The Big Story: By the time you read this we’ll know if Houston won its first ever basketball title or if it’s three times this century for Florida. UH got there overcoming a 14-point deficit with 8:17 left to stun Duke 70-67, while Florida’s 41-27 second-half blitz erased an 8-point halftime deficit to beat Auburn 79-73. On the women’s side after eight hard-to-believe years of UConn not winning, the title is finally back again after crushing South Carolina 72-59 to win their 11th title overall behind 41 from Azzi (Elmer) Fudd (24) and Paige Bueckers (17).
Sports 101: In Nikola Jokic’s latest astonishing feat, he posted the third ever 60-point game triple double (61-10-10) game in a two-OT loss to the T-Wolves. Name the other two 60-point triple-d guys.
News Item – Red Sox Week: (1) They won five straight after starting 1-3. (2) Rookie Kristian Campbell entered the week hitting .355 with four doubles, two homers, six RBI. 3) Garrett Crochet was not quite in the groove, but he did go eight while grinding out a needed 6-2 win over Baltimore. 4) The Raffy Devers hysteria after his 0-for-19 start ended when he went 10 for 19 with four doubles and a homer in the winning streak.
News Item – Celtics Update: Having won nine of 10 the C’s are heading to the playoffs on a roll.
It should be noted, though, that the teams beaten in their first ever 6-0 road trip during the streak were a combined 78 games under .500. So not exactly overwhelming competition. But it still defies logic that at 32-7 they’re better on the road than they are on the parquet at 26-13. Derrick White buried number 267 vs. Memphis to become Celtics record holder for most ever three-point shots made in one season.
A Little History – 60 Wins: If the C’s win two of their last four, they’ll be the first Celtics team with back-to-back 60-win seasons since the second Big 3 did it in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Before that it was the Bird-led group doing it three times between 1983-84 and 1985-86, as Larry’s group was in the midst of doing it six times in seven seasons. Prior to that the Havlicek-Cowens C’s did it twice (’72-’73 and ’74-’75). The Russell-era team won 60 just three times despite winning 11 titles in 13 years.
The Numbers:
69.9 – best this century team FG percentage shot by Milwaukee when they went 51 for 74 in a 133-123 win over Phoenix.
70 – consecutive games scoring over 20 by OKC’s Shai Gilgeous–Alexander to break Michael Jordan’s all-time NBA record.
895 – career goals by Alexander Ovechkin after passing Wayne Gretzky’s unsurpassable 894 to be the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer.
… Of the Week Awards
Thumbs Up – Red Sox Owner John Henry: For finally acting like the big market owner he is by spending big on free agent Alex Bregman and by locking up Crochet and Campbell with six- and eight-year deals last week.
Thumbs Down – Bonehead Move of the Week – Jayson Tatum: For not having the discipline to keep it zipped before getting a technical foul at the worst possible time after a 15-point lead had slipped to 9 with 2:55 left to give the Kevin Durant-less Suns a free point and the ball on Friday.
Random Thoughts:
With both on hand, Friday was Where Are They Now? Night at TD Garden. The “They” are those not admitting now they were behind the push a few years back for the Celtics to trade Jaylen Brown for Bradley Beal. Brown dominated him and others by scoring 31 points to Beal’s measly one point on Friday. For the year it’s Beal 17 per to Brown’s 22.6 while also contributing much more on the boards and on D. Reminds all of what Bill Parcells famously said: “if you listen to people in the cheap seats, sooner or later you’ll wind up there with them.” Bullet dodged.
Sports 101 Answer: The other 60 triple double guys are Luka Doncic (2022) and James Harden (2018).
Final Thought – Parcells Headed to Patriots Hall of Fame: You can be magnanimous and say, thank you. Or you can be combative and say, what took so long?
Either way, thanks to Pats owner Bob Kraft for putting their personal history behind them to set in motion the induction of Bill Parcells into the Patriots Hall of Fame this summer.
Yes, there was him igniting the border war nonsense. But that was actually a good thing, as it made the Jets-Pats rivalry even better. But in resurrecting a moribund fan base after the disastrous Victor Kiam era you can make a case his four-year tenure, which concluded with a Super Bowl trip, makes him the fifth most important Patriot behind Billy Sullivan, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Drew Bledsoe. So well deserved, Tuna, and good job, Bob, for making it happen.
Email Dave Long at [email protected].
