Los Angeles 91, Charleston 60
BIG ONE MAKES GIANT GAME 1 STATEMENT
LOS ANGELES -- The massacre started with the final time unit of a still-reasonably-close first half, when Los Angeles forward Baba Brinkman sank a desperation full-court shot. From that point on, the Big One's home crowd was treated to an orgiastic point differential of 40-20 on the way to an overwhelming 91-60 Game 1 Finals victory.
It was the fourth-largest decimation of an opponent in playoff history...the biggest being Charleston's 40 point defeat of Houston in the Season 8 playoffs.
Along the way, Los Angeles chucked up 70 shots in a regulation game, 26 of those being 3-point attempts.
The Big One also registered 10 steals, which was twice the number of Charleston assists. The 10 steals was just one theft shy of tying a Season 27 playoff mark set by Charleston in Season 27 against Oklahoma City.
Dr. Marcus Brody of Los Angeles, with 8 assists, had more assists than the entire Charleston team.
It is this reporter's humble opinion that even a healthy Lapiz Lapiz Boligrafo in the Charleston lineup could have made much of a difference. The Mountaineers, it was thought at the beginning of the Finals, could maybe eke out one win. That appears very dubious now.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Los Angeles guard NORMAN CONQUEST continued his brilliant playoff performances with a game-high 25-point Finals opener, while holding Akbar Zagobia to four points. Conquest was 9 for 16 (1 for 7 from deep) was thwarted a number of times by Zagobia or the point total would have been higher. He was also perfect from the foul line (6 for 6), grabbed 2 rebounds, dished 3 assists and swiped a trio of steals. He got his team off to an excellent start with an 11-point first quarter.
Other 20-plus GVP Performances
-- Fourth-year Los Angeles center Chutcher Mouthchair and his seemingly unstoppable moves around the hoop had little trouble getting buckets against Hall of Fame center J.J. Gargantuan. Six of Mouthchair's 7 field goals ended in thundering dunks as he amassed 14 points. The MBA's rebounding champion also tied for game-high rebounding honors with 6, and added 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.
-- L.A.'s power forward Sloppy Dollop, in search of his fourth championship ring before retiring, put together an excellent two-way game, scoring 16 points, tying for game-high in rebounds with 6, blocking 2 shots, getting 2 steals and dishing out 1 assist.
-- The other L.A. forward on the verge of retirment, Baba Brinkman, yakked up 13 3-point attempts, making 3 (one a desperation) and pretty much had no trouble dominating Flip Testerton of Charleston. The 8-year veteran tied for game-high in rebounds with 6 and swiped a game-high 4 steals.
-- Charleston point guard Cat Timol, playing out of position, scored just 9 points but despite his 5-10 stature, tied for game-high in rebounds with 6 while dishing out a team-best 4 assists. Timol also topped everyone in the game in blocked shots with 3.
-- Charleston forward Frog Morton helped keep his team within shouting distance in the first half, when he scored 17 of his team-high 19 points. The second-year man also grabbed 5 boards, had 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.
NEXT UP: The teams travel to Charleston for tomorrow night's game, which is the Mountaineers' best chance to steal a win and avoid a sweep.
Final Game Note: The win by Los Angeles gives these franchises 46 wins each in head-to-head competition, dating back to the Houston Iguana days.
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