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Celtics Edged by Milwaukee Bucks

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Milwaukee Bucks 121 – Boston Celtics 119

Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton scored 27 points and 13 rebounds and Bobby Portis added a season-high-tying 21 points off the bench to lead the Bucks to a tight victory over the struggling Boston. Milwaukee led by 20 points midway through the third quarter.

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Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his 24 points in the opening quarter and added 10 rebounds throughout the game. Kemba Walker added 23 points for the Celtics. Celtics C/F Daniel Theis missed an open three-point FG attempt at the buzzer.

Boston has lost five of their last six games overall and 10 of their last 11 on the road.

Donte DiVincenzo made five 3-pointers to join Brook Lopez with 17 points for the Bucks, who nearly squandered a 25-point lead before extending their winning streak to a season-high e

Bruins, Fans Return to TD Garden

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BOSTON – After a two-game postponement and COVID-19+ pause in their season, the Boston Bruins will return to their home ice at TD Garden with a limited number of fans in the stands to watch the game in-person. The game tonight against the New York Islanders will be the first major sports game with fans in the stands since the global pandemic shutdown the world and the sports industry last March.

The Bruins cancelled a routine morning skate today. The club did practice yesterday after a week of being sidelined and that practice came after David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Craig Smith were cleared after spending five days in the NHL protocol.

Bruins Jake DeBrusk and Sean Kuraly remained on the list for a seventh consecutive day.

Game time is 7pm EDT on NESN.

 

NFL: Patriots Sign RB White

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FOXBORO – The New England Patriots re-signed unrestricted free-agent running back James White and came to terms with exclusive rights free-agent fullback Jakob Johnson, shoring-up their backfield  on Thursday.

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White will return for his eighth season with the Patriots, while Johnson, 26, returns for his third year with the club.

James signed a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $2.5 million while the financial terms of Johnson’s one-year deal weren’t disclosed, according to ESPN.

Red Sox: Countdown to Opening Day

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FORT MYERS, March 24 – Today marks the second of two Grapefruit League meetings between the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, following a March 4th Baltimore 6-3 win over Boston in Sarasota. The Red Sox are coming off a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves in yesterday’s road game. The Sox are 8-2 at jetBlue Park and 4-6-1 on the road.

Including today, the Sox have four home games and three road games remaining.

The Sox will play the Orioles 19 times in the regular season (nine home, 10 road), including the season- opening series at Fenway Park (April 1-4).

Six of Boston’s first nine games will be vs. the Orioles, as well as 10 of their first 36. In an 82-game stretch from May 11-August 12, the Sox will not face the O’s.

Boston is  5-2 over their last seven games and 9-3-1 in their last 13. Only the Royals (13-6-3), Blue Jays (13-8-1), and Yankees (13-7-2) have more wins than the Red Sox. The Sox have only seven games remaining in spring training before opening the regular season.

NHL: Boston Bruins Update

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BOSTON – The Boston Bruins will return from an in-season, COVID-19 pause when they play the New York Islanders Thursday night at TD Garden after having two games postponed this past week. Boston has a seven-game home stand awaiting their return to action, ranging from March 25 to April 5.

With the lack of practice and access to team facilities and media sessions, Boston General Manager Don Sweeney met with the Boston-area press via video conference call.

“Our apologies that we’ve been a little off the radar for the last couple of days,” said Sweeney.  “You can imagine in conjunction with the protocols and medical advice, we have not returned to the facilities … that’s just adhering to all the medical advice and protocols of the National Hockey League.

“But I want to make ourselves available to answer any questions as we continue to gain knowledge and move forward over the next couple of days with the hope of returning to a practice environment at some point in time on Wednesday, but we have some hurdles to cross before we can get there,” he added.

“Subsequent testing here over the next couple of days may determine who’s available to us. We do believe that we’ll have a couple of players that will be unavailable, and then the rest of the test results will determine who is available to participate on Thursday night if we’re able to do so,” said Sweeney.

“Testing protocols will determine if we get back at full capacity, or what capacity we get to either Wednesday or Thursday. Really most of the time, it revolves around testing and the league has done a fabulous job of trying to add secondary layers of point-of-care on game days and such, and even in our case on game days or on other teams’ cases. So that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to continue to follow medical advice and cross our fingers to a large degree that everybody remains negative, and the people that have to continue to test, and hopefully return with a full group.”

The question that remains to be answered and will play-out when the Bruins return to the ice absent of recent practice and NHL game-level conditioning, is whether there will be a setback, mentally and physically.

“Well, I think there’s mental fatigue involved in a lot of these things. You’ve got a lot of people that are making decisions for you and putting forth their best medical advice. Even whether or not you’re playing that game on Thursday night, you’re not in a normal routine of preparing, you’re not at the rink on Friday. You’re waiting until a certain period of time when test results come back before you’re able to go to the rink as a group. It’s challenging on the players, it’s challenging on the coaching staff. For all teams involved, not just for our team.”

Sweeney and veteran players have taken the role to keep constant communication open to the players.

“Yeah, we try to communicate as effectively as possible, shooting out updates. Certainly Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] does a really good job of connecting with the players when we do have updates. We’ve been in a holding pattern, they know that. They know the quarantine that they’re facing and the responsibilities each individual has before we’re going to be able to get up and running again. They’re going to adhere to it.

