Well, that was certainly a letdown last night. SU caught most of the first half and the 3rd quarter before dozing off. Seriously, this game looked just like the NBA All-Star Game. The pace was great. Up and down, push the ball as quickly as possible, don’t feel the need to run down the shot clock or wait for your teammates. Could you imagine Carmelo Anthony in this game? He would never make it past half court.
Cleveland had no interest in playing defense. At all. There were more than a few plays where Durant dribbled up court and the seas parted to allow him to finish with a dunk. Golden State missed a ton of layups; otherwise, they would easily have scored 140 points.
End of series? SU says no. This is what happens when you have a long lay-off between games. Game 2 will tell the story for the Cavs. The series is just beginning. I think. But they need to make some adjustments on defense. Kevin Love is the liability factor as he really cannot cover anyone on the floor. He’s just too slow-footed as Lonzo Ball’s dad would say.
SU liked the Yankees’ line-up adjustment moving Judge up to 3rd to provide some protection for Sanchez and to get him more at bats. Once Bird returns, this could be a really terrific offensive line up. The key will be to get Ellsbury to buy into a more limited role as Hicks needs to play much more than him. SU says enough catering to the veterans. Bat him 8th and rotate him in and out. He makes $22 million a year – there are worse things to happen to a guy. Be a good teammate and wait for your chance to play more. He should be the odd man out.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Agreed… so much run and gun. That’s the Golden State way. LeBron and Cleveland will need to slow it down if they have any shot here. If Durant can consistently score that many points in the paint this series is over. They simply have too much fire power. Cleveland’s 3 stars plus JR will need to all play at a high level to make this a series. I believe they will make some adjustments… but seriously who will cover Durant if there is a switch?
So the Yankees, I believe now will go on another run by taking at least 3 out of 4 against Toronto and then come home to continue to win some series. By this time next week we will be 15 games above 500. The offense is only going to continue to get better. Sanchez’s 2 homers just may be a sign of picking up where Judge has cooled down homerun-wise. Bird getting near ready. Ellsbury was also having a solid year will be back shortly. The word for the Yankkees offense is DEPTH. I don’t recall at anytime since the early 60’s where we had so much fire power offensively. Judge and Sanchez are the 21st century Mantle and Maris…. maybe. If this other guy from our farm system is the real deal which allows Headley to take more time on the bench where are we going to be weak offensively? I can live with winning games 7-5 or 9-4 anytime…. What a potentially exciting time now in Yankeeland. This is an easy 90 win team this year… and probably more. They only need to play 8 games above 500 for the rest of the season to achieve this. After this weekend it will be 7 games..
PS I am looking forward to a rematch against Houston later in the season.
I worried about the pressure on Judge but he seems to be handling it well. I love that he will take his walks and his singles and hits to the opposite field.
We spent last season waiting for the return of Bird. Then we saw him for a month and it was unimpressive. Now we’re waiting for his return again. I am looking forward to having him back in the lineup but I don’t have high expectations. I do not want the fortunes of this team resting on his shoulders. Here’s the good news. It doesn’t have to. They are getting next to no production from the corner infield positions and, while unusual, it hasn’t been a problem. Somebody has to hit 8th and 9th in this lienup. I expect Greg Bird to hit at the bottom of the order and be an upgrade over Chris Carter. But I don’t expect a huge offensive impact.
How many reigning HR champs bath 9th as many times as Chris Carter? And how many teams bat their 1st and 3rd basemen at the bottom of the lineup?
Gleyber Torres has been rotating through playing SS, 2nd and 3rd for Scranton. They really don’t seem to want him coming up in July and displacing Headley. They are in love with Headley. Maybe he’s a great clubhouse guy. Maybe he’s the glue that holds the team together. Maybe he’s the guy who’s going to keep Judge focused. I don’t know. Based on the numbers and planning for the future, Torres should be working at 3rd base exclusively.
Agreed on Ellsbury. No need to run him out there every day. He’s always been brittle. Let him play about half the time. His contract has already already proven itself to be a mistake. It shouldn’t dictate his playing time.