Looking Into Tonight’s Game 7

In case you haven’t already heard, there’s a big game tonight in Boston. It’s game 7 of the 1st round of the playoffs between the Bruins and the Maple Leafs. With a win tonight, the B’s will play either the Capitals or the Rangers in the next round. With a loss, they would be bounced out of the 1st round for the 3rd time in 6 seasons under coach Claude Julien.

The Bruins have been hit or miss in this series. In some games, they have came out strong and gave fans hope for a deep playoff run. In other games they came out with less energy than the other team and gave fans a headache.

In Game 1, Boston quieted a lot of doubters by “flipping the switch” and playing a great game in which they won 4-1. In Game 5, with a chance to end the series at home, they came out unprepared and didn’t start playing with great life and intensity until they found themselves down 2-0 in the 3rd period. They would lose that game 2-1 and then had the same result again last night up in Toronto.

This team has shown that they have had trouble closing out series in the past. Under Claude Julien, they are 6-12 in closeout games, including 3-4 in Game 7′s which is a scary stat for tonight. For some reason, this team doesn’t seem to give it their all until their backs are against the wall, and sometimes, it comes too late.

The Bruins have had some pretty talented teams over the past 6 years, yet they have only made it out of the 2nd round once, and that year they went on to win the Stanley Cup. Even that year, they went on to play 3 game 7′s in which anything can happen. Was 2011 an aberration or is it something we can reasonably expect from this team moving forward? Maybe tonight’s performance can give us some answers.

Looking at this series alone, it’s clear that Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand lead the list of players who are struggling. Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley haven’t exactly had a great series either but they aren’t expected to produce nearly as much as the other two. This may not have been a huge issue if this team closed out this series in 5 or 6 games, but they didn’t. Do their struggles fall on the players themselves or on the coach for not making certain adjustments?

Speaking of Marchand, the Bruins may not have won the Stanley Cup in 2011 if it wasn’t for him. He was an instigator and produced a good amount of offense in that final series against Vancouver. The B’s could certainly use a glimpse of that tonight.

As for Seguin, I understand he’s only 21 and is still a very young player but he has to find a way to get the puck in the back of the net. He is too talented and has had too many quality scoring chances to have 0 goals in this series. By the way, how nice would it be for him to have a great game tonight so the Boston fans can chant “Thank you Seguin” right back to the Toronto fans? Just a thought.

If the Bruins lose tonight, I think it’s fair that Julien should be put on the hot seat. This team would have blown a 3-0 and 3-1 series lead under him. Besides 2011, this team hasn’t gone deep into the playoffs with him, and they have had a hard time closing out series. There’s too much talent and potential on this team to get consistently bounced out in the 1st or 2nd rounds of the playoffs almost every year.

Even if they win tonight, I don’t think his job should be 100% safe. The lack of a killer instinct has been obvious at times and his apparent inability to motivate his players to win closeout games before game 7 isn’t overly encouraging. The great teams finish off their opponents when they have a chance to so and don’t need a game 7 to be the aggressor. How much credit can you give a coach for getting his players ready to win a do or die game 7? No extra motivation should be needed.

All in all, tonight’s game should be interesting and the wrong outcome could trigger some offseason changes. Hopefully the Bruins start the game like they’ve been shot out of a cannon and pick up a convincing win. The game is in Boston so they will have the fans on their side and maybe more importantly, the ability to make the last shift change. That makes it tougher for Toronto to stick the Kessel line out there when Chara and Seidenberg are off the ice.

I’ll go with a 3-1 Bruins win tonight because the bottom line is that Boston is the better team in this series and when they have played aggressively (like they should tonight), they have had success.

Patriots Free Agent Signings, Rumors + Lloyd’s Release

The Patriots are notorious for letting the market develop in free agency and then picking the players they want to sign. This offseason turned out to be no different as New England signed a few players just before and during the weekend.

Signings

• Leon Washington: Bill Belichick loves versatility and Washington certainly provides just that. He is one of the most effective punt/kick returners in the game. For the past few seasons, the Patriots haven’t really had a return specialist to field and return kicks for them. Welker, Edelman, McCourty and others have filled this role but none really specialized in it. Washington is also a capable 3rd running back on the depth chart. He won’t get many touches but he can be effective in small doses, similar to the man he is replacing (Danny Woodhead).

