, I doubt next year's Kings will look the same.

[Reality]

Anyone who predicts correctly how these two teams will turn out is just flipping a coin.  You would think advantage MN at home but then given the past 10 games who knows with these two.

Indeed lets hope whoever wins carries it on against the 2004 .4 Lakers.

[westkoast]

Right now Id say that the Kings have the upper hand because of their 7 game playoff expierence.  Also I kinda think that the Kings have got into KG's head somewhat.  So with those two factors id say they are the favorite to win tonight.

I just hope these teams haven't beat themselves up too much so they can give the Lakers a run for their money in the next round.

[jn]

Agreed JoMal.  I wish the smack talk and hard fouls were toned down a bit oh well.    

[rickortreat]

Agreed JoMal.  I wish the smack talk and hard fouls were toned down a bit oh well.

Just finshed watching the game.  I feel bad for the Kings who never gave up, but just didn't have enough.  Maybe if they had Bobby Jackson it would have made a difference.  Maybe a healthier Webber.

But Minnesota deserved the win, and were clearly the better team tonight.  Garnett is a stud, and Wally Scerbiak (sp) gave them a huge lift in the first half.

Congrats to the Lakers on keeping it together and comming back to beat the Kings- I really didn't think they had it in them.  With the way Payton was crying, I thought they'd fall apart.  In truth, it was Phil Jackson not directing his team the right way, but in the end he got it together and so did the Lakers.

My heart is now with the T-Wolves, simply because I'm a Kevin McHale fan.  Lakers have more talent and more experience.  The Wolves have youth and the home-court advantage.  I have no idea how KG matches up with Shaq.  Somehow I think the Lakers get to the finals.

PS. I do not like the U.S. Stock market at all.  If your in, I suggest you get out or hedge your position.  Not predicting a crash here, but I'm not ruling one out either.  Market has been distributing- selling out for a while now and there has been no follow-through buying.  Higher oil prices are definitely a negative going forward, as long as the price of oil stays high, and interest rates rise, the US economy will be under great stress.

[Reality]

PS. I do not like the U.S. Stock market at all.  If your in, I suggest you get out or hedge your position.  Not predicting a crash here, but I'm not ruling one out either.  Market has been distributing- selling out for a while now and there has been no follow-through buying.  Higher oil prices are definitely a negative going forward, as long as the price of oil stays high, and interest rates rise, the US economy will be under great stress.

How could the TWolves choke off a 79-70 lead while having the ball?
In part Bam Spreewell does not accept a top of freethrow line shot and instead takes a stupidarsed baseline brick that leads to an easy fastbreak.  Next time upcourt Bibby shoots 3pter over Spree and in like 20 seconds the 79-70 ball in hand lead is 79-75.

The last two minutes of that game had more fundamental flaws....

Still a lot of great plays.  KG is the best.  

Did you lose you hind end on gold options?  WOW talk about a mini crash.

[rickortreat]

No I wasn't playing Gold options, but I was holding some Gold stocks that took a big hit.  No biggie as they will come back eventually, but it was still a bad play not to see it comming.  

The double-bottom in the Dollar faked me out, and I'm still not sure that the Gold correction is over, since the Dollar hasn't broken out of it's uptrend.  I didn't quite realize how many speculators were borrowing Dollars to buy Gold.  They were weak hands and got squeezed out when the Fed started indicating they would raise rates.

Don't be fooled by this though.  The Dollar is still headed down, and Gold is still headed up. Nothing moves in a straight line in the market.  But you have to be watching it and tradeing in and out to make money. Holding Gold will just keep you even with inflation- if you're lucky!

[Reality]

Yes it would seem like now would be the best time to buy gold, certainly not anytime in the last 3 months.  I'm getting hozed by $1.50 share down to .95 cents but I only put a small percentage in just cause I'm way more into quick hitters as opposed to slow plodding boring stuff.  Plus all seem to say it will come back the next 12 months.  But yeah now would seem to be the buy time for gold if one was going to get into gold.  Before they "throw it in the streets".

[rickortreat]

If you can wait a year to get back a decent return that's ok.  My view right now is that although Gold should rise, mining stocks may fall back.

History shows that miners go down along with other equities in a major market decline.  If Gold is up, they will rise quickly once the panic dissipates, but they are not immune from crashes.  

The metal itself is another story.  You can buy it and hold it, but you have to store it and keep it hidden.  Also, it isn't easy to spend.  It's not like you can order a Big Mac at MCDonalds with a gold coin!  Buying and selling it back to dealer is somewhat like selling stock or options, you have to pay the dealers commision and bid/ask spread.  Still at about $380 now, if we see $480 by the end of the summer, that's a pretty good profit.

Disclosure. I do not own any physical gold at this time.