May 2009 Archives

LeBron James was nothing short of spectacular in the fourth quarter Thursday night to extend the Cleveland-Orlando series to a sixth game in Orlando Saturday night.

And that, I believe, is where it ends.

James is off-the-charts good but Orlando's has a much more well-rounded offense. And very good offenses will beat a "great player" almost every time.

As for Lakers-Denver, Game 6 is in Denver tonight and the Nuggets should extend the series to a Game 7 Sunday night unless there are some more meltdowns (in terms of shot selection and technical foul collecting) on the part of George Karl's players.

But the Nuggets aren't going to beat the Lakers in the Staples Center again . . .

Game 1 of the championship series will be Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Lakers will win it in six games . . .

I'm not sure the Lakers are good enough to beat the Nuggets, in Denver, Friday night to close out the Western Conference finals.

That is unless, of course, the Nuggets' inability to control their emotions and erratic shot selection overpowers their incredible ability under the backcourts at both ends of the floor.

But the Lakers' ability to play with poise -- for the most part -- and to execute, offensively, is why Phil Jackson's team is going to win the series, if not in six games and almost certainly in a Game 7 in the Staples Center.

FYI: I don't want to hear any more whining about Kobe Bryant's teammates. Pau Gasol is one of the four best post players in the NBA (along with Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan and Yao Ming), Lamar Odom is one of the most skilled 6-9 plus players in the world, Trevor Ariza is going to be in the NBA for another 10 or so years and Derek Fisher's leadership skills are quite obvious.

The Lakers may not win the NBA title (although I suspect they will) but they are the best basketball "team" in the world.

LeBron James hit the most critical shot of his professional career Friday night in Cleveland, with the 3-pointer at the buzzer giving his Cavaliers a one-point lead victory over Orlando and evening the Eastern Conference final series at a win apiece.

But the issue remains with the series set to move to Orlando for Game 3 Sunday:

Are the Magic really the better team?

It sure looks that way.

Any notion that Cleveland was going to trample Orlando in the same fashion that it eliminated Detroit and Atlanta was dispelled in a hurry Wednesday night in the opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference final in Cleveland.

The Magic faced a 15-point deficit at intermission and the prospect of preventing LeBron James from beating them nearly single-handily.

But the Magic, most notably Rashard Lewis, hit just enough tough shots down the stretch to erase the Cavs' home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Dwight Howard gets most of the media attention for Orlando, and rightfully so.

But Orlando has two very skilled forwards who are very difficult matchups for the Cavs.

Can LeBron play much better than he did while scoring 49 points (he hit 20 of 30 shots from the field; Kobe Bryant, while scoring 40 Tuesday night, was 13 of 28) and dishing eight assists?

It's doubtful. And that's not good news for Cleveland because Orlando has shown it can withstand 40-point performance by James as long as it can contain the other Cavs, most notably guards Maurice Williams and Delonte West.

This series is going seven games, I do believe.

And Long Beach's softball team is facing its final inning of the season.

Fresno State is batting in the top of the seventh and holding a 9-2 lead . . .

The Bulldogs lead Long Beach State 6-0 going into the top of the third inning in an elimination game that probably isn't going to be over until well past 10 o'clock tonight.

The big knock: A grand slam by Michelle Moses in the second inning.

Senior left fielder Danielle Linke drove a 1-0 pitch from Stephanie Bregante over the right-center field fence in the bottom of the 13th inning to give Long Beach a 3-1 NCAA regional softball victory over UNLV in a game that that threatened never to end.

So the 49ers have 30 minutes to take a couple of deep breaths and play Fresno State in another elimination game.

Brooke Turner, who threw six innings in the loss to UCLA, threw 6 2/3 innings in relief to get credit for the win.

So who throws in the next game? Probably Kelly Cross or Bridgette Pagano. And more likely both.

It's now time for the 13th inning . . . it's getting chilly and I'm at wit's end to come up with anything witty to write about what I'm watching.

. . . just a thought:

Is this ever going to end?

Long Beach loaded the bases, on walks, with one out in the bottom of the 10th . . . and then UNLV brought in Stephanie Bregante (who started) and she got Breezy Goad to pop to short center and Jodi Nakawatase to foul out to second baseman Ashlie Holland.

How many opportunities can one team fail to capitalize on in a softball game?

Now to the 11th . . .

It's 6:15 and the third game of the day was supposed to have started 15 minutes ago at Easton Stadium.

But Long Beach and UNLV are still going at it in Game 2 . . . with the Rebels about to bat in the top of the 10th and it's still 1 piece.

UNLV is about to bat in the ninth inning and the only reason is because a potential game-winning, two-run homer by the Rebels' Kendall Fearn in the top of the eighth was was negated when first-base umpire Patty Constantinidis because runner Jaci Hull had left first base before the Brooke Turner pitch was released.

That ruling forced Hull out and forced Fearn back to the plate, much to the chagrin of UNLV Coach Pete Manarino, and Turner got out of the inning.

UNLV had a couple of runners on with one out but Brooke Turner came out of the bullpen to get the 49ers out of the jam, with the last out coming on a nice running catch by Ashley Weber in left field.

Long Beach's half of the seventh on tap . . .

. . . and it's still tied at 1, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys . . .

This is what happens when a team continually fails to put a team away . . . one swing and the other team has tied it.

That's what just happened to Long Beach State as UNLV's Jaci Hulli just homered off freshman Taylor Petty in the top of the six.

Petty got out of the inning but the score is now tied going into Long Beach's half of the sixth.

Another inning, another runner stranded in scoring position for Long Beach . . .

The 49ers are just six UNLV outs away from a regional win but they are making a lot more difficult than it should be via their their lack of timely hitting.

The 49ers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth . . . then UNLV reliever Traci Odegard fanned Alisha Rosen and Danielle Linke.

Long Beach is up 1-0 in the top of the fifth but LBSU Coach Kim Sowder can't help thinking this should be at least 3-zip right now.

Jonae Perez just waved at a pitch that was way outside to fan with two out and runners at second and third for the 49ers in the bottom of the third inning.

But Long Beach is still in front as UNLV prepares to bat in the fourth . . . .

Junior shortstop Ashley Levine hit a line drive drive the right-field line and over the fence for the first hit and run of the game as Long Beach State's softball team took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning of the NCAA Regional elimination game at UCLA Saturday afternoon.

It's just the start of what the 49ers hope will be a long Saturday of softball for them. If they win, they play Fresno State (which lost to UCLA a few minutes ago, 4-2) at 6 o'clock in another win-or-go-home tilt.

The Bruins win 4-2 and will play Fresno State Saturday at 1, while Long Beach hooks up with UNLV and its former coach, Pete Manarino, at 3:30.

The 49ers had their chances . . . and didn't take advantage of many of them.

Freshman Julie Burney just smacked her 10th home run of the season and UCLA is taking a 4-2 lead into the top of the seventh . . .

You can't hit a softball much harder than Burney just did, FYI . . .

Brooke Turner appeared to have gotten Megan Lagenfeld looking on a 2-2 pitch but umpire Patty Costantinidis didn't give her the strike.

And on the next offer Lagenfeld drove Turner to deep left-center for a double that scored Katie Schroeder for a run that put the Bruins up, 3-2.

And Lagenfeld appears to be getting stronger on the mound for the Bruins . . .

Brooke Turner is throwing well for Long Beach now and the 49ers are about to bat in the fifth inning with the scored still tied at 2.

The 49ers lost catcher Kristen Pocock in the top of the fourth when the junior appeared to foul a pitch off of her nose or the upper part of her face.

The 49ers strung together five hits off UCLA ace Megan Leganfeld in the top of the third inning to tie the score at 2 but could have had a much bigger inning if Leganfeld had not fanned Jennifer Griffin and Brandy Reyes (the latter with the bases loaded to end the inning).

Both of UCLA's runs are unearned after each was set up by wild pitches by Brooke Turner.

The Bruins scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, and are about to take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the second against Long Beach State in a NCAA Regional softball game at the Bruins' Easton Stadium.

A very nice day and a decent crowd.

The Long Beach State softball team had to wait until the bitter end before finding if it got into the NCAA Tournament.

And, just minutes ago, the last match-up to show up on the screen on the ESPNU broadcast showed the 49ers, as a No. 4 seed (likely meaning they were one of the final at-large selections), playing No. 1 seed UCLA in Westwood Friday.

The other opening-day matchup at UCLA Friday has UNLV (led by former Long Beach coach Pete Manarino) taking on Fresno State.

My, oh, my . . . the Lakers and Rockets too the just-concluded second game of the Western Conference semifinal series very seriously, indeed.

They surely tested the officiating, especially when Derek Fisher nailed Luis Scola blatantly with a shoulder and elbow (leading to his ejection late in the third quarter and, very possibly, a suspension for Game 3) and Ron Artest got into Kobe Bryant's face (leading to an ejection when, in reality, only a technical foul was warranted) in the fourth quarter.

Bryant (40 points) was phenomenal, getting into a jump-shooting rhythm early and, except for a stretch of the second quarter, never getting out of it.

But, please, Kobe: You're one of the two best players in the world. You didn't have to follow every shot you hit over (or around) Shane Battier by shaking your head and sneering while mouthing ``He can't guard me". That's high school stuff, and one of the officials finally called him on it by T'ing him up late in the game.

Excellent defense, in both half-court settings and in transition, along with solid offensive patience and execution, were the critical reasons why the Houston Rockets dominated most of the proceedings against the Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference semifinals Monday night.

But the Lakers couldn't have played much worse and it's unlikely the Rockets can play any better.

There is your silver lining amongst a lot of dark cloud formations in the Staples Center, Lakers' fans.

FYI: Yao Ming is so much the most skilled center, offensively, in the NBA. And I'm not even sure if the gentlemen conceded by most to be the best player at the position in the league, Dwight Howard of Orlando, is even the second most skilled (again, offensively) center on the NBA level.