I have to admit, as much as I’ve been down on this years Super Bowl, I am getting excited for the big game now that we are only one day away. I was planning on spending a couple of hours playing Madden in honor of the Super Bowl, but it seems like my second X-Box 360 is on the way out. At this point I’m starting to think that Blu-Ray plus reliability might equal an upcoming PS3 purchase. On the other hand I can spend $200 and get myself a new Arcade Pack 360 and transfer my hard drive over from my old one and get a new controller. It’s a little bit unnerving that a couple days after doing a podcast based solely on video games that my 360 decides to go crazy. Hopefully this does not become a curse on the level of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, just to be safe I will make sure to not talk about the Lakers on the podcast until after the season is over – just kidding – but really.
Our name lives on in our podcasts!
Speaking of our podcast, I think we are starting to hit our stride on the TOUTS Podcast. Adding a week in review podcast is something that I pitched to Chad a couple of weeks ago and he thought that having a flagship podcast on the weekends would be a good idea. Chad works a 9-5 (which sometimes can become a 9-6:30) so it’s hard for him to get home, deal with all the home stuff, and then find a way to write a post or record a podcast. If you’ve heard the podcast you’ll quickly notice that Chad is the guy who has four years of broadcast experience and I’m the one who says "you know" way to many times. I’m working on my on-air voice, and that horrendous breathing noise you hear should be fixed when I purchase a pair of better headphones. There’s also the issue of our 15+ year old mixing board that we are currently using – as much as I am eternally grateful that we have a means to record our podcast with – there will be a time when we have the funds to purchase some new equipment on that front. When it comes to the content of our podcasts you can expect the weekly wrap-up every weekend starting next week and other, topic based, podcasts sprinkled in their on a weekly basis. We are really looking forward to improving our podcast as we think it could be the strongest part of our website. You guys can help out the podcast in a myriad of ways, the easiest of which would be to digg the post that the podcast is under. Yes, in order to digg a post you do have to sign up for digg, but doing so will take you two minutes and once you are singed up you can just click the digg button and help us out in a big way. The more diggs a post gets, the better chance it has to be found by a large audience, and we are all about gaining a large audience. Also, if you have iTunes, be a friend and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes (you can do this from the page that pops up when you click on our podcast!) or leave us a review (you can do this by searching TOUTS in the iTunes music store and click on our podcast). Leaving reviews and subscribing to our podcasts helps our show move up the charts on the iTunes music store, and as I’ve said before, we must get into the top 50 sports podcasts by the end of the year. Can it be done? Yes it can, but we need your help!
OK, enough blabbering about our wholly competent podcast, let’s talk about the site as a whole. I’d love to say that our site has surpassed all of our greatest expectations in the year of its existence, but in all honesty, we never had any expectations for this site. When we created touts.wordpress.com, all we wanted to do was write about a relevant sports story or two from time to time. On our first day I think we got one view, and in our first months we got 300 views (and I assume we were blown away by those numbers) – now it’s not out of place four our site to get up to 300 views a day and this Janurary has been our second best month ever. If our first year was one of no expectations this year is looking to be one of setting expectations. Changing our sites name from touts.wordpress.com to grinditoutsports.com was our first move in an attempt to drawing more people ot the site, we were thinking about switching to a different host entirely but wordpress gives us the best tools when it comes to tracking views and editing posts. We’d love for things around the site to look a little more flashy, but when push comes to shove we will always take functionality over flash. When it comes to the content on our site – we have some big, big plans. In fact one idea we have is so daunting that I’m beginning to worry that we won’t get it on paper (so to speak) before a self-imposed deadline gets too close. As with our podcasts, the best way you can help our posts get more exposure is to digg our posts. We also love it when people leave comments because it stats a discussion between Chad and I and you, the readers. We are going to try to get more posts up that give readers more opportunities to get in on the conversation, so don’t be shy, leave some comments!
