MVN - Most Valuable Network

Wednesday’s Best - One Rondo Makes a Right

Dead Last. Sasha Vujacic - In last night’s 111-104 Lakers win, Sasha Vujacic shot 1-for-11, including 1-for-8 on threes and 0-for-1 on being a useful person.  If it’s not obvious, I can not stand Sasha Vujacic.  He’s always flailing around, he whines all the time, and he thinks he’s good defender just because he plays his man really close.  It drives me absolutely batty, especially since I like the Lakers, which makes rooting for them all the more difficult.  Hopefully, Phil Jackson throws me a bone and just cuts Vujacic once and for all.  Once he’s cut, the Lakers will be free to win a title without me worrying about Sasha Vujacic having more rings than Charles Barkley.  And Sasha Vujacic is free to get hit in the face with a pie.

4. Trouble Brewering - In yesterday’s game against the Dodgers, Milwaukee Blewers a 4-3 ninth inning lead and lost 6-4.  However, in yet a new wrinkle, the culprit was Guillermo Mota and not Eric Gagne or Derrick Turnbow.  Unless, those two somehow framed Mota.  Which is highly unlikely.  Though possible.  But whatever happened, the result was the same, the eighth blown save of the year for the so far disappointing Brewers.  And unfortunately, with Yovani Gallardo out for the year with a torn ACL and a .243 team batting average, it’s apparent that the bullpen is only one of their problems.  I guess, if the glass is half full, it’s impressive they are still a .500 team given their non-Ben Sheets starting pitching.  Though, if the glass is half empty, they’re currently only one game better than the Pirates in their division and Guillermo Mota is halfway done with his new book, “If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened”.

3. Lakers Who Overcame Sasha Vujacic - Usually, Kobe taking the fifth fewest shots on the team is not a formula for success.  But for whatever reason, last night their plan paid off as the Lakers took game 5 and look to clinch the series this Friday in Utah.  Kobe finished with 26 points, six rebounds, and seven assists and didn’t seem particularly slowed by a sore lower back.  Luckily, Kobe’s sore lower back didn’t slow Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom either.  Gasol pitched in 21 points, six rebounds, all offensive, and eight assists while Odom added 22 points and 11 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double.

Utah, for what it’s worth, played pretty well.  Deron Williams led the Jazz with 27 points and 10 assists and helped the Jazz stay within 3-4 points throughout the fourth quarter.  I don’t know if they’re good enough yet to stave off elimination from Kobe and Phil for two games, but I have been impressed nonetheless.  In their three losses at Staples, they’ve been within four or five points in the middle of the fourth.  With a few breaks here and there, it’s not out of the question that they could be the ones taking a 3-2 series into game 6.  But, if the queen had …uh, something… she’d be king.  Instead, she’s Sasha Vujacic.

2. Rajon Rondo’s Confidence - As has been the norm in the playoffs so far, the hosting Celtics beat the Cavs 96-89, giving them a 3-2 series edge.  Though, Boston was led by Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who scored 26 and 29 respectively, they would not have won without Rajon Rondo’s contributions.  After seeing his minutes fluctuate throughout the series, Rondo played a team-high 42 minutes, scored 20, and assisted 13.  He also added two steals, two blocks, two three-pointers, after only hitting five all season, and most importantly, he held Sam Cassell to a series-low five minutes.  If Boston wants to take this series, Rondo is going to be the key.

As for the Cavs, they return to Cleveland for game 6 on Friday.  And since the Celtics are also planning on making the trip, Cleveland will probably have to play better than they did last night if they want to force a game 7.  They’ll need the bench to either score more than 13 points or play less than the 60 combined minutes they played in game 5.  They’ll need Ilgauskas to attempt more than five shots on goal.  And they’ll definitely need to not waste another 35-point effort from LeBron who, for the first time this series, shot better than 35% from the field.  Or they can just assume Boston is going to continue their uninspiring road play and I’ll just clear my schedule on Sunday for an epic game 7 now.

1. Chimichanga Sabathia - Yesterday, C.C. Sabathia pitched a five-hit shutout leading Cleveland in a 2-0 rout over Oakland.  Since beginning the season 0-3 with a laughable 13.50 ERA, Sabathia has rebounded nicely having won three of five starts with a very serious 1.50 ERA.  Impressively, after this shutout it’s been 48.1 consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Cleveland starters, a span that stretches six games.  Of equal importance, the win pushes the slow-starting Indians into a first place tie with the Twins.  And though it’s early, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were there for good.  Especially if Cleveland continues to employ their ingenious strategy of not allowing runs for the rest of the year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 12:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.