Mon AM BRB (5-24-21)
This Day in Music (5-24-1974)
Iconic Jazz pianist, bandleader and composer Duke Ellington dies at age 75.
Photo Credit: Seth Wenig/Getty Images
Yesterday felt like the beginning of a return to normal across the sports world. Nowhere was that feeling more evident than Madison Square Garden, where 15,000 Knicks fans packed the World’s Most Famous Arena for the first NBA playoff game at the venue since 2013. Though the headline remains a heartbreaking last-second loss and a 0-1 series deficit to the Atlanta Hawks, Sunday felt more like a beginning than the end for the New York Knicks. Though the team struggled to match the energy of their fans for much of the first half, NY’s most beloved team went on a run in the third quarter that sent a chill up even the most cynical fan’s spine. With Julius Randle struggling to affect the game in a meaningful way, Alec Burks took charge off the bench driving the Knicks with 27 points in just over 26 minutes played. Yet, it was five spectacular points from sophomore RJ Barrett that shook the Garden to its roots. Immediately following his lone three pointer of the game, Barrett received an outlet pass from Derrick Rose and proceeded to hang himself and Bogdan Bogdanovich on the wall of every Knicks fan with a game-tying dunk. Despite this momentary flurry of brilliance, the Knicks night was colored by their inability to take advantage of opportunities. The 107-105 victory was not the Hawks best effort, with the winners constantly providing the Knicks chances to put them away, but thanks to inconsistent offense, the young Knicks let the more experienced Hawks off the hook. The game was sealed by Atlanta sensation Trae Young, who’s floater with 0.9 remaining gave him a game-high 32 points and his team the victory. Headlines in New York will no doubt fixate on Randle, who’s 6 for 23 from the field was a shockingly poor effort for the man who’s deservedly drawn MVP chants from much smaller MSG crowds. No one would fault Randle for having an off-night, but the Knicks simply can’t sustain them going forward. Perhaps it’s encouraging that the team almost got the job done despite Randle’s struggles, but only if he and the team go on to right the ship in game two. No one expected this series to be a sweep, and game one provided the exact amount of theater everyone expected heading into the series, but make no mistake, game two will be the biggest gut check this team has faced up to this point. Tom Thibodeau and his team are afforded two (unnecessary) days off to make the proper corrections as the teams reconvene at MSG on Wednesday.
The Yankees continue to roll bolstered by the best starting pitching the franchise has received since the halfway point of Lou Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games played. Their victims this weekend were the Chicago White Sox, who entered the weekend with the best record in the American League, and left swept by a Yankees team that held them to five runs over three games in the Bronx. No game will be more memorable than Friday’s, as Aroldis Chapman was helped out of a jam by an incredible 5-4-3 triple play that will no doubt be remembered as a turning point if this team goes on to add to their trophy case in the Fall. The game was won in the bottom half of the frame by a scorching-hot Gleyber Torres, who’s walk-off RBI single was the highlight of a weekend in which he went 8 for 12 and knocked in 8 runs. As alluded to earlier, the weekend’s starters Jordan Montgomery, Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon were all excellent with Montgomery and Taillon spinning two of their best games of the season on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Many Yankees fans had legitimate reason to question whether the two most inconsistent starters in the team’s rotation could match the tremendous form of Cole, Corey Kluber and Domingo German, but the five Yankees starters seem to be feeding off one another right now. With rumors that a very game Luis Severino is beginning the final stages of his rehab from Tommy John surgery, it’s possible this Yankees team has found a new and very frightening identity…Things took a turn for the frustrating this weekend in Miami as the Mets dropped two of three to the Marlins as the team once again struggled to solve opposing pitching. Held to only two runs across Saturday and Sunday’s losses, the Mets lineup continues to linger at the bottom of most offensive categories while rapidly declining in others. As a collective, the Mets now find themselves 27th in the league in batting average, 28th in OPS, 29th in HRs and last in runs scored. Creating an even more aggravating dichotomy, their starting rotation ranks in the top 10 of every major category despite a rash of injuries that has left Marcus Stroman essentially fighting a one-man war (and he’s winning). I use these stats often to talk about the Mets, but they continue to prove a point that is painfully obvious to the most devoted fans of the team. Though the Mets are 4-6 in their last 10 games, they remain 1.5 games ahead of the pack in the NL East, but without reinforcements it’s unrealistic to assume that can sustain itself. The Mets injured list has become a virtual who’s who of the jersey selection at team clubhouse stores, with Pete Alonso, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo making up just roughly half of the players currently serving a stint on the I.L. The team will no doubt receive a boost when Jacob deGrom (likely) returns from injury sabbatical this week, but, well we all know how that story goes as far as run support is concerned.