SU did not have the Yankees scoring 18 runs in 2 games in the Wild Card series against the Red Sox and in the process, accumulating double digit hits in both games. We saw bunting, stealing, and deliberate attempts to put the ball in play. I repeat: deliberate attempts to put the ball in play.

Did Brian Cashman get stranded in Tampa? Was there no communication with the analytics team? As always, SU has a few thoughts to share with the intergalactic subcriber base:

1. It was subtle but all of a sudden, there is competition for playing time in the playoffs. By taking 16 position players on the roster for this series, we now see platooning going on in center field, right field, 2nd base and 3rd base. Players like Jazz Chisholm can no longer assume that they will be playing every day after hitting .220 for most of the year. Same with McMahon at 3rd, Ramos in right and Grisham in center.
2. Think of what we saw. Grisham sacrificed and even got a hit out of it. McMahon tried to bunt for a hit and then hit a weak grounder to the left side to get a run in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. Volpe sacrificed. This was like the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs last year. Here’s a question from the fan base: why not do this all year long?
3. Grisham cannot play centerfield in the next series with the Rays. On artificial turf, he is a liability. Jazz made a great over the shoulder catch on a pop up last night that SU would guess 99% of all centerfielders catch easily. He also jogged in on a bloop hit that became a double. Is his hamstring an issue? Perhaps. If the Yankees add a pitcher, he may have to be sacrificed although SU would also keep Rosario off the roster.
4. Thank goodness Boone resisted putting up Stanton with the bases loaded and no one out in the 2nd game. Face it: if Stanton hit a hard ground ball at someone, that is a triple play waiting to happen. No way he can run hard. I would not put him on the roster for the Rays series.
5. As for Judge, if he is going to play, he has to be able to play right field. You cannot DH him and then sit either Garcia Jr. or Rice. The Yankees need to protect Judge from himself. You do not want him to tear his Achilles and then miss all of 2027. And you don’t want him playing the field on turf. Not worth the risk. SU would add that he is a rhythm hitter and needs a lot of repetition to get in the groove. I don’t see it as a smart move.
6. Can we all agree that managers need to actually look at the game in progress before taking out a starter vs. following the analytics? Gray was having no issues last night and the dude won 18 games this year. Just a dumb move to take him out in the 5th inning. Of course, it backfired big time.
7. Willson Contreras is a punk. Enough of this guy. His home run trot could have been timed with a sun dial. Just ridiculous and no Yankee fan would have had an issue if he was drilled his next time up. SU loved that Bellinger took his sweet time rounding the bases after his home run as that was surely a response to Contreras’s nonsense. Just play the game the right way.
8. SU was very surprised at just how anemic the Boston offense was in this series. But they were terrible in September and it clearly carried over.

Regarding the announcing, SU is a fan of Joe Girardi on the YES broadcasts. He always comes prepared and is very smart. But NBC having 4 guys talking (including Anthony Rizzo next to the dugout) was way too many words per minute for SU. I rarely mute the television for any sports event but they hit the maximum that my brain could handle. They are still not at the level collectively of John Smoltz on FOX who is the worst in the business in terms of “please stop talking.” But very close here.

Credit to Aaron Boone for not over managing this series and getting his players to “check your egos at the door.” That needs to continue the next round. The Rays series is best of 5 and the Yankees historically find ways to lose games in Tropicana Field. Defense is going to matter. The Rays have great pitching and they also just put the ball in play on the turf. It will be interesting to see what Boone does with the rotation. There is an off day on Sunday and then again on Tuesday and Friday if necessary. Rodon has pitched very well down the stretch. Cole much less so. The Yankees have the best rotation in the playoffs. The goal is to not screw this up.

Stay tuned…

SU is a fan of the best of 3 Wild Card round in MLB. It’s fair that you pay a penalty of a short series for not winning your division or not having the best record in your League. I also like having all 3 games in one city. That’s a reward for caring about having a better record than the other teams come September and running through the tape as they say.

Btw, I do not like the best of 3 format in the WNBA playoffs for all 8 teams. I know they are rushing to finish the season as the NBA gets going in a few weeks but best of 5 feels much better to me. But I digress.

