Category: Sports

The Big Story: The Red Sox kick off the season Thursday, March 30, at Fenway against the Baltimore Orioles. After three last-place finishes in four years and jettisoning the face of the franchise for the second time in four years it is a season that is met with the lowest sense of anticipation since the Butch Hobson era 30 years ago.

It’s so bad I’ve got the over-under for ticket sales at under two million. For a franchise that sold out every seat for 10 straight years that’s an amazing fall from grace. And if they get off to a bad start look out below.

The expectations are so low that I have not mentioned them once all spring in this space.

They have no one to blame but themselves as the owner decided to go small market in 2019 by firing Dave Dombrowski less than a year after putting the best Red Sox team in the franchise on the field and replaced him with a stat geek GM who can’t judge talent and who plays an awful style of baseball while giving the impression that he is thoroughly over his head. And they only signed Raffy Devers after John Henry got booed off the stage at a ticket caravan event in Springfield, Mass. And then he did what he always does — caved to fan pressure with the same kind of penny wise and pound foolish move that cost $190 million on Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.

Beyond all that I’m really bullish on the season ahead.

Thumbs Up: Two weeks ago it was Devin McCourty who was hanging them up and now it’s fellow three-time champ teammate Dont’a Hightower. He officially retired last week after sitting out 2023. Three cheers for a career filled with great leadership and clutch play.

News Item – NCAA Hockey Regional Returns: With the Bruins careening toward the possible best regular season in NHL history, Boston got a measure of revenge against the team that shockingly deep-sixed them the last time they did that, as Boston U downed Cornell on Saturday night in front of 7,143 fans in the Northeast Regional at the SNHU Arena. It’s sorta revenge because when the Bobby Orr- and Phil Esposito-led Bs were doing it to the NHL in 1970-71 they were undone by Montreal goalie Ken Dryden, who was all of six games into his career after leaving Cornell at the conclusion of his college career.

And Another Thing – Back to the Sox: Here are questions I have as the season gets started. (1) What is the over-under on wins for alleged ace Chris Sale? Though how you can call anyone who is 11-12 over the last three years “ace” is beyond me. (2) Will the double-play combo of Christian Arroyo and Kiké Hernandez make anyone think of Rick Burleson and Jerry Remy? (3) Will Masataka Yoshida turn out to be Japan’s answer to Rusney Castillo or the real deal he looked to be in the World Baseball Classic? (4) Which will vaunted rookie first baseman Triston Casas turn out to be: the slugger he looked to be hitting five homers in 75 September at-bats, or the one who was .197 then?

Dramatic Moment of the Week: Can’t have a much more dramatic moment than the way the World Baseball Classic Final ended. Two out, full count bottom-of-the-ninth confrontation between huge stars and L.A. Angels teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout with Japan leading 3-2. It gave the WBC the ending it could only dream of with the win going to Japan when Ohtani got his teammate to swing and miss on a final-pitch slider.

The MVP went to Ohtani after a performance many imagined the first true two-way player since the Babe might have someday, hitting .435 with a homer, four doubles, 10 walks and eight RBI to go with a 2-0 record on the mound with 11 Ks in 9.2 innings with a 1.86 ERA.

Thanks for the Memories Award – Willis Reed: May 8, 1970, was the greatest game of my fan experience. And it was all because of Willis Reed, who passed away last week at the age of 80 in Houston.

I can still hear the roar from the Garden crowd as a young Marv Albert told us watching on TV with the sound down and the radio volume up, “Here Comes Willis.”

Never in my lifetime has a player lifted an entire city up the way Willis Reed did by playing through pain of a torn hip muscle in that moment for NY Knicks fans. And believe it or not Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Lakers was won right there. Especially after he scored the first two baskets of the game.

So RIP, big fella.

In My Not So Humble Opinion: There has been a lot of chatter about the Patriots having set their sights on Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins and Denver’s Jerry Jeudy as their top targets in the quest to land a lead receiver with primo speed, raising the so far unanswered question of why would Denver trade their best receiver who is still on his rookie contract. My two cents are, go for Jeudy.

