L.A. Hoops, Vegas Hockey Nights and More
NFL Draft, L.A. Hoops and Vegas Hockey Nights drive sports on the West Coast this week.
Sorry for the late email. Work was crazy this week. I also went to the first two Clippers games of the playoffs. It was great to celebrate with my family and friends in the suite life. Those two games might also be the final entries in my career at Staples/Crypto. I attended over 100 NBA games between being a fan, an intern and credentialed reporter.
Elsewhere, the NHL postseason began too. The NFL draft is here with plenty of great West Coast personalities and Stories. More News from the week below.
No More Postseason Parties in L.A.
LAC split the first two games in their series. Kawhi didn’t play in the win but returned for Game Two. The Clippers still lost. Now, they will take on the Mavericks in Dallas for the next two games this weekend.
The Los Angeles Lakers down in their series 2-0. LAL led in both of the games in Denver. However, the Nuggets stormed back both times. They return to L.A. to play Game Three on the 25th and 27th in L.A.
Otherwise, the Sacramento Kings were eliminated last week.
PS Shoutout to Dame Lillard who scored over 34 points in each of the first two playoff games.
The Quest for the Stanley Cup
The Golden Knights are up 1-0 in their series. The Los Angeles Kings are down 1-0. Both teams play Game Two on the road shortly. After that they’ll bring their respective series to their home market through the end of the weekend.
Right now, the Knights are one of the only team’s to ever have their unique goalie position. Meanwhile, Edmonton is tired of hosting the Kings.
The Real Question: Can the Knights win another cup?
West Coast Names To Watch in the NFL Draft
Draft season finally concludes with the NFL Draft tomorrow. There’s plenty to root for from the West Coast.
Top prospects LSU QB Jayden Daniels (SOCAL), UCLA Edge Laiatu Latu (Sacramento), Washington tackle Troy Fautanu (Nevada), Oregon State T Taliese Fuaga (Washington) and Washington WR Rome Odunze (Nevada) all have West Coast ties.
There are plenty of other prospects from CA, OR, WA, and NV throughout this draft. USC’s prominent players like QB Caleb Williams, WR Brenden Rice, S Calen Bullock and RB Marshon Lloyd who will go early in the draft. From Oregon, you have QB Bo Nix, CB Khyreen Jackson and DE Brandon Dorius who should hear their names called on the first couple of days.
Let me know if I missed any one + let me know if there are any players that I missed.
West Coast Links
The Best West Coast Sports links. Click on the links to go deeper with any story.
NBA
Who voted Paul Pierce as a GOAT?
Fan slept by Jokic’s older brother versus the Lakers
Norman Powell thinks he was snubbed
JJ Redick wants to coach the Hornets
NFL
Tom Brady signs up for a Roast
Andy Reid is the highest paid coach
Antonio Brown retires a Raider, sike
Jayden Daniels still doesn’t want to be a Commander
Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller headed for divorce
Jayden and the Raiders share interest
NHL
David Quinn fired from San Jose Sharks
MLB
Jose Canseco petitions to be the A’s manager
Ohtani signs with sports technology company Rapsodo
Meet the Padres pitcher that crushed cigarettes
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I’ll do better next week.