And the winner is…
I couldn’t believe the result. Stunning. What a moment, what a night. I totally thought Katharine McPhee was going to be the next American Idol but nope, Taylor Hicks won. What, you thought I was talking about the Suns/Mavs game? Seriously though, did you watch that game last night? It was pretty incredible and that’s coming from someone who was already expecting big things. The Suns won 121-118, beating the Mavs on their home court. I’m not a good enough writer to accurately portray the dynamics of this game, especially the last few moments, so instead I’ll just give you the play by play of the last minute or so of the game. Steve Nash, scoring his tenth point in a row, makes a three pointer with 1:04 left that leaves the score at 116-115 in favor of the Mavs. Nash almost single-handedly has brought the Suns back from an eight point deficit with under 3:30 left. On the next play Nash gets Devin Harris to commit an offensive foul, Suns basketball. With 43 seconds left Nash finds Shawn Marion for a short two-pointer and the Suns have completed the comeback and now are up 117-116. Dallas calls timeout but Jerry Stackhouse loses control of the ball and turns it over, Suns ball again. Dallas buckles down on defense, forces a missed shot and Dirk Nowitzki gets the rebound with 20 seconds left, Dallas ball. With the clocking winding down Devin Harris, who had a huge game, makes a mid-range jump shot with 4 seconds left. Now Dallas leads 118-117. The Suns call a timeout. Phoenix inbounds the ball from half court into Boris Diaw who is posting up on Jerry Stackhouse. With 4/10s of a second left in the game Diaw scores his 33rd and 34th points in the game on a little turnaround jumper, the Suns retook the lead at 119-118. And that was it. The Suns added two meaningless free throws to arrive at the final score of 121-118. All that happened in the last 1:05 of the game. Admittedly it was more exciting to watch on TV then to read here but the general idea is conveyed I think.
I actually was intending to not write about the NBA today but a game like that has to get top billing. Steve Nash had an MVP-worthy performance, dishing out 16 assists and scoring 27 points, including the ten straight to bring the Suns back at the end of the game. Boris Diaw scored a career-high 34 points. Shawn Marion was his usual self, dropping 24 points and collecting 13 boards. The Mavs Dirk Nowitzki put up 25 points and collected an insane 19 rebounds. Dallas point guard Devin Harris continued his excellent playoff run with 30 points, including the almost-game winner with 4 seconds left. The Heat/Pistons series has nothing on these guys. One can only hope the Mavs/Suns didn’t give us their best performance in the first game. Since tomorrow is only the lame Heat/Pistons Game 2 (8 PM ET on ESPN), perhaps tomorrow we’ll cover new territory. On a tangent, make sure you scroll all the way down to the Odds and Ends section for two very special Mavs/Suns related videos. (Game recap)
Carl Crawford was insane last night
What a night Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford had last night against the Toronto Blue Jays. Certainly he had a game worthy of its own little section rather then be relegated to the “Last nights games†sectionâ€. Crawford was 5-5 at the plate, four singles and one two-run home run. He scored five runs. He had two RBIs. He stole four bases. Crawford tied a Tampa Bay team record with his five hits and he set Tampa records for runs scored and stolen bases in a game. He basically played out of his mind. And if you are wondering, yes, 95% of the reason why Crawford gets his own paragraph is because I have him on three of my four fantasy baseball teams (and yes I have four fantasy baseball teams. So sue me.). (Link)
Last night’s National League games
Miguel Batista pitched well and Orlando Hudson busted out of a slump with a 4-4 night as the Diamondbacks beat the Pirates 8-7 and swept the three game series. (Link)
The Dodgers blasted the Rockies on the way to their seventh victory in a row, 7-1. The Dodgers scored four runs in the 7th and Jeff Kent and Rafael Furcal each had three hits in the victory. (Link)
Jon Lieber started in the place of injured Phillies prospect Cole Hamels and gave up homers to Carlos Beltran and David Wright as the Mets rallied to beat the Phillies 5-4. (Link)
Carlos Lee busted out of a 3-30 slump going 2-3 with a two-run home run in the 5th as the Brewers avoided being swept by the Reds and won 6-2. (Link)
In a bizarre moment Houston starter Roy Oswalt balked home the Nationals Damian Jackson in the 6th, tying the game and ruining Oswalt’s overpowering performance. The Nationals went on to score four runs in the 8th and won, 5-1. (Link)
The Cubs nightmare season continues as they get swept in a three game series against the Triple-A team that masquerades as the Florida Marlins. Greg Maddux gets pounded; Miguel Cabrera and Joe Borchard hit three-run homers as the Marlins win 9-3. (Link)
Albert Pujols didn’t hit a home run. Neither did Barry Bonds. But Cardinals relief pitcher Adam Wainwright, in his first major league at-bat no less, hit a solo shot in the 5th. Not only that but he was credited with the win as St. Louis won 10-4. (Link)
Andruw Jones carried the Braves past the Padres as he hit two two-run home runs as the Braves won 10-6. (Link)
Last night’s American League games
Randy Johnson continues to struggle but the Big Unit and the Yankees overcame two home runs by Manny Ramirez to beat the Red Sox 8-6 and take the series. (Link)
Vladimir Guerrero absolutely owns the Texas Rangers. Guerrero has played 42 games against Texas over his career and he has at least one hit in every single one of those 42 games. Angels beat the Rangers 8-5. (Link)
The White Sox swept the A’s as Mark Buerhle won his third game in a row to improve to 6-2 on the year. Chicago wins, 3-2. (Link)
Apparently the best tonic for a struggling team is a series against the Orioles. The Mariners scored six runs in the second and withstood a brief Baltimore rally in winning 7-4. Richie Sexson continued to feast on O’s pitching, driving in three runs. (Link)
C.C. Sabathia dominated the Twins, throwing a six hit shutout, as the Indians won 11-0. It was his second complete game in a row and his third career shutout. (Link)
The Royals have now lost 12 games in a row, the latest last nights 6-3 loss to the Tigers. Looks like its back to the drawing board for Kansas City, same as the last decade or so. (Link)
Odds and Ends
Orlando Hernandez is heading back to the Big Apple, but this time to the Mets. The Mets acquired El Duque for reliever Jorge Julio from the Diamondbacks. With the season-ending injury to Victor Zambrano and the trades of Kris Benson and Jae Seo the Mets were in dire need of another starter. (Link)
NBAdraft.net, the premier online mock draft/resource, has updated their predictions to align with the real draft order. They’ve got LaMarcus Aldridge going first to the Raptors. For the rest check out their site here.
Courtesy of our favorite sports blog Deadspin we bring you two fantastic videos. In the first (found here) we find Mavs coach Avery Johnson inadvertently giving Josh Howard a pretty brutal jimmy tap. The replay only adds to the hilarity. In the second video (found here) we have the bizarre scene of best friends Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki apparently singing a birthday song to a mutual friend. You need to be able to hear this video, if only to listen to Nowitzki’s supporting vocals. Classic.