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Celtics Play Well, Play “In”

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BOSTON – Boston’s all-star forward Jayson Tatum scored 23 of his 50 points in the third quarter and the Celtics advanced to the NBA Playoffs with a 118-100 victory over the Washington Wizards in the NBA’s new “play-in” tournament. Washington will play the Indiana Pacers (144-117 winners over Charlotte) on Thursday with the winner grabbing the final Eastern Conference playoff slot.

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All-Star Kemba Walker added 29 points as Boston, which had lost five of its final six regular-season games, claimed the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference bracket. The Celtics will meet the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets in a first-round matchup, with Game 1 set for Saturday night.

Washington, which went 17-6 to finish the regular season and outscored Boston 33-25 in the second quarter of play, led 56-55 at the beginning of the third quarter before the Celtics exploded with 14 straight points as part of a 19-2 run.

 

Slumping Celtics Take on Washington

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Services Reports) – The oft-injured, chemistry-challenged Boston Celtics ended the NBA regular season in a deep slump, while the surging Washington Wizards soared to the finish line. Yet, with the NBA’s new Play-In pre-playoff tournament beginning this week, the two teams will converge Tuesday night when the Celtics host the Wizards. The winner will land the No. 7 seed for the Eastern Conference Playoffs, while the loser will get another attempt to play their way in on Thursday night.

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The play-in games are going to be exciting for fans and it puts an added weight and added importance,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “And then once you get into the playoffs and teams dial into each other and prepare for each other, you see everybody’s level rise.”

The Celtics (36-36), who finished seventh in the Eastern Conference, need to raise their level now as they struggled down the stretch with five losses in six games and nine of their past 13. In previous NBA seasons, the Celtics would be facing the No. 2 Brooklyn Nets in a first-round Best of 7 series, beginning in Brooklyn.

Regardless, the Celtics are limping into the postseason, having recently lost standout swingman Jaylen Brown (wrist) for the rest of the season. He averaged 24.7 points per game and losing Brown’s firepower hurts even more when the opponent trots out Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook as the starting backcourt.

Washington (34-38), which is in the eighth position, was red-hot down the stretch with 17 wins in its past 23 games. Westbrook went into high-level triple-double mode and finished with 38 on the season and 184 for his career, eclipsing NBA legend Oscar Robertson‘s long-held record of 181.

Beal finished second in the NBA in scoring at 31.3 points per game but is less than full strength due to a strained left hamstring that caused him to miss three games before he returned Sunday and scored 25 points in a 115-110 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

“There’s no set-backs, which is good,” Beal said. “I didn’t injure it any worse than what it was. Obviously, it still probably won’t be 100 percent. It is just a matter of managing it as best I can.”

Westbrook recorded triple-doubles in 20 of his past 24 appearances and his first season of teaming up with Beal has been a big success. He averaged a triple-double for the fourth time in the past five seasons, recording an NBA-leading 11.7 assists to go with 22.2 points and a career-high 11.5 rebounds.

After having to yield to James Harden last season with the Houston Rockets, Westbrook has been free to play the game his way under Washington coach Scott Brooks, who was previously his coach in Oklahoma City.

“You gotta give credit to our coach because he’s done an amazing job of making adjustments on the fly,” Westbrook said of Brooks. “The players always get the recognition, but Scotty has done a hell of a job of being consistent and finding ways to make us better along with the coaching staff.”

There will certainly be the eyes on the Boston coach as well as Stevens’ club took a step back this season after losing in the Eastern Conference finals in three of the past four seasons.

This time, the Celtics are still trying to make it into the field and multiple players have been ailing down the stretch, including star forward Jayson Tatum (ankle).

Tatum isn’t worried about the injury for Tuesday, but he understands his club needs to step up its performance.

“It’s been such an up-and-down season,” said Tatum, who averages 26.4 points per game. “Obviously, the last couple of games haven’t gone our way.”

Can Bruins Bring “Ole Mo” Back Home?

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Services Report) – Boston forward Brad Marchand and his Bruins teammates will attempt to build on their momentum as their first-round series against the Washington Capitals shifts to TD Garden for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

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Marchand scored just 39 seconds into overtime to give the Bruins a 4-3 win at Washington on Monday night to even the best-of-seven series at 1-1. The Capitals were 3-2 overtime winners in Game 1 Saturday after Nic Dowd scored 4:41 into the extra period.

