EL SEGUNDO HERALD May 14, 2015 Page 5 Eagles Complete One Goal, Eye Another By Gregg McMullin The El Segundo Eagles completed one of their standing goals and could complete another this week. By winning their twentieth game of the year they can cross off one of their three standing goals. Next on the list is knocking off Santa Monica this week and winning the Ocean League title to check that goal off the list. The third is an obvious of contending for a CIF title. The Eagles ran their record to 20-7 overall by walloping Lawndale 12-2 on Senior Day. It was a day where the eleven seniors were honored for their hard work, dedication and loyalty to a storied program. It was fitting that they won their twentieth game at home and improved to 7-0 in the Ocean League. For the first time in league play though, they found themselves trailing the opposition when they were down 2-1 in the second inning. The Eagles have used their tight-fisted defense to handle their opponents all year long and have taken advantage of errors by those same teams. Lawndale committed two costly errors and just like that the Eagles benefitted by scoring six runs, four unearned, to take a 6-2 lead. The Eagles scored two more in the third inning and three more in the sixth inning to finish off the Cardinals. Hunter Lewis started for El Segundo and went four innings before giving way to Albert Galicia. Both pitchers benefitted by the defense of second baseman Dylan McDonnell, who made an absolute ESPN highlight reel play. A ground ball that was hit and was destined for a single to rightfield was snagged on a sliding-rolling stop by McDonnell going to his left and threw out the batter by a step. Frankie Martinez threw out a would be base stealer and Nick Saucedo threw out a batter trying to stretch a single into a double. “That’s the way our defense has played all year long. The pitchers keep the ball in play and the defense makes play after play,” said Eagle head coach Steve Eno. To win the Ocean League, the Eagles would need to defeat Lawndale on the road and then get a split with Santa Monica this week. That all fell into disarray when the Eagles gave up an unearned run in the first inning and fell 1-0 See Eagles, page 8 PROFESSIONAL HEAD LICE HOUSE CALLS Local, Mobile and Discreet All-natural, non-toxic ingredients SAFE for Skin & Hair LETHAL for Lice 323.325.8317 Serving the Beach Cities of the South Bay www.HairForceONE.us Douglass M O R T U A R Y Your ALLIES in the Battle Against Head Lice “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M A T I O N - W O R L D W I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P R O D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Telephone (310) 640-9325 • Fax (310) 640-0778 • FD658 Peter S. Borden, MD SHOULDER, KNEE AND ANKLE SPORTS MEDICINE SPECIALIST Chris F. Wolf, MD CERVICAL, THORACIC AND LUMBAR SPINE SPECIALIST Allyson A. Estess, MD SHOULDER, KNEE, AND HIP SPORTS MEDICINE SPECIALIST sportsandspineortho.com 2361 Rosecrans Ave., Suite #165, El Segundo | 310-775-2331 23456 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite #200, Torrance | 310-375-8700 NBA Playoffs Take Center Stage By Adam Serrao After last Saturday afternoon’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center in Washington, it became clear that the NBA playoffs have officially caught fire and continue to capture the attention of America. Even if you’re not particularly into the game of basketball, you simply can’t deny the drama and the intrigue of the second round of these playoffs. That is, if you’ve been among the fortunate enough to watch. Last week’s buzzer-beater by the Bulls’ Derek Rose combined with old faithful himself, Paul Pierce’s game winner, both showed us all why these playoffs are so good. Maybe the first round fell flat as sort of a dud, but it looks as if the latter stages of this year’s tournament are sure to tickle even the most blasé basketball-onlooker’s fancy. If you’ve been following basketball at all this postseason, then you’ve noticed that it was pretty obvious that the first round of the playoffs were a yawn fest. Almost every team that was expected to win won, and did so handily. The Golden State Warriors swept the New Orleans Pelicans in four games, Memphis and Houston almost swept Portland and Dallas, respectively (each team only gave away one game), Washington and Cleveland swept Toronto and Boston, and Atlanta and Chicago made quick work of Brooklyn and Milwaukee. Too much sweeping going on for my taste. The only thing not sullied and deserved of a good sweeping in the first round was the series featuring the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs. That may go down in history as one of the best NBA playoff series ever. The Clippers eventually won in the seventh and final game, sending the defending champion Spurs into an offseason full of wonder and speculation that their dynastic team may at last be headed for a breakup. The second round, though now almost completely over, began in a way that was distinctly different from the first. As if taking the lead of the Spurs and Clippers in round one, each of the four series was clearly headed for our own enjoyment and satisfaction from the very start. Each team that started off round two on the road won a game to immediately steal home court advantage from their opposition. While that in itself didn’t tell us who was going to win the series, it did tell us that each one was going to be long, drawn out and intense in nature. Even when the first two games of each matchup were played, it strangely felt as if the series’ were yet to begin. Every team, at one point, was tied at 1-1, and after a long and grueling 82 game regular season and first round of the playoffs, every team was dealing with their own set of issues. You always know you’re in for some good playoff basketball when the team that has home court advantage goes down early in the series. In round two, every team that had home court advantage trailed 2-1 after three games in the series. That includes the Cavaliers and LeBron James. What’s interesting about James and his team’s series against the Chicago Bulls is that James and company were forced to play with a distinct disadvantage from the get-go. In Kevin Love’s very first playoff appearance ever against the Boston Celtics in round one, he dislocated his shoulder and is now out until next year. J.R. Smith punched a guy in the face and was suspended for the first two games, Iman Shumpert pulled his groin muscle and talk arose that Kyrie Irving’s foot was less than 100 percent. Advantage Bulls, with a healthy and suddenly explosive Derek Rose; that was, until Pau Gasol went down with an injured hamstring. These two teams seemingly always have a way of evening each other out; but hey, at least that makes for good television. So did Rose’s last second shot from beyond the arc that helped his team take an early 2-1 advantage over LeBron. In the next game, LeBron evened things once again with his own buzzer-beating game-winner. Then there are the Houston Rockets vs. the Los Angeles Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks vs. the Washington Wizards. In both series, the team with home court is seemingly expected to lose. Through three games, the series played out that way. Both L.A. and Washington held 2-1 series lead. While the Clippers did so basically without Chris Paul, the Wizards used an old, ex-Boston Celtic to get the job done. After his game winning bank shot, Pierce proclaimed that he didn’t call the bank shot. “I called, ‘Game!’” he declared. The old man’s still got it. After nailing a game winning three-pointer against the Raptors in round one, Pierce exclaimed, “That’s why I’m here.” He showed again against the Hawks that indeed, it is. As for the Clippers, it looks as if their tough matchup of the playoffs was in the first round. They could have beaten the Rockets even if they had to do it without Chris Paul. Perhaps they deserved an easy second round matchup after opening against the Spurs, but now Los Angeles is headed for the Western Conference Finals for the first time even in the team’s existence. Then there are the Golden State Warriors. The team that won 67 games in the regular season has the league MVP in Steph Curry Lars Nootbaar puts the tag on Jesus Luna who is out testing Nick Saucedo’s arm while attempting to stretch a single into a double. See NBA, page 8
Herald_051415_FNL_lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above