Weekend Wrap-up May 15th – May 17th

Hometown Highlights:

1. The Red Sox lose 2-1 to the Mariners (May 15th) but won 4-2 in the next game (May 16th).
   • May 16th: Buchholz pitched extraordinarily well going 8 IP 1 ER and striking out 11 batters. That’s actually Ace-like.
     • The loss should have fallen on John Farrell after he chose to have Layne not walk Nelson Cruz in the 9th.
       • Cruz would drive in the winning run off a single to left.
   • May 17th: Rick Porcello out-pitched King Felix, who may have aggravated his ankle injury.
     • Despite allowing 2 HRs from Brad Miller, Porcello was lights out going 6.2 IP 2 ER 6 SO.
     • Pablo Sandoval (5) and Ortiz (5) each hit a HR off King Felix (6 IP, 4 ER, 5 SO), who received his first L on the year.
2. Tom Brady and the NFLPA are still trying to get Roger Goodell to recuse himself as arbitrator for Brady’s suspension appeal.
3. The Celtics reportedly have interviewed Kentucky C Willie Cauley-Stein and show moderate interest in him.
4. Paul Pierce is debating retirement after his Washington Wizards were eliminated Friday.
   • I’m not a betting man but I can assure you Pierce will retire a Celtic, whether it’s an one-day or (less likely) an one-year contract.
5. The Revolution play to a 1-1 tie versus Toronto FC (May 16th).
   • USMNT members Juan Agudelo (32′) [NE] and Michael Bradley (53′) [TOR] found the nets for their respective teams.

Around the Nation:

1. #1 seeds Atlanta and Golden State eliminated Washington and Memphis respectively from the NBA Playoffs on Friday.
2. The NY Rangers took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals from the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 (May 16th).
3. American Pharoah wins the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown taking The Preakness handedly despite the rainstorm.
   • AP is the third favorite to win the Preakness from the rail since 1950, no horse had won in that position since 1994.
   • AP and jockey Victor Espinoza will be the 14th pair to try and be the 1st to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed won it in 1978.
4. Steven Gerrard played his last English Premier League game Saturday, but his Liverpool team lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace.

Today’s Buzz: 

1. The Red Sox and Mariners wrap up their 4-game series this afternoon at 4:10 PM.
   • Steven Wright (1-0, 4.22 ERA) takes the mound for the Red Sox in place of Justin Masterson (15-day DL, fatigue) against James Paxton (1-2, 4.31 ERA).
2. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks face-off in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals today at 3 PM.
3. The LA Clippers and Houston Rockets will play a Game 7 to decide who moves on and who goes home.
   • Tip-off at 3:30 PM (Winner plays GS).
4. The Wells Fargo Championship wraps up today.
5. Rory McIlroy is the leader at -18. Webb Simpson (-14) and Robert Streib (-11) trail in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

***All times in EST

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The Daily Buzz – April 27

Last Night’s Highlights

1. The Red Sox lost 18-7 against Baltimore, and lost their second straight series.
   • Wade Miley gets the loss as he went 2.1 IP allowing 6 runs, 7 hits, and 0 SO.
     • The Red Sox cycled through 6 pitchers in the loss.
   • Hanley Ramirez continues to be a shinning star for the Sox as he hit 2 HR (7th/8th on the year)
   • Sandoval hit his 1st HR in 2015
2. The Celtic’s season is officially over as they lost Game 4 to Cleveland 101-93.
   • Cleveland wins series 4-0
   • Kevin Love left early in the game with what was eventually diagnosed as a separated shoulder.
     • Kelly Olynik may have slightly hurt the C’s chance to land Kevin Love after delivering an arm-bar which caused Love to leave game.
   • J.R. Smith was ejected later in the game after blatantly punching Jae Crowder in the face.
     • Cleveland apparently forgot they were winning by double digits at the time.
     • Jae Crowder would leave game with injury to left knee.

Around the Nation

1. The Canadians and Wild both wrap up their series with wins over Ottowa and St. Louis respectively.
   • MTL 2-0 OTT (G6) [MTL win series 4-2]
   • MIN 4-1 STL (G6) [MIN wins series 4-2]
     • Over the weekend Calgary, Chicago, and New York (Rangers) all won their respective series.
2. Cleveland and Washington sweep their opponents while Dallas and Los Angeles keep themselves alive.
   • HOU 109-121 DAL (G4) [HOU leads 3-1]
   • TOR 94-125 WSH (G4) [WSH wins series 4-0]
   • LAC 114-105 SA (G4) [Series tied 2-2]
3. UFC fighter Jon Jones is being investigated for an alleged hit-and-run incident.
4. It’s officially fight week as the days tick down to Mayweather vs. Pacqiauo (May 2)

Today’s Buzz

1. The Red Sox will face AL East opponent Toronto for the first time tonight at Fenway at 6:10 PM
   • Joe Kelly (1-0, 4.08 ERA) versus Aaron Sanchez (1-2, 5.14 ERA)
2. Stanley Cup Playoff games:
   • NYI @ WSH (G7) [Series tied 3-3] 7:30 PM
   • TB @ DET (G6) [DET leads 3-2] 7 PM
3. NBA Playoff games:
   • ATL @ BRK (G4) [ATL leads 3-0] 7 PM
   • MIL @ CHI (G5) [CHI leads 3-1] 8 PM
   • MEM @ POR (G4) [MEM leads 3-0] 10:30 PM

