Madison Middle School Panther Press - Trumbull Public Schools

June 2011
Panther Press Staff
Advisor:
Mr. Devine
Editor:
Alison Kuznitz
Assistant Editors:
Dylan Shepard
Emily Clark
Writers:
Ben Hazen
Jack Stachura
Chiaki Santiago
Jimmy McEwan
Michael Johnson
Anuj Sisodiya
Rory Dougall
Lauren Picarelli
Sam Gross
Meagan Schwarz
Michael LePore
Justin Hirshfield
Haley DeWeese
Osama Bin Ladin, the
man who is responsible
for 9/11 and the many
new security precautions,
is finally dead. His death
occurred on May 2,
2011. He has been one of
the most hated men since
Adolf Hitler because of
all the terrorist attacks he
has caused in America.
This includes the most
devastating attack on
U.S. soil: 9/11. Everyone
saw the news that morning
and noticed many
people celebrating the
death of this evil man.
When we walked into
school, it was all anyone
could talk about. This
will go down in history
books as a great victory
in our war against terrorism.
Bin Ladin has sent
terrorists into our country,
mainly in airports,
and into other countries
Panther Press
Madison Middle School
Terrorism’s Face of Evil is Dead
By Sam Gross
as well. Due to all of
these attacks, Americans
have to run their shoes,
jackets, laptops, and bags
under X-ray machines. In
fact, U.S. security officers
in airports now confiscate
gels such as pudding
and yogurt, aerosols,
and liquids. Americans
do not have to
worry about what could
happen, and we can enjoy
a little peace now
(although the security
will not be relaxed). One
must wonder what Bin
Laden could have been
capable of if he had had
more resources at his disposal.
If Bin Ladin was
able to destroy the World
Trade Center and even
brutally attack the Pentagon,
with more resources
he might have gone far
enough to destroy the
United States from
within. Thanks to our
luck and the skills of our
Navy Seals, he is dead.
The Navy Seals invaded
Bin Laden’s mansion
and during a major battle,
captured and killed
him. His body was
dumped into the Northern
Arabian Sea because
if he was buried on land,
he would have become a
martyr. Now, his body is
in the depths of the
ocean and we have been
relieved of America’s
public enemy. The celebrations
will last and so
will the news that the
most recent face of evil
is dead.

Eighth Grade Perspective
By Dylan Shepard and Alison Kuznitz
We remember all too well
the summer before entering
sixth grade. Just days before
the first day of school, we
experienced a sudden nervousness
come over us. All of
the sudden, we thought of
questions including: “What
will middle school be like?;”
“How will we fit in?;” “What
will the bus be like?;” and
many more. Middle school,
we soon found out, was nothing
to worry about. Once we
understood the layout of the
school, finding classes was
very easy. Within a few
weeks of attending Madison,
our worries about making
friends went away as well.
The surplus of clubs only
made things better. As the
Mrs. Bonazzo
After 23 years of hard work,
Mrs. Bonazzo (our school secretary)
is retiring. The superintendent
of the Trumbull Public
School System hired her and sent
her to work at Madison Middle
School as an office secretary. At
first, she worked in the main part
year went by, Alison and I were
able to experience the fun trips,
which were included with the
curriculum, such as Nature’s
classroom. These activities
would never have occurred during
elementary school.
In our opinion, seventh grade
was just not the same. Sure, it
became easier to navigate Madison
and we were used to the
amount of homework, but middle
school was not exciting anymore.
It was simply school
again. However, by then we did
have our own established group
of friends. The best part of seventh
grade was definitely on the
last day of school. The entire
grade was allowed to participate
in a huge game of capture the
flag called the Battle of Gettys-
Retiring Staff—Mrs. Bonazzo, Mrs. Chamberlain, and Mrs. Bialek
By Ben Hazen and Anuj Sisodiya
of the office, which is typically
what Mrs. Chamberlain does now.
After five years, she was promoted
to be the principal’s secretary.
As one can imagine, this is
an extremely hard job. When
asked what the hardest part of the
job is, Mrs. Bonazzo said,
“Changing gears right away, it is
burg. During our social studies
classes, Dylan and I had voted
for the general and assistant
generals.
Eighth grade, without a
doubt, has been the best year of
middle school. This is because
of all the special events, which
makes up for the hard work.
For example, starting in April
there was the Lock-in. In the
beginning of June, the fun activities
continued with Holiday
Hill, Formal, the Eighth Grade
Dinner, and the Awards Ceremony.
Graduation and the
Eighth Grade Breakfast are
still events we are looking forward
to. Madison Middle
School has been a wonderful
experience in all three years we
have been here. In high school,
we will happily look back at
sometimes hard to go from doing
one thing to another very
quickly.” We wish Mrs. Bonazzo
good luck during her retirement!
Thanks for all of the hard work!
Mrs. Chamberlain
After twenty plus years of many
difficult tasks, Mrs. Chamberlain
(another Madison secretary) has
decided to retire. She became the
main office worker
(Continued on Page 3)
Page 2

