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Celtics Eliminate Cavaliers

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s center Al Horford had 22 points and 15 rebounds as the host Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference finals by handing the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers a 113-98 loss in Game 5 of a semifinal series on Wednesday night.

Top-seeded Boston won the best-of-seven series 4-1. The Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight season and for the sixth time in the past eight years.

Jayson Tatum added 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for Boston. The Celtics led by just three points early in the fourth quarter but extended the lead to 14, 101-87, on a Tatum 3-pointer with 6:45 to play. The Cavaliers didn’t threaten after that.

It was a skeleton crew that took the court for Cleveland, which played without star guard Donovan Mitchell (calf), center Jarrett Allen (rib) and guard Caris LeVert (knee).

The calf injury also caused Mitchell to miss Cleveland’s 109-102 loss in Game 4 on Monday night. Allen didn’t play in the series, and LeVert was coming off a 19-point performance in Game 4.

Evan Mobley had a game-high 33 points and seven rebounds for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers. He made 15 of his 24 field-goal attempts.

Cleveland received a season-high 25 points from Marcus Morris Sr., who made 5 of 6 3-point attempts.

It was 28-28 after one quarter. Cleveland used an 18-6 run to take a 46-40 lead in the second quarter, but Boston responded with a 13-2 spurt that put the Celtics in front 53-48. Boston had a 58-52 lead at halftime.

The Celtics had a 69-57 advantage with 8:41 remaining in the third quarter after a Horford 3-pointer capped an 11-0 run. Cleveland kept fighting back, however, and was within seven points, 85-78, at the end of three quarters.

Cleveland failed to score 100 points in eight of its 12 playoff games.

–Field Level Media

 

Atlanta Hawks Win NBA Lottery

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CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The NBA Draft Lottery has been completed, the order has been doled out and the Atlanta Hawks beat the odds to come out on top, when they were granted the top overall selection in the 2024 NBA Draft.

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It is the first time the Hawks have won the top choice via draft lottery in franchise history. They had the No. 1 overall pick in 1975, via the New Orleans Jazz, and selected David Thompson (who chose to play for the ABA’s Denver Nuggets).

Triumphant Hawks general manager Landry Fields celebrated the reveal Sunday afternoon on live television as the team’s onsite representative when the order of the top two selections was revealed.

Fields flashed a toothy grin when the Washington Wizards — who had the second worst record in the NBA at 15-67 last year — were announced to have landed in the second spot, giving the top choice to Atlanta.

The Hawks (36-46) had just a three percent chance at receiving the top choice, as opposed to a 65.91 percent chance at picking tenth overall. It is the fifth lowest odds all time for a team to wind up with the top selection in the lottery.

The Houston Rockets will select third, while the San Antonio Spurs are at No. 4.

Despite having the league’s worst record at 14-68, and the best odds at winning the lottery, the Detroit Pistons fell all the way to the fifth choice.

Rounding out the top ten will be the Charlotte Hornets (No. 6), Portland Trail Blazers (No. 7), Spurs (No. 8), Memphis Grizzlies (No. 9) and Utah Jazz (No. 10).

The Chicago Bulls will pick 11th, while the Oklahoma City Thunder are 12th. The Sacramento Kings are 13th and the Trail Blazers are 14th.

–Field Level Media

Tatum, Brown Drive Celtics to Victory

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CLEVELAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Jayson Tatum recorded 33 points, 13 rebounds and six assists and the Celtics regained the lead in their Eastern Conference second-round series with a 106-93 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Tatum’s teammate, Jaylen Brown, scored 28 points on 13-of-17 shooting and collected nine rebounds as top-seeded Boston took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Jrue Holiday added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Derrick White had 12 points for the Celtics.

Donovan Mitchell made seven 3-pointers and scored 33 points for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers. Evan Mobley had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Caris LeVert and Darius Garland scored 15 points apiece for Cleveland.

Game 4 is Monday night at Cleveland.

The Cavaliers were without big man Jarrett Allen (ribs) for the sixth straight game. Kristaps Porzingis (calf) missed his fourth straight game for the Celtics.

Boston shot 51.2 percent from the field, including 13 of 34 from 3-point range. Cleveland connected on 42.9 percent of its shots and was 12 of 36 from behind the arc.

