THURSDAY'S BEST Paul Pierce, Celtics forward: Not only did he talk Doc Rivers into letting him cover Kobe Bryant in the second half, he also stuffed the box score to the tune of 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
THURSDAY'S WORSTSasha Vujacic, Lakers guard: One game you're a hero, one game later you're not. The "Machine" was broken, scoring only three points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field in 24 forgettable minutes.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT"Well, it's not over. This is not over. The series is not over."
-- Lakers coach Phil Jackson on what he told him team after Game 4
Friday, June 13, 2008
House has a home
"Kobe," says Celtic Coach Doc Rivers, "might be the best help defender since Pippen."In the first quarter, that reality was a grave problem for the Celtics.Rajon Rondo was not having his best night, and Kobe Bryant was leaving Rondo at will to harass other Celtics. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce did not enjoy the attention, and combined to shoot one of seven as the Lakers went up by 22.It is hard to imagine a better recipe for the Lakers. So the Celtics changed the ingredients.Rivers peered down his bench and called for #50.Eddie House has been moving around the NBA for eight years. He has never been a pivotal part of a big-time team. Boston started the season with a depleted bench, and the reason House was available was because he had something of a reputation as a guy who believes every shot he takes is a good shot. He is not known as a passer. He's no threat to get a triple double, nor will he ever win defensive player of the year.Left open, however, Eddie House can shoot. If he could hit a few shots, Kobe Bryant just might stay standing by House, insteading of ransacking the village known as the Celtics' offense.
When House first checked into the game, the script was scrambled. His defense was perfectly good. He was extremely active and gave up nothing easy. And he was more effective than Rondo had been initiating the offense.But, House did not nail those open shots, sinking just one of four. He missed both of his open three-pointers in the first half.How could this be? Eddie House was not himself. This was the big stage. All the world watching. A team down 18, needing inspired point guard play. Opportunity coarsed through his veins. And all the man needed to do was the thing that he was born to do.
Shoot.
So what did he do at halftime? "I had a masseuse kind of rub my shoulders at halftime, to just kind of loosen me up," he says. "My shoulders were a little tense. Just got a little rubdown, got relaxed, and then when I got the same shots that I had in the first half I knocked them down."
In warmups after halftime, he hit about 17-20 three-pointers. Things were looking up.In the second half, he was left open for three-pointers twice, and nailed both. He also nailed the all-important 18-foot jumper with 4:07 left that gave Boston their first lead of the game, and big psychological lift.Most importantly, in the second half, Bryant honored House as a shooter by staying near him, and Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett both capitalized by combining to shoot 8-14 in the second half, and the Celtics mounted their historic comeback.
During Eddie House's time on the floor, the Celtics outscored the Lakers by 20 points -- giving House the best +/- of any player in the game."If I was the coach of the Celtics," says ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsay, "I'd give the game ball to Eddie House."
When House first checked into the game, the script was scrambled. His defense was perfectly good. He was extremely active and gave up nothing easy. And he was more effective than Rondo had been initiating the offense.But, House did not nail those open shots, sinking just one of four. He missed both of his open three-pointers in the first half.How could this be? Eddie House was not himself. This was the big stage. All the world watching. A team down 18, needing inspired point guard play. Opportunity coarsed through his veins. And all the man needed to do was the thing that he was born to do.
Shoot.
So what did he do at halftime? "I had a masseuse kind of rub my shoulders at halftime, to just kind of loosen me up," he says. "My shoulders were a little tense. Just got a little rubdown, got relaxed, and then when I got the same shots that I had in the first half I knocked them down."
In warmups after halftime, he hit about 17-20 three-pointers. Things were looking up.In the second half, he was left open for three-pointers twice, and nailed both. He also nailed the all-important 18-foot jumper with 4:07 left that gave Boston their first lead of the game, and big psychological lift.Most importantly, in the second half, Bryant honored House as a shooter by staying near him, and Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett both capitalized by combining to shoot 8-14 in the second half, and the Celtics mounted their historic comeback.
During Eddie House's time on the floor, the Celtics outscored the Lakers by 20 points -- giving House the best +/- of any player in the game."If I was the coach of the Celtics," says ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsay, "I'd give the game ball to Eddie House."
Doc has outcoached Phil
Entering this series, the one mismatch everyone pointed to wasn't on the court, but on the sidelines -- nine-time champion Phil Jackson against Finals neophyte Doc Rivers.
Well, it's been a mismatch all right. Just not the way we expected.
Doc -- the same Doc that Boston fans were clamoring to fire a year ago, and the same Doc that as recently as a few weeks ago was pounded in the press as the Celtics struggled -- is tooling around the legendary Zen Master, and has the Celtics one win away from the title as a result.
All series long it's been Rivers, not Jackson, who has pushed the right buttons and given his team the upper hand. That was never more evident than in Thursday's Game 4. Rivers' in-game adjustments helped the Celtics shake off a three-touchdown deficit, while Jackson was left fumbling for a response all the way through the final seconds, when the Lakers needed to burn two timeouts to advance the ball with 15.7 seconds left after they'd mistakenly inbounded the ball before using the first.
The biggest adjustment was Rivers' decision to go small by inserting Eddie House and James Posey into the lineup. Those two 3-point shooters provided the spacing Boston lacked with Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo on the court, and repeatedly burned the Lakers when they tried to double Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. It was something he'd been considering heading into the game, and once the Celtics fell behind and Perkins hurt his shoulder, he rolled the dice.
"They were trapping off Rondo [and] Perk," said Rivers. "I brought it up with our staff yesterday. It was probably a 50-50 split, and I just did it because I thought we had to have floor spacing."
"That changed the course of the game," said Jackson. "They spread the lineup and ran screen-rolls, put some pressure on us to have to match up on screen-rolls and have 3-pointers available, and they hit shots in the second half."
All series long it's been Doc, not Phil, who has pushed the right buttons and given his team the upper hand.
Specifically, Posey and House hit shots. They combined for 17 points in the second half, and in doing so it provided openings for Boston's Big Three to do their thing down the stretch. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce all scored or got to the line in one-on-one situations where the Lakers didn't bring help.
"When Posey made those shots, I knew that from that point on we were going to have one-on-one coverage," said Rivers. "Whether we made shots from that point on was up to us. But the trap stopped, the floor was spaced ... and our scorers could score."
That's an understatement -- by the end the floor was more spaced out than Pauly Shore. The Lakers were so fearful of Boston's lineup of Garnett and four shooters that they let Ray Allen drive right down main street for the game-clinching layup.
"You can't leave Kevin," said Rivers. "When he's the only big on the floor and you have guards driving, the [opponents'] big is reluctant to leave. Ray's layup was an example."
That wasn't the only adjustment Rivers made. He also shook up the defense, first by putting Pierce on Kobe Bryant at the start of the second half to take away his post-up chances, then by confusing the Lakers with a 3-2 zone look for a trip late in the third quarter.
"Paul came to me at halftime and said, 'I want to guard him. Let me guard him. I'm foulless, I can commit some fouls, be physical with him,'" said Rivers. "It would take [Bryant] off the post, so we went with it and it was terrific."
As a result of that switch and Rivers' other moves, the Lakers mustered only 33 points on 33 percent shooting after the break.
"I thought they played much better defense in front of the [Celtics] bench," said Jackson, as the Lakers were going toward Boston's bench during the second half. "They're coached very well from the bench."
Meanwhile, Jackson has been found wanting on a few different occasions. In Game 2, for instance, he was caught out with five subs on the court at the start of the second quarter and gave up a 10-0 run that changed the tenor of the game. And he's seemed as puzzled as anyone as to how to get Lamar Odom involved in the offense: Game 4 marked the third time in four games Odom finished the game on the bench.
The most glaring example of Doc's dominance has come in third quarters, when each side has been able to go into the locker room and make adjustments. The Celtics have crushed the Lakers in the third in all four games, holding a cumulative 116-73 advantage. In the other three quarters, L.A. is plus-27.
Of course, the coaches aren't in uniform, and obviously, the players had something to do with this outcome, too.
"We just wet the bed," said Kobe Bryant, who should never again be compared to Michael Jordan unless his play undergoes a seismic shift.
And Rivers benefits from having so many toys with which to play. Boston goes 12 deep, which allows the Celtics to shrug off injuries and foul situations that would knock a shallower team sideways.
Nonetheless, one of the big stories of this series is being written on the sideline. Rivers has had to adjust to four different in-game injuries affecting three different players, yet has provided his team with superior matchup situations at nearly every key moment. He's feeling so confident, in fact, that he even taunted Jackson's complaints about free throws in the press conference after Game 3.
If he outwits Jackson one more time, Rivers will complete one of the most dramatic U-turns in perception in coaching history. The man whom Celtics fans united in detesting a year ago is 48 minutes from delivering them a championship.
Well, it's been a mismatch all right. Just not the way we expected.
Doc -- the same Doc that Boston fans were clamoring to fire a year ago, and the same Doc that as recently as a few weeks ago was pounded in the press as the Celtics struggled -- is tooling around the legendary Zen Master, and has the Celtics one win away from the title as a result.
All series long it's been Rivers, not Jackson, who has pushed the right buttons and given his team the upper hand. That was never more evident than in Thursday's Game 4. Rivers' in-game adjustments helped the Celtics shake off a three-touchdown deficit, while Jackson was left fumbling for a response all the way through the final seconds, when the Lakers needed to burn two timeouts to advance the ball with 15.7 seconds left after they'd mistakenly inbounded the ball before using the first.
The biggest adjustment was Rivers' decision to go small by inserting Eddie House and James Posey into the lineup. Those two 3-point shooters provided the spacing Boston lacked with Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo on the court, and repeatedly burned the Lakers when they tried to double Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. It was something he'd been considering heading into the game, and once the Celtics fell behind and Perkins hurt his shoulder, he rolled the dice.
"They were trapping off Rondo [and] Perk," said Rivers. "I brought it up with our staff yesterday. It was probably a 50-50 split, and I just did it because I thought we had to have floor spacing."
"That changed the course of the game," said Jackson. "They spread the lineup and ran screen-rolls, put some pressure on us to have to match up on screen-rolls and have 3-pointers available, and they hit shots in the second half."
All series long it's been Doc, not Phil, who has pushed the right buttons and given his team the upper hand.
Specifically, Posey and House hit shots. They combined for 17 points in the second half, and in doing so it provided openings for Boston's Big Three to do their thing down the stretch. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce all scored or got to the line in one-on-one situations where the Lakers didn't bring help.
"When Posey made those shots, I knew that from that point on we were going to have one-on-one coverage," said Rivers. "Whether we made shots from that point on was up to us. But the trap stopped, the floor was spaced ... and our scorers could score."
That's an understatement -- by the end the floor was more spaced out than Pauly Shore. The Lakers were so fearful of Boston's lineup of Garnett and four shooters that they let Ray Allen drive right down main street for the game-clinching layup.
"You can't leave Kevin," said Rivers. "When he's the only big on the floor and you have guards driving, the [opponents'] big is reluctant to leave. Ray's layup was an example."
That wasn't the only adjustment Rivers made. He also shook up the defense, first by putting Pierce on Kobe Bryant at the start of the second half to take away his post-up chances, then by confusing the Lakers with a 3-2 zone look for a trip late in the third quarter.
"Paul came to me at halftime and said, 'I want to guard him. Let me guard him. I'm foulless, I can commit some fouls, be physical with him,'" said Rivers. "It would take [Bryant] off the post, so we went with it and it was terrific."
As a result of that switch and Rivers' other moves, the Lakers mustered only 33 points on 33 percent shooting after the break.
"I thought they played much better defense in front of the [Celtics] bench," said Jackson, as the Lakers were going toward Boston's bench during the second half. "They're coached very well from the bench."
Meanwhile, Jackson has been found wanting on a few different occasions. In Game 2, for instance, he was caught out with five subs on the court at the start of the second quarter and gave up a 10-0 run that changed the tenor of the game. And he's seemed as puzzled as anyone as to how to get Lamar Odom involved in the offense: Game 4 marked the third time in four games Odom finished the game on the bench.
The most glaring example of Doc's dominance has come in third quarters, when each side has been able to go into the locker room and make adjustments. The Celtics have crushed the Lakers in the third in all four games, holding a cumulative 116-73 advantage. In the other three quarters, L.A. is plus-27.
Of course, the coaches aren't in uniform, and obviously, the players had something to do with this outcome, too.
"We just wet the bed," said Kobe Bryant, who should never again be compared to Michael Jordan unless his play undergoes a seismic shift.
And Rivers benefits from having so many toys with which to play. Boston goes 12 deep, which allows the Celtics to shrug off injuries and foul situations that would knock a shallower team sideways.
Nonetheless, one of the big stories of this series is being written on the sideline. Rivers has had to adjust to four different in-game injuries affecting three different players, yet has provided his team with superior matchup situations at nearly every key moment. He's feeling so confident, in fact, that he even taunted Jackson's complaints about free throws in the press conference after Game 3.
If he outwits Jackson one more time, Rivers will complete one of the most dramatic U-turns in perception in coaching history. The man whom Celtics fans united in detesting a year ago is 48 minutes from delivering them a championship.
In Garnett-Gasol Matchup, Lakers Have Trade Deficit
There's a reason the Celtics succeeded in Game 4 where the Lakers failed in Game 2, in the historic task of coming back from a 24-point deficit in the NBA Finals. That difference was personified when Pau Gasol checked back in with six minutes and six seconds remaining the fourth quarter Thursday. The most important moments of the year call for great defensive play. The Lakers aren't equipped to do that.
The final half of the game's final quarter was a referendum on the two landscape-changing trades of the past 12 months. The two individuals who brought renewed hope to their franchises were both on the court, with the tenor of the Finals hanging in the balance. It would be a brand new series, all squared at two, or the only remaining detail would be the date of the parade in Boston.
The Lakers got this far because of the added dimension Gasol brought to their offense as a skilled shooter and deft passer who made the Lakers a threat from every position on the court. He's become even more critical to the Lakers' identity because the Celtics' defense has kept Bryant from dominating in every game except the third one.
Bryant's 17-point game was a function of the effectiveness of the other Lakers and his willingness to pass to them in the first half, but Boston was directly responsible for yet another Bryant stretch of more field goal attempts than points in the second half.
See, the Celtics built their brand on the defensive intensity of Kevin Garnett.
That's what prevailed in Game 4, when the free-flowing, high-scoring ways the Lakers enjoyed in the first half came to an abrupt halt midway through the third quarter, when passes and layups turned into extended dribbles and 3-pointers against the Celtics' defensive wall, and the lead, which crested at 24 points halfway through the second quarter, kept getting smaller and smaller until the Celtics finally pushed ahead on an Eddie House jumper with 4:07 left. No team had lost a game after leading by such a margin in the Finals since the Elias Sports Bureau started keeping records in the 1970-71 season.
