I am in a sour mood. My calf strain seems to be mending fine and my ankle isn’t really bothering me terribly. I can increase my walking mileage and biking time. I can go to the gym without restrictions. Plus I accept my ongoing root canal as a necessity with a cracked molar--not much I can do about that. So I can’t really attribute my sourness to my physical ailments.
Perhaps the Knicks losing to the Atlanta Hawks in 5 games could be the source of my malaise? Nah, not really. NYK exceeded my expectations for the past season. Let’s face it, Trae Young is an emerging star for the Hawks, a team which can take out the next opponent, the top-seeded Philadelphia 76’ers, especially if megastar Joel Embiid is hobbled or out due to his unfortunate knee injury. Nope. It’s not that.
While I still feel some angst about the Golden State Warriors losing a heartbreaker to the Lakers in the 7-8 game and then being eliminated by the Memphis Grizzlies, I am a realist.
Selfishness takes over because I love to watch Steph Curry shoot and dribble. Besides Draymond Green, there wasn’t enough talent on the court to make the Warriors into a real playoff team.
Look at the Grizzlies and Lakers. Both teams won a game in their respective series. That was it. Certainly Anthony Davis’ injury derailed any chances LAL had in defending their crown. I fully believe that the Suns are an emerging power in the West—the 10-0 run in the bubble last season which sent them home just shy of a playoff spot was fair warning that they would be a force this season. Devin Booker’s 47 points in Game 5 provided an exclamation mark to those doubters about how good Phoenix is.
Ja Morant and company were overmatched against Utah once Devon Mitchell returned to the Jazz lineup. Utah is playing like the number one seed they are in the West. I feel they have a legitimate chance to reach the NBA Finals if no injuries occur. Which is unfortunate, because G Mike Conley is day-to-day with a mild hamstring injury.
The Jazz draws the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Dallas Mavericks series—the only opening round matchup not yet decided. Dallas is leading 3-2 trading into Friday night’s game in Big D.
I like Luka Doncic, the young star of the Mavs. There was doubt that he would play effectively after suffering a shoulder injury. That uncertainty was laid to rest when he scored 42 points in a triumph over the Clippers at the Staples Center.
The Clippers were solid favorites to win this series. The team acts like they can easily win in seven by going to Texas and taking business then coming home and take Game 7.
Not so fast. This is the second series where the teams have won all of the games on the road. The other is the 1995 Western Conference Finals between Houston and San Antonio, which ended in six games with the Rockets winning Game 6 at home. Which means history, albeit limited, is on the Mavs side.
Now I am biased, as I am rooting for Dallas over the Clippers. My intense dislike of Paul George’s playing abilities colors my impartiality. Would I be upset if LAC went on to win this series? Not at all.
In the East, I made mention of the Hawks and Sixers. Which leaves the Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. Will I watch when the games begin on Saturday night? Probably. Do I care which team emerges? Not really. Do I think that Brooklyn is the better team? Do I feel that the Bucks are a far better opponent than the Boston Celtics? Absolutely. Can I see an upset? Yes. Do I believe there will be one? No.
Wild news emerged from Boston. Danny Ainge, the head of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, has stepped down. Ainge, survivor of a heart attack, will turn the reins over to Brad Stevens, who will give up his head coaching job to assume the awesome responsibility of bringing another championship back to Boston.
Stevens didn’t take the head coaching job at Indiana probably because he knew he could succeed Ainge. Stevens also suffered from coaching fatigue, a.k.a. burnout. Whether this affects his judgment in hiring a new coach and how he navigates the salary cap and improves the Celtics is still to be seen.
Is the NBA the cause of my misery? No.
Mike Krzyzewski is stepping down as the head basketball coach of the Duke men’s team after the 2021-22 season. He has done everything a coach could do, beginning with his accumulated victories at West Point and Durham, which is at 1,170 and counting. His resume includes 12 Final Fours and 5 National Championships.
Forty-two years at Duke is a long time. Coach K, his name shortened by sportswriters who didn’t have spell check, became the premiere basketball coach of his era. Some might say he is the greatest of all time in the collegiate ranks; others will simply point to John Wooden’s body of work at UCLA where his Bruins won 10 titles.
Certainly they both are on the Mount Rushmore of college coaches. Who else can join them there is open to vigorous debate. The other names mentioned for this prestigious honor are the recently retired Roy Williams, who won at both Kansas and North Carolina; Jim Boeheim, still going strong at this alma mater, Syracuse; Rick Pitino, who showed his magic this year at Iona; Jim Calhoun, the former UConn head man; the venerable Dean Smith, who brought UNC to prominence in the tough ACC; the General, Bob Knight, whose mercurial style got him into hot water at Indiana; Adolph Rupp, the revered head man at Kentucky, whose teams remained all-white while integration was beginning around him; and John Calipari and Jay Wright, who continue to make history at Kentucky and Villanova.
