The Rush: The Lakers are out, the Nuggets move on and Nick Saban’s massive recruit
The Lakers lose in round 1, the Nuggets are advancing, Jets’ Mark Scheifele gets suspended for a vicious hit, and Nick Saban’s newest recruit.
Video Transcript
- Here we go with Booker. Another 3. Oh, Booker cannot miss! He is on automatic.
JARED QUAY: Remember this iconic poster? Well, we may have witnessed the beginning of the end for LeBron James. The Lakers are knocked out of the playoffs by the Suns, and it was the first time in King James' career that he didn't make it past the first round.
Anthony Davis left the game after playing the first five minutes. And LA was soon down by 29 points. In the first half, Devin Booker went seven of eight from 3 and nearly outscored the Lakers by himself. He would finish the game with 47 points.
The Lakers fought back to get the deficit down to as low as 10 points, but Phoenix was relentless. As LA becomes the first defending champs to get knocked out of the first round since 2015.
We've now got both teams that reached the Finals last year out of the playoffs. And I'm sure Adam Silver is scrambling to make sure at least Brooklyn makes it this year.
This Denver and Portland series has been incredible. We had Dame going off, Nikola Jokic playing like a true MVP. And I'm just sad that it's over.
- So that's it. It's over.
JARED QUAY: The Nuggets closed out the Blazers on the road as Jokic dropped 36 points. And Michael Porter, Jr. went six of 12 from 3.
- Sluggish from the double-overtime game.
- Oh my goodness.
- He's not though. He's not sluggish.
JARED QUAY: Damian Lillard did all he could do again for Portland, adding 28 points and 13 assists. But after playing 52 minutes in game 5, he went just one of 10 in the fourth quarter of this one.
On to the NHL Playoffs, where Mark Scheifele has been suspended for four games but this hit against Montreal's Jake Evans.
- He does. Pays a praise, but scores the goal.
JARED QUAY: Damn! Oh. It's hard to understand just how bad this hit is if you don't see the first part of the video, where Scheifele puts his head down and skates the entire length of the ice just to deck Evans. Evans was stretchered off, but later was alert and seemed to be doing OK.
The Jets, meanwhile, will try to make a series comeback without arguably their best player. Maybe I'm hockey illiterate, but the league openly allows guys to brawl, but this is over the top. How about we just don't do either of these things? Let's just play the sport. I mean, you shouldn't be able to deck somebody, but don't punch him in the jaw either.
Finally, Nick Saban was sitting back in his giant leather villain chair, waiting for college recruiting's dead period to end. Then he went ahead and offered a 6-foot-5, 340-pound 14-year-old. Whoa, that kid's massive. He couldn't even fit the jersey they gave him on his recruiting visit. How is he only 14?
He's listed as an O-lineman, D-lineman, and fullback. But just imagine you're 160-pound high school sophomore just trying to decide how to ask someone to the winter formal, and then this guy lifts you out of your cleats and sends you to the fourth row.
Everyone thinks there's UFOs flying around us, but I got a better idea. Saban is creating these kids in a lab, and then making sure they end up at Bama. I mean, this is the only way he's doing at this point. How many 5-stars are there in this world? This guy has to be like Frankenstein creator, man.