We have seen the flaws of both Garnett and Gasol on full display in this series. But the Celtics can survive Garnett's weaknesses. The Lakers have not been able to get past Gasol's.
Run all the drills you want, but defense comes down to desire and instincts. And something in Gasol's defensive DNA held him back the last time the Lakers had a chance to do anything in this game. In a sense they had already lost. This is the position they didn't want to be in, having to get a defensive stop to win, instead of merely giving the ball to Bryant and asking him to deliver a victory the way he has so many times before.
The Celtics led by three points but there was still enough time on the clock that the Lakers didn't have to foul to get a chance to regain possession. Ray Allen dribbled around and around, resetting to the Lakers logo at midcourt, then driving past Sasha Vujacic and getting all the way to the basket. Gasol was on the right side of the lane, guarding Garnett. He kept guarding him for too long, belatedly approaching Allen as the Celtics guard got closer and closer to the basket for the layup that gave Boston an insurmountable five-point lead with 16 seconds remaining.
(Speaking of insurmountable, no team has ever come back to win the NBA Finals after falling into the 3-1 hole the Lakers now find themselves in.)
Lakers coach Phil Jackson let Gasol off the hook, saying his players were instructed to stay with the shooters. Vujacic took the blame for his defense on Allen, saying, "I wasn't as aggressive as I should be and he went to the basket. So it was completely my fault."
That's all fine and honorable. No under-bus-throwing in the Lakers' locker room.
Now let's go back and imagine if Garnett had been traded to the Lakers and the Celtics dumped some expiring contracts off on the Grizzlies for Gasol.
Is there any way Garnett lets Allen swoop all the way in for a layup there? No. None at all. In fact, we'd just seen an example on the Lakers' last basket the play before, when Bryant drove, Garnett came over, and Bryant dropped the ball off to Gasol for a dunk.
The difference between what Gasol was told to do and what he should have done seemed to sink in with the Spanish center after the game.
"I saw the shot clock running down and kind of went to make sure I put a body on Garnett for the rebound, but I probably should have helped [Vujacic] out, react to that penetration," Gasol said.
Garnett, meanwhile, finally produced some plays to answer the critics.
Doc Rivers sat him for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, and while he was out Leon Powe made a tough shot in the lane. I wondered then why we never see Garnett do that. But maybe Garnett saw the light.
When he returned he backed in for a 7-foot jumper that tied the score. And he also made two free throws and another close-range jumper. No more long jump shots that have had so many fans shaking their heads, wondering why the tallest Celtic on the court won't go inside.
Speaking of defense, both coaches found themselves defending their big men before the game.
Jackson was asked, in one of the most remarkable questions of the week, what he thought about the word "soft" and how it applied to Gasol.
Jackson said he believed that Gasol's reputation of not being "tough enough or powerful enough to be a center" was the reason Memphis put him on the block, but that "he's constantly risen to the occasion in every series that we've gone through this year." Only one thing: "I won't touch the word soft, though."
Rivers was asked to address Garnett's inability -- or is it unwillingness? -- to deliver in crunch time, and he made a pointed bit of psychoanalysis.
"If Paul [Pierce] makes three shots in a row, he's shooting the fourth time he gets the ball whether it's a good shot or not," Rivers said. "Kobe as well. If Kevin makes three in a row, he's thinking that he's taken too many shots already and needs to get someone involved."
"I'm not perfect," Garnett said, and that's one of the things that makes him so fascinating. He hasn't been able to overcome his weaknesses to add a championship to all of his other accolades.
But something went off inside him Thursday.
"Even before I put the tape [of Game 3] in, I knew what kind of focus I had to have in this game," Garnett said. "And I would have to be in aggressive mode from the giddy-up."
He found his way. He was a threat. So much so, that Gasol stayed with him -- and stayed true to his nature -- on that fateful play.
This is who the Lakers got, this is who they are. As a result, this is where they are at, on the wrong side of history in so many ways.
The final half of the game's final quarter was a referendum on the two landscape-changing trades of the past 12 months. The two individuals who brought renewed hope to their franchises were both on the court, with the tenor of the Finals hanging in the balance. It would be a brand new series, all squared at two, or the only remaining detail would be the date of the parade in Boston.
The Lakers got this far because of the added dimension Gasol brought to their offense as a skilled shooter and deft passer who made the Lakers a threat from every position on the court. He's become even more critical to the Lakers' identity because the Celtics' defense has kept Bryant from dominating in every game except the third one.
Bryant's 17-point game was a function of the effectiveness of the other Lakers and his willingness to pass to them in the first half, but Boston was directly responsible for yet another Bryant stretch of more field goal attempts than points in the second half.
See, the Celtics built their brand on the defensive intensity of Kevin Garnett.
That's what prevailed in Game 4, when the free-flowing, high-scoring ways the Lakers enjoyed in the first half came to an abrupt halt midway through the third quarter, when passes and layups turned into extended dribbles and 3-pointers against the Celtics' defensive wall, and the lead, which crested at 24 points halfway through the second quarter, kept getting smaller and smaller until the Celtics finally pushed ahead on an Eddie House jumper with 4:07 left. No team had lost a game after leading by such a margin in the Finals since the Elias Sports Bureau started keeping records in the 1970-71 season.
We have seen the flaws of both Garnett and Gasol on full display in this series. But the Celtics can survive Garnett's weaknesses. The Lakers have not been able to get past Gasol's.
Run all the drills you want, but defense comes down to desire and instincts. And something in Gasol's defensive DNA held him back the last time the Lakers had a chance to do anything in this game. In a sense they had already lost. This is the position they didn't want to be in, having to get a defensive stop to win, instead of merely giving the ball to Bryant and asking him to deliver a victory the way he has so many times before.
The Celtics led by three points but there was still enough time on the clock that the Lakers didn't have to foul to get a chance to regain possession. Ray Allen dribbled around and around, resetting to the Lakers logo at midcourt, then driving past Sasha Vujacic and getting all the way to the basket. Gasol was on the right side of the lane, guarding Garnett. He kept guarding him for too long, belatedly approaching Allen as the Celtics guard got closer and closer to the basket for the layup that gave Boston an insurmountable five-point lead with 16 seconds remaining.
(Speaking of insurmountable, no team has ever come back to win the NBA Finals after falling into the 3-1 hole the Lakers now find themselves in.)
Lakers coach Phil Jackson let Gasol off the hook, saying his players were instructed to stay with the shooters. Vujacic took the blame for his defense on Allen, saying, "I wasn't as aggressive as I should be and he went to the basket. So it was completely my fault."
That's all fine and honorable. No under-bus-throwing in the Lakers' locker room.
Now let's go back and imagine if Garnett had been traded to the Lakers and the Celtics dumped some expiring contracts off on the Grizzlies for Gasol.
Is there any way Garnett lets Allen swoop all the way in for a layup there? No. None at all. In fact, we'd just seen an example on the Lakers' last basket the play before, when Bryant drove, Garnett came over, and Bryant dropped the ball off to Gasol for a dunk.
The difference between what Gasol was told to do and what he should have done seemed to sink in with the Spanish center after the game.
"I saw the shot clock running down and kind of went to make sure I put a body on Garnett for the rebound, but I probably should have helped [Vujacic] out, react to that penetration," Gasol said.
Garnett, meanwhile, finally produced some plays to answer the critics.
Doc Rivers sat him for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, and while he was out Leon Powe made a tough shot in the lane. I wondered then why we never see Garnett do that. But maybe Garnett saw the light.
When he returned he backed in for a 7-foot jumper that tied the score. And he also made two free throws and another close-range jumper. No more long jump shots that have had so many fans shaking their heads, wondering why the tallest Celtic on the court won't go inside.
Speaking of defense, both coaches found themselves defending their big men before the game.
Jackson was asked, in one of the most remarkable questions of the week, what he thought about the word "soft" and how it applied to Gasol.
Jackson said he believed that Gasol's reputation of not being "tough enough or powerful enough to be a center" was the reason Memphis put him on the block, but that "he's constantly risen to the occasion in every series that we've gone through this year." Only one thing: "I won't touch the word soft, though."
Rivers was asked to address Garnett's inability -- or is it unwillingness? -- to deliver in crunch time, and he made a pointed bit of psychoanalysis.
"If Paul [Pierce] makes three shots in a row, he's shooting the fourth time he gets the ball whether it's a good shot or not," Rivers said. "Kobe as well. If Kevin makes three in a row, he's thinking that he's taken too many shots already and needs to get someone involved."
"I'm not perfect," Garnett said, and that's one of the things that makes him so fascinating. He hasn't been able to overcome his weaknesses to add a championship to all of his other accolades.
But something went off inside him Thursday.
"Even before I put the tape [of Game 3] in, I knew what kind of focus I had to have in this game," Garnett said. "And I would have to be in aggressive mode from the giddy-up."
He found his way. He was a threat. So much so, that Gasol stayed with him -- and stayed true to his nature -- on that fateful play.
This is who the Lakers got, this is who they are. As a result, this is where they are at, on the wrong side of history in so many ways.
Celts rally from 24 point defecit to win
Defense wins championships, and the Celtics played D like the champs they almost are.
Sasha Vujacic's defense? Well, let's just say if we knew the Slovenian word for matador, we'd be typing it right here.
Whether you call Boston's 97-91 victory Thursday night in Game 4 of the NBA Finals an epic comeback by the Celtics or an epic collapse by the Lakers, there was one play that encapsulated the night-and-day difference between the defensive capabilities of the two teams.
It came late in the final minute of the fourth quarter, long after the Celtics had erased every last bit of an early 24-point deficit. The Lakers needed a stop, the Celtics needed a score, and Ray Allen found himself with the ball at the top of the key, isolated against Vujacic, with Kevin Garnett starting to come out top to set a screen.
"Paul [Pierce] was exhausted, and you could see it. He didn't want to come to the ball. It was really supposed to be a middle pick-and-roll with Kevin and Ray, and Ray waved Kevin off because he liked the matchup that he had, so he didn't want to bring in another defender to help," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "It was a great call by Ray, and then him getting to the basket was huge. The layup was just tremendous."
The layup wasn't merely tremendous, putting Boston ahead 96-91, it was practically uncontested.
Vujacic simply allowed Allen to drive around him, waving a hand toward Allen's midsection but failing to move his feet to deny Allen the lane, and no help defenders came over in time to seriously contest the shot.
"The whole game, from the minute I came in, they called fouls on me. He fell down, foul. I was trying to find a way to guard him for 48 minutes, and everything I did was a foul. He got me. He went to the basket, and it was a good basket. I don't know what else to say," Vulajcic said, half-forlorn, half-disgusted as he stood in front of his locker in a morose Lakers dressing room.
Did he expect Allen to drive left instead of right? Did he expect stronger help to come?
"I wanted to stay with him, I wanted to stay aggressive, but again, there would be a foul. So I kind of stood back, I gave him the room to operate, and he went to the basket, so that was a bad defensive decision on my side," Vujacic said. "It doesn't matter, help or not, we came out and were supposed to be more aggressive, and not let him breathe at the top of the key. It's a tough loss, it hurts, but we're not done yet."
Well, the Lakers will be done -- perhaps Sunday, perhaps back in Boston next Tuesday or next Thursday -- if they don't find a way to get their offense back into whatever gear it was they found in the first quarter in opening a 35-14 lead, scoring two more points in those 12 minutes than they would in the entire second half.
Lamar Odom was 6-for-6 in the opening period and 7-for-7 at halftime when Los Angeles still held a 58-40 lead and was dominating virtually every statistical category (outshooting Boston 50 to 35 percent, outrebounding the Celtics 26-16, outassisting them 15-4 and holding a 14-1 edge in second-half points.
But Boston outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter (for the series, they've outscored Los Angeles by an average of almost 11 points in the third quarters) to cut the deficit to two, then went ahead for good when Eddie House knocked down an 18-footer with 4:07 left.
From there, Boston held Los Angeles to three buckets, the last of which -- a dunk by Pau Gasol with 40 seconds left -- preceded the key possession on which Allen was isolated against Vujacic.
"Kevin ran up to set a screen, and as he was setting the screen, I told him: 'Let me take him one-on-one,'" Allen said. "I made my move, and I looked up and he was behind me, and I had the whole basket free and clear."
The layup gave Allen the last of his 19 points on a night when the Celtics also got 20 points from Pierce, 16 from Garnett and a totally unexpected 18 from James Posey.
But the numbers that really made the difference for Boston were reflected in the second-half totals: holding the Lakers to 33 points on 33 percent shooting, outrebounding them 24-15 and knocking down four 3-pointers to the Lakers' zero.
"We let a huge opportunity slip away, so I'm upset, hurt disappointed. It's a huge loss, no doubt about it," Kobe Bryant said. "It was terrible."
Yes it was, unless you were watching that game clad in green and white. For Celtics' fans, there was nothing terrible about it.
And with one more win, we'll be talking all summer about how defense -- and Vujacic's lack thereof -- was a major, major reason why a 17th banner will be hanging from the rafters at the new Boston Garden.
Sasha Vujacic's defense? Well, let's just say if we knew the Slovenian word for matador, we'd be typing it right here.
Whether you call Boston's 97-91 victory Thursday night in Game 4 of the NBA Finals an epic comeback by the Celtics or an epic collapse by the Lakers, there was one play that encapsulated the night-and-day difference between the defensive capabilities of the two teams.
It came late in the final minute of the fourth quarter, long after the Celtics had erased every last bit of an early 24-point deficit. The Lakers needed a stop, the Celtics needed a score, and Ray Allen found himself with the ball at the top of the key, isolated against Vujacic, with Kevin Garnett starting to come out top to set a screen.
"Paul [Pierce] was exhausted, and you could see it. He didn't want to come to the ball. It was really supposed to be a middle pick-and-roll with Kevin and Ray, and Ray waved Kevin off because he liked the matchup that he had, so he didn't want to bring in another defender to help," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "It was a great call by Ray, and then him getting to the basket was huge. The layup was just tremendous."
The layup wasn't merely tremendous, putting Boston ahead 96-91, it was practically uncontested.
Vujacic simply allowed Allen to drive around him, waving a hand toward Allen's midsection but failing to move his feet to deny Allen the lane, and no help defenders came over in time to seriously contest the shot.
"The whole game, from the minute I came in, they called fouls on me. He fell down, foul. I was trying to find a way to guard him for 48 minutes, and everything I did was a foul. He got me. He went to the basket, and it was a good basket. I don't know what else to say," Vulajcic said, half-forlorn, half-disgusted as he stood in front of his locker in a morose Lakers dressing room.
Did he expect Allen to drive left instead of right? Did he expect stronger help to come?
