12 Down, 4 To Go

Now, I already did a column last month on why I think the Kings will win the Stanley Cup. But, I feel the need to devote another column to the Kings. Plus, I feel I'm slacking on the hockey coverage. Since I last blogged about the Kings (right after they beat Vancouver), the Kings have continued on an amazing run, going 8-1 the last two series against St. Louis and Phoenix. The points I wrote about in the first article are still valid today, one month later. The Kings' goalie, Jonathan Quick, is playing maybe the best out of any goalie in the NHL, Dustin Brown has continued to come up with big goals and big plays for the Kings, and could win the Smythe Trophy should the Kings win it all. Anze Kopitar has been another player to come up big this postseason. Also, Drew Doughty and Brad Richards have made big plays too. The appropriately named Dwight King has also come up big for the Kings in this postseason, and is an example of the deep, young, and talented roster of the LA Kings. This Kings team always plays with a full effort and are disciplined, physical, and mentally tough.

However, this goes just beyond the Kings. This is about Los Angeles. LA has often been made fun of in hockey circles as a city that has little to no knowledge of hockey. I would just like to say that is BULLSHIT. What those people don't realize is, while hockey may not have the same significance in our city's sports scene as it does in New York, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, or Pittsburgh, it is still important to us. Steadily, over the years, the LA Kings have developed a loyal following here in Southern California, even before Wayne Gretzky arrived. Now, just 4 wins away from hockey's ultimate prize, the Kings' cup run has become LA's top sports story, and even people who showed no interest in hockey up to this point have followed the Kings. Yes, that sounds like a description of a bandwagon fan. But you know what? The Kings have been an underappreciated part of the SoCal sports landscape for years. A Cup win will put them on a level they have never reached before, even beyond the levels they reached during the Gretzky years. So, yes, people in northern cities/Canada, we do fuckin' care about hockey, and yes, if this team wins the Cup, we will be there at the parade, because there is one thing LA loves more than anything else: a winner. 

Stay Tuned

Well, this season ended for me a little earlier than planned. I know the only acceptable result for the Lakers and their fans, including myself, is an NBA title. But, considering the circumstances: A week of training camp, limited practice time, new coach, new system, they held up well for most of the season. Now, with the Lakers' offseason officially underway, there are a lot of questions about just how much of the current team will remain next year.

The Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, is the only one that is guaranteed for next season. Everyone else is trade bait or has an expiring contract. The two Lakers who will be watched especially closely in trade talks are the two pictured with Kobe above, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. It is widely believed that those two are the Lakers' top trade assets in case they want to make a deal.

Whatever the case, I will write more whenever the Lakers make a trade or a big free agent signing.
Stay tuned.

Honesty

The Clippers are now out of the playoffs. Damn, it feels weird saying that this late in the season. But, here's my assessment of them: They're overrated as hell. I know what you're thinking, "Alex, isn't that a little harsh?" Technically, yes, but in most cases, not a single fuck is given on this blog. Yes, I know they're a good team, but lobs will only take you so far. They'll get you on SportsCenter, but not to the Finals. I can see Clipper fans pulling out their excuses already: "CP3 was playing hurt." Yeah, but so was Kobe in the Lakers' 2010 title run. Even if they lost that year, I guarantee you we wouldn't have used that as an excuse. "Chauncey was out for the season." So what, you have another leader in CP3. Not like Chauncey would've helped you beat the Spurs in a best of 7 anyway.

Clipper fans have said this year when I talk shit about them, "Oh, you feel threatened now, don't you?" No. I don't. You can keep saying I'm in denial, but that's bullshit. You wanna know the real reason I've talked major shit about them? I miss clowning them and making fun of them for sucking ass. They were my one consistent source of humor and comedy, regardless of whatever the Lakers were going through. David Stern's bitch ass changed that instantly. Clipper fans, and even some Laker fans asked me, "What's wrong with having two good, competitive teams in LA?" Actually, there's nothing wrong with it. I just love beating up and torturing the Clippers and their fans like a red-headed stepchild. When the Clippers acquired stole Chris Paul from the Hornets, thanks to David Stern's cockblock, I was thinking that it would actually force me to do something I never thought I would ever have to do: Take the Clippers seriously. In my heart and publicly, I still maintained they were overrated. I know there was that one fluke year in '06, with Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, and Sam Cassell, but I knew those fuckers just got lucky.

This year seemed different. I heard Clipper fans saying, "We run LA now! Kobe's old! The Clippers rule this city!" My first thought was, "Damn, crack smoking is more common than I thought." Then, I remembered they improved with CP3, but I still wasn't convinced. After the Lakers' first regular season meeting with the Clippers, which they lost, Clipper fans wouldn't shut up. The bandwagon grew and grew. Then, they made the playoffs, which didn't shock me considering their team, but I had this feeling they would choke as a team. Somehow, they beat the Grizzlies coming from 27 down, and I dismissed it as another fluke, yet they ended up winning in 7. After surviving the Grizzlies, they have now been swept by the Spurs, and their season is over.

