Advice to LeBron: Leave

The Cleveland Cavaliers are an ongoing illusion. We'll soon learn if LeBron James is willing to step back from his creation, leave his beloved home town and try to craft something real.

At a crucial moment of Thursday night's Game 6 of the Cavaliers-Celtics series, the illusion came alarmingly to life. It was late in the third quarter, the game was slipping away from the Cavs, and the Boston crowd was in an uproar. Delonte West was at the free-throw line. The two men stationed near the basket were Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

How monumentally depressing. It could have been two playoff seasons ago - or in the case of the two big men, 2005. The same tired acts trying to measure up to LeBron's greatness. The truth about the Cavaliers - and James had better realize this right now - is that they've never had a clear idea how to build a championship team. They add players, constantly, but not the correct ones.

It's such a fine, captivating illusion. Everyone gets sucked into the maelstrom at some point, believing LeBron actually might win an NBA championship all by himself. That was the Dead Wrong in Public stance here Sunday, when I had the series ending "quickly" after James' stunningly victorious performance in Game 3.

Like so many others, I forgot.

I forgot about Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, Larry Hughes, Joe Smith, Drew Gooden, and now the vacant Antawn Jamison, the irrelevant Jamario Moon and the aging Shaquille O'Neal. And, of course, Varejao and Ilgauskas, both of whom will be playing for the Cavs 28 years from now.

If James took a good look at the Celtics, the reality couldn't have been more clear. Championship teams have at least two really influential players; no exceptions. Beyond the outright superstars, there's always a James Worthy, Joe Dumars, Mo Cheeks, Kevin McHale, Scottie Pippen or Tony Parker. (The 1975 Warriors didn't strictly follow this pattern, but in rookies Phil Smith and Keith Wilkes, they had two stars of the future alongside the great Rick Barry.)

Thursday night's game was over at the halfway mark of the fourth quarter, when Rasheed Wallace hit a three-point shot from the left corner (for an 86-74 lead), because that meant the Celtics had five time-tested men on the floor, all of whom could send you reeling into summer: Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.

The Celtics had such a firm grasp on the proceedings, they had to be stifling laughter. The Cavs, trapped between identities (slow-it-down with Shaq or up-tempo with the younger guys), were so brutally outclassed by game's end, they simply quit - a point sternly made by ESPN's Mark Jackson.

James, a gracious loser this time, had ripped off his Cleveland jersey before he got to the hallway. Take a good look into Garnett's eyes, LeBron, and never pick it up again.

Tradition counts

New football coach Brian Kelly is just a voice in the wilderness when it comes to Notre Dame politics, but he's right: The glory of the Irish is in their independence. Forget the Big Ten. Don't be part of that expansion nonsense. ... The voters confirmed Brian Cushing's award for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, even after learning he'd been suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and it's hardly a surprise. It's a given that NFL players get juiced out of their minds, in a number of ways, to stay competitive in that arena. The vast majority of writers, fans and executives don't care. ... No surprise that manager Joe Torre is backing off all talks about a contract extension with the Dodgers. He has about had it with the McCourts' preposterous divorce case (and the ensuing effect on team finances), and their trial is scheduled to begin in late August - just in time to torment the stretch drive. Hollywood at its worst. ... I guess Dallas Braden's perfect game falls into a pattern - the Mark Buerhle-Kenny Rogers-Tom Browning types who finesse their way through - but that's not how I remember it. I witnessed Sandy Koufax's perfecto against the Cubs in 1965. He struck out the last six guys (14 overall). Nobody had a prayer against him. ... What people are discovering about Braden: For all the talk about his street-tough upbringing in Stockton, lending the impression he's some kind of rube, he's one of the brightest, most quick-witted guys in sports. This will serve him well through the tough times (inevitable, once you come down from perfection). He handled his David Letterman spot with a comedian's fine touch, with my personal highlight: "Even I haven't heard of me."

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Mariners homer 3 times in win over Rays

Franklin Gutierrez, Adam Moore and Mike Sweeney homered, helping the light-hitting Seattle Mariners beat the baseball-best Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Friday night.

Right-hander Doug Fister (3-1) allowed one run and four hits in five innings as the last-place Mariners won for just the third time in 13 games.

Reliever Shawn Kelley gave up a two-run homer to Evan Longoria, enabling the Rays to pull within 4-3 in the eighth. David Aardsma got the final three outs for his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Tampa Bay is off to the best start in the majors at 24-11. The Rays have one of the best home records over the past three seasons, yet surprisingly are 9-7 at Tropicana Field, compared to 15-4 on the road.

