June 9, 2025

Chris Paul just let out a secret last week that really isn’t much of a secret. He prefers to live in LA with his family if he’s going to continue his career. Of course that leads everyone to ask the question if the Lakers or Clippers would sign him. Unfortunately, this isn’t 2011, and CP3 isn’t the best point guard in basketball. However, Paul can still be an effective player in the right situation. For the Lakers, it’s more of a question of who do you want: Gabe Vincent or Chris Paul? Let’s assume that Gabe Vincent is packaged in a trade for a center. That means you need a backup point guard. Even though he’s 40 years old, Paul was actually better and more reliable than Gabe Vincent. He also played 82 games. Vincent has knee issues that flare up here and there. If Chris Paul is coming for the minimum, you would absolutely do it. The Clippers on the other hand have more depth and options than the Lakers do, so I don’t see much of a need or place for CP3 on that team. The bottom line though is the Lakers real needs are at center and wing. If there is a place for CP3 then great, but he’s certainly not a need at the moment. But hey, at that point they might as well call Dwayne Wade and Carmelo, and see if they can get the Banana Boat crew together!

To baseball where the Dodgers have been scuffling. They salvaged a game yesterday in their series against the Cardinals thanks to the brilliance of Clayton Kershaw, but they’ve been looking rather average otherwise. The starting pitching hasn’t been there, largely due to injury, and they are far too dependent on their bullpen. You can add Tony Gonsolin to to the pile of injuries as well, and it’s especially concerning because he has elbow discomfort. I don’t see why the Dodgers don’t bring up Bobby Miller and let him start. He’s looked better of late. They are basically down to Yamamoto, May, and Kershaw as their only starters. After that it’s just patchwork bullpen guys and spot starters. The Boys in Blue are clinging to a one game lead in the NL West, and they have a huge week. They’ve got 3 with the Padres, followed by another 3 with the Giants. This is by far the toughest stretch of the season for the team, so it’s a bad time to not have much starting pitching available. Hope the Dodgers are planning on scoring a lot of runs this week.

Then there’s the Angels who aren’t quite good enough or bad enough. Coming into Sunday they were 5-5 in their last 10, 3.5 games out of the last wild card, and 5 games out of 1st in the AL West. The good news is that Mike Trout is playing, and the likes of Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hopppe are looking very solid. The bad news? There just isn’t enough talent around them to make a dent in the standings, especially in the bullpen and outfield. Perry Minasian went for another dumpster diving move yesterday, picking up LaMonte Wade Jr, who was designated for assignment by the Giants. They also aren’t bad enough right now to be in the hunt for a top draft pick, like they have this year. It’s simply not much to be excited about, other than some cheap ticket prices.

These NCAA NIL rules change every few months. It’s getting as hard to keep up with as news on the tariffs or whatever drama Trump and his admin are creating. The latest is that schools can now pay athletes directly. Up to $20 million. At the same time, NIL deals can still happen, but those deals can now happen with boosters who are working more closely with the Universities. UCLA and Martin Jarmond seem to think this will help the school be more competitive with recruitment. Perhaps, but this landscape is really forever changing. It seems to me that eventually we will end up with a players union and collective bargaining. When that happens, College Football and Basketball will essentially be professional sports.

Just as I told you would happen last week, the NBA Finals ratings are awful. And by awful, I mean the lowest rated in the last quarter century. Casual fans don’t like small markets. They didn’t even know Oklahoma City had a team, and they don’t know who SGA and Tyrese Haliburton are. That’s the problem with not having big markets in the NBA Finals, contrary to what Adam Silver and the owners will tell you. With that being said, real NBA fans have enjoyed the first two games, especially game 1 with Haliburton’s heroics. OKC laid the hammer down last night, but I’m sure the Pacers have to feel good getting a split on the road. I initially thought it would be OKC in 5 games, but we may in fact be in for a longer series.

Meanwhile, the Stanley Cup Final has been outstanding so far through the first two games. The Oilers can truly overwhelm people with their skill. They have done that at times so far in the first two games with the Panthers. Still, the Panthers are gritty team with a lot of depth. This once again feels like a coin flip of a series that is going 7 games. I’m still taking the Panthers by the slimmest of margins.

June 2, 2025

The Dodgers may have lost to the Yankees last night at the Ravine, but they still took 2 out of 3 against the Bronx Bombers over the weekend. Let’s start with the good. Max Muncy is back! Whatever company gave his those new glasses clearly has its new spokesman. The haters that wanted him DFA’d a few weeks ago are in shambles. The offense is clearly fine, and they did all that without Mookie Betts over the weekend. However, after Freddie got hurt in the shower earlier, and Mookie got hurt from a nightstand, should we next worry about Shohei getting injured cutting sashimi in the kitchen? At this point, this season is playing out a lot like the last one. The Dodgers are contending like we expected them to, and their pitching staff has all kinds of injuries like we expected. Losing Evan Phillips for the season really hurts because he was one of their best high leverage relievers. The bottom line is that come the deadline, this team will need some kind of pitching reinforcements. Stop the Paul Skenes pipe dream, because you have a better chance of winning the Power Ball than that happening. However, they need a Jack Flaherty type that can eat innings, and ideally another high leverage bullpen piece. By July we will know if Sasaki, Snell, and Glasnow have a realistic chance of returning. I have a feeling at least one of them wont. The pitching won’t be easy to get, but Andrew Friedman has proven to be resourceful when he needs to be.

The Angels went on this great run we were talking about last week, then they remembered they were the Angels. They’ve lost 7 of their last 10, and are now 6 games below .500. The offense has been brutal. Chris Taylor showed up, and looked like the same Chris Taylor the Dodgers have seen the last few years. At least Mike Trout is slowly looking better, but hopefully he can manage to stay healthy. Meanwhile, the Halos do have the #2 pick in the upcoming baseball amateur draft, and they’ve been scouting Seth Hernandez. He’s thought by most scouts to be an ace pitcher, and that’s exactly what they need. However, Angels fans should be concerned that the organizations lack of players development will wreck this guys career. It doesn’t matter how many promising young players they bring in. If they can’t fix the development program with their franchise, they will never be successful.

