[Posted early Wednesday a.m.]
NBA Quiz: Name the six players to score in double figures (regular season) for the World Champion 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics that defeated the Washington Bullets in the Finals. Answer below.
NBA Playoffs
–Prelude to Tuesday….
George Willis / New York Post
“Life is all wine and roses when you’re the defending world champions and on your way to a record 73-win season and everyone treats you like the best thing since the Michael Jordan Bulls. But longevity and the ability to maintain excellence always have separated legendary teams from one-hit wonders.
“The Warriors desperately want to defend their championship of a year ago and validate their history-making regular season, but their overall legacy is yet to be written. Draymond Green offered an ugly chapter in Sunday night’s Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals in Oklahoma City, where he initially received a Flagrant Foul 1 for kicking Thunder center Steven Adams in the groin after being fouled on a shot.”
So following the game it was thought the league would suspend Green one game, because it really was a totally dirty play, and not in the least a “basketball play” as they say.
But the NBA opted not to suspend Green, yet his action was upgraded to a Flagrant Foul 2 and he was fined $25,000.
The payoff was Kiki VanDeWeghe, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, called Green’s actions “unnecessary and excessive,” but apparently took Green’s word that he didn’t do it on purpose. Green first told reporters he was only “following through on the shot,” and would never risk getting kicked out of a game, pun intended.
“I know how important I am to my team,” Green wrote in his first-person diary published by The Undefeated. “Being that I know that, I’m not going to be that obvious and try to kick a man down there. That’s not something I would even do. Hitting someone down there, you can ruin a lot more. Why do that?”
Oh brother. What a crock. Both color commentators Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, doing the Monday night Raptors-Cavs game, said Green should have been suspended a game.
George Willis:
“Green should have sat for at least one game because that’s the kind of zero-tolerance climate the NBA has created, and it’s hypocritical to change things now. Dennis Rodman often would kick reporters on the sidelines during nationally televised games and most brushed it off as Rodman being Rodman. But as Lawrence Taylor said, ‘These ain’t the ‘80s anymore,’ nor the ‘90s either.
“Giving Green a pass sends the wrong message. The Warriors might be today’s Bulls and every bit as popular given Stephen Curry’s back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards. But the NBA’s decision smacks of favoritism.”
So we move forward to Tuesday night and Green played and was 1-of-7 from the field as the Thunder once again rolled, 118-94. For a second straight game it was over at half, 72-53, as the Warriors committed 12 turnovers (21 for the game) and the duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were outscored by Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, 39-19 (62-45 for the game). Westbrook had 21 points and 9 assists at the intermission.
Golden State goes home, Thursday, facing elimination down 3-1. NBA fans are shocked, as much with the ease of OKC’s triumphs as anything else. [Only nine of 232 teams that have trailed 3-1 in a seven-game playoff series have come back to win it.]
As for Kevin Durant and his pending free agency, I think it’s safe to say it’s a lock he stays in OKC. Why would he leave? Where else is he going to find a better chance to win a title, if the Thunder failed to close the deal this year? So end that discussion.
–Meanwhile, Game 5 of Raptors-Cavs is tonight, Wednesday, in Cleveland. Yet another shocker, that Toronto was able to tie it up at 2-2 after two wins at home, including Monday’s 105-99 victory behind Kyle Lowry’s superb effort, 35 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the field, while backcourt mate DeMar DeRozan had 32 on 14-of-23.
In the playoffs it’s pretty simple. The Raptors are 3-1 when Lowry scores 30 or more.
Man, I would love LeBron to go down, though Durant and Westbrook vs. LeBron and Kyrie is a pretty tasty NBA Finals. [How quickly we forget Golden State.]
MLB
–The Mets suffered a big blow before the start of their series with the first-place Nationals in Washington, the Nats having taken 2 of 3 last week from the Mets in New York.
First baseman Lucas Duda has a stress fracture in his back and will be out at least two months (the club is saying 4-6…but I can’t remember the last player who actually returned from any injury within the original timetable). Duda is a solid slugger, but this could be a blessing in disguise as management is already telling outfielder Michael Conforto to start working out at first; Conforto a budding superstar at the plate.
But the Mets rode the one-run, 7-inning effort of Bartolo Colon to a 7-1 win in Monday’s opener with Washington.
So on Tuesday, in one of the most anticipated regular season games in memory, certainly in the first half of any season, Mets fans were focused on the one-time “Dark Knight,” Matt Harvey, who entered the game 3-6 with a 5.77 ERA. We were told there was nothing wrong physically, his mechanics were just off. But there was no doubt that if he didn’t perform well Tuesday, he was going to be sent down, or some injury made up so the team could DL him and allow Harvey to work things out away from the bright lights of New York.
