Red Sox season high point to date, awarding the Conn Smythe to a player on the losing team, looking to Game 5 of the NBA Finals

Monday 6/17/24

The Red Sox took two out of three from the Phillies and then turned around and did the same with the Yankees--after having lost the first game of each series, too. The high point of the season to date. They're only two games above .500 and a .500 team seems to be what they are, but hang in this thing, be playing meaningful games in late September.

I saw where someone was asking if Connor McDavid should win the Conn Smythe even if Edmonton loses. Breaking Gretzky's postseason assists record is a big deal. I wouldn't be surprised if McDavid wins it, though I bet he really doesn't want to win a Conn Smythe before he wins a Cup. Frankly, I don't think the NHL wants that for him either, because then you put on the table--however unlikely it is--the possibility that he never gets a Cup but has a Conn Smythe. He is nowhere near McDavid's level, but Mike Trout is probably never going to win a World Series, right?

Bobrovsky doesn't have some impressively high save percentage. I'm not sure--I haven't run the math of what this would take--but he could perhaps end up under .900, though I think he'd need a bad game to do that. I don't like the idea of the postseason MVP going to someone on a losing team, unless it's a goalie, I guess, and he's the only reason you're there for the most part. There's a letdown factor when it is awarded to someone on the losing team.

The Celtics were drubbed the other night in what was one of the worst--by margin of victory--losses in NBA Finals history. Number one was a Bulls-Jazz game from 1998 when the Jazz had 54 points. You see box scores of games from that era and you come away thinking how much harder it was to score. Games would routinely finish with both teams scoring less than 100 points. Worth keeping in mind when thinking about someone like Jordan as a scorer.

I think the pressure is actually on the Celtics tonight. I heard some people saying that they hoped they lost in Dallas in that fourth game so that they could win it at home. I don't think you want to monkey around with that kind of thing. I remember John Henry back in 2004 saying after the Sox won that it would have been nice if they lost a game in St. Louis so they could have won in Boston and I was horrified.

It's hard to close out a team. You just don't dick around there. As we've said, things can change very fast in sports. Let's look at this series. The Celtics won Game 1 because of an unlikely contribution from the oft-injured Porzingas--who didn't make it through Game 2. If he hadn't been able to go, the Celtics likely would have lost, and where would we be right now? 2-2?

Tatum is not a big-time postseason performer. I'm sorry, he just isn't. He's not the mega-star people want him to be. He's a good player, but he needs help. Brown is the same way. Tatum's shot is not there. The Celtics aren't shooting well. When the shot isn't falling, it's easy to lose, especially if you're a three-heavy team. Or maybe not easy, but it becomes more doable. The Celtics aren't a scrappy, find-a-way-to-win, let's sink twos if need be, and get to the rim type of team. They were somewhat in that Game 3 win, which is what I liked about it.

The Mavs have this great player who can carry a team. Let's say the other guy with all of the issues gets his head on straight and they win this game in Boston. Now you have a problem. Let's say someone gets hurt. Tatum. There is a real way to still lose this series. Multiple ways.

The thing about 3-0 leads that surprises me the most is that they're not overcome more often. You need to win a game, grab another one, then you have momentum. Maybe you were losing because someone was hurt and now they're back. Or key guys had a bad game or two and now water is finding its level. The Celtics lost a Game 7 at home last year.

They might win by thirty tonight and that'd be great. Big old party at the Garden. But you can't assume anything in sports and you certainly can't play like you've assumed anything. People will say that a loss is a loss whether it's by 1 point or 40. Okay. But I don't think so. Not necessarily.

The Mavs carved up that Celtics defense on a night when these guys could have claimed their championship, with Tatum and Brown having been at this for a while now--the knocking on the door, that is. Don't you think they'd want to get in without further delay? That would build my confidence if I was on the team that routed them.

This Porzingas thing is big. Between that and Tatum's shot not falling, Dallas can be right there. They can get this back to Texas. I wish Tatum wasn't just threes and drives (which he often doesn't finish because he's not strong enough at the hoop, for whatever reason, because he looks physically strong enough in terms of build). This guy can't get himself some easy regular buckets? Some pull-up jumpers? Something at the elbow? Just make his scoring life easier? The best scorers have those easy ways they score. Outside of the open three, Tatum doesn't really have that. And the three is not going down right now.