Heat Up 3-2 and Ellsbury Stealing 3+2

Huge 3rd Quarter Leads to Heat Victory
- Facing a 4-point deficit at halftime, Miami Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra must have a particularly inspirational halftime speech. His team came out and outscored the Indianapolis Pacers 30-13 in the third quarter to take a 13 point lead into the 4th, where they cruised to victory taking a 3-2 series lead back to Indianapolis on Saturday night.
- Lebron James scored 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while dishing 6 assists. In the pivotal 3rd quarter, James either scored or assisted on 25 of the 30 points the Heat scored. He gave his teammates a tongue lashing prior to the 3rd quarter and they responded big, although the Heat continued to get subpar production from Dwayne Wade (only 10 points) and many think he's still injured.
- The series continues Saturday night back in Indiana as the Heat will look to make it to their third straight NBA finals and to defend their title from last year, while the Pacers will look to push the series to a deciding Game 7 which would be Monday night in Miami.



Ellsbury sets record

- Ever since he got to the big leagues, Jacoby Ellsbury has been thought of as one of the fastest players in the MLB. He stole 50 and 70 in back to back seasons earlier in his career but hasn't stolen more than 40 in the 4 years since then, mainly due to injury. Well he must be healthy now because he set a Red Sox record by stealing a whopping 5 bags in a 9-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
- Ellsbury got on base 5 times with three hits, one walk and by getting hit by a pitch. Of the 5 steals, one was an elusive steal of third base, something that does not happen all too often, but Ellsbury was feeling it and abused Phillies Catcher Erik Kratz who couldn't do much to stop Ellsbury's kleptomaniac ways.
- The win puts Boston 2 games up on the Yankees for #1 in the division. The two rivals will face each other this weekend for a series that could see the return of a number of injured players. As Mark Teixiera and Kevin Youkilis for the Yankees and Clay Buckholz of the Red Sox are anticipated to see their first action in quite a while.

Eastern Conference Tied, Game 7's in the NHL

Pacers Push Heat, Series Tied

- The Indiana Pacers won game 4 99-92 to tie their best of seven series against the Miami Heat. The Pacers rode their stifling defense that was their calling card all season to the victory. After the Heat rode Lebron James to a huge 114-96 victory in game 3 it looked like the Heat had figured out the Pacers. Indiana had something to say about that, racing out to an 11-0 lead to start the game, the Pacers never really trailed.

- The Pacers went to the 4^th quarter with a 77-70 lead. The Heat stormed back to tie the game at 83, before acquiescing to the Pacers finally. Pacers Center Roy Hibbert led the way with 23 points and 12 rebounds. James led the way with 24 points for the Heat.

- In the West, the San Antonio Spurs made quick work of the Memphis Grizzlies. Locking down on Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol and letting Mike Conley do whatever he could. The Spurs will now have a chance to rest up as they will face the victor of the Pacers/Heat series in the NBA Finals.

Game 7s of NHL Playoffs.
- The Chicago Blackhawks, by far the best team in the NHL this season, were down 3-1 to longtime rivals the Detroit Red Wings but mounted a comeback and tonight they'll play a do-or-die Game 7 with the winner facing off against the L.A. Kings (who beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Game 7) in the Western Conference Finals.
- The Kings made news by famously rolling through the playoffs last year just as the Blackhawks rolled through all comers in this regular season, when they went 24 games without losing. Chicago has to beat Detroit one more time to get to that dream conference finals though, and if there's one thing Detroit's proven, it's that being less physical doesn't mean they aren't mentally tough to come up with big wins when the odds are against them. The game is at 8:00 PM tonight in Chicago.

MLB, NHL returns

Avs Getting the Band Back Together

- The Colorado Avalanche are attempting to bring back some of the mojo that brought them a couple of Stanley Cup Championships. First they brought back former captain and franchise leading scorer, Joe Sakic to their front office to help shape their team moving forward.
- The biggest move was bringing back Patrick Roy (pronounced "Wa") to be the newest head coach. Roy was one of the greatest goalies to play the game in the 80's and 90's and popularized the "butterfly goalie style" where the goalie drops to his knees to protect the net.  The Avalanche finished last in the Western Conference and the second worst record in the whole NHL so Colorado is hoping Roy can have some of the success he had on the ice as a coach.
- Roy brings, in addition to 8 years of coaching in the Canadian Junior Hockey circuit, a hall of fame career in Montreal and Colorado, 2 Stanley Cup championships and NHL records for most Playoff Games played and won by a goal tender. Roy’s fiery coaching style has come under fire a few times, including being suspended once for goading his son (a goaltender on his team) into a fight. This fire could help the Avalanche who have been underperforming for many of the last few years.


