Celtics get lucky + better first downs?

Howdy!

What a game we had last night! And we’ve got great matchups tonight on the hardwood and the ice. Let’s take a closer look at everything going down between now and Friday.

Celtics Escape Game 1

We’re not so sure if this was Boston earning a win or the Pacers giving away one; either way, the Celtics lead the Eastern Conference Finals 1 game to none.

The Pacers had 21 turnovers last night and many more mistakes. Two of those mistakes occurred in the last 30 seconds of regulation: Tyrese Haliburton dribbled a ball off his foot with 27 seconds left, and then the Pacers couldn’t properly inbound a ball with 10 seconds left.

The Celtics would get the ball back, and Jaylen Brown hit a clutch 3 to send things into OT.

The turnovers persisted for the Pacers in OT, and the Celtics hit a few more clutch buckets to win 133-128.

NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1

We’ve got game 1 in the West Final tonight when the Dallas Mavericks take on the Timberwolves in Minnesota. The T-Wolves are 4.5-point favorites, and we’ve got some awesome matchups to watch.

Anthony Edwards will guard Kyrie, Jaden McDaniels on Luka, and we’re not even sure how the Mavericks are planning on stopping the two 7-footers that Minnesota has.

This will definitely be a battle of defense. Minnesota had the league's best defense during the regular season, but the Mavs stepped it up in the final few months, too.

Will Luka lead Dallas to his very first NBA Finals appearance or will it be the rising star, Anthony Edwards taking Minnesota to their first ever NBA Finals.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

In the East

This is exactly how you draw it up. In the second round, you had the Rangers vs. the Hurricanes and the Panthers vs. the Bruins. The four best teams were all there. The Rangers came out on top, and so did the Panthers. So now it’s a 114-point team vs. a 110-point team. Both teams have stacked rosters, and both teams aren’t looking to disappoint.

The Rangers' success in the postseason has a lot to do with how well goalie Igor Shesterkin has been playing. While the Rangers have been giving up a lot of shots on net, Igor isn’t paying any mind, as he has the best playoff record out of goalies so far. New York has been lacking in their 5 on 5 game, but they still have an elite power play and will likely lean on that as much as they can.

The Panthers also owe success to their goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. He’s only letting up an average of 2.37 goals a game and his stats improved during the Boston series. The Panthers have been playing good hockey in all categories and the one thing to look out for is the penalty kill. They’re 86% on their kills in the playoffs.

This is about to be a battle on the East Coast. We’ve got the Rangers winning in 6.

Western Showdown

We’ll see Dallas host Edmonton tomorrow night.

The Stars had to overcome the last two Stanley Cup Champions just to reach the conference finals, so they’ve been battle-tested. Dallas gave up two home wins in their first season against Vegas, and they had a few scary moments against Colorado, too. They’re a resilient group, but I don’t think you can give up any home losses to this Edmonton team, especially when Dallas has a few players climbing in the minutes nightly.

The Oilers just took down the Vancouver Canucsk in game 7 in Vancouver, which is a hard feat. Edmonton has had one of the hottest power plays this postseason, and the best thing they’ve got going for them so far? Connor McDavid hasn’t been scoring. If you’re Edmonton, you keep doing what you’re doing, but if you can get McDavid to score, you should be cooking through this series.

We’ll take the Oilers in 7.

We’ve all been asking for it

Finally, first downs don’t have to be a thing of subjectivity by a referee who can’t fully a see play becuase of 10 lineman creating a massive pile on the field.

Here’s what is going on.

The NFL will test an optical tracking system during the preseason that is intended to "make for a more accurate measuring system that reduces the amount of human error."

This will only be for the line of gain, which means the first down line. So if it’s 1st and ten and a player runs for 5 yards and only gets spotted for 4, it doesn’t seem like that will be adjusted.

We’ll see this new tech in the preseason, and if it goes well, it could be adopted quickly for the 2024 season.

What’s the TV schedule for the next few days

Tonight

NBA

🏀 Dallas @ Minnesota, 8:30 pm on TNT

NHL

🏒 Florida @ NY Rangers, 8 pm on ESPN

Thursday

NBA

🏀 Indiana @ Boston, 8 pm on ESPN

Boston leads the series 1-0

NHL

🏒 Edmonton @ Dallas, 8:30 pm on TNT

PGA Tour

⛳️Charles Schwab Challenge, first round at Colonial Country Club, streaming all day on ESPN+ and on the Golf Channel @ 4 pm

Enjoy the day, and we’ll see you all on Friday

-The DB