"I wanted to stay with him, I wanted to stay aggressive, but again, there would be a foul. So I kind of stood back, I gave him the room to operate, and he went to the basket, so that was a bad defensive decision on my side," Vujacic said. "It doesn't matter, help or not, we came out and were supposed to be more aggressive, and not let him breathe at the top of the key. It's a tough loss, it hurts, but we're not done yet."
Well, the Lakers will be done -- perhaps Sunday, perhaps back in Boston next Tuesday or next Thursday -- if they don't find a way to get their offense back into whatever gear it was they found in the first quarter in opening a 35-14 lead, scoring two more points in those 12 minutes than they would in the entire second half.
Lamar Odom was 6-for-6 in the opening period and 7-for-7 at halftime when Los Angeles still held a 58-40 lead and was dominating virtually every statistical category (outshooting Boston 50 to 35 percent, outrebounding the Celtics 26-16, outassisting them 15-4 and holding a 14-1 edge in second-half points.
But Boston outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter (for the series, they've outscored Los Angeles by an average of almost 11 points in the third quarters) to cut the deficit to two, then went ahead for good when Eddie House knocked down an 18-footer with 4:07 left.
From there, Boston held Los Angeles to three buckets, the last of which -- a dunk by Pau Gasol with 40 seconds left -- preceded the key possession on which Allen was isolated against Vujacic.
"Kevin ran up to set a screen, and as he was setting the screen, I told him: 'Let me take him one-on-one,'" Allen said. "I made my move, and I looked up and he was behind me, and I had the whole basket free and clear."
The layup gave Allen the last of his 19 points on a night when the Celtics also got 20 points from Pierce, 16 from Garnett and a totally unexpected 18 from James Posey.
But the numbers that really made the difference for Boston were reflected in the second-half totals: holding the Lakers to 33 points on 33 percent shooting, outrebounding them 24-15 and knocking down four 3-pointers to the Lakers' zero.
"We let a huge opportunity slip away, so I'm upset, hurt disappointed. It's a huge loss, no doubt about it," Kobe Bryant said. "It was terrible."
Yes it was, unless you were watching that game clad in green and white. For Celtics' fans, there was nothing terrible about it.
And with one more win, we'll be talking all summer about how defense -- and Vujacic's lack thereof -- was a major, major reason why a 17th banner will be hanging from the rafters at the new Boston Garden.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Notes and quotes
SUNDAY'S BEST Leon Powe, Celtics forward: In a game featuring the Big Three and the league MVP, it is hard to imagine that Leon Powe was the one getting his name chanted inside TD Banknorth Garden at the NBA Finals.
SUNDAY'S WORSTLos Angeles Lakers: Kudos to the Lakers for the made-for-television rally, but they can't expect to fall behind by 24 points -- especially against a team like the Celtics -- and still come away with a victory.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT"Our mind-set is to get Game 3 and try to take away their confidence and win this series in L.A."
-- Celtics All-Star Paul Pierce talking about the Finals shifting to Los Angeles
SUNDAY'S WORSTLos Angeles Lakers: Kudos to the Lakers for the made-for-television rally, but they can't expect to fall behind by 24 points -- especially against a team like the Celtics -- and still come away with a victory.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT"Our mind-set is to get Game 3 and try to take away their confidence and win this series in L.A."
-- Celtics All-Star Paul Pierce talking about the Finals shifting to Los Angeles
Lakers bad rotation to start 2nd was turning point
NBA games can change at the drop of a hat or group substitutions that don't work out. The Lakers frequently go to their bench at the start of the second quarter and have gotten good results from the change in lineup. But I have never seen them use five reserves at the same time. Phil Jackson usually keeps one of his starters, either Kobe Bryant or Lamar Odom, in the mix.
At the beginning of the second quarter of Game 2, with his team up 22-20, Jackson started the second quarter with five reserves ... Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza. Over the next two minutes and 20 seconds the Celtics had run off 10 straight points to give them an eight point lead that they never relinquished.
Give the Lakers credit for a spirited fourth quarter rally to close the gap from 24 to just two points, but that 160 seconds at the start of the second quarter was the turning point of the game.
At the beginning of the second quarter of Game 2, with his team up 22-20, Jackson started the second quarter with five reserves ... Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza. Over the next two minutes and 20 seconds the Celtics had run off 10 straight points to give them an eight point lead that they never relinquished.
Give the Lakers credit for a spirited fourth quarter rally to close the gap from 24 to just two points, but that 160 seconds at the start of the second quarter was the turning point of the game.
The Paul pierce knee story
The NBA Finals. Two-point game. Forty seconds left. The Celtics desperately need a bucket to stave off what would have been a historic comeback by the Lakers.
Boston works the ball to the guy who, a few days ago, was taken off the court in a wheelchair. It's an obvious choice. Paul Pierce has been an alpha dog tonight. He has been moving well -- and in this moment works himself into a good look against Kobe Bryant, who fouls him with 22.8 seconds left.
Even on his healthiest days, Pierce has creaky-looking free throw form. But the shots are both good, and the Celtics take a four-point lead.
The Lakers call timeout, and Doc Rivers tells the Celtics in the huddle to switch on every pick. Upon inbounding, the Lakers are picking and cutting like crazy, but no one's getting open.
There are mismatches all over the floor. The Lakers, flustered, waste precious seconds deducing whaThe Lakers need to score twice. Ideally they'd get this first bucket instantly. But they can't even find anyone with room to operate. Nearly eight seconds run off the clock, a third of the remaining game, before they find a shot.
Sasha Vujacic -- a very capable 3-point shooter -- who has a look with Pierce scrambling to catch him.
Vujacic lets it fly, and Pierce leaps -- he's a long distance from Vujacic, but the ball's headed his way.
Perhaps they can meet in the middle? Pierce's trajectory is high, true, and athletic.
Pierce extends an arm and blocks the shot. James Posey collects the loose ball.
The Lakers hopes of evening the series at 1-1 have evaporated, as has the biggest story line of the Finals so far.
In the absence of an MRI, no one is certain what happened to Paul Pierce's knee on Thursday to cause the Celtics' star to writhe so on the court before being wheeled to the locker room. There is talk of damage to the meniscus, or strained ligaments. Partial ligament tears have been discussed as a possibility.
After the game, Pierce walks gingerly, both knees wrapped in large quantities of ice.
But now that he has put on a big show, with 28 points on 16 shots, eight assists, and four rebounds -- he was even Doc Rivers' pick to guard Kobe Bryant down the stretch -- the balky knee storyline has lost all steam.
Especially when you consider that the people who see him work out every day are not at all surprised that Pierce played so well.
"No surprise at all," says James Posey.
"When I saw him move east to west at the shootaround," says Sam Cassell, "I knew he was fine."
"I'm not surprised by Paul playing 40 minutes," says Coach Rivers. "I thought before the game he felt great. He looked great. So I liked what he was going to do."
This injury, this thing we have been obsessing about since Friday night -- What was it? Was it an embellishment? Was it a miraculous recovery? Was it a case of true grit?
What does Paul Pierce himself feel about it?
"I didn't really think about the injury," Says Pierce. "You hear the crowd, the adrenaline is going ... I didn't think about it. I just went out and played."
Well, if he's over it, it's hard to imagine many others will be able to keep up the concern.
Maybe now that he's certain to play no matter what, he can get that MRI, and series' biggest mystery can become a medical footnote, instead of a central storyline. It's happening.
Boston works the ball to the guy who, a few days ago, was taken off the court in a wheelchair. It's an obvious choice. Paul Pierce has been an alpha dog tonight. He has been moving well -- and in this moment works himself into a good look against Kobe Bryant, who fouls him with 22.8 seconds left.
Even on his healthiest days, Pierce has creaky-looking free throw form. But the shots are both good, and the Celtics take a four-point lead.
The Lakers call timeout, and Doc Rivers tells the Celtics in the huddle to switch on every pick. Upon inbounding, the Lakers are picking and cutting like crazy, but no one's getting open.
There are mismatches all over the floor. The Lakers, flustered, waste precious seconds deducing whaThe Lakers need to score twice. Ideally they'd get this first bucket instantly. But they can't even find anyone with room to operate. Nearly eight seconds run off the clock, a third of the remaining game, before they find a shot.
Sasha Vujacic -- a very capable 3-point shooter -- who has a look with Pierce scrambling to catch him.
Vujacic lets it fly, and Pierce leaps -- he's a long distance from Vujacic, but the ball's headed his way.
Perhaps they can meet in the middle? Pierce's trajectory is high, true, and athletic.
Pierce extends an arm and blocks the shot. James Posey collects the loose ball.
The Lakers hopes of evening the series at 1-1 have evaporated, as has the biggest story line of the Finals so far.
In the absence of an MRI, no one is certain what happened to Paul Pierce's knee on Thursday to cause the Celtics' star to writhe so on the court before being wheeled to the locker room. There is talk of damage to the meniscus, or strained ligaments. Partial ligament tears have been discussed as a possibility.
After the game, Pierce walks gingerly, both knees wrapped in large quantities of ice.
But now that he has put on a big show, with 28 points on 16 shots, eight assists, and four rebounds -- he was even Doc Rivers' pick to guard Kobe Bryant down the stretch -- the balky knee storyline has lost all steam.
Especially when you consider that the people who see him work out every day are not at all surprised that Pierce played so well.
"No surprise at all," says James Posey.
"When I saw him move east to west at the shootaround," says Sam Cassell, "I knew he was fine."
"I'm not surprised by Paul playing 40 minutes," says Coach Rivers. "I thought before the game he felt great. He looked great. So I liked what he was going to do."
This injury, this thing we have been obsessing about since Friday night -- What was it? Was it an embellishment? Was it a miraculous recovery? Was it a case of true grit?
What does Paul Pierce himself feel about it?
"I didn't really think about the injury," Says Pierce. "You hear the crowd, the adrenaline is going ... I didn't think about it. I just went out and played."
Well, if he's over it, it's hard to imagine many others will be able to keep up the concern.
Maybe now that he's certain to play no matter what, he can get that MRI, and series' biggest mystery can become a medical footnote, instead of a central storyline. It's happening.
Rondo sets table
Rajon Rondo's total of 16 assists was the highest for any player in a Finals game since Magic Johnson had 20 in a losing cause in Game 5 against Chicago in 1991. The Bulls claimed their first championship that night, winning 108-101 in Los Angeles.
Powe gets escort to basket
From the Celtics' side, Leon Powe's coast-to-coast dunk was the play of the game. From a neutral observer's perspective, however, it was quite possibly the single worst defensive play of the playoffs.
With Boston up 93-71 and 8:35 remaining, the Lakers decided to make one last push and trap the Celtics in the backcourt. Rajon Rondo saw the trap and lofted the ball over two defenders to Powe, who was a harmless 60 feet from the basket when he caught it. (Side note: In a brazen act of hometown scorekeeping, Rondo got an assist on this play. I've seen some dodgy assists handed out this year, but that one may take the cake.)
Powe began dribbling upcourt ... and dribbling ... and dribbling. Remember, rule No. 1 in basketball is simple: Stop the ball. But as Powe gained speed and crossed halfcourt, it became apparent that nobody on the Lakers seemed interested in halting him. In fact, the middle of the defense opened like the Red Sea as the Lakers stayed glued to the other three Celtics.
Once Powe reached the Laker free-throw line, Pau Gasol finally made a halfhearted effort to close the gap. But by then it was too late. Powe went in for the easiest two of his 21 points, the crowd exploded, and the Lakers were cooked.
"That was a situation where [Vladimir Radmanovic] did a trap in the backcourt and opened it up," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, "and Gasol was afraid to leave [Kevin] Garnett for an easy basket. But it was a poor play, an awful play."
Jackson then tried to make our jobs easier with a play on words, saying his team was so at ease on defense it was "at disease."
"It was a really bad read on our side," said Radmanovic.
The silver lining was that the Lakers rallied from that point, outscoring Boston 31-9 over the next 7:20 to briefly pull within two points. But it was too little, too late, and Powe's play was emblematic of a Laker team that didn't show enough mettle at the defensive end in either of the two games.
"We just can't play any worse than this," said Jackson of his team's defense in the first three quarters.
He'd better hope he's right.
With Boston up 93-71 and 8:35 remaining, the Lakers decided to make one last push and trap the Celtics in the backcourt. Rajon Rondo saw the trap and lofted the ball over two defenders to Powe, who was a harmless 60 feet from the basket when he caught it. (Side note: In a brazen act of hometown scorekeeping, Rondo got an assist on this play. I've seen some dodgy assists handed out this year, but that one may take the cake.)
Powe began dribbling upcourt ... and dribbling ... and dribbling. Remember, rule No. 1 in basketball is simple: Stop the ball. But as Powe gained speed and crossed halfcourt, it became apparent that nobody on the Lakers seemed interested in halting him. In fact, the middle of the defense opened like the Red Sea as the Lakers stayed glued to the other three Celtics.
Once Powe reached the Laker free-throw line, Pau Gasol finally made a halfhearted effort to close the gap. But by then it was too late. Powe went in for the easiest two of his 21 points, the crowd exploded, and the Lakers were cooked.
"That was a situation where [Vladimir Radmanovic] did a trap in the backcourt and opened it up," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, "and Gasol was afraid to leave [Kevin] Garnett for an easy basket. But it was a poor play, an awful play."
Jackson then tried to make our jobs easier with a play on words, saying his team was so at ease on defense it was "at disease."
"It was a really bad read on our side," said Radmanovic.
The silver lining was that the Lakers rallied from that point, outscoring Boston 31-9 over the next 7:20 to briefly pull within two points. But it was too little, too late, and Powe's play was emblematic of a Laker team that didn't show enough mettle at the defensive end in either of the two games.
"We just can't play any worse than this," said Jackson of his team's defense in the first three quarters.
He'd better hope he's right.
Celtics extend series lead
If you've never heard much about Leon Powe, you're in good company. The Lakers obviously didn't know all that much about him, which is a huge reason why the NBA Finals are heading to Los Angeles with the Celtics holding a 2-0 lead.
When Phil Jackson came to the postgame interview podium, he mispronouncd Powe's last name and called him "Pow" (or "Pau").
When Kobe Bryant took his turn on the podium, he admitted the Lakers have "got to do a better job focusing on personnel."
So who is this Leon Powe, the 24-year-old power forward who came off the bench to score 21 points in just 15 minutes Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, leading Boston to a 108-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers?
Well, for starters, his nickname, "The Show," rhymes with his last name, and was given to him when he was in AAU ball because people talked about going to see Powe the Show.
For another thing, he was acquired by the Celtics by the very same person -- former general manager Chris Wallace -- who giftwrapped Pau Gasol and sent him from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Lakers at midseason.