Gutierrez, returning to the lineup after missing two games because of upper back stiffness, hit a two-run homer off Wade Davis (3-3) in the first inning. Adam Moore led off the fifth against the Rays starter with his first homer for a 3-1 lead.

Sweeney homered for the second straight day, hitting a solo shot off Dan Wheeler in the eighth to make it 4-1.

The Mariners entered the night with a major league-low 16 homers, but have now hit six in their past two games. They had one multi-homer game in their first 33 of the season.

Tampa Bay trimmed Seattle's early lead to 2-1 in the third. Reid Brignac doubled, continued to third on a throwing error by left fielder Michael Saunders, then scored when Fister balked. But the Rays wasted several opportunities, most notably in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with two outs and failed to score.

Fister, who walked three and struck out two, escaped the jam when Ben Zobrist flied to right on the first pitch. Mariners reliever Kanekoa Texeira worked two scoreless innings before Kelley came on and yielded Longoria's ninth homer of the season.

Davis allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. The Rays starter walked three and struck out two.

NOTES: Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki had three hits for his sixth consecutive multi-hit games, one off his career-high. ... Tampa Bay LHP J.P. Howell (strained left shoulder) threw 25 pitches in a batting practice session. He is set to pitch in a simulated game Tuesday. ... Seattle INF Jack Wilson (strained right hamstring) is scheduled to start a minor league rehab assignment with Double-A West Tennessee on Saturday. He could rejoin the Mariners in a week. ... Rays OF Matt Joyce (right elbow strain) has resumed baseball drills and could DH in a minor league game early next week. ... Rays 3B coach Tom Foley was away from the team Friday to attend to a family matter. He was replaced by bullpen coach Bobby Ramos. ... Sweeney stole third base in the first inning, the designated hitter's first steal since August 2006.

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Cadillac Williams signs tender with Buccaneers

Restricted free agent running back Cadillac Williams has signed his one-year tender to remain with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs also announced Wednesday that guard Michael Shumard(notes) has been claimed off waivers from the Denver Broncos. Offensive tackle Robert Okeafor was released.

Williams was the fifth overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft and was the league’s offensive rookie of the year that season. He has rushed for 3,240 yards and 18 touchdowns in five years, despite missing most of two seasons with career-threatening knee injuries.

After being sidelined for most of 2007 and 2008, Williams played all 16 games and led the Bucs with 823 rushing yards and four touchdowns last season.

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It's way too early to write off LeBron

The exact moment this national obsession with Cleveland-Boston Game 5 reached a Kardashian level of discussion-to-relevance occurred at 11:23 Wednesday morning, when I received a text message that read "What's ur opinion on lebron?"

The text came from someone who almost never talks to me about sports, save for the occasional inquiry about how to get tickets. It just showed that everyone wanted to know what everyone else thought about LeBron James' passive performance Tuesday night, that suddenly this moment mattered more than oil spills or Supreme Court nominees. Everyone had to know if this was or was not the worst thing ever, if this was going to redefine the way we think of LeBron.

Except, how can it define a career if we don't even know that it has dictated the outcome of the series?

Unless I missed the memo that Game 6 was canceled, there's still at least 48 minutes of basketball to go. Unless I'm misreading the box score, LeBron did have 38 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists the last time the Cavaliers went to Boston coming off a home loss. That was last Friday. That was before people had written off LeBron as a failure who can't win the big games.

This Game 5 didn't undo Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals, when LeBron put together one of the greatest performances in NBA history by scoring 29 of Cleveland's final 30 points to knock off the Detroit Pistons in overtime.

You can say LeBron didn't come through this time. You can't say he never comes through.

In capitalism the definitive word is always spoken by the marketplace, and LeBron's value hasn't diminished one bit. You don't believe the Cavaliers will still offer him the maximum they're allowed to? Do you think there's a single general manager who would cite Tuesday's Game 5 as a reason not to return Danny Ferry's call if the Cavs wanted to set up a sign-and-trade?

We've become trapped in the gulf between those who write checks and those who write columns. You'd have thought LeBron had broken into the Basketball Hall of Fame and defaced the plaques of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson the way he's been shredded on the Internet following his 15-point, 3-for-14 shooting night in a 32-point loss to the Celtics.

Just keep in mind how quickly opinions change this time of year. That's what happens when you can send comments to Twitter or Daily Dime Live just as soon as a shot is missed. We make things definitive when they're actually still formative.

About three weeks ago, Kobe Bryant was sitting on the Ford Center scorer's table on an off day in Oklahoma City, fielding questions about whether he still had it. He was coming off a 10-for-29 shooting night in the Lakers' first playoff loss, and he'd made more than 40 percent of his shots only once in his previous seven games. Today he's preparing for the Western Conference finals, having scored at least 30 points in each of his past five games while shooting 51 percent, and the only thing that appears finished is the notion that he's finished.

