Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Celtics in the NBA Finals: We’re at the point where pretty much everyone thought the Celtics would be: about to play in the NBA Finals. And as fate would have it the opposing Dallas Mavericks bring along Boston’s biggest sports villain of the day, Kyrie Irving, who has managed not to wreck his team for once.

At stake is the hugely important task of reclaiming their place as the most winning franchise in NBA history, something they’d been from the 1960s until 2020, when the Lakers tied them at 17 titles. Thus, winning number 18 would be the most significant title since Bird and company downed the Magic Johnson-, Kareem Jabbar-led Lakers in 1984.

To do that they’ll have to play better than they have so far, as despite being 12-2 in the playoffs they have yet to play their first start-to-finish solid game together. However, if they can hit on all cylinders, beating them is a tall order. Time will tell if that happens.

In the meantime it should be fun.

Sports 101: Name the only brother combination to ever play in a Super Bowl and the NBA Finals.

News Item – 5 Thoughts On Celtics-Mavs Series:

Tight Games Favor Dallas: First because Joe Mazzulla’s simplistic end-of-the-game strategy generally is isolating Jayson Tatum one on one, where he invariably wastes too much time and winds up taking a terrible shot, a Kobe-wannabe step-back 20-foot fall-away. Plus Luka Doncic is the best end-of-the-game shooter/scorer in the world. If he has the last shot Celts are in trouble.

Attack Kyrie Irving On D: He can’t cover my grandmother and the C’s need to make him pay for that from the first second of Game 1.

C’s Need Something from their Bench: Especially Sam Hauser, who’s been awful in the playoffs. Ditto for Payton Pritchard, who’s had some big moments but needs to be more consistent with his three-ball game.

Derek Lively is Mavs X Factor: Yes, I know he doesn’t start, Daniel Gafford does. But he’s still the best rookie center in the Finals since Alvin Adams in 1976. He hurt the Clippers, Oak City and Minnesota until he got hurt (when he was 16 for 16 in the series). The Celtics need to beware of him.

Time for Tatum and Brown: They’re no longer kids learning on the job. So no excuses. Time to show if they belong with great Celtics like Russell, Havlicek, Bird and Garnett.

Prediction: If they do, Celtics win in six. If not, fans will be screaming to trade one or both.

The Numbers:

13 & 16 –wins and losses for the Red Sox in their first 29 games at Fenway Park in what once was a great home field advantage.

142 – personal winning streak for the late Bill Walton, who died of cancer last week at 71. Dates back to his last two years in high school, his year on the freshman team at UCLA and his first 88 varsity games as a Bruin.

Random Thoughts:

I’m all for recognizing the great achievements of players in the Negro League. But commingling their stats with the major league baseball’s record book as announced by MLB last week is, well, dumb for a very simple reason. None of those players played in the major leagues. So putting Josh Gibson’s .372 lifetime average ahead of Ty Cobb’s .367 as the best ever average is like combining Pete Maravich’s phenomenal college scoring records with those of the NBA. The numbers were accumulated in different ways in different leagues. That doesn’t make sense to me.

Sports 101 Answer: The Walton brothers of San Diego, California, are the only brothers to play in a SB and NBA Finals. Bruce as an OL with Dallas in 1976 and Bill with Portland in 1977 and the Celtics 1986. Both played their college ball at UCLA.

Final Thought – Bill Walton: Certain people hit you a little more when they die. The Redhead was one of those people for me.

He was my favorite college player when I came of age as a young basketball player. Then there was his sheer fundamental artistry — he was always on his toes, never brought his arms or the ball down below his shoulders and was as “team first” as anyone I’ve seen. Third was he was a UCLA guy and I loved the Bruins during their dynasty years. Finally there was the 21 for 22 from the floor 44-point masterpiece to beat Memphis State in the 1973 NCAA Final, which was the best I ever saw anyone play.

Like Sandy Koufax, Gale Sayers and Bobby Orr his brilliance was snuffed out long before it should have been thanks to chronic foot injuries. But even with that it was a great ride. So thanks for the memories, big fella.

