Bucks edge Celtics 131-125 in OT for 11th straight win
MILWAUKEE >> Jrue Holiday scored a season-high 40 points and made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.2 seconds left in overtime as the Milwaukee Bucks edged the short-handed Boston Celtics 131-125 on Tuesday for their 11th consecutive victory.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 36 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists as the Bucks (40-17) moved within a half-game of the Celtics (41-17) in the Eastern Conference standings.
Boston was playing without both its All-stars — Jayson Tatum (NON-COVID illness) and Jaylen Brown (facial fracture) — as well as Marcus Smart (sprained right ankle) and Al Horford (swelling in right knee).
The Celtics still nearly earned their fifth straight win.
Wisconsin native Sam Hauser made a game-tying 3-pointer from 29 feet away with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Boston’s Derrick White then scored the first five points of overtime.
The Celtics still had a five-point lead with two minutes left, but the Bucks
subsection of their cut candidate pool with one exception: Jonnu Smith.
The veteran tight end has been a gargantuan disappointment in New England because of the bloated contract he signed as a free agent in 2021. Ensuing restructures have all but ensured Smith will remain in Foxboro for another season because of the new guaranteed money in his contract. Cutting Smith would only create cap room if he was released with a postjune 1 designation (a salary cap rule that allows teams to split accelerated cap charges across two seasons instead of one). Even then, he would open up $4.6 million in space and incur a $12.6 million dead cap it.
But what if they waited and then traded him? Trading Smith after June 1 would create more than $10.8 million in new cap room (and a $6.4 million dead cap hit). That space could cover all of the Patriots’ in-season expenses.
Of course, the Pats would need a trade partner, and no team wants an underachieving veteran with a massive, multi-year contract. So, let’s say the Patriots attach a draft pick. Or maybe two.
walking him three times. But Ortiz added a fourth walk, scored twice, and the Red Sox clinched a championship at home for the first time since 1918.
The following season, Ortiz hit 35 home runs, while no one else in the lineup collected more than 17. In an unfortunate case of deja vu, Devers hit 27 homers last season and was the only Sox hitter with more than 16. Yoshida hit 20+ home runs in four of his last five seasons in Japan.
Devers is coming off a somewhat disappointing season. After starting strong and making his second consecutive All-star team, a hamstring ailment landed him on the Injured List. Whereas he hit .324/.379/.601 with 22 home runs and 28 doubles in the first half (86 games), he only managed a .249/.325/.388 line, 14 doubles, and five home runs in the second half (55 games).
Still, the third baseman finished the season with 42 doubles and the aforementioned 27 home runs and was a finalist for the Hank Aaron and Silver Slugger awards, but the pressure is undoubtedly higher now that he’s signed to the longest and richest contract in franchise history; he needs to succeed, but the Red Sox also need to set him up for success.
In the early years, Ortiz had Manny Ramirez, and
guard leads the Pythons in scoring, averaging more than 21 points a game. She is also the team’s top playmaker, leading Pelham in assists, as well as being one of the team’s top rebounders.
“I feel I bring a little bit of everything to the court,” she said. “I love to do whatever it takes to help my team win.”
Becotte attributes the team’s success to its court camaraderie, with Pelham senior captain Abigail Mcfarland and power forward Sophia Joncas giving the Pythons added power.
“They always get big boards and really hold it down for us on the defensive side of the court,” said Becotte. “Those are two big threats.”
The tight bond Becotte has forged with her teammates scored the final seven points of the game.
Holiday stole the ball from White and dunked to cut Boston’s lead to 123122 with 1:32 left. After each team made two free throws, Holiday put the Bucks ahead for good with his 3-pointer.
Grant Williams lost the ball on Boston’s next possession, Grayson Allen got the steal and a clear-path
There is precedent. In 2017, the Texans traded quarterback Brock Osweiler to Cleveland in a deal that freed up $16 million in cash and $10 million in cap space for Houston. The price of dumping Osweiler on the rebuilding Browns was a second-round pick.
Including compensatory picks, the Patriots are projected to own three fourthround picks in the 2023 NFL Draft and four sixthrounders. Would attaching a fourth and a sixth-round pick to Smith in exchange for a conditional seventhrounder get it done? What about a fourth and two sixths? Two fourths?
Like the 2017 Browns, there are several rebuilding teams today with significant cap space who might be open to such a deal: Chicago, Arizona, Atlanta and … the Texans. Houston’s rebuild continues under former Pats personnel executive Nick Caserio and firstyear coach Demeco Ryans.
