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“NBA Playoffs-Healthy or Hot”

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The NBA’s teal season is underway and it is put up-shut up time for the Lakers-Clippers.

The Lakes won their play in game and move on to face the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets at the end of the week.

The Lakers are playing possessed, downhill basketball, something we have rarely seen over recent years.

They have won 11-of their last 14, to forge their way from 10th place to the 7th spot in the standings.

LeBron James-Anthony Davis have played like the high priced superstars they are.  Maybe there’s a price to extract from playing the way they do, when old injuries reappear.

But this is a different Lakers team at this hour.  Austin Reaves came back from a slow start to be what he was a year ago, which was everywhere on the floor.

D’Angelo Russell is shooting 3’s like a mad man, and yes this is a contract year for him, so he can ride his hot hand into an opt out big money contract next year, somewhere else, but why should he leave now?  He fits, he scores, he distributes the ball.  It took him years to find out what being a pro should be about.

Add in Rui Hachimura, sometimes hot or cold, but usually a good 3rd or 4th wheel option in the offense.

So the Lakers will have their hands full, with NBA-MVP Nikola Jokic, the explosive Davontae Murray, Kevin Porter, and the two journeyman guards Reggie Jackson and Kantavious Caldwell-Pope.

The Lakers will have their hands full. Biggest question for me, can AD and King James play with the passion and the minutes required every game against the Nuggets?  Can they sustain the max efforts needed to win against the guys who had the trophy last spring.

The Clippers were built to get to the NBA finals, but now you have the bigger questions.

If you are not healthy, or you are not hot, how much trouble are you in?

And the Clippers seem troubled now.  Kawhi Leonard has not played in 8-games and has recurring knee issues, the knee he had 2-major surgeries on.

James Hardin has foot discomfort and has sat out games.

Paul George has had explosive nights but is not a one game gang.  More than anything else, shooting forward Norman Powell needs big nights.

If there is no Kawhi on the floor, the Clippers could be in big trouble at both ends of the floor.

Triggerman off the bench Russell Westbrook needs to stand out in this series if there is no Leonard, or Harden is substandard.

Dead ahead is 50-win Dallas, you know with the league’s high octane tandem of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Williams, between them averaging (59P) per game.  Home court advantage means alot too.

They, the Clippers,  have built this franchise for this type of moment, getting where they never did before, the NBA Conference finals in the West.

Looks like they might not make it.

The Lakers are healthy and hot.  The Clippers are cold and hurt.

1-looks ready, the other doesn’t.

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“AZTECS FOOTBALL-DEBUT-AZTECS FAST”

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Sean Lewis has been here since December, bringing in players, installing a new look offense, fixing the defense, and replacing virtually the entire roster of SDSU football.

And now the fans, whatever number are left, will get their first chance to see a new-look Aztecs football program, unveiled Saturday afternoon, with the Red-Black Spring Scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium.

It’s been a tough time at SDSU.  The opening of the stadium two seasons ago, impacted by a suddenly struggling football team.  The collapse of the team’s offense because of serious quarterback problems.  The inability to compete in the NIL-world of money.  The disenchantment with Coach Brady Hoke’s offense.  And the messy Matt Araiza affair.

It’s a clean piece of paper.  Lewis arrives from Colorado after his spectacular rebuild job at Kent State prior to going to work for Deion Sanders.

His new look Aztecs Air offense, will be a carbon copy of what he ran with the Buffs last year and with the record setting Golden Flashes in the Mid American Conference.

New quarterbacks, new skill receivers, and a massive overhaul of both lines, and some 22-players arriving in the transfer portal.

1pm-Saturday they unveil all things new to Aztecs football.   A truly clean piece of paper.
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Coach Sean Lewis:

Clean piece of paper…very unique
Year 1-here is different than from Kent State
We are re-inventing ourself-building relationships

Saturday will be an open practice…7-on-7s….11-on-11s
Red Zone offense featured

Both transfer QBs are learning and competing
AJ Duffy and Dan O’Neil are competing-job is wide open
Duffy-very cerebral..laid back
Danny is vocal-hi energy
Accuracy of both has gone up
Deep ball throwing has gotten better
All 4-QBs seem pretty tight now in QB room

Kids went thru culture shock when they got on the field with this playbook
We are not game ready yet-but they now know conditioning and style we will play
We want to operate at a high tempo

WRs-Ja’Shon Polk has stood out..big-physical-can run after catch
Lewis Brown..Jerry McClure have made great strides

Great challenge to fix OL-DL..need to get stronger

Installing this offense…over 80% is installed
We will run the vanilla script on Saturday-not tip our hand
We need to see how we go about it..how we execute it
We will do some live tackling-have to..we know what our team needs..how to do it

We have 5500 fans asked for tickets..so we are excited to be in Snapdragon.

