On a day like yesterday, it seems callous to talk about sports after the bombings in Boston. People's lives were changed for the worse. On the other hand, I don't have anything meaningful to say about the tragedy, just the sport related effects. What do you say about an event that leaves you speechless? A runner complained about receiving a DNF (Did not Finish) for the race. Certainly the DNF isn't meaningful in the grand scheme of things. It's not callous to talk about sport when it's much easier to hold on to the relatively meaningless results of a race. In fact, that's what what everyone was gathered there for. For information about the tragedy, go to the accounts who experienced it firsthand. Go to the newspaper writers who, on the day that Pulitzer Prizes were handed out, wrote beautifully and meaningfully. For me, I'm going to take solace in the world of sport. While the games are indeed just games, it's something that distracts us from the real tragedies in life.
IND @ BOS
After hearing the initial stories about the bombings my brain went into these directions. First, who did it? Second, are the people I know in Boston okay? Third, are there any games scheduled in Boston?* Sport was solace for me after 9/11, but sports across the nation were cancelled due to fear of future attacks. When the Yankees and Mets did take the field again, it was comforting.
The NBA made the correct decision yesterday in cancelling today's game. First, from a purely basketball perspective, this was an easy game on the schedule to cancel. The Pacers have already locked up their 3rd seed and so this game was from a playoff perspective, absolutely meaningless. The Celtics have also clinched the 7th seed in the conference. This is a game that would have been a chore to watch as both coaches would likely have benched star players. Second, considering the days events, an event in an arena would have been an absolute nightmare. Security would have been insane. The other fans would have been nervous and tense about the environment. Most importantly extra police would have likely been required, and that would have distracted from the other efforts of the Boston Police Department at the time.
*The Ottawa Senators were scheduled to play the Boston Bruins yesterday, and that was cancelled as well.
TOR @ ATL
I swear this post gets lighthearted from here.
This is the most important game of the day. Atlanta is currently in 5th place. A win here keeps them a game ahead of Chicago. If they keep pace and stay in the 5th seed they play against Joe Johnson, a former star player who was recently sent to the Brooklyn Nets. That could make for an interesting series from a marketing standpoint, because of that dynamic, but not from an actual basketball standpoint (where the Brooklyn Nets are a better team than the Hawks and would likely win in 6 or less)
Toronto will not make the playoffs, they don't even have the benefit of a draft pick. Toronto traded their pick to Houston for Kyle Lowry. Houston traded the pick and other pieces to Oklahoma City for James Harden. So now, Oklahoma City has the rights to Toronto's draft pick. The draft pick is protected, however. If the Toronto Raptors made the playoffs this year, or have a top 3 pick, then they keep the pick. The Raptors have been mathematically eliminated, so now as the 10th seed the only chance the Raptors have at keeping the pick is if they win the draft lottery in June. However, at the 10th seed, the chances that they win the lottery (or get the second or third picks) is about 4%. The Thunder front office is hoping that they keep pace and stay below Philadelphia so that they have a poor chance of retaining the pick, but still have the highest possible pick.
However, (to complicate matters) next years draft is projected to be a historically great draft, and the Raptors are still likely to be an underperforming team, so it would be even better for the Thunder (in theory), if the Raptors won the draft lottery this year, and stayed a lottery team but didn't have a top 2 pick, giving the Thunder a better player.
Confused yet? Let's move on.
POR @ LAC
The Clippers need to win this game to take care of home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. If they win this game and the next one, they clinch home court against the 5th seed. The Clippers could be ranked as high as third if they win both games and Denver loses tommorow. However, if they lose this game, then a Memphis win tommorow or a Clipper loss tommorow gives the Grizzlies home court.
The Blazers dont have any reason to want this win.
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