Welcome to another edition of the weekly GAME ON newsletter. We’ll cover another week of action for our teams from Los Angeles.
The Lakers (22-9) had a rough week by their standards, going 1-2. They were blown out by the surging Nets from Brooklyn in a high-profile game on Thursday. The Nets have become the darling of the sports media world and seem to be clicking on all cylinders even with the absence of Kevin Durant as he recovers from an ankle injury. They handed the Lakers a lopsided loss and proceeded to give the Clippers another digit in the loss column on Sunday. The Lakers tried to put that loss behind them and nearly pulled off the comeback win on Saturday in a rematch of the NBA finals against the Miami Heat, who welcomed the return of their leader, Jimmy Butler. While most “experts” are now crowning the Nets as the representatives for the Eastern Conference without a single playoff minute having been played, I’ll reserve my biased opinion and wait to see how they fare against a complete Lakers team that includes Anthony Davis, who would be a nightmare matchup for Brooklyn, and Dennis Schroder who continues to sit out games following COVID-19 protocols. Davis’ return is still unknown, and some members of the media speculate his injury is worse than the Lakers are acknowledging. Schroder will miss tonight’s game against the Wizards and Wednesday’s game against the leaders of the Western Conference, Utah Jazz. They hope to have him back for Friday’s game against the Portland Trial Blazers. They finish the week with a Sunday showdown with Golden State. Those 3 games will all be televised on ESPN.
A silver lining to the week was Lebron James becoming only the third players in NBA history to score 35,000 points. He now sits third on the all-time list, behind only Karl Malone and Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Lebron is now a little over 3000 points behind to catch Kareem. If James can continue to play at a high level in the latter stages of his career, he has a decent chance of becoming the league’s all-time leading scorer, a record many thought was unattainable.
Even with the rocky stretch, the Lakers remain a half game ahead of the Clippers. The Clippers completed the week going 2-2, picking up a victory over the Heat on Monday, then splitting two games with the Jazz before a puzzling loss to the Nets on Sunday. Los Angeles was able to make the game close going into the final minutes of the fourth quarter with the help of a hot-handed Paul George, but the Clippers being the Clippers, decided to bench George for the final two minutes of the game due to his minute restrictions. His limit is 33 minutes and in a game that was within reach against one of the top teams in the league, their hottest scorer watched from the sidelines as Brooklyn was able to slip away with a win. George himself seemed perplexed by the decision and head coach Tyron Lue sarcastically approved of the decision during the post-game press conference, stating, “It is what it is.”
Flying or should I say skating under the radar have been the Kings, who have quietly produced a four-game winning streak that included a 2 game sweep this week of the Coyotes. They now stand at 7-6-3 and in fourth place, only 5 points behind the Blues, who they face tonight and Wednesday in St. Louis. Should be an enormous opportunity for them to pick up some ground in the standings. They finish off the week with another 2-game series against the Wild in Minnesota before returning to Staples Center next week.
Let’s go Dodgers!!! Let’s go Dodgers!!! The championship celebration is almost over as it’s once again time for Dodgers baseball. The blue crew begin the defense of their World Series title this weekend with the opening of spring training on Saturday against the Oakland A’s. With the contract saga of Justin Turner behind them, they can now prepare for the season with their team intact. Clayton Kershaw is in his final year of his current contract and can become a free agent after the season, but with rumors flowing that he was contemplating retirement, he met with members of the media on Sunday and stated he would absolutely consider resigning with the Dodgers and is not seriously considering retirement and will continue his playing career on a year to year basis. The 3-time Cy Young winner will turn 33 this year and in his own words, feels like he still has some gas left in the tank. Hopefully he can end his illustrious career in Dodger blue.
Fight fans were rewarded with some highlight knockouts over the weekend. The much anticipated bout between reigning WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) and undefeated Oscar Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs), was being hailed as another chapter in the superb history of Mexican boxing, which has composed some of the sports most iconic rivalries such as Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales, and Israel Vasquez vs. Rafael Marquez, amongst others. Boxing pundits were already foreseeing a rematch or eventual trilogy between the two Mexican warriors, but the high underdog Valdez fought the fight of his life and dominated Berchelt, eventually ending the fight in the 10th round with a left hook reminiscent of Juan Manuel Marquez’s famous knockout of Manny Pacquiao. The knockout must be considered a front-runner for knockout of the year. Berchelt’s body remained lifeless on the canvas for several minutes before being able to recover. Valdez then demonstrated an incredible amount of respect towards the former champion in the middle of the ring before celebrating his improbable win in the biggest victory of his professional career.
In Las Vegas, UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis scored a huge upset over Curtis Blaydes with an uppercut in the second round. Most observers assumed Blaydes’ wrestling would be the difference and Blaydes did not downplay the strategy, but Lewis, who has built a big social media following, is someone who can never be counted out, as he generated another comeback win.
Finally, there doesn’t seem to be much buzz, but boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs), defends his WBA and WBC super-middleweight titles this weekend in Miami against mandatory challenger, Avni Yilidirim (21-2, 12KOs).
Be sure to check out our weekly Podcast GAME On for Happening In DTLA on Monday’s at 6:00pm on Instagram Live.
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