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Another weekend has passed. Time to discuss USA’s opening match in the Gold Cup, the NBA Finals returning to Oklahoma City for game five, and the last week of the NHL playoffs.
The USA Demolishes Trinidad & Tobago 5-0 in Opening Gold Cup Match:
The USA in men’s soccer has not performed well in recent outings. We don’t need to rehash their past two losses at this point. It’s done and dusted, been analyzed and frankly, been annoying to hear.
Sunday’s opening match in the Gold Cup for the Americans needed to be a triumphed one for them. It needed to be a level of play that would show the rest of the competition how badly the US wanted to win it. Well, a 5-0 massacre vs a relatively easy Trinidad squad was just what they needed.
In the simplest terms, the US dominated their opponents in every aspect of the game. They made excellent decisions in the short passes department and flashed brilliant long distance passes. They dominated possession, they looked unbeatable in the attacking-third against an outmatched Trinidad backline.
It all goes to say, this was an excellent performance for a US squad that didn’t feature many of the top playmakers fans are accustomed to. Specifically, Malik Tillman and Diego Luna were awesome on the pitch. Tillman converted on two goals to earn a brace, while Luna assisted and generated many goal scoring opportunities for his teammates.
Looking more at USA’s attack, they shot the ball a ridiculous 21 times in a game that could have realistically been 6-0 or 7-0. Trinidad, on the other hand, only mustard three shots the entire match. So in summary, the US quite literally destroyed their opponents in what was essentially an easy victory.
Now, let’s go back down to reality for a second. The US had to win this match without any problems and had to win this contest convincingly. A 1-0 or 2-0 win would still have been solid, but not great.
This win was refreshing for the US and will definitely boost their morale as they continue through the tournament. However, they once again cannot overlook their next two opponents in their Group.
Saudi Arabia and Haiti are next up for the US. Looking at their match vs Saudi Arabia on Thursday, they are missing many of their players due to the ongoing Club World Cup. However, the US cannot underestimate them as losing to them would be an embarrassing result.
Overall though, Sunday was a great start for the Americans and a performance they can build on, especially for their inexperienced players.
Game 5 of the NBA Finals - A Thunderous Chance to Take The Series Lead:
Deadlock at two games a piece, the Midwest NBA Finals has been stellar so far. Just looking at the results of all four games so far, they have been close. As a result, the physicality and aggressiveness of the series is starting to appear more vividly.
In game four, the Thunder and Pacers combined for a total of 53 fouls. There was discussion online during and after the game about certain calls on the court, which did not receive positive feedback from fans.
On the Thunder side of things, this was a must win game for a squad who had to face an incredible opposing crowd. As the leader of the best team in the NBA this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had to continue his historical play in these Finals. He did just that.
Leading all players with 35 points, SGA was crucial in the late stages of Friday’s game. He virtually scored almost all of OKC’s points to close the game out on a 16-7 run. With 15 points in the last 4:38 of the game, SGA proved why he was the league’s MVP this season.
Now heading back to Oklahoma City for game five, the Thunder have all the momentum on their side. Many players performed well once again for OKC like Jalen Williams, who scored 27 points. Additionally, Chet Holmgren earned a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds.
At this point, the Thunder want to take control of this series for good. While Indiana deserves all the credit in the world for being able to disrupt this Thunder squad, it’s OKC’s title to win. There’s a reason why this Thunder team won 68 games this season and it’s because they can take over games easily.
When a team gets defeated defensively by the Thunder, they turn turnovers into points and proceed to start long runs. Then, they make all their shots and when that happens, the lead becomes too much for the opposing teams to overcome. What I’m trying to say is that if the Thunder start forcing turnovers early and ruin the Pacers’ rhythm, OKC will win easily.
Now, the Pacers have a chance of course as they won game one on the road. However, the home crowd for the Thunder are going to be louder than ever before, and that will affect Indiana heavily.
While it’s still the Thunder’s championship to win, I want this series to go to seven. For the sake of me and NBA fans alike, this has been an awesome Finals. This is what the league needed and it has arguably been the best Finals in a bit.
The Finally Week of The Entire NHL Season:
It has unfortunately come for hockey fans. The end of another NHL season will arrive this week as one team will hoist the Stanley Cup come either Tuesday or Friday.
The Florida Panthers won convincingly on Saturday, beating Edmonton 5-2 on the road. Brad Marchand was once again great for Florida, netting two goals for them.
It’s now all eyes on the state of Florida again where the Panthers could win back-to-back Cups on home ice. The rise of the Panthers is an incredible one and one that will be studied by future hockey scholars. This team was an afterthought in the 2000s and somewhat irrelevant for most of the 2010s.
Yet, ever since head coach Paul Maurice was brought on in 2022, it has been nothing but Stanley Cup Finals appearances. Of course, the obvious thing here is that he helped the franchise win their first Cup last year.
If the Panthers go back-to-back, the entire state of Florida will have won four of the last six Stanley Cups. The Tampa Bay Lightning were responsible for the first two Cups this decade, winning in 2020 and 2021.
If you're the Oilers, enough is enough. There have been times in this series where they were able to rally and get through the Panthers’ defense. Yet, whether it was being undisciplined in game three or allowing too many goals throughout the series, mistakes have hurt them.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the veteran presence of Corey Perry have done everything to help the Oilers. But, can their depth perform well in a must win game six? Will Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard get it done and can the Oilers get off to a fast start?
No team from Canada has won a Cup since 1993 and if Florida wins again on Tuesday, that mark will extend to 32 years. It is quite literally do or die time for an Oilers team that needs to win for their city and country.
However, when someone is crowned a champion this week, fans all across the world will be sad that another season will conclude. Having covered Devils games this year, it was great seeing teams like the Hurricanes and players like Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin live.
I know that was off topic but I love this league so much and it has been a fun year around the league.
Final Thoughts:
I was out with my family Saturday night celebrating my Grandma’s birthday and Father’s Day and I noticed one thing. The TVs were only airing movies from Netflix and a lot of them were pretty much the same thing. They were either heist films, mafia films, or films directed by Martin Scorsese (don’t know how I mentioned him in two blogs already).
They could have aired other things honestly. Food Network, HGTV, the event celebrating the 250th birthday of the US Army. For me, all the TVs should have been airing sporting events that were going on.
The Stanley Cup was on, the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, the UFL Championship game was on. There were also little kids at this restaurant so I don’t think there should have been a TV showing Robert Di Niro shooting someone. Apparently it was The Irishman which I have never watched.
The other option would be not having TVs. It was a kinda fancy Italian restaurant so I would rather enjoy my food and my time with my family at that point. Still, I think the best option should have been to put on the Stanley Cup, but that’s just me.