Martin leads Miami to the 2023 NBA Finals while two MLB pitchers make monumental comebacks
The Tuesday morning edition of "Three things to know before 3 AM" is live!
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. We had two conference massacres in the NBA and NHL last night, which was unfortunate for neutral fans, but enjoyable for those fans of the Miami Heat and the Las Vegas Knights.
Also, two MLB pitchers made their 2023 season debuts yesterday after horrific health issues.
And, I also will talk about Maryland baseball (no, not the now-slumping Baltimore Orioles, but the collegiate ranks) in today’s edition of my Snippets.
1) The Miami Heat advance to the NBA Finals
Well… Last night’s Game 7 between the Miami Heat and the hometown Boston Celtics had all the Succession pre-series finale hype, but delivered like Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s Twitter Spaces Presidential announcement last week. Poor quality, with fans leaving by the thousands midway through.
The game was over just as soon as it began. All-NBA first team and Celtics’ face of the franchise Jayson Tatum went up for a layup on the first possession, and twisted his right ankle so severely that he was limping for the rest of the game. Sure, the Celtics took an early 1-0 lead on the ensuing free throws, but that was the last lead for Boston… For the remainder of the game.
The Heat came out firing on all cylinders, as they disregarded the miraculous put-back by Derrick White at the buzzer in Game 6 on Saturday night. Miami, using its newfound zone defense to stifle Boston, only allowed the Celtics to score 15 first quarter points, and the Celtics went 0 for 11 in three-pointers to start the game. The Heat continued their first half onslaught with a 19-5 run between opening quarters and never looked back in this win.
The main culprit for the Celtics was their All-NBA second team awardee in Jaylen Brown. He was expected to pick-up the slack with his All-Star teammate hobbled, but was THE worst player on the court. Brown jacked-up threes that were hilariously off-target. He would painfully dribble into trouble repeatedly, resulting in a career-worst eight turnovers (as many turnovers as the entire Heat squad before garbage time). And, he would be a matador on defense all night. It comes as no surprise that Brown finished with a game-worst plus-minus of -17, which accounts for how good or bad the player is when he is on the court. A ‘-17’ indicates that the Heat outscored the Celtics by 17 points when Brown was on the court.
This crude flow chart by Redditor u/KanyeEzyUDidItAgain describes Brown’s offensive play last night perfectly:
Brown was not the sole Celtic to have an off-game, as the Celtics repeatedly left the Heat wide open on pick-and-pop threes to a tune of 14 for 28 from beyond the arc - much to the frustration of the Celtics’ faithful at TD Bank Garden and those watching worldwide.
The story of the game… And the series… Was the continued success from once-undrafted role player, now my Eastern Conference Finals MVP, in Caleb Martin. He jumpstarted the Heat offense with yet another prolific shooting display as he finished with 26 points (a career-high) and a scintillating 11 of 16 shooting from the field. As the TNT broadcasters were repeatedly saying in this series, Martin was the most consistent offensive threat on either team in this series, as he averaged 19.3 points per game on 60 percent shooting (49 percent from three) and went 8 for 14 over the past two games of the series.
Martin was picked-up by the Charlotte Hornets back in July 2019, but was an end-of-bench player, entering in only 71 games (of 137) from 2019 to 2021. Martin was waived by the Hornets in August 2021, and was promptly picked-up by the Heat a month later on a two-way contract. That was later converted to a regular contract in February 2022, after he was averaging career bests in every category across the board in 60 games, 48 off the bench.
Yes, the Heat superstar Jimmy Butler was given the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP award for his spectacular close-out performances and stellar play in a majority of this series (he led all Heat players with 24.7 points per game in the series), but Martin was the catalyst in this Heat run to the NBA Finals.
Now, the Heat do not have much time to rest, as Game 1 of the aforementioned NBA Finals begin this Thursday night, at an earlier-than-usual time of 8:30 p.m. EST, in Denver against the Nuggets. However, they can briefly celebrate as the NBA’s second team all-time to reach the NBA Finals as an eighth seed.
