OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Luke Kornet returned to the bench a hero.

The San Antonio Spurs backup big man had just turned in perhaps the biggest defensive play of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, coming in for a stretch in relief of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Wembanyama exited the game with five fouls and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder had what seemed like a prime chance to seize control.

But instead, Kornet blocked Isaiah Hartenstein just seconds after entering, the Spurs came through on the other end, and the Spurs were on their way to an NBA Finals berth with a 111-103 road win over the Thunder on Saturday.

“The definition of a winning play,” Wembanyama said.

San Antonio will open the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks at home Wednesday.

The teams have met in the Finals once before, with San Antonio winning the 1999 NBA Championship in five games.

It was the first of five titles for the Spurs. Their last visit was in 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat in five games.

In the playoffs for the first time since Wembanyama became the face of the franchise, San Antonio is four wins away from adding to that total.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team’s relative inexperience isn’t a limiting factor by this point.

“This team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time, for over 100 games, for the most part,” Johnson said. “… I don’t know who has as much experience as we do this year in the season of 2025-26.”

The Spurs led for much of the game but struggled to put away the pesky Thunder, who continually battled back from double-digit deficits to get back within striking distance.

And when Wembanyama, who was San Antonio’s tone-setter throughout the series, left the game with five fouls with 6:48 remaining, the Spurs could have been in trouble.

Hartenstein’s steal got the Thunder in transition with a chance to cut the deficit to four.

But Kornet blocked Hartenstein’s shot, getting between Hartenstein and the basket, then Stephon Castle drained a pullup jumper for a 99-91 advantage.

Kornet headed to the bench just 59 seconds after he entered, and was greeted enthusiastically by the rest of the Spurs — including Wembanyama.

Coming out of that stoppage, Julian Champagnie drained his sixth 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead back to 11.

The Thunder pulled back to six with just more than two minutes remaining, but Oklahoma City went 0-for-4 the rest of the way on chances to trim the deficit even further.

Wembanyama had 22 points and seven rebounds.

“I want to win so bad, it’s like my life depends on it,” Wembanyama said.

Wembanyama was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals.

“He has such a vision, in my opinion, of who he wants to be as a person and as a player,” Johnson said. “And the commitment and investment that he puts into that vision, it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”

Champagnie scored 20 and Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper also came up big for San Antonio.

“They were just the better team tonight, start to finish,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And then every time we tried to like cut into and take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer.”

Gilgeous-Alexander had struggled in the series, shooting just 37.9% from the floor through six games, but looked much more like the back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player in Game 7.

“I was a little bit closer to it, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

He finished with 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting with nine assists and three steals.

“He was brilliant,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

But the other two of Oklahoma City’s big three — Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — made little impact.

Williams missed his fourth game of the series with a hamstring injury, while Holmgren finished with just four points on 1-of-2 shooting. Holmgren didn’t attempt a shot after the first quarter.

His two field-goal tries were tied for the fewest of Holmgren’s career. His only other two-shot game came March 27, 2024.

Cason Wallace added 17 points, returning to the starting lineup with Williams and Ajay Mitchell out again.

Alex Caruso scored 12 off the bench but was just 3 of 14 from the field.

Kornet, who won a title with Boston in 2024, was all smiles after the game.

The post Spurs Block Thunder’s Road to Finals appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might not have liked the way he started on Tuesday night. But the Oklahoma City Thunder star came up big in the second and third quarters — getting plenty of help from the cast around him — as the Thunder beat the visiting San Antonio Spurs 127-114 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

“I thought we were first to the fight tonight on both ends and I thought we weren’t the other night,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I just loved the way we approached tonight on both ends of the floor.”

Oklahoma City will have a chance to close out the series in Game 6 Thursday in San Antonio.

It was a rough start for Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed his first four shots and had three first-quarter turnovers.

“If it was four or five me’s out there, we would’ve been down 20 after the first quarter,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Probably should never start like that again.”

But even with the back-to-back Most Valuable Player’s struggles, the Thunder led after a quarter thanks in part to Gilgeous-Alexander’s seven points in the final two minutes.

In Sunday’s 103-82 loss, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso and Jared McCain combined for just 14 points on 4-of-19 shooting.

In Game 5, the trio all came up big.

McCain was inserted into the starting lineup for his first playoff start, as Daigneault went with McCain over Cason Wallace with the Thunder playing without both Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for the second consecutive game.

“We just thought he could give us some good stuff with that unit just based on where we are right now with a couple guys out,” Daigneault said. “And he did. He was really good. … He’s got great moxie and confidence and he showed that.”

McCain didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet early, with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, but Diagneault said McCain still made a big impact on both ends of the floor from the start.

In Tuesday’s game, the trio combined for 58 points, going 18 of 38 from the floor.