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The reason why NBA Playoffs are a HUGE disappointment this year

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the NBA Playoffs are a huge disappointment so far and here’s proof:

As of now 2 teams have swept their opponents (the Celtics being one of those swept) and 3 others are poised to as well. The sad thing is that majority of these games so far have been won by a fairly large margin and have only been close early in the game. Now, I accredit this to the NBA being a league that is dominated by a few high-tier teams (Cleveland, Atlanta, Golden State, Houston, ect.) and the free ability for players to constantly opt out of contracts and go team up with other superstars to create powerhouse teams (i.e Ray Allen, KG, Paul Pierce/ LeBron, Bosh, Wade/ LeBron/ Love/ Kyrie Irving). The word “loyalty” has no meaning in the league anymore. It is no mystery that the NBA is a league dictated by money, players will pack up and leave town if another team offers them a big payday rather than staying loyal to their teams. This isn’t always the case, but it is becoming more and more common with each year of free agency.

The league is also structured in a way that allows the lower-tier teams to accumulated draft picks by tanking (the 2012-2015 76ers) which only creates an even bigger schism when it comes time for the playoffs. These teams who opt to “tank” only make it harder for the teams who aren’t necessarily good, but not necessarily bad either. These are the teams who really shouldn’t make playoffs, but because the bottom of the conference is a race to see who gets last, they do and miss the draft lottery. This schism is so prevalent in the Eastern Conference that 3 teams that made playoffs had records of .500 or worse. The majority of the Eastern Conference is a punching bag for the rest of the NBA, I say punching bag because punching bags don’t punch back. It’s easier in this league for a lower-tier team to just go in and put up no fight if it means they get closer whatever 1-year college mercenary that ESPN is talking about to the #1 overall pick next year. (The NCAA is even worse than the NBA but that’s another blog for another day).

So what do we have so far? We have the teams with money and superstars, the teams with less money and average players who are just good enough to make playoffs and avoid the draft each year, and then the teams who purposely take the L on the season, screw over the rest of the league,  and draft all the young talent for a three year span. So basically these middle-tier teams just can’t catch a break. They aren’t good enough and don’t have the money to win the Superstar Lottery during free agency and they aren’t bad enough for a high draft pick in the draft lottery.

This league is broken and almost beyond fixing. If the commissioner wants this shit to continue, that’s fine with me as long as you just make the playoffs an 8-team race so that it’s at least halfway interesting and competitive.  As long as the league stays in the condition that it is in, the playoffs will continue to be this way.

NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference First Round Preview

Last night, the NBA regular season wrapped up, as the NBA Playoffs officially start this Saturday, when Washington takes on Toronto at the Air Canada Centre. Therefore, it is only fitting that we preview each series of the first round, starting with the Eastern Conference.

1 Seed Atlanta Hawks (60-22) vs 8 Seed Brooklyn Nets (38-44)

Game 1: Sunday 5:30, TNT

On paper, the clear favorites are the Hawks. They finished the year fourth in the league in field goal percentage and second in 3-point percentage. They are also second in assists per game and fifth in opponents points per game. The Hawks do not have one superstar they lean on during close games; instead, they have a solid group of players in Al Horford, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, and Paul Millsap. They have shown that they can beat anyone in the East when they’re at their best.

However, it is hard to count out the Brooklyn Nets when considering the talent that they have. Although they barely squeaked past the Pacers to get into the playoffs, playmakers like Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson should not be ignored. They are middle-of-the-pack stat wise, but Johnson can do this.

However, the Hawks are simply the better team, despite only winning five of the past ten games. Kyle Korver all day. Hawks in 5.

 

2 Seed Cleveland Cavaliers (53-29) vs. 7 Seed Boston Celtics (40-42)

Game 1: Sunday 3:00 #FeedMeBronBron

Here we go baby!!! Honestly this is what we wanted. Evan Turner is probably drooling thinking about all the ways he is gonna torture Baby BronBron in this series. The Celtics are at a Bruno Mars level of hot as of late, as they are 8-2 in the last ten games and are on a six game win streak. Most likely, Brad Stevens has written a full college paper length report on all the ways to beat the Cavs and make David Blatt look more stupid than he usually does.

Now that I have gotten my mandatory Masshole statements out of the way, the Cavs are the clear favorite here. Baby BronBron (That’s all I’m going to call him during this series) is somewhat good at basketball, and we’ll have to respect that. Kyrie Irving may give the Celtics nightmares when he has the ball; I figure Stevens will have lockdown defender Avery Bradley being Irving’s shadow. Also, future Celtic Kevin Love may give the C’s fits by his ability to drain threes as a power forward, which will force Boston to spread out their defense, giving Baby BronBron and Kyrie room to drive.