RIP.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celts Hold Serve: All we can tell you at our Memorial Day-induced (very) early deadline is the Celtics did what they were supposed to do in the first two games of their series with the Pacers: maintain home court advantage to go up two games. The first was a completely lucky Game 1 OT escape after blowing double-digit leads twice, and the second a methodical 16-point beat led by the series star so far Jaylen Brown.

It could be over by the time you’ll actually see this or tied 2-2. But there’s not much I can do about that with my Friday deadline.

Sports 101: Jayson Tatum just became the seventh Celtic to be named first All-NBA for a third time. Name the other three-time first teamers.

News Item – Real Baseball Season Begins: Once Memorial Day has come and gone, the real baseball season begins. Though the prospects of the Red Sox making a run to win it all are getting dimmer by the day there are still some stories of interest to follow, like whether the stellar work of the starting pitching can continue and how young players like Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu progress, whether Kenley Jansen or Tyler O’Neill will still be Red Sox come Aug. 1 and whether any of their promising minor-leaguers make it to Boston by year’s end.

The Numbers:

35 – all it took in seconds into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals for the NBA refs to blow an obvious class in calling a goal tend on Al Horford while taking away the fast break attempt in the process.

40 – career playoff high for Jaylen Brown in the Celtics’ 126-110 Game 2 win over Indiana.

… Of the Week Award:

How Old Do I Feel Moment of the Week: Thanks to ABC analyst JJ Reddick, pretty old after he admitted during Game 2 he didn’t know who Cheers main character Sam Malone was. Then he made it worse by guessing he was just a “bartender” on that famous Boston TV show.

Baseball’s A Strange Game Stats of the Week: It’s seeing Red Sox starters Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford putting up stellar earned run averages of 1.97 and 2.17 over 20 starts in the season’s first two months and their collective record being under .500 at 6-7. Granted their 68 and 58 innings pitched do not put them on an Iron Man McGinnity pace, but it does beg the question what does a guy need to do to get a win?

In Case You’re Wondering Award – Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity: The New York Giants hurler was 35-4 in 1904 with 38 complete games, five saves and a 1.67 ERA in 51 starts for the 107-win Giants while pitching an astonishing 406 innings.

Thumbs Up – Raffy Devers: For his team record-setting streak of homering in six straight games when he knocked in nine runs.

Random Thoughts:

Anyone besides me notice that the team in Philly that was put together by the guy John Henry fired two GM’s ago — Dave Dombrowski — had the best record in baseball by far at 37-14 after going deep in the playoffs the last two years?

There was John Havlicek’s 90 mph line drive banker to take the lead in the second OT vs. Phoenix in triple-OT thriller Game 5 in 1975, but the only buzzer-beating shot I can come up with that was a better/bigger major clutch shot in Celtics history with a higher degree of difficulty than the corner 3 Brown stuck with Pascal Siakam draped all over him is Sam Jones’ runner over Wilt Chamberlain to win Game 4 (89-88) and send the C’s back to Boston tied 2-2 with L.A. instead of down 1-3.

Sports 101 Answer: Joining Tatum as members of First Team All NBA three times or more are Bob Cousy with a most-ever 10 followed by Larry Bird (9), Havlicek, Bill Sharman and Easy Ed Macauley with four each and Bill Russell just three times.

Final Thought –A Little History – The Memorial Day Massacre: The ultimate lesson that no matter what the score is in a playoff blowout it’s just one game, nothing more. Wipe the slate clean and move on to the next game.

The one in question here happened on Memorial Day 39 years ago in 1985 when the Celtics annihilated the Lakers 148-114 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Which got a lot of so-called experts saying the series was over. Especially if the migraine that rendered Kareem Abdul Jabbar useless persisted.

But guess what? L.A. wasn’t dead and neither was Kareem, who went for 30-17-7 in leading L.A. to a 109-102 Game 2 win in Boston and 24-14-7 in L.A.’s Game 3 blowout. Boston regrouped to win Game 4 behind 28, 27 and 26 points from Kevin McHale, DJ and Larry Bird. But the Lakers took the next two with the rejuvenated Jabbar being named MVP after passing his debilitating migraine on to the fellas in green.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

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].

