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Archives for May 2025

Knicks in Control; Tatum Hurt

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – With Boston’s All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum sidelined due to a major leg injury, New York’s Jalen Brunson scored 26 of his 39 points in the second half and the Knicks became the first home team to win in the series by dispatching the Boston Celtics 121-113 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal matchup.

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NY’s Karl-Anthony Towns added 23 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges also scored 23 for the Knicks, who recovered from a 14-point third-quarter deficit. OG Anunoby made some key plays late while contributing 20 points.

Boston’s Tatum sustained a serious right ankle or Achilles’ heel injury late in the contest. Tatum had 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. He knocked down seven 3-pointers for the second-seeded Celtics, who squandered 20-point leads while dropping the series’ first two games.

Boston’s Derrick White made six 3-pointers and scored 23 points and all-star and 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown added 20 points and seven rebounds for Boston. Payton Pritchard had 12 points for the Celtics.

The Knicks can clinch the best-of-seven series with a win in Game 5 at Boston on Wednesday night or a victory on their home court in Game 6 on Friday.

Anunoby drilled a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 5:52 left to start a decisive 14-2 spurt.

A jumper in the lane by Bridges made it 111-104, and Anunoby added a steal and dunk to increase the gap to 113-104 with 3:03 left. Tatum was injured on the latter play and grabbed for his ankle and signaled for a timeout with 2:58 to go.

Tatum was helped off the floor with his right foot kept in the air and was later seen being pushed to the locker room while sitting in a rolling chair.

Brunson nailed a trey to cap the run and all but seal it at 116-104 with 2:25 remaining.

New York connected on 54.3 percent of its shots and was 12 of 34 (35.3 percent) from behind the arc.

Boston made 18 of 48 3-point attempts (37.5 percent) and is 38 of 88 (43.2 percent) over the past two contests after being a dreadful 25 of 100 in its opening two setbacks. Overall, the Celtics made 48.1 percent of their shots in Game 4.

Boston led 72-58 after White’s 3-pointer with 9:06 remaining in the third quarter before the Knicks went on a 30-13 burst over the rest of the period.

A 3-pointer by Anunoby with 32.1 seconds left gave New York an 86-85 edge, the hosts’ first lead since the opening quarter. Josh Hart added a layup with 3.5 seconds left before Bridges opened the fourth quarter with a short jumper to give the Knicks a 90-85 lead.

Tatum drilled a 3-pointer to knot the score at 96 with 8:22 remaining. Tatum knocked down another trey 65 seconds later to give Boston a one-point advantage, and he later converted a three-point play to tie it at 102 with 6:12 to go.

Tatum (20 first-half points) and White (17) each made four 3-pointers as Boston led 62-51 at the break. Brunson led the Knicks with 13 points in the half.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Confidence High

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Celtics insisted they weren’t concerned by dropping the first two games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks.

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They stuck to the story despite those two setbacks coming at home. Even the fact they swept the four regular-season meetings and nearly all observers projected New York to be the team down 0-2 didn’t cause a lot of distress.

Blowing 20-point leads in both Games 1 and 2? Painful, of course, but not devastating enough to wave the white flag.

But their performance improved mightily in the third game of the matchup, and now Boston has a chance to even the series at 2-2 when it plays Monday night at New York.

“You’ve got to beat us four times. That’s what it comes down to,” said Celtics star Jaylen Brown. “Not twice, not once, not three. You’ve got to win four games, so there’s a lot of basketball to be played.”

The one Boston win came in superlative fashion.

The Celtics led by as many as 31 points and regained their 3-point shooting touch. After being a combined 25 of 100 from behind the arc in the defeats, Boston connected on 20 of 40 in the 115-93 rout.

Jayson Tatum and NBA Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard each made five. Pritchard scored 23 points after averaging just 11 over the first two games.

“Who cares what the outside world is saying,” Pritchard said in reference to some of the chatter about Boston’s propensity for firing away from outside. “‘We shoot too many 3s.’ Everybody’s all saying that, but if you believe in your shot and you’re able to hit it, then take it confidently.”

Tatum added 22 points in a contest in which five Boston players tallied 15 or more.