But you know what? When I look at the coaches, I see two completely different people. For the Celtics, I see a young evil mastermind who spends his Saturday nights watching basketball films on the fundamentals of the inbound pass. And for the Cavs, I see Blatt, who has as much authority over BronBron and the Cavs as Delonte West does. If this is a coaches battle, the Celtics win in a landslide.

And maybe that’s how it plays out. Stevens draws up two brilliant inbound plays to beat the Cavs in two close games, Thomas scores 25 a game, and Baby BronBron struggles throughout the series. I’m going with Dr.Stevens on this one. Celtics in 7, don’t ask me to bet on it though.

 

3 Seed Chicago Bulls (50-32) vs 6 Seed Milwaukee Bucks (41-41)

Game 1: Saturday 7:30, ESPN

 

Chicago comes into this series the hotter team, winning their last four game and locking up the third seed in the process. Tom Thibodeau’s squad is always a tough out in the postseason. The Bulls are a great defensive team and are third in the league in rebounds per game. This team has little weaknesses, as they are strong all around; their only problem is the health of Derrick Rose, their star point guard.

Rose lost both his knees a long time ago and has not been the same since. He has only been able to play 51 games this season and is always at risk to spontaneously combust. If anything happens to him early on in the series, the Bulls will be in serious trouble.

That is why I think I have to give this series to the Bucks, who are a strong offensive team and are great at passing the ball, much like their coach Jason Kidd once was. They’re 8th in opponents points per game and have 9 players who average over 20 minutes per game, which means Kidd is able to rest players when they’re tired or hurting, a crucial aspect of playoff basketball.

Rose loses all of his right leg on his first drive to the basket. Kidd finds it and hides it for the rest of the series. Bucks in 6.

 

4 Seed Toronto Raptors (49-33) vs. 5 Seed Washington Wizards (46-36)

Game 1: Saturday, 12:30, ESPN

This one is the biggest toss-up, obviously. The Wizards are one of the best shooting teams in the league, led by stars Bradley Beal and John Wall in the backcourt. They also love to share the rock, they collect boards, and can play lockdown defense.

On the other side, the Raptors light it up from 3-point land and are money at the free-throw line. While they struggle as a team with their rebounding, Toronto makes up for it by being 4th in points per game. Their offense is led by athletic swingman Demar Derozan and scrappy point guard Kyle Lowry, who average 20.1 and 17.8 points each game, respectively.

Two really good offensive teams, both with great guard play, so who comes out victorious? Let’s think for a minute.

After all of this thinking, I’m gonna go with The Truth. Pierce hits a game winning shot in game 7, and Washington survives. Wizards in 7.

The Staff’s Eastern Conference Pick:

Frazier: Bucks

Tock: Celtics

Beard: Raptors

Biggie: Cavs

Large: Cavs

The Daily Buzz – April 16th

Last Night’s Highlights:

1. Red Sox fail to sweep the Nationals dropping game 3, 10-5.
   • Wade Miley goes 2.1 IP with 1 SO and 7 ER
   • Bogaerts returned to line-up after undergoing MRI Tuesday, Sandoval did not play (foot).
   • Ramirez hits his 4th HR of the season.
2. The Celtics finish their regular season on a high note beating the Bucks 105-100.
   • Luigi Datome lead the team with 22 pts in 27 minutes.
   • Crowder and Babb DNP (rest)
3. Game 1 between the Celtics and Cavaliers will start on April 19th (Tip-off TBA).
4. Aaron Hernandez was found guilty of 1st degree murder and 5 other charges and sentenced to life w/o parole.
5. The Bruins part ways with GM Peter Chiarelli after 9 seasons with the team.
6. A moment of silence was held at Fenway during the game at 2:49 PM to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings on it’s 2-year anniversary.
7. BC’s Oliver Hanlan declares for the NBA Draft.

Around the Nation:

1. The Stanley Cup Playoffs got off to a start last night with a share of blowouts and barfights.
   • OTT 3-4 MTL (G1)
   • NYI 4-1 WSH (G1)
   • CHI 4-3 NSH [2OT ](G1)
   • CGY 2-1 VAN (G1)
2. The USMNT beat Mexico 2-0 in their International friendly match. This is the 6th straight win over Mexico for the USA.
   • Jozy Altidore did not play (suspension for red card v. Switzerland).
   • Jordan Morris (49′) scores first International goal in first appearance for the USA.
   • Juan Agudelo (72′) secured the 2-0 victory.
3. Baseball teams around the country acknowledge Jackie Robinson by wearing the famous ’42’ on their jerseys.
4. Anthony Davis comes up HUGE for the Pelicans having a double-double (29 pts, 12 reb) in their win over the Spurs.
   • New Orleans secures their first playoff appearance since 2011, eliminate Oklahoma City.

Today’s Buzz:

• The second group of Stanley Cup Playoff games begin tonight:
  • Pittsburg v. NY Rangers (G1) 7 PM
  • Detroit v. Tampa Bay (G1) 7:30 PM
  • Minnesota v. St. Louis (G1) 9:30 PM
  • Winnipeg v. Anaheim (G1) 10:30 PM

*All times EST

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