Aces win first ever game in Las Vegas 98-63

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20180506 - A'Ja Wilson 04

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The WNBA made its debut in Las Vegas as the first year Aces defeated the Chinese National Team 98-63 in preseason play at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Sunday.

The first overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft, A’ja Wilson, led the Ace in scoring with 20 points and added seven rebounds while Nia Coffey added 15 points.

“I was nervous,” Wilson said of her first professional game.  “But once I got out there and I kind of saw my teammates getting hyped, it kind of really helped me out in that situation.”

“We know she’s going to do well,” said guard and Las Vegas native Sequoia Holmes of Wilson.  “I personally think that she is going to be better as a pro than as a college player because teams are not going to be able to sit in the paint or double her”

The Aces trailed 28-27 with 5:55 left in the second quarter, but went on a 20-3 run to break open the game.

“It was because of our defensive pressure,” head coach Bill Laimbeer said of the 20-3 run. “We started running some fresh legs and really got after their guards.  We want to be a much better team than San Antonio was last year and they really got after it and got some turnovers.”

Before coming to the Aces, Laimbeer coached the New York Liberty from 2013 to 2017 and the Detroit Shock from 2002 to 2009.

Prior to relocating to Las Vegas this season, the Aces were the San Antonio Stars from 2002 to 2017. The team struggled the last three seasons with a combined 23-79 record.

The Aces will play their home games this season at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and will play their first regular season home game on Sunday, May 27th against the Seattle Storm.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes: The Chinese National Team will also play a preseason game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 12th.

2,091 fans were in attendance, despite the Vegas Golden Knights playing Game 6 of the NHL Playoffs against the Sharks in San Jose at the same time.

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval was in attendance, sporting a UNLV shirt.

Game Starters:
C – 22 A’j Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
F – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 12 Nia Coffey
G – 51 Sydney Colson

Sharks’ Season Ends With 3-0 Loss to Golden Knights

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Photo credit: @TheVegasRealm

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks’ season ended with a 3-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at the SAP Center Sunday. The Game 6 win makes the Golden Knights the third NHL team to win two rounds in the playoffs in their inaugural season. Goals came from Jonathan Marchessault, Nate Schmidt and Cody Eakin. Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for Vegas’ shutout win. Martin Jones made 30 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said: “We just didn’t find a way to put any pucks in the net. You know we had some opportunities early, a couple of power plays and some really good looks. And whether a puck spun off or got a skate on it or whatever kind of happened, it was. I think our opportunities early were there to take that lead.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer gave his assessment of the series after the game:

We knew their game was for real and I thought there was some swing moments in the series when you win and when you lose. But the bottom line for me is we were just chasing the game. Every game in the series other than the 4-0 win here at home. I thought we had some good starts, had some quality chances early in a lot of those games, and Fleury I thought was great early in a lot of those games, allowed them to get their feet under them and then we’re chasing five of the six games.

Asked about what he thought of the Pavelski, Kane, Donskoi line, DeBoer said:

I’m not dissecting it. I can tell you this, you got a guy who’s playing center that hasn’t played center in years that steps up and plays as the number one center. So you know if you’re going to negatively dissect their play, you’re talking to the wrong guy. You can do that. These guys…. Our number one center went down, these guys jumped in, filled roles didn’t complain, battled their ass off right to the buzzer in every single game even when we were down.

The Sharks were on the power play in the first minute of the game, thanks to a tripping call drawn by Tomas Hertl. The Sharks got two shots during the power play, but the Golden Knights got one on a breakaway for Willam Karlsson.

Just 5:39 into the period, a flurry of activity in front of the Sharks net ended with Martin Jones being pushed into the net as the whistle blew. Evidently the puck crossed the line with the goalie, but an NHL initiated review determined that the whistle had been blown before the puck went in.

Near the nine-minute mark, Tomas Hertl had a breakaway, but hit the crossbar. He retrieved the puck and got it to Logan Couture for a good chance, but that shot did not go in either. A scramble in front of Fleury followed, but the puck still stayed out.