Well, here’s the bottom line after the Mets’ 7-4 loss to Stephen Strasburg (now 8-0, 2.79) and the Nats. Matt Harvey really, really sucks. 3-7, 6.08 ERA after yielding 5 earned in 5 innings; three home runs. Send this guy down to AAA. He’s killing the team. And it’s not like he was ever a good teammate. He’s been a lousy one.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“The joke, of course, is that any of this would be remotely surprising by now. The Mets have abided by the Harvey Rules from Day 1, have tread lightly around him, have allowed him the kind of leeway and latitude that should never be afforded someone with 75 career starts, no matter how promising he used to be.
“So why wouldn’t he duck and run now?
“Why wouldn’t he leave it for his manager and his teammates to answer for him, to speak on his behalf, after another humbling bell-ringing at the hands of the Nationals, another night when he was less Dark Knight than Pale Pawn, another night when he couldn’t recapture even a fraction of the old magic?
“ ‘We’ve got to think about not just what’s best for Matt but for the team,’ Terry Collins said after this 7-4 drubbing was complete….
“ ‘I’m surprised,’ Collins said. ‘This guy’s way too good to continue like this.’
“Collins was asked a few specifics about Harvey’s stuff and the manager said, ‘You’ll have to ask Matt that.’
“Of course, by that time, Harvey already had bailed, already had left the ballpark, had refused to stand and be counted the way professionals do, the way athletes who want to be looked at as stars are required to. It was a terrible idea, one that any number of Mets officials – starting with Jeff Wilpon, who was here, and chief PR man David Newman, who was also here – should have anticipated and gotten out ahead of.
“But Harvey has long played by his own guidelines, and has been enabled to do so, the Mets complicit in allowing that to happen. When times were good in 2013, and for most of last season, that meant playing the role of man-about-town, of big-stage bon vivant. It meant cultivating this image that he was a man’s man, a tough guy’s tough guy, equal to the demands of both stardom and the big city.
“What a joke.
“And what an empty jersey he’s turned out to be….
“It would be pathetic if it weren’t so predictable. This is who Harvey is, the ultimate front-runner, wanting everything his way when times are good and making the rules up as he goes along when they aren’t. His phony act hasn’t just worn thin. It’s worn out. The Mets are worried about his arm? They need to be worried about his heart.”
Harvey has officially lost the clubhouse as of last night. And that’s also not good. Leaving your teammates to speak for you after a crappy performance doesn’t sit well with them.
[As I go to post, no word on where Harvey will end up…minors or the fake-DL. If he sticks around, he’ll drag the team down with him.]
–Entering Tuesday’s Mets-Nats contest, Bryce Harper was hitting just .183 in his last 25 games. It’s not that he’s flailing away. You know about all the walks and he has fanned just five times in his last 10 games through Monday. Then Tuesday, tack on another 0-for-3, but no strikeouts. Strange stretch.
–Back to Harvey, did I mention batters facing him a third time through the lineup are hitting .509 against him?! .509!!!
–Meanwhile, out of nowhere the Yankees have now won six in a row to get back to .500, 22-22, with a 6-0 win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Carlos Beltran has been leading the way, along with solid performances out of the starters, let alone the lock-down back-end of the pen. Since he took over for Alex Rodriguez as the DH, Beltran is batting .393 with three home runs and 13 RBI since May 15. A-Rod began a rehab stint on Tuesday and is likely to be activated on Friday, though the Yankees are clearly a better team with Beltran DH-ing and not in the field.
–Two special pitching performances on Monday…
Clayton Kershaw did it again, a two-hit complete game shutout, 1-0 over the Reds, as Kershaw is now 7-1, 1.48 ERA.
But the Giants’ Johnny Cueto was also tossing a two-hit shutout, 1-0 over the Padres, as Cueto moved to 7-1, 2.38.
Back to Kershaw, the Dodgers are 9-1 when he pitches, 14-22 when he doesn’t.
–Tuesday, the White Sox’ Chris Sale finally came down to earth. He gave up 6 earned in 3 1/3 innings, walking four, as the ChiSox lost to Cleveland 6-2. Sale is now 9-1, 2.26. For the Indians, journeyman Josh Tomlin, 31, is suddenly 7-0, 3.35. Heretofore he has had a most undistinguished career.
