Connery’s Views from a recliner

Wednesday night’s game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals saw the Milwaukee Bucks steal one against the Boston Celtics. For Boston, playing at home, having a double-digit late, breakdown defensively, it was just an awful way to lose.

Tonight, it was on to game 6 in Milwaukee, with the suddenly millions of ‘diehard lifelong Bucks fans, prime-time game on ESPN, presumed verbal ball washing of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the ‘scrappy, gutty’ Grayson Allen, whom I loathe (cough overrated, cough dirty player, cougu protected because he played for Duke), my coughing fit aside, it has the markings of a game best viewed with the sound muted.

Then, the game started. I must admit, for all the reasons above, and not having Robert Williams at Center, to try, yes I try to stop Giannis, (he is an incredible player), I wasnt too optimistic.

In thinking about, Game 5, I felt the Celtics settled for the 3 too often. I know that’s a big part of their game, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, they all are proficient from deep. But, I felt like, go inside, go at Giannis, make him overcommit, get him in foul trouble, let his over agression and recklessness take him out of the game, then start raining threes. But, that didn’t happen, they blew a big lead, and here we were at Game 6.

The game began with the Celtics launching threes, you can mail me that arm chair Coach of the Year Award, but this time, the threes were going in!!! It was hard not to get that excited sense of ‘Game 7’ very early on.

Now, I fully expected Giannis to get his. I expected a big game from him, I expected the cut aways to the crowd going nuts inside and outside the arena. I expected it all and my predictions came true, Antetokounmpo was a beast, he had 44 points and 20 rebounds, the last person to do that in a playoff game was Shaq, pretty impressive company. And, oh by the way, Antetokounmpo finished with 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks! He’s like a taller version of Brian Urlacher, size, speed and quickness with the strength and physicality of Steve Atwater, he’s just built so solid. I’m smirking now, remembering, a bump to backdown Marcus Smart last night, poor Marcus went flying and Antetokounmpo dunked hard. It was one of those moments, were you just said, ‘wowwwwww’

BUT

Remember, the hot start the Celtics had? Well, they continued to shoot well for the majority of the game, and do all the things necessary to stave off elimination, win game 6 on the road, and get to a game 7, at home on Sunday. It was truly a team effort in all phases.

Ultimately, the Cs were led by Jayson Tatum. Now, Tatum, like Giannis, is the ultimate team guy. A star that does everything, but he doesn’t have to lead the stat sheet or be the center of attention on or off the court, I’m looking at you, Kyrie.

On this night, Tatum did it all, took his team on his back, and led them, willed them to be victorious. 46 points, including 7 shots made from deep, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. It was just punch, counter-punch, all night long, and the shots and the effort by both stars and teams, it was awesome to watch.

And, oh by the way, the New York Rangers won their Game 6, yes on the road, forcing a Game 7 at home Sunday night against Pittsburgh. Please spare me, the ‘well Crosby didn’t play!!!‘ whining of Penguin fans, the Rangers were better and luckier than Pittsburgh on this night.

Sooooooo, Sunday from 3:30 till about 11 should be fun in the Connery household! Be back next week with recaps of it all. Have a great, happy and safe weekend all.

Editor’s Note; Before, I begin, person to person, I have no real ‘hate’ for anyone. Hate, in today’s times, it’s just too strong a word. People shouldn’t hate. However, In sports, and especially sports fandom, hate, well I won’t use hate, loathe is probably a better term. The following outlines once again, why it’s okay to loathe Tom Brady.

Now, I must say, Tom Brady as a player, he’s fantastic. Longevity, heart, toughness, balls the size of grapefruits, Brady has proven without a doubt he deserves every accolade and praise he receives.

Tom Brady, the player, TB12, his brand, I have blood boiling rage for him and said brand. ‘I’m going to retire, actually, I’m in my 40s but in great shape, let me give it a shot….and hey, lets put cryptic tweets about it on Super Bowl weekend’ This decision to unretire wasn’t about winning, it wasn’t about the fans, it was and is about staying relevant.

Athletes, by nature, are insecure. We’ve seen it for years. A diminished Michael Jordan with the Wizards, Albert Pujols with the Angels, you could even argue Lebron out in LA or Odell Beckham getting released late last season, and, signing with the LA Rams. These aren’t moves or act ot charity. If Lebron’s focus was basketball, he’d go to Minnesota, be a mentor to their young nucleus and maybe win a title, the story book ending. Similarly, Beckham could go to Carolina and help those guys find sustained success. But did they? No, they chose places with a ton of media and a huge market to stay relevant.

