SportSpectator Blog

May 25, Week in Sports

:: Magic Jump to 2-1 Lead against Cavs (Pro. Basketball)

:: Castroneves Wins Indy 500 (Auto Racing)

:: Red Wings, Penguins Eye Stanley Cup Rematch (Hockey)

———-

LEBRON, CAVS DAZZLED BY MAGIC

At the beginning of the post-season, almost everyone in the country expected the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers to coast to the NBA Finals. However, both teams are now embroiled in extremely competitive series, and those spots in the Finals, once all but guaranteed for the favorites, are now totally up for grabs.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers were expected to crush the Orlando Magic, but that perception completely changed after the Magic pulled off a huge Game 1 upset in Cleveland, where the Cavs only lost 2 games the whole year. The Magic also won Game 3, to take the 2-1 series lead. Had it not been for a buzzer-beating prayer hurled up by James to win Game 2, the Cavs would be losing this series 3-0.

Out on the West Coast, the Lakers also split their first two games with the Denver Nuggets, which was seen as a huge disappointment for a Lakers team that is virtually unstoppable at home. However, after the Lakers beat the Nuggets in Game 3 of the series in Denver on Saturday night, the Lakers have regained the upper hand.

Quote of the Week: “This time LeBron James couldn’t save them.” — Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel, on Game 3
Further Reading: “Magic pull out Game 3 win over Cavs” — Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel

———-

HELIO WALTZES TO THIRD VICTORY AT INDY

Helio Castroneves, the Brazilian driver and former winner of Dancing With the Stars, won the Indy 500 on Sunday. The Indy 500 is one of the most important and historical races of the year.

Castroneves has now won the Indy 500 a grand total of three times in his career–a feat that has only been accomplished by eight other men. This Indy 500 victory caps off what has been a tremendous month for Castroneves, not least of all because he was recently acquitted of tax charges that could have landed him in prison for 6 years. Castroneves was acquitted of almost all of those charges earlier in the month, and the final count against him was dropped earlier on Sunday.

Danica Patrick made history today, as well, with her third place finish setting a record for the best finish by a woman at the Indy 500. It topped her previous record of fourth place, which she set in 2005.

Quote of the Week: ”This is the best month of May ever.” — Helio Castroneves

Further Reading: ”Winning verdict: Castroneves rolls to third Indy 500 crown ” — Associated Press, via USA Today

CHICAGO CRUSHED

The Detroit Red Wings annihilated the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, winning by a score of 6-1 and taking a 3-1 lead in the series, which puts them one win away from a Stanley Cup Finals berth. The matchup between the Red Wings and Blackhawks is one of the biggest rivalries in hockey and the most anticipated series of the Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hockey analysts often say that a playoff series doesn’t truly begin until one of the teams loses a game at home. Up until Sunday, both Detroit and Chicago had won all their home games, but that all changed in Game 4, when Detroit embarrassed the Blackhawks in Chicago. Now the series returns to Detroit on Wednesday, and it would take a miracle for the Blackhawks to reverse the momentum and capture the series.

In the other Conference Finals matchup, the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently dominating the Carolina Hurricanes 3 games to none. It now appears that the Pens, led by superstar Sidney Crosby, will easily glide to the Stanley Cup Finals. That will mark a back-to-back appearance in the Finals for the Penguins, who lost last year to the Detroit Red Wings.

Quote of the Week: ”The Wings somehow whipped Chicago, 6-1, dominated this game without Lidstrom and Datsyuk — and without Kris Draper and Andreas Lilja and Tomas Kopecky. On the other hand, the Blackhawks were forced to play the Red Wings without Bobby Hull and Tony Esposito. So it was tough for them, too.” — Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press

Further Reading: ”Blackhawks lose 6-1 to Red Wings in Game 4 ” — Shannon Ryan, Chicago Tribune

——-

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK

:: PRO. BASKETBALL: The Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs continue this week. Check out the schedule at www.nba.com.

:: HOCKEY: The Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs continue this week. Check out the the schedule at www.nhl.com.

:: TENNIS: The French Open, the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments, continues this week. It runs from May 24 to June 7.

———-

ALL-SPORTS UPDATE

 

ACTIVE SEASON

:: BASEBALL

MLB (Pro. Baseball): The 2009 season is underway, and it runs through October. [Official MLB Website]

:: BASKETBALL

NBA (Pro. Basketball): The 2008-09 NBA playoffs are currently underway.  [Official NBA Website]

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL (College): “The Tournament” is now over. The University of North Carolina won the 2009 national championship over Michigan State. [CBS Sports]

———-

 

:: FOOTBALL

NFL (Pro. Football): Now that the NFL Draft is over, things will be relatively quiet until training camp begins in the middle of July. [Official NFL Website]

NCAA FOOTBALL (College): The college football season is now over, with Florida defeating Oklahoma in the national championship game. [NCAA Football, ESPN]

———-

:: GOLF

MEN’S GOLF: While there are professional tournaments throughout the year, the most important tournaments are the four Major Championships: The Masters, U.S. Open, The Open (The British Open), and the PGA Championship. The next Major Championship is the U.S. Open. [Official PGA Website]

NOTABLE PLAYERS: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson

———-

:: HOCKEY

NHL (Pro. Hockey): The Stanley Cup playoffs are currently underway.  [Official NHL Website]

 

———-

:: TENNIS

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS: While there are professional tournaments throughout the year, the most important tournaments are the four Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. The next event is the French Open, which takes place in May. [USTA Website]

NOTABLE PLAYERS: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic

———-

May 26, Week in Sports

:: SCOTT DIXON WINS INDY 500 (Auto Racing)

:: CHICAGO BULLS WIN FIRST DRAFT PICK (Pro. Basketball)

:: PITTSBURGH PENGUINS PLAY DETROIT RED WINGS FOR STANLEY CUP (Pro. Hockey)

———-

GOT MILK? DIXON WINS INDY 500

On Sunday afternoon, driver Scott Dixon won the Indianapolis 500–one of the most historical and important races of the year for motorsports enthusiasts.