Francona wins in Fenway return

- Terry Francona, manager of the Cleveland Indians but more famously the Boston Red Sox' leader from 2004-2011, managed his first game in Boston since his release and his new team won significantly, 12-3.  Francona led the Red Sox to two World Series titles and was involved in one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history after being down 3 games to 0 (and losing in the 9th inning of game 4) in the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees before coming back to win the series and then the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
- Despite not wanting to be the center of attention, Francona watched as the Red Sox played a video tribute of the manager's time with Boston.  Then after it was done, his team went out and won for the 22nd time in their last 31 games, increasing their lead in the A.L. Central.
- A year after winning only 68 games, Francona has the Indians on pace to win 95 in his first year with the team.

Cavs win lottery, Trout makes history

Cavs Win Draft Lottery (Again)

- The Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA’s Draft Lottery for the second time in three years, giving them the top pick in this summer’s draft. The NBA determines its top 3 picks by a lottery weighted inversely by overall record (the worst record gets the best odds, the second worst record gets the second best odds etc). - The Cavs entered with third worst record, and a 15.6% chance of winning the lottery.
The Orlando Magic, who had the worst record (and the best odds), ended up with the second pick and the Washington Wizards (who had the 8th best chance) moved up to the third pick. Spots 4-14 are then determined by record (with 15-30 determined by playoff finish). The Charlotte Bobcats (who may change their name to the Hornets soon) were supposed to pick second but will now pick 4th.
- This marks the 9th straight year the team with the worst record didn’t get the top pick. The last team to do so was the Orlando Magic in 2004. The top pick is likely to come down to Kentucky’s shotblocking phenom, Nerlens Noel, or the athletic Kansas guard, Ben McLemore.


Trout hits for cycle

- L.A. Angels phenom Mike Trout became the youngest player in American League history to hit for the cycle in a game, connecting with a single, double, triple, and home run in the Angels' 12-0 win against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Trout additionally had a stolen base and 5 RBI's.
- While five players have hit for the cycle at a younger age, they all played in the National League and the next closest was Alex Rodriguez who did so at 21 years and 313 days, when he was 25 days older than Trout is now.  Most impressively perhaps is that Trout accomplished the feat on low pitches, something he has struggled with this season.  In fact, the home run that he hit was barely knee-high and was well outside of the range of most hitters.  But Trout is not most hitters and the phenom who went from the minor leagues to nearly winning the A.L. MVP last season showed yet again why he could become one of the greatest players ever before all is said and done.

Beckham done, NBA semis starting

Beckham Retires

- Big name soccer retirements continued late last week as David Beckham announced that he’s going to retire after this season playing with Paris Saint-Germain. “Becks” has played for the biggest teams in 4 different countries. Starting his career playing more than 250 games for Manchester United, moving to play another 116 for Real Madrid, almost 100 with the LA Galaxy, also playing 29 games for AC Milan, and finishing his career with a handful of games for PSG.
- Beckham, while not the most talented player of his generation, is arguably the biggest name in America – Ronaldo doesn’t have a movie named after him with Keira Knightly in it!  Beckham was also a fixture on the English national team setting a record for most games played on the national team by a non-goaltender. He was the captain for the national team for six years.
- Beckham has been a prolific winner winning 6 Premier League titles with ManU, a La Liga championship with Real Madrid, and 2 MLS championships with the LA Galaxy. Arguably his biggest win though, was marrying Victoria Adams (better known as Posh Spice) with whom he has four children. Additionally, Beckham had a clause in his MLS contract that allows him to buy an MLS expansion team, which he has claimed he will exercise, so we should expect to see more of Beckham in our near future.


NBA Conference Finals beginning

- The "Final Four" of the NBA Playoffs have begun with the Memphis Grizzlies taking on the San Antonio Spurs in the West and the Miami Heat taking on the Indiana Pacers in the East.  The Grizzlies are playing in the franchise's first ever conference finals against a team that has practically lived there for the past fifteen years.  It showed yesterday as the Grizzlies were blown out 105-83.  Even with the stingiest defense in the NBA (only one team was even remotely close to them) and defensive player of the year in Marc Gasol, the Spurs seemed to score at will.  Game 2 will be on Tuesday night.
- The other semifinal pits the NBA's heavy favorite to repeat as champions, the Miami Heat, against the Indiana Pacers, another team with a blistering defense (they were #2 behind Memphis and well in front of the #3 team).  The Pacers don't have a proven, clutch superstar like Reggie Miller anymore but they do have a well-balanced team with multiple strong spots, the strongest of which is emerging star Paul George.  The Miami Heat, on the other hand, have Dwayne Wade, who has 2 NBA Titles and is one of the best at his position.  They have Chris Bosh, who while inconsistent, has shown flashes of being one of the best power forwards in the game at times.  And last but not least they, of course, have Lebron James who just won his 4th MVP in 5 years this season.  The Pacers defense is ridiculous but they'll have a tough task even for them in slowing down the Heat. 
- The Pacers are actually 2-1 against the Heat this season.  Game 1 is tonight.

