Mid-March is here and we are getting down to arguably the best part of the sports calendar with “March Madness“ AKA the NCAA Tournament arriving. But let’s get into the last couple days of NY Sports and sports in general, with the CoronaVirus epidemic. has hovered over the Sports Community.
But first let's recap what happened in NY Sports last night...
KNICKS: 20-45
They rallied from a 17 point deficit to take a 70-54 halftime lead, but then blew that in a late 122-115 loss to the Washington Wizards(24-40).
On the bright side, Frank Ntikila had 20 points in the loss.
NETS: 30-34
In a wild game last night, the Nets shocked the Lakers 104-102. Anthony Davis Single-handedly brought the Lakers back down 97-88 with 4 minutes remaining, into a tie ballgame at 102 in the final minute, but a Spencer Dinwidee jumper (23 points) and a LBJ missed layup in the final seconds gave the Nets the victory in LA.
Brooklyn had 24 assists in this win as opposed to 29 turnovers in Sunday’s 110-107 win over the Bulls at Barclays Center. They’re on a 3 game winning streak and now lead the Magic(30-35) by a .5 game for the 7th seed in the East.
RANGERS: 37-28-4
In the opening game of a big 3 game road trip, the Rangers defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Tuesday night(3/10), behind Kappo Kakko and Igor Shesterkin. Igor looked as if he was no longer rusty and had gotten all of that off him in Saturday’s 6-4 home loss to the Devils. While Shesterkin lived up to the number on his jersey and made 31 saves, Adam Fox scored 19 seconds into the contest, Mika Zibanejad became the fastest Ranger to 40 goals (Took 56 games) and the young Kappo Kakko netted two goals of his own. But while one teenager shone bright, the other went down as Filip Chytil went down with a lower-body injury and is day-day.
The Rangers are now within 3 points of the WC, and can cut the deficit down to 1 should they defeat the offensive-heavy Colorado Avalanche (41-20-8) on Wednesday night in the Motor City.
Igor gets the nod in goal, while Steven Haggertey takes Chyti’s spot on the roster.
Puck drop is 10:00PM EST.
ISLANDERS: 35-23-10
The losing streak has hit 7 with a 5-4 shootout loss to tie playoff hopeful Vancouver Canucks(36-27-6) in Canada on Tuesday night (3/10). The Isles though are only one point out of the Wild Card despite all of the losing. Props to Brock Nelson for keeping his team in the game with two game -tying goals essentially netting the Islanders a point.
YANKEES:
The reason why I have strayed away from going crazy over the ST games (Though Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery and Rosell Herrera continue to impress), is because the objective out of Yankees camp is just to stay healthy as we get closer to Opening Day on March 26th.
We had some more injury news come out of Yankee camp, as Gary Sanchez has a Sore Back and because he tested positive for the flu, didn’t get tested for the Corona Virus.
As I’m typing this, word has just come out that Zach Brittion was hit by a comebacks from veteran catcher Erik Kratz in BP this morning, and is getting tests on his right wrist. The hits just keep on coming (No pun intended).
METS:
The same objective goes for the Mets as well with Micheal Conforto now doubtful for Opening Day due to a calf strain, Jed Lowrie being unlikely to play this season due to a knee injury, the status of slugger Yoanes Cespedes’s health uncertain and what will happen to Delin Betances who was rocked in his first outing since he partially tore his Achilles with the Yankees this September.
Fortunately for the Mets, they’re expected to do well this year and contend for a playoff spot with Jacob Degrom and Pete Alonso leading the way.
CORONA TAKING OVER SPORTS WORLD:
MEDIA BLOCK:
Due to the CoronaVirus, reporters from the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, and MLS will be unable to go into team locker rooms to interview players or coaches. In order for these interviews to happen, players and coaches must come outside of their clubhouses to do so. While this is a big disappointment in the “Reporters community”, it was smart by the league to get it done due to precautionary reasons.
YU!!!:
The NO 13 seed Yeshivah University Macabes (29-1) have increased their winning streak to 29 games, with their last two games coming in the first two rounds of the Division III NCAA Tournament. Up next though, will be the 3 seeded Randolph in Yeshivah’s toughest game of the year.
It will be the best offense in the Macs, against the best defense in Randolph. Tip off is this upcoming Friday (3/13) at 2:00PM EST. This game will be the first for the Macs that will be played in front of fans, as due Corona, fans were banned from the first two games at John Hopkins university in Baltimore,Maryland.
The Macs won their Skyline Conference championship a few weeks ago for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Go Macs!!!
MARCH MADNESS GOING FANLESS?
The famous annual Division I NCAA Mens b-ball tournament might go on with fans reportedly banned from the games. That is something that is being considered by the NCAA as they try and take precaution to the CoronaVirus outbreak.
This comes on the heels of reports coming out that the NBA and MLB are considering banning fans from games for protection too as that would be put in the category of “Large public gatherings” where people around the world are being encouraged to do something about due to this Virus. The Ivy League has already cancelled their legaue tournament and will have the regular season champion in Yale, to represent them in the NCAA Tournament.
UPDATES:
•”Earlier today, LHP Zack Britton suffered a bruised right wrist. X-rays and a CT scan were negative.”- Yankees Twitter.
•“The Warriors, league sources say, will be directed to play host to the Nets on Thursday night at Chase Center in a game CLOSED to fans”
-Athletic
The Warriors news comes immediately after news broke that gatherings of 1,000+ people will be banned in San Francisco due to the Virus.
The ban is two weeks long, but the Warriors (15-50), have two home games in that span against the Hawks and Nets with the first one being tomorrow against Brooklyn.
The fanless game will tip off at 10:30PM EST.
•NCAA tournament games in Ohio will be played in front of empty seats, as no fans will be permitted to attend.
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