Culver City Observer -

He plan prances like a deer but he is more powerful than a locomotive. No it's not superman it's LeBron James. At the age of 35 James is still the best player in the world and arguably the best basketball player in history. Against the Miami Heat he scored 25 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out nine assists during the Lakers 116-98 win last Wednesday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Game 2 is set for Friday at 6 p.m. on ABC.

What makes James so unique is he makes his teammates better. This is his ninth final appearance in 10 years and he has been to the finals with three different teams, the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers and now the Lakers. Anyone who has ever played sports knows how hard it is to get to the final game or series.

"He makes the right plays and makes the right reads," said James' Lakers teammate Anthony Davis last week in the Bubble. "When I first got here he told me he wants to give me my first ring and I told him I want to get him back to the finals. We want to win a championship."

Davis, who is also one of the best players in the world, seems to feed off of James' energy. In Game 1 he scored 34 points, grabbed nine rebounds and he also had five assists and three blocks.

The Lakers look like they have the right of players and coaches to win their Lakers' 17th championship. With head coach Frank Vogel calling the shots they can finesse you with players like Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo. And they can overpower you with James, Dwight Howard and Markieff Morris.

George Laase

Rookie of the Year candidate, Tony Gonsolin had a 1.77 earned-run average going into last Saturday's start against the Angels, but gave up 4 runs in 6 innings. He may have lost out on a spot on the Dodgers post-season rotation.

The Dodgers also won their first playoff game last Wednesday, 4-2, against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium. They also have the right combination of coaches and players to make it to the World Series. The Dodgers ended the regular season with the best record in baseball at 43-17. What makes this team different from the very good Dodger teams the past few years is Mookie Betts. Right now he is playing like one of the best players in baseball or we can just say he is playing like LeBron James.

The Rams and the Chargers need to win their games on Sunday to keep pace with the rest of the teams in their divisions. The Rams are 2-1 in the West Division of the National Conference but the three other teams in the division have winning records. Seattle is 3-0, Arizona is 2-1 and San Francisco is 2-1.

The Chargers are 1-2 in the West Division of the American Conference. The other teams in their division are the 3-0 Kansas City Chiefs, the 2-1 Las Vegas Raiders and the 0-3 Denver Broncos.

Sunday the Chargers travel to Florida to take on the 2-1 Tampa Bay Bucs at 10 a.m. and the Rams have a home game at SoFi Stadium against the 0-3 New York Giants at 1 p.m.