• Donald Jones: Jones is a wide receiver who last played for the Buffalo Bills. Last season, Jones had 41 catches for 443 yards and 4 TDs in 12 games played. I don’t see him as much more than a 3rd or 4th receiver. If the Patriots can acquire another wide receiver or two (and I think they will), Jones could be released in training camp just like Jabar Gaffney and Deion Branch were last year. I’m guessing this is a move to fill out the depth chart.

• Kyle Arrington: Arrington signed a 4 year, $16 million deal with $8.5 million guaranteed. Prior to his signing, the Patriots were very thin at cornerback, a position they could use a lot of help in. Although Arrington has had his fair share of struggles in the secondary, I think he was a serviceable 3rd/slot cornerback and does have some value to this team. The contract was a little greater than what I expected but he knows the system and won’t have a learning curve to work around come training camp like a new player would. That probably factored into the deal.

• Adrian Wilson: This signing is probably the one that I’m the most excited about so far. Wilson, 33, is a four-time pro-bowler and a heavy hitting safety. Any time he plays against New England, he always receives high praise from Bill Belichick, a man who doesn’t hand out very many compliments to opposing players. The main concern with Wilson is his age, but his age is the same reason why he was on the open market and available at a decent price. His play making ability is very impressive and if he can help teach players like McCourty and Dennard how to be better defensive backs, this signing may go a long way towards making this defense better. It’s worth noting that Wilson has played 15+ games in each of the past 10 seasons.

• Aqib Talib: The Patriots bring back their best cornerback from last season back in Talib. When healthy, he made New England’s secondary and overall defense better. He was able to take on the opposing team’s #1 receiver and hold that player’s impact to minimum (like Andre Johnson). When Talib left the AFC Championship Game with a hamstring injury, the Patriots secondary went back to their old ways and gave up many yards through the air. With the market for cornerbacks down this year, New England could bring Talib back on a team-friendly deal (1 year, $5 million). Between him, Wilson, and an improving McCourty, this secondary is looking better than past years at this time.

Rumors

• Emmanuel Sanders: Sanders is a restricted free agent that the Patriots have been rumored to be interested in. This has caught me a little by surprise seeing how New England hasn’t signed many players recently who they would have to give up a draft pick (in this case a 3rd rounder) to get. If the Patriots do offer Sanders a contract, the Steelers would have a chance to match it and if they don’t,  Sanders will go to Foxboro and Pittsburgh would get a 3rd round pick in compensation. Sanders had 44 catches for 626 yards last season. I’d view him as a solid #3 receiver on a good team.

• Dwight Freeney: The former Colt is on the market and it was reported that he visited the Patriots facilities on Friday. Freeney is certainly past his prime but much like with Adrian Wilson, that may cause his price tag to go down to a level where the Patriots consider signing him. He, again much like Wilson, has been very durable over the years. New England could definitely use a pass rusher and Freeney would bring just that.

• John Abraham: Here is another player who is older, durable and could fill a need for the Patriots. Abraham has made a career as a defensive end that can get to the quarterback. He had 10 sacks last season for the Falcons, showing he has something left in the tank. Abraham was also reported to be in Foxboro on Friday and at one point, a deal was rumored to be done although those thoughts have died down and nothing has been announced .

• Elvis Dumervil: While he hasn’t been widely associated with the Patriots, he is pretty intriguing for a few reasons. For one, news had come out on Friday that Dumervil had become a free agent due a negotiating snafu between him, his agent, and the Broncos. When this news broke, the Patriots had been said to be very close to signing fellow defensive end John Abraham. Since that point, Abraham talks have quieted. Two, the Broncos took Welker away from the Patriots so now does Belichick take Dumervil away from Denver? I wouldn’t put it past the coach to pull a move like that. Dumervil meant a lot to Denver’s defense and his solid pass rushing skills and youth could help the Pats. One last thing is that the market as a whole has been down this year and it may never be more affordable to bring in an impact player. New England has the cap space, let’s see how they use it .