RIP - X-Box 360 #2
Quick Update on the 360 – I can’t find a pulse! I can’t find a pulse! Everytime I turn the thing on it makes a horrendous noise then the screen of my new HDTV shows some scary imagery, that is oddly captivating in HD. It’s not looking good, I think I may have to pull the chord on the X-Box once and for all. (Sigh)
I almost forgot to tell everyone that I finally have an HDTV. It’s nothing fancy really, just a 32 inch Samsung, but it does the job nicely. I wanted to wait until I watched a sports even before I made any judgements on having an HDTV at home but after watching UNC beat NC State earlier today I can honestly say that the difference between HD and SD is like the difference between looking at a Nintendo game and a PS3 game. Since there I have to wait a week for my cable company to hook up my cable to HD I only get two channels (ABC and Fox), and I find myself watching shows that I would never watch before just because it’s in high definition. The fact that I don’t get NBC in HD is perhaps the most disappointing thing to happen to me this year… so far.
So, about this whole Super Bowl thing, I have a few things I want to say about the big game, then I’ll mercifully kill this post, which is something I can’t say about the 360.
Everyone needs to root for the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow if for no other reason than to see Chad wear a Patrick Willis jersey in public.
Perhaps the best idea I’ve had in the last couple of years was to go on a Super Bowl related media blackout in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Nothing burns me out on a big game like hype, and that’s all you get leading up to the Super Bowl. Staying away from Super Bowl related stories leading up to the big game wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it.
I’m still a bit troubled about the Cardinals even being in this game. Are we entering an era where any 9-7 team that makes the playoffs has the same chance to win the Super Bowl as a 12-4 team with home field advantage? It’s starting to look that way. How long until the regular season doesn’t matter at all? The 49ers were one game away from going to the playoffs this year, and they were awful. Imagine if they would have beaten the Cardinals earlier in the year and it was them who were making this magical run. I’m a 49ers fan and I can honestly say that I don’t want to the NFL to turn into a league where mediocre teams go to the Super Bowl year after year. It’s clear that we are in a state of parity, and that any team has a shot to emerge from the blob of meh every year to become a Super Bowl contender, but is this a good thing? Do we reall want to see middling franchises in the games biggest contest every year? I know that parity is a good thing for the NFL because it keeps more casual fans interested and makes the league more money, but as someone who likes watching a few great teams play intead of a slew of mediocre ones, this league is starting to become more and more disappointing in my eyes. If the 9ers go 9-7 and make it to the Super Bowl I will be disappointed, not in my team for getting there, but in a league that’s lost it’s way.
On the flip side of that coin you have a Pittsburgh Steelers team that has a chance to capture it’s sixth championship and in doing so jump the 49ers in total Super Bowl wins – so you can see how I’d be conflicted about this.
Before I begin to sound like a grumpy old sports writer I do want to say that the day of the Super Bowl is one of five favorite days of the year. It’s a celebration of all things football, and gives us all one last chance to fill up on booze and junk food whilst watching America’s past time one last time until next fall. For me the experience of Super Sunday has become a lot like Christmas in that it’s not about the main event anymore, it’s about the trimmings. There’s nothing better than being around your family and friends, eating comfort food, watching the zany commercials, wincing at the halftime acts, and occasionally even watching the game. It’s really America’s biggest non-official holiday, and I can’t wait for tomorrow to come.
Enjoy the game everyone!
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Oh shit, I almost forgot. This really has nothing to do with what I’ve been talking about above, but these are random ramblings after all. I just wanted to share this picture with you. Looks like our Olympic hero has a taste for the ganja. They say that Michael Phelps has to eat something like 10,000 calories a day, now I see how he does it! (Picture courtesy deadspin.com)
Amazingly, Tecmo Super Bowl finished a distant second in our overall voting!
Despite the amazing graphical art of video games in the 21st century, their are just some ‘old school’ (I say that in relative terms) games that stand the test of time and will never be forgotten. In this episode, we discuss those games and why they were so great. Some highlights? Well, we speak of video game icons like Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Kevin Johnson, Penny Hardaway, and Ken Griffey Jr.
Think we missed a great game? Let us know in the comments section!
Will his fantasy baseball approach work in building the Cubs in '09?