The Knicks are facing their first adversity of the series after being walloped at home. New York never led and was down 71-46 at halftime.

Knicks star Jalen Brunson scored 27 points, but he wasn’t overly thrilled with his team’s frame of mind.

“I don’t think we came with the mindset of being satisfied, but I think it was just subconsciously satisfied being up 2-0,” Brunson said. “Just not the way we need to approach the game.”

New York knows a Game 4 loss removes the advantage it gained by winning twice in Boston. So, it basically is now must-win territory for the Knicks.

“You have to earn your wins. You have to put the work into winning,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau said Sunday. “We knew coming in that they were going to be coming in with force and we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready for that. And you know — we’ve got to play a strong 48 minutes of basketball.”

Knicks forward Josh Hart said remaining even-keel is important for his club.

“We knew it was gonna be a tough series,” Hart said. “When we win, we’re not too high and when we lose, we’re not too low. We always try to stay even. Make adjustments, but the mentality, the character of the team doesn’t change.”

New York big man Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 15 rebounds in Game 3, but he also injured his left hand. Yet all appears to be well as Towns isn’t listed on the team’s injury report.

Boston listed reserve Sam Hauser (sprained right ankle) as questionable but is otherwise healthy.

Meanwhile, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla isn’t concerned that his team trails in the series.

“There’s no expectations,” Mazzulla said. “We’re on a path of trying to go after greatness. There’s nothing to dictate the test that’s in front of you.”

–Field Level Media

Sox Take Series vs Royals

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KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Wilyer Abreu homered and singled twice to help the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 3-1 win against the Kansas City Royals in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday.

Rafael Devers homered, singled and drove in the other two runs for the Red Sox, who have won four of five.

Lucas Giolito (1-1) made his third start of the season for Boston and allowed one unearned run and two hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Justin Wilson and Greg Weissert combined for 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief before Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

Royals starter Seth Lugo (3-4) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Kansas City had won seven of eight and 10 of 12.

Giolito retired the first six batters before Drew Waters singled up the middle to lead off the third. Luke Maile then walked, bringing up No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel, who laid down a bunt but Giolito’s throw to third got away, allowing Waters to score for 1-0 lead.

The Royals had runners at first and second with one out later in the inning, but Giolito struck out Bobby Witt Jr. before getting Vinnie Pasquantino to ground out to end the inning.

Abreu pulled a hanging curveball over the bullpen in right field for a 430-foot solo homer in the fourth, tying the score 1-1.

Lugo gave up a one-out single to Jarren Duran in the sixth. Devers then lifted the next pitch over the fence in center for a 440-foot two-run homer, giving Boston a 3-1 lead.

Steven Cruz pitched the seventh for the Royals, his 18th consecutive scoreless appearance over the past two seasons.

Daniel Lynch IV started the eighth for Kansas City and gave up a leadoff double down the third base line to Carlos Narvaez, who then moved to third on a sacrice bunt.

Lynch bounced back to strike out Duran before Devers was walked intentionally. John Schreiber then came in and struck out Bregman to end the threat.

TL’s Sunday Notes | May 11

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2025: The Cooper Flagg NBA Draft Lottery

BOSTON – Just think of the excitement which would’ve surrounded the 1953 NBA Draft if there was a Lottery for the rights to select Ray Felix. Or, maybe, a better example would’ve been the nationwide hype in 1958, when the great Elgin Baylor – a sure fire NBA Top 10 talent – was available as the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.

Later, there were coin flips between the worst team in the East and the worst of the West to determine the team to gain the rights to the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. But the Houston Rockets changed everything when they somehow maneuvered to select College Player of the Year Ralph Sampson (1983) and the great Hakeem Olajuwon(1984) in consecutive drafts.

