By: Justin Jacobs
(The Jazz are having a hard time getting a handle on Kobe Bryant)
The Lakers….As if you couldn’t tell by the increased number of Charles Barkley T-Mobile commercials, we are knee deep into the NBA playoffs! For the first time in years I’m actually excited about the Lakers chances of winning the championship. For the past couple of years the playoffs have been torturous for Lakers fans. There’s nothing more boring than watching teams send double and triple teams at Kobe and watching him either: A) take a horrible shot, which was admittedly better than option B) pass the ball to Kwame Brown!
This year Kobe hasn’t had to shoulder the load for the Lakers as Pau Gasol has made the team a much more balanced squad. From point guard to center, there just isn’t a team that can find the open man better than the Lakers. They used their passing game to completely destroy Denver in the first round. Pau Gasol had a field day getting open looks every time the Nuggets sent a double team at Kobe or Lamar Odom.
Of course this works the other way around as well. When teams try to double team Gasol, Kobe get’s 1-on-1 coverage on the wing, and as any person who has seen the Lakers play could tell you, no one on this planet can guard Kobe 1-on-1.
It’s impossible….
Forget about it…
The Jazz learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to send Ronnie Brewer out to defend Kobe. Bryant ended up at the free throw line all night and at one point made 18 free throws in a row. If Kobe Bryant gets to the free throw line enough to make 18 free throws in a row the Lakers are going to win every time, you can put your life on it.
So how do you stop the Lakers? Your guess is as good as mine. You can’t play a zone defense against the Lakers because Sasha Vujacic, Derek Fisher, and Kobe are so deadly from three, you can’t double team because the Lakers pass the ball so well and you can’t play the Lakers straight up. The best way to play the Lakers is to try to outscore them, but that is not an easy task… and it’s also the reason why I’m rooting for the Spurs to beat the Hornets. As great as the Spurs have been in the past, they can’t keep up with the Lakers this season, Bruce Bowen can’t keep up with Kobe anymore and Pau Gasol will effectively cancel out Tim Duncan.
The Hornets are a different story altogether. Chris Paul is another guy who is ungradable 1-on-1, (LeBron James would complete that tri-fecta) will eat Fisher’s lunch, then will drop 30 points and 10 assist on him. I mean come on Paul, isn’t the man’s lunch enough!
That’s right Chris Paul scares the Kwame Brown out of me! (See what I did there?)
As far as the current series goes, I don’t like making predictions (Becuase I’m Usually wrong.), but I like the Lakers chances. The Jazz seem pretty flustered when the Lakers close off the lane for Deron Williams and double team Carlos Boozer. I am a bit concerned about the Jazz getting so many offensive rebounds, and I really wish that Andrew Bynum would get back into the rotation, but beggars can’t be choosers. Which brings me to my next topic…
The trouble with the Yankees lies in their starting rotation, which is starting to become a running theme of the post dynasty bombers. Ching-Ming Wang has been fantastic again this year for New York, in seven appearances he has six wins, an ERA of three and a 1.15 whip. The veterans Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina have also been serviceable with seven wins between the two and an average ERA of around four. No, where the trouble lies in the Yankees Rotation is in their fourth and fifth spots, spots that Brian Cashman set out for young guns Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Both pitchers were part of a potential deal that would have brought Johan Santana during the off-season something that boss Hank Steinbrenner really pushed for but Cashman was firmly opposed to. So… how have these two pitchers faired this year?
Excuse me while I go cry it out for awhile.
OK… Deep Breath
If you’ve been keeping up with the Yankees you already know that Phillip Hughes was put on the DL for about six weeks with a stress fracture of one of his ribs and Kennedy was sent down to the Minors because he was, well, sucking. There has been speculation that young phenom Joba Chamberlain would be taken out of the pen to fill a hole in the starting rotation, but Cashman and Yankees skipper Joe Girardi have both stead fast in their belief that the set-up role is the best spot for Joba the Hut. Anytime you get a chance to groom a guy like Chamberlain under the tutelage of a guy like Mariano River, you do it. Now not only do you have one of the best one-two punches at the end of a game, you also are prepping Chamberlain to be the Yankees closer for years to come. Which is a prospect that has to send fear up the spine of all the teams in the American League East.
(All hail Joba the Hut!)
The Yankees are going through growing pains this year, something that every Yankee fan should have been prepared for before the season started. The play of Darrell Rasner yesterday should have sign to Yankees fans that upper-management is doing a good job of keeping their farm system intact instead of giving away all of their prospects and/or cash for guys who are either: over the hill (Johny Damon), off the juice (Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens), or clinically dead (Carl Pavano). After this season the Yankees get to lose the burdensome Giambi and Mussina contracts and will have an opportunity to go after top guys like C.C. Sabathia and Mark Texeira, or even a guy like John Lackey (I smell a discount!). If the Yankees are able to grab a first baseman and a quality ace during the off-season and they give their young arms (Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlain, Rasner) another year to develop, they will be one of the favorites to win it all in 09. So attention Yankees fans, I know we are not a forward thinking lot, but perhaps in this instance we can practice a little bit of patience?
Speaking of patience….
It’s funny that my team is suffering the same way that my beloved Yankees are. I mean I just cannot get any quality starting pitching out of my guys, and it didn’t help that my batters put up numbers that they would usually put up in a couple of days, not a bloody whole week! After bemoaning such a terrible loss, I took the opportunity to completely overhaul my team. Here are some of the big changes that I made.
1. It was time to part with Eric Brynes, to be honest I couldn’t tell you why I was in love with him to begin with. I mean, I know he wasn’t going to steal 50 bases again this season, so I have no idea why I drafted him. So it was off to the waiver wire to grab a new OF and by the grace of God someone dropped Hunter Pence who, to be fair, was struggling, but far too much of a talent not to be owned on a fantasy team. I grabbed him off the wire like he was taco in a Mexican resturant on Cinco de Mayo!
2. Adios Joe Crede! After a fantastic start Joe Crede was starting to revert back to his usual self, which isn’t really a bad thing, but since I already owned Aramis Ramirez and Jim Thome, I really had no room for him on my team. Of course being the procrastinator that I am I didn’t get around to trying to deal him until his value already down, sometimes I even piss off myself with my laziness. In his stead I picked up Wandy Rodriguez, who should be fine once he gets back from his groin injury, and Randy Wolf, who has a fantastic 37:11 K to Walk ratio.
3. This wasn’t really an adjustment as it was a Godsend. Both Scott Kazmir and Rich Harden are both coming of the DL and they couldn’t be back at a more needed time. Now my starting rotation of pitchers consist of: Kazmir, Chris Young, A.J. Burnett, Rich Harden, Oliver Perez, Jonathon Sanchez, Gavin Floyd and eventually, Wandy Rodriguez. Even after the eventual cuts of Floyd and Perez that is a pretty damn good rotation. Combine that with my starting line-up of: Molina, Fielder, Kinsler, Aramis Ramirez, Holliday, B.J. Upton, and Jim Thome, along with Jacoby Ellsbury coming off the bench, and you have a pretty good team. Hopefully I will never have to be so shamed by another fantasy team, which may or may not have been coached by a woman, again
Well that’s all for me, if you read all this God Bless you! Either way have a happy and safe Cinco de Mayo everyone! And for heavens sake, eat a taco, it will make you feel better!
