Ayles grabbed a Mark Sanchez from the one-yard line to the back of the endzone to put USC up 14-3 in the second quarter.

Two weeks ago Ayles had one reception for 2 yards at Virginia.

We are in the midst of restructuring our Sports staff and the way we cover sports at The Orange County Register — all for the better, without a doubt.

Part of the restructuring is the deactivation of this blog.

But here’s the upshot: We’re going to pour tons of effort, energy and resources into our team blogs (Lakers, Angels, Ducks) and launch USC- and UCLA-specific blogs later this summer.

For the Lakers blog, click here.

For the Angels blog, click here.

For the Ducks blog, click here.

For USC and UCLA, keep checking the Register’s Sports site; the launch is coming soon.

Thanks to anyone who visited this blog, and we hope you’ll check out all the new stuff we’re going to have elsewhere on our site in the near future.

So, weigh in on Game 1. Then click here to check out all our Game 1 coverage, including stories, analysis and slide shows.

We are suspending this blog during the NBA Finals so I can devote all my energy to all things Lakers.

For complete Lakers coverage, click here.

For commentary from beat writer Kevin Ding, polls and links, check out our Lakers blog.

For daily takes from our regular columnist contributors, go to ocregister.com

Thanks.

-ml

If I had asked this question before the season — “Which player can the Angels least afford to lose to injury?” — the reflex response would have been Vladimir Guerrero, or possibly Torii Hunter.

Turns out, the answer is Chone Figgins.

The Angels are feeling the absence of their shortest player (tied with Maicer Izturis at 5-foot-8, actually) in a very big way — and the Dodgers can relate.

Both teams have been lost without their leadoff men, Rafael Furcal joining Figgins in the infirmary. Check out these numbers:
 

• Angels with Figgins: .606 winning percentage (20-13), 4.79 runs per game
• Angels without Figgins: .560 winning percentage (14-11), 3.48 runs per game

 
• Dodgers with Furcal: .563 winning percentage (18-14), 5.38 runs per game
• Dodgers without Furcal: .375 winning percentage (9-15), 3.21 runs per game

Pretty startling, huh?

We all know the effect a good leadoff batter can have — forcing starting pitchers to throw more pitches, then distracting them once on base — and Figgins and Furcal were doing their jobs exceptionally well.

Figgins was batting .306 with a career-best .423 on-base percentage — picking up where he left off from June on last season (.376/.444).

Furcal was hitting a blistering .366 with a .448 OBP — plus a .597 slugging percentage for an obscene 1.045 OPS.

That last stat would rank among the top five in the majors if Furcal had enough at-bats to qualify — which, unfortunately, he does not.

Furcal (back) hasn’t played since May 5, although he reportedly is on the verge of starting a rehab assignment.

Figgins (hamstring) last played May 21, an ill-fated one-game return before returning to the DL.

As fast as he is — and as much as they miss him — the Angels would be wise to take it slowly with Figgins. Their chances of finishing strong diminish considerably if they can’t get started.

All the players were attired in the regulation purple practice shorts, trimmed in gold.

All except for one player — forward Lamar Odom.

Odom, as usual, wore a pair of gray Lakers sweats, cut off at shin level.

“No style points whatsoever,” teammate Ronny Turiaf said. “Pretty bad, actually.”

It brought merely a shrug of Odom’s shoulders when told what his teammate had said.

“It’s just to keep my legs warm out there,” explained Odom, who displayed a lot more pizazz at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night (left).

“I’ve got itty-bitty chicken legs, and at 10 in the morning, they’re not really warmed up. It’s one of those styles that I kind of stole from Caron (Butler) and Kobe (Bryant).”

Regarding Turiaf’s assessment, Odom said: “What’s Ronny know about style? I’m always trying to come up with something different, anyway. And, it’s really comfortable.”

– Art Thompson III, The Orange County Register

What did Kobe Bryant say about Paul Pierce? Click here to find out.

Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com paints the Lakers — and especially Kobe Bryant — as the bad guys in the series and tries to justify his position.

Stan McNeal of the Sporting News compares today’s era to the glory days of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry in the ’80s — with help from Larry Bird, Byron Scott and Danny Ainge.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports says that by winning his 10th title, Phil Jackson would surpass Red Auerbach as the best coach in NBA history.

Mike Kahn of FOXSports.com further explroes the Jackson-Auerbach dynamic.

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop provides an extensive breakdown of the two regular-season meetings, including an analysis of how the Celtics kept Bryant in check.

 ESPN.com Sports Guy and Boston backer Bill Simmons explains why he picked the Lakers over his beloved Celtics in a lengthy live chat.

Neither a dominant scorer, both really skilled at almost everything. But one with a sketchy mental approach to the game, the other with an unquestioned intensity that is credited with lifting his team now to the NBA Finals.

And that’s why the Odom-Garnett matchup is one of the few things besides Kobe Bryant’s right pinkie finger falling all the way off and Rajon Rondo morphing into Chris Paul for two weeks that could lead to the Celtics beating the Lakers in this series.

The playoffs have revealed the Lakers to be better than you thought and the Celtics to be worse. If not for Chauncey Billups’ hamstring injury derailing all of Detroit’s flow, Boston wouldn’t even be here.

But one thing that could lead to a groundswell of Boston empowerment would be Garnett jumping on his first NBA Finals stage and flat-out inspiring people with his rock-star-concert intensity. The only way for Garnett to be that dominant is for Odom to come up that small in his first NBA Finals.

It could happen.

Odom’s instability was in full effect in the Western Conference finals. The whining about calls and the uncertainty about what to do on offense were back to an alarming degree. If the Lakers hadn’t been able to pull out the games they needed to, there would’ve been a whole lot more questioning Odom’s place in the Lakers’ world.

And make no mistake, he is on trial here. His contract expires at the end of next season — he’ll get a massive $14.3 million in the final year — and if the Lakers were good enough to close out the Spurs on Thursday night with Sasha Vujacic and Vladimir Radmanovic on the court instead of Odom, it’s not hard to visualize a scenario where the Lakers believe they can get by with someone such as Vujacic, Radmanovic, Trevor Ariza or Luke Walton out there when Andrew Bynum is going to be out there, too.

Odom is a ridiculously gifted player and really good team guy who has a chance to prove his worth in a major way here. He can dominate everyone on the floor, including Garnett, on the boards. He has the length and athleticism to take away many of Garnett’s favorite scoring spots on the court. He’ll get plenty of chances to score with Garnett keeping one eye on Bryant. And when Garnett leaves him for Bryant, Odom’s slick passing (often for Pau Gasol dunks) will be a key element in beating Boston’s fast-rotating defense.

But who knows if Odom will deliver on any of those counts?

For more on the NBA Finals, check out OCRegister.com’s Lakers page.

But first, to start off this week of hype, hoops and hopes, we’ll cut to the chase and ask the only question that matters:
 

The Celtics are motivated but are a mess. Garnett and Pierce look like they’re out of breath, for different reasons (too intense and too bloated, respectively), and I’m convinced Ray Allen’s talent was stolen by the Monstars from Space Jam.

The pick:

Detroit beats Boston. What is JaMarcus Russell doing playing center for the Celtics?

-AJM

Thursday: 1-0; Overall: 39-29