Starting a year later, the NBA Draft Lottery was introduced, and the prize was Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, a franchise player, who went to the New York Knicks. There have been other franchise players – some call them generational talents and others call them transformational players. Let’s list just a few with the teams and years they were drafted:

  • 1985 – Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
  • 1987 – David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
  • 1992 – Shaquille O’Neal, Orlando Magic
  • 1996 – Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers
  • 1997 – Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
  • 2002 – Yao Ming, Houston Rockets
  • 2003 – LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
  • 2023 – Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

Purposely left off the list above are the No. 1 picks in the NBA Draft Lottery era from Duke University:

  • 1999 – Elton Brand, Chicago Bulls
  • 2011 – Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
  • 2019 – Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
  • 2022 – Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic

That’s not a bad list of No. 1 picks from Duke, but there’s another player on the line this year, and he might – just might – be destined for the transformational player category, a true franchise man and a player who will make everyone around him much better.

Cooper Flagg, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound 18-year-old with one collegiate basketball season under his belt, leading Duke and garnering every Player of the Year honor in the nation, is destined for greatness as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.

Yes, the conspiracy theorists are already dreaming up reasons for Flagg to be channeled to some NBA franchise in need. Here are the odds for this year’s event:

1. Utah Jazz: 14%

2. Washington Wizards: 14%

3. Charlotte Hornets: 14%

4. New Orleans Pelicans: 12.5%

5. Philadelphia 76ers: 10.5% – The Sixers’ first-round pick is top-6 protected; if it falls between 7-14, it will go to Oklahoma City

6. Brooklyn Nets: 9%

7. Toronto Raptors: 7.5%

8. San Antonio Spurs: 6%

9. Phoenix Suns: 3.8% – The Suns’ first-round pick will go to Houston

10. Portland Trail Blazers: 3.7%

11. Dallas Mavericks: 1.8%

12. Chicago Bulls: 1.7%

13. Sacramento Kings: 0.8% – The Kings’ first-round pick is top-12 protected; if it falls out of that range, it goes to Atlanta

14. Atlanta Hawks: 0.7% – The Hawks’ first-round pick will go to San Antonio

*Take that 0.7% and add it to the Spurs’ 6%, and San Antonio has a 6.7% chance of drafting three consecutive NBA Rookies of the Year.

While we all hesitate to put the pressure on and place Cooper Flagg in the same sentence as Larry Bird, truth be told, Flagg is much more like Larry Bird than he is Uwe Blab. Flagg does not score the ball anywhere near as well as Bird did, nor is it expected he can turn a franchise around completely the way Bird transformed the Boston Celtics, and he was 23 years old as a rookie (compared to Flagg being 18).

Remember, the Celtics’ records before and after Bird joined the club?

  • 1978-79 – 29-53 (10th in East) – (Before Larry Bird)
  • 1979-80 – 61-21 (1st in East)
  • 1980-81 – 62-20 (NBA Champions)

Of course, Bird worked with a team and frontline reconstructed by GM Red Auerbachto add Bird to rookie power forward Kevin McHale and veteran center Robert Parish. And, as the great Charles Barkley famously quipped when questioning Bird’s ability to make ‘everyone around him better,’ – “Who’s it easier to make better? Kevin McHale or Shelton Jones?”

At 18 years of age, Flagg plays the game with an ease and ability to move and pass the ball on offense – almost in an Earvin “Magic” Johnson manner, rather than Bird. Flagg rebounds and defends at a rate higher than most collegiate senions, nevermind freshmen. At times, he’d create viral video highlights or posterize his opponent, but regularly, he’d score within the basic flow of the game, make big plays and passes while helping his teammates out on defense. Flagg’s game translates to the pro game but it will take two or three years for him to mature, grow and strengthen his body to compete at the highest level.

Flagg is joining an NBA with immensely talented players, many long/lengthy 6-8, 6-9 frames with the wingspan of a 747 and jumping ability of Darnell Hillman (look him up). Bird joined a much more physical, big man dominated league (think NY’s Marvin “The Human Eraser” Williams-Bill Cartwright or even Washington’s Elvin Hayes-Rick Mahorn-Jeff Ruland style players).

