Sports Night(s)

One thing they don't have in Israel is the sporting world, especially the drama-laced, easy-going, high-pressure, laid-back, and overall paradoxic sporting world of Los Angeles. I mean, sure, there's Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem basketball, and the soccer games with all the excitement of watching paint dry, but other than that, it's basically me checking the sports highlights on espn.com on my laptop.

Thankfully, I have been able to attend LA sporting events at two of the greatest sporting arenas in the US, Staples Center and Dodger Stadium. First up, the playoff-bound Clippers taking on the also playoff-bound Nuggets. I was in Premier Section 110, row 10:

It started as a preview of a potential first-round playoff matchup, and by halftime it was a laugher. But in the second half, when the Nugget-Clipper game turned into playoff-intensity battle, one team’s star lost his cool, while the other kept his composure, rallying his team to an improbable victory.

Sam Cassell scored 19 points and handed out 10 assists, and his fourth quarter play helped the Clippers to a come-from-behind 111-109 victory against the Denver Nuggets before 17,365 roaring fans at Staples Center.

Elton Brand scored 18 points and collected 11 rebounds, Vladimir Radmanovic and Corey Maggette scored 18 and 17 respectively off the bench, and the Clippers played sound second-half defense to overcome a 22-point deficit. With the win, the Clippers (43-30) strengthened their hold on the Western Conference’s fifth seed and reduced their “magic number” to clinching a playoff spot to two.

Carmelo Anthony led Denver (41-34) with 24 points, reserve DerrMarr Johnson had 22, and Andre Miller added 12 assists. But the Nuggets had to play the last minute of a tight game without Anthony, who leads the NBA with 10 game-winning shots. A clearly frustrated Anthony was automatically ejected with 1:11 left in the game after punching the ball into the stands following a hard foul. The loss of their superstar proved costly for the Nuggets, who were forced to give the ball to Ruben Patterson with three seconds left. But he missed an off-balance jumper as time expired, and the Clippers rebounded from a tough road loss in Sacramento.

The game was a tale of two halves for Nuggets, who hit their first 12 shots and shot a blistering 82 percent in the first half. Marcus Camby, who finished with 19 points, connected on all nine of his shots to help the Nuggets to a 77-57 halftime advantage.

With almost everything the Nuggets throwing at the basket going in, Clippers Mike Dunleavy had to make some halftime adjustments. While most times coaches will open the third quarter with the starting lineup, Dunleavy opted to start a backcourt of reserves Shaun Livingston and Quinton Ross. The two played key roles in the comeback, as Livingston ignited the Clipper offense, leading fastbreaks and dishing out seven assists, while Ross, the Clippers’ defensive specialist, locked down Anthony, holding him to 1-for-8 shooting in the second half. The Clippers outscored the Nuggets 31-16 in the third quarter to draw within five entering the final period.

The Clippers finally caught the Nuggets, taking the lead 101-100 with 5:11 remaining in the game on a layup by Cassell. Cassell, who scored 10 points and added four assists in the quarter, led the Clippers back with his veteran play, hit clutch free-throws, and got the crowd into the game. Maggette and Brand each hit big shots, and the Clippers held the Nuggets to a paltry 27 percent shooting from the field in the second half. Overall, the Nuggets shot 55 percent while the Clippers made 52 percent.

The Clippers will need to play with the defensive intensity and offensive consistency they showed in the second half to defeat reigning MVP Steve Nash and the Suns in Phoenix tonight. The Suns, who lead the Clippers by six games in the Pacific Division with eight games to play, will be without superstar forward Amare Stoudemire, who is out for the season with an injured knee. But that is a small relief to the Clippers, who lost to the Stoudemire-less Suns by 31 the last time they met.

An additional and unusual statistic I calculated after the game: the two teams shot a combined 42.5% on the eastern basket, but made a whopping 64.6% on the western basket.

(To clarify: the Nuggets shot the first half on the west basket and made 82%, and then the Clippers hit 49% on the same basket in the second half. On the eastern goal, the Clippers shot 56% in the first half, while the Nuggets shot a pathetic 27% after halftime. Now back to the story.)

Though the rest of the world is catching up in the basketball department, I took pride tonight in America's pastime which more or less remains our own (except for Latin America and Japan). Tonight I was on hand with around 35,000 blue-clad fans as the Dodgers lost a close game to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 9-8. For the second time in three games, the Dodger starter lasted less than six innings and surrendered at least seven runs, as Odalis Perez squandered a five run cushion. The Dodgers came back to even the game at eight in the seventh inning, but left the bases loaded and allowed the Braves to score the winning run in the eighth off losing pitcher Franquilles Osoria. Though the hitting is looking much better than last year, even without the injured Nomar Garciappara and Kenny Lofton, the pitching has no resemblance to the league's best staff two years ago. Still, the season is young.

I hope to complete the sports trifecta and get to a hockey game tomorrow night, as the Kings take on the San Jose Sharks back at Staples Center.

I love LA.