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Archives for May 9, 2019

Bruins Play Like a Hurricane

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Boston Bruins 5, Carolina 2

When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, May 9, 2019
Where: TD Garden, Boston 
Attendance: 17565
Special to Digital Sports Desk by Field Level Media

BOSTON – Marcus Johansson and Patrice Bergeron each scored on the power play in a span of 28 seconds in the third, and Tuukka Rask had 29 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Johansson struck first when he cleaned up a rebound of a Brad Marchand shot at 2:26, and Bergeron scored on a feed from Marchand at 2:54 as the Bruins extended their winning streak to four while halting the Hurricanes’ at six.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Boston.

Sebastian Aho and Greg McKegg scored for Carolina, and Petr Mrazek stopped 23 shots in his return from a two-game absence following a lower-body injury.

The Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead into the third period before a slew of penalties awakened Boston’s dangerous power play. Jordan Staal boarded Chris Wagner to lead to Johansson’s score, and Dougie Hamilton roughed Joakim Nordstrom ahead of Bergeron’s go-ahead marker. Hamilton would again be penalized for interference in the period, but Carolina killed the penalty.

The Hurricanes pulled Mrazek down 3-2 with 2:38 remaining, but Charlie Boyle and Wagner put the game away for Boston with empty-netters 11 seconds apart.

Steven Kampfer, playing his second playoff game with defenseman Charlie McAvoy suspended for an illegal check in the series finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets, got the Bruins on the board at 2:55 of the first period, but their early lead lasted less than a minute.

The Hurricanes replied three seconds after Sean Kuraly went to the box for roughing. Aho deflected a pass from Andrei Svechnikov in front of the net for a 1-1 tie at 3:42.

Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara ended the first in the locker room after blocking an Aho shot with his right foot and limping down the tunnel. Chara would return early in the second.

Carolina took a 2-1 lead in hectic fashion at 9:18 of the second. McKegg’s shot trickled through Rask’s legs just before the forward crashed into the goal and knocked the net off its moorings. The goal counted without review.

-Field Level Media

Celtics: Bad Job, Long Summer

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BOSTON – Boston coach Brad Stevens didn’t blame Kyrie Irving’s shooting woes or the lack of productivity from his bench for the Celtics’ 4-1 series defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Instead, when he talked to reporters Wednesday night after the loss, he pinned it on a different culprit: himself.

“I’ll be the first to say that this, as far as any other year I’ve been a head coach, it’s certainly been the most trying,” said Stevens, who just finished his sixth season in the position. “I think I’ve done — I did a bad job. At the end of the day, as a coach, if your team doesn’t find its best fit together, that’s on you.

“So, I’ll do a lot of deep dives into how to be better.”

The Celtics became the first team in NBA modern playoff history to win their first five games and then lose four in a row.

There wasn’t much Stevens could do in Wednesday night’s 116-91 loss.

The Celtics shot 31.2 percent, and Irving contributed a 6-for-21 performance. For the series, he was 25-for-81, for 30.9 percent, well off his season average of 48.7 percent.

“I mean, truth be told, it’s no time to be disappointed,” Irving said. “I think that you take your lessons, you take your ass-whooping that they handed us, and you move on.”

Whether Irving will be moving on with the Celtics remains to be seen. He is eligible to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent — so are Al Horford, Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris — so the Celtics could look vastly different come fall.

“I understand that we didn’t meet the outside expectations, and we really rode a roller coaster a lot of the year, and it was difficult,” Stevens said. “But I do think, and I told the guys in there, I did think they showed a lot of character in a lot of different times to keep coming back and stay together.

“I’ve said from the get-go, this time in the locker room, when they’re all together, is great. We just couldn’t find it playing together as well as we had hoped.”

–Field Level Media

NBA’s Silver on Ref Diversity

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WASH DC – Seeking more gender diversity in the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver wants to see women comprise at least half of the league’s new referees, he said at a speaking engagement today.

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“I’m not sure how it was that it remained so male-dominated for so long, because it’s an area of the game where physically, certainly, there’s no benefit of being a man, as opposed to a woman when it comes to refereeing,” Silver said during an appearance at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

“The goal is: Going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league,” Silver added.

He pointed out that in the developmental G League, two women were among five recent officiating hires, and there are three female officials currently working in the NBA.

Silver also wants to see more equality among the league’s coaching staffs.

“There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball,” Silver said in a discussion with David M. Rubenstein, the president of The Economic Club.

Among the NBA’s coaching staffs this season, assistants Becky Harmon of the San Antonio Spurs and Kristi Toliver of Washington Wizards were the only women employed.

In 1997, some were critical of the NBA’s decision to hire two female referees, Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer.

Then playing with the Houston Rockets, Charles Barkley said, “Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I just hope they don’t have women officials. It’s the principle of the thing. I wouldn’t want a man doing a WNBA game.”

–Field Level Media

After DC, It’s Back to Business

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WASH DC – While manager Alex Cora, a native of Puerto Rico, and about a dozen players of color skipped a visit honoring the World Series champion Boston Red Sox at the White House on Thursday, President Donald Trump avoided discussing the controversy.

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“Frankly, they were unstoppable. I watched,” said Trump, skipping any mention of Cora or the absent players by name at the ceremony that lasted about 10 minutes.

A fan of the New York Yankees, Trump added, “In the playoffs, you bested your archrivals, the Yankees. I think I’ll do a recount on this one. But you did! You beat them.”

Earlier in the day asked by a reporter about the controversy, Trump said, “I like the Red Sox.”

He also defended his administration’s relief efforts in Puerto Rico, which was a primary reason for Cora not to attend. “We gave Puerto Rico $91 billion for the hurricane,” Trump said. “The people of Puerto Rico should really like President Trump.”

USA Today cited PolitiFact, which stated Congress has allocated $41 billion in aid to the island, of which only $11 billion has been spent thus far.

That wasn’t the only factual error made Thursday. The White House initially spelled the team nickname incorrectly, calling the Red Sox the “Red Socks.”

It apparently didn’t matter to the representatives in attendance.

Without Cora, the Red Sox were led by three white executives — owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, president Sam Kennedy and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Among the absent players were Mookie Betts, the reigning American League MVP, and star pitcher David Price, who are black, along with several Latino players.

Third base coach Carlos Febles, a native of the Dominican Republic, and Cuban American outfielder J.D. Martinez, who gave Trump a No. 18 Red Sox jersey, did attend the event on the White House South Lawn.

“We don’t see it as a racial divide,” Werner said when asked about the players who chose not to attend. “I think to the extent that we can, we think that baseball is apolitical.”

Though other athletes and teams have passed on the White House celebrations, Werner said the Red Sox never considered missing it. He said they were all grateful to be there, also enjoying a visit to the Oval Office and a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom.

“No, I think we were honored by it,” Werner said. “People watch sports as a way to get away from their daily problems. And to us, this was a great tribute to what was a great championship.”

–Field Level Media

Durant Out for Rest of Series

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OAKLAND – Kevin Durant is done for the rest of the Western Conference semifinals, and head coach Steve Kerr said the Golden State Warriors must grasp the task ahead: Replace the best player in the NBA.

Game 5 of Houston vs GS Warriors 

“He’s been the best player in the NBA in the playoffs. He’s been phenomenal,” Kerr said Thursday night, confirming Durant is several days or more from being able to play basketball.

A return could potentially come in the Western Conference finals, but the Warriors, leading the Houston Rockets 3-2 in the semifinals entering Friday’s Game 6 at Houston, still need a win without Durant.

“Well, we’ll just find somebody on the bench who can give us 35 points, two blocks and 11 boards and nine assists,” Kerr said facetiously Thursday night.

The Warriors announced Thursday afternoon that after an MRI, Durant was diagnosed with a mild right calf strain and is not expected to be re-evaluated until next week.

“It’s obviously a huge loss. Our team has a lot of confidence,” Kerr said. “We trust each other. They’ve won championships together. So we come out and give it our best shot.”

Without Durant, the Warriors rallied to win Game 5 in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday. But all is not yet lost. They are also 29-4 in games without Durant in which guard Steph Curry is available.

Durant’s status for the remainder of the postseason — if Golden State closes out the Rockets and advances to the Western Conference finals — is up in the air. Curry is also dealing with a dislocated finger.

“Guys who haven’t had opportunities yet (in this series) will have opportunities,” Kerr said.

Durant sank a fadeaway jumper with 2:05 left in the third to give the Warriors a 68-65 lead, then began hobbling as he turned to head up the court.

He immediately was replaced on the floor by Andre Iguodala. Less than a minute later, the Rockets took their first lead since 14-12 in the first quarter, but the Warriors rallied to win 104-99 and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Durant will not travel to Texas with the team for Game 6 and instead will undergo treatment in hopes he can return for Golden State next week. The average recovery time for a mild calf strain is two weeks.

Because of the way Durant reacted, social media erupted with opinions — some educated — that Durant had torn his Achilles tendon.

“When I walked into the coaches’ office after the game, the replay of the play was going on, and I thought the same thing because he kind of looked back like he had been kicked or something,” Kerr said Wednesday night. “I (thought), ‘I’ve seen that before with guys who have hurt their Achilles.’ So that was my first question, and I was assured that it’s a calf strain and not the Achilles.”

Already thinned by injuries, the Warriors could be playing with an extremely short bench in Game 6.

Iguodala was questionable entering Wednesday’s game and the Warriors are still without DeMarcus Cousins (thigh).

“Honestly, it was a little deflating for a second,” Curry said of losing Durant, who was averaging 35.4 points per game in the playoffs entering Wednesday’s game. “Then we rallied. So all the different roller coaster of emotions tonight. At the end of day it’s about winning or losing, trying to endure to the finish line.

“… We’ll see what happens the next 24, 48 hours on the injury front. But we’ve had the next-man-up mentality for a long time now. Hopefully, the situation will be no different. It will be challenging. It’s tough to replace the output that KD has been doing this whole entire playoff run.”

–Field Level Media

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