“And we’re going to get back and hopefully move forward and not have any more setbacks from the standpoint of games being cancelled.”

NBA: Celtics Lose in Overtime

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MEMPHIS – Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant scored 29 points and added nine assists to lead the Grizzlies over the visiting Boston Celtics, 132-126, in overtime Monday. Morant hit three of four free throws in the closing seconds of OT to preserve Memphis’ third win in four games.

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Playing without two of their top three players –  Jayson Tatum, who sat out due to an illness, and Kemba Walker, sidelined due to left knee injury management – the Celtics dropped their fifth game of seven since returning to action following the annual NBA All-Star break.

Jaylen Brown scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half and finished with nine rebounds and five assists for Boston while reserve Jeff Teague, who started for Tatum, had 26 points and six assists.

Jonas Valanciunas contributed 16 points and a game-high 19 rebounds as the Grizzlies secured a split of the two-game season series against Boston. Dillon Brooks scored five of his 24 points in overtime to help the Grizzlies outscore Boston 15-9.

Red Sox Spring Training Notes (Mar. 23)

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FORT MYERS – In yesterday’s 10-4 win at Tampa Bay, four of Boston’s eight hits went for extra bases, including Home Runs by Christian Arroyo, Michael Chavis, and Bobby Dalbec. In the 3rd inning, Arroyo and Chavis homered on consecutive pitches.

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Dalbec and Chavis each hit their sixth HR of spring training yesterday, the most in the Grapefruit League and tied with LA Dodgers slugger Corey Seager for most in the majors.

The Red Sox are 8-3-1 in their last 12 games of Grapefruit League action. There are only nine days left until MLB Opening Day. Boston leads the Grapefruit League in runs (121), AVG (.271), HR (32), doubles (40), OBP (.356), and SLG (.498)… They have hit 8 more HR than any other team in the Grapefruit League.

Today marks the seventh of nine scheduled Grapefruit League meetings between the Red Sox and Atlanta Braves (currently tied, 3-3). The clubs will close out their spring training schedules against each other on 3/29 in North Port and 3/30 at jetBlue Park. The Sox and Braves will play each other 4 times in the regular season, with 2 games at Fenway Park (5/25-26) and 2 at Truist Park (6/15-16).

 

Red Sox: Spring Training Notes: Mar 22

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FORT MYERS – The Red Sox dropped a 9-4 decision to the Pittsburgh Pirates and have lost their last two games, after going 7-1-1 in their previous nine outings. The Sox are 8-2 at jetBlue Park and 2-6-1 on the road.

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Today marks the seventh of eight Grapefruit League meetings between the Red Sox and Rays (Boston leads, 4-2). Only three of the Sox’ first 72 games will be against the Rays (4/5-7 at home), as well as only six of their first 106. From 7/30-9/8, 13 of the Sox’ 36 games will be against Tampa Bay.

Including today, the Sox have four home games and five road games remaining in Spring Training as the 10-day countdown to opening day begins.

Notes: Red Sox manager Alex Cora and Rays manager Kevin Cash were teammates with the Red Sox in 2007 and 2008, helping lead BOS to the postseason in each year…The Sox won the World Series in 2007. … Cora was major league teammates with six current MLB managers: Cash, Aaron Boone (CLE, 2005), Craig Counsell (LAD, 1999), Gabe Kapler (BOS, 2005-06), Dave Roberts (LAD, 2002-04), and David Ross (BOS, 2008).

 

Red Sox: Spring Training Update (Mar 21)

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FORT MYERS, FLORIDA – The Boston Red Sox had their 3-game win streak snapped on Saturday with an 8-2 loss at Atlanta. The Red Sox are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and 10-5-1 since beginning Spring Training 0-2. Boston has 10 games remaining in spring training before opening the regular season at home on Thursday, 4/1, against the Orioles.

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The Red Sox lead the majors in OPS (.854) and lead the Florida Grapefruit League in runs (107), AVG (.272), HR (29), doubles (35), OBP (.354), and SLG (.501).

The Red Sox have 35 active players remaining in Major League Spring Training camp, including 29 members of the 40-man roster and six non-roster invitees. In addition, LHP Chris Sale (60-day IL) and OF Franchy Cordero (COVID-19 Related IL) are on the injured list. Opening Day rosters must consist of 26 active players and must be submitted to MLB by noon (EDT) on Thursday, April 1.

Eleven members of the Red Sox’ 40-man roster/IL were not in the organization during the 2020 season and an additional five players on the 40-man were acquired in August 2020 including, Christian Arroyo, Nick Pivetta, Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario, and Connor Seabold.

Sox Manager Alex Cora announced that Eduardo Rodriguez will make his 1st career Opening Day start this season (4/1 vs. BAL). After missing the entire 2020 season with myocarditis, Rodriguez is 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA, .195 opponent AVG, and 0.69 WHIP in three starts this spring.

Two Bruins Games Postponed

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BOSTON – (From Official News Release) – The National Hockey League announced, that as a result of four additional Boston Bruins Players entering the NHL’s COVID Protocols, the team’s game Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres and Tuesday versus the New York Islanders will be postponed. Pending test results in the coming days, it is expected that the Bruins will be able to re-open their facilities for practice on Wednesday, March 24. The decision was made by the League’s, NHLPA’s and Club’s medical groups.

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The Bruins’ organization has, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.