Rochester Red Wings' bats go cold in loss to Gwinnett

From an offensive standpoint, the day was bleak for the Red Wings. They collected just six hits (five singles and a double), struck out eight times and squandered quality scoring chances in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the four games against the Braves, the Wings as a team batted .198. They batted just .167 with runners in scoring position.
Put Rene Tosoni, Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere back in the lineup and maybe the Wings are more dangerous at the plate. As it is, the parent Minnesota Twins still need them.
"We have to hang in there," Wings manager Tom Nieto said. "When the big-league club starts to get a little more healthy, that's going to help our lineup."
The big hits were lacking on Sunday, when the Wings wore special pink Mother's Day jerseys as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign.
Trailing 5-1 in the sixth, the Wings loaded the bases with walks to Steve Singleton, Jeff Bailey and Dustin Martin. But the slumping bats of Chase Lambin and Matt Brown stayed cold.
Lambin struck out — beginning the at-bat with a mighty swing at a pitch that dived low and away — and Brown popped to short.
Lambin, who represented the Syracuse Chiefs in the Triple-A All-Star Game last summer, is in an 0-for-10 hit drought and went 5-for-39 against the Braves. He is batting .211. Brown is in an 0-for-19 slump and batting .215.
"When you have the amount of guys struggling like we do, it's hard not to notice," Nieto said.
In the seventh, with runners on first and third and one out, Ray Chang struck out and Singleton fouled to third.
"When you have an opportunity to get runs by putting the ball in play, you have to put the ball in play," Nieto said, referring to the strikeouts by Lambin and Chang.
At least Nieto's daily report to the Twins will include a positive review of his bullpen. Four relievers combined to pitch 51/3 scoreless innings, including a strong outing by Jeff Manship.
Manship went 7-10 as a starter the past two seasons, but the plan this season is for him to be used exclusively in long relief. The Twins have decided to use him in that role when he is called up.
He retired six straight and faced seven batters during his two innings after starter Jeff Diamond allowed eight hits and five runs in 32/3 innings.

Lamar Odom says he will start

 
Lamar Odom said at the team's shootaround on Friday that he will start at small forward in place of Ron Artest, who is suspended for one game following his late hit to the face of Dallas Mavericks guard J.J. Barea in Game 2.
"I'll try to fill another role," said Odom.
The news comes as a surprise considering the Lakers used the lineup of Odom, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on the court together for less than three total minutes during the regular season.
"I don't think it will be much of an adjustment," Odom said of the frontcourt that would run 6-foot-10, 7-foot, 7-foot with him, Gasol and Bynum. "We all know how to play basketball. We'll try to make the floor as small as possible. Make them beat us over the top [on defense].
"Usually that's not how we've played ... but we all know each other and we've played with each other and we know what to expect. We'll just go out and try to win a basketball game at this point."
Said Gasol: "It's not a lineup that is used regularly or often; only in need. I guess we are in need now."
The Lakers trail the Mavericks 2-0 in the second-round series.
While Odom would be listed at small forward, he would play more of a guard's role on offense when paired on the court with Kobe Bryant, allowing Bryant to attack from the wing.

