Who To Watch (May 24 – May 30)

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The Golden State Warriors swept the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday to advance to the NBA Finals for the 5th straight season (Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer/AP)

Welcome back to Who To Watch!

We apologize for not being able to post last week (forgive us, we are very busy college students!) but we are back and better than ever this week!

Since we last met, we have seen three teams advance to the championship round of their respective sport: the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, and Golden State Warriors. This is nothing new for the Warriors, who are going to the NBA Finals for the 5th straight season. The Bruins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the third time this decade (first time since 2013). The Blue… the last time the Blues went to the Stanley Cup Finals was back in 1970… against the Boston Bruins (you might remember a very famous picture of Bobby Orr flying through the air from that series).

In terms of teams still playing, we just saw Toronto beat the Bucks to take a 3-2 series lead. For a team that looked like they might be down for the punch after last Friday, the Raptors were able to prevail in double OT in Game 3, win with ease in Game 4, and pull out a victory in Game 5; are we on the verge of seeing a Canadian franchise in the NBA Finals for the first time in the history of basketball?

Well, we’ll find out on next week’s edition of Who To Watch!

Now to Buy/Sell

Continue reading “Who To Watch (May 24 – May 30)”

Appreciate Greatness

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The Warriors have a commanding 3-0 series lead against the Portland Trail Blazers (Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Even without Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors are on the doorstep of another NBA Finals appearance.

Hating the Warriors is easy, everyone has at some point in these past 5 years. From winning, to beating your team, to winning championships, and adding Kevin Durant the one year they lost in the Finals… they leave a sour taste in people’s mouths at times; but you cannot deny their greatness. Continue reading “Appreciate Greatness”

“They Should’ve Been a Dynasty” NHL Edition

Too often in its first-round series against Columbus, Lightning coach Jon Cooper and his Tampa Bay players found themselves trailing on the scoreboard and searching for answers. Really, they're still looking. The Blue Jackets swept the Lightning out of the playoffs. DIRK SHADD | Times
Coach Jon Cooper and his players reacting to yet another stunning loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets; Columbus swept Tampa in 4 games during the first round of the 2019 NHL Playoffs (Credit: Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times)

In case you missed the first three parts of this series, click here for the NBA, here for the NFL, and here for the MLB

In this edition of “They Should’ve Been a Dynasty,” we explore recent NHL teams that should have won more than they ultimately did.

Remember the rules, I see as a dynasty: a team that has won at least three championships in a 10-year window. It can be a smaller window (i.e. a three-peat), but I think the simplest barometer is winning three championships within a certain window of time, showing that you were the best of your sport, and you showed it repeatedly.

Ranges of time are flexible depending on the eye of the reader, but this is how I view them. Continue reading ““They Should’ve Been a Dynasty” NHL Edition”

Conference Finals Predictions

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The Eastern Conference Finals will feature the two best players in the conference, as Giannis and Kawhi square off for a trip to the NBA Finals (Credit: AP)

Wow.

I think we can all agree that the second round was one of the best rounds of playoff basketball in recent memory.  We get years where the Conference Finals and NBA Finals are great, but those are only 1-2 matchups max.  This year, minus the horrendous Bucks-Celtics series (which started off with so much potential), we saw the Warriors and Rockets play 6 compelling games, then we saw Denver-Portland and Philadelphia-Toronto each go 7 games.  Each Game 7 lived up to the hype, first with C.J. McCollum helping lead Portland from a 17-point deficit with 37 points, which included a mid-range shot late to seal a victory.  Later in the evening, we saw another close came come down to the final seconds, ending with Kawhi Leonard hitting one of the most iconic buzzer beaters in NBA history; Damian Lillard hit his amazing buzzer beater 3 weeks ago today, and to think it was topped already… is everyone having fun yet!? Continue reading “Conference Finals Predictions”

Have Some Perspective

We all watched it, it was awful.

As a Celtics fan, to see this team crumple the way it did against the Milwaukee Bucks was beyond disappointing.

In hindsight, they showed us this was possible all season. Every time you thought they figured it out, like when they went 10-1 run during the middle of the season (only loss to the Warriors) to move to the third seed in the conference, they quickly would take step backs and put a sour taste in your mouth.

The same story happened this postseason. After sweeping the Pacers and stealing Game 1 against the Bucks by over 20 points, it looked they might have finally “flipped the switch.”  Less than 2 weeks later, the team is now done for the season, leaving even more questions than one could have imagined.

That’s the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics for you. Continue reading “Have Some Perspective”

Who To Watch (May 10 – May 16)

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Last time we met, Boston-Milwaukee was tied at 1. The Bucks proceeded to put Boston season’s to bed, in large part due to the likely league MVP (Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Happy Friday folks, welcome back.

What a difference a week can make. Imagine telling someone last week just how bad the Celtics would fail to finish their series against the Bucks? Truly embarrassing. The rest of the NBA has provided great playoff action. Last Friday Portland and Denver player the first quadruple overtime playoff game since the 1950s, the Rockets dug themselves out of a hole to compete in their series against Golden State, although the Warriors have a 3-2 lead. The Raptors and Sixers have swung back and forth, making you love what makes each good, while questioning their faults all at the same time, and we get a Game 7 because of it.  In the NHL, we have reached the Conference Finals. The Bruins are facing the Carolina Hurricanes (and beat them 5-2 last night) out East, while the St. Louis Blues are facing the San Jose Sharks out West. We had a crazy end to the Kentucky Derby where the horse that crossed the finish line first apparently broke a rule, and after instant replay, was DQ’d, the first time this had ever happen in the history of the race. We also had a no-hitter in baseball this week, courtesy of Michael Fiers of the Oakland Athletics.

Oh, and Kerm is getting ready to protest with Lakers fans at Staples Center soon.

Anyway…

Continue reading “Who To Watch (May 10 – May 16)”

Unscripted is back with 2 new Episodes

Hello everyone and thank you for being so patient with us! Unscripted took a brief vacation from podcasting but we’re back with two knew episodes! Enjoy the links to Spotify and Soundcloud below where not just Unscripted is, but you can also listen to the Hold My Drink Podcast (coming soon) and the 808s and Ankle Breaks crew. Continue reading “Unscripted is back with 2 new Episodes”