Through eight periods, the Bruins and Capitals have each scored six goals and Boston holds a narrow 74-71 advantage in shots on goal.

“Obviously, they’re hard games. They’re playing tough, they’re playing physical, and they’re not giving up a ton,” Marchand said. “It (was a) big one to win, but it doesn’t matter how good it feels. Game’s over and we’ve got to get prepared for the next one.”

Marchand’s winner was the fastest in overtime in franchise history, beating out the legendary Bobby Orr’s iconic leaping goal that finalized a sweep of the Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis on May 10, 1970, by one second.

Boston will needs its top line to show up like it did on Monday to take control of the series. After going scoreless in Game 1, the Bruins’ “perfection line” of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak combined for three points in the win.

K.H. Lee wins at Byron Nelson Classic

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McKINNEY, TEXAS – In the final round, K.H. Lee birdied four of first six holes and 71st and 72nd holes to claim his first PGA Tour victory. Lee became the second consecutive Korean-born player to win the AT&T Byron Nelson joining Sung Kang in 2019. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the coronavirus global pandemic.

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The tournament’s 54-hole leader, Sam Burns (2nd place/-22), closed with a 2-under (70) in his bid to become the first player since Camilo Villegas in 2008 to have his first two Tour victories come in back-to-back starts. Burns won the Valspar Championship in his last start two weeks ago.

With the runner-up finish at TPC Craig Ranch, Burns moved to No. 5 in the FedExCup points standings.

Patton Kizzire (T-3/-21) posted the low round of the day with a 9-under (63), resulting in his best finish on Tour since winning the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Please see PGA Tour Brunch for full tournament wrap-up and subscribe for season-long e-News.

Basketball Hall Elects 16 New Members

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SPRINGFIELD – A day after its COVID-19 delayed 2020 induction ceremony, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 16 honorees for the Class of 2021 which will be enshrined on Saturday, September 11, 2021 in ceremonies at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun resort hotel and arena.

The 2021 honorees class includes nine voted in from the North American and Women’s committees, including the ninth-winningest coach in NBA history Rick Adelman, two-time NBA champion and 11-time NBA All-Star Chris Bosh, NBA Finals MVP with the Boston Celtics and 10-time NBA All-Star Paul Pierce, the first Black NBA head coach Bill Russell, four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Champion Ben Wallace, five-time NBA All-Star and NBA Rookie of the Year Chris Webber, two-time NCAA national champion Villanova Wildcats coach Jay Wright, seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith and seven-time WNBA All-Star and three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson of Australia.

Distinguished committees focused on preserving all areas from the game also selected seven direct-elect enshrinees, including the first President of the WNBA and current BIG East Commissioner Val Ackerman, NBA coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and basketball guru Howard Garfinkel from the Contributor Committee, Clarence “Fats” Jenkins from the Early African American Pioneers Committee, Croatia’s Toni Kukoc from the International Committee, Bob Dandridge from the Veterans Committee and Pearl Moore from the Women’s Veterans Committee.

“For the first time in our history, we’ll enshrine two Classes in one calendar year,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2021 Enshrinement festivities will begin at Mohegan Sun on Friday, September 10 with the Enshrinement Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala. The Class of 2021 and returning Hall of Famers will then journey to Springfield, Mass. for the annual celebratory events taking place at the newly renovated Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and MassMutual Center on September 11

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Notebook

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Whether the sport in being celebrated two hours to the south at Mohegan Sun, an hour and a half to the west in Springfield, Mass, being played at WNBA and NBA arenas nationwide or destinations around the globe, the game of basketball is in the news in a big way this weekend and for many months to come.

The Basketball Hall of Fame is utilizing the Mohegan Sun (Uncasville, Connecticut) as headquarters for the 2020 Enshrinement ceremony this weekend, then packing up the circus tents and heading to the newly renovated Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame museum in Springfield – the birthplace of basketball – to announce the 2021 class of inductees. (The names of Celtics star Paul Pierce and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boy era have already leaked out as ‘21 inductees).

First! The 2020 class is among the most elite in history, with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and the late Kobe Bryant headlining the group. The 2020 class induction, forever to be known as a memorial tribute to Bryant, has been delayed – for what seems to be forever and a day – because of the global pandemic. While Bryant deserved top billing, for sure, the class of ‘20 represents a wide-ranging group, spanning the globe from FIBA HQ in Europe (to honor the late Patrick Baumann) to Bentley College, only 11 miles down the road where Bentley Coach Barbara Stevens calls home.

