Red Sox, Twins

RED SOX – TWINS SERIES PREVIEW

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As we expected the Red Sox enjoyed their trip to Baltimore. The results in Baltimore ensured that whatever happens in this series, they will still be above .500 when they return home. Now they head into Minnesota to face the team with the second best record in the American League.

6/10 Rick Porcello vs. Jose Berrios (R) 8:10 pm NESN

6/11 David Price vs. Michael Pineda (R) 8:10 pm NESN

6/12 Eduardo Rodriguez vs. Kyle Gibson (L) 8:10 pm NESN

NOTABLE NUMBERS

PITCHERS

I raved about the home ERAs of some of the Red Sox pitchers in a previous preview. Well, the counter to that is some pretty ugly road ERAs, especially for Porcello and Rodriguez. Porcello is the worst of the group, with a 6.37 road ERA, but Rodriguez is close behind with 5.23 road ERA. That is just a small problem when you are heading to face the highest scoring team in the major leagues.

Things have come together for Berrios and Gibson this season. Both have ERA’s below four, and below their career averages. Their numbers have largely been driven by their performances in Minnesota. Berrios has a 2.53 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP at home. As for Gibson, he is even better at home, with 2.70 ERA and an impressive 0.79 WHIP.

The 2019 season has not been as rosy for Pineda, who had an up and down start but has had a relatively consistent spell recently. His season-long ERA is 5.04, and at home, it is up to 5.20. However, the consistency he has shown recently has been impressive. Six of his last seven starts have seen him allow three earned runs. The one exception was last time out against Seattle, when he allowed just one earned run. He will be hoping to take that good run into this start against Boston.

HITTERS

The Twins have some things to shout about offensively this season. They lead the majors in runs, home runs, ISO, batting average and slugging. That is a pretty amazing combination and helps to explain just why they are in control of the AL Central. However, their home form is not that great in comparison. They rank seventh in home runs, 11th in runs and 13th in batting average. If there is a place to face them, then actually, in Minnesota is not a bad option.

The Red Sox started the season with an 11-game road trip. They went 3-8 in that nightmare season opening. Since then things have improved somewhat. The Red Sox are now 22-17 on the road. That is a remarkable turnaround, with a 19-9 record in their last 28 road games. Their offense has been a big part of that, as they rank fifth in runs and home runs, and sixth in batting average away from Fenway. Right now the Red Sox are a team of road warriors

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Pitching: The Baltimore series may have given the Red Sox an option for their fifth starter. However, now they need to sort out starters three and four. As things stand, the Red Sox are looking at a Wildcard berth. And with that, they will need to win on the road to go deep in the playoffs. They cannot afford for two of their starters to be a liability on the road. What better time to prove they have it worked out than in the home of one of the best teams in the American League.

Hitting: After struggling to hit home runs again the Rangers the Red Sox put it right in the first game of the series. In that game alone they hit six home runs. Unfortunately, they followed that up with just one home run in the next two games combined. However, scoring seven runs in one of those games is just as promising as a game full of power. Being able to move men over and drive them in is going to be huge through the rest of the season, and the Sox cannot just rely on the long ball.

EXPECTATIONS

Before the season you would have said it would be disappointing if the Red Sox did not come out of Minnesota with two wins from this series. Now? Frankly, you would be happy just to get away from the Twins with a single win, and your dignity left intact. The sweep in Baltimore has bought the Red Sox some grace, by ensuring that no matter what they will be above .500 when they take on Toronto.

The Twins are a very good baseball team, but their slight Achilles heel has been their home form. Unfortunately, two of the Red Sox pitchers also have a serious issue on the road this season. Right now getting out of here with a single win will be more than good enough. Then they can hope to put the pedal down against the Blue Jays and White Sox in the following week. However, if Price can get the best of Pineda, then just one of Porcello and Rodriguez need a good start to make this a successful series. It will be tough, but imagine the confidence if they do win two or more in this series!

Boston Bruins 2019 Offseason outlook Part one; Current Roster

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The 2018-2019 Boston Bruins season has come and gone. The season might not have ended in the exact way that the team and fans may have hoped, but it was still undoubtedly a success. Next year’s success starts in the offseason.

Buyout for Backes?