"He is one of my all-time favorite players. He comes in every day with an upbeat, cheerful attitude, no sense of moodiness, no sense of entitlement," Wallace told ESPN.com by phone early Monday after getting filled in on the details of Powe's performance, which helped the Celtics build a 24-point lead that they ended up needing every bit of to hold off the Lakers' late rally. (Powe's final point, on a foul shot, made it 96-73 with 7:27 remaining.)
Powe was selected with the 49th overall pick in 2006 after his rights were acquired on draft night from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for a future second-round pick, the Celtics deciding between the first and second rounds to pull the trigger on the deal because they liked their chances of landing either Powe or Paul Millsap (who went 47th to Utah).
Wallace recalled meeting Powe for the first time after Powe flew from Oakland to Boston and arrived late at night on the Fourth of July. He took Powe and his traveling companion, Bernard Ward, to a drive-thru window at Burger King, telling them along the ride how the Celtics had a pretty nice practice facility, and how the original championship banners were actually hanging at the suburban facility -- not at the arena downtown.
Powe and Ward wanted to have a look, so Wallace drove out to Waltham, Mass., unlocked the facility and watched the two of them shoot jumpers and play H-O-R-S-E for the next hour, staying until 2 a.m., "like two kids in a candy store."
Jackson mispronounced Powe's name (quickly correcting himself and apologizing, it should be noted) in bringing up the fact that Powe shot more free throws (13) in his 15 minutes of playing time than the entire Lakers team attempted all game (10).
Jackson's mispronunciation was relayed later to Powe, who chuckled at it and said his teachers used to do the same thing. ("I let them get away with it," he said.) That would have been back when Powe was growing up in Oakland, becoming homeless, then going into foster care before losing his mother to heart disease and being looked after by Ward, who is now 40.
Powe played at Cal and was a star his freshman season, but injuries to both knees knocked him out of action for a season and helped contribute to his drop to 49th in the draft -- 28 spots after the Celtics got Rajon Rondo (who was a huge part of this victory, too, with 16 assists and just two turnovers). Powe's points and minutes per game increased every month during the regular season, and he has shown flashes -- but not much consistency -- over the course of Boston's march through the first three postseason rounds.
"I thought the first six minutes of the game, we established no post game," Boston coach Doc Rivers sad. "We actually had to go to Leon to establish a post game."
The Lakers did not front him and ended up having to foul him, and Powe ended up having his coming-out night.
From here on out, it's highly unlikely anyone is going to underestimate the player Jackson referred to as "Pow."
"I'm not worried about people not pronouncing my name right. I ain't tripping off that," Powe said.
No, he was too busy trippin' on success, a kid from Oakland whose life of adversity and air of humility led him to the NBA's biggest stage, where he put on a show. And remember, as we're sure Phil Jackson will: Show rhymes with Powe.
When Phil Jackson came to the postgame interview podium, he mispronouncd Powe's last name and called him "Pow" (or "Pau").
When Kobe Bryant took his turn on the podium, he admitted the Lakers have "got to do a better job focusing on personnel."
So who is this Leon Powe, the 24-year-old power forward who came off the bench to score 21 points in just 15 minutes Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, leading Boston to a 108-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers?
Well, for starters, his nickname, "The Show," rhymes with his last name, and was given to him when he was in AAU ball because people talked about going to see Powe the Show.
For another thing, he was acquired by the Celtics by the very same person -- former general manager Chris Wallace -- who giftwrapped Pau Gasol and sent him from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Lakers at midseason.
"He is one of my all-time favorite players. He comes in every day with an upbeat, cheerful attitude, no sense of moodiness, no sense of entitlement," Wallace told ESPN.com by phone early Monday after getting filled in on the details of Powe's performance, which helped the Celtics build a 24-point lead that they ended up needing every bit of to hold off the Lakers' late rally. (Powe's final point, on a foul shot, made it 96-73 with 7:27 remaining.)
Powe was selected with the 49th overall pick in 2006 after his rights were acquired on draft night from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for a future second-round pick, the Celtics deciding between the first and second rounds to pull the trigger on the deal because they liked their chances of landing either Powe or Paul Millsap (who went 47th to Utah).
Wallace recalled meeting Powe for the first time after Powe flew from Oakland to Boston and arrived late at night on the Fourth of July. He took Powe and his traveling companion, Bernard Ward, to a drive-thru window at Burger King, telling them along the ride how the Celtics had a pretty nice practice facility, and how the original championship banners were actually hanging at the suburban facility -- not at the arena downtown.
Powe and Ward wanted to have a look, so Wallace drove out to Waltham, Mass., unlocked the facility and watched the two of them shoot jumpers and play H-O-R-S-E for the next hour, staying until 2 a.m., "like two kids in a candy store."
Jackson mispronounced Powe's name (quickly correcting himself and apologizing, it should be noted) in bringing up the fact that Powe shot more free throws (13) in his 15 minutes of playing time than the entire Lakers team attempted all game (10).
Jackson's mispronunciation was relayed later to Powe, who chuckled at it and said his teachers used to do the same thing. ("I let them get away with it," he said.) That would have been back when Powe was growing up in Oakland, becoming homeless, then going into foster care before losing his mother to heart disease and being looked after by Ward, who is now 40.
Powe played at Cal and was a star his freshman season, but injuries to both knees knocked him out of action for a season and helped contribute to his drop to 49th in the draft -- 28 spots after the Celtics got Rajon Rondo (who was a huge part of this victory, too, with 16 assists and just two turnovers). Powe's points and minutes per game increased every month during the regular season, and he has shown flashes -- but not much consistency -- over the course of Boston's march through the first three postseason rounds.
"I thought the first six minutes of the game, we established no post game," Boston coach Doc Rivers sad. "We actually had to go to Leon to establish a post game."
The Lakers did not front him and ended up having to foul him, and Powe ended up having his coming-out night.
From here on out, it's highly unlikely anyone is going to underestimate the player Jackson referred to as "Pow."
"I'm not worried about people not pronouncing my name right. I ain't tripping off that," Powe said.
No, he was too busy trippin' on success, a kid from Oakland whose life of adversity and air of humility led him to the NBA's biggest stage, where he put on a show. And remember, as we're sure Phil Jackson will: Show rhymes with Powe.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Beckham goes #1 to Tampa
With the clock on the large television monitor ticking down to zero and a cluster of fans chanting from the balcony, commissioner Bud Selig stepped to the podium and announced that the Tampa Bay Rays had selected high school shortstop Tim Beckham with the No. 1 pick in the baseball draft.
Oh, how times have changed.
The annual 50-round marathon that began Thursday is no longer strictly held by conference call. A portion of the first day was televised live for the second consecutive year from Disney World with about 400 boisterous fans and autograph seekers in house, along with some of baseball's biggest names, including Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Billy Williams and Dave Winfield.
"It's come a long way," said former major league pitcher Brian Anderson, recalling 15 years ago when he gathered with family and friends around a telephone in his Ohio apartment waiting for a call from the team drafting him.
"You didn't even know what time the draft started then. I found out the night before," the third overall pick in 1993 added. "This is awesome. This is great for the game."
Only one thing was missing -- prospects.
One, Aaron Hicks, a high school outfielder and alumnus of baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., attended with his family and went on stage to shake hands with Selig and pose for pictures after the Minnesota Twins made him the 14th pick.
Tim Beckham is all smiles after being picked No. 1 overall by the Rays in the 2008 amateur draft.Many in the crowd wore Rays T-shirts and cheered wildly when Selig announced the selection of Beckham, the talented high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., that Tampa Bay picked over Florida State catcher Buster Posey.
Beckham was recognized as one of the best pure athletes in the draft and labeled a legitimate five-tool player. He established himself as the top prep prospect in the nation with solid performances at last summer's high school showcase events and hit .482 with six homers, 13 doubles, 41 RBIs and 23 stolen bases as a senior.
"I found out this morning. ... The scouting director gave me a call and the general manager gave me a call. It was crazy. I was about to do a back flip in my room," Beckham said.
"It means everything in the world. I've worked this hard the last three or four years, me and my brothers and my dad. This means all the hard work paid off. I hope to become an All-Star and after that I want to become a Hall of Famer."
With the second pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates chose sweet-swinging Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Florida high school first baseman Eric Hosmer went third to the Kansas City Royals, and the Baltimore Orioles took top college pitching prospect Brian Matusz out of San Diego with the fourth pick.
This is the second year in a row the Rays have had the No. 1 pick. David Price, a hard-throwing left-hander from Vanderbilt, was the choice in 2007 and is off to a great start with Class-A Vero Beach.
Beckham is the third high school shortstop taken No. 1 overall in the last five years, joining Justin Upton (Arizona, 2005) and Matt Bush (San Diego, 2004).
While there's always pressure to get the No. 1 pick right, the improving Rays imposed some extra heat on themselves this time because they're hoping it will be years before they'll be in a position to select first again.
Tampa Bay whittled its list of candidates for the top pick to five, then trimmed it to two -- Beckham and Posey, a converted shortstop who developed into one of college baseball's top offensive and defensive catchers over the past year.
No. 1 picks (1999-2008)
Shortstop Timothy Beckham is the fourth player taken No. 1 overall by Tampa Bay in the last 10 years.
Year
Player
Team
2008
Timothy Beckham, SS
Rays
2007
David Price, LHP
Devil Rays
2006
Luke Hochevar, RHP
Royals
2005
Justin Upton, SS
Diamondbacks
2004
Matt Bush, SS
Padres
2003
Delmon Young, OF
Devil Rays
2002
Bryan Bullington, RHP
Pirates
2001
Joe Mauer, C
Twins
2000
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Marlins
1999
Josh Hamilton, OF
Devil Rays"It was an active debate, but I think at the end of the day when push came to shove and we were racing time, I think it was pretty clear to everybody that Tim Beckham was the guy at the top of our board," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
"We feel like he's got an advanced approach to the game, a genuine enthusiasm for what he does, and we feel like he's got a great chance to be an impact player in the major leagues."
The Rays called Posey a few hours before the draft to inform him that they were going to select Beckham. The Florida State star, hitting a Division I-leading .468 heading into this week's NCAA super regionals, wound up going to the San Francisco Giants with the fifth pick.
The Florida Marlins, picking sixth, took California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, whom many consider the top prep prospect at his position since Joe Mauer was selected No. 1 overall by Minnesota seven years ago.
Rounding out the top 10, the Cincinnati Reds took Miami slugger Yonder Alonso seventh, the Chicago White Sox picked Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham (no relation to Tim) eighth, the Washington Nationals tabbed Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow and the Houston Astros selected Stanford catcher Jason Castro.
It's the fourth time Tampa Bay has had the No. 1 pick in the club's 11-season history. It picked outfielders Josh Hamilton in 1999 and Delmon Young in 2003.
The Rays think the 18-year-old Beckham is more advanced offensively than defensively at this point, but they're confident he has the athleticism, work ethic and attitude to become a complete player.
Second baseman Jemile Weeks, brother of Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks, was one of three University of Miami players selected in the opening round, going to the Oakland Athletics at No. 12.
While six first basemen were selected within the first 23 picks, only two pitchers -- Matusz and Crow -- were taken in the top 10. But seven pitchers were chosen during a 10-pick stretch from No. 19 to No. 28, where the New York Yankees went for California prep right-hander Gerrit Cole.
Two teams, Minnesota and the New York Mets, had two picks in the first round.
After taking Hicks at No. 14, the Twins selected Miami pitcher Carlos Gutierrez 27th. The Mets took Arizona State first baseman Ike Davis 18th and South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens 22nd.
Davis is the son of former big league pitcher Ron Davis. Daniel Schlereth, the University of Arizona pitcher selected 26th by the Diamondbacks, is the son of former Broncos offensive lineman and current ESPN football analyst Mark Schlereth.
In the sixth round, the Chicago White Sox selected Wichita State center fielder Kenny Williams Jr., son of the team's general manager.
Oh, how times have changed.
The annual 50-round marathon that began Thursday is no longer strictly held by conference call. A portion of the first day was televised live for the second consecutive year from Disney World with about 400 boisterous fans and autograph seekers in house, along with some of baseball's biggest names, including Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Billy Williams and Dave Winfield.
"It's come a long way," said former major league pitcher Brian Anderson, recalling 15 years ago when he gathered with family and friends around a telephone in his Ohio apartment waiting for a call from the team drafting him.
"You didn't even know what time the draft started then. I found out the night before," the third overall pick in 1993 added. "This is awesome. This is great for the game."
Only one thing was missing -- prospects.
One, Aaron Hicks, a high school outfielder and alumnus of baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., attended with his family and went on stage to shake hands with Selig and pose for pictures after the Minnesota Twins made him the 14th pick.
Tim Beckham is all smiles after being picked No. 1 overall by the Rays in the 2008 amateur draft.Many in the crowd wore Rays T-shirts and cheered wildly when Selig announced the selection of Beckham, the talented high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., that Tampa Bay picked over Florida State catcher Buster Posey.
Beckham was recognized as one of the best pure athletes in the draft and labeled a legitimate five-tool player. He established himself as the top prep prospect in the nation with solid performances at last summer's high school showcase events and hit .482 with six homers, 13 doubles, 41 RBIs and 23 stolen bases as a senior.
"I found out this morning. ... The scouting director gave me a call and the general manager gave me a call. It was crazy. I was about to do a back flip in my room," Beckham said.
"It means everything in the world. I've worked this hard the last three or four years, me and my brothers and my dad. This means all the hard work paid off. I hope to become an All-Star and after that I want to become a Hall of Famer."
With the second pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates chose sweet-swinging Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Florida high school first baseman Eric Hosmer went third to the Kansas City Royals, and the Baltimore Orioles took top college pitching prospect Brian Matusz out of San Diego with the fourth pick.
This is the second year in a row the Rays have had the No. 1 pick. David Price, a hard-throwing left-hander from Vanderbilt, was the choice in 2007 and is off to a great start with Class-A Vero Beach.
Beckham is the third high school shortstop taken No. 1 overall in the last five years, joining Justin Upton (Arizona, 2005) and Matt Bush (San Diego, 2004).
While there's always pressure to get the No. 1 pick right, the improving Rays imposed some extra heat on themselves this time because they're hoping it will be years before they'll be in a position to select first again.
Tampa Bay whittled its list of candidates for the top pick to five, then trimmed it to two -- Beckham and Posey, a converted shortstop who developed into one of college baseball's top offensive and defensive catchers over the past year.
No. 1 picks (1999-2008)
Shortstop Timothy Beckham is the fourth player taken No. 1 overall by Tampa Bay in the last 10 years.
