Monday Morning Coffee

March 20, 2017

Let’s start with UCLA. The Bruins had a few very nervous moments in their 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament, but got by Kent State and Cincinnati. Lonzo Ball managed to cure cancer, and end the dispute between Israel and Palestine, as well as score 19 points last night. Well at least according to his father Lavar, he will eventually do all those things. Knowing Steve Alford though, the downfall will be on Friday against Kentucky, because the Sweet 16 is always where his road ends. I can’t see UCLA surviving that game, let alone a game after that against UNC, in what will basically be two hostile road games. Speaking of Steve Alford though, you know that UCLA fans are just chomping at the bit for him to take the $31 million that Indiana is offering him and hit the road. On the other hand, they are probably hoping he’ll take Dan Guerrero with him too, which won’t happen. As we’ve seen before, Guerrero is unlikely to hire a superior replacement, so don’t count on the 2nd coming of John Wooden coming to Westwood.

Meanwhile, despite losing yesterday to Baylor, the Trojans made a strong showing in the tournament. Frankly, had USC not been playing their third game in five days, they might have actually had the energy and the mental toughness to finish that game. However, the committee screwed them by forcing them to play in the First Four game on Wednesday night. That goaltending call on Chimezie Metu was nearly a spectacular play that might have been the play that gave the Trojans the win. However, USC is going to go home and take shots of whiskey at the Nine-O when they come to grips with the fact that they would have faced an East Regional without the top two seeds, Duke and Villanova. That’s right….Andy Enfield would have had a real chance to send the Trojans to the Final Four.

Elsewhere around March Madness, you’re bracket is really jacked up now. But think of it this way, you took one for America. Duke is out, so the country wins. If anybody actually watched college basketball, which we all pretend to, we would have known that Villanova was going to get exposed in the 1st weekend. UNC also got a late clutch performance by the referees to advance to the round of 16. I thought Vanderbilt kids were supposed to be smart? Apparently not after intentionally fouling in a tie-game. Louisville also went down faster than a call girl on a high school recruiting trip. After the 1st weekend, there are 164 perfect ESPN brackets remaining. Lavar Ball claims he owns all of them.

Why are the Lakers screwing with D’Angelo Russell’s confidence so much? Just let the kid play like he did last night! That was the perfect tanking game. Russell exploded for a career-high against elite competition, all five young Laker starters showed some nice development, and the Lakers lost in competitive fashion. For all the criticism that Byron Scott got for benching Russell last year, Luke Walton is actually playing him fewer minutes on average than last season. I thought Luke was supposed to be promoting development? I also don’t understand why Russell and Clarkson haven’t spent more time playing together in the backcourt. If they are the backcourt of the future, then they should be developed together. At least Magic and Rob Pelinka are taking their tanking efforts very seriously.

Speaking of tanking, had it not been for Saturday’s win, you might think the Clippers are tanking with the way they’ve been playing of late. When I watch the Clips play since the All-Star break when they’ve been healthy, it’s like they’ve aged overnight. Teams like the Warriors, Rockets, and even the Nuggets and Jazz suddenly seem more athletic with better shooting. If that’s not bad enough, JJ Redick makes it sound like the team is questioning the defensive game plan on a nightly basis. In a lot of ways though, it seems like the Clippers curse is with their bench. Every year it seems like Doc has found some useful pieces on the bench, but when it really counts, they don’t play well. That’s what’s happening again. There’s not much more time for them to get it right with just a couple of weeks left in the regular season before playoff time.

So you thought it was last night the LA Kings playoff hopes were toast? It actually happened a week ago when they lost to St. Louis at home. That was the official nail in the coffin. Last night just exposed the Kings for what their team has become. An aging group that is playing a style that is suddenly outdated. The Kings players may not be old in age, but they’ve played enough hockey to be old. They need to get younger and faster, and find a way to unload some of the terrible contracts they gave the Dustin Browns and Marian Gaboriks of the world. It’s just a matter of whether or not it will be Dean Lombardi that’s going to do it or another General Manager taking his place.