One of the things I've always loved about the NBA playoffs is they afford an opportunity for redemption. If it doesn't happen in the next shot, there's the next game. Or the next series. Or even the next season. This isn't the Olympics with a mandatory four-year wait to make amends.

Superstars can have off games. The two finalists will play some 20-25 games each, providing plenty of time for a clunker or two somewhere along the way. The sign of a legitimate superstar is what happens after the off nights. How does he respond after the praise has turned to criticism, when the belief has turned to doubt?

Through the first three games of the 1993 Eastern Conference finals Michael Jordan was shooting 32 percent. He was coming off 3-for-18 shooting in Game 3, which the Bulls somehow managed to win anyway. But they still trailed 2-1 in the series. In Game 4, despite John Starks playing some of the best defense I've ever seen against him, Jordan went for 54 points, hitting 18 of 30 shots (including 6 of 9 3-pointers).

With LeBron it wasn't just the shooting percentage that got people ready to toss him off Mount Olympus. It was his passive play, his refusal to attack the basket or post up or do anything other than shoot the occasional, wildly erratic jump shot.

That still wasn't as bad as Kobe's shutdown in the second half of a Game 7 in Phoenix three years ago, when he went into sleep mode like an unattended computer and took only three shots. And LeBron's never gone three years without winning a playoff series, as Kobe did from 2005 through 2007.

Those are now viewed as minor deviations on the upward arc of Bryant's career. Since then (or should we say, since the arrival of Pau Gasol), he has won a championship, an MVP award and is four victories away from making his third consecutive trip to the Finals. As much outcry as it caused at the time, the Game 7 in Phoenix will not dominate the career wrap-up, if it even appears at all.

Magic choked at the ends of Games 2, 4 and 7 in the 1984 Finals, yet the balance of his career is so weighted by winning that it's his auto-tuned voice you hear throughout the latest NBA commercial. When it looked as though he wouldn't be able to recover from that 1984 meltdown he came back to win three of the next four championships.

We always think of time as the enemy of athletes, trapping them in a limited window of productivity that doesn't exist in almost any other workplace. We believe the calendar is working against them to drain a bit of their talent every day. Yet sometimes time can be an ally.

LeBron James is only 25 years old. He could be just one-third of the way through his career. Marvin Gaye made 10 albums before he recorded his masterpiece, "What's Going On."

With James it's not just about what he'll do, it's where he'll do it. The thought that Game 5 was his final hometown performance seems odorous, but again we should look to the past. Shaquille O'Neal left Orlando on the tail of a sweep, the third time he'd been broomed out of the playoffs in as many forays into the postseason.

Because James' story is taking place in Cleveland there is added melodrama. Only Cleveland has its own set of letdowns that are so notable they get single-word names. I find it funny that if you search for "The Catch" on Wikipedia looking for Dwight Clark's era-altering touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys, you'll find a multitude of choices for plays bearing the same name. But if you search for "The Shot" or "The Drive" or "The Fumble" you'll go straight to three moments that staggered Cleveland.

Yet James' personal history isn't as tortured. At every stage so far he has surpassed our expectations, starting with the most hyped debut in league history. When we wondered how he would top his 2009 MVP season of 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists, he averaged more than a point and more than an assist better this season, and made more than half of his shots for the first time in his career.

The aftermath of Game 5 has been about "How could he be so bad?" It's the wrong question. With LeBron, it's always about "What will he do next?"

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Here's what's happening around baseball

• Remember when Hank Blalock was a ballyhooed prospect? It's been a while, but the ex-Ranger is still only 29 and has been tearing it up for the Rays' Triple-A affiliate (.375, 23 RBI, .987 OPS) this season. Blalock agreed to a minor league deal with Tampa Bay during spring training when he couldn't find work elsewhere, and now that we're into the second week of May, it seems the charms of minor league life are wearing thin.

Blalock's agent, Scott Boras, hinted Tuesday that the player might activate the out clause in his contract next week if he isn't called up. That presents a quandary for the Rays. They could try to trade him, but their leverage might be hurt by the fact that Blalock could be there for the taking on the open market if he opts out. Or they could finally give up on the Pat Burrell fiasco (.229 average, .679 OPS), swallowing what remains of the disappointing DH's $9 million salary this year and kicking him to the curb to make room for Blalock.

