WSD Sports Page: Clippers lack playoff experience, costly against Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers in six games, and another blown lead--not any calls from the refs-- was the main story again.

Photo from TheHoodgirl

Once up 16, the Clippers let everything slide away again in the second half and lost by a 104-98 final margin. Kevin Durant was incredible, putting up 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists in an incredible night, nailing all 10 free throws. The whole team was aggressive getting to the foul line and it paid off. They went 29-of-33 from the charity stripe while LA hit just 12-of-20.

That +15 edge at the line overcame the Clippers having a +24 advantage in the paint.

Clippers fans were obnoxious during the whole disaster, but this time, they don't have the aid of a controversial finish and a Doc Rivers breakdown to latch onto. Two straight games blowing double-digit leads doomed the team, and while they looked like the best team in the NBA at times throughout the season, playoff experience prevailed for the Thunder.

People forget that LA's other team, despite becoming more popular than the Lakers, simply have next to zero playoff experience in their franchise history. The team is trending in the right direction, and they'll continue to be a factor as they re-tool the team and continue being led by the trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.

But for now, the Thunder get the opportunity to play the San Antonio Spurs, a.k.a the West's Finest. They won't get the luxury of blown leads this time around.

---

NBA: Pacers advance with beatdown of their own

The Wizards couldn't take advantage of a dominant Game 5 and fizzled at home in a 93-80 loss. Finally, Indiana put their foot down after getting embarrassed at home. Now the question is, how ready are they against the Heat?

MLB: Cain grabs first win in Giants' 6-4 win over Marlins

After 11 straight winless starts, San Francisco's Matt Cain finally grabs a victory, and it was technically his worst start of the season after giving up back-to-back jacks in the first two innings. San Francisco's lineup is red-hot after two games, and figured out Nate Eovaldi's fast ball pretty fast rocking nine hits in the first 4.1 innings.

CBB: Oklahoma State clinches Big 12 regular season title

The Cowboys lock up the one seed in the Big 12 tournament next week after defeating their in-state rival, Oklahoma, in the opening game of a three-game series and TCU lost to Baylor. OSU has now won 11 straight games overall, six in Big 12 play.

NBA: Lakers GM says Bryant isn't going to be involved in coaching search

Obviously, Kobe wants to have his say on who's going to become the next coach LA's more historic franchise, but Mitch Kupchak won't give him a seat at the table to talk. Which is fine, because that's not Kobe's job. It's not in his contract to help the team pick a coach. That doesn't mean Bryant can't give his input, and it's not like Kupchak won't give it consideration.

NBA Draft Combine: Wiggins jumps a billion miles in the air

Look at this picture of Wiggins during a workout. Dude's got some serious hangtime.

Today's Slate

(Central times listed)

TENNIS

ATP/WTA BNL d'Italia (Qtrs) - 5:00a TNNS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 2

-Kings at Ducks (Game 7) - 8:00 NBCS

NBA

Scouting Combine - 9:00a ESPNU / 12:00 ESPN2

MLB

Padres at Rockies - 7:40 MLBTV

Dodgers at D'backs - 8:40 MLBTV

-Marlins at Giants - 9:15 MLBTV

CBB

11Washington at 1Oregon St - 6:00 P12

20TCU at Baylor - 6:30 FSSW

-19Texas at Kansas St - 6:30

WSD Sports Weekend (4-26-14): Los Angeles Lakers keeping Mike D'Antoni shows nothing but stupidity

Stupid is the theme of the day as I dissect why Mike D'Antoni returning for another season defies all common sense, why Gawker Media/Jezebel/Deadspin fails again at crapping all over someone, and there's some lacrosse respect in today's sports page.

Photo from Beyond the Buzzer.

The Lede

Stupid: Los Angeles Lakers decide to bring back Mike D'Antoni for third season

There's a lot of stupid going on in the NBA lately.

Whatever's happening with the Indiana Pacers is stupid because everyone that's not a Miami Heat fan wants to see the Miami Heat lose, and we thought the answer was here for the first four months of the season. Whatever happened at the end of the Golden State's game and not calling a foul on the LA Clippers' Chris Paul is pretty stupid, and that adds to the fire of ref stupidity during these playoffs.

And of course, there's been stupid since Jim Buss took over full operation with the Lakers. After two miserable seasons with Mike D'Antoni as head coach, they decided to bring him back for a third season.

Hear that? That's the sound of every single Laker fan that's still left throwing everything out the window. That's Kobe Bryant screaming in agony as he reinjures himself because he knows full well that he's going to get another season-ending injury before Thanksgiving.

