Every pitcher in the Little League World Series works under a hard limit. Once a 12-year-old reaches 85 pitches in a game, he or she comes off the mound, and how many pitches they threw determines how many days they have to sit before they can pitch again.
The rules come from the Little League rulebook. They apply the same way in Williamsport as they do on any field in the country. Managers plan around them from the first day of the tournament, because a double-elimination bracket rewards teams with a third and fourth pitcher more than teams with one good arm.
Little League moved to pitch counts in 2007, replacing a system that limited pitchers by innings. Under the old rules a 12-year-old could throw well past 100 pitches in a six-inning game, a number big league starters rarely reach. A 2011 University of North Carolina study commissioned by Little League found the program cut shoulder injury risk among pitchers ages 8 to 13 by half.
Here is how the limits, the rest chart and the catcher restrictions work:
How many pitches can a Little League pitcher throw?
Limits go by league age, not calendar age.
Ages 13 through 16: 95
Ages 11 and 12, the World Series division: 85 pitches
Ages 9 and 10: 75
Ages 7 and 8: 50
When a pitcher hits the number they're done. The one wrinkle is that they can finish the batter they're facing, staying in until that hitter reaches base or is retired or the third out ends the inning. So you'll occasionally see a kid finish with 89 in a game that caps at 85, and nothing is wrong.
Warm-up pitches don't count. Only what a pitcher throws to a hitter counts.
How many days of rest does a pitcher need?
Rest runs on calendar days and starts the day after the game.
66 to 85 pitches: four days
51 to 65: three days
36 to 50: two days
21 to 35: one day
Stretch that across a 12-day tournament and the problem shows up fast. Throw 70 on a Wednesday and you're not available again until Monday. An ace can win a team one game and leave it thin for the next three.
Nobody pitches on three calendar days in a row, whatever the counts say. And once a pitcher leaves the mound, they can't come back to it later in the same game.
The catcher rules
The pitching limits don't stop at the mound. Little League recognizes the catchers throwing as heavy arm work as well. The two positions are regulated together.
Three rules govern it.
A pitcher who throws 41 or more pitches can't catch that day. A player who catches four innings or more can't pitch that day. And a player who catches three innings or fewer and then moves to the mound and throws 21 or more pitches, can't go back behind the plate.
Catch more than three innings and you cannot pitch that day. The cutoff is strict. Three innings plus a single pitch in the fourth is enough to trigger the rule.
What happens if a team breaks the rule?
If a manager leaves a pitcher in past their limit, or brings them back without the required rest, the other team can protest.
Every game has an official pitch count recorder. That person has to give the current count to either manager or any umpire on request, and has to tell the umpire-in-chief the moment a pitcher reaches their limit. Whatever the recorder has is the count. What a coach has, or a parent has, doesn't matter.
Milan, Napoli and Atalanta all have new head coaches as Italian football hopes to return to the spotlight
And so, calcio’s “third apocalypse” has passed. A lot of Italians enjoyed the World Cup more than they expected. Without a team to cheer for, again, a country turned its attention to different sports. And found its athletes dominating them.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - APRIL 14: Jack Hughes #86 of the New Jersey Devils waits for a face off during the second period against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on April 14, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by China Wong/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Here are your links for today:
Devils Links
A look at a few key advanced metrics trends for the Devils heading into the 2026-2027 season: [NHL.com]
“The New Jersey Devils want to turn optimism into substance this season with a new general manager, a recommitted captain and a roster reshaped around more size, versatility and scoring.” [NHL.com]
“The New Jersey Devils were a huge disappointment last season. They were widely considered a sneaky contender and Dom Luszczyszyn gave them the 9th best odds to win the Stanley Cup. Fast forward and they finished 21st in the league while missing the playoffs by 12 points. Not great! Let’s take a look at three reasons to be optimistic the Devils could have a much more successful campaign in 2026-27.” [Infernal Access ($)]
“The 2026-27 season is an important one for the New Jersey Devils. They have to make the playoffs, or there could be consequences next offseason if they miss. That means everyone has to play at a high level, but some players have more to prove than others. Let’s look at five Devils with the most to prove next season.” [Devils on the Rush]
“A healthy Jack Hughes changes the outlook more than almost any other single variable on the roster. That remains the clearest path to a better year in New Jersey.” [New Jersey Hockey Now]
Hockey Links
Everyone’s getting a new jersey:
Something new is coming to all 32 NHL cities this season. 👀
The countdown is on for the first-of-its-kind Hometown Remix program by the @NHL and @Fanatics. More details to come after the puck drops on the 2026-27 season next month. pic.twitter.com/zX1uBNLNZn
“If there’s one thing every NHL fan agrees on, it’s that anyone who bangs on the glass during play should go to jail. But if there’s a second thing, it’s that our favorite team is always getting lit up by some random rookie playing his first career game.” [The Athletic ($)]
“In the second half of our NHL 2030 series, we’re forecasting the future standings by ranking all 32 teams from worst to first. Who will lift the 2030 Stanley Cup? How has each franchise’s outlook shifted since we checked in last offseason?” [Daily Faceoff]
“Welcome to this year’s edition of the under-23 NHL player rankings. After ranking every organization’s best young players in the NHL Pipeline Rankings, we now turn to a ranking of the best young players overall on teams’ reserve lists, meaning within an NHL organization, in or outside the league. This is a ranking meant to show who I think will have the best NHL careers, not who I would take in a game tomorrow. This is also a good exercise to show how the last five age groups compare to each other, as this largely spans the player pool from the 2022 through 2026 NHL Drafts.” [The Athletic ($)]
Feel free to discuss these and any other hockey-related stories in the comments below.
