WSD Sports Page (5-1-14): Los Angeles Kings complete reverse sweep against San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles comes back to win a seven-game series against San Jose, Mike D'Antoni is gone as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach, and more NCAA players doing the stupid in today's sports page.

The Lede


For the fourth time in NHL history, a team pulled off the amazing reverse sweep in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Los Angeles cruises to seven-game series victory over San Jose blows it in the postseason again. It was a storyline that was hard to believe could happen, but it ended up being a story that's pretty easy to believe.

Home ice matters little in hockey, especially in Game 7s. The road team has won more often than the home team, and that happened with both Minnesota and LA on Wednesday night.

Some Sharks fans will be quick to point out the phantom goal in Game 6 that skewed the whole series, but they can justify it however they want. That didn't excuse the no-show at home in Game 5. And the continuing disastrous history of the team deserves all the vitrol from its fans because, let's face it, it keeps on continuing. There's no excuse when dropping four straight games in a series.

Now it's a SoCal rivalry in the next round, and it's going to be just as tough for the Kings. That series against the Sharks was a hard-hitting mess that saw Jonathan Quick absolutely winded in the closing minutes of last night's game. At least they'll have two nights off before the opening game, and two nights off between Game 2 and 3.


Other Headlines

1. NBA: Mike D'Antoni resigns as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He posted a sub .500 record with the team, an astonishing 20 games under. The team reportedly wouldn't pick up the option on his contract, and therefore he didn't want to go through another season of hell and discomfort. Perhaps this move is in the best interest of everyone.
2. NHL: Minnesota advances on overtime goal in Game 7. No, hockey doesn't get much better than that. And it all starts over again with the next round tonight.
3. NBA: Playoff recap. Dwight Howard and Houston hold off elimination, San Antonio wins another nail-biter with Dallas, Toronto wins shocking high-scoring affair.
4. NCAA: Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky explains why he's still in college even though he hates being broke. He thinks the NBA boring, which is interesting considering how easy it is to watch the Badgers and fall asleep. And don't get me started on him knowing that he's "pursuing his degree free of charge" and hates "seeing $20 left in" his bank account at the end of the month. I'd hate for him to budget around paying his tuition for the next 20 years with a low-income job.
5. ESPN: Outside the Lines reports big-time college football teams in FBS are thriving despite the economic struggles over the years. Next up, whether or not money handed under the table and other incentives make athletes decide where to go to college. This breaking revelation and more on the next OTL.
6. NBA: Toronto Raptors fan gets rejected after going for a kiss. Oh, the feels, man. At least they won the game, so he can't feel all bad.
7. NCAA: Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston steals crab legs, issues stupid apology. Reason #943 of why I don't care about college athletics that much. This guy, a national title winning, Heisman Trophy winner, steals crab legs and, with his lawyer, issues a long-ass, stupid apology.

Yesterday's Favorites

• Giants 3, Padres 2 - Tim Hudson picks up his fourth win and almost reels in all 27 outs, but a late home run in the final inning forced a move to put Sergio Romo in to close the game. They've now won six of their last seven games, and will head to Atlanta for a big series with the NL West lead.

Today's Slate

(A.K.A. Games I'm keeping track of) - Central times listed.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 2

Canadiens at Bruins - 6:30 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1

Pacers at Hawks (ATL 3-2) - 6:00 NBATV

Thunder at Grizzlies (MEM 3-2) - 7:00 TNT

Clippers at Warriors (LAC 3-2) - 9:30 TNT

MLB

Dodgers at Twins (Game 1) - 12:10 MLBN/SNLA/FSNO

Dodgers at Twins (Game 2) - 6:10 SNLA/FSNO

LAX

AE: UMBC vs Binghamton (Semi 1) - 3:55 AETV (ONL)

AE: Stony Brook at Albany (Semi 2) -6:30 AETV (ONL)

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