To the NBA, where Lebron is rumored to be opting into his contract for this coming season at $52 million. I don’t know why any of you are busy wasting time speculating that he could leave the Lakers because he won’t. However, what I don’t understand is why everyone is so adamant that Lebron needs to take a pay cut? He made 2nd team All-NBA last season as a 40 year old. So why would he earn less? Also, he brings the NBA so much money and the Lakers, so $52 million is completely justified. For those of you saying “well if he wants to win he will take a pay cut”, he isn’t going to take a pay cut so the Lakers can bring in Clint Capela. However, if they traded for say, Giannis, and then they needed to fill out the rest of their roster, then maybe he would consider taking a cut.

As for the Clippers, now that SGA and the Thunder are in the NBA Finals, everyone is roasting the Clips over their trade with Thunder back in 2019 that got them Paul George. I have to say though, at the time, nobody was thinking this was a bad trade for the Clips. You all sat here for a year and jerked off Steve Ballmer, Kawhi, PG, and the entire organization, and told me how elite their team was. Now that it didn’t work out the way you thought it would and led to a championship, you’re criticizing. Honestly, you can’t blame the Clips for what they did. They had a great team on paper, but they came up short in 2020, and Kawhi was never reliable health wise. Sometimes you take your shot and it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. However, credit to them for at least taking their shot.

Speaking of the NBA, the league owners say they wanted parity. That sounds great until you get an OKC vs Indiana in the finals, and your ratings are a disaster. Real NBA fans know this will be an entertaining series, even though I’ve got OKC winning in 5 games. However, the league does want casuals to tune in for ratings. Casuals don’t like small markets. They like big markets like LA, New York, Chicago, and they like super stars. SGA is a really great player, but don’t try to name him a super star. Same goes for Tyrese Haliburton. Whether you haters like it or not, the NBA needs the big markets, and their big stars in the finals.

I don’t know about you but I am going to be driving the bandwagon for the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup again for the 2nd year in a row over the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have the greatest player in the world in Connor McDavid, but I don’t just want the Panthers to win because the Oilers knocked out the Kings for the last 4 years in the 1st round. If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup it will make the Kings organization shrug their shoulders like that Elmo gif, and just say “oh well we tried”, rather than look themselves in the mirror and understand what’s fundamentally wrong with their playoff approach. That’s exactly why you should want the Florida Panthers to win this series.

I am completely distraught over the mere suggestion that USC may be looking to end their agreement with Notre Dame to play annually. Lincoln Riley should be fired if he decided to end this agreement. I fail to see what the issue is. USC is worried about it’s pathway to the College Football Playoff. However, you know that Notre Dame is going to be a preseason top 10-12 team in most years, so that can only help your chances if they win. USC says it’s worried about travel. You moved to the Big Ten! You knew travel was going to be an issue. What’s one more trip against a team that can help your strength of schedule? Also, for those of you who think USC doesn’t need Notre Dame, you’re actually completely delusional.

Finally, why hasn’t Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers yet? What a joke. This dude knows he wants to play football this year, but he is acting like a complete primadonaa, and like he’s still the Aaron Rodgers of 10 years ago. Look bro, if you want to take walks in the woods, snort weed off tree branches, and all that nonsense, go right ahead. However, football is serious business, and it looks like you’re much closer to being a content creator than an NFL Quarterback these days. Can you imagine him walking into that locker room after dragging his feet all these months, then acting like he’s going to be the leader of that team? This dude is pure drama.

May 27, 2025

The Dodgers are still hanging on to 1st place in the NL West, but are still working through their issues. They left a series win on the table over the weekend against the Mets, largely because of two problems: Tanner Scott and Michael Conforto. Scott blew a 3-run lead on Friday, and continues to have problems locating his pitches when he runs up counts. The Dodgers think he can make an adjustment to fix this, but does it have to be during closing time? The Dodgers have enough dudes that can handle this for the time being until he fixes things. He’s a $75 million reliever, so hopefully he can turn it around soon. Then there’s Conforto, who is a $17 million bust right now, who couldn’t hit water if a fell out of a boat. How much longer are the Dodgers going to give this guy at bats when they are well aware they have a stud on the bench in Hyesong Kim? This team feels rather unserious about repeating as champions until they make that move.

As for the Angels, it briefly looked like they had turned things around, climbing back to .500, then they lost 2 of 3 to the lowly Marlins, and last night to the Yankees. They also signed former Dodger Chris Taylor over the weekend, who is suddenly getting starts for them. That’s right, a guy hitting .185 who suddenly may be better than their other sub .200 hitters. I think more than anything, the last week is a reminder that the Angels might in fact have some decent young players like Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hoppe, but if they don’t add quality pieces to supplement them, they will continue to be a bad team.

We many times take the greatness of certain players for granted. I think we can say that about Lebron James, who earned second team all NBA last week. He now has 21 All-NBA appearances, in 22 season. Do you realize how crazy that is? This man has been no worse than a Top 15 player in the league for two decades, and you can argue that he is the GOAT. Honestly, if the team had been a little more consistent early on, he might have been been 1st team All-NBA. You’ve also gotta give credit to James Harden of the Clippers, who got 3rd team all-NBA, especially when we were all about to write him off as just a fat strip club guy. He’s still a strip club guy, but he can also still ball.

It’s going to happen. The NBA Finals are going to end up being OKC vs Indiana. You’re all going to say “oh great the NBA has parity and small markets can compete now!” Ok that’s all great until you see the dumpster fire that will be the ratings. At that point the league will be begging for it’s large markets back. With that being said, if you like basketball, you will like those team teams, and it could be a very interesting and entertaining matchup. The Knicks did a great job coming back from down 20 against yesterday against the Pacers, but I don’t think the way they play is sustainable. I also don’t know what the deal is with Anthony Edwards. In 2 of the 4 games against Oklahoma City, it’s like he can’t even get a shot off. I know he’s trying to make the right basketball play, but at some point he’s got to take matters into his own hands, because he can probably be that good.

Finally, The Last of Us on HBO is a phenomenal show, but really left us on quite a cliff hanger in the season finale. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see, so read no further if you plan on watching it later. Bottom line is this: Abby fired at somebody, and we don’t know if Elle died, somebody else, or nobody at all. We do know that Jessie died. Wow though. We have to wait until 2027 to find out? Ugh. After all that, I don’t think it’s Elle that’s going to die in this scenario. In fact, without entirely knowing what happened in the game, it makes perfect sense not to kill her and to kill both Tommy and Jessie. The point here is that Elle is becoming a very unlikable character who is very selfish. She showed that she can’t even do anything self-less like save that baby in the pregnant woman who was dying. Losing Tommy and Jessie would be punishment enough for her, and I think Abby knows that.