• Apparently because Jose Valverde toiled in anonymity in Houston before heading to Detroit and playing a nationally televised game against the Yankees on Monday, no one had previously noticed that he gets a bit animated between pitches. Thankfully, the employers and teammates of Joba Chamberlain mostly took the high road when asked about Valverde's histrionics, sticking to not-quite-rips like Mark Teixeira's: "That's not the way I choose to play, but I didn't write any rules, I'm not going to enforce any rules and I'm not going to be the one to start complaining about it."

• Angels lefty Scott Kazmir had a lengthy closed-door session with manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher on Wednesday but will remain in the team's rotation. Kazmir's ERA actually came down to 6.82 in his loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, but obviously problems remain. The brain trust assigned Kazmir some new drills they hope will get him on track and he'll take the ball again Monday in Texas.

• After a crowd of just over 12,000 witnessed Dallas Braden's perfect game in person, the A's are doing all they can to try and use the perfecto to boost attendance on their next homestand. Series against the Mariners and Giants from May 17-23 will feature a bevy of giveaways and promotions related to Braden's gem, from tickets priced at $2.09 (a nod to Braden's hometown area code in nearby Stockton) to a commemorative poster giveaway to a pregame ceremony that will feature Braden's fiery grandmother throwing out the first pitch.

The Injury Ward

• Carlos Ruiz had to leave the Phillies' doubleheader opener against the Rockies in the fourth inning with a right knee injury. He appeared to injure himself while running the bases.

• Jason Marquis wasn't very effective in a rehab start Tuesday night, and things got worse Wednesday morning. The pitcher's elbow "locked up" and he likely will need surgery to remove bone chips -- a procedure that could cost him another eight to 10 weeks.

• The news never seems to get better for Brad Lidge these days. The Phillies' erstwhile closer left the team and headed back to Philadelphia for further examination as he continued to feel stiffness in his surgically repaired elbow.

• Seattle put shortstop Jack Wilson on the disabled list, retroactive to May 6, with a right hamstring strain and recalled Matt Tuiasosopo from Triple-A.

• Andruw Jones was a late scratch from the White Sox lineup Wednesday due to a stiff neck.

• The Blue Jays scratched Aaron Hill with a tight right hamstring, giving John McDonald the start in Boston.

• Pittsburgh's Ronny Cedeno suffered a bruise but no fracture in his right wrist after being hit by a Johnny Cueto pitch Tuesday night. He's day-to-day.

• Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar is slated for one rehab game Friday in Triple-A before returning to active duty Saturday.

• Veteran reliever Juan Cruz, a free agent after being cut by the Royals earlier this year, will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery Wednesday.

Transaction Wire

• Updating a previous item, the Orioles purchased the contract of veteran outfielder Corey Patterson and promptly penciled him in atop their lineup Wednesday. Nolan Reimold was sent back to Triple-A to clear a spot for Patterson on the active roster and Brian Roberts was shifted to the 60-day disabled list to open a 40-man spot.

• Desperately in need of bullpen depth, the Tigers called up Alfredo Figaro from Triple-A before Wednesday's doubleheader against the Yankees. Adding Figaro and sending outfielder Ryan Raburn back to Toledo as the corresponding move gives Detroit 13 pitchers and 12 position players on its roster.

• Colorado reinstated Carlos Gonzalez from the bereavement list in time for Wednesday's doubleheader, putting Franklin Morales on the disabled list to clear a roster spot.

• Outfielder Greg Golson got the call to join the Yankees on Wednesday, not Juan Miranda as reported Tuesday. Golson takes the roster spot of Alfredo Aceves, who went on the DL with back problems.

• Arizona recalled right-hander Carlos Rosa from Triple-A and optioned Daniel Stange back to Reno.

• The Twins reinstated lefty reliever Jose Mijares from the disabled list, where he had resided since April 17 with an elbow strain. Catcher Wilson Ramos was optioned to Triple-A to clear a spot.

• The Royals called up right-hander Blake Wood from Triple-A Omaha, with Josh Rupe the odd man out.

• The Rockies released Tim Redding from their Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs. UPDATE: That was quick; the Denver Post reports Redding has agreed to a minor league deal with the Yankees.

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Angels, in a weak spot, lose to Tampa Bay, 7-2

The Rays expose just about every weakness the Angels have, as they struggle offensively and starter Scott Kazmir gives up three runs and seven hits.

The rotation isn't nearly as good as they thought it would be, the bullpen has only two relievers they can rely on, and there are gaping holes in a lineup Mike Scioscia thought would be among the strongest and deepest he's had in his 11 years as manager.

The Angels have won five of the last six American League West titles, but they do not look like contenders so far this season.

The Tampa Bay Rays exposed just about every weakness the Angels have in a 7-2 victory in Angel Stadium on Tuesday night, dropping the Angels to 15-20.

