"The Stack" 5-24-17

The Stack is back on this Wednesday with not a whole lot to talk about other than the playoff games from last night. A few NFL quick hits may come up so let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Wednesday, May 24th:

Cavs fall behind early, come back to beat Celtics

Game four of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals started off like game three ended….with the Boston Celtics looking really good and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers looking lackadaisical and lethargic. James didn’t start out great and had four fouls before the first half even ended. Kelly Olynyk was playing great for the Celtics and they were getting contributions from everyone like Avery Bradley, Al Horford and others. The Celtics were up double digits for what seemed like most of the first half. Something must have happened to the Cavs in the locker room at halftime, because they came out blazing and on fire in the third quarter. Kyrie Irving was the catalyst who helped lead the way for the Cavs in the third shooting 9-for-10 from the floor with 21 points. He was absolutely sensational. In fact, he nearly outscored the Celtics in the quarter 23-21. The Celtics who had to be feeling pretty good about themselves and their chances all of a sudden were trailing and that’s how it would stay. James finished with 34 points, but it seemed kind of quiet compared to Irving and the 42 points he scored. The Cavs need this sort of effort at the start of a game and hopefully they will get that in game five Thursday night. If not, they will be going back to Cleveland for a game six instead of getting ready for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

Senators force a game seven

There will be a game seven in the NHL Eastern Conference Finals. That is because Craig Anderson was an absolute beast in net for the Ottawa Senators Tuesday stopping 45 of 46 shots. Half of those shots came in the second period as the Pittsburgh Penguins kept applying pressure, but he did not crack apart from allowing the first goal of the game to Evgeni Malkin. Ottawa tied the game 1-1 on their first power play goal in ten games thanks to a 5-on-3 opportunity. Penguins goalie Matt Murray slid over to the side of the net where Bobby Ryan shot, but was just a split second late and didn’t close up the entire gap alongside the net and the Senators would tie it up. They took the lead 90 seconds into the third period on Mike Hoffman’s sixth goal of the year and they would hang on for dear life to win that game 2-1. Can’t say enough about Anderson’s performance though. A game after the Senators gave up seven goals to give up just one amidst plenty of pressure by the Penguins, this was a remarkable outcome and now they have forced a game seven. Anything can happen. If the Penguins lose, this would be a huge upset. Game seven is Thursday night.

NFL quick hits

A few NFL related stories have generated headlines here in recent days (yes I know it is May) so I thought we better touch on them briefly. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and former teammates of former Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy who passed away in Orlando at the age of 48. Kennedy was a hall-of-famer on the field and a really good person off of it. He will be missed.

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski have found themselves with a little bit more money this morning. Beckham Jr. inked a new shoe deal with Nike that will put him in the neighborhood of $5 million a season which is the biggest by any player in the NFL. Gronkowski meanwhile has restructured his deal which could give him a chance to be the highest paid tight end in the NFL. The salary right now is $5.25 million, but could bump up to $10.75 million if certain incentives are hit.

Former Giants running back and current free agent Rashad Jennings added a little hardware Tuesday night as he narrowly edged former Chicago Cub David Ross to ref="http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/19448667/rashad-jennings-edges-david-ross-dancing-stars-finale" title="win Dancing With The Stars" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">win Dancing With The Stars.

Finally, the Minnesota Vikings posted a video of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater moving around and throwing a football with a knee brace on. Anytime Bridgewater is on the field and moving it is an encouraging sign for the Vikings and their fans. Hopefully Bridgewater can get back on the field soon and be able to resume his career once again.

Coming up on Thursday: Reaction to top headlines from the day if there are anyway. Otherwise on Friday, playoff reaction plus other headlines in sports