April 20th, 2015
The Clippers got what appeared to be the worst possible first round matchup in the San Antonio Spurs. However, last night, the Clipps made the Spurs look old geezers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen father time and Tim Duncan on the floor at the same time. Last night i saw it. Meanwhile, Blake Griffin looked like a beast with real post moves. If there’s one thing that’s always made me doubt the Clippers, other than the fact that they are “The Clippers”, it’s the fact that Blake was not a go to guy. He was every bit of that last night, and if he continues to play like that, the Clipps could be for real. That’s a very big if though. The Spurs have never won back to back titles in the Tim Duncan era, but they’ve also never had this much rest. That might not seem to matter though because Tony Parker looked pretty banged up going up against Chris Paul. I thought the Spurs were gonna win in 6, but I’m not feeling so great about my prediction at the moment. Isn’t this how kids look when their mother’s tell them to go to sleep hours ago, but they didn’t, and the mom comes back in the room?
As for the Lakers, mercifully their season is over. Unfortunately, the nightmare may not be though. Everyone seems to be assuming that the Lakers are going to have a pick in the top 5. Once the NBA rigs the draft lottery like they usually do, and allows a team like Oklahoma City to jump up into one of the top 3 picks, there’s a good chance the Lakers could actually fall out of the top 5 and lose their pick to Philadelphia. That means all LA would be left with would be a late first round pick. They may also strike out in free agency too, with all the big names like Gasol, Aldridge, and Love staying with their respective teams. That of course means another year of pulling your hair out while hoping the Lakers lose games to get another high draft pick. It’s a very fine line between getting excited, and pissing and moaning for another year. We’ll have to wait until May 19th to figure out which side of the line Laker fans end up on.
I had no idea that the Winnipeg Jets were such a charitable organization. The Jets completely gave away the first two games of their 1st round series vs the Ducks. Anaheim scored three times in the third period of game 1, and two more times in the third period of game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead. This series is all about experience, and the Jets lack thereof has been evident. More importantly for the Ducks, Freddy Anderson has looked pretty solid in goal, but if he comes up with a bad game, will Bruce Boudreau panic and start John Gibson instead? The Ducks have responded to the 3rd period challenges they’ve faced so far, but there will likely be much more adversity to come. We’ll see how they respond, but if they keep getting clutch play like this they’ll be ok…..
As for the LA Kings, who are sitting on their couches watching the playoffs, the offseason has begun in tumultuous fashion. Jarrett Stoll got arrested for suspicion of cocaine in Vegas on Friday. It’s time for the Kings to cut ties with the guys who are creating problems. Stoll isn’t productive anymore and is creating trouble, so shouldn’t be re-signed. Voynov is a wife beater, who was becoming more and more unproductive prior to his legal troubles. Mike Richards can’t play anymore either and should be bought out. The Kings need to move on from these clowns, and give some of their young prospects a chance. LA still has one of the best cores in the league with Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Quick. Dean Lombardi has some warm and fuzzy feelings about these guys because they’ve helped them win two Stanley Cups, but it’s time to re-load with guys that are more reliable on and off the ice. They say an addict can’t begin recovery until he hits rock bottom. That mean’s Stoll should sign with the Oilers this offseason, and then he’ll be well on his way.
Ok, I get it. You all think the Dodgers look like the 1927 New york Yankees and will never lose again. Stay in your shoes people. We’re only two weeks in. I realize that they’ve already beaten some good teams, and that they lead the league in home runs. However, Adrian Gonzales, Howie Kendrick, and Joc Pederson aren’t going to look like “Murderers Row” all season. When they come back to earth, I’m still curious to see how this team is going to manufacture runs, and if the bullpen is going to hold up. Those pesky Padres aren’t going to go away anytime soon either, although it’s good to see those hated San Francisco Giants in dead last. Speaking of the hated ones, the Boys in Blue will be traveling up north for a 3 game set with San Francisco starting Tuesday night.
As for the Angels, they are off to a very mediocre start, especially offensively. They’ve got 5 position players that are hitting under .215 thus far. One of those is Albert Pujols, who is hitting just .186, despite going deep yesterday. However, it was very good to see Garrett Richards back on the mound after suffering a knee injury last year. Richards wasn’t terrible in his first start, and things figure to get better for him as he gets more starts. It was only two seasons ago that the Angels had a very good roster on paper, like they do this year, yet lost a lot of games early in the season and couldn’t recover. The Angels need to be careful that they don’t let these early games slip away from them and get too far behind to make up ground. No need to panic yet, but I sure hope the Halos resolve the Josh Hamilton situation quickly to get rid of that distraction. Things are getting pretty awkward between the players and the front office. It’s about as comfortable as watching a sex scene with your parents.
On to the NFL where trade rumors are swirling around the Chargers. The Bolts and Tennessee Titans are rumored to be considering a blockbuster deal, with Philip Rivers going to the Titans for the #2 pick. The Chargers would then draft Marcus Mariotta as their quarterback of the future. The real issue here is what this rumor says about the Chargers potentially moving to LA. Rivers contract is up at the end of next season, and his preference is finish his career in San Diego, and not uproot his family to LA. The Chargers are well aware of this, and are considering the swap because they are seriously considering moving to LA. If the Chargers really know that they are going to be in LA and that they are going to lose Rivers for nothing after next year, this makes sense, but it’s still a gamble. Mariotta could be a good player, but it will take a while, and is by no means a can’t miss prospect. If the Chargers are smart, they’ll hang on to Rivers, renegotiate with him at the end of next season, and in the meantime, fix their problems on the offensive line and at running back. You’re never really that far away from competing in the NFL, but if the Bolts make this trade, they will be.
Game of Thrones went down again last night on HBO. Spoiler alert in case you haven’t seen episode 2 of the 5th season. This felt like the reunion episode, with so many characters coming back into the picture and re-uniting with so many others. Funny how Brienne found both Sansa and Arya at different points in the show, and is turned away by both of them. The irony of it is, both of these girls could easily use her help, but turn her away. It’s just a reminder of how idiotic these girls have become (especially Sansa). Brienne is a total badass and we saw that again when she took down that Vale Guard by herself. Now that Arya has found Jaqen, he’s probably going to train her into some sword fighting machine. Too bad all the people she wants to kill will probably all be dead by the time she’s actually ready to fight them. Jon Snow is becoming a character I feel less of an emotional attachment to. He gets offered the chance to become a legitimate Stark and turns it down, which symbolizes his lack of ambition. That will eventually get you killed in the Game of Thrones. Cersei’s power play against the small council feels like a desperate effort to regain power. That can’t last long. As for our favorite Mother of Dragons, killing Mossador was a bad idea, but that’s just another example of her striving for justice in a world that is unjust. However, everything feels better when we see one of the Dragons show up at the end of the episode. Looking forward to episode 3 next week!