McCain scored 18 of his 20 points after the break and didn’t have a turnover in the second half.

Holmgren finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Caruso, who averaged 21 points off the bench over the first three games of the series before being held scoreless on just one shot Sunday, got going early and finished with 22 points, six assists and three steals.

“He’s one of, if not the best, competitor in the NBA night in and night out,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Caruso. “He’s huge for us.”

Gilgeous-Alexander eventually got going, scoring 12 points in Oklahoma City’s 40-point second quarter and 11 more in the third, finishing with 32 points on 7-of-19 shooting and handing out nine assists.

“That’s one of the things that I always marvel at with him is his ability to course correct inside of a game,” Daigneault said. “He usually doesn’t go a full game struggling like that. He obviously didn’t have his fastball early.”

Oklahoma City was 48.2% from the floor after shooting just 33% in Game 4.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama finished with 20 points on 4-of-15 shooting to go with six rebounds.

After averaging 20.5 rebounds per game in the first two games of the series, Wembanyama has just 18 total over the last three games.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was going to have to be a bigger force offensively if his team is going to be able to turn the series around and advance to the Finals.

“He’s going to have to take more than 15 shots even with the free throws,” Johnson said. “He’s going to have to score more than 20 points for sure.”

Stephon Castle, who led San Antonio with 24 points, expressed frustration afterward with the way the games have been called.

Tuesday, the Thunder attempted 38 free throws, six more than the Spurs.

“I just think with the way they guard, how physical they are, we don’t get that same luxury to be able to play as physical on the other end at times,” Castle said. “Offensively, I think we do a good job of screening and playing through it. I think we create a lot of advantages but I think we just missed a lot of open shots tonight.”

The Thunder carried an 11-point lead into halftime and extended the margin coming out of the break, scoring the first nine points of the third quarter.

San Antonio didn’t go away quietly, cutting the deficit to eight twice late in the third quarter.

The Spurs never could pull closer, though, as Oklahoma City closed out the game to bounce back from the Game 4 loss.

–Field Level Media

The post SGA, Thunder Hold Serve vs Spurs appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Preview) – The San Antonio Spurs have gotten off to big starts in each of the last two games of the Western Conference finals. Heading into Game 5 tonight with the seven-game series deadlocked at 2, the host Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to reverse that trend.

“They just punched us in our face early,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s 103-82 loss in San Antonio. “It’s two games in a row they’ve all come out the aggressors. Last game, we were able to course-correct. Tonight, we just didn’t do so. We’ve just gotta do a better job of starting the games.”Sports news articles

In Sunday’s game, the Spurs jumped out to a 23-8 lead. In Friday’s Game 3, San Antonio scored the game’s first 15 points before Oklahoma City came back to win 123-108.

The series has been physical throughout, with the Thunder throwing several different looks at San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs doing the same against Gilgeous-Alexander.

“They have multiple guys that are tenacious, they get into the ball, and then they have Wemby behind them, and they know that, and they do that to their strength,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So obviously a really good defense. … To score on them, it’s gonna take quick decisions, the right decisions, you gotta be really good offensively and really sound.”

The Spurs changed the way they guarded the Thunder in Game 4, using more one-on-one looks against Gilgeous-Alexander and preventing Oklahoma City from getting as many open looks from beyond the arc.Games

The Thunder were just 6 of 33 on 3-point attempts in Game 4 after shooting nearly 40% from distance in the first three games.

“I don’t want to say what it was,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said. “I think we made a great defensive adjustment. … I feel like they had so many wide-open 3s over the past couple games, and you’ve got to respect them, especially if they’re making them. So we were trying to cut them out with that.”

While the adjustment sometimes gave Gilgeous-Alexander more room to work, it also helped San Antonio keep Oklahoma City’s bench largely in check.

The Thunder bench still outscored the Spurs’ 34-30, though more than half of Oklahoma City’s bench points came in the fourth quarter, when the team sat Gilgeous-Alexander and used three of its other starters for 3:17 or less with San Antonio in control of the game.

Oklahoma City is also navigating without two of its primary ballhandlers in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell.

Williams has missed the last two games after aggravating a hamstring injury. Mitchell is dealing with a right calf strain that knocked him out of Game 3. ESPN reported Monday that both are considered day-to-day.

Mitchell averaged nearly 19 points per game in the first two rounds, starting six of the eight games in place of Williams.

Before being knocked out of Game 3, Mitchell was averaging just 5.3 points per game in the series. While Oklahoma City has struggled with guard play outside of Gilgeous-Alexander and sans Williams and Mitchell, San Antonio is hoping to continue its trajectory among its backcourt.

Guards Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox had just one turnover between them Sunday and combined for 25 points and 11 assists.

–Field Level Media

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

HOUSTON – Welcome to the entertainment and revenue producing portion of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch. It’s a pleasure to toss out a whole new discussion on some of sports greatest happenings.

