The best game of the playoffs thus far occurred in what has been the most consistently competitive first-round series, with the Lakers pulling out a thrilling overtime win over Phoenix to go up 3-1. Down by 8 in the 4th quarter, the Lakers pulled it out on a Smush Parker steal from Steve Nash after the inbounds, followed by a gorgeous teardrop layup from Kobe Bryant going baseline (no bank). In overtime, the Suns were up 3 with very little time remaining. Kobe banked in a layup and then, after the Suns brought it up, Nash was trapped and probably fouled while appearing to try and call a timeout. But Bennett Salvatore (the Dukakis lookalike) whistled a jump ball! On the inevitable Lakers tap (it was Nash and Luke Walton on the jump), Kobe had the rock on a do-or-die jumper and you know what happens when that happens--Swish! Lakers win.

More >>

Harvey Ratner--the "Harv" in Harv and Marv--died early Friday after a yearlong struggle with cancer. Here's the CBS Sportsline link. I'm sure the Strib and PiPress will have more complete reports.

In retrospect, Mr. Ratner and his partner, Marv Wolfenson, didn't have the enormous wealth required to run a professional sports franchise. But I will always remember, and be grateful, for the fact that they brought NBA hoops back to Minneapolis, not only plunking down the $32 million franchise entry fee, but building the Target Center with their own money, a feat that is more than ironic in light of this week's passage of a Twins stadium bill for billionaire Carl Pohlad in the Minnesota House.

Of the duo, Harv was always the low-key one, the one who preferred to sit back quietly and watch while Marv paraded around as the more obvious face of the franchise. It was a great, enduring partnership, encompassing ownership not only of the Wolves, but of a string of Northwest Fitness health clubs and a number of apartment complexes up in Brooklyn Park and, I believe, Brooklyn Center.

Marv was the character, much more beloved now, in retrospect, but always a diehard basketball fan. Harv was far more mild-mannered but likewise loved hoops, and occasionally came back into the media area to chat up the writers. He also could be seen at his courtside seats on a fairly regular basis. I didn't know him well, spoke with him maybe a dozen times, but by his mien he just seemed like a mensch, somebody who never regarded himself as a self-important big shot.

My sympathies to his wife and four children.

Note: For those of you who clamored for a playoff blog, here you go. Don't know how often I can chime in, but I'll keep opening an occasional new thread if there is sufficient interest.

1. Devil in the details
The great thing about predictions is that they can be spun by whatever level lens you want to focus on. For example, on a macro level, I picked the Spurs over the Kings and the Nets over the Pacers, leading some to think I'm right on the former and wrong on the latter. But anybody who bothered to parse the details would see that I totally blew it when I claimed that San Antonio would take Sac lightly and wouldn't be geared up in full playoff mode; and that my guessing was more accurate when I called the Nets vastly overrated.

More >>

The trouble with the weekend series in Chicago wasn't the sweep for the Chox. It was that the play by the Twinkies was so flat that it was hard to watch.

For the record, Brad Radke's streak of giving up home runs within the first three innings remains in tact; he did so against the Angels last week and again in Chicago on Saturday. It's the one preseason prognistication I made that has been right so far.

More >>

I write this as the Twins are tied at one after three in the wrap-up of their revealing three-game set with the Pale Hose. For something like the eighth (ninth? tenth?) game in a row, the Twins staff is on pace to give up at least ten hits. For a squad that will live or die on the quality of its pitching, that's very troubling indeed.

Will things improve? Not if Ron Gardenhire keeps letting Johan Santana throw 120 pitches as he did Friday night. Yeah, I know Santana's work in the WBC put him ahead of schedule, but that many tosses outside in mid-April is foolhardy. The homer radio crew pooh-poohed it (over on the TV side, at least Blyleven has contrary personal experience motivating him to sneer at pitch counts), saying that Santana was flowing and that it was an "easy" 120 pitches. Right.

The next night Gardy lifts Liriano after only one inning and 14 pitches. Huh? How is the kid going to slowly build up arm strength for his inevitable ascension into the starting rotation if you give him just an inning every three or four days? Would it really have hurt for him to go out for the 8th inning with the team trailing 7-2? Getting to lock up with Thome and Konerko would have been marvelous training for the kid. Instead we got to watch Jesse Crain face Thome, with utterly predictible (boom!) results.