After the next faceoff in the Vegas zone, Brayden McNabb sent the puck over the glass. After an extensive review to see if it touched a Sharks stick, the penalty was called. The Sharks took a couple of good shots before Vegas cleared the puck. Seconds after that penalty expired, Evander Kane was called for tripping Reilly Smith. The Sharks killed that off without letting the power play spend a lot of time in the zone.

At even strength after the power play, it was a different story. The Golden Knights spent a lot of time in the Sharks zone. Their fourth line in particular was very effective.

Despite not spending much time on offense, the Sharks had another good chance off a blue line shot from Joakim Ryan in the last three minutes. Timo Meier reached to push it in, but did not get there. That sequence seemed to energize the Sharks and they held the zone for quite a spell. Brent Burns had a shot deflected by Evander Kane, but it went off the crossbar. It fell at Joonas Donskoi’s feet by the post, but he couldn’t get it over the line either.

The teams finished the period almost even in shots, 12-11 Vegas.

The teams started the second period a little bit slowly, with more than four minutes of play going by before the first shot was counted. It went to Vegas, and another minute of play went by before the Sharks got a shot on goal.

It was the third shot of the period that went in, at 6:33, a goal from the Golden Knights’ Jonathan Marchessault. A failed clear by Marc-Edouard Vlasic ended up on Reilly Smith’s stick. He found Marchessault with an open net. Assists went to Smith and William Karlsson.

The Golden Knights almost scored again at 8:31 left in the first, when Martin Jones came out to stop a shot from Brayden McNabb and was completely out of the net when Smith got a chance at the rebound. Chris Tierney was in the paint and blocked the shot. The Sharks followed it up with good zone time, but all of their shots seemed to hit bodies and skates.

The second Vegas goal came with as little fanfare as a goal can have: most seemed to miss it and play continued. A horn went a few moments later, alerting all that something was wrong. On review, Nate Schmidt scored with a shot from the blue line that hit the post and went off the goal net camera. David Perron won an offensive zone faceoff against Chris Tierney and slid the puck to Eric Haula on the wall. Haula got the puck to Schmidt. The time of the goal was 15:38.

By the halfway mark of the third period, the shot count was 11-3 in favor of Vegas. The Golden Knights did not let up. DeBoer pulled Martin Jones with 2:15 left in the period. The Sharks got a couple of shots in the 15 seconds before Ryan Carpenter and Cody Eakin broke away to score on the empty net. It was Eakin’s third goal of the playoffs and Carpenter’s third assist. An additional assist went to Nate Schmidt.

That was it, except for the handshake.

The schedule for the Western and Eastern conference final rounds are yet to be determined, as the two series (Jets-Predators, Capitals-Penguins) are still ongoing.

Warriors return to form and dominate the Pelicans 118-92 for a 3-1 series lead

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors, who were thoroughly thumped by the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night in New Orleans, came out smoking as the led by ten points 14-4 in the first few minutes of the game and put the pedal to the metal as they soundly defeated the Pelicans 118-92.

The Warriors, who couldn’t make three-point shots in Friday night’s loss, made four of them in the first six minutes of the game and finished the first quarter with a 15-point lead 37-22. The Pelicans won the second quarter 32-24 to trail at the end of the first half by seven points. They went to the locker room hoping that they could come out blazing in the third period just as they did in game three.

The Warriors, who have played so well so many times in the third quarter, dominated on both offense and defense. The Warriors scored 33 points and held the Pelicans to 19. Teams trailing by twenty or more entering the fourth quarter very rarely, if ever, come back to win in the NBA. The Warriors continued to pound the Pelicans as they won by 26 points, 118-92, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Game Notes and Stats: Steve Kerr made two changes to his starting lineup Sunday afternoon. He started Draymond Green at center in place of JaVale McGee and inserted Andre Iguodala at the small forward position. Draymond had nine rebounds in the game and now has 899 rebounds in his playoff record. He’s the third Warrior to reach that plateau. The other two players are in basketball’s Hall of Fame. Wilt Chamberlain leads with 922, and Nate Thurmond is second with 896.

Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 38 points, five assists, nine rebounds, one steal, and one blocked shot. Green’s line was eight points, nine assists, nine rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. Steph Curry knocked down 23, and Klay Thompson added 13. Backup guard Quinn Cook led the bench with 12.

The leading scorer for New Orleans was Anthony Davis wi]th 26 points and 12 rebounds. E’Tuan Moore was second with 20 and Jrue Holiday had 19. The Warriors were able to contain Nikola Mirotic as they held him to just seven points. Ian Clark, a former Warrior, scored 11 coming off the bench.

The stats show the domination of the Warriors. The Dubs shot 48.4% from the floor, and the Pelicans were held to 36.4% The Warriors mad 11 3’s in 33 attempts and the Pelicans connected on just four of 26 tries. The Warriors were able to move the ball much better as they recorded 28 assists and the Pelicans’ ball movement game, which was so good Friday night, was not able to get going Sunday as they were credited with just 17. The Warriors handled the ball well as they committed 11 turnovers. The Warrior defense, however, forced the Pelicans to commit 19 which led to 21 Warrior points.

Game 5 for the best-of-seven series will be played at Oracle Arena Tuesday night at 7:30 pm PT.

Giants complete sweep of Braves with 4-3 victory

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Coming into this series against the San Francisco Giants, the Atlanta Braves were one of the hottest teams in major league baseball, as they were on a five-game winning streak.

Well, that streak came to an end quickly on Friday night and the Giants ended up completing their first three-game sweep of the Braves in four years after a 4-3 victory Sunday at SunTrust Park.

Andrew Suarez gave up just one unearned run in 5.1 innings along with seven hits and one walk. Since being recalled from Sacramento on Tuesday to replace the Johnny Cueto, who is on the disabled list with right elbow tightness, Suarez has allowed just two earned runs in those two starts.

After trailing for the third game in a row, the Giants took the lead for good in the top of the third inning, as both Nick Hundley and Pablo Sandoval each drove in runs with singles.

The Giants tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning, as Alen Hanson scored from third base, when he slid in head first to beat the throw from Freddie Freeman on a Gregor Blanco groundball.

Andrew McCutchen added a sacrifice fly that scored Austin Jackson to give the Giants their final run of the afternoon.

Braves rookie starter Mike Soroka lasted just four innings in his first home start, as he allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks. Soroka is now 1-1 in his career.

Soroka did pick up his first major-league hit in the bottom of the second off of Suarez.

Hanson did get his third consecutive two hit game, as he doubled in the top of the fifth inning. On the flip side, Hanson did commit two fielding errors on the afternoon.

The Giants took a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Braves mounted a comeback, when Kurt Suzuki, who came off the bench to pinch hit, lashed a double that scored Jose Bautista, who singled. Ender Inciarte cut the Giants lead down to one run, as he grounded to score Johan Camargo; however, rookie Ozzie Albies was unable to tie up the game or win it, as he popped out to end the game. Hunter Strickland, who came on close to the game for the first time this weekend picked up his eighth save of the season.

The Braves took the lead in the first inning for the third straight game, as Ronald Acuna Jr., hit a single to left field for his first hit at SunTrust Park. Acuna later scored on a Tyler Flowers single.

NOTES: Mac Williamson, who is eligible to come off the seven-day concussion disabled list, remains on there with a virus and will need a few days. Williamson will also be sent to the minors for a rehab assignment. Reyes Moronta, who left the game on Saturday night with tightness in his back to begin the bottom of the ninth inning, “seems to be doing better,” according to Bruce Bochy.

The Giants last sweep of the Braves came from May 2-4, 2014 at Turner Field.

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija takes the mound on Monday afternoon, as the Giants continue their three-city, 10-game road trip and open up a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: D-backs to move out of Chase Field; Baseball looking to expand to 32 teams; Albert Pujols in the 3000 hit club

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http://www.pinterest.com file photo: Arizona Diamondbacks Chase Field

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Diamondbacks reach agreement with Maricopa County, seeking new stadium to replace crumbling Chase Field

2 Commissioner Rob Manfred hints at possible expansion to 32 teams

3 Albert Pujols reaches 3,000 hits; Ichiro Suzuki moves to Mariners’ front office

Daniel does the MLB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s beat O’s 2-0 in 12 innings on Khris Davis two-run walk-off home run

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Davis winning HR
Khris Davis hits the game-winning walk-off HR in the 12th inning Photo: @Athletics

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Oakland – Both teams deserved to win this game. That line is overused by sports reporters around the world, but on Saturday night at the Coliseum, it was the truth. The Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics put on game-winning performances in their 12-inning affair but in baseball, there are no ties. The A’s won the game 2-0.

The Athletics left the field with their 17th victory of the season after designated hitter Khris Davis hit a Pedro Araujo 3-1 pitch halfway up into the seats in left field with Jed Lowrie on at first with no outs in the bottom of the 12th inning. Unbelievably, the A’s never had a runner in scoring position during the entire contest. It is not often a team is going to escape with a win and never had advanced a runner to second base, but there was nothing usual about this game.

Old Fashion Pitchers Dual

Cahill working
Trevor Cahill recorded 12 strikeouts in a no-decision Saturday Photo: @Athletics

Trevor Cahill started the game for Oakland. Cahill set the tone for the game in the top of the first inning when he struck out the first three Orioles he faced. He struck five of the first six hitters to come bat against him. Cahill looked unbeatable on the mound.

Cahill would go on to work 6.0-innings and record 12 strikeouts while walking just one Baltimore batter. That tied Cahill for the second most strikeouts in six or fewer innings in Oakland history.

Cahill did not give up a run and allowed just four hits. He threw 98 pitches (58 strikes). Manager Bob Melvin indicated the plan was for Cahill to work seven innings but he did not want the righty to exceed 100 pitches.

Gausman
Kevin Gausman threw nine innings of two-hit baseball Photo: @Orioles

The other phenomenal story was Baltimore starting pitcher Kevin Gausman who entered the game with a record of 2-2. Gausman pitched a career-high nine innings and threw 113 pitches (66 strikes). He began the game throwing 89 mph and his last pitch of the contest registered at 98 mph on the radar gun.

Gausman threw nine shutout innings allowing just two hits while striking out six Oakland batters and walking two. It was a pitching performance that would normally have resulted in a victory.

The real irony for both of these starting pitchers who performed so well was they both recorded a no-decision for the game.

Relievers were key in this game

Oakland

  • Yusmeiro Petit came on in relief of Cahill in the top of seventh. Petit really struggled on Friday night but Melvin said had no hesitancy about sending Petit back to the hill. Petit threw 2.0-innings giving up no runs and allowing just one hit. He struck out four and walked three.
  • Santiago Casilla worked innings nine and 10. He pitched two shutout innings allowing just one hit and one hit batter.
  • Danny Coulombe pitched 1.1-innings striking out four Orioles and allowing one hit.
  • Chris Hatcher replaced Coulombe in the top of the 12th with one out. He walked the first man he faced – Trey Mancini. Craig Gentry was brought in as a pinch-runner for Mancini. With Adam Jones at bat, Gentry attempted to steal second base but was thrown out on a strong throw from catcher Bruce Maxwell to second baseman Jed Lowrie. It was the second caught stealing executed by Maxwell in the game. Hatcher induced Jones to ground out third to first for the final out of the game. Hatcher (3-0) picked up the win as he was the pitcher of record when Davis hit the game-winning home run.

