The Kobe & Sasha Show Defeats Celtics Lakers Win Game 3
June 11, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Magic Johnson looked very nervous. Across the court, Jack Nicholson fidgeted with his sunglasses, Sylvester Stallone squirmed in his seat and nearly everyone else styling in shades of purple and gold was on edge.
The Los Angeles Lakers, kings of the Western Conference, were in real trouble, end-of-the-season kind of trouble.
Kobe Bryant pulled them out of it.
On his floor and on his game, Bryant revived the Lakers — and the NBA Finals.
Bryant scored 36 points with an MVP-worthy performance, Sasha Vujacic added 20 points and the Lakers, teetering on the brink of falling into an impossible hole in the NBA Finals, beat the Boston Celtics 87-81 in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
L.A.’s brightest sports star, Bryant was California cool.
“What I tried to do with my teammates is just stay calm,” he said. “It wasn’t the end of the world. They did a great job of defending home court. We knew we had to come here and do the same. They feed off of my confidence and I have all the confidence in the world that we can come here and win.”
A change of time zones, jerseys and attitude did wonders for the Lakers, who staggered home from Boston in an 0-2 hole and couldn’t afford to fall any further behind in the first best-of-seven matchup between the league’s marquee teams since 1987.
No team in NBA playoff history has ever overcome an 0-3 deficit.
Bryant made sure the Lakers won’t have to.
And this time, the superstar got some help.
Vujacic, the self-proclaimed “Machine,” made three 3-pointers, including a crucial one from the left corner with 1:53 left that gave the Lakers an 81-76 lead. Pau Gasol finally flexed his muscles with two inside baskets in the fourth quarter and Derek Fisher, who took an $8 million pay cut to come back and play for the Lakers, made two free throws with 1:33 remaining as the Lakers held on.
“We just wanted to play,” said Bryant, whose only flaw was an 11-of-18 night from the foul line. “I don’t think anyone was feeling desperate.”
Game 4 is Thursday night at the Staples Center, where the Lakers are 9-0 in the playoffs and unbeaten in 15 games since March 28.
But it took everything they had to keep that streak alive as the Celtics, two wins from their 17th NBA title but only 2-8 on the road in this postseason, made the Lakers play a more physical, Eastern Conference-style game and nearly walked away with a win.
Ray Allen scored 25 points — 15 on 3-pointers — for the Celtics, but only one-third of Boston’s Big Three showed up.
Kevin Garnett scored 13 points on just 6-of-21 shooting and Paul Pierce, playing a short drive from his childhood home, had only six points, missed 12 shots and was in foul trouble all night.
“As bad as we played, we still had opportunities,” Allen said. “That’s the positive. We can look at it, but I don’t think on either side of the floor we were good. We had so much more room for improvement.”
The Celtics enjoyed a huge disparity from the line in Game 2, shooting 38 free throws to 10 for the Lakers.
But the whistles were more well-balanced as Los Angeles took 34 free throws to Boston’s 22.
After Garnett’s dunk brought the Celtics within 83-78 with 1:28 to go, Bryant made sure that it was he who took L.A.’s next shot. He drove on Allen to get some space, pulled up and drilled the kind of jumper he has practiced tens of thousands of times.
Eddie House, who gave Boston big minutes when Rajon Rondo went out with an injury, countered with a 3-pointer, and suddenly the Lakers’ glitzy crowd, which included Nicholson in his familiar courtside seat, grew uneasy.
But Bryant calmed their twitching nerves quickly.
On the Lakers’ next possession, Bryant, whose shot wouldn’t drop in Boston, backed down in the lane and dropped in a short jumper to make it 87-81.
House missed for Boston, both teams committed silly offensive fouls in the closing seconds, and when the final horn sounded, the Lakers could finally relax.
Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson knew whom to credit for the win.
“I think undoubtedly it’s the leadership of Kobe Bryant,” he said. “He was aggressive right from the start, put the defense on its heels.”