The Cavaliers trailed by 15 points before scoring the first six points of the final quarter. Mobley capped it with back-to-back hoops to bring Cleveland within 84-75 with 10:29 remaining.

Payton Pritchard and White nailed 3-pointers over the next few minutes as Boston pushed its lead to 94-81 with 6:58 remaining.

After a three-point play by Mitchell, Brown and White scored to give the Celtics a 98-84 advantage with 5:42 left.

Tatum’s fall-away baseline jumper over Max Strus made it 104-89 with 2:14 left, and Boston closed it out.

Boston led by nine at the break before opening the third quarter with 14 consecutive points.

Tatum opened the quarter with a three-point play, White added a 3-pointer and Brown followed with a layup to increase the margin to 17. White and Holiday knocked down treys to end the surge and give the Celtics a 71-48 lead with 9:06 left in the third quarter.

Mitchell hit a short jumper with 8:39 left in the third to start a 9-0 run as the Cavaliers pulled within 14 with 5:25 left. Boston thwarted the charge, and Brown drained a long 3-pointer with 20.3 seconds left to give his team an 84-69 advantage entering the final stanza.

Tatum scored 18 points in the first half as the Celtics took a 57-48 lead into the break. Mitchell had 23 in the half for Cleveland.

–Field Level Media

Can Cavs Defend Home Court vs C’s?

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CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have wrestled home-court advantage away from the top-seeded Boston Celtics. The next task is not giving it right back.

After splitting two games in Boston, the fourth-seeded Cavaliers look to make a big statement when they host the Celtics on Saturday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference second-round series.

After being crushed 120-95 in Game 1, Cleveland thrashed the Celtics on Boston’s home floor in Game 2 and notched a 118-94 victory.

Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell understood that it was a huge breakthrough but immediately turned the attention to Game 3 — suddenly the most important game of the playoffs for both teams.

“It’s always good to get a win on the road, but at the end of the day, it’s one game,” Mitchell said after scoring 29 points. “So it was good to get the win. We did a lot of really positive things. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.

“You got to go take care of home court. It’s nice to get this win, but at the end of the day, we got one day to prepare and get ready to protect home court.”

Boston is looking to bounce back quickly after it appeared it was going to roll through the series following the dominating Game 1 performance.

Trailing by as many as 29 in the second half of Game 2, after being tied at halftime, was a stunning development to the Celtics.

“Just get ready for Saturday,” said Boston star Jayson Tatum, who had 25 points in Game 2. “Nobody was in there defeated, deflated. I mean, you never want to lose, especially in the playoffs.

“There’s a lot of things we can learn from, and we get it — the world thinks we’re never supposed to lose. We’re supposed to win every game by 25. And it’s just not going to be like that all the time.”

Mitchell was one of three 20-point scorers for Cleveland on a night in which his club shot 54.7 percent from the field. Evan Mobley had 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and Caris LeVert scored 21 points off the bench.

Mobley was a big factor on the defensive end as Boston shot just 41.3 percent from the field. Tatum and Jaylen Brown (19 points) were both 7 of 17 from the field and Derrick White (10 points) was 3 of 11. White scored 25 points in Game 1.

“That’s where he’s at his best, continuing to protect the paint,” Mitchell said of Mobley. “Especially having him guard on the ball, and being able to deter them on their shots and layups. …

“It’s not easy attacking Evan like that, so just having him able to be that dominant, but also give us offensive production, was big time.”

Mobley’s play in the interior was huge with center Jarrett Allen (ribs) again sidelined. Allen has missed five straight games and is listed as questionable for Saturday.

Boston big man Kristaps Porzingis (calf) will miss his fourth straight game.

NBA Draft Lottery: Who Will Pick #1

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CHICAGO – Four teams enter the 2024 NBA Draft lottery on Sunday with better than 13 percent odds of landing the No. 1 pick, but the prize holds relatively modest value one year after Victor Wembanyama arrived in the NBA from France.

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The Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards share the top odds — 14 percent — ahead of the Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers, who picked second and third behind the San Antonio Spurs last June. The Spurs scored the No. 1 pick, selected Wembanyama, and hold the fifth-best chance (10.5 percent) at getting the first overall pick in the 2024 draft via the lottery.

