Author: Dave Long

The NBA playoffs kicked off this week in what promises to be a unique happening for fans and players alike. The biggest coronavirus change has been not having home court crowds to affect the game. As great a job as Adam Silver and company have done, that can’t be approximated let alone duplicated. But, since it beats the alternative, I’ll go with what I can get.

Here are a few things to keep an eye on as the second season evolves.

No Home Court Advantage: This helps all lower seeds who never have it, because unlike the Stanley Cup playoffs home court matters in the NBA playoffs. Tough luck for the Bucks, who lose out on home court throughout after killing it at home in going 30-5, but they’ll survive. Not sure about Philadelphia, who was a league-best 31-4 at home and a horrid 12-26 on the road.

The Silver Lining: (1) After their three-month layoff, players will be a lot fresher entering these playoffs, so the fatigue factor should be much less than usual. (2) No travel between games will also help the fatigue factor. (3) Since they have to jam more games into a shorter time window, games will be every other day, eliminating the excruciating TV-induced two- and three-day waits between games.

Players to Watch: Here are five to keep an eye on.

Damian Lillard: Not much is expected in the 1-8 Lakers and Blazers matchup. But Lillard comes in averaging 37 per in the bubble, which included games of 45, 51 and 61. With Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo out, L.A. has no one to cover him, which should make things less comfortable for them.

T.J. Warren: He had a 53-point game and three more in the 30’s in the bubble against a season average of 19.8. A coming-of-age run or just a hot streak? That’s the question going in as Indy faces a Miami team that plays D hard.

Anthony Davis: Hard to believe, but in his first seven seasons he went to the playoffs just twice. He’s a likable guy, but after the shameless way he forced his way out of Nola he must deliver, as the Lakers ain’t some team that’s never won before and they traded their entire future to get him.

Luka Doncic: After a breakout second year that saw him average 28.8, 9.8 and 8.8 in points, rebounds and assists, it should be fun watching the kid with the Larry Bird game play when the games really count. I’m looking forward to seeing how the NBA’s next truly great player does.

Is LeBron Still LeBron? With LeBron 35 and trailing Michael by three rings, LBJ needs his fourth title now for reasons of the LeBron-vs.-MJ debate. The rebounds, scoring and shooting percentage were down a touch, but given the career-best 10.2 assists per, that speaks to adjusting to playing with someone as good as Davis. It also speaks to a basketball IQ that will let him adjust to aging better than most on his Mt. Olympus level. Given all that, he still looks pretty good to me.

Glimpse Into Philly’s Future: The rumor mill has wondered all year, is it time to split up the Ben Simmons–Joel Embiid duo? Well, with Simmons injured and done, the brass will see what they are without him, in the same way the Celtics found out they were better without Kyrie Irving two years ago. If they overachieve, bet on a Simmons trade and a reconstructed team of bombers stationed around the big fella. If it’s a bad one and done, while small-ball Houston rolls, it could be goodbye Joel.

Most Interesting Round 1 Series — Oak City vs. Houston: There’s real hate in this series and nothing drives a series better than teams having real animosity for the other. Chris Paul hates James Harden and the flopping, always whining Harden hates Paul. It’s why CP3 wanted out of Houston to land with a surprising team still standing after losing both Paul George and Russell Westbrook last summer thanks to savvy maneuvering by GM Sam Presti. Since I loathe the entire Houston franchise, from the owner to how Mike D’Antoni coaches to its two stars with the me-first games to even the uniforms, I’ll be pulling for Oak City. Emotion aside, most think Houston should win, but in a test of their total three-ball game I’ll stand up for bigs everywhere and take the Thunder.

Celts Underachievers: I heard some folks recently saying you’re a “green teamer” if you’re unwilling to say the Celtics underachieved by finishing behind Toronto. The C’s certainly had some consistency issues and left some wins on the table. But their .667 winning percentage is 55 wins in an 82-game season. I had them for 49 before the year, and given their punch-less bench, 55 seems about right to me. As for Toronto, after winning 56 games they lost Kawhi Leonard and then played on a 60-win pace this year. For context, when Larry Bird missed all but six games in 1988-89 the Celtics went from 57 wins to 42 without him. So I tip my cap to the Raptors for overachieving and refusing to give in.