–In beating Colorado 8-3 on Tuesday, the Red Sox’ David Ortiz had another two hits and four RBIs. The Big Needle has 11 home runs, 41 RBI and is batting .333 in what he declared before the year began was the 40-year-old’s last season. He has a staggering 32 extra-base hits in 41 games and leads the majors with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.099. Thus far, Ortiz has said he is sticking with his retirement plans.
Separately, Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. is hitting .346 with a 28-game hitting streak so we are at that stage where the streak bears major watching.
–Not for nothing, but even after an 0-for-5 on Tuesday, Ichiro is hitting .385, 25-for-65 on the season. He is now just 40 hits shy of 3,000. [I’ll discuss his Miami teammate, Giancarlo, next time.]
–Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton is out for the season with another surgery on his left knee, the third time in nine months. The team said he hopes to return next season, the last in a five-year, $125 million contract he signed with the Angels.
The Angels then traded Hamilton back to Texas in April 2015, paying nearly all of his salary to do so, but it’s been one injury after another. With this latest blow, this means he will have played 50 of the Rangers’ 306 games from April 27, 2015, the date Texas acquired him from L.A., through the end of this season.
–Pittsburgh pitcher Ryan Vogelsong was placed on the 15-day disabled list with facial fractures, one day after Vogelsong left PNC Park in an ambulance after being struck in the head by a pitch. He apparently has an injury to the left eye, including the orbital bone, but we have yet to learn the full extent of the damage.
–When the Mets were in Los Angeles recently, play-by-play man Gary Cohen interviewed the Dodgers’ Vin Scully, in this Scully’s 67th and final season as a broadcaster, and Cohen asked Vin who his favorite player was and without hesitation, Scully said Gil Hodges, who Scully of course got to know doing Brooklyn Dodgers games. The phrases Scully used to describe Hodges were “Straight arrow man,” “Good honest guy,” “World War II hero,” “just a special human being.”
Yup, they don’t make ‘em like Gil Hodges anymore, nor Vin Scully for that matter.
–We note the passing of former Giants third baseman, Jim Ray Hart, 74. From 1964-68, he was as productive as any third sacker in the game, hitting between 23 and 33 home runs each season, ages 22-26, and he seemed destined to hit 300+ in his career. He was runner-up for Rookie of the Year, and a 1966 All-Star.
But after ’68, he was a shell of his former self. For his career, 1963-74, including a late stint with the Yankees, Hart ended up with 170 homers, 578 RBIs and a .278 batting average. One of my favorite early baseball cards.
–I can’t help but note the fiasco in San Diego the other day when the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus was invited to sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” something they have done before at Petco Park. So the 100 members lined up in the outfield behind second base, as they awaited their pre-recorded tape.
But instead, a woman’s voice singing the anthem was played over the public address system. Beyond atrocious.
The executive director of the chorus called on the San Diego City Attorney’s Office and Human Relations Committee to look into the incident.
I mean many of you have seen the tape and what is startling is that there was zero attempt to stop the recording and allow the 100 volunteers to sing it. When the recording ended, the chorus members were escorted off the field to heckling from some “fans shouting homophobic taunts, including ‘You sing like a girl,’” Lehman said.
The Padres announced they would conduct an internal investigation and then Major League Baseball, appropriately, said it was conducting its own. Someone needs to be fired. If there was no malicious intent, it was still gross incompetence.
—College Baseball is going through its conference championships before College World Series play begins.
The latest Baseball America Top Ten
1. Texas A&M
2. Mississippi State
3. Miami
4. Florida
5. Texas Tech
6. Louisville
7. LSU
8. Virginia
9. South Carolina
10. Mississippi
21. Bryant…that’s cool…
–My Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated Duke in the opener of the ACC Tournament, Tuesday, 4-3. They have a slight chance at getting an invite to the CWS, as does Duke.
NFL
–Rick Maese / Washington Post
“While the NFL pledged money, held news conferences and issued media releases about its commitment to player health, safety and concussion research, the league also was engaged in a campaign to steer money away from a prominent Boston University researcher and attempted to redirect it to members of its own committee on brain injuries, according to a scathing Congressional report.
“The 91-page report issued Monday by the Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), charged league officials with trying to influence a major U.S. government research study on football and brain disease after agreeing to an unconditional donation to fund research. The report found the NFL’s actions ‘fit a long-standing pattern of attempts to influence the scientific understanding of the consequences of repeated head trauma.’
“ ‘The NFL attempted to use its ‘unrestricted gift’ as leverage to steer funding away from one of its critics,’ the report stated.
“The National Institutes of Health stood by its selection of Robert Stern and a group of researchers from Boston University. The NFL ultimately did not fund the $16 million study; the costs were instead absorbed by taxpayers, according to the report.
