April 25, 2022
We’re halfway through the 1st round of the NBA playoffs, but the only thing people can talk about is the Lakers. I guess they must be pretty important to the ratings or something. Fans have kind of lost their mind though. I just saw a petition to get Russell Westbrook off the team. I want him gone and all, but how childish though. I signed it from two different devices. It’s funny how a few weeks ago everybody loved the idea of Quinn Snyder or Nick Nurse, but now after watching the 1st round, nobody wants to touch them. It’s also funny how each and every moment that goes by, you might actually realize how good of a coach Frank Vogel was. There’s a lot of work to do to clean up this mess, and I’m curious to see if the Lakers still ask stupid things of their coaching candidates: to pick their staff, and to take less than a 5 year deal. This mess is fixable, but it’s simply a matter of whether or not the Lakers will learn from their mistakes of the past.
I’ve seen about 3 episodes of the series “Winning Time” on HBO. It’s really good, and I plan to continue watching it. However, I can understand why Jerry West is upset. He’s portrayed like a complete lunatic that hates his job, and hates people. Magic is probably also pissed too because Cookie has to be raising an eyebrow knowing that they are portraying him having sex with every woman in LA in the 80’s. That’s not hard to believe though, and neither is how they portrayed Kareem, since he shunned the media in the 80’s. Unfortunately, as upset as West is, he, nor anybody else can do anything about it. It’s a TV series that is based on some true events, but obviously over-dramatized. West hasn’t been this embarrassed since he started telling people he works for the Clippers. Sorry Jerry, I know you want an apology and a retraction, but this is showbiz, and that’s not how it works in this case.
As for the NBA Playoffs, the Nets are on the verge of getting swept by the Celtics. It’s all fun and games to root for KD and Kyrie to lose because they are annoying, but then Laker fans realize the Celtics are in the finals, and they might have to jump off their roof. Kevin Durant must have given up shooting for Lent. He only had 11 shot attempts in game 3 against Boston. You know, KD left a championship dynasty with the Warriors where he was the best player, just because some 10-year olds on Twitter think his legacy isn’t worth crap and he had too much help. Now that he has less help, he’s not elevating his game in the playoffs. This is what he wanted, yet he’s not answering the bell. Yes, it’s completely unfair how we judge these NBA stars, but if KD is going to feed into the narrative, then he needs to step it up. Don’t ever try to tell me that KD is the best player in the world right now, because as great as he is, he’s not that. Also, I’m not saying the 76ers are going to blow a 3-0 lead in their 1st round series against the Raptors, but eventually someone will come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a series in the NBA. Any team coached by Doc Rivers stands a good chance of being the team to lose that series.
To baseball, where the Dodgers are rolling, taking 2 of 3 from the Padres over the weekend, and maintaining 1st place in the NL West. Cody Bellinger turns into Barry Bonds every time Clayton Kershaw pitches. Kershaw continues to look great, and Belly is looking a lot closer to the MVP we saw a few years ago. I’m not terribly worried about Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, who have been off to slow stars. Of course everybody wants to kill Mookie because of his monstrous contract, but the baseball season is 162 games, and we’re only 3 weeks in. If those two guys are hitting less than .200 at the all-star break it’s a conversation, but they certainly looked pretty good over the weekend, and they haven’t looked bad in their at bats. This is also what a “road game” looks like for the Dodgers in San Diego.
As for the Angeles, they had a rather disappointing weekend against the Orioles. They lost 2 of 3 games in a series they really needed to dominate. Ironically, it isn’t the starting pitching that has been the problem. It’s the bullpen and the bizarre managing decisions by Joe Maddon. Maddon is pulling his pitchers after 5 innings of domination, and 70 pitches. Then his $93 million bullpen is giving away games like they are some 501C3 charity. The best news for the Angels is really that nobody in their division, or even the entire AL looks that great so far. With four games coming up against the Guardians at home, the Halos really need to bank some wins in this part of the soft schedule.
Finally, a whole week went by and it was weird, the Rams didn’t actually acquire another superstar player. However, the got great news that 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel has requested a trade. That means every team in the division on paper is getting much worse, while the Rams have only gotten better. You can guarantee that Les Snead is calling the 49ers and at least trying to find out what it will take to get Samuel in a Rams uniform. However, John Lynch would rather get in the octagon with Aaron Donald before trading Samuel to his division rival.