Lloyd’s Release

• Brandon Lloyd was due a $3 million signing bonus at 4PM on Saturday and in order for the Patriots to avoid it, they had to release him. This move doesn’t mean that Lloyd can’t re-sign with the team, something which people have already talked about. Lloyd signed for relatively little money last offseason and didn’t do much to bolster his value so I would think that he could return for a reasonable price. His knowledge of the system and history with Josh McDaniels may be enough to keep him with the team. After all, if he goes, the Patriots are down to Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski as the only non-running backs on the roster to record a catch for the team last season.

Patriots Lose Welker, Sign Amendola

It’s really too bad that NFL free agency is boring and that it never provides any headlines. Oh wait, never mind.

Well in case you haven’t heard, Wes Welker signed with the Denver Broncos earlier today for 2 years and $12 million. That offer was slightly better than what the Patriots offered (2 years/$10 million) and as a result, Wes will now have Peyton Manning as his quarterback. When I first heard the news, I had two reactions. One, I had a hard time believing that he was actually gone and signed somewhere else. Two, I couldn’t believe that the contract was only for $6 million per year for two years. I thought his value would have been around $8-9 million per year for 3-4 years.

Although I am upset that Welker is no longer a Patriot, I can’t say that I completely disagreed with the lack of a better contract offer from New England (Note: these were my feelings before the Amendola signing occurred). Without #83, Tom Brady still has some very good weapons to throw to in Gronkowski, Hernandez, Lloyd, and Ballard. The offense should still be able to score at a good clip and if they could do that while spending most of their money on defensive players, I’m fine with that. If New England can sign a few impact players on defense, then I think this team has a good chance to be better overall than they have been the past few seasons.

Even after Welker was gone, I expected the Patriots to sign another wide receiver like Julian Edelman, Josh Cribbs or Danny Amendola. I didn’t, however, expect them to sign one of those players for the same yearly salary that Welker got. Especially since they refused to pay Wes that much.

As a result of losing Welker, the Patriots signed another slot receiver, Danny Amendola, to a 5 year deal worth $31 million with $10 million guaranteed. The 5 years makes sense to an extent because that is how much longer Tom Brady is here for presumably. Amendola joins Hernandez and Gronkowski as receivers that should be here through Brady’s playing days.

Paying $6 million for a player who is injury prone and hasn’t put up the same numbers as Welker has is a head-scratcher. Amendola has had his moments where he looks like he COULD be the next Wes Welker but he hasn’t performed nearly consistently enough to earn that recognition. If Amendola stays healthy, and that’s a big if, he seems capable of putting up numbers worthy of $6 million per year. That gives this contract the tag of “high-risk, high-reward”. I wonder if there are any terms in the contract such as injury clauses. If there are, and the Patriots are protected, then that would help make more sense of the contract.

Seeing how this whole Welker situation developed, there must be a significant reason as to why the Patriots wouldn’t offer Wes $1 million more per year to match the Broncos offer. Although he’s 32, he hasn’t shown any real signs of aging, besides maybe an extra drop here or there. It leads me to believe that there were things going on behind the scenes that stopped New England from upping their offer. Knowing the way they do business, we’ll probably never know what really happened.

After the Amendola signing, the Patriots have about $19 million left in cap room. This leaves plenty of money left for them to sign one or two very good defensive players if they choose to do so. The two players at the top of my wish list are Ed Reed and Aqib Talib. Reed is by far my #1 choice to sign here.

Looking Into The NBA Trade Deadline

“Trade Pierce and Garnett for young talent the Celtics can build around”

“Pierce and Garnett need to retire as members of the Celtics”

“Add one or two pieces to this team and see where they go in the playoffs”

There seems to be very many opinions and very few agreements as far as how the Celtics should approach the NBA Trade Deadline, which is at 3 PM tomorrow. No matter what GM Danny Ainge does, he will have many critics. Here are some of the rumors that have been surrounding Boston:

The LA Clippers are said to be very interested in Kevin Garnett. While talks have reportedly quieted down between the two teams, the Clippers were said to be willing to offer PG Eric Bledsoe and C DeAndre Jordan in order to land KG. The main problem with any deal involving Kevin Garnett is that he has a no-trade clause in his contract and he has said he wants to remain in Boston. While I do think his no-trade clause could come into play, I would guess that he’d be willing to waive it if Danny Ainge tells him that the deal is what’s best for Boston in the long run. The Clippers could be one of the few teams that Garnett would be willing to go to since he lives in Malibu and is good friends with current Clipper Chauncey Billups.

Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks has been linked to the Celtics in trade rumors for a couple of years now. Smith is said to be very available because he is in the final year of his contract and wants to be signed to a max contract deal this offseason, which Atlanta doesn’t sound willing to do. A package of Jeff Green and Brandon Bass were rumored available to the Hawks in order to get Smith but I don’t see that being enough to get him here. For Atlanta to part ways with Smith, I would think the C’s would have to give up either Paul Pierce or Rajon Rondo.

Personally, I’d rather see Rondo be traded because he doesn’t give you a chance to win this year since he’s hurt. Also, there’s no guarantee he’ll be as explosive coming off of a surgically repaired torn ACL. This would give Pierce a chance to remain a Celtic.

Over All-Star Weekend, there were reports out that the Celtics and Lakers were discussing a deal revolving around Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo. While I don’t think this deal is likely at all, I would like to see it happen. Rondo is a very good player but the C’s have found ways to play well without him and it’s not every day you get a chance to land a franchise center. I’m not a big Dwight Howard fan but you can’t deny his talent.

Boston has made rookie center Fab Melo available in order to get a guard in return. He isn’t enough to reel in a great player but he could be swapped for a decent role player. Melo being available would make it seem as if Boston is leaning towards going for it all this season, but I won’t buy that until the trade deadline passes.

The hardest part of this trade deadline for the Celtics may be that they don’t have a lot of assets to trade and they really can’t afford a 2 for 1 deal because their roster is so thin. This problem may force the Celtics to give up Garnett, Rondo, or Pierce if they want to get a very good player because they are their most valuable assets.

I tend to think that Garnett and Pierce will either both be on the C’s roster or both be traded after the deadline. I don’t see one here without the other. That may make things even tougher because Danny Ainge may need to have multiple trades set up at once in order to pull the trigger.

Ainge has talked to the media recently and said that he doesn’t expect anything significant to happen before 3 PM tomorrow. He noted that talks have cooled down amongst teams. While he could be telling the truth about talks cooling down, my guess is that he will make some kind of trade by the deadline. Ainge has said before that he wouldn’t hesitate to break up members of the Big Three (meaning Ray Allen, not Rajon Rondo) and because of that, no trade would surprise me.

Let’s not forget that Danny Ainge is willing to gamble with some trades. Two seasons ago, he dealt Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Thunder for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. Ainge can be unpredictable at this time of year.

Something tells me that at 3:01 tomorrow, Josh Smith will be a Celtic. As far as for who Boston gives up, my guess would be Rajon Rondo. Smith would give the Celtics a chance to win this year while still allowing them to build for the future. Also, if Fab Melo gets traded for a point guard, I wouldn’t be surprised if Courtney Lee was dealt for some front-court help.

These next 24 hours should be very interesting.

Rajon Rondo Has A Torn ACL

Today’s Celtics-Heat game had plenty of headlines available. It was a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals from a year ago, there was one Big Three versus another, and last but not least, the return of Ray Allen to Boston. Not many things (including a double-OT thriller) could trump those stories but at the end of the day, every Celtics fan is talking about the loss of point guard Rajon Rondo.

What was thought to have been a hyperextended knee turned out to be a torn ACL for Rondo after going through more medical tests. The news broke during the game although the C’s players didn’t know about it until after the game. This injury ends #9′s season.

With this injury, you have to wonder if we’ve seen the last of the (new) Big Three playing together. This team has been on a roller coaster this year where at one point, there’s a chance they could compete for a title, and then all of a sudden a losing streak occurs and thoughts of blowing the team up start to circulate the airwaves.

Paul Pierce has already been linked to trade rumors. Most of the rumors regarding him have Memphis as a potential destination.

It will be interesting to see what coach Doc Rivers and GM Danny Ainge decide to do. Do you trade people and start the rebuilding process early or do you stick with what you have and see what happens? Either way, a tough decision will have to be made.

It should be noted that Boston doesn’t really have a pure back-up point guard. Courtney Lee got the start at PG today but he is more of a shooting guard. Leandro Barbosa is more of a combo guard who can play PG in spurts. Avery Bradley could be converted to point guard since he has more experience with this offense than any other guard on the roster.