This is a different time and space for me…I am not handling a position group
I am a CEO of alot of things
I need to be a better head coach for my assistants
I need to have juice and energy

Sat in the room with coach Paul Chrys…Bob Mosteadt-Wisconsin
Coach Dino Babers-Syracuse took a chance on me as a Chicago recruiter
He taught me to coach tempo-operate at our speed
Get around smart people and ask why and how it works-great learning curve

Each year we will roll this offense out-it will be like a Ferrari-fast
Mid American coach called you a mad scientist..
I want to press the boundaries…we want to be crazy on offense-will evolve

We have elements of the run and shoot…it is our version……veer-shoot principals and 5-wide..do it all
2-back offense…lots of pieces fit
Our players will talk about concepts of all types of offense..in it’s in our system
We put alot on our quarterbacks to do this right..same with WRs-TEs
Our OL have learned we have to go fast

Transfer portal is open..600-players jumped in in two days
Volume-quantity available but we have to make quick decisions
Have 3-to-5 grants to use

Opportunity to grow at Colorado..learned alot in 1-year..we took on scars too-it’s football
Shedeur Sanders-great player…not sitting here without his talents.

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TE-Jude Wolfe…S-DeShaun McCuin

McCuin:
Trying to find our speed-rythm on defense
Our defense has experienced lining up
Not surprised so many Aztecs players jumped into portal
Think MWC teams going to be shocked when they see what we will run

Jude Wolfe-:
Never played anything fast..what we accomplish in practice is amazing
Dealt with alot of injuries at USC
Think alot  about what we have seen on film
What coach Lewis did at Colorado-Kent State..it was amazing
Polk-Brown-Bennett..those transfer receivers really good
USC had tough year…really tough on Caleb Williams but what a competitor he is

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“NAMES IN THE NEWS”
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While I was gone…earth shattering stories making news.
Of course I have opinions on what I was following.

OJ SIMPSON…Maybe the greatest running back of all time.  Maybe the greatest tragedy of all time.  A wasted life.  A troubled person.  Two deaths.  An unjust trial verdict.  The worst of the judicial system.  His life becoming a useless series of episodes, post NFL-TV career.  Lost man, lost soul.  Arrested and in prison for 9-years for armed robbery.  Had everything, lost everything.  You never forget the racial implications by the Trial of the Century.  The Dream Team of lawyers the Juice employed.  The Bronco parade of police cars.  The dirty cop Mark Furhman.  The most harrowing piece of information I remember was the fact his wife Nicole Brown had called police on 63-different times over the years for domestic abuse.  63-times and the famous running back was still running the streets.  And then she was brutally stabbed to death.  I am aghast with the bloody gloves, the shreds of evidence at both sites…all  the DNA, and he got off.  Wonder what the trial atmosphere would be like if that case, the Bronco escapade, and the decision were to be reviewed in social media on a day to day basis.  OJ ran away from lots of people in the NFL.  He ran away from the court case.  Ran away from paying all the damages to the family of those who died..  We know one thing for sure, he won’t run away from whatever ‘hell is like’ wherever he is in his next life.

SHOHEI OHTANI…I kept saying ‘no rush to judgement’.  Now federal officials have completed a month long probe of Ippe Mizuhara, his private aide, for the bank fraud
case that involves 16M.taken from Ohtani accounts.  The name cleared.  The guilty party is facing 30-years in prison a 1M-fine.  Ohtani will never see his money again, his trust and good name forever stained by a compulsive liar-gambling addict.  It is amazing how many people on social media jumped on Ohtani. Was he paying off the gambler?  Was his aide placing bets for him?  How could he give his banking codes to this man?  Now we find Mizuhara changed the coding of accounts; created new accounts where only he saw money moved; stole the slugger’s identity-using personal information of the slugger to explain the deals to bankers; barred Ohtani’s agent access to any information; limited data transferred to Ohtani’s bookkeepers.  The gambling addiction numbers are staggering.  19.000-bets in 3-years; 40M in losses; an average of 25-bets a day.  Ohtani’s name cleared.  His heart has to be forever hurt.

TIGER WOODS…I wish I wasn’t watching this.  The greatness is gone.  Reputation ruined-now trying to rebuild his golfing image.  He gave us so many thrills.  The Grand Slam events..the phenomenal seasons..the dominance against so many other great talents of his time.  Of course his personal life forever stained him.  The mistresses, the broken marriage, the alcohoI-drug related issues, the bad auto accident..the lies-the coverups.  His last decade has been more about surgeries and rehabs and hopes and wishes.  When last scene on Sunday at the Masters, Wood was in last place at Augusta.  Saturday was brutal, 8-bogeys and 2-double bogeys and a 10-over par-82., the worst of all time for the man who wore red and won on Sundays.  Then a final round included more bogeys and a triple bogey.  Yes he drives ratings on TV.  Yes he can have an odd competitive round.  But it’s like he now wants to celebrate playing par as an accomplishment.  I wish he would pick and choose and go to the Champions Tour and join so many others in the sunset.  The courses may be easier.  The competition won’t be as tough.  The physical demands will be diminished.  Tee to green won’t be as demanding.  He can still play the majors.  Maybe he will win some on that tour.  But I  hate to see this turn into a Pity Party, and that’s what his appearances at PGA big events turning into.

That’s what I saw, what I think.  Agree or Disagree.  Let me know.

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Team…

I am on vacation this week

Return on Monday April 15th

Thanks for following

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Lee