Neither era is better or worse, easier or harder to adjust to coming from the 30+ game college season to the 82+ playoff grind of the NBA. Time, coaching, maturity and a complementary teammate pool determines success in the NBA. But surely Flagg is destined for success, no matter which NBA team he ends up playing for in 2025-26.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday did a little double duty in the NBA Awards category this season. On May 1, Holiday was named the recipient of the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award and won the Joe Dumars Trophy. The veteran guard became the first member of the Boston Celtics to win the award since its inception in 1995-96. On Wednesday, the NBA announced Holiday was named the 2024-25 NBA Social Justice Champion and will receive the Kareem Abdul-JabbarTrophy. Holiday was selected from a group of five finalists for pursuing social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar’s life mission to engage, empower and drive equality for individuals and groups who have been historically disadvantaged. Finalists for the award were Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Harrison Barnes (San Antonio Spurs), Chris Boucher (Toronto Raptors) and CJ McCollum (New Orleans Pelicans).

WHATEVER YOU NEED: From the moments after Tristan Casas barreled down the first base line, clipped the leg of Minnesota Twins first baseman Ty France and tumbled down, rupturing his left patellar (knee) tendon, the Boston Red Sox were contemplating the best fix for the line-up. The immediate answer was to insert RomyGonzalez, a competent batsman who was already seeing time at 1B. A longer-range plan was to consider having 2025 designated hitter Rafael Devers take reps at first, thus allowing manager Alex Coro to fill the DH position depending on player availability and need.

When Spring Training began, the Red Sox asked Devers to “take one for the team” and shift from his usual third base position to DH, in order to place the golden glove fielding Alex Bregman at the hot corner. Undoubtedly, Bregman is a better fielder than Devers, but the elder mainstay of the Sox turned ornery upon hearing of the plans.

On Thursday afternoon, after the Red Sox blanked the Texas Rangers, 5-0, the topic of switching Devers to 1B surfaced yet again. And when Devers was asked if he was upset over the inquiry, he responded in Spanish, “Sí, claro.” – (Yes, of course).

Through Boston’s Spanish-language translator Daveson Perez to a group of reporters, Devers said, ““They’ve told me I’m a little hard-headed. [But] they already asked me to change once, and this time, I don’t think I can be as flexible. I don’t feel that they stayed true to their word. They told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So I just don’t think they stayed true to their word,” Devers repeated.

“I don’t understand some of the decisions that [Craig Breslow] makes. Next thing you know someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield. I think I know the kind of player that I am, and that’s just where I stand.”

THIS JEST IN: In addition to the locker drama created this past Thursday when Devers aired his point of view on a 2024-25 switch from 3B-to-DH-to-1B, the veteran said, “In Spring Training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove and I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH.”

So much for the “Oh, put me in, coach, I’m ready to play today. Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play today, look at me (yeah), I can be centerfield” approach. (Apologies to John Fogerty).

To help resolve the situation, Red Sox principal team owner John Henry flew to Kansas City to join the team on its current road trip.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: As is customary in this space, the good people of SPORTICO have graced the sports industry with a fine list of the 50 most valuable soccer teams in the world. Here’s a Top 10 taste (All in billions of the US Dollar):

  1. Real Madrid – $6.53
  2. Manchester United – $6.09
  3. FC Barcelona – $5.71
  4. Liverpool – $5.59
  5. Bayern Munich – $5.21
  6. Manchester City – $5.16
  7. Arsenal – $4.49
  8. Paris Saint-Germain – $4.26
  9. Tottenham Hotspur – $3.68
  10. Chelsea – $3.57

Not So Fast, New York

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s All-NBA star Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the Celtics went up by 20 (again) but pulled away for a 115-93 win over the host New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series.

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Celtics’ Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard scored a team-high 23 points off the bench for Boston, which cut the Knicks’ lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Jaylen Brown scored 19 points and Derrick White had 17.

New York’s Jalen Brunson scored 27 points on 9-for-21 shooting to lead the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

After struggling to score in the first two games of the series, the Celtics found their rhythm on offense. Boston shot 48.2 percent (40 of 83) overall and 50 percent (20 of 40) from 3-point range, and New York shot 40 percent (32 of 80) from the field and 20 percent (5 of 25) from beyond the arc.

Tatum made a basket to put Boston on top 112-89 with 2:40 remaining. He assisted on a 3-pointer by Al Horford on the next possession, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla rested his starters for the remainder of the game with the score out of reach.