Jul 3, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
I’m writing on August 19, and Jake Bauers has a 146 OPS+ in 452 plate appearances. The last time a Milwaukee Brewer had a 146 wRC+ in a season in which they had even 350 plate appearances was in 2019, when Christian Yelich was in the second of his back-to-back MVP-caliber seasons.
Of course, there’s a good chunk of season left, so we don’t know how things will end up. But Jake Bauers, right now, is as good an offensive weapon as the Brewers have had in the past seven years — a span in which the Brewers have made the playoffs in all but one season and in which they’ve won four, perhaps soon to be five, division titles. On top of his on-field play, Bauers has also turned into a team leader; it was he who spoke out after the Brewers’ tough series in San Diego last week, and he who sparked their turnaround in Los Angeles, where they took three of four to salvage a solid road trip at the end of a 17-games-in-17-days stretch.
How did we get here?
If you told someone in 2017 that 10 years later Bauers would be one of the league’s best hitters (Bauers is eighth in the league in OPS+ at the start of play on Wednesday), that wouldn’t have surprised anyone. Bauers was a seventh-round pick of the Padres out of high school all the way back in 2013, but he was included in a massive trade after the 2014 season (one which included such highly regarded prospects and young players as Wil Myers, Trea Turner, and Joe Ross) that sent him to Tampa Bay. In the Rays system, Bauers thrived; in 2016, when he was just 20, he hit .274/.370/.420 with 14 home runs and 28 doubles at Double-A Montgomery, and he started appearing on top 100 prospect lists heading into 2017. Another strong season in 2017 (.263/.368/.412 as a 21-year-old at Triple-A Durham) put him on the major league doorstep. He was 22, and Baseball America had him as a top 50 prospect.
After that, things got rocky. He debuted with the Rays in 2018 and slugged a bit with 11 homers and drew a bunch of walks in 388 plate appearances, but he hit just .201. After the season, he was sent to Cleveland in a big trade that ended up with Carlos Santana in Cleveland and Yandy Díaz in Tampa (the Mariners took back some cash, a pick, and the shell of Edwin Encarnación). Bauers played 117 games for Cleveland in 2019 but hit just .226/.312/.371 (a 78 OPS+). He didn’t make Cleveland’s roster in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and thus didn’t play baseball; in 2021, he got off to a poor start and was traded yet again, to Seattle, but the names in the trades that Bauers was included in at this point were losing some shine; Seattle sent a pitcher named Damon Casetta-Stubbs who never got above High-A.
The struggles continued in Seattle, and Bauers could only manage a minor league deal as a free agent in 2022. He played 29 games in Cincinnati’s system and hit .135/.276/.271. The Yankees brought him on and he hit .226/.352/.406 for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Things finally turned around a bit for the now 27-year-old Bauers in 2023; it was just a 24-game sample, but Bauers hit .359/.485/.897 (!) with 11 home runs in 97 plate appearances before he earned another chance in the big leagues with New York. The batting average was still poor, but Bauers did flash some power; 12 homers in 272 plate appearances for the Yankees in 84 games in 2023.
The Brewers traded for him after the season, sending a couple of lottery tickets, Jace Avina and Brian Sanchez, for him. As we all know here, the struggles continued for Bauers: in 117 games and 346 PA in 2024, he hit only .199. He did walk a lot, and he hit 12 homers, and Pat Murphy seemed to like him. He stuck around in 2025. Through 60 games played, Bauers was hitting .197 with five home runs in 151 plate appearances. On July 18, he went on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
What changed?
It’s not entirely clear what happened in the four-ish weeks that Bauers spent on the injured list, but something happened. Bauers has talked about simplifying his approach, and in interviews these days you’ll hear him talk often about mental things like remaining even-keeled, not letting himself get too high or too low, valuing his family, and keeping a long view of things.
Whatever happened, Bauers was a different hitter. After a few games shaking the rust off, Bauers hit .360/.458/.560 in 22 games in September. In six postseason games, he hit .308 with a double and a homer in 14 plate appearances. This season, he has shown that whatever happened in that small sample at the end of the 2025 season has endured.
So what actually happened?
