Elias Sports Bureau 7y

Elias Says: May 4, 2017

But James didn’t have to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court

LeBron James scored 39 points in the Cavaliers’ rout of the Raptors on Wednesday, and over his last four games he’s scored 148 points.That’s his highest total over four playoff games since scoring 157 points in Games 2–5 of Cleveland’s loss to Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals in May 2009.

James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time playoff scoring list on Wednesday and he needs 211 points to pass the only man ahead of him, Michael Jordan. Abdul-Jabbar had stood either first or second in postseason points scored since he took second place from John Havlicek in 1984; at that point the only player ahead of him was Jerry West.

The Cavaliers are 6–0 in this year’s playoffs after winning their first 10 games in the 2016 edition. The only other team in NBA history to start 6–0 in consecutive postseasons was the Minneapolis Lakers in 1949 (7–0) and 1950 (7–0). The Lakers won the title in each of those seasons, with George Mikan leading the way.

Spurs avenge blowout loss

The Spurs pulled away from the Rockets in the fourth quarter to win Game 2 of their series, 121–96, after Houston took Game 1 by 27 points. The only other NBA playoff series in which the teams traded 25-point wins in the first two games was in the Knicks/Celtics Eastern Conference Finals in 1973. In that series the teams alternated home games with every game, so each team had a large win at home.

Leonard made a lot of his shots, Harden made very few

Kawhi Leonard made 81 percent of his shots (13 of 16) on Wednesday while James Harden made only 18 percent (3 of 17). It was the first NBA playoff game in which one player made over 80 percent of his shots and an opponent made less than 20 percent, with each attempting at least 15 field goals.

Guentzel joins the Greats

Rookie Jake Guentzel scored another goal for the Penguins as they took a three-games-to-one lead in their series against the Capitals with a 3–2 win in Game 4. Guentzel, who made his postseason debut less than a month ago, has scored eight goals in nine games in this year’s playoffs. Only three other players who made a postseason debut in the NHL’s “modern era” (i.e., since the 1944 playoffs) scored at least eight goals in their first nine Stanley Cup playoff games. You may have heard of them: Maurice Richard (12 goals), Mario Lemieux (11) and Wayne Gretzky (9).

Penguins win without Crosby

Sidney Crosby, who led the NHL with 44 goals during the 2016–17 regular season, is the first reigning goal-scoring champion to miss a playoff game since Washington’s Peter Bondra missed four games due to injury during the first two rounds of 1998 playoffs. He returned to play all of the Capitals’ games in the Eastern Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final, when they lost to Detroit.

Getzlaf has a hand in all four goals

Ryan Getzlaf scored two goals and assisted on the two others in Anaheim’s 4-3 overtime win in Edmonton on Wednesday. Getzlaf now has a total of 112 points in 112 NHL playoff games. The only other active players who have played at least 100 games in the postseason and averaged a point per game are Sidney Crosby (148 points in 132 games) and Evgeni Malkin (145 points in 133 games).

Judge Whopper

Aaron Judge slugged his 13th home run of the season in the Yankees’ comeback win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday. No other rookie in major-league history has hit 13 home runs in his first 25 games of a season; the next-highest total was by Gary Sanchez, who hit 11 homers for the Yankees in his first 25 games last season.

Pearce feasting on Yankees pitching

The Yankees finally retired Steve Pearce on Wednesday, but only after he had gone 4-for-4 with two homers on Tuesday and drilled another homer in his first at-bat on Wednesday. No other player has begun a season 5-for-5 with three home runs against the Yankees.

Doesn’t matter where he plays, Gonzalez slugs

Marwin Gonzalez has homered in each of his last four starts, and done so while starting at a different position in each game: second base on April 27, third base on April 30, left field on Tuesday and first base on Wednesday. No other player in the modern era has homered in four straight starts, each at a different position.

Reyes goes back 14 years in just one day

Jose Reyes knocked in five of the Mets’ 16 runs in their big win over the Braves on Wednesday. It tied his highest total in a major-league game, which he had done only once before, in his sixth game in the majors, on June 15, 2003, four days after his 20th birthday. The only players that had longer gaps between five-RBI games than Reyes (13 years, 322 days) were Paul Molitor (15y–2d, 1981 to 1996) and Pete Rose (14y–73d, 1964 to 1978).

Samardzija breezes through Dodgers

Jeff Samardzija struck out 11 Dodgers batters and didn’t walk any on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The only other Giants pitchers to have a 10-K, no-walk game at Dodger Stadium were Ray Sadecki in 1967 and Madison Bumgarner, in 2012 and 2016.

Hamilton ends long drought with three-run blast

Billy Hamilton ended a 319-at-bat homerless streak with a three-run blast against the Pirates on Wednesday. It was Hamilton's 14th home run in the majors, and the first that came with two or more men on base. Hamilton entered the day with the third-longest current home run drought among active position players, behind Pete Kozma (now 537 ABs) and Adeiny Hechavarria (now 411).

Zimmerman keeps slugging streak going

Ryan Zimmerman’s RBI double game drove in the game-winning run in the Nationals’ 2–1 win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and extended his extra-base hit streak to nine games. That’s the longest streak of games with an extra-base hit, all as a first baseman, since Derrek Lee’s nine-game streak for the Cubs in 2007.

Catcher hits second triple from top spot in order

J.T. Realmuto hit his second triple of the season on Wednesday, and both have come as a catcher and while batting in the leadoff spot. The last catcher with two leadoff triples in a season was Jason Kendall (2001 and 2002) and before him, Mickey Cochrane (1925).

Ozuna extends hitting streak

Marcell Ozuna extended his hitting streak against the Rays to 20 games, which is now the second-longest hitting streak in an interleague series. Luis Castillo hit safely in 23 straight games for the Marlins against the Rays from 1999 to 2003.

Senzatela looks like a keeper

Antonio Senzatela improved to 4–1 in the major leagues with a win over the Padres on Wednesday. The only other Rockies pitcher to win at least four of his first six games in the major leagues was Christian Friedrich in 2012.

Designated hitter lives up to his title

Kennys Vargas drove in five runs in the Twins’ win over the Athletics on Wednesday. The only other DHs to have a five-RBI game this season were Shin-Soo Choo (April 16) and Nelson Cruz (April 23).

Maddon pushes right button, Contreras delivers

Joe Maddon sent Willson Contreras to pinch hit in the sixth inning on Wednesday and he delivered a two-run single to turn a 3–2 deficit into a 4–3 lead. Two other players this season have had a pinch hit that turned a deficit into a lead: Adam Lind and Evan Gattis. Since 2013, the only other Cubs player to have a behind-to-ahead pinch hit was Ryan Kalish last year on May 7.

Karns mows down White Sox second time around

Nate Karns, making his second straight start against the White Sox, held Chicago to one hit in six innings on Wednesday. One other pitcher this season made consecutive starts against the same team, and held them to one hit the second time around, and he also did it against the White Sox. That was Ervin Santana, who threw a complete-game one-hitter on April 15.

^ Back to Top ^