The Celtics led 96-70 at the end of the third quarter. Boston led by as many as 31 points after Pritchard made a basket with 1:42 to go in the quarter, and the Knicks trimmed slightly into the deficit by scoring the final five points of the quarter on an alley-oop dunk by Mitchell Robinson, a floating jump shot by Brunson and a free throw by Robinson.

Boston sprinted to a 36-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Pritchard drove the ball across half court and hit a baseline jumper as time expired to put the Celtics on top by 16.

By halftime, the Celtics increased their lead to 71-46. Brown buried a 3-pointer to put Boston at the 70-point mark with 30.5 seconds left in the half, and he made one of two free throws in the closing seconds to give the Celtics a 25-point advantage.

–Field Level Media

Celtics: Season on the Brink

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had a simple message for his players heading into their matchup against the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series.

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The Knicks grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after storming back from 20-point deficits in back-to-back games. Thibodeau told his players to forget all about that.

“It’s really irrelevant,” Thibodeau said. “I think the big thing is to understand what it’s going to take to win Game 3, to not get lost in if you’re up (in the series). That doesn’t guarantee anything. What we have to understand is what we have to do to win Game 3.”

Meanwhile, the Celtics expect to play with a hint of desperation when Game 3 tips off on Saturday afternoon in New York.

Boston finished 61-21 in the regular season and earned the second seed in the conference playoffs. But the Celtics fumbled big leads in the first two games of the series, which resulted in a 108-105 overtime win by the third-seeded Knicks in Game 1 and a 91-90 win for the Knicks in Game 2.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla knows the series will not get any easier at Madison Square Garden.

“You’re down 2-0 heading on the road,” Mazzulla said. “You have an understanding of your environment and what you’re up against. There’s also obviously a lot of things that we’re doing well, but then there’s things that we need to be extremely better at in those situations.

“We’re down 0-2. We’ve got to get on the road and we’ve got to find a way to win.”

For Boston, that likely means Jayson Tatum will need to play better. He is averaging 18 points in the first two games but he is shooting a lowly 28.6 percent (12 of 42) overall and 25 percent (5 of 20) from beyond the arc.

Jaylen Brown (21.5 points per game) and Derrick White (19.5) lead the Celtics in scoring in the series, but the team has struggled to find its rhythm on offense. Boston is shooting 35.6 percent overall and 25 percent from 3-point range in the first two games.

Devers: “Oh, Henry”

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KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After meeting with Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry, veteran slugger Rafael Devers remained at designated hitter for Friday night’s road game against the Kansas City Royals.

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Devers, a three-time All-Star at third base, already lost that spot on the field when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a three-year contract in February. The nine-year veteran was vocal this week about not wanting to take over at first base, at least not full time.

Devers met with Henry and manager Alex Cora before the game. Boston’s chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, who joined team president Sam Kennedy and Henry on the trip to Kansas City, said Henry “seems to have had a productive conversation (with Devers), and that’s where it is at right now.”

Cora also called it “a good conversation,” although he said no decision was made about Devers’ position going forward.

Devers “expressed his feelings. John did the same. I think everybody saw who was here, so I think that carries weight in the clubhouse,” Cora said.

The first base vacancy arose when Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury to his left knee on May 2. Casas had surgery on his left patella.

Devers said on Thursday that the Red Sox floated the idea of him moving to first shortly after Casas’ injury. He said the team “can’t expect me to play every single position out there.”

Devers, who has played exclusively at DH this season, started the season slowly at the plate, going 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts before breaking into the hit column in his sixth game.

He has rebounded of late, hitting .365 in his last 13 games to raise his batting average to .253. He went 1-for-5 and drove in Boston’s only run in a 2-1 loss to the Royals in 12 innings on Friday.

Devers has a career batting average of .278. In his nine seasons in the majors, he has 206 home runs and 664 RBIs.

 

Charlie Woods Falls Short

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PALM BEACHES – (Wire Service Report) – Charlie Woods was unsuccessful in his second attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open. Woods, 16, carded a 3-over-par 75 at Wellington Golf Club near the Palm Beaches on Thursday. The son of 15-time major champion Tiger Woods was seven strokes shy of the required score of 68.

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The younger Woods did show improvement, however.

