The NBA second round game sevens lived up to their billing. After being down 20 points in the third quarter, MN completed the biggest game 7 comeback in playoff history, going to up 10 in less than a quarter. The Denver Nuggets appeared gassed. MN was longer, quicker and deeper. Denver's playoff experience could not overcome the T-Wolves. MN showed impressive playoff resilience by surviving three straight losses to blow Denver out in the sixth game, and then go into a higher gear to end game 7. They defeated the defending NBA champions and this year's MVP, the favorites to win it all.
Now Jokic joins some other big names watching the playoffs on TV. Viewership of the first two rounds was down by 17%, attributed to the absence of familiar stars like the Warriors' Steph Curry, whose jersey remains the most popular around the world.
MN entered the West finals slightly favored over Dallas, who won their series by defeating OKC by a single point. MN defeated a better team than Dallas did; Dallas squeaked by a young team not as talented or proven as MN (though they will probably be better next year.) Dallas had the edge in experience and maturity, but MN has proven it can overcome those disadvantages in the long run. Even though they lost the first conference championship game at home, I'm expecting MN to prevail, and represent the West in the finals. I'll be rooting for them anyway.
In the East 7th game, the Indiana Pacers also set an NBA playoff record for shooting percentage (67.1%) to blow out the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Like the MN T-Wolves, they took the series by winning games 6 and 7.
The East finals began with Boston outlasting Indiana in overtime, with the Celtics looking rusty and the Pacers overanxious. The question now becomes whether they can shake playoff nerves to take better care of the ball and steal one in Boston, and make this a series.
In MLB, a recent series in Chicago between the Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates showed off two of the exciting rookie pitchers in baseball, back to back. The Cubs rookie Shota Imanaga shut out the Pirates 1-0, accomplishing a total ERA of 0.84 over his first nine games, the lowest since ERA stats were recorded in 1913. The next night, Pirates rookie fireballer Paul Skenes struck out the first seven batters he faced, one short of the record. He finished 6 innings with 11 strikeouts, often on his 100+ mph fastball, giving up no runs as the Pirates' questionable bullpen held on to preserve his victory.
It seems like at the moment, Skenes is attracting the most attention in sports outside of Caitlin Clark. I remember watching the 19 year old Dwight Gooden pitch for the Mets in 1984 with absolute wonder at the speed and location of his pitches. Gooden was a phenomenon who regularly reached 98mph with his fastball. For Skenes that might qualify as an off-speed pitch. There are some other fireballers out there regularly throwing beyond 100 mph, and while it's a wonder to watch them, I also wonder how long they can do it, or as in Gooden's case, how they can handle it. (Both in and out of baseball, Gooden had a recurring drug habit, mostly cocaine.) Skenes seems pretty level-headed, so here's hoping he keeps being successful, on and off the field. Meanwhile the Pirates have some other exciting young players, as well as veteran leadership. Their bullpen could be their downfall, though.
Speaking of the Pirates, they announced they are enshrining Barry Bonds in their team Hall of Fame, along with his manager Jim Leyland. It's a reminder of how great a player Bonds was before his exploits in San Francisco. I watched him many times at Three Rivers--I especially recall one game in which he smacked four hard hits to every field. I don't believe it is fair to keep him out of the MLB Hall of Fame--he was competing against pitchers and other players just as allegedly juiced as he was in his SF years. But no one can criticize the Pirates for honoring him for his years with Pittsburgh.
