Assuming the Lakers win, which one of them should be crowned Finals MVP?
I get that saying it’s a toss-up might seem like a cop-out, but I really do think this could come down to which one of them plays better here on out.
Put it this way: If we were to score the Finals through four games as though it were a fight, it would be 2-2 between Davis and James. Davis was the Lakers’ best player in Game 1 and Game 2, whereas James was quite clearly their best player in Game 3 and Game 4.
Now, Davis hurt his case a little with his performance in Game 3 – he scored 15 points and the Heat outscored the Lakers by 26 points in his 32 minutes on the court – but he made up for it with his performance in Game 4.
Not only did he knock down a clutch 3-pointer to end the Heat’s hope of making a late push…
…he took on the assignment of guarding Butler following his historic 40-point triple-double in Game 3 and slowed him down.
Ultimately, both James and Davis have been incredible. James carries a bigger load offensively, leading the Lakers in scoring, rebounds and assists, but the Heat still haven’t had an answer for Davis and he’s been a monster defensively. This really could go either way.
Carlan Gay (@TheCarlanGay): LeBron James is averaging 27.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 8.5 assists on 54.1 percent shooting from the field and 36.4 percent from 3, and it feels like he’s having an average Finals run. That’s the standard we hold him to, which is absurd.
LeBron continues to make the extraordinaire look ordinary. It wasn’t until I looked up his stats that I realized he was enjoying another incredible postseason. The Lakers haven’t needed the offensive explosion we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him in the playoffs with Anthony Davis there to carry some of the offensive burden, but that shouldn’t prevent us from rewarding LeBron for his sustained excellence.
I’ll admit if it wasn’t for Davis’ subpar Game 3 I would have said him, but that’s how thin the margin is for these Finals MVP votes. LeBron’s been consistently better throughout and deserves the honour again.
Juan Estévez (@JuanEstevez90): Even though he wasn’t himself in Game 3, I’m convinced that Davis has been the Lakers’ most important player in these Finals.
Offensively, LeBron has the advantage. It’s close, but he has the edge. But when you factor in the other end of the court, I think the scales tip in Davis’ favour. Game 4 was a very clear example of this, with Davis being the most dominant player on the court despite scoring “only” 22 points.
The statistics do not quite do Davis justice when it comes to how valuable he is defensively. His rebounds, blocks and steals tell some of the story, but they don’t take into account how many actions he blows up simply by being in the right spot or how many shots he alters around the rim.
Davis’ postseason has been extraordinary by all accounts, even coming up big in the clutch a number of times, and the Finals has been no exception.
Benyam Kidane (@BenyamKidane): Anthony Davis was out in front for the award after two games, but I’ve got to roll with LeBron James here.
Not discounting Davis’ phenomenal play on both ends of the floor, as illustrated by his job on Jimmy Butler in Game 4, but when you take a step back, LeBron has been controlling every facet of the series to date.
As Carlan mentioned, the bar we set for LeBron is on another level and through four games, his numbers are more than worthy of Finals MVP. However, what puts him over the top for me is his impact on his teammates.
In addition to giving his team 27.8 points per game, the 35-year-old has created 94 points off of assists through four games, generating open look after open look, while effortlessly controlling the pace and tempo of each game.
When you add in the fact that his production has largely remained the same win or lose, that type of elite consistency is hard to ignore.
Like my colleagues have mentioned, LeBron James has been more consistent and leads both teams in points and rebounds but I believe Davis has been the ‘most valuable’ player of the Finals. When he’s got it going, the Lakers look in command and win.
First two games, he dominated by averaging 33.0 points and 11.5 rebounds, being the difference maker as the Heat simply had no answer for his size. In Game 4, he sealed the game with clutch plays on both ends. More importantly, it was the Lakers’ adjustment to put him on Butler in Game 4 that seemed to bother the Heat’s offense.
James and AD have played nearly the same number of total minutes through the four games but the Lakers’ net rating is +7.2 when AD is on the floor while with James on the floor, that number is at +3.3. The off-court net rating numbers are evident of the impact. When AD is off the floor, the Lakers’ net rating is -2.7 while it sits at a huge +9.0 when James is off the floor.
By no means, I’m I implying that AD is a better player than James or anything along those lines but specifically, for this Finals series against the Heat, AD is ‘more valuable’.
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