SU is looking at the Yankees vs. Red Sox series (naturally) as they run it back from 2025. Per usual, the Yankees took off 80 games during the season where they play lethargically, lose every extra inning game and wonder why Aaron Boone managed teams do this every year. They fell short to the Rays and here we are. Boston has its own injury issues with Contreras possibly not being available and Gasper hurt. Of course, Judge is a likely not going to be on the roster and Stanton, who has been elevated to a slow jog, is still not playing (I assume).

The Yankees have great starting pitching (SU would say the best in baseball this year) and Bednar is a lock down closer. The set up guys (Blackman and Headrick) have had great years but they were overused and they are not a sure thing now. Yankee starters go 6 innings – that is pretty much it and SU says this series will be won in the 7th and 8th innings. If Weathers is available, that would be huge for the Yankees. But I do worry about Headrick in particular – he pitched so many innings this year and was not as effective in September.

Boston will throw every left handed pitcher available at the Yankees this series. Sonny Gray will start one of the games and he has been tough on the Yankees recently although not always over the course of his career. Otherwise, lots of lefties including Chapman as the closer. SU’s concern is that Boone is going to overstack the lineup with right handed hitters and it will also mean putting Garcia, Jr. on the bench. Goldschmidt will start at 1st base (makes sense – no issue there) and Heliot Ramos will play every game in right field (terrifying). He is a truly bad outfielder and in a series featuring close, low scoring games, you know the ball is going to find him. And must he really bat 3rd? And late in games, you cannot even replace him with a true outfielder. A big thank you to Brian Cashman for the roster deficiencies.

Rosario is also going to play a lot as will Caballero. SU is guessing that Boone will sit Spencer Jones although he rakes against lefties. And will they start Volpe over Jazz at 2nd base? SU would do that. Check your ego at the door. I would leave Grisham off the roster for the wild card round – no need. But they can load up on some extra position players in this round.

Look, the Red Sox stopped hitting in September. They don’t score much and they are not coming into this series with any momentum. However, SU says come the playoffs, momentum is overrated. It’s all about pitching and defense.

Prediction: I say the Yankees prevail in 3 games but I can easily see the Red Sox winning this series. It is a very close call. The Yankees generally struggle against starting pitchers and do their damage against the bullpen. The left-handed hitters (Rice, Bellinger, Wells, maybe Jones) are going to have to produce.

Elsewhere, I will go with the White Sox (enough of the Astros), Braves (sorry John) and the Padres.

The floor is open for anyone to offer up their fearless predictions. SU will worry about the next round at the end of the week.

So, the Yankees have clinched their spot in the Wild Card round and we know Boston will very likely be their first round opponent. Barring a collapse by the Yankees, the best of 3 series will be played at Yankee Stadium again this year between these 2 long-time rivals. SU is already worried. Some things to consider:

1. The Red Sox will start Sonny Gray who has been very effective against the Yankees of late and then 2 lefties. Plus they have plenty of lefties in their bullpen including Chapman to close. No doubt the Yankees’ crack analytics department is already at work loading up the lineup with right handed hitters. If it was up to me, I am putting out my best hitters who have produced all year long, i.e., Rice, Garcia, Jr. But increasingly I am thinking that is not going to be the case. No doubt Boone will want to get Ramos in there as well as Goldschmidt for games 2 and 3.
2. Ramos has been slightly better of late with a couple of home runs. SU can envision them putting Ramos at DH and Goldschmidt at first. Plus they continue to think that Rosario will finally start hitting left-handers this year which has not been the case to date. Oy. In this scenario, both Rice and Garcia, Jr. are on the bench.
3. Spencer Jones needs to play every game. He can actually hit left-handed pitching and is able to go the other way. What a concept. He must have learned this on his own over the years in the Yankees farm system. But will they want to put Grisham back in center if his hamstring is healed? No way, right? Believe me: way.
4. Jazz Chisholm? This one will be interesting to watch. If Volpe can hit well down the stretch, they may be tempted to put him at 2nd although his error last night was not a good sign. SU predicts Jazz plays every game if he is healthy.
5. What to do with Gerrit Cole? Boston seems to knock him around a bit plus he has not been good of late. You have to figure it’s Schlittler in game 1 and Fried in game 2. Then do you go Rodon or Cole? And do you trust Cole in the series deciding game?
6. And of course, you cannot trust Boone’s in-game decision-making. That is worth 0.5 runs per game in the negative direction.

