Category: Sports

The Big Story – Celtics Move On To ECF: Say one thing for the Celtics, they certainly like to make it hard on themselves. For the second straight postseason they went down two games to three by coughing up Game 5 at home to put their season on the brink before barely surviving Game 6 on the road and then closing out the bad guys with a blowout Game 7 win at the Garden.

The series brought to the forefront the continued frustrating inconsistency of Jayson Tatum, though his spectacular all-is-forgiven final 53 minutes of the series is the bigger story than said inconsistency, which included three of the worst shooting first halves in Celtics playoff history.

But it was a seven-game series, not one of just first halves, and despite his terrible first three quarters he saved Game 6 and thus the season by banging out three gigantic threes and a deuce over the final four minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat before delivering the best Celtics Game 7 performance these eyes have witnessed.

It leads the Cs into their third Eastern Conference Finals meeting with Miami in the last four years, a team with the best coach in the NBA and who plays them (and Tatum) tougher than anyone.

Could be a nerve-wracking two weeks for Celtic Nation, so buckle up.

Sports 101: In going for 37 points and 23 rebounds this man had the greatest NBA Finals Game 7 by a rookie in NBA history. Name him.

Thumbs Up – Al Horford: Tatum’s sensational Game 7 might overshadow what Al Horford did on Sunday in the history books, but let’s hope not. The 36-year-old Horford’s spectacular defensive effort on Joel Embiid was vital to the win in harassing the league MVP into 5-18 shooting in his not good enough 15-point, 8-rebound afternoon.

News Item – Pats to Honor Tom Brady: Not sure how I feel about Brady being honored on Opening Day in Foxborough. Stems from his never mentioning the Pats or their fans in his social media posts following the first retirement. That snub and lack of appreciation did not sit well in this space. So I’m not for doing it in his first official game of his retirement. Too soon for me.

I also think, with the likes of Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor and a few others in the conversation, Bob Kraft calling him the “best player in history” in the announcement is up for debate. However, with his seven titles, I’m fine with calling him the most valuable player in league history.

News Item – Rough Week for Sox: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water of thinking the Sox might be better than most thought, last week happened. They entered the week 21-14 and on an eight-game winning streak. But it was all downhill when it ended on Sunday leading to a 1-5 week, concluding with a sweep at Fenway by the last-in-the-NL St. Louis Cardinals. The main trouble was the pitching giving up seven runs a game in the five losses. The good news was Chris Sale made it three straight solid games, his best one yet coming Saturday when he went eight innings while holding the Cards to three hits while striking out nine before Kenley Jansen blew a second straight win in the ninth.

The Numbers:

6 – organization record at any level for stolen bases swiped in one game set by Sox all-name team prospect Ceddanne Rafaela for AA Portland last week.

10 – losses in 16 Game 7s coached by Doc Rivers, which are the most by any coach in NBA history.

12.5 & 34.5 – points averaged by James Harden in Philly’s four losses to the Celtics and in their three wins in the series respectively.

54 – all-time Celtics record for points scored in a playoff record set by the late great John Havlicek in a 1973 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Random Thoughts:

One more thing about Doc Rivers’s playoff record. Four of his six Game 7 wins came while coaching the Celtics.

For the record, the best Game 7 performance by a Celtic player I’ve seen before Sunday came in 1984 when Larry Bird went for 39 (13-24 and 12-12 from the line), 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Cs closed out the Knicks in the semi-final round.

The best by an opponent came in the dramatic 1988 duel between Dominique Wilkins and Bird when Nique scored 14 and Larry 20 in their tit-for-tat fourth quarter, before finishing with 47 and 34 respectively.

Sports 101 Answer: The greatest Game 7 by a rookie was authored by Tommy Heinsohn in one of the NBA’s greatest games ever, when Game 7 of the finals went to double overtime as the Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks 125-123 to claim their first NBA title. Bill Russell, also a rookie that night, went for 19 points and 32 rebounds while Hawks all-timer Bob Pettit had 39 and 19.

2023 Prediction Record: Was right on three of four in taking Miami (in 6), Denver (6) and Boston (7) in the last round while missing on Golden State vs. L.A.