It’s official. Jim Hendry is the MLB version of me. Those that have sparred with me in fantasy baseball know how much I love to talk, trade, and tinker with my team until I’ve got everything in a perfect line. I even get into serious trade talks with people when I’m 100% satisfied with my team. Wheeling and dealing is a drug; it’s an addiction. I love crunching the numbers, and wavering for hours on whether or not to make a move. I get especially excited when I’ve swindled someone in a trade (see: Jacobs, Justin).
Let’s recap the two trades the Cubs have made in the last week-and-a-half:
1. Cubs Receive:
-LHP Garrett Olson
-RHP Henry Williamson
Essentially, the Cubs traded former can’t-miss prospect Felix Pie, and ‘Rally Killing’ Ronny Cedeno for Aaron Heilman and Henry Williamson, with Garrett Olson being strung along through the process. Am I happy about what has gone down? In a word: no.
I’ve stated in the past that I’m a fan of Jim Hendry and am content with the way he’s ran the Cubs to date. He does however, make some head-scratching trades every once in a while.
He'll get the shot in Baltimore he was never afforded in Chicago.
Trading Felix Pie was a painful day for many Cubs fans. It was the second time in five years the North Siders gave up on a 5-tool outfielder (see: Patterson, Corey). In Chicago, young players don’t always get a fair shot. If they don’t cut the mustard early and often, they are ridiculed by the media, which eventually turns the fans against them. Pie was dealt because of a roster squeeze, and it’s the worst way to lose a player because of the lack of value that you get in return. He would’ve had to stay on the Cubs active roster the entire season if they would’ve kept him and when a team knows you’re in a bind, they don’t exactly give you a pick of the litter. If they would’ve wanted to send him to Iowa, Pie would have had to clear waivers first and that just doesn’t happen with 24-year-old OF with the raw abilities that he has shown (Cedeno was in the same situation).
What disappoints me the most is that the Cubs were so hell bent on getting maximum offense out of all eight fielding positions, that Pie’s true value was hidden by his poor performances at the plate. What was wrong with him not hitting well, but playing spectacular defense in center field while batting in the eight spot? In his major league career he has 281 plate appearances, which is roughly 3/5 of a season. In two years with the big club, that is a pretty small sample size to try and prove yourself.
Alas, he was gone a week ago and I had to convince myself to like Garrett Olson (since Williamson will probably never make the majors). Trying to persuade yourself to like a player that had a 6.65 ERA in 2008, bring his career ERA down is tough task, but I wasn’t doing half bad. I kept reminding myself that he had three things going for him. One, he pitched in the extremely difficult AL East. Two, he is left-handed. And three, he was a top-50 pick in the 2005 draft. In the immortal words of Herm Edwards, WE CAN BUILD ON THIS!
Don't let the door hit ya on the way out, Ronny!
So much for getting excited about Olson. The Cubs shipped him and one of my least favorite Cubs, (I call him “Rally Killing” because he was always good for a strikeout or popout in a key situation with men on base during his career) Ronny Cedeno. He got his full-time shot in 2006, but was less than stellar. The payback Chicago received from Seattle in exchange for Olson and Cedeno was the recently acquired Aaron Heilman. Let’s just say that being a ‘team player’ isn’t exactly one of his strong suits. Late last season, he was whining to the higher ups in New York (Mets) that he wanted to be a starter again. He hadn’t ever fared well as a starter before, but after struggling for a bulk of the season in a relief role, he thought that six innings of his 5+ ERA would be better than his usual one. Jeeez, I wonder why the Mets weren’t quick to jump on that opportunity?
Two conclusions can be drawn from the pair of trades Chicago made. One, the Jake Peavy deal is probably not going to happen. Two of the major trade pieces were going to be included in the deal were Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno, who now both play in a different league. The Cubs minor league system is horribly thin and without these two fringe average (albeit young) major leaguers to sweeten the deal, the Padres won’t have any desire to trade their most talented player. Secondly, they’ve made it clear that they’re going with the poor mans theory in the bullpen…throw a bunch of crap against the wall and see what sticks. Quality relief pitching fluctuates so heavily from year-t0-year that sometimes the best option is to get a bunch of guys that are decent, and pray a couple have an above-average season. I’d love to have Kerry Wood manning the closer role, but instead we’re stuck with a couple of talented guys along with a few has-beens.
