See things others don’t!

Much like Steph Curry, The Joker always is a threat to get that last laugh, and OKc found that out the hard way tonight. At times tonight, he looked off, distracted and a bit out of sorts. The Thunder induced their share of turnovers, frustration fouls and scowls, but even as he played the tired villain you could sense the amazing determination, perserverance and fierce fortitude. He was the coach, the superstar on the court and the engine that would not let the Nuggets knuckle under. And in the end, spindly Chet couldn’t get those last two charity stripe offerings to drop, followed by Commissioner Gordon’s definitive three, and it was a back breaker of a road win for Denver.
Denver knows it can win this… but I’m not sure the same thing can be said about the #1 seeds.

Let the Final Four Festivities commence! Time to eat, or be eaten… and beaten. Save some time for ChabDog Sports Talk’s “Save the Blind Tigers” Show. Is Auburn headed for some unfortunate chomp and circumstance against the Gators? Will high and mighty Duke and its Flagg-bearer famously high flying get taken out by Samson’s sadistic wrecking crew and their terrible defensive tool box, incluidng a big blow torch and more than a few defensive pliers.
When we’re done with basketball, it’s time to lay out the welcome mat for MLB, where the Dodgers rule with an iron hand, its all hands on deck for the Yankees and their magic bat, and the Braves need a lot more than a helping hand.
And then there’s our killer Kilmer clips… love steet, Dodge City Doc…and real geniuses in college… plus Billy and the Over-the-hill-gang and John Malkovich, burying a hatchet in Burn After Reading.

Opening Day was a sad one for Mets fans. Not only did they lose 3-1 in Houston to suffer their first back-to-back Opening Day defeats since 1999 and 2000, but they were let down by two key players that they signed as free agents during the offseason. Both Clay Holmes and Juan Soto played for the Yankees last year, and both failed to make a strong first impression with their new team. I don’t even know if Holmes is a starting pitcher, let alone a starting pitcher worthy of Opening Day. Before Thursday, he hadn’t started a game since 2018, so I don’t know what made the Mets think he can be a mainstay in their rotation. Holmes looked great in spring training, but in the opener he fell one out short of five innings pitched while allowing five hits and four walks. That is a lot of action on the basepaths, but to Holmes’ credit, he only let in two earned runs. The third Houston run came home on a throwing error by Luisangel Acuna that negated what could have been an inning-ending double play. This Mets pitching staff is very thin with Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas on the injured list. If guys like Holmes can’t make it through five innings, the bullpen is going to be overworked.

At least Juan Soto reached base three times on a single and two walks, but he also struck out to end the game after Houston closer Josh Hader fell behind 3-0 in the count and grooved a pitch for his first strike that it looked like Soto could have hit to the moon. It was a disappointing ending to the game, especially since Soto came so close to a heroic moment. It was nice to see the Mets rally in the 8th and the 9th after looking totally feeble against Framber Valdez, though. Acuna did a great job climbing out of an 0-2 hole and working a walk and Francisco Lindor hit a long sac fly to break up the shutout, but the Mets could not find the one big hit to bring them back. Hopefully the offense will be more consistent against Hunter Brown tonight. If it is not, the Mets will need a great effort from Tylor Megill to avoid another loss.

Elsewhere in the National League East, Mackenzie Gore totally dominated the Phillies for six innings with 13 strikeouts and just one hit allowed. Gore left the game with a 1-0 lead, but the Phillies hopped on top with solo shots by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber off of Lucas Sims and Jose Ferrer of the Washington pen. The Nats rallied to tie the game at 3-3 in the 8th against Jordan Romano, but the Phillies got a two-run double from Alec Bohm and another from J.T. Realmuto to put the game away in the 10th.

The Braves scored four runs in the first four innings at San Diego, but their offense went quiet the rest of the way while the Padres rallied back with four runs in the 7th against Hector Neris and Aaron Bummer. Gavin Sheets hit a solo shot to start the frame and tie the score, Luis Arraez gave the Padres the lead with a sac fly, and Manny Machado added on with an RBI double before Jackson Merrill capped the scoring with a sac fly of his down for his fourth RBI of the day.