Baltimore

  • Mychal Givens worked two great innings of relief of the O’s. He struck out five of the six Oakland hitters he faced and allowed no baserunners. It was simply a perfect relief effort.
  • Pedro Araujo worked the fateful 12th inning giving up the game-winning two-run home run to Davis. He is hung with the loss and is now 1-3 for the season.
Cahill K
Counting them up for Cahill Photo: @Athletics

Vital Stats

Oakland (17-16) 2 runs, 4 hits, no errors

Baltimore (8-25) 0 runs, 7 hits, no errors

Time of the game: 3:32

Attendance: 24612

Up Next

The Orioles will send RHP Alex Cobb (0-3, 9.68) to the hill to faceoff against the Athletics RHP Andrew Triggs (2-1, 5.20). This will be Cobb’s fifth start of the season. His last start versus the Angels was his longest outing of the year when he pitched 6.0-innings. Cobb has allowed 10 hits in three of his starts and allows just over five runs per appearance.

Triggs will make his seventh start of the season for Oakland. He made the start last Tuesday on the road in Seattle. Triggs pitched 4.2-innings in that game giving up four runs (all earned) off six hits. He struck out four hitters and walked three while throwing 89 pitches (49 strikes). The A’s went on to lose that game 6-3.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM.

 

 

 

Timbers cut down Quakes with late goal in 1-0 victory

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–If the San Jose Earthquakes (1-5-2) didn’t have bad luck, they wouldn’t have any luck at all. Diego Valeri scored the game-winning (and only) goal for the Portland Timbers (3-3-2) in the 88th minute to propel Portland to a 1-0 victory on Saturday evening at Avaya Stadium.  It was the third loss in a row for San Jose, whose winless streak extended to seven games.

Valeri, the Argentinian forward, received a free kick was he was fouled by a Quakes defender on a controversial platy during an on-coming rush. He didn’t waste his chance as he buried the ball into the upper right corner of the goal for the game-winner.

Both teams traded chances early in the game with Timbers forward Fanendo Adi sent in a shot from the top of the D that hit off the right corner of the post in the eighth minute. Quakes forward Danny Hoesen, who received a nice feed from Vako from just outside the D, had his shot on goal stopped by Timbers goalie Jeff Attinella just a minute later.

“It’s definitely frustrating to not get a victory after so long”, said defenseman Shea Salinas on his team’s seven-game winless streak. “So we gotta look at the things we’re doing well and be more consistent with it.”

The Timbers controlled play between the 18th minute and 23rd minutes with Sebastian Blanco shot from 30 yards away was easily handled by Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell in the 18th minute. Larrys Mabiala header attempt sailed high over the goal from a set piece in the 22nd minute. Adi sent a shot wide a minute later as Portland created  sustained pressure in the Quakes defensive zone.

The Quakes would then tilt the pitch in their favor the next five minutes when Magnus Eriksson led a rush that ended in Nick Lima blasting a shot from the right corner that sailed off the top of the crossbar in the 25th minute.

The best chance for San Jose came when Mabiala tripped up Vako just outside the D box in the 29th minute. His free kick just trickled wide of the goal that beat Attinella to the right side.

The Quakes would keep the pressure on three minutes later when a shot from Hoesen ricochet off a Timbers defender on to the foot of Vako. His shot was stopped by a diving Attinella in the 32nd minute.

Portland would respond with two late chances right before halftime. Cristhian Paredes’ shot in the 44th minute from 20 yards out was turned away by Tarbell. Adi then took a centering feed and his chip shot sailed wide in the 45 minute.

San Jose would control the tempo in the second half. Hoesen took a centering pass into the goal box and his header attempt was saved by Attinella. The chance came off a free kick which was a result of a yellow card issued to Diego Chara in the 53rd minute.

Hoesen then sent cross pass into Wondolowski in the 56th minute but Wondolowski’s chip shot went wide.