It is beginning to look like it might be a moot point about the Twins staying with the White Sox and Indians (and, uh, the Tigers), but if the club does rally and makes it a pennant race, the tardiness with which they have gotten Liriano ready to step in for Lohse should not be forgotten.

In fact, among the entire staff, only Santana and Liriano inspire confidence at the moment. I had to laugh at Gardy's comment in the paper today about how the Sox are getting bleeders and the Twinks are hitting shots right at people. There have been at least four occasions in the first two games where the Sox have drilled shots with men on base that Twins outfielders have caught at the warning track (or in one case prevented from going out with a leap). And don't take solace in Carlos Silva's yielding of one run through three thus far: along with the five hits the White Sox have amassed, six of their first nine outs have been fly balls. Anyone who knows Silva's m.o. knows that's when he gets the ball up that consistently, bad things are on the way.

Let's get the easiest calls out of the way first. The Pistons will require no more than five games to dispatch the Bucks and Chris Paul is the NBA Rookie of the Year.

The second-easiest pair? Dallas over Memphis in no more than six games (and I'd wager five) and Flip Saunders as Coach of the Year, an obvious choice despite the reputation-enhancing jobs turned in by Avery Johnson in Dallas, Mike D'Antoni in Phoenix, and Scott Skiles in Chicago.

Medium-hard picks?

Well, everyone claims the combo of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant is going to give the Phoenix Suns fits, but I think the only way that happens is if Lamar Odom gets really engaged--the way he used to in Miami--playing the nonstop uptempo style that will define this series, and pairs with Kobe to simply overwhelm the Suns. And I don't think either Kobe or Odom care enough about the other to let that occur. Phoenix in 5, with Kobe averaging nearly 40 points and six assists per game.

More >>

1. Ruben Sierra is enormous. Has he always been that big?

2. The Twins have now beaten the top two closers in the American league: Mariano Rivera on Saturday, and now K-Rod. The only other pitcher who compares to those guys is Joe Nathan. That's a really good feeling.

Man, what a game.

If you thought the 2005-06 Minnesota Timberwolves couldn't sink any lower, well, the franchise saved the worst for last in tonight's game, purposefully losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in order to secure a draft pick rather than risk having it sent to Los Angeles because of the ineptitude of their braintrust.

That's right, I said PURPOSEFULLY lost. The Wolves tanked this game as blatantly as I've ever seen a professional sports team perform with premeditated incompetence, to the point where Glen Taylor owes everyone who paid to get in a refund down to the last penny and Commissioner David Stern needs to launch an investigation and assess fines and penalties. I'm dead serious. And time will tell how others react, but I don't think I'm exaggerating.

More >>

Nine days ago on this Balls! blog, my colleague Jim Walsh wrote a brief but spirited defense of Gophers' women's basketball coach Pam Borton, who was rocked by a slew of players leaving the squad after the season concluded last month. I kept meaning to join the commentary that followed, but was busy with other deadlines and the moment passed. Now, belatedly, I'll offer a couple of things that for some reason haven't been reported in other media--at least not in any outlets I've seen.

First, although it was briefly reported by Jay Weiner in the Strib that Borton faced a similar mini-mutiny among players when she coached at Vermont, the circumstances weren't really fleshed out. For years, Borton was an assistant coach at Vermont under a woman named Cathy Inglese, who put together a powerhouse, going undefeated for two consecutive years--53 regular season victories in a row--before parlaying her success into a gig as head coach at Boston College.

As Inglese's loyal assistant, Borton was flipped the keys to a small college dynamo in May 1993. And how did she fare? Well, Vermont won its conference for a couple years, but finished second in both the 95-96 and 96-97 seasons. In her four years at the helm, Borton's record was 69-46. That's a far cry from 53-0, eh?

More >>

Tigers first baseman Chris Shelton, a 25-year-old from Salt Lake City, hit his major league-leading ninth homerun today off Cleveland pitcher Paul Byrd. Shelton is now on pace to hit 108 homers this year, and he's hitting a ridiculous .479. Oh yeah, and he's also on my fantasy team (suckaz!).