Pistons motor on

The Detroit Pistons were finally able to do in the pesky Chicago Bulls last night after failing to bounce them for the past two games. It was very improbable that Chi-town could actually come back from the 3-0 hole they dug themselves into but it looked like they could take a run at it the way they’ve been playing in their wins.

This leaves Cleveland and New Jersey with the unpleasant task of competing to play the Pistons in the conference Finals. But, as Chicago proved in games 4 and 5 of this series, if you shoot close to 60 per cent, you can beat Detroit. Good luck guys.

Last night in NBA land

The Suns couldn’t hold onto a lead they had almost the entire game. While they led for 43 of the 48 minutes roughly, the Spurs pulled out the victory in the clutch by playing a good 4th quarter. It was pretty much exactly what happened in game 5 with the teams on the reverse ends.

Playing without Amare and Diaw obviously hurt the Suns but the long term effects might actually hurt them as well. With two key cogs in their offensive machine out, Marion, Nash and company had to step up their minutes and it may have worn them down too much to compete as hard they’ll need to in San Antonio on Friday to take home a win and set up a huge game 7.
The New Jersey Nets were able to bring their series with the Cavs back to the swamp with a win last night despite only scoring 6 points in the fourth quarter. The sad late scoring wasn’t only on the Nets side as Cleveland only managed 13 in a quarter where the first basket only came nearly half-way into the quarter.

This series is starting to get a bit more interesting but I still don’t think the three-headed swamp monster Jersey rolls out can take out the newer, intense LeBron.

MLS Stunner

This will most likely go down as the second biggest story of the year in Major League Soccer and hardly anybody will know about it. Last night, the Toronto F.C., an expansion team who didn’t score a goal in their first four games, overcame the defending champion Houston Dynamo 1-0 in front of nearly 20.000 rain-soaked fans. While it may be one of the lower leagues in the soccer world and doesn’t have the visibility of the higher end North American leagues, it should be noted any time that an expansion team beats a defending champ, it’s going to be a news story. The Toronto Sun even went as far as running a photo on their cover from the game.

This won’t even come close to topping the Beckham saga in newsy-ness, but it goes to show that anything can happen in the world of sports.

NBA lays boots to the Suns

It hasn’t been a good week or so for the Phoenix Suns and it seems to only be getting worse. A day after Robert Horry gave Steve Nash a nice little fore-arm into the scorer’s table, the NBA suspended “Big Shot Bob” for the next two games but also took Amare Stoudemire and Boris Draw away from the Suns for one game each because they, stupidly, came off the bench during the fracas that followed the body check. This series’ officiating has been horribly lop-sided and this decision is another demonstration of that. Steve Kerr brought up in a Yahoo article yesterday that both Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen left the bench and stepped on the court during a fight earlier in the game as well, but this seems to have slipped through the cracks of the NBA’s officiating system.

The only thing I don’t get it why the league would slant this series in the Spurs favour. Would it not be beneficial for television ratings if the offensive dynamo Suns were to move on? More people would tune in for a Phoenix-style barn burner than a slowed down fundamental game involving San Antonio. Nobody is a big fan of fundamentals; it’s why the WNBA is that awful.

Steve Nash also lost out in MVP voting yesterday as well when the league handed over the award to Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. This was only fitting in my opinion as this was the year that Nash deserved it. In his previous two MVP seasons, Nash should’ve finished second to Shaq (2004-2005) and LeBron or Kobe (2005-2006). Now he should know how it feels when an award is stolen from you.

In basketball action last night, the baby Bulls staved off elimination one more time by beating the Pistons in Detroit; and quite easily as well. The Bulls shot 57 percent on the night and insured a game 6 tomorrow night. I still can’t see Chicago crawling out of that 3-0 hole they fell into to start the series but it sure is entertaining watching them try.

The Golden State Warriors were sent packing by the Utah Jazz last night, ending the run of their “beautiful game” or “chaos offense” as people called it. To me it looked more like a bunch of guys running around and taking the first available shot; all while playing undisciplined throughout the game. There was a reason they had three players kicked out of separate games these playoffs. It’s a shame that the team with best fans in the league has to sit out the rest of the playoffs and wait until next year to waive their yellow towels.

I take that back...

Remember that thing I said about Anaheim’s impregnable defense? Well Detroit kind of poked some holes in that; five of them to be exact. With their 5-0 win last night they really showed how high powered they can play and showed they may be the favourite of this Western Conference Final. They poured it on so much that J.S. Giguere, a supposed king of the playoffs, was pulled and replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Ducks seriously need to do some searching and find a way to make their physical game show up on the stat sheet in places other than penalty minutes.

Son of a Litsch

What a night it was for young Jesse Litsch. The Jays prospect was called up from double-A New Hampshire to start in his first major league game and looked like he’d been around the league for years. Litsch went 8 2/3 innings and gave up only 4 hits. He pitched so well that when manager John Gibbons walked towards the mound to give him the hook after walking Miguel Tejada, Gibbons was booed for making the call to the ‘pen. Jeremy Accardo came in for the one-out save but it was clear the kid might’ve been able to get that final out in the win.