First big date in the NHL offseason is June 15th. This marks the beginning of the buyout period for NHL teams. The big name that comes up for Bruins fans when they hear buyout is David Backes. Backes’s play didn’t sit well with fans this season, especially because Backes is due $6 million next season. Given the buyout rules, if the Bruins choose to buyout David Backes, the team will only save $333,333. For what Backes brings to the table still, I think its highly unlikely that the Bruins buy him out. Look for Boston to package a pick or prospect with Backes in a trade if they do look to unload his contract.

Boston Bruins 2019-2020 Schedule

Line em up

The Bruins have 14 pending free agents, and roughly $14 million to spend. Some restricted and some unrestricted. Given that young potential core, players like Brandon Carolo and Charlie McAvoy are both due big extensions, the Bruins will likely spend every bit of the initial $14 million before the offseason ends. In addition to Carlo and McAvoy, that leaves little money to spend for other key roster member on the list of free agents like Danton Heinen, Marcus Johannsson, and Noel Acciari. Given the current cap situation for the Bruins I think the fate of David Backes will be very telling for the Boston roster. If the Bruins want to bring back Marcus Johansson to help fix their right wing depth issue, something has to give. After Johansson’s play this season he will get money if he wants it. Money that the Bruins don’t exactly have as the offseason starts.

The time is now

This is quite possibly one of the best rosters that the Bruins have had in a while. A lot of talent in a lot of different places. But do they have talent in the right places? The Bruins have had an issue with depth on the wings for a couple seasons now. They have a lot of upcoming talent in the minor leagues, but it’s talent that isn’t quite NHL ready. With the depth that the Bruins have, they could go out and trade for players to fit their needs. A guy like David Krejci could be the cost if the Bruins want to create cap room for free agency. Krejci has been a consistent locker room presence for the Bruins. With the acquisition of Charlie Coyle at the trade deadline, though, the Bruins could afford to move a center.

Moves for the future

Torey Krug has been a very popular name in Boston as of late. Not only for his stellar play in the postseason, but also because he’s coming up on the final year of his contract. Krug is currently taking up nearly $5.5 million on the Bruins payroll. Again, the Bruins have some depth at the NHL level and could trade a defenseman if they choose to do so. A lot of the Bruins talent in the minors is talent that plays the blue line. So a veteran on a one year deal could give the Bruins prospects some time to progress into the 20-21 season.

In conclusion, the Bruins have a lot of options and a lot of crucial decisions to make. Some could come quick as the NHL draft is not far away. Some could come later in the offseason if the Bruins are not confident in their roster.

Defeating Danteh: A Player Preview of Houston’s Sombra

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New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.

For this weeks player preview, I originally wanted to discuss Philadelphia Fusion’s star DPS Carpe. I wanted to talk about how the transition from a DPS meta to the GOATS meta has drastically affected Carpe’s play making ability.

But then Houston beat San Francisco so I threw all that nonsense out to discuss Danteh and his Sombra. I was sitting at the bar when I tuned into the games on my phone, and I could not believe what I was watching.

2-2? Is it that late that I would be seeing things? And did I just see the Outlaws of all teams, smack the Shock around on Illios?

Naturally I checked Twitter to confirm that I didn’t go off the deep-end, and sure enough it was all real. The lowly 3-12 Houston Outlaws, the same team that went 0-7 last stage, had beaten the Stage 2 champs. San Francisco’s win streak had ended at 11 games.

Houston’s Turnaround

What did Houston do that gave them the opportunity to topple a much better team? They did what most winning teams do for a change: minimize their own mistakes and weaknesses. Attempting to play GOATs against one of the best GOATs teams in the league is quite the feat. Realizing the massive gap between their skill levels, Houston brought out new and interesting team comps to combat the Shock.  We even got to see the “HackFist” comp come out on Nepal. While they didn’t stick with it for the whole round, it showed how weak the Shock are to unconventional comps.

The real star of the match was Danteh on Sombra. His hack selection was incredible, starting almost all fights with a pick on a San Francisco support. In the crucial map 4, Danteh hit a 5-man EMP to relieve the pressure the Shock had at the Outlaws spawn.

Picture courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
This flank route allows Danteh to hack both Viol2t and Moth

Danteh also created openings for the Outlaws by focusing ChoiHyoBin to prevent the San Francisco D.VA from defending Super. The strength of the San Francisco Shock is their amazing tank synergy between Super, Sinatraa, and Choi. By taking one of the pieces away from that front line, Houston was able to punish the D.VA and allow Linkzr free reign on San Fran.

