Disappointment

Lakers 92, Celtics 131

I had a pretty lengthy recap all set to go here, but I've decided against it. I was going to explain why the Lakers lost and why they should have won two of the previous games this series. I was going to have a serious chat about Gasol being a power forward and not a center, and describe the fallacies of jump shooting. I was going to yell at Phil Jackson for his idea of perimeter defense. I was also going to complain, at quite some length, about the Lakers' free throw shooting.

But I'm not doing any of that.

Celtics fans, enjoy the championship, because it's the last you're going to see in a while. The real impact players on your team, the Big Three, are old. The team as a whole slumped hard through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and without home court advantage would have lost to the lowly Hawks. While the whole league grows younger, one Rondo and one Powe does not offset the effects of time on Garnett's jump shooting. That was his first good game in the Finals.

Meanwhile, the Lakers next year are young. Very young. Bynum. Gasol. Ariza. Hell, we forget that Kobe's not yet 30. Lamar's not yet 30. The Lakers of 2009-2011 should be perennial Finals contenders, and I suspect we'll see a couple parades down Figueroa because, well, look what they did this year without their starting center. Without Ariza the whole year. In an incredibly strong Western Conference.

During Chicago's MJ dynasty years, they had to lose to the Pistons before winning it all.

Today's Celtics are yesteryears Pistons.


Angels 6, Mets 1

John Lackey is really good, and so is Johann Santana. But, for some reason, Santana's never been the same ace against the Angels as he is against seemingly everyone else. It also helps that the Angels have seen him plenty of times thanks to his time with the Twins, while the Mets have never faced Lackey. Interestingly, Santana's Twins teammate Torii Hunter went 2-2 with a pair of doubles and a walk against his former staff ace.

Either way, the Angels have now scored 6 runs on consecutive nights for the first time in, like, forever, and should have had more but for an unusual play in the eighth. Jeff Mathis hit the ball directly at Mets shortstop Easley, who got bowled over by Gary Matthews breaking for third. The ball rolled into center field with everyone safe. For some reason, the umpires decided that GMJ had interfered with the fielder, which he hadn't, and that Mathis had earned a hit on the play, which he hadn't. It pulled Kendrick back from home to third and took the 7th run off the board, but it is what it is.

Scot Shields is good. He threw 1.1 hitless innings to close out an excellent game by Lackey.

Angels and Mets face off again tonight at 7:05 PST.