In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Tim Duncan scored 21 points and Tony Parker added 17 as the Spurs moved on to the Western Conference Dinals with a 102-99 win (and a 4-0 sweep) over the Clippers. After the win, Duncan sneaked off to the parking lot, sat in the backseat of his minivan, and filled a plastic cup to the halfway line with red wine. "This is your moment, Tim," he whispered to himself. "Enjoy." He took one sip, stared at the wine, and whispered, "Don't be a glutton" before carefully pouring the rest back in the bottle.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday.
Russell Westbrook tallied 29 points, seven boards, and nine assists as the Thunder routed the Lakers 119-90 in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. "I'm not going to blame this loss on fatigue," said Lakers coach Mike Brown, who then urged reporters to keep the noise down as he carried a sleeping Pau Gasol to the team bus.
Earlier this week, ESPN SweetSpot writer David Schoenfield declared fully recovered White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy the game’s best hurler. Peavy’s comeback, from two-time ERA champ to desperately dangling limb and now back to a batter-baffling force, has been remarkable and was never a given. But as good as Peavy’s been, overwhelming hitters with his four-pitch repertoire, he isn’t a guy who haunts the nightmares of his opponents. Stephen Strasburg, well, he’s another story.
Nobody knows better than me the kind of battery throwing, Santa beating, and goat sacrificing that Philadelphia sports fans are capable of. I am guilty of at least two of those things myself. Nobody knows better … except for maybe Washington Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Kobe Bryant scored 38 points and Andrew Bynum contributed 27 points and nine boards as the Lakers took a 2-0 lead on the Nuggets, winning 104-100. In downtown Los Angeles, things turned a bit ugly during the second quarter when suspended forward Metta World Peace was found in a city dumpster viciously elbowing a pile of old chicken nuggets. Eyewitnesses described the act as "almost definitely intentional."
Playing in front of a sellout Dodger Stadium crowd, Bryce Harper, just the sixth player to make his major league debut as a teenager in the past nine years, made a big first impression. Which is great, because right now the 2012 Nationals are no different from the 2012 Phillies.
OK, that's not quite fair. The Phillies have a reliable closer.
We sat in a seemingly endless queue of cars on Elysian Park Avenue on Saturday, stuck in the kind of L.A. traffic that Angelenos never tire of complaining about and everyone else never tires of hearing about (you guys love it, right? We knew it!), listening to Vin Scully tick off the outs, afraid that we'd experience The First At-Bat via radio, next to an enormous black pickup truck flying a Lakers flag big enough to stake an eventual claim in Planet Kobe. Had this sellout crowd actually mobilized for the Chosen One's major league debut? Were this many Dodgers fans lining up for the coincidental celebration of Strasmas? Or was it the lure of Double-Bobblehead Night, with 54,000-plus hoping to get their greedy hands on the Chang-and-Eng-esque abobblemination that was the conjoined Don Drysdale–Maury Wills collectible on offer at the gate? Baseball fans love them some bobbleheads, even more than their scorecards and inflatable mini-bats. Trust us, it was the bobbleheads.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Carmelo Anthony notched his second career triple-double (35 points, 12 boards, 10 assists) as the Knicks beat the Celtics 118-110. Evil Celtics forward Kevin Garnett told reporters he was impressed with Anthony's performance, but that it should only be another week or so before he starts to feel the weakening effects of long-term arsenic poisoning.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Derrick Rose admitted that he's uncomfortable with his fame in Chicago, and the lifestyle doesn't suit his personality. "It's time to start keeping a lower profile," he said, "and it begins today ... with this GQ interview."
CC Sabathia serves up a grand slam in the first inning of his first start. Joey Votto's hitting a buck-fifty-four through four games. For fantasy players, these are minor annoyances. Sabathia's probably going to be a top starter again this year, and Votto's probably going to contend for an MVP. These kinds of ugly performances by blue-chip players in the first week of the season will likely be long forgotten by Game 162.
The same cannot be said for closers. If you see a ninth-inning guy not making gobs of money melt down in spectacular fashion, even this early in the season, your radar should go up. Not because their health or skills are necessarily compromised. But because the closer role is almost completely arbitrary. (St. Mariano excepted.)
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Grantland's weekly MLB Power Rankings. Every Monday we'll size up all 30 teams, evaluating each one based on a combination of recent play, overall team quality, and statistical spelunking.
Stephen Strasburg is coming back. Bryce Harper is coming soon. The Phillies might be waning. No wonder the Nationals were one of baseball's most aggressive teams this offseason, raiding the farm system for Gio Gonzalez and signing Edwin Jackson to a deal that might turn into the best bargain of the winter (one year, $11 million).
In baseball's busiest day since the end of the winter meetings, one team might have landed the biggest bargain of the offseason, another might have overpaid and still come out happy with the outcome, and one of our favorite athletes trolled the hell out of tens of thousands of people.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday
The U.S. Attorney's office has amended the complaint against Full Tilt Poker, an online gambling site, to note that it was run as a "massive Ponzi scheme." FTP apparently didn't have the necessary cash on hand to pay out the accounts of all its players, and earlier this year still owed $390 million. Site representatives said it was no big deal, though, since they planned to make most of it back in a hold-em game with A-Rod later this month.
