Maybe it was the change of teams o the fact tat he doesn’t have the pressure of pitching for a New York team, but Mat Harvey’s first start for the Cincinnati Reds has to be considered a success.
Harvey threw 55 pitches in the 4 innings he worked. While it was a short outing remember that Harvey hasn’t made a start since April 19th; so he’ll have to build up his arm strength and stamina again. In his 4 innings of work Harvey gave up 1 hit that shouldn’t of even been a hit. Scott Schebler lost a fly ball in the lights that turned into a triple for Cody Bellinger. Harvey also struck out 2 in his start.
This was the first start for Harvey that he didn’t give up a run in since his first start of the season. In the four relief appearances Harvey made for the Mets he only had one outing where he didn’t give up a run.
The Mets wanted to send Harvey to Triple-A to try to work out his issues, but he refused the assignment. The Mets ended up designating Harvey for assignment which gave them 10 days to trade or release him. On May 8th the Mets where able to agree to a deal with the Reds that sent Harvey to Cincinnati for catcher Devin Mesoraco and cash.
While Harvey was making his first start for Cincinnati last night Mesoraco was getting his first hit in a Mets uniform. Mesoraco hit a solo home run in the top of the 9th inning as the Mets picked up a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
As for Harvey and the Reds. They went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 last night.
On Wednesday Dwane Casey was named NBA Coach of the Year as voted by the other coaches in the league. On Friday Casey was out of a job as he was fired by the Toronto Raptors after seven seasons as their head coach.
Casey is the most successful coach in Raptors history. He has a career record of 320-238 and Toronto just posted it’s best regular season record in team history at 59-23, but after consecutive seasons of being swept out of the playoffs in the 2nd round by the Cleveland Cavaliers the Raptors decided to make a change.
Casey had one year left on his contract with the Raptors at $6.5 million dollars.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if Casey is hired very quickly by one of the teams still looking for a head coach. The Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic are still looking for a new head coach.
The Bucks are in a similar situation that the Raptors where in when Casey took over that team. Could that be the landing spot for Casey? Milwaukee is the only team out of the four still looking for a had coach that was in the playoffs this season.
As for the Raptors. Reports have come out that former Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is the first candidate they’d like to interview for their current vacancy. Since the Raptors are a little late in looking for a head coach Budenholzer has already interviewed with the Bucks.
A coupe of other names that have came up as people the Raptors would like to interview are Nick Nurse who has been an assistant with the Raptors since 2013. Former NBA player and current coach of the Raptors G-League team Jerry Stackhouse is another name that’s come up as someone Toronto wants to interview.
While neither Nurse or Stackhouse have NBA head coaching experience Budenholzer spent 5 seasons as Atlanta’s head coach. Budenholzer led the Hawks to the playoffs his first four seasons with the team before Atlanta decided to rebuild last season.
No matter who the Raptors decide to hire they’ll be coming into a team that is coming off it’s best regular season in team history, but have only reached the Eastern Conference finals one time.
While we’re in the Eastern Conference the finals will get started tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. as the Boston Celtics will host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of their series.
The Cavaliers haven’t played since Monday when they eliminated the Raptors; so they’ll be coming into Game 1 with 5 days off.
The Celtics wrapped their 2nd round series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday; so they haven’t had quite as much time off as Cleveland as they’ll be coming into Game 1 with 2 days off.
As for the Western Conference finals; well they have to wait until Monday night to tip off their series. The Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors both wrapped up their 2nd round series on Tuesday; so they’ll both come into Game 1 with 4 days off.
The playoff scheduling for the NBA has always seemed odd to me. While the Rockets and the Warriors will get one day off between Game 1 and Game 2 the Cavaliers and the Celtics will get 2 days off in between Game 1 and Game 2. Then everybody gets 2 days off before they play Game 3. No wonder why the NBA season doesn’t end until June.
Most of the people believe that even though it’s just the Western Conference finals match u that the winner of the Rockets/Warriors series will be the NBA champion. I’ve even heard this series being called the “actual” NBA finals. Are you on board with this theory? Or do you think which ever Eastern Conference team gets into the NBA finals they have a chance to win a title?
Even though they lost their 2nd round playoff series to the Celtics 76ers guard T.J. McConnell showed his worth to the team. Yesterday the 76ers announced that they will be picking up the option on McConnell’s contract for next season. McConnell’s option is for $1,600,520 making him a steal in today’s NBA.
McConnell is 26 years old and just finished up his 3rd season with the 76ers. Last season in 76 regular season games this season, he averaged 6.3 points per game, 4.0 assists per game, and 3.0 rebounds per game.
McConnell’s salary for 2018/19 season remains non-guaranteed even after his option is exercised. That shouldn’t be an issue since Philadelphia won’t be waiving him.
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