who helps numerous students and
parents. Mrs. Chamberlain applied
to Madison, and this was her
first job working in a school. This
tough job required a multitude of
skills, all of which Mrs. Chamberlain
has. She says that Madison
Middle School has been her second
family, and she will miss everyone
who she has worked with.
Also, Mrs. Chamberlain will be
thinking about everyone as she
Madison Helps Japan Relief Efforts
By: Haley DeWeese and Lauren
Piccarelli
We have all heard about the
8.9 magnitude earthquake and
tsunami that hit Japan in March.
Many people decided they
would pitch in and help the people
affected by this catastrophe.
Our school was no exception.
Madison held the Penny
Wars and the Zumbathon to
raise money. The Penny Wars
was a competition to see which
grade could acquire the most
points. Positive points were
pennies, and all the silver coins
and paper money were negative
points. The eighth grade came
in first place, the sixth grade
came in second place, and the
travels across the world during her
retirement. She will be spending
more time in church and with her
lovely grandchildren. We wish
Mrs. Chamberlain a happy and
h e a l t h y r e t i r e m e n t !
Mrs. Bialek…………………….:
Mrs. Bialek has served as the Special
Education Coordinator in
Trumbull for the past 7 years after
working 25 years in other districts.
seventh grade came in third
place.
In addition, the Zumbathon
was a dancing activity where students
and teachers donated five
dollars to dance for an hour with a
professional Zumba instructor.
The teachers involved with managing
the events said they were
very pleased by the number of
kids that participated. All funds
raised went to Save the Children,
a charity that provides food,
medical care, and everything else
for children affected by disasters.
We wish the best to the people of
Japan, and would like to thank all
of the students at Madison for
After completing 32 years of
working in the field of education,
she has decided it is time
to do something different. She
will miss the staff, the students,
and the intellectual stimulation
that both provide. During her
retirement, she would like to
travel the USA with her husband
while healthy and enjoy
what this country has to offer.
showing such overwhelming
support.
Page 3