Celts Expectations: How they do the next eight weeks depends on consistency in two areas, defending the perimeter and shooting threes, though it would be nice if they got better at finding easy shots and getting to the line when the bombs aren’t dropping. Especially Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward, who tends to disappear when the first couple don’t fall. More important is forcing three-ball shooters off the line because they’ll lose if they let the threes rain down. They did all of that in their signature bubble win over Toronto, but that’s just one game. So the question is, can they consistently do that night in and night out?

That will take growing maturity from Jaylen Brown and Tatum, along with a tougher Hayward.

With news coming fast and furious in the restart of three major sports along with more from NFL camps and in college football, we’ll try to keep up with it all, through a series of news briefs to look at the headlines from emerging stories.

Bloom off the Rose at Fenway: With the Red Sox having the worst pitching staff I’ve ever seen them have, I’d say Chaim Bloom’s bargain-basement shopping approach to finding value pitchers is off to a rocky start. Though even more shocking is that six teams in MLB have even worse team earned run averages than the Sox’s 4.74. Also, seeing the statistics-driven decision-making forcing Ron Roenicke to bat lead-footed J.D. Martinez second is not a confidence-inspiring move either. It was done to let them go lefty-righty through the fifth spot in the order to combat late game relief pitching match-ups even though it puts their best RBI guy hitting directly behind the eighth and ninth dead spots in the order 80 percent of his at-bats. Plus the match-up issue is overrated when guys like Xander Bogaerts hit .317 against right-handed pitching in 2019 and just .291 vs. lefties, while J.D. hit 17 homers and drove in 65 runs against the righties. The order thing changed fairly quickly, but it’s not a good sign that they don’t realize batting that guy there probably knocks 30 RBI off his total in a full season. It’s early in the development process for Bloom, so the headline is a little unfair. But since I’m a guy who thinks it’s smarter to not outsmart yourself as baseball so often does in favor of letting top talent just play, let’s just say I’m not really impressed so far.

The Double Negative and More Thing on Red Sox Pitching Award: Does Matt Barnes never not walk someone when he pitches? I’m just asking ’cause every single time I watch him pitch he’s pitching in trouble due to unnecessary walks. As someone who mourns the passing of the three-hour-and-42-minute game I find it beyond annoying.

Michigan-OSU Rivalry Kicked Up a Notch:Good to see local lad Ryan Day go right back at mouthy Michigan coach/instigator Jim Harbaugh at Big 10 media day last week after he made claims about improper coaching going on at thee Ohio State. Day basically said you worry about your team and I’ll worry about mine. With the game earlier than usual in mid-October Harbaugh might be just getting in some early head games, or, more likely, damage control given the heat he must be feeling for being 0-5 vs. OSU after last year’s 56-27 rout. Especially with Big Blue having lost 15 of the last 16 to their bitter rival. As for Day, word was he later told associates he wants to hang 100 on Harbaugh this time, which given last year’s thumping might be doable.

Plymouth State Alumni News Notes: Of course hanging 100 on Michigan wouldn’t be good news for Plymouth State alumni who still fondly remember the dominant days between 1993 and 1995 when head man Don Brown’s teams went 25-6. He’s now defensive coordinator for Big Blue in Ann Arbor and 100 on the resume is rather unsightly.

Celtic/NBA Alumni News: The sad news of the weekend came from Nashua/Bishop Guertin alum Mike Lupica. The New York Daily News columnist writing one tweet asked the basketball world to pray for his long-time friend Paul Westphal as the one-time Celtic/NBA Hall of Famer has brain cancer.

