"The Stack" 5-11-17
No blog post on Wednesday. Sorry about that everyone. Life can get pretty busy sometimes. Plus with everything going on outside of the world of sports, especially with what happened on Tuesday, sports aren’t always the biggest or most important thing. However, I do apologize for not getting a post out on Wednesday. I would certainly have talked about San Antonio’s comeback win over the Houston Rockets. That was a great game. Kawhi Leonard was clearly not himself and the Spurs needed someone to step up after he hurt his ankle. Manu Ginobli, who has not played great in these playoffs, did. He had 12 points and had the game-winning block of James Harden’s three point shot that would have tied the game. Harden had a tough overtime session with three turnovers, maybe even four. The Spurs earned a hard fought 110-107 win and lead the series 3-2. Easily one of, if not the best game of the NBA Playoffs. The New York Rangers have been eliminated from the NHL Playoffs following their 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Senators are in the eastern conference finals. Not something that I saw coming at all. Now let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Thursday, May 11th:
Penguins, Ducks win game sevens
It was de ja vu all over again for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. For the fourth time in a game seven between the two teams, the Penguins stood victorious while the Capitals stood on the side of defeat. Marc Andre-Fleury was extremely poised and large in net stopping all 29 shots he faced as the Penguins shutout the Capitals 2-0 to win the series 4-3. More than half of Andre-Fleury’s saves came in the second period when the Capitals tried to apply the pressure especially after Bryan Rust scored to put the Penguins up 1-0. The Capitals had a number of chances in this game. They hit a post on a power play in the first. They had several good looks go wide. It just wasn’t meant to be. When Patric Hornqvist scored to make it 2-0 a little over four minutes into the third period you really didn’t have a good feeling if you were a Capitals fan. This is yet another early and disappointing exit for the Capitals. They haven’t made it out of the second round in the Alex Ovechkin era. For being one of the best players in hockey that is unacceptable. Major changes are happening on the political side in D.C. It’s fair to wonder if we will see changes from the Capitals here soon and if Ovechkin will ever lead them past the second round. The Penguins advance to face off against the Ottawa Senators in the eastern conference finals.
The Anaheim Ducks survived the up-and-coming Edmonton Oilers in game seven in Anaheim finally coming through in a game seven after having lost their previous four game sevens. The Oilers were up 1-0 after the first period and that is when the Ducks went to work. They dominated the second period outshooting the Oilers 16-3. They had constant pressure in the offensive zone. The Oilers were lucky to only give up one goal in the period and that was a sloppy goal by the Ducks when Andrew Cogliano pushed the loose puck past a sprawled Cam Talbot. Nick Ritchie scored for the Ducks three minutes into the third period and they would hang on to win 2-1. I wish the Oilers would have won, but now I pray for a Predators-Penguins Stanley Cup Final. It’s either that or Ducks-Senators and I don’t think anyone really wants to watch that.
Celtics cruise by Wizards
The Boston Celtics jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in game five against the Washington Wizards. The Celtics cruised to a 123-101 win. The home team has won every game so far in this series. What’s even more surprising is that the Celtics won easily without Isaiah Thomas having that big of a game. He had just 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Instead it was Avery Bradley who had a monster game with 29 points. I fully expect the Wizards to win game six. Can they win a game seven if it comes to that in Boston? Based on how game five went, I would say no. This is the first game that Boston looked like the truly better team. We’ll see if they can do that again.
Judge erases Hernandez murder conviction
The state of Massachusetts has an odd law. It doesn’t seem to be a very good or smart law either. Defendants who die before their appeals are heard can have their convictions vacated. That is precisely what happened Tuesday in Bristol County regarding former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Because he committed suicide during his appeal of the murder of Odin Lloyd, his murder conviction was vacated by the judge. He had already been acquitted of a double-murder. The law is stupid. If new evidence comes about that Hernandez did not Lloyd then certainly that conviction should be removed. But he was already found guilty and let’s be real here, almost everyone who knows anything about this case is not going to be convinced that he didn’t do it. I’m sure he killed those other two guys as well. He just has a damn good lawyer. Because of the publicity with this trial and because the family of Odin Lloyd’s lawyer says he will take this ruling up the Massachusetts Supreme Court, it would not shock me at all to see the Massachusetts government work to get rid of this somewhat obscure law.
Thursday playoff schedule
NBA
San Antonio Spurs @ Houston Rockets 8 PM ET ESPN (Spurs lead series 3-2)
Coming up Friday: Spurs-Rockets reaction plus other top headlines in sports