Today we introduce the first of hopefully many weekly recap podcasts. We try not to cover every news story on a day-to-day basis, because you can find those stories anywhere, but we do want to make sure to touch base on these topics on a weekly basis.
Check out the podcast and give us some feedback so we can determine whether or not we want to continue doing these weekly recaps. Also, don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes and click the digg button, it really helps to get our name out there. Hope you enjoy the podcast and don’t forget about the X-Games tonight!
Chad and I have been hammering away at this site now for over a year, and getting our name to be a “.com” instead of a “.wordpress.com” was always something we wanted to do. Sometime around the New Year we got serious about making an effort to buy a domain name and after about a week of serious talk we decided to take the plunge and grinditoutsports.com was born.
Why Grind It Out Sports?
We landed on this name because it was an all in one phrase, meaning we wouldn’t have to separate any of the site name with a hyphen, which would have defeated the purpose of us changing the name in the first place. There’s also a nod to TOUTS in the name, can you find it? Overall were looking for something catchy and something we can build on, just like Herm, but hopefully better.
For those of you who are interested, the only thing that is going to change about the site (for now) is the name. It’s still just Chad and and I hammering away on this thing, and we will still be bringing you the best in new, feature stories and podcasts, just now we have a grown up name!
We are looking into making some more changes this year, but we aren’t quite ready to talk about those yet. We are looking forward to bringing you guys some great content this year, and we have some aces up our sleeves, but you’ll have to tuned for that. So for now, please enjoy grinditoutsports.com, and don’t be afraid to check out the podcast (links to your left), leave comments and perhaps help us out on digg – we’ll be back later tonight with a podcast to talk about the name change and other topics from around the world of sports.
Thanks for the all your support!
-Justin and Chad
[Edit] Here is our latest podcast talking about the name change and the upcoming X-Games.
On this inauguration day of President Barack Obama, I would like to offer you five sports related tasks I would campaign for if I were being elected president. Yes, if you listened to Mike and Mike this morning, they asked the same thing (as did The Sports Guy when asked what he would do if he were The Sports Czar), but they went with the usual “Free Pete Rose,” “Change The Baseball HOF Voting,” or “College Football Playoff” route. Screw that – that bologna is talked about too much. Let’s make some profound and less-talked about changes, shall we?
5. NFL Celebrations: The players in the NFL are being handled with kid gloves these days. First, we’re not supposed to hit the quarterback high, now were not supposed to hit the quarterback low. Heck, guys are getting fined for completely legal hits that don’t draw flags on Sundays! It’s absurd! But not nearly as bothersome as the restrictions on TD celebrations. I remember the days of team celebrations, Jamal Anderson’s Dirty Bird, Neon Deion’s High Step, and when players got to show off some creativity once they crossed the goal line. Nowadays, a guy breaking the plane barely rattles most fans out of their tryptophanic (yup, I just made that up) states during the mid-afternoon. Bring back the grenade throw, let Ocho Cinco putt with the pylon, allow Joe Horn to call his mama after he scores, and for gosh sakes let anyone who wants to moon the fans at Lambeau after they score the six. The saddest moment in the NFL from the 2008-09 season was when Wes Welker got flagged for making a snow angel in the end zone. Seriously? Oh – and if someone can bust out the Alfred Pupunu (give brother DThomps the props for this name pull), twist the top of the ‘coconut’ and drink all of the ‘juice’ out of it again – I’d die a happy man. C’mon NFL – one of your largest sponsors is Coors Light, why not let a guy crack one open and ‘vent’ after he scores.
This is the new baseline if you want a whistle.
4. No Blood, No Foul:I’ve really started to turn the corner on the NBA the past couple of years, but if there is one thing holding me back from really embracing the sport, it’s the non-stop bickering that players do toward referees during a basketball game. The one player that pisses me off the most is Tim Duncan. It’s the face he makes that hits the same nerve controlling my right index finger – which is the one on top of the channel button. The fantastic Basketbawful blog has the full description of the Duncan Face right here. What’s really sad is that he’s passed the damn thing on! I can’t watch a Spurs game for more than five minutes, and in that amount of time I’ve watched not only Duncan, but Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, and head coach Greg Popovich nag like your mother-in-law at a referee who just wants to kill thyself. I can fix this though. Let’s go back to the 80’s in the NBA. Not because of the scoring, but because I dream of the days where hand-checks weren’t fouls and your gluteus maximus better be on the floor and bone better be protruding from your skin. We called it ‘Barn Ball’ on the playground when I was in grade school. No layups and expect an elbow to the face when going to the rack. Oh – and no whistles! Suck it up, soldier!