As Opening Day turned into night, college hoops took, and we got to see a lot of offense on display in the Sweet 16. Florida only led Maryland by two at the half, but the Gators chomped away for 47 second-half points and moved on with an 87-71 victory. Star guard Walter Clayton Jr. only scored 13 points, but Florida had six players score in double figures. This is a team that can erupt no matter who the defense tries to clamp down on. It was a different story in Newark, where Mark Sears and Aden Holloway led a three-point barrage for Alabama in its 113-88 win over BYU. The Cougars could not keep pace as Alabama poured in 25 shots from beyond the arc on a wild 51 attempts to bury the Mormons. Sears was nigh unstoppable with 34 points and eight assists.

The night games were more competitive, and Caleb Love would not let Duke pull away from Arizona. He scored 35 points for the Wildcats, but Duke got a combined 50 from Cooper Flagg and Kon Knuppel to keep its opponents from completing the upset bid. Jon Scheyer’s team won 100-93 and is set to face the Crimson Tide on Saturday night in what could be a scoring bonanza for the ages.

Despite all the scoring from Alabama and Duke, the most electric game of the evening took place in San Francisco with Darrion Williams and Texas Tech overcoming a 13-point deficit with less than five minutes to play and stunning Arkansas 85-83 in overtime. Williams was only 8-for-26 from the field in this one, but he came up big when it mattered with a three-point shot to tie the score at 72-72 with nine seconds remaining in the second half. In overtime, Williams hit a layup after a spin move in the post to give Texas Tech the winning margin. D.J. Wagner missed shots at the end of regulation and overtime for Arkansas. The Hogs might have been playing with house money as a 10-seed, but this loss has to be heartbreaking nevertheless with how close they were to the Elite Eight. It’s hard to call Arkansas “Cinderella” when you have a great coach in John Calipari and an tremendous prospect with Wagner, but Calipari being on the edge of the Final Four in his first year with his new program would have been a heck of a story.

Update about the state of the ChabDog Pool (on the cusp of the 16 Candles round):

–Aaron’s glory has proven to be a wee bit fleeting, as he must now share top honors with 2 others, including Well-read and HOV (High Occuplancy?). High falutent Harrison (hot air) Montague is in third, 10 points back.
— Meanwhilte ChabDog lurks at just 30 points back, tied with the master of the six pack, Blixx
— Abe is in 7th, mortally wounded as Iowa State bit the proverbial big one.
— Behind him, hope abounds as everyone else’s winner remains alive.
Everyone in this pool has done a great job (even you Abe!) and deserve a Pat Kinght (or is it a Pat Summit?) on the back for a job well-done.

Despite all the fears of March mayhem, looks like when the dust cleared from round 1, the [ChabDog.com](http://chabdog.com/…) group pickers are mostly in tact and by no means done… leading us to that do or die, make or break round of 32.. and time for the “Bunker down and defend your bracket amid all the racket” CDST show. We’ll break down where things stand as things heat up in the Tournament … with most of the big boys (and their big coaches) still hanging around.
After possibly a few more Karaoke interjections, ChabDog explains why a cozy wing chair is such important territory to protect when you’re trying to make projections, plus A-ron’s reflections on how he actually went 27-5. Well-read’s recovered from his bout with yellow fever, and is now an eager beaver basketball prognosticator, and Abe Go Fish Pagoda splains why he cast his line with the Cyclones.
In the background we’ve got a priceless roster of famous clips and quips from All in the Family, and a tribute to grillmaster Foreman (including Cosell’s famous call of “Down Goes Frazier”, plus what happens when Mr. Rodger’s neighborhood once again becomes PIttsburgh and the recipe for an Ice cold finger roll.
Don’t miss this week’s shoooooo on a divine second day of Spring!