March 12, 2007
It's Got to Be the Morning After
-At around 3 o'clock or so on Sunday, Palo Alto gave a huge sigh of relief as the Cardinal made it into the Big Dance, being seeded 11th in the South Regional. Their first game is against the sixth seed, Louisville (23-9). No time has been set, but the game will be on Wednesday.
-The Sharks defeated the Oilers 3-0 last night, their third shutout in four games. The Sharks season has been kind of one of those seasons in which the team always seems perpetually on the verge of putting something together and maybe this is them putting it together. Or maybe it's just Evgeni Nabokov who is putting it together as the Sharks stellar play lately has been mainly at his hands. Or gloves as it were. Or maybe stick.
-That sound of brakes squeeling and something coming to a sudden stop is the Warriors playoff train as the Blazers smoked the Warriors 106-87. Of note is that this was unlike the previous three games, one of their big guys was once again down with an injury, that being Brittle Baron. The Blazers pretty much took control early and never let the Warriors get back into it. It was also the Blazers first win over the Warriors in the past eight games.
-Hey, look, it's "What will the Raiders do on draft day" story, with extra added 49ers goodness thrown in for good measure. We've been missing those stories.
-Barry Z says he won't talk to the press unless they play nice with Barry B.
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I was at the Vancouver game last Friday night (they lost 2-1 in overtime), and I can tell you straight up that the Sharks are not looking like a team to be feared come playoff time.
The Sharks are riding Nabokov's suddenly-stellar play to get their recent wins, because it sure isn't because they're playing well. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are the only forwards that pose any sort of consistent offensive threat. Billy Guerin is pointless in his 6 games since joining the Sharks, and has apparently adapted to his new team by mimicing their terrible neutral zone passing, lack of timing, and dumb defensive mistakes.
Given how young the Sharks are, and how much responsibility has been placed on their rookie defensemen (Vlasic and Carle) and forwards (Bernier, Pavelski, Clowe), I expected some ups and downs this season. What's worrisome is that the Sharks are playing so much worse, so much less as a team, now compared to the first half of the season.
Comparing the Canucks to the Sharks is useful here. The Canucks have very little offense outside of the creepy Sedin twins and Markus Naslund. Their defense is decent, and Roberto Luongo is a great goaltender. Altogether, the Sharks should have been able to use their speed and size to wear down the Canucks, like they did to their opponents earlier in the season. Instead, the Canucks controlled play. They did the little things that win you games: made sure to clear the zone on defense, played for rebounds on offense, and made crisp passes on the breakout. The Canucks struggled at the beginning of the season, but have steadily improved their play over the last two months. For the Sharks, it's the exact opposite.