How Does Boston Stop This?

What does this mean for Boston? Well, in the past Boston has had some serious issues dealing with talented Sombras. A specialist like Danteh would certainly force the Uprising to play around him. The good news is that Houston is a team that makes a ton of mistakes.

In the same match against San Francisco, Houston played a DPS-centric comp that actually had the off-support Rawkus play Solider:76. While cheeky, the Shock won a single fight and took the map. The large mistake was thinking a single Mercy was enough healing to sustain against GOATs. Even though Danteh was able to kill several attackers in hopes to stop the push, the rest of the Outlaws failed to follow up on the advantage.

Boston needs to be ready to fight in these prolonged fights, because Sombra doesn’t deal nearly as much damage as other DPS characters. Even if Boston trades one or two players, fights are still winnable as long as Sombra does not have EMP.

Whats the key to defeating Danteh? A clear organized game plan, with communication that gets things done. In their back to back reverse sweeps in Stage 2, Boston was able to thwart other Sombra players, so I hope to see that same strategy come through Friday night.

Be sure to follow Brock on twitter for more breakdowns and analysis #BostonUp

Red Sox

RED SOX – ORIOLES SERIES PREVIEW

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Two games into the series with the Rangers and it looked like disaster was about to strike. The Rangers came into Fenway and took the first two games of the series against the odds. However, the Red Sox pulled themselves together and managed to come out on top in the final two games. Now they head to Baltimore hoping to have another “get right” road series.

6/10 Eduardo Rodriguez vs. TBD 7:05 pm NESN

6/11 Chris Sale vs. Dylan Bundy (R) 4:05 pm NESN

6/12 TBD vs. John Means (L) 1:05 pm NESN

NOTABLE NUMBERS

PITCHERS

Chris Sales numbers in his last two outings are simply incredible. The veteran left-hander has thrown a total of 16 innings without allowing an earned run to score. What makes it even more impressive is that in those two starts he has allowed a total of six hits and one walk, while striking out 22. He has now struck out 10 or more in eight of his last 10 starts, and has given up three or more earned runs in just two of those 10 starts.

John Means has taken the majors by storm this season. The left-handed pitcher has a 2.60 ERA in his 15 games, including 11 starts. However, he has been especially good at home, allowing just six earned runs in 34 1/3 innings. Additionally, he has also had some success against the Red Sox, allowing just two runs to score in 12 innings.

The Red Sox can feel fairly comfortable in knowing what they will get when they face Dylan Bundy on Saturday. The veteran right-handed pitcher has a 4.50 ERA in 70 innings this season. In his last 10 starts, he has allowed between 2-and-4 earned runs in eight of those, averaging around one home run allowed per outing. However, for the Orioles, his performances are significantly improved since the start of the season. As of April 16th, he had a 7.79 ERA, which he has now managed to get down to 4.50 in the subsequent 10 starts.

HITTERS

Camden Yards should offer a chance for the Red Sox offense to have some fun. According to ESPN’s park factors, Camden Yards ranks third in runs, and fifth in home runs this season. The pitching matchups are not the easiest, especially against John Means, but this is the park for the Red Sox hitters to start hitting their groove.

Despite having the fifth best park for home runs, the Orioles offense ranks just 20th in home runs this season. In fact, scoring runs in general has been hard, as they rank 26th in that category too. Not only should this series be a good chance for the offense to find some rhythm, but the pitchers as well.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Pitching: Once again that fifth starter spot is in the limelight. Darwinzon Hernandez and Ryan Weber have both had shots, but neither has stuck. Hector Velazquez and of course Nathan Eovaldi are on the injured list. Both will return before the end of the season, but the Red Sox are not in the luxurious position of being able to afford to give away one out of every five games with their fifth starter. Hopefully, a start against the Orioles can be the kick start someone needs to make the job their own for a little while.

Hitting: Incredibly all seven of the Red Sox runs came via the home run in the final game of their series with the Rangers. The five home runs they scored in that game were even more impressive, given they averaged just one per game in the rest of the series. The long ball has been a struggle for the Red Sox this season, as they rank just 12th in the majors. For a lineup stacked with the likes of J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, Steve Pearce, and Mitch Moreland, that is extremely disappointing. Hopefully they can add a few more multi-homer games this weekend.

