Celtics 133, Bucks 101

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo. A calf injury forced him to miss 15 consecutive games earlier this season, and then a left-knee hyperextension and bone bruise has kept him on the bench since mid-March. Although he reportedly claims he's good to go now, the Bucks are insistent on keeping him on the bench. Last night, the Bucks gave 5:15 minutes of playing time to Thanasis Antetokounmpo and 4:27 to Alex Antetokounmpo but for naught - between the two of them, they only scored one point as the Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics, 133-101. Apparently, a Thannis and an Alex do not a Giannis make. 

Meanwhile, on our side of the court, MVP candidate Jaylen Brown sank 26 points. Jayson Tatum scored 23 and snagged 11 rebounds, and was one assist away from a second consecutive triple double. Neemias Queta got a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Overall, the Celtics outrebounded the Bucks 48-30. The team's three-point shooting is heating up as well - Hauser went 3-4, Tatum, 4-8, and White, 5-9. Mazzulla has this team reaching its peak right in time for its playoff run. 

The probable playoff picture remains the same with the two-seed Celtics (52-25) most likely facing the winner of the Hornets-Raptors play-in round, followed by the winner of the Knicks-Sixers series in the second round. 

But first, there's Brandon Ingram and the Raptors (43-34) in the Garden on Sunday afternoon (3:30), a possible first-round playoff preview.

Red Sox 5, Padres 2

 

The Red Sox win a game! First win since opening day!

Ceddanne Rafaela and new guy Caleb Durbin hit RBI singles in the third and fourth, but the Sox really came alive in the sixth, with home rums by Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer.  Sonny Gray went six innings, giving up two runs on four hits. The relief of Weissert, Slaten, and Chapman was near perfect, with no runs, no hits, and only one walk over three innings. 

The Red Sox are still in dead last place, but hey, they're only a half game back from Tampa Bay. One team at a time.

Connelly Early (0-0, 1.69) starts tomorrow afternoon (4:10) against the Padres' Randy Vásquez (1-0, 0.00). Vásquez has only faced the Sox for a total of seven innings over two games, but gave up eight hits and one home run in those seven innings. This will be Early's first time facing the Padres. Called up to the Majors late last season, Early is eager to prove that he belongs on this team long-term, although he hasn't even reached the 50-day mark yet.

Panthers 2, Bruins 1

 

Kryptonite is still kryptonite, and even though the Bruins have a far better record (43-25-8) than the Florida Panthers (37-35-3), the Panthers still won, 2-1. I guess the Red Sox were off yesterday, and someone had to take a loss for Boston. 

Kryptonite: The Bruins are 0-2-0 against the Panthers this season and are 3-4-3 record against Florida  over the last 10 games. Despite this, the Panthers are in last place in the Atlantic, 17 points back from the Bruins, and 11 points back from the last available Wild Card spot.   

Astros 6, Red Sox 4

 

Yeah, this season's going to suck balls, isn't it? The Red Sox got swept in Houston, losing last night, 6-4, and start the season in the hole with a 1-5 record. 

Garrett Crochet gave up five runs on six hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth. Crochet, Boston's great, shining hope, starts the season 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA. Veteran reliever Danny Coulombe, who the Sox acquired from Texas, gave up another HR in the seventh to our old friend, former Red Sox (2014-2022) catcher Christian Vázquez.  

On the bright side, Wilyer Abreu (.417) continued his hot start, hitting his third home run in six games. Roman Anthony (.227) homered too, his first of the season. The other runs came off a Willson Contreras single and an RBI Jarren Duran ground out.

More good news: we won't lose today! The Sox have a day off to return from the urban nightmare of Houston, Texas before starting a home stand against San Diego (2-4) and Milwaukee (5-1). Veteran pitcher Sonny Gray (0-0, 6.75) is listed as the probable starter on Friday against the Padres.  Over his long, 14-year career, Gray is 4-0 against the Padres.

Celtics 147, Heat 129

 

He came close on Monday night, but last night (Wednesday), Jayson Tatum got the triple double - 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists. Not at all bad for a dude recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Jaylen Brown scored 43 points last night and Neemias Queta got a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

All of which is to say the Celtics demolished the Miami Heat last night, 147-129. They outrebounded the Heat, blocked more shots, and made more assists and fewer turnovers. They dropped 53 points on the Heat in the first quarter alone, outscoring Miami by 20 points. 

The Celtics will take the long flight from Miami to Minneapolis and play the Milwaukee Bucks (30-46) on Friday night.

Despite going 8-2 in their last 10 games, the NBA standings haven't changed much for the Celtics. Boston (51-25) still leads the Atlantic Division by 2½ games and trails Detroit by four in the Eastern Conference. With only six games left to the regular season, it doesn't look like anything will change there. As things stand now, the Celtics will be the No. 2 seed in the East and will play the winner of the Charlotte-Toronto play-in series in the first round of the playoffs. 

Astros 9, Red Sox 2

 

Umm, anyone else starting to get worried? 

It's bad enough that our offense has seemingly all but disappeared, but on top of that some feckless officiating is also screwing us over. Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth, two outs, starter Brayan Bello got three swinging strikes off Cam Smith, which should have ended the inning. But the ump apparently lost count of the balls and strikes and allowed the plate appearance to continue, which ended with a walk. Bello was pulled after the "walk" (to be fair, he had also given up five runs in the game), and rookie reliever Ryan Watson made the last out of the inning on a fielder's choice, but c'mon, lost count of the balls and strikes? Has counting to three gotten too ""mathy" for MLB officials?

We've got robo-umps now to help tell balls from strikes, but do we need then to help count to three now, too? 

