You are currently browsing the daily archive for June 16th, 2008.
Look, I only watched basically 3 holes of the US Open this entire weekend – Tiger and Westwood playing 18 yesterday (the Memphis-Knoxville drive), the 18th between Rocco and Tiger today, and the sudden death playoff today (class obligations).
Talk about drama. Tiger’s third shot on 18 yesterday was classic him, because you just knew he was going to hit that putt. And I could tell by Mediate’s reaction to that putt that he was done. Give Rocco a ton of credit for manning up to take on Tiger on a stage of a Monday 18-hole US Open playoff. But seriously, was Tiger going to be denied? Of course not. When his tee shot found the beach on the sudden death hole, it was done.
Tiger hasn’t played a round in golf since April in the Masters. And he just goes out into a pressure situation on a difficult golf course and wins it. Is he that good or is everyone else just not that good? Tiger is the most dominant player in any sport at this moment in time, if not ever. He seems to have this aura about him, that when he plays in a tournament, it’s in the back of every other player’s mind. He doesn’t always hit perfect shots either. He has his issues. But others struggle too, and he makes the shots when he has to.
It was great to see his emotion yesterday as well. Yes he threw his club, and let out an “F*** Yeah!” after the putt. I can see why people want him to lose, but I’m not one of them. I appreciate his amazing abilities, and I can definitely root for him to win. And even if you can’t stand the guy, you have to admit what he has done in his career is nothing short of once-in-a-lifetime.
Lakers force the Finals back to Boston with Game 5 Win
First things first, let me apologize for the lack of posts this weekend. That’s what going home does (the lack of interesting sports doesn’t help either), time’s gotta be spent elsewhere.
As for Game 5 of the Finals last night, it was similar to the other two games in LA – the Lakers jump out with a big lead, only to see Boston fight back and make it a game. The Celtics had a great opportunity to get this thing over with last night and they came up short. Paul Pierce did everything in his power to win the title, scoring 38 points. Ray Allen played his game, and KG missed two free throws and a tip-in right at the basket that more or less determined the Celtics fate.
As for the Lakers, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol finally played like they had been the entire playoffs. Gasol was surprisingly aggressive, and got Garnett and PJ Brown into foul trouble. They also didn’t have Kendrick Perkins to worry about due to injury. Perkins is probably the strongest inside player for either team (maybe Ronny Turiaf) and with his defense/rebounding he is a mismatch against Gasol and Odom. Kobe was on the first quarter, but probably deferred more in this game than any other Finals game. They were giving the ball to Pau down the stretch (a recipe for failure if you ask me) instead of Kobe.
That said, Kobe essentially made the play of the game, with his steal on Pierce that led to his dunk with about 40 seconds left. Yes, it was a foul. But give Kobe some credit for making that play, Pierce had gotten by him and the help defender and would have most likely gotten to the basket as he had pretty much whenever he wanted to the entire game.
Which brings me to the point that’s been beaten into the ground since last night: the Lakers defense or lack thereof. It’s terribly obvious, as now even the ESPN guys (Jackson/Van Gundy, Wilbon/J Barry) have discussed at length: the Lakers DO NOT PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENSE. Yes, I’m aware Kobe made the game-sealing steal. But they could not stop Pierce last night. On at least two occasions, Pierce literally went through all five Laker players on his way to a lay-up. They played lazy defense at home, why should anybody expect them to play that way in Boston?
Look, Boston isn’t going to fall behind by around 20 points in Boston. It’s not going to happen. It’s also not likely that LA is going to play the level of good defense they have shown glimpses of playing at times in LA for an entire game in Boston. Boston has shown themselves to be the better team in this series, and now even the talking heads proclaiming them way better than Boston have realized this.
All that said, the pressure is squarely on Boston. Nobody is really expecting the Lakers to win it. They should be commended for forcing a Game 7 if it gets there. If you’re Boston, you better win Tuesday night. I wouldn’t want to deal with Kobe Bryant in a NBA Finals Game 7. And the only thing that makes me hesitant at all is Perkins’ absence allowing Odom and Gasol a little more ability to play well inside.
So does LA have a prayer? Yes. Are they going win Game 6? I confidently say they won’t.