Year
Player
Team
2008
Timothy Beckham, SS
Rays
2007
David Price, LHP
Devil Rays
2006
Luke Hochevar, RHP
Royals
2005
Justin Upton, SS
Diamondbacks
2004
Matt Bush, SS
Padres
2003
Delmon Young, OF
Devil Rays
2002
Bryan Bullington, RHP
Pirates
2001
Joe Mauer, C
Twins
2000
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Marlins
1999
Josh Hamilton, OF
Devil Rays"It was an active debate, but I think at the end of the day when push came to shove and we were racing time, I think it was pretty clear to everybody that Tim Beckham was the guy at the top of our board," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
"We feel like he's got an advanced approach to the game, a genuine enthusiasm for what he does, and we feel like he's got a great chance to be an impact player in the major leagues."
The Rays called Posey a few hours before the draft to inform him that they were going to select Beckham. The Florida State star, hitting a Division I-leading .468 heading into this week's NCAA super regionals, wound up going to the San Francisco Giants with the fifth pick.
The Florida Marlins, picking sixth, took California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, whom many consider the top prep prospect at his position since Joe Mauer was selected No. 1 overall by Minnesota seven years ago.
Rounding out the top 10, the Cincinnati Reds took Miami slugger Yonder Alonso seventh, the Chicago White Sox picked Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham (no relation to Tim) eighth, the Washington Nationals tabbed Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow and the Houston Astros selected Stanford catcher Jason Castro.
It's the fourth time Tampa Bay has had the No. 1 pick in the club's 11-season history. It picked outfielders Josh Hamilton in 1999 and Delmon Young in 2003.
The Rays think the 18-year-old Beckham is more advanced offensively than defensively at this point, but they're confident he has the athleticism, work ethic and attitude to become a complete player.
Second baseman Jemile Weeks, brother of Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks, was one of three University of Miami players selected in the opening round, going to the Oakland Athletics at No. 12.
While six first basemen were selected within the first 23 picks, only two pitchers -- Matusz and Crow -- were taken in the top 10. But seven pitchers were chosen during a 10-pick stretch from No. 19 to No. 28, where the New York Yankees went for California prep right-hander Gerrit Cole.
Two teams, Minnesota and the New York Mets, had two picks in the first round.
After taking Hicks at No. 14, the Twins selected Miami pitcher Carlos Gutierrez 27th. The Mets took Arizona State first baseman Ike Davis 18th and South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens 22nd.
Davis is the son of former big league pitcher Ron Davis. Daniel Schlereth, the University of Arizona pitcher selected 26th by the Diamondbacks, is the son of former Broncos offensive lineman and current ESPN football analyst Mark Schlereth.
In the sixth round, the Chicago White Sox selected Wichita State center fielder Kenny Williams Jr., son of the team's general manager.
Mcfadden signs deal
Darren McFadden's contract includes $26 million in guarantees.
McFadden is the third of the top four draft choices to reach a deal. Offensive lineman Jake Long, of the Miami Dolphins, and quarterback Matt Ryan, of the Falcons, the third pick in the draft, have signed. McFadden, the fourth pick, reached an agreement after negotiating during the Raiders' minicamp.
McFadden's agent, Ian Greengross, flew to Oakland to start negotiations with the Raiders. Both sides wanted to get a deal done quickly.
The tricky part was getting enough guaranteed money to compete with Long and Ryan's deals. Ryan received more than $34 million in guarantees on his six-year, $72 million contract. But Ryan reached the agreement the day the NFL voided the final two years of the collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations for draft choices since have become more complicated because of the possibility of having an uncapped year in 2010.
Greengross and the Raiders were able to work through the red tape and come up with a six-year contract that maximized guarantees. Many analysts of the rules involving the uncapped year predicted more five-year contracts that included less overall and guaranteed money.
McFadden is expected to share the running back position with Justin Fargas. The team scheduled an 11 p.m. Friday news conference to announce the signing. He becomes the 21st of the 252 league draft choices to reach an agreement.
McFadden is the third of the top four draft choices to reach a deal. Offensive lineman Jake Long, of the Miami Dolphins, and quarterback Matt Ryan, of the Falcons, the third pick in the draft, have signed. McFadden, the fourth pick, reached an agreement after negotiating during the Raiders' minicamp.
McFadden's agent, Ian Greengross, flew to Oakland to start negotiations with the Raiders. Both sides wanted to get a deal done quickly.
The tricky part was getting enough guaranteed money to compete with Long and Ryan's deals. Ryan received more than $34 million in guarantees on his six-year, $72 million contract. But Ryan reached the agreement the day the NFL voided the final two years of the collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations for draft choices since have become more complicated because of the possibility of having an uncapped year in 2010.
Greengross and the Raiders were able to work through the red tape and come up with a six-year contract that maximized guarantees. Many analysts of the rules involving the uncapped year predicted more five-year contracts that included less overall and guaranteed money.
McFadden is expected to share the running back position with Justin Fargas. The team scheduled an 11 p.m. Friday news conference to announce the signing. He becomes the 21st of the 252 league draft choices to reach an agreement.
Ray Allen-The stopper
Ray Allen the shooter. Ray Allen the gentleman. Ray Allen the ... stopper?
It's a little early for all that. But not as early as you might think.
If Kobe Bryant's poor performance against Allen on Thursday night was a fluke, it was a three-game fluke, not a one-game fluke.
Backed by Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau's schemes, in three games against the Celtics this season, Bryant is shooting a combined 24-for-72 from the floor. That's 33 percent. By shooting nine of 26 -- 35 percent -- Bryant actually improved his season-long field-goal percentage vs. the Celtics.
And the majority of those possessions have come with Allen checking Bryant solo. Help is never far away from other Celtics, but by and large it's Allen's show.
Bryant gives the defense no credit, saying this was merely a case of "missing bunnies ... Hopefully I'll get those same looks in Game 2."
It's not likely Kevin Garnett will be sharing his Defensive player of the year award with his spindly teammate. But Bryant is not entirely correct in saying the defense offered no resistance. There's no ignoring the fact Bryant is having a hard time getting to the hole. (When Posey was on Bryant for a spell, on the other hand, Bryant quickly found his way into the paint again and again.) And job one for Allen is not to foul Bryant, and Thursday Bryant only shot six free throws.
Bryant and Allen have had a rich, and at times, salty rivalry. Allen has to be loving his recent spell of effectiveness guarding the MVP. He's not going to 'fess up to it, though, likely for fear of providing bulletin board material to the Lakers.
I asked Allen if his defense against Bryant was becoming a point of pride. "My point of pride," he responded, "was that my team got the win."
It's a little early for all that. But not as early as you might think.
If Kobe Bryant's poor performance against Allen on Thursday night was a fluke, it was a three-game fluke, not a one-game fluke.
Backed by Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau's schemes, in three games against the Celtics this season, Bryant is shooting a combined 24-for-72 from the floor. That's 33 percent. By shooting nine of 26 -- 35 percent -- Bryant actually improved his season-long field-goal percentage vs. the Celtics.
And the majority of those possessions have come with Allen checking Bryant solo. Help is never far away from other Celtics, but by and large it's Allen's show.
Bryant gives the defense no credit, saying this was merely a case of "missing bunnies ... Hopefully I'll get those same looks in Game 2."
It's not likely Kevin Garnett will be sharing his Defensive player of the year award with his spindly teammate. But Bryant is not entirely correct in saying the defense offered no resistance. There's no ignoring the fact Bryant is having a hard time getting to the hole. (When Posey was on Bryant for a spell, on the other hand, Bryant quickly found his way into the paint again and again.) And job one for Allen is not to foul Bryant, and Thursday Bryant only shot six free throws.
Bryant and Allen have had a rich, and at times, salty rivalry. Allen has to be loving his recent spell of effectiveness guarding the MVP. He's not going to 'fess up to it, though, likely for fear of providing bulletin board material to the Lakers.
I asked Allen if his defense against Bryant was becoming a point of pride. "My point of pride," he responded, "was that my team got the win."
Lakers got away from what worked
Looks like the biggest question about the Los Angeles Lakers is the only one that wasn't asked before the series: What if Kobe Bryant has a hard time scoring?
More ominously for them: What if this is the continuation of a trend of bad Finals performances?
He has delivered virtuoso performances on this stage before, beginning with his first trip to the Finals. In 2000 he scored eight points in overtime to snatch Game 4 from the Indiana Pacers. It was the start of the legend, when he went from phenom to phenomenal. As Sam Cassell said the other day, "That's when he became KB8."
Of course, now he's KB24. And he has the accolades (not to mention the MVP trophy) that come with being the most accomplished player in the league.
But the last time Bryant played in June, he shot 38 percent during the Lakers' five-game loss to the Detroit Pistons in 2004. It was an ugly and ill-fated attempt to prove he could be the No. 1 guy and wrest control of the team from Shaquille O'Neal.
Now even moreso he's the focal point of the defense, rather than a dangerous weapon alongside Shaq. Once again we're seeing what happens when the league's best defense locks in on the league's best player, especially when that player is oriented on the perimeter. The defense wins.
"They're not going to give him much of an opportunity to break down their defense off of dribble penetration," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "So he's going to end up in a situation where he's taking more catch-and shoot opportunities when he's coming off of cuts and coming off of screens and catching and shooting the basketball. That's something he's going to get used to as the series goes on. He's so great at breaking down defenses off the dribble. The Celtics' defense just doesn't allow that type of play."
Bryant's shot chart showed only two attempts in the paint in his 24-point night. He made one, missed one -- a much better percentage than overall, when he made about one of every three shots he put up. In fact, his 9-for-26 performance in the Finals opener, a 98-88 loss to Boston, continued the woeful shooting against the Celtics in the two regular-season games and leaves him at exactly 33 percent against Boston this year (24-for-72). For Boston's defense, that's even better than the 35 percent shooting they extracted from LeBron James during seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bryant and coach Phil Jackson said the problem wasn't the quality of his shots.
"I had some great looks," Bryant said. "They just didn't stay down. I'll just have to pile it in with the other bad shooting games I've had and flush it and come back Game 2 and hopefully I get the same looks."
As one Laker said, he had good looks … but he had chances to pass, too. As the game went on, L.A.'s offense became increasingly stagnant and Bryant tried to do it by himself.
None of Bryant's six assists came in the fourth quarter, when he made only one-of-six shots. He's supposed to bring the Lakers home down the stretch; instead he matched the fourth-quarter shooting of notorious late-game disappearer Kevin Garnett miss-for-miss. Garnett called his fourth quarter "terrible," which means the same must be said of Bryant's.
But Garnett, thanks to some timely rebounds, his intimidation of Pau Gasol and most of all the heroics of Paul Pierce, is now one victory closer to the championship, one victory closer to removing all asterisks, ellipses and "buts" from his career. Meanwhile, Bryant's rise has been so great this season that we have to be reminded that he hasn't won a championship without Shaq yet, that he's still only halfway to Jordan's collection of six rings.
For the multitudes who picked the Lakers to win the series, the thinking was that Bryant's ability, particularly in the clutch, mattered more than the collective ability of Boston's big three. After all, he was able to overcome San Antonio's top trio. But maybe the collective hunger of this Boston group is greater. If Bryant isn't able to get easy shots, maybe he'll need to sacrifice a little more.
At one point, early in the third quarter, he pulled off a shake-and-fall away jumper that came straight from the Michael Jordan handbook. But Bryant and the Lakers would be better served right now if he played like Magic Johnson.
The 1984 Finals were one of the most traumatic experiences of my adolescence in Los Angeles, but I allowed myself to watch just enough of the replays on ESPN Classic Thursday to see how the Lakers pushed the ball up the court at every opportunity back then. Then I watched in person as the 2008 Lakers scored exactly two fast-break points on Thursday.
So there weren't easy baskets to get the rest of the Lakers going, and none to boost Bryant's totals either.
Instead he had to walk into the rotation of defenders the Celtics through at him: Ray Allen, Pierce and James Posey. Then he had secondary defenders sliding over when he tried to penetrate. Things were going so well for the Celtics' defense that when the 108-year-old Cassell found himself guarding Bryant, Cassell was able to draw a charge.
If the Lakers can't find a faster tempo, Bryant and the Lakers will have to come up with different ways to attack Boston's half-court defense. Against San Antonio he surveyed the Spurs for two ½ quarters, then lit them up for 23 points. It didn't come together so quickly for him this time, probably leading to a sleep-deprived night of replays.
"I'll be thinking about those [missed shots] a little bit tonight," Bryant said.
"As the series goes on," his teammate Fisher said, "He'll understand where his shots are going to come from and what spots, and he'll shoot the ball I think at a higher percentage than he did tonight."
That's the expectation. Hasn't changed. But it wasn't the result in the first game. And against the Celtics and in the Finals, it isn't the trend. That didn't change, either.
More ominously for them: What if this is the continuation of a trend of bad Finals performances?
He has delivered virtuoso performances on this stage before, beginning with his first trip to the Finals. In 2000 he scored eight points in overtime to snatch Game 4 from the Indiana Pacers. It was the start of the legend, when he went from phenom to phenomenal. As Sam Cassell said the other day, "That's when he became KB8."
Of course, now he's KB24. And he has the accolades (not to mention the MVP trophy) that come with being the most accomplished player in the league.
But the last time Bryant played in June, he shot 38 percent during the Lakers' five-game loss to the Detroit Pistons in 2004. It was an ugly and ill-fated attempt to prove he could be the No. 1 guy and wrest control of the team from Shaquille O'Neal.
Now even moreso he's the focal point of the defense, rather than a dangerous weapon alongside Shaq. Once again we're seeing what happens when the league's best defense locks in on the league's best player, especially when that player is oriented on the perimeter. The defense wins.
"They're not going to give him much of an opportunity to break down their defense off of dribble penetration," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "So he's going to end up in a situation where he's taking more catch-and shoot opportunities when he's coming off of cuts and coming off of screens and catching and shooting the basketball. That's something he's going to get used to as the series goes on. He's so great at breaking down defenses off the dribble. The Celtics' defense just doesn't allow that type of play."
Bryant's shot chart showed only two attempts in the paint in his 24-point night. He made one, missed one -- a much better percentage than overall, when he made about one of every three shots he put up. In fact, his 9-for-26 performance in the Finals opener, a 98-88 loss to Boston, continued the woeful shooting against the Celtics in the two regular-season games and leaves him at exactly 33 percent against Boston this year (24-for-72). For Boston's defense, that's even better than the 35 percent shooting they extracted from LeBron James during seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bryant and coach Phil Jackson said the problem wasn't the quality of his shots.
"I had some great looks," Bryant said. "They just didn't stay down. I'll just have to pile it in with the other bad shooting games I've had and flush it and come back Game 2 and hopefully I get the same looks."
As one Laker said, he had good looks … but he had chances to pass, too. As the game went on, L.A.'s offense became increasingly stagnant and Bryant tried to do it by himself.