Brink of NBA Conference Finals and Wiggins Decideds

Wiggins chooses Kansas
- Andrew Wiggins, the consensus top high school basketball player in the country this year (and for many previous years, according to some) will be going to the University of Kansas next year. Wiggins had narrowed his choices down to Kansas, Kentucky, Florida State and North Carolina.
- Both his father (a former NBA player) and his mother (a former Olympian) had attended Florida State which made some think he'd go there. Kentucky had already gotten what some are calling the greatest recruiting class in the history of college basketball and will in all likelihood be ranked #1 to start next season, however adding Wiggins would have made them prohibitive favorites to win it all.
- Kansas loses all five starters from last year's team and Wiggins will have to shoulder the load for much of the season. However, there are still some pieces there along with a great coach who knows how to win the seemingly any players.
- Wiggins is expected to leave after one season and be the #1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

NBA On the Brink of Conference Championships

 - The first two entrants to the NBA Conference Championships should be determined today. The Miami Heat, who after losing game one have won three straight games by an average of more than 23, look to finish off the Chicago Bulls. Lebron James has scored 95 points in the four games, leading the Heat and looking unstoppable.

 - The Memphis Grizzlies also lost game one, but have also won three in a row. Though winning by a smaller margin than the Heat (winning all three by 6) the Grizzlies have exerted their will on a Thunder team that is not the same without their superstar point guard Russell Westbrook.

 - The other series in the west has been back and forth with the San Antonio Spurs winning all the odd number games, and the Golden State Warriors striking back soon after. Game 5 was the biggest blowout in the series so far with the Spurs winning by 18 after completely shutting down Warriors star Stephen Curry, only allowing him to score 9 points. Meanwhile, Spurs PG Tony Parker poured in 25 to lead his team.

 - The Indiana Pacers flew under the radar most season to non-basketball fans, but they were the second seed in the conference based on a stifling defense. The New York Knicks were definitely on the radar led by a potent offense. The Pacers have found a way to largely shut down the Knicks. Center Roy Hibbert is imposing his will on the Knicks down low and New York has looked lost. The Pacers look to advance in game 6 on Thursday.

Woods, NHL, ManU

Woods wins Players Championship

- Despite all the talk about Sergio Garcia challenging the throne, it was Tiger Woods who won the Players Championship and he didn't even have to sweat the last hole.  Garcia, who was neck and neck with Woods for the entire weekend, and who mentioned that he didn't like Woods very much to the media on Saturday, put two balls in the water on the famous island green at Sawgrass and finished a whopping 6 shots back, tied for 8th. 
- Woods, who finished at -13 for the tournament, held off a trio of other lesser known players including Kevin Streelman, David Lingerth and Jeff Maggert, who also hit one into the water on the 17th.  All three finished two shots behind Woods. 
- Although the Players isn't considered a major, it's still one of the biggest tournaments in the world and Tiger's victory shows that he's still a force to be reckoned with as he will look this year for his 15th major title and his first since 2008.


Three Game 7's

- As the first round of the NHL Playoffs come to a close, 3 of the 8 series need 7 games. The Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks played theirs last night. The #7 ranked Detroit sprinted out to a 3-1 lead in the 2nd period and didn’t look back, defeating the #2 ranked Ducks 3-2.
- The New York Rangers, riding the incredible play of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, defeated the Washington Capitals 1-0 in game 6 to force a game 7. Game 7 will be tonight in Washington.
- The Boston Bruins were up 3-1 going into game 5, but the Toronto Maple Leafs ripped off two straight 2-1 wins to force a game 7 Monday night in Boston. Incredibly, Game 6 was the first time the Maple Leafs had beat the Bruins at home in the playoffs since the 1950's.