NBA Conference Title Predictions: Denver over L.A. in six. Celtics in seven overMiami.

Final Thought: To all those praising Joe Mazzulla’s “adjustment” to the double big line of Al Horford and lob-it-to-Rob Williams in Game 6 vs. Philly like he invented plutonium, I’ll remind all we said upon his return in January that bringing him off the bench was a bad idea because it made the defense and rebounding worse because they were too small and there was no way he’d be able to play the 30 minutes per night they needed off the bench. It also killed Grant Williams’s confidence by taking away his regular run.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Surging Red Sox: We still have a very long way to go, but the pole position between Chaim Bloom and his critics (of which I’ve been a very vocal one) as to who was right and who was wrong about the 2023 Red Sox goes to Bloom after the first five weeks of the season. The Sox have quickly rebounded from a slow start to go 15-7 since April 13. That’s the second best mark in baseball over that span and included an eight-game winning streak that ended Sunday in Philly. Thus, for the moment, all is looking up for Red Sox Nation.

Sports 101: With the passing of iconic ’70s Oakland A’s hurler Vida Blue over the weekendwe were reminded he was one of only five guys to start an All-Star game for both the AL and NL. Name the other four.

News Item – New Baseball Rules Working: Over the objections of its whiny players, baseball instituted new rules for 2023 that are having a very positive impact.

According to AP baseball reporter Ron Blum, the pitch clock has dropped the average game length from three hours, five minutes in 2022 to 2:37 in 2023.

And thanks to banning shifts to keep the shortstop on the left side of second base, the batting averages of left-handed hitters have risen from an average of .229 to .243, while for righties it’s .234 to .250 and runs scored are up 1.1 per. And limiting pick-off attempt throw-overs has led to a 40-percent jump in stolen bases.

News Item – Betts Trade Finally Paying Dividends: It’ll never be an even deal. But with Alex Verdugo providing spark while hitting .300+ in the lead-off spot and Connor Wong splitting time at catcher while hitting .257 following last week’s 4-4, two-homer game vs. Toronto, two of the three players who came back in the Mookie Betts deal are finally having an impact in Boston. Throw in being out from under their share of David Price’s gargantuan contract, and it’s looking a lot better than it did 12 months ago.

News Item – Glass Half Empty or Half Full for Sale: An interesting question since Chris Sale had three brutal early starts along with two very goods and a third pretty good one. He’s trending up by winning his last two, one when he gave up three hits and one run in 6.1 innings, then striking out 10 over six innings to beat the Phillies 5-3 Friday. And most importantly he walked just one in those outings.

News Item – A Father’s Conundrum: A sidebar story of the Warriors-Lakers playoff series is the question, who is Klay Thompson’s father rooting for? That would be one-time ’80s Showtime Laker Mychal Thompson, who these days is color analyst for Lakers radio broadcasts. So who is he rooting for? Klay said going in he thought dad would be for L.A. all the way!

Random Thoughts:

Who knows how one failed first overall pick in the NBA draft contributed to both teams in the 76er-Celtics series?

That would be Markelle Fultz, who of course was taken first by Philly in 2016 after they flipped picks with Danny Ainge, which gave Boston an additional first in 2017. It dropped them to third overall, where they took their supposed first choice all along, Jayson Tatum. Then, after a rash of issues led to Fultz’s flameout in Philly, he was dumped in a trade for Orlando’s first pick in the 2019, which turned out to be 20th overall that Philly used to take speedy Tyrese Maxey out of Kentucky.

Doc Rivers is right — Tatum did push Maxey off on his huge 3 at the end of OT on Sunday. But his whining would have a lot more credibility if James Harden didn’t get three calls a game he doesn’t deserve after flopping after 3-ball attempt like he was shot by an elephant rifle, or that Joel Embiid is never called for smashing defenders with his chest first to create space push to shoot before they come back with contact and then goes to the line. Sorry, Doc, one’s an offensive foul and the other should get a T.

The Numbers:

.331 –batting average for ex-Fisher Cat Bo Bichette when he left Fenway last Thursday after going 7 for 16 in the Sox’ four-game sweep of the Blue Jays. The 2023 stat line also included 7 homers and 21 RBI in 32 games.

