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Archives for June 7, 2021

New York’s Thibs is NBA Coach of Year

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NEW YORK – New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was presented with the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2020-21 NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA announced. It was the second NBA Coach of the Year Award for Thibodeau, who earned the honor in the 2010-11 season with the Chicago Bulls in his first season as an NBA head coach.

Now honored in his first season as the Knicks’ head coach, Thibodeau has become the first person to be named NBA Coach of the Year in his first season as head coach with two different franchises. (Cotton Fitzsimmons won the award in his first season as the Kansas City Kings’ head coach, 1978-79, and again in the first season of his second tenure as the Phoenix Suns’ head coach, 1988-89.)

Thibodeau received 43 first-place votes and earned 351 total points to edge Phoenix head coach Monty Williams, who finished in second place with 340 points (45 first-place votes). The 11-point difference between the first- and second-place finishers marks the smallest margin since the current NBA Coach of the Year voting format was introduced in the 2002-03 season. Williams had two more first place votes and 10 more victories than Thibodeau.

Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder finished in third place with 161 points (10 first-place votes). Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.

With Thibodeau as head coach, New York finished tied for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference (41-31) and made the NBA Playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The Knicks won 16 of their final 20 games to complete a turnaround from last season’s overall record of 21-45.

Red Sox Win in 10; Sweep Yankees

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BRONX – Boston all-star shortstop Xander Bogaerts laced a two-run single with two outs in the 10th inning and the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the struggling New York Yankees by holding on for a 6-5 victory at Yankee Stadium.

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Red Sox slugger Bobby Dalbec opened the 10th with a walk on a pitch that resulted in New York hitting coach Marcus Thames screaming from the dugout and the ejection of bench coach Carlos Mendoza.

The Red Sox had runners at second and third following a sacrifice bunt by Christian Arroyo, and Bogaerts provided for Boston’s lead when he hit a 2-1 slider off Luis Cessa (1-1) to the gap in left-center field to give Boston a 6-4 lead.

Bogaerts had given the Red Sox a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, and his double gave Boston its first three-game sweep in New York since June 7-9, 2011.

The Red Sox blew a 4-3 lead when closer Matt Barnes (2-1) allowed a game-tying double to Gleyber Torres in the ninth. He stranded runners at first and third by striking out pinch hitter Rougned Odor on a full-count pitch that replays showed was outside and resulted in the ejection of New York third base coach Phil Nevin by plate umpire Gabe Morales.

Boston’s Phillips Valdez hit Clint Frazier with his first pitch of the 10th, got a double play on Miguel Andujar and allowed an infield single to Tyler Wade to make it 6-5. Wade took second on a throwing error by Marwin Gonzalez and, following an animated mound visit from manager Alex Cora, Valdez retired DJ LeMahieu on a groundout for his first career save.

PGA Tour: Wrap-Up at The Memorial

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PGA Tour Brunch – The Memorial Notebook

DUBLIN (Ohio) – After matching 1-under( 71s), the 2019 Memorial Tournament champion, Patrick Cantlay, defeated Collin Morikawa in sudden death. Cantlay takes the lead in the FedExCup points standings. With the win, Cantlay became the seventh multiple winner of the Memorial Tournament

The sudden death playoff was the seventh playoff of the PGA Tour season and first since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

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Morikawa’s playoff loss marked his sixth Top-10 finish of the season and third in his last five starts.

Scottie Scheffler narrowly missed first PGA Tour title and second professional victory in Columbus.

A week after missing the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge, Patrick Reed(5th/-8) closed with a 3-under 69 to mark his sixth Top-10 finish of the season and first since a T-6 at the Wells Fargo Championship

The Memorial Tournament is one of three tournaments on the PGA TOUR schedule with “elevated status” (others: The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard). The three elevated events offer a larger purse ($9.3 million), a three-year PGA TOUR exemption and, new in 2021, 550 FedExCup points to the winner.

With his win at this season’s Genesis Invitational, T-10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-6 at this week’s Memorial Tournament, Max Homa became the first player to earn Top-10 finishes in all three events since Bill Haas in 2013.

Final Leaderboard at The Memorial

*Patrick Cantlay 69-67-68-71—275 (-13)

Collin Morikawa 66-72-66-71—275 (-13)

Scottie Scheffler 67-71-69-70—277 (-11)

Branden Grace 68-72-67-71—278 (-10)

Patrick Reed 71-71-69-69—280 (-8)

*defeated Collin Morikawa with a par on the first hole of sudden death (par-4 18th)