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SILVER HAD A breakout session with the teams' ownership and front-office personnel on the ground while the players huddled.
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, according to sources, echoed James' position to the commissioner. Advocating for the players, he thought, was a chance to build unity. If at the end of the day his 15 players believed their front office had their best interests at heart, then trust could be built. It would be a small victory in a tough situation.
Silver eventually came back to the players: If they weren't prepared to do media, then the NBA wouldn't make them do it. End of story.
But everyone involved wanted to salvage the games.
"We were just hoping to play a little basketball," James said Monday. "No matter what's going on in my life or what's been going on in any situation, the game of basketball has always put people in a great space. So we were just hoping we could get out there and play some ball."
A worker removes a promotional banner ahead of the preseason game in Shanghai between the Nets and Lakers. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images The self-imposed media ban proved moot. The Chinese government canceled the pregame and postgame news conferences -- including Silver's -- for the Shanghai game, just as it had canceled the ancillary events that week. The feeling among NBA officials was that China viewed the games as the crown jewel. Anything that could potentially derail the games -- such as a player echoing what Silver said in Tokyo supporting Morey -- needed to be eliminated.
After days of agitation, Chinese officials seemed to relent and hint that they too wanted to see the games played. Although they didn't offer certainty that day, they essentially "nodded," according to an NBA China source.
For all the discomfort, the league had some leverage: There are hundreds of millions of NBA fans in China, after all.
As a tumultuous Wednesday concluded, everyone went to bed that night confident that there would be a basketball game the next day.
NEW YORK -- Astros manager AJ Hinch has heard the chatter -- that Rays starter Tyler Glasnow was offering a sneak peek on his off-speed deliveries, that Houston had a poker-worthy tell on Yankees hard throwers James Paxton and Luis Severino.
All that pitch-tipping paranoia?
"I think it's kind of funny,'' Hinch said.
A year after suspicions about sign stealing made headlines when a man associated with the Astros was caught pointing a cellphone into opposing dugouts, Houston is giving pitchers pause again, perhaps with nothing more than the naked eye.
Cole wasn't dominant, but still handles Yankees There's no rule against noticing a tipped pitch, and Hinch stated plainly during this American League Championship Series who is at fault if Houston knows what's coming.
"If they don't want to tip their pitches,'' Hinch said, "then they should take consideration into doing the same thing over and over again.''
Batter's box espionage can take two forms -- pitch tipping or sign stealing. The first is totally legal, just a matter of good scouting. Hitters might get an idea from the angle of the pitcher's glove or the wiggle of his wrist.
On sign stealing, legality can get blurrier. A runner on second base has a clear view of the catcher's signs, and there's no rule against taking a peek and discreetly relaying that info to the batter -- although the opposing battery might still take issue. That's a practice as old as Cracker Jack.
Smart devices and other fresh tech have opened another frontier for potential pilferers. Even before alarms were sounded in Cleveland and Boston last fall about the Astros' man with a phone, paranoia about cameras, Apple Watches and other devices had made intricate signaling a full-time practice.
Major League Baseball has instituted rules to crack down on digital spying. MLB said "a number of clubs'' called commissioner Rob Manfred to express concerns about video equipment being used to steal signs last season.
Although teams surely remain suspicious about the Astros and sign stealing, Houston's ability to recognize discrepancies in a pitcher's delivery has caused concern this month.
After getting tagged by Houston in the decisive fifth game of the AL Division Series last week, Glasnow noticed on video that he was broadcasting his breaking pitches.
"It was pretty obvious as far as the tips go,'' he said.
More suspicions were raised in Game 2 of the ALCS, when the Astros jumped on Paxton. Television cameras caught Alex Bregman saying "glove'' to Houston's dugout after drawing a walk, a moment many interpreted as Bregman sharing a tell on Paxton's delivery.
Bregman has denied using such info this postseason and expressed annoyance Tuesday at social media sleuths searching for hints of it. But Yankees fans have good reason to be suspicious. Paxton was informed by team adviser and former New York player Carlos Beltran after a start in April that Houston almost certainly knew what was coming.
Another former Yankee is sure Severino was tipping in Game 3, when he threw 36 pitches in a rocky first inning of a 4-1 defeat.
