The Boston Celtics continue to follow in the path of the Oklahoma City Thunder, as each underdog in the conference finals has moved to take control of the series. Boston did its part last night with a 94-90 win in Miami to put them within one game of the NBA Finals, a development nothing short of stunning to anyone who followed the Celtics for the first half of the regular season or even the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The American League East has essentially hit the re-set button, with all five teams packed within three games of each other heading into Tuesday night’s games. You can make an argument that this favors the underdog teams—Baltimore, and to a lesser extent Toronto, as an underdog always benefits from shortening the game, or in this case the season by a couple months. You can argue that it works to Boston’s favor, who navigated an early season filled with wounds, both medial and self-inflicted. I don’t see how it works in New York’s favor, although they could certainly still win the division. The team I think really has to be pleased right now is the Tampa Bay Rays, who hold the narrow AL East lead and are well-poised to add to that as summer wears on and we start seeing some separation.
You can praise the Los Angeles Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick for his role in the team’s 4-0 shutout win over New Jersey in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, putting the Kings up 3-0 in games and one win from their first Cup ever. You’d be right to do so. You can praise the Los Angeles team defense and you’d be right to do so. But as much as New Jersey Devil goaltender Martin Brodeur is an icon, and as much as TheSportsNotebook in particular respects him, last night was about the Devil goalie.
The San Antonio Spurs have gone from pre-ordained champions to on-the-verge-of-elimination because the bugaboos that were lurking in the background throughout the playoffs—mediocre defense and a lack of star power—came back to bite them again in a devastating 108-103 Game 5 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who now hold a 3-2 series lead and close it out at home on Wednesday night.
What had to happen finally did happen, and it’s that the Los Angeles Dodgers have come back to earth and the race is on in the NL West. San Francisco, at 30-24, is coming off a week where they first won a series against Arizona, then took advantage of playing the Chicago Cubs and delivered a three-game sweep. Coupled with a slump by the Dodgers, Frisco is back within three games of the lead and there’s no reason to think this is just a flavor-of-the-week type thing.
THE WEEK AHEAD: MAY 28-JUNE 3 It’s Memorial Day Week and TheSportsNotebook salutes the soldiers whose sacrifices made it possible for us to enjoy and appreciate our passions, like sports in a more peaceful world. And we also salute those on the homefront who make daily sacrifices in the aid of the spiritual and temporal […]
THE WEEK AHEAD: MAY 21-27 We’re back to basics this week at TheSportsNotebook after spending last week doing early All-Star ballots and team overviews in baseball, in addition to daily playoff coverage in the NHL and NBA. We’ll still have the latter going each day this week—as well as possible series previews if we get […]
The Boston Celtics followed the same path in the Eastern Conference Finals that the Oklahoma City Thunder blazed through in the West, and it’s to announce “Game On” to sports fans, as the Celtics won their second consecutive home game. The 93-91 overtime thriller evened up the series 2-2.
College football is closing in on an expanded playoff, as the conference continue deliberation for some type of “plus-one” setup, where an additional game would be added after the completion of the bowls. One of the first debates was whether the new format would have two bowls serve as national semi-finals in a four-team playoff or if conferences would go to their traditional tie-ins and then select the top two teams when the dust had settled. By all accounts, advocates of the four-team playoff have won this first level of debate. I believe that is a mistake.
The fans at the Meadowlands saw overtime in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but they got the same result—a loss for the home team. The Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1, and not only prevented the Devils from tying the series at a game apiece, but left the home fans with no guarantee their team will be back again, as the Finals now go west with Los Angeles having a chance to close out their first-ever Stanley Cup this coming week.
It was the game that would all but settle the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season, as they tried to avoid falling behind 3-1 to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder needed their stars to come out—not just Kevin Durant, but surely, Russell Westbrook and James Harden had to have big games. The latter two combined to shoot 6-for-23 from the floor. And Oklahoma City…won? Yes, OkC overcame subpar nights from two of its three best players and beat the best team the NBA 109-103 and officially announced “Game On” in the West Finals.
The Los Angeles Angels were gradually working up a head of steam in May and at the end of the month they finally came barreling in full-tilt. Since May 21, Mike Scoscia’s team has gone 9-2, including a series win over the Yankees and including a win in last night’s series opener against first-place Texas. With a record of 27-26 and within 4.5 games in the AL West, the Angels are back on the radar of real contenders.