Off The Press

Off the Press, the Clippers are up 2-0 in a playoff series.   Doesn't that just sound crazy?  The Clippers pummeled the Denver Nuggets, 98-87, last night.  Sportsline's Tony Meija has some reflections on the Clippers game and the rest of last night's playoff action. On the Clippers, USA Today David Leon Moore, writes:

It's the Clippers, so humiliation can be expected. Only, not like this. Not with the Clippers doing the humiliating.

That's the way it is, though, in this revised L.A. story, with the historically pathetic Clippers playing large and in charge of their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.

The Clippers steamrolled the Nuggets 98-87 Monday night to take a 2-0 playoff lead for the first time in franchise history.

This is shocking, momentous news. 

J.A. Adande, of the L.A Times, was at the game.  His column, It's a blast considering their past, reflects his incredulity at the Clippers reversal of  fortune.  Adande writes a good column on the game itself, sprinkling great quotes from broadcaster Doug Collins in to liven and embellish his account.  However, one gets the sense that Adande can't quit believe it's the Clippers he's writing about.  He wraps up his article with a twist, writing:

One of Dunleavy's challenges will be reining in the enthusiasm of his players, since it's too early to start celebrating. He tried to set the tone at halftime, when a jubilant Cuttino Mobley tried to chest-bump him after banking in a half-court shot at the buzzer. Dunleavy simply patted Mobley on the side.

But essentially his job is to get them to keep playing Clipper basketball. That's now a good thing, not a punch line

True dat!! 

Adande has been on a tear lately.  While his columns have been excellent, Adande's blog, overtime, has been where he's done his best work.  Adande is one of the few working journalists who is as good of a blogger as he is a columnist.  Somehow, most columnists are lame bloggers, they never seem to get the rhythm right.  Adande is the exception.  His blog entries are all 'must read,' and the comments they elicit are..well...peep this excerpt from responses to an Adande column which asserted Steve Nash deserves the MVP award over Kobe:

Hey, J.A., are you sure you're a brother?  I've never seen  such an "Uncle
Tom" attitude!.  I know you hate, Kobe, but come on brother, show some
integrity.   Stop kissing up to the white man.  Nash is the MVP because of
his "substandard" play of his teammates.  What the hell do you think the
Lakers would be without Kobe, you idiot?

I love it.  I always get emails from folks questioning my Blackness because of some item I wrote that they don't agree with.  It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that gets the treatment.

On the Kobe/Nash MVP question, I'll say that Kobe is the best player in the league, but Nash is the most valuable player to his team.  The Lakers could win almost as much without Kobe, Phil Jackson's coaching would find a way to use Odom as a linchpin for a Kobe-less Lakers team.  However, the Suns would be lost without Nash -completely.  That's my two cents.  I will admit though, that Kobe can't catch a break.  The whole "damned if you do, etc"  thing applies to him - in spades. 

A couple of days ago, I think I mentioned that you should ignore all the rumors coming out of the NFL regarding the draft, right?  Well, let me take the opportunity to beg an exception.  It appears that the Houston Texans are seriously considering drafting defensive end Mario Williams over Reggie Bush (and Vince Young).  Before you start screaming, ESPN's Michael Smith outlines why Williams should be the Texans' choice over Reggie Bush.  Good DEs have more long-term impact than RBs, argues Smith.  Smith presents his case:

The Texans should take Williams because he plays the position with more impact, D-end. Good running backs come in all sizes, shapes and rounds. Great pass rushers are rare. That's why backs don't get paid what ends do. Look, money talks: The highest franchise and transition numbers (the average salaries of, respectively, the top five and 10 highest-paid players at each position) belong to quarterbacks, followed by ends, linebackers, offensive linemen, wide receivers and then running backs. You might even argue that cornerbacks have more value than running backs. Two years ago, Denver dealt two-time 1,500-yard rusher Clinton Portis (a second-round pick, by the way) to Washington for corner Champ Bailey. Running backs, which have the shortest career span of any position, seem to come and go, often because teams decide to let them. New Texans coach Gary Kubiak knows this, having served as offensive coordinator in Denver, where the system -- the same one he's brought with him to Houston -- has produced five different 1,000-yard running backs (and a few yards short of two more last year) in Mike Shanahan's 11 years as head coach. None of those backs was a first-rounder. So Kubiak should be able to get plenty of production, if not the home runs, out of Domanick Davis (3,195 yards in three seasons), Vernand Morency, or whomever.

The man makes a good point..

NFL.com expert Pat Kirwan, former Jets GM, release his latest mock draft.  Pat Kirwan is the E.F.Hutton of NFL draft experts.  When he says something, it's either because he knows or he has reliable information from someone who knows.  His access to GMs is total and he has the ability to sift truth from rumor because of his experience in the league.  He's given some credence to the Texans mulling over taking Mario Williams.  That's enough for me. 

Kirwan also has the Pats taking OSU LB Bobby Carpenter.  I've been convinced that the Pats will pick a corner with their first pick.  However, they do need linebackers and Carpenter is a workout buddy and protégé of the Pats' Mike Vrabel.  Jerome Solomon, of the Boston Globe, also writes that the Pats like Carpenter.  Solomon writes a feature on the OSU linebacker in today's Globe.  Carpenter is built to last. Solomon writes, "Word is, Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter is a Bill Belichick kind of guy."

We'll see come Sunday.

out.

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• #1 Comment from monponsett 
  5/2/06 6:19 PM | Permalink

  You called that one, K. Super Mario.
  
  Can Kobe be the MVP if there's a guy in the same town leading a team to a better record than the Lakers?