There is still an outside chance the Yankees can catch the Rays but they would likely have to sweep them in the upcoming 4-game series to get the tiebreaker for the season. The Yankees are winning of late but if you follow the games, they almost always do nothing against the starting pitchers and do their damage vs. the bullpens. Does that translate against the better teams in a short series? The Red Sox are actually not that good this year but they put the ball in play. Tons of 2nd guessing to come in this series if the Yankees fall short.

A few other random thoughts as we head into the Fall which is the most fun time of year for sports fans with college football and the NFL kicking off combined with the MLB playoffs:

1. SU had Ben Shelton winning the US Open at the start of the tournament and he certainly came close. He has grown on me over the years (I found him annoying back in 2023 with the phone hang-up gesturing but I am old and I know many enjoy this stuff). His dad is a great influence and he seems to be on a nice trajectory. Zverev had a good game plan in the finals by giving him no pace in almost every rally and daring Shelton to be more aggressive than he probably wanted to. I think he’ll learn from this loss. Zverev has a checkered past with the abuse charges of 2 ex-girlfriends which the announcers never mention, and he can’t ever beat Alcaraz or Sinner. But you have to give him credit for taking advantage of this year’s majors with one of those two sidelined.
2. The Giants gave off great vibes on Sunday night finally beating Dallas and playing with more confidence and poise. You can already see the impact of John Harbaugh. The bar is low for them this year but there is plenty of reason for optimism.
3. SU loves college football. OK, I know we are way past the days of “student-athletes” and all that with NIL money and what is basically free agency. There are always nutty endings to games, awful calls by the officials, and now even timekeeper scandals :). Fans live and die with the blown calls and controversies, but it is certainly entertaining. Texas had a wild 4th quarter comeback vs. Ohio State, Michigan had the clock issue in game 1, etc. For the record, I do not like the cupcake games to pad records. I fully understand why it’s done given the college playoff process and the need to chalk up wins but watching Miami beat Florida A&M 77-7 is silly.
4. Finally, a couple of streaming recommendations for you. The UConn women’s basketball documentary on Apple TV is excellent. The Djokovic documentary on Amazon is OK but not must see TV for SU. Fauda season 5 is excellent – very powerful.

For those of you following along at home, Anthony Volpe had been red hot in Scranton for the past few weeks as he revamped his swing. Rather than mindlessly swinging for home runs in every at bat (Yankee system-wide credo under the leadership of Brian Cashman), somehow Volpe must have gotten permission to actually change his swing to get base hits. Blasphemy!! Outrageous!! The Yankees pride themselves on developing .220 hitters who strike out a third of the time so this obviously required approval from the highest level of Baseball Operations.

OK, I will behave. The net result is that Volpe is actually hitting more home runs but he is using a much more level swing now. Jazz Chisholm gets hurt (after finally starting to hit a bit) and Volpe, in his first start back now playing 2nd base, gets 3 hits including a grand slam.

Note to Aaron Boone: Volpe is on a heater. Maybe, just maybe, you put him in the lineup every day now for the rest of the regular season at 2nd base or even shortstop. And come October, even if Jazz returns to action, you keep him on the roster and find a place in the lineup for him to play. And yes: SU says that may mean you sit Lombard Jr. or even leave him off the October roster. Personally, I would leave off someone else (even Jazz if his thumb has not healed or anyone else). Volpe took his demotion like a man and reworked his swing. Started playing at 2nd base too. Reward the effort. Did not complain and make a fuss.

Contrast him with Jasson Dominguez who has wasted every opportunity to earn more playing time this year. Actually very sad as he is a good kid but clearly needs a change of scenery. Another overhyped Yankee prospect (I believe in the dictionary if you look up “overhyped”, you see pictures of Yankee prospects but not sure).

And for Boone/Cashman, the same holds true for Spencer Jones. Keeps his head on straight and does the work. He is your October centerfielder. No need to keep Trent Grisham around and his jogging speed in the outfield. Play the home-grown young guys and roll the dice. And he can hit lefties.

Surely these are easy calls by management. And surely they are going to screw it up. SU has spoken.

SU has been a long-time fan of Novak Djokovic going back many years. I don’t agree with everything he says but as an old person, I have learned to not love or hate on athletes based on what they say (although I do have my limits). However, I have always admired his fight and what he has achieved over the course of his career – especially against Federer and Nadal. Basically, every match he played against them was an “away” match with the crowd solidly behind the other guy across the net. Given the quality of competition in this era, he is deserving of the GOAT status in my opinion.