1 – error committed in 30 April games by Sox third baseman Rafael Devers, which didn’t even happen until the final day of April. Of course he then made one in each of three consecutive games to start May to bring the total to 4.

3 – walk-off game-winning hits by Alex Verdugo after clubbing a ninth-inning homer to give the Sox a 6-5 win over Toronto on Monday.

Sports 101 Answer: The other AL and NL All Star starters are Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.RIP, Vida.

Final Thought – Patriots Hall of Fame: Enough already for holding the petty 30-year grudge that makes it harder for Bill Parcells to get in the Patriots Hall. It happened again last week when the deserving Mike Vrabel got in over Tuna in the fan vote.

The one-per-year thing is fine except when an overwhelming case can be made for a guy as age enters the picture as it now has for the 81-year-old Parcells.

The Kraft family made an exception for the deserving contributions of longtime line coach Dante Scarnecchia this year and the same thing should be done for Parcells. Because while they didn’t win the Super Bowls, he and Drew Bledsoe are as important to team history as Coach B and Tom Brady because they turned the Pats from a joke franchise to one everyone took seriously in these parts. It’s time to do the right thing and put him in.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story: There are actually three. (1) The shocking end to the Bruins’ magical season. (2) The Celtics moving on to Round 2 of the NBA playoffs after barely surviving a major scare from the 41-41 Atlanta Hawks in a series that wasn’t supposed to be that tough. (3) The Patriots’ choices in the NFL draft, showing more evidence Bill Belichick has slipped from his perch as the smartest guy in football.

Sports 101: Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1966 the Patriots have had the first overall pick in the NFL draft four times. Name the players they selected.

News Item – Celtics Up and Down vs. Atlanta: There were highs in the series to be sure. Most notably how dominant they were in the first halves of games 1 and 2, and most importantly the poise showed in the face of a raucous, hostile crowd over the final four minutes to close out a sensational series in Game 6 on the road in Atlanta. But their infuriating inability to stay focused with big leads also returned in games 1 and 2 and when they were overrun by Trae Young while blowing the lead with mistakes in the final minutes of their Game 5 loss.

But two games into their Round 2 playoff series with the 76ers let’s hope they’ve cleaned up their appalling lack of boxing out and woeful weak side 3-point defense that Atlanta murdered them with in the last three games.

News Item – Panthers Shock Bruins: Short of a ball going through your first baseman’s legs at the moment of truth, it’s hard to imagine a worse way to be eliminated from the playoffs than how the Bruins were on Sunday night by Florida.

One minute away from looking like they had survived blowing a 3-1 series lead to an 8-seed they coughed up the game-tying goal by Brandon Montour to send it to OT tied 3-3. And with karma gone the magical season somehow ended 8:56 into OT when Carter Verhaeghe sent the SRO crowd into the night crushed and wondering what might have been.

News Item – Coach B On The Slide: They say the worst thing you can do is chase needs by reaching for players at position of need ahead of more talented players on your draft board. Normally I agree, especially for the dynasty Patriots, who rarely had immediate holes to fill.

But not this year. They went into this draft with one need above all else: to find out whether Mac Jones is or is not the QB of the future. And to do that they needed to give him help to improve 2022’s fourth-worst offense in football. Specifically that meant getting a solid left tackle to improve his protection and a game-changing wideout to open things up on offense.

Yet the ever stubborn, now-living-in-a-2004-time-bubble Bill Belichick used his picks in the first three rounds, where impact players most often come from, on defense. To, I guess, combat the AFC East now having three dynamic passing attacks. While not taking even one guy who was a full-time tackle in college among his 12 picks and no wide receiver until Round 6.

I get that reaching is bad and those two big needs are hard to come by. But if he hadn’t cheaped out on Orlando Brown in free agency, when the Bengals added him to protect the blind side of their young QB, they could have given up the top of their draft to get the game changer. Or he could have traded up to get ahead of the run on tackles they liked.

All of which shows that Coach B is living in the defense-dominates NFL past, which is what got all the great coaches I’ve seen (Shula, Landry, Noll) at their end.

