Jared Prescott's Los Angeles Lakers fan blog

Well, after a week of waiting the NBA finals are here.  The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics are set to play each other for the 11th time in the finals.  These are the two most historic teams in the NBA, a combined 30 titles between the two.  There are many storylines in the NBA finals.  Paul Pierce returns to Los Angeles.  Ray Allen against Kobe Bryant.  East coast vs West Coast.  Magic vs. Bird.  This is one of the most anticipated finals in recent memory.  All the angles have been beaten to death, except one thing that has not been talked about is the layoff from when each team closed off their series to the start of this series. 

It has been one week since the Lakers played, 6 days since the Celtics played.  Which begs the question, why did the NBA wait one week for the series to start.  The hype has been overplayed, this will have to be an amazing series to even come close to the hype that this series has generated.  Every paper has covered just about every angle of the finals, and there is really not anything else to say that has been not covered already.  Maybe this would become understandable if the  NBA had delayed the start of the finals one week so that a potential game 7 would be on a Sunday, but the Game 7 will be on Thursday night if the series gets that far.

Continue reading "The Finals: Bending to the media"

The Dodgers seem to be stuck in the middle.  They are just over .500.  They are still in 2nd place in the NL West, but they cannot seem to make a move.  Of course Joe Torre managed a Yankee team last year who was in last place around this time of year, and ended up making the playoffs.  Luckily the Dodgers despite so many flaws are only 3.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Dodgers hitting is extremely inconsistent.  They are trying to mix veterans with really young guys.  Their young guys seem to be developing well and Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Russell Martin look like future stars.

 However, the veterans that are being paid to make plays simply are not doing that.  The Dodgers five highest paid position players are Andrew Jones, Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, and Nomar Garciaparra.  Furcal was having a great year before being sidelined with an injury and his return should spark the Dodgers some.  However Andrew Jones just went on the DL, but before going there he was batting .167 with 2 homeruns, not the type of power the Dodgers wanted from him.  Nomar has barely played the last couple years, and is chronically injured.  Kent is batting .234 with 4 homeruns, not what you want from your middle of the order bats.  Juan Pierre is doing what he normally does, but he is not the big bat the Dodgers need.  

Continue reading "For the Dodgers, the future is now"

A lot has changed since 2004. The Lakers have gone from on top of the world with 4 all-stars and a chance at the finals to a lottery team. Now they have come full circle, the Lakers are back in the Western Conference Finals, a place they have not been since 2004 when Derek Fisher’s shot with .4 seconds left changed the course of the series. The Spurs have been the model of consistency, winning the title in 2005 and then again in 2007. The Spurs have 4 championships in 9 years and are looking for their first repeat. They are the defending champs, however at times during the year they have looked old, however they have survived the first two rounds of the playoffs, and are coming to Los Angeles tonight on very little rest. While a lot has changed for the Lakers the Spurs have stayed th

Continue reading "Lakers-Spurs: A Preview"