Outside of the market size, I’ll put it out rhere, Brady came back for relevancy. Realizing ‘oh shit, I’m not going to be a lead story anymore, I better do something!’

So, Brady comes back, okay I can live with that. He’ll play until he can’t anymore because he’s a warrior. Fine. But, after yesterday, I can’t defend his warrior status, he’s an insecure hypocrite.

Yesterday, word leaked that Brady had signed a $375 million 10 year contract to be Fox NFL Sunday’s lead color guy after he retires!!! So, not only do we have to deal with the wishy washy ‘its about my family, but I’m coming back to for the fans and lead this team’, pencil that discussion in for 5-10 years from now. But after that, we have to see his face for 10 more years….at the very least, lucky us!

Back to my main point, relevancy. You think Tommy’s hurtin for money or struggling to keep the lights on at home? You think he really needs the security of 375 Mllion in 2040? Blind homerism aside, you’re crazy if you think he needs this or anything.

Lastly, what about the other analysts at Fox? Namely, Greg Olsen, Fox’s current and still Number 2 Analyst? Greg Olsen, by the way who has a very sick child at home with medical bills. Don’t you think a bump to Number 1 could have helped him, somebody who may need that extra cash?

Point is, Brady didn’t, at all. He went into business for himself to protect his brand, his interests, his relevancy.

If there is anyone out there that wants to have a civilized dialogue about my view, leave a comment.

Admittedly, it’s been a while. Without going into too much detail, sometimes life throws you curveballs and your priorities in a instant need to shift, and they did, and still are, but I couldn’t not talk about last night’s Final Four.

Before that though, have I missed anything? Not getting to the Oscar’s slap at all, the whole thing was stupid and could have been handled differently, from the off color joke, to the slap itself

Anyways, how about the New York Rangers. Someone or something very close to me will be named Gerard, for the Rangers great coach and who finally got the players to buy into a system and team concept, and for that, I’ll follow that man to the gates of hell.

Let’s see, the Celtics struggles but rebounded, the Giants might actually have semi brain functionality wthin their Head Coach and Front Office for the first time in a decade, and there’s labor peace in Baseball. I guess when you are haggling of billions of dollars in revenue and can compromise and avoid losing said revenue, things like ‘service time’ mean little.

But back to the Final Four.

The first game, Kansas shot really well, played really good, suffocating defense ane won over Villanova going away. Villanova, fought hard, getting to within 6 in the seconf half, but they were never in rhythm or able to get comfortable in their offensive sets. Plus, playing from behind, and undersized is a recipe for disaster. So, Kansas advanced. The question was who would join them on Monday night?

Okay, I get it. The Final Four, national tv, the prime time slot of the two games. Already, this sounds huge. However, there was so much more to the game, so much more.

This was Carolina & Duke. The rivalry, the fan bases, all the great players and coach, the tradition. This one had ‘all the makings’, to quote Bill Pidto, an underrated ESPN alum and current host of anything and all things New York Rangers for the MSG Sports Network.

There was also this other small thing, Duke’s Coach, Mike Krzyzewski is retiring at the end of the season. So this game, against North Carolina, could be his last. Talk about intrigue. This has best seller written all over it in storylines alone. If only there was someone who could take that on, hmmmmm.

Now admittedly, I bleed Carolina blue. Never had the opportunity to go to the Dean Dome (bucket list), but I’ve always just preferred Carolina over Duke. I have an uncle and older and younger cousins who sided with me on the Carolina side, then other aunts and uncles, and I think my Dad at one point, probably just to bust my stones, all really liked Duke. In the case of my Dad, there was nothing better than exasperating his 5 and 6 year old son about ‘how Duke was just better’. He’d make some blanket statement like ‘well Duke is better, their coach is better’. This would que the passionate indiginite response from me ‘they are not!!!! JR Reid can outjump their whole team!!!! Dean Smith has been their longer!!!! How can you sa-‘

‘Because’

‘Because why?!?

(Beat)

‘Um, their coach is just….he’s younger. There that’s why’ (Followed by a huge smirk)

‘He’s younger! That’s your argument?!? That’s like saying the sun will rise everyday!!!’