Celtics Cement 3-Seed in East: Friday’s not-as-close-as-the-122-100-final score-indicated win over Toronto was arguably their best and most satisfying of the year. It featured a balanced attack with seven guys in double figures, but most notably had the kind of fierce defense by all of its parameter defenders that they have not shown enough of in the regular season. The latter suffocated the Raptors potent 3-ball game and that will be paramount for them to duplicate come playoff time. So take it as a good sign.

The 2016 Nightmare: While he didn’t have a strong game, seeing Raptors All-Star Pascal Siakam Friday again brought reminders from the 2016 draft. Danny Ainge had three picks in Round 1 and started by taking Jaylen Brown third overall. Given theversatile inside, mid-game and long-range scoring threat he’s turned into, that was a great pick. But then (gulp) came Guerschon Yabusele at 15. Really? A finesse player being 30 pounds overweight on draft night wasn’t a red flag? Next came Ante Zizic at 23. An in-the-witness-protection 7-footer after landing in Cleveland in the horrid Kyrie Irving trade. Four picks later, the NBA’s savviest judge of young talent, Masai Ujiri, took Siakam for Toronto. Missing him twice gets me every time.

Groundhog Day – The Football Edition: Really? They’re gonna give the XFL yet another try? Yup. Not even four months after it filed for bankruptcy again, ex-Miami footballer turned mega-movie star Dwayne Johnson, better known as the Rock, bought the XFL remnants for $15 million last week with a pledge to try it a third time. That will make it five tries overall for spring football, starting with the USFL in the 1980s. That one at least produced real talent and some eventual big names like Famers Steve Young, Jim Kelly and Reggie White, along with the now on to bigger things owner of the New Jersey Generals, Donald Trump.

Faces in the Non-Crowds: Best face in the Sgt. Pepper’s-like virtual sports crowds last week was Bernie Lomax. If you don’t remember Bernie, he was the dead guy everyone partied around in his Hamptons beach house after the illicit insurance executive was bumped off by his mob boss partner in the 1989 major Hollywood motion picture Weekend at Bernie’s. He was at the Dodgers game Friday and, if you’re wondering, he still looked dead to me.

Let’s take a look at the first week of action as the NBA got restarted a week ago.

Even though he did hit the game winner, I got it sorta right last week saying the Paul George-Kawhi Leonard defensive duo would give LeBron issues when the Lakers and Clippers play. But while he had just 16 points, I neglected to mention how they’d stop Anthony Davis, who killed them with 34.

I’m with Giannis Antetokounmpo in the feud with James Harden. And not just because the loathsome Harden doesn’t even try on defense, flops on every shot and whines when he doesn’t get the call. It’s his sour grapes for the Freak deservedly winning the MVP award over him a year ago.

The prize for the dumbest thing said on TV all weekend goes to ABC announcers Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy praising Mike D’Antoni for not “overreacting” after Harden picked up his third foul six minutes into the first half. With Jackson you expect it, but Van Gundy? Brad Stevens leaves guys in with three first-half fouls all the time and it makes me crazy because it almost always leads to one of two things, both bad: losing aggressiveness on offense and especially defense to avoid getting No. 4, or they quickly get their fourth. Like Jaylen Brown did in the season opener vs. Philly and was useless for the rest of the game. Predictably Harden got his on a break breakaway at 3:36. That forced the coach to waste his challenge trying to overturn a blatant push-off, because, as Jackson incredibly said, you can’t let stars get four fouls in the first half. Right, Mark.

The single worst example of that kind of coaching malpractice came in the 1983 NCAA Final when towel-chewing Houston coach Guy Lewis left Clyde Drexler in after picking up his third midway through the first half. I’m sitting there yelling take him out when after the glide goes airborne two plays later Terry Gannon cleverly grabs the back of his thighs to make the contact more forceful. Boom — number four! Houston never got back into rhythm after that, leading to the Jimmy Valvano “I need someone to hug” moment after Lorenzo Charles dunked Dereck Whittenburg’s never-came-close 35-footer to give NC State the 54-52 upset win.

