By
Times Sports Columnist
After a grueling 82 game marathon of a regular sea-
son, the N-BA playoffs are finally here. I'll start in the
Eastern conference, with the Boston Celtics against the
Chicago Bulls.
The Celtics lead the se-
ries 1-0, and should make
quick work of the over-
matched Bulls. The Celt-
ics are also playing with
heavy hearts, after Boston
guard Isaiah Thomas lost
his sister in an automobile
accident over the weekend.
If any team is a lock to
rally, and sweep their op-
ponent, it is the Celtics. In
Cleveland, the Cavaliers
are once again the favor-
ites to make it all the way
to the Finals. And, based
offof their 2-0 lead in their
series with the Pacers,
the Cavaliers are on the
fast track to round 2. The
Washington Wizards and
the Atlanta Hawks make
up what should be the best
matchup of the first round.
Both of these teams are
middle of the pack playoff
squads, and should play
each other extremely close
all series. In fact, this is
probably the only series
that will go a full 7 games.
Rounding out the Eastern
conference, the upstart
Milwaukee Bucks are in
a dogfight with the almost
as young Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors burst onto
the scene last year, reach-
ing the conference finals,
before ultimately fall-
ing to the Cavaliers. This
year, the Bucks might be
the team that surprises
everyone, and ends up
in the conference finals.
Ironically, the Bucks are
playing those Raptors,
• and while the Raptors are
the heavy favorite, the
Bucks shocked everyone,
John Dudek
taking game 1 in Toronto.
This should be a fun series
moving forward.
Over in the Western
conference, the scene is a
lot more muddled. The de-
fending conference cham-
pion Warriors are facing a
solid Portland team, that
would challenge for con-
ference championship if
they were in the East. The
Blazers played them close
in the opening game of the
series, but that is about is
far as they are going to go.
The Warriors are as close
as a lock to run the table
as any team in the league.
After blowing a 3-1 lead in
last season's finals, they
are on a mission. Oh yeah,
they also added one of the
best players in the world in
Kevin Durant during this
past offseason. Heading
into the marquee matchup
of round 1, I thought that
the Oklahoma City Thun-
der and Houston Rockets
would be a highly contest-
ed type of series. Instead
the Rockets blew out the
Thunder in pretty con-
vincing fashion. It looks
like the Russell Westbrook
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extravaganza is going to
come to end, much earlier
than Thunder fans were
hoping it to. The likely
MVP of the regular sea-
son, Westbrook averaged a
"triple double" during the
regular season. It looks
like that Herculean effort
has finally caught up with
him and the Thunder. I
don't want to waste any
space, or time on the San
Antonio Spurs series with
the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Spurs are already up
2-0, and we know how this
story ends. Finally, the
Utah Jazz and the Los An-
geles Clippers round out
the first batch of games.
The Jazz stole game 1, in
Los Angeles, on a buzzer
beater, and now have the
home court advantage in
this series. It looks like it
could be another early exit
for former New Orleans
Hornet Chris Paul, and
his Clippers teammates.
It might be time to blow
this team up and just start
over. Whew, and we are
just in the 1st round. Stay
tuned.
Tulane has
By JOEL RAY
Times Sports Editor
The Tulane Green
Wave baseball team went
4-0 for the week, defeating
Nicholls State and sweep-
ing the University of Con-
necticut (UConn).
The Green Wave played
the NichoUs State Colo-
nels at Turchin Stadium
in New Orleans on Tues-
day, defeating them 9-3.
Tulane hit four home runs
and took an early lead.
Tulane's Hunter Wil-
liams hit a solo home run
in the first inning, and
Grant Brown hit a two-
run home run in the sec-
ond inning. Later, after
the Colonels tied the game
at 3-3, Jarrett DeHart and
Hunter Hope hit back-to-
back solo home runs that
gave the Green Wave a 5-3
lead after three innings.
The Greenies added
three runs in the sixth in-
ning to increase their lead
to 8-3. The Green Wave
went on to add one more
run in the eighth inning
for the 9-3 final score.
The Green Wave then
played a three-game
weekend series against
American Athletic Con-
ference opponent UConn.
The UConn Huskies en-
tered the series leading
the American with a per-
fect 6-0 conference record,
they left New Orleans with
a 6-3 conference record af-
ter the Green Wave won
all three games to sweep
the series.
The Green Wave and
Huskies played game one
of the series Thursday
night. Tulane won the
game 8-3. The key inning
was the third where the
Greenies scored seven of
their eight runs.
Tulane starting pitcher
Sam Bjorngjeld gave up
eight hits but only one
run because the hits were
spread out over the 6.0 in-
nings he pitched, the lon-
gest outing of his career.
The next day, Tulane
clinched the series by win-
ning game two 3-1 behind
stellar pitching from start-
er Corey Merrill. Merrill
struck out six batters and
allowed just one run in
7.0 innings. Relief pitcher
Christian Colletti earned
his fourth save by pitching
two scoreless innings and
only giving up one infield
hit.
Tulane won game three
of the series 6-5 in 12 in-
nings to earn a series
sweep. With the game tied
5-5 in the bottom of the
12th inning Tulane's Jar-
rett DeHart walked, Kody
Hoese bunted him over to
second base. Hunter Hope
was intentionally walked.
Grant Brown hit a single
that drove home DeHart
• for the winning run and
THE TIMES, APRIL 20, 2017 PAGE 9
the series sweep.
At this point in the sea-
son Tulane's overall win-
loss record is 18-18. The
Greenies are 7-2 in the
American Athletic Confer-
ence and lead the Ameri-
can with the best record.
The Green Wave hit the
road this weekend for a
three-game series against
the Houston Cougars, a
conference opponent.
The Green Wave's next
played in Baton Rouge.
The April 25th game at
Turchin Stadium is sched-
uled for 6:30 p.m. but
might be moved back to 7
p.m. for television.
All Tulane baseball
games are •broadcast live
on WRBH 88.3 FM. Fans
can follow Green Wave
baseball online at Face-
book, Twitter and Insta-
gram. Live game stats are
at TulaneGreenWave.com.
home game is Tuesday, - .....
April 25th against the Times Sports Editor
LSU Fighting Tigers. Tu-Joel Ray is a member o/
lane beat LSU 7-6 earlier the Louisiana Sports Writ-
this year when the teamsers Association.
Ponchatoula: (985) 467-9525
www.PonchatoulaLawyer.com
Celebrating
years
hostedby Rosa Dunn
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11 to 11: 30am
Interviews newsmakers
and community leaders on topics
i i
mpact ng our community.
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