Scott Kazmir threw 108 pitches in five innings — the norm for the inefficient Angels left-hander this season — giving up three runs, seven hits and walking three, and Evan Longoria greeted reliever Scot Shields with a game-breaking three-run homer in the seventh.

The Angels had two runs and six hits in 71/3 innings off Rays right-hander Jeff Niemann (3-0), and their eighth-inning rally fizzled when Rays reliever Grant Balfour struck out Howie Kendrick and got Michael Ryan to ground out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

"All the cylinders aren't clicking right now," center fielder Torii Hunter said. "When we hit, the pitching is not right, and when the pitching is right, we don't hit. Everything is not coming together like we want it to, but the season is not over."

This lineup was supposed to feature good speed at the top and power throughout, but the Angels rank 11th in the league with a .312 on-base percentage, ninth with a .389 slugging percentage, and they're hitting .250 (70 for 280) with runners in scoring position.

No. 9 hitter Brandon Wood has appeared overmatched, with 31 strikeouts and two walks in 101 at-bats, and his current three-for-30 slump dropped his average from .197 on May 1 to .168.

But the soft spots aren't only at the bottom of the order. No. 5 hitter Hideki Matsui and No. 6 hitter Juan Rivera have put a drag on the offense, and No. 2 hitter Bobby Abreu has not provided his usual production.

Matsui was batting .310 with four homers, six doubles and 11 runs batted in on April 24. Since then, he is six for 52 with no extra-base hits and four RBIs in 15 games, his average falling to .228, which raises the question:

Is the 35-year-old Japanese slugger in a prolonged slump or has age and a pair of arthritic knees finally caught up to him?

Rivera, who did not play Tuesday night, hit .287 with 25 homers and 88 RBIs last season but is batting .236 with four homers — one in his last 20 games — and 15 RBIs.

The 36-year-old Abreu was so good last season — he hit .293 with a .390 on-base percentage, 15 homers, 103 RBIs and 96 runs — the Angels gave him with a two-year, $19-million contract extension.

But Abreu's numbers are way down across the board — the right fielder is batting .257 with a .331 on-base percentage, four homers and 13 RBIs, and he is seven for 42 with no RBIs in his last 11 games.

About the only Angels who are having decent offensive seasons are Kendry Morales, Hunter and Kendrick.

"You're never going to have nine guys on board at the same time," Scioscia said. "The offense isn't flowing right now, and we're going to need that to put some pressure on clubs. It took a while to get to this spot; it's going to take a while to get out."

The same could be said for Kazmir, who remains a work in progress. Kazmir (2-3). He was able to bring his long-lost slider into the game more often and effectively Tuesday, but his fastball command was still off.

"We're still trying to unlock Kaz and get him to be the pitcher we know he can be," Scioscia said. "It was very frustrating tonight. He threw far too many pitches for five innings.

"If he wants to get back to where he was a couple of years ago, he's absolutely going to need that pitch. But it's more than just the slider. He's not getting the fastball in good zones and bringing the changeup into play like he can."

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Who Is The Most Skilled NBA Player? Hint: It's Not Kobe Or LeBron.

Steve Nash is the most skilled basketball player to ever put on an NBA uniform. And it's not even close.

Watching the Suns close out the San Antonio Spurs last night, I could not help but marvel at how Steve Nash controls every aspect of the offensive end of the court for Phoenix. Even when Amare Stoudemire scores on isolation plays, Nash directs the other three guys to make sure Stoudemire has the room he needs to operate or one of the shooters gets a wide-open look. I have never seen anyone like him. As hard as it is to make the case that a two-time MVP is underappreciated, Nash is incredibly under-rated.

Plenty of people have (sometimes begrudgingly) come to the realization that the diminutive point guard is the greatest shooter of all-time. Professor John Hollinger of ESPN has used his own Combined Shooting Rating to establish the distance between Nash and the second best shooters in NBA history while the fact that Nash has finished seasons with a 50% field goal percentage, 40% three-point percentage and 90% from the free throw line five times has convinced most other basketball fans. But this doesn’t even begin to tell the story.

“Nash has also led… the three greatest offenses since the NBA began tracking turnovers.” Just looking at this year’s Phoenix Suns roster and their stats will show you how his play-making abilities raise the level of play by every other person on the court. Jason Richardson, a career 43.3% field goal shooter before Nash, is shooting 48.1% since joining the Suns. Jared Dudley was shooting a Chris-Dudley-esque 29.8% from the three-point line in other cities but has scorched opponents at 42.6% with the Suns. Channing Frye looked to be on his way out of the NBA in his last two years in Portland but he risen from the ashes since arriving in Phoenix (pun intended) by elevating his three-point shooting from 28.3% to 43.9%. And the old man, Grant Hill, hit 43.8% from deep this season which was 9.1% higher than his previous career high. If you need any more evidence, simply follow the career (and waistline) of Quentin Richardson. But even that doesn’t completely encompass the breadth of what Nash does on the court.

