Razorback pals Keuchel, Beverley keep bond strong as Houston pros
Dallas Keuchel is not exactly sure how he is going to pull it off.
The Astros’ beard has begun a new season as one of the hottest pitchers in baseball and has another start Wednesday night against Mike Trout’s Angels.
Maybe Keuchel will discreetly ask for a private dugout update. Perhaps he’ll sneak a peek at a clubhouse TV between innings.
“I sweat a lot, so I change my uniforms quite a bit,” a joking Keuchel said Tuesday before one of the hottest teams in baseball faced Los Angeles.
Minute Maid Park is less than a mile from Toyota
BOSTON — The Chicago Bulls talked often during the regular season about believing they had the personnel to play as a physically imposing team.
Their output has caught up to those desires during the postseason.
Jimmy Butler scored 22 points, Rajon Rondo finished one rebound shy of a triple-double and the Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 111-97 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their series against the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Some might be shocked by how Chicago has played as a No. 8 seed that was 41-41, but Butler is not one of them.
“I’m not surprised because everybody’s so locked in right now,” said Butler, who added eight rebounds and eight assists.
Rondo had 11 points and 14 assists on a night all Bulls starters reached double figures. Dwyane Wade had 22 points, including 16 in the second half, and Robin Lopez added 18 points and eight points.
Wade said the Bulls’ performance in this series is a testament to how much they’ve grown.
“You play the 82 games to learn a little bit about yourself,” he said. “One thing I learned about this team is through adverse situations, this team sticks together.”
After a better start by the Celtics, a familiar theme started to take hold as the Bulls took control by again dominating the offensive glass. Chicago held a 43-38 rebounding edge for the game.
Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points for Boston.
Boston got within 91-82 early in the fourth before Chicago went on a 14-4 run to push its lead to 19.
“I feel like in the second half, the ball stopped moving,” Celtics guard Avery Bradley said. “It wasn’t moving at all.
“Even when we made a good play, got a steal, got an offensive rebound, we were just thinking quick 3s. As a polished team, we have to know when to take those shots and when not to.”
Kyle Lowry shrugged off his Game 1 struggles in style and got Toronto back on level terms.
Lowry scored 22 points, including the clinching basket with less than 10 seconds to play, and Toronto beat visiting Milwaukee to even their first-round playoff series at 1.
“I’ve been in the trenches with him before, and he’s always bounced back,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s just who he is. He’s a competitor, he’s a fighter.
“I just knew that he wasn’t going to be satisfied with the way he played in the first game.”
DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Serge Ibaka added 13 of his 16 in the second half and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Bucks. Khris Middleton scored 20 points and Greg Monroe had 18.
Lowry scored just four points in Saturday’s Game 1 loss, missing all six of his 3-point attempts.
He was better in Game 2, going 6-for-12, including 2-of-5 from long range.
“They made more 3s by halftime than they did in the whole game in Game 1,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ve got to get those guys off the 3. That helped them.”