Los Angeles is trying to become the fourth team to come back from an 0-2 deficit, and with two more games at home, they’ve got a chance to turn this renewed rivalry around.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers figured Bryant would take over the series at some point, but he didn’t expect Vujacic, who scored a combined 16 points in Games 1 and 2, to be such a factor.
“Kobe was fantastic but I thought Vujacic was the key to the game,” he said. “I said before we are going to have to win a game when Kobe Bryant plays well. We know that. But when that happens, we have to shut off the other avenues.”
This game won’t be remembered as one of the better ones in the storied Lakers-Celtics rivalry, but it did have a few moments of the physical nastiness that defined their matchups during the 1980s.
“It was not a beautiful ballgame,” Jackson said. “That’s a transition game from East Coast to West Coast. But we’ll have a day to catch up tomorrow and hopefully both of us will play better basketball on Thursday night.”
With the Lakers down two and running out of time in the fourth, Bryant took a pass from Luke Walton at the top of the key. Knowing he was about to try a shot that could have lasting importance, Bryant gathered himself, measured the rim and let fly with a 3-pointer that gave Los Angeles a 69-68 lead with 6:55 left.
Fisher made two free throws and Bryant, who had missed seven from the line, knocked down two more foul shots as the Lakers went up 73-68.
Pierce grew up in Inglewood, Calif., where he learned to play in the shadow of the Fabulous Forum, the Lakers’ former home where Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and “Showtime” had an extended run of championship seasons.
But Pierce’s finals homecoming was homely.
The Celtics’ star forward, who came in averaging 25 points in the series, went just 2-for-14 and missed all four 3-pointers.
Despite his struggles, the Celtics were only down six early in the third quarter when Rondo went down with a sprained left ankle. As he laid on the floor, his teammates rushed over to check on Rondo, who limped off the court without aid — or a wheelchair — like Pierce famously needed after hurting his knee in the opener.
House, who hadn’t played a minute in the series, replaced Rondo and drilled a 3-pointer and Garnett scored underneath before finally making a jumper as Boston took a 51-49 lead. Moments later, Allen stuck a 3-pointer that sent Boston’s bench bounding onto the floor when the Lakers had to call a timeout.
The Lakers didn’t have to endure the deafening chants of “Beat L.A.” Instead, they warmed up to Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A” and Los Angeles fans screamed “Boston [Stinks]” every chance they could.
Unlike Game 2, when so much of the pregame attention was on Pierce’s sprained knee, the chatter before tipoff included uneasy discussions about past officiating.
The league was again having to deal with allegations made by former referee Tim Donaghy, who claims in court documents that NBA referees rigged the 2002 playoff series between the Lakers and Sacramento Kings.
Commissioner David Stern reiterated the league’s stance that Donaghy acted alone and feels his lawyers were using Game 3’s platform to help their client.
After Game 2, Jackson, Bryant and a few other Lakers had made pointed and sarcastic comments about the lopsided whistles. But if they were worried about there being any favoritism toward Boston, they were mistaken as the Lakers attempted 14 free throws — four more than in all of Game 2 — in the first quarter.
Game notes
Informed that Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who sat courtside and within a few feet of the Lakers bench in Game 2, blogged about Bryant criticizing his teammates, Jackson said he wished fans were further back. “I’ve been against that for as long as I’ve been coaching,” he said. “Those people don’t belong there, somebody is going to get hurt. But that becomes part of what the NBA is about, being close to the action and close to the scene. We have to suffer the consequences because of it.” … American Idol winner David Cook sang the national anthem.
Ken Griffrey Jr. Joins The 600 HR Club
June 10, 2008
We knew 20 years ago, when he was 19 and skinny, that an achievement of this magnitude was possible. The signs were everywhere. Ken Griffey Jr. was the son of a major leaguer, he was from Stan Musial’s hometown, Donora, Pa., he says he never struck out in a high school game and he was the Seattle Mariners’ No. 1 pick in the June 1987 draft.
