There are several 2022 Beijing Olympians from SoCal, but today we are only going to talk about two of them.
Chloe Kim of Torrance
Chloe won the gold in 2018 and going for back to back gold medals on women's halfpipe.
Yes, she won and no one was even close. She will be back for multiple more olympics if she so chooses.
Shaun White of Los Angeles
Shaun, competing in his fifth and last winter olympics and he was going for a fourth gold medal.
He went out in style and fought to the end. Triple gold medalist in the men's halfpipe, Shaun fell on his third run and failed to get a higher score. He ended up just out of a medal, in fourth place.
When he started competing in his first olympics in 2006, he was the youngest, in 2022 he was the oldest. As Shaun is exiting the games, Chloe is just at her peak.
NBA Pre Season Game: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Phoenix Suns
Nothing to see here once again as the Lakers elected to sit LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. Dwight Howard and Trevor Ariza also did not play for this preseason game. Davis and Anthony played limited minutes as well.
The Suns sat out Devin Booker.
Here are the highlights of this pre season exhbition game.
NBA Pre Season Game: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Brooklyn Nets
The wait to watch the new look Lakers will continue, as LA elected to sit LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Trevor Ariza for the preseason opener.
Anthony Davis will play but for sure only for the bare minimum.
The Nets will also sit Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Joe Harris, Blake Griffin, Patty Mills and James Johnson.
Anyway, here are the highlights of this pre season exhbition game is case you are craving for some purple and gold action.
After the U.S. Women Team won the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics 4x400 meter final, Allyson Felix becomes the most decorated US track and field Olympian ever.
SoCal Born and Raised
A SoCal native, Felix has won a total of 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold; making her the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history, surpassing the total medals won by the best male US track and field athlete, Carl Lewis.
She has won at least a gold medal in the last four Summer Olympics, one gold in Beijing, three golds in London, two golds in Rio and one in Tokyo.
40 Medals
In her career, she has won a total of 40 medals in international (world) track and field competitions, winning a total of 27 gold medals.
The GOAT
Allyson is a 35 year old, mother of a two year old girl. She has been an advocate for mother athletes and ending her Olympic career in Tokyo with a gold medal is a fitting end to her storied career as she had contended that this will be her last Olympics.
The media should now be calling her the GOAT of US track and field.
Believe it or not, basketball fans who hate the Los Angeles Lakers just cannot seem to stop talking about them. It is as if these none Laker fans follow the Lakers more than they follow their teams.
Don't get us wrong though, Lebron like most NBA all stars are among the most polarizing athletes around if not the most.Then add Westbrook, Dwight, Carmelo, and along with AD, then you get not only more polarizing players but also a starting five of the old and the injuried.
Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Even long time Laker fans do not like Lebron and many of the rest of his current and new team mates. But most Laker fans are fans of the franchise and not necessarily of individual players because with the way players move around now, fans will be band wagon fans for life.
Oldest Team Ever
The Lakers almost always is the oldest team in the league, what with their win-now and not-wait culture, but after all the frenzy of signing up new players, the 2021-22 Laker line-up is now the oldest ever assembled in the history of the NBA.
Lebron is 36, Marc is 36, Dwight is 35, Carmelo is 37, Ariza is 36, Matthews is 34, Westbrook, 32, Ellington, 33, and Bazemore is 32.
Locked and Loaded
Yup and ex-Lakers returning to the purple and old it is. Maybe they should think about getting Meta, Odom and Pau as reserves.
None Laker Fans
Anyway, what is amazing is that none Laker fans are both upset and excited over this development. If they are really not Lakers fans, then they should be ecstatic about all these sign ups -- the Lakers is the oldest and also injury prone. And they have a bunch of new players who will need to learn to play together and also know how to play when players have to sit out games because of injuries.
Free Agency
So many other teams made good pick ups on their free agency decisions but everyone just seems to be looking at the Lakers' every move. Maybe they are Laker fans but just don't know it yet or they don't want to admit it. No worries, as we've said, Lakers fans both hate and love their team at the same time, welcome to the club.
Anyway, talking bad about a team with no rings or worse, being a fan of one just feels odd, and just sad and lonely most of the time. Bring on the hate fans, the new look grandpa Lakers are here and they will try to get a ring again this year as they play against and try to run with the young ones.
Everybody not an LA fan is always hating on the Lakers. In fact there are a lot of LA residents who hate the Lakers.
Bron, Brodie, Brow
So the Lakers just let go of one of their last remaining young pick-ups, Kuzma (and two other players and future picks) for Westbrook.
This again has made basketball fans hate on the Lakers again.
Above the Rest
Part of this hate stems from the fact that the Lakers is not your typical NBA team, the Lakers and the Celtics are just so much different than the normal NBA team who builds from the draft and waits for players to mature and gel together to build a championship level team.
The Laker organization don't wait for players. The Lakers want to win now and this is partly because their fan base are spoiled and are the ones who do not want to wait.
Pau for Marc
Case in point is them drafting a young Marc Gasol and then trading him for his older brother Pau. They did so because of this win-now than win-later mentality. Yes and they did win, multiple times. And Marc eventually did get to win a ring as well.
Impatient
Through the years, Lakers didn't wait on multiple players (like Kuzma). They drafted and selected the following players and also let them go: Ingram, Russell, Randle, Lonzo, Nance, Zubac, Clarkson, Williams, Ariza, Mykhailiuk and Wagner among many others.