It’s been in fashion – of late – to discuss the “best” sports by virtue of their Playoffs. Yes … it gets written in the papers and discussed on the sports radio talk shows every single year, even though it’s impossible to determine a definitive answer.

In the local paper, a columnist listed her best to worst as:

• NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
• The NCAA Tournament … a.k.a. “March Madness”
• The NFL Playoffs (including the Super Bowl)
• MLB Postseason
• The NBA Playoffs (including the NBA Finals)
• World Cup (soccer) and MLS

That’s one writer’s opinion and its a worthy list.

But just after the column ran, on Monday, May 18, the San Antonio Spurs victory over Oklahoma City in 2-OTs of the NBA Western Conference finals game became Exhibit 1-A that the list written up in the Globe was flawed – the NBA Playoffs far exceed the NCAA’s.

Another key factor in list making, a lot of sports were overlooked, including College Football and its National Championship coming from the CFP Playoffs. That’s been a welcome addition to the postseason smorgasbord

While the annual PGA TOUR FedEx Cup Playoffs aren’t great, the even equivalent to the Playoffs are golf’s Majors – never mind the Ryder Cup. Those golf outings can be pretty exciting. Same thing with tennis, as a five set tie-break to win the U.S. Open in front of a raucous crowd in Flushing Meadow can be amongst the greatest things in sport.

What about horse racing? The Breeders’ Cup is like having seven World Series games on one afternoon. But, maybe, the better comparison is the Kentucky Derby – known as the greatest two minutes in sports. Go ahead and Google “Affirmed” and “Alydar”and tell everyone who will listen that those races aren’t on a list of the greatest and most exciting moments in sports.

Now – full disclosure – I do think that a Game 7 “sudden death” overtime of the NHL Stanley Cup Final is the most exciting thing sports has to offer. So a high five to our local columnist, Tara Sullivan of the Boston Globe.

SPEAKING OF SUDDEN DEATH: The term “Sudden Death” is quite a descriptive phrase to say what has to be said to decide a playoff game or, in some cases, a series or championship. It’s brutal. The pressure is off-the-charts. But, upon further review, here’s a dozen of other very descriptive terms from the world of sports that each carry some weight.

1. The Suicide Squeeze
2. The Blitz
3. Crackback Block
4. Student Body right
5. The Two Minute Warning
6. The Baltimore chop
7. Defensive indifference
8. The NHL’s “Original Six”
9. The alley-oop
10. One of the great, descriptive monikers to pay proper respect to one of – if not the – greatest rivalies in sports is “El Classico.” Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona stop the entire nation of Spain when they face each other (at least) twice a year.
11. As “classic” as “El Classico” sounds in this category of greatness, the MLS might have one moniker just as wonderful. When the LA Galaxy face LAFC in a rivalry for all of Los Angeles to see, the matchup is referred to as “El Traffico.” – Beat that!

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The house is dark. The Garden’s ghostlight is on, but Bruce Springsteen is coming. The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten the Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 Sixers’ team, and the Cs blew it. The hometown team– once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s; Die by chucking 3s: In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

• Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
• Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
• Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. Expected NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game. That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston. If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002. Brad Stevens should be a longtime fixture in the Celtics’ front office, at the top of basketball operations.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. Those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Get this? The Detroit PWHL team named former ice hockey goalkeepeer Manon Rheume as General Manager. Back in 1992, Rheaume became the first woman to appear in an NHL exhibition game when she started in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The great goal scorer Phil Esposito NHL Bruins and Rangers) was the head of hockey ops. It was the first time an entire crowd at an NHL game concentrated 100% of their attention on defense! It was fabuloius (and I can attest, because your fave columnist (and his wife) were there. Rheaume joins the PWHL team after four years with the LA Kings in hockey operations and an 11-year tenure with the Little Caesars AAA hockey programs. … And, for you Pink Panther fans out there, Detroit can answer to the affirmative if asked, “Do you have a Rheaume?”

WWYI doesn’t want to leave anyone hanging after a report. Last week, the column included the fact the Vegas Golden Knights will forfeit a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft after repeated violations of the league’s media relations policies. The NHL’s statement last week left open the possibility of a Golden Knights appeal of the decision. They did appeal, and the NHL shot it down. Fast.

Twin Bill: The NBA announced that the New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs will play regular season games at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2027, and at Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2027, as part of the league’s multiyear slate of regular season games in Europe.

The NBA Paris Game 2027 presented by Tissot will mark the 16th game featuring an NBA team in France since 1991 and the league’s sixth regular-season game in Paris. The NBA Manchester Game 2027 will mark the 20th game featuring an NBA team in England since 1993, the league’s second game in Manchester and first regular-season game in the city.

NBA Finals Schedule: In case you’re wondering, these dates are locked.