I think the Angels have a permanent curse in left field. Now it’s Cameron Maybin’s turn. He was in an 0-20 slump before finally breaking out of it on Saturday. Then there’s Danny “Mendoza line” Epsinosa, who’s career batting average is so low, we might not even realize when he’s actually in a slump. We haven’t even started the season yet and the Angels warning flags are up.

The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC, and the season is building toward a big last two episodes. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case. I thought for sure we we’re going to see Sasha and/or Rosita die last night, but I guess we will have to wait at least one more episode. In other words, nothing happened. I guess Eugene didn’t want to leave without his pickles. The Saviors traded a box of aspirin for a real doctor. Now that sounds like real American healthcare. Simon probably just gave Gregory directions to a toilet so he could find somebody who gives a crap. When Darryl cries, we all cry. I’m looking forward to an all-out war in the last two episodes of the season. At least I hope so because the last 13 episodes have been pretty slow.

Finally, what a horrible ending to ABC’s The Bachelor last Monday night. The finale was so not Raven. It’s like Nick picked Vanessa because he knew he didn’t want either woman that was left, and wanted the relationship to fail. Perhaps if Raven just hit him with a stiletto, as she did with her ex, he might have actually had some sense beat into him. We kept hearing about “the most shocking thing in Bachelor history.” I thought this would be that somebody actually said “yes” to a Nick proposal. Anybody that thinks Nick and Vanessa are going to get married need to be hit with a stiletto. Think of it this way. Nick gives every man in the world hope that if you are boring, and get rejected enough times, you too can marry a girl that completely hates you.

Lonzo Ball & The Bruins Blitz Cincinnati

Leave a reply

March 19, 2017

Lonzo Ball showed his brilliance again on Sunday night. It also came just in time, as the Bruins finally pulled away from Cincinnati in the 2nd half to defeat them 79-67 in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament in Sacramento.

Ball scored 18 points, while dishing out 9 assists, and grabbing 7 boards to spark UCLA’s offense after a difficult 1st half. TJ Leaf scored 11 points and had 7 rebounds as well, as the Bruins scored 49 points in the 2nd half. That completely changed a game in which UCLA trailed 33-30 at halftime.

“I don’t know of a more fun basketball team to watch when we’re clicking,” UCLA Coach Steve Alford said. Their offense got going, but it was really their defense that sparked the team after halftime. “The key to that was going to be defensive stops,” Alford said, “and we came out and got three stops in a row.”

The Bruins opened the 2nd half with a 10-3 run, which included dunks from Leaf and Thomas Welsh. That gave them a 40-36 lead. Shortly after that, UCLA would find their stroke from behind the arc, making three straight 3-pointers. Two of them were from Ball, and the other from Bryce Alford. That stretched the lead to 55-47 with 12:25 left.

The Bruins never looked back from there. The only real question mark hanging over the team was the future of coach Steve Alford, who has reportedly been offered a 7-year $31 million contract to coach Indiana. He once again, deflected the question when asked about it after the game.

“I’ve already addressed that matter and I’m not going to address it anymore,” Alford said. “This is about our team and what these guys are doing.”

The Bruins will now travel to Memphis to take on Kentucky on Friday in the Sweet 16. It’s also UCLA’s 3rd trip to the Sweet 16 in the last 4 years under Alford.

UCLA defeated Kentucky back in December 97-92 in Lexington. “It’s a very, very good basketball team,” Steve Alford said “I think they’re better now in March than they were when we played them in December and I think we’re better than what we were in December as well. Makes for a great matchup.”

This Comeback Falls Short For USC

Leave a reply

March 19, 2017

The Trojans NCAA tournament run came to an end on Sunday night against Baylor, after losing 82-78 in the round of 32.

