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      Lakers take Game 1

      May 20, 2009 /

      With an efficient 39 points from Carmelo Anthony, it looked like the Nuggets might pull the upset in Game 1, but a key steal by Trevor Ariza and some clutch play from Kobe Bryant sealed the Laker win, 105-103.

      The Lakers struggled early on, and with Anthony scoring 16 points in the first quarter, the Nuggets led by eight after the first period. As the game wore on, it became clear that the Nuggets are simply tougher than the Lakers. Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, Nene, Chris Andersen, Anthony Carter, and even Dahntay Jones — they’re all tough players, both mentally and physically. How many Lakers fit that description? Kobe? Yep. Derek Fisher? Yep. Anyone else? Not really.

      But Kobe is a closer. He had 18 points in the fourth quarter, 40 on the game. He literally carried the Lakers offensively. And he did a great job on Billups for most of the game before having to switch to Anthony to try to slow him down. I was really impressed with how Kobe and Melo battled throughout the game. Anthony really stepped up on the glass and defensively, even though Bryant went off in the final quarter.

      The Nuggets made a few mental errors down the stretch. Carter’s bad pass led to the Ariza steal, and K-Mart had a bad, bad foul on Kobe Bryant when the game was tied with 0:30 to play. The questions about the Nuggets remain — do they know how to win in the clutch?

      This looks like it’s going to be a great series.

      NBA, NBA Finals

      Clippers win NBA Draft Lottery

      May 19, 2009 /

      Almost a year after they lost Elton Brand to free agency, the Los Angeles Clippers will have an opportunity to replace him with Blake Griffin after striking gold in the NBA Draft Lottery.

      Even the Clippers can’t screw this one up…

      Here is the full lottery order:

      1. Clippers
      2. Grizzlies
      3. Thunder
      4. Kings
      5. Wizards
      6. Timberwolves
      7. Warriors
      8. Knicks
      9. Raptors
      10. Bucks
      11. Nets
      12. Bobcats
      13. Pacers
      14. Suns

      NBA, NBA Draft

      Braylon Edwards reports to Browns’ minicamp

      May 19, 2009 /

      After sitting out most of April and early-May workouts, Browns’ wideout Braylon Edwards reported to minicamp on Tuesday.

      Browns receiver Braylon Edwards, who’s been the subject of trade talks this offseason, participated in the Browns voluntary minicamp Tuesday, a source close to Edwards said.

      Edwards, who participated in only the first few days of the Browns offseason program, has not been heard from all offseason despite the fact that Browns general manager George Kokinis admitted at the NFL Owners’ meetings in March that he had talked to the Giants about trading Edwards there.

      Edwards, who’s coming off a down year, is in the last year of his contract. There have also been rumors that the Jets might be interested in trading for him. The voluntary camp runs Tuesday through Thursday, with only Thursday being open to the media.

      Whether Edwards wants a new contract or wants to be traded (or both), it doesn’t benefit him to sit at home and pout. He’s much better off showing up to camp and working his ass off so either the Browns invest more money in him or trade him to a team that will. Outside of one season, it’s not like Edwards has set the NFL world ablaze with his play. So it behooves him to show that he’s committed to becoming a better player or else his next contract is going to be below market value for a supposed No. 1 receiver.

      NFL

      Lakers/Nuggets Preview

      May 19, 2009 /

      Kobe Bryant called his team “bipolar” and the Lakers have done nothing to disprove that diagnosis in these playoffs. They were pushed to a Game 7 by a Rockets team that had no business winning Game 4 or Game 6 without Yao Ming. When the Lakers are on their game, there aren’t too many teams in the league that can hang with them. When they are scatterbrained and unfocused, they lose. For Kobe and Co., it’s more of a question of chemistry and psychology than it is strategy, tactics or personnel. The Nuggets don’t have anyone that can stop (or even slow down) Kobe, so if the rest of the Lakers show up, they should win this series.

      How do the Nuggets pull off an upset? First, they need Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony to get hot. Melo’s matchup with Trevor Ariza is important — Anthony needs to dominate. They need to find a way to score even when the Lakers are focused defensively, and that means they need to feed Nene the ball inside. He averaged 16 points and seven boards against Dallas, and needs to continue that fine play in the Conference Finals. It’s important that he keep Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom engaged defensively.

      Off the Denver bench, J.R. Smith has been hot and he needs to stay hot. There isn’t anyone on the Laker bench that can stay with him, other than maybe Shannon Brown. If Sasha Vujacic tries his over-aggressive “humping” style defense, Smith is going to make short work of him. If Smith averages 18+ in this series, the Nuggets have a puncher’s chance of springing the upset. Conversely, the Denver bench really needs to make the Laker role players work for their points. Denver needs to force Kobe into taking 25 or 30 shots per game. If they do, it will mean that the triangle offense isn’t working very well.

      The Lakers won the season series, 3-1, and with home court advantage, it’s no surprise that they are a 2:5 favorite in the series. These Nuggets won’t lay down, and they are playing some great basketball right now. If L.A. phones it in, especially at home, Denver could pounce.

      NBA, NBA Finals

      DeAngelo Hall: Al Davis didn’t know Tom Cable

      May 19, 2009 /

      Current Redskin and former Raiders’ cornerback DeAngelo Hall appeared on a Washington D.C. based radio show recently and told an interesting story about Oakland owner Al Davis not knowing who Tom Cable was when he hired him.

      The funniest Al Davis story from his time in Oakland?

      “Probably the funniest thing, I was pretty close to Lane Kiffin…and after they fired Lane and were about to announce who the next coach was – I don’t know if you guys saw this in the media world, but I was actually sitting there live, me and a couple other players there in the back. And [Davis] went through this whole spiel of what happened…and said our next coach is Tom Cable, he’s going to be our interim coach. When everybody paused for Tom to come in, like a breakoff. [Davis] goes to the media guide and not even whispering says ‘hey, anyone got any information on this Tom Cable guy, I don’t know where he comes from.’ That’s just vintage Al Davis. Making a move, not really knowing why, no real justification for doing it. But just saying, ‘hey, I want this guy, let’s get him, I’ll figure everything else out later.’ And that’s just how Al Davis is.”

      His thoughts on being out of Oakland:

      “Oh, it’s a weight off my shoulders, just that whole situation out there and the way they did things. I’m not knocking it but it wasn’t what I was accustomed to, what I was used to, and I just started just not caring like a bunch of other guys, you know. It kind of rubs off on you. They say you go to Oakland as a player to die..You can definitely go there and have fun towards the end of your career, but to go there during the prime of your career, that’s just not a place you want to be. I felt the same when I was out of there – just a sigh of relief to get out of there.”

      For as zany as Al Davis is, I highly doubt he would hire a head coach not knowing who he was. I also highly doubt that Davis would say what Hall says he did in front of an entire media staff. (And loud enough for Hall to hear it in the back, but not loud enough for the media members to hear it in the front.) It just sounds like Davis didn’t know where Cable was from (i.e. where he was born, raised, bred, etc.), which isn’t as big of a deal as Hall making it sound like Davis hired Cable not knowing who he was.

      His second comment is vintage Hall and vintage Raiders. Hall isn’t saying anything that former Raiders haven’t said before about the situation in Oakland, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he says that he stopped caring. The Raiders handed him a $70 million contract and $24 million in guaranteed money and he couldn’t even make it half a season without throwing in the towel. I know the situation in Oakland lends to guys quitting, but it pisses you off when you hear about guys making millions of dollars to play football and they just go through the motions. (Especially in this economy.)

      NFL

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