So, despite my dislike for them, I'd just like to say to whatever Clipper fans there are, bandwagon or otherwise, you've had a good season and have a good team.

Actually, no. I was just bullshitting on that last one. You owe us rent by the 15th, motherfuckers. Or else we're doubling it again. And enjoy CP3 now, because if next year is anything like this year, you fuckers will lose him to that team across the hall with all the banners. Some people reading this are probably thinking, "Alex, why do you have to be so mean?" I just feel like being an asshole sometimes.  What can I say? Hey, at least I'm honest about having an asshole side of me.

What Else Can I Say?

Screw it. I decided to write this. Now, the Lakers have blown 2 games late, and instead of a potential 3-1 lead, they're down 3-1. A lot of finger-pointing has gone on tonight's game, especially at Pau and Kobe. Now, people have said, "Kobe's ball hogging cost them the game." Fuck that. That was the least of their problems in the 4th quarter. He played pretty well up to that point, so I don't completely blame him for shooting, and I thought he got a couple of good looks, and that a few of those shots would go in. Or, "Pau made a dumbass pass at the end." Nope. It wasn't that either. Kobe was right, to a point, by saying Pau lacked assertiveness and aggressiveness on the offensive end. Those two issues contributed to the loss, but that is only the beginning of this. One of the oldest cliches in sports is, "You win as a team, you lose as a team," and that is exactly what the fuck the Lakers did. They let a 13 point lead go, mainly due to bad defense and allowing OKC to get to the line and shoot 10-15 from the floor in the 4th. Also, the Thunder did a good job, especially Perkins and Ibaka, at closing off Bynum and Gasol down the stretch, forcing Kobe. I could easily single out individual players, but to me, that's just a cop-out. So, for anyone saying "Kobe should stop hogging the ball" or "Pau made a stupid play," just shut the fuck up now. There's 5 dudes on a court, not just 1. Get that straight, if you wanna assign blame to anyone.

Numbers Do Lie Occasionally

"A feel for the game and the timing of things and the momentum of things are far more important than statistical data." - Kobe Bryant, in the May/June 2012 issue of SLAM magazine

After the Lakers lost a 7 point lead late in the 4th quarter in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, many people had questions. One question that emerged was "Is Kobe Clutch?," and it was asked on ESPN Outside the Lines yesterday afternoon. OK, I may sound a little biased here, but here it goes: You can throw at me all the advanced stats and percentages you want, you can tell me, "See, these numbers prove Kobe is overrated in the clutch! or LeBron is actually better in the clutch based on these percentages!" all you want, but guess what? I still won't give a shit. To me, you cannot boil clutch play down to percentages or figures. It cannot be measured simply by shooting percentages or advanced math. The reason you cannot just go by percentages or advanced statistics, at least in my view, is that contrary to belief, the numbers and stats do lie occasionally. Clutch is an intangible factor that you either have or you don't. Much as I dislike Skip Bayless, I do agree with him on this thing: you either have a clutch gene or you don't. As much as people doubted Kobe Bean Bryant after Wednesday, he still has it.

Despite all my rambling about how I think stats can be overrated, there are two statistics that jumped out at me, that I view to be far more important than the percentages thrown out there:

Most game-winners in the last 5 seconds of the 4th/OT (since 1996-97, Kobe's rookie year):

Kobe Bryant- 16
Carmelo Anthony- 14
Ray Allen- 12
Vince Carter- 11

And, most game winners in the final 10 seconds since 1996: Kobe leads the NBA with 21.

Source: Lakers

I'm Back

I'm back. I've been gone from this blog for about the last week and a half due to finals. It's over now, and I can blog again.

We Talkin' Bout Practice

It has come to my attention, that 10 years ago today, Allen Iverson, one of my all-time favorite players, went on his famous "practice" rant. In a lot of ways, it has come to define AI's career, and not in a positive way. It has come to define him as a selfish and a "me first" player, and may have been the turning point in his career in ways I will further explain.

I, as is the case of most of you reading this, think of The Answer as one of the most electrifying and entertaining players to ever set foot on a basketball court. His deadly crossover was fun for us fans to watch, but not so fun for opponents playing defense on him. I loved him because he was a small guy, listed at 6 feet, but who looked more like 5'10", and played like he was 7 feet. He was a player who always played with toughness and was always a threat to score, especially if the game was on the line.
He seemed to be able to will a 76ers team that often had very little talent surrounding him to nearly 50 wins a season.

The "practice" rant happened after the 76ers were blown away in the playoffs by a pre-Big 3 Boston Celtics team led by Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. It came in response to comments made by Larry Brown that he needed to practice more, and what was already a complicated relationship took a different turn with Allen's comments. In the minds of the media and fans, who saw it, it confirmed an already existing perception that Allen was a selfish player who put himself ahead of his teammates and refused to listen to his coach. Looking back on it, while AI had some good seasons after this, and took the 76ers to the playoffs two more times and would go to two more playoff appearances with the Denver Nuggets, he never seemed to reach the levels he had reached before this. Am I saying this was the cause of the decline of his career? Of course not. In my eyes, he is still a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As for the causes of the decline of his career, injuries and lack of supporting casts played a major role. However, you could say this was where his career turned.