Broadway Babies: The Beatles Slept Here
By Michael Johnson
The Broadway Babies play,
“The Beatles Slept Here,” was
bound to be a success. After
preparing for months, the
Broadway Babies cast was expecting
the play to be fantastic,
and, “Awesome,” says chorus
teacher, Mr. Cohen. It truly
turned out to be phenomenal!
When Mr. Cohen was asked
how his skills with “Forget
Paris” helped him with this
production, he said that even
though both activities required
him to be comfortable on the
UConn Men: NCAA Champions
By: Justin Hirshfield
It was the UConn Men’s
playoff season again, and they
were prepared to win it all.
They started off the tournament
with an 81 to 52 win over Bucknell.
This win had them shooting
for the sky as they prepared
themselves to face Cincinnati.
The game was close but UConn
prevailed and came out on top
with a 69 to 58 score. Now,
UConn was in the final 8 and
were ready for whatever followed.
Their next competitor
was SDSU. UConn knew that
stage, “Forget Paris” is just more
of him expressing his feelings
and thoughts. Mr. Cohen even
added his own touch by making
it a musical rather then just a
play. In addition, the play is not
about the Beatles; it takes place
in modern day. Throughout the
entire play, exciting plotlines
were present. He was even able
to incorporate the Madison jazz
band with the great Beatles music.
Tickets were sold online, and
the play was practically sold out.
they had come this far, so they
could not lose now. They proved
that they were truly a phenomenal
team when they beat SDSU with a
score of 74 to 67. Since UConn
was in the top 4, their confidence
was at their max, and they
showed it in their next game
against Arizona. They won by the
skin of their teeth with a close 65
to 63 score. All season the
UConn men proved they had the
heart and courage to make it all
the way to win it, and they finally
had a chance to seal the deal. The
Page 4
Everyone who attended was
amazed by the entire play.
From the opening scene to the
last song, the audience was enjoying
themselves and couldn’t
wait to see what would happen
next.
very tough Butler Bulldogs
were the only thing in their
way of the gold. UConn knew
they were up for the challenge
when the season started, so
they went into the game courageous
and prepared. A season
of hard work seemed to
pay off when the final buzzer
sounded and the UConn men
were 2011 NCAA champions.
The final score was 51 to 43.
The UConn Huskies went
home to Storrs, Connecticut,
to a very proud campus.

Tokyo Disaster
By Chiaki Santiago
As many of you know, on
March 11, 2011, there was a
powerful earthquake near the
coasts of Japan. It caused a horrible
tsunami to hit Japan,
which killed thousands of people
and left millions missing.
However, I am grateful to know
that my family stayed un-
touched. But, not all families
are as lucky as mine, and we
need to help our biggest allies.
Japan is not only suffering from
their disaster, but also from
trouble keeping radiation from
leaking. The water was found
unsafe to drink, and finding
Libyan Revolution
By Chiaki Santiago
Libya, an oil-rich nation in
North Africa, has been ruled
by the strong and erratic
leader, Col. Muammar el-
Qaddafi. He has been ruler of
this country since 1969, and
the people of Libya thought
that after the revolution of
Egypt, there was change
needed in Libya as well. This
whole revolution idea began
with a relatively organized
core of antigovernment sup-
fresh water was a rare. Everyone
stayed hopeful, though.
A woman had said, “I was so
scared, but as I looked around
me, I realized there is nothing to
worry about since there are so
many eager to help.” This
woman was a vacationing
American sent to a shelter for
people who had lost their homes.
She was inspired to know that
there was hope all around her.
There was always help for her,
physically and emotionally, no
matter what. So, even though
this tragedy cost numerous lives,
there are still many ready to help
porters in Benghazi. After Benghazi,
the fever of this antigovernment
swept through the
nation’s capital, Tripoli. Qaddafi
did not handle these protests
very nicely and ended up
lashing out in major violence,
which no one had ever seen before.
This revolution idea’s momentum
gained speed. The rebels
quickly realized that they
faced the possibility of either
being outgunned or outnumbered
in what they called their
and get Japan up and running
again.
Page 5
Civil War. As this momentum
sprang, so did Qaddafi, and his
troops advanced to within 100
miles of Benghazi. However, the
rebels had help from American
and European forces with a series
of airstrikes issued to Libya.
The latest update of the situation
in Libya is that warplanes
struck Qaddafi’s compound and
bombed a state television facility.
This target was used to show
Qaddafi becoming more and
more vulnerable.

Ask Alison
By: Alison Kuznitz
Dear Alison,
I’m nervous about going into
eighth grade. What is it really
like?
- Eighth Grade Worrier
Dear Worrier,
Eighth grade is a very fun experience!
You have nothing to
worry about. In eighth grade,
you already have a ton of
friends, and there’s always
room to make more. The workload
does get larger and
tougher, but you have nothing
to worry about as long as you
budget your time correctly and
stay on task. Also, there are
many fun activities that occur
during eighth grade. For example,
there is the Lock-in, Holiday
Hill Trip, Formal, and
other events. Enjoy your last
weeks of seventh grade and
your final year of middle
We The People
By: Dylan Shepard and Alison Kuznitz
We The People is a club that
focuses on the U.S. Constitution
and government. As a member,
attendance is mandatory every
Wednesday after school. At the
meetings, the members are preparing
for their competition, which
occurs around the end of the
school year. After multiple weeks
and meetings of researching about
topics ranging from the Articles of
school next year!
Dear Alison,
If I am going to a party and I
know someone I don’t like is going,
do I still go? It does seem
like it’s going to be a fun party,
though.
- Not Sure
Dear Not Sure,
Of course you should still go to
the party! Don’t let one person
ruin your night. It could turn out
to be an extremely fun party. Besides,
what would happen if you
didn’t go and the other person
didn’t end up going either? Never
let another person stand in your
way of doing something you want
to do. Ignore the person, and go to
the party!
Dear Alison,
A kid is bullying me and whenever
I fight back, I’m the one that
Confederation to First Amendment
rights, each unit is required to write
a four-minute speech to answer a
specific question. The speech needs
to discuss historical and current
events that are relevant to their
question. Along with the speech
which is divided for each unit member
to recite, follow up questions
are asked for six minutes once the
speech is done. All members in
each unit are expected to answer at
least one follow up question so the
gets in trouble. What should I
do?
-Unfairly Punished
Page 6
Dear Punished,
You are stuck in a tricky
situation because you are getting
punished for something
you didn’t do. Fortunately,
you have some options. You
could always set up an appointment
with your guidance
counselor to discuss what is
going on. Hopefully, this
could help solve your problem.
However, if it doesn’t,
you should talk about this
with your parents. They may
be able to set up a meeting
with your teachers, which
might help solve the dilemma
as well. Do not confront the
person who is bullying you
because this could lead to further
problems.
group receives better results. In
order to be in We the People,
students need to have an interest
in social studies. Although
there is hard work involved,
most members agree that it is
very rewarding in the long run.
We the People is an extraordinary
experience, and a fantastic
way to learn more about the
U.S. Constitution and the government
(past and present).
Anyone who is offered should
join!

Panther’s Puzzle
By Rory Dougall
Across
1. Barack___ (Our current president)
6. Part of a whole number
7. The number of snow days we had
8. Teenage ___ (Song by Katy Perry)
9. Last name of teacher in room 117
12. Snow season
13. Prepare for a test/quiz
15. When school starts
Down
2. ____ Babies (Madison’s drama club)
3. Grading Tool
4. The city we live in
5. ___ Center (Library)
9. Our third vacation season
10. Season that we do not have school
11. Panther ____ (Madison’s newspaper)
14. State north of Mexico
Page 7

Man on the Street
By Ben Hazen and Anuj Sisodiya
1. What is the most recent movie
you have seen?
2. What’s your favorite soda?
3. What’s your favorite school
subject?
4. What’s your dream job?
5. What’s your opinion on Justin
Bieber?
6. How often do you use your
computer?
Eric Drach
1. Decent 2
2. Oragina
3. Spanish
The Lock-in
By Meagan Schwarz
The night started off with
Rebecca Black’s infamous
“Friday.” Eighth graders were
wandering around the cafeteria
enjoying pizza and talking with
friends. After dinner they were
split up by the color of their tshirts
which had been passed
out to finally begin the night’s
activities. Some of the first ac-
4. Financial Advisor
5. He looks like a girl
6. Four hours
Rieya Philip
1. Hop
2. Coke
3. Science
4. Cadiologist
5. Very bad singer, he stinks!
6. Three hours
tivities included charades, an
obstacle course, name-that-tune,
and a relay race. A few of the
activities were a bit silly, but
everyone was doing them, so all
the eighth graders were ridiculous
together. The obstacle
course was set in up the gym on
blow-up machines. The room
was very stinky and kids were
Christian Trefz
1.Iron Man
2.Sprite
3.Spanish
4.Football player
5.HOT!!
6.Thirty minutes
Ryan Hongo
1. Happy Gilmore
2. Cherry Dr. Pepper
3. Gym
4. Tow truck driver
5. TERRIBLE!
6. Thirty Minutes
Page 8
getting sweaty, but they were
smiling nonstop. Charades
took place in the front lobby,
with students sitting on the
floor. It was much more difficult
than expected, but the
teams soon got the hang of it.
Name-that-tune took place in
t h e a u d i t o r i u m .
(Continued on page 9)

