Monday Morning Coffee

May 9, 2021

I could not be more impressed with the LA Kings. I definitely wrote these guys off after getting dismantled by the Oilers in games 2 and 3 of their playoff series. Then they find a way to pull it together, missing two of their best players, and shut down Edmonton last night to tie their best-of-seven series at 2-2. Jonathan Quick is still a gamer, who has been the difference in both LA wins, but the Kings are also a tough, prideful, and gritty group. They’ve got guys like Carl Grundstrom who are pushing pucks across the goal line with their faces, and dudes like Trevor Moore that belong on the third line, yet are holding their own against elite players like Connor McDavid. NHL teams have been getting dunked on balls in the face style, giving up 5-7 goals a game, but the Kings are still playing steady defense when it matters, no matter how much criticism they have received over the last few weeks. I’m honestly shocked the Kings have made it this far, couldn’t be prouder of the team, but have zero expectations that that they could actually win this series. Have crazier things happened? Well sure. It’s skill vs will, and last night will was king. They’ll need more of that to happen if they are planning on winning two of the next three games, with no home-ice advantage.

I’d like to issue an apology to every NBA team out there that is still in the playoffs.  The Lakers had a zoom meeting with a couple of coaching candidates and suddenly that’s all anybody wants to talk about, rather than the teams in the playoffs.  A freaking Zoom meeting!  I also realize that everybody wants to play fantasy basketball and trade Lebron, trade AD, and trade Russ, but everybody needs to back away from the trade machine.  Lebron and AD aren’t going anywhere.  Try as they might, even moving Russ won’t be easy.  The bigger story though is how terrifying it is that Phil Jackson is still advising the Lakers on coaching decisions, and that they still have their eyes on Doc Rivers, if he were to become available.  What a disaster if both of those things are true.  Doc is certainly making a good case to be the Laker coach though with his insistence on playing DeAndre Jordan, who would probably be picked last in a YMCA pick up game right now. The Lakers shouldn’t overthink this. Hire Darvin Ham and let’s move on. He’s a bright young NBA mind, who deserves a shot, and is the kind of “out-of-the-box” thinking they should have when hiring a coach.

Meanwhile, the Clippers quietly made a nice move by re-signing Robert Covington to a two-year deal.  Covington proved to be a useful role player for the Clips, and fortunately for the Clip Show, Covington didn’t have many options out there where teams had cap space to pay him.  The moral of this story is that it doesn’t matter if you’ve been passed around the NBA like a Kardashian, players like Covington can still be important on the right squad like the Clippers.  Every team needs wing depth these days, and the Clips just added more of it.

As for the NBA Playoffs, James Harden “turned the clock back” yesterday with a big performance. Dude is only 32 years old, so by “turn the clock back” we mean to whatever week he wasn’t at the strip club and then showed up to work. This dude was being compared to Kobe a few months ago. Now he’s more comparable to Marlon Brando. Amazingly enough, the Sixers still have a great chance to win the series, despite having Harden and Doc Rivers in their organization. Meanwhile, Chris Paul was hit with 4 fouls yesterday once he got to the parking lot for the game. I still have a hard time seeing the Mavs winning this series. The Warriors and Grizzlies series is cool until we have to obnoxiously hear about each player that “broke the code” and supposedly tried to injury another. That’s just a dumb story line. The Warriors look more experienced and poised though. I’m beginning to think the winner of the Celtics and Bucks will end up winning the NBA Championship though, and since Giannis now looks like the best player in the world, it looks like Milwaukee’s to lose.

On to baseball, where the Dodgers have dominated the last week by sweeping the Giants and Cubs. The Boys in Blue have the best record in baseball, and have been dominant on the mound, sporting the best starting era in baseball. It’s hard to complain about much, but believe it or not, they aren’t even clicking on all cylinders yet on offense. Max Muncy and Justin Turner have been doing some weird mechanical adjustments to their swings, and they look like little leaguers. They should get it together, but the rumors of Trea Turner’s departure in the off-season are more concerning. Turner has a home in Florida and reportedly has a strong desire to play closer to that home of his. Who wants to live in Florida though? 1,000% humidity and gators going for a swim in your pool every now and again? In any case, those same sources said he isn’t ruling out re-signing with the Dodgers, so that may be his way of telling Andrew Friedman that if you overpay him, he’ll stay.

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Meanwhile, the Angels are playing their best baseball in 7 years, and yet their fans are still finding a way to complain about them. The Halos have won 4 of their last 6 and are in 1st place in the AL West. Their pitching has looked sturdy, and their run differential is among the best in the AL. They also had a wild walk off- rally yesterday afternoon against the Nationals, capped by Anthony Rendon’s RBI single. Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon have had the batting averages or Mickey and Mini Mouse so far, yet the Halos are still looking like one of the best teams in the AL. Things are really looking up so far in Anaheim.

Finally, Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Dude was an 80-1 longshot. The owner actually found out he wasn’t going to be in the race until the night before. Of course when he was asked if he expected to win, he said of course he did. That was completely believable until you actually saw what dude was wearing on TV, like he was going for a Saturday at the park instead of the winners circle at the Derby.

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