Since the lottery rules changed in 2019, each of the four teams to win the lottery and No. 1 pick entered with 14 percent odds to land the pick. The first year under the competitive balance rules in 2020, the Timberwolves won the lottery and selected Georgia’s Anthony Edwards.

While any team in the NBA would’ve welcomed a chance to bring Edwards or Wembanyama on board, there’s a bit of a red-headed stepchild narrative around the 2024 draft class.

The order of draft selections for lottery teams — the 14 teams not in the NBA playoffs — will be assigned mid-afternoon (3 p.m. ET, ABC) on Mother’s Day. Final positioning in the lottery was determined after the regular season based on record with the NBA settling tiebreaks involving teams with identical regular-season records.

Detroit drafted first overall in 2021 (Cade Cunningham) and fifth in 2022 (Jaden Ivey) and 2023 (Ausar Thompson). The Pistons find themselves back in this position following a league-worst 14-68 finish to the regular season.

Equal chances for the No. 1 pick belong to the Wizards. Washington last won the lottery in 2010, selecting Kentucky point guard John Wall.

The Hornets picked first once — in 1991, when they selected UNLV’s Larry Johnson — but have drafted outside of the lottery only once in the past 23 years. Charlotte selected Brandon Miller No. 2 overall in 2023 and LaMelo Ball with the third pick in 2020.

Greg Oden was the Trail Blazers’ pick at No. 1 in 2007 and Portland hasn’t been back in the top spot since. Point guard Scoot Henderson went at No. 3 to Portland in 2023. Kentucky shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe (seventh overall, 2022) and Lehigh guard CJ McCollum (10th overall, 2013) were the only other top-10 draft picks for the franchise since Oden.

Sporting the best record in the West in the regular season and playing in the conference semifinals, trade-happy Oklahoma City maintains two chances in the lottery as owed compensation in previous swaps with the Utah Jazz (6 percent chance at No. 1 pick) and Houston Rockets (1.5 percent odds at No. 1 pick). Because of pick protections placed on the trade, the Thunder would receive Utah’s selection only if it’s Nos. 11-14.

The current scouting consensus for the No 1 pick is Zaccharie Risacher.

Cavaliers Look to Even Series

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The visiting Cleveland Cavaliers look to even their second-round Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Boston Celtics when the teams play Game 2 of the best-of-seven series tonight. The top-seeded Celtics pulled away in the second half of Game 1 to earn a 120-95 victory on Tuesday.

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“Obviously there’s a lot of areas that we can improve on,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Facing a team like Boston, I think it’s good to be able to play them and see them, and then play them again because you’re not used to the speed, the spacing, the shooting — all those things — until you get up against them. Especially coming from the series that we just came from (against Orlando) that was more of a half-court slugfest. … We’ll learn from it and we’ll be better on Thursday.”

Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell said the improvement has to start on offense. The fourth-seeded Cavaliers have failed to score 100 points in six of their eight playoff games.

“We got (42) 3s up and we hit 11,” said Mitchell, who scored a game-high 33 points in Game 1. “I think the biggest thing now is just being able to hit and knock them down.”

Boston received 32 points from Jaylen Brown and 25 from Derrick White, who sank seven 3 pointers.

“I think the most important thing is to win,” White said. “I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter if I score zero or score however many I scored (Tuesday). When we win, I’m doing enough.”

Cleveland was held to 15 points in the second quarter and trailed 59-49 at halftime. Boston led by 15 points after three quarters and opened the fourth on a 10-2 run.

“I thought we created some open shots,” Bickerstaff said. “I think we got some of the looks we were looking for; they just didn’t go. I think we missed four or five layups in that second quarter. Typically, we make those. We got some open 3s from guys who we wanted to take them. We’ll make more of those as the series goes along.”

Brown said it would be a mistake to read too much into the Game 1 result, especially since Cleveland had little time to recover after it advanced with a Game 7 victory over Orlando on Sunday.

“Anything can happen,” Brown said. “It’s the NBA playoffs. We’re just taking it one game at a time and that’s all we can control. And we try to come out, be the harder playing team. We stick to our agenda and we let the chips fall where they may. It’s gonna be tough for a team to have to beat us four times. But as long as we come out, we execute both ends, we’re the harder playing team, I think we’ll be fine.”

