Wednesday Water Cooler – April 28th, 2010
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
Enjoy!
If you still think the NBA Finals matchup is a foregone conclusion, think again. The two biggest basketball stars on the planet are both battling through injuries in the playoffs.
Can they still lead their teams to glory if they’re nicked up?
NBA news: LeBron, Kobe battling injuries
In the short term, Tuesday night was an obvious success for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They closed out the Bulls with a 96-94 victory, winning their Eastern Conference quarter-final series in five games. But the series clincher also ended with a scary image: LeBron James grimacing and shooting free throws with his left hand.
LeBron doesn’t know when he injured his right elbow but said it bothered him for the whole second half last night. Luckily, an MRI revealed no structural damage. Odds are King James will be fine but it’s something to watch.
Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant continues to battle through injuries – sore ankle, broken finger, swollen knee. But that hasn’t stopped him from showing real maturity as a player and finding other ways to contribute. During last night’s big win over Oklahoma City, Kobe had just 13 points, but he added seven assists and played shutdown defense.
Laker fans hope he can erupt for some big games before the playoffs are over but it’s not like he’s contributing nothing.
Once again, I’d like to thank Twitter for making the sports world more interesting. Denver’s J.R. Smith Tweeted, “You play selfish you lose selfish, that’s all I’m saying about the game!” after the Nuggets had fewer assists in Sunday’s entire game (13) than the Jazz had in the second half (14).
NFL news: Dolphins offend Dez Bryant and his mom; Tim Tebow = popular
Boy oh boy, Miami. Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland has the team in hot water after it was revealed yesterday that he asked some extremely leading questions of Dez Bryant during a pre-draft interview. I guess he felt it was important to cover all his bases with Bryant, who has a checkered family history.
But that does justify Ireland asking if Bryant’s mother was a prostitute? Seriously – that’s what Ireland did. He has since “apologized” and Bryant accepted.
Whether or not he’ll succeed, Tim Tebow is already setting records. Since the Broncos drafted him last week, he’s already crushed the record for fastest-selling NFL rookie jersey of all time.
MLB news: Jimenez extends scoreless streak; Strasburg unhittable in AAA
Make that 22 1/3 scoreless innings for Ubaldo Jimenez during his current streak. Jimenez, now 5-0 to start the season, became the first Rockies pitcher to toss a no-hitter on April 17 and now owns the franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings, snapping the record held by Denny Neagle and Franklin Morales (20).
Stephen Strasburg continued his push for the major leagues last night, throwing five hitless innings and striking out six. On hand to watch was Philadelphia’s Brad Lidge, who was playing for the opposing team, Reading, on a rehab assignment.
Naturally, Lidge gave the kid a glowing review. Maybe Strasburg could teach him a thing or two about keeping the ball down.
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