The fact is, Bauers always had some good indicators. Look at his Statcast pages going back to 2023; Bauers was always good at finding the barrel and hitting the ball hard. He didn’t chase much. He always swung the bat hard — he’s a strong guy. But the thing that really sticks out is strikeouts. Check out his strikeout percentages:
2023: 34.9% (unqualified on Statcast, but bottom five-percent-ish)
2024: 34.1%, 2nd percentile
2025: 27.1% (unqualified, but 15th percentile-ish)
2026: 24.8% (27th percentile)
Bauers still strikes out a lot, but he is vastly improved from four years ago, and the change that has made to his other indicators is enormous. While he was always getting his barrel on the ball and hitting it hard, he wasn’t putting the ball in play enough to be a major factor. But now look at the effect the increased balls in play have had on his expected batting average and slugging percentages:
2023: .221 xBA, .475 xSLG
2024: .199 xBA, .389 xSLG
2025: .234 xBA, .457 xSLG
2026: .260 xBA, .484 xSLG
Bauers has also always been an elite walk-taker; I mentioned the chase percentage as a major strength earlier, and to illustrate the point he was in the 88th percentile in walk percentage even when he was badly struggling in 2024. Bauers has sported walk percentages of 14.7 and 14.6% in the last two seasons; he’s in the top 10 in walk percentage this year and would’ve been last year if he’d qualified.
Bauers is a poor fielder. His reputation as a good defensive first baseman is merely a reputation at this point — his numbers don’t back it up. He does offer the Brewers value by being able to play in the outfield, and it has enabled them to opt for some offense-heavy lineups during times when they’ve really needed a boost. But let’s not pretend that Bauers is by any means a good, or even decent, defensive outfielder.
That does not diminish his value to the team, though. With Christian Yelich and William Contreras struggling badly for huge swaths of the 2026 season, with Jackson Chourio still in the “young and streaky” phase of his career (and absent for the first six weeks of the season), the Brewers needed someone to step up and lead the offense. Brice Turang has done his part, but Bauers is the guy who has been there all year, steadily. Bauers has five more homers than any other Brewer, he’s walked more than every Brewer except Turang (who has two more walks in 75 more plate appearances), his OPS+ is 12 points higher than the next highest (Andrew Vaughn) and 25 points higher than another player with 300 plate appearances (Turang).
Where do we go from here?
It’s certainly a question as to whether Bauers will be back to ply his trade with the Brewers beyond this season. He is a free agent, and he’s played well enough this season that he’s very possibly going to be the best free agent first baseman on the market. The Brewers very well may offer Bauers the qualifying offer (a decision that would be made before the looming lockout); would Bauers take it?
My guess is no — he’ll be 31 before the postseason is over, and according to Spotrac, Bauers’ career earnings are currently less than $10 million. I mean, I’d be happy to take that for my own career earnings, but we’re talking relatives here; this will be Bauers’ best chance to lock in generational wealth for his family. The roughly $22 million qualifying offer is a lot (and the Brewers should offer it, with Brandon Woodruff coming off the books), but at his age and with his limited track record of success beyond this season, I strongly suspect Bauers would be more likely to take a longer-term, higher-value deal even if the average annual value was lower.
Could the Brewers still be in on that deal? I’m looking at something like Christian Walker’s three-year, $60 million deal signed with the Astros before the 2025 season. Walker definitely had a longer record of success at that point — he’d averaged over three WAR per 162 games over the previous six seasons — but he was also entering his age-34 season, three years older than Bauers. Three years and $60 million would be a lot for the Brewers. Would Bauers settle for something like three years and $45 million? Or two years and $40 million? It’s hard to say, and it’s kind of difficult for me to believe that, given the offensive struggles of some of the league’s wealthiest teams this season, there wouldn’t be a team out there that would beat an offer like that. Plus, we’re all working in hypotheticals here, anyway — we do not know exactly what sort of limits on free agent contracts may or may not exist after the lockout.
(One other quick note that could apply here: if the Brewers do offer Bauers the qualifying offer and he declines it and signs elsewhere, Milwaukee does recoup a draft pick. But where that pick ends up could be a question; under current rules, if he signed for less than $50 million, it would be after the second round; if more than $50 million, it’s after the first round.)
For now, let’s worry about next year next year. Bauers has been immense for the Brewers this season, and given how long it took him to get to his place, it’s a good story, too. He’s probably going to end up with some down-ballot MVP votes this year, a nearly unthinkable outcome after the first couple years of Bauers’ Brewers tenure. Great teams often need a player like this to step up unexpectedly, and Bauers, at a bargain price, is doing that for the 2026 Brewers as they march toward the league’s best record.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 19: Pete Alonso #25 of the Baltimore Orioles reacts during a review in the seventh inning against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 19, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. The review resulted in the play being a foul ball. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello, friends.
Pete Alonso hit a fair ball into the left field seats last night that should have been a go-ahead home run. Let’s just get that one out of the way right off the top. It’s unbelievable that the umpire did not call a fair ball live and it’s even more unbelievable that the replay center did not accept the decisive angle that would have given the Orioles a 4-3 lead. I don’t subscribe to any conspiracy theories. I think those people are just bad at their jobs.