He is also, arguably, the best player in the league at using his off-hand around the rim and in the lane. The thing he can do with his off-hand, most NBA players can’t do with their dominant hand. The only other guy in the league that can even approach Nash’s ambidexterity is Kobe Bryant but he has the advantage of being able to jump over defenders and choose the angles he wants to use for his release, Nash has to take whatever angles are left by the shot blockers and work around them.

I’m not going to bore you by spending any more time reviewing Nash’s qualities because that has been done elsewhere by several more talented and much more resourceful writers. So back to the point I am making, Steve Nash is the most skilled basketball player to ever lace them up.

Now before you spit your energy drink all over the computer screen, hear me out. When I say “most skilled,” I do mean that he is the most effective, valuable or dominating player ever; I simply mean that his skill set is better than anyone else’s. For example, I would make the case that Bill Russell was the most valuable center in NBA history but Hakeem Olajuwon was, undoubtedly, the most skilled center anyone has ever seen.

In that same vein, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are almost unanimously considered to be the two best players in the world right now but that argument is misleading. While best may be an accurate description by the Merriam-Webster definition, the connotation of the word “best” implies that you are measuring skill when that is not actually the case. You are, rather, measuring results so the question of which player has the most skill goes unanswered.

Neither of them is anywhere near Nash as far as shooting ability and, while LeBron is a phenomenal passer, Kobe has not passed yet in his career so there is no way for us to know if he can pass as well as Nash. Imagine what the little Canadian could do if he had LeBron’s body for a day. And, conversely, how many of those patented fade-aways would Kobe Bryant make if he was 6’3”?

And that size, or lack thereof, for Nash is the reason he is not an effective defender. Notice, I didn’t say that he is “not a good defender,” because he is sound defensively but he is just not gifted enough athletically to keep some of the best athletes on the planet from scoring. When the opponent can just jump over you, it really doesn’t matter how well you play on defense. As a Houston Rockets fan, I would give anything to see Trevor Ariza play defense the way Stave Nash does. Houston may have been the team losing to the Lakers in Round One this season if Ariza had the same fundamentals that Nash possesses.

So, to reiterate, Kobe and LeBron are the most effective, dominating, result-producing, etc. players in the league but they are definitely not the most skilled.

Let’s just hope his skill can overcome the superior athleticism of Kobe and the gigantic Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

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Tampa Bay Rays rally, then fall to Angels in 11 innings

Apparently the Rays didn't have a hangover from Sunday's perfect game, as they rapped out 12 hits Monday and rallied late to score four actual runs and force extra innings.

But they still have a headache this morning when it turned out to be for naught as the Angels rallied in the 11th for a 5-4 win.

The game ended, at nearly 2:15 Tampa Bay time, when Juan Rivera's sac fly scored Kendry Morales, who singled off Grant Balfour, went to second on a bunt, and then third on a wild pitch that rookie catcher John Jaso insisted was his fault.

"(Bad) way to finish,'' Balfour said. "That's the way it goes.''

But while the Rays lost a season-high third straight, they at least showed some fight that had been missing.

"It was a tough loss, obviously a tough way to lose,'' Evan Longoria said. "But there were a lot of positives, so hopefully we can take that out of today's game and build on it and turn it around tomorrow.''

Consider how bad it had been. Ben Zobrist's single with two outs in the first ended a stretch of 37 Rays hitters making outs in order. And their run in the eighth snapped a 23-inning scoreless streak that dated to the second inning on Saturday.

So when they rallied again and scored three more in the ninth off Angels closer Brian Fuentes to force extra innings, it was something of a monumental achievement.

"We played our butts off tonight,'' said manager Joe Maddon, who was critical of the energy level on Sunday. "I was real pleased with the effort. Great comeback in the end. We just could not get that extra run in.''

They were four outs from a second consecutive shutout, when they suddenly came to life in the eighth. With something of an excuse-me swing, Longoria snapped an 0-for-13 (and 0-for-his-new-haircut) skid, poking a ball down the rightfield line for a double. "I needed that,'' he said. "Everyone was kind hitting ball right at guys today, so for that to fall gave me a little more confidence at the plate.''

