Eight Isn’t Enough

I do love when the calendar provides sports fans with meaningful post-season games for an assured minimum of twelve hours.  I’ve previously mused about how I cherish when the gods align to allow four MLB playoff games to be contested in pretty much unique windows–typically on the opening day, and then on rare occasions once more if no one sweeps.  This time of year, thanks to the NBA and NHL in lockstep with each other and with ESPN as a common denominator between them, the quadrupleheader phenomeon is doubled down on twice, with the first of those phenomena taking place yesterday.  Eight post-season lid-lifters, with exclusive territoriesstaked out that only saw one hockey window compromised with competition.  Much more ability to focus on details and far less of a chance for me to miss the ads.

And as is typical with Game 1s of best-of-sevens when the road team is able to emerge victorious it changes the dynamic dramatically, as all of a sudden home advantage–which typically produces a series winner out of Game 1 victors more than three-quarters of the time–is flipped, and the team that battled so valiantly to achieve it for the past seven months or so is now behind the, well, eight ball.

Such was the case in Detroit, where the young and sometimes schizophrenic Eastern Conference champion Pistons were taken to school by an even more unpredictable bunch that had been left for dead less than a week before.  But as even hometown scribe Coty M. Davis of THE DETROIT NEWS was forced to admit, for now that’s all moot:

The Detroit Pistons trailed the Orlando Magic 96-90 with 6:50 remaining in the fourth quarter when Cade Cunningham was fouled by Desmond Bane during his lay-up attempt. Cunningham went to the free-throw line and successfully made both shots, narrowing the Pistons’ deficit to four points (96-92) as fans inside Little Caesars Arena chanted “MVP.”

Initially, it appeared that the Pistons were ready to make a late-game rally. However, on Orlando’s next possession, Tristan Da Silva (seven points) made a 3-point shot, which silenced the crowd. It illustrated how the Pistons suffered a 112-101 Game 1 loss to the Magic on Sunday in the best-of-seven series.

Cunningham and Tobias Harris were the only two players who provided consistent offense for the Pistons. Cunningham led the way with 39 points on 13-of-27 shooting, to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Harris added 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting, 1 of 7 from deep. They were the only two players who scored in double figures. As a whole, Detroit finished the night shooting 31 of 77 from the field (40.3%), 10 of 32 (31.3%) from behind the arc.

But the state of Florida both taketh and giveth away, as illustrated by what transpired that clearly irked FLOHOCKEYNOW’s publisher George Richards to no end:

The Montreal Canadiens got five chances with the power play in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Juraj Slafkovsky scored on three of them.

Slafkovsky’s natural hat trick culminated with his power-play goal 82 seconds into overtime to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win and a 1-0 series lead against the Lightning. Tampa Bay, which has lost its past three Game 1s after the Florida Panthers won the previous two, tied the score midway through the third. But a high-sticking call on Jake Guentzel gave Montreal’s momentum-changing power play another chance 21 seconds before the end of regulation.

Slafkovsky’s first power-play goal came in the second and tied the score at 2 after Tampa Bay scored twice in 29 seconds. His second gave Montreal a 3-2 lead at 5:56 of the third.

And we damn near had another soul-crushing loss that was unfolding at the same time that Les Habitants were rallying in an arena that was playing host to a playoff game for the first time this decade.  Maybe they were all watching what was happening in Tampa, because once that game ended we saw the tables re-flipped back into what experts had predicted–or so seemed to the tone of ESPN’s Kristen Shilton:

KeyBank Center went from morgue to madhouse Sunday as the Buffalo Sabres rallied from a 2-0 third-period deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3 to collect the franchise’s first playoff victory in 15 years.

The Sabres were on the ropes until they scored four goals in just 6:46 of the final frame, a comeback spearheaded by two goals from Tage Thompson in his first NHL postseason appearance. Thompson’s heroics were reflective of all he and Buffalo have been through to reach their current pinnacle.

“Eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for this,” Thompson said. “When you go eight years [with this team] without making playoffs, and then it’s finally here, the last thing you want is regret. It was a heightened feeling of hunger, and we didn’t want to let this opportunity slip. Tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard.”

Thompson’s hunger and appetite made even a chalk win seem emotionally satisfying, but what transpired in San Antonio with the post-season debut of an even more transformational player eclipsed even that, as THE ATHLETIC’s Chris Branch testified in this morning’s PULSE newsletter:

This entire category belongs to Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio’s wunderkind who made his playoff debut last night. The result? Thirty-five points in an easy Spurs win over the Trail Blazers. 

But even his out-of-this-world feats were given a challenge by the main event and coda to WRESTLEMANIA 42, which filled Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium with excitement and a crowd scene certainly not seen for Raiders games and per my more informed rasslin’ fans all but saved what to that point had been a lackluster debut for its broader-reach debut on ESPN Unlimited.  FORBES’ Alfred Konuwa gave the scripted performance of the heavyweight championship showdown between Roman Reigns and CM Punk rave reviews: