With the eyes of all LSU sports fans fixed on the Louisiana Superdome for Monday night’s National Championship football game, former LSU athletes managed to impact professional sports all over the country this past weekend.
Rookie forward Glen Davis scored 20 points off the bench to propel the Boston Celtics past the Detroit Pistons, 92-85, on Saturday night. Davis, the game’s leading scorer, helped lock the game up by scoring six of his team’s final ten points.
The Celtics’ victory came against a Pistons team that had beaten them less than a month ago in one of the Celtics’ league-best three losses.
Chicago Bulls’ second-year forward – and “Big Baby’s” teammate on LSU’s 2006 Final Four team – Tyrus Thomas also came up big Saturday night with 14 points and nine rebounds in Chicago’s 94-93 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Washington Redskins’ rookie safety LaRon Landry put together an impressive performance of his own on the football field Saturday.
Landry intercepted Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck early in the fourth quarter helping Washington go up 14-13. Less than two minutes later, Landry would then intercept Hasselbeck again on Seattle’s next possession.
Landry also wrapped up five tackles – good for second-best on the Redskins – but his team came up short in the end, dropping the game 35-14.
New York Giants’ cornerback Corey Webster, Landry’s former teammate and a member of LSU’s most recent national championship team, helped his team to a 24-14 upset of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon.
Webster held Bucs’ big-play, veteran receiver Joey Galloway to one reception for nine yards, recovered a Michael Spurlock fumble on the second half’s opening kickoff and intercepted a Jeff Garcia pass in the endzone on the Bucs’ next offensive possession.
Webster and the Giants will now face division rival Dallas Cowboys next Sunday. The Giants’ victory ended the season of Webster’s former LSU teammate Michael Clayton who racked up three receptions for 39 yards for Tampa Bay.
Former LSU offensive lineman Alan Faneca’s season and tenure with the Steelers came to an end Saturday night as the Jacksonville Jaguars beat Pittsburgh, 31-29.
Faneca had already announced that he would find a new team next season due to a contract dispute with the Steelers.
Former LSU receiver Craig “Buster” Davis also logged playing time this weekend, pulling in one catch for five yards for the San Diego Chargers in the Chargers’ 17-6 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Titans’ center Kevin Mawae, a recent inductee to the LSU Athletics Hall of Fame, missed the game with an injured left calf.
Other former LSU football players to participate in the NFL playoffs’ second-round next weekend after first-round byes include the Cowboys’ Marcus Spears and Bradie James; the Indianapolis Colts’ Joseph Addai and Anthony “Booger” McFarland; and the Patriots’ Kevin Faulk, Randall Gay and Jarvis Green.
—Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]