The New York Yankees have won 9 of 10 and for the first time in a year have put it all together. Last year the Yanks lost a lot of games 2-1 and would follow it up by losing 10-9 the next night. They could hit and they could pitch but never on the same night. During the last ten games the Yanks have hit and pitched spectacularly. You want two things out of your hitters. To be balanced, where everybody is a legitimate threat so that you can't pitch around guys, and to be clutch. During this streak there have been game winners from Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano, and Alex Rodriguez. To some extent all 4 are unexpected. The first three aren't stars by any means and Alex Rodriguez is known to come up small in big spots. However the last part of this isn't true at all. Yes he's been horrible in the post-season but in the regular season he's been great in late game situations hitting countless walk-offs in the past few years. This was no different today as he tied up the game off Brad Lidge which led to the eventual Milk Man walk-off. Also, the pitching has been consistent for the first time in a year and a half. All 5 starters are pitching well and in his last two starts C.C. Sabathia has gone deep into the game, which gives the bullpen a rest. Also Chein-Mein Wang is on his way back so hopefully he'll come back strong and although I know it won't happen, I think Joba is the missing piece to the Yankee bullpen as an 8th inning stopper. If Wang can come back and Hughes stays up that's 6 starters; send Joba to the pen and the Yankees, to me, are the unquestioned favorite in the AL. (And remember I'm completely unbiased!!!)
Now onto the fresher topic: the Los Angeles Lakers. Fresh off of Game 3 here are the things on the forefront of my mind.
1) Thank God the Lakers have Luke Walton.
What? He played 14 minutes and didn't score. Yeah, I got that. However in those 14 minutes he played the best defense all night on Carmelo Anthony including Melo's 4th foul (an offensive foul) that sent him to the bench. He also threw a beautiful lob to Kobe that was a key play in the game. That reminded me of my next point:
2) Execution on out of bounds plays has to do with personnel and execution.
The Lakers will never have a problem on an inbounds play in terms of personnel because of Lamar Odom and the aforementioned Luke Walton. On offense you want a guy who is big and a great passer to get the ball inbounds. Luke Walton is a great passer and is 6'10". Lamar Odom is also a good passer and is 6'10" so Phil Jackson has options. Denver doesn't. Cleveland doesn't. Orlando does (Who do? Hedo). On defense you want someone to guard the inbounder who is not only tall but long. Every team left has one of those.
Now for the execution aspect. On offense, you want a play where you get your best player open in a clutch situation or for a non critical (non-end game play) you want an easy pass. In game 2, Phil Jackson broke the cardinal rule saying Kobe would have been fouled and Derek Fisher (more on him below) was the man with the ball. I'm not saying Phil's a bad coach, but to foul Kobe successfully (without putting him on the line for 3) in that situation would have been nearly impossible. Mike Brown in Game 2 followed the rule and Lebron hit the game winner. Now for defensive side. You want the man guarding the inbounder to make whatever pass is being attempted difficult and you want your players to be smart. First how to do it: Lamar Odom and the Lakers. Odom twice in this series has made the inbounds pass incredibly difficult for Anthony Carter (Game 1) and Kenyon Martin (Game 3) and that has resulted in two game-clinching Trevor Ariza steals. Now for the "how not to do it" portion of the program: the Orlando Magic. First, watch the play here. Now pay atttention class:
Mistake 1: What the hell is Rashard Lewis doing? You have two options: 1) Guard the ball so that 6'1" Mo Willams can't see a damn thing because you're big 6'10" frame means he can't see or 2) double team Lebron in case he Hedo loses him. Rashard Lewis chose neither and instead was in no man's land and thus was useless.
Mistake 2: What the hell is Mikael Pietrus doing? There is 1.0 second left on the clock. It's a catch and shoot situation. There is no time for a play to be run. Watch again as Pietrus chases Sasha Pavlovic into the backcourt. Let him go!!!! As soon as your man is out of shooting range you become a roamer on defense, which against Cleveland means find 23!!! If Sasha Pavlovic beats you with a 50 footer, you shake his hand and go back to Orlando tied 1-1 with a smile on your face. You cannot let Lebron get the ball. Hedo Turkoglu did everything right. He denied the lob and forced a contested 28' fade away three. Lebron just hit it. However the rest of his team dropped the ball and thus the series is tied instead of Orlando going home to Mickey having beaten Cleveland the same amount of times that Cleveland lost in the regular season all year.
Now back to the Lakers.
3) Will Derek Fisher please put on the shirt and tie and coach????
D-Fish has been amazing for LA over the years. He has hit huge clutch shots this season and even some in the playoffs. However that's all he's done and he no longer plays defense like he used to to the point where he is now a liability. He can't keep up with Chauncey Billups. Jordan Farmar has the skill to be an elite PG in the NBA and all he needs is some run. He is a player built on confidence and it's hard to be confident playing 15 minutes a game, the least of the three point guards. Yes he's had a rough stretch but look at the one game where he got significant run, when Fisher was suspended in Houston. LA played their best road game of the playoffs and he played extremely well. Shannon Brown has also played well. Farmar and Brown create match up problems for Denver because of their quickness. Right now I could guard Derek Fisher. Please Fish, put on a suit and coach. We love the leadership, but we can't have you anywhere near a basketball right now. Love, all right-minded Laker fans.
4) When did Trevor Ariza become LA's best shooter (outside of that Bryant feller)???
It used to be Sasha Vujacic hands down. However if Sasha were a Coors Light, his mountains would be blue. He's cold. Really cold. And although he's kept the shooters mentality and has kept shooting he hasn't snapped out of it yet. Meanwhile, I feel like Trevor Ariza hasn't missed a shot all series and I know he hasn't missed a clutch shot. He's become a knock-down shooter and is as confident as any player on the floor right now. He's also playing smart, picking his shots. Also he hasn't fallen in love with his jumper like many players (J.R. Smith *cough cough*) do when they get hot, still attacking the rim every chance he gets. Simply put, Trevor Ariza=stud.
5) I know it sounds crazy but...
The Lakers have 3 big men that are nearly 6'11" and above. The Nuggets have no size except Nene and Chris Andersen, who despite his great blocking ability from the weak-side can't guard on the block to save his life. Why not use them all together???? I simply don't understand it. Give me a lineup of Bryant, Ariza, Odom, Gasol, and Bynum. Kobe and Lamar are fully capable of playing the point in terms of ball handling and Odom has the range to play outside at the 3. This also allows Odom to play Anthony, which he can with his size, Ariza to play Billups which is a huge size advantage for the Lakers, and it leaves Kobe to play Dahntay Jones aka roam freely wherever he wants. You can also sub Luke Walton for Odom and it still works. This would mean giving Josh Powell a little more run to spell the big guys but it would work. It keeps Fish on the bench and creates a huge size advantage LA. You then can go small with Farmar and Vujacic when Billups comes out, and Denver doesn't have the personnel on the bench to match LA's speed. Phil has 9 rings. I have 0. However this makes too much sense to me not to try.
That's it for now. More to come in the days to come. Possibly even a "One Big Thing" style blog. I believe they call that a tease in the business.
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