The Big Story – Alumni News: After his one-calamity-after-another ways since 2018, you knew from the day the Sox traded Chris Sale to Atlanta he was going to regain his dominant form. Which he did while shutting the Sox out for six innings last week while striking out 10 in a win that moved him to 5-1 with a 2.95 ERA for the Braves through seven starts.

It should be noted that, given his injury history and track record of eventually wearing down, he’s a long way from making it through the first half, let alone the year, injury-free. It is working so far. But, as Casey Stengel used to say, you never know.

Fingers crossed.

Sports 101: Ty Cobb won the AL Batting title year between 1907 and 1919 except in 1916. Who won it that year?

News Item – Trouble Bruin For B’s: The opening series 5-1 drubbing of Florida now seems long ago. It was all downhill from there after the Bruins got drubbed themselves twice in three straight losses. First by identical 6-1 scores in Games 2 and 3. Then by blowing a 2-0 first period lead in Game 4 to go down 1-3 to the Panthers. The only glimmer of hope to take from this dire spot is that’s where Florida was before rallying to win three straight and take the series 4-3 last year. So the B’s know it can be done.

News Item – White Hot Nova Connection Burns Indy: The best story in the NBA playoffs has to be the way three teammates from Villanova’s 2018 NCAA championship team are driving the Knicks deeper into the playoffs. It’s a first of its kind story, as if the Knicks go/went on to win it all Jalen Brunson, Dominic Divicenzo and Josh Hart would be the first three guys from the same college championship to pull that off together in the NBA.

News Item – C’s Lose Game 2 Badly Again: Celtics fan boy see-no-evil ESPN announcers are repeating the line that fans are “impatient” with the Jayson Tatum-led team for not winning enough after seeing them rack up their latest Game 2 relaxation loss at home after cruising in Game 1 over Cleveland. This claim is insulting to them and delusional by the players and coaches pushing that ridiculous story. It’s just an excuse by a team that can’t stay focused when it counts. With their talent, if Tatum and company had one tenth of the fight in them that Hart, Brunson and the Knicks have shown in these playoffs, the C’s would have won the last two NBA Finals.

The Numbers:

16 – shots on goal total by the Bruins offense to 32 against in the aforementioned Game 4 loss to Florida.

40 – months in prison that rocket scientist Celtics alum Glen “Big Baby” Davis was sentenced to last week for his role in scamming the NBA health care program out of pandemic-related funds.

76 – video clips sent to the NBA office by the Pacers supposedly showing referee mistakes from just the first two games of the Pacers-Knicks.

… Of the Week

Crybaby of the Week – Pacers Coach RickCarlisle. Come on, Rick, not even I think NBA refs can miss 76 calls in just two stinking games.

Stat of the Week – Plus/Minus: For those who think points scored mean everything. When Minnesota thumped Denver 106-80 in Game 2 vs. the T-Wolves, their plus/minus leader was Jaden McDaniels at +26 despite scoring just 5 points. On the other side Denver’s high scorer was Aaron Gordon with 20, who also was their +/- leader at -33.

Random Thoughts

Hate to put pressure on the kid, but am I the only one who thinks that from certain angles Drake Maye looks like Tom Brady?

The T-Wolves’ Anthony Edwards is showing he’s on the doorstep of joining the NBA’s elite players. He has a lot of Michael/Kobe grit in him.

Sports 101 Answer: Ex-Red Sox star Tris Speaker hit .386 for Cleveland to stop Cobb’s streak. But Cobb wasn’t far off as he finished second at .370.

Final Thought – Minutes Debate: As someone who thinks players are babied down to 32 minutes a game nowadays by sissified coaches like Joe Muzzulla, I’ll be interested to see if the Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau’s pedal-to-the-middle style will hold up as the playoffs go on. Both Hart and Brunson have averaged over 43 minutes per so far, where Hart played all 48 in three straight games, while it was 42 for OG Anunoby, 44 for Brunson and Divincenzo and all 48 minutes for Hart in Game 1 was Indiana.

I’m a maniac, but even I think that has to catch up to them at some point. And maybe it did in Game 4 as the Villanova trio shot a combined 9 for 36 overall and 1-16 from downtown in a 32-point loss.