Tofa Soifua (Goodbye)

As you may (or may not) know by now, I am a huge fan of the Oakland Raiders. Junior Seau played for the hated San Diego Chargers, but despite my extreme dislike for the Chargers, I could never bring myself to dislike Junior. It's pretty simple why. Junior played the game the way it was meant to be played, never giving up and always working hard. You could say it was a result of his experiences, as he overcame great adversity in his life (growing up poor, academic struggles at USC), yet he came out stronger with each challenge and succeeded in spite of whatever issues he faced in his life. He always played with passion and never took any downs off or gave up at any time, regardless if the Chargers were down by 30 or up by 30. I have many clear memories of #55 with the lightning bolt helmet breaking through the Raider offensive line and chasing down, or attempting to chase down, Rich Gannon to sack him. He could consistently change the outcome of games with a single tackle or sack, which is a quality that only the truly great defensive players of all time have. Simply put, if you do not consider Junior one of the all-time great players, not just defensive players, but one of the all-time great players, you do not know the game of football at all. Along with his impact on games, he also impacted the NFL as a whole. While Polynesian players had played in the NFL before Junior, he played a big role in the increased number of Polynesian players in the NFL today. His success made him a hero to Polynesians all over, and gave them increased confidence that they could live their dreams and succeed.

Junior, as great of a player as he was, was considered an even greater person. Every single person, whether they played against him, coached him, or whether they were simply fans, had great memories of him.  Despite his intensity on the field, he was known as the gentle giant with the big smile off of it. Many Charger fans and San Diego citizens remember him just as much for his charity work, especially with children and teens, as they do for his hard hits on the field. To San Diego, he was not just a great player, he was one of their own, born and raised in Oceanside. To San Diego, he was more than just their star player, he was like a brother, a son. To San Diego, he was family. The love that San Diego fans had for Junior, and the love he had for them back, was what made his death yesterday all the more tragic. Today, it seems like San Diego is one giant family mourning the loss of a loved one.

Junior, you were a warrior and a true great, and this member of the Raider Nation would just like to say:

Malolo filemu, uso, and Manuia le Atua ia te oe.
(Rest in peace, my brother, and may God bless your family.)

This song is dedicated to Junior:

No Lead Is Ever Safe

I could very well devote this blog post to my Lakers, as they won in a dominating fashion over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon to take 1-0 lead with Game 2 tonight, and a chance to take a 2-0 lead. But that would be too easy, and limiting myself in this blog. Instead, I would like to talk about a player who has become a favorite of mine in the NBA.

On Saturday afternoon, at approximately 12:30 pm Pacific time, the Chicago Bulls led the Philadelphia 76ers by 12 points in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference 1st round series, with only 1:20 between them and a 1-0 lead. At that moment, Derrick Rose, the Bulls' star point guard and reigning MVP, landed awkwardly and was grabbing his knee on the floor. I tell you, I have never seen an entire arena or stadium fall silent that quickly. It was as if the Chicago crowd knew what had happened. Derrick had been hit by a number of injuries this season, causing him to miss 27 games, nearly half the season, so this was nothing new. However, the more time Derrick spent on the ground, clutching his knee, fans in Chicago and watching on TV around the country knew this was something serious.

The reactions of Bulls fans on Twitter was one of sadness and frustration, as I found out in Twitter conversations with a few Chicago people I follow, Iggy, Keith, and Kate, ( @windycityiggy, @KeeterJ, and @krechy85 follow them, they're good people ) about what had just happened. They still had faith in their beloved Bulls, but feared the worst for Derrick. Sure enough, a few hours later, it became official. Derrick Rose was done for the playoffs due to an ACL injury and required surgery. A number of people who had seen the game, myself being one of them, second-guessed Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau for leaving Derrick on the floor with that big a lead and with that little amount of time remaining. I wondered why he had done that.

The next night, after watching my Lakers beat the Nuggets earlier in the afternoon, I settled down in front of my TV to watch the Memphis Grizzlies take on the LA Clippers in Game 1 of their series. This series was particularly interesting to me because of the two teams' contrast in styles, the Grizzlies' physical defense vs. the Clippers' fast transition offense. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Grizzlies settled into a 21 point lead and had led by as much as 27. With just over 9 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and the game, the Grizzlies led by 24 points, 95-71. Me, and just about everyone else watching the game, thought it was over. Then came the Clippers. Over the next 9 minutes, the Clippers would outscore the Grizzlies 28-3 and would shock everyone by winning 99-98 after Rudy Gay's game winning attempt fell short in one of the most epic collapses in NBA playoff history. At that moment, it suddenly hit me. That's why Tom Thibodeau kept Derrick Rose in with a 12 point lead with just over a minute to go. He was just following that old rule: NO lead is ever safe.