Last year, he fired a 9-over 81 at The Legacy Golf & Tennis Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He rebounded to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur, however he missed the cut at that tournament by 18 strokes.

Arth Sinha finished atop the heap in the U.S. Open qualifying at 6-under 66, one stroke better than Matthew Marigliano.

Devers Hits – Baseball and Breslow

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Before he went way off script to question the Red Sox organization and team General Manager Craig Breslow, current designated hitter Rafael Devers had two hits, including a home run, and the Boston Red Sox used four pitchers to earn a 5-0 victory over the visiting Texas Rangers on Thursday.

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Devers made it a five-run lead when he hit a solo home run against reliever Jacob Latz in the seventh inning. It was his sixth home run of the season. Devers also had an RBI single in the fifth.

“In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH, so right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position,” said Devers to reporters through an interpreter (Spanish-English).

“I don’t feel that they stayed true to their word,” he said. “They told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So I just don’t think they stayed true to their word,” said Devers. “They’ve told me I’m a little hard-headed. [But] they already asked me to change once, and this time, I don’t think I can be as flexible.”

Back to the ballgame, Ceddanne Rafaela also had two hits for the Red Sox, who had six total hits, while winning consecutive games for the first time this month.

Boston starter Brayan Bello pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings but struggled with his control. He held Texas to four hits and struck out one with five walks.

Justin Slaten (1-3) took over for Bello in the fifth inning and did not allow a run over 1 1/3 hitless innings. Garrett Whitlock pitched the seventh and Liam Hendriks was on the mound for the final two innings, recording two strikeouts.

No. 9 hitter Tucker Barnhart had three hits for Texas, which was limited to five singles in the loss. Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith also had hits for the Rangers.

Texas received 5 1/3 innings from starting pitcher Jack Leiter (2-2), who allowed three runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

The Red Sox scored two runs in the second, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Trevor Story handed Boston a 1-0 lead when he scored on a Leiter wild pitch in the first inning. The Red Sox doubled their lead later in the inning on a Jarren Duran groundout that allowed Carlos Narvaez to score.

It remained 2-0 until the fifth, when Rafaela scored on a Devers single to center. A Narvaez single drove in Story to make it 4-0 in the sixth before Devers’ home run in the seventh.

–Field Level Media

ROAD RAGE

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – New York’s all-star guard Jalen Brunson made two free throws with 12.7 seconds to play, lifting the Knickerbockers to a 91-90 win over the host Boston Celtics on Wednesday, resulting in an astonishing 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

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Boston had a chance to recover in the final seconds, but Mikal Bridges knocked the ball away from Jayson Tatum and New York took possession.

NY’s Josh Hart had a game-high 23 points for the Knicks who trailed by 20 points in the third quarter and by 16 in the fourth. The Knicks received 21 points and 17 rebounds from center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Bridges put up 14 points — all in the fourth quarter. Brunson finished with 17 points and a game-high seven assists.

Derrick White and Jaylen Brown each scored 20 points for the Celtics.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be played Saturday afternoon in New York.

New York took its first lead on a Brunson layup that made it 87-86 with 1:59 to play. Another Brunson layup capped a 21-2 run that stretched New York’s lead to three points before two Tatum free throws pulled the Celtics within one point with 44.9 seconds left.

Boston took a 90-89 lead on a Tatum dunk with 18.5 seconds to go, but Brunson knocked down two free throws on the ensuing possession.

Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game during the regular season, was held to 13 points, but he grabbed 14 rebounds.

Boston also received eight points off the bench from Kristaps Porzingis, who didn’t play in the second half of Game 1 because of an illness. Porzingis played only 14 minutes in Game 2.

The Celtics played without Sam Hauser, who sustained an ankle injury in the third quarter of Game 1.

Boston led 24-13 after one quarter on Wednesday and 50-41 at halftime. The Celtics were up by 16 before the Knicks finished the second quarter on an 11-4 run. Tatum was held to two points in the first half.

The Celtics extended their lead to 70-50 on a Porzingis dunk with 4:05 remaining in the third, but New York scored the final eight points in the quarter to cut Boston’s lead to 73-61 entering the final frame.

In NBA history, no team has won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games at home.

–Field Level Media