3. Your Warning Is Heat: This platform is two-fold. Step one is to ban any protective gear on the lead elbow. So the Barry Bonds anti-tank armament that covered his right funny bone would be thrown out and burned. If you want to crowd the plate, you best know the risk. That risk includes getting buzzed a couple of times. Here’s where step two comes in. I know we eliminated steroids in baseball, leaving us with two 40+ home run guys now, but I want pitchers to be able to intimidate a hitter again without repercussions from an umpire using his brain for something other than formulating a consistent strike zone. Let everyone throw at each other. And if you’re a hitter, take the dang bat with you when you charge the mound, please. It makes no sense to attack a man that just threw a lethal object at your face with just your fisticuffs named Jack Johnson and Tom O’Leary, when you just had a wooden freakin’ bat in your hand! THINK!
I implore my committee not to cheat!
2. Consolidate the Boxing Commissions: There are currently five regulatory boxing bodies that I know of: WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, IBO. The one thing that these five organizations agree on is that a B should be in the acronym. I’ll call my new pet the Global Boxing Establishment. Why that name? Because ‘world’ and ‘international’ were taken, and I want my boxing commission to sound like a bar. We begin the festivities by starting a round-robin unification tournament for every belt. Tiebreakers include knockdowns and rounds won. Then, my rankings and number one contenders will be decided by a committee of 30 guys that are required to watch every major fight and will be paid $1 million a piece to discourage them from taking a bribe (and if they do end up getting bought, I’ll put ‘em in a room with an un-medicated Mike Tyson). Follow that up with the firing of Don King, hiring of Golden Boys Promotions, and if your licensed by me, you can fight anywhere in the world. Also – if you plan on boxing professionally, you won’t be allowed to box in the Olympics – penalty being lifetime banishment. Why? Because Olympic boxing is corrupt, the scoring system is ridiculous, and Roy Jones Jr. won the Val Barker award for best stylistic boxer at the ‘88 Seoul games, yet didn’t win the gold medal.
1. Eliminate Local TV Markets:I’m sure most of you didn’t hear this, so I’ll tell you now. The NFL nearly blacked out games in the local market during this year’s NFL playoffs because the home teams didn’t have the requisite amount of seats sold…twice! Yup, Arizona and Minnesota struggled so much to sellout their Wildcard Weekend games that the NFL had to push back the blackout deadline for each team…twice! Sorry NFL, but in case you haven’t noticed, our country happens to be in a recession right now. Instead of setting the stupid rules aside during rough economic times, you threaten teams with a local blackout for a playoff game!? And these local market maps that the leagues have drawn up are absolutely stupefying. Take the MLB map for example. If you live in Iowa, and shell out the cash to subscribe to MLB.TV, you don’t get to watch the Cubs, White Sox, Royals, Cardinals, Twins, AND Brewers. The reason, MLB wants to protect the local affiliate’s (be it a cable station or not) advertising stake. My plan would include taking that little map that I linked, and making it one color. The baseball fanatic that only watches baseball doesn’t want to shell out $60 a month for cable? No problem, you can get MLB.TV for $120 and watch every team, every day.
Think we can do it? YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!
If I don't make it, Barack - you must do these five things.
I don’t like getting too political on a sports blog (that’s what facebook is for after all} but I’d like to take this time to congratulate President Obama on inheriting the jalopy that is the United States of America. I’m sure everyone has heard by now that President Obama loves basketball, and that the game has to some extent shaped the man he is today. Well, Alexander Wolf has written a fantastic piece about how basketball has shaped the Presidents life, and how he’s used the game to better himself both as a man and as a public servant. The column ran in Sports Illustrated and can also be seen on SI.com’s front page, or you can just click here.