None of Bryant's six assists came in the fourth quarter, when he made only one-of-six shots. He's supposed to bring the Lakers home down the stretch; instead he matched the fourth-quarter shooting of notorious late-game disappearer Kevin Garnett miss-for-miss. Garnett called his fourth quarter "terrible," which means the same must be said of Bryant's.
But Garnett, thanks to some timely rebounds, his intimidation of Pau Gasol and most of all the heroics of Paul Pierce, is now one victory closer to the championship, one victory closer to removing all asterisks, ellipses and "buts" from his career. Meanwhile, Bryant's rise has been so great this season that we have to be reminded that he hasn't won a championship without Shaq yet, that he's still only halfway to Jordan's collection of six rings.
For the multitudes who picked the Lakers to win the series, the thinking was that Bryant's ability, particularly in the clutch, mattered more than the collective ability of Boston's big three. After all, he was able to overcome San Antonio's top trio. But maybe the collective hunger of this Boston group is greater. If Bryant isn't able to get easy shots, maybe he'll need to sacrifice a little more.
At one point, early in the third quarter, he pulled off a shake-and-fall away jumper that came straight from the Michael Jordan handbook. But Bryant and the Lakers would be better served right now if he played like Magic Johnson.
The 1984 Finals were one of the most traumatic experiences of my adolescence in Los Angeles, but I allowed myself to watch just enough of the replays on ESPN Classic Thursday to see how the Lakers pushed the ball up the court at every opportunity back then. Then I watched in person as the 2008 Lakers scored exactly two fast-break points on Thursday.
So there weren't easy baskets to get the rest of the Lakers going, and none to boost Bryant's totals either.
Instead he had to walk into the rotation of defenders the Celtics through at him: Ray Allen, Pierce and James Posey. Then he had secondary defenders sliding over when he tried to penetrate. Things were going so well for the Celtics' defense that when the 108-year-old Cassell found himself guarding Bryant, Cassell was able to draw a charge.
If the Lakers can't find a faster tempo, Bryant and the Lakers will have to come up with different ways to attack Boston's half-court defense. Against San Antonio he surveyed the Spurs for two ½ quarters, then lit them up for 23 points. It didn't come together so quickly for him this time, probably leading to a sleep-deprived night of replays.
"I'll be thinking about those [missed shots] a little bit tonight," Bryant said.
"As the series goes on," his teammate Fisher said, "He'll understand where his shots are going to come from and what spots, and he'll shoot the ball I think at a higher percentage than he did tonight."
That's the expectation. Hasn't changed. But it wasn't the result in the first game. And against the Celtics and in the Finals, it isn't the trend. That didn't change, either.
Not bad company
Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 13 rebounds in Boston's victory over the L.A. Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In the past 30 years, only two other players had at least 24 points and 13-or-more rebounds in their first career game in the NBA Finals: Shaquille O'Neal (26 and 16) in 1995 and Tim Duncan (33 and 16) in 1999.
Rivers wins coaching battle
Every move Doc Rivers made from the bench paid dividends for the Celtics. To start the game Rivers matched Kevin Garnett against Pau Gasol, but when Garnett picked up his first foul, he switched Kendrick Perkins to Gasol and Garnett to Lamar Odom. The Lakers never went to Gasol with any consistency and Odom was not really an offensive threat, especially in the first half.
Rivers had a variety of defenders on Kobe Bryant, starting with Ray Allen. Allen did a terrific job keeping Bryant at the perimeter and challenging his jumper. Kobe was 3-for-10 in the first half and 9-for-26 for the game. Paul Pierce and James Posey also defended Kobe and, in general, prevented him from an MVP performance.
Rivers also used Sam Cassell to back up Rajon Rondo for about 13 minutes. Cassell came through with four field goals mostly against Derek Fisher, whom he backed down to mid-post position where he shot over him.
To start the third period, with his team trailing 51-46, Rivers ordered a set play for Pierce, who at that point was 1-for-4. Pierce scored from the low post and then nailed two 3s and two free throws in an eight-point run that allowed the Celtics to regain the lead.
So give Rivers the coaching nod over the veteran nine-ring wearer Phil Jackson ... at least for Game 1.
Rivers had a variety of defenders on Kobe Bryant, starting with Ray Allen. Allen did a terrific job keeping Bryant at the perimeter and challenging his jumper. Kobe was 3-for-10 in the first half and 9-for-26 for the game. Paul Pierce and James Posey also defended Kobe and, in general, prevented him from an MVP performance.
Rivers also used Sam Cassell to back up Rajon Rondo for about 13 minutes. Cassell came through with four field goals mostly against Derek Fisher, whom he backed down to mid-post position where he shot over him.
To start the third period, with his team trailing 51-46, Rivers ordered a set play for Pierce, who at that point was 1-for-4. Pierce scored from the low post and then nailed two 3s and two free throws in an eight-point run that allowed the Celtics to regain the lead.
So give Rivers the coaching nod over the veteran nine-ring wearer Phil Jackson ... at least for Game 1.
Pierce flashs signs of Reed in victory
The first promising sign was one that almost nobody in the new Boston Garden could see.
Three ambulances were parked beneath the stands underneath the north end of the arena, all of them idle. No drivers in sight, no emergency medical technicians standing by, no rear doors waiting open to transport Boston's injured superstar to the hospital.
The good news would become apparent to the home fans just moments later, when Pierce made a right turn as he walked out of the home locker room (a left turn would have led him to the ambulances), headed down the hallway and popped out of the same tunnel he had been carried through by teammates just a few minutes earlier.
"I thought I tore something -- that's the way I felt at the time. Usually when I go down, I'm getting right back up, but it was an instance where I turned my knee and it popped, and I was just in pain where I couldn't move," Pierce said.
"Did you see the look on his face? Just agony," said teammate P.J. Brown, who was the last player to exit the home locker room -- just seconds after Pierce shuffled out ever so gingerly.
LAKERS VERSUS CELTICS
NBA FINALSBoston 1, L.A. Lakers 0Game 2: Sun., 8:30 ET, at BOS
Full NBA Finals schedule
After the game, Pierce was walking with a pronounced limp as he exited the postgame interview room and headed back to the locker room, but some 45 minutes later the injury was clearly bothering him more.
As he walked to his car, Pierce was still wearing his warm-ups. The snaps along the right side were hanging open, revealing a wrapping of several ace bandages from the bottom of his calf to the top of his thigh, an additional layer of white tape wrapped around the lower half of his hamstring, ending just above his knee.
Pierce's feet moved no more than 12 inches with each step, and as you watched him begin to navigate the four flights of stairs from the locker room level to the players' parking lot, you couldn't help but wonder exactly how much adrenalin had fueled his comeback. The knee injury could also keep him out of Game 2 or, at the very least, reduce his effectiveness.
As it was, Pierce showed what kind of a player he is, not only by coming back, but by hitting a pair of 3-pointers late in the third quarter that gave the Celtics the separation they needed in a 98-88 victory Thursday night for a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Game 2 is Sunday night.
"Once I got to the back, I stood on my two feet and tried to see where the pain was at," Pierce said. "It was on the inside of my knee. I tried to put weight on it, wasn't bad. I tried to move laterally, a little soreness. Once I felt I could put weight on it, I had to get back out there."
The arena went so nuts when Pierce returned, Phil Jackson called a timeout to diffuse some of the energy in the building and allow his team to regroup. It was still a one-point game at the time, and the Lakers would go ahead 71-69 before Pierce changed the game again.
His 3-pointer with 1:26 left in the quarter gave Boston the lead for good, and another 3-pointer 22 seconds later from the exact same spot on the floor gave the Celtics a four-point lead that they'd carry into the final quarter.
It was still a four-point game when Pierce returned after sitting out the first 6:12 of the fourth quarter, but he knocked down a 13-footer with 5:23 left and then made a pair from the line. Los Angeles couldn't put together a rally the rest of the way. After scoring just three first-half points, Pierce had 19 in the final 24 minutes.
There wasn't any outright skepticism from the Lakers regarding Pierce's heroics, but there did seem to be just a smidgen from Jackson as he noted how quickly Pierce went from possibly being done for the series to being right back on the court.
And as big as Pierce's two third-quarter 3s and four fourth-quarter points were, you could argue the play of the game happened when Ray Allen drove the lane, met up with two defenders and hurled a wild pass back toward the top of the key, where it eluded everyone before Garnett made a great play to save a backcourt violation, flipping the ball blindly back into the frontcourt where Sam Cassell turned it into one of his four buckets for an 83-78 lead.
Cassell and Rajon Rondo combined for 23 points and eight assists from the point guard position, and Garnett had 24 points and 13 rebounds. The Celtics won a couple of key statistical battles -- 46-33 in rebounds and 12-4 on second-chance points -- and held Kobe Bryant to just four fourth-quarter points.
But again, this series is only one game old, and Pierce left the building looking more like someone in need of a leg transplant than someone who will bounce back quickly with treatment. He has between 48 and 72 hours to heal, as does Kendrick Perkins, who sprained his left ankle on the same play on which Pierce twisted his knee.
If the Celtics don't get both of them back at something approaching full strength, this could go down as the night Boston lost the series despite winning the game.
Because ambulance or no ambulance, the truth was The Truth could barely walk by the time the night was over.
Three ambulances were parked beneath the stands underneath the north end of the arena, all of them idle. No drivers in sight, no emergency medical technicians standing by, no rear doors waiting open to transport Boston's injured superstar to the hospital.
The good news would become apparent to the home fans just moments later, when Pierce made a right turn as he walked out of the home locker room (a left turn would have led him to the ambulances), headed down the hallway and popped out of the same tunnel he had been carried through by teammates just a few minutes earlier.
"I thought I tore something -- that's the way I felt at the time. Usually when I go down, I'm getting right back up, but it was an instance where I turned my knee and it popped, and I was just in pain where I couldn't move," Pierce said.
"Did you see the look on his face? Just agony," said teammate P.J. Brown, who was the last player to exit the home locker room -- just seconds after Pierce shuffled out ever so gingerly.
LAKERS VERSUS CELTICS
NBA FINALSBoston 1, L.A. Lakers 0Game 2: Sun., 8:30 ET, at BOS
Full NBA Finals schedule
After the game, Pierce was walking with a pronounced limp as he exited the postgame interview room and headed back to the locker room, but some 45 minutes later the injury was clearly bothering him more.
As he walked to his car, Pierce was still wearing his warm-ups. The snaps along the right side were hanging open, revealing a wrapping of several ace bandages from the bottom of his calf to the top of his thigh, an additional layer of white tape wrapped around the lower half of his hamstring, ending just above his knee.
Pierce's feet moved no more than 12 inches with each step, and as you watched him begin to navigate the four flights of stairs from the locker room level to the players' parking lot, you couldn't help but wonder exactly how much adrenalin had fueled his comeback. The knee injury could also keep him out of Game 2 or, at the very least, reduce his effectiveness.
As it was, Pierce showed what kind of a player he is, not only by coming back, but by hitting a pair of 3-pointers late in the third quarter that gave the Celtics the separation they needed in a 98-88 victory Thursday night for a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Game 2 is Sunday night.
"Once I got to the back, I stood on my two feet and tried to see where the pain was at," Pierce said. "It was on the inside of my knee. I tried to put weight on it, wasn't bad. I tried to move laterally, a little soreness. Once I felt I could put weight on it, I had to get back out there."
The arena went so nuts when Pierce returned, Phil Jackson called a timeout to diffuse some of the energy in the building and allow his team to regroup. It was still a one-point game at the time, and the Lakers would go ahead 71-69 before Pierce changed the game again.
His 3-pointer with 1:26 left in the quarter gave Boston the lead for good, and another 3-pointer 22 seconds later from the exact same spot on the floor gave the Celtics a four-point lead that they'd carry into the final quarter.
It was still a four-point game when Pierce returned after sitting out the first 6:12 of the fourth quarter, but he knocked down a 13-footer with 5:23 left and then made a pair from the line. Los Angeles couldn't put together a rally the rest of the way. After scoring just three first-half points, Pierce had 19 in the final 24 minutes.
There wasn't any outright skepticism from the Lakers regarding Pierce's heroics, but there did seem to be just a smidgen from Jackson as he noted how quickly Pierce went from possibly being done for the series to being right back on the court.
And as big as Pierce's two third-quarter 3s and four fourth-quarter points were, you could argue the play of the game happened when Ray Allen drove the lane, met up with two defenders and hurled a wild pass back toward the top of the key, where it eluded everyone before Garnett made a great play to save a backcourt violation, flipping the ball blindly back into the frontcourt where Sam Cassell turned it into one of his four buckets for an 83-78 lead.
Cassell and Rajon Rondo combined for 23 points and eight assists from the point guard position, and Garnett had 24 points and 13 rebounds. The Celtics won a couple of key statistical battles -- 46-33 in rebounds and 12-4 on second-chance points -- and held Kobe Bryant to just four fourth-quarter points.
But again, this series is only one game old, and Pierce left the building looking more like someone in need of a leg transplant than someone who will bounce back quickly with treatment. He has between 48 and 72 hours to heal, as does Kendrick Perkins, who sprained his left ankle on the same play on which Pierce twisted his knee.
If the Celtics don't get both of them back at something approaching full strength, this could go down as the night Boston lost the series despite winning the game.
Because ambulance or no ambulance, the truth was The Truth could barely walk by the time the night was over.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Joba Makes first start of career
• Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. ET: Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.28 ERA) makes his much-anticipated debut as a starter. Instead of having a nice, easy opponent, Chamberlain will go head-to-head with four-time all-star and Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay (6-5, 2.93 ERA). Halladay is 3-0 over his past four starts, and is coming off a pair of games in which he permitted just one run each time out.
• Mets at Giants, 10:15 p.m. ET: If not for Chamberlain, this would be the big news in New York. Pedro Martinez (0-0, 10.80 ERA), who has been out since April 1 with a strained left hamstring, makes his return. Adding to the intrigue, Martinez squares off against Barry Zito (1-8, 5.53 ERA), who has pieced together two respectable starts after opening the year 0-8.
• Tigers at A's, 10:10 p.m. ET: Jim Leyland made the decision to insert Dontrelle Willis (0-0, 7.50 ERA) back into the rotation in place of Armando Galarraga, who has been Detroit's most reliable starter so far this season. Dana Eveland (4-4, 3.66 ERA) followed up a great outing two starts ago with a messy 4 1/3-inning performance last time out.
• Mets at Giants, 10:15 p.m. ET: If not for Chamberlain, this would be the big news in New York. Pedro Martinez (0-0, 10.80 ERA), who has been out since April 1 with a strained left hamstring, makes his return. Adding to the intrigue, Martinez squares off against Barry Zito (1-8, 5.53 ERA), who has pieced together two respectable starts after opening the year 0-8.
