So Chris Cooley has become bff's with Dale Jr. and he scribes about his recent trip to the track with Dale on shutdown corner. It seems as if all Dale Jr. needed to break his losing streak was a little Cooley in his life. The video is an interview of the two by NBC 4's Lindsay Czarniak for TNT:
"I would trade everything I've done in racing to play one season as Chris Cooley." - Dale Jr.
Last night the Lakers won the 5th game of the series, to close out the series at home, in front of the celebrity rich crowd of Laker fans. The Lakers will be going to there 29th NBA finals, yes I said it, the 29th time. The Lakers are having there 60th anniversary this year, so that means 29 out of the 60 years the Lakers have played basketball they have been in the finals, thats 48.3 percent over the years. The first quarter started out rough for the forum blue and championship gold, the Lakers trailed by as much as 17 points. But they battled back, Kobe had the look,as if he was on some mission to carry the team to the finals. Kobe who played ok in the first half, but went off in the 4th quarter, where he scored 17 of his 39 points. Sasha Vujacic who played well tonight off the bench, pissed off a lot of people last night, but not only Spurs players and fans. With the game in firmly in there grasps, the score being 97-92, and the spread being 7 points. Sasha did this.
Someone probably lost their fingers mortgage over this last night, and that is why Sasha is growing on me. He doesnt care about your feelings, he is "the machine" , all he does is drop buckets son, and he is just ruthless. Actually, next year thanks to the new Flop Rule, I see most foreign players becoming obsolete, I will put the list of the foreign ballers that I believe will be effected and uneffected sometime in the next week.
Alright, so it's time for me to take a stab at providing some analysis on my first love (no, not Bud Light). The Spurs have a suprising 48-42 first half lead, as they looked dominant in stretches. Tim Duncan ended the half with 9 points, 11 boards, and 5 assists. The Spurs made the Lake Show look helpless on D for a good chunk of the half, with Parker seemingly driving the lane at will. Michael Finley came alive (he still plays?) with 10 points and my NBA twin Brent Barry had a solid half as well. Kurt Thomas also provided big minutes with 6 points and 4 rebounds. The lead should probably be a lot bigger, and the Spurs were up by as many as 17, however the Lakers made a run with Kobe, Gasol and Odom on the bench. Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, and Rony Turiaf came in off of Phil Jackson's bench to provide some much needed energy. With Bryant being relatively fresh, and having already taken San Antonio's best punch, I'm going to predict a 93-88 win for Jack's Boys. I just see Kobe taking over and sending them to the finals. Gasol needs to step it up and Odom needs to stay out of foul trouble, or they might be heading back to San Antonio.
This game was important for both teams, at the end of the night the series would either be tied 2-2 putting the pressure on the Lakers or 3-1 and putting the series in serious doubts for the Spurs. The Lakers started off hot during a Spurs drought early in the game, where the Lakers lead by as much as 14 points. The Spurs fought valiantly through the drought, and made it a 6 point game by half-time. In the second half it was tight the whole way through, yet everytime the Spurs had a chance to take the lead, they either missed the shot or turned the ball over. Once again Duncan was Duncan(29 points, 17 rebounds), Kobe was Kobe(28 points, 10 rebounds), Tony was Tony( 23 points, 9 assists)and Pau was Pau(10 points, 10 rebounds). The stars off the bench tonight were Brent Barry who played out his gourd(a career playoff best 23 points with 5-12 shooting from deep) and Luke Walton who had his first good game this series(9 timely points and 5 rebounds). But for Manu Ginobli, he could not match his game 3 heroics, finishing a dismal 2-7 from the field but added 7 assists. With one minute to go, the Lakers were up 7 and on the free-throw line, and collapsed; Gasol missed both free throws, Manu hit a huge three and Tony Parker got off on a fast-break where Odom was called for goaltending. Thats what leads us to this.
Here is what Brent Barry had to say after the game
"That play..was not where the game was lost...That's not going to get called in the Western Conference finals...Maybe in the regular season. But that call shouldn't be called in the Western Conference finals."
Greg Popovich added
"It wasn't a foul... I think it was a proper no-call from what I saw."
Fisher said he
"never thought they would blow a whistle."
"I think we met simultaneously, and there was contact for sure," Fisher said. "But I don't think I ran through him."
They were all wrong, Crawford should have called the foul. I think the spurs just knew what we all knew, the Lakers were better tonight.But Crawford should of reset the clock the play before, when Derek Fisher shot the ball. It may have looked like an airball but it definately skimmed the rim. If they reset the clock , there wouldn't of been a last second shot for the spurs, the Lakers would have run out the clock and there would be no controversy. Just like every other NBA game, the bad calls even themselves out, there is no need to focus on just one.
Overall the Spurs and Lakers played a terrific game, and this was the first time the Spurs had lost at home this postseason. The series moves back to LA, where the Lakers are 7-0 this postseason, the Lakers lead the series 3-1.
For those who don't feel like reading, here is the hi-light.
