Russell Westbrook is officially out of the playoffs
As reported yesterday on SB3, Russell Westbrook had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the playoffs. The meniscus was torn and repaired rather than removed. The timetab;e for Westbrook’s return will be announced sometime next week.
Bulls win in three OTs, Grizz, Hawks and Thunder win
In Saturday night’s NBA playoff action, Chicago outlasted Brooklyn 142-134 in triple-overtime to take a 3-1 series lead over Brooklyn. Memphis evened it’s series with the Clippers with a 104-83 win. The Grizz outscored LA 33-16 in the final stanza to blow open a close game. Atlanta broke through with a 90-69 win over Indianapolis. The Hawks still trail 2-1 in that series. Kevin Durant scored 41 points including a late dagger trey to carry OKC to a 104-101 win at Houston. The Thunder lead that series 3-0.
Sunday NBA Playoff Preview
Four games on the Sunday NBA playoff slate and three teams can close out their series with wins. In the 1:00 PM EST opener. The Knicks can close out the Celtics with a win at TD Garden. The Knicks are -2 road faves with the high/low set at 181 1/2. At 3:30 PM EST, the Miami train has the broom in hand at the Bradley Center. The Heat are laying 8-points with the total down a point to 195. Dwayne Wade is a game time decision. The Spurs are -11.5 at the Staple center as they look to eliminate the injury riddled Lakers. Metta World Peace is the latest Laker that will be riding the pine after having his recently surgically repaired knee drained. In this year’s best first round series, Denver is a -1.5 point favorite over Golden State. The over/under is 212 1/2 and the warriors lead 2-1 in the series.
Saturday NFL Draft highlights, Round 4 run on QBs
The NFL draft ended today with rounds 4-7 being completed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The run on quarterbacks came in the fourth round with the Philadelphia Eagles trading up to take Saturday’s first pick and grabbing USC quarterback Matt Barkley with the No.98 overall pick. Ryan Nassib will back up Eli Manning in New Yorks after being taken at No.110 by the Giants. The Raiders grabbed Arkansas’ Tyler Wilson two picks later. Pittsburg made Oklahoma’s Landry Jones the heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger with pick No.115. Tyler Bray from Tennessee went undrafted.
South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore went No.131 to the 49ers. This year’s “Mr Irrelevent”, the final pick of the draft, was South Carolina TE Justice Cunningham who went No.254 to the Colts/
MLB News and Notes
Matt Moore pitched six innings of three-hit one-run ball to improve to 5-0 after a Tampa Bay 10-4 win over the White Sox. Moore became the first pitcher in franchise history to win five games in April.
MLB suspended Pittsburg southpaw Jonathon Sanchez for throwing at St Louis’ Allan Craig. Sanchez drilled Craig in the shoulder after getting touched up for two homers and a single in the first three batters that he faced. Sanchez said that he will appeal.
Red Wings and Wild secure the final two NHL playoff spots
Today is the final day of the NHL regular season but the final two playoffs spots were decided last night when the Red Wings beat shut out Dallas 3-0 and Minnesota beat Colorado 3-1. Detroit will be the 7th seed in the West and will compete in their 22nd straight playoff. The Wild locked up the eight-spot and make the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Harvick wins at Richmond
Kevin Harvick held off a late run by Cliff Bowyer to win Saturday night’s Nascar Sprint Cup race at Richmond. Joe Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five. Jimmie Johnson finished 12th but still leads the Cup standing by 43 points over Carl Edwards who was sixth.
UFC 159 results ….. Jones by KO
Jon “Bones” Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight title with a first round KO of Chael Sonnen. Jones came out the aggressor and took the fight to the ground, pummeling Sonnen with vicious elbows in the ground and pound. Sonnen was bleeding profusely before the referee made the save at the 4:33 mark. In the co-features, Roy “Big Country” Nelson was a one-punch KO winner over Chiek Kongo while Michael Bisping won by technical decison over Alan Belcher.
Danny Garcia beats Zab Judah by unanimous decision
Dany Garcia retained his WBA and WBC junior welterweight belts with a unanimous decision victory at the Barclay Center. Garcia (26-0, 16 KOs) dominated early on but appeared to run out of gas in the final rounds. The judges scored it 116-111, 115-112 and 114-112, with all three giving Judah the last three rounds.
Free Play
(NBA) Knicks -2.5 over Boston (Sunday, April 28, 1:00 PM EST )