The 2020 class represents every aspect of the sport of basketball quite well. Stevens and Baylor/LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey are inducted as top notch and deserved women’s team college coaches while Tamika Catchings (NCAA: Tennessee, WNBA: Indiana Fever, USA: Multiple Gold) represents the very best the sport has to offer, both on and off-court.

Just as you would expect with such a glorious cast, the coaches on the men’s side are among the very best with the late Eddie Sutton memorialized for his work via the college game and the great Rudy “Rudy T” Tomjanovich honored for his work with the Houston Rockets. Credited for his longtime, loyal assistant coaching efforts for Bill Fitch and as the two-time NBA championship head coach of the Rockets, Rudy T knew the game from the inside out. He was also an NBA All-Star forward (San Diego/Houston Rockets), never mind his impressive work for USA Basketball as head coach at the 1998 Worlds (Bronze during NBA labor dispute) and 2000 Sydney Olympics (Gold medal). … Remember: “Don’t EVER underestimate the heart of a champion.”

Even the media awards pay tribute to the best of the best with ABC/ESPN/MSG Network’s Mike Breen being honored for his play-by-play work and Mike Wilbon honored for print journalism. Wilbon, the Washington Post sports columnist for decades, turned Pardon the Interruption television personality extraordinaire and Breen, the voice of the NBA on ABC and ESPN, are both being honored as the Curt Gowdy Media Award winners for 2020.

Yes, with the 2020 honors, the Basketball Hall of Fame took a page from its counterpart in Cooperstown and “touched all bases” with a class for the ages. But the BHofF enshrinement for 2020 and this week’s announcement for 2021 are merely the dessert being served before the main course of hoops mania over the next few months. How? Let us count the ways:

  1. The 25th Anniversary season for the WNBA tipped-off Friday night with four exciting games, including the return of 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, who had her rookie season cut short with a season-ending ankle injury in just her third pro game. Ionescu put an exclamation point on her return, hitting the game-winning three-pointer from the wing with less than a second remaining to give the New York Liberty a 90-87 victory over the Indiana Fever in the WNBA’s season opener. … As part of the WNBA’s 25th season and its focus on innovation, the league will launch the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup in-season competition during the 2021 season. Conference rivalry bragging rights, a new WNBA Commissioner’s Cup trophy and a prize pool of $500,000 will all be at stake when the inaugural WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game is played on Thursday, Aug. 12, at Phoenix Suns Arena. … Regular season WNBA action will take on an added level of importance as 60 select, intra-conference “Cup games” will determine the Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams that will advance to the first ever Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game. … The “Cup Games” will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all set to take place in the first half of the season between May 14 and July 11, prior to the in-season scheduling break due to the Olympic Games.
  2. The Basketball Africa League, a newly formed but one-year delayed organized pro league spanning the continent of Africa, will debut May 16. Both the International Basketball Federation and the NBA are providing full support to the endeavor which features 12 pro teams.
  3. Not to be forgotten, the BAL’s and WNBA’s big brother, the National Basketball Association, will begin its 2021 NBA Playoffs with a “Play-In” tournament, a new and unproven concept to field the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in each of the two NBA conferences. Gone is the NBA Bubble in Orlando and the 2021 playoffs will take place with a limited number of fans in each home arena, depending mostly on State and local government rules and authorities.
  4. A couple weeks down the road, the European “EuroLeague” Basketball Final Four will be staged in Cologne, Germany on Friday, May 28 and Sunday, May 30. The competing four teams include CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul, and AX Armani Exchange Milano vs. FC Barcelona
  5. As summer approaches, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Men and Women will be staged to determine the final national teams to compete in Tokyo. Those qualifiers will be played from June 29 to July 4th, a few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics begin (July 25th) with Iran facing a qualifier to be determined later. The delayed Olympic tournament will run through the gold medal game scheduled for Saturday, August 7 at the Saitama Super Arena, the “Brooklyn” to Tokyo’s “NYC.”

Final Round at Byron Nelson Classic

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THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: AT&T Byron Nelson Classic

COURSE: TPC Craig Ranch (McKinney, Texas)

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @attbyronnelson

OFFICIAL SITE: (AT&T Byron Nelson) – (Official Tournament Site)

TV COVERAGE: Sunday, May 16 – Golf Channel’s TV coverage will air from 1:00pm to 3:00pm (EDT), then CBS takes over coverage from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage today, with Featured Groups running from 8:00am to 3:00pm (EDT) and Featured Holes streaming from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Streaming Radio coverage Today, 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

How to Watch: (PGATourCom)

PGA Tour Brunch – AT&T Byron Nelson Classic Notes – R-4

Sam Burns holds his PGA Tour-leading fourth 54-hole lead/co-lead of the season. Burns looks to become the third player with multiple victories this season, joining Bryson DeChambeau and Stewart Cink.