After Carlos Peña — in a miserable 1-for-40 skid that has his average down to .179 — broke Fred McGriff's franchise record with his 306th walk, Jaso followed with a run-scoring single, his third hit of the night. That run kept these supposedly high-powered Rays from the brink of infamy, as the 23 consecutive zeroes were three shy of the franchise record for futility, the 26 scoreless innings by the horrid 2002 squad that lost 106 games, featuring the likes of Brent Abernathy, Jared Sandberg, Steve Cox, Chris Gomez and Aubrey Huff.

From there, the Rays added three in the ninth to tie. Willy Aybar homered off Angels closer Brian Fuentes and, after Jason Bartlett hustled to beat out an infield single and Ben Zobrist drew a two-out walk, Longoria delivered a two-run double.

They could have had more as Peña was hit by a pitch and he and Longoria moved up to second and third, but Jaso lined to second.

They had a decent chance in the 10th when Gabe Kapler singled with one out, but leftfielder Juan Rivera ran down Aybar's drive, and Kapler was caught stealing when Angels manager Mike Scioscia apparently had a good idea of what former protégé Maddon would do and called a pitchout.

The Rays still have the best record in the majors at 22-10, but they don't look anything like the team that was playing the best, not with Peña hitting .179, Bartlett in a 6-for-36 slump, Carl Crawford going 0-for-15 before an eighth-inning single and Longoria 0-for-13 until his.

"We were going so good there for so long it seemed like everything was falling,'' Longoria said. "Now it's one of those times where everything seems to be hit right at people. And balls that were getting to the wall for them are now going out of the park. We just have to find a way to turn it around,''

For a time, they were still winning games because their starting pitching was dominating. Lately, not so much.

Matt Garza didn't pitch poorly on Monday, but he was hurt deeply by the mistakes he did make, specifically hanging sliders that Torii Hunter and Mike Napoli launched for home runs, during his four-run, seven-hit, 117-pitch, 72/3-inning outing.

"I hung a slider to Torii and I know him really well and I know what he does with those,'' Garza said. "As soon as he hit it, I didn't even look. I just said, Can I get another ball? And Napoli, same thing. It's the big leagues. If you make a mistake, you're lucky if come back.''

Garza didn't allow another hit after the second homer, but by then it was too much.

The Rays didn't have much luck either. In the first inning, leadoff man Erick Aybar's slow roller hugged the first-base line and then kicked off the bag enough to freeze Peña and, with Garza failing to cover, turning into an infield single that led to a run.

And in the eighth, Crawford was running on the pitch when Zobrist grounded a ball up the middle, putting Aybar, the Angels shortstop, in perfect position for an easy double play.

But that's typical for the Rays in Anaheim, where the ballpark is beautiful, the weather great, the scenery pleasant and their experience miserable — 1-14 in Maddon's five seasons, 14-41 overall.

There was some good. Crawford made another amazing fly-through-the-air-with-the-greatest of ease catch, racing to his left at full speed and going airborne to rob Hunter of extra bases, though Aybar did tag up.

Jaso had a good game, getting three hits and throwing out attempted base-stealers to end two innings, but he made a rookie mistakes. There was a catcher's interference and a time out request when Garza was already in his windup, and then the wild pitch at a pivotal time, allowing Morales to move from second to third.

"A little unfortunate the guy could go from second to third there,'' Balfour said. "That made it a little tougher,''

Jaso said the wild pitch, on a 1-and-1 slider that skipped under his glove and then through his legs, shouldn't have happened. "The pitcher is supposed to have confidence he can throw that ball in the dirt if he wants to,'' Jaso said. "I definitely felt it was my fault, and I was to blame for that.

"It went under my glove; my glove should have been down and it should have been blocked, and I just didn't do it. It's my fault.''

Balfour said he felt he had to strike out Rivera, and thought his 1-and-2 slider was going to get the job done. "I felt like I had him,'' Balfour said.

The Rays were playing without centerfielder B.J. Upton, who went back to Tampa for the birth of his first child, leaving them with Sean Rodriguez starting in center and Reid Brignac later making his first professional appearance in the outfield.

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Tampa Bay Rays starter James Shields upset with subpar performance

Anything short of perfect, RHP James Shields wasn't going to measure up anyway.

But allowing a season-high 11 hits, and four runs (two earned) over six innings, really made for a bad day, snapping his four-start winning streak and saddling the Rays with back-to-back losses for just the third time this season.

"They didn't really hit the ball hard, but they got the hits they needed to get; they got hits when it counted with runners in scoring position," Shields said. "I didn't pitch well today."

Manager Joe Maddon was less harsh, saying Shields didn't do as bad of a job as the numbers indicated.

