Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy Night In Boston Sports
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Rest up your thumbs, Boston sports fans. You and your remote have a busy Wednesday night ahead of you.
The Bruins and Celtics both have playoff games this evening, while the Red Sox finish off their brief two-game set with the Yankees. And to top it all off, we'll finally find out when the Patriots will be playing next season (spoiler alert: It will mostly be Sundays with a Thursday and Monday night mixed in).
Unless you have a couple of TVs, or a nice TV and laptop/tablet setup, the timing of the three games may wear out the return/last button on your remote. The Red Sox and Yankees start at 6:30 p.m., and both the Bruins and Celtics get underway at 7 p.m. It would be wise to get your game plan in order this afternoon.
The NFL schedule special is set to begin at 8 p.m., but that's an event better served for Twitter (or CBSBostonsports.com). So which of the three games will you be tuning into Wednesday night? Or which of the three should receive most of your attention?
The answer is easy. It has to be the Bruins. They are down 2-1 in their first-round series with the Maple Leafs and face a must-win in Toronto. While they have a pretty good history of coming back against the Leafs, returning to Boston down 3-1 in the series is not an ideal situation for the B's. Expect a much better effort, with a lot more physicality, from Bruce Cassidy's club on Wednesday night.
The NHL playoffs have been incredible so far, as always. Both the Tampa Bay Lighting and Pittsburgh Penguins were swept out the first round on Tuesday night, as the 2018-19 playoffs have been about the rise of lower seeds like Columbus and the New York Islanders. The Bruins would like to change that on Wednesday night, pulling even with the Leafs.
Then you have the Celtics and their enigmatic ways. They got off to a horrendous start in Game 1 against the Pacers on Sunday afternoon, but ended up having a fairly easy time in the second half. Indiana led by seven at halftime, but scored just eight points in the third quarter. The Celtics took advantage and built a 22-point lead, taking the game 84-74 on 20-point nights by Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris.
It wasn't a particularly fun game to watch, but it was a playoff win nonetheless. The Pacers are a scrappy bunch and play solid defense, so we're likely in for another grind-em-out tilt in Game 2. Unless we get to see "Playoff Kyrie" go off, it'll be hard to pick the Celtics over the Bruins (and this is coming from someone who bleeds green).
And in case we are hit with the feared "double commercials," there are the Red Sox to fill the void. Nathan Eovaldi is on the hill looking for his first win (and quality start) of the season, and the Boston bats are looking to actually score some runs after being shut out Tuesday night. But with the earlier start, there's a chance that the Sox are already down by a handful of runs by the time the two playoff tilts get underway.
Any way you cut it, there is no shortage of sports entertainment in Boston on Wednesday night. Just make sure you have a fresh set of batteries on standby.