May 19, 2025

Contrary to what you might be hearing, the Lakers have tradeable pieces and assets to improve their squad, and put them into championship contention. If we have learned anything from these playoffs, the gap between all these teams in the West is very narrow. Even for the OKC Thunder, who are the best team, they aren’t head and shoulders better than everyone else. I’m not saying Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, and their draft capital can get them Giannis, but it can get them a starting center and more quality role players. One player who is attainable but risky, would be Joel Embiid. Bill Simmons actually suggested this. I mean his contract and health make him so risky, the Lakers might be able to get Embiid for draft capital and their expiring contracts, while holding onto Reaves. Would I do it? I would not. The Lakers training staff has a hard enough time keeping guys healthy that don’t have chronic injury problems. How would they keep Embiid healthy when they can’t even heal a paper cut in two weeks? If you’re going to have 3 players making max money like you would with Embiid, it’s tough to put enough quality players around them. That makes the situation even tougher when one of those three stars isn’t avaialble every night. It’s an interesting idea, but there’s far less risky trades that can be made with the assets the Lakers have, which can still vault them into contention.

I have always said that I’m not saying the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged, but the league doesn’t do a great job trying to convince us it isn’t rigged. I no longer think that. Now I just think the NBA draft lottery is in fact rigged. Yes I understand that statistical improbabilities happen all the time. However, this number of statistical improbabilities happening is nearly impossible. Collin Cowherd said people win the lottery every day. Yes Collin, but the same person doesn’t win the lottery every single year. That’s exactly what’s happening here. It can’t be just dumb luck that the Mavs traded Luka, and earned the #1 pick. Or the Cavs losing Lebron, then getting the #1 pick after that. Or the Pelicans trading Anthony Davis, and getting the #1 pick after that. Or the Pelicans trading Chris Paul, then getting the #1 pick after that. Or Derrick Rose going to his home town in Chicago when the Bulls got the #1 pick. Only 8 out of 41 lotteries has the worst team earned the #1 pick, and none since Adam Silver changed the lottery odds in 2018. It’s like the league is punishing the teams that tank, which I can understand, but the rigging is so obvious. Just because you have some Ernst & Young dude putting window dressing on it, that isn’t good enough to convince me it isn’t rigged.

Props to the NBC for hiring Michael Jordan as a special contributor to their broadcasts next year. I have no idea what his contributions will look like, or if it will be the players interviewing Michael Jordan instead. However, it will be fascinating to watch. I don’t even know if MJ watches the NBA on a day-to-day basis, and for all we know, this guy might be contributing to the broadcasts while smoking a cigar on the golf course, or while playing a few hands of black jack at the Casino in Vegas. Nevertheless, it will be fun!

To baseball, where the Dodgers had a rough weekend against the Angels. Coming into the game, you would have thought the Boys in Blue would have made the Halos look like a tee ball team. It was the other way around though, where suddenly the Angels looked like the ’27 Yankees. The Dodgers pitching just didn’t have it together. It was nice to see Clayton Kershaw back on the mound despite his struggled. I’m going to chalk that one up to rust and too much adrenaline. Since the Dodgers badly need starters right now, he’s worth riding for a while, and I expect that he will be better than he was the other night. It was really the right move for the Dodgers to DFA Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor to make room for Dalton Rushing and Hyesong Kim. Rushing and Kim are excellent young players they need to find time for. Barnes and Taylor both had a very nice run with the club, but their performance had dropped off the point where they had to make room for more promising young players. I don’t know what’s happened to Anthony Banda. He is a shell of what he was last year. Dave Roberts said the Dodgers bullpen usage is currently “unsustainable” but the Dodgers have been operating this year for years. I’ve never loved it, but why is it now a bigger problem than before? The Dodgers have more pitching injuries because they are the biggest believe in analytics in baseball. Throw as hard as you can for as long as you can. That will always lead to pitching injuries you have to manage. On the bright side it’s nice to see Max Muncy turning things around at the plate. Let’s hope this weekend was just an aberration for the Dodgers and nothing more than that.

As for the Angels, is anybody really convince they can build off what we saw over the weekend? We’ll see, but it would be typical Halos to get swept in Oakland. Once thing was clear though, their starting pitching really isn’t that bad. However, a sign of a really bad organization is one where the pitching is bad one year, and the lineup is good. Then the following year the pitching is good but the lineup is bad, and the bullpen, like we are seeing this year. It’s just a hodge podge of players the organization tries in every area, and nothing sticks. Even with the up and down offense, if the Angels could just fix their bullpen, they would probably be a lot more competitive. Let’s see if they can build any momentum after this weekend.

In case you have not heard, the UCLA Athletic Department is in a major financial crisis. This is caused by a settlement with the NCAA to is athletes, Olympic sports running about $34 million in the red during the most recent fiscal year, the lack of suite and premium-seat revenue at the Rose Bowl as part of UCLA’s lease agreement with the stadium, and a legacy licensing and sponsorship agreements with Associated Students UCLA that provides the lion’s share of revenue to the student organization. Their solution is to add a more premium ticket experience to the Rose Bowl with suites and tailgating, dynamic ticket pricing, and elevated experience at Pauley Pavilion. That’s all great, but the reality is if you spend the money, nobody will come unless you’re winning games. The LA sports market demands winning if you want people to show up. Even if you have a premium experience, people won’t show up if you’re a mediocre team. The product on the football field has been mediocre for a long time, and the product on the basketball court hasn’t been elite for a long time. Ultimately, UCLA football and basketball has portions of their season competing with the Lakers, Dodgers, Clippers, Rams, Chargers, USC sports, Kings, and Ducks. You have to win to get people to show up and be willing to pay for the experience. People certainly aren’t going to hike all the way to Pasadena to see some trash football. Until they fix on the field and court product, the rest is pointless because there is too much to do in SoCal.