NBA Finals – All games are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT

The Finals will stat in the West as both OKC and San Antonio have better records than Cleveland and New York.

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3

Game 2: Friday, June 5

Game 3: Monday, June 8

Game 4: Wednesday, June 10

Game 5: Saturday, June 13*

Game 6: Tuesday, June 16*

Game 7: Friday, June 19*

SPEAKING OF THE 2026 NBA Finals: For the historians in the group, this year will mark the 40th year of the league switching from the “NBA World Championship” to “The NBA Finals.” – Cap “F” – and that takes us back to 1986.

At one point in 1983, the NBA went for “Showdown ‘83” as the moniker for the Playoffs and Finals, but everyone – pretty much – just called it The Finals. And, it worked. Loook for a major US publication to do a blow-out feature on this topic.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | May 24 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The house is dark. The ghostlight is on, and Bruce Springsteen is on.

The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 team, and they blew it. It was so long ago, longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy had just started his first “big” beat covering the NBA. The hometown team – once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s, die by chucking 3s. In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

• Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
• Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
• Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game.  That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston.  If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. as those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was presented with the NBA Most Valuable Player award.

Then San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama went out and put on an MVP-level performance.

Wembanyama had 41 points, 24 rebounds and three blocks to help lift the Spurs to a 122-115 double-overtime road win to open the series.

Asked whether watching Gilgeous-Alexander win the award served as motivation, Wembanyama said, “Yeah, for sure.”

The Frenchman, at 22 years, 134 days old became the youngest player in NBA history with 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in a postseason  game, beating the record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The then-Milwaukee Bucks star was 22 years, 352 days old when he had a 46-25 game against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 1970 playoffs.

Wembanyama became the second Spurs player with a 40-point, 20-rebound playoff game, joining David Robinson, who did it in the first round in 1996. He joined Wilt Chamberlain (in 1960) as the only players in league history with 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in a conference finals debut.

Wembanyama came through repeatedly in clutch situations.

“He has a rare desire to step into every moment that’s in front of him,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And I think he has showed in his three years in a lot of different situations with a lot of different circumstances that he’s going to attack those moments. … He has some rare God-given ability.”

With just more than a minute remaining in double overtime, Wembanyama delivered a dunk over Chet Holmgren for a three-point play moments after the Thunder closed the deficit to one with a Jalen Williams 3-pointer.

Then with 22 seconds remaining, he finished a back-to-the-basket alley-oop dunk from Stephon Castle to put San Antonio up by six and start to put the game away.

With 27 seconds left in the first overtime, Wembanyama pulled up for a 28-foot 3-pointer in transition to tie the game after a 7-0 Oklahoma City run put the Thunder ahead by three.

“Confidence through the roof,” San Antonio rookie Dylan Harper said of the importance of Wembanyama’s long trey. “I was kind of stunned a little bit. But once the ball went up, I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s going in.’ It’s kind of just who he is.”

In the closing seconds of regulation, Wembanyama nailed a turnaround shot near the basket over Williams to put San Antonio up 101-99 before Gilgeous-Alexander tied it with a driving layup to force overtime.

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LOS ANGELES – (Staff Report with Official League and Union Statements) – Jason Collins, who became the first active athlete in one of the four major North American sports leagues to come out as gay in 2013, died of complications from glioblastoma, his family said Tuesday. He was 47.

Collins was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2025, and he revealed in December that he was fighting Stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.

“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” Collins’ family said in a statement released by the NBA Tuesday.

“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”

Collins had been in a relationship with film producer Brunson Green since 2014; they were married in May 2025.

He also served as an ambassador for NBA Cares, the league’s social responsibility arm, in his post-playing career.

“Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador. Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.

“On behalf of the NBA, I send my heartfelt condolences to Jason’s husband, Brunson, and his family, friends and colleagues across our leagues.”

A 7-foot center, Collins played collegiately at Stanford and was a first-round draft pick (18th overall) by the Houston Rockets in 2001, but he was traded to the New Jersey Nets on draft night.

Collins spent the first eight of his 13 NBA seasons with the Nets and had limited stays with the Memphis Grizzlies (2008), Minnesota Timberwolves (2008-09), Atlanta Hawks (2009-12), Boston Celtics (2012-13) and Washington Wizards (2013).

After the 2012-13 season concluded, Collins revealed he was gay in a first-person Sports Illustrated story. He received widespread praise and encouragement in the public sphere and from the likes of NBA star Kobe Bryant. But Collins’ contract was up and free agency came and went without him signing with a team.

It wasn’t until February 2014 that Collins officially became the first openly gay man to play in one of the four major leagues, when the now-Brooklyn Nets called him to offer a 10-day contract. Their head coach at the time was Jason Kidd, a former teammate of Collins’ in New Jersey.

