The Miami Heat answered the bell in a way better than anyone might have imagined in Sunday night’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Playing in a must-win spot at home, the Heat used a 33-5 run in the second half to turn a close game into a rout, and with their 103-84 win over the San Antonio Spurs, evened the series up at a game apiece.
There’s no championship action in the NBA or NHL tonight, so baseball will key the daily sports diet for Monday. It starts with a key game in the American League East, as the Boston Red Sox visit the Tampa Bay Rays (7 PM ET, ESPN). Boston has a game and a half lead in the division, while Tampa Bay is four out, and while calling the series “huge” would be a stretch, the Rays don’t want to get too far behind in a four-team race where it’s likely someone will always be playing well.
One night after the Boston Bruins punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, the Chicago Blackhawks locked up their chance to hoist sport’s greatest trophy. Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings looked like it would be an easy coronation, ended up as drawn-out confrontation, but still ended in celebration for Chicago.
The Arizona Diamondbacks stayed quietly lurking in the first month or so of the MLB season. The Dodgers got the offseason accolades, the Rockies got the blazing start and the Giants had the respect that comes with winning two World Series in three years. But Arizona kept plugging away and they’ve now been holding steady atop the National League West. Are the D-Backs there for the duration or are they just another flavor of the month that will pass?
One marquee driver having a rough 2013 got off the mat last week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as Tony Stewart got his first win of the season and rejuvenated his postseason hopes. Now Greg Biffle has to do the same, as the circuit heads to northeast Pennsylvania and Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s action.
The Boston Bruins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years, and this time it’s on the back of Tuuka Raask. The Bruin goalie completed a series where he spearheaded a defensive effort that not only shut down the potent Pittsburgh attack, but in the final two games, Raask saved 77 of 78 shots. The kid from Finland came of age in this series, and he’s the biggest reason Boston is the champion of the Eastern Conference.
One team joined the party in the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals, when Boston beat Pittsburgh to complete a four-game sweep. The other spot can be filled tonight, when Chicago hosts Los Angeles in Game 5 of their Western Conference finals. NBC Sports Network has the call at 8 PM ET, and it marks the biggest game on the daily sports schedule for the weekend.
This is no longer the Indiana Pacers or the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s the loud and clear message the San Antonio Spurs sent the Miami Heat last with the Spurs’ 92-88 win to open the 2013 NBA Finals. Whereas the Thunder in last year’s Finals, and the Pacers in this year’s Eastern finals, were susceptible down the stretch, San Antonio showed they can close games.
The Boston Bruins will go for their second trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in the last three years tonight in front of a raucous crowd in the Garden. The cameras of the NBC Sports Network will be live at 8 PM ET for Game 4 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, with the Pittsburgh Penguins hoping for to keep alive and at least get the series back to the Steel City.
The Los Angeles Kings got themselves back into the NHL’s Western Conference Finals with their clutch Game 3 win over Chicago while the Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t as fortunate in a gut-wrenching double-overtime loss in Boston last night. Los Angeles got another break when the league office stepped in and issued a key suspension for tonight’s crucial Game 4, so it’s this series that our NHL analysis will start.
The NBA Finals start tonight, with Game 1 of the San Antonio-Miami series being the highlight of the Thursday daily sports schedule.
The NBA Finals start Thursday night in Miami, as the San Antonio Spurs come in to take on the Heat. Once Oklahoma City lost Russell Westbrook in the first round, it became apparent the Heat and Spurs were the league’s two best teams and in the predictable world that is the NBA postseason, it’s those two that end up in the Finals.