He is now 39 and hardly plays outside of the Grand Slam events. You have to give him credit: he has been making the semifinals of pretty much every tournament but generally runs into Alcaraz or Sinner, and his body just can’t stand up to 7 rounds of best of 5 tennis anymore. Lately, if there is any humidity in the air or if the temperature is above 70 degrees, he basically gets sick on the court almost immediately. Over his career, he has struggled to play in heat and humidity so it’s really nothing new. But at age 39 and not being in the best shape due to lack of competition, he gets sick after a handful of games.

SU believes Djokovic has a choice now: play more tournaments and get yourself in better shape stamina-wise to compete or retire. Last night, he was throwing up all over the court and then his body locked up in the last couple of sets. I am sure he has a lot of pride and does not want to put out this type of product in the first round against journeymen type players. It’s possible there is some type of medical condition at play here but again, he has struggled in heat and humidity going back to his early years. The difference is that his body could adjust on the fly and he would rally during those matches. Appears to not be the case anymore.

SU prediction: he will want the swan song tour and will look to exit at Wimbledon, 2027 – perhaps the US Open. I would be shocked if he just decided now to hang it up. But let’s see…

The Yankees showed me something this weekend. True, the effort Saturday afternoon was weak but we have seen that type of game going back the last 3 months. Credit to Will Warren yesterday for pitching the best game of his young career when the bullpen was shot and they needed innings. The Yankees benefited by the non-overturn of a great catch in center field and the Red Sox imploded from there. Not that they didn’t complain about it after the game. And their radio announcers? Outraged, I say outraged, by Jazz Chisholm stealing 2nd and 3rd in the 8th inning of a 7-1 game. Boston elected to not hold him on at 1st base. SU has seen enough games this year where teams have staged late comebacks and the Yankees did not have much depth in the bullpen yesterday. It was absolutely appropriate to try and score more runs and it’s not up to the Red Sox to say that they are waiving the white flag. SU had no problem trying to score more runs there. The radio announcer wanted them to hit Wells as he was the next batter. No doubt fines are to come for this guy.

Neither the Yankees or the Red Sox are great teams. Each is flawed and SU does not see either of them winning it all this year. The Yankees flashed some offense the last 2 games and maybe, just maybe, that carries over to the upcoming road trip out West. For SU, the problem is that if you start winning games and your starting pitchers are going 5 – 6 innings, you need to get 3-4 innings from the bullpen and they do not have enough quality relievers to do that – especially in close, low scoring games. Headrick has been great but he is giving up runs now in each outing. Severely overused.

Heliot Ramos had enough of the hating from SU and credit to him for hitting a big home run yesterday. But he should be the odd man out once Judge returns although SU suspects Boone is going to DH Judge and Ben Rice may also lose some starts.

Keep an eye on the return of Anthony Volpe in September and SU believes he is going to have some big moments down the stretch.

Bottom line: we hate the Red Sox and that was a huge win yesterday to help secure home field for the Wild Card series come October.

In the 2026 MLB season, you really don’t have to be that good to win the AL. You just don’t. A mediocre team that takes care of business against the bad teams can come out with the best record and advance to the World Series.

Cue up the Yankees. Now, their pitching is actually elite – especially the starters despite the continued injuries to Fried and now Weathers. And the bullpen, while lacking 1 – 2 pieces, has been solid. However, it is clear to SU that the “trusted” relievers are a man short and they are going to be overused and gassed come October. The more you win, the more you call on these guys to pitch and it will not hold up. The Yankees desperately need to move one of the starters there – hopefully it will be Weathers as he is already at a career high for innings pitched and he has done it before.

All the Yankees need is just a little offense. And that is a good thing as this roster can only produce a little offense. Spencer Jones is showing signs of being a productive, everyday player. It will come down to whether Aaron Boone (pressured by Brian Cashman to put in one of the guys he just traded for) sits Heliot Ramos. He is epically bad – no shame in admitting that. Can’t perform in New York. He joins a list of many. SU would just play Jones every day and not pinch hit for him ever. He hangs in vs. lefties and while he strikes out a lot (clearly the Yankees groom their youngsters to do that in the minor leagues and don’t give a sh*t), no one really cares. It’s all about the upper cut swing and hitting home runs. Of course, this won’t work in October against the better pitching but perhaps the analytics department does not have stats for the post-season?