It is one of those times I would have liked to see some fire from the manager. The figurative shadow of Earl Weaver looms over any major league field involving the Orioles. Craig Albernaz doesn’t have to do it Earl’s way, but he does need to do it some way. Just get caught being mad at the umpires when the process has screwed over your team. Point, yell, gesticulate, whatever, let the team know you’re not going to take it sitting down. Go around yelling at people until they eject you, then yell a little more.
Albernaz doesn’t seem to do this; he didn’t do it last night anyway. I don’t think it’s why the Orioles lost the game. They lost because they have an insufficient number of relievers to rely upon, and also because they went 0-6 with runners in scoring position. I just think it’s something that Albernaz should have done.
The Orioles bullpen being what it is lately, maybe Alonso getting the home run that he deserved would have only set up an even more tragic way of blowing the freshly-earned lead. Two runs were charged to Cam Sanders in an eighth inning outing where he hit two batters and walked another one. It’s not good to have to rely on guys of this ilk. You might get a few pleasant surprises out of them initially but guys like this are relatively cheaply available for a reason and the longer you give them, the more likely they’ll show you.
It’s a bad way to build a bullpen and these weaknesses have been exposed even more since Mike Elias decided to trade Tyler Wells ahead of the deadline. Grant Wolfram has fallen apart. Rico Garcia had his problems recently. Yennier Cano has hit a rough patch since being called into higher-leverage later-game situations. And those are just the ones you might have liked at one time. There are other, rougher names involved.
Perhaps there’s going to be at least one new face coming soon to the bullpen. Orioles beat writers, including The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka, put this one out last night:
Is De León going to be anything? I don’t know. He was only promoted to Triple-A Norfolk recently and he’s got a 5.28 ERA and 1.83 WHIP through his first four games. Just last night, he walked three batters over the course of a scoreless inning of relief. He is the #7 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s recently-updated top Orioles prospect list. He becomes Rule 5 draft eligible this offseason. Perhaps they think he can be an extra weapon out of the bullpen. Perhaps they’ll even be right.
The 2026 American League playoff situation being what it is, the Orioles did not lose any ground in the wild card chase. The Blue Jays lost. The Guardians lost. The Tigers lost. The Rangers lost. Only the Twins were winners, so they now stand in the third wild card spot, half a game ahead of Texas and a touch farther ahead of others. Minnesota is off today. The Orioles only have to win to peel back the half game.
They need the win also to avoid being swept by the Yankees. I’ve gotta say, folks, it is entirely in character for the 2026 team to really rope people in with winning the first three games of that Rays series only to fall apart after that. They lost the next three games, each in fairly agonizing fashion. They try to avoid a fourth straight loss as the series concludes starting at 6:35 tonight. It won’t be easy: Gerrit Cole is pitching for New York. Kyle Bradish makes the start for the O’s.
Albernaz must trust starters when they earn it (The Baltimore Sun) The Sun was taking Albernaz to task yesterday for pulling Shane Baz in Tuesday’s game. Many people took the opposite view, that Baz wasn’t pulled soon enough.
Alexander nearing rehab assignment and return (School of Roch) Samuel Basallo is back, Blaze Alexander is close to a rehab assignment, is there enough time for things to come back together? On that question, make sure you vote in our poll that’s running this week.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on today’s date came two years ago, when they knocked off the Mets by a 9-5 margin to pull into first place in the AL East by a half-game margin. Anthony Santander and James McCann each homered in the game. Dean Kremer was pretty good. Just four of the fifteen players who appeared in that box score for the team are on the 40-man roster right now.
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1996-2001 outfielder Gene Kingsale, and 1955-59 pitcher George Zuverink.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Chilean Supreme Director Bernardo O’Higgins (1778), 23rd president Benjamin Harrison (1833), horror author H.P. Lovecraft (1890), baseball Hall of Famer Al López (1908), musician/actor Isaac Hayes (1942), TV weatherman Al Roker (1954), actor Ke Huy Quan (1971), and singer-songwriter Demi Lovato (1992).
On this day in history…
In 636, the expanding Rashidun Caliphate defeated the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of the Yarmuk, seizing control of the area of modern-day Syria from the Byzantines.
In 1648, France defeated a Spanish-Lorraine force in the Battle of Lens, a decisive victory that paved the way for the Peace of Westphalia and the end of the Thirty Years War later in the year.
In 1858, the theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin was first published in a journal titled The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London.
In 1882, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky had its premiere performance in Moscow.
In 1977, the Voyager 2 probe launched, actually launching before Voyager 1 even though it’s numbered second. The probe passed by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune over the next 12 years and is now over 13.3 billion miles from Earth.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on August 20. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - AUGUST 16: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies (R) celebrates his three-run home run with Brandon Marsh #16 during the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on August 16, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Matt Krohn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Phillies have the day off today before they will look to continue their recent streak of good play against the Cardinals this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. It’s probably for the best the off day is today, as it looks like it would have been incredibly difficult to play a ballgame with tonight’s forecasted weather.