It’s official: the Kings hired Ken Holland last week as their new GM. This would have been a move I would have been excited about 20 years ago. Not this time. It’s just another move that is not creative by Luc Robitaille. Sure Holland has won Stanley Cups before in Detroit, but that was in the pre-salary cap era. People will point to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton and him getting them to the finals, but he didn’t draft the two stars. Even a monkey could have drafted them. I unfortunately see Holland as someone who might be overly aggressive in free agency and trades, and unload all the young talent on this team for re-tread veterans. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong but I’m not optimistic.

May 12, 2025

The Lakers offseason is underway and trade rumors are already flying. Let’s start with the obvious. Luka isn’t going anywhere. Let hope he isn’t hitting every food truck in LA between now and training camp, but he’s probably going to sign an extension of some kind. I don’t care what kind of drama you think he’s creating, Lebron isn’t going anywhere either. That brings us to Austin Reaves. He’s a bargain at $14 million, but he’s going to be due a massive payday. He can easily get 3 times what he’s making now annually on the open market come next summer. He’s one of 11 players in the league that put up the numbers he did last season, and the other 10 are all-star players. Austin is a great third option, and he’s young enough to continue to improving and become an all-star. However, if the Lakers have an opportunity get a top 10 player in the league in return, they should consider trading him. That probably means only Giannis, because Joel Embiid is a major health concern. Acquiring a player like Giannis bring a whole host of other questions like is it worth it to send every asset you have for a player like that and will you have enough depth left over to compete, but the point is that’s really the only reason to trade Austin. Only the Lakers are a franchise that can imagine these types of scenarios, because historically, that’s what they’ve done. It’s exactly how they got Luka Doncic 3 months ago.

Meanwhile, you’ve gotta wonder how the Clippers are truly viewing their own team. The year went better than they thought, and Kawhi got back to where they hoped he would be. So did James Harden. The question is how much longer can Harden do this because he’s 36, and how much longer can Kawhi stay healthy because he hasn’t proven he can do it for long. The problem is they locked themselves into the Kawhi business for the next 2 years, after he signed an extension last year. They also don’t really own their own 1st round picks for two more years. So they have to try to compete with what they have now. Their best bet is to try and sign Harden to a 2-year extension if he opts out, and try to compete with what they have, while they have Kawhi under contract. It may not be ideal, but they proved they aren’t terrible if healthy. Besides, the strip club industry would be devastated if Harden left LA. Then in 2027, they can figure out how to move forward with their books clean and all their future draft capital in hand.

Who are you cheering for now that the Lakers and Clippers have been eliminated from the playoffs? To me the equation is simple, especially if you’re a Laker fan. You don’t want the Celtics, Nuggets, or Warriors to win the championship. Any other result is perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, despite being down 2-1 to the Knicks, Boston still looks like the best team, and the Nuggets aren’t out of it with OKC either. If the Nuggets and Celtics played in the finals, Laker fans would probably be hoping some kind of a meteor hit the arena to take out everyone.

Since we last spoke here on Jock Talk LA, a lot has actually happened with the LA Kings. They parted ways with Rob Blake, their GM of 8 years, which was a good thing. However, Luc Robitaille is still their President of Hockey Operations, and Jim Hiller is still their coach, which is very awkward. So how do you hire a new General Manager with a coach in place who proved he doesn’t know what he’s doing? “Hey we would love to have you as our GM, but you’ll be forced to have this completely useless figurehead as your coach!” Sounds like a great sales pitch. I’ve heard a lot of names, but the reality of it is, if the Kings name some internal replacement like Marc Bergevin then this is a stupid exercise. It might just be nothing more than Luc Robitaille trying to save his own butt. Only time will tell, but can’t say I’m optimistic.

The Dodgers split a 4 game series with Arizona over the weekend, and have reclaimed the best record in the Major Leagues for the time being. They still have a lot of issues to work through over the next few months, but they have time. The biggest part of these issues with their lineup is Max Muncy, and his performance at 3rd baseman, along with some inconsistencies in the outfield. Muncy has performed maybe a tad better in the last week or two, but still has a way to go before you can consider him a reliable option at the plate. Andy Pages has improved his hitting of late, but can you continue to trust him? We’ll see. The starting pitching though is a major health problem. They only have 4 healthy starters, and 14 pitchers on the IL. It’s nice to see Tony Gonsolin back and pitching well, and Clayton Kershaw is on the way, but it doesn’t seem like Blake Snell or Tyler Glasnow are coming back anytime soon. Dave Roberts said the bullpen usage is currently not sustainable. However, I don’t know if Andrew Friedman’s computer is aware of this.

The Angels lost 2 of 3 to the lowly Orioles over the weekend, and there’s nothing great to feel about. Mike Trout is still on the IL, the offense stinks, and the pitching is in shambles. To add insult to injury, Griffin Canning, who was struggling with the Angels, is off to a phenomenal start with the Mets. He’s 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA. I was told this guy just didn’t have it with the Halos, and could not be turned around. Well it turns out that if you have some decent player development, many of these guys can actually become good players. Imagine how great Reid Detmers could be if he had some decent player development around him. Arte Moreno and his lack of investment in these areas will continue to be a problem.

Finally, I don’t know what’s taking so long for the rams to trade for Jalen Ramsey. I know he has a big contract, but it should be done by now. The fact it is not makes me think it’s just not going to happen. That makes me think Les Snead has something else up his sleeve like maybe a
Tre’Davious White or another veteran cornerback. Stay tuned!

May 5, 2025

It was a very rough week last week for LA sports teams, starting with the Lakers. They were eliminated by the Timberwolves in 5 games, and there is much blame to go around. The most glaring issue is the Lakers lack of size. The size they had was completely ineffective when it was out there. There’s no way Jaxton Hayes is going to come back to this team after Redick gave up on him. However, the Lakers need to use their picks and expiring contracts to get themselves both a more athletic and effective big man, as well as some versatile wings who can defend. As for the stars, Luka needs to get in better shape, and at least show me some desire to play defense. Nobody is saying he has to be Scottie Pippen, but he needs to at least put an effort in and not get blown by on every other possession. Austin didn’t have a great series, but some of that may be injury. He’s still an excellent #3 option and I probably wouldn’t trade him, unless a transcendent level star was coming back in return. Then there’s Lebron, who had some elite moments in this series, but you have to remember, he played nearly the entire game in game 4, so he didn’t have much left in the tank after that. It wouldn’t matter though because he sprained his MCL, so he wouldn’t have been able to play after that. JJ Redick will learn from this that you can’t simply play 5 or 6 guys in the playoffs. You can’t just give up on dudes like Jaxton Hayes and Gabe Vincent. I expect that as a coach he will get better as well. In the meantime, he can think about that while he’s in Cancun.