Now he is 38 and thick, he wears Babe Ruth’s No. 3, not Willie Mays’ No. 24 as he did in those early seasons. He plays right field now, not center field. He doesn’t scale fences like he used to and he doesn’t smile as often as he used to. But nonetheless, in the first inning Monday night at Florida against Mark Hendrickson, he joined Ruth, Mays, Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Sammy Sosa in the most exclusive and prestigious club in sports, the 600 Home Run Club.
“I was there in his prime,” said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who managed Griffey in Seattle. “He was special. And he was fun to watch.”
It was clear right away that he was special. Only days after Griffey signed with the Mariners, he came to Seattle and took batting practice with the major league club before a game.
“I’ve seen it before when a No. 1 draft pick comes to the big club right after he’s drafted, and the kid is nervous, he gets in the cage, pops up a bunch of balls, swings and misses at a couple because he’s trying to hit it so high and so far because he doesn’t feel like he belongs,” said Scott Bradley, who is Princeton’s baseball coach, and a former teammate of Griffey during 1989-92. “That wasn’t the case with Junior. He got in the cage, and he was kind of carrying on a conversation with the media while he was hitting. The first 25 swings, he just hit line drives to left field. He didn’t overswing one time. Then he hit balls up the middle. Then he took a break, came back loose, and started hitting balls into the seats. I looked at [veteran Mariners] Harold Reynolds and Alvin Davis and said, ‘It looks like he belongs.’”
After two seasons in the minor leagues, none above the Double-A level, another clear sign came.
“When he came to camp in 1989, he had no chance to make the team,” Bradley said. “But he got a lot of at-bats early that spring because a lot of veterans don’t like to play a lot early. After 20 games, he wasn’t just the best player on our team, he was the best player in the league that spring. The Mariners basically said, ‘We don’t want this to happen, we don’t want to rush him, we don’t want him to make the team.’ So they started running him out there against every elite pitcher, against all the nastiest left-handers they could find in hopes that he would stop hitting, and they could send him out. It never happened.”
He made the club as a 19-year-old, the youngest player on an Opening Day roster that season. In his first at-bat at the Seattle Kingdome, he hit a home run on the first pitch he saw from the White Sox’s Eric King. Griffey went on to hit 16 home runs that season — in baseball history, only Tony Conigliaro and Mel Ott hit more homers as teenagers.
Ken Griffey Jr. debuted in the majors with the Mariners in 1989, and has played with the Reds since 2000.
Griffey started the All-Star Game in his second season, then the third youngest player ever to do that. Almost as memorable in 1990 were the back-to-back home runs that he and his father hit against the Angels’ Kirk McCaskill, a first in baseball history, and likely to also be the last. In 1993, Griffey hit a home run in eight consecutive games, tying the record held by Dale Long and Don Mattingly. During 1997-98, he joined Babe Ruth as then the only American League players (Alex Rodriguez has joined that club) to hit 50 home runs in back-to-back seasons. When he hit 50 for the first time, he joined Mays as then the only players ever to win a Gold Glove in a season in which they hit 50. In 1999, he became the first American League player since Harmon Killebrew to lead the league in home runs three seasons in a row.
“His swing,” former Oriole Brady Anderson said, “is absolutely perfect.”
Griffey had the amazing ability for a young hitter to see, react and hit the breaking ball if it stayed in the strike zone for too long. As he grew as a hitter by developing his opposite field power and still maintaining his pull power, the huge home run seasons came. He was then the youngest player to reach 300, 350, 400 and 450 home runs. He was named to the All-Century team when he was 29 and he was named the Player of the Decade for the 1990s. When he was 31, he was a legitimate threat to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs. The projections were for 800 home runs, nothing could stop him.
“The first time I saw him was in Arizona for spring training,” Piniella said. “He would hit these towering fly balls that would carry and carry, and go out of the ballpark. I just figured it was the thin air in Arizona. Then he kept hitting those towering fly balls wherever we went, and I realized it wasn’t the thin air, it was him. And it was so effortless.”
