It’s not real surprise that the Golden State Warriors took a 2-0 lead last night over the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals. I think just about everyone who knows anything about basketball understands that San Antonio should’ve won Game 1, but Zaza Pachulia took care of that by taking out Kawhi Leonard on a dirty play. Don’t buy what you hear from the Golden State side; it was a clear cut attempt to take Leonard out. There’s a reason why the NBA cracked down on the move Pachulia used to take Leonard out with a few seasons ago. Now if you’re wondering why there was no action taken by the NBA after this incident. If you’ve seen any commercial for the NBA I’m sure you’ve notice that the majority of them feature the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers; so it’s very, very clear who the NBA and the stations that carry the games want in the finals. No matter what kind of fight the Spurs or the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals we’re going to see the Warriors and the Cavaliers for the third year in a row.
Last night Golden State cruised to a 136-100 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Golden State had a 17 point lead after the 1st quarter and that was pretty much the story. San Antonio never really got back into the game and where outscored by the Warriors in every quarter. Stephen Curry made six of the nine 3-pointers he shoot and was 8 for 13 from the field overall as he scored a 29 points in only 31 minutes of game action. four of the five Golden State starters scored in double digits and Golden State even had three players off the bench score in double figures. As for Pachulia; well with Leonard sitting out the game there was no real need for him. Pachulia did start, but played just seven minutes; scoring four points.
Jonathan Simmons got the start in place of Leonard and led the Spurs in scoring with 22 points. Only one other San Antonio player scored in double figures. Davis Bertans came off the San Antonio bench to score 13 points. With the game out of hand earlier the Spurs managed their players minutes as no San Antonio played logged more than 27 minutes in Game 2.
The teams will get a extra day of rest as the series moves to San Antonio for Games 3 & 4. Game 3 is Saturday night and is being shown on ESPN.
Now if you’re looking for a basketball game to watch tonight believe it or not Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals is on. Yes it’s true the Eastern Conference finals are finally starting. It took so long to get to this point that I’m guessing most people don’t remember that Boston is the #1 seed; so the series opens up in Boston tonight. The Cavaliers haven’t played a game since May 7th when they swept the Toronto Raptors out of the playoffs winning four straight.
So who do you think has the advantage in Game 1? The Celtics coming off of a seven game series or the Cavaliers; who have been resting and practicing for 10 days.
While we are just about 40 games or so into baseball’s regular season and it’s tough to make a call on just about every team it’s still fun when rivals meet in a series. This week we’ve had the Los Angeles Dodgers visiting the San Francisco Giants. The Giants record isn’t where anyone thought it would be right now at 17-24, but they’ve managed to take the first two games in this series. San Francisco won Game 1 by four runs 8-4 and last night they won a 2- pitchers duel. It’s an afternoon game for these two teams today and the pitching match is Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers and Johnny Cueto for the Giants. Kershaw is 6-2 with a 2.43 E.R.A. while Cueto is 4-2 with an E.R.A. of 4.15. The Dodgers have lost 3 games in a row and are currently in 3rd place in the N.L. West 3 games behind the division leading Colorado Rockies. San Francisco comes into this afternoons game on a five game winning streak. The Giants are in 4th place in the N.L. West and are 8 1/2 games behind the 1st place Rockies.
Will we get a pitchers duel out of these two aces? Or will one or maybe both of them struggle in this outing? I’d expect a low scoring game, but you never do know.
While the Giants are on a good winning streak; it’s the Texas Rangers who currently have the longest winning streak in baseball with seven wins in a row. Now the Rangers got off to such a bad start that this seven game winning streak has just gotten them back to .500. The Rangers are currently 8 games behind the Houston Astros in the A.L. West, but they have plenty of time to get themselves back into the division race, but can they? With Cole Hamels on the disabled list the Rangers are really leaning on Yu Darvish at the top of the rotation. After Darvish though they’re just kind of piecing it together. It’s the oft injured Andrew Cashner and A.J. Griffin after Darvish and then there’s Martin Perez and Nick Martinez mixed into the rotation. Once Hamels returns to the rotation the Rangers will have to solid guys at the top and that puts the rest of the rotation in better match ups, but it looks like Hamels is going to be out about 6 more weeks. It appears that Matt Bush has taken over the closer role. Bush is four out of five in save chances and has an E.R.A. of 1.23 in 14 games. Bush was taken with the #1 overall pick in the 2004 draft by the San Diego Padres. Bush has had numerous personal and legal problems though his career, but hasn’t had an issue since 2012. Bush took over the closer role from Sam Dyson. Dyson blew all three of the save opportunities he had before going on the disabled list. Since returning Dyson has been used in a set up role.
Do you see the Rangers challenging the Astros for the division title? Or maybe a wild card spot?
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