The Lock-in (Continued)
Some of the songs used were
new hits ,which most kids would
know, with a few oldies that
only those who have listened to
classics before could identify.
The relay race was back in the
cafeteria and students were everywhere
for it. On the floor, they
were using straws to blow straw
wrappers across the floor. Then,
they would throw paper airplanes
across the room to the
other side. After all groups finished
their first activity, they
would move onto the next one..
When all teams completed all
activities, the students returned
to the cafeteria for an ice cream
treat from Dairy Queen.
Once the snack was finished,
it was time for more activities,
starting with carnival games in
the cafeteria. The games were
classics, including ring toss and
hoops. The groups really seemed
to have fun. In the auditorium a
game of celebrity bingo was underway,
with celebrities such as
Leonardo DiCaprio, Megan Fox,
Will Farrel, and Justin Bieber.
The teams were slowly beginning
to grow tired as the night
drew to a close, but there was
still more fun to be had. Back
in the lobby, it was time for a
construction activity in which
the groups had to build towers
with only straws and tape. This
activity had many creative results,
not to mention frustration,
but in the end it was a
great group activity. Finally, in
the gymnasium, the blow-ups
were deflated and basketball
related activities replaced
them. Knock-out and shooting
contests were most common,
and several teachers joined in
on the fun too. Eventually the
students had to say their goodbyes
to the school and go
home, tired and worn out, but
with smiles. Overall, the night
was extremely fun and was
truly a great activity to end the
year with.
Here are the winners of the
Lock-in games:
First place - $20.00 each =
Red 1 (Lisa Szymanski,
Carrie O’Connell, Gianna
Montanaro, Simon
Whiteman, Nick Marini,
Jason Hagaini & Chris
Kirven)
Second place - $10.00 each
=Blue 1 (Alyssa Pezzella,
Victoria Carter, Wyatt Lannon,
Gaetano
Ciambriello, Mike Reilly,
Alison Kuznitz, Emily
Clark, and Michael Johnson)
Third place - $5.00 each =
Green 4 (Jess Rende, Harleigh
Kaczegowicz, Zaineb
Haroon, Nick Carloto,
Frank Puglia, Matt Curtis
and Kyle Warren)
Page 9