Don Nelson (L), head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, celebrates with Calvin Booth (R) after Dallas beat the Utah Jazz 84-83 to take the first round NBA Western Conference playoff series 03 May 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Booth scored the winning basket to beat the Jazz 84-83 and advance to the second round. AFP PPHOTO/George FREY (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP) (Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
On April 21st, 2001, the Dallas Mavericks officially broke the seal on the NBA Playoffs after a lengthy hiatus. Dallas had missed the Playoffs for 10-straight seasons, including a near miss in 1999-2000 when they went 40-42. Following that campaign, Dallas improved their win total by 13 games to finish 53-29 in 2000-2001, leaving no doubt they had arrived on the postseason scene.
Not only was the +13 win total impressive in and of itself, but for context, the Western Conference was stacked. All but one of the eight West Playoff teams won 50 games (the 8 Seed Minnesota Timberwolves won 47). The 1 Seed San Antonio Spurs grabbed 58 wins, just five games better than a Mavericks team that was a postseason afterthought for so long.
Dallas’ 53 wins were good enough for the 5 Seed and a matchup against the Utah Jazz. Utah was just a few years removed from back-to-back Finals appearances and still featured NBA legends in John Stockton and Karl Malone, yet the two teams were nearly dead even during the regular season. Each team won two of their four regular season matchups. Both teams went 14-10 against the other (now defunct) Midwest Division teams. Utah however, performed better against the Western Conference at large and therefore got home court advantage in the best-of-five series.
Lucky charms fall short
The Mavericks did something that teams often do when they’ve broken through a wall. In this case, the Mavericks decided they would celebrate their return to the Playoffs with an overt show of unity – they wore nice blue socks to match their blue road uniforms. Meanwhile, the more experienced Jazz team needed no such demonstrations.
In game one, Dallas took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, which generally spelled doom for the opponent. The Mavericks were 46-2 during the regular season when leading after three quarters, including a 21-1 road record in those situations. Despite that, and despite their lucky socks, Dallas found themselves down by a point in the closing moments. Dirk Nowitzki was stripped on a drive that would have given Dallas the lead with roughly three seconds remaining in the game, had he converted. Utah made a free throw, giving Dallas the chance to win on the final shot, but Michael Finley’s three-point attempt was off target and the Mavs were down 0-1 in the series.
The Mavs were roundly beat in game two, losing 109-98 after being outscored in all but the fourth quarter. As a result, they were on the brink elimination. Upon their return to Dallas, they ditched the socks and found a reversal of fortune.
Evening the series
Home cooking was good for Dallas, as they pulled out a tight game three, 94-91 behind a strong first quarter. Finally, Dallas staved off elimination and got their first Playoff win since 1988. With the best-of-five setup, they were just a single win away from forcing a deciding game back in Utah. Game four ended up doing just that. The Mavericks started slow, trailing 24-17 after the first quarter, then collectively went insane, outscoring the Jazz by 37 points the rest of the way. The 107-77 victory gave the Mavs a chance to close the deal back in Utah in game five.
Calvin Booth plays the hero
Utah showed their veteran savvy in game five, getting off to a strong start, particularly in the second quarter. Carrying a 71-57 lead into the fourth quarter, it appeared as though the upstart Mavericks had met their match and would be going home after a valiant effort to force a deciding game. Dallas had other ideas.
Calvin Booth started the fourth quarter despite coming off the bench to start the game. The decision by Don Nelson proved to be an excellent one. The Mavericks slowly chipped away throughout the fourth quarter, with Booth turning away multiple Jazz shots at the rim.
The final two minutes were a roller coaster. Trailing by one, the Mavericks forced a turnover, courtesy of Booth’s quick hands. The ball ended up with Finley, who got it to Nash, who made a great pass from a few steps inside halfcourt to Dirk Nowitzki under the rim. Unbelievably, Nowitzki missed the reverse layup and Malone got the rebound. On the next possession, Dallas played terrific defense, forcing Danny Manning to attempt a shot clock beating jumper with none other than Booth defending him. The shot missed and Nash took it the other way. Finley hoisted a three that didn’t go down, sending Dallas back on defense. Malone missed a turnaround jumper and Nowitzki grabbed the board. Nash got the ball and took off, then slowed it down to set up the offense. Finley got the ball and backed down Stockton. Manning came over to double-team Finley with four seconds left on the shot clock. Booth slipped through on the baseline, Finley (who played every minute of the game) rose up, zipped a pass to him, and Booth turned to hit a layup – his first and only made field goal of the game. In the final 10 seconds, Utah missed a three, got the offense rebound and then missed a buzzer beater. The Mavs had won.
Booth’s entire 2000-2001 season consisted of 15 regular season games with the Mavericks and nine Playoff games. Despite his limited time on the team, he will forever be linked with an amazing Playoff comeback in a deciding game that put the Mavericks in the second round, kicking off a span of 12-straight seasons that Dallas made the Playoffs. Booth returned in 2004-2005 for a second stint. Despite his relatively short tenure with the Mavericks, he left an indelible mark on the franchise. Taking full advantage of Nelson’s intuition, Booth had a major impact across the deciding quarter of the deciding game.