"If you look at Astros hitters' body language, this screams tipping,'' tweeted Alex Rodriguez, who is now a broadcaster with ESPN and Fox.
Alex Rodriguez ✔ @AROD To recap Severino's first inning:
36 pitches 18 fastballs 18 secondary pitches 11 swings on fastballs 5 swings on off-speed pitches, no misses No chases on off-speed pitches.
If you look at Astros' hitters body language, this screams tipping.
#postseason
2,002 4:32 AM - Oct 16, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 726 people are talking about this It may be that Houston is noticing a wayward glove waggle in the moment, but cameras can also help -- and legally, too.
The Yankees are cautious even about what TV cameras might see in the dugout -- after homering off Astros ace Justin Verlander in Game 2, Aaron Judge walked up and down the bench area whispering to teammates, using his batting helmet as a face shield. Whatever he knew, he didn't want Houston -- or the public -- finding out.
Judge's covert message didn't hinder Verlander, who pitched two-run ball for 6 2/3 innings.
Hinch wouldn't find Judge to be out of line if it did. He believes hunting for pitch tells is basic recon work in today's game. Does a guy turn his glove grabbing at a changeup? Tend to throw fastballs in 2-0 counts?
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3. The Sabres' cutting-edge power play
Victor Olofsson has been a dynamic force on the Sabres' power play. Sara Schmidle/NHLI via Getty Images This one is technically cheating because the player in question was already on the team at the end of last season, but let's just roll with it for the sake of this exercise. After all, it was just a six-game cameo in the last days of a miserable campaign in Buffalo, and it was under a different coach and different set of circumstances.
The list of players who have turned more heads and generated more buzz than Victor Olofsson has to start the season is a rather short one. It's all been well deserved, because he and his shot are a big reason the Sabres have been such a positive surprise early on.
Early-season, small-sample size disclaimers aside, Buffalo's power play looks unstoppable at the moment. They've already scored nine times on their 21 total opportunities, generating a league-best 15.9 goals per hour with the man advantage. To put those two figures into some perspective, last season's Tampa Bay Lightning boasted a historically great power play and they had a 28.2% conversion rate and 11.1 goals per hour. Doing so for six games compared to the full 82 are entirely different animals, and there's no question that the Sabres will come back down to earth eventually here.
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But even when they do, the process itself looks completely legit and the success should be replicable to some degree moving forward. Similar to what the aforementioned Lightning do so well, the Sabres' power play succeeds by arming itself with shooters all over the board. They aren't equipped with the same type of talent overall, but it's a close enough replica of a lethal strategy.
What they're doing is allowing the opposing penalty kill to pick its poison, acknowledging that they won't be able to take every single scoring threat away. In the past, they were too focused on funneling point shots by Rasmus Ristolainen; now, they're zinging the puck all around the ice until a clean shooting lane materializes. The best example of this came in last week's home game against the Montreal Canadiens. In the first period, Jack Eichel used the threat of his shot to freeze the goalie, before firing the puck across the ice to Olofsson for what is hockey's equivalent of an alley-oop dunk. In the second period, once the Canadiens overplayed the passing lane in an attempt to prevent Olofsson from getting another easy look, Eichel used the additional time and space to pick a corner with a perfectly placed shot himself.
There's no question that Eichel is the catalyst through which everything runs for the Sabres' power play, just like Nikita Kucherov is for Tampa Bay (even though they operate from opposite wings). But having all of the other threats strategically sprinkled around the zone is just as crucial in keeping the penalty killers honest, almost paralyzing them with the fear of the repercussions of whichever decision they make. They have Rasmus Dahlin playing the role of Victor Hedman, with the green light to hammer the puck from the point if the defensive shell sags in too much. They have Jeff Skinner controlling the bumper spot in the middle of the ice, similar to what Brayden Point does for the Lightning. And most importantly, they now have Olofsson manning the Steven Stamkos spot as the trigger man from the opposite circle. He already has proved to be money in the bank from that right circle, scoring all seven of his career goals on the power play.
If the NHL really is a copycat league, then any other teams with floundering power plays should be taking stock of what teams like the Lightning and Sabres have set out to accomplish whenever they get the opportunity. Then again, it's easier said than done, because you ultimately still need the right chess pieces to pull it off.
17.10.2019 10:21
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