Xpinionated Sports Recap

As some of you may have noticed if you’ve looked at the tags, my Redskins, Hokies, and Lakers blogs are now residing here.  My time and effort to those blogs had become minimal, not to say I’ve been a workhorse on this blog either but whatever.

Up first, we’ll go with the Lakers.  The Lakers had three games this weekend with double digit wins over Phoenix (thurs), Denver..again (fri), and Sacramento (Sun).  At 11 – 1, there’s a feeling that something special is a-brewin’.   Everyone knows their role, and does it well.  A coming out party for Trevor Ariza this season has been an unexpected surprise.  I am still looking for a bit more from Sasha Vujachic but Farmar is showing signs as being the successor to Derek Fisher.  Luke Walton has spiralled to a position on the end of the bench.  I’m not even sure he has trade value at this point.

The Hokies squeaked by the Blue Devils of formidable Duke.  As this game wasn’t televised, there’s not a whole lot I can say about the actual game.  Turnovers seemed to be what made it a tighter affair than what was expected with four turnovers from T-squared in the first half.  That still doesn’t explain the inability to score against Duke in the second half save for a pick six.  A win next week and the Hokies have managed to limp into the ACC game.  Still not so sure that’s a good thing.  I never want to wish bad luck on the Hokies, but part of me needs Bryan Stinespring fired.  And success does not act as a catalyst for severance.

The Redskins finally won a game in Seattle.  I believe Seattle has put the ‘Skins out of the playoffs in 2 of their last 3 meetings and beat them in a regular season matchup as well.  The ‘Skins were able to move the ball well 30 – 30 but had trouble translating that success into touchdowns.

And the NBA wonders why college ball is more popular?

38 free throws for Boston, 10 for the Lakers.  Result?  17 point differential in free throws made.  There is home court officiating, and then?  Then?  Then there is downright travesties.

I’ve watched the NBA for 24 years.  Through every NBA conspiracy I’ve held on to a belief that the game is not rigged.  My faith in this is not shaken.  Do I think we will see such a favoritism in L.a?  Not at all.  At the very most, I expect maybe a 10 point free throw surplus in favor of the Lakers.  That would be normal home cookin’ as they say.  But tonite was an embarrassment for the officiating crew.

One of my boys who is also a Lakers fan said that (before our comeback in the fourth) our defense was porous.  In fact, he believed our the foul calls were a result of our poor play.  I disagree.

Poor play?  The Lakers had 18 points off turnovers, the Celts had 19.  The Celts had 14 points on the fastbreak while the Lakers managed 10.  Points in the paint saw the Lakers with a 31 to 30 advantage.  So far the only overwhelming stat in favor of the Celts is field goal percentage , 53% to 49%.  And that’s not really overwhelming.  Rebounding?  The Celts had a plus one advantage.

So where was this game determined.  With 83 shots and just shooting a shade under 50%, the only  logical guess is the free throw line.  Am I arguing that the Lakers didn’t commit their share of fouls?  Nope.  I’m saying that the difference lies in referees perception of what teams are known for.

Since there are no regular readers of this blog, I’ll openly admit that I have brought this point up in previous posts, most notably in the Pistons/Lakers Finals a few years back.  My theory is this:  when a team is known to be a “physical” team, they are allowed to reach and grab much more freely than a team not known for a physical style of play.  This is ridiculously unfair.  Even more unfair to the team abiding by the spirit of Naismith basketball (you know the one, basketball is a non-contact sport officially speaking), is that if the non-physical team attempts to become more physical, they get the whistle blown.  Effectively, you’re telling one team it is completely fine to push, grab, and reach while telling the other team it’s a foul.

At this point, given our fourth quarter effort, I am only slightly discouraged.  I would have loved to see us take one of these games in Boston as I love winning a series on your home floor if the opportunity is there.  Now, assuming three wins in L.A., we have to win what would be an enormously intense game on the Celts floor.  The disadvantage in that is the physicality allowed in a game six or seven will be increased.  If the refs continue to allow one team to be physical while blowing the whistle on another team . .. . you get my point so I won’t be a dead horse.

Sadly, right now I’m not even sure I want to watch a game with my boy which is a sad state of affairs.  The way the conversation went, I was made to feel like my opinion didn’t count, almost as if he knows more of basketball than I do.

In any case, Kobe, Lamar, Pau, Derek, Vladimir, Sasha, Jordan, Luke, Trevor, DJ, and the rest of the crew have some work to do.  As a bleeder of Purple and Gold, I know it can be done.

Go Lakers!!!!!!!!

Update:  To further enhance my point, here’s what foxsports.com analyst Charley Rosen had to say:

The Lakers’ defense was porous, and their offense was virtually obliterated by Boston’s defense. Yet there was another significant dimension to the game.

Within the first couple of minutes, Perkins and then Garnett were tooted for committing moving screens. Both of these calls were highly questionable, and even though they favored the Lakers, they certainly boded ill for the visitors. When the visitors get the benefit of blatantly bogus fouls early in a game, the standard operating procedure tends to be that the refs will shaft them from then on. And that’s exactly what happened.