I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.
Is Kyshawn George a career backup or a long-term starter? The stats point towards and answer. | FIBA via Getty Images
Next stop in The Annual Statistical Doppelgänger Machine Tour: Switzerland. Well, kinda. No skiing or fancy-schmancy watches or neutrality — just a look at which players in NBA history had seasons that looked the most like what Kyshawn George did last season.
For those who haven’t memorized the birthplaces and childhood homes of every Wizards player, George was born and raised in Switzerland.
Is Kyshawn George a career backup or a long-term starter? The stats point towards and answer. | Getty Images
To my eye, the broadly favorable view of George’s performance got ahead of his actual performance. He looks good out there, he does many good things, and he does plenty of negative things as well.
To me, the biggest positive is his confidence. It also might be his biggest weakness. There’s good three-point shooting (38.1%) on above average volume, and 7.3 assists per 100 team possessions (well above average). He’s a competent ball handler, he’s tough, and he plays with a relentlessness and physicality that’s at times admirable.
He also commits a ton of turnovers (4.3 per 100 possessions — compare to a league average of 2.8) and fouls (5.8 per 100 possessions). George’s shot selection inside the three-point line was…well…let’s call it “adventurous,” and that sense of adventure contributed to shooting just 48.6% on twos — compared to a league average of 55.0%.
He finished well when he got to the rim (73.1%). The issue: lots of floater range attempts at a 35.7% conversion rate.
The good and bad tallied to an 87 score in my PPA metric. League average in PPA is 100. That’s fine for a second-year player who’s just 22-years-old picked 24th overall. The point here is merely that he still needs to make significant improvements to earn a starting role with the Wizards going forward.
Let’s get to the doppelgängers. And, unlike the comps for Bilal Coulibaly, you won’t need to take safety precautions for these:
Justise Winslow | 2018-19 | Miami Heat | Age: 22 — This was one of Winslow’s (rare) healthy seasons. He played 66 games — two fewer than he did the following season. This was his best overall performance, tallying to an 85 PPA. He was a talented player who never stayed healthy long enough to show what he could do. Gotta think (hope?) George will be healthier, though I have to mention George has played in 68 and 48 games respectively in his first two seasons.
Cole Anthony | 2022-23 | Orlando Magic | Age: 22 — Anthony is basically the little-guy version of George. Tough as nails, all-out effort, plenty of positives, and bit negatives.
Taurean Prince | 2017-18 | Atlanta Hawks | Age: 23 — Prince’s second season. He played all 82 games, though it was not a harbinger of his future health and availability. The 87 PPA he posted that season was also the best mark of his career.
Kevin Porter Jr. | 2021-22 | Houston Rockets | Age: 21 — I’m not a big Porter fan, but he’s been reasonably productive, albeit with enough issues that teams seem happy to move on from him. I don’t think that’ll be the case with George. The profile is there, though — talent enough to generate positives, enough judgement issues to produce negatives (hi there, turnovers) that can hurt the team.
Reggie Jackson | 2013-14 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Age: 23 — Another maximal effort, maybe a bit nuts, little guy. Jackson spent most of his career as a pain-in-the-neck backup guard who was part of some winning teams.
Some honorable mentions:
Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Spurs — age 24 season
Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons — age 21
Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers — age 22
Caris LeVert, Brooklyn Nets — age 23
My eye test comp was Dillon Brooks, but the closest Brooks season ranks around 260th.
My sense is that The Machine’s comps have the right overall type — competitive, hard-nosed, physical reserves who had value to good teams when they could rein in the fouls and turnovers. I think George is reasonably likely to be better than any of those five turned out to be, though it’s worth a reminder that player development is not linear.
I have the same kinds of neat career arc graphs most stat goobers do, but those are averages. There’s a lot of variation, and things get messy with individuals.
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 12: 2023 Inductee Tony Parker speaks during the 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Induction at Symphony Hall on August 12, 2023 in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I moved to San Antonio (technically back to San Antonio) from New York in the summer 2013. The Spurs had just been upset in the Finals. I immediately plunged into my fandom and embraced the team I grew up adoring.
Somewhere over the next couple of years, the Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers. When they did, Bill Land and Sean Elliott announced that with that win, the Spurs had a winning record against all 29 NBA teams. Even over the next decade when the Spurs faced some losing seasons, they have still managed to maintain that feat.
But what I didn’t know was Tony Parker is the only player in NBA history to retire while maintaining a winning record against every team in the league.
Tony Parker didn’t just build a Hall of Fame career, he built a winning record against everyone.
He is the only player in NBA history to retire with a winning record against every active franchise.
I noticed in the comments section of this post, some fans mentioned that they thought Tim Duncan also accomplished a winning record with every team. While that may be true, Duncan only has a winning record against 29 of the 30 teams in the NBA. Keep in mind Parker spent his final season with the Charlotte Hornets who beat the Spurs in both meetings that year. That means he got the best of all 30!
