Daily blurb
The Lakers exploded for a 21-point win in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. And that’s not good news for the Suns. In Phil Jackson’s NBA coaching career, he has never lost a series after winning the first game. 45-0, going on 46. Yikes!

Andre Ethier has now missed three consecutive games, and he’s still the top hitter in RotoHog points over the last 30 days.

I just heard a radio commercial for “University of Maryland University College.” That name sounds like it was created by the Department of Redundancy Department.

Back to Phil Jackson. In case you’re wondering, he is only 7-8 when he loses the first game of a playoff series. So, his playoff series record is 52-8 overall.

Just how remarkable is going 45-0 when winning game #1? Consider these stats:

• In NBA history, the winner of the first game goes on to win the series 78.9% of the time. If we use that as a probability of winning such a series, then the statistical odds of running off 45 straight series wins is 0.0023%.
• When the home team wins the first game, that team has won the series 86.9% of the time. I’m sure that Jackson has had home court advantage much more often than not. Using this as a probability, the statistical odds of 45 straight series wins improves to 0.18%, still much less than 1%.
• If you assume Phil has been coaching superior teams that have a probability of winning such a series 95% of the time (just pulling a number out of the air), then 45 straight successes has almost a 10% chance of occurring.