A pair of phantom fouls on Kobe ruined the Lakers’ first-half rotation, and at the intermission Boston had attempted 19 free throws to L.A.’s two (one of these being a technical foul on KG). After three quarters the margin was 26-to-4, and the final total was 38-to-10.

This disparity was even more puzzling since the Lakers’ game-plan called for them to constantly drive the ball to the hole. And several replays showed exactly how biased and inconsistent the refs’ decisions truly were.

No surprise, then, that the Lakers were distracted, annoyed and even outraged all game long. And rightly so.

Technorati tags: NBA Finals, Lakers, Celtics, Referees, Physical Play

Game 1 Loss in the Finals

The Lake Show fell 98-88 to the Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. 

The game seemingly turned when Paul Pierce faked an injury (and I will believe it is a faked injury until proven otherwise) leaving the game by being carried off the floor to a wheel chair.  After a few minutes he returns with a brace and a barely noticeable limp.  The Lakers, however, seem to have lost that edge when he appeared to be out and the Celtics received an adrenaline rush upon his return at one point outscoring us 28 – 16 after Pierce’s return.

 

Initially, I wanted to remain somewhat indifferent about the injury.  But then watching Pierce flail anytime someone got close to him took my already waning respect for him to the bottom.  At one point, he throws his head back and reaches for his eye as if he’s been hit in the eye.  Blinking and blinking.  The replay shows, he wasn’t touched, not only not touched in the face, not touched at all.  He has become a soccer player.

Last night’s loss can also be attributed to horrible rebounding.  The Celtics had far too many second chances.  On top of that, our shots weren’t falling so there was a recipe for disaster.  And it certainly didn’t help that there were at least three calls that the refs simply blew that replays showed no foul occurred.  The disgusting part was that not only did the replays show no foul occurred, the plays themselves were so conclusively clean that they couldn’t have even been ‘go either way’ calls. 

Game 2 is Sunday.  Here’s to hoping our shots start to drop and we man the boards a bit better.  Watching the game, I feel like we are the better team.  It’s just time to prove it.

2008 WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!!!

The game started off ugly.  Very Ugly.

Ridiculously ugly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the Lakers matured in this series right in front of our eyes.  The development of poise is a beautiful thing to watch.  The evolution of leadership was something to behold. 

In a first quarter  dominated by the hot shooting Spurs, adjustments had to be made.  The double teaming of Tim Duncan was leading to wide open jumpers for Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen, and the rest of Spurs’ perimeter squatters.  Our rotations had to get better, we needed to force cross court passes that would allow our defense to rotate and recover.  And on the offensive side of the ball, we needed to stop settling for jumpers. 

Somewhere in the second quarter, we got it.  Thanks to Jordan Farmar’s spark of three straight buckets, the offense started getting aggressive going to the hope and getting paint points.  Along with getting out of our scoring quagmire, our defensive intensity picked up. 

By mid third quarter, that feeling of being a team of destiny for this series started to settle in.  Loose balls were rolling to the purple and gold.  Amazingly, we managed to get the Spurs in the penalty with more than a minute left in the quarter.  You just felt it.

Now we need four more victories.  We get a week off.  Rest and prepare…..

Technorati tags: Western Conference Finals, Lakers, Spurs

Post Game Four Thoughts

Technorati tags: Lakers, NBA Playoffs

The Utah Jazz have tied the series at 2-2 with a an overtime victory today.  Here are some abstract thoughts:

• If the refs hand out the same home team calls in L.A. as they did in today’s game, I will be satisfied.
• There were several calls that either were displayed differently on my TV or that the announcers felt obliged to agree with the refs:

• The block on Luke Walton from behind was a great hustle play. . . however. . . since when is legal to go through someone’s body to get the ball — head and all?
• The foul called on Sasha when he blocked Deron Williams shot from behind was ludicrous.  Even more ludicrous was the play by play of Hubie Brown….’got him on the forearm’?  He said this during the replay showing nothing of the sort.
• Why exactly is Matt Harpring getting all star treatment in terms of foul calls?

Two games in Utah, two losses.  The upside?  Each game was lost as opposed to us being beaten.  Game three: turnovers.  Game Four: foul shots and foul calls — could have made the foul shots.  And though the refs had a horrendous outing, we need to stop swiping without intent because the refs are making prejudicial calls.

Kobe’s back spasms could be telling.  Needed him to facilitate the last two minutes of the game instead of forcing shots.  I would have preferred the focus shifting to Odom and Fish with Gasol and Bryant looking to play decoy and man the boards.

Game 5 Wednesday at Staples Center. 

Wins are good but .. . .. .

Quite frankly, I’m not altogether sure how we pulled yesterday’s game out.  Out-rebounded embarrassingly, particularly on the offensive boards is usually a recipe for disaster. 

Also, the adjustments the Jazz made to slow down our offense bothered me a little although to be quite honest I couldn’t pick out what those adjustments were.  The only real difference seemed to be that the Lake Show wasn’t getting out on the break for most of the second half and the offense kind of stalled. 