So while Duncan and Manu Ginobili have winning records against the 29 teams not named the San Antonio Spurs, Parker swept the league.
And he’s the only one.
Or is he?
When I searched “What former NBA players have winning records against every team?” a second name came up.
Kawhi Leonard.
*The above post stipulates that Parker is the only player to retire with a record over 30 teams. Leonard is still an active player…in theory…for now…we assume.
According to StatMuse, Kawhi does also have a better record against all 30 NBA teams. He is the only active player with superstars like LeBron James (29), Stephen Curry (28), and Kevin Durant (28) a few teams shy.
But if anyone gets an honorable mention for Tony Parker’s and Kawhi Leonard’s accomplishment, it is Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich, and the myriad players and assistant coaches who made the Spurs such a dominant force.
Without them, neither Parker’s nor Leonard’s career could have shined as they did in the time they spent in San Antonio.
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 13: Atlanta Hawks team huddle before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 13, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Last week, the NBA finally released its schedule for the 2026-27 NBA season. With its release, it allows everyone to map ahead what the 2026-27 season looks like for the Atlanta Hawks and identify where the good times or more challenging times lie across the 82 game-schedule. Immediately, there’s a key difference in this year’s edition of the schedule compared to last year for the Hawks, with many home tipoffs returning to a 7pm Eastern Time start, for the first time, I believe, since the 2015-16 season.
As we have done so for, perhaps, the last eight seasons now, we’ll break down the schedule month-by-month, examining the trends, fixtures of note, and the difficulty of each month (calculated by averaging the average winning projections of each team by way of Bet MGM.
Let’s look ahead to the beginning, the month of October:
Total games: 7
Home games: 3
Road games: 4
Back-to-backs: 2
Three-in-fours: 3
Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)
Longest homestand: 2 games
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 42.5 wins
A competitive beginning to the season on paper for the Atlanta Hawks. Two games on the road against Southeast Division rivals Orlando Magic (who should be very motivated to begin strongly after the disappointment of last season) and Charlotte Hornets should provide an early test for the Hawks.
Charlotte will be an interesting matchup, who are running a much-changed roster which, for the first time in six years, will not be led by LeMelo Ball, which will provide a very different dynamic to this fixture. Following that, the Hawks’ home opener also represents the first of a home-and-home with the Houston Rockets. Hawks rookie Kingston Flemmings will not have to wait long to return to the state of Texas, where he played with Houston in college as the rookie begins his NBA career.
The stiff opposition continues in the form of Miami and Cleveland, but will at least take place at State Farm Arena before the Hawks head on the road to face the New Orleans Pelicans. Two back-to-backs, a couple of three-games-in-four-nights sleds as well for the Hawks will prove a challenge in addition to the level of competition. Now, moving onto a jam-packed November!
Total games: 12
Home games: 5
Road games: 7
Back-to-backs: 1
Three-in-fours: 1
Longest road trip: 3 games
Longest homestand: 3 games
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 41 wins
November sees the return of NBA Cup action, every Friday! The Hawks’ cup schedule is actually pretty kind to them, with the majority of those games, on paper, certainly winnable — the Celtics on the road represents the toughest game in the cup by some margin.
Elsewhere, the Hawks tackle some high-profile games such as the Lakers at home, the championship winning New York Knicks on the road, and of note for several of the Hawks’ new additions, a trip back to OKC to take on the Thunder. The reception for Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort will be very warm for their former champions and is sure to be emotional night for those involved. Elsewhere, the Hawks will face Trae Young and the Wizards twice, and a game against the Detroit Pistons at home should also prove to be an interesting measure of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference.
A little less intense overall compared to previous Novembers not only in terms of games played, but back-to-backs and three-in-fours aren’t too prevalent here. However, this is not to last as we move to December:
Total games: 14 (TBC, pending NBA Cup outcome)
Home games: 7 (TBC)
Road games: 5 (TBC)
Back-to-backs: 2
Three-in-fours: 2
Longest road trip: 3 games
Longest homestand: 2 games (three times)
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 44 wins
December isn’t quite complete yet, as two games between December 4th and December 11th have yet to be determined by the NBA as it relates to the outcome of the group stage of the NBA Cup, so while 14 games will take place in total, the number of home/away games is not currently known.
Outside of this, an interesting opening to the month in the form of Miami and Indiana: two vastly different looking teams from last season. Miami now boasts the talents of Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Pacers welcome back Tyrese Haliburton from injury and reinforcement through Ivica Zubac. The Hawks were able to finish above both teams last season, but will face a much stiffer challenge resisting these teams this season. Again, they represent a great opportunity to measure themselves in the establishing Eastern Conference playoff hierarchy.
A three-game road trip to the Western Conference lies ahead for the Hawks, the most challenging coming in Denver to finish. A difficult back-to-back follows, with a home game against OKC on the second night of that back-to-back one of the more challenging games of the month. A home game against Detroit wraps up the action before the holidays, before a back-to-back after the holidays — including heading on the road to San Antonio. A lighter end to 2026 in the form of Chicago and Milwaukee should provide some relief after a potentially challenging December.