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ManU Sends Ferguson off in Style

- Manchester United, the UK soccer juggernaut, sent their legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson off to retirement in style with another Premier League championship. It was Ferguson’s 13th League title in 27 years with Man U. In addition, Ferguson has 2 Euro Cups and 5 FA Cup titles, and 38 trophies overall.
Ferguson, who was knighted in 1999, goes down as one of the greatest coaches in any sport. He made Man U not only relevant but a dominant force in the highly competitive league. In the 80 years before he got there, Man U had won 7 league titles, he almost doubled that in only 27 years.
- A replacement has already been named. The current Everton manager David Moyes is set to replace Ferguson next season although it will be hard for him to live up to the job done by his predecessor.

NBA Playoffs and Record Setting Performance at the Players

Competitive NBA continues tonight

- As all four remaining series are tied at 1 game apiece heading into game threes this weekend, we wanted to give a brief update on how they were going. Miami overcame a rough game one to demolish Chicago in game two. A game that featured increasingly physical play, to the point where Bulls center Joakim Noah was ejected, helped Miami regain their superiority in a series after getting beat up in Game 1.

- After the Spurs won a shootout in Game 1 129-127 in double overtime, the Warriors responded with a sublime performance by their best player Stephan Curry. Curry has 66 points in the two games and 101 minutes (impressive since there has only been 106 minutes of game time in the two games). Both these series resume tonight.

- Mike Conley lead his Memphis team back from a close loss in game 1 to knot the series up at 1 going into Saturday’s game three. Oklahoma City, playing without its second best player due to an injury, has struggled to contain Conley and his ability to distribute.

- A series that has featured two blow-outs will get the biggest injection since the beginning of the playoffs. The New York Knicks announced that their mercurial forward Amar’e Stoudamire will play for the first time in over two months, and is expected to give the Knicks 10-15 minutes against the Indiana Pacers. Stoudamire’s return will be interesting to watch as he and Knicks star Carmelo Anthony have rarely been able to coexist on the court. Stoudamire’s limited playing time should not upset the cart too much on a team that scored 105 points in their last game, only giving up 79.

Castro ties record at Players
- The Players Championship is one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world, but 27 year old Roberto Castro, playing the first day of his first round ever at Sawgrass just treated it like it was a neighborhood par 3 course, shooting a 9 under 63, which tied the record for any round.
- Castro is 3 shots ahead of Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson and 4 shots ahead of Tiger Woods and a large group of players. Castro, who has never finished higher than 21st in his two years on the tour will have to get used to being in the limelight for the first time in his career. If he plays the course as well over the next three days as he did yesterday, it won't matter though.
- The only other players to shoot a 63 at Sawgrass are Hall of Famers Greg Norman and Fred Couples. In nearly 60 total rounds, Tiger Woods has never had a bogey free round, something Castro achieved in his first try (7 birdies, 1 eagle, 10 pars).

NHL Playoffs, Happ OK

NHL Playoffs Underway

- The San Jose Sharks are the first team in this year’s NHL second round after sweeping the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks looked like they were about to push the Sharks to a game 5 with a 3-2 lead in the third period. But subsequent goals by Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau put the Sharks up 4-3 and sent them to the second round.
- Chicago and Ottawa look to join the Sharks, as they are up 3-1 on Nashville and Montreal respectively. Washington and Boston are up on the New York Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays respectively. Three series, Anaheim v Detroit, St Louis and LA, and Pittsburgh v the New York Islanders are all tied at 2 games apiece.
- Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith already has won big this postseason. He flew back to Chicago from Nashville Tuesday morning for the birth of his first child after his wife, Kelly-Rae, gave birth to a baby boy. Duncan then led the team by skating for 24 minutes during a game Tuesday night.


Happ stable after being hit by batted ball

- Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ was struck in the head by a line drive on Tuesday night in his start against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Happ suffered a fractured skull and was down on the field for minutes before being taken off the field on a stretcher and to a hospital.  The Blue Jays rallied for their teammate, coming back to win 6-4.
- Despite the gruesome looking injury, which can be seen here (not for the faint of heart though) Happ didn't suffer any permanent damage.  Today, he was upgraded from fair to good condition and rejoined his teammates in time for tonight's game against the Rays.
- The incident has fueled a growing debate over whether pitchers should wear protective headgear in the field.  At the moment, the consensus still seems to be that while a good idea, there simply are not good options for pitchers to use without interfering with their ability to perform.  While incidents like Happ's are horrible, they are rare enough that most pitchers don't feel the immediate need to start protecting themselves until better options are created.
- For more on the headgear debate, read here. 

NBA MVP and the Money Wins

NBA MVP and Playoff Update
- Lebron James won a staggering 4th MVP in five years after officially being announced as the 2012-2013 season's best player. The only first place vote that he did not receive went to NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony, who finished in third place. Kevin Durant finished second in the MVP vote for the second straight year.
- The Heat, who start their second round series against the Chicago Bulls tonight, do so with the knowledge that the only player to win the MVP in the past 5 seasons other than James plays for that team. Derrick Rose however, has stated that he's still not mentally recovered from his ACL injury that took place over a year ago in the playoffs and he is not thought to be returning.
- Even without Rose this season, the Bulls went 2-2 against the Heat, even winning one in Miami, where tonight's Game 1 will take place. Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng both missed Saturday's game 7 win against New Jersey but the Bulls prevailed and could have each of those players back tonight. While nobody is expected to derail the Heat this season, the Bulls have proven that they have just as good a chance as anyone, with or without their former MVP.

Mayweather Dominates
- Floyd Mayweather destroyed Robert Guerrero on Saturday night, in his triumphant return to boxing from a stint in jail. The official scorers gave Mayweather a 117-111 victory, meaning that he won 9 rounds to Guerrero's 3, while the Associated Press said it was 119-109, meaning it was 11-1.
- Guerrero, who hadn't lost a match in 8 months, was thoroughly dominated by the faster Mayweather. Though the fight went the full 12 rounds, it looked to be over in the 8th. Mayweather opened a gash above Guerrero's left eye, and Guerrero actually hit the ground on one occasion. Mayweather actually hurt his right hand during that round, and was still able to win the fight.
- Mayweather reunited with his father and trainer, for their first fight together in over a decade. This was part of a 6-fight deal with showtime and Mayweather will fight again in September, a scant 4 months from now. Mayweather made $32 million for this fight, which gives more credence to his nickname "Money."

Collins, NFL Draft

After a 2 week Hiatus, SPORTICO IS BACK!  While we can't cover every story of the past two weeks, we'll cover the two biggest ones today.

Collins comes out

- Jason Collins may not have had much of a career as an NBA player but the career reserve is now in the limelight after making as history as the first active player in any of the "Big 4" American sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL) to come out as being homosexual.  There has been speculation over the past few months that a number of players were ready to make official announcements but Collins will forever be known as the first to do so. 
- Collins, who went to Stanford with his twin brother Jarron, has played in the NBA for 11 years but has never averaged more than 6 points or rebounds per game.  While at Stanford he met Carolyn Moos, a female basketball player for Stanford and they had an year relationship that ended four years ago after they became engaged but Jason called it off.  Carolyn said in a recent interview that she only learned that he was gay a week before he made the news public.
- There has been rampant speculation that the media and sports fans would not accept someone in a professional sports environment coming out, but so far the news has mostly been accepted by the general public.  It may help others to make the same decision and stop, as Collins is quoted as saying: "telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue."
- Collins' announcement also paves the way for a lucrative career post-NBA in public speaking and endorsements targeting the gay community, something skeptics of Collins' timing have brought up.  It's also opened the door for other, less serious statements (if you never thought there would be a Sesame Street reference on Sportico, you're officially wrong now) on freedom of choice within our culture.


NFL Draft

- Starting with the Kansas City Chiefs' selection of Eric Fisher and ending with the Indianapolis Colts taking Justice Cunningham, the NFL held their annual selection event last week. Fisher, who is only the second player from Central Michigan taken in the first round and the third player outside of a "major conference" taken with the #1 overall pick was a bit of a surprise at the top of the first round.
- An ever bigger surprise was the Buffalo Bills taking Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel with the 16th pick in the first round. Manual was the first quarterback drafted, but he was generally ranked as the 3rd or 4th best QB in this year’s draft. The generally accepted top QB was West Virginia’s Geno Smith, who slid all the way down to the 39th overall pick, the 7th in the 2nd round to the New York Jets. The drafting of Smith allowed for the Jets to cut Tim Tebow on Monday which still left them with 5 quarterbacks on the roster. Manti T’eo slipped into the second round as well, partially because of the situation with his girlfriend pictured here on the left and partially because he was measured to be too slow, was actually drafted one spot higher than Smith by the San Diego Chargers.
- The best drafts were had by the Baltimore Ravens, who needed to replace many players who left the team (either through free agency, being cut or retiring) after they won the Super Bowl last year. They spent their first four picks replenishing a very old defense that had lost its leader (Ray Lewis) and a few of its best players (Ed Reed and Paul Kruger) for various reasons. The St Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings also had fantastic drafts, with the additional picks received from a few trades last year, they were able to make multiple quality first round picks, while adding a lot of players with incredible college pedigrees to young, up-and-coming teams.