Break Up The Rays?

  The NBA wisely conclude the 2022-23 campaign with games at 1:00 and 3:30. Kind of like the baseball regular season having all games start at 3:00 on the final day. 

Much had to be settled in terms of seeding for the playoffs. Much of it had to do with the order in the Western Conference—it was unclear heading into the Sunday games which teams would be in fifth and sixth place, and what the order would be for the play-in tournament which establishes the seventh and eighth seeds. 

Showing some life against teams which didn’t want to play its starters for fear of injury (Sacramento) or had long ago sat down its star performer to better its lottery position (Portland), the Golden State Warriors took care of business with road wins to end a dreadful season away from the Chase Center. Sunday’s blowout against the Trailblazers was by more than 50 points. 

Nonetheless, the Warriors could only secure a sixth seed, as the Los Angeles Clippers matched Golden State’s overall record but held the tie breaker. This sets up a meeting with the vastly improved Sacramento Kings, a team which has not sniffed the playoffs for quite a while. Even with Andrew Wiggins back—and nobody really knows what his return will be like because he did not play in any games since rejoining the team—defending their championship is going to be very, very hard. 

The Western Conference has Denver at the top—despite its two-time M.V.P. Nikola Jokic leading the way—it seems never to make it to the conference finals. Second-seeded Memphis is an enigma-the talent is there but the heads seem to get screwed up in the second season. Phoenix is in fourth place and will struggle with the Clippers, even with a revitalized Kevin Durant seemingly healthy. 

Somehow, the Los Angeles Lakers, once left for dead as far as the playoffs, managed to get over .500 and have the top seed in the play-in meetings. Some think that if LAL can win out and secure the seventh seed, they can make a run for the title. I just don’t see it. 

In the Eastern Conference, everything should come down to Milwaukee and Boston—just like last year. Philadelphia has fire power, starting with the strong candidate for M.V.P., Joel Embiid, having put together a monster season. The Knicks have improved, but there is a real question mark about Julius Randle’s ankle. No other teams seem capable of making a run, although Miami, the top team in the East’s play-in, could make a little noise along the way. 

I watched the New Jersey Devils play in Boston on Saturday night. From what I saw the Bruins are as good as their record-setting win total suggests. That record-setting win came on Sunday evening versus the black-clad Flyers in Philadelphia. Two more wins will eclipse the all-time points record for a team, held by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, which accomplished the feat in 80 games; Boston has not played 79 games. 

Boston has everything a team would need to run the table. Excellent defense and goaltending, both of which throttled the potent New Jersey attack in a 2-1 win. David Pastrnak scored his 60th goal in the win in Philadelphia. He is a sniper and he can pass. Their head coach was a very successful NCAA champion at the University of Maine, were he was a captain of a 42-1-2 team. Montgomery did not have a stellar NHL career as a player, transitioning into coaching major college hockey and compiling a 125-57-26 record which included winning the 2017 NCAA championship as head coach at the University of Denver.

Montgomery became a head coach in the NHL with Dallas. His teams went 60-43-10 and he was fired in his second season there. The Montreal native must have learned fast about how to best utilize his talent, just like in college. I think he will likely out-coach his rivals in the impending playoffs. 

Not everything is settled in the NHL as far as which teams are in the playoffs. With teams either having two or three games left, Florida, the Islanders and Pittsburgh are vying for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, Winnipeg, Calgary and Nashville are still alive for the final two places.  Congratulations to Vegas, Edmonton, Los Angeles and Seattle for securing playoff positions, although the Golden Knights and Oilers could flip flop in the race for the most points in the conference. What is news is that the two most recent expansion franchises, Vegas and Seattle, are both in the playoffs. 

I want to mention the best players in the league. That would be Connor McDavid of Edmonton. McDavid now has 151 points on 64 goals and 87 assists. He is the first to pass 150 points in a season since Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. Two of the all-time greats. Mentioning him with those two demonstrates how good he is, and I would not be surprised if Edmonton might make it to the Stanley Cup Finals behind their star. 

The NCAA Frozen Four was played in that cold weather site of Tampa this past weekend. Little Quinnipiac (10,000+ students) emerged as the winner, knocking off blue bloods Michigan and top-seeded Minnesota ten seconds into overtime to claim the crown. Talk about giant killers. 

The ongoing saga of the LSU women and more specifically Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and the Tigers’ April Reese reached another low. The kerfuffle caused by First Lady Jill Biden inviting both the winning LSU team and the second place finisher Hawkeyes was resolved by the White House indicating that only LSU would be invited. 

Clark said that Iowa had no place being with the President and First Lady. LSU accepted the invitation, but Reese isn’t necessarily ready to go, saying she would rather meet the Obamas. Reese loves to stir the pot and has experienced no down side from displaying her emotions. No matte how the whole debate over the way the Women’s Championship ended and its aftermath, it gave women’s hoops a place in the conversation when the men had finished (And yes, UConn will definitely go to the White House—no drama there). Can somebody find a way to schedule a rematch in 2023-24?

By winning the title, UConn now has five NCAA Men’s Championships to go along with all those trophies Geno Auriemma and the Lady Huskies brought home. Only UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina have more championships on the men’s side, and this win tied UConn with the legendary programs at Duke and Indiana.  

Once a sleepy little New Englandl university which played in the defunct Yankee Conference along with Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Boston University and Holy Cross among others, when Jim Calhoun took over the men’s team and the school joining the Big East, UConn left its New England brethren for the big time.

Calhoun’s teams won three titles. Kevin Ollie added a fourth. But the now 32,000+ student school was wandering because of its football program trying to play major conference football but with no truly acceptable home when the Big East folded its football side. 

When the opportunity arose to rejoin the Big East in basketball, UConn gladly jumped back in. Which has made the Big East even more formidable.

However, tell that to a friend of mine who is a proud Seton Hall alum. You would think that bringing back UConn was like bringing in unwanted garbage the way he was so vituperative about the Huskies. Then again, his Seton Hall teams haven’t exactly distinguished themselves like UConn. Sour grapes?

I end with baseball. After three series have been completed, the Yankees have won all three and have a 6-3 record. The Mets, with Justin Verlander still injured and no real closer, have floundered to a 5-5 record, which included a disastrous trip to Milwaukee, which leads the NL Central at 7-2. 

Pittsburgh is a surprising 6-3, but lost its young shortstop Oneil Cruz to a broken ankle which led to benches emptying between the Pirates and White Sox on Sunday. What was most heartwarming with the Pirates home opener was how the crowd embraced Andrew McCutcheon on his return to a Pirates uniform. The guy lives in Pittsburgh and exudes a spirit for his first team after wandering around MLB which was so undeserved. And his mother sang the National Anthem, too. 

Nothing really has been proven after a week plus of play. Except that Tampa Bay is an astounding 9-0 and really beating up on teams in record-setting ways. With 5-4 Boston coming to St. Pete for three more games, could he Rays be 12-0?

Serious Yankees fans must be concerned. Even at this early stage. Break up the Rays?