So, that was a fun game! And a busy sports Monday overall, with a hockey series dropping the puck as well, along with a fairly full slate of baseball. Let’s not waste any more time. (Well, with this part of the intro. I’m sure I’ll be wasting plenty of your time elsewhere!)
Thunder Steal Game 1 on the Road Behind Westbrook
This series is going to be nuts. That much was made clear last night as the Thunder took the opener at Oracle 108-102. They outscored the Warriors 61-42 in the second half to overcome a decent Steph Curry performance (a ho hum 26 point, 10 rebound, 7 assist, 3 steals) behind an even more impressive game from Russell Westbrook (27 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 7 steals).
Pregame, it looked like Steph was in line for a bigger night, as he went 5-5 from near midcourt:
video: curry goes 5-for-5 from the logo in warm-ups pic.twitter.com/TIDU6UJ8DH
— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) May 16, 2016
The Warriors were plagued by turnovers all night, finishing with 14, and the Thunder also took 15 more free throws, making 11 more, despite being the road team. During their second half comeback, they seemed more aggressive attacking the basket, while Golden State settled for the kind of quick three that, when it goes in, is a fine shot; but not enough went in. (And they also took some just straight-up bad ones, too.)
There was a minor controversy late, as the Warriors tried to trap Westbrook while trailing by 3; Westbrook went to call a timeout, and his pivot foot dragged in fairly obvious fashion:
that looks like a Russell Westbrook travel https://t.co/uNFgOUZRX9
— Harry Lyles Jr. (@harrylylesjr) May 17, 2016
But no call was made, and the Thunder hit the free throws they needed to hit to close out the game. Here was one Twitter user’s interpretation of the play:
Westbrook on that last play with no call for a travel pic.twitter.com/orJFOz6wcN
— Alexis Morgan (@alexiskmorgan) May 17, 2016
Game 2 is Wednesday night (with game 3 not until Sunday, for some ridiculous reason). This series has all kinds of “classic 7 gamer” potential. (Which is a thing I just made up, but it fits.)
Crosby Scores OT Goal to Take Game 2 From Lightning
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 to take Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, squaring the series at one game apiece. Your game-winning goalscorer: none other than Sidney Crosby, who nailed his first career postseason overtime goal at a vital time. (Though, I suppose, by definition any postseason overtime goal is coming at a vital time…but this one was big!)
The aforementioned goal:
TOP SHELF FTW#StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/koYeNFe21r
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 17, 2016
Game 3 is Wednesday night in Tampa, and if you don’t think it’s going to be nuts, let me remind you that there’s nothing not crazy about a Wednesday night in Tampa.
Quick Hits
-Prior to the massive Jays/Rangers brawl, I had been thinking about how I hadn’t seen a mound-charging incident in awhile. And when I saw that Brad Ausmus had used his sweatshirt as a prop in the process of earning an ejection, I realized we hadn’t had a fantastic manager meltdown in quite some time either. I love a good manager production. If your ejection couldn’t also serve as an audition for an improv comedy troupe, you’re not taking advantage of the stage you’ve been given.
-The Pacers finalized their promotion of Nate McMillan to replace the outgoing Frank Vogel. I don’t really get it, from the outside, but Pacers exec Larry Bird has always valued a fresh voice more than continuity. By promoting an assistant who also has quite a bit of head coaching experience, maybe Bird feels like he’s accomplishing both at once.
-Timberwolves rookie/weird hyphenation enthusiast Karl-Anthony Towns was unanimously named NBA Rookie of the Year. Certainly a deserving honor for Towns, a freakishly long and athletic forward with a ton of upside remaining. Expanded voting results:
Top 5 in ROY voting:
1. Karl-Anthony Towns
2. Kristaps Porzingis
3. Nikola Jokic
4. Devin Booker
5. Jahlil Okafor— Sean Highkin (@highkin) May 16, 2016
Porzingis was great, but Jokic absolutely should have finished second. This has been my randomly strong take of the day.
-There’s a Bartolo Colon parody 30 for 30 trailer, and it’s excellent:
-Our Joe Lucia with our weekly Game of Thrones recap. I’m loving that the show is now past the books, because as a non-reader, it was difficult to truly dive into the online review/recap/message board community thanks to the constant threat of spoilers. Now I have another avenue with which to waste time!
-Google is hiring people to, well, not drive their self-driving vehicles as part of product testing. Are we really going to make self-driving cars a thing? We’re just begging to be taken over by robots, at this point. Has no one seen Maximum Overdrive?!?
-Heartwarming story about a fan from Sierra Leone who traveled to see his first Manchester United game on Sunday, only for it to be cancelled due to a security threat (that turned out to be a training device.) Thanks to the magic of crowdfunding, he’ll be attending the FA Cup final instead.
-Our Ben Koo ranked the viability of the hot takes from the promo for the new HBO/Bill Simmons show. I’ll be honest, I didn’t miss Bill that much. This commercial does not make me rethink that position.
A Fake Headline I Wish Was Real
Sam Hinkie Simulates Through Another Season on NBA2K Franchise Mode
One Last Breath of Gratuitous Procrastination
Buckle in. My favorite part of this is how calm the driver is throughout. It’s almost like they’re a professional.