The Los Angeles Lakers won the first game of the Western Conference Finals last night at the Staples Centre but it was in anything but convincing form. Truth be told, the Denver Nuggets outplayed the Lakers and held the lead for most of the game but could not close things out. Too bad because I'm sure you saw the stat on the screen last night that said the team that wins Game 1 wins the series 79 percent of the time. So I guess you can say it's the Lakers in the driver's seat in more ways than one right now.
The Nuggets let their hold on the lead start to slide midway through the final quarter and finally let it slip through their hands with 30 seconds remaining in the game with a couple of loose plays. All the fundamentals, both defensively and offensively went out the window when Kenyon Martin took a foolish foul against Kobe Bryant putting him on the line. What do they tell you in grade school about moving your feet on defence and not reaching in? Following Bryant's free throws and subsequent time out by head coach George Karl, Denver's back-up point guard, Anthony Carter, put the final nail in the Nuggets' coffin. Again a lack of the essentials hurt Denver when Carter's pass was intercepted by Trevor Ariza. Not that Ariza didn't make a good play by shooting the gap, but the pass was in the air much longer than it should have been. I understand that Lamar Odom was standing in front of Carter but this is a point guard who should know how to deliver a pass. Odom was not actively tracing the ball, he was just standing there. Carter should have faked away or up high to move Odom and his hands before delivering a crisp pass.
It was a distraught Karl at the podium after the game as the look on his face said "The Lakers were there to be had and this was a game we should have won. I'm not sure we'll get another chance as good as this one to steal one in L.A."
The Nuggets wasted a great performance from Carmelo Anthony as "Melo" put up 39 points and played Kobe step for step. With all the talk of the robust frame of LeBron James, Anthony is no slouch either. He is quick and has the best jab sequence and mid-range game in basketball. Anthony's post up game is not too shabby either and with his sturdy frame, it elicited this comment from Kobe Bryant in the post game interview.
"He's a bull down there," said Bryant of Anthony, his close friend on this past summer's Olympic "Redeem" Team. "I'm a little out of my weight class."
Perhaps this is why Phil Jackson waited to have Bryant guard Anthony until late in the game lest Kobe be worn down defensively and not be able to perform on the offensive end. The Lakers need every one of Kobe's 40 points to win Game 1.
The order is set for the NBA Draft on June 25th and for the third time the Los Angeles Clippers will have the first overall selection. Unless they totally mess this up, and remember, we are talking about the Clippers here, Oklahoma University's Blake Griffin will be the first overall pick. So what exactly is Griffin doing now? Well how about working out and training like a Navy Seal….literally.
Griffin is under the tutelage of former NBA head coach and one-time broadcast partner of yours truly, Bob Hill. For you "young 'uns" out there, Hill led the Spurs to the Western Conference Final before losing to the eventual NBA champion Houston Rockets in 1995. He also coached the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers at one point in his coaching career. Keep your eyes peeled here for a complete report on Griffin as we get closer to draft day as I spent a long time speaking with Hill who worked NBA games in Canada after being fired by Gregg Popovich 18 games into the 1996-97 season. Hill recently coached the Seattle Supersonics and is looking to get back into the NBA coaching ranks.
The Hill - Popovich dynamic is an interesting one as Popovich was the GM that kicked Hill to the curb only to go 17-47 as head coach the rest of the season in 1997. Funny how the arrival of Tim Duncan and a healthy David Robinson makes a coach that much better huh? Oh yeah, Popovich took the Spurs to the Conference Final the next year and hasn't looked back since.
Hill has raved about Griffin, his work ethic and his skills saying that Griffin can handle the ball like a small forward. Griffin is a legit 6'10" according to Hill who measured him without his basketball sneakers on and is "a throwback kind of player" in Hill's eyes. Griffin is one of many players at the West Coast training facility in San Francisco with his brother Taylor, who Hill likens to former Raptor Jorge Garbajosa with his grit, toughness and skill.
"He (Taylor) sacrificed a lot of his game for the team and his brother at Oklahoma," said Hill when assessing the older of the two Griffin brothers.
Other players training at the facility that has players go through rigours military type training includes: Jeff Adrien (University of Connecticut), Nick Fazekas (formerly of the Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers), Hilton Armstrong (New Orleans Hornets) and Kenny Thomas (Sacramento Kings). It is also expected that Jeff Teague of Wake Forest will be there to prepare himself for his future NBA career as he has declared for next month's draft.
I said earlier keep your eyes peeled for the article as we are entering what I call "silly season" now that the draft order is set. There will be all kinds of smoke screens and red herrings thrown out there by scouts and GM's so as not to tip their hands toward potential choices. The article will give you the truth as I get it from an NBA coach. In the meantime, go and buy a pound of salt so you can take it with everything that will be said by scouts and GM's in the near future.