But don't get distracted - despite the referee fubar, the Sox still sucked. Bello gave up six runs on eight hits, including one homer, in 4⅔ innings, Watson gave up two more runs on two hits, and Jovani Morán gave up another homer, this one to the lucky Cam Smith, who got a walk instead of a K in the ump's fifth-inning fuck up. Connor Wong doubled to right center in the fifth, scoring Marcelo Mayer, and Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo homer to deep right in the eighth, but that was it offensively. 

The Red Sox are 1-4, dead last in the AL East, and are already three games back from the Yankees and Blue Jays. They have one game left in Houston on this woe-begotten, season-opening road trip, but the good news is it's Crochet Day, Boston's only pitcher so far with a win. Garrett's up against former Pirate Mike Burrows, who lost to the Angels, 6-2, in his first start of the year, so we've got a chance. 

Let's return to Fenway with a 2-4 record and ride the momentum of a Crochet win to get this season back on track. Not to look ahead, but our first series back home will be against the Padres, who, at 1-4, are off to the same dismal start as the Red Sox.

Bruins 6, Stars 3

 

What a game! Victor Arvidsson racked up a hat trick, and the Bruins scored four goals in the third period, including two Arvidsson empty netters. 

Arvidsson also scored a goal in the first, the second of the game following Khusnutdinov's opening score. Pastrnak, naturally, assisted with both goals. The Bruins' offense was quiet in the second, allowing the Stars to tie the game up at two each, but then the third opened with Elias Lindholm scoring on a power play 13 seconds into the final period. Henri Jokiharju scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Lindholm and Geekie, to make it 4-2, and then came Arvidsson's two empty netters. In between the two open nets, the Stars took advantage of a power play and a pulled goalie for a 6-4 edge to score a goal 

Joonas Korpisalo was in the net for the Bruins last night and made 13 saves on 16 attempts (.813).

The Bruins (43-24-8) are two points behind Montreal for third place and an automatic playoff bid. However, it's getting pretty comfy in the Wild Card race, as Boston now sits six points ahead of Columbus for the first berth and eight points up on contender Ottawa. With only seven more games to the regular season, it sure looks like the Bruins will get at least a Wild Card berth, if not a regular seed for finishing ahead on the Canadiens.

But it won't be easy. Thursday night, the Bruins play Florida (36-35-3), who are having an off year (for them) but have been the Bruins kryptonite team the past few seasons. There are also two games coming up against Tampa Bay (46-22-6), not to mention Philly (37-25-12), Carolina (47-21-6), Columbus (38-25-12) and New Jersey (38-34-2). No late-season cakewalk for our Bruins.         

Astros 8, Red Sox 1

 

Okay, I'm trying real hard not to freak out here. It's still March - christ, it's not even April yet - but after an Opening Day win, the Red Sox have fallen to a rocky 1-3 start on the season. Even that I could handle, but getting blown out, 8-1, by Houston? 

Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez, acquired from Philly in the off-season, went 4⅓ innings and gave up four runs, including two homers. Reliever Johan Oviedo, who we picked up from Pittsburgh, gave up four more runs with another two homers. 

Wilyer Abreu, about the only offense the Sox have shown this season, brought in the only Boston run of the game with an RBI double to deep right in 7th inning.

Brayan Bello makes his season debut tonight. Bello is 39-36 over four seasons with the Red Sox and has a career ERA of 4.09. He'll be up against the Astros' Hunter Brown, who issued nine strikeouts and no runs in his first game this season against the Angels, and is 36-31 with a career 3.46 EPA over four seasons.

C'mon, Boston, we need some offence! Trevor Story is batting only .150 so far this season, and Roman Anthony a mere .235. Let's win these next two games in Houston, and return from this opening road trip at .500!

Hawks 112, Celtics 102

 

Okay, Brown's back, so they sit out Tatum for the night. Brown responded with a 29-point, 10-rebound double double, and was one assist short of a triple double, but the Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks. Tied at the half, the Celtics got outscored 36-22 in the third quarter and never really recovered from that deficit.

Boston (50-25) has already clinched a playoff berth and lead the Atlantic Division by two games with seven left to the season, including one against the second-place Knicks. They trail Detroit by four games in the conference and are probably not catching up to the Pistons, barring a miracle. So long story short, this late-season road loss probably doesn't make much difference, but it still kinda sucks.

Shake it off and move on: from Atlanta, the Celtics fly down to Miami to play the Heat (40-36) on Wednesday night. ESPN will be carrying that game.  

Reds 3, Red Sox 2

Wilyer Abreu homers in the fourth in a losing effort, and the Cincinnati Reds win the rubber game, 3-2, and take the Red Sox' first series of the season, two games to one. 

Greg Weissert takes the loss for giving up a three-run homer in the 6th.

The Red Sox (1-2) move on to Houston (2-2) for a three-game road series. Ranger Suarez starts tonight for Boston.  

Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 3 (SO)

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, Class of 2016) scores in the third and Pavel Zacha chips in two third-period power-play goals to force OT. Then Viktor Arvidsson gets the winning goal in the shootout to give the Bruins a win over Columbus.

With the win, Boston (42-24-8) keeps the first Wild Card berth and gets a six-point lead over the first non-qualifying contender, Ottawa.

Tuesday, the Bruins host the Dallas Stars (44-18-12).

Celtics 104, Hornets 99

 

Tatum scores 32 points, becoming the youngest Celtic to reach 14,000 career points, and the Celtics clinch a playoff spot as Boston beats Charlotte, 104-99.

The Celtics (50-24) travel from Charlotte to Atlanta tonight to play the Hawks (42-33)