However, we’ll need a little more evidence before we know if Game 4 was just one of those bad game blowouts or if New York is getting tired.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – It’s Pheeew for the Bruins: After lackluster efforts in Games 5 and 6 that turned a 3-1 series lead into a here-we-go-again Game 7 nail-biter vs. a weaker opponent, fans of the B’s were thinking it was deja vu all over again. That’s why David Pastrnak’s Game 7 winning goal in OT vs. Toronto was such a relief. And while it doesn’t quite go up there with Bobby Orr going airborne after putting one past St. Louis goalie Glenn Hall to win the 1970 Stanley Cup, it was still a huge historical Bruins moment, because it saved them from a franchise-killing loss at a most critical time.

Now on to face the club that wrecked last year’s party, the dastardly Florida Panthers.

Sports 101: Name the four pitchers to have struck out 4,000 or more batters.

News Item – Sox Reminding All of 2013: I went that whole year saying, “How are they doing this? They’re not that good.” I’m saying the same thing now, as behind great starting pitching they left April in third place at 18-13 and 1.5 games behind the Orioles and Yankees. All of which has attracted attention from many who wrote them off as a disaster waiting to happen.

News Item – Super Team Duds: For players with the power to do it like Kevin Durant and LeBron James, building “super teams” has been all the rage since LBJ pulled it off by taking his talents to Miami over a decade ago. But I don’t think getting run out in a first-round rout by Minnesota is what KD had in mind when he forced his way out of Brooklyn to form a super team in Phoenix. Ditto for LeBron when he less than ethically got Anthony Davis’ agent (and his) to concoct a way/steal/tamper to bring AD to L.A.

News Item – Baseball Managers Value: It’s hard to exactly say what it is. Especially in light of what’s happened in Cleveland and Houston in the first month of the 2024 baseball season, as the Guardians lead the AL Central at 20-10. I guess they don’t miss the retired Tito Francona. But in Houston it’s the reverse for the perennially contending Astros after Dusty Baker hung them up, as they were dead last at 10-20. So go figure.

The Numbers:

1 – shots made out of 15 taken by Orlando guard Franz Wagner in the Magic’s Game 7 loss to Cleveland.

6 – MLB-leading shutouts by the maligned Red Sox pitching staff after Cooper Criswell led a parade of five pitchers to shut out the SF Giants 4-0 on just four hits last week.

38 – career-high playoff points scored by Derrick White to save the Celtics from a team-wide lethargic effort in a Game 4 102-88 win over Miami.

… Of the Week Awards

Never Seen That Award – Donovan Mitchell: Never saw MJ, LBJ, Kareem, Kobe or even Pete Maravich score every one of their team’s points in an entire fourth quarter as Mitchell did when he scored all 22 in the Cavs’ 103-96 Game 6 loss to Orlando.

Why Can’t We Get Games Like That Award – L.A. Dodgers: For the first time since 2006 the Dodgers went an entire game without anyone striking out. It came in a 8-4 win over five hapless D-Backs pitchers who came up K-empty vs. 44 hitters while walking eight of them.

Random Thoughts:

How do all three refs miss a crucial travel in the final minute of Game 5 of the Knicks-76ers? Which let Tyrese Maxey get the four-point play that sent it to OT, as the NBA’s 2 Minute Report said they did? How?

A Little History – Bruins–Maple Leafs Rivalry: Saturday’s win was the seventh straight time the Bruins have eliminated the Maple Leafs from the playoffs dating all the way to 1969. However, since Toronto dominated the historic rivalry to start by winning eight of the first 10 meetings, the overall series is 9-8 in favor of Boston.

Sports 101 Answer: The 4,000-strikeout club includes, from most to least, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton.

Final Thought – Thumbs Up – Brad Stevens Executive of the Year: It’s rare I’m as wrong as I was about making young Brad the Celtics GM, which I said was a “big mistake” because I had Brad fatigue and figured he’d pick the same type of coach.

But in Ime Udoka he didn’t, and then he set about to make one great trade after another, with the last two leading to capturing the best record in the NBA. And while I was all in on the Kristaps Porzingis-for-Marcus Smart deal, I was leery of the Jrue Holiday-for-Rob Williams–Malcolm Brogdon deal because, while I loved Holiday, I thought it sapped their depth. But Stevens correctly saw that Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet could fill the void, and he was right again.

