Tuesday, April 15, 2014

WSD Daily Sports Page (4-15-14): Indiana Pacers clinch East top spot, Alabama college athletics makes more than all 30 NHL teams

Welcome to the all-new daily sports page for The World of Santa Destroy. Each day, I'll run down a big story in sports, bullet point five stories that interest me the most, and yap about all my favorite teams that I follow.

Consider it a daily journal entry every day to keep myself organized on all the sports I follow. And you can be along for the ride if you want.



The Lede

NBA Playoffs Update: Indiana Pacers get top seed in East, Memphis Grizzlies complete 16-team field

It wasn't even close for the Miami Heat on Monday night. Without Chris Bosh or LeBron James, the two-time defending champions get routed by the Washington Wizards. The Wiz outscored the Heat 43-22 in the second quarter, effectively ending the game before halftime. Trevor Ariza led Washington with 25 points, going 10-of-13 from the field and hitting five 3-pointers. The loss hands Indiana the top seed.

Erik Spolestra felt it was smarter to rest his best players before the long playoff grind begins this weekend. It's a good move, considering clinched one of the top two spots in the East since what feels like December. There's a chance they could face the Wizards again in a playoff series, but right now they have the Charlotte Bobcats on the docket if things stay the way the are after the regular season ends on Wednesday. Indiana has Atlanta no matter what happens.

Elsewhere, the Grizzlies and Suns had a playoff-like game on Monday night. The entertaining affair ended Phoenix's season, now two games behind the eighth spot. It was a disappointing finish for the Suns who started incredibly bright in the first half of the season. Instead, Memphis has a likely series with San Antonio, but they could move up to the sixth seed in the West depending on what happens on Wednesday.

Top 5 Rundown



Yesterday's Favorites

NCAA Men's Lacrosse: (6)Johns Hopkins 17, Mount. St. Mary's 2

A rare Monday game caused by a snow-out earlier this season. To be honest, it should have just been canceled. The Blue Jays throttled the Mountaineers at the Mount, holding their opponent to no goals until the final four seconds in the third quarter. JHU built up a 12-0 lead in the first three quarters and finished scoring the final five goals. Mt. St. Mary's is still winless (0-14) this season.

JHU took 43 more shots, picked up 28 more ground balls, committed 12 less turnovers, and won 18 of the 23 faceoffs in absolute, complete domination. Jack Grass and Brandon Benn scored three goals a piece leading the way while Wells Stanwick dished out six assists. A whopping 468 people were in attendance for this game, which started at an early 4:00 PM Eastern first faceoff.

NL West Recap

  • Mets 7, Diamondbacks 3
  • Padres 5, Rockies 4
Arizona had no answer for Zack Wheeler, producing just two runs as the right-hander pitched through 6.1 innings. Josh Collmenter picked up his first loss of the season pitching just four innings and giving up five hits and three runs. The D'backs are just 1-9 at home this season.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Colorado. After starting out 4-0 in the first five innings, San Diego rallied with three runs in the fifth inning and two more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Rex Brothers threw a wild pitch and catcher Willin Rosario was tagged with a throwing error in the eighth that resulted in Xavier Nady and Set Smith to score and win the game.

San Francisco and Los Angeles fight for the top spot in the division beginning Tuesday night in a 3-game series at AT&T Park.

Tuesday's Lineup


BPL/UCL
West Ham at Arsenal - 1:45 NBCS

NHL Playoffs begin Wednesday

MLB
Mets at D'backs - 8:40 MLB.tv
Rockies at Padres - 9:10 MLB.tv
-Dodgers at Giants - 9:15 MLB.tv

NBA
Knicks at Nets - 7:00 TNT
Nuggets at Clippers - 9:30 TNT

CBB
-TX-Arlington at Texas - 6:00 LHN
Grand Canyon at Kansas - 6:00 ESPN3
Kansas St at Nebraska - 6:30 BTN
Oklahoma at Oklahoma St - 6:30 FCS

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