The Lakers are looking for a new head coach, Steph Curry is headed for an MRI on his knee (UGH), the New York Islanders snapped a 23-year drought, and A VERY GOOD DOG. It’s go time…
The Lakers (finally) fired Byron Scott
The only shock about the Lakers firing Byron Scott on Sunday night is that it took this long. I mean, look at this record over two years:
Byron Scott was 38-126 (.227) in his two seasons as the Lakers head coach.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 25, 2016
This season, the Lakers went a franchise worst 17-65. Yes, the roster was garbage, but that team still (probably) underperformed. And most importantly, he did a miserable job handling the Lakers’ young players (most notably D’Angelo Russell).
The Lakers will now be looking for their sixth different head coach since 2011 (holy crap). It seems odd they wouldn’t have done this earlier to go after Tom Thibodeau (went to the Timberwolves) or Scott Brooks (went to the Wizards)… but Luke Walton is out there, and he certainly makes all the sense in the world (and has the Lakers background).
The Lakers’ ‘long list’ of head coaching candidates will reportedly include Luke Walton https://t.co/01DH4n8J0R pic.twitter.com/5XsISC4TWm — Silver Screen & Roll (@LakersSBN) April 25, 2016
As CBS Sports‘ James Herbert writes, the Lakers’ job should actually be a very attractive one to coaching candidates:
Los Angeles has been a complete joke for the past few seasons, but it has quietly assembled a nice collection of young talent. The Lakers also have cap space, and NBA players will always see this team as a destination. A confident coach will see opportunity here, not merely a 17-win team.
Well, shit: Steph Curry is getting an MRI on his knee
The Warriors blew out the Rockets 121-94 on Sunday in Houston to go up 3-1 in the series. But no one cares about that because Steph Curry left the game with a knee injury on a freak play and did not return.
Steph was seen crying in the huddle. Steve Kerr explained the situation:
“He came out, was sitting on the bench with about three minutes to go and he was kind of gathering his thoughts,” Kerr Said. “We talked with the doctors about seeing how he felt, trying it out with a little warmup session. He went out there, tried to move on it, and it wasn’t right. He still wanted to play. We wouldn’t let him. You saw, I’m sure, he was very, very upset. I feel awful for him.”
The Warriors are calling it a sprained knee, and let’s hope the MRI Steph gets doesn’t reveal any serious damage.
The New York Islanders are going to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 23 years
For the first since 1993, the New York Islanders are going to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Team captain John Tavares most definitely served as the captain in leading his team to their Game 6 win over the Panthers on Sunday.
First, Tavares scored a goal in the final minute of regulation to tie the game 1-1 and send it to overtime:
And then for the series win in double overtime:
Quick Hits
– The Wild’s rally fell short by literally millimeters on Sunday, and the Stars won the series 4-2.
The Stars will play the winner of the Blackhawks-Blues series which will be decided tonight. The defending champion Hawks have won two consecutive games after being down 3-1 in the series (and being down 3-1 in Game 6), to force a Game 7 tonight in St. Louis. Never count out the Hawks.
In the NHL’s Eastern Confernece, the Capitals beat the Flyers 1-0 in Game 6 to win the series 4-2.
The Spurs swept the Grizzlies.
The Celtics evened up their series with the Hawks at 2-2.
Speaking of Celtics-Hawks, Marcus Smart had a hilariously bad flop in Game 3, and has been fined $5,000 by the NBA.
– Alexander Goot writes how Conor McGregor got the money, now he wants the power.
– The White Sox turned the first 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play in MLB history. This is absolutely nuts.
– Speaking of nuts… the Nationals-Twins game on Sunday as I wrote about. Nats manager Dusty Baker and his coaching staff called it the craziest game they’ve ever seen.
– Yasiel Puig made one of the best throws you’ll see in baseball this year, or any year. As I wrote in that post, the throw was actually very, very similar to a Jose Guillen throw that is my personal favorite. Both were in deep right field at Coors Field.
– Marcus Smart had a hilariously bad flop in the NBA playoffs,
– That awkward moment when you make a buzzer-beating shot on the wrong basket.
– A Pirates fan made a barehanded catch of a home run ball… while holding a baby.
– Poll asks Maryland voters if Joe Flacco is ELITE.
– Meet the Batting Cage Master! He hits 250-mph pitches — or the equivalent of 250 mph he says when it’s 17 feet away — at the batting cages and is challenging MLB superstars to beat him (lol).
– Freeskier sets new rail slide record of 440 feet. Honestly I used to pull this off on the regular playing SSX Tricky like a mad man on the Gamecube.
– Alright so I have a #CoolStoryBro story to this one… I was trying to find Red Sox-Astros on DirecTV on Saturday, and accidentally went to channel 220 instead of 219. Well that’s NBC Sports and some motocross program was on. No joke, like the 20 seconds I had it on, this motocrosser runs his wife over while she’s trying to give him water. She’s okay, thankfully.
– A great read from Ian Casselberry on how MTV is bringing back some music and may be ready for a cultural revival.
– When fishing, always bring an action figure.
One last breath of gratuitous procrastination
THAT’S A GOOD DOG. THAT’S A VERY GOOD DOG.