In the article Wolfe breaks down, in chronological order, the moments where basketball played a large part in Obama’s growth as both a man and a public servant. Here are a few excerpts, starting with what pick up basketball has taught the President:
In those pickup games, Obama has written, “a handful of black men, mostly gym rats and has-beens, would teach me an attitude that didn’t just have to do with the sport. That respect came from what you did and not who your daddy was. That you could talk stuff to rattle an opponent, but that you should shut the hell up if you couldn’t back it up. That you didn’t let anyone sneak up behind you to see emotions — like hurt or fear — you didn’t want them to see.”
On winning Indiana and North Carolina:
Obama engaged voters in those two states with an idiom familiar to Hoosiers and Tar Heels alike. In Indiana he played H-O-R-S-E with a boy in the hamlet of Union Mills. He played three-on-three in Kokomo. He sank a “buzzer-beater” at an arcade game during a visit to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle. Then he ran full-court with coach Roy Williams’s varsity in Chapel Hill. “He actually got to the hole and blew the layup when he saw [college Player of the Year Tyler] Hansbrough coming at him,” says Axelrod. On May 6 Obama won North Carolina and nearly captured Indiana, essentially locking up the nomination. Six months later, by which time Dean Smith had endorsed him, Obama carried both states against John McCain — in each case by a lone percentage point. Basketball might well have made the difference.
Wolfe does a great job with this piece and if you have some time you should definitely give it a read. I’d like to say congrats again to our President for everything he has done to get to this point, and say good luck to him, because I don’t envy the job that lies before him. Our country is going through some tough times right now but, for some reason, I feel better about our future knowing that our President can knock down the three. I’ll leave you with a video of our President doing what our President does.
I usually don’t like to just gank stories from other sites, but I thought it would good to update everyone on Willis McGahee’s condition. Here’s a report from ESPN.com via the AP:
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Willis McGahee joined his teammates Monday at Baltimore’s training complex after doctors told him he would make a full recovery from a fierce helmet-to-helmet hit in the AFC Championship Game that had him carted off the field.
“I’m all right. Everything is OK,” the running back told reporters as the Ravens cleared out their lockers. “The MRI and the CAT scan checked out good. I was scared, but I didn’t know how serious it was. It was pretty intense.”
The play occurred in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s 23-14 victory. McGahee had just caught a pass and taken two steps before being met by safety Ryan Clark, who drove his helmet into McGahee’s facemask. McGahee’s head snapped back, and he lost the ball as he dropped to the ground.
“I didn’t even see him coming,” McGahee said.
Clark also collapsed, though it was immediately apparent that his injury wasn’t serious. Players from both teams gathered around McGahee, who lay motionless before being taken away.
Ravens RB Willis McGahee takes a scary hit from Ryan Clark in the AFC Championship Game.
“I blacked out. I woke up when they were taking my facemask off,” McGahee said. “I opened my eyes and I was talking. The next thing I knew I woke up in some room and they were taking me to the ambulance.”
McGahee said he has a concussion and his neck is extremely sore. But he said he would be ready to go next season.
He hadn’t watched the replay of the hit by late Monday afternoon, but his memory of the aftermath was vivid.
“I felt like I was OK when I was on the ground, regained consciousness and starting moving,” he said. “But then they told me not to move, so I started to get a little worried. After we got inside they took X-rays and told me everything was OK.”
As a precaution, McGahee was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital for a CAT scan and MRI, then held overnight for observation. He was released early Monday morning and dropped by his home in Baltimore before attending a team meeting.
Starting at tailback in place of the banged-up Le’Ron McClain, McGahee ran for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
“I just wanted to make a difference in the football game. This was my first AFC Championship Game,” he said. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
So about all the hype that was built going into last nights Lakers/Cavs game, it never really lived up to expectations. Turns out the biggest drama from the night was Kobe dislocating the ring finger on his shooting hand leaving fans across the country (myself included) in a few moments of shear terror. Kobe was in so much pain that he couldn’t even play defense for a series and had to have the trainer pop the finger back into place during a timeout. TNT was gracious enough to show the trainer pop the finger back into place, which was about enough to make me want to throw up. Kobe played the rest of the game (41 minutes worth) scoring 20 points and dishing out 12 assists. Bryant also spent a large chunk of his night D’ing up LeBron James, but I’ll get to that later. Kobe is getting his hand X-Ray-ed today to make sure that their wasn’t any series damage done to his hand, so Laker nation will have to keep hitting their F5 buttons on Google News to make sure the Mamba isn’t seriously hurt.
