12/03/24
April 16, 2019
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Gut wrenching for the Finns
posted by NoMich at 09:11 AM on April 16, 2019
Bad call, especially but replay officials. Goalie was responsible for initiating contact by attempting to make a play a long way out of the net. Looks to me that if contact wasn't made the goalie slides even further out of the play while the goal is scored.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:09 AM on April 16, 2019
Looked to me that the goaltender had at least one skate, perhaps both, within the blue paint, although at the very edge thereof. The player that hit her was chasing the puck and really had no chance to avoid. It's not a 'bad' call, rather a very tight one that could have gone either way. Too bad for both teams that it had to come down to something like that.
posted by Howard_T at 12:20 PM on April 16, 2019
When the NBA Playoff Pick 'em went to the new format for making picks, I couldn't easily make my usual lengthy dissertation on the games. I promised (threatened?) to drop something in the Huddle when I had a chance. Here it is.
I watched the second half of the 76ers/Magic game 2 and then made it through the 3rd quarter of the Warriors/Clippers. I went to bed planning to write on the theme that "Order is Restored in the Playoffs". Then I flipped on the TV this morning, and the theme changed to WTF? There seems to be a disturbance in the Force, Master Luke. Lets take a series by series look.
Milwaukee vs Detroit: When you have perhaps the most dominant player still playing, a solid group of secondary scorers, tight defense, and a good coach, there's little that can go wrong. Detroit might steal one game if Blake Griffin can come back healthy, but that's all. This one continues in an orderly manner.
Toronto vs Orlando: I predicted a Magic upset in this one, so it's really not that much of a surprise to see Magic win game 1. In the pre-season many were saying that Toronto had the best bench in the league, but it does not look that way now. Having Vucevic as a large force both on offense and defense tends to force Toronto to the perimeter. Magic can score with anybody, so much comes down to Raptors' ability to hit the 3s.
Philadelphia vs Brooklyn: 76ers decided to play basketball last night, but were greatly helped by Nets' inability to defend the paint. 76ers attempted only 12 3-point shots, making 4, yet scored 145 points. Going 26 0f 32 from the line tends to make a large difference, and you don't get to the line that often without getting into the paint. Brooklyn's defense was exposed, Philadelphia decided to work hard, thus the result. It should remain in this pattern for the rest of the series.
Boston vs Indiana: I heard the talking heads on TNT and other media outlets talking about how unwatchable game 1 in this series was. Guys, I was at the game. I could see what was going on. Last I looked, there were 2 ways to win an NBA game, and both come down to scoring more points than your opponent. These 2 teams did it the hard way -- keep your opponent from scoring the easy points and make it difficult for him to score otherwise. Turnovers nearly killed Boston in this one, but they managed to play enough defense early that they were able to stay in the game. The Pacers missing 9 free throws (of 21) certainly helped, but Indiana hasn't been a good free throw shooting team all season. Pacers also shot around 22% from outside the arc, but their season average isn't much better. One play in the first quarter shows the difference. Pacers' Collison is on the dribble facing up against Horford on the right wing. Collison fakes right, then tries to go left. Horford's feet are dancing up and down as he slides laterally right then left to cut Collison off. This continues for several seconds until Collison pulls up for a 15-footer and loses his grip on the ball. Horford dives to the floor, tips the ball toward toward Aron Baynes, he recovers it, and the Celtics are off to the races. If you really understand the game, you really appreciate things like this. Indiana is too good to go easily, but I still like my Celtics in 5.
I have to get ready for a baseball game (I have the plate this afternoon) so I will hit the Western Conference tomorrow.
posted by Howard_T at 01:12 PM on April 16, 2019
U.S. wins women's world hockey title with controversial shootout victory over Finland