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – If the City of Atlanta were to erect tent poles to hold up the town for the rest of time, or to carve out a Mount Rushmore in the Blue Ridge Mountains (93 miles from Atlanta) – two of the figures that would be set in stone – are two people who passed away this week.

Ted Turner, the visionary who changed the world by founding Cable News Network (CNN), amongst thousands of other amazing feats, including the expansion of one-time “SuperStation TBS,” and numerous acts of philanthropy throughout his life, passed away Wednesday at his home near Tallahassee, Florida. He was 87 years old and the cause of death was complications because of Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.

Turner once owned the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks in addition to the longtime NBA broadcast partners of the TBS and TNT networks before they were sold to Time Warner, along with Turner’s sports empire of the Hawks, Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball, and the now defunct Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL (Winnipeg Jets).

Bobby Cox, the beloved former manager of the Braves, and a Baseball Hall of Famer who led the Atlanta to five National League pennants and a World Series championship in the 1990s and was ranked No. 4 for career victories among major league managers, died on Saturday in Marietta, Georgia. He was 84. Cox had suffered a stroke in 2019 but a cause of death was not made public.

If you were to take it a few steps further, and add a third public figure it definitely would be the great Martin Luther King Jr. – born in Atlanta in January 1929 – who became one of the most important people in American history.

And, the final bigger-than-life icon would be Hank Aaron, unquestionably the most revered figure in Atlanta Braves franchise history and the No. 2 home run hitter in MLB history (755) with only Barry Bonds (762) ahead of “Hammering Hank.”

If there were a fifth, it would probably be Atlanta-born actress Julia Roberts. And, Dominque Wilkins would be a sixth.

Ted Turner at a Turner Classic Movies function (file photo).

Of those four incredible icons of Atlanta, the only one I had any interaction with was “Ted.”

Firstly, I know hundreds of people who were hired by or worked directly for Turner at his various networks or sports franchises. Not once did I ever hear a single bad word about him. Never.

Secondly, his employees loved the guy, and respected him beyond words of description. This week, many tried to put it into words, and one person, a good friend and colleague – Dr. Harvey Schiller – sat down for a “Talk about Ted” podcast with Columbia University professors of sports management Tom Richardson and Joe Favorito on their CUSP podcast.

To listen to the CUSP Podcast with Dr. Schiller, please click HERE.

Lastly, Turner dreamt-up a lot of incredible things and, as Dr. Schiller mentioned in his podcast, Ted always was intrigued by the International Olympic Committee and the parallel angle of utilizing sports as a way to bridge differences in the geopolitical world we live in. That interest became the Goodwill Games,

The Goodwill Games were staged in Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, and in Seattle and New York in the USA, but the Goodwill Games where I interacted with the Turner crew was held in Brisbane, Australia in 2001. It was terrific.

We (meaning the NBA) brought a talented team of first and second year pros to compete. Brisbane was showing off all of its attributes – a test run way back in 2001 that eventually resulted in the Gold Coast city being awarded the 2032 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Hey, it only took 31 years!

We also had some hysterical interactions with Ted when we took his Atlanta Hawks over to the (then) Soviet Union in 1988.

One of the exchanges went like this.

Scene Setter: The Hawks team was embedded at the Olympic Training facility in Suhumi, Russia – not far from Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics were staged. (It’s about a 5 hour, 30 minute bus ride from Suhumi to Sochi). A day or two into our stay, a massive thunderstorm ripped through the area, knocking out all forms of power but somehow spared a phone line.

Off the grid for some 36+ hours because of the storm, Goodwill Games unit coordinator for the trip, Kim Bohuny – who eventually became an integral part of the NBA’s global basketball operations efforts – made a phone call back to her boss, David Raith, who was with Ted Turner at the time of the call.

The rather short phone call went something like this:

Raith: “What can we do to help you guys? Do you need anything?”

Bohuny: (semi screaming into the faint sounds) – “Yes, we need FOOD and some WATER!”

Heard in Background was Ted Turner: “What the hell is going on over there?”

The next thing we knew, and maybe it took 48 hours, but Hawks head coach Mike Fratello was mixing up some pasta with marinara sauce and, as Hawks radio broadcaster, Steve Holman, said, “We ate as though it was our last meal and wee were headed to the Electric Chair.”

But the real joke was that we STILL didn’t have electricity in the dorms but Coach Fratello somehow boiled water and warmed his special Italian gravy.

It was so dark at night, that we had to attach ropes down the middle of the hallways to grab a hold of to get back to the stairs and our rooms. Whoever had the flashlight had to go with each person as they retired for the evening. It was fan-tastic.

Yet, as noted, not a single solitary word was ever uttered to complain about the Hawks, Turner Sports or Ted Turner who sponsored the trip. It was all one big family.