What would follow would be me running at my Dad, pissed, jumping on him, yelling at him, sometimes even crying and screaming, but always ended laughing because he by this point was roaring.

So that long winded explanation and exchange aside, suffice to say I had a lot going thru my head. The game just had a David v. Goliaith type feel. Big bad Duke, the priennal power, against the scuffling Heels of North Carolina. Was Duke gonna dominate, was Carolina up to the task and would they continue their hot streak? To say I was amped was an understatement. I had my flavored seltzer and microwave popcorn within reach, I was ready.

The game would not disappoint and lived up to and exceeded all the hype, if that was even possible.

The game itself was a slugfest and such a back and forth affair. It was Carolina and Duke, how these games always seem to play out, close, hard fought battles, where the small error or hustle play could be the difference between winning and losing.

Watching it was intense ‘Make your free throws’ ‘Stop with bad passes!!! Slow down!!!! If Brady Manek could just make one 3!!!!’ These were all thoughts racing in my head in the first half. The half ended with Duke by three.

The second half started with me in bed, phone charging and me following intently. The half started with Carolina struggling with some misses and turnovers and Duke extending the lead 41-34. Then Caleb Love would hit the first biggest shot of his life, a 3, cutting the Duke lead to 4 at 41-37.

Love would follow with a second big 3 and the Duke lead was cut to one, 41-40. Then Brady Manek hit a 3, then Caleb Love followed with 2 quick baskets, it was 47-41 Carolina within a blink. I, knowing the rivalry thought nothing of it, Duke has some really good shooters and it was Duke after all, they weren’t going to go down easy.

On cue Trevor Keels of Duke hit a 3, do everything freshman Paolo Banchero scored a lay up and the gane waa noted at 47. What followed for the next several minutes was lead changes, big shots, bad passes, just a real back and forth of punch-counterpunch.

After a traditional 3 point play Carolina big man Armando Bacot and another timely jumper by Love, the good guys were up 5, 60-55, with 9:47 left. The teams continued matching baskets, until Duke to the lead 62-61 on a put back by Keels with 7:02 left.

More time off the clock saw much of the same basket matching, Carolina tied it on two free throws from Puff Johnson at 67 with 4:22 left.

Then, a few moments later, I just had that feeling. Brady Manek hit another huge, clutch 3, 73-71, Carolina, 1:41 left. The hell with breathing properly, this is Duke Carolina!!!

Wendell Moore Jr of Duke hit a step back 3 with 1:19 left, 74-73 Duke. When it first happened I thought ‘this son of a bitch’ (Coach K) ‘is gonna coach Monday night! Damnit!!!’

Rather than throw my phone and swear off college basketball, I stuck with it, as did Carolina. With 1:01 remining, Carolina’s R.J. Davis sunk two free throws, 75-74 good guys. Carolina’s Armando Bacot fouled Duke’s Mark Williams with 46 seconds left, ending Bacot’a night with five fouls and me face-palmming, ‘don’t lose on foul shots!!!’

Then it happened. Mark Williams missed both free throws, what happened next is why legends are built in March.

Remember Caleb Love? Yeah, the guy who made some big shots earlieelr? Well, he got the rebound with 46 seconds left, up one, 75-74. Throughout the game, I thought Carolina settled for the three, I mean they shoot then well, but I thought they could have gotten in the ball inside more and use Bacot as a wrecking ball.

Caleb Love brushed off my line of thinking and with 26 seconds left hit a 3! Shot of his life! 78-74 Heels. Duke would get within 2 with 20 seconds left. Love would be fouled and make one of two, 79-76.

10 seconds left, Duke’s Trevor Keels was fouled, made the first free throw 79-77 Heels. Keels missed the second, Love with the rebound, he’s fouled with 8 seconds left. Love made both free throws, 81-77 Carolina. 5 seconds left a missed three from Keels, RJ Davis secured the rebound and dribbled out the clock. Carolina had done it! David had slayed the giant!

What a game! It was exhausting recapping it as it was following live.

On to Kansas Monday night.

Not much to say other than, New York Football is in sad shape. Both teams are a dumpster fire, outdated owners who put together inept staffs and then they hide in their suites.

I want to say, I hope the Giants are, competitive Sunday. Despite what the heqd coach says, there’s been no progress, their ‘foundation’ is buckling under vital players that can’t produce, stay healthy or both.

I love Saquon but, don’t talk, act. Be that leader the team desperately needs and for God sake, hit a hole, stop dancing.