After Thursday, the series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 (Saturday) and Game 4 (Monday). The Celtics won two of their three games against the Cavaliers during the regular season, but Cleveland won the only game it played at home.

“They came out here and did what they were supposed to do,” Mitchell said. “Now we have to find a way to steal Game 2.”

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | April 21

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While We’re Young (Ideas) on Caitlin Clark and the WNBA

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Every decade or so, an issue comes down the pike, and it’s so complex it can only be played out on the sports pages – specifically the NBA section. The complexities have ranged from public health to race relations to geopolitical crisis to labor law. You name it, the NBA has played it.

In the late ‘70s, the NBA was considered too Black and too druggie. The San Diego edition of the Los Angeles Times went so far as to call out the NBA for having 75% of its players using illegal drugs. (It was not a coincidence, the league had playing rosters of some 75% Black players, as well).

The NBA countered with the first and most significant Anti-Drug Agreement in professional sports, and the concept was championed by NBA Players Association President Bob Lanier (RIP 1948-2022) and signed by Big Bob and then Commissioner Larry O’Brien.

Early 1980s? The NBA was embarrassed by having only a handful of games on national TV and the championship games being tape delayed, all while salaries were soaring with no end in sight.

Up stepped the NBA with a new concept in Collective Bargaining that placed player salaries in line with the overall (monetary) success of the league. The new ‘83 CBA introduced maximum (Salary Cap) and minimum team salaries along with an improved Anti-Drug Agreement. The deal was a first for pro sports, and it was lauded by New York Times labor writer A.H. Raskin as a model, not just for sports but for all of labor law. Over the years, the league and NBA Players Association worked on the CBA and improved its rules/agreements, which govern the league’s player movement to this day.

The 1990s came along, and so did the public health crisis of the HIV/AIDS virus, a decade-plus old and raging out of control around the world. Just how could the NBA intersect with such a medical crisis?

Instead of hiding or being shunned by the league, fellow players and society, Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard and NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson stepped up to a podium at the Fabulous Forum in LA and announced to the world that he had tested positive with the HIV virus and would have to retire from the NBA. Johnson stated his intention to help educate the youth of the world, stressing healthy living and teaching literally everyone the intricacies of and how to live with the virus, stressing safe sex and calling for much-needed research dollars to perfect prescription drug cocktails that were life-saving.

Johnson’s message was front page news in every publication in the world and he furthered his teachings by participating in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game where he won MVP honors in a truly magical manner. Johnson went on to play on the one and only USA Basketball “Dream Team” that took the gold medal at the ‘92 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Fast forward to 2020, and another virus ran rampant throughout the globe. It wasn’t until NBA Commissioner Adam Silver abruptly stopped the league from playing games that the general public realized just how serious COVID-19 was going to be. Only the IVY League was exercising full caution ahead of the NBA, but no one was listening until the NBA made its decisive move.

Now that’s a long introduction – we call it background in the biz – to introduce the topic of the day – maybe of the 2024-2030s – and that is the impact of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, drafted this week into the WNBA by the Indiana Fever. In one season, Clark sold more Iowa jerseys than Jersey Mike sells subs. While doing so, and now officially licensed Indiana replica uniforms and WNBA orange hoodies are flying off the shelves, the issue of “women in sports” has been raised by every media outlet in the land, from CNBC business to an Indiana-based columnist inappropriately making a “heart-shaped” sign to Clark while she was in the middle of meeting the WNBA media for the very first time.

Clark, who handled the press conference incident with grace and dignity, has done more to advance women’s basketball in one season than the WNBA has done since its inception on Memorial Day weekend in 1997. Clark led her Iowa Hawkeyes to the NCAA women’s Final Four, losing to national champion South Carolina in the championship game just weeks ago.

The coolest thing about Clark is she made the difference with her “game,” as in “She’s Got Game.” Her impact made all her teammates better and helped drive television ratings to all-time highs (According to Nielsen: 18.88 million people watched South Carolina clinch their undefeated season by beating Iowa, 87-75). The game marked the third all-time TV ratings high for the women’s game, and a 289% increase over the previous year’s NCAA championship. Only the ‘96 USA Basketball women’s national team win at the Atlanta Olympics can claim a higher ratings number (19.7 viewers).

