This & That

Lakers Over Cavaliers
Don’t panic. That’s my interpretation of the LA Lakers handing the Cleveland Cavaliers their first home loss this season.

The reasons for the Cavaliers’ loss can be explained by the old adage “No rebounds no rings,” made famous by Lakers’ Head Coach Pat Riley when he was in charge of Magic Johnson and Show Time in the 1980s.

Cleveland got manhandled on the boards in the second half, along with shooting under 30% from the field, and allowing Lamar Odom, the most physically gifted 6-11 player in the league, to go off on them.

It also didn’t help that LJ clanked it at a 5-for-22 click from the field. He and his teammates missed plenty of good looks in the second half.

Yes, LA went 6-0 on its East Coast trip with wins over Boston and Cleveland. The media’s love affair with Kobe and the Lakers will now be in full bloom from here on out. However, we remind everyone there is a great deal of basketball yet to be played and a lot can happen between now and June.

What we do know is that the Lakers are extremely hot right now and they are not a good defensive team. What they do have is a great player in Bryant, and a tall, long and talented front line. The bench is solid.

These guys win by outscoring you. They lead the NBA in scoring. That is not a recipe for a championship – regardless of what others tell you.

The Lakers have to prove to me come post-season they can defend well enough to win it all. If the Lakers get it done, I will be the first to say I was wrong.

Power Forward Analysis
One area of concern for the Cavaliers is the fact that they lack offense at the power forward spot. When Big Ben or Andy are on the floor, the opposing power forward can relax defensively and roam free to provide help defense elsewhere (find LeBron). We covered this ground a long time ago.

That’s one reason Lamar Odom went off on Sunday – he didn’t have to use any energy on defense. In fact, Cleveland's power forward play Sunday was atrocious. If defensive-oriented players allow a power-forward to dominate them, then what good are they?

I expect Ben and Andy to remember this debacle and learn from it. It starts by figuring out Odom wanted to go left - HE'S LEFTHANDED!

I would have had LJ guard Odom in the fourth quarter even though that would have made things easier for Kobe. Odom was the best player on the floor on this night and that issue needed to be addressed by Mike Brown and company.

You have to plug the hole that's leaking before you worry about potentially opening up another one.

This is partially why you are hearing rumors about Amare Stoudemire coming east to Cleveland before the trading deadline. Don’t expect it to happen. Cleveland is winning at nearly a .800 clip and in hot pursuit of the best record in the league.

Shaking up this kind of success is risky for a GM - especially a conservative one like Danny Ferry. Yes, Ferry and Steve Kerr, the head honcho in Phoenix, are good friends. But I don't see it happening.

Stoudemire, although extremely gifted offensively, does not defend – at all! That does not sound like Mike Brown’s kind of player.

Arrogance At Its Best
Who is the most arrogant individual in sports?

That's easy - Phil Jackson. Winning nine NBA titles will do that to you, I guess.

Recently, Jackson complained LJ gets away with murder at home when it comes to officiating. This from a guy who coached Michael Jordan. What balls.

Arizona
The Arizona Cardinals fired their defensive coordinator last week. Nice. Do you really think this move would have been made had his (Pendergast's) defense gotten a stop on the Steelers’ last drive?

Pro Bowl Moved Up
I like the idea of moving the Pro Bowl to the week prior to the Super Bowl. No, I won’t watch it. But it’s still better than playing it after the Super Bowl - when absolutely no one tunes in. This at least gives football freaks something to do while waiting for the Super Bowl.

Leigh Bodden
Yes, you can go home again. Bodden is due a large bonus and the Lions may not pay up. Yes, I would re-acquire Bodden if he becomes available. Why? Do you really have to ask after watching the Browns' corners play in 2008?

Alex Rodriguez
So A-Rod admits to taking banned substances from 2001-2003. He was second in all of baseball in home runs during that three year stretch – right behind Barry Bonds.

What does it say when the most physically gifted baseball player of all-time takes “juice” to get an extra edge? It says this “juice” was all over the place before Congress made the owners address this issue by threatening baseball’s anti-trust status several years ago.

Until all the names of those who tested positive become public, everyone will we suspect. That’s not fair to those who played by the rules, but that’s sadly the way it is.

One final note on A-Rod - Does he really expect people to believe he did not know EXACTLY what he was putting into his body? If you are going to come clean, come completely clean.

In the year 2000, we stated A-Rod was the best player we had ever seen and potentially the best player of all-time. ARod admitting taking the "juice" for a period of time would keep me from voting him into the HOF on the first ballot, but he would get the nod from me the second time around.

That's how I would handle his entry into baseball immortality.