The NBA’s top seeds showed why they topped their conferences last night…
while we almost missed a dramatic NHL moment.
Top Seeds Flex Muscles
What Happened: The top seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference began their respective second round series, and both teams looked deserving of their top spots.
Why It Matters: Boston took down the Cavaliers by 25 points on its home court, doing nothing to dissuade anyone that the Celtics at -115 to win the NBA title is a bad bet.
Meanwhile, before the playoffs began, there was talk that the LA Lakers should lose their first play-in game to avoid the Denver Nuggets and earn a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder instead.
The Thunder are making that notion look foolish. They swept the Pelicans in Round 1, and last night knocked off the Dallas Mavericks by 22 points. OKC’s odds to win the title (+650) still trail the Timberwolves (+300) but maybe people are simply underestimating a team that went 57-25 in the regular season.
How We’re Feeling Today
Puzzled by a decision ESPN made last night.
In the closing seconds of a 3-3 game between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, the ESPN telecast suddenly cut to…the warm-up skate between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
Luckily, the relatively short cut didn’t miss the eventual game-winning goal, but with both teams pressing for a regulation winner, fans watching the game were puzzled by the broadcast suddenly switching over to a game that didn’t even start yet.
Someone goofed, but thankfully it didn’t turn from a minor blip into a major screwup.
The Look Ahead
Sam Reinhart SOG – Reinhart’s line for tonight is 3.5 shots and can be found for plus-money on some books as of this writing. Reinhart tallied a whopping six shots in the Game 1 loss to Boston, and has recorded fewer than four shots in only one game so far this postseason.
