Before I dive into the Los Angeles Lakers systematic beatdown of the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night, I wanted to make a few more comments on Armando Galarraga’s lost perfect game.
There was a rumour yesterday morning that Bud Selig, having the authority to overturn Jim Joyce’s mistake, would call the 27th batter of the game out and retroactively give Galarraga the 21st perfect game in Major League history.
Not surprisingly, Selig did not make the popular decision (i.e. correct decision). He refused to overturn the call on the field, but did promise to look into expanded replay.
There is a small minority of people who believe Selig made the correct call. Their reasoning is that changing the call on the field would set a dangerous precedent and open the doors for all types of petulant whining about ‘unfair’ decisions made during the heat of the game.
I call supreme bullshit on this logic.
This is a completely extraneous circumstance we are dealing with in this situation. Nothing about Wednesday’s game would have changed if the perfect game remained in tact. The next batter of the inning grounded out. The score would have remained the same, only the box score would have shown one less batter.
It was the last out of the game. There is no precedent set. All Selig had to do is say that this is a one-time decision, a way to make things right for everyone involved. If people started to cry foul because this game was overturned and other instances weren’t, then they are morons to begin with and don’t deserve to espouse an opinion.
Back to the Finals. The Lakers, in front of a silicone-enhanced crowd and the immortal Jack Nicholson, took the Celtics out to the woodshed in a convincing Game 1 victory. Even though I’ve called a Western Conference victory since April, I’m not ready to gloat yet because home court advantage is so big in basketball.
Everyone expected the Lakers to win this game and the next one as well. However, if Los Angeles can waltz into Beantown and steal either Game 3 or 4, then the series will be officially over.
In our last podcast, CSzem and I discussed the historical implications of Kobe winning his fifth title. CSzem mentioned that Bryant lacks a little bit of “Just win, baby!” in favour of chasing his own personal statistics and I think that attitude has defined his career up to last year.
I even wrote the following before the Western Conference Finals:
The juxtaposition between Kobe the teammate and Kobe the lone wolf will be a major story as this series progresses. Will he sacrifice personal stats for the betterment of the team? Last night he scored 40 points, but he only took 23 shots. What happens if his scoring touch is a bit off and he ends up jacking up 30 shots to get his points? The Lakers could be in trouble.
I don’t think he plays like that anymore. Call it trust in his teammates or maturation, but Kobe is playing out of his mind in all facets of the game and at both ends of the floor. He’s making his teammates better. Sure, he still has his diva moments in the regular season, but he goes to another place during the playoffs.
Bryant is acutely aware of his legacy and what a fifth title will mean to his career resume. Not only is Kobe average 30 ho-hum points a night, but he’s doing it within the regular flow of the offence. He’s rebounding and making passes and playing stifling defence when necessary.
LeBron may have won the regular season MVP, but Kobe is running the show in June.
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1 comment:
It does seem ridiculous under these particular circumstances not to change the call.
A fact is a fact and the fact is he pitched a perfect game. Nothing is going to change that fact even the bad call. While the league should in all fairness to him officially recognize it he knows he did it, the ump knows he did it, his team knows he did it and rewarded him with a car and the public knows. He can legitimately say he pitched a perfect game in his career and at the end of the day that is what matters.
AG
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