Category: News

The Big Story – Celtics Win Banner 18: Well, despite their infuriating year-long capacity to blow big leads the Celtics delivered NBA title number 18 with a Game 5 106-88 win.

Jaylen Brown was Finals MVP even though Jayson Tatum was better in the last two wins and Jrue Holiday actually should have won it.

But most importantly it let them reclaim what they hold dearest, NBA title leader with 18.

Sports 101: Name the Top 5 Hall of Famers to play the most playoff games without winning an NBA title.

News Item – Red Sox Update: Nice week for the Red Sox in taking two of three from both the Phillies and the Yanks, who have the best two records in baseball. It had the Sox starting the week in third place at 37 up and 35 down with the Blue Jays and Reds on tap.

News Item – Jerry West Dies: Saddest news in sports this week was the unexpected passing of the ever classy Mr. Clutch at 86, a guy who had a greater long-term influence than anyone in NBA history as a player, coach and executive.

He was special to me because he and Oscar Robertson were the gold standard for guard play when I first became a basketball fan. And trust me, with all due respect to Kobe, Kobe Bryant was not better than West.

He and Oscar don’t have the same number of titles because they played in the same era as Bill Russell and he hasn’t played in 50 years so how great he was is a bit lost as the memory dims over time.

But, while his numbers were staggering, he was much more than that. As he also presided over two Lakers eras as GM that won eight titles before moving first to Memphis and as a special advisor in Golden State as it put together a team that won four more rings.

So hail to the logo because you ain’t kidding when he is described as the GREAT Jerry West.

RIP.

News Item – Who’s Hot – Jarren Duran: According to Fastball on FanNation, with 20 doubles, 10 triples and 15 stolen bases through the Red Sox’ first 69 games Duran joined no less than baseball figures Ty Cobb (1911 and 1917) and Shoeless Joe Jackson (1912) as the only other left-handed batter to reach those three marks in fewer than 70 games since 1900.

The Numbers:

9 – led by Billy Hamilton’s three,franchise record stolen bases the Red Sox hung on the Yanks in Sunday’s 9-3 win.

26 – after going yard at Fenway on Sunday, homers Aaron Judge has after 73 games in 2024 to put him on a pace close to 2022 when he hit an AL record 62.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Dan Hurley: For once someone turned down getting the king’s ransom to not walk out on his guys because he was smart enough to know the grass on his side of the fence was green enough.

Injury of the Week – Mookie Betts: Bad news for Mookie fans as broke his left hand when he was hit by a pitch batting against the Royals Sunday. It’s especially painful as he was in the midst of an MVP-caliber season while making a remarkable return to the infield for L.A. this time as a shortstop. No timetable given for his return, though the injury will require surgery.

Alumni News Update – Kyle Schwarber: Those two homers he hit in the Phillies’ 4-1 series opener win vs. the Sox last week gave him 105 homers — 46 (2022), 47 (2023) and 15 so far this year — since John Henry and company refused to pay him the same money after 2021 that they gave to Masataka Yoshida, who hit 15 in Year 1 with the Sox while making Schwarber look like Barry Bonds in comparison when Yoshida was in left field.

Sports 101 Answer: The Hall of Famers to play in the most playoff games without winning an NBA title are Karl Malone (193), John Stockton (182), Reggie Miller (144), Patrick Ewing (139) and Elgin Baylor (134).

Final Thought – Tom Brady Goes Into Patriots Hall: Congratulations to young Tom for the honor along with the news his #12 will be retired. Also great to see that 100 teammates showed up for his inductions. That says something about what a great teammate and leader he was, though for those of us who saw him play that’s hardly a news flash.

All of which is richly deserved.

The best part for me, however, was seeing sincere emotional warmth between Brady and Coach B, who showed up to honor his QB despite the glacial relationship between him and ever petty owner Bob Kraft.

And Brady couldn’t have gotten it more right when he said, “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us,” adding, “Here in New England, it’s always about we, and us. Not me, or my.” Oh, for the good old days.