Yeah so last night was not so pretty for the Lakers, losing to San Antonio 103-84. The picture says it all, as the Lakers were pushed around all night. San Antonio seemed as if they could not miss a shot, and the Lakers resembled the team that lost two games in Utah. Kobe was Kobe dropping 30 points but failed to get his teammates started with only one assist. Pau added 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher failed to match their game 2 heroics with only 9 points combined. On the other hand the Spurs stars looked like the defending champs they are; Tim Duncan 22 points 21 rebounds, Tony Parker 20 points 5 assists, Manu Ginobli 30 points and 5-7 from the 3-point line. The team totals tell you even more with the Lakers shooting 42 percent from the field and the Spurs shooting 51 percent, the Lakers were 35 percent from downtown while the Spurs were 55 percent, and the Lakers had only 8 made free throws to 17 for the Spurs. The Lakers seemed to be waiting on the refs last night to bail them out, but it never happened. This series is shaping up to be a good one. One thing Lakers fans can enjoy is video of Ronny being Ronny.
The next video is of the guys from Jackass and Kobe messing with a pool a snakes.
I was really hoping he actually did jump over the pool, but they couldn't have made it look any faker if they tried. Either way, awesome video and keep 'em coming Kobe/Nike. Game 4 is Tuesday night at 9 pm on TNT.
Well that may be a little too soon and a little over the top, but I have not witnessed a game that ripped my soul out in the beginning of the third quarter to hand it back gently to me in just minutes. With 5:55 left in the third quarter the Lakers were down 65-45, due to Tim Duncan being Tim Duncan(30 points, 18 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) and the Lakers getting lulled to sleep by the Spurs offense. At the 5:55 mark, Kobe who at this point was 1-3 with 2 points decided it was time to let loose the Mamba. Kobe the league MVP exploded for 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting in the second half, disregarding and making a mockery of Bruce Bowen's attempts to guard him. Apparently ripping the hearts out of Spurs fans was his plan all along, said Bryant:
"I know I can make that push and I knew once I did, I could get the game back under control, get it under 10 where we knew we could be in striking distance. In the first half, we were a little rusty, a little sluggish and a little tentative. Second half, it wasn't there."
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich added:
"Kobe, he was doing a trust-his-teammates thing in the first half. That's why he had 5 assists, and he was checking it all out to see where his territory was going to be. In the second half, he went to work."
The Spurs looked more like a lottery team in the fourth quarter, during which they shot 3-for-21 from the field (including 1-for-9 from distance) and got outscored 24-13. Parker played well enough (18 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists), but he couldn't have penetrated the mysteries of the paint with a dozen Indiana Joneses on his side. And as for Ginobili, he was horrendous shooting 3-for-13 and committing several game changing fourth-quarter turnovers. But the credit goes to the Lakers, who behind Kobe, Gasol (19 points, 7 rebounds), Vladimir Radmanovic (10 points, 5-for-5) and Sasha "the Machine" Vujacic (10 points, 2-for-5 from downtown, spectacular defense on Ginobili) managed to shut down the defending champs after it looked like they were going to lose by 30. This is by far the most satisfying game I have watched of the Lakers since Bynums injury. If the rest of the series is as exciting as this, it will be one of the most memorable series in recent history.
Here are the Laker highlights:
Game 2 is Friday night, coverage starting at 9pm on TNT and radio coverage starts at 8:30 on ESPN radio.
So tonight after finishing up at the gym I get home turn on ESPN and sit through the lottery. The winner of the losers was the one team that didn't seem to need the help, the Chicago Bulls. Tip to the NBA, whenever you have Jay Z in the room, do your best and try to get him in a rap battle. I mean you have Fred Hoiberg there, you know with out a doubt he can spit and after all his nickname was the Mayor.Maybe Hoiberg could even go out with the moniker B-Rabbit. After that borefest was over, another followed, Eastern Conference Championships. I know, I know, I just don't appreciate good defense. But I would much rather watch a game where the teams can hit shots outside of 20 feet and play D without elbows to the ribs. Thankfully my cure for boring east coast ball happens Wednesday night on TNT (thank Jeebus), when the Spurs(They have Timmy, great team that plays defense and can get the ball in the hoop in various fashions) and the Lakers(Kobe healthy, they are 5-0 at home and 3-2 on the road, play great team D and pass better then any other team not named the Spurs)match up in game one of the Western Conference Finals at Staples Center. This series can go any number of ways, both teams are capable of sweeping, but most likely this series will go to 6 or 7 seven games. I want to be biased and say Lakers in 5, but I cant due to the fact that I am just not that optimistic. Well I decided to put a couple clips up of past playoff games between these two powers.
I could not put a video up on here and not include the best playoff game winning shot in recent history.
Here is the Memorial Day game from 1999, when the Spurs finished the sweep, and the Lakers lost their last game at the Forum.(warning long clip)
The last clip is Shaq running the floor to finish the fast break after his own rebound.
And remember friends it is not purple and yellow it is forum blue and championship gold.