While Hopkins at his peak has the higher upside, he’s coming off two descending years and is at the same age (30) at which similar elite receivers A.J. Green and Julio Jones started losing it, in part because of age-related nagging leg injuries. Jeudy on the other hand is on the rise and coming off a year when had a tad under 1,000 receiving yards. Plus he’s still on a rookie contract and makes about $15 million less than Hopkins, so bringing him on board won’t lead to any cuts for salary cap reasons. He’ll cost more in draft capital (asking price is a first-rounder), but he’s ready on Day 1 and they can extend him after 2023 if they like what they see. So the better plan is Jeudy.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story: It’s that time of year again, when the NCAA Tournament sticks its head out of the gopher hole to say spring is on the way. With brackets busted all over America it’s a very familiar sight. But with Duke, Kentucky and Kansas out already and North Carolina not even invited, it’s not your mother’s tournament.

The biggest story of course was Fairleigh Dickinson becoming the second 16-seed to knock off a 1-seed with a 62-58 upset of Purdue on Friday. But, alas, that Cinderella story (17th at Augusta) was ended on Sunday by Florida Atlantic. The fun starts again on Thursday.

Sports101: Five players have been named Most Outstanding Player multiple times at the Final Four. Name them.

Thumbs Down: To the NCAA for banning former NE-10 member Merrimack from the tournament even though they earned it because they hadn’t been in Division I long enough since moving from D-II.

Thumbs Up: To the NCAA for banning Merrimack from the tournament because that let undeserving FDU in before it knocked off 1-seed Purdue.

News Item – Pats Free Agency Creates Local Buzz: The natives were pretty restless as one desirable name after another came off the board amid news Miami had traded for All-Pro DB Jalen Ramsey and the Jets were close to trading for Aaron Rodgers to fill their gaping hole at quarterback, as the Pats were letting their leading receiver Jakobi Meyers walk away to play for Josh McDaniels in Vegas. But things picked up later in the week with two solid signings of JuJu Smith-Schuster to step in as the new slot receiver and ex-Miami tight end Mike Gesicki. Smith-Schuster is an upgrade over the reliable Meyers because he is a much better runner after the catch, which is something they need improvement on. Gesicki gives a solid receiving second tight end who caught 71 passes in 2021 before taking a back seat after Tyreek Hill joined the offense last year.

Also added was a tackle few have heard of or were enthused about, Riley Reiff, an 11-year vet who came over from the porous Chicago Bears 2022 line. The good news is he’s been pretty durable and an upgrade over the penalty-plagued black hole right tackle was last year. Plus it will let them not have to force feed the tackle they’ll likely take in the draft. I’m not as enthused as most over the signing of running back James Robinson because I think letting Damien Harris leave is a mistake.

The best re-sign was keeping top corner Jonathan Jones at reasonable money. The best addition by subtraction was saying so long to Nelson Agholor and mercifully trading away Jonnu Smith.

News Item – Herrion Out As UNH Hoop Coach: After a hard-to-believe 18 years as head man Bill Herrion is out as basketball coach at the U. He leaves with a 227-303 career mark, which makes him the winningest coach in school history and the coach with the second most losses.

ESPN First Take Argument of the Week – Should the Jets give up the 13th overall pick for Aaron Rodgers? Stephen A. Blowhard says yes because the NYJ haven’t been to the postseason since 2010 or to the SB since 1968 and are on the doorstep, so go for it. Bart Scott says no because first-round picks are to be with a team through two contracts. I’m with Stephen A. because while I’m not a big fan of Rodgers and it doesn’t guarantee anything, they are basically in the same spot Tampa Bay was in three years ago. They had the pieces in place but were killed by their play at QB. Enter Tom Brady. The Jets were even worse at QB last year than TB. Plus a SB win is worth losing a first-round pick. Just ask the Rams, who gave up a lot more to get Matthew Stafford.

The Numbers

9 – hard to believe number of years UConn had not gotten to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 until it got there with two wins over the weekend.

37 – billboards posted around New England by Devin McCourty to say thanks to fans upon his retirement in an exhibition of his class to the end.

Unsolicited Opinion of the Week: Here’s my suggestion for who UNH could consider for their basketball vacancy: one time-SNHU coach on the floor/star Bino Ranson. He has 10 years experience recruiting in the Big 10 and ACC, with strong ties to mid-Atlantic talent and in the Midwest while an assistant at Maryland and now DePaul. Great kid, solid guy and knows New Hampshire, having lived while playing at SNHU in college.

Do you suppose any of the $33 million Meyers got from Las Vegas was a bonus for the crazy lateral he threw that handed the Raiders the win vs. the Pats in Vegas last year?

How self-involved do you have to be to think your husband got traded because his head coach wasn’t invited to his wedding? That’s what WNBA’er Kelsey Plum claims is why Vegas HC Josh McDaniels sent her new husband Darren Waller to the G-Men for a third-round pick less than a month after the pair got married. Couldn’t be because he’s gone from 107 catches in 2020 to 55 to 28 last year while making $17 million per, could it?

Sport 101 Answer: Bob Kurland, Oklahoma State (185, 46); Alex Groza, Kentucky (48, 49); Jerry Lucas, Ohio State (60, 61); Lew Alcindor, UCLA (67, 68, 69); Bill Walton, UCLA (72, 73).

A Little History; After playing in the NBA for two seasons when he was Rookie of the Year in 1949-50, Groza was banned for life after being implicated in a point-shaving scandal during his senior season at Kentucky.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – NFL Free Agency Begins: The quest to fill the holes the Patriots have for 2023 began yesterday (Wednesday) at 4 p.m. when the NFL’s new year began. It came a few days after Devin McCourty announced his retirement. Which, looking on the bright side, saved them around $9 million in cap space to leave them with around $32 million to $35 million to spend.

The need to score with that became acute following news that All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey had been traded to Miami and Aaron Rodgers could be/was traded to the Jets already.

The following are things to consider as free agency unfolds.

Ways To Add Cap Space: The biggest no-brainer way would be to cut wideout Nelson Agholor. Losing him would not hurt in any way and it would save $4 million. A little dicier would be moving out left tackle Trent Brown, who was a disappointment in 2022. If they can find a taker in need of offensive line help, a trade would give them $10.5 million more, which would give them $14.1 million to spend all or part of on a younger upgrade to replace Brown.

Biggest Needs: To reiterate what I wrote two weeks ago: (1) A ready-on-Day 1 dynamic receiver that teams must game plan for. Pay what they must in draft capital and cap space to get one for their young QB, as the Dolphins and Eagles did to catapult their questionable young quarterbacks ahead a year ago. (2) Fix the offensive line. Specifically, two tackles. The best case scenario would be one coming from free agency and the other from the draft.

Players to Re-Sign: Most important would be to pay their top CB, Jonathan Jones, because if they don’t they’ll have to draft one and a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

A Worthy Experiment: From the first Super Bowl team to the last when Julian Edelman was the MVP, slot receiver was the bread and butter of the offense. And while I’m fine with Jakobi Meyers as the third wideout (at the right free agent price) he does not give them much after the catch and lacks the quickness in space that Troy Brown, Wes Welker, Danny Amendola and Edelman gave Tom Brady.

They need a dynamic player in that role, as it’s a weapon on first down to get ahead of the sticks on down and distance, and as a target to get 7 yards or less on third down to keep drives alive.

So I’m all in on moving Marcus Jones from DB to slot receiver. While it’s not a lock he can do it, he would bring two things to the offense, dynamic speed and an ability to run with the ball when he gets his hands on it. And before you say he can’t do it: He played there some in college and historically it’s a position of misfit players who found success there as Edelman was a wishbone QB in college, Amendola and Welker were undrafted free agents and Brown was overlooked because of his size. Plus all were very good punt returners, which requires the most vital skill needed by a slot receiver, quickness to operate in tight spaces — something Jones demonstrated last year.

And trying him there also means you don’t have to use a draft pick or free agent money to fill that hole as well. Not to mention that since Coach B hasn’t hit on a wide receiver of any note since Deion Branch in 2002 it’s doubtful he’ll hit on one in this draft.

Check those boxes with trades and FA’s; it’s then on to the draft for a tackle and depth.

Thumbs Up – Devin McCourty: Thanks for the memories at the retirement after 13 years for as solid, reliable and durable a player as the Pats have had in the SB years. Bravo.

Sports 101: Detroit Mercy senior Antoine Davis fell just three points short of Pete Maravich’s all-time college record of scoring 3,667 points. Who held the career college scoring mark before Maravich?

Sports 101 Answer: With 2,973 points in 88 games (33.8 per game) Oscar Robertson was the all-time college scoring leader before Maravich.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story: I awoke from my annual hockey hibernation last week and was shocked to see that the Bruins were an incredible 40 games over .500. And that at 48-8-6 they broke the all-time mark for reaching 100 points in the regular season faster than any team in history. I don’t totally live in a dark cave, and I’ve heard rumblings all year about them being in first place with the best record in the NHL. But I never bothered to look at the standings because I generally don’t watch or even care about hockey until it’s transformed from a boring (for me) game to the one where you’re constantly on the edge of your seat when the Stanley Cup playoffs arrive.

I also now know why the Boston Globe’s Prince of Darkness Dan Shaughnessy recently wrote about what happened to the supposedly unbeatable 1970-71 Bruins during the days when I did follow the NHL closely. I thought it was his mandatory once-a-year hockey column. Instead, it was a cautionary tale to the current rampaging group, as those earlier rampaging Bs shockingly got run out of the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens behind a rookie goalie with all of six games of NHL experience. Which came after Ken Dryden joined them directly from Cornell after concluding his senior season. Dryden and company are also relevant for setting the all-time single-season record of 132 points in 1976-77, a record these Bruins are after as well. That got my attention because that Montreal team was in the middle of winning four straight Cups and was great.

So like a bear in the woods after taking care of business following his winter-long snooze I’m all in on the Bs going forward.

Sports 101: Name the six coaches who’ve taken two different franchises to the Super Bowl.

Thumbs Up: To early spring news that exhibition baseball games are being played 36 minutes faster on average than games last spring due to new rules that include a 15-second pitch clock (20 with men on base) to make pitchers come to the plate quicker.

Thumbs Down: To the alarming way the Celtics often play down to the competition, which hit a new low on Friday when they blew a 28-point second-quarter lead before losing 115-105 to the 2-8-since-the-Durant-trade Nets.

Stat Sheet: Love the waxing poetically in a Feb. 27 story on ESPN.com on the “historic surge of 50-point performances.” While there have been some great performances like Damian Lillard’s 71-point game last week it’s no mystery why: the 3-point shot. Those of us who saw Pete Maravich play know that with 13 threes Lillard’s 71 would have been 58 back in the day. Not trying to knock their talent, just to give context to how it historically stacks up with guys from the past.

Homerism vs. Reality Note of the Week: A friend of mine took me to task last week when I said Patrick Mahomes was going to break every one of Tom Brady’s passing records. He then went into yahoo homer mode and said, “He won’t, because he’ll never play as long as Brady did.” I said, if he stays on his current pace he won’t have to.

Injuries are impossible to predict, but after PM’s first six seasons he has 192 TD passes and 24,211 passing yards to Brady’s l23 and 18,028. Which means if the current pace is maintained Mahomes will beat Brady’s 642 TD when he’s 37 and his 89,214 passing yards at 39.

I Disagree: with Shaughnessy applying his gift for seeing the negative side of the story in a recent column urging Jayson Tatum to focus more on basketball. Hee criticized Tatum for missing a game to go to St. Louis for his son’s birthday party. Now I’m as tough on Tatum and the practice of “load management” as anyone. But I’m fine with a young dad using his load management game to fly 1,000 miles to be at his young son’s birthday party.

And Another Thing: Speaking of load management, I wonder if personal perceptions color my opinion. I mean managers give healthy players days off in baseball all the time and no one says a word about that. In fact Cal Ripken Jr. took heat from some quarters for not missing games to rest on the belief it hurt the team when a worn down Cal kept playing. Lou Gehrig got a little of that too while compiling his 2,130-game streak.

The difference is that basketball stars have a more inordinate impact on each game than individual stars do in baseball. But I suspect I hate the concept of load management because it’s another example of the wussification of the pitch-count, five-inning-starters world of sports today.

In other words, get off my lawn.

In Case You Missed It: The Patriots announced last week they’ll cut back-up QB Brian Hoyer.

Random Thoughts: Got to say in my first time hearing him I liked JJ Redick doing color for the Celtics-Nets game on ESPN. Not a lot of extra yacking, and no restating the obvious on replays. Just understated insight.

I ain’t buying Grant Williams getting a DNP vs. Cleveland last Wednesday. I think something is going on beyond Joe Mazzulla’s match-up blather. If it’s a message to stop yacking after every call, bravo. If it is match-ups nonsense, it makes no sense because regardless of size he’s better offensively or defensively than the guys behind him.

Sports 101 Answer: The six coaches to bring two different franchises to the Super Bowl are Don Shula (Baltimore Colts, Dolphins), Bill Parcells (G-Men, Pats), Dan Reeves (Broncos, Falcons), Dick Vermeil (Eagles, Rams), Mike Holmgren (Packers, Seahawks) and Andy Reid (Eagles, Chiefs).

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Fixing the Patriots: With free agency opening in less than two weeks it’s time to look at what Coach B and company need to do to fix the Patriots for 2023, a crucial year in the “Tom vs. Bill” debate because it’s the fourth season since Tom Brady left the building and that’s enough time to recover from losing their franchise player. So a big year for the coach’s overall legacy.

There are two schools of thought about how big a fix is needed.

One says with a productive defense they can get back into the mix with the right moves on offense.

The other says no matter what they add they can’t close the gap between them and the elites because the offense needs major surgery and that might include a change at QB because they can’t go toe to toe with the likes of Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow with Mac Jones under center.

In any event, here’s a look at what needs to be considered, starting with a focus on the QB.

No. 1 Question: If I’m the Patriots’ owner, the first thing I want to know is why did a QB who was very good as a rookie take a dramatic step backward in his second season as Jones did. After that, I need to know if Mac is the guy to go forward with

Mac Jones: One theory is he’s not that good, or he’s limited, and Josh McDaniels helped mask that in 2021.

Thus one solution is to bring in someone else while recouping a couple of draft picks by trading him. One proponent of this is Christopher Gasper, who wrote in the Boston Globe last week they should dump Mac and bring back free agent Jimmy Garoppolo, in a column that was remarkably like him saying last January the Celtics had to trade Marcus Smart for a real point guard or they’d never go anywhere. Boy, he nailed that one.

This is the same. Lamar Jackson is one thing (though that would require major cap surgery). But the last thing they need is an injury-prone/slow-healing QB who’ll cost three times what Mac does on his rookie contract, whose injuries derailed two of the last five SF seasons. And it would have been three this year if a circa-2001-Brady-like miracle hadn’t surfaced when he broke his leg. Especially since it cost them once already when in 2016 all he had to do was last four games during Tom Brady’s suspension and didn’t make it to the second half of Game 2. Sorry, if you can’t stay on the field you can’t play. Don’t want him.

Plus, while I’m under no illusion Jones did not have his own 2022 issues, I know what I saw in 2021, so I’m not willing to give up on him yet.

I think it was an amalgam of the following.

Play Calling and Game Planning: It’s no secret Matt Patricia in these roles was a total disaster. It was simplistic, predictable and overly cautious to the point where it seemed the goal was to not get a turnover rather than to make plays. It was also often done too slowly, which led to an unacceptable number of timeouts called to avoid penalties. All of which played into some publicized immature, frustration-driven sideline antics by Jones.

Offensive Line: In a word, it was awful. More specifically, penalty-prone, often porous and inconsistent from week to week. That likely contributed to the knock Mac locks on receivers. That leads to bad habits, as when you don’t have a lot of time you look to get rid of it quickly, over going through progressions to find the open guy. And of course sacks lead to down and distance issues, which make sustaining drives more challenging.

The Weapons: They’re below average. It’s the same problem Brady had as he sulked his way through 2019 and Cam Newton had in 2020. They get little separation, don’t do much after the catch (besides Kendrick Bourne) and no one puts the fear of God into defensive game planners. That was exacerbated by the play calling, because throws to Hunter Henry up the seam worked when tried but were rarely called until the end of the year.

Can They Fix It For 2023? It’s a little of both schools of thought. I do like the defense, but, given their swing-and-miss ratio on recent personnel decisions, especially during the 2021 spending spree, I don’t have much faith in the personnel department to have a good enough batting average to hit on enough FAs and draft choices to fill all the holes. However, it doesn’t mean they can’t do it. Plus with Bill O’Brien named to replace Patricia the play calling issue has been addressed.

The 2023 Fix: After one up and one down year it’s too early to give up on Mac. You won’t know what he really is until the other issues are fixed. If you don’t believe me, compare Brady’s 2019 numbers and when they no longer were an issue in Tampa Bay the next year. Help is needed now, so they should focus on the next three years and put whatever draft capital is needed for trades and aim all free agent spending to get ready on Day 1 solutions to do these things:

(1) Fix the offense line, which starts with getting two, new younger tackles.

(2) Bring in a consistent A+ home run-hitting deep threat/wide receiver that teams must game plan for. Exhibit A is what adding A.J. Brown to DeVonta Smith in Philly did for Jalen Hurts. Ditto for Tua after adding Tyreek Hill to Jaylen Waddle. Mac was better than both guys at Bama when he was teamed with Waddle and Smith.

(3) Apply whatever is left to plug other holes as needed.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story: With the All-Star game history, the NBA begins what it calls the second half of its season even though the Celtics have already played 71 percent of their 82 games. The good news is that with 42 wins and 17 losses they start the stretch run to the playoffs with the best record in the league, a fact made more impressive by their doing it playing the first two months without Robert Williams and the last two weeks with a majority of their starters out with injuries.