With Fourth-Quarter Rally, Mavericks Push Jackson and Lakers to Brink

DALLAS — Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant share not only five Lakers championships, but also splits, make-ups, power struggles, reinventions and redemptions.
It is fitting that Jackson’s final postseason would encounter bumps, that another hurdle to be crossed awaited him, Bryant told Jackson Friday morning.
Jackson then offered a distinction. “But it’s not me crossing it,” he said before the third game of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Dallas Mavericks. “It’s the team.”
Jackson is perhaps mentally preparing for what is likely his final separation between himself and the Lakers. The Mavericks shoved Jackson one loss further toward retirement and the two-time defending champion Lakers one loss closer to playoff elimination by administering a 98-92 loss to them on Friday.
Dirk Nowitzki has proved unguardable in the series and replicated his performance from the first two games by delivering 32 points on Wednesday. His five-footer with 1 minute 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter broke a tie and cemented another Lakers collapse.
Lamar Odom, who started in place of the suspended Ron Artest, missed a jumper on the Lakers’ possession. The Dallas reserve Jason Terry, who scored 23 points, latched onto Peja Stojakovic’s miss and was fouled by the Lakers’ Derek Fisher. He went to the free-throw line and iced the win with two free throws and 18 seconds remaining.
The Lakers again played the final moments disorientated and disorganized and are now in disarray. They left 3-point shooters open and often failed to drive the lane in a game they could have won. Bryant did not seize control of the contest and finished with 17 points on 13 shots.
No N.B.A. playoff team has ever rallied from the 3-0 playoff deficit now facing the Lakers. The Mavericks can shut the door on Jackson’s coaching career — which includes six championships in Chicago — by winning Sunday’s Game 4 here and gaining the Western Conference finals.
For the Lakers, it looks like a stunning drop from the N.B.A.’s top tier. They have played in the last three N.B.A. finals. Despite wavering at times this season, many expected them to return there again, offering Jackson a proper sendoff. When Jackson decided to return last summer, he said in a statement: “It’ll be the last stand for me, and I hope a grand one.” He has not questioned that decision throughout the course of the season.
The Lakers allowed Dallas to erase an 8-point lead in the fourth quarter with two 3-point shots from Stojakovic and one from Nowitzki. Nowtizki’s free throws provided Dallas a lead for the first time in the second half, 88-87, with 2:40 left in the fourth quarter. Bryant again had miscues that cost the Lakers late by turning the ball over with 3:23 left and missing a 23-foot jumper in the Lakers’ next possession.

Mavericks Prevail and Send Lakers Into Panic Mode

LOS ANGELES — Phil Jackson walked into his pregame news conference and conceded that he was concerned. The Lakers cannot stumble every series and expect to crawl out clean as a champion. The Dallas Mavericks, their second-round opponent, are deep, talented and star powered.

“We’re worried now,” he said. “This is a good team. We know that they have the same record we have. They have a lot of options in scoring, and we’ve got to play a lot better to overcome this team in the course of the series. Our strength is we’ve always become better and better against teams in series. We hope to do that.”

The opening-series loss rattled the Lakers. Wednesday’s 93-81 followup defeat to Dallas triggered the panic meter to full tilt. With balanced scoring, a choking defense and a steady diet of Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks came here and seized a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series that now transfers to Dallas.

The two-time defending champion Lakers are two losses away from an early playoff exit and sending Jackson, who is intent on retiring after the season, to an early retirement.

The Mavericks can advance to the Western Conference finals without ever descending back in Los Angeles. The last time the Lakers trailed by 2-0 in a series was in the 2008 finals when they lost to the Boston Celtics.

Nowitzki scored 24 points and grabbed 7 rebounds after he torched the Lakers for 28 and 14 in the series opener. The Lakers even tried Ron Artest, who is smaller, but stronger on Nowitzki. Nowitzki simply rose and shot over him.

The Mavericks were also pushed by the backup point guard Jose Barea. Barea is generously listed at 6 feet, but he consistently cut through the Lakers’ interior of Pau Gasol,Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum and finished with 12 points and 4 assists.

Barea’s layup early in the fourth quarter stretched Dallas’s lead to 75-65. The lead ballooned to 15 points before Kobe Bryant hit a 3-pointer. Bryant scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half, when the Lakers stayed in the game.

But the Lakers shot only 41 percent and missed 18 of their 20 3-pointers.

The Lakers normally excel as playoff series evolve. They lost the first-round series opener to the Chris Paul-fueledNew Orleans Hornets. But Gasol and Bynum are playing unevenly, their bench is providing little and Artest was ejected from the closing moments of Game 2 for his second technical foul.