Author: mouthofthemidwest.com

Dallas. Cowboys right?
Hold the phone. Looking pretty stout for both the basketball Mavericks and the Hockey Stars.

The Stars shook off an early 2-0 deficit before drilling the Edmonton Oilers moving to within 2 wins of a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Oilers and Connor McDavid respond having given back home ice advantage to the Stars.
Although, home ice has been anything but an advantage throughout the postseason in the NHL.

Our hockey analyst Rick Carter weighs in tonight
on Sports Byline USA at 6:25p Eastern; 5p Central.
SportsByLine.com
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NBA…. Boston versus Dallas. This will be a very contentious series and I will resist the temptation to even remotely suggest that the Celtics are a lock to win their record 18th World Championship. Dallas scares me. Luka Doncic is a beast and flashes reminders of a guy who used to run the parquet panels of the Boston Garden- ah, he wore #33. Larry Joe Bird.
Throw in malcontent on the mend Kyrie Irving and any notion this will be fait accompli for the
Leapin’ Leprechauns 🍀
is foolhardy.

Sorry T- Wolves it’s over, but a great season nonetheless.

Any description of the Boston Celtics absolutely has to include
“Lucky”….

The Celtics first two playoff opponents – the Miami Heat & the Cleveland Cavaliers both were decimated by injuries – key players in Boston cases.

Now, Indiana loses – likely- Tyrese Halliburton on top of being down 2 games to none.

You’ll hear ‘it’s never over until you lose on your home court.’

It’s over. Bummer too because this series had potential to be very exciting and dangerous to a Celtics team that still has that “something’s missing” aura within it.

The sweep is coming and the rest might backfire. A real great wake-up call will be if Mr. Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks emerge out of the West.

Tonight:
Absolute must win for the NY Rangers. No opinion other than to submit the obvious: The Florida Panthers are very good… in every facet.

T-Wolves in a nice bounce back.

Caitlin and the 0-5 Indiana Fever hope to ignite a spark in LA against the “Sparks.”
ION TV has the telecast and ranks as a National Broadcast I suppose.
I think I get …eye on TV.
9p Central…

Really ? Pacers & Fever!
Can you inbounds a basketball!!??

On consecutive nights, these two Hoosier State Athletic Entities were unable to execute simple passes to put a basketball in play to an awaiting teammate.

Her Airness, Caitlin Clark, fumbled a simple pass last night in the final seconds denying the Indiana Fever a shot at gaining their first win of the season. Trailing by a point, there was no guarantee of a Fever score to win the game.

Ok, fair enough… but can you just simply catch & shoot? It’s like the Pacers and Fever are drinking from the same water bottles!

The Fever are now 0-5. Coach Sides took Clark out of the game for 2 critical minutes with the game on the line. Clark had blood on shirt? Call
a timeout? Injury time out? Looked to me like she was giving CC a “breather.”

CC finished with 21 points along with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
It was a grind and she is surrounded by seemingly befuddled teammates.

Coach Sides doesn’t need a seat warmer on her ride to work; her seat is hot and, frankly, rightly so. Her game management is a mess.
Her failure to disrupt oppositional runs is exasperating. Worse, CC doesn’t connect with her … at all.

36 of the Indiana Fever games are slated for Nationwide TV; ESPN has to be second-guessing this decision.
CC Effect is wearing thin and garbage-time logo
3’s feel like a game of Horse to me.

Sides might be gone by June 1.

Tonight:
The Pacers, leading by 1 with :01 to go in the game and inbounds the ball into the Boston basket and lose by 1.

Miraculous… or just-plain-lucky??
Pick your poison.

The Boston Celtics stunned, ah, just about everybody with a 133-128 OT win against the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers needed only to successfully inbounds the ball in the waning seconds of regulation and they WIN Game 1… in Boston.
They threw it away.

No offense to Celtics radio man Sean Grande, crunch time in this crazy finish was only befitting of the legendary Johnny Most.

“The Pacers throw it way!”

“Jaylen Brown hits a corner 3 with a Pacers player draped all over him!”

“Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has lost his mind.. the Ghosts of the Boston Garden Greats have arrived not a moment too soon.”

“Red Auerbach is out there somewhere and you know his lighting a victory cigar.”

Celtics up 1-0. File under: Garden Gift.