The Lakers will be joined in Cancun by the Clippers, who got crushed in game 7 by the Nuggets. The Clips chose to let the Denver role players try and beat them, which wasn’t a bad strategy, but when that didn’t work they basically gave up. It’s really a shame that such a close series ended up with a blowout in the final game. James Harden had another terrible elimination game, which is tough to swallow after he played well for a good chunk of the series. He’s shooting 39% from the field in his last 13 elimination games and his teams have gone just 2-11 in that stretch. In a lot of ways the Clippers overachieved this season though. Kawhi slowly ramped up and started looking elite at the end. Harden played well for long stretches, and Ivica Zubac showed he can be one of the better starting big men in the league. The problem is all that went right, and they lost in the 1st round to a team that hired a new coach a couple of weeks ago. Would they be better with a full season of Kawhi? Maybe but who’s to say that his knees can hold up for a full season. That’s always the issue with the Clips.

To the ice, where the Kings and their fans have to be frustrated. They were eliminated by the Oilers for the 4th straight season. This nonsense has gone on for the length of one entire Presidential Term! This loss is a major indictment on the Kings coaching staff and their front office. The Kings had a 2-0 series lead, and should have gone back to LA with a 3-0 or at least 3-1 lead. They failed to realize they cannot play the same way against the Oilers that they play against everybody else. They sat back and didn’t attack, the Oilers gained more confidence, and ultimately prevailed by overwhelming the Kings with their skill. The series was littered with poor coaching decisions by Hiller, especially with his horrible coaches challenge in game 3, which completely changed the momentum of the series. Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence were very effective in this series, yet Clarke’s minutes were always reduced, and Spence was even taken out of the lineup one game. Meanwhile, Drew Doughty performed nowhere near the $11 million salary he is earning with the Kings. The real issue now is there is no accountability. Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille have been in their current roles for 8 years. Dean Lombardi won two Stanley Cups and made the conference finals, yet was fired after missing the playoffs two of the next 3 years. So why do Blake, Robitaille, and Hiller get a pass for not making it past the 1st round for 4 straight years? It’s a frustrating time for Kings fans.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Braves over the weekend in Atlanta, and they are still clinging to the best record in baseball by 1/2 game over the Padres. It’s a bummer to see Tommy Edman go on the injured list, but not surprising. When Dave Roberts says he expects Edman to be in the lineup tomorrow, you can expect Edman to be on the IL, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s great that Hye Seong Kim is now on the Big League roster, but why should he be sitting on the bench when Michael Conforto and Chris Taylor are hitting like little leaguers every day? The Dodgers have about 6 guys in their lineup that are dominating at the plate, and the other 3 you just never know what you are going to get from them. There’s till plenty of time to sort that out, but the real question among that group is if Max Muncy will figure it out. He’s still hitting only .186 on the season. Dustin May can be a really good pitcher, but he’s going to need some time to figure things out with his new “sweeper pitch” that will keep him healthy, but will take time to be effective. At least Tony Gonsolin is back on the mound, giving them another reliable starter for the time being.

I didn’t think it could get worse for the Halos since you last read MMC, but it did. They lost 5 of 6 games last week, and are just 2-8 in their last 10 games. The have been outscored by 64 runs, which is their worst mark through the first 33 games of a season in franchise history. Since April 11th, they’ve been outscored by 73 runs, which is the worst in the majors. When you’re run differential is that bad it’s simple: you can’t hit and you can’t pitch. Now Mike Trout is back on the IL with a bone bruise in his knee. The only good news for the Halos is that ticket prices are super cheap if you want to see a baseball game.

The Lakers are toast. After a miserable weekend in Minnesota, they are down 3-1 against the Wolves, heading back to LA for Game 5. Game 3 and 4 were there for the taking, but the Lakers kept shooting themselves in the foot. Turnovers, stupid fouls, and ultimately, getting dominated in the paint and on the boards. The lack of a big man in this series is really hurting them against the likes of Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. This is where the decision to keep Trey Jemision of the playoff roster is a killer. If the Lakers didn’t want to give up Dalton Knecht, then you would hope they would make him a useful playoff contributor. The Lakers played all 5 players the entire 2nd half, and it caught up with Lebron, who didn’t score in the 4th quarter. I think this team can win Game 5, but let’s be honest, winning two more games after that, even if one is at home will be too tall of a task for this group.

Then there’s the Clippers, who suffered a devastating loss to the Nuggets in Game 4. The Clips looked like they were on the verge of taking a commanding 3-1 lead. I still like their chances to win the series in 7 games, for two reasons. First, Kawhi has reminded everyone that he can still ball out, and be one of the best players in basketball. Then there’s James Harden, who has also reminded us that he still has some very good basketball left in him. The Nuggets might have the best player in The Joker, but Jamaal Murray and Michael Porter have shown me that they have their inconsistent moments. For that reason, I would ever so slightly favor the Clips in this one.

What a disastrous weekend for the Kings in Edmonton. Their best of seven series with the Oilers is now tied at 2-2. However, never has a 2-2 series felt like it was more 3-2. The Kings should be up 3-0, or at least 3-1 going back home, but they made some very foolish coaching decision all weekend. On Friday, it was very foolish to challenge that tying goal in the 3rd period, which resulted in them giving up the game-winning goal on a power-play, when they lost the challenge, about 20 seconds later. They also foolishly went into a 1-3-1 prevent defense to protect the lead instead of continuing to attack. They did the same thing last night in the 3rd period, and that cost them the lead. You can’t do that against a team as skilled as Edmonton. You have to keep the pressure on, and if they did, they would have kept scoring. Sure you can argue if Kevin Fiala doesn’t hit the goal post the Kings probably win that game, or if Quinton Byfield clears the puck in the last minute. However, this is about poor strategy. When you shorten your bench to 3 lines and 4 defenseman, you are going to be fatigued playing that way, and the Kings essentially neutralized their depth advantage against the Oilers. I don’t know if the Kings or their fans have more PTSD after that game. Let’s hope it’s just the fans, because I don’t know how the Kings can mentally overcome those two games and still win this series.

