LA Lakers defeat Boston Celtics 87-81. What an ugly game. Pau Gasol was Ga-soft again. Lamar Odom sat on the bench with foul trouble most of the game. So leave it up to Sasha Vujacic to take up the slack. With 20 points he was the only Laker not named Kobe Bryant to score double-digits. The Lakers were more aggressive as perfectly shown by Jordan Farmar in the second quarter. After getting pushed by 6'11" PJ Brown going after a rebound, 6'2" Farmar got into Brown's face. The Lakers defense also did a good job holding Paul Pierce to only six points. MVP of game two Leon Powe had only one point, and although Kevin Garnett got 13 points he yet again retreated to the perimeter. The Lakers now trail the Celtics two games to one.
LA Dodgers defeat San Diego 7-2. It wasn't pretty, but at least the Dodgers scored some runs. Unfortunately for Clayton Kershaw it wasn't soon enough for him to get the win. The Dodgers blew the game open in the seventh due to some defensive blunders by the Padres. Rightfielder Brian Giles lost a line drive in the lights and Scott Hairston's and Justin Huber's miscommunication let a ball drop in the outfield in what should have been a one-two-three inning. And it's not a good sign when the manager uses four pitchers in an inning.
LA Angels defeat Tampa Bay Rays 6-1. Angel's starter Jered Weaver completely shut down the Ray's going eight innings and giving up only one run - a solo homer to Gabe Gross in the eighth inning. Meanwhile Garrett Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero each hit two-run homers in the first and fifth innings.
Notable News
As Zach reported earlier, the Kings fired head coach Marc Crawford Tuesday. Crawford came to the Kings in 2006 after the Kings cleaned house firing everyone who had a heartbeat. The youth movement that began with his tenure just hasn't taken hold yet. Previously Crawford coached the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup Championship in 1996 in their first season after their move from Quebec sweeping the Florida Panthers in the Finals.
UCLA guard Josh Shipp withdrew his name from the NBA draft. Shipp averaged 12 points a game this past season for the Bruins and has been part of the last three Bruins teams that have made it to the Final Four. Shipp waited until the final day for underclassmen to enter the draft and did not hire an agent giving him an out to come back to UCLA. With Shipp, Darren Collison and Alfred Aboya returning and the emergence of James Keefe, Chace Stanback and Michael Roll towards the end of the season, UCLA has a good chance of making it to four consecutive Final Fours.
Tonight's Action
LA Dodgers at San Diego Padres. Former teammates Chad Billingsley and Randy Wolf take the mound. 7:05 pm FSN Prime Ticket, AM 790 KABC.
Tampa Bay Rays at LA Angels. Scott Kazmir goes to the hill for the Rays against John Lackey. 12:35 pm FSN West, AM 830 KLAA.
AP Photo by Mark J. Terrill