Don’t agree with Marcus Smart that Antetokounmpo didn’t get called for the charge/block on Friday because he’d have fouled out. But what I do object to is overturning the charge part when they went to see if his foot was out of the circle on replay. They shouldn’t be able to do that because if they’re going to use replay on every bang-bang charge it’ll turn things into an endless baseball game. Plus that semi-circle thing under the basket is just dumb. The only thing it does is make it impossible to make that call, because you can’t focus on whether the upper body is moving and whether the feet are out of the circle. So for once I don’t blame the refs, because it’s optically impossible to do both.

However, two possessions earlier Antetokounmpo jabbed Daniel Theis hard enough in the stomach to make him double over, and no call. It was inadvertent, but so what? How they could not call blatant contact like that is beyond belief, especially since they looked at it on replay to see if there was intent. And, oh, by the way, if they make the right call, the Freak’s not in the game for the Smart block/charge that led to the decisive six-point swing that gave Milwaukee the game.

Interesting that Robert Williams got DNP’s in the C’s first two games. Should we read anything into that?

Also interesting was hearing that Kevin Garnett is a lead investor in a group trying to buy the Timberwolves. Though, given KG’s recent public animosity toward outgoing owner Glen Taylor and that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf leads a competing group it seems like, ah, a long shot.

If you missed it, Doc Rivers moved past Red Auerbach into 11th place all-time in NBA wins. It surprised me the once all-time leader is now that far back in the pack.

Nice night by Indiana’s T. J. Warren going for 53 vs. Philly, but it’s also basketball inflation. Those of us who saw Pete Maravich play know that without threes it’s the meager 44 Pistol got back in the day despite throwing all the bombs he regularly buried.

The final Nets/Kyrie tally is in. The overachieving 42-40 bunch of last year were 8-12 in the games Kyrie Irving played for them and were 24-22 when he didn’t. Talk stats and “skills” all you want, but winning is what defines how great someone really is.

But give him his props for putting his money where his mouth by pledging $1.5 million to replace the salary lost by any WNBA player who opts out of their season over coronavirus.

If anyone still wants to know why they take so many threes in the NBA, look no further than Boston shooting a once unimaginable 60 percent on three-point shots Sunday vs. Portland. That produced 48 points on 30 shots and to do that with two-point shots you’ve got to shoot 80 percent. Not even Villanova did that as they upset mighty Georgetown in the 1985 Final during the greatest shooting game in NCAA history.

He didn’t get into that game, but it was nice seeing local lad Wenyen Gabriel in uniform for the Blazers.

The NBA gets points for negating the sterile surroundings of the bubble by creating a TV set with fake crowds and buzzing fan noise. It actually works, especially with pictures of folks like Paul Pierce and Jayson Tatum’s little guy Deuce blended into the virtual crowd like The Beatles did on the Sgt. Pepper’s album

I know, dating myself. But the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandalbum had, after, all the greatest album cover ever, didn’t it?

Well, Cam Newton signing at this late date for a hitch in Foxboro was a bit surprising. But it was also a typical under-the-radar move that got universal approval throughout football punditry, where Coach B waited for the price to come to the right value as Newton languished on the market.

People are asking what it means for the 2020 Patriots. Prevailing wisdom says it’s one of the following: (a) he’s got cold feet on Jarrett Stidham, (b) he wants to see the kid earn it head-to-head vs. a name QB to see how Stidham fares under fire, (c) he still likes Stid but wants a better backup if things don’t go as planned, or (d) Brian Hoyer is a goner — again.

Another option is one I mentioned six weeks ago: that he’s trolling to see if Newton can be a 21^st-century version of Jim Plunkett to be high-ceiling QB for the next four or five years. If it turns out like that, it’s appealing since JP led the Raiders to two Super Bowl wins after being released by the 49ers in 1979. That it came at 29 and just two years after paying the whopping bounty of three first-round picks, a second-rounder and starting QB Tom Owen to get him told you how washed up the 49ers brass thought the former Heisman winner and first overall 1971 pick was.