I am both surprised, but pleased at the Rams big move on the draft day a few nights ago. The Rams traded their 1st round pick in this years draft, and will have an extra 1st rounder next year. That will give them a great chance to draft a successor to Matthew Stafford in a year where there are a lot of great quarterback draft prospects. They really did approach this draft with house money though, because there weren’t any major needs. Josiah Stewart is a nice addition to an already loaded defensive line. Sean McVay clearly has a vision for a player like Terrance Ferguson in his offense, and Jarquez Hunter is like the second coming up Kyren Williams, so the Rams have even more offensive depth now too. It took the NFL’s help to finally get Chris Paul to a good LA team, but it finally happened. They didn’t draft a cornerback though, which is surprising, but that could mean Jalen Ramsey could be headed back to LA in a trade. That would be a great thing.

As for the Chargers, they did a nice job of getting Justin Herbert some weapons around him. Omarion Hampton gives them a nice running back, and Tre Harrison might finally give them someone who can catch the football. They also did a nice job adding to the defense on the line, and in their secondary. I could easily see the first 5 picks being starters. The Bolts obviously didn’t do a lot in free agency which wasn’t great, but the draft might have actually made up for that if these guys end up being as good as we think they will be. Going from Tom Telesco to Joe Hortiz is like going from a Honda Accord to a Maserati.

Obviously, the talk of the draft was Shadeur Sanders. However, I think the moral of the story here is when he didn’t work out for teams, he was viewed as not good enough to compensate for the headache and drama that he could bring to the table. Plus the worst part about all this for him is that he is now going to an absolutely horrible situation. A very crowded QB room in Cleveland, in a city with terrible weather, and in a division where he has to compete against 2 of the best quarterbacks in the league. He’s also now going to make less money next year than he would have by staying in college. At one point I thought a new Pope was going to get selected before Shadeur was drafted.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Pirates over the weekend, which was much needed to keep pace with the Giants in the NL West. Except the bad news is that they lost Tyler Glasnow to a shoulder injury, which at this point is basically a scheduled injury. The odds of this guy getting injured are about as good as the sun rising tomorrow. That means the Boys in Blue are down to three healthy and effective starting pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and Dustin May. Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw can’t get back soon enough. Separately, the Dodgers need to keep an eye on Max Muncy’s production, or lack therof, and Andy Pages’ defense. Pages is hitting, but he needs a GPS just to track down routine fly balls. Suddenly a Nolan Arenado trade might not be that unrealistic if Muncy doesn’t start hitting soon. In the meantime, the Dodgers should really consider bringing up Hyeseong Kim and Dalton Rushing if the bottom of the order can’t be more consistent.

Finally, the Angels have really regressed to being “The Angels” over the last two weeks. They have one guy in their lineup that is hitting over .250 and Tyler Anderson is the only reliable starting pitcher. I have no idea why Reid Detmers is in the bullpen. He’s been one of their best pitchers, and for a team that is desperate for starters, they really need him in their rotation. Mike “Mendoza” Trout still has some pop, but can’t seem to stop striking out. Did you know the Halos have a quality assurance coach? I’ve never felt less assured of quality I’m watching in my life. The Halos are already at the bottom of the AL West.

April 21, 2025

How concerned should we be as Laker fans after losing Game 1 against the T-Wolves at home? Maybe not ready to jump off the Santa Monica pier concerned, but concerned. The Timberwolves were shooting from 3 like they had a bunch of Reggie Millers and Ray Allen’s on their team. That might not be repeatable, but the Lakers still have to defend it better and not give up the corner 3 pointer, or else those opportunities are repeatable. What is going to be a problem though is the Wolves defense. They are an excellent defensive team, and a very physical one too. That proved to be a problem for Lebron and Austin, who were ineffective for long stretches in the first game. The Lakers had the intensity of a team that was just getting some cardio at LA Fitness on a Saturday morning pick up game. One thing I will say though if it makes us feel any better: Lebron and Luka have a history of losing game 1 of a series, and making adjustments later on to win that series. We can only hope that is the case here, but we’ll find out soon enough.

On a different Laker note, I can’t believe that Austin Reaves nor JJ Redick were finalists for Most Improved Player, and Coach of the Year, respectively. At minimum, there should be in the top 3 for those awards, and Redick should really be a strong contender to win it. There’s still enough people that vote on these things that just don’t like the Lakers. You may also not have noticed that Rob Pelinka received an extension and promotion from the Lakers last week. Say what you will him accepting a trade for Luka Doncic, which was presented to him, he still did a great job keeping the negotiations quiet. It’s pretty tough to be the Lakers President and GM in this day and age when most people hate your organization, are jealous of you because of your job, and are looking to screw you in every transaction just because of who you are and represent. Somehow, Rob Pelinka manages to work through all that on a daily basis, and acquire franchise changing players, while building championship contending teams. In case you forgot, he also won a championship as well. The extension is well deserved.

As for the Clippers, they really played very well in long stretches against the Nuggets in game 1, but some careless mistakes did them in and gave them a loss. They had 20 turnovers, including 4 critical ones in the 4th quarter. 11 of them were totally unforced. James Harden might actually be the Clips most consistent player this year, yet he got very careless at times with the ball, including critical moments of game 1. That seems extremely correctable for the Clippers, but they definitely don’t want to come back to LA down 0-2 in the series. Even Kawhi was sloppy with 7 turnovers, despite making a lot of clutch shots with his 22 points. I still like them in this series, but we’ll see if they can clean things up tonight.