2) Two MLB pitchers make 2023 debuts after heroic comebacks
You might have heard of the names ‘Michael Soroka’ and ‘Liam Hendriks’ prior to this week. Soroka is a 25-year old starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, now entering his fourth year in the league. Hendriks is a 34-year old journeyman closer for the Chicago White Sox, now in his 13th year in the majors. Both made their 2023 debuts following devastating health-related issues.
Let’s start with Soroka. He was a first round selection by the Braves in 2015 Draft, then had an outstanding 2019 season. Soroka finished 13 and 4 with a pristine 2.68 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 174 innings pitched. He was second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (only to Pete Alonso and ahead of Fernando Tatis Jr.) and sixth in the NL Cy Young. Unfortunately for Soroka, midway through a game on August 3, 2020, he tumbled to the ground after a pitch. The result was in a torn Achilles’ tendon. Soroka then suffered a setback while recovering at the start of the 2021 season and underwent a second surgery on the injured foot. Several months later, on June 24, 2021, Soroka then suffered a complete re-tear of his Achilles.
The Braves’ pitcher finally made his return to the majors yesterday afternoon - for the first time in 1,029 days, Soroka threw an MLB pitch. Sure, his first outing in several years did not go that great (six innings pitched, with four earned runs and three strikeouts), but just stepping on the mound was a major milestone for Soroka.
As for Hendriks - the longtime relief pitcher for five major league teams in his 12-year career - he received a diagnosis over the off-season that no person wants to hear. On January 8, 2023 - just four months ago - he posted the following message on Instagram:
According to an NBC Sports - Chicago piece on Hendriks’ timeline of his cancer diagnosis, he discovered lumps on his neck in June 2022, but blood tests did not show cancer-causing symptoms. However, a positron emission tomography (PET) scan showed that he had bigger bumps on his hips. Despite that, Hendriks was involved in 58 games last season for the Chicago White Sox - potentially pitching with cancer in his body.
Jump to Dec. 7, and the team doctor thought those ‘bumps’ (lymphomas) could be cancerous. In early December, Hendriks and his wife received terrible news - that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Hendriks then went through four rounds of painful chemotherapy treatments. After his fourth and final treatment on April 3, coincidentally on Opening Day, he was cancer-free.
Last night, at around 11 p.m. in the top of the eighth inning, Hendriks entered the game between his White Sox and the Los Angeles Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago to a home town standing ovation.
Like Soroka, Hendriks’s performance was not pretty - he gave up a walk, three hits and two runs in the eighth inning - but just walking to the mound after a harrowing winter and spring was a relief for Hendriks, his family and the greater White Sox nation.
3) Record-breaking Maryland baseball season continues with NCAA Tournament draw
As a Maryland fan and alum, I follow all things Terrapins athletics. Sunday was an important mark for the University of Maryland’s baseball team, as the team won their first ever Big Ten Tournament title, following a 4-0 win over fourth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes.
This end of the regular season marks a number of firsts for a university often-known for just average seasons. The team went 41-19 this season, resulting in back-to-back 40-plus win seasons under manager Rob Vaughn, in his sixth year with the Terps - the first back-to-back 40-win Maryland teams since the 2014 and 2015 squads who reached the Super Regionals each season.
The Terps are second in Division-I baseball in home runs, seventh in hits, third in runs and fifth in runs per game (9.2), showcasing their ability to score at an elite level this season. Senior third baseman Nick Lorusso leads all D-1 players in RBI, with 99 this season - the most by a D-1 player since 2003.
The official NCAA Tournament draw happened yesterday, and despite the great record, the 23rd-ranked Terps did not earn an exclusive number one seed and home-field advantage; instead, they will be on the road at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home to the best team in college baseball, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (45-9).
The Terps drew the proverbial ‘short end of the stick’ with this result. Round-robin play among these four teams start on Friday. We will see if Maryland can survive against such a prolific team, and which top-10 offense is victorious a week from now.
Well, that is going to do it for another Snippets on this Tuesday.
Until next time, signing off.