• Tigers at A's, 10:10 p.m. ET: Jim Leyland made the decision to insert Dontrelle Willis (0-0, 7.50 ERA) back into the rotation in place of Armando Galarraga, who has been Detroit's most reliable starter so far this season. Dana Eveland (4-4, 3.66 ERA) followed up a great outing two starts ago with a messy 4 1/3-inning performance last time out.
3 and Go
Most pitchers will throw a pitch right down the middle on a 3-0 count because they know the hitter will be taking, and they're desperate to throw a strike. On Monday, that wasn't a smart strategy, as home runs on 3-0 counts were pivotal in three games:
• Chase Utley continued his assault on major league pitching by homering in his fifth straight game (second such streak this season), helping the Phillies edge the Reds.
• Casey Blake broke from a season-long funk with a huge game, bashing two home runs as part of a seven-RBI day in a slugfest triumph over the Indians. The second one came on a 3-0 offering.
• Yunel Escobar, who had never hit a game-ending home run, delivered one Monday on 3-0 pitch to bail out John Smoltz, who blew a save in his return.
They often call the 3-0 pitch an "automatic strike" -- and it was just that Monday. Only in this case, it was a strike offenses could rip at. Before Utley, Blake and Escobar went deep Monday, only five homers had been hit all season on 3-0 pitches.
• Chase Utley continued his assault on major league pitching by homering in his fifth straight game (second such streak this season), helping the Phillies edge the Reds.
• Casey Blake broke from a season-long funk with a huge game, bashing two home runs as part of a seven-RBI day in a slugfest triumph over the Indians. The second one came on a 3-0 offering.
• Yunel Escobar, who had never hit a game-ending home run, delivered one Monday on 3-0 pitch to bail out John Smoltz, who blew a save in his return.
They often call the 3-0 pitch an "automatic strike" -- and it was just that Monday. Only in this case, it was a strike offenses could rip at. Before Utley, Blake and Escobar went deep Monday, only five homers had been hit all season on 3-0 pitches.
Mets get blasted by Giants
Perhaps Oliver Perez isn't such an inconsistent pitcher after all. Perhaps the contrived term "pendulum-ic" doesn't apply to the Mets starter because, for three starts now, he hasn't performed so erratically. His performances haven't run from good to bad and back or even from bad to good and back. Instead, the progression has been this: unacceptable to poor to wholly inadequate.
Perez reached what the Mets only can hope is the nadir of his uneven season Monday night when he initiated the team's second West Coast excursion with a next-to-nothing start. With the have-not Giants in the other dugout and a left-handed pitcher on the mound, the Mets had reason to be encouraged, no matter the site and their understandable fatigue. But any semblance of positive was dispelled in the bottom of the first inning when Perez allowed six runs and retired one batter.
Repeat: six runs in one-third of an inning, which loosely translated into the language of Willie Randolph was: "A horrible night, a terrible, terrible outing."
Perez's cameo appearance was almost exclusively responsible for the 10-2 defeat that ensued. The Mets had come West with insufficient rest, except for Perez who had flown ahead by himself. They were leaning on their starting pitcher, asking for more than a starter is normally asked to provide -- set a tone, reduce some of the onus on the offense, make the job easier for the defense.
And Perez provided far less, sabotaging his colleagues.
The Mets played competitively despite the deficit Perez had created. But he had pushed them into a deep pit. Escape was impossible despite their conspicuous scrambling. Any notion they had of salvaging this game ended in the sixth and seventh innings when the Giants scored four times against Carlos Muniz. The fault hardly was his, though.
The responsibility began and ended with Perez, now a .500 pitcher -- his record is 4-4 -- on a once-again .500 team. With four losses in their 10 most recent games, the Mets have a 28-28 record. They didn't expect to stub their toe so badly, here by the Bay.
Perez identified it as "the worst start of my career," and no one took issue with the evaluation. His teammates couldn't know for sure. But how much worse could a start be? They took it on faith that six runs, five hits -- two of them home runs -- and three walks in an eight-batter sequence was a bottom-out performance.
The one-third inning was the shortest start of Perez's oft-blemished career, the shortest by a Mets pitcher since Tom Glavine's tortured start on the season's final game last year. Before Randolph performed euthanasia, Perez had surrendered a leadoff home run by Randy Winn, a two-run double by Ray Durham and a two-run home run by No. 7 hitter Brian Horwitz, a rookie. After Perez walked the No. 8 hitter, Randolph purposefully walked to mound, extended his hand toward his battered pitcher, wordlessly asking for the ball before any additional damage might occur. The manager acknowledged his displeasure.
"He wasn't competing, he was flailing away on the mound," Randolph said. "You can't just start heaving the ball. You have to make adjustments. That's what pitchers do."
Instead, Perez made it a short night, with an assist from his unsympathetic manager. He threw 36 pitches, so he is really rested now.
The poor first inning -- though this one was off the Ollie Charts -- was not an unfamiliar development. Perez's ERA for the season is hardly handsome, 5.70. But in the first inning, it is 9.53. The home runs were the 10th and 11th against him in what now is 60 innings this year. They also were the 14th and 15th he has allowed in the first inning since the beginning of last season, the most in the big leagues.
Perez was replaced by Claudio Vargas, who as a member of Brewers was the opposing starter the last time the Giants scored six runs in the first inning, Aug. 24 last year. But Vargas wasn't the losing pitcher in that game.
"You can overcome a bad start when you've got eight more innings," Randolph said. He thought his team had comeback in its blood.
The Mets played with vigor, which was quite gratifying for the manager who sometimes had seen less from his team in less trying circumstances. They made plays -- Ryan Church threw out two runners at second base -- and they challenged winning pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (4-3), the Giants' equivalent of Perez, scoring in the second and fourth innings.
"I was proud of that," Randolph said. "We did play them hard. It was a good sign."
The loss stung, nonetheless. Randolph suspects his team, even with its recent reversal, will need to squeeze every possible victory out of its remaining schedule.
The Mets have yet to demonstrate -- or even hint -- they are one of the league's upper echelon teams. Perez has had a hand in that, too.
Perez reached what the Mets only can hope is the nadir of his uneven season Monday night when he initiated the team's second West Coast excursion with a next-to-nothing start. With the have-not Giants in the other dugout and a left-handed pitcher on the mound, the Mets had reason to be encouraged, no matter the site and their understandable fatigue. But any semblance of positive was dispelled in the bottom of the first inning when Perez allowed six runs and retired one batter.
Repeat: six runs in one-third of an inning, which loosely translated into the language of Willie Randolph was: "A horrible night, a terrible, terrible outing."
Perez's cameo appearance was almost exclusively responsible for the 10-2 defeat that ensued. The Mets had come West with insufficient rest, except for Perez who had flown ahead by himself. They were leaning on their starting pitcher, asking for more than a starter is normally asked to provide -- set a tone, reduce some of the onus on the offense, make the job easier for the defense.
And Perez provided far less, sabotaging his colleagues.
The Mets played competitively despite the deficit Perez had created. But he had pushed them into a deep pit. Escape was impossible despite their conspicuous scrambling. Any notion they had of salvaging this game ended in the sixth and seventh innings when the Giants scored four times against Carlos Muniz. The fault hardly was his, though.
The responsibility began and ended with Perez, now a .500 pitcher -- his record is 4-4 -- on a once-again .500 team. With four losses in their 10 most recent games, the Mets have a 28-28 record. They didn't expect to stub their toe so badly, here by the Bay.
Perez identified it as "the worst start of my career," and no one took issue with the evaluation. His teammates couldn't know for sure. But how much worse could a start be? They took it on faith that six runs, five hits -- two of them home runs -- and three walks in an eight-batter sequence was a bottom-out performance.
The one-third inning was the shortest start of Perez's oft-blemished career, the shortest by a Mets pitcher since Tom Glavine's tortured start on the season's final game last year. Before Randolph performed euthanasia, Perez had surrendered a leadoff home run by Randy Winn, a two-run double by Ray Durham and a two-run home run by No. 7 hitter Brian Horwitz, a rookie. After Perez walked the No. 8 hitter, Randolph purposefully walked to mound, extended his hand toward his battered pitcher, wordlessly asking for the ball before any additional damage might occur. The manager acknowledged his displeasure.
"He wasn't competing, he was flailing away on the mound," Randolph said. "You can't just start heaving the ball. You have to make adjustments. That's what pitchers do."
Instead, Perez made it a short night, with an assist from his unsympathetic manager. He threw 36 pitches, so he is really rested now.
The poor first inning -- though this one was off the Ollie Charts -- was not an unfamiliar development. Perez's ERA for the season is hardly handsome, 5.70. But in the first inning, it is 9.53. The home runs were the 10th and 11th against him in what now is 60 innings this year. They also were the 14th and 15th he has allowed in the first inning since the beginning of last season, the most in the big leagues.
Perez was replaced by Claudio Vargas, who as a member of Brewers was the opposing starter the last time the Giants scored six runs in the first inning, Aug. 24 last year. But Vargas wasn't the losing pitcher in that game.
"You can overcome a bad start when you've got eight more innings," Randolph said. He thought his team had comeback in its blood.
The Mets played with vigor, which was quite gratifying for the manager who sometimes had seen less from his team in less trying circumstances. They made plays -- Ryan Church threw out two runners at second base -- and they challenged winning pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (4-3), the Giants' equivalent of Perez, scoring in the second and fourth innings.
"I was proud of that," Randolph said. "We did play them hard. It was a good sign."
The loss stung, nonetheless. Randolph suspects his team, even with its recent reversal, will need to squeeze every possible victory out of its remaining schedule.
The Mets have yet to demonstrate -- or even hint -- they are one of the league's upper echelon teams. Perez has had a hand in that, too.
Phillies outlast reds behind Utley
Chase Utley, who homered for the fifth straight game, Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste all went deep to increase the Phillies' Major League-leading dinger total to 88, as Philadelphia defeated the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a four-game set.Jay Bruce went 2-for-4, including a homer for the third straight game, but the Reds were unable to bounce back from an early deficit. Edwin Encarnacion homered and Adam Dunn drove in two runs, but Bronson Arroyo lasted just 4 1/3 innings. Besides a few stragglers, the chants of "Bruuuuuce" were missing at Citizens Bank Park. Just about everything else was the same in road game No. 1 for Bruce. The 21-year-old kept hitting.
Bruce went 2-for-4 and is now batting .577 (15-for-26) with three homers and seven RBIs through his first seven big league games. He has a slugging percentage of 1.038.
"Jay hit the ball great. It's nothing new," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We talk about it every day. It's the same thing. We hope he continues swinging until some of the other guys get hot."
After he smoked a line drive that was caught by Ryan Howard at first base in the first inning, Bruce returned in the third and lifted a 1-1 pitch from Kyle Kendrick into the left-field seats. It gave the rookie homers in three straight games.
"He's pretty good," Kendrick said. "The one he hit out was up and away. He still had to hit it, but he did. I have to give him credit. He put some good swings on the ball." Ken Griffey Jr. had the night off.
Utley also barrelled into a catcher, layed down a bunt and made two diving backhanded catches
Bruce went 2-for-4 and is now batting .577 (15-for-26) with three homers and seven RBIs through his first seven big league games. He has a slugging percentage of 1.038.
"Jay hit the ball great. It's nothing new," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We talk about it every day. It's the same thing. We hope he continues swinging until some of the other guys get hot."
After he smoked a line drive that was caught by Ryan Howard at first base in the first inning, Bruce returned in the third and lifted a 1-1 pitch from Kyle Kendrick into the left-field seats. It gave the rookie homers in three straight games.
"He's pretty good," Kendrick said. "The one he hit out was up and away. He still had to hit it, but he did. I have to give him credit. He put some good swings on the ball." Ken Griffey Jr. had the night off.
Utley also barrelled into a catcher, layed down a bunt and made two diving backhanded catches
Monday, June 2, 2008
Some thoughts
I know Roger Clemens is tight with the Bush family. But check out the women he is supposed to have had affairs with and tell me that they don’t look Bill Clinton-esque to you.
The Denver Broncos released running back Travis Henry because they questioned his desire. The guy has nine children from nine different women. I think too much desire might be the issue.
I think a good bomb squad training exercise would be to put Ozzie Guillen and Rasheed Wallace in the same room together.
The Supreme Court decided not to hear a case regarding a dispute over fantasy league licensing and MLB. Hmm. I wonder if the court would have acted differently if it were a Supreme Court fantasy league.
I understand how Jason Taylor feels. He isn’t upset because the Miami Dolphins might release him in part because he appeared on “Dancing With The Stars.” It’s because they want to replace him with John O’Hurley.
The Green Bay Packers are giving Brett Favre his old locker. Of course, the locker has indicated that it would consider returning to the lockerroom if Aaron Rodgers’ locker struggles.
The Denver Broncos released running back Travis Henry because they questioned his desire. The guy has nine children from nine different women. I think too much desire might be the issue.
I think a good bomb squad training exercise would be to put Ozzie Guillen and Rasheed Wallace in the same room together.
The Supreme Court decided not to hear a case regarding a dispute over fantasy league licensing and MLB. Hmm. I wonder if the court would have acted differently if it were a Supreme Court fantasy league.
I understand how Jason Taylor feels. He isn’t upset because the Miami Dolphins might release him in part because he appeared on “Dancing With The Stars.” It’s because they want to replace him with John O’Hurley.
The Green Bay Packers are giving Brett Favre his old locker. Of course, the locker has indicated that it would consider returning to the lockerroom if Aaron Rodgers’ locker struggles.
Flopping leads to much more than fines next year
It’s silly, but the NBA will begin fining floppers next season. This means that an official will not only have to make judgments about violations of the rules like traveling, three-seconds, etc., as well as fouls, but he’ll also have to be an acting expert.
That tells me that either the players will have to stop flopping, which means they will be less likely to try and draw fouls and that will have an adverse affect on the game; or they will have to become better actors.
Most of the professional athletes out there want to become actors after their sports careers anyway. This will just mean that many of them will start taking acting lessons sooner.
There is the Stella Adler system, the Lee Strasberg method, the Sanford Meisner technique, and many, many more. Soon the scene study classes will be filled with 6-foot-9, 260-pound men performing pieces from “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “All My Sons” and “Romeo and Juliet.”
In interviews after games, players will use words like “forsooth” and “methinks.” Oy vey!
Meanwhile, the ranks of the Screen Actors Guild – already brimming with out-of-work thespians – will swell. Resentment will build when a script calls for “40ish, dumpy, white, balding guy next door” and the part instead goes to “25ish, towering, African-American, great perimeter shooter.”
Nice decision, NBA. Talk about a flop!
That tells me that either the players will have to stop flopping, which means they will be less likely to try and draw fouls and that will have an adverse affect on the game; or they will have to become better actors.