Listen guys, of course I want the Kings to beat the Oilers in this best of seven series that starts tonight, but I can’t tell you I’m convinced they can finally do it this year. I know you’re all trying to convince yourself this is the year, but why? The Kings are still of the pack offensive team with a terrible power play. It’s actually even worse than last year statistically. Sure they are great defensively, and so is their goaltending, but the Oilers have always seemed to dismantle that part of their game annually. The Kings are going to need to get some out of this world performances from Quinton Byfield or Andre Kuzmenko to beat Edmonton. To me, the Kings personal is more or less the same, and so is the Oilers. In the last three years, the Oilers have simply met the moment at the critical points in the series, like when the Kings should have taken a 3-1 lead in the series two years ago when they blew a big lead in game 4. If the Kings are going to win the series, they have to come up big when it matters. The Oilers still have the two best players in the world, so it’s hard to see anything changing in that regard. Plus this is probably the year Canada finally wins the Cup because they are going to stick it to us because of the tariffs.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 against the Rangers, and really should be feeling pretty good about themselves all things considered. They are tied for the most wins in baseball, are just a 1/2 game back of the Padres for the best record in baseball. That’s pretty good considering that their offensive has had some ups and downs, and we haven’t seen the best from their starting pitching yet. In other words, this team has a much higher ceiling than they’ve shown, yet they are right there where we expect them to be. Speaking of pitching, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is looking like a sure fire Cy Young candidate right now. Every time he gets the ball, he’s lights out. He’s emerging as one of the best pitchers in baseball. Roki Sasaki is also improving every start he makes, which is a great sign. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are some injury question marks right now, but reinforcements are likely on the way with Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw soon after that. This team needs 6 healthy and effective starters at one time. Right now they only have 3. Still, lots to feel good about.

The Dodgers will likely be sending the Angels an Easter Basket, after they took 2 of 3 from the Giants over the weekend. The Halos are tough to figure out right now. They got trounced by the Astros and Rangers, before bouncing back against a Giants team that was playing very well. They are hovering around .500. It would really help them if Mike Trout could figure things out. His power numbers are there with 8 home runs, but he’s hitting just .184 right now and striking out more than Steve Urkel on Prom Night. The Halos are going to play the next 6 games against the struggling Pirates and Twins, which they have to take advantage of before life gets more difficult for them again.

Lots of news around UCLA Football and Basketball this past week! The Football team landed a big fish at quarterback in the transfer portal –
Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava led the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season, but will not be trying to improve a Bruins team that was just 5-7 in its first year in the Big Ten. How much better does he make them? You would hope that they would at least be a bowl eligible team with him being a signal caller for them. This is great for UCLA, but incredibly fortunate for them. Iamaleava wanted $4 million, but there was no market for him in the portal. He claimed to have wanted a better O-Line and better Wide Receivers, but you can’t possibly look at me with a straight face and tell me that UCLA is better in those areas than the Vols. Nevertheless, the Bruins are the beneficiaries of a situation that landed in their lap, but they will take it and have to be excited!

On the other hand though, they probably aren’t as excited with the basketball news that Aday Mara is leaving the program for Michigan. This is extremely disappointing. There’s a lot of vagueness around his departure though. Mara was showing some real promise as a big man for the Bruins, despite his single digit stats. Much of that had to do with limited playing time, which may be due to conditioning, but also could be due to the fact that him and Mick Cronin just didn’t see eye-to-eye, and didn’t think he was ready. At the end of the day he wanted to play more, but at the same time he admitted his conditioning wasn’t completely there. Cronin didn’t see him as ready to play more. It wasn’t a money issue. Is he really going to play more at Michigan? They play at a faster tempo, so if it’s really conditioning that’s not going to help him. I just don’t see this as a great fit for Mara, and UCLA was probably a better place for his development. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the real lack of fit was between him and Cronin. Stylistically, they just don’t mesh with each other, and that is the only real conclusion we can draw from his departure.

April 14, 2025

I told you this way back in October when the season started. The Lakers have a chance to be a top 3 seed in the West this year. Yes, I realize none of us ever thought Luka Doncic would be on the 2nd by February, but still, they finish as a top 3 seed. They could have still been a top 3 seed with AD, but the ceiling on this team is now much higher with Luka. As for the playoff seeding, nothing is an easy matchup, but playing the Timberwolves with home court is probably one of the best outcomes they could have had. They avoid the Warriors in round 1, while the Clippers and OKC aren’t in their bracket. ANT man is great, but Luka, Lebron, and Austin are going to be too tough for the Wolves to match up with, and usually this is where Rudy Gobert gets exposed when teams have great perimeter defenders. As Shannon Sharp would say, “Ant Man, Pac Man, Spider Man, it don’t matter! Lakers in 6!”

I couldn’t help watching that Clippers v Warriors game yesterday and think, “I can’t believe one of these teams will be in the play-in game!”. Both teams are very dangerous right now, but the Clips won a very impressive game. Both Kawhi and James Harden are looking very good right now, and this team looks almost as dangerous as they did in 2020. I dismissed the Clippers a couple of months ago, thinking Kawhi wasn’t going to return to form, but he has, and the support from Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell. The Denver Nuggets have the best player in the world, but they are also in complete turmoil after firing Mike Malone. The Clips are peaking right now, and should be able to win this series in six games, assuming that Kawhi doesn’t suddenly get injured, which feels like an annual tradition.

The Dodgers are suddenly scuffling, losing 2 out of 3 to the Cubs over the weekend, which was their 3rd straight series loss. I’m not so bothered by the losses to the Phillies and Cubs because they are good teams, but the losses to the Nationals feel sloppy. It also just feels extra bad for Dodger fans because the Padres and Giants are playing so well right now, and everybody likes to rub it in when the Boys in Blue take a loss. The bullpen looks a bit overused right now, but reinforcements are on the way. The offense is a little reliant on Tommy Edman, but I expect that to change in short order. This is all very fixable, just with the talent and law of averages.

As for the Angeles, just when you think they are ready to take early control of the division, the Astros come along and take 2 of 3 from them. I think where the Angels can feel good about themselves is that the power numbers are there from the lineup. Mike Trout, Jorge Soler, Kyle Paris, and Logan O’Hoppe are all hitting the long ball. It always come back to pitching with this team, and if they can hold it together. The Halos continue their Texas tour on Tuesday when they take on the Rangers. The Halos have never been great in the division the last few years, so if they want to take control of it, now is the time to do with these early season divisional matchups.

Congratulations to Rory McIlroy on winning the Masters yesterday! He certainly earned that Green Jacket, and completed a career grand slam after an 11-year wait for his fifth major. It really blows my mind that he went that long without winning a major, let alone 14 years without winning at Augusta. When he took the PGA by storm over a decade ago, at one point they thought this guy might be the next Tiger Woods. He wasn’t that, but he’s still a pretty damn good golfer.

Tonight is a huge game for the LA Kings. They take on the Oilers on the road at Edmonton. They only need 2 points to secure home ice advantage against the Oilers in the 1st round of the playoffs. This is going to be the 4th straight year the teams have played in the 1st round. The Oilers have won the previous 3, and have had home ice in each of those series. I explained recently how this is put up or shut up time for the Kings to get past the Oilers finally, but it’s also worth pointing out the Oilers lost top defenseman Mattie’s Ekholm to an injury that will knock him out for the playoffs, which is all the more reason the Kings have to win this series.

April 7, 2025

The Lakers have had their ups and downs the last couple of weeks, but they completely dismantled OKC yesterday on the road. It may have been their most impressive win of the season, and was a reminder that they can in fact play with anybody in the Association after trading for Luka Doncic. Getting to the #2 seed is probably out of reach right now, but if they can find a way to win 3 of the next 4 games, I think they can secure the #3 seed. Matchups are everything at this point, and that would put them in line to avoid OKC and Golden State until the conference finals, who are the two most dangerous teams right now. The Lakers would probably love to see the Grizzlies in the 1st round as well, and have Denver and the Clippers on the other side of the bracket. The irony is after the trade deadline, the Lakers might matchup way better with OKC and Denver, but worse with a team like Golden State, which was the complete opposite before the flurry of deals at the deadline. Austin Reaves has got to be the best #3 option in the NBA. He’s also in the running for Most Improved Player, but it’s unlikely he will actually win it.

As for the Clippers, they have been on quite a run in the last month, along with the Timberwolves. Ironically though, they might still end up in the Play-In Tournament. 3 of their last 4 games will be against teams doing everything they can to win: San Antonio, Houston, Sacramento, and Golden State. The Clippers rise has obviously coincided with Kawhi Leonard’s ability to suddenly play more minutes and even starting to play back-to-back games. The problem for the Clips is that they don’t own the tie breaker with Minnesota, but they do own it over Memphis. It’s truly a rubix cube to figure out where they might finish, but with another back-to-back coming this week, they will need Kawhi if the plan to stay out of the Play In Tournament.

That was a tough weekend series for the Dodgers against the Phillies. They lost 2 of 3, but lost both games by a combined 2 runs. Friday the Dodgers just couldn’t really get the bats going, and yesterday, Tyler Glasnow and the bullpen had their struggles in wet conditions. The Phillies are a great team, but just made a few more plays. Nevertheless, what you can feel good about is the fact Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to look elite, Roki Sasaki is slowly gaining more confidence as a pitcher, and this team does not quit. The bad news is that Blake Snell is going on the IL with shoulder inflammation, and like I told you, there was no way all these guys were going to stay healthy. Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw are still a few weeks away from coming back, so the Boys in Blue will have to patch it together with Matt Sauer, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrebleski. In any case, 9-2 to start the season is nothing to complain about.

As for the Angels, they are off to a surprising start at 6-3 after taking 2 of 3 from the Guardians. I don’t want to make too much out of it so far, but the most promising pieces of this are that Mike Trout is hitting with power, and Logan O’Hoppe looks legit too. I can’t say I’m terribly impressed with the pitching, which is in the bottom 3rd of the league, which is pretty much where I expected them to be in terms of ERA. The Angels get the Rays next on the road, so we’ll find out soon enough just how real this team is.

I can remember when I was 12 years old, I recorded on VHS the game where Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s all-time goal scoring record vs the Vancouver Canucks. Gretzky was my guy as a kid, and I thought there was no way that record would ever be broken. Well sure enough, it was broken yesterday by Alex Ovechkin. It took someone playing for 20 years and averaging 50 goals a season to do it. The man is amazing to be scoring 40 goals a season at almost 40 years old. Even more impressive is the fact he is doing this in a year where the Capitals are the best team in the Eastern Conference. Look, Gretzky is the Greatest NHL Player of All-Time, and is universally recognized as that. We probably don’t have hockey in Southern California like we do today without Gretzky. However, Ovi is an incredible player in his own right and for sure one of the all-time greats.

Speaking of hockey, the LA Kings quietly clinched a playoff spot over the weekend. More importantly though, with their win over Edmonton this weekend, the Kings have likely secured home ice advantage in the 1st round. I’m still very skeptical of them winning any matchup with the Oilers. However, having home ice advantage is a very good place to start to improve their chances. It doesn’t matter though if they are going to get smoked in 5 games or 6 games like the last couple of years. If for some reason the Kings don’t play the Oilers in round 1 and lose, that would be an even bigger indictment on Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille as executives. Who are we kidding though, they are going to play the Oilers again!

Those were two great Final Four Games we got over the weekend! Walter Clayton Jr is amazing. Does anybody realize this kid averaged just 7 points per game two years ago at Iona? Now he’s projected to be a lottery pick. He is an elite shot maker as a 6’2 guard, and he is the reason Florida defeated Auburn and is in the Championship game tonight. Meanwhile, you can love America, and you can love Duke, but you can’t love both. Cooper Flag is a hell of a player, but Houston is relentless, and deserve all the credit in the world for rallying in that game. Why should we be surprised though? White Lotus predicted this!

Speaking of White Lotus, we have to talk about the Season Finale, which went down last night. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if you plan on watching it later. Overall, I have to say I’m pretty disappointed with it compared to the last 2 seasons. The biggest issue is that the characters were not nearly as interesting as the first two seasons, when Tanya and Armon made the entire show. Their deaths were extremely dramatic and a big deal. In the case of this season, the deaths of Rick and Chelsea were not nearly that big of a deal, because there just wasn’t enough character development with them. Ok, I get it…..Chelsea foreshadowed that her fate was tied to Rick, which is exactly how it played out in the end. However, the way it went down was laughable. Rick finding out that Jim is his father? Come on really? Like he didn’t have time to tell him that when he had a gun pointed at him. Also stupid of Rick to just go back to the White Lotus like Jim was never going to find him. We never even saw the actual bodies floating the river that Belinda’s son saw at the beginning, but can only assume it was one of the guards. I’m sure this is not the last time Belinda and her son will see Gary, but the irony of her escape is that it’s actually worse than what Tanya did to her in season 1. All that lady friendship was ridiculous. It was still the worst girls trip ever, no matter how hard they tried to patch up their fake friendship in the end. It was also totally gutless of Mike White to not kill Lochlan. Tim should have suffered for all the stupid things he did, and accidentally killing Lochlan would have been the ultimate price to pay, but apparently it was just too much for even this show. Lochlan’s miraculous recovery? Come on!!! Hope next season is better.