The men’s final drew 14.8 million viewers on Turner (cable) and with that, let the comparisons begin, as media watchers noted that Clark’s Iowa team rated higher than any basketball game (men’s or women’s and college or professional) since 2019, according to ESPN, and the most viewership ever for a women’s college basketball game, as the broadcast peaked at a stunning 24 million viewers.

To put this in perspective. The games topped…

  • Every World Series game last year.
  • Every NBA Finals game last year.
  • Every Daytona 500 since 2013.
  • Every Masters final round viewership since 2013.
  • All but five College Football Bowl games in 2023.

As the WNBA Draft took place, the next (semi)-logical comparison was made as Clark’s WNBA rookie scale salary calls for her base salary to be:

  • 2024: $76,535
  • 2025: $78,066
  • 2026: $85,873
  • 2027: (option year) at $97,582

Quickly, the media pointed out that the NBA’s No. 1 draft choice, Victor Wembanyama signed a No. 1 pick NBA scale contract of $55,174,766 or some $13.7 million a year.

Knee jerk reactions were a combination of disbelief and horror by many who knew next to nothing of the NBA’s vast collective bargaining history since the maximum and minimum team salaries were introduced in 1983 and the number of years, ticket sales, and new global television deals it took to grow the NBA “pie” to its record levels of today.

For instance:

  • The NBA will generate about $13B in revenues this year. The WNBA will not approach that number. For additional background, the NBA’s (USA/Canada-based) national media deals pay the NBA and its teams $2.8 billion with a “b” for 2023-24. The WNBA and its teams will net $65M total for media rights.
  • The NBA is finishing its 78th season in business. The WNBA is enjoying its 28th season. The comparison in years would make it 1973 for the NBA.
  • In 1973, NBA players were making $15,000 (minimum), the median was $25,000 and the average was $40,000. The “key salary” figure at time was $65,000. If you were making $65,000, you were pretty good.
  • In ’73, the NBA had 45 players making $100,000, and keep in mind at the time there was a bidding war factor with ABA to sign and/or entice players between the years 1967 and ’76) – (Source: New York Times: Leonard Koppett).
  • Remember, the NBA plays from October to April with an 82-game season with 30 clubs and for successful playoff teams it could be some 100+ games all the way to late June. WNBA players compete in a 40-game, four-month season with 12 teams.
  • In addition to her base salary, Clark can make another $500,000 or more in WNBA-related earnings (coming from league activated marketing deals) this coming season.
  • Without a doubt, the marketing strength and vast WNBA TV deals will help her gain significant income through new endorsements and via existing business partnerships. Recent reports have that dollar amount exceeding $3 million and potentially jumping to an eight-figure Nike shoe and apparel deal worth $20,000,000 itself. (Be Like Mike and take the stock options).

The differences far outweigh the similarities, so it’s quite disingenuous to compare Clark’s salary to Wembanyama’s. But, if Clark were to be drafted in the first round by an NBA team this June, which is within reason, she would be slotted into the NBA’s rookie pay scale. Period. There’s no gender issue in the NBA’s CBA. Rookies selected in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft will make roughly $2m (for the 30th selection) to $10,504,800 for the No. 1 pick in the draft.

If Clark were to be selected with, say, the 20th overall pick of the draft, she’d make $2,780,000 for her first season, with bump-ups to $2.9m and $3.05m for the following two years. A four-year option salary would come in at 54% of her salary in 2026-27.

Now, the question of the day: Is Clark good enough to command an NBA salary? And, play it out: is the most talented musician at the Berklee School of Music good enough to gross the $2 billion Taylor Swift made in 2023? Or, we can get real serious across the entire socio-economic chart and start comparing the salaries of school teachers, bus drivers, nurses, first responders and the like to entertainers and athletes.

The point is that it’s not a fair comparison to knee-jerk and compare salaries unless you’re putting it all in context. That is the attempt in this column.