Christopher Wehan, who made his MLS debut in the 71st minute, sent in a shot pass from 20 yards out that deflected off Quincy Amarikwa’s foot out of play in the 76th minute.

The Quakes made a late push in the final ten minutes of the game with chances before Valeri’s goal, including a couple of chances in stoppage time but could never get the ball into the back of the net.

“I’m super disappointed from the result perspective”, said head coach Mikael Stahre. “The only thing we can do is move forward, analyze, practice harder, and hopefully we can get a victory soon.”

GAME NOTES: Scratches for Quakes- M – Tommy Thompson (illness); D – Yeferson Quintana (ankle), M – Eric Calvillo (knee) For Timber- D – Roy Miller (left Achilles tendon), F – Jeremy Ebobisse (right thigh); D – Vytas (right thigh), D – Bill Tuiloma (right knee), M – David Guzman (right knee)

San Jose Earthquakes legend, and current color commentator, Chris Dangerfield was elected into the Quakes Hall of Fame during a ceremony at halftime.

Hoesen has three goals, including the team leader with three this season, in this last eight appearances for the Earthquakes. He had eight in his first 31 games with the team.

Paredes was issued a yellow card in one minute into stoppage time in the 1st half. Anibal Godoy was issued a yellow card in the 69th minute after a tackle on Chara.

Wehan came in on a substitution for Wondolowski.

The last time the Earthquakes have gone seven consecutive MLS games without a win was Aug. 19-Sept. 28, 2016.

The Timbers won their first MLS road game since a 1-0 victory on Sept. 9, 2017 at New York City FC. Including the postseason, they are now 1-5-3 and have been outscored 16-9 since then.

Portland leads the overall series 9-4-7 against San Jose. The Quakes are 4-2-4 at home against the Timbers.

The announced attendance was 17,850.

UP NEXT: The Quakes are back on the road as they travel to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota United FC on Saturday, May 12 at 11 am PT at TCF Bank Stadium.

Giants win 3rd in a row with 11-2 rout of Braves

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that the San Francisco Giants are beginning to find their stride, despite the fact that their two top starters and closer are currently on the disabled list.

Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen each picked up three hits, and Alen Hanson hit his second home run of the season and drove in four runs, as the Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves 11-2 at SunTrust Park.

Brandon Crawford also picked up three hits and drove in two runs for the Giants, who have at least nine runs in their last three games.

With the victory, the Giants have clinched their fifth straight series and have won three in a row and 10 out of their last 13.

On the evening, the Giants as a team picked up 18 hits, as Braves starter Brandon McCarthy went just 3.1 innings.

Ty Blach picked up his third win of the season, as he went 7.2 innings and allowed just one earned run in the victory.

Hanson got his night started in the second inning, as he hit a double that scored Crawford and then in the top of the third inning, Hanson hit a McCarthy pitch just inside the right field foul pole for his second home run of the season.

The Giants blew the game wide open in the third, that saw Brandon Belt hit a run-scoring single and then Evan Longoria hit a double that fell in just out of the reach of Nick Markakis in right field for his 1,500thcareer hit that drove in Posey.

McCutchen scored on a Posey single in the top of the fourth inning, that saw the Giants score three runs, as Crawford later added a two-run double that scored both Posey and Belt.

Posey got the Giants into the double figure plateau in the top of the fifth inning, as he singled to score Gorkys Hernandez.

Nick Hundley continued his hot hitting, as he hit a single in the top of the ninth inning to score Crawford.

Unfortunately, the Giants committed three errors, including a dropped ball by Hernandez in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Giants committed two errors in the bottom of the third inning, as Crawford committed an error on a ball hit by Albies. Hanson then committed a throwing error on a ball hit by Ronald Acuna, Jr., that retired Albies at second base.

Markakis drove in the Braves final run of the evening, as he doubled to right field that scored Acuna.

The Braves took the lead for the second straight game in the bottom of the first inning, as Freddie Freeman grounded out to first base that scored Ozzie Albies from third base.