Most of the professional athletes out there want to become actors after their sports careers anyway. This will just mean that many of them will start taking acting lessons sooner.
There is the Stella Adler system, the Lee Strasberg method, the Sanford Meisner technique, and many, many more. Soon the scene study classes will be filled with 6-foot-9, 260-pound men performing pieces from “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “All My Sons” and “Romeo and Juliet.”
In interviews after games, players will use words like “forsooth” and “methinks.” Oy vey!
Meanwhile, the ranks of the Screen Actors Guild – already brimming with out-of-work thespians – will swell. Resentment will build when a script calls for “40ish, dumpy, white, balding guy next door” and the part instead goes to “25ish, towering, African-American, great perimeter shooter.”
Nice decision, NBA. Talk about a flop!
A toast to Manny. Griffey
Manny Ramirez reached the 500-homer plateau. Ken Griffey, Jr. is close to 600.
Does anyone care?
Well, of course, especially in Boston and Cincinnati. But there doesn’t seem to be much buzz about these accomplishments, or at least, as much buzz as they deserve.
Steroids, perhaps?
I believe Manny and Griffey are clean, but I can’t tell you why I feel that way. Maybe because there never seemed to be unnatural spikes in their productions. Both have always been great hitters, and these achievements seem as if they occurred in the natural course of events.
But it feels like there’s a steroids hangover. We have become so numbed by artificial numbers that when real ones come along we’re too jaded to react.
Manny and Griffey should be enjoying more lavish praise than they’re getting. And they can thank the cheaters of baseball for the muted response. The cheaters didn’t just soil the game, they also cast a pall over the careers of their fellow union members who followed the rules.
So a toast to Manny and Griffey, and a pox on those who spoiled the party
Does anyone care?
Well, of course, especially in Boston and Cincinnati. But there doesn’t seem to be much buzz about these accomplishments, or at least, as much buzz as they deserve.
Steroids, perhaps?
I believe Manny and Griffey are clean, but I can’t tell you why I feel that way. Maybe because there never seemed to be unnatural spikes in their productions. Both have always been great hitters, and these achievements seem as if they occurred in the natural course of events.
But it feels like there’s a steroids hangover. We have become so numbed by artificial numbers that when real ones come along we’re too jaded to react.
Manny and Griffey should be enjoying more lavish praise than they’re getting. And they can thank the cheaters of baseball for the muted response. The cheaters didn’t just soil the game, they also cast a pall over the careers of their fellow union members who followed the rules.
So a toast to Manny and Griffey, and a pox on those who spoiled the party
It's about the team not Kobe
Just like it takes a village to raise a child – that was an old saying before it became a book title – it takes a team to win a championship.
In 2006, the Miami Heat finished an improbable run by storming back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. One of the major plotlines of that crown involved Shaquille O’Neal. He had been discarded by the Los Angeles Lakers, he led his team to a championship, and many observed that he was able to get revenge on Kobe Bryant and his former team.
But that view ignores the magnificent play of Dwyane Wade, who was terrific through the playoffs and was as clutch as they come against the Mavericks. The Heat also got important contributions from Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker, James Posey, Alonzo Mourning and Jason Williams. Shaq didn’t do it by himself, even if the vengeance angle seemed to obscure the big picture.
And as incredible as Kobe has been thus far, if the Lakers beat the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals it will not be all his doing. He’ll be huge, but he won’t be alone. He’ll have Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and others. One of the storylines will involve Kobe finally getting a ring without Shaq, and the fact that each would then have four. But it’s a team thing.
Kobe and Shaq will be inextricably linked in basketball history. But they’re just the front men for two excellent teams – the 2005-06 world champion Heat, and the possible 2007-08 world champion Lakers.
In 2006, the Miami Heat finished an improbable run by storming back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. One of the major plotlines of that crown involved Shaquille O’Neal. He had been discarded by the Los Angeles Lakers, he led his team to a championship, and many observed that he was able to get revenge on Kobe Bryant and his former team.
But that view ignores the magnificent play of Dwyane Wade, who was terrific through the playoffs and was as clutch as they come against the Mavericks. The Heat also got important contributions from Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker, James Posey, Alonzo Mourning and Jason Williams. Shaq didn’t do it by himself, even if the vengeance angle seemed to obscure the big picture.
And as incredible as Kobe has been thus far, if the Lakers beat the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals it will not be all his doing. He’ll be huge, but he won’t be alone. He’ll have Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and others. One of the storylines will involve Kobe finally getting a ring without Shaq, and the fact that each would then have four. But it’s a team thing.
Kobe and Shaq will be inextricably linked in basketball history. But they’re just the front men for two excellent teams – the 2005-06 world champion Heat, and the possible 2007-08 world champion Lakers.
Ozzie walking on thin ice
When Kobe Bryant blew up at his bosses last year, at least he had some leverage. Whether you were for him or against him, you had to agree that he was under contract, he was a superstar, and it wouldn’t have been that easy to fire him.
Then there’s Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie doesn’t seem to understand the concept of leverage. Perhaps he has been the manager of the Chicago White Sox long enough that he believes he is now Mike Ditka, or even one of the Blues Brothers. Certain iconic figures don’t have to worry about their jobs. But Ozzie isn’t one of them.
After a 4-3, 10th inning loss to Tampa Bay, he said this about general manager Kenny Williams: “I expect Kenny to do something Tuesday. Because if we don’t do anything Tuesday, there’s (going to be) a lot of change in the lineup. That’s all I’m going to say about the offense.”
To which Williams replied to the Chicago Tribune: “It’s just not a good idea to throw your boss under the bus.”
No, it certainly isn’t, unless you’re Kobe, or Ditka, or either Jake or Elroy.
Every once in a while, Ozzie snaps, and it makes for a fun read. He’s a character, he goes off on tirades, and it makes “SportCenter” and other outlets. But he often acts as if he’s either invincible, or as if he has a secret pact with the owner and will never be fired.
The former is not true, and I don’t believe the latter, is either.
The White Sox are in first place in the American League Central. If Ozzie wants to stay with the team while it stays on top, I would suggest he clam up. His boss can only write him up so many times before having to issue a pink slip.
Then there’s Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie doesn’t seem to understand the concept of leverage. Perhaps he has been the manager of the Chicago White Sox long enough that he believes he is now Mike Ditka, or even one of the Blues Brothers. Certain iconic figures don’t have to worry about their jobs. But Ozzie isn’t one of them.
After a 4-3, 10th inning loss to Tampa Bay, he said this about general manager Kenny Williams: “I expect Kenny to do something Tuesday. Because if we don’t do anything Tuesday, there’s (going to be) a lot of change in the lineup. That’s all I’m going to say about the offense.”
To which Williams replied to the Chicago Tribune: “It’s just not a good idea to throw your boss under the bus.”
No, it certainly isn’t, unless you’re Kobe, or Ditka, or either Jake or Elroy.
Every once in a while, Ozzie snaps, and it makes for a fun read. He’s a character, he goes off on tirades, and it makes “SportCenter” and other outlets. But he often acts as if he’s either invincible, or as if he has a secret pact with the owner and will never be fired.
The former is not true, and I don’t believe the latter, is either.
The White Sox are in first place in the American League Central. If Ozzie wants to stay with the team while it stays on top, I would suggest he clam up. His boss can only write him up so many times before having to issue a pink slip.
Johan wins #100
Even before his team's decisive rally on Sunday night was complete, Mets catcher Brian Schneider was already scheming.
"The first thing I thought about was pitching," Schneider said. "Now, it's about pitching. Now, it's about shutting them down."
So he changed the way he called the game. He urged his pitcher, Johan Santana, to be more aggressive. He encouraged him to throw more strikes and to attack the Dodgers hitters, because even then -- even in the third inning -- Schneider could smell a win.
"It's just so nice," he said, "when you can get that lead, you know?"
Nicer still when you can keep it. Santana did, and the Mets did too, cruising to their second straight victory and their fifth in six games. In another complete effort -- this one a 6-1 win over the Dodgers -- the Mets used a little bit of this and a little bit of that, leaning on Joe Torre's crew all evening and never allowing them to draw close after a five-run third inning completed the scoring.
So although they came limping into Shea Stadium, the Mets left on Sunday having ditched their crutches. They'll now head to California still well off their desired pace, but drawing closer -- and feeling better -- than they have in quite some time.
"The past few weeks, we didn't have that feeling as a team," Carlos Beltran said. "Now, we do."
Much of the credit on this night went to Santana, and rightfully so. Sitting on 99 career victories, Santana seemed rather unlikely to round off that number when he allowed Juan Pierre to lead off the game by doubling and scoring. Yet after a few strikeouts, he appeared to recover, and after the lead change, he pushed the advantage in his favor.
Once the Mets rallied, Santana ceased pitching to avoid contact -- he tallied only two more strikeouts the rest of the way. Instead, he let his fielders do the work, and they did. Luis Castillo, in particular, sparked the Mets with an acrobatic double play in the sixth inning, taking David Wright's throw, brushing the bag, then wheeling and throwing in one seamless motion.
Santana ended his night with two outs in the eighth inning and that 100th win well in his grasp, walking off the field and doffing his cap to the Shea Stadium crowd.
They cheered. They've been cheering a lot, lately.
"It's a great atmosphere right now," Santana said. "Everything is going well. Everybody is feeling more comfortable, and that's where you want to be."
Santana's night was made easier, of course, by all that offense. Most of it came with two outs -- a trend lately for these Mets -- and nearly all of it came in two big blows. The first was from Beltran, who homered in the third inning to open up the game, 4-1. The second was from Ryan Church, who returned to the starting lineup from a concussion and homered in only his second at-bat, a two-run shot that made it 6-1.
Wright and Jose Reyes sparked so much of the offense, combining for five hits, three runs and two RBIs. And the lineup, now missing only Moises Alou, seemed whole.
"These are complete games," Wright said. "And these are what we need."
Complete weeks, too, considering how well the Mets have played over the past seven days. Manager Willie Randolph couldn't entirely explain it, but certainly, he tried.
"A few of our bench players have been picking up the slack a little bit," Randolph said.
Sure, but on Sunday, all the damage came from the regulars. Any other thoughts?
"Just pitching better -- that's the key," Randolph said.
And certainly Santana did just that.
"But more than anything, our players are starting to play up to their capabilities, and up to their potential," Randolph said. "That's what it boils down to."
And so the Mets jetted off to California late on Sunday night, in preparation for seven games in seven days against the Giants and Padres. There, they'll find Pedro Martinez, who is set start his first game back from the disabled list on Tuesday. And there, they might even find Alou, expected perhaps to return by the end of the week.
Right now, New York doesn't exactly seem to need the help. This trip home -- if nothing else -- reaffirmed that the Mets, as currently constructed, can win.
The previous two months, of course, proved that they also can lose.
"It's a week," Wright said. "We have to put things in perspective. I'm extremely satisfied with how the homestand has gone, but we have to carry this momentum out to the West Coast. There have been too many ups and downs so far this year."
But as Beltran said, the latest uptick "just came at the right time." So the Mets will head west hoping -- and believing -- that they can take all that momentum with them.
"The first thing I thought about was pitching," Schneider said. "Now, it's about pitching. Now, it's about shutting them down."
So he changed the way he called the game. He urged his pitcher, Johan Santana, to be more aggressive. He encouraged him to throw more strikes and to attack the Dodgers hitters, because even then -- even in the third inning -- Schneider could smell a win.
"It's just so nice," he said, "when you can get that lead, you know?"
Nicer still when you can keep it. Santana did, and the Mets did too, cruising to their second straight victory and their fifth in six games. In another complete effort -- this one a 6-1 win over the Dodgers -- the Mets used a little bit of this and a little bit of that, leaning on Joe Torre's crew all evening and never allowing them to draw close after a five-run third inning completed the scoring.
So although they came limping into Shea Stadium, the Mets left on Sunday having ditched their crutches. They'll now head to California still well off their desired pace, but drawing closer -- and feeling better -- than they have in quite some time.
"The past few weeks, we didn't have that feeling as a team," Carlos Beltran said. "Now, we do."
Much of the credit on this night went to Santana, and rightfully so. Sitting on 99 career victories, Santana seemed rather unlikely to round off that number when he allowed Juan Pierre to lead off the game by doubling and scoring. Yet after a few strikeouts, he appeared to recover, and after the lead change, he pushed the advantage in his favor.
Once the Mets rallied, Santana ceased pitching to avoid contact -- he tallied only two more strikeouts the rest of the way. Instead, he let his fielders do the work, and they did. Luis Castillo, in particular, sparked the Mets with an acrobatic double play in the sixth inning, taking David Wright's throw, brushing the bag, then wheeling and throwing in one seamless motion.
Santana ended his night with two outs in the eighth inning and that 100th win well in his grasp, walking off the field and doffing his cap to the Shea Stadium crowd.
They cheered. They've been cheering a lot, lately.
"It's a great atmosphere right now," Santana said. "Everything is going well. Everybody is feeling more comfortable, and that's where you want to be."
Santana's night was made easier, of course, by all that offense. Most of it came with two outs -- a trend lately for these Mets -- and nearly all of it came in two big blows. The first was from Beltran, who homered in the third inning to open up the game, 4-1. The second was from Ryan Church, who returned to the starting lineup from a concussion and homered in only his second at-bat, a two-run shot that made it 6-1.
Wright and Jose Reyes sparked so much of the offense, combining for five hits, three runs and two RBIs. And the lineup, now missing only Moises Alou, seemed whole.
"These are complete games," Wright said. "And these are what we need."
Complete weeks, too, considering how well the Mets have played over the past seven days. Manager Willie Randolph couldn't entirely explain it, but certainly, he tried.
"A few of our bench players have been picking up the slack a little bit," Randolph said.
Sure, but on Sunday, all the damage came from the regulars. Any other thoughts?
"Just pitching better -- that's the key," Randolph said.
And certainly Santana did just that.
"But more than anything, our players are starting to play up to their capabilities, and up to their potential," Randolph said. "That's what it boils down to."
And so the Mets jetted off to California late on Sunday night, in preparation for seven games in seven days against the Giants and Padres. There, they'll find Pedro Martinez, who is set start his first game back from the disabled list on Tuesday. And there, they might even find Alou, expected perhaps to return by the end of the week.
Right now, New York doesn't exactly seem to need the help. This trip home -- if nothing else -- reaffirmed that the Mets, as currently constructed, can win.
The previous two months, of course, proved that they also can lose.
"It's a week," Wright said. "We have to put things in perspective. I'm extremely satisfied with how the homestand has gone, but we have to carry this momentum out to the West Coast. There have been too many ups and downs so far this year."
But as Beltran said, the latest uptick "just came at the right time." So the Mets will head west hoping -- and believing -- that they can take all that momentum with them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)