Category: News

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].