SU’s point is that the Yankees have the pitching to have the best record in the AL. The loss of Stanton for the rest of the year (most likely) is not a big deal. His return would have just created a logjam at DH with Rice. Btw, SU does not hate on Stanton – he is a good guy, always talks to the media and is accountable. His body has given out on him and that is too bad. SU wishes him well but I would also not bring him back for the last year of his contract. Time to move along for both sides.

Right now, the key is to sit Ramos. The actual order of batters makes no difference. Seriously. No one hits for average, no one ever hits based on the situation (see extra innings futility) and moving runners along is a foreign concept. But they do need to hit more home runs and SU does believe that Ben Rice has a hot streak in him. It’s coming.

The key now is to show up next weekend against the Red Sox and remember that you got swept by them in Fewnway not that long ago. How about playing with a chip on your shoulders and not hugging the opposing players when you see them on base?

My long-winded point: the Yankees are majorly flawed on offense but there is no excuse now to not win the division and have best record heading into October. They are still unwatchable but it is time to perform.

Brian Cashman made his first major move by trading for Luis Garcia, Jr. from the Nationals who by all accounts hits home runs, is a lifetime .268 hitter and has never struck out more than 90 times in a season. On paper, he is not a good fit with the Yankees based on those statistics. Makes too much contact, gets hits – what were they thinking?

No doubt the Yankee hitting coaches will teach him to hit with an upper cut (see Anthony Volpe flail time after time) and not worry about not moving runners along. Better to go for the home run and not play situational baseball. Better to lose every extra inning game by playing mindlessly.

I know: just another arrogant Yankee fan who complains about a team with the 2nd best record in the AL. But SU has watched enough games this year and since Bellinger is now down to go along with Stanton and Judge, they have zero offense. Worse than that: Ben Rice is the only player worth watching come to the plate. Seriously, who else might actually put the ball in play for a hit? What is extra frustrating is that their starting pitching is excellent and their bullpen has somehow pieced it together even though they need at least one or two quality relievers. The AL is there for the taking this year.

SU is not familiar with Garcia but he can hit from what I see. Goldschmidt will be the odd man out as he plays first base but this lineup is so anemic right now. Bellinger is out until mid-September and Stanton may get hurt walking to the bathroom tomorrow. Not clear Judge even returns this year. Jasson Dominguez has been such a disappointment. Seems like a good kid but he has 15 RBIs for the season. And cannot play the outfield. SU says his shortcomings on defense are appalling as they have had him in their system since he was 16. He still throws to the wrong base.

SU gives Cashman credit for developing Rice, Spencer Jones (he shows signs and is athletic) and Schlittler (and Judge) but Volpe is now a bust and the rest of the lineup all came from other places. He has until 6 pm today to add pieces to the bullpen and maybe get a right handed hitting catcher. We know the prospects are always overrated so other than Lombard, figure anyone is expendable.

Luis Arraez just got traded to the Phillies. Always hits .300. And always gets traded. SU is clearly not up on the most important analytics but I still can do the eye test. You can put a .300 hitter on my team – thank you very much.

Right now, they are unwatchable. Strike out at an alarming rate. SU does not blame Boone as he does not have the players who can hit. Boone will continue to make questionable decisions regarding relievers but this season is not on him. How is it that the Dodgers farm system is so stacked?

The net result is that SU, a lifelong Yankee fan, cares less. They have worn me down. Boston is going to pass them soon enough and losing in the wild card round is not acceptable for this team. Starting pitching is just so good – it’s crazy they are this lame offensively.

Aaron Boone thinks this year’s roster is ready to win it all. He also said the same thing about last year’s team which SU would say was fanciful thinking. No doubt Brian Cashman agrees given how few off season moves there were for the Yankees.