Hate
Now with the trade for Westbrook, the hate for the Lakers grows again. This hate even comes from actual Lakers fans. Many Lakers fans hate on Lebron as they do Westbrook and some hate on this win now culture and letting go of good players and taking on more seasoned (older) players but what can they do, their love of the Lakers overshadows everything else.
And many are still upset with the Lakers for letting go of Dwight and Mcgee.
Anyway, it is what it is, so let the hate continue.
After recently relaxing the protocols for wearing facial masks, the LA County Department of Public Health Office has reinstated its order of wearing masks indoors in the LA County Area starting later today.
So the Phoenix Suns becomes the Western Conference Champions.
They are still waiting on who will eventually come out from the East. So far, both Eastern Conference teams are plagued by injuries to their best players.
Injuries
Speaking of injuries, the Suns have been fortunate this year as every opponent they faced have had injuries to their top players.
This is not a knock on this Suns team, for they have indeed been playing great all year round. They are quick and shooting the ball well, everywhere, 3 point and free throw line. Their defense is scary. Passing and movement without the ball plus the short ball game are giving opponents nightmares. Of course as we have mentioned previously, referees' calls and non calls are a factor too.
By the way, new NBA rules will be implemented so let us see who benefits and who are affected badly.
Great Post Season
So officially the Suns knock off both LA teams 4 to 2. And swept the Denver Nuggets on the way to what could probably be their first NBA ring.
The highlights of game 6 between the Suns and the Clippers, we can watch below:
Suns Takes the West
For the Clippers though, it has been another disappointing and underachieving year.
In fairness, for both LA teams, their top players were injuried so at least they have a reason and they will surely come out hungrier next year.
And for the third time this post season the Los Angeles Clippers is coming home after having lost the first two games on the road.
They will try to repeat the successes against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and against the Utah Jazz on the Western Conference Semi Finals.
Injuries
CP3 was available to play for the Phoenix Suns on game 3 while the Clippers is still without Kawhi Leonard. The highlights of game 3, we can watch below:
I don't know what the Clipper's propensity to go down zero games to two is all about. But it looks like, they are good with that. Let's see where this will lead them this time around.
Everything Falling for the Suns
The Phoenix Suns are either really very good this year, or they are very lucky or they have just been protected from injuries or that the refs are just not blowing whistles against them. Or all of the above. And yes CP3 coming back all rested and fresh.
And because of this, this could be the year that they go all the way.
And so here we go again, the last remaining LA Team is once again in trouble, and they could be way worse than when the Lakers were matched up against these determined Suns.
So after years and a lot of scares this year, the Los Angeles Clippers finally made it out of the second round.
And they will match up with the same team who eliminated the other LA team, the defending champions no less, the LA Lakers.
Factors
This season has been one of the more unpredictable seasons in recent memory.
The LA Clippers have been favored since last season but like in the past, they just cannot make it past the second round of the post season, until this year.
Injuries, protocols and of course how the referees will blow or not blow their whistles will determine who will move on to the NBA Finals.
Suns fans will not admit to it but their team has been a slightly favored by refs this year.
But this is the Western Conference Finals, let's just hope that the referees will let the players play the game. Both teams are hungry and have never been this far into the post season. But may the better team win.
Both LA teams are on the brink of elimination in the first round of these playoffs.
Highlights Game 5 Suns vs Lakers
While the Lakers have an excuse with Lebron still not 100% and AD being AD (injured again), the Clippers are healthy and have home court advantage.
Highlights Game 5 Clippers vd Mavericks
Both are now in a must win or go home in their respective game 6s as they hope to force a winner take all game 7.
The Western Conference is living up to its reputation as the better conference as most of their games have been competitive and exciting, while those in the East Coast were mostly walks in the park so far.
So with injuries to two Laker starters in games four and being outran and outgunned, the momemtum which went the Lakers way after back to back wins is now uncertain.
If the Phoenix Suns go on to eliminate the Lakers then it would be because of them being allowed to foul with unsportmanslike conduct.
Undercutting (While in the Air)
Granted Lebron complains, over reacts and flops all the time, because refs wouldn't call as many fouls on him if he doesn't. But this is what you would expect from a "smart" Chris Paul and referees shouldn't allow this.
Pushing (While in the Air)
If not for Booker's team mate right there to prevent Schroeder from landing somewhat awkwardly, that push potentially can inflict harm and even injure a person up in the air like that.
Good thing this was deemed a flagrant foul. Which it should. There was no reason to do that when the game has already been decided. Inexperience was showing.
Grabbing the Shoulders (while taking off)
This is a very good and clear example of not going after the ball and therefore this is not a basketball defensive move.
This should have been accessed as a flagrant foul. We cannot deny that if this was done on Devin Booker, the refs will see this foul very differently. The refs were a little too obvious on what they wanted to do in that third quarter stretch.
Playing to Win
So the Phoenix Suns are doing everything they are allowed (and not allowed) to do, to win their first round playoff match up with the defending champions. Of course this makes for good basketball but leaves a bad taste in the mouth. (The defending Eastern Conference Champs were swept on this first round and that wasn't pretty).
Moving Forward
With the Lakers having coaching miscues, players not stepping up and having no urgency, faking injuries and of course getting injured, games are being decided by the referees calls or non calls for that matter... home court advantage is now irrelevant and referees are king.
With this series now down to a best of three games, how the players play moving forward (with or without always injured Anthony Davis) and more importantly how the referees blow their whistles will determine who moves on.
Lakers tied 2 games a piece. Clippers also tied with the Dallas Mavericks with 2 games a piece.