And, the family lost its patriarch this week while the City of Atlanta lost one of its three or four most important people of all-time.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES – It’s important to start the notes section with a call-out to all the Mothers out there! A very Happy Mother’s Day to all.

I must say, it’s very strange thinking of Mother’s Day and – for the first time in my life – the day is here and my Mom is not. Genevieve Ann Lyons passed away a few weeks after Mother’s Day of 2025 when she was 100 years and 57 days of age. An amazing life, and tough at the end, but I still miss her and think of the endless pool of memories from Mother’s Days gone by – some spent with her attending the NBA Draft Lottery and partaking in a very nice brunch when we staged the Lottery at halftime of a 1:00pm EDT NBA playoff game. I can remember her sharing a table with the legendary Celtics Hall of Famer, Tom “Satch” Sanders, who was my office next door neighbor for a decade or more.

In 1988, I can remember her making the trip to Madrid, Spain to witness the Boston Celtics play in the first McDonald’s Open held in Europe. (The first event was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin). She was able to take in some sight-seeing and incredible accommodations in Madrid, although I have to admit she didn’t get to see her son, working the event, all too often.

She did get to sit with Julius “Dr. J” Erving – the two Long Islanders – chatting up Nassau County high school basketball or memories of the New York Nets.

All very fond memories.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS – Johns Hopkins upset Cornell, 9-8 in OT, on Saturday with Hopkins coming back from a 6-3 deficit in the second half. With 1:15 left in overtime, Jimmy Ayers found the back of the net to grab the win over the defending National Champions. Johns Hopkins advanced to take on the winner of Jacksonville and 2-seed Notre Dame who play on Sunday, May 10th at Noon (ESPN2). Cornell finished with an 11-5 overall record. Hopkins’ quarterfinal will be played at Hofstra University on Long Island, NY. … Why the coverage of Johns Hopkins? Let the proud father make note that his oldest daughter, Victoria, graduated from the incredible institution in 2019.

THIS JEST IN – As long as we were on Baltimore, fans lined up well before the gates opened at Camden Yards, Maryland on Friday night in anticipation of a Tupac Shakur bobblehead giveaway at the ballpark. “I grabbed three of them,” Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said before a 4-3 loss to the Athletics. Shakur was raised in New York and Baltimore before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s. He lived in Oakland, California, in the early 1990s, which made Friday’s matchup between the Orioles and Athletics an appropriate time to honor the rap icon, who was murdered in a drive-by in Las Vegas in September, 1996.

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – This week’s notebook begins with an item very close to home. For about a year-plus, your favorite columnist has been moonlighting from his main business and that is as a consultant to companies in professional (some college) and amateur sports. One of the main projects was “officially” announced this week by the NBA, although we began dabbling in the area with verbal agreements as far back as October 2025 when the NBA staged preseason games in Abu Dhabi.

In short: “It’s been great.”

Here is the official news release:

ISTANBUL, TÜRKIYE, April 30, 2026 – The National Basketball Association and Globalist Sports Corporation Organisation JSC – a multi-sport organization based in Istanbul – announced a multiyear collaboration for Globalist Sports to launch and operate the NBA Basketball School in Türkiye.

The NBA Basketball School Türkiye will deliver weekly activity in Istanbul and Eskişehir and provide tuition-based basketball development programming for youth ages 6-18, including skill development, 5-on-5 scrimmages and games, and life-skills sessions. The program will tip off with a launch camp from Saturday, May 16 – Tuesday, May 19, in Mersin, followed by a series of camps across Türkiye throughout the summer, including Ankara (June 13–15 and June 26–29) and in İstanbul (July 5–9 and July 18–21). Registration is open now at www.nbabasketballschool.tr.

Former NBA Vice President of International Communications Terry Lyons and his Pivottv Media consulting company assisted Globalist in securing the rights to operate the basketball camps and will work with USA and European basketball coaches and legends to attend the camps and conduct clinics on a regular basis. Lyons worked with the NBA from 1980-2008.

“For us at Globalist Sports, working with the NBA Basketball School represents an opportunity to bring world‑class standards, structure, and ambition to youth basketball in Türkiye,” said Devrim Kıvanç Co-Founder & CEO, Globalist Sports Corporation Organisation JSC. “We are incredibly proud to support the introduction of this programme locally and excited about the long‑term pathway it creates for young players to develop their skills, confidence, and potential as part of a globally recognised environment.”

“The launch of the first NBA Basketball School in Türkiye reflects the country’s growing passion for basketball and our ongoing commitment to supporting youth development across the region,” said NBA Europe and Middle East Associate Vice President Basketball Operations, Henry Utku. “Through this collaboration with Globalist Sports, we are excited for this program to provide young players with access to world‑class coaching, resources, and a structured environment that emphasizes skill development, teamwork, and values that extend beyond the court.”

