B’s, C’s, Sox & Pats: It’s Your Weekend Round-Up!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
It’s hard to imagine a single weekend on the calendar as singularly important to New England sports teams and their fans than this weekend. Following their dramatic 7-game series win over Montreal, the Boston Bruins open up their NHL Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the Philadelphia Flyers today at 3pm. It’s old vs. new when the Celtics and Heat begin their NBA Eastern Conference Semifinal series on Sunday. The Red Sox opened up an 11-game home stand against the Seattle Mariners and the Patriots are among 32 teams wrapping up the 2011NFL Draft. With that, we take a quick look at the state of our 4 local pro franchises:
BRUINS – FLYERS: Revenge is a dish best served cold which is a good thing for the Bruins who hit the ice this afternoon in Philadelphia. In case you forgot, it was about this time a year ago that Boston raced out to what appeared to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Flyers only to lose the next 4 games and the series in a very painful fashion. Can the B’s right that wrong from a year ago? If so, two things need to happen. First, Tim Thomas must continue his solid play which has made him the front-runner for the Vezina Trophy again this season. Boston must also find a way to improve upon its anemic power play which went 0-21 against the Canadiens. If those two things happen, the Bruins will find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals just one series away from competing for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
CELTICS – HEAT: It’s almost as if these two teams were destined to meet in the playoffs the moment the LeBron James coronation was complete in Miami last offseason. Boston’s aging “Big 3” against Miami’s youthful “Big 3.” A lot has happened with both teams throughout the course of the long NBA regular season, more so with the Celtics. The decision to trade Kendrick Perkins a couple of months ago will now be placed under the microscope although there is some reason for optimism. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that he believes that Shaq will play in this series, quite possibly in game 1 or game 2. I'll believe it when I see it! And while Boston may have lost its big edge down low against Miami as a result of that trade, they still hold a big advantage over the Heat at the point. Rajon Rondo holds the key to Boston’s success in his hands. If he is in the neighborhood of 15 assists per game, Boston will most likely win the series. Rondo needs to facilitate first and look for his own offense second. That is how Boston will beat Miami.
RED SOX: After dropping 2 of 3 in Baltimore, the Sox bullpen blew it last night in their home-opener against Seattle. This time Bobby Jenks was the guilty party giving up 2 in the 7th. Still, the team is playing much better than I was when it started the season 0-6. Tonight John Lackey needs to follow-up his quality start in Anaheim with one against the Mariners. Still, the Sox are officially on the back-burner until the Celtics and Bruins playoff runs are over with.
PATRIOTS DRAFT: Why isn’t their outrage amongst New England fans over what Bill Belichick and the Patriots have done thus far in the draft? Simple: In Bill We Trust! While Belichick’s track record as a talent evaluator has been far less than perfect, his teams continue to be among the best in the NFL year in and year out. For that reason, it is difficult for many Pats fans and for the media that covers the team to criticize him or the organization. After grabbing Virginia cornerback Ras-I Dowling at the top of the second round, the Pats picked up a pair of quality running backs in Cal’s Shane Vereen and LSU’s Stevan Ridley. Whether or not they can rival Mark Ingram in the NFL remains to be seen. But the most interesting pick was their 3rd round selection of Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett. Considered to be the best pure passer in the draft, Mallett’s situation is similar to Tom Brady’s in that he had a horrible scouting combine running a 5.2 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of just 24”. Still, there’s no pressure for him to come in and play right away. He can sit and learn from the master Tom Brady and possibly one day be his replacement in New England. The disappointing part about the first 3 rounds of the draft is that Belichick and the Patriots have done zip, zilch, zero to address their inability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Maybe Belichick thinks that his corners are so good that they can hold their coverage for 10 seconds……doubtful! The bottom line is that this Patriots draft will be judged not only by the performance by those who were selected by the Pats, but also the performance or Ingram and all of the DE/OLB’s New England decided to pass on in this draft.
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