Thanks for the memories, fellas.Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – NBA Finals: The Celtics held serve by taking Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals in Boston. While Game 1 was a 107-89 blowout, Game 2 was more impressive because they shot poorly (especially Jayson Tatum) and still won 105-98 by grinding it out, which is the kind of games in years past they would lose.

No surprise Jrue Holiday was the star with 26 points and, as important, holding Kyrie Irving to his second straight no-impact-scoring game at 16 points. But the real key was the team D, which made the amazing Luka Doncic work for all of his 62 combined points as Dallas was held under 100 twice.

Now on to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.

Sports 101: With 59, Larry Bird is the Celtics’ all-time triple double leader. Round out the Top 5 by naming the players who had the following numbers of triple D’s: 33, 32, 21 and 17.

News Item – Here Come The Yankees: After splitting four with moribund Chicago over the weekend, the Red Sox start the week in third place at 33-33. But a big test arrives this week as they face the best two teams in baseball. It starts with three against Dave Dombrowski’s Phillies and then it’s the high-flying Yanks making their first visit to Fenway Park this weekend.

News Item – Tanner Houck: It was supposed to be Brayan Bello. But as we hit mid-June the Red Sox ace is Houck after becoming what many thought he might become a few years back. It included shutting out Washington over five innings as the Sox clinched a 2021 playoff berth on the final day of the season.

While it’s not quite reflected in his 6-5 record thanks to a shaky bullpen and lack of offensive punch, his 1.91 ERA and .200 batting average against are among the league leaders, with the latest impressive effort coming in Thursday’s 14- 2 win over the White Sox when he allowed two runs and struck out nine over seven innings.

News Item – Homers United: The Boston Globe ran a piece on predictions made by hometown media members who cover the Celtics and Mavs. To no one’s surprise, all but one guy from Dallas — Sean McFarland — picked the Mavs and it was the same for Boston where only one, naturally Dan Shaughnessy, didn’t have the locals winning. Celtics fans can take heart, as the track record on predictions by Shaughnessy says he’s almost always wrong, so the Celtics are probably a lock.

The Numbers:

12 – consecutive losses to his former team by Kyrie after his 12-point, 6 of 19, and 16-point submissions in Game 1 and 2.

17 – NBA Finals record for biggest lead after the first quarter set by the Celtics when they led in Game 1 37-20.

96 – he may be hitting just .215 as he’s finding his footing, but after the 4-5, 4-RBI day vs. Chicago last week, it’s the number of RBI Sox rookie CF/SS Ceddanne Rafaela is on track to knock in from the ninth spot in the order.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Celtics Warm-Up Shirts: Love those Celtics warm up shirts with WALTON written across the front in tie-dye colors to honor the late great Bill Walton.

Mexico Will Pay For The Wall Award – Dallas Mavs: The Mavs’ announcement that Doncic was questionable for Game 2 (when he had a 31-11-11 triple double) was less believable than the claim made in the 2016 presidential race.

A Little History – Down Goes Rambis: Yup, it was (gulp) 40 years ago last week when Kevin McHale horse collared bespectacled Laker Kurt Rambis in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals to prevent a breakaway lay-up as the C’s were getting run out by L.A. for the second straight game. It radically changed the momentum after that as the Celtics improbably rallied to even the series at 2-2.

That play and Gerald Henderson’s steal and score in OT of Game 1 were the plays that saved the series the C’s eventually won in seven.

Sports 101 Answer: No. 2 on the C’s triple D list is Bob Cousy with 33, followed by John Havlicek (32), Rajon Rondo (21) and Bill Russell (17). If you’re wondering, Tatum and Jaylen Brown have just two and three respectively.

Final Thought – Thumbs Down – John Henry: It’s ironic the Red Sox owner whined to the Financial Times of London that fans are too unrealistic in thinking you can win it all every year, just as the GM he fired to send the Sox crashing to the basement shows up at Fenway with his Phillies. Who immediately became contenders after he arrived thanks to moves like signing Kyle Schwarber (93 homers in two years) after the Sox let him walk.

True, you can’t win every year. But Dombo shows big-market teams can contend almost every year if they have the will Henry once had.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].