Tonight:
Florida in OT.
T- Wolves.

Amazing resilience shown by the townspeople of Greenfield, Iowa after yesterday’s devastating tornadoes. The news-clips are hard to watch.
WHO TV/Des Moines’ Jason Parkin did an incredible job. His live voiceovers were incredible and evenly delivered. Hard to do we can only imagine amid the impending doom approaching and the immediate obliteration you’ve just witnessed.

It’s getting hard to write this sad saga about Caitlin Clark. Ugh!
0-4 record. Let’s start there. The Indiana Fever are confusing team. Notice I didn’t say bad; you scratch whole watching them play. Helter- Skelter we called it many years ago.
Now, it’s just messed up basketball.

The answer is a WIN. Seattle next and we’ll hope to hear an exhale from the Pacific Northwest- if not the rumblings will get louder. Fever Coach Christine Sides seat will be running a fever too!
Heck, she’s on the hot seat already.

Stay tuned.

Tonight : Boston in a tight one.

She’s struggling … and not loving life so far in the WNBA.

CC is worn out; she’s had ZERO down time since, ah…. Two years running.

Her college coach called it quits feeling the same burn out CC is dealing with.

CC’s opponents are all, well mostly, playing on fresh legs and a heightened spirit of a new season; CC is fried and forlorn.

The answer is time; a period of adjustment amid unrealistic expectations by a massive fan base.

She’ll rise… just you watch!

Lines to buy Caitlin Clark gear in NY

Let the NBA Final Four begin!

The Celtics/Pacers series could easily be coined “The Larry Bird Showdown” given his impact on both franchises.

High-scoring and uptempo tilts on tap: Boston in 6.

Out West, Dallas & Minnesota promises to be a high-flyer as well.
Minnesota in 6.

We’ll preview in detail tomorrow both series.

Breanna Stewart was holding court … High-above court actually inside Rocket Mortgage Center in Cleveland at the Women’s Final Four.

Stewart was there to support her UConners as they prepared for Iowa and Caitlin Clark about to tip-off below her “Loudville Lookout” in the RMC.

“Love what she (CC) is doing for our game,”
said Stewart. “The next level (WNBA) will be a real challenge … there are a lot of great players in our league.”

Stewart hinted Clark would find the transition a challenge as the players – across the board – are quicker, taller and …”tougher.”

What Stewart stopped short of saying is that Clark will/does have a target on her back. Clark and the Indiana Fever are an easy game to get up for.

Stewart got up alright!
31 points and 10 rebounds worth as her NY Liberty torched CC and the Fever 102-66 in Indianapolis last night.

Clark had 9 points. She can score 10 tying her shoes in the morning.
9 points! Ugly #2 …

The rematch is set for tomorrow afternoon 1p Eastern on ABC.

Speaking of ugly… Denver got drilled by 45.
But they win Game 7 against the T-Wolves… eh?

He had a dream life. All-American career at Duke University followed up with an NBA run of 12 years and over 10-thousand points; a post-playing spot as a college basketball analyst on CBS TV… a wonderful life!

Yet when the final buzzer sounded on his playing days, when the final horn rang out on his broadcast assignments, he had a ‘Jump Ball’ with bottles of booze.

Mike Giminski tells his story in riveting, candid detail these days. “Two fifths a day”; vodka … all to calm the nerves and mental anguish of the “love of his life” dying suddenly in his arms.

The days and the empty bottles piled up. Each empty Glass Soldier convincing his woe-filled mind he could fight another day.

Each empty bottle discarded to the back woods lying together in a field of carnage. Until that fateful day… the day of recognition for every alcoholic who doesn’t die first.

“I was well over 300 pounds; death warmed over and while my friends and colleagues gave me a “two year hall pass” it was no secret Mike was in a death spiral.

Father’s Day weekend he arrived at a kitchen table littered with mud-caked vodka bottles with a note from his son Noah: “Dad… I love you and we need to get you help.” Love, Noah.

300 + pounds of humanity and false pride melted in shame and guilt. God intervening no doubt.

The G-Man was at his bottom. It was clear as day even with a mind warbled by alcoholism.

Rehab, a true no-turning-back-surrender, and a plea to God to relieve him from the bondage of alcohol… Honesty, Openness and
a Willingness were the ingredients to save his life.

And, the AA credo of One Day at a Time…