Getting swept up in Boston against a bad Red Sox team is clearly not good. But losing with such little offense in a stadium built for offense was embarrassing. It seemed like they were being no hit deep into every game. The Yankees have injuries but so does every other MLB team. SU has a handle on what this team lacks – it’s not hard to identify the issues. But the AL is so, so mediocre this year – no excuse not to get to the World Series. Here is what is going on:

1. The offense has been carried by Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Rice for most of the year. Judge was mediocre while he was in there. Grisham had come on of late prior to his injury. But offensively, there are several positions where the Yankees get almost no production. You can get away with the holes if you have great pitching though.
2. Starting pitching has been excellent. The injury to Max Fried hurt but he should be back soon and that will allow them to put Weathers in the bullpen where he is badly needed. As in badly. Doval can’t pitch in New York – we have seen enough there. The bullpen was an issue in Spring Training and no doubt Cashman will add to that come the trade deadline. SU does note that aside from Bednar, he fanned on Doval and Bird last year so not a sure thing. The Yankees do have some youngsters who can be elevated this year.
3. Yankee prospects are always overhyped and overrated. Amazingly so. Dominguez has shown some flashes and SU is glad that he is playing every day now. But given all the hype, e.g., “the Martian”, he is looking a bit more worldly. Spencer Jones is athletic but can his minor league home runs translate in the major leagues? Very unclear. Volpe probably deserves to play somewhere else rather than keep being tortured by Yankee fans who will never be satisfied with him.
4. Sounds like Judge is out until late August and Stanton – well who knows? Even if he returns, he will be an injury waiting to happen even if he is jogging to first base. As SU has said for about 8 – 9 years, that was a bad addition. True, he is a great October player and he’s a stand up guy but given how much salary space he occupies, not worth it.
5. Bellinger has generally been great for the Yankees but he is slumping now and you have to worry that he might relapse into a mediocre player which he was for a number of years with the Dodgers and Cubs. I do think he will snap out of it though. Rice is slumping but you have to roll him out there every day. Goldschmidt is showing signs of overuse – need to pick your spots with him.

Bottom line: they are now down 5 in the loss column to the Rays and play them in a big 4-game series in Tampa next week. The offense needs the most help when it comes to upgrades. SU would not fire Boone although if they do not snap out of this losing streak, no doubt a change will come. Rob Thompson has Yankee pedigree and would be a nice fit here I think. Anyone will be a better in-game manager than Boone who is epically bad. Boone is a very good communicator – that is his strength.

Mitchell Robinson is getting paid by Boston to the tune of $47 million for 3 years. Good for him. SU says they are overpaying for a guy who will only play 40 games a year but he’s a good dude and happy for him. SU agrees with Dolan not to go into the 2nd apron as it really restricts your moves with trades, draft picks, signing free agents, etc. I don’t think it was a money issue for Dolan.

Celtics trade of Brown for Paul George is very odd. George is older, injury-prone and clearly on the downside of his career while Brown is younger and in his prime. They are both overpaid – around $50-60 million a year (crazy salaries in the NBA these days). But Boston is built to win now and seems misguided not to go all in this year.

SU also does not understand why the Raptors want to bring back Kawhi Leonard who is always either injured or on load management restrictions. And I don’t understand why the Wizards feel it’s so important to hang on to Anthony Davis who is also always hurt and on the downside of his career. I clearly do not understand being a GM in the NBA but on the other hand, most of these teams keep losing so there is that.

SU is all in on the USA Soccer team. Red card on the star scorer last night was a joke and it can’t be reviewed now so he is out for Monday’s game. Interesting to see the ineptitude in officiating extends beyond the NBA to soccer although with FIFA, you have the extra level of mystery for sure. I have watched a bunch of World Cup games and am starting to get a better taste for soccer. I do like the 2-hour windows for the games and I can appreciate that the penalty kicks are not layups by any means. Not sure I can watch beyond the World Cup but this has been a fun tournament.

Jalen Brunson does not possess the physical talents of many other NBA players. Not a leaper, certainly not the tallest and not the quickest. But he is the best prepared and the hardest worker. It’s his footwork – so practiced for every move and he seems to add to his repertoire every off season.

SU did feel he was taking too many shots over the first 3 games of the series with the Spurs and that perhaps San Antonio was perfectly happy with that. But Brunson figured something out the last 2 games and carried the Knicks to the championship. Especially in game 5 where KAT had 2 points and the bench produced almost nothing. 45 points is Jordan-like and the Knicks needed every one of them. You wonder if the Spurs regretted not sending 2 defenders at him for the entire 4th quarter to make him give up the ball? Brunson is truly the finisher and the closer.