And get ready for a loud MetLife Stadium, full of….Cowboys fans.

Good God. When the fuck is John Mara gonnq wake up and hire actual football peoplw that can teach football.

Go Giants, have some pride and heart on the field, Lord knows many in the building don’t.

First and foremost, Go Bills! I am a diehard New York Giants fan, but, if the Giants can’t be good….or don’t want to be good, or have stopped giving a shit about their fanbase, I say Go Bills! Dethrone The Death Star…

Now, on to the Giants. Ugh. They just plain suck. The offensive line sucks, the backup Quarterback is just that, a career backup, (see the horrible Interception in the first half into double coverage and throwing behind a wiiiiiiidddddeeeeee opennnnnn Josh Ross, that had nothing but open grass in front of him!!!) This defense is not built to play from behind, as much as they are asked to.

The team isn’t healthy, but that’s no excuse. The team as a whole just breaks down at the absolute worst times. Injuries and a team wide regression, it’s like watching the slowest band aid removal off of Chewbacca! Good God. And Saquon Barkley, 26, I love ya, but, For Fuck’s Sake, RUN LIKE YOU HAVE A SET and not a tenative freshman

To Mr. Mara, this is happening on your watch. When did tunneling beyond rock bottom become your goal? And what’s worse? They’ll win games before this disastrous season ends and absolutely FUCK their draft position, and show ‘progress’. Until they are all gone players, coaches and trainers, until they go, I won’t bank on it happening.

But I’ll still be there next Sunday. Being a fan sucks sometimes.

Go Bills.

The New York Football Giants suck, plain and simple.

Last night, they lost, not surprisingly to the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Bucs 30-10.

What was surprising was, the first half score was close, 17-10 Tampa. The Giants even got the ball to start the second half, but turned the ball over on downs, giving Tampa a short field. Tampa would add a TD, making it 24-10, Daniel Jones would throw a bad INT, 27-10 Tampa. Tampa would add 3 more 30-10 Tampa and the Giants who had hopes going into this game, are 3-7.

As a diehard fan, it’s brutal. They even had guys back. Saquon played, Kenny Golladay played.

I hate to say it but you need to blow this team up. Coaches, players, management, all of em can go minus maybe 5 or 6. Jones, Barkley, Golladay, Andrew Thomas, Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence, the rest can fucking go. I’m sick of it.

Sick of the vanilla play-calling, lack of adjustments offensively. Sick of no pass rush, a cornerstone of good Giants team has been a good pass rush and defense, both of which haven’t been good for years.

Adjustments. Lack of adjustment in the NFL leads to poor play, and you have the Giants of the last 5-10 years. The offensive line sucks so the Giants can’t run. The offensive line sucks so Daniel Jones rushes throws and turns the ball over. The defense gets no push, no pressure and guys can’t tackle or play good fundamental defensive football. James Bradberry? Where is he? Who is this ghost playing in his uniform? Patrick Graham when your team’s struggling, there’s nothing you can do? Maybe try rushing the passer. Adjustments don’t exist on either side of the ball.

How Joe Judge can say ‘we’re going to fix this’, how? How Joe? Blow it up, in the interim, ADJUST, or Joe won’t have a job.

I’ve come to the dark side. I will continue to watch as a fan. But, holy shit, thank God there’s no alcohol near me during games.

I’ll be annoyed till Sunday. When the’s draft?

Odell Beckham Jr is heading to the Los Angeles Rams on a 1 year deal. News of the deal broke from multiple sources. So, he’s headed to Hollywood. The question is Now what?

The optimist in says, well shit, its Hollywood, its OBJ, comeback stories and screenplays are being written as we speak. Beckham Jr could absolutely thrive in this offense. The speed is still there, my question is, is his motivation there?

Unfortunately, that’s where the pessimist in me comes in, and where my head is leaning. OBJ, when he came in The League, was an enigma, he could do it all, he could play and he had a bit of a tude. I rocked an OBJ 13 jersey when he played for the Giants.

Sadly, that ‘tude’, is the OBJ of now. He’s a diva! Now, the Giants did him wrong, flat out. Signed him, traded him to Cleveland, and have sucked ever since. More on that later….

Beckham Jr, it was thought, would put Cleveland over the top. They had the young gunslinger, Baker Mayfield, plus, his best bud, Jarvis Landry, was on his team. The Browns were set up.