One last point: In 2020, the likes of Sue Bird and the (WNBA/NBA) Players Association heads were lauding their new CBA, and rightfully so. Said Bird, a member of the WNBA Players Association executive committee: “The deal represents moving forward both from a WNBA perspective, but also in general, for women in sports and society. We continue to push forward and there’s a lot of aspects of this deal that mark that.

“When you look at things like what we’re able to do with maternity leave and family planning … We’re going to be looked at as – I think – pioneers in the sports world.”

The players called the deal “historic,” due to its potential to change the financial landscape of women’s professional sports. “We’re betting on ourselves,” they said. “We’re betting on our ability as a league to bring to our American culture what people say they want.”

Just like Julius “Doctor J” Erving, Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the new member of the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark, can be the game changer and put the WNBA on a path to incredible heights.

And guess what? Someday soon, while Clark and her 2024 Draft Class join up with the incredibly talented veteran stars of the league – A’ja Wilson and the entire Vegas Aces roster for one, Sabrina Ionescu and the NY Liberty, along with Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year and Clark’s new teammate Aliyah Boston, and all the other fabulous players in the W – they’ll all marvel when yet another unique, amazing, hard-working and game-changing athlete comes along, Just Like Mike came along to build on the foundation set by Doc, Larry and Magic, and Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and George Mikan before him.

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: On a personal note: Some of my media brethren are trying to manufacture a “Bird vs Magic” style rivalry in the WNBA between Clark and former LSU star Angel Reese, drafted by the Chicago Sky. Let’s see what happens if the rivalry manifests itself or not in the years to come, but, putting that aside, this columnist thinks the proper comparison for Clark is the great Doctor J.

While playing for UMass, the Virginia Squires, New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, Doc did things that we’d never seen before, and he did it pretty much every game he played. Yes, Erving operated far above the rim and had mitts the size of Montana, while Clark “operates” from the center court logo zone, a zip code away from the rim, and makes every player on her team better. She does something we haven’t seen before almost every night, sometimes astonishing Golden State’s Steph Curry. Again, it’s tough – maybe impossible – to make the comparisons.

WAYBACK: Looking in the wayback machine for the NYT story cited above, it also quoted the great Pat Williams (former GM at Orlando and Philadelphia) and noted his P.O.V. on the late Commissioner David Stern’s ability to “sell” the NBA. Said Williams: “Now, the 47-year-old Mr. Stern is embarking on his next big gambit: peddling the sport abroad. And he likes nothing better than hustling. ”We had people in this league who would have trouble selling Blue Cross to Humpty Dumpty,” said Pat Williams, the general manager of the Orlando Magic. ”David Stern can sell an anvil to a drowning man. He can sell a pogo stick to a kangaroo. You ready for this? David Stern could sell a stethoscope to a tree surgeon.

“That’s the ultimate tribute I can pay the man,” said Williams.

NUGGETS AND TIDBITS: This might come as a shock, but the Boston Red Sox rank No. 2 in MLB with 28 Home Runs, trailing only the Baltimore Orioles with 30. This fast April start for the Sox in the HR Dept. is their most through 21 games since 2002 (30) and it ties for fifth most in franchise history. … The Red Sox 17 HRs on the road ties the San Francisco Giants for most in MLB (as of April 20-AM). … Heading into Saturday’s games, OF Tyler O’Neill ranked second in the American League with seven HRs while 1B Triston Casas is tied for third with six dingers.

SURPRISE, SUPRISE: Scottie Scheffler is atop the PGA leaderboard at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Course in South Carolina. Scheffler shot an acceptable two-under (69) on Thursday but amped it up to go 69-65-63 heading into the Sunday (April 21) finale. Five golfers are within three strokes.

SAD NOTE: It was very sad to get a text message from former St John’s coach Fran Fraschilla with the terrible news of (former St. John’s classmate) Howie Schwab passing away on the morning of April 20. Known to many sports fans as the “Stump the Schwab” ESPN personality, his friends knew him as the sports editor of “The Torch” at St. John’s and the kindest and most thoughtful guy you’d ever want to know. The WWYI column will delve deeper into “The Schwab” next week, but please say a prayer for Howie, his wife and family. Simply put, he was a very good man and the most loyal (to St. John’s and his ESPN employer) that you’d ever meet.