K.H. Lee is seeking his first Tour win in his 80th career start. He shot a bogey-free 5-under (67) on Saturday and is only a stroke off the lead.

First-round co-leader Jordan Spieth sits T-3 with Matt Kuchar, Charl Schwartzel and Alex Noren.

Due to the expectation of inclement weather, today’s final round will feature threesomes off tee Nos. 1 and 10 and tee-times moved up to 7:00am-9:01am (local).

Weather: Showers and Thunderstorms expected throughout the day with temperatures in the 68-77-degree range. There’s a 30% chance of rain at 8am and an 80% chance of rain at Noon, diminishing to 20% and mostly cloudy by 6pm. Winds 8-14 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. Lightening in forecast, too, 10-70% throughout the day.

PGATourBrunch will be posting before 12:00pm Noon (EDT) on Monday with a tournament recap and a look at the PGA Championship.

This Week: PGA Championship (Kiawah Island, South Carolina)

Leaderboard After Third Round at AT&T Byron Nelson

Sam Burns 65-62-69—196 (-20)

K.H. Lee 65-65-67—197 (-19)

Charl Schwartzel 65-68-66—199 (-17)

Matt Kuchar 67-66-66—199 (-17)

Jordan Spieth 63-70-66—199 (-17)

Alex Noren 65-64-70—199 (-17)

Full Leaderboard (link)

Twitter avatar for @PGATOURPGA TOUR @PGATOUR

It will be a race to the finish @attbyronnelson. 13 players are within 5 shots of the lead. (Odds via @BetMGM) Image

What They’re Saying:

Burns Leads at AT&T Byron Nelson (ESPN/Associated Press)

Burns Seeks Second Tour Win of Season (PGATourCom)

Spieth Late Surge Puts Him in Contention (CBS Sports HQ)

Early Tee Times and How to Watch Today (Golf Week/USA Today)

On This Day in Golf History:

May 16, 1976 – Lee Trevino won in his home state of Texas for the first time in his illustrious career when he won the Colonial Invitational in Fort Worth. Trevino, born in Dallas, made birdie on the 200-yard 16th to gain a stroke over runner-up Mike Morley. – Courtesy of Randy Walker, Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

Shockwaves From Failed Super League

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By CHRISTOPHER GUMINA, Column Contributor

Just as fast as it arrived, the Super League disappeared. All six of the English clubs (Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool) pulled out just days after the announcement, and most of the other teams followed. Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid are the only clubs remaining, and given the current situation it seems impossible that they will be able to maintain their membership much longer.

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On April 21st, after most of the teams had already withdrawn, the Super League released a statement reading: “Given the current circumstances, we shall reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project, always having in mind our goals of offering fans the best experience possible while enhancing solidarity payments for the entire football community.”
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, who was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the league and would have served as its chairman, claimed that the league was merely on “standby,” as all the clubs had signed binding contracts and couldn’t leave so easily. It appears at the moment as if the clubs that did leave are willing to risk potential legal action in order to avoid further infuriating their fanbase.

Each of the six English clubs apologized in one manner or another – Arsenal and Chelsea released open letters, while Liverpool team owner John Henry – also co-owner of the Boston Red Sox of MLB fame – recorded a short video – both to their fans and to the other 14 Premier League clubs that had not been included in the plan. Man United executive Ed Woodward, who had been at the club since its takeover by the Glazer family in 2005, resigned almost immediately. It was reported that this was due to differences with the ownership group over the ESL, but has been more broadly intimated that Woodward was a supporter of the league from the start and was simply attempting to save face.

Either way, each of these clubs has suffered immensely in the wake of the ESL’s collapse. Monetarily, this came in the form of a 15 million Euro “donation,” with the money going to support grassroots soccer, and a “Club Commitment Declaration,” supported by UEFA. This declaration included the aforementioned “donation,” as well as an agreement to forgo 5% of the revenue the teams would have received from European competition in the 2021-22 season and to a 100 million Euro fine if they ever attempted to play in an “unauthorized competition” ever again.