Coach K is 75. The rigors of recruiting and now the transfers rule have taken a toll on men like Williams and Coach K, making it harder to gain stability within a team. That in itself is almost as bad as the one and done player who can lead a school to a title—Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse come to mind first—then head to the riches in the NBA. Even having modest success in college can lead to a lucrative deal for those who opt not to stay and play four years.
Coach K has won national titles. He has won in the Olympics. He has the most victories of any D-I basketball coach. This final season before his handpicked successor and former player, Jon Scheyer, assumes the throne, will be a farewell tour unlike any other.
Many want a fairy book ending for this college hoops icon. Not me. I never liked Coach K that much. He could be surly and self-serving. I felt he talked down to people, no matter his generosity in buying pizza for students camped out for tickets to a Duke-UNC game at Cameron Indoor Stadium (parents must have loved that they were shelling out big bucks for a Duke education while their children were freezing outside of a gym trying to obtain basketball tickets).
Maybe my expectations were skewered by his nasal tone and his harsh demeanor. Then again, he was hired to coach basketball and his players—both college and in the pros— adore him. Perhaps that is the greater measure of the success of this man. And his legacy.
In the NHL, Boston is ahead of the Islanders 2-1 with an overtime win last night. The Lightning failed to go up on Carolina 3-0, as the Hurricanes prevailed in OT. Colorado is acting like the best team, holding a 2-0 margin on Vegas. And Montreal, the comeback kids who downed Toronto on Monday night to win that series, are ahead of Winnipeg 1-0.
The Leafs have been called chokers by many. They lost key player John Tavares to a brutal hit and never were the same, in spite of accumulating a 3-1 series advantage.
Give credit to the Canadiens, who played gritty, hard hockey and turned Leafs mistakes into goals. Another year’s disappointment in Toronto—they are acting like the New York Rangers, which went from 1940 to 1994 without winning the Stanley Cup.
There were no no hitters thrown this week in baseball. The division leaders are Tampa Bay, the White Sox and A’s in the American League, while the Mets, Cubs and Giants are atop the divisions in the National League.
Chicago is alive with baseball fever. Good to see. Cubs-Sox games will have even more fervor this year.
San Francisco remains a surprise. The Giants took 3 of 4 from the Dodgers in LA last weekend. Yet they hold a one game lead on San Diego and only two games separate the Giants and Dodgers. It is a three team race, not a two team race like prognosticators anticipated.
Tampa Bay is on this huge winning streak. 17 out of the last 20. Watching them this week at Yankee Stadium, the Rays are a feisty bunch, with good pitching and timely hitting. While the players are intense, here is a joy in how they play.
Which is far from that in the Yankees clubhouse. The Bombers are in disarray. Everything seems to be untimely. And they can’t hit too well, nor is the pitching sufficient lately.
Here is where my mood has been affected. I have great difficulty watching the team.
Aaron Judge is trying too hard. He’s now installed in centerfield because Brett Gardner cannot man that position on a daily basis. On Thursday, Clint Frazier, hero of Tuesday night’s walkout victory with a line drive hoe run which barely cleared the left field wall, had a chance to stop a Tampa rally. Except his throw from right field, Judge’s spot sailed up the line, allowing the Rays to score a second run on that hit.
I don’t care that Frazier has batted over.300 in his last 12 games. He is a defensive liability and his offense is spotty.
Others who are tough to watch are D.J.LeMahieu, who is batting in the .250’s; Gio Urshela, whose average is down in the same range; ditto Gleyber Torres; Giancarlo Stanton’s return from the IL has been unspectacular and wooden; Roughned Odor does not thrill me and strikes out way too much;.
Meanwhile, closer Aroldis Chapman is struggling after his virus. Ace Gerrit Cole is 1-3 in his last four starts with an E.R.A. of nearly 5. Thee is no continuity on the pitching staff.
Combined with the lack of timely hitting with men on base—New York is among he worst in that department—it seems the only person hitting is Miguel Andujar, who is out of place in left field. This is horrible.
Of course, I have left special mention for Gary Sanchez. The guy cannot run the bases. He runs when he shouldn’t and he stays rooted to the bag when he has a chance to run without problems. Michael Kay keeps pointing to the productivity of Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka being above the norm for catchers. It doesn’t take into account how badly they are in producing runs. Which the Yankees are very bad at during this 3-7 slide.
They aren’t much fun to watch. I half-heartedly stated to my wife that I should boycott the Yankees while they are so miserable. Maybe that might help my mental state and, in a superstitious way, bring them some luck.
Except that I decided to watch Thursday’s matinee with Cole as a starter, only to see him struggling and the offense looking anemic once more. Which isn’t very good with Boston coming to town.
I’m afraid to turn on the Yankees telecast tonight. Or for the weekend. With good reason.
I’m glad there is hockey and basketball to ease my mind.
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