The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
LeBron has shown he is still NBA’s best player
As the Cavaliers have cruised through the Eastern Conference playoffs, LeBron James has demonstrated why he is still the NBA’s best player says Register columnist Chip Malafronte.
Chicks find me irresistible around this time of year. The weather’s warmer and I do like to wear shorts. So almost every time I go outside one or two will cling to me and not let go. In fact, just yesterday I had to pick one off my leg with a tweezer.
Wait a second. Did I write chicks? I meant ticks. The annoying little bloodsuckers are everywhere.
• There may not have been many who believed the Celtics could beat Cleveland in a seven-game series, despite the secondseeded Cavaliers position as the “underdog.”
But the first two games have been like watching a varsity team scrimmage the jayvees. Although, to be fair to Boston, the NBA this season is the Cavs, Golden State and 28 junior varsity teams.
It makes no difference who wins the MVP. LeBron James is still the NBA’s best player, and it’s really not even that close. LeBron showed right from the opening tip in Game 1 that anything but a Cleveland sweep is unacceptable. The beat down continued through Game 2, and with Isaiah Thomas out for the remainder of the season any modicum of hope of the Celtics pulling out a single game went out the window.
Boston continues to build for the future, but until LeBron retires, it’s going to a monumental task simply to get to the NBA Finals, much less win a league championship.
• The Celtics own the top pick in the upcoming NBA draft. That means they could take LaVar Ball. Or is it Lonzo Ball? Maybe it’s just me. But it’s getting tougher to remember which one is the franchise guard and which is the blowhard father. Because only one of them is constantly in the media spotlight, and it’s not the Ball who actually plays ball.
• Markelle Fultz will likely be the Celtics top pick, partly because most believe he’s the better player and partly because his father isn’t LaVar Ball.
Fultz, a freshman at Washington, scored 30 points with seven rebounds and six assists in his college debut last November. It wasn’t enough to beat Yale, which came away with a 98-90 victory.
• The Red Sox could sure use David Price. He should be back in the rotation soon. Is Price enough to change the fortunes of an underachieving team expected to contend for the World Series? It’s a good place to start.
• Alex Rodriguez knows a lot about baseball and should be an interesting color analyst for games on Fox Sports. But he’s selfdeprecating to the point of coming across as disingenuous. Then again, insincerity has been his calling card for the past two decades.
• Don’t believe for a second Gisele Bundchen’s comment about her husband’s unreported concussion was a slip of the tongue. We wouldn’t be surprised if got consent from Tom Brady. The Patriots can’t the only team side-stepping the NFL’s concussion protocol by sweeping at least some of them under the rug.
• As we saw this week, college baseball is inherently more fun and exciting than the drudgery of a minor league season. The University of New Haven won four straight elimination games to win the Northeast-10. Yale swept Penn to clinch its first Ivy title since 1994. UConn drew 3,000 to Dunkin’ Donuts Park for a weeknight game — no small feat. Too bad it all ends just as the weather’s getting good.
• Where will Yale baseball wind up when the NCAA tournament field is announced on May 29? Baseball America’s latest projection has the Bulldogs at the Baton Rouge Regional, along with Southeastern Louisiana, Nebraska and the host, LSU. Most of the country will play conference tournaments this week, so things could change.
• Look for the Bulldogs to schedule a game or two against Holy Cross, the Patriot League champ, sometime this week to keep sharp in advance of the tournament, which doesn’t begin until June 2. Holy Cross beat Bucknell for the league title on Saturday afternoon.
• Those who said we’d never see another player like Mickey Mantle were wrong. When it comes to baseball skills, the only difference between the Mick and Mike Trout is that Trout has two healthy knees.
• Makai Mason will serve as captain of the Yale men’s basketball team this winter, and then move on to Baylor as a graduate transfer. The Ivy League doesn’t allow athletes a fifth year of eligibility. Mason, who missed last season with a broken foot, can play immediately for the Bears. He also considered Gonzaga, Duke and Notre Dame before settling on Baylor. Ironically, it was Mason’s torching of Baylor in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2016 that raised his national profile.
• Chris Cornell, the front man for Soundgarden who died this week at age 52, rose to popularity with the 1990s grunge movement and was one of rock’s benchmark vocalists. His stuff is impossible to sing along with the car because your voice gives out before the first verse is finished. Another gifted musician gone too soon.
• Sirius XM Radio launched an all-Beatles station this week, and we’ve yet to move the radio dial. Unlike Soundgarden, the lyrics are very conducive to car karaoke. “Twist and Shout” may be the perfect tune to sing along to while stuck in traffic on the Merritt Parkway. Those background vocals are particularly killer. Ahh ... Ahhh ... Ahhhhh ..... AHHHHH ....... WOW!
• I’m mulching my flower beds this afternoon. Anyone know if they sell flea and tick collars for humans? Walmart must carry them, right?