Thumbs Up – Malcolm Brogdon: Being named NBA 6^th Man of the Year after finally giving the Celtics a game-changer off their bench is a well earned honor.

Word of the Week – ‘Ironic’: Hard to come up with a better word for Joe Dumars, who played on the dirtiest team in NBA history, being the guy handing out the punishment for Draymond Green. Not that Joe played like that, but most of his teammates with the ’80s-’90s Pistons did and the league let them get away with it. And now he’s the warden.

Random Playoff Thoughts:

Love the old-school NBA every-other-day schedule for the first six games of the Philly series.

You’d think Charles Barkley would learn after being almost always wrong making predictions. But there he was again guaranteeing Sacramento would “whomp” defending champ Golden State in Game 5 of their playoff series. Then after they lost Game 5 he doubled down for Game 7. But sorry, Charles, wrong again. They lost by 20.

I’d call the Mavericks passing on reasonable money for their own guy Jalen Brunson last summer in lieu of having to now give Kyrie Irving a bigger amount this summer, along with their only two good defenders and a future first-round pick, a colossal mistake.

Brunson was a key to finally lifting the Knicks to a new level, while the Mavs went from the 5-seed out West when he arrived, to missing the playoffs entirely in just 23 games.

The Numbers:

50 – all-time NBA record for points scored in a deciding Game 7 playoff series by Steph Curry Sunday when the Warriors eliminated Sacramento with a decisive 120-100 win.

Sports 101 Answer: The Patriots’ four first overall picks were Jim Plunkett (1971), Kenneth Sims (82), Irving Fryar (84) and Drew Bledsoe (93).

Final Thought – Round 2 Picks: Denver over Phoenix in 7, Golden State over L.A. in 6, Celtics over Philly in 7, Miami over N.Y. in 6.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – NFL Draft: While knowing Coach B won’t follow the script by trading up, down and around the board, the Pats are now scheduled to step to the podium around 9:35 p.m. tonight (Thursday) to make the 14th selection in the NFL draft. It’s an important draft for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2018. Whether they do it with savvy picks or draft capital in trades doesn’t matter; they just badly need to come away with a ready-on-Day 1 left tackle and a game-breaking wide receiver. Anything else is gravy.

As for the rest of the draft, it mostly centers around QBs likely being taken with the first two and maybe third picks if Arizona trades out of the spot, along with what could happen with agitated veteran QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson.

Sports 101: Name the future Hall of Fame offensive tackle once taken third overall who also was a pitcher for USC when their baseball team won the national championship in 1978.

5 Questions Going Into The Draft:

(1) With the Jackson situation in flux at best, what will the Ravens do this weekend?

(2) With whispers growing that his hometown 49ers want in on the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes, are the Jets going to screw it up like they always do to be left at the altar for refusing to give up a first-round pick when they’re ready to win if they get a good QB?

(3) After being stripped bare with salary cap-forced cuts and having no high draft picks to get there, were the L.A. Rams just a one-and-done champion?

(4) Two years after handing L.A. their QB to win that SB, is Detroit in a better position going forward thanks to all those picks they got from L.A., which include the totally unexpected sixth overall pick they get this year from them that seemed like a high 20s pick at the time?

(5) With rumors swirling about Mac’s future in Foxborough, is he Coach B’s guy going forward or not?

Random Thoughts:

The Patriots haven’t drafted a defensive player in Round 1 since tackle Malcolm Brown in 2016.

More Matt Patricia stuff. You rarely see a team give up on a guy so quickly when taken as high as Jeff Okudah was by Detroit. So quite a comedown for the first draft pick of the Patricia era when the Lions traded the former Ohio State star to Atlanta for a measly fifth-round pick just three years after Okudah was taken third overall in 2020.

In Case You Missed It: NFL followers went into comical overdrive with NFL Draft lingo humor when it leaked out that former President Donald Trump weighed in at 6’1” and 270 during his arraignment at the NYC courthouse. NFL Combine maven Dave Kluge tweeted, “If he runs a sub-4.5, he’d comp historically to Dwight Freeney and may have a chance to go in the first round of the NFL Draft.” Former agent and Packers capologist Andrew Brandt tweeted, “Some teams have now taken him off their Draft boards.” And @Nati_Sports said Trump was “too small to protect my franchise quarterback. Day 3 grade.”

A Little History – Best and Worst Draft Picks of Belichick Era:

Worst 5 First-Round Picks: Dominique Easley, 2012 (29), lasted two seasons for work ethic and attitude issues. N’Keal Harry, 2019 (32), perpetually hurt and couldn’t get open. Laurence Maroney, 2006 (21), most indecisive runner in history. Sony Michel, 2018 (30), nice 2018 playoff run was high point, downhill after that. Isaiah Wynn, 2018 (23), because of durability and declining play his last two years were more disappointment than bust.

Best 5 Non-First Round Picks: Tom Brady, 2000, R6 (199 overall), GOAT. Gronk, 2010 R2, after trading up and down to get the 42nd pick. Julian Edelman, 2009 R7 (232). Matt Light, 2001 R2 (48), solid for 10 years. James White, 2014 R4 (130), always reliable and immense vs. Atlanta in 2016 SB. Deion Branch, 2002 R2, SB MVP in 2004 and could have been in 2003.

Interesting Picks:

Stephen Gostkowski, 2006 R4 (110), notable for three reasons: Bill had to get it right because he had just let Adam V walk in free agency; he became the best pick in the sorry 2006 draft class; and he became the franchise’s all-time scorer.

Neither Kliff Kingsbury, 2003 R6, nor Kevin O’Connell, 2008 R3, did anything in New England, but both wound up as NFL head coaches.

2007— even though they only got one player, first-round pickBrandonMeriweather, you can argue this was one of Belichick’s best drafts as by using their second on Wes Welker and the third on Randy Moss it kickstarted the 16-0 season that immediately followed that draft.

Sports 101 Answer: The OT/pitcher for USC was 6’6” 280 Anthony Munoz, who, given his immense size, I’m betting wasn’t a junkbaĺler.

Final Thought: I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little sick of Coach B reportedly being ticked at Mac for seeking advice/help from outside the building during his 2022 struggles. Sorry, Bill, he’s not the one who put incompetents in charge of the offense and the development of a highly drafted second-year QB — you did. And if you want a glimpse of how incompetent Matt Patricia and Joe Judge have been in those roles, take a look at how much the play of Jared Goff and Daniel Jones immediately improved after they were fired by the Lions and G-Men respectively.

Your fault, Bill, not that of the kid in need of real help because he wasn’t getting any and that’s what you’re supposed to do and didn’t.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Bruins Do It: Congrats to the Bruins for their epic achievement of finishing with the most wins and points in NHL regular season history. The bad news is that’s ancient history for the moment, as the best record ever guarantees nothing in the playoffs. The 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors can tell you that, as they got beat in the Finals by LeBron James and Cleveland after their record-setting 73-win season. Ditto for the John Havlicek-Dave Cowens Celtics, who won a franchise-best 68 games (against 14 loses) in 1972-73, but got beat (much to my delight) in Game 7 by the archrival Knicks in the Eastern Conference Final.

So it’s a whole new season that got started this week vs. the Florida Panthers.

But it doesn’t mean the playoffs don’t begin with great promise and high expectations. They just have to back it by keeping the train rolling into June.

Sports 101: Fourteen is the record for most home runs in April. Name the two players who share that record.

News Item – Casas Not Living Up to Hype: Those over-the-top notions that Triston Casas is the next Lou Gehrig (OK, slight exaggeration), pushed by Red Sox brass to get people to buy tickets, aren’t looking so good. After 13 games he was hitting .123 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. That after a .196 September in 27 games last year. The power numbers, though, actually aren’t that bad, as 7 homers and 19 RBI in 40 games projects to 28 and 76.

News Item–NBA Hits Mavs with Big Fine for Tanking:Some will think the $750,000 fine the Dallas Mavericks got for sitting all their key players to ensure they lost to miss the playoffs was stiff. But we’re guessing owner Mark Cuban isn’t one of them. Because if they won them, they’d have lost the protected top 10 first-round pick they owed the Knicks for their long ago Kristaps Porzingis trade. Instead they’ll now draft a player for next year’s team. So instead of likely losing their one play-in game and having no pick (made more important since Porzingis lasted just two years in Dallas) Cuban likely sees the dough as investment in 2023-24 and not a punishment.

New Item – Xander Bogaerts Update: The ex-Red Sox shortstop was hitting .333 with 3 doubles, 4 homers, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored in his first 12 games with San Diego.

By contrast, replacement Trevor Story likely won’t play until June due to a severe elbow injury the brass knew he had when they let Bogie walk, while Story’s fill-in, Kiké Hernandez, was hitting .083 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in his first 11 games.

Thumbs Up – Minnesota Timberwolves: For doing the right thing by suspending ornery Rudy Gobert for throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during a game even though it caused him to miss their winner-take-all play-in game vs. the Lakers on Tuesday — which they lost. It said something about the team culture they want.

Thumbs Down – Major League Baseball: Thanks to the new speeding-up-baseball rules, with games quicker, beer sales are down. So their cutoffs have been extended to the eighth inning, which will likely send lubed up fans into traffic sooner than when the seven-inning rule, uh, ruled.

Quote of the Week – Snoop Dogg: After being asked who in today’s NBA reminds him most of Kobe Bryant, Snoop eventually said Steph Curry because “he’s never considered the best, but he’s always the best when it’s time to be the best.”

Random Thoughts:

Earth to Joe Mazzulla: Grant Williams should be in the rotation over Sam Hauser. He’s a better, more versatile defender and rebounder and according to the stats not all that much different a 3-point shooter (41.2 – 39.5).

Celtics should hope Jaylen Brown makes one of the three All-NBA teams. Not for the individual honor, but if he does, it makes him eligible for a $290 million contract extension to increase the likelihood he re-signs with the C’s after next year, because that’s $70 million more than he can get elsewhere.

The Numbers:

7 –Major League homers hit by Rafael Devers 14 games into 2023, which projects to 81 if he remains on the same pace.

11.75 –earned run average for one-time Sox ace Chris Sale after his first three 2023 starts. If Don Meredith were still around you wonder if he’d be singing his favorite tune, “The Party’s Over,” on the career for Sale.

13 – tied for most ever consecutive wins to start a season for the Rays after sweeping four from the Red Sox last week to become the first team since the 1987 Brewers (13-0) to start a season with a double-digit win streak. A string where they led the majors with 31 homers and outscored their opponents by an incredible 101-30 margin. It ended on Friday in Toronto.

30.1 – points per game averaged by Jayson Tatum in the just completed NBA season to make him the first Celtics player ever to average 30 or more points a game.

Sports 101 Answer: The April record of 14 homers is shared by Albert Pujols (2006) and Alex Rodriguez (2007).

Glossary: Don Meredith:QB in the 1960s as the expansion Cowboys were on their way to becoming America’s team who next teamed with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell in the ABC booth when Monday Night Football was a national sensation. Dandy Don would sing “the party’s over” when the game was out of reach.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Celtics Start Playoffs: Stumbling coming out of the All-Star break, including truly awful non-effort losses like blowing a 28-point lead vs. the non-Durant Nets, had Celtic Nation grumbling at best and filled with trepidation at worst. But they righted the ship to finish 57-25 and grabbed the second end in the East. However, they coughed up home court advantage vs. Milwaukee if both get to the Eastern Conference Finals, something that was vital last year when they had home court in their Game 7 win over Milwaukee.

I looked at it differently, as a product of their infuriating way of playing down to opponents, characterized by a lack of focus and lackadaisical defense. When someone good was on the schedule the focus and effort returned to show they can dominate anyone at their best, like the recent demolition of the Bucks, which came on the road, to show they ain’t afraid to play in Milwaukee.

And while they’re capable of getting through the East, it will be no cakewalk. The Bucks are as deep as they are and Giannis is more consistently great than Jayson Tatum, Philly has the likely MVP in Joel Embiid (see below), they were 1-3 vs. Cleveland and Miami plays them better/tougher than anyone except Golden State.

The key for them will be consistency behind the line and ability to deal with it by scoring inside and getting to the line when the 3-ball isn’t falling, as inevitably will happen some nights. Didn’t mention their D, because that’s an effort thing and the urgency of a playoff series usually puts a charge into everyone in green.

So, even with some concerns, buckle up because it could be a fun and hopefully long ride.

Sports 101: David Pastrnak became the eighth player in Bruins history to score at least 300 career goals when he became the 23rd NHL player to score 60 or more in a season on Sunday.

Name the seven other Bruins with 300 career goals.

The Numbers:

2 – pitch clock violations by Shohei Ohtani in being the first to do it once as a pitcher and once as a batter in the same game (a 4-3 Angels win over Seattle).

26 – years ago that Tiger Woods won the first of his six green jackets with a 12-stroke win in the 1997 Masters.

50 – recent per year increase in Major League homers attributed to climate change by a Dartmouth College study published last week.

News Item – Bruins Break All-Time Record: One down and one to go for your Boston Bruins after setting the all-time record for wins in a single season with No. 63 on Sunday vs. the Flyers. Next up is the 76-77 Canadiens record for most-ever 132 points, which they may get on Tuesday vs. Washington. Or, if not, against Montreal in Montreal on Thursday, which, given the way the Canadiens tormented them for most of their history, would be a more fitting way to do it.

News Item – Women’s Basketball Landmark Moment: Time will tell if this is the kind of watershed moment for women’s basketball that 1979’s legendary most watched Magic Johnson–Larry Bird clash was for the men. Drawing 12.6 million viewers, last Sunday’s Iowa-LSU NCAAchampionship game was the most-viewed women’s game ever in their sport, dwarfing last year’s 3.4 million viewers. An indicator may be the demographic breakdown between the more traditional male audience and the potentially growing female audience.

News Item – Watch Out For That Dude In The Playoffs: The 76ers may not have the greatest bench in the world but they will be a tough out in the playoffs thanks to having the most unstoppable force in Joel Embiid. Embiid showed that last week with a spectacular 52-point, 13-rebound, 6-assist night in Philly’s 103-101 win over the Celtics. And by going 20-25 from the field and 12-13 from the line he got those 52 the old-fashioned way since he didn’t make a 3-ball all night.

I Told You So Award – Me: With people inexplicably still calling Kyrie Irving a “game-changing superstar,” here’s what I said when he joined the then 28-26, 6-seed Mavericks after being traded/dumped by the Nets:“I’m betting they finish below .500 and land in the play-in round by year’s end….” I was wrong — kind of. They went 10-16 after he arrived, including 5-11 playing with Luka Doncic and 8-12 in the 20 games he played. In doing so they fell from the 6 seed to the 11 seed and entirely out of the playoffs. Superstar indeed.

Random Red Sox Thoughts:

Based on Masataka Yoshida’s decent start and stellar play in the WBC (three homers and a tournament-leading 13 RBI) the early indications are he’s not headed to be a Japanese version of Rusney Castillo.

I know he’s an emergency replacement who deserves some slack, but the five errors Kiké Hernandez already has in nine games projects to 90 over a full season.

How in the name of Calvin Schiraldi is Ryan Brasier still in their bullpen? He’s followed his 0-3, 5.36 ERA 2022 season with an early 9.00 ERA in five appearances. And the ERAs in two of the last three years were 3.96 and 4.85.

The 24,477 at Wednesday’s game vs. Pittsburgh was the smallest crowd since John Henry bought the Sox in 2002.

Sports 101 Answer: Johnny Bucyk (545), Phil Esposito (459), Patrice Bergeron (427), Rick Middleton (402), Ray Bourque (395), Brad Marchand (371), Cam Neely (344).

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Jackson Wants Out of Baltimore: He would unquestionably be an exciting upgrade over Mac Jones and for the Patriots overall. But the tantalizing question for local fans is, along with the two first-round picks Lamar Jackson would command if signed to a restricted free agent contract, are they willing to also surrender the additional players they’d have to give up/cut to fit $30+ million needed to get under the salary cap? That likely would start with Matthew Judon and Trent Brown for the first $20 million.

