This weekend, the NBA Finals begin after a week off because the conference finals were not competitive. I do expect the final itself to be quite competitive between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics. I will be surprised if either team wins the series in under six games, because the teams are very well matched. The Celtics have Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday. The Mavericks feature Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić.
Last year‘s final was not very competitive between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat, so I hope this year will be a great series.
The Phillies are continuing to play very well this season. They were able to sweep the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in three close, low-scoring games. Now they are starting to go into a tougher portion of their schedule. The Phillies and Mets are playing two games in London over the weekend and then the Phillies will be on the road against the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, both decent teams. I don’t know why baseball has decided it’s a good idea to have regular-season games occurring so far away in the middle of the season. I would understand if these were exhibition games at the end of spring training or an off-season European tour like they did a number of years ago in Japan. I don’t think this will be a huge problem for the Phillies since they are currently eight games ahead of the Braves in the NL East division.
Unfortunately, I heard that Novak Djokovic had to withdraw from the French Open tennis tournament with a significant knee injury. He is going to be doubtful for Wimbledon as well. This is going to make Carlos Alcaraz the favorite to win the championship Sunday. On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek from Poland has made it to another final against Jasmine Paolina. She is trying to continue to dominate the red clay of France. She was able to overcome Coco Gauff of the U.S. in the semifinals. Swiatek has only lost once to Coco in over 10 matches.
Congratulations goes out to the Cape Henlopen boys’ lacrosse team for making it to another state finals against Sallies. Unfortunately, they lost again for the fourth straight time, and are going to have to continue to do a lot of work in order to overcome them. I’m worried that Sallies has now created a stranglehold on the lacrosse championship just as they have in soccer. Go Cape!
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A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