SU had a few observations on this series:

1. Wemby is a generational player and the NBA will build around him going forward. Unique talent, international, only 22. He is what the doctor ordered. However, he is a bit of a dirty player. Some of that is having defenders lean on him constantly and getting frustrated. But he also likes to flail his arms and elbows and the League needs to control that.
2. You can say that the officials let the players play in game 5 and swallowed their whistle in large part. SU would say they missed so many calls and allowed things to get too physical. Even the announcers were commenting on that. For the NBA, you want the free flow of movement and the high scoring. SU does too. But you need to maintain that level of consistency in the playoffs. There was a play in the last minute where Brunson was hounded moving sideways at half court. Harper fouled him 2-3 times and there was no call. Almost had a back court violation. Harper in particular as well as Castle are excellent defenders but their actions crossed the line and were fouls. Refs allowed that all series. The NBA needs to clean that up for next season.
3. Wemby got away with throwing Brunson to the ground in game 3 and then stepping into his landing area in game 5. Both were non-calls. If there had been a game 6, he should have been suspended and that play reviewed to upgrade it to a flagrant. SU was curious if they would have had the backbone to do that.
4. The Spurs are young and super talented. It’s easy to say that they will win it all next year – maybe they will. But no guarantees and they need to figure out who is the “man” at the end of games. They led in the 4th quarter every game. They were great in the 1st quarter but really fell short late.

Just a great playoff run for the Knicks who are a true team. No doubt off season free agency will weaken this roster but hopefully any new additions will buy into what they are doing there. Mike Brown deserves tremendous credit. He was not close to their first choice as coach but the Knicks brass lucked into getting him. He used the regular season to figure out who could excel in the playoffs and got the players to check their egos at the door. In the today’s NBA, well, no one is doing that.

SU has never blamed the refs for wins or losses. It’s an easy trap to fall into when your team is losing or you fall short in a big game. The Knicks lost game 3 in New York and yes, you can certainly point to the free throw disparity in the 2nd half (24 for the Spurs vs. 8 for the Knicks). To Mike Brown’s credit, he did not say that the Knicks were not fouling. But he was wondering if the Spurs somehow were not fouling in a game where they played very physical defense. What is going on here? SU has the answers for you:

1. Apparently, the way it works is that different refs are used for each playoff game. I believe they are paid a bonus for being selected to work the finals and therefore, it’s financially rewarding for multiple refs to work the games. SU wonders if having so many different refs creates different environments for calling fouls as let’s face it: a foul in one game is not always a foul in another game. Might it be different if the same refs called the entire series? Something to consider.
2. The Spurs have been playing very physical defense in all 3 games as SU has pointed out. Their guards pick up at half court or even full court on Brunson. He is bumped, grabbed, pushed – no calls. What happens in basketball is that the aggressor is rewarded for being aggressive with no fouls called. It’s wrong, it’s not fun to watch and in the end, the teams that play motion offenses are hurt. It makes the games unwatchable and it’s not what we see in the regular season. And Wemby gets away with flailing elbows and no calls. He tossed Brunson to the ground at one point – no call. Mike Breen even said in the 2nd quarter that the refs had to get the game under control as it was so physical. We all see it. A foul in January is a foul in June.
3. But here is the bigger issue for the Knicks. Brunson is taking 25 – 30 shots a game, and KAT is marginalized on offense. In fact, the Spurs are putting a smaller player on KAT to prevent him from getting the ball up high and being able to orchestrate from there. To do that, they grab and hold him – no calls ever. BUT… the problem for the Knicks is that Brunson is just dribbling out the clock at mid-court and then going one on one. The Knicks only had 18 assists last night. Way too much of this offense. Way too Brunson-centric and they are going to lose the series if it continues. He is getting his points but they come at the expense of his teammates who are not getting in any type of rhythm. SU expects this to change in game 4 which now becomes a very crucial game for each team.
4. The playoffs are all about adjustments game to game. Brown will surely do that now and the refs will start to call fouls on the Spurs in the 1st quarter for the grabbing and holding. SU is old and I have seen it before. Ask Phil Jackson.

SU fully expects the Knicks to win game 4. If you think about it, the Knicks played poorly for 3 of the 4 quarters last night and still almost won the game. The Spurs cannot play much better. On the other hand, the Spurs have outplayed the Knicks for the majority of minutes across the 3 games, and the Knicks are fortunate to be up 2-1. Change the Brunson-dominant offense and all will be well.

Thoughts? Or did the Knicks get jobbed and Brunson is the star and needs to be the focal point? The floor is open.