"The Stack" 5-16-17
The Stack is back on this Tuesday with just some playoff reaction from last night. It was yet another disappointing night for D.C. sports fans and that was far from the biggest news in D.C., but we won’t get into that. Go to CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC or Fox News for that. Let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Tuesday, May 16th:
Celtics beat Wizards, advance to Eastern Conference Finals
As has been the entire series, the home team won game seven in the Washington Wizards-Boston Celtics series. The Celtics used an 15-2 run spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to help build a lead. Though the Wizards battled back and made it close, they could not overcome the eleven point deficit and the Celtics won 115-105. Bradley Beal converted a four point play to get the Wizards within four at 101-97 with six minutes left, but Kelly Olynyk and Isaiah Thomas would not let the Celtics lose. Olynyk was absolutely sensational scoring a playoff career high 26 points. He hit big jump shots. He knocked down clutch threes. He was absolutely amazing. Beal did his best to carry the Wizards. He scored 38 points and could have used a better game from John Wall who did score 18 points, but went 8-for-23 from the field including one-of-eight from beyond the arc. It’s another tough loss for the Wizards in their playoff history and another disappointment for D.C. sports fans. The Celtics are a good team and they showed me something in this series. I don’t know if they can give the Cleveland Cavaliers a competitive series in the eastern conference finals, but this is definitely a team who is on the rise if you didn’t know that already. I did know that and I believe they are going to be extremely good for the next half-decade or so. I just thought the Wizards had a little more firepower and could find a way to win. It wasn’t mean to be.
Penguins even Eastern Conference Finals with Senators
The Pittsburgh Penguins had to have game two of the eastern conference finals against the Ottawa Senators. It would not have been good to lose games one and two on home ice and have to go up to Ottawa to try and even the series up. In another low scoring game, Phil Kessel broke a scoreless tie with seven minutes left to put the Penguins up 1-0, a score they would ultimately win by to even the best of seven series up 1-1. There may have been a message at the end of this game as well with Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins and Kyle Turris of the Senators getting a 10 minute game misconduct. To be fair, Turris did commit a slashing penalty first, but this is going to be a hard fought series. The Penguins should be concerned about how this series is going. Craig Anderson has been brilliant in net for the Senators. The Penguins have to figure out a way to generate more traffic in front of the net and score more goals. They are 0-for-6 on the power play so far. Need to see something from them in the two games up in Ottawa. Marc Andre-Fleury had a big game in net for the Penguins stopping all 23 shots he faced for his tenth career playoff shutout.
Tuesday’s playoff schedule
NBA
San Antonio Spurs @ Golden State Warriors 9 PM ET ESPN (Western Conference Finals game 2…Warriors lead series 1-0)
A lot of talk about what Gregg Popovich said yesterday about Zaza Pachulia being a dirty player. Pachulia for the record says he isn't. While I agree that Pachulia has a history of borderline dirty plays he has never crossed a line like Draymond Green has in my opinion. He's been close, but this seems more accidental than anything. Popovich just wanted to get everything off of his chest. Kawhi Leonard is likely to miss tonight's games.
NHL
Anaheim Ducks @ Nashville Predators 8 PM ET NBCSN (Western Conference Finals game 3…series tied 1-1)
Coming up Wednesday: Playoff reaction plus other top stories in the sports world