The Bucks along with the 76ers and Cavaliers round out the Top 4 in the Eastern Conference and are the teams that pose the biggest obstacles to getting back to the Finals. Though I’m not counting out the Heat until I see them pick up their fourth loss in any playoff series.

Thumbs Up: The interim tag being taken off Joe Mazzulla’s title. Well-earned.

Thumbs Down: Can’t say I was happy to see Jaylen Brown play in the All-Star game. I know it’s a thrill, but when you miss three games going into the All-Star break it’s better to take the additional time off to heal, rather than risk getting dinged or worse. Leadership is about putting team over personal disappointment.

Sports 101: The most surprising nugget mentioned during the hoo-ha of LeBron James becoming the NBA all-time scoring leader was Bob Ryan writing in the Boston Globe that LBJ is fourth on the all-time assist list as well. So name the three people ahead of him and, just for fun, the six behind him to round out the Top 10.

News Item – Jayson Tatum: Even though the 184-175 final shows what a competitive joke the aforementioned All-Star game is, I guess Tatum was ready to play. When you think of the guys who’ve played in that game, it’s impressive he now sits atop all of them after going for a record 55 points as he also took home MVP honors. Though since three others scored over 30, including Brown, who had 36, it wasn’t exactly a defensive struggle. For the record, he was 22-32, 10-18 from deep while making just one free throw.

News Item – the Kyrie Irving Press Conference: Speaking of people who put themselves above team (and everyone else): The self-delusional quote of the week came from (who else) Irving, who said at his introductory press conference in Dallas that after getting suspended for supporting a racist film this year, derailing their 2021-22 season by refusing to get vaxxed and the previous two with his usual array of injuries, that he “felt very disrespected” by the Nets and that what he wanted was to be in a place where he’s “celebrated, and not just tolerated.” Oh, and after missing what would have been his third game with Dallas with a back issue on Thursday, he played in the All-Star Game a few nights later.

Random Thoughts – Lou Grant Award: Only old bucks will get this. But there is a famous scene in the late great The Mary Tyler Moore Show when her grumpy boss Mr. Grant says to her, “You’ve got spunk,” which Mary takes as a compliment until he adds, “I HATE spunk”! Well, that’s what you have to say about the Celtics bench, which likely is the best since the days when John Havlicek was the sixth man. Though the ones from ’85-’86 and ’07-’08 may take issue with that. But they have done the job all year long and especially during the recent deluge of injuries heading into the break. However, instead of Mr. Grant hating their spunk, it was Philly, whom they beat without four starters, and Milwaukee a few nights later when the Celtics narrowly lost in OT with all five starters missing, when the Bucks only got to OT because Jrue Holiday dropped a 70-foot heave at the end of the first half.

GiannisAntetokounmpopulled off a box score miracle in the ASG by being credited with scoring two points while officially playing no minutes in the game. It happened because he played just one play due to a sprained wrist. So someone please explain what was the point of playing at all?

Media Notes: (1) Somebody please tell Brian Scalabrine that LaMelo Ball is nothing like Pete Maravich as he continues to say on Celtics broadcasts. Pistol Pete was like trying to follow the sleight of hand of a great magician, which in Pete’s case was the ball because you were never sure where it was going. Low dribble, high dribble, hesitation dribble to the blow-by drive. Behind the back, through his legs or sometimes yours. No-look passes, high off the glass or pull up from 35. LaMelo is a nice young player, but he ain’t got any of that. Pete was a magician with the ball. (2) Similarly, please tell back-up play-by-play guy Sean Grande that an NBA player playing occasionally on back-to-back nights is not akin to scaling Mt. Everest like he makes it out to be by mentioning it over and over when they do it.

A Little History: For the record: In the year Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points a game (1961-62), he “only” scored 42 points in the All-Star game. However, if you take out the three-pointers that didn’t exist in those days Tatum only beats Wilt by three points, 45-42.

Sports 101 Answer: Nos. 1 through 3 are John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul.

Nos. 5 through 10 are Steve Nash, Mark Jackson (that one surprised me too), Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas and Russell Westbrook.

The Final Word: Glad the Celtics didn’t dismantle the team to get Kevin Durant. Great player, but trading a 25-year-old 27-point-a-game scorer and key defender who also is a very good contributor to team rebounding for a 34-year-old who has missed all but 111 of his team’s last 300 games makes no sense to me.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].