WOODS: Well, Eli, the marathon of the NBA playoffs have started. I’ll try to keep my words at a minimum, because the readers need to hear some of your early baseball season analysis before this column is over. So here’s a few quick thoughts on the NBA.
We’re only a couple games into the series, but every matchup has played and we’ve seen some expected outcomes and some not-so-expected. The Lakers came out and played like a #1 seed, as expected. Pau Gasol dominated the paint, finishing with 36 points and 16 boards. But as usual, Kobe sealed the deal, with 18 fourth-quarter points leaving the Nuggets with a lot of questions to answer. In the East, LeBron has proven any doubters he has left (probably just DeShawn Stevenson of Washington, who called him overrated before the series) by leading the Cavs to a 2-0 series lead.
These teams have a lot of history and already it’s been a brutally physical series. After a fight almost started at the half of the first game, the second game featured two flagrant fouls, an ejection (Wizards’ Haywood) and a technical (Wizards’ Arenas). The only thing stopping this series from resulting in some suspensions is the fact that it might be over too quickly.
ASCH: King James strikes me as a Kobe Bryant-type; he’s the kind of guy who plays better when he’s got something to prove. I agree with Charles Barkley, who gave the following analysis of this year’s Wizards team: “I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization.” Nice work, DeShawn.
While the Wizards-Cavs series was the only first-round matchup that excites either of us back East, there are two series out West that look like they could be something special. The Hornets are up 1-0 on the Mavs, who still have a chip on their shoulders about last year’s first-round exit. And I think the Suns-Spurs series could go down as one of the greatest first round series of all-time. Game one was awesome, with Tim Duncan hitting his first three-pointer in two years to send it to OT, and the Spurs taking it 117-115 in double-OT. I still think the Suns can win it all (and if they do we both owe GM Steve Kerr a huge apology for how we blasted the Shaq trade), but game two (which will be played Tuesday, before this article goes to press) is a must-win.
WOODS: I’m with you on the Spurs/Suns series bandwagon; it’s still hard to believe we’re only in the first round. It might be worrisome for the Suns that Shaq, who they hoped would be able to guard the West’s big men to give Amare a break, gave up 40 points and 15 rebounds to Tim Duncan. ESPN’s Bill Simmons said this series will prove who was the most dominant center of this era, and right now Duncan clearly has the edge.
Another series out West that compels me is the Hornets/Mavericks series. Nowitzki looks like he has something to prove in these playoffs after last season’s disappointment. And he came out in game one and had 31 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to win on the road. Chris Paul looked as good as ever in his first career playoff game and exploited the declining quickness of the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd.
But enough about basketball. I hear that your Red Sox just swept a four-game series with the Rangers, that’s gotta make you feel good. And there’s a red hot Diamondback team down in Arizona that looks like the real deal. What do you think about this first fraction of the season?
ASCH: Any time we talk about the baseball season before June we’ve got to realize we’re dealing with a very small sample size. But right now there are a couple things I feel very confident in saying: the Red Sox are really, really good and they’re only going to get better this season. With Bartolo Colon and Curt Schilling likely to enter the rotation this season and Clay Buchholz’s comfort-level with pitching in the Show on the rise, the Sox’s rotation: which so far has looked like the team’s only weak link: might in fact be one of its greatest strengths come October. Also, Big Papi has only just recently started to hit, and Jed Lowrie is showing he could be to Julio Lugo what Jacoby Ellsbury was to Coco Crisp last year.
This is going to be another banner year for rookies: Ellsbury and Bucholz are still officially rookies, and third-baseman Evan Longoria didn’t make the Rays out of camp but then was called up about 10 days into the season and is going to be something really special. Although Homer Bailey has gotten much of the press, he’s still in the minors, while Johnny Cueto is in the Reds’ rotation and has struck out 29 hitters (against only three walks!) in his first 26.1 innings pitched. Also, Kosuke Fukodome isn’t your traditional rookie, having played nine years with the Chunichi Dragons in the Japanese League, but he seems to have solved the Cubs’ right field/number-five hitter problem, currently sporting an OPS over .900.
WOODS: The Red Sox do look pretty stacked right now, sitting comfortably atop the American League East division. That was to be expected, but maybe not so early in the season, without an established rotation, like you said. As far as Buchholz’s comfort level in the Show…keep in mind he was left off the postseason roster last season, so still doesn’t have a game of experience in the playoffs.
Another team that has looked equally, if not more, impressive has been the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They hold the best record in baseball and lead the National League West, one of the best divisions in the league. Through Monday, they’ve scored almost twice as many runs as they’ve given up (120-67), which silences some critics (including me) who said their lineup wasn’t good enough to keep up with their pitching.
And then there’s the Yankees, who it seems somehow make the news every week with some sort of scandal. This past week a construction worker building the new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox jersey under 10 feet of concrete, supposedly cursing them. As expected, Yankees management had the concrete torn up and the shirt collected, and that Red Sox fan is probably looking for another job.