We are very early in the NBA season, but the Boston Celtics deserve credit for the start they’ve gotten off to. The Celtics lost their first two games of the season and in the first game of the season they lost their big off season free agent signing Gordon Heyward for the season. After a horrible injury like that a team can struggle and take time to figure out who’s going to fill the role of the injury player. Now the Celtics did lose that first game Heyward was out, but after that they’ve run off 11 straight wins n a row with a 90-87 victory over the Charlotte Hornets last night.
Now not only did the Celtics land the big off season free agent they also pulled off a big time trade and acquired Kyrie Irving from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Irving has shown himself to be a more all around player with the Celtics, but last night the Celtics had to find a way to win without Irving. 2 minutes into last nights game Irving caught an elbow to the face from his own teammate. Aron Baynes ended up hitting Irving in the face while he was trying to help out on defense. The shot to the face bloody Irving’s nose and he ended up leaving the game with a possible concussion. Luckily for Irving and the Celtics further tests ruled out a concussion and Irving should ne available for Boston’s next game Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Raptors.
With Irving basically being out for the entire game rookie Jayson Tatum and Shane Larkin (off the bench) tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points each. Terry Rozier added 15 points coming off the Celtics bench, but had a tough shooting night going just 3 for 12 from the field. Jaylon Brown grabbed a game high 13 rebounds while adding 10 points. Marcus Morris also scored in double digits for the Celtics with 14 points.
Now besides just finding a way to replace Irving’s scoring the Celtics had to cover the other things he’s been doing to help them win. Marcus Smart didn’t have a very good night shooting the basketball as he went 3 for 16 from the field and 0 for 7 from behind the 3-point line, he did play 34 minutes and led the team in assists with 4 and steals with 2.
The Celtics defense was solid as Charlotte shot 38.8% from the field and 27.3% from behind the 3-point line. The Hornets where also their own worst enemy as the went 19 of 33 from the free throw line.
Who knows how long the Celtics winning streak will go. Sunday’s match up is against a winning team as the Raptors are 7-4 on the season and if they get by Toronto they’ll face the 5-7 Brooklyn Nets on November 14th in Brooklyn. If the streak stays in tact they’d put it on the line again November 16th as they host the 9-3 Golden State Warriors.
Now we all know that sooner or later the winning streak will end, but the Celtics should receive some credit for being able to put it together following the loss of Heyward and then covering for Irving’s injury last night.
Big time Japanese baseball star Shohei Otani made it official as he announced that he wants to make the move and play Major League Baseball next season. Otani plays for the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japanese league. The team came out on Friday and announced that they would allow Otani to use the posting system this off season. This should allow Otani to join a major league team next season.
Otani has played nine seasons with Nippon Ham. This has allowed them to retain his rights and why he must use the posting system to leave.
If MLB, the MLB Players Association and Nippon Professional Baseball agree to a deal that would extend the expired posting agreement through this offseason, the team that Otani signs with would pay the Fighters $20 million. Under MLB’s labor contract, his signing bonus is restricted and remaining pool money is limited to a high of $3,535,000.
Under baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, Otani can only agree to a minor league contract that is subject to signing bonus pools. If added to a big league roster, he would have a salary for about the minimum $545,000 next season and not be eligible for salary arbitration until 2020 at the earliest.
If he was to wait until he is 25 to enter MLB, there would be no restrictions and he likely would get a deal. Otani is 23 years old, but has repeatedly said that he’d prefer not to wait until he’s 25 and would like to go now.
Otani did have ankle surgery last month and is currently rehabbing from that surgery. Apparently the ankle injury occurred while running the bases not this season, but last season in the Japan Series.
Now Otani was a pitcher and an outfield for Nippon Ham and has said that he hopes to be able to continue to do both for whichever team he ends up playing for in next season.
It’s unclear right now if a major league team would allow him to do both or try to do both. You’d have to think that if he ends up in the American League his chances might be better as he could be used as a designated hitter when not pitching. Would you like to see him try to pitch and play the outfield at the big league level?
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 22-16 this week on Thursday Night Football. The win improved the Seahawks record to 6-3 this season, but they’ll have to play the rest of the season without cornerback Richard Sherman.
Sherman exited the game in the 3rd quarter and was diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Sherman said that he expects to undergo surgery on the Achilles as soon as the swelling goes down.
Sherman has been a constant in the Seahawks defensive backfield as he hasn’t missed a game since joining the team in 2011.
Now it’s impossible to replace a player of Sherman’s caliber, but the job looks like it’ going to fall to Jeremy Lane. If that name sounds familiar it’s because two weeks ago Seattle traded Lane to the Houston Texans, but Lane failed his physical and the deal had to be reworked. In the end that failed physical may be a blessing in disguise for the as Lane has experience playing the outside where Sherman plays. It also saves the Seahawks from having to put nickel cornerback Justin Coleman in an unfamiliar position.
Lane was the starting cornerback opposite Sherman to begin the season for the Seahawks, but rookie Shaquill Griffin moved into that spot. That was part of the reason the Seahawks thought it would be safe to deal Lane.
It will fall to Lane, Griffin and Coleman to man the cornerback position for Seattle the rest of the season.
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