When the Reds traded for Griffey before the 2000 season, bringing him home to Cincinnati in a trade that left Mariners fans wanting and angry, it seemed inevitable that Griffey would break Aaron’s record as a member of the Reds. On the day of the trade, then Reds general manager Jim Bowden called Griffey “the Michael Jordan of baseball.” That first season in Cincinnati, he hit 40 home runs and drove in 118 runs.
Then the story began to change. Four seasons in a row, Griffey suffered a major injury, limiting him to 111, 70, 53 and 83 games played, respectively. When he finally got to 500 home runs in 2004, everyone knew, that without the injuries, 500 might have been 600. The following three seasons, he missed another 105 games. We all realize that with better health, the 600 he just reached would have been 700.
But Griffey is far from done as a power hitter. There are still homers to hit, and milestones to reach. He could become the third player ever, joining Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub, to hit a home run as a teenager and as a 40-year-old. He could join Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson and Willie McCovey as the only players to hit home runs in four different decades and he could become the first player to hit 300 home runs for two different teams.
It is easy to look at 600 and wonder what might have been with improved health. But it is easier and more fun to remember Griffey at his best, a wondrous athlete who streaked through the outfield, climbed an outfield wall and made a catch that only Mays could make, then the next inning, hit a ball to places that very few players could reach. Six hundred home runs is a tremendous milestone, but Griffey at 100, 200, 300 and 400 was simply breathtaking.
Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.
Ali Jr. Larry Holmes Inducted In Boxing HOF
June 9, 2008
CANASTOTA, N.Y. — With a precise, powerful left jab, Larry Holmes reigned as heavyweight champion for more than seven years, successfully defending his crown 20 times — the second longest title run in heavyweight history. Read more
Micheal Strahan Retires From NFL
June 9, 2008
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Michael Strahan had what he wanted — a Super Bowl championship to add to a resume featuring seven Pro Bowls and two sack records. Now it was time to leave football and leave the New York Giants after 15 years in the NFL. Read more
Terrell Owens Put Into NFL Testing Program
June 9, 2008
On the same day the Dallas Cowboys announced that wide receiver Terrell Owens had agreed to a contract extension with $13 million in guaranteed money, Owens was in New York meeting with NFL officials after being placed in the league’s “reasonable cause” testing program for performance-enhancing drugs, sources told ESPN. Read more
Bears Make Cedric Benson Jobless
June 9, 2008
After his boating DUI charge, Cedric Benson remained a starting running back in the eyes of coach Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears.
His weekend DUI charge while in a car in Austin, Texas, has led to his release, however. The Bears placed Benson on waivers Monday, two years before the end of his contract and three years into a disappointing career with the team.
“Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate,” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said in a statement. “As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job. Everyone in this organization is held accountable for their actions. When individual priorities overshadow team goals, we suffer the consequences as a team. Those who fail to understand the importance of ‘team’ will not play for the Chicago Bears.”
Benson wasn’t present at the Bears organized practice Monday. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site that Benson showed up and was sent home by Smith.
Reporters waited for a statement from Angelo as he walked off the field on Monday, but he said the team might have a statement later in the day.
The statement turned out to be an action. Benson’s name appeared on the NFL’s waiver wire Monday afternoon, ending the three-year relationship.
Though the 5-foot-10, 220-pound runner claimed his innocence on both DUI charges, the team apparently lost faith in him. Because he’s only been in the league for three seasons, Benson does not have his contract automatically terminated. He can be claimed by any other interested team on waivers.
Before his release, Benson made one last ditch effort to repair the situation, issuing an apology on Monday afternoon.
“I apologize for making the poor decision to drink and drive during the early morning of Saturday, June 7th,” he said in a statement. “Given the incident last month, it was a particularly bad decision. I have no excuse for this lack of judgment.
“Though I strongly believe that I am not guilty of any crime, I realize that the public and the Bears organization hold me to higher standard. Though my local attorneys will continue to work hard to prove my innocence, I confess to using poor judgment. Please accept my deepest apology.”