Summer in Trumbull
By: Jack Stachura
Hey Madison! Summer is almost here
with lots of cool stuff in store for Trumbull
residents. Check out all these local camps,
hangouts and programs:
First, for sports fans there are basketball,
tennis, baseball and volleyball camps
offered for an extremely low cost at the parks
around the town. There is also a Teen Center
Camp at the Indian Ledge Teen Center where
you can play foosball, air hockey, tag football,
etc. from 9-3 most days during the summer.
Call the Parks and Rec Department for more
information: 203 - 452 - 5060.
Go for a swim at Trumbull’s two public
pools. Tashua and Beaches are both open
late some nights of the week for hanging out
with your friends. Check the hours at
www.trumbull-ct.gov.
If golf is your game, check out the golf
camps at our own Tashua Knolls Golf Course.
Phone is 203-452-5186.
The Trumbull YMCA offers Camp
Teepee Pioneers’ level for kids 12 and up.
Mini-golf, camp competitions, swimming lessons,
hiking and archery are among the activities
available at the Outdoor Center on the
Trumbull/Monroe town line. Call 445-9633
for details.
If you still haven’t had enough fun,
check out the popular Sports Center in Shelton.
They have batting cages, a driving range,
a huge skating rink and an arcade just waiting
for you to spend your $$$$s. Check them out
on the web: sportscenterct.com.
for you to spend your $$$$s. Check them out
on the web: sportscenterct.com.
Another popular local hangout is Fairfield
Beach. For the price of a parking permit you
have all-summer access to two amazing
beaches (Jennings and Penfield), a skate park
and great French fries and ice cream at the
snack bars. See their website for details: fairfieldct.org/beachstickers.htm.
Check out all these activities and your
summer will be jam-packed with great memories
and fun!
Read Across America Day
By: Jimmy McEwan
Page 10
Read across America day was on
Wednesday, March 2 nd in the MMS auditorium.
Team 2 in 6 th grade was learning about
reporting. Since it was Read across America
Day a reporter from the Connecticut post
came in to talk about the specifics of the job.
When she started off she told the students
that reporting wasn’t all about boring
things like writing about what is happening in
town. In fact she listed some of the most interesting
jobs she had written on. She told the
students about how she had an assignment to
write on how firefighting works. To do this
she actually went to a fire station and watched
what happened between fires and at fires.
Also she said that a good writer has different
sources.
At the end she took questions from the
students like, “What was your favorite article?”
And her reply was, “I can’t say what my
favorite article was because she liked writing
so much all of them were fun.”

Extreme Weather In Trumbull
By: Justin Hirshfield
Just a couple of months ago, we were
wondering how we would deal with all the snow
and how it would effect our lives. School officials,
parents, students and town workers had to
be concerned about flooding, too many snow
days, and how it would all go away. As you sit in
a classroom baking in triple-digit heat, snow
sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? The recent weeks
here at Madison Middle school have been some
of the hottest the school’s seen in the past few
years. After a winter like that, kids and faculty
aren’t used to having to cope with the weather.
Hot weather makes it harder to concentrate in
class so kids savor the few fans that are in the
rooms. With kids sweating, they long for that one
cool breeze through the window. They’ve have
been wearing shorts and t-shirts to try their best to
fend off the uncomfortable weather. It’s a relief to
find out your next class will be in an air conditioned
room.
Last week the heat forced several surrounding
towns to release their students early
from school. That sparked some hope into every
kid at Madison. But their hope diminished as the
day got longer and longer and they knew it would
be too good to be true. Last Thursday night, all of
Madison’s hopes of cool weather were answered
a little too harshly. At around five o’ clock the
sky started to dim and the distant sound of thunder
filled the air. Soon the flashes blinded the sky
and a storm started to brew. Before anyone knew
it, it was a downpour and everything not under
shelter got soaked. Thunder as loud as cannon
shots surrounded the air. The lightning was a yellow
streak of destruction as many trees fell down.
Many people had to stay put where they were because
of the extreme danger of the storm.
After it was all over, the damage was
done. Many streets were cut-off due to fallen trees
and power lines. Many houses were burdened
with no power. The school’s internet server was
down on Friday morning and you could not send
email, kids couldn’t type what they needed, and
and teachers could not take attendance on the
computers. The computers eventually came
back by the middle of first period, but needed to
be restarted to work.
After the storm, many people thought the
hot weather would stop, but they were wrong.
Friday was another very hot day and added to the
drama of school. Many kids, teachers, and parents
couldn't stand a winter as cold as the North
Pole; but just wait for the “warm” summer
ahead.
Page 11