The NBA Basketball School curriculum, which is designed to develop players and provide parents, coaches and organizations with a better understanding of the process of improvement, was created by the NBA’s International Basketball Operations department in consultation with current and former NBA coaches, players and player development specialists. Since 2017, NBA Basketball Schools have been announced or launched in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, the UAE and Uruguay.

For the latest about NBA Basketball School Türkiye, follow @nbabasketballschool_tr and NBA Basketball School Türkiye. Fans in Türkiye can also follow the NBA on X, Facebook and Instagram and download the NBA App for the latest news, updates, scores, stats, schedules, videos and more. They can also purchase the latest NBA merchandise at NBAStore.eu.

Here’s a little insight from the inside: The NBA Basketball Schools are amazing. They’re located all over the world (see list above) and the league supports them all with an incredible amount of foundational and institutional knowledge. Everything from software to register and keep track of the campers and coaches to placing some NBA Legends at select events. The NBA runs tournaments between the various camps (Our U-17 boys team from Türkiye won last year’s tournament in Abu Dhabi and hope to defend that title this coming Fall).

I’ve found it quite fulfilling and have been happy to give back to the game that’s given me so much since my very first day in December of 1980.

While Basketball without Borders is the top of the heap in basketball development, NBA Basketball Schools are intended to introduce and teach the game to children as young as six or eight years old and continue until age 17-18.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Multiple media reports indicate that former Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban was trying to buy back a controlling interest in the team he loves but sold. Cuban owns 27% of the team after selling off 73% for $3.5 billion to the Adelson family in December 2023. The Adelsons have the right to buy another 20% from Cuban within four years of their deal, which would drop his stake to 7%. … In a recent podcast, Cuban said, “I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to,” indicating his displeasure in the direction the team took, mostly concetrating on the basketball operations side. (Initially, the deal indicated Cuban would still remain in charge of the team’s basketball operation). Of course, the Mavericks packaged franchise star Luka Dončić in a controversial trade with the LA Lakers for center Anthony Davis. The deal ultimately cost Nico Harrison, the head of basketball operations for the team, his job. Yet, Lady Luck shined on the Adelsons and Mavericks when the NBA Draft Lottery ping-pong balls gave them the rights to draft this year’s NBA Rookie of the Year in Cooper Flagg, a generational star.

While the trade certainly looked to favor the Lakers, both Dončić and Davis remain quite injury prone and the Mavericks are well on their way to a total rebuild with an extra pair of first round draft choices this June, a 2030 first rounder the Lakers obtained from Golden State and a slew of second round picks to come.

Meanwhile, Cuban dreams of what might have been as he counts a few extra billions from his Mavericks experience which came about after Cuban initially banked billions in a sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo.

It seems that the Dončić – Davis deal mirrors the Broadcast.com – Yahoo deal. In the end, as times changed, all of them, might be worthless.

ON THE BALLERS: In 2024, when the Oakland Athletics were heading out of the Bay Area, the Oakland Ballers became the newest member of the MLB-partnered Pioneer League, a minor league with a nod of approval from Major League Baseball. In their first season, the Ballers finished with the second-best record in the Pioneer Baseball League at 58-38 and sold over $1 million in branded merchandise, a Top 10 finish amongst all minor league franchises across the USA. In their second season, the Ballers delivered Oakland’s first baseball title since 1989, going 73-23 on the way to the league championship.

With a 10-year license in place at Oakland’s historic Raimondi Park and a solid ownership group in place, the Ballers are allowing accredited investors to share in the next phase of growth. Investors willing to put down a minimum of $10,000 can purchase shares (crowd share).

Recent Funding:

• The team successfully closed a community round in late April 2025 that raised over $3.77 million from approximately 3,800 fan-investors.
• In addition to community rounds, the team has opened rounds for accredited investors (individuals with high net worth or specific income levels) which have higher minimums of the $10-grand.
• Most of the investors have voting power with the right to vote on core team decisions like potential relocation or hiring the Head of Baseball Operations.
• There’s also Board representation as investors will have the ability to be represented by an elected Fan Director on the team’s board.

WNBA TEAM VALUATIONS: Before we get into the WNBA, let’s first remind everyone that the very Dallas Mavericks franchise that Cuban and the Adelsons are tossing billions at, one way or the other was once worth $12.5 million dollars when the NBA sold an expasnion franchise to Donald Carter in 1980.

Golden State team ownership invested $50 million to obtain the WNBA Valkyries in 2023. By 2025, the club had risen in value 10-times-over and was valued at $500 million when sports business publication Sportico crunched some numbers. Now? Sportico’s 2026 WNBA team valuations have the Valkyries valued at $850 million, leading the pack of WNBA franchises which are valued at an average of $427 million, up 59% year-over-year.

