June 3rd, 2013
The sky is falling Kings fans! Time to hit the panic button! The Kings were abused in games 1 and and 2 of their Western Conference Finals matchup with the Blackhawks, and find themselves trailing 2-0 in the series, with game 3 Tuesday night at Staples Center. The scary part about game 2, was that the Kings played much better than in game 1, yet they were beaten like Rodney King.
The Kings have won 14 straight at Staples Center, but does anybody really think they can win 4 of the next 5 games after what they saw this weekend? The Hawks are imposing their speedy and uptempo style of play on LA, which is a problem for a Kings team who’s success is dependent on playing a slower, grind-it-out game. Is it too late to get a refund on Robyn Regehr? He signs a 2 year extension with the Kings on Friday, and managed to score an own-goal in game 2 on Jonathan Quick.
Quick has often bounced back after poor outings, but the rest of the team needs to start playing their style of hockey Tuesday night. Otherwise, they will be dusting off their golf clubs later this week.
The Dodgers finally called up Yasiel Puig, but what the hell took so long? The team is going down faster than a Thai hooker, and this guy supposedly has a “Bo Jackson like” set of skills, according to Don Mattingly. Heck, why stop at Puig? With Andre Ethier playing like hell, the Dodgers should bring up Joc Peterson too and stick him in center field, while moving Puig to right. At least that will give LA two outfielders who can potentially earn their paychecks.
Then there’s the Angels, who continue to get dominated by the worst team in the American League, the Houston Astros. The Halos need to create a new promotional opportunity for the fans: every time Josh Hamilton strikes out, all beers go for 10 cents for the next half inning. This really isn’t all that unreasonable, considering the Angels fans will need plenty of booze to make it through the rest of this season.
Once again, Donald Sterling is unable to get out of his own way, and he is on the verge of screwing up his franchise again. Sterling opened his big mouth to TJ Simers of the LA Times, and essentially blamed the firing of Vinny Del Negro on Chris Paul. According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Paul is very angry with the Clippers for placing the blame on him. This is exactly the excuse that Paul needed all along to take his talents elsewhere, which is what I believe he will do.
I also don’t believe for even one second that the Clippers will land any of the big coaching names that are being talked about such as Jeff Van Gundy, Lionel Hollins, George Karl, or even Brian Shaw. None of these coaches are dumb enough to agree to become the Clippers coach without knowing whether or not Paul will be staying with the team, not to mention the fact Sterling is too cheap to pay any of them the kind of money they are looking for.
I’ve got the Heat over the Pacers tonight in game 7. Lebron isn’t going to let this team lose, and neither is NBA dictator, David Stern.