Dixon started out the race in pole position (first), but he was losing to Vitor Meira with fewer than 30 laps left to go. However, Dixon beat Meira out of the final pit stop and was able to hold on for his first Indianapolis 500 victory. Following his victory, Dixon drank a bottle of milk on the track, as is customary for winners of the Indy 500.

The day was full of accidents, and tempers flared as reckless driving knocked some of the sport’s top drivers out of contention. About halfway through the race, Marco Andretti accidentally forced his own teammate, Tony Kanaan, into a wall. Late in the race, Ryan Briscoe hit Danica Patrick in pit row, and Patrick was seen fuming along the track until track personnel guided her away. Helio Castroneves finished the race in fourth place.

Quote of the Week: “He’d better be [sorry]. That was a very stupid move. Me being a good teammate, I didn’t want to turn into him and take out two cars. So I give up today.” — Tony Kanaan, on Andretti apologizing after knocking him out of the race

Further Reading: “Pole sitter Dixon races to first Indianapolis 500 victory” — Associated Press, via ESPN

———-

LUCKY LOTTO: BULLS TAKE FIRST OVERALL PICK

On May 20th, the NBA held their annual lottery to determine the order of picks for this year’s draft. The Chicago Bulls, who only had a 1.7 percent chance of winning the NBA lottery, were the surprise winners, taking home the first overall pick in the draft.

The NBA Draft is more important than the draft in any other sport–sometimes the addition of a single player can entirely change a team’s future, as it did when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted LeBron James in 2003. The order of the draft is roughly determined in the reverse order of teams’ success the year before. That is to say, the worst teams have the best odds of getting the highest draft picks. But to discourage losing deliberately, the worst teams are not guaranteed the top draft picks. Since the odds were overwhelmingly against the Bulls, though, their winning the NBA lottery was big news.

The Bulls will either take Memphis guard Derrick Rose or Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley with the first pick of the draft. Both players are exceptional, and both could fill major needs for the lucky Bulls organization. The Chicago sports media were also tremendously lucky, since they are now guaranteed to have a topic to debate every day until the June 26th draft takes place.

Quote of the Week: “I understand this was pure luck. Now we have to do our job.” — John Paxon, Bulls GM

Further Reading: “A No. 1-track mind” — K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune

———-

PENGUINS FLOUNDER FIRST NIGHT IN HOCKEYTOWN

The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins are currently playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, the most important event of the National Hockey League season. The Red Wings won the first game, defeating the Pens by a crushing score of 4-0.

This is considered a high-profile match-up for fans of the sport, since it pits Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, one of the biggest stars of the league, against the Red Wings, one of the most storied franchises in the sport and a perennial contender. The NHL continues to struggle to draw casual fans to the sport, but league officials hope that a championship with this kind of intensity will help to get people to watch the games.

Game One of Stanley Cup Finals was played in Detroit (a.k.a. Hockeytown) on Saturday. Pittsburgh hopes to bounce back from the devastating opening loss when they play Game Two on Monday night.

Quote of the Week: “If a matchup ever was going to capture the attention of the casual sports fan and make the NHL matter during its showcase event, this seems to be the one to do it.” — Associated Press

Further Reading: “First-period power-play failures come back to haunt Penguins” — Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

———-

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK

:: BASKETBALL – The Conference Finals match-ups (Boston/Detroit and San Antonio/Los Angeles) continue this week. The full schedules are available at www.nba.com.

:: HOCKEY – The Stanley Cup Finals continue this week, with games scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

:: TENNIS – The French Open, the second Grand Slam event of the year, started this week and runs through June 8th.
———-

ALL-SPORTS UPDATE

 

ACTIVE SEASON

:: BASEBALL

MLB (Pro. Baseball): Baseball season is in full swing, but it is a long season, so teams tend to measure their success month by month. The All-Star break takes place the second week of July. By then, teams’ records will be a good indicator of how well they are performing this season. [Official MLB Website]

———-

:: BASKETBALL

NBA (Pro. Basketball): The NBA conference finals continue this week. The winners of those two best-of-seven series will face off in the NBA playoffs. [Official NBA Website]

———-

:: GOLF

MEN’S GOLF: While there are professional tournaments throughout the year, the most important tournaments are the four Major Championships: The Masters, U.S. Open, The Open (The British Open), and the PGA Championship. Now that the Masters is over, the next event will be the U.S. Open, which is played in the month of June. [Official PGA Website]

NOTABLE PLAYERS: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els

———-

:: HOCKEY

NHL (Pro. Hockey): The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins are currently battling in the Stanley Cup Finals. [Official NHL Website]

———-

:: TENNIS

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS: While there are professional tournaments throughout the year, the most important tournaments of the year are the four Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. The French Open is currently underway. The next event is Wimbledon, which runs from June 23rd to July 6th. [USTA Website]

NOTABLE PLAYERS: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova

———-

OFFSEASON

:: BASKETBALL

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL (College): Now that the tournament is over, college basketball news will focus on which players leave their schools for the NBA, and which college teams land the premier high-school players for next season. [CBS Sports]

———-

:: FOOTBALL

NFL (Pro. Football): The pre-season begins in August, and the regular season begins in September. [Official NFL Website]

NCAA FOOTBALL (College): Practice sessions for college football begin in summer, and the regular season begins in August. [NCAA Football, ESPN]