But the NFL’s Belichickian figure of the day, Oakland GM/owner Al Davis, signed him on the cheap. Not sure if he thought Plunkett could recapture the promise he showed being Rookie of the Year in New England or just that he’d be a better backup than he had. But after two years on the bench, when Dan Pastorini went down early in 1980 with his health and confidence restored he led Oakland/L.A. to those two Super Bowl wins in four years.

Not sure Newton will do that, but his 2015 MVP season says he has a huge upside and he’s a year younger than Plunkett when he was resurrected. I’ve got to think something like that’s going on in Bill’s mind.

Personally I was hoping if they could get a similar deal with Jameis Winston they’d sign him. That would have set up a perfect Tom-vs.-Bill competition where Tampa gets his QB and Bill takes theirs to see who does better without the other.

I know Winston threw a mind-boggling 30 picks, but he also threw 33 TD passes and his 5.190 yards is more than you-know-who has ever thrown for. Plus the only other time the Bucs used a first overall pick on a quarterback was for Vinny Testaverde in 1987. Guess who resurrected his career in Cleveland after busting in Tampa Bay? Coach B.

Here are a few more thoughts from a busy time even with no games going on:

• With the Black Lives Matter national anthem protests raging through the NFL season I’m guessing new Patriots kicker Justin Rohrwasser and his controversial tat of the hate group 3 Percenters are going to be under scrutiny in the year ahead.

• Given the history, the Patriots have no one to blame but themselves for the Cincinnati taping incident. But a lost third-round pick seems kind of steep if Bill didn’t send them there.

• If Hoyer does get cut I’m betting he ends up on the coaching staff as a just in case insurance policy.

• From defying medical advice and the NFLPA to leading those in-your-face 20-person workouts in hot spot Florida, to TB-12’s profiteering in hawking a questionable $45-a-month immunity supplement during the pandemic, Tom Brady is racking up a lot of “I don’t like that guy” points.

Yikes, Tom.

• Is it me or is Kendrick Perkins everywhere these days on all things NBA? Most notably by calling Kyrie Irving a fraud for his phony opposition to the NBA restart. But also for giving the first reason I’ll buy for the Rajon Rondo-Ray Allen feud. Most say it had to do with Ray leaving for archrival Miami, but Perk says it was for Allen being in favor of a rumored Chris Paul-for-Rondo trade. Rondo hates Paul, who he and I think is vastly overrated. It led to two near fights and their ejection during a game at the Garden, so it makes sense that Ray being in favor of dumping Rondo like that would send him around the bend.

• With the NBA announcing 16 players just tested positive for the virus it seems like going into a hot spot in the country to finish their season is going to be tricky. That bubble they’re playing in better be super hermetically sealed.

• Anybody hear when the Dustin Pedroia retirement press conference is scheduled for?

Ready or not baseball kicks off Thursday, July 23, in what will likely be the strangest baseball season ever. No one knows what to expect beyond the fact that with only 60 games each one will have a far greater impact than it would in a marathon-like 162-game season. That urgency is the most interesting thing about the season ahead.

So here’s a preview of the biggest stories and changes the 2020 MLB season may lead to.

No Crowds at Games:I don’t get the hubbub by some over piping background noise into telecasts. As long as they don’t overdo it, why not if it makes it sound less hollow?

Astros Cheating Scandal: If ever a team could benefit from no fans in the stands and a schedule not as closely watched as past years, it’s the Houston Astros. Before the pandemic hit, the retribution parade for their cheating scandal was likely going to be the year’s biggest story. Now it’s an afterthought.