Considering the relationship with Caserio, the dead end Smith’s career has reached in Foxboro and the organizational need to contend soon, it’s worth a phone call. for the first six seasons of his career, Devers had some combination of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and/or JD Martinez. This year, he has Kiké Hernández, Triston Casas, Justin Turner, Adam Duvall, maybe Adalberto Mondesí? Trevor Story could return from elbow surgery at some point, but chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has refused to rule out an entire season on the sidelines.
It’s a roster with immense potential, but also some serious risk. The Red Sox will need a lot to go right, or the biggest investment in franchise history will find himself alone in the lineup.
The new Bogaerts?
Cora is welcoming a slew of newcomers to Fort Myers, and admitted on Tuesday that one of this offseason’s acquisitions surprised him.
According to the Red Sox skipper, Adalberto Mondesí is “like Xander-esque as far as like, tall, strong, big legs.” Cora told reporters — including Masslive’s Christopher Smith — that he thought the middle infielder would be “smaller.”
Unfortunately, the similarities pretty much end there. While Mondesí brings some serious speed to the table (he stole 43 bases in 2019 and led MLB with 24 in 2020) that should play well on the new, larger
has been instrumental. Many of the players were part of a middle school squad that scored back-toback state championship titles, giving them a taste of what was to come.
“We’ve been playing together so long that it’s easy for us to play as a team,” she said. “Most teams don’t have that.”
With talent like that, it’s no wonder Becotte feels confident about her team’s chances this postseason.
“This is definitely the most talented high school basketball team that I’ve ever been part of the last three years at Pelham High School,” she said. “I think we have a very good chance of taking it all the way.”
A basketball player since the first grade, Becotte feels her success on the court has been a direct result of her foul was called on the Celtics with 3.2 seconds left.
Antetokounmpo made the ensuing two free throws and capped the scoring with a dunk at the buzzer.
White, the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week, led the Celtics with 27 points. Brogdon added 26 and Mike Muscala had 18.
Khris Middleton had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks.
Release
OK, so the Pats prefer not to wait and want added cap space now. They’ve added at least $14.4 million already through Judon’s restructure, Henry’s extension, new terms with Mccourty and Wise’s restructure. It’s chopping block time.
Considering their respective contract statuses, these players could be seen as candidates for trade or release: wide receiver Kendrick Bourne ($5.4 million), kicker Nick Folk ($2.2 million) and punter Jake Bailey. If Bailey’s suspension survives the grievance he’s filed, his $2.115 million guaranteed salary for 2023 would likely be voided. If so, that’s another $2-3 million the Pats could save by cutting their disgruntled, disappointing punter.
As for Bourne, multiple AFC teams inquired about him last summer. The Patriots would be selling low on any trade involving Bourne, who’s entering the final year of his teamfriendly deal. But if they feel strongly about adding a receiver in free agency and Tyquan Thornton’s development, his salary is plenty portable via trade or release.
bases, his bat leaves much to be desired.
Since his 2016 debut, Mondesí is a .244/.280/.408 hitter; over the same span, Bogaerts hit .295/.365/.480. Mondesí has played 358 career regular-season games, with 54 doubles, 20 triples, and 38 home runs; Bogaerts hit 243 doubles, 11 triples, and 136 home runs over 946 games between 2016-22 (he debuted in 2013). Mondesí has a career 30.2% strikeout rate and 4.4% walk rate; Bogaerts has an 18% SO% and 9.4% BB% over that span.
Chalk some of that up to the Mondesí not getting regular playing time, but it wasn’t always because the Royals had an everyday player blocking him. Whereas the new Padres shortstop has been consistently healthy throughout the first decade of his career, the newcomer has been on the Injured List more than half a dozen times since 2018. He played a career-high 102 games in 2019, but didn’t exceed 75 games in any of the other six seasons of his career. And on Tuesday, Bloom said he wouldn’t bet on Mondesí being ready for Opening Day, calling it the “best-case scenario.”
We’ll probably hear that phrase a lot this year.
Speaking of Bogaerts, he’ll have a familiar face joining him in San Diego; Michael Wacha is signing with the Padres, too.
commitment off it. She has been a fixture at New England Sports Center in Derry, working out on her own time, perfecting her craft and her shot with help from a rebounding machine.
It’s that extra effort, that attention to detail, which has paid off big dividends.
“Its all about the amount of work I put outside of practice,” said Becotte. “After school every day I’m shooting in the gym, lifting weights, putting the hard work in that nobody sees. I think that’s been the key to my success.”
It’s a work ethic and mentality she hopes to put to good use, as the Pythons close in on postseason play.
“Hopefully we can put the finishing touches on the regular season and make the best run that we’ve had in playoffs,” said Becotte.