Benson was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Austin, Texas, early Saturday and Bears officials said they would treat the matter seriously. Benson’s attorney said the former Texas star had a few drinks with dinner but didn’t think he was intoxicated and cooperated with police.
The arrest comes a month after Benson was charged in Austin with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest. He has said neither charge is true, and those cases are pending.
Benson rushed for only 1,593 yards in three seasons. Thomas Jones was the Bears starting running back for Benson’s first two seasons. Jones was traded to the Jets before last season, giving Benson the chance to start.
It didn’t work out on the field. Benson rushed for only 272 yards on 67 carries last season. He couldn’t finish the season because of a broken leg.
The Bears drafted Tulane running back Matt Forte in the second round, and he will enter camp as the team’s possible starter. Adrian Peterson, a longtime Bears backup, will initially be second string.
It is not known where the Bears will pursue another running back.
Benson was the fourth pick in the 2005 draft. The team will save $820,000 on the cap by releasing him, but there will be a $2.575 million pro-ration that will count against the 2008 cap. There will be a $2.575 million cap charge for the Bears in 2009.
Senior writer John Clayton covers the NFL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Terry Porter Name New Suns Coach
June 9, 2008
PHOENIX — It didn’t take Terry Porter long to understand the expectations facing him as he takes over the Phoenix Suns. Read more
Celtics Dominant For 3 3/4 Quarters Win Game 2
June 9, 2008
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics left the comforts of home exalted and exhausted, halfway to hoisting a 17th NBA championship banner.
They’re up 2-0 in the NBA Finals.
But they needed some of their leprechaun’s luck to get there.
Paul Pierce, darting around the parquet floor with ease, scored 28 points, unknown Leon Powe added 21 and the Celtics held off a remarkable rally by Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers for a 108-102 win Sunday night in Game 2 of these trip-down-memory-lane Finals.
The Celtics had to work every second to get the win.
Up by 24 points in the fourth quarter, they nearly blew it.
“We’re happy because we won, but we definitely learned a lesson,” Pierce said.
The Lakers trailed 95-71 with less than 8 minutes to go, but used a 31-9 run to pull to 104-102 on two free throws by Bryant with 38.4 seconds left. Pierce, though, made two free throws, then blocked a 3-pointer by Sasha Vujacic, and James Posey made two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to ice it for Boston.
“We’ve got to play through the game for 48 minutes, and I didn’t think we did that,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought we got cute when we got the lead.”
The Lakers, who dropped 41 points on the league’s defensive team in the final 12 minutes, simply ran out of time.
“It’s something that we can take from,” Bryant said of the furious but failed comeback. “We played with a sense of desperation and aggression. I think that’s something to take home and learn from.”
Boston enjoyed a huge free-throw advantage, going 27-for-38 from the foul line, while the Lakers were just 10-for-10.
The whistles were one-sided.
“I didn’t notice,” Bryant said, cracking a smile.
Pierce wasn’t slowed by a sprained right knee suffered in the series opener, when he was carried from the court and plopped into a wheelchair. The Boston captain paced the Celtics, who are back in the Finals for the first since 1987, when Larry Bird was the main man and gasoline cost 91 cents per gallon.
As usual, Boston’s Big Three — Pierce, Ray Allen (17 points) and Kevin Garnett (17) — were the ringleaders but Powe, a second-year reserve had the game of his career, adding his 21 points in 15 minutes that may make him a Celtics fan-favorite for life.
Powe, who played a total of 68 seconds during one stretch of 13 games during the season, scored six points to close a 15-2 run ending the third quarter that gave the Celtics a 22-point lead. The quick burst had the Lakers California dreaming. At one point in the fourth quarter, Boston fans discarded the familiar chants of “Beat L.A.” for cries of “Le-on Powe!”
“He was terrific,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
Rajon Rondo had a career-high 16 assists and Garnett added 14 rebounds for the Celtics, back in the Finals for the first time since 1987.