“ ‘The NFL’s troublesome interactions with the NIH fit a long-standing pattern of attempts to influence the scientific understanding of degenerative diseases and sports-related head trauma,’ Pallone said in a statement. ‘The NFL must recognize the importance of this ongoing, impartial research, and live up to its funding commitments to NIH.’”
ESPN first reported the NFL had backed out of the seven-year study. The NFL “categorically reject(s) any suggestion of improper influence,” said a league spokesman.
What a bunch of amazing dirtballs. Roger Goodell should…I’ll let you finish the sentence.
–Tom Brady’s legal team asked for a rehearing of the Deflategate saga before a federal appeals court of the ruling that reinstated Brady’s four-game suspension.
Attorneys for Brady and the NFL Players Association argued the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should hear the case and restore his eligibility.
A three-judge panel of the same appeals court ruled in April that Commissioner Roger Goodell had exercised his authority appropriately.
If Brady fails to get the full appeals court to overturn the suspension, his final option would be to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If this were to ever occur, I’m fleeing the country to drink domestic on the island of Yap in Micronesia.
–The NFL awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta (2019), South Florida/Miami (2020) and Los Angeles (2021). The next two are taking place in Houston and Minneapolis, respectively.
–In the college game, Univ. of Pittsburgh running back James Conner, the 2014 ACC player of the year, announced Monday that he is “clean of cancer.” The 21-year-old had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma around Thanksgiving last year and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Despite his treatments, he has been practicing with the Panthers in preparation for the 2016 season. He has been wearing a mask to protect himself from harmful bacteria, and he couldn’t be tackled because he had a port in his chest, through which the chemo was administered.
This is the story of the year this coming fall.
Stuff
–Huge loss for officials running the Belmont Stakes. Nyquist will not be facing Exaggerator a sixth time in what could have been a nice draw; the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness going head to head again. According to USA TODAY, Nyquist had a 102-degree fever on Monday and is said to have some kind of blood disorder.
It was 2012 that Nyquist’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, pulled I’ll Have Another – who had won both the Derby and the Preakness – from the Belmont just one day before the race for a similar reason.
But, assuming Nyquist recovers, no reason why Exaggerator, who should be a prohibitive favorite in New York, and Nyquist couldn’t face each other again, like at the Haskell (Monmouth Park, NJ) or the Travers (Saratoga Springs, NY), before the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
–I knew this would happen…wrote as much a while ago. Rory McIlroy said he could skip the 2017 Olympics in Rio because of the Zika virus after all. McIlroy who had been enthusiastic about competing, and still wants to, said he is “monitoring” the situation in Brazil.
“There’s going to be a point in the next couple of years where we’re going to have to think about starting a family,” McIlroy told the BBC, Rory being engaged to Erica Stoll. “Right now I’m ready to go but I don’t want anything to affect that.” All the young golfers have to feel the same way.
But back to Rory’s win last Sunday at the Irish Open, his first win on Irish soil and a very emotional day for him, I noted that he donated his 650,000 euro prize money to his Rory Foundation, which is both beyond cool but so freakin’ generous. He ended up raising over 1 million euro ($1,113,000 at Tuesday’s exchange rate) for charities including a children’s hospice.
I mean Rory has been so good for Ireland, including his native North, that Ireland’s prime minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny commended Rory last weekend as a “wonderful young man.” Kenny apparently followed his every step for his dramatic finish and was one of the first to rush up to congratulate him.
So needless to say, Rory McIlroy goes into the December file for all the right reasons…a Good Guy of the Year candidate.
–Golf Channel and NBC Sports’ David Feherty does not think Tiger Woods will play competitive golf again. It’s not about his will, it’s just that his body is shot, in Feherty’s opinion.
“I’m not sure that Tiger will come back because it is a nerve in his back,” Feherty said (via the Irish Golf Desk). “It’s not muscular or skeletal. It’s not something you can deal with in a physical way.”
“He is in phenomenal shape, just ripped as usual,” Feherty added. “But he is not able to make a full pass at it….He wants to do this. …but I am not sure that he can. I am not sure he is in any way clear on whether he can, either.”
–It’s official. Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was released with a year to go on his contract. Jose Mourinho is going to replace him, though as of this posting the two sides are still negotiating.
—UCLA and Under Armour inked the largest apparel deal in college history Tuesday…15 years, $280 million, surpassing Nike’s deal with Ohio State…15 years, $252 million. The Univ. of Texas had signed a 15-year, $250 million package with Nike as well. CEO Kevin Plank, who founded Under Armour in 1996, said, “This deal was about geography. It was important for us to plant our flag in L.A.”