Johnathan Motley had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and King McClure added 17, as the Bears advanced to the Sweet 16 to play South Carolina.

Chimezie Metu scored 28 points and Bennie Boatwright had 16, as the Trojans bid to make their first Sweet 16 since 2007 fell short.

A four-point play from Manu Lecompte put Baylor up 69-67, and was his first points of the game. He then scored 8 points in 45 seconds to give the Bears a 73-67 lead. Lecompte would finish the game with 12 points, and all of them coming in the final five minutes.

Metu summed it up nicely. “Lecomte,” forward Chimezie Metu said. “Or whatever his name is.” “He kind of took over in the last couple minutes,”

USC had won 13 games after trailing by double figures. They nearly did it again. The Trojans scored 10 points unanswered in a run that started the end of the first half and the start of the second. 1:16 into the second half, the score was tied.

“This was a game that was there for the taking if we would have executed down the stretch,” USC Coach Andy Enfield said.

“I actually joked with Andy,” Baylor Coach Scott Drew said. “I said, ‘Do you want to be up at halftime?’ He said, ‘No, no, we like being down.’”

However, it was Lecomte who made the big plays in the final five minutes to help Baylor avoid the upset.

USC can’t be too disappointed with how their season turned out despite the loss. The Trojans lost quite a bit of talent after last season, yet Enfield led the team to an unexpected run in the NCAA tournament.

Russell Goes Off But Lakers Lose To Cavs

Leave a reply

March 19, 2017

D’Angelo Russell scored a career-high 40 points, but he was out done by Kyrie Irving’s 46 points, as the Cavaliers beat the Lakers 125-120.

The Cavaliers rested Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love on Saturday against the Clippers. It turns out they needed all that rest to beat the Lakers on Sunday.

Irving led all scorers with 46 points. LeBron James had 34 with seven assists and six rebounds, and Kevin Love scored 21 points for Cleveland.

The Lakers actually led by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter before Cleveland came back. After a Lebron James layup with just over five minutes left, the score was tied at 104-104. The Cavs took control from there.

Jordan Clarkson added 19 points for the Lakers, and rookie Brandon Ingram had 18. All five Lakers starters scored in double figures for the first time since Christmas.

Russell also had six assists, two steals and only one turnover. He became the youngest player since James did it in 2004 to score 40 points, with six assists and one or no turnovers. He also got some praise from his competition when it was over.

“He’s a special guy,” Lebron James said. “He’s a special player. Russell was extremely hot tonight, and those guys fed off him.”

“He’s a great young player,” Irving said. “… I understand what he means to the Lakers. It’s always good to have some great competition out there.”

The Lakers have been experimenting with different lineups the last week to better evaluate their young talent. Russell had been coming off the bench for a few games before returning to the starting lineup on Sunday. There’s also been some talk about whether or not he’s really a shooting guard or a point guard.

“I’m a basketball player,” he said, “not a point guard or a shooting guard.” Russell looked like a very promising one on Sunday.

The Lakers return to action on Tuesday night against the Clippers. It will be a designated home game for the Clippers.

Kings Get Trounced By Flames

Leave a reply

March 19, 2017

The Kings continued to fall further out of the playoffs on Sunday night in Calgary, this time getting beaten by the Flames 5-2.

This night belonged to the Flames Johnny Gaudreau, who had a goal and two assists for Calgary. “Johnny Hockey” set up goals by Sean Monahan and Michael Stone to give the Flames an early lead, then scored the second of two Calgary goals 50 seconds apart early in the second period.

The Flames also got goals from Mark Giordano and Kris Versteeg, and Brian Elliott made 19 saves. Anze Kopitar and Nic Dowd scored the Kings’ goals, but it was a rough night from the start.

Jonathan Quick started for LA, but was pulled after giving up two goals on seven shots. Ben Bishop relieved him, and gave up 2 more goals on 16 shots.