Dark Horse Candidates: As usual the Yankees are getting a lot of ink, especially after signing Gerrit Cole, but I see more money going down on Tampa Bay to win. That is based on a strong 2019 when they finished 12 games ahead of Boston while spending $140 million less and a belief strong bullpens matter most in a 60-game season. I’d argue the opposite, as starters won’t have to pace themselves like over a six-month season. Tell me a 12-start season wouldn’t have been perfect for Chris Sale, which would’ve eliminated his annual post-All-Star game fizzles from overwork.

Non-Dark Horse Candidate: With Masahiro Tanaka already getting nailed in the head by a vicious Giancarlo Stanton line drive the annual injury parade has started for the Yankees. Given their history, I expect more to follow. In the NL I guess it’s L.A., though only because I’ll be watching how Mookie does.

The Stats: Jack Chesbro’s (41) and Hack Wilson’s(190) records for wins and RBI are safe. But what if someone hits .400? If so, there goes Ted Williams being the last to hit .400 in a season. So the question is, should it count? Well, when Roger Maris hit 61 homers in 1961 to break Babe Ruth’s single-season record, Commissioner Ford Frick tied an asterisk to it because it happened during the new 162-game schedule, while Babe’s came in 154. Frick, it should be noted, was a Babe binky and was protecting the big fella. With no one watching out for Ted, who knows. But if ever an asterisk should be attached, it’s to hitting .400 in 60 games! While I know the Commish has a lot going on, he should state what’s what before the season begins.

Can Someone Hit .400? It still may be a long shot, though, since according to a story I found in a FanSided column by someone named Bill Felber the last to be over .400 after 60 games was Andres Galarraga in 1993, which came in Denver’s thin air. That makes Nomar Garciaparra’s .389 in his first 68 of 2000 closer to today’s reality. So, if anyone does it, it happens at Fenway, making the most likely culprit Rafael Devers.

Alumni News: The rising star who got away to shine will be Yoan Moncada in Chicago. While it took him a while to roll, he hit .315 with 25 homers in 2019 and all signs point higher. A huge year will be extra painful because in addition to costing John Henry $50 million to sign him, with Sale out for the year the guy Moncada was traded for faces an uncertain future that comes on the heels of 2019’s dismal 6-11/4.40 campaign and an injury-shortened 12-4 season in 2018. That surprisingly points the needle for winner of that deal a little more toward the White Sox.

Never-ending A-Fraud Saga: It remains beyond belief that two-time PED cheat Alex Rodriguez is allowed to be the face of baseball on ESPN and beyond-er (if that’s a word) belief that MLB is actually considering letting this serial liar into the bidding to buy the Mets less than six months after the Astros cheating scandal exploded. But he’s got a new problem, after blatantly pandering to MLB owners last week by saying that after earning $448 million in baseball’s free market, players should accept a salary cap. Player outrage was best expressed by ex-Yankee Brandon McCarthy, who said players should boycott “self-serving liar” Rodriguez during his ESPN gig. Agreed, because If there’s ever been a bigger me-first fraud, I’ve yet to see him or her.

Radical Realignment Ahead: Playing games within a 10-team region to cut down on travel may be the forerunner to radical realignment that could erase the lines between AL and NL. For the Sox it’ll be facing the Mets, Yanks, Phillies, Blue Jays, Orioles, Nationals, Braves, Marlins and D-Rays. The history lover in me won’t love that, but I will say that after the NFL-AFL merger I hated seeing the Colts, Steelers and Browns leave the NFL to be part of the new AFC and I got over that pretty quick.

New Extra-Innings Rules: Thanks to dugout micro-managers making nine-inning games endless I’m for starting extra innings with a runner on second base. Anything to eliminate ending games at 3 a.m. with seven people in the stands.

Universal DH: The DH will be used in both leagues. Will it lead to it universally going forward? Probably, but who cares.

The Pandemic: As much as we’d like to, we can’t ignore the world’s biggest story with the biggest question being, with 10 teams playing in the nation’s four biggest hot spot stats of Texas, Florida, Arizona and California, will baseball be able to miss all the land mines to finish the season at all?

Cross your fingers, because I think making it through the year is a, ah, long shot.