Unfortunately, injuries derailed Beckham’s 2020, after a solid 74 catch 2019. Hmm, ‘injuries derail Beckham Jr’s progress’, if it sounds familiar, it is. Beckham broke out with the Giants from 2014-2016. A promising 2017 ended prematurely with a bad injury. However, once again, rebounded for a strong 2018, boat trips and a horrible Wild Card game notwithstanding. After 2018 and he realized his mouth and ego was more important than winning, he was then shipped to Cleveland. As mentioned, the pattern repeated itself, Beckham anf company tool to social media to air grievances, and, here we are.

My long winded explanation aside, what’s to say that if he is missed as an open target, what’s to say, he won’t bitch and moan and next year be out of LA? Now it’s a one year deal, so he’s a free agent next year, so he very well could leave. After all, he’s realistically an 8 game rental. He needs to prove it on the field first, then worry about the extra stuff later. The question is, will he? Can he?

The Giants won Sunday 23-16 over the Las Vegas Raiders. The Giants are still only 3-6, but both the Cowboys and Eagles lost too, so, it was a good Sunday for Big Blue.

Looking at the game itself, Daniel Jones fumbled, and played, okay. Just okay, but he wasn’t really needed to be spectacular. For the first time all year, the Giants had some semblance of a running game. Devontae Booker, 21 carries for 99 yards, and Eli Penny, 5 carries for 35 really came thru for the Giants. When the Giants run, they can pass, and it leads to success, plan and simple, and this was the case on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.

The other big surprise Sunday for the Giants was their defense. They made plays. Xavier McKinney had two picks, including a pick-six to start the second half. Quincy Roche had the strip sack as the Raiders were driving late to potentially tie the game.

It was the first time all year, where I as a fan, felt like the team played well and finished what they started. I’m not even going to dwell on the what ifs or the coulda woulda shouldas of the last eight weeks, I’m just happy they won played a complete football game and won after a tough loss last Monday night.

I told ya Mondays are more tolerable after a winning Sunday. Enjoy the start of the week everybody.

The Braves beat the Astros last night in Atlanta to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

The Braves were paced by some great pitching, fielding, and a timely 2 run Home Run by Travis d’Arnaud. d’Arnaud, used to suffer with the Mets, but sometimes a change of scenery helps, knowing he used to be a Met, and is contributing in the World Series makes me immensely happy, but I digress.

Tonight, Notre Dame plays North Carolina under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame should win, key word being should win. These two hooked up for a tough matchup last Thanksgiving weekend, with Notre Dame winning.

North Carolina will have the upset in their sights, and they were ranked highly in the Preseason polls. This game has all the makings of a trap game for the Golden Domers. To win, the Irish must run the football, well, and don’t beat themselves on defense. No silly penalties, no blown coverages or poor tackling angles, please. Imagine if Notre Dame played smarter against Cincinnati, folks might be talking about the Irish in the College Football Playoff instead of the Bearcats.

In other college football news, Georgia is still really good, really really good. I had thought Florida might give them a game today, guess I’ll save my money and opinions and stick to blogging. Elsewhere, Ohio State hosts Penn State in a huge game for Big Ten supremacy, this game is especially important for both teams with Michigan State beating Michigan earlier today.

Tomorrow, focus shifts to the Pro game. Big games in New Orleans and Minnesota.

Lastly, tomorrow is Halloween. Everybody be safe. Watch for kids, check candy if needed and enjoy the day, most of all though, again be safe and have fun.

Back tomorrow or Monday with more.

The Boston Celtics won their second straight game last night, evening their record at 2 wins and 2 losses on the season. It marked 2 straight on the road for the Cs.

It’s been a nice two games stretch on the road for Boston, evening their record, and just looking like The Boston fucking Celtics!!!

Good for the Celtics, good for Jaylen Brown bouncing back after a couple of tough games to start. Good for Robert Williams, showing emotion and finally looking like the draft pick they were counting on. Finally, good for Dennis Schroder, knocking down some big shots, that’s why you are here, timely shooting and good defense, keep it up!

In other Views, The World Series begins tonight, and regardless of Jon Smoltz being on the broadcast, go Braves! It’s their time and series to lose, regardless of my hatred for the Houston Astros. Go Braves!

Back tomorrow with a Game 1 Recap and some early thoughts on Giants-Chiefs in Kansas City next Monday. (Gulp).