Pedro Martinez Joins Red Sox Front Office

The Red Sox announced today that Pedro Martinez has joined the club as a special assistant to the General Manager. Jason Varitek took a similar job with the Sox back in September. There was a rumor that Boston had offered Pedro a job a few months ago but now it became official.

Having a former Cy Young award winner be a part of baseball operations would seemingly be a very good thing. Martinez was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league during his career. He shut down hitters when they were at their most productive (the steroid era). Hopefully his brilliance on the mound and knowledge of the game can help improve the current Red Sox pitching staff which has been underachieving for a year and a half now.

Pedro was always one of the more popular baseball players in Boston. Putting a guy with his charisma and reputation in the front office can be a very good PR move while still acting in the team’s best interest. Recently, the Red Sox ownership has leaned more towards making decisions based on the PR side of things and that hasn’t gone well so let’s hope this is a positive sign of things to come.

Jason Varitek and Pedro Martinez were here during the best of times in 2004. The locker room was (supposedly) very good and every player cared about their teammates and wanted to win. If these two guys can help turn around this club’s environment while being effective scouts, coaches, and player developers, then their additions could go a long way.

Patriots-Ravens Reaction

And just like that, the Patriots season is over. No sixth Super Bowl trip for Brady and Belichick and no shot at their elusive fourth Lombardi Trophy.

From the last 10 seconds of the 1st half to the end of the game, this one was hard to watch. Bad clock management, poor defense, dropped catches, and a seeming lack of energy were all present during that stretch and none of it equates to championship football.

Offensively, the Patriots couldn’t move the ball once they got to around midfield. They seemed to have trouble with that all year and I’m not sure why. Mesko punted the ball three times while on the Ravens side of the field and twice around the 50 yard line. A few of those punts could arguably have been field goal attempts in better weather conditions but you don’t win playoff games that way.

For a player of his talent, Wes Welker certainly drops a lot of catchable passes in the postseason. We all remember the missed connection in last year’s Super Bowl loss and now yesterday, he had a few more errors in big moments. Those kinds of mistakes are costly to make in a contract year.

In the first half, it looked like it was going to be a big day for Aaron Hernandez who had 7 receptions by halftime. Yet, in the second half he only had two catches. I don’t know if the Ravens did a better job of taking him out of the play but the Patriots needed more out of him late in the game with Gronkowski already out.

Defensively, I thought the Patriots played very well in first half although I think that has a lot to do with some conservative play calling by the Ravens. Losing Talib early hurt the Patriots. I’d imagine that he was a big part of the defensive scheme, especially when it came to stopping the deep ball.

In the first half, the Ravens were a run first team and New England had their number. They only gave up 7 points which is very respectable, for any team. But in the second half, the Ravens came out throwing the ball and as a result, they scored 21 unanswered points. What’s even worse is the Patriots looked defeated once Baltimore started getting on a roll. They didn’t have a “we’re not going down without a fight” mentality.

The bottom line is that the Ravens were the aggressor in the most crucial parts of the game and as a result, the came away with a win. It seems like that last sentence can be applied to every postseason loss since the 2007 Super Bowl. Seeing how there’s a common theme here, you would think something has to change.

When the Patriots won their 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, they were the aggressor and they played with balance. Their defense always kept them in the game and their offense made the key plays they needed to win. Now it’s the offense that has to keep them in the game and make the big plays while they wait for their defense to rebuild and mature.

Now if you want to start looking for excuses as to why the Patriots didn’t win, you could say that if Gronkowski and Talib were healthy and playing, this would’ve been a different game. While that may be true, the Patriots had Gronk in last year’s AFC Championship game and they managed to win that game due to the missteps of the Ravens. Talib’s loss also hurt them but he can’t cover everyone anyways. The Ravens four best defensive players were all either injured, old, or both but they still found a way to get it done.

Being a championship quality team is a mindset that only a few teams have and based on the body language of the Patriots sideline in second half, they didn’t have it.

I’m not going to go into what I think needs to change and what the offseason plan should be in my opinion. I’ll save that for a later time.

Overall, this was a game that I was very nervous about for reasons that I stated in the match-up preview. This was the first time that I really felt our chances of winning weren’t great going into the game. It killed me to feel that way. Unfortunately, my fears about the game came true.