However, where these teams truly suffered was with their fans. The amount of vitriol directed at these clubs, by their own supporters and supporters of other teams, in the wake of the ESL was truly shocking. Rarely does the Twitterverse entirely agree on one topic, but there was almost universal condemnation of the Super League. For the teams left out of the competition this opposition was obvious: those included would become richer at the expense of those excluded. Smaller clubs already reeling from the pandemic would falter and fail.

However, at first glance the opposition from supporters of clubs involved in the competition makes less sense. Each team would benefit financially, allowing them to sign the best players and improve the overall quality of the soccer on display. For these fans, the money did not matter. Instead it was about the history, the “cold, rainy nights in Stoke” as some fans like to say.
These fans don’t want to watch Arsenal vs. Barcelona or AC Milan vs. Real Madrid on a weekly basis, with a playoff structure similar to that of American sports. They want to watch the old rivalries and compete for the old trophies. To these fans the spirit and authenticity of their clubs matters far more than winning a meaningless competition. Because to them, that’s really what the Super League is. There are no stakes, no threat of relegation. A Super League team could lose every game of the pitch and suffer no consequences, while raking in millions off it. This is antithetical to everything soccer has stood for over the centuries it’s been played.

It now seems as though teams are finally recognizing the error of their ways, although it could just as easily be a PR campaign to make sure fans still buy jerseys and tickets next season. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham are currently in talks over a pre-season Charity Cup instead of the typical pre-season tours which take teams all over the world to play exhibition matches against different teams. All the money would be donated directly to charity, in the hopes of winning back fan support.

Only time will tell if this gesture proves effective. At the moment, each of these teams still has serious ground to cover before they achieve the level of fan support they had before this debacle. Even if/when things get fully back to normal, soccer fans won’t forget that these 12 clubs put money over their fanbases, something that will leave scars for years to come.

Capitals Defeat Bruins in Overtime

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WASH DC – Nic Dowd scored the winning goal to give the host Washington Capitals a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Boston Bruins in Saturday’s Stanley Cup playoffs opener.

Tom Wilson and Brenden Dillon also scored for the Capitals, and back-up goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced after being forced into action midway through the first period due to an injury suffered by starting goalie Vitek Vanecek.

Jake DeBrusk and Nick Ritchie each scored for the Bruins while goal-keeper Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in the loss.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven East Division series will be Monday in Washington.

Anderson, who will celebrate his 40th birthday this week, saw his first playoff action since May 25, 2017 when he was the keeper for the Ottawa Senators. The veteran played in only four NHL games this season, in which he posted a 2-1-0 record with a 2.13 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.

Washington’s No. 1 goalie Ilya Samsonov was removed from the league’s COVID-19 protocol list on Saturday but didn’t play.

Wilson, who had a two-point game, opened the scoring by taking advantage of a bad break for Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, whose stick broke when he attempted a point shot. Wilson executed a give-and-go with Oshie on the resulting odd-man rush before he buried a shot from the left circle at the 6:22 mark.

Boston’s DeBrusk evened the score seven minutes later. After Curtis Lazar won the offensive-zone faceoff, pulling the puck back, DeBrusk quickly fired a long shot that eluded Vanecek as he did the splits and appeared to suffer a pulled groin muscle that forced him from the game.

Red Sox Come From Behind vs LAA

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox won their second straight game, following a 3-game losing streak, and are now 12-8 at home, 12-5 since being swept by Baltimore to open the season. With their 4-3 victory over the LA Angels, the Red Sox earned their MLB-best 16th come-from-behind win.

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Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the 7th inning, Boston rallied behind a single by RF Hunter Renfroe and 1B Bobby Dalbec‘s subsequent two-run home run. Renfroe had hit a two-run homer of his own in the Red Sox half of the 2nd inning to open the scoring. In Dalbec’s last six games (beginning 5/7), he is batting 7-for-21 (.333) with three home runs and nine RBI.

Shonhei Ohtani hit his American League co-leading 11th homer of the 2021 season for the Angels, who lost their third straight.

Boston reliever Matt Andriese (2-2) was credited with the win despite allowing José Iglesias’ two-run double in the seventh, and closer Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth for his ninth save of the year. Boston starter Nick Pivetta went 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven. Pivetta, who earlier in the week was put on COVID-19+ protocol due to his reaction to his second vaccine, held LA scoreless before Ohtani’s two-out homer in the 6th.