LA’s usually stingy defense was nowhere to be found on Sunday. The speed of the Flames created great scoring opportunities, and the Kings were never able to impose their heavy-hitting style of play.

The Kings are now six points behind Nashville for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Calgary on the other hand, has won 12 of their last 13 games, and moved into 3rd place in the Pacific Division.

With just 11 games left, the Kings will now travel to Edmonton to take on the Oilers on Monday night.

Clippers Beat Shorthanded Cavs

Leave a reply

March 18, 2017

The Clippers will take wins any way they can get them right now, and they got one Saturday night against a shorthanded Cavaliers team, 108-70.

The Cavaliers played without Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, who all sat out to rest. The NBA certainly will not be happy about that given that the game was on national television.

Blake Griffin scored 23 points, and JJ Redick added 16, which helped LA snap a 3-game losing skid. It was Griffin, along with DeAndre Jordan, who sat on Thursday night’s road game against Denver, which the Clippers lost.

The large margin of victory also allowed the Clippers to rest Chris Paul, Griffin, and Jordan for the entire 4th quarter.

The Cavaliers were led by Richard Jefferson’s 12 points. However, they shot just 38% from the field, while the Clippers shot 51%. LA also hammered Cleveland on the boards, outrebounding them 54-40.

The win allowed the Clippers to maintain their hold on 5th place in the Western Conference. Not only are the Clippers trying to move up, but they are trying to hold off the Thunder and the Grizzlies, who are right behind them in the standings.

The Clippers will be back in action on Monday night at Staples Center against the Knicks.

Ducks Skate By Sharks

Leave a reply

March 18th, 2017

Patrick Eaves and Jakob Silfverberg scored goals and the Anaheim Ducks took down San Jose to tighten the Pacific Division race with a 2-1 victory over the Sharks on Saturday night.

Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves, which got him his 5th win in his last 6 starts. Logan Couture scored the lone goal for the Sharks, and Martin Jones made 25 saves.

The Ducks are just four points behind San Jose in the Pacific Division after picking up the win. Ryan Getzlaf hasn’t given up hope on catching them. “This is the team we’re chasing,” he said. “You don’t ever want to let them know that we’ve given up. I’m sure they viewed it as a way to put us away for the year. For our group, it’s nice to come out and respond after a tough overtime loss last night.”

Eaves goal came just 39 seconds into the game. He took advantage of a coverage breakdown by the Sharks in front of their own net. Couture would tie it up on a power play goal with 47 seconds left in the period.

Silfverberg on a breakaway about 6:30 minutes into the second period, and that would be the game winner. San Jose would have their chances in the 3rd, but Bernier continued to make the important saves.

This is the 8th straight game between the Sharks and Ducks that was decided by one goal. Anaheim has won 6 of those 8 games.

The Ducks return to action on Wednesday against the Oilers at the Honda Center.

Lakers Put Up A Fight But Lose To Bucks

Leave a reply

March 17th, 2017

The Lakers and Bucks engaged in a typical NBA style fight which led to a series of ejections in Milwaukee’s 107-103 victory over LA at Staples Center on Friday.

Khris Middleton scored 14 of his 30 points in the 4th quarter, to help get the Bucks their 8th win in the last 9 games. However, the story of the game was ejections.

Malcolm Brogdon fouled Nick Young hard with 36 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, which prompted Young to shove him back. Greg Monroe shoved young, and then D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram came to Young’s defense, shoving back, and so did a Bucks security guard.

Monroe, Russell, and Young were ejected from the game. However, Luke Walton was pleased that the Lakers were standing up for one another. “D’Angelo only responded after Monroe had grabbed Nick by the neck and thrown him,” Walton said. “So if D’Angelo didn’t push him, I would have been (mad) at D’Angelo. He did the right thing. So for the NBA to say that the two of them did the same thing and just canceled each other out is absolute crap to me.”

Young scored 16 points and Russell had 14 before their ejections, but the Bucks appeared to be cruising to an easy win before the prolonged scuffle. They had opened up an 18-point lead while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 12 points in the first 6:15 of the third. “The Greek Freak” finished with 26 points before fouling out.

The Lakers were led by Jordan Clarkson’s 21 points. They maintained their 2 game “advantage” over Phoenix for the 2nd worst record in the league.

Milwaukee leads eighth-place Miami (34-35) by a half-game, and the Bucks opened up a 1 1/2-game lead over the ninth-place Detroit Pistons (33-36), who lost to Toronto.

The Lakers return to action on Sunday against the Cavs at Staples Center.

Bruins Get A Scare But Beat Kent St.

Leave a reply

March 17, 2017

The Bruins collectively held their breath on Friday night in the 1st half when Lonzo Ball fell to the floor holding his hip. Ball was undercut after receiving a lob pass just before halftime. However, after slowly getting up, he stayed in the game. Ball went on to finish the game with 15 points and the Bruins took care of Kent State 97-80 to advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

TJ Leaf scored 23 points and Thomas Welsh added 16, as UCLA pulled away late to get the win in Sacramento. The Bruins jumped out to a 14 point lead in the opening minutes, but Kent State would battle their way back against a UCLA team that didn’t seem very interested in playing defense again.

Despite a 16-2 run in the 1st half, Kent State was only down 47-39 at the half. The Golden Flashes would get as close as four points in the 2nd half after a 3-pointer by Jalen Avery. Jaylin Walker led Kent State with 23 points and Jimmy Hall Jr scored 20 for the Golden Flashes.

However, midway through the 2nd half, UCLA would put the lead back to double-digits. “We kinda let up,” Bruins coach Steve Alford said. “Our shot selection was worse. We didn’t defend. There is a poise to what you want to do offensively, but you’ve got to have poise defensively too. I didn’t think we did that as well in the first half as a team.”

Had Ball been seriously hurt, the Bruins hope for NCAA tournament run would have been crushed. Fortunately, he avoided major injury. “I’m fine,” said Ball. “Finished the game, got up. I’m good.”

UCLA finally found its shooting stroke after last week’s struggles in the conference tournament. The Bruins shot 62% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line.

The Bruins will need to keep that shooting stroke going against a gritty Cincinnati team on Sunday in the round of 32.

Trojans Rally Again To Knock Off SMU

Leave a reply

May 17, 2017

The Trojans pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the NCAA tournament on Friday, defeating #11 SMU 66-65 in Tulsa.

Elijah Stewart buried a 3-pointer with 36 seconds left, and the Mustang’s Shake Milton missed a floater at the buzzer, sending USC into the round of 32.

Stewart scored 22 points in the game, while Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu scored 14 apiece. Semi Ojeleye had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Sterling Brown had 17 points for SMU, which had won 16 straight coming into the game.

For the 2nd straight game USC rallied from a double digit deficit. Throughout the entire game, they had the lead for just over a minute. SMU built a lead as big as 12 points, and used a 14-3 run in the 1st half to take a 38-30 lead at halftime. After the Trojans got a pair of 3-pointers from Boatwright and Stewart, the game was tied four minutes into the 2nd half. However, SMU went on a 10-1 run, and looked like they would put the game out of reach.

Over the next 6 minutes, the Trojans would fight their way back, tying the game on a Stewart dunk with 7:33 left. It wasn’t until Boatwright’s 3-pointer with just over two minutes left that gave USC their first lead of the game.

Even after Stewart’s big 3-pointer in the final minute, the Mustangs had their chance. SMU’s Ben Moore drew a foul with 12 seconds left, and his team down by 1. However, he missed the first half of a one-and-one foul shot. Chimezie Metu was fouled after that, but missed his free throw as well, setting the stage for Milton’s final opportunity. Milton’s shot bounced off the rim and the Trojans prevailed.

USC now moves on to take on the #3 seed Baylor Bears on Sunday.