EXPECTATIONS

If the start of the Rangers series was disappointing, the way the Red Sox bounced back was encouraging. It would have been easy to have folded, especially when the Rangers jumped out to a two-run lead in the third game. However, the offense fought back in both game, and they came away with a damage control split series.

Now they need to go and cash in against the Orioles, who are the worst team in the major leagues. The Orioles sit 21-46 with a -133 run differential and having won just three of their last 10. The Red Sox will head to the red hot Minnesota Twins after this series, so it is imperative they at least take two of these three games from the Orioles

Uprising Stage 3 Week 2 Preview: Outlaws and Fusion

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New to Overwatch? Get caught up on everything Overwatch League by reading our introduction.

Friday, June 14th @ 10:30pm: London Spitfire

Sunday, June 16th @ 6:30pm: Philadelphia Fusion

With Stage 3 in full gear, the Boston Uprising look to earn what eluded them opening week – a win. After getting swept by the London Spitfire and only winning a single map against the Paris Eternal, things couldn’t get much worse for Boston. Another week brings a new set of opponents and opportunities to get things going in the right direction. Here’s what lays in front of them.

Houston Outlaws

For those not looking at other teams across the league, let’s get the basics down of who exactly the Uprising are up against tonight. Houston is 3-12 on the year. They haven’t won a match since March 17th. As of now they are 18th in the league standings. Back in Stage 1 on February 17th, Boston slipped by with a 2-1 win on Ilios for the 3-2 match win.

All that said, Houston opened up Stage 3 last Saturday with a near win against the NYXL, losing 3-2. Last night they beat the Stage 2 champion San Francisco Shock, highlighted by a full hold on Havana. That is quite the opening start to Stage 3 and does not portend well for the Uprising.

All this amidst some chaos in their ownership group and a poor start to their season makes what the Outlaws are doing so much more impressive. Much of their success the last two matches has been due to Danteh and his use of Sombra. His ability to not just rack up the hacks, but to fatten up on the eliminations after the fact makes him dangerous. Houston has also benefited from Rawkus, who has shown a ton of versatility in support. Whether he plays the Mercy in combo with the Pharah or his pinpoint accuracy as Ana, Boston will need to focus fire on a tricky Houston backline.

Philadelphia Fusion

On the other side of the spectrum is the Fusion. Stuck in the middle of the pack like the Uprising, Philadelphia sits at 9th in the League Standings with an 8-7 record. While they are in season playoff position now, with so many teams bundled in the middle, no one can take a match off. As last year’s championship runner-up, Philadelphia has alot to prove.

In their opening week of Stage 3, Philly was swept by the Hangzhou Spark. They have seen their previously tough exterior slowly crumble throughout the season. Carpe has lost his edge on Zarya, often getting his gravs eaten. Poko, who used to have weekly highlight plays with his unpredictable Self-Destructs, doesn’t show up with those bombs like he used to.

How will Boston play them? We didn’t see much of Sombra last week – perhaps rCk will be let loose. Maybe we’ll see some more DPS heroes – blase on a Genji or Doomfist? Will we see Mei come back? Whereas last week saw almost all GOATs, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go in another direction.

Outlook

What we’ll need answered right off the bat is who will be playing? Last week Uprising fans saw the premiere of Persia to the stage and Alemao play in Kellex’s usual role. Will they show up again? How about Axxiom? Or, as many fans have speculated, is this all posturing by Huk to dangle his players and increase their trade value? Is he looking to make a move?

Regardless of who plays, how will they play? Will they stick on GOATs or go off the 3-3 meta? When they play the Outlaws, will they fall prey to the Sombra? We all know their success against that comp has been mixed. Can Boston continue to pile it on to Philly? Fusions has always wanted that Fusion-Fusions matchup – will he show up in this marquee matchup? After recent losses I’ve quit the prediction game, but I’m optimistic getting shallacked opening week will motivate Boston to turn things around. They can’t be taking any matches off and need to focus. No more throw aways and no more feeding.