NOTES: It was another nice crowd for the Braves, as they drew 38,242 for the game, one night after setting the record of 41,807.

Melancon threw 20 pitches in the bullpen, and looks to be on track to getting off the disabled list on May 25. Currently, Melancon is on the 60-day disabled list with a right elbow strain.

Reyes Moronta was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the ninth inning after he threw eight straight balls to start the inning. Moronta left the game with a tight back.

UP NEXT: Andrew Suarez will start for the Giants on Sunday afternoon, as they look for the sweep, while the Braves will send Mike Soroka to the mound for his first start at SunTrust Park. In his major-league debut on Tuesday night, Soroka allowed one run in six innings against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Matt Harrington: Bruins, watch your tongue, Lightning just one win away; Sharks come back, but lose to Knights 5-3; plus more

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NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Matt:

#1 After the Boston Bruins Brad Marchand licked the face of the Tampa Bay Lighting’s winger Ryan Callahan, that was enough to light the fuse and the Lightning. Marchand said that Callahan punched him in the face four times and kept getting close and said it was not a big deal. The Bolts get the 4-3 win in overtime in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead.

#2 The Vegas Golden Knights got a 5-3 win in regulation to take a 3-2 series lead. The Knights well ahead of San Jose scoring a goal in the first period and two in the second, but the sleeping Shark woke up answering back with three goals to tie it 3-3 in the third period but the Knights would have none of it and roared back with two goals to win it 5-3.

#3 In Washington tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who tied up the series 2-2 with the Caps on Thursday with a 3-1 win do battle again tonight for Game 5. In Game 4, the defense put the pressure on both of the Caps and Pens key players Alexander Ovechkin for the Caps and Sid Crosby for the Pens neither scored a goal, but what’s worse was neither even got a shot on goal in Game 4.

#4 The Nashville Predators pulled off a tough win in Winnipeg on Thursday night in Game 4 to tie up the series 2-2. It’s been a back and forth series as the Jets won Game 3 at home convincingly 7-4 for their short series lead.

Matt Harrington does the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Pelicans bounce back with 19-point win over Warriors in Game 3 119-100

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Advocate staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON: New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) celebrates a dunk with New Orleans Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic (3) against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) as fans including Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, left, and Saints Cam Jordan cheer during the second half of game 3 of the conference semifinal NBA playoffs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La. Friday, May 4, 2018.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, May 7, 2018

New Orleans built a double-digit lead in the first half and cruised to a 119-100 victory over Golden State Friday in Game 3 of their best-of-seven NBA West series at New Orleans.

The Warriors still have a 2-games-to-1 lead in the series.

After JaVale McGee’s dunk gave the Warriors a one-point lead midway through the first quarter, Nikola Mirotic responded with a 3-pointer on the Pelicans’ next possession and New Orleans led the remainder of the contest. The Pelicans built a 15-point lead by the second quarter, though Golden State cut their deficit to six by halftime on Klay Thompson’s third 3-pointer of the quarter.

Thompson led the Warriors with 26 points, 20 of them in the second quarter. Kevin Durant was next with 22 and Steph Curry added 19. Draymond Green finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists

Curry became the first Warriors player to score 2,000 career postseason points, now at 2,012. He also became the first Warrior to pass the 500 postseason assist mark and passed Reggie Miller for fourth all time in career postseason 3-pointers with 322. Miller had 320.

After Solomon Hill nailed three 3-pointers in the first quarter off the Pelicans bench, the tone was set. Ex-Warrior Ian Clark scored 18 points in 22 minutes. Rajon Rondo dished out 21 assists, a Golden State playoff opponent record.

Hill and Clark combined for six of the Pelicans’ 14 3-balls while the Golden State bench was held to 10 points over the first three quarters. Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 33 points and 18 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday added 21 points and five assists.

The series continues in New Orleans at 12:30 p.m. PDT in New Orleans.