- Phoenix 118, LA 109 - And this is apparently a series... Amare was unreal last night (42 and 11)... he was aggressive, used his quickness advantage, and was generally effective (obviously) with an assist to how Alvin Gentry limited his exposure on the other end with that zone... Phoenix also got highly efficient efforts from Lopez and Richardson with the typical Nash 17 pt/15 dime game... for LA? Kobe was absolutely masterful in my opinion... that's going to be overlooked today because they lost, but 36, 11 and 9 on 13 of 24 shooting is nothing to overlook, he was fantastic and so was Gasol... the supporting cast? not so much... 9 for 32 from 3-point distance as a team... and a combined 11 of 37 shooting from Odom/Artest/Brown/Farmar... that won't get it done... It's at least a competitive series now... something we aren't used to
- Mike Brown fired by the Cavs... at first, I shrugged my shoulders... I've never found Brown to be particularly effective as an in-game strategist (that's putting it lightly), and that roster (and the star) speak for themselves... but he's a good defensive coach, went to the playoffs 5 times in a row (reaching the Finals in 07 with an undermanned unit), and won 60 games twice... a bit of a raw deal? Definitely... but I feel like Cleveland did what they thought they had to do to try to keep Lebron... this is new territory for the league...
- Jose Lima dead at 37... the former 20-game winner had a heart attack... crazy stuff... I'll remember his vibrant on-mound antics and his personality but he had some good years including 1999 when he won 20+ and was an all-star... RIP
- Tough 10th inning loss for the Braves last night... Saito has been kind of shaky lately, and that's a point of concern... but with the lineup they dragged out yesterday (no McCann, no Chipper, no Heyward), you can't be all that angry... especially with how effective Medlen has been... imagine if he was fully stretched out and could go deeper into games... Kawakami is pitching for his job the next couple starts...
What to watch for...
- Celtics/Magic Game 4 8:30 ESPN - Orlando on the brink... I feel like a Boston letdown is very much in play here... but at the same time, that would mean Orlando has to bring an effort the likes of which we haven't seen this series... I don't see it... Boston sweeps tonight... and Stan Van Gundy gets murdered tomorrow
- Red Sox/Rays 7:00 ESPN2 - Davis/Buchholz... 2 of the better young arms in the league.. and any opportunity to watch the Rays full-court press is worth tuning to... probably the most entertaining team to watch in the league... even without taking into account how good they are
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