HEAT Play Way Into NBA Playoffs

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MIAMI – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Miami’s Tyler Herro tallied a near triple-double of 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists and the host Heat punched their ticket to the 2024 NBA Playoffs with a convincing 112-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in the one-sided win in the final Eastern Conference play-in game.

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The Heat will face the top-seeded Boston Celtics on Sunday in the first round of the playoffs. Miami and Boston met in the two last East finals, with Boston prevailing in 2022 and the Heat winning last season.

Miami dominated Friday’s contest even with star Jimmy Butler sidelined with a ligament injury to his right knee. Butler was injured in Wednesday’s play-in loss against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Reserve bigman Kevin Love contributed 16 points and seven rebounds, and Bam Adebayo scored 13 points for the Heat.

DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points and Nikola Vucevic had 16 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Bulls. Coby White had just 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting after scoring 42 points against the Atlanta Hawks two nights earlier.

Javonte Green added 12 points off the bench, and Ayo Dosunmu had 10 on 3-of-15 shooting for Chicago.

Miami also defeated the Bulls last season in the battle for the final spot in the East. The Heat eventually lost to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.

Miami shot 46.3 percent from the field, including 14 of 33 from 3-point range.

The Bulls made 38 percent of their attempts and were 13 of 43 from behind the arc.

Chicago trailed 70-60 after a basket by Green with 3:15 left in the third quarter, and then Miami delivered the knockout punch.

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NBA Bans Porter for Life

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The NBA issued a lifetime ban to Jontay Porter following an investigation into his involvement in gambling on league games, the league announced Wednesday.

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An investigation directed by the league found that Porter “violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes and betting on NBA games,” according to a league news release.

Porter, a center, was under a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors in the 2023-24 season.

“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”

According to the league, Porter played only three minutes of the Raptors’ home loss to the Sacramento Kings on March 20 before telling the team he didn’t feel well. Prior to the game, he “disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor,” the league said.

Additionally, per the NBA, another known better placed an $80,000 online wager that would have paid out $1.1 million if Porter underperformed the odds.

The prop bet was frozen and not paid after it was deemed suspicious.

The NBA also reported that between January and March as a member of the Raptors or their G League minor league team, Raptors 905, Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games through an associate’s account and won about $22,000.

Porter, 24, averaged 4.4 points through 26 games (five starts) for Toronto this season. He began his NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2020-21, then didn’t appear in the league the next two seasons.

He last played on March 22.

His older brother, Michael Porter Jr., started 81 games for the Denver Nuggets this season.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Sit Six, But Rout Hornets

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston guard Payton Pritchard scored a career-high 31 points and had 11 assists to help the Celtics end a two-game losing streak with a 131-98 rout of the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Friday.

Neither team was near full strength.

Boston (63-18) was without the top six players in its rotation, as Jaylen Brown (hand), Jayson Tatum (knee), Jrue Holiday (knee), Al Horford (toe), Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring) and Derrick White (ankle) were downgraded from questionable to out.

Nick Richards (foot) and Grant Williams (ankle) didn’t play for the Hornets, who received 19 points and eight assists from Tre Mann plus 15 points from Nick Smith Jr.

Pritchard made 14 of his 22 field-goal attempts. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

Luke Kornet added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who are locked into the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Boston will wrap up the regular season Sunday with a home game against the Washington Wizards.

Charlotte (20-61) will end its season on Sunday at Cleveland.

Sam Hauser (16), Neemias Queta (career-high 16) and Jaden Springer (season-high 11) were the other Celtics who scored in double figures.

Charlotte committed 20 turnovers and was out-rebounded 53-33. Boston had a 32-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Celtics led 30-24 after the first quarter and pulled away in the second. Boston led by three early in the quarter, but went on a 31-6 run and had a 69-41 lead after a Hauser 3-pointer with 34.1 seconds remaining in the half.

Charlotte committed a total of 12 turnovers in the first two quarters and trailed 69-43 at the break.

Pritchard had 23 points and nine assists in the opening half.

The Hornets outscored the Celtics 33-25 in the third, but Boston had a comfortable 94-76 lead entering the fourth. Charlotte never drew closer than 18 points in the final quarter.

–Field Level Media