Sunday’s 6-pack:
Last six NBA champs…….
2024— Celtics
2023— Nuggets
2022— Warriors
2021— Bucks
2020— Lakers
2019— Raptors
Only two of those six teams still have the same coach they had then.
Quote of the Day
“In playoffs we know that everybody needs to step up, offensively, defensively, whatever, energy-wise. And everybody who plays needs to contribute something. It was special today the guys did that.”
Nikola Jokic
Sunday’s quiz
Who was coach of the Golden State Warriors, before Steve Kerr?
Saturday’s quiz
In the 1979 movie
Fast Break, UCLA assistant coach Jim Harrick, who would later win a national championship as head coach of the Bruins, had a small role as an assistant coach at fictional Nevada State.
Friday’s quiz
In the movie
Any Given Sunday, Dennis Quaid played the starting QB for the Miami Sharks, before he got hurt.
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— Apparently this season, Major League Baseball changed how its umpires are evaluated on their calls of balls and strikes:
“In response to consistent player and club desire to have umpires evaluated more closely to the rulebook strike zone, we agreed with the MLB Umpires Association in their new CBA to reduce the size of the ‘buffer’ around the border of the strike zone, which essentially protects an umpire from being graded ‘incorrect’ on extremely close misses.”
MLB says it told everyone, but the article in
The Athletic says otherwise:
“What do you think of the new strike zone?” an umpire asked one catcher, to which the catcher answered “What new strike zone?”
Not sure why it was handled this way; you’d think it is easy to let everyone know something like this is happening. At least everyone knows now, with 20% of the season over.
— Friday night in Anaheim Tigers’ RF Riley Greene became the first player EVER to homer twice in the 9th inning of the same game. Detroit scored eight runs in the top of the ninth to beat the Angels, 9-1.
You’d think that would’ve happened at least one other time in history, but it hadn’t happened ever until Friday night.
— Guardians 5, Blue Jays 3
Toronto led 3-0 after seven innings.
Daniel Schneeman hit a grand slam in the ninth inning; he also homered in the 8th inning.
Kevin Gausman threw six shutout IP for Toronto.
— Twins 4, Red Sox 3
Kody Clemens homered for the Twins, with his dad Roger watching in a private suite.
— Marlins 9, A’s 6
Kyle Stowers hit a walk-off grand slam, his second homer of the game.
Win snaps the Marlins’ six-game losing streak.
Only second loss in last seven games for the A’s.
— Mets have won nine games in a row against the Cardinals, their longest-ever win streak against the Redbirds.
— Padres 2, Pirates 1
Fernando Tatis scored winning run on a wild pitch in ninth inning.
San Diego has won four games in a row.
Pirates have lost six of their last seven games.
— Seattle Mariners have a prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje, who pitches with both hands: he’s had a rough start to the season, giving up 13 runs in 17.1 IP, but he does pitch with both hands. He is currently in the Class A Northwest League.
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Famous birthdays, May 4th:
Rene Lachemann, 80
Butch Beard, 78
Richard Jenkins, 78
Ken Oberkfell, 69
Rick Leach, 68
Tim Sherwin, 67
Cleveland Gary, 59
Victor Oladipo, 33
Nathan Peterman, 31
— Nuggets 120, Clippers 101
Denver led 58-47 at half, then outscored Clippers 35-19 in third quarter.
James Harden went 2-for-8 from floor, scored seven points.
Nuggets move on to play Oklahoma City in the next round.
Since 2017, NBA home teams are 10-12 in Game 7’s
Before 2017, home teams were 101-25 in Game 7’s
— Gregg Popovich officially retired as coach of the San Antonio Spurs, after a 29-year run in San Antonio, where he won 1,422 regular season games and five NBA titles. A great career.
While Popovich coached the Spurs, there were 303 head coaching changes made by the other NBA teams.
— Lakers signed GM Rob Pelinka to a new, long-term contract, so he and JJ Redick will be working together for the foreseeable future.
— Kevin Durant left Golden State after the 2019 season; his head coaches since then:
2019-20: Nets- Kenny Atkinson/Jacque Vaughn
2020-21: Nets- Steve Nash
2021-22: Nets- Steve Nash
2022-23: Nets- Steve Nash/Jacque Vaughn
2023: Suns- Monty Williams
2023-24: Suns- Frank Vogel
2024-25: Suns- Mike Budenholzer
— Arizona Wildcats gave basketball coach Tommy Lloyd a contract extension thru 2030; Arizona is 112-33 in four years under Lloyd, 61-19 in conference games, 6-4 in NCAA Tournament games.He is scheduled to make $4.4M/year, plus bonuses.
— College basketball teams who have to replace their entire roster for next season:
Baylor. Indiana. Maryland. West Virginia
— Aidan Mahaney played two years for very good Saint Mary’s basketball teams that went 53-16 while he was in their rotation; he played around 32:00/game. Last year, he got poached by UConn, where he played only 12 minutes a game for the 24-11 Huskies.
This spring, Mahaney saw the light; he bolted to Cal-Santa Barbara, where he figures to be a key piece in the Gauchos’ puzzle. He was first team all-WCC both his years at Saint Mary’s, so he figures to be an all-star in the Big West.
— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres, Giants, Phillies
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, A’s/KC