Notes on a Twitter scorecard: Clippers rolling, fight news revolting

It has occurred to some that the people who invented Twitter and are now billionaires might have gotten inspiration from our late, great Allan Malamud.

At the Herald Examiner and later The Times, he produced daily notes and squibs. His opinions were not rambling rants or tedious treatises. He was sports journalism’s ace of appetizers. It wasn’t exactly 140 characters, but it was quite a tweet ... er, treat.

Imitation being the highest form of flattery, it kind of went like this:

•The best quote from the Clippers’ opening-game stunner against the Rockets, with Chris Paul on the bench and the team looking undermanned, came from Doc Rivers: “We pay everybody.”

•The worst quote from the post-fight Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao news conference came from Mayweather: “I am the American Dream.”

•What a revolting development. The controversy in the fight’s aftermath has nothing to do with Mayweather, the king of controversy. It’s all on Pacquiao. Who would have expected that? Should he have called the fight off? Or should his promoter, Bob Arum, have done so? Who screwed up the paperwork so he couldn’t get a legal injection before the fight, something he was counting on for his injured shoulder?

•It says here that, had not two boxing writers approached Arum just before the final news conference began, asked him a couple of questions and suddenly started hearing about a problem with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and a shot for an injured shoulder that none of us knew about, we may have never known Pacquiao was hurt. When the questions were aired in the full news conference, Pacquiao seemed stunned that word had gotten out.

•If you don’t think Pacquiao is angry for being made to look like a guy needing excuses after a loss, think again. When Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him flat out, there were no excuses. Good punch. Nice going. Congratulations. Pacquiao is not an excuses kind of guy. But now he looks like one.

•In the Clippers’ victory over the Rockets, little was said about the defensive job J.J. Redick did on Rockets star James Harden. He was on him like a wetsuit and it might have been the key to the game.

•OK, the real key to that game, and most Clippers games, was Blake Griffin. It says here that, in the next three seasons, Mr. Triple Double will get the coveted six capital-letter award that rightly went this year to Steph Curry: NBA MVP.

•As horse racing’s most colorful and recognizable figure gets ready for the May 16 Preakness in Baltimore, with his Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah, it is interesting to ponder what might have been for Bob Baffert. Had his Silver Charm not been edged out from his blind side by a masterful Chris McCarron ride in the 1997 Belmont, his Real Quiet been born with a slightly longer nostril in the 1998 race, or his War Emblem not stumbled to his knees out of the gate in 2002, come June 6 and the Belmont we might be talking about Baffert’s quest for a fourth Triple Crown in 18 years.

•The biggest recent winner in horse racing isn’t Baffert. Nor is it Art Sherman and the wonderful horse he trained, Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome. No, it’s City of Hope and its children’s cancer ward. For a long time, the hospital has quietly been getting checks from Victor Espinoza, who rode Chrome and Pharoah to the last two Derby victories.

•You have to wonder if Lakers fans are watching this Clippers-Rockets series and steaming. Chris Paul could have been their point guard. Dwight Howard was their center. For them, it must be hard to watch and not throw things at the TV set.

•There seemed to be a hint of desperation in Collin Cowgill’s failed, game-ending steal attempt Monday night at the Big A. Seattle led the Angels, 3-2. Two out. Bottom of the ninth. C.J. Cron at the plate. Cowgill pinch-running at first. First pitch, Cowgill goes. The throw only beats him by 10 feet or so. Manager Mike Scioscia said afterward that Cowgill had the green light and didn’t fault him for trying to be aggressive. We will. Take a deep breath, Collin. Yes, your team is playing lousy. But there are about 140 games left.

•There hasn’t seemed to be as much fan whining of late about Don Mattingly’s managing skills. Gee, wonder why?

•For those 14 or 15 of you left who manage to cling to the hope that boxing isn’t dead, even after taking out a second mortgage to watch the dancer beat the one-armed man Saturday night, check out middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin on May 16 at the Forum. He is a smiling assassin. Some fighters rely on the competence of jabs and defense. Golovkin relies on the competence of the ring referee to stop things before he maims somebody.

•Put Aug. 8, 2021 on your calendar. That’s the day Roger Federer will win his 100th pro tennis title. Also, the day he turns 40. He just won No. 85. On that 40th birthday, he will take the court in a walker, with an IV in his arm. Then he’ll hit 27 winners and 18 aces.

•And yes, you can say it. Malamud was better at this.

bill.dwyre@LATimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes