I’m introducing a new thing today. It’s called Need to Know Sports and its a daily email that answers the question, “What do I need to know about sports today?” Whether you’re someone who needs to know everything about sports to feel alive or someone who views sports as being strictly on a need to know basis, this is a good way to start your day.
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Subject: Need to know sports: April 27, 2015
Dear Sports Fan,
What do I need to know about sports today?
Today’s Top Stories
ROUGH PLAY IN BOSTON: LeBron James and his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, advanced to the next round of the NBA basketball playoffs yesterday by beating the Boston Celtics 101-93 for their fourth win in a row. Winning four games in a row in a seven game series is called a sweep and it usually means that things went smoothly for the winners. That’s not the case for the Cavaliers who may be missing two of their key players after a series of rough and possibly dirty plays in yesterday’s game. Kevin Love got tangled up with Boston Celtic, Kelly Olynyk, in the first quarter of the game and ended up with a dislocated shoulder. Ouch. Later in the game, J.R. Smith, a Cavalier who is known to be a bit of a lunatic, swung his fist backwards wildly and connected with the head of Celtic, Jae Crowder. While falling to the ground, stunned, Crowder injured his knee and, after being helped off the court, was not able to continue playing.
There are four main opinions to have about this, none of them incredibly nuanced, and if you talk to sports fans today, you’ll probably hear all four.
- The Celtics are full of dirty players and are an abomination to the sport of basketball.
- The Cavaliers are full of dirty players and are an abomination to the sport of basketball.
- What happened yesterday was terrible. That type of play is not what basketball is about.
- What happened yesterday was great! That type of play was totally common in the 1980s when basketball was a great sport. Since then, it’s gotten way too sanitary to be truly enjoyable.
Feel free to take any of these positions in a sports conversation today. Or choose ONE of the top two and ONE of the bottom two. People will also be speculating about who should and will be suspended.
THE HEAD INJURY CRISIS COMES TO SOCCER: The concussion and brain injury crisis reached beyond American Football and reared its ugly (yes) head yesterday in a high profile British Premier League football game. During the first half of a game between first place Chelsea and third place Arsenal, the Arsenal goalie came out to defend against Chelsea player Oscar and their heads collided violently. Oscar seemed to have been unconscious in the air and was certainly out for some time after he hit the ground. Nonetheless, he returned to play and made it until halftime when he was reassessed and then sent to the hospital.
One of the major problems with addressing head injuries in soccer is that, unlike football or hockey, substitutions are severely limited. Teams are only allowed three total substitutions during a game and if a player has to be assessed for an injury, their team must play with one fewer player until she either returns or is replaced by a substitute. Once substituted, a player cannot return in that game. These rules make it extremely likely that players with brain injuries, even obvious, spectacular ones like today, will play through them instead of being assessed and treated. While a lack of immediate reform on this point seems insane, remember that these injuries have been happening for more than seventy five years and it’s only seemed insane to a majority of viewers for the past five years or so. Add to that the complexity of trying to negotiate a rule change between a dozen or more country-based leagues in Europe, and the slow pace of change is more understandable. Still, every injury like today’s will help push the soccer and sports world towards reform.
Yesterday’s Games, Today’s Conversations
National Hockey League – The first round (of four) playoff series in the NHL are coming to an end. Yesterday’s two games eliminated two teams and advanced two others to the next round. The Minnesota Wild won 4-1 over the St. Louis Blues. The Blues have now lost in the first round of the playoffs for three years running. This either means they are fatally flawed underachievers OR victims of the random small sample sized experiment that the playoffs are. The Montreal Canadiens finally ended the Ottawa Senators magical run over the past two months by beating them 2-0. The Senators were way down in the standings and not expected to even make the playoffs but no magic will soothe the burn of having lost to their neighbors and rivals, the Canadiens.
National Basketball Association – Los Angeles Clippers won 114-105 over the San Antonio Spurs: The most highly anticipated first round matchup in the NBA is turning into the league’s most competitive one. The Spurs are the defending champions but they come into this series as the underdog. Now tied at 2-2, the series returns to Los Angeles for game 5 and, if needed, game 7. You’d think this would give the advantage to the Clippers but my money is still on the Spurs. Quick soundbite if you want to sound savvy — point out that home-court advantage has been slowly disappearing this year and say that this lessons the advantage the Clippers once would have had. The story of yesterday’s game was the excellent play of Austin Rivers, son of Clippers coach Doc Rivers. Doc traded for his son part of the way through the year, a move which was widely scorned by fans and sports writers, but for one day at least, those critics will have to eat their words.
Today’s Sports Forecast
NBA Basketball
Atlanta Hawks at Brooklyn Nets, 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV: Atlanta leads the seven game series 2-1 but Brooklyn won the last game convincingly. Atlanta lacks star power and Brooklyn lacks the ability to play beautiful basketball.
Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls, 8 p.m. ET on TNT: The Chicago Bulls lead this series 3-1. With the game in Chicago and the Bulls firing on all cylinders, there’s little drama to be found here.
Memphis Grizzlies at Portland Trail Blazers, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT: Memphis is up 3-0 in this series. Portland may with this game but they almost definitely won’t win the series.
NHL Hockey
Tampa Bay Lightning at Detroit Red Wings, 7 p.m. ET on CNBC: Down three games to two in this series, all the pressure for this game is on the Lightning. Lose and they’re eliminated from the playoffs. Win and they get to fly back to Florida to host a deciding Game Seven on Wednesday. The Red Wings are a veteran team and while they’d prefer to win this one, they won’t be afraid to go on the road and win game seven.
New York Islanders at Washington Capitals, 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network: This is by far the most exciting game on the sports calendar for today. This is game seven of the series between the Islanders and Capitals. Each team won three of the first six games, so this one is for everything. Game sevens are better than single elimination tournament games, like you get in March Madness, because the stakes are the same but the tactical and emotional plots have had six games over the past two weeks to build.
Verisimilitude
Read The Economist’s obituary of cricket legend Richard Benaud. Benaud was an incredible Australian cricket player who followed up his long playing career by becoming one of the most well known cricket television commentators. I loved learning a little about Benaud’s life and admired his decision to leave commentating in 2005 when the rights to televise cricket were bought by a cable channel. Benaud felt that “the joy of watching cricket should be free for everyone.” I laughed out-loud at the description of his commenting style as “almost prissily bipartisan.”
Glory in Bruce Ely’s amazing photograph of Portland Trail Blazers, Robin Lopez, and Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph preparing to snag a rebound.
RoLo working against Zach Randolph pic.twitter.com/cumt17JMX9
— Bruce Ely (@bruceely) April 26, 2015
Thanks for reading,
Ezra Fischer
Photo of Two Rhesus Macaques at Blijdorp Zoo, Rotterdam (Netherlands) by Jinterwas.