All of which is why he richly deserves the award.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – It’s take your pick for the week’s top story between (1) the Patriots following a boring but common sense path to fill their biggest needs during the weekend’s NFL draft, (2) the Bruins taking care of business to grab a commanding 3-1 in their playoff series with the Maple Leafs, and (3) the seen-this-script-before no-urgency way the Celtics were their own worst enemy again via their unfocused Game 2 loss after taking a 1-0 series lead over Miami, followed by a backs-against-the-wall Game 3 rout of Miami on the road.

Sports 101: Name the Top 5 leaders for most triple doubles in NBA playoff history.

News Item – Gotta Love Those Playoff Endings: Game 2’s in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs was great ending theater with Jamal Murray’s sideways step back to shoot over 7 foot Anthony Davis’ solid D to give Denver a win at the buzzer, and the coming back from the dead by scoring eight points in the final 27 seconds by first smothering Tyrese Maxey on the inbounds pass to steal it in front of their basket, getting two o-rebounds before seeing the game winning three drop, followed by a great Isaiah Hartenstein block of a sure game winning lay-up by the streaking Maxey.

News Item – Five Thoughts on NFL Draft:

History says three of the six QBs taken in Round 1 will be busts.

In taking a QB, WR and left tackle the Patriots drafted to fill their three biggest needs in rounds 1 through 3. It’s an improvement over the haphazard way Coach B did it. Now, how good are the talent evaluation skills of Eliot Wolf?

I hate to sound negative, but the description of Ja’Lynn Polk — not a burner, but more than makes up for it in physicality in one-on-one battles — sounds an awful lot like what they told us N’Keal Harry was supposed to be.

The Patriots need to come away from this draft with at least four solid long-term NFL players. Hence my desire for a trade down because it would have enhanced the likelihood of that this year and next.

I’m with everyone else — Atlanta drafting a QB (Michael Penix) after giving Kirk Cousins a four-year deal and $100 million guaranteed seems nuts.

The Numbers:

65,162 –largest crowd in New England history to see a soccer game when worldwide star Lionel Messi didn’t disappoint by scoring twice and assisting twice for Inter Miami in their 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.

… Of the Week Awards

Do the Math Award: Usually when someone goes 4 for 4 before May 1 the batting average takes a huge leap. And in the case of Ceddanne Rafaela’s 4-4, 1-homer, 7-RBI day on Saturday it did. But since he ended the day hitting .191, it tells how far below the Mendozza line the struggling rookie was.

Why Can’t We Get Guys Like That Award – Mookie Betts: The latest reminder of what a titanically stupid move trading Mookie Betts was is that he left April as the leading hitter in baseball at .387 while playing 24 games at shortstop and another 14 at second base.

Random Thoughts:

Given my discontent with the Patriots’ unimaginative approach to the draft, here’s the question I wished was asked on March 15: What would Danny Ainge do if he had the third overall pick?

I know how good Kawhi Leonard is, but if I’m a GM I’m not interested in him because he constantly creates uncertainty by always being hurt.

Sports 101 Answer: The playoff triple double leaders are Magic Johnson (30), LeBron James (28), Nikola Jokic (18), Russell Westbrook (12) and Jason Kidd (11).

A Little History – Celtics Playoff Triple Doubles: Just six Celtics have done it. Larry Bird and, yes, Rajon Rondo are the all-time leaders with 10 each. Next is John Havlichek with 5 followed by Bill Russell (3), while Paul Pierce and Jayson Tatum each did it once.

Final Thoughts – Sports Tastes Changing: Despite what some think, sports interests change. With no better example being that in the first 50 years of the 20th century boxing, horse racing and baseball were by far the most popular spectator sports in America. On the flip side are two vivid examples seen in the last two weeks of newer sports gaining traction with the public that few would have predicted a decade ago.

The first was the TV audience for the women’s national championship basketball game being larger than the one for the men’s title game. Second was seeing 65,000 at a regular season New England Revolution soccer game when Messi came to Foxboro on Saturday. Not saying it’s good or bad. Just that they represent astonishing examples of how interests are evolving in the U.S. sports culture.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].