WATERCOOLER CHAT: KINGS WIN GAME 3, FISHER TO COACH KNICKS, CALIPARI DECLINED 80 MILL FROM CAVS
HOCKEY
Jonathan Quick
In the NHL, it was an important Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. The Kings led 2-0 coming into this series, having just won two overtime games — both of which when the Rangers originally had a 2-0 lead. The Kings are just extremely resilient and good at coming back. But now the Rangers got the Kings in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, in hockey, home ice advantage doesn’t really matter that much. These guys are tough and come to play. They can’t be rattled by a crowd, and crowds really only build momentum on goals (unlike basketball where each basket can cause a crowd to go wild and swing the momentum in the home team’s favor). The Kings boast the best goalie in hockey, Jonathan Quick, and he absolutely shut down the Rangers offense. The Kings easily cruised to a Game 3 victory, and are now one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup. LA Kings 3, NY Rangers 0.
BASKETBALL
And in the NBA, the Knicks were shafted by Steve Kerr last month, as he wound up opting for the Golden State Warriors coaching job. So the very coveted head coaching position of the Knicks was open. The Knicks didn’t want just anybody… they wanted to take a chance. So their new President of Basketball Operations, Former Knick and Hall of Fame Coach Phil Jackson, reached out to one of his former players: Derek Fisher. Fisher is actually still a player for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Jackson forced his retirement and hired him as the head coach of the New York Knicks. It will be interesting to see if Fisher will be a head coach, but if Jason Kidd can do somewhat well, a smart basketball mind like Fisher should be ok too. Â
Finally, John Calipari may not have gotten the Lakers job, and opted to go back to Kentucky for the next 7-years, BUT he did get an extremely lucrative offer to be the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Reports said that the Cavs offered him nearly $80million to be their coach.  Calipari declined, most likely because he knew that he would have a much better media reputation as the king of the college basketball’s most storied program. This is seemingly a much better decision than essentially being an after thought in Cleveland, with a young team still trying to find its way.Â