–The International Olympic Committee announced it was retesting 454 doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Games, and then identified 31 athletes from 12 countries in six sports with suspicious results.
Tuesday, Russian Olympic officials said they had received documents from the I.O.C. implicating 14 of the country’s athletes who competed across three sports in Beijing…so basically half of the athletes the I.O.C. found to be in question.
An additional 250 samples from the 2012 London Games are going to be retested as well prior to Rio.
–I feel bad for all the employees of the Sports Authority’s 463 stores as the chain liquidates, according to court documents. But going-out-of-business sales start Friday, supposedly, and could last a few months. Ergo, some of us might make a trip to see what kinds of deals there are.
–As reported by the Daily Mail, and data gleaned via the Freedom of Information Act, “British soldiers on training exercises around the world have been gored and trampled by elephants, bitten by snakes and attacked by foxes”…more than 20 in the past decade. Recently a soldier was gored through the right arm when he was charged by an elephant at Lolldaiga training ground in Kenya. Another was gored through the leg after he was charged when he inadvertently got between a cow and her calf.
–And Brad K. passed along this bit out of India and TNN: “Left in the heat with its legs tied all day, a camel attacked its owner and severed his head in anger in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on Saturday. About 25 villagers struggled for 6 hours to calm the animal down.
“Urjaram of Mangta village was entertaining guests at his house on Saturday night when he suddenly realized that his camel had been out in the heat all day with its legs tied. He was attacked when he tried to untie the annoyed animal.
“ ‘The animal lifted him by the neck and threw him on to the ground, chewed the body and severed the head,’ villager Thakara Ram [Ed. don’t know him] said. Villagers revealed that the camel had attacked Urjaram in the past as well.”
Camels make poor house pets, I always say.
–The death toll on Mount Everest has risen to six. I wrote of the first two who died after reaching the summit of altitude sickness. Haven’t seen the details on the other four but over 30 had previously reported being very sick at or near the summit.
More than 250 have now died attempting the climb over the years.
–A former bodyguard of Kanye West, Steve Stanulis, made some comments to The Sun newspaper that are almost comical; Kanye being one of the two or three biggest jerks on the planet.
“On his very first day, Stanulis got a taste of West’s pampered antics.
“ ‘We headed to his music studio. When we got into the elevator Kanye just stood there with his arms folded and said, ‘Aren’t you going to press the button?’’
“Stanulis explained he didn’t know which floor.
“ ‘[Kanye] flipped out, squealing that his time was precious and that he couldn’t believe I hadn’t called ahead to find out which floor he worked on.’….
“West also ordered Stanulis to never speak to his wife, after spotting the guard introducing himself to her in New York. He fired Stanulis on the night of the Met Gala, earlier this month, when he saw Stanulis standing in a hallway with Kardashian.
“ ‘He is the most condescending person I have ever met,’ Stanulis said.” [New York Post]
Stanulis lasted two weeks. Most bodyguards don’t make it that long.
–Rolling Stone magazine gave a terrific review of the new Monkees album, “Good Times,” their first in nearly 20 years that “is also their best since the Sixties. It’s a labor of love – not just for the three surviving lads, but for all the Monkee-maniacs pitching in…. It nails the classic summer-jangle Monkees sound, with fantastic new tunes from Rivers Cuomo, Andy Partridge and the mod squad of Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller. Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and the mighty Peter Tork are all in top shape – their voices have aged as handsomely as they have.”
Doesn’t get much better than that. I’ll check it out for sure.
Top 3 songs for the week 5/29/65: #1 “Help Me, Rhonda” (The Beach Boys) #2 “Ticket To Ride” (The Beatles) #3 “Back In My Arms Again” (The Supremes)…and…#4 “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” (Herman’s Hermits) #5 “Wooly Bully” (Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs) #6 “Crying In The Chapel” (Elvis Presley) #7 “Count Me In” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys) #8 “I’ll Never Find Another You” (The Seekers) #9 “Just A Little” (The Beau Brummels) #10 “It’s Not Unusual” (Tom Jones…pretty, pretty good week…)
NBA Quiz Answer: Six in double-figures for the 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics. Jack Sikma 15.6 ppg. (12.4 reb.), Dennis Johnson 15.9, Gus Williams 19.2, John Johnson 11.0, Lonnie Shelton 13.5, Fred Brown 14.0. [Tom LaGarde averaged 11.0 but he only played 23 games. Paul Silas and Wally Walker were other key reserves.] The coach was Lenny Wilkens.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