Four Trumbull Middle School Students are Nationally Recognized
By: Ms. Zuk
Four grade 7 students from Madison Middle
School in Trumbull, Kyri Marinos, Kristina Vetter,
Rose Lisi and Jim McEwan clinched third place in
the Grade 7 -9 category in the American Statistical
Association’s National Poster Competition in
Washington DC for their poster titled “Choose the
Cookie that’s the Best and Forget the Rest.” The
students’ poster was one of over 2,000 poster entries
nationwide. This victory was a result of a prior
local victory in the 2011 Connecticut American
Statistical Poster Competition where Lisi, Vetter,
Marinos and McEwan’s poster placed first in the
grade 7 -9 division back in April of this year, making
them eligible to compete in the national competition.
The students were awarded cash prizes and
plaques and were recognized for their accomplishments
at an Awards Ceremony at the University of
Connecticut.
The poster design was an extension of a sta-
tistics exploration that was taught in the students’
grade 7 Pre Algebra class under the guidance of
teachers Liz Giamportone and Gina Zuk. Students
used what they learned about statistical analysis and
statistical graphing to determine which brand of
chocolate chip cookie was the best. Lisi, Vetter,
Marinos and McEwan’s poster will be displayed at
the 2011 International Joint Statistical Meetings in
Miami, FL this summer as well as the National
Conference of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
Annual Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia, PA
in April, 2012. The poster competition winners will
be announced in the August issue of Amstat News
(http://magazine.amstat.org/) and on the American
Statistical Association website (http://
www.amstat.org/education/posterprojects/
index.cfm), where all the national winning posters
will be featured.
Featured from left to right: Ms. Zuk, Rose Lisi, Kristina Vetter, Kyri Marinos, Jim McEwan (first row) and
Statistician from Bristol Myers, Marianne Messina
Page 12

NBA Postseason—Never Count Out The Underdog
By: Justin Hirshfield
The NBA postseason was nail biting until the
end. There were a few favorites in the postseason but
the underdogs powered through to defeat some of the
top teams. Teams like the Heat and the Lakers were
favorites to win it, but teams like the Mavericks and the
Oklahoma City Thunder wouldn’t be put down so easily.
In the Eastern Conference, the teams seemed to be
evenly matched but a few fought their way through to
the next round. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Indiana
Pacers 4 games to 1 and the Atlanta Hawks beat the
Orlando Magic 4 games to 2. The New York and Boston
rivalry was put to the test as the Boston Celtics beat
the New York Knicks in a sweep of 4 games to none.
The Miami heat with their playoff ready big three
(LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh) defeated
the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 1. In the Western
Conference the teams were just as ready to win. In
a huge upset the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the San
Antonio Spurs 4 games to 2. Oklahoma City’s young
team was able to beat the Denver Nuggets 4 games to
1. The future champions, The Dallas Mavericks, beat
the Portland Trailblazers 4 games to 2. The two-time
champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans
Hornets 4 games to 2. The pressure was even
more intense in the Conference Semi-Finals. The East-
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ern Conference was cut into 2 teams. The Chicago
Bulls powered through the Atlantic Hawks 4 games
to2, but had a tough team to beat as the Miami Heat
beat the Boston Celtics 4 games to 1. In the Western
Conference the teams were mostly underdogs. The
Memphis Grizzlies found despair as they lost to the
Oklahoma City Thunder 4 games to 3. In a huge surprise,
the Los Angeles Lakers were sent home early
by getting swept by the Dallas Mavericks. Their
consecutive streak of championships was broken.
The conference finals decided it all. The Miami Heat
had a tough foe in the Chicago Bulls to face. However,
they prevailed and won the series 4 games to 1.
The Dallas Mavericks were looking for their first
championship in franchise history and they got one
step closer by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder
4 games to 1. It all came down to the 2011 NBA Finals.
The new and improved Miami Heat up against
the underdog Mavericks. While the Heat got an early
lead two games to one, the Mavericks were able to
strike back by winning the next 3 games and become
the champions for the first time in franchise history.
It just goes to show you, never count out the under-
dog.