With Kobe ailing, the rest of the team had to step up their games and Pau Gasol set the tone for the team by scoring 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. If I learned anything about these two teams last night, it’s that Cleveland has a hard time dealing with LA’s length. The Lakers played great team defense on Lebron James, holding him to 23 points on 9-25 shooting. What was impressive about the Lakers defense was how aggressive their were in the paint. If there is something you can knock LA for, it would be their physicality, or lack thereof. LeBron was not given a free chance at the rim last night, and when his jumper isn’t going, Cleveland is a very beatable team.
I can’t go any further without writing about Trevor Ariza’s fourth quarter performance. Ariza scored all ten of his points in the final quarter, helping to seal the deal, and also had 4 steals coming off the bench. Lamar Odom and Sasha Vujacic also played well coming off the bench, Odom had 8 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of playing time, and The Machine had 14 points giong 4/5 from beyond the arch. The Lakers are still missing valuable bench players Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton, but are expecting to get both players back soon.
Cleveland had a hard time finding a second scoring option against the Lakers D. Mo Williams had 16 points on 6-16 shooting, and Sasha Pavlovic was the teams third leading scorer with 12 points. You can tell that the Cavs are missing their center Zydrunas Ilgauskus, who was sitting out with a broken ankle, as the team gave up 17 offensive rebounds to the taller Lakers. The Cavaliers lack of a big man also played a large role into perhaps the most telling stat of the night which is the difference in FG%. The Lakers shot an impressive 52% from the field while holding the Cavs to 43% shooting.
Unfortunately this was not the showdown of MVP candidates that many were hoping for, but they will meet up again on Feb. 8th in Cleveland.
So TNT is airing a trio of NBA games tonight in honor of Martin Luther Ling Day, these game include:
Detroit Pistons vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 5:30 ET
Phoenix Suns vs. Boston Celtics 8 ET
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers 10:30 ET
Less then a week ago Chad and I discussed LeBron James and Kobe Bryant when talking about great players who have to deal with being in Michael Jordan’s shadow. You can listen to the podcast by clicking here, but it was interesting that we gravitated so quickly to James and Bryant when talking about players who represent the best qualities in a basketball player. Tonight when the Cavaliers play the Lakers in LA you will be able to see exactly what we were talking about. The Cavs (31-7) and Lakers (31-8 ) are both top dogs in their respective conferences and it appears that the MVP race is going to come down to Kobe and LeBron, with Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan the dark horses.
So who does Kobe think deserves to be MVP? This is what Kobe had to say to the LA Times when asked that very question:
LeBron, he said. Leave me alone about that stuff.
Apparently they didn’t leave him alone becasue he went on to say:
I’m a big fan of his, obviously, he said. I just think the world of him. Playing with him this summer [at the Beijing Olympics], and seeing his work ethic and what he’s about, I just think he’s terrific.
The Lakers have lost a couple of tough games to Orlando and San Antonio in the last week, and it became clear that injuries were starting to effect them. Now the Lake Show is almost back to full strength as they are getting Luke Walton back for this game. Having Walton back gives LA another guy who can bring the ball up the court and run the offense, which was something the Lakers were lacking in the last couple of weeks.
The Cavs come into this game boasting the best defense in the league, giving up just 89 points per contest and also have an impressive 11-1 record versus the Western Conference this year. They will be playing without Delonte West, who banged up his wrist last Thursday. There’s no doubt LeBron will be ready to go, he always seems to step his game up in these big games. This is one of those games that you circle when the schedule comes out, and it’s fitting that LeBron should be stealing some headlines from the early Super Bowl buzz. He is considering a jump to the NFL after all.