Lastly, is their anyone more unlikeable in Overwatch League as Jake? He’s been shipped around the press as an unofficial league spokesman of the players as if he’s the league MVP. Sorry bro, but you aren’t at that level. Granted, Houston has several Team USA members on their roster that I love (Rawkus, Muma, coolmatt) but right now they’re on the other side against Boston. After pumping up the Uprising against Washington and Paris in recent weeks and seeing that go horribly awry, I’m loathe to suggest any match is a gimme at this point.

Such a puncheable face

Also – Philly has hands down the worst new jersey. It’d be one thing to lose to the Fusion, but to lose to a squad dressed in umpire zebra-stripes would be an all time team low point. Don’t do that Boston. For all our sakes.

For more weekly columns and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp

Game 7 Recap | The Bruins Fall to the Blues

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It starts in October. 31 teams, 31 fanbases. We hope, we dream, and we pray to the Hockey Gods (I imagine they’re big-bellied, beer-guzzling, bearded bad-asses who show one another affection by fighting). We all want one thing: the Stanley Cup. This year it came down to the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues. It took all 7 games, but the Bruins ultimately fell to the Blues, who won their first Stanley Cup in their 51-year history.

Starting Strong

The Bruins were on home ice at TD Garden in Boston. The crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Bruins”, they were loud, and they were proud. The Black and Gold came out swinging. They fired at Blues goalie Jordan Binnington from every angle, and limited the Blues to one shot on goal in over 10 minutes to start the game. The Bruins outshot the Blues 12-4 in the first period, but that ultimately didn’t matter. With 3:13 left in the first period Ryan O’Reilly scored on a deflection to put the Blues up 1-0. Later, Brad Marchand went to the bench for an ill-timed line change, leaving Alex Pietrangelo a wide-open lane and shot at Rask. Pietrangelo scored with 7.9 seconds left in the first.

(Photo by Michael Dwyer)

In the second period the Blues fed off their momentum. Neither team scored in the second, but St. Louis was taking over. They established a defensive stand at center ice, limiting offensive opportunities for the Bruins by forcing turnovers and pouring the puck back into the Bruins zone. Rask stood tall, denying all shots, but the Blues wouldn’t be deterred. They hit more and stayed on the puck, bringing the momentum with them into the third period.

Collapse

Entering the third period down 2-0 the Bruins were still alive. They pushed, making great entries into the St. Louis zone. But Binnington was a brick wall, allowing nothing. He made easy saves on weak shots, he made brilliant saves on nearly unstoppable shots. No matter what the Bruins gave him, Binnington was equal to the task. With 8:35 left in the game Brayden Schenn scored, putting the game all but out of reach at 3-0. Four minutes later the final nail was put in the coffin when Zach Sanford scored. Up 4-0 with 4:38 left in the season, the Bruins got desperate. They pulled Rask, putting six men on the ice for Boston, but they couldn’t get anything past Binnington until Matt Grzelcyk scored with 2:10 left. It made little difference in the outcome of the game, but it did prevent a St. Louis Game 7 shutout in Boston.

(Photo by Patrick Smith)

After the game Brad Marchand told Boston Sports Journal’s Conor Ryan, “It’s a heartbreaker. It’s tough to describe. You know, they just took our dream, our lifetime dream from us, and everything we’ve worked for our entire lives, and it’s 60 minutes away from that. You can’t describe it.”

Moving Forward

The loss brings many offseason questions. Zdeno Chara signed a one-year contract extension. Will the 42 year-old actually come back and try to get to the Finals again next year? Or will he retire after coming to the brink and losing? The Bruins core is getting older, and some of the young guys will need new contracts. There’s a lot of work to be done to try to get back to the Cup. In October we’ll start over. We’ll hope, we’ll dream, and we’ll pray to those often insufferable Hockey Gods.

Will Tom Brady get a contract extension?

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Tom Brady’s contract ends after 2019

Tom Brady’s contract ends after the 2019 season. He has repeatedly stated that he wants to play until he’s 45 years old. He wouldn’t talk about his contract last week during minicamp, telling reporters that it was none of their business about his contract. There’s no way he will finish his career with another team, but he may be on a year to year basis with the Patriots after this season. This could be betting on the winner of the NFL future, World Series or College Football Chamionship before the season starts. He’s obviously gone above and beyond for this team and exceeded expectations. He’s coming off his sixth Super Bowl victory and looking for his seventh this upcoming season.