It was also a special day for Litsch’s father, who flew up from Florida, somehow without a passport, to watch his son pitch on the day he was celebrating his 57th birthday. It must certainly have been the best present he’s ever received to watch his flesh and blood flourish on a grand stage like this.

It certainly couldn’t have been worse than the gift Vernon Wells gave him after the game. After giving the rookie the classic pie treatment, Wells also gave the birthday boy a taste as well; leaving both father and son with pie on their faces.

NBA Championship on the line?

It’s not too hard to say that the Suns/Spurs series, that’s happening in the second round of this year’s playoffs, could give us the potential champion isn’t a statement that is out of reach. These two teams are clearly in the elite of the league and shouldn’t have too much trouble past their current opponent. Utah looks to be the team they would meet in the finals but shouldn’t be considered much a threat after dispatching a two-man team in the Rockets and an undisciplined team in the Golden State Warriors. In the finals they would be facing the east’s juggernauts, the Pistons, or possibly LeBron and his Cavaliers (let’s face it, Chicago and Jersey are doomed). While the Pistons could hang with the West winner, it doesn’t seem feasible that they could actually win an entire series. With Game 5 tomorrow and game 6 on Friday, these next two games of Phoenix vs. San Antonio may be the best games left in the NBA playoffs.

Getting closer to the finish

The feel good story of the Golden State Warriors could be ending very soon as the Jazz ran them down to pick up a 115-101. This gives Utah a 3-1 series lead going home tomorrow night where they figure to be tough to beat. It looks like the Cinderella story of the NBA playoffs is striking midnight. I hate that analogy but it feels like the time to use it.

Chicago staved off elimination and a series sweep by beating the red-hot Pistons yesterday afternoon. ‘Sheed had an awful performance shooting 4-for-16 and Chauncey Billups was 5-for-14. For the Bulls, Luol Deng played the entire game and notched a double-double with 25 points and 13 boards. Big Ben Wallace also pulled down 17 rebounds as the Bulls were able to out-rebound Detroit 51-33. It can be quite hard to win a game when your opponents are cleaning the glass like that. It’s still out of the question that Chicago will come back though.

Blunders at the Rogers Centre

The building formerly known as the SkyDome featured an unexpected pitching clinic and some bush league errors that cost the Blue Jays a win. Shawn Marcum and Jae Seo duelled in a fashion you’d expect to see from the likes of a Pedro Martinez or a Greg Maddux. Seo only gave up two hits in 7 innings while walking two, but, even more incredibly, Shawn Marcum didn’t give up a hit while on the mound. Marcum, in his first start of the season went 6 innings before being pulled, perhaps prematurely by manager John Gibbons. Marcum had a pitch total of 78, which was said to have been over his predetermined amount. My question is, with a bullpen as shaky as Toronto’s is right now, why yank a starter who’s pitching a no-hitter? Marcum should’ve at least been allowed to stay in until giving up a hit or shown more signs of struggle.

In the end, Gibbons’ move backfired as the man who came in, Jason Frasor, retired two batters then gave up a solo home run to Carlos Pena.

In the ninth inning the real bush league play happened. Brian Tallet had put runners on first and third with two outs when he got Pena to ground sharply to a backed up Lyle Overbay. Tallet didn’t get a good break towards first (which he’s supposed to cover) and couldn’t get there in time to receive the ball from Overbay allowing the runner to slide in safely while Carl Crawford scored. Had Tallet gotten his ass over to first, the run wouldn’t have counted and then Matt Stairs’ first home run of the season in the bottom of the ninth would’ve been for the tie instead of just a meaningless number on the scoreboard. No wonder this overpaid team is tied for last in their division.

Hockey this weekend

Unsurprisingly, Team Canada won the gold medal at the IIHF championships. If there was a championship I less interested in recently, I’d tell you about it. But there isn’t. Why should I care again? The most news-worthy, ergo, interesting, aspect of the tournament was the fact that some dumb politicians decided to complain about the naming of Shane Doan captain of team Canada because once upon a time, he may have made fun of a French-Canadian referee. Give me a break.

The Senators were able to take two games from the Sabres in Buffalo and look like they have what it takes to get the Stanley Cup Finals. The folks at CBC will be happy that a Canadian team is there to sustain ratings; too bad it’s the least popular of the six Canadian teams but, then again, it’s a pipe-dream to believe the Leafs or Oilers will even be playoff-bound sometime soon.

In the West, Anaheim earned an OT win to tie their series with the Red Wings. The series now shifts to the left coast where Detroit will have to try to take home-ice advantage back from the Ducks. Taking anything from the Ducks is quite difficult considering their back end consisting of Pronger, Neidermayer and Giguere. This is shaping up to be a knock-down, dragged out series, if the Senators can somehow make quick work of Buffalo, they could potentially capitalize on a worn down Western foe.