There's absolutely zero equation that fits both Bryant and D'Antoni to equal out a championship. None. D'Antoni's system is built for young guns. Built for fast-paced offense that doesn't matter whether or not they play defense. In fact, they'd rather the team launch a quick shot and make it so they can get back on offense.

Pau Gasol might as well pack up his shit and go to LAX, he's history. Bryant might as well demand a trade, because a championship isn't coming to the Lakers organization until well after he's retired. Any big names in free agency this summer might as well skip right past going to the Lakers because why in the world would any experienced talent want to come in when D'Antoni's just going to favor putting in more younger guys.

D'Antoni runs a college system that will never work in the NBA. It will never get the Lakers a trip to the Finals. While next season may not be as craptastic as last season, they'll be nowhere near title contention.

They basically gave one of the best players in their history, Kobe Bryant, the big middle finger and told him that they're going to rebuild with D'Antoni. They gave the middle finger to Magic Johnson who doesn't like D'Antoni at all. And they gave two big middle fingers to every single Lakers fan.

At least Buss and D'Antoni were able to get rid of all the Laker bandwagoners because no front-running idiots will stick with a team that lost more games than they played. Now they'll be able to get rid of every single Laker fan after next year.

Say hello to your new fan, Golden State San Francisco Warriors!


Other Headlines

1. NFL: San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh backs up quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Harbaugh reflects on the situation, saying that just one side has been reported and he even quotes Winston Churchill. Of course...
2. NFL: Gawker Media idiot Joshua David bitches about Harbaugh and tells him to shut the f*ck up. Well David, I don't know if you're trying to be the next Drew Magary on Deadspin, but this article was complete garbage. Drubbing it up into a different argument about rape culture when that's not even the issue. It didn't happen, even THE GIRL said it didn't happen. She filed a report to figure out how she got to the hospital, and then we figured it out. Of course, David didn't want to mention any of that because he was too busy ranting about how much he hated Harbaugh. Good job. When you first wrote "I don't know what happened," you should have probably shut the f*ck up yourself and deleted the post.
3. MLB: Washington Nationals keep Bryce Harper out for today's game against San Diego Padres. Harper jammed his thumb while siding into third base during an 11-1 blowout. Even when he decides to try hard, he still can't win.
4. NBA/NHL: Chicago goes 2-0 in big playoff games. The Blackhawks take a huge 3-2 lead against the St. Louis Blues as they head back to Chicago, while the Bulls avoided a 3-0 hole against the Washington Wizards. Displaced Chicagoians at the bars last night were as happy as hell.
5. MLL: The season begins tonight. For the first time, similar to Johns Hopkins in the college ranks, I'll be following a team from beginning to end. And my favorite team in the MLL is the Denver Outlaws.
6. NCAA LAX: Last night's game were the best. There were three buzzer beaters last night, two of them in the ACC semifinals that led to Syracuse and Notre Dame victories. Another one in the Patriot League semifinal between Lehigh and Army. The Irish needed the win to stay away from being 6-6 and potentially not making the playoffs, while the Black Knight's loss puts them in a tough position to make it.
7. MLB: Giants take lead in NL West after win over Indians, Dodgers loss. Suck it, Dodgers.

Today's Slate

Or, in other words, what I'll be keeping track of. All times Central.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1

Red Wings at Bruins (BOS 3-1) - 2:00 NBC

Blue Jackets at Penguins (Tied 2-2) - 6:00 NBCS

Wild at Avalanche (Tied 2-2) - 8:30 NBCS

-Kings at Sharks (SJ 3-1) - 9:00 CNBC

NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1

Pacers at Hawks (ATL 2-1) - 1:00 TNT

Spurs at Mavericks (Tied 1-1) - 3:30 TNT

Heat at Bobcats (MIA 2-0) - 6:00 ESPN

Thunder at Grizzlies (MEM 2-1) - 8:30 ESPN

MLB

Padres at Nationals - 12:05 FSSD/MASN

-Indians at Giants - 3:05 STO/CSBA

Phillies at D'backs - 7:10 CSPA/FSAZ

Rockies at Dodgers - 8:10 RSRM/SNLA

LAX

Harvard at Yale - 12:30 FCS626

Machine at Hounds - 6:00 MSG+

-Outlaws at Launch - 6:00 LAXN

CBB

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - 12:00 FCS623

-Oklahoma St at Texas - 1:00 LHN

Virginia at Florida St - 5:00 EPSN3

Oregon at Oregon St - 9:30 P12