Brady will play until 45 years old

Brady is the best at working with less talent. He makes an average receiver a superstar on the Patriots if he and the receiver have a good connection. We’ve seen that time and time again. He’s also a great teammate and knows what’s best for himself and the team to be successful. I really don’t see him retiring after this season or next. Brady is the only player that is bigger than the team and he’s earned that title.

He wants to keep his contract private between him and the team which is a good thing. I really don’t think he’ll get a five – year deal, but maybe two or three-years. He turns 42 in August so if they come up with a three-year deal then he’ll be 45 when his contract is up. At that point who knows, he could have one or two more Super Bowls under his belt. There is no question he’s the greatest quarterback of all time based on his numbers, championship appearances, and Super Bowls. There’s no other quarterback Belichick would want to have than Tom Brady.

Kyrie Irving Declines Player Option

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Celtics Moving On From Irving

As expected, Kyrie Irving declined his $21.3 million (M) 2019-2020 player option on Wednesday. Irving’s commitment has been inconsistent, to put it politely, since he arrived with the Boston Celtics two years ago. Now the Celtics will formally move on from Irving and will look to replace him, either through the draft or free agency. Irving’s departure will undoubtedly make it more difficult to draw another superstar to Boston, e.g. the much obsessed-over Anthony Davis. The Celtics cap issues are well known, despite Irving’s $21.3M coming off the books, so does it even matter? As I’ve written for Boston Sports Extra, the Boston Celtics need to keep it in house.

Theis Celtics
Boston Celtics center Aaron Baynes (46) dunks on LeBron James (23) during the 2017-2018 NBA Playoffs. Baynes picked up his 2019-2020 player option Wednesday. (Credit: WKYC.com)

Aaron Baynes Coming Back

Aaron Baynes picked up his $5.9M player option Wednesday. The 6’10” center provides veteran depth in addition to a solid backup to Al Horford. The 32-year old Australian played in 51 games in 2018-2019, averaging 5.6 ppg and 4.7 rebounds per game (rpg) in only 16 minutes per game. In fact, per 36 minutes Baynes averages 12.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 1.5 blocks per game, which would make him a top-20 center. Baynes also shot 86% from the free throw line, making him a late-game asset rather than the liability typical of his position.

Davis Celtics
The dream is over for some Boston Celtics fans, which begs the question: What’s next?

Boston’s Next Move

With Irving gone and Baynes signed through the 2019-2020 season, what is the Celtics next move? The 2019 NBA Draft is a week away. Will the Celtics address their needs in the draft? If they do, are Horford, Baynes and Marcus Smart enough of a veteran presence? Will their young stars progress with Irving gone and accept leadership roles? Do the Celtics trade their young stars for a superstar, even if it’s just for a year rental? Questions remain, but two things are certain. Aaron Baynes will be a Celtic next season, and the team has officially moved on from Kyrie Irving. If nothing else, Irving’s departure brings a sense of closure to a mentally-taxing situation.

Will Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) be the center piece of the team next year or the center piece of a trade? Credit: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

Wild Off Season

The Boston Celtics are still in great position. The fast-approaching free agency period could be one of the wildest in years. The once predictable off-season is now plagued with uncertainty. The Celtics have multiple first round draft picks and young stars. Danny Ainge has proven a savvy, business-first general manager. The NBA is approaching crazy times and the Boston Celtics have the assets and the front office brass to make sense of it all.

Celtics: Is a one-year rental for Anthony Davis worth it?

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With trade talks heating up, Rich Paul told SI Now that the Celtics could trade for AD, but that’d be a near-guarantee he leaves after the season. This raises the question of what AD’s worth is to the Celtics if he isn’t staying. There are many factors to consider, and we’ll look at the important ones in this article.

Have One-Year rentals worked and changed?

Many people like to say that, when they take a one-year rental, they can convince him to stay. Does this actually work, though? In the case of Kawhi Leonard, it certainly seems that way. Leonard got traded to Toronto on the assumption that he’d decline his option and be a free agent. Instead, Toronto is on the precipice of its first franchise Finals win with Leonard poised to stay. This situation is not the rule, but certainly a possibility.

Jayson Tatum has limitless potential and almost certainly would be a centerpiece of trade talks

What would the Celtics have to give up?