Sasha, I mean the Machine came through like the emerging star he is.  That’s right I said it!  Emerging star.  Look at the young kid.  The ingredients are there.  Young kid, big stage, hair that flows in the wind, and a deadly bomb from deep….emerging star!

In all seriousness, if we get at the boards and maintain our defensive intensity Wednesday night, we should be able to head back to Utah with home-court in tow.

Technorati tags: Lakers, NBA Playoffs, THe machine!

So far so good

Up 2-0 in our first round series against the Denver Nuggets and I think my main concern is will the stellar play hold up in Colorado.  Playing in front of fans full of contempt (a special contempt given Kobe’s relationship with the state of Colorado) is a different monster than doing it for your faithfuls. 

I think the key will be sustaining the initial energy Denver is inevitably going to bring to the floor the first quarter.  The idea is to not panic.  The idea is to stick to our game, play defense, and limit our mistakes.   I know pretty simple advice but it’s tried and true.  JR Smith, the guy off of the Denver bench, looks like he was trying to egg Kobe in last night’s game — maybe as a head game headed back to the mile high city.  Although, I have some words of advice to JR:  When you’re coming off the bench (despite being pretty damn effective), do not trash talk the guy that has dropped 40+ on your squad with time still a tick tick ticking.  This person is apparently a bit hot so last thing you need to do is to give him extra incentive, extra motivation to score.  But Kobe handled it well.  He got the ball drove at JR Smith, got the foul, made the bucket, hit the free throw, and left the game for good. 

Word is JR Smith is still talking……And who the hell is this Linas Kleiza?!??!

Technorati tags: Los Angeles lakers, Denver Nuggets, NBA Playoffs, Kobe Bryant, Linas Kleiza, JR Smith

Random Thoughts

The Lakers are again at the top of the West tied with Houston at 46 – 21.  Pau Gasol is out indefinitely and Bynum is expected back by the first round of the playoffs.  If Ariza can come back as well, the Lakers would be at full strength but would still need a couple of games to gel and play together.  There has been concern that Kobe, Pau, and ‘Drew haven’t played together yet.  I’ll put it like this:  Pau gelled with the team almost immediately playing out of position.  There’s no reason that bringing young ‘Drew back to a team he’s played for at the positions he plays should be a huge cause for concern.  A bigger concern may be finding a way to make sure that the bench players that have stepped up during our bouts with injury don’t lose focus like V. Rad. 

Check the following from Charley Rosen (whose book about the 71-72 Lakers is a great read) when asked which two players he would take from today’s NBA to build a team around:

That’s easy.

Kobe Bryant, because he’s a better shooter and defender than LeBron James, and can easily play both wing positions. Not to mention Kobe being one of the game’s greatest clutch performers.

Tim Duncan, for his versatility and his championship-attitude. TD is a jack-of-all-trades and master of every one.

Kobe and TD would provide an inside presence as well as an outside one — and would enable a team to play inside-out basketball. Having them both on the floor would also discourage defenses from double-teaming either one.

There’s no other possible combo that comes close.

Big win at Dallas last night though we almost blew a 21 point halftime lead.  These are the kind of games where you don’t know which team walks away with the most (besides the win of course).  Do the short-handed Lakers realize the accomplishment of coming out with a victory over a playoff bound team or do they realize they lost all but 2 points of a 21 point lead?  Does Dallas hang their heads for losing to a team missing it’s two big men or do they realize that each of their past two losses could have gone either way?  I don’t know.  But in the competitive West right now, the win is all that matters.  I’ll let the Zen Master put together the mental gymnastics!

Congrats Houston on your run!  And bigger congrats to those happily living in Lakers land knowing our streak is still THE STREAK!

Technorati tags: Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Charley Rosen

Still no worries

It had to come to an end.  The Lakers ten game win streak came to an end last night with a 119-111 loss to the Portland Trailblazers.  It was one of those games I kind of felt was coming.  The way the Blazers played us earlier in the week showed a lot of heart.  And they did that on the road so this definitely had the feel of a caught-off-guard game.  Add the return of the Blazers court general Brandon Roy and 4 straight losses in the Rose Garden, there shouldn’t be too much surprise with the outcome of this game.

With that said, the only alarm that goes off in this loss is the amount of points given up.  119 is a big number even in today’s higher scoring NBA (when compared to the less talented 90’s).  The defense should be fine come playoff time as the talent is there to play defense, it’s just going to be a matter of wanting to give it 100% on both sides of the floor.

Lakers 105 – Nets 90

Something happened tonite.  A special feeling emerged.  Kobe dropped a solid six points in a win.  That’s right, Kobe Bryant scored six points.  Fisher had 24, Pau had 24 and 12 rebounds.  Kobe added eight assists.

But the thing that made this game special was the emotions Kobe showed at the end of the game.  He was downright giddy.  Just happy.  Something we haven’t gotten to see from Kobe in quite some time.  And it made me smile…

Who is going to benefit from the Gasol acquisition?  Derek Fisher did tonite.  But on any given night, after the defense focuses on Kobe, then Pau, then Bynum, there is going to be seriously wide open people named Luke, Sashsa, Ronnie, Lamar, Vladimir, Trevor, and Derek.

Technorati tags: Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol