A Grip on Sports: Another NBA star goes down with a leg injury but that was just the beginning of Monday night’s carnage
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Sitting down to watch Sports Center on a Monday night isn’t what it used to be. At least it wasn’t last night. Instead of highlights, talking heads or gambling advice, we were treated to an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” or “St. Elsewhere.” That’s not right.
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• Being a professional athlete taxes the body. Everyone understands that. Constant training for constant competition under constant stress.
Yet, when one superbly conditioned athlete after another goes down with a non-contact injury, it’s still shocking. Unsettling as well. Disappointing. Sad.
The Boston Celtics aren’t our favorite NBA team. Not at the bottom – that’s Oklahoma City’s location – but nowhere near the top for this legacy Laker fan. When Jayson Tatum led them to their record 18th league title last season, there was no rejoicing here. But there was an acknowledgment of his ability and that of the Celtics.
This season? My favorite NBA team this past month was anyone playing Boston. Currently, that is Villanova-North, the New York Knicks, who jumped out to a lead in their series. Last night, though, Tatum and the Celtics showed their resiliency, with the veteran slashing and shooting his way to 42 points with a little more than 3 minutes left in the fourth game of the seven-game series.
One leg plant changed all that. Trying to alter direction after a Knicks’ steal that would end up sealing New York’s 121-113 win (and a 3-1 series lead), Tatum’s right leg gave out. He writhed in pain, grabbing his heel. It led to immediate speculation of an Achilles tendon injury, the bête noire of so many NBA stars.
Klay Thompson. Kobe Bryant. Kevin Durant. Heck, Damian Lillard in the first round of these playoffs. The video of them on a floor, suffering, knowing what it means, what lays ahead over the next year, is just heartbreaking – no matter where your heart lies.
But that wasn’t the only injury that made the news on a Monday from Hades.
The Yankees’ Oswaldo Cabrera was on third base in the ninth inning of New York’s 11-5 win over the host Mariners. He tagged up on Aaron Judge’s fly ball to right. The throw was close and Cabrera had to avoid Cal Raleigh’s tag, plant and jump back to touch home plate. He did. At a huge cost.
The third baseman’s left leg gave out. Again, more pain. More writhing. More turn-your-head-away video. An ambulance was called. Cabrera’s leg put in an air cast. A trip to the hospital. His season in doubt.
What the heck is going on?
One can say it’s sports and be right. That players have always gotten hurt. That there are just more images of the injuries available quicker. That they are paid a lot, understand the risks and do everything they possibly can to avoid them.
All true. And yet the hands pounding at the floor or dirt still seem to hit hard to those watching at home. Every time.
• There was a homecoming of sorts Monday in Seattle. And a way-too-soon goodbye.
The return of Dave Sims was a big deal for those whose job is to cover the M’s or describe their action. The veteran broadcaster, who left in the offseason for New York, where he’s made his offseason home for years, is by all accounts an easy-to-like person. We’ve heard a lot of chatter over the years about Sims in that regard and little of it has been negative.
As an announcer? Let’s just say most Mariner followers, including this one, wished him well on his new adventure.
Monday’s goodbye? That was on the field, albeit former Washington State football standout River Cracraft never really got a chance to take the Lumen turf for the Seahawks.
The team signed Cracraft as a free agent in late March. The Cougar standout had spent the last three seasons with Miami, but his long career has been interrupted often by injuries, a pretty common occurrence within the league.
The Hawks actually used a non-football injury designation to waive him Monday, opening room on the roster to add another undrafted free agent. And once again Cracraft, who grabbed the last of his 218 WSU receptions – second-best all-time – in 2016, is looking for work.
After he gets healthy, of course.
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WSU: The current Cougars added a big transfer Monday, in a couple of definitions of the adjective. Offensive lineman Jaylin Caldwell picked Washington State as his transfer destination. The 6-foot-7, 330-pound Caldwell was a two-year starter for Division II Grand Valley State in Michigan, and was a target for a couple Power Four schools. Greg Woods has more on Jimmie Rogers continuing to add size from the portal. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner looks at the Big Ten football race in this Mercury News story. … John Canzano answers questions as he usually does on Mondays. … There are many suggestions out there on how to end the chaos in college sports. Our suggestion? Make Maxwell Smart the commissioner. He has experience with chaos. Then again, he may miss a solution by that much. … This sounds like fun. Which is just one reason why Colorado and North Carolina will probably never play in football. … Boise State is playing Notre Dame this season and the late September game in South Bend was moved from Peacock to NBC yesterday. … In basketball news, another Washington men’s basketball standout has died. Dion Brown was 57. … Oregon’s career leading scorer for 50 years also passed. Robert Hunt was 86. … What’s ahead for two Arizona players in the NBA draft picture? … New Colorado State coach Ali Farokhmanesh talked about what’s ahead for the Rams. … The Utah State roster is set but there is still more to be done. … Sabrina Ionescu’s most-recent trip to Eugene resulted in the former Oregon star having a day, in more ways than one. … In baseball news, Oregon and Oregon State could host regionals as both are ranked in the top 10. The Ducks also have a decent shot at winning the Big Ten title. … Finally, Long Beach State won its fourth NCAA men’s volleyball title by sweeping UCLA.
Gonzaga: Former Bulldog star Courtney Vandersloot made another life change recently. Not only has she returned to Chicago to continue her long WNBA career, Vandersloot and her wife Allie Quigley welcomed their first child, a daughter, to their family in early April.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State added a defensive back from the portal. … Sacramento State picked up a receiver from Texas A&M. … Northern Arizona men’s basketball added two more transfers.
Whitworth: The Pirate baseball team had one path to the NCAA Division III tournament. Win the Northwest Conference Tournament. They did that, coming through the losers’ bracket to upset Pacific and earn an NCAA berth. They start that journey Friday, facing host La Verne in Southern California.
Preps: Jim Meehan has a roundup of Monday’s first round of the District 6 golf championships around the area. … Cheryl Nichols covers softball playoff action in this roundup.
Chiefs: It isn’t easy to go from the bottom of the Western Hockey League to winning it all a couple years later. Spokane did it in 2008 – and ultimately won the Memorial Cup. This year’s Chiefs, who finished in the WHL cellar two seasons ago, are trying to duplicate that feat. Dan Thompson touched base with one of the Chiefs who went through the rebuild back in 2008.
Seahawks: There may be schedule news for Seattle today. The NFL will announce its international games and the Hawks might have one. … We linked the Cracraft news above. And do it here as well.
Mariners: The M’s fourth consecutive defeat was already decided by the time of Cabrera’s injury, done in by Emerson Hancock’s meltdown in the fifth inning. It was a six-run eruption triggered, in part, by what looked to be a missed strike three. … George Kirby will make another rehab start Friday for Tacoma. And then? He could be activated from the injury list. Logan Gilbert’s return will take a bit longer.
Storm: The roster is set.
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• Some of us can remember all the way back to the first NBA draft lottery. And the rumors the Knicks’ card was frozen beforehand, so the New York franchise could win the Patrick Ewing derby. Such rumors never stop, especially when a franchise wins the big prize against nearly impossible odds. Like last night. With Dallas. Don’t believe. NBA commissioner Adam Silver is not talented enough to pull off anything David Stern could do, including making sure the favored franchise wins. If Stern actually did such a thing. Until later …