The Big Story – Celtics Start Round 3: So much for our first real New York–Boston playoff series since 1984. Instead the gallant Knicks fell to the Indiana Pacers after they took the last two games to earn their ticket to Boston for the Eastern Conference Finals.
They’ve met seven times in the playoffs before, with the C’s winning the last four meetings, including the last time in 2019. But this is the first time it’s been outside of Round 1.
Game 1 happened on Tuesday, with Game 2 coming tonight (Thursday) in Boston.
Sports 101: Who was the first person ever to hit a homer off the first pitch thrown on opening day?
News Item – Sox Falling: The Sox surprised almost everyone with a solid April. But, helped by a boatload of injuries, reality has set in as they’ve gone 6-11 in their first 17 games in May, which had them starting the week in fourth place, 9.5 games behind Baltimore.
News Item – The Party’s Over For The Bruins: For the second straight year the Bruins’ season was ended by the Florida Panthers. This time in six games, after the B’s coughed up one-goal third leads in Games 4 and 6. Now come the second-guessing and the finger-pointing, along with all eyes on Jim Montgomery to see if he’ll be the latest coaching scapegoat.
The Numbers:
.354 – unexpected batting average for Sox catcher Connor Wong, who no one thought would be the last player standing among the three guys they got back for Mookie Betts.
21 – record-setting under par score carded on Sunday by Xander Schauffele to win the PGA Championship and his first major title.
… Of the Week Awards
Who’s Hot – Raphael Devers: The team may not be, but he is. When the Sox downed the Cardinals 11-4 on Sunday in St. Louis he went deep for the fifth time in five games.
Jailbird of the Week – Scott Scheffler: It’s not everyday that a guy goes from a jail cell to the top of the leaderboard of a major. But that’s what the defending Masters champ did after allegedly assaulting a police officer at a traffic incident on his way into Round 2 of the PGA. After getting his mugshot and fingerprints, he was back on the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, to shoot 65 and grab a piece of the lead during his round.
Random Thoughts:
Imagine how good Luka Doncic would be if he ever got within area codes of actually being in primo shape.
It ain’t like the old days when you look at the Patriots schedule and the toughest decision faced was if you’d give them 12 or 13 wins. Unless the 12 or 13 you’re figuring on is losses for the upcoming season as could be the case as the just released 2024 schedule suggests.
A Little History – 1984 Knicks–Celtics: Believe it or not the last good seven-game series between New York and Boston was 40 years ago. Even with having the great Bernard King at his absolute peak, no one gave NY much hope in the Conference semi-final because he didn’t have much help. Except after going down 0-2 New York won all three games at MSG, including the 106-104 barn burner Game 6, to give most in these parts a scare. But Larry Bird was in the first of his three straight MVP seasons, and he delivered one of the signature games of his Boston career: a 39-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple double that sparked the C’s as they cruised to a 121-104 Game 7 win to move on to face Milwaukee — who they ran out in five games.
Sports 101 Answer: It happened in 1986 when Sox lead-off hitter Dwight Evans hit the season’s first into the left field stands at Tiger Stadium off Hall of Famer Jack Morris.
Final Thought – Celtics vs. Pacers: Don’t expect an easy series, because Indiana’s not afraid of them. They split their last four games, including eliminating Boston from the (who cares) in-season tournament.
They have difficulty with Tyrese Haliburton and he looked ready in his solid 26-point Game 7 effort vs New York.
Indy, not Boston, led the NBA in scoring, and has the same bombs-away from deep center in Myles Turner the C’s have in Kristaps Porzingis. So they can go toe to toe on offense.
Aaron Nesmith may be a bull in a china shop who fouls on every play, but he’s the kind of physical defender that gives Jayson Tatum trouble where if he’s not aggressive against that from the jump he can disappear into one of his infuriating and hurtful to the team passive starts.
They have a better bench coach in Rick Carlisle, who won January’s 133-131 victory by saving his challenges until the final minute to overturn two calls that decided the game, rather than Joe Mazzulla regularly using his to challenge on meaningless calls early in games.
Prediction: Celtics in a scary seven games over Indy.
Email Dave Long at [email protected].