"If you retrace the base hits, a lot were ground ball hits that either you're standing there or you're not," he said. "They didn't really drive the ball on him. They had a lot of well-placed hits."

HEADING SOUTH: Maddon coached for the Angels for years and still lives in Southern California, but going to Anaheim hasn't been much fun as the Rays are 1-13 in his tenure.

"I stink there," Maddon said. "I do. I'm horrible. They've beaten us badly there for several years, and I have to get my stuff together."

Maddon joked that maybe his old Angels mates were up to something. "I don't know, they might have some form of covert operation going on, whether it's a sound system or possibly photography or cameras hidden," he said. "We're going to have to sweep the place first. …

"I've been bad there. The team's been great; I've been bad. It's just one of those things, and I have to get better."

But seriously, Maddon said the Angels simply have been the better team: "They've just outplayed us in that ballpark." During the same span, the Rays are 11-7 vs. the Angels at the Trop.

HEADING SOUTH, II: For INF Sean Rodriguez, the trip to Anaheim is a chance to face the team that traded him away, in the August deal for Scott Kazmir.

"It's definitely going to be a little weird," he said.

Rodriguez said the deal has worked out well for him; he's in the big leagues (which may not have happened if he were still with the Angels) and he's on what he considers a better team.

"It's been very beneficial," he said. "The opportunity is obviously better over here."

MINOR MATTERS: Cuban OF/1B Leslie Anderson is set to make his U.S. debut tonight for Class A Charlotte, which opens a four-game series in Lakeland. Anderson, who had a .320 career average over nine seasons in Cuba, could be a September callup for the Rays depending on his progress. … Triple-A Durham RHP Jeremy Hellickson dropped to 5-1, allowing five runs in five-plus innings.

MISCELLANY: RHP Matt Garza rejoined the Rays on Sunday after attending a family function Saturday and will start tonight. … LF Carl Crawford is in an 0-for-12 skid. … 1B Carlos Peña's average is down to .183, and Maddon is considering giving him a day off during the Angels series.

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Tampa Bay Rays' bats quieted in rare road loss to Oakland Athletics

The Rays had done so well on the road, become so comfortable in their routine — win, play loud music, make plans to go out — that the quiet and hushed tones in their clubhouse after Saturday's 4-2 loss to the A's seemed so stark and unusual.

"In a good way, I guess," Evan Longoria said. "We're not used to losing."

In winning 13 of their first 14 road games, and 22 of 29 overall, the Rays had done a lot of things right. So in a way, they looked at Saturday's game as one of those days when things just didn't work out as well.

"We just couldn't get 'er done today," manager Joe Maddon said. "It's not going to happen every night. I still like the battle, and I like the effort."

The starting pitching that had been so good wasn't, as Wade Davis fought his way through five innings to keep the score close but ended with the loss, the first by a starter in more than two weeks, an amazing stretch going back to April 23. It was the fourth loss (against 18 wins) by a starter all season.

"It's pretty frustrating to get the loss right there," Davis said. "Especially because we've been playing so well. You want to go out there and do as well as you can."

Davis wasn't horrible, he just wasn't as sharp as he had been. He allowed two runs in the first, another in the second, six hits and two walks overall while pitching himself out of the game after five by throwing 99 pitches.

"He never really got into any kind of groove," Maddon said. "Nothing really wanted to seem to work for him."

"I just wasn't getting those quick outs," Davis said. "And it cost me a lot of pitches."

And the hitting that had been so timely so often failed them, most obviously in the seventh. Down 3-2, the Rays had a prime opportunity with runners on second and third with one out and two of the AL's top-six hitters with runners in scoring position coming up, and they still couldn't get anything out of it. Or the ball even out of the infield.

"We just couldn't get that clutch hit today," Jason Bartlett said.

Bartlett, who was sixth with a .440 average, had the first shot but grounded to third. John Jaso, breaking on contact, was caught in a rundown and tagged out.

Then Carl Crawford, who'd ranked fourth at .450, went down swinging against lefty reliever Jerry Blevins. Crawford also flied out with two on to kill a second-inning rally after the Rays had tied the score at 2.

"Just one of them days," Crawford said.

The loss put at least a temporary hold on the research quantifying the Rays' record start and, with the Yankees doing nearly as well, put them in jeopardy of falling out of first place, their AL East lead down to a half game.

Only twice have the Rays lost two in a row — and no more than two — so the focus shifted quickly to how they will respond, with unbeaten opening day starter James Shields on the mound in today's matinee series finale.

"The good thing is everyone understands we're going to lose, we can't win every game, but (today) is the real test," Longoria said. "See where we're at resolve-wise."

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