It’s almost a guarantee that the Celtics would give up almost all its current first-round picks in order to acquire Anthony Davis. However, a trancendant talent like Davis isn’t pried away with uncertain rookies alone. Jayson Tatum, though up and down, has been a star in the making for the C’s and shows much talent. He’d be a piece the Pelicans would want to cushion the blow.

There’s no guarantee that Irving returns if the Celtics get AD

Would it help them get Kyrie back?

Kyrie Irving has declined his player option, and is set to hit free agency. The Celtics want him back, and see Davis as their way to do so. However, its not as simple as that. Kyrie and the Celtics have created a rift where the team would need to ‘sell their soul’ to have him back. AD or not, it’s likely that Kyrie can’t be bought back by the C’s.

DECISION: Not worth it

The Celtics have too much to lose here. Irving is already one foot out the door unless they land Kevin Durant. Paul’s comments make it seem as if there’s zero chance AD stays there, with a track record to prove it. And in the end, the Celtics young core that it would blow up to land AD is more valuable in the long run. The Celtics would be wise to avoid Davis.

Boston Bruins

GAME 7| STANLEY CUP FINAL: BOSTON BRUINS VS ST. LOUIS

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It all comes down this. Tonight, the Boston Bruins will face one last challenge and the prize for all their effort: one big silver cup. For the St. Louis Blues, if they win, it would be their first time since coming into the league in 1967. For Boston, this is the first Game Seven Stanley Cup Final being played at home.

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT

It’s been a long journey for both teams this season, and for the Bruins it has been a test of will and “next man up.” Boston dealt with many injuries throughout the regular season that forced Coach Bruce Cassidy to juggle the lines and relay on the fast legs of a few Providence players. And yet, despite the many setbacks, the team managed to stay afloat while ending their regular season in the Eastern Conference behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Boston Bruins
(Photo Credits: WCVB

KEEPING THE PRESSURE

The Boston Bruins were sort of the dark horse to make into the final; it was all about the Lightning. But the Hockey Gods had other plans, and miraculously the juggernaut that was Tampa Bay fell in the first round.  As the Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a well-fought series, their focus would turn to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After a stunning sweep of the Lightning, Columbus were looking to repeat that formula with the Bruins. But a factor that hindered a potential sweep: Tuukka Rask. For as good as Sergei Bobrovsky was, Rask was that much better. He had a combined .948 save percentage with a shutout performance in Game Six, and the Bruins would continue on to face Carolina.With each game and series win, the narrative changed quickly in Boston when it came to Rask. If the Bruins win, will Tuukka finally get the respect he deserves?

Boston Bruins
(Photo Credit: AFP)

After a sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes, the stage had been set for Bruins: they would be in Stanley Cup Finals. Boston would be facing a tough competitor in St. Louis. In a series fret with a fair amount of controversies, winning a Game Seven at home for the Stanley Cup is a dream not every player gets to experience.

“I think that every hockey player can say that at one point in your life, or plenty of times, they’ve dreamed of being in a position like this. But it’s much different when you’re going through it and realizing how exciting and hard it is. You just have so much more appreciation for what we’ve been through and the road we’ve taken to get here. It’s a very special opportunity, regardless of how it plays out tomorrow. It’s been a special adventure with this group. Hopefully it ends on a good note…it’s gonna be a very hard-fought battle.”

Bruins Forward Brad Marchand

QUICK NOTES

It was recently announced that Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has been cleared to play, however will be a gametime decision. If he plays, Coach Bruce Cassidy stated he would go in for Connor Clifton.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Tonight will mark 106 games played by the Boston Bruins. The expectations are high, and both teams will be gunning to bring every single thing they have onto the ice. The Bruins are within reach of adding another Championship to the city. For both Boston and St. Louis, this was no easy journey. And despite the outcome, this has been a wild ride.

“It’s winner take all…not much needs to be said. It’s not hard to get up for these games. It’s the biggest game of the year, obviously. We just have to be ready to go.”

Bruins Center Charlie Coyle

This is it folks.  ONE MORE GAME.  Put your lucky jersey on, get your beers ready, pray to whatever god you pray to and let’s have a good game.

Go Bruins.

WHEN TO WATCH:  Tonight  with puck drop after 8:00 pm, TD GARDEN

WHERE TO WATCH: NBC

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