Then there’s also the question: Can a guy who runs as much as he does survive in the NFL through the entire term of his contract to make $200 million guaranteed worth it? Because if he goes down for a substantial time, as he has by missing the last two Decembers to kill the Ravens both times, or Bo Jackson-like for his career,it’s curtains.Ditto for the concussion-plagued way it ended for Troy Aikman and Steve Young. If it does, that’s a $40 million hole in your cap for whatever remained on the contract. and, oh by the way, you’d still need to find (and pay) a starting-caliber QB.

Finally, the other thing to consider is what Patriot Nation will think about letting Jackson pass by, if the Jets pivot from getting Aaron Rodgers to Jackson instead. Especially since they already have cleared enough cap space to fit Rodgers in without new cuts needed.

Sports 101: Who is the only person in baseball history to pitch a no-hitter on Opening Day?

News Item – NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney Wraps Up: UConn’s 72-58 rout of Miami was a bit of a clunker. But who didn’t love the Florida Atlantic–San Diego State barn-burner? Especially since it came down to a play that anyone who has shot baskets in the backyard has pretended to take and make a thousand times? But this time it was for real with the nation’s eyes trained on Lamont Butler on his way to joining the debate over the biggest clutch shots in NCAA Tournament history. He did it by draining a right-side 12-foot jumper that saw the buzzer go off just after he let it go but before it hit nothing but net to send San Diego State to the championship game with a 72-71 heartstopping win over Florida Atlantic.

Unfortunately for us that UConn-SDST final went off after we went to press but before we hit the streets.

Thumbs Up: To CBS announcer Jim Nantz upon calling his 32nd and last NCAA Tournament. The SRO crowd gave him a standing O prior to Saturday’s games, which fittingly came in Houston, where he went to college and was a member of the U of Houston golf team with best bud Fred Couples.

News Item – The Greatest Packer Ever: That hilarious claim was made by Rodgers of himself a couple of weeks ago on the Pat McAfee podcast. Which basically is Rodgers’ propaganda outlet in the way Jim Gray does it for Tom Brady on his podcast.

Best ever? Really? He’s not even their best QB ever. With winning the most important thing in pro sports I’ve got him behind Bart and Brett. Bart Starr was a five-time champ who went to six title games overall, was 9-1 in playoff games as his QB rating climbed from 80.5 in the regular season to 104.8 in post season and was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. For Rodgers, he has stat advantages thanks to a pass-happy era, but the QB rating dropped in January from 103.1 to 100.3 as he was 11-10 in the playoffs that annually never lived up to the usual hype in August of being championship-bound in all but one of his 15 years.

Brett Favre is No. 2 because he beats him in every stat you can think of and his two Super Bowls are one more than Rodgers has. And then there’s Forrest Gregg, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke and Willie Davis among others up there as well.

News Item – Choppy Seas for Sale: Giving up seven runs and three homers in just three innings was not the return to action many predicted for Chris Sale. However, his first 2023 start was not surprising to me, because after winning just five times in three years he’s going to have to prove he’s not the meatball artist he’s been in most outings since the second half of 2019.

In Case You Missed It: Let the record show that Raffy Devers was the first person called out for violating the new speed-up-the-game rules. It happened in the eighth inning of the opener when he took too long to get in the box and was hit with an automatic strike, which K’d him because he already had two strikes against him in the count.

The Devers punch-out was mildly reminiscent of opening day at Fenway 50 years earlier when the DH was baseball’s brand new rule as the Yankees’ Ron Blomberg stepped in as the first ever DH on a similarly brisk day in Boston in 1973.

Random Thoughts: Call me crazy, but amid all the MVP chatter for Jayson Tatum, I think Jaylen Brown has been more consistently excellent than Tatum, who’s had some seriously down games against some good teams.

Sports 101 Answer: The only hurler to pitch a no-no on Opening Day was Bob Feller, who struck out eight Chicago White Sox batters on April 16, 1940, and beat them 1-0.

A Little History: That game in 1940 was also the only time in history when no hitter in the lineup saw their average drop. That’s because the batting average for every player is .000 on Opening Day and thus it can’t drop lower even during a no-no.

Prediction: Red Sox go 77-85 to finish last in the AL East again.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

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 dlong@hippopress.com.

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 dlong@hippopress.com.

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 dlong@hippopress.com.