The New York Liberty (playing in Brooklyn) rank a distant second at $600 million, followed by the Indiana Fever ($560M), Seattle Storm ($425M) and Phoenix Mercury ($420M). Not too shabby, we say, noting the Atlanta Dream ($280M) rank last among the 13 WNBA clubs.

That’s a far cry from the opening tip-off of the WNBA back in 1997. Just ask the defunct Houston Comets (in the midst of obtaining the Connecticut Sun for some $300 million, the ultra defunct Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Sacramento Monarchs and Utah Starzz. They all turned in their WNBA chips to the league with no return at all.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: The hometown Boston Red Sox have under-performed in 2026 and it cost manager Alex Cora and a slew of bench coaches their jobs. Sox head of baseball (fancy title of Chief Baseball Officer) pulled the trap-door open for Cora, along with hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. Former Red Sox player and game-planning coach Jason Varitek was “reassigned” to a new (and yet to be named) role within the organization.

When the Sox were 0-0 earlier this spring, the club issued a one-pager on 25 years of stewardship of the franchise, a cozy way of noting we all have limited time on this earth and the Sox franchise owners believe this is their time in space to steer the ship for the good of Boston and New England (see NESN).

There were very proud and noteworthy accomplishments, which included:

• Ending an 86-year old “Curse of the Bambino by winning the 2004 World Series
• Since 2002, the Red Sox won an MLB-leading four World Championships (2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018) while claiming five American League East titles
• The Sox made 12 MLB postseason appearances
• Off the field, the team ownership invested $500,000 in the preservation and improvement of Fenway Park
• Major changes included money-making construction of the Green Monster seats, the 521 Overlook, the field-level Jim Beam Dugout seating and even the state-of-the-art MGMMusic Hall concert venue
• They’ve hosted NHL Winter Classics, Harvard vs Yale college football and the Fenway Bowl, countless numbers of summer concerts and a few college graduation ceremonies

That’s all very good work, to the tune of $14 billion in visitor spending while also raising some serious cash for the JIMMY Fund cancer research and other great community events.

But, the fans of the Boston Red Sox are a demanding bunch. They expect execution, run production, flawless defense and victories. The 2026 club fell short in April and Cora and his coaches paid the price. Boston entered the month of May at (12-19) and, like the race on Patriots’ Day, the season is a Marathon, not a sprint.

Ace pitcher Garrett Crochet is now on the 15-day Injured List with left shoulder inflammation. Newly acquired starting pitcher Sonny Gray was placed on that same IL with a hamstring issue on April 21. Youngsters Connelly Early and Payton Tolle were called up to the Majors a bit early, but both have promising futures.

Interim manager Chad Tracy (up from the WooSox) is holding the reins. There’s 10-of-13 games at Fenway, started on May 1. and 32-of-the-next-56 (57%) of the next portion of the schedule at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.

One thing is for sure, Sox fans not only get “Sweet Caroline” in the 8th inning, but the one major addition this year in an effort to celebrate America’s 250th is “more Neil Diamond” with a pregame video to the tune of his hit, “America” to begin each home game.

Thank goodness he won’t be singing “Cracklin’ Rosie.” And the Sox will be in big trouble if they hear, “Song Sung Blue.” … Neil, baby, “More Cowbell.”

TIDBITS & NUGGETS II – Here’s some of the stuff I think about:

• As the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby was staged on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think about the 99th edition, in 1973, when a horse of 16 1/2 hands won the first leg of the Triple Crown. Five weeks later, Secretariat ran the perfect race at the Belmont Stakes to become the greatest thoroughbred race horse in history. That’s 53 years ago, for you mathematically challenged C+ students out there. Secretariat
• I also think of the 1971 Kentucky Derby when Cañonero II was shipped in from Venezuela with odds as long as his trip only to win the 20-horse race at Churchill. Cañonero II had a crooked foreleg and a $1,200 price tag as a yearling. He won the Derby and The Preakness at Pimlico but fell short (4th Place) at The Belmont when his foreleg acted up. In the Fall of that year, Cañonero II set the Belmont course record and defeated Riva Ridge. He was later purchased for $1,000,000 and later lived the life of a sire in Kentucky. The great, great, great grandson of the legendary Man O’War has this special memory because my father had him in blind draw of horses in a Pan American office pool. Payday.

Every single time I watch this horse race, it brings tears to my eyes:

Also ran thoughts for today:

• I’ve been getting more SPAM than Monty Python.
• Blue Horseshoe does NOT love Spirit Airlines.
• And, speaking of Sprit Air, what would 83-year old Norman Greenbaum think?
• Instead of the ultra-boring Chicago Sky, why didn’t the Ch-town faithful name their WNBA franchise “The Koalas?”
• Why didn’t Doral re-name their championship 7,739-yard, par 72 PGA Tour level course, “The Orange Monster?”

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