PostScript Sports

Welcome to PostScript Sports. A page dedicated to the Big 3 American sports, occasional Seattle homerism but mostly honest thoughts and takes on the sports world. On the mind will be our weekly recurring blog on any in the moment topic in sports spanning from the NBA Finals, MLB trades and NFL OTA’s or whatever feel at the forefront of the sports landscape.

NBA Finals

While writing this it is currently Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Thunder holding an 8 point lead mid-way through the 2nd quarter. Will likely have a follow up to Game 5 post this week so won’t go into much detail about the game so far but wanted to speak on the series itself and where the NBA is at as a whole.

After 4 games and even with the series tied at 2-2 it sure feels like this series is going to the OKC. The Pacers have fought and clawed but the loss in Game 4 and relinquishing home court in a rock fight of a game feels like the series was lost. The series has felt very similar to the Denver series where the Thunder felt like they just overmatched their counterpart but couldn’t just put them away. Overmatching them in athleticism, waves of guard and wing defenders, length at the rim and the relentlessness that is the inevitability of SGA getting to his spots and creating offense.

Haliburton and crew much like Jokic and the Nuggets both showed an ability early in the series and in close games to play at their pace and style. Which through 3 games and 3 quarters of this Final series seemed like it might have been enough to eek out a series victory over the team that had all season looked like the best team in the league by a wide margin.

The young Thunder were able to wipe away a 7-point deficit in Indiana and even the series at 2 a piece but really felt like they had swung the momentum of the series. Though the Thunder dropped Game 1 of the Finals at home they have been just about lights out at home all playoffs (their only other home loss coming by way of OT and Aaron Gordon magic). The Pacers led for .3 seconds of the game and it was enough, it was a common theme for this Pacers playoff run. But after blowing Game 4 at home, a 7-point lead and home court advantage did the clock strike midnight on these 4-seeded Pacers? Only the next 3 games will tell.

NBA News

Usually the Finals are a vacuum to the rest of NBA news but we had an unexpected and somewhat of a head scratching trade. The Magic and Grizzlies agree to swap Desmond Bane for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony and 4 unprotected first round picks (25′, 28′, 30′ and 26′ with swapping rights with Phoenix or Washington) + a swap in 29′.

As a headline I think the common reaction was: How much for Desmond Bane? A fair reaction after the Luka trade from this February which still makes that even more of an anomaly. But as the dust settled and you see the picks the Magic are giving up it’s a bet from Orlando that they are going to be a top-4 seed in the East for the next 5 years, that these picks are going to be out of the lottery. Which is basically a bet saying our core of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner with the addition of a guard of Bane’s stature in the league makes us a 48+ win team annually. When framed like that I have a hard time thinking they won’t be right or at the very least consistently a top-6 seed in the east.

The East itself this year has shown how fickle it is and with the injury to Jayson Tatum and the looming garage sale that the Celtics appear to be headed towards, a 4-seeded Pacers team making the Finals, a New York Knicks team that just fired their coach and Cleveland team that lost in 5 in the second round of the playoffs why would they not feel they are a scoring guard away from being right there?

Bane is by no means a super star. He is a fringe All-Star that does score the ball efficiently and can create, show cased by his high 3pt percentage (especially on the catch and shoot) and his assist numbers, which are very high while playing alongside another guard like Ja Morant.

This trade just makes next years East a little more interesting as there is clearly a lot of change and turnover to occur in a conference that has not seen a team make the finals in back-to-back seasons since Lebron headed to LA.

MLB

The MLB season is ramping up as we approach the all-star break and trade deadline. Two major stories coming up this week as the league sits back in the news behind the Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals and US Open. The first being the trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants and the announcement of Shohei Ohtani getting back on the mound against division rival San Diego.

To a lesser shock than Luka to the Lakers (man that trade is so bad it gets compared to even crappy MLB trades) but to much surprise. The Red Sox are trading Devers across leagues to the Giants. The questions after being: Why? and Who?

The Giants are sending essentially a back end starter, a likely middle-reliever and an okay first base prospect over for one of the consistently best bats in baseball. Yet again the Red Sox selling a face of the franchise for a trade package that leaves fans wondering what ownerships goals are. Though not as heart wrenching as the Mookie Betts trade Red Sox fans have to be frustrated.

Devers has had his troubles this year after the signing of Bregman he’s clearly shown frustration with the team about no longer being the team’s third baseman and an unwillingness to move to first after the Triston Casas injury. While that is both true and frustrating the bat has been there and likely will continue to be there.

The Giants are clearly showing they want to be competitive right now and are willing to carry the payroll it will take. In a division with the Padres and Dodgers, moves like this amongst teams in the NL West and all of the NL are likely going to show to be a necessity.

Speaking of the Giants cross-state rivals, the Dodgers have announced Shohei will return to the mound. Other than exciting this is a huge move for the Dodgers and the league. Whether you hate the Dodgers or not, Ohtani pitching and hitting is a true sports marvel. The questions now will be: How will he pitch? Can he stay healthy? Does regular pitching slow down the bat? He showed in 2022 the power while also finishing 4th in AL Cy Young voting but since moving to a full time DH his OPS jumped from a very respectful .965 and .875 to a league leading 1.066, 1.036 in 23′ and 24′ and 1.034 so far this season.

Time will tell what Shohei can do as a two-way player and as a non-Dodger fan I am excited to see what I would still consider as the most impressive athlete since Bo Jackson.

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