Game 3 is Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the Lakers are 8-0 in the postseason and have won 14 in a row at home since March 28. Bryant had better hope the rims there are a little kinder than the ones in TD Banknorth Garden.
Bryant, who pledged to bounce back from a sub-par Game 1, scored 30 points — 13 in the fourth — on 11-of-23 shooting. In four losses to Boston this season, Bryant is just 35-of-93 from the field and can’t seem to get the same easy looks he enjoys against every other team.
Pau Gasol had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who were so far down in the fourth that many of their purple-and-gold clad fans who came to cheer them on, headed toward the exits and maybe to Logan Airport for the trip out West.
But Bryant brought them back — almost all the way.
His 3-pointer made it 102-91 and then the self-proclaimed “Black Mamba” slithered down the lane for two quick baskets that got the Lakers within 104-95. The Celtics, meanwhile, began to stand around on offense, thinking the game was in hand.
It was anything but.
After Vujacic hit a 3-pointer, Vladimir Radmanovic made a steal and dunk to make it 104-100 and Celtics fans, who had been dancing moments earlier, began to panic. None of Boston’s players seemed to want the ball as it moved around like a hot potato before Rondo missed a jumper with 44 seconds left.
Bryant’s free throws brought Los Angeles to 104-102 before Pierce slashed down the lane and got fouled by Derek Fisher. As a few of his teammates locked arms on the bench like a college team trying to advance in March, Pierce knocked down both foul shots. Then, on defense, he got just enough of Vujacic’s shot from the left wing with 14 seconds left.
Posey was fouled on the play and calmly made his two free throws. The Lakers rushed the ball down but missed on a couple jumpers, and when the final horn sounded, a collective sigh of relief rushed through the exits as the Celtics and their fans left the building confident, if not shaken.
“We’re not settling on a 2-0 lead,” Garnett said. “We want to go out there and win two games in L.A.”
Called “unstoppable” by Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Bryant got off to another slow start. He missed his first two shots, one an uncontested layup underneath and was unable to get the looks he wanted as the Celtics followed the MVP around like a pack of hungry wolves on the hunt.
Bryant was just 1-of-4 from the floor when he was called for pushing off on Allen — his second personal foul — and spent the final 1:59 of the opening period a few seats away from Jackson. Soon, Bryant was joined by Lamar Odom and Jackson was forced to give his reserves extended early minutes.
They weren’t good ones.
The Lakers’ heralded bench bunch struggled, and the Celtics took advantage. Trailing by two after one, Boston opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run, capped by Pierce’s 3-pointer. As bad as Los Angeles was playing, the Lakers hung around and closed within 41-37 on Gasol’s three-point play.
But Pierce knocked down another 3, Allen followed with one of his own and the Celtics closed the half with a 13-5 burst to open a 54-42 halftime lead.
Game notes
Jackson, a renowned world traveler who often reviews trips to his destinations, was asked for an overview of his extended stay in Boston, where the weather this week ranged from chilly, October-like conditions to sweltering heat. “It’s very green,” Jackson deadpanned, drawing laughter at the reference to the Celtics’ primary colors. “Boston Commons, the Public Gardens. Very green.” … Among the celebrities in attendance: Boston Red Sox Curt Schilling — wearing a Larry Bird jersey, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, NFL quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Vince Young and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Lester, a cancer survivor who recently pitched a no-hitter, was honored during a timeout in the second quarter.
Kelly Pavlik KO’s Lockett Calzaghe is Next?
June 8, 2008
The boxing action along the Atlantic City Boardwalk was short but sweet, as Kelly Pavlik and Juan Manuel Lopez were knockout winners in Saturday night’s HBO telecast. Read more
Sergio Mora Shocks Vernon Forrest Wins WBC Title
June 8, 2008
At the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Contender winner Sergio Mora (21-0, 5KOs) showed he is the real deal by moving down in weight to win a majority decision over Vernon Forrest (40-3, 29KOs) to capture the WBC junior middleweight title. Read more
