Last night the Detroit Pistons evened up the Eastern Conference final series at one game apiece with the Miami Heat.  After dominating for most of the game, the Pistons almost let it slip at the end of the fourth quarter when the Heat scored 17 points in the final 1:46.  The Heat got as close as 90-88 thanks to a Dwyane Wade three-pointer with 9.8 seconds left to go.  However, Detroit held on and iced the game when PG Chauncey Billups hit two free-throws and G Lindsey Hunter took away a Heat possession with a steal.  The series continues down in the land of warmth and fabulous people (in other words, models) when Game Three is played in Miami on Saturday night.

*The Western Conference finals’ Game Two goes down tonight at Dallas where the Mavericks hope to tie up the series against the Phoenix Suns.  The Mavs’ Josh Howard is day-to-day after spraining his ankle in the first quarter of Game One and that could prove to be an important loss as Howard is one of the better defenders for Dallas.  The Suns’ Raja Bell is definitely out for Game Two and possibly longer with a calf injury.  Luckily the Suns are deep enough to replace Bell with another scorer in Leandro Barbosa.  Look for another great game tonight from both teams.

Most of us baseball fans are still waiting for Barry Bonds to hit homerun number 715, to either applaud Bonds or to discredit him and yell out “asterisk!”  He gets a chance to do it tonight in San Francisco against the Colorado Rockies’ Jeff Francis.  If the game was played in Colorado, I would think that Bonds would have a better chance to break the tie with the Babe, but Bonds has hit a lot of milestone homers at San Fran.  Why not 715?

*Arizona Diamondbacks SP Brandon Webb looks to become MLB’s first eight game winner as he brings his sinker to Cincinnati against a powerhouse Reds offense.  Webb is 7-0 with a 2.44 ERA.  I have a feeling that’s going to change for the worse tonight after a hot Ken Griffey, Jr., Adam Dunn, et al. are through.
*Scott Kazmir is also looking to become the first eight game winner as his Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue their series against A.L. East foe, Boston Red Sox up in Beantown.  In five career starts in Fenway, Kazmir has a 3-1 record along with a 2.54 ERA, 29 K in 28.1 innings pitched, and a .216 BAA.
*Know the old saying - “Things always happens in threes?”  Well, it applies here as the Chicago White Sox’s Freddie Garcia also has a chance to get his eighth win against the Toronto Blue Jays.  It’ll be a tough order for Garcia as the Blue Jays have a very good offense, especially since OF Alexis Rios has started to mash the ball lately.

Well, the Mighty Ducks are still wading in the playoff waters as they avoided a sweep by the Edmonton Oilers as they beat the Oilers by a score of 6-3.  C Dustin Penner and RW Joffrey Lupul each scored two goals for the Ducks.  Game Five of the Western Conference series heads back to Anaheim on Saturday night.

*Game Four of the Eastern Conference final takes place tonight in Buffalo with the Sabres owning a 2-1 advantage over the Carolina Hurricanes.  Unfortunately for the Sabres, D Henrik Tallinder, will be lost for the rest of the playoffs with a broken left arm suffered during a collision in Wednesday’s game.  Tallinder was leading the team with a plus-14 rating.  Let’s see if the Sabres can get over the injuries on the defense (the aforementioned Tallinder, as well as Teppo Numminen and Dmitri Kalinin) and get to their first Stanley Cup since 1999.

Enjoy the games!