Welcome one and all to another edition of Inside Sports with the General. Let’s dive right in to what’s going on in the sports world!

The Miami Heat had a big celebration on Sunday as the crowd showed superstar small forward LeBron James some love as the franchise’s first MVP before the game. And the MVP didn’t disappoint as he posted 32 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists as the Heat won by 9 against the Indiana Pacers. But lost in the win is the loss of starting forward Chris Bosh.

Bosh had 13 points in the first half when he went down with an injury late in the first half. After an MRI, it was revealed that Bosh has an abdominal strain and that he will be out indefinitely. This may not seem to be a big loss to the average fan, but this loss will definitely hurt the Heat if he does not come back soon.

Bosh is a small forward in a power forward’s body and that allows him to be able to hit the open jump shot and spread the floor for James and Dwyane Wade. Without him in there, if the Heat aren’t able to get out and run, the lanes to the basket will be clogged due to teams not having respect for the shooting abilities of Ronny Turiaf, Joel Anthony or Udonis Haslem. It should be interesting to see the adjustments that the Pacers make in preparation for the next game and if the Heat adjust their game plan as well.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been flying high in the last week. After knocking out the number one seed in the East, the Chicago Bulls, the 76ers have headed to Boston to take on the veteran Celtics. Many have once again counted Philly out as they did against the Bulls. But these 76ers are not going out without a fight. In fact, the 76ers went to Boston and split two games in their best of seven series.

In the end, I believe the style of play will determine what team wins. For the 76ers, they need this game to be as fast-paced as possible so they can take advantage of their athleticism and not have to run half court offense against Boston’s defense.  If I’m the Celtics, unless I have easy transition baskets, I keep the game half court and trust that the execution of the offense will eventually wear down the 76ers. I give the 76ers a chance to win this series, even though many don’t give them a chance at all.

The Lakers got a dose of what a lot of teams have been getting in Oklahoma City in Game 1. The Lakers looked more lost than the Easter Bunny on Christmas as they floundered in their conference semi-final debut this year. For the Lakers, this may be a foretelling of what to expect from the rest of this series. The Thunder have three guys they simply cannot guard at all and the thing about the Lakers is they don’t have an answer for them. If there is one bright spot for the Lakers, the big man combo of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum did battle on the boards. But other than that, Kobe wasn’t Kobe and the defense wasn’t even present for Los Angeles. They need to have a “Man in the Mirror” moment after this game because with the effort they showed, this series will go four games, five at best.

In the NFL, this has been a long off-season for Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jason Peters. He tore his right Achilles tendon while training in Texas on March 27th. He was on the road to recovery after having surgery on the Achilles in April when he fell in his kitchen after the vehicle he was using to get around broke and he fell face-first. This fall ruptured his Achilles again and he had to have the surgery again. This has pushed back his recovery time by a few weeks and now he has to start all over again. I wish Peters well on his recovery as he tries to return to the game.

The beef between New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora and Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy has picked back up again. The star defensive end for the Giants took to Twitter to wish McCoy a Happy Mother’s Day. The only thing that is strange about this is that McCoy isn’t a mother or a woman, but a football player.

This beef all started when McCoy called Umenyiora “soft”, “overrated” and said that he was the third best defensive end on his team. At the time, Unemyiora was talking to the Giants about an affidavit that allegedly said that the Giants general manager had promised him a raise. Osi said the comments by McCoy were “stuff a woman would do”, so now he refers to McCoy as “she” all the time now.

At the end of the day, none of this really matters and it is all pointless. I think that Osi needs to just worry about what he’s doing to get himself ready for the season instead of worrying about McCoy, because I’m sure that McCoy isn’t worrying about him at all. And maybe sometimes the truth hurts because McCoy just said what most of us were thinking: Osi is the third best defensive end on his own team.

It’s early in the baseball season, but it’s never too early to talk about potential Triple Crown winners in baseball. Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton has taken the league by siege this year, hitting .400 while hitting 18 homeruns and collecting 44 RBI’s. He recently just went on a homerun binge this past week and he seems unstoppable for the Texas Rangers.

Many are familiar with Hamilton’s daily battles with substance abuse and alcohol and it is definitely good to see him playing well and take over the major leagues. But what is even more interesting is the contract he is playing for. He would love to stay long-term with Texas, but they aren’t sure that they want to extend him at the money that he will probably ask for ($25 million per year). The lapses in his recovery, most recently before the season, have given the organization cause for concern and I think that because of that, the most that Hamilton will get will be a two or three year deal.

If you have any sports questions or need any sports information, feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@General_MP).

Previously: Inside Sports With The General: LeBron James, Then And Now
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