Moving to 2027!
Total games: 15
Home games: 8
Road games: 7
Back-to-backs: 3
Three-in-fours: 3
Longest road trip: 4 games
Longest homestand: 4 games
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 45 wins
2027 opens by welcoming back 2024 first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and the Dallas Mavericks to Atlanta. Other notable home games in January include the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama, the newly stacked Philadelphia 76ers — armed with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James — in addition to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and the Knicks to end a four-game homestand. The January 18th game against the 76ers of course representing one of the most important games for the Hawks as part of MLK Day, and an afternoon tip. A four-game road-trip ends the month of January, featuring difficult fixtures against Miami, New York, and Detroit.
While three back-to-backs isn’t too strenuous, three three-games-in-four-nights is a bit more intense as the fixtures and fatigue rack up in January as the NBA edges closer to its halfway point and towards the NBA All-Star break
Moving to February!
Total games: 13
Home games: 8
Road games: 5
Back-to-backs: 3
Three-in-fours: 3
Longest road trip: 3 games
Longest homestand: 7 games
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 38.7 wins
A relaxing in the schedule in terms of projected difficulty of opponents, and a home-heavy schedule with eight home games in total, a seven-game homestand, and a eight-home-games-in-nine-games stretch. A seven game homestand is certainly one of the longest single homestand stretches the Hawks have enjoyed in recent memory, and a number against — on paper — very winnable games. In general, due to the nature of the new NBA Draft lottery rules, the overall projected total games won is a little higher this year compared to previous years, so this should be taken into account.
Moving onto a very quirky March! A March which I’m dubbing ‘All the Western Conference teams you haven’t seen yet.’
(Seriously, I’m not joking!)
Total games: 16
Home games: 7
Road games: 9
Back-to-backs: 3
Three-in-fours: 3
Longest road trip: 6 games
Longest homestand: 2 games (three times)
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 35.7 wins
First appearances of the season for the following teams: Memphis, Minnesota, the Jazz, and the Clippers…all twice! And all of those teams, with the exception of Minnesota, are projected to have low win totals, so while the schedule is intense in terms of number of games, the projected level of opponent isn’t quite as intense. In saying that, a six-game road-trip out West will be a challenge, no matter who the opponent is, but to make up for this, the games the Hawks do play at State Farm Arena are all very winnable games on paper. In short, though, it’s a very Western Conference heavy month!
Onto the final month of April!
Total games: 5
Home games: 2
Road games: 3
Back-to-backs: 0
Three-in-fours: 0
Longest road trip: 2 games
Longest homestand: 2 games
Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 49.5 wins
A tough end to the season: all of these teams project to win, at the very least, 45 games, and are all in the Eastern Conference. These could be key in determining playoff seeding, of which the Hawks will want to return rather than go back through the Play-In tournament. Of course, some seeding may already be set at this stage, and it’s entirely possible any one of Boston, Philly, and New York could be top-seeded or locked into a top-4 seed and may use the opportunity to rest key players.
Overall, the Hawks — more recently — have had schedules that are typically more difficult at the front-end of the season and lighten at the back end of the season. I’d argue that both cases are true here. In March, it’s a very road-heavy, Western Conference schedule but against opponents who are not projected to compete for the playoffs. April, short as it is, is a difficult schedule at a very important time of the season and will likely determine elements of the Hawks’ seeding.
In any case, the Atlanta Hawks’ path for the 2026-27 season is set! If you enjoyed the 7:30 home tips, my commiserations, I believe there’s only three (November 7th against Brooklyn, January 2nd against the Dallas Mavericks, March 4th against Memphis). If you prefer 7pm tips, then this is going to be a great season!
BALTIMORE – There’s nothing quite so bottomless as a 162-game Major League Baseball season. Brent Headrick is discovering that three excruciating outs at a time.
After pitching a scoreless seventh inning and getting a favorable ruling on a questionable foul ball call, Headrick has pitched in 65 of the New York Yankees’ 126 games this season. That is an 84-game pace, which would rank second in franchise history, one game ahead of Scott Proctor and two games behind Paul Quantrill, who were used, shall we say, liberally by manager Joe Torre in the mid-2000s.
Back then, usage and load management and the long-term effects of a heavy season on an arm weren’t so copiously tracked. Nearly three decades into this century, arm care and the desire to avoid three appearances in three days, or four in five, are canon on most pitching staffs.
But these are the 2026 Yankees, wracked by injuries to the lineup and short in the rotation with aces Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Max Fried all recovering from elbow maladies at various points.
Close and late is the Yankee way right now. And so more nights than not, the bullpen phone rings and summons Headrick.
Answering that call night after night after night is as much a mental challenge as a physical one. And Headrick, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound left-hander, leans heavily on the words imparted by the Yankees’ mental skills staff.
“I’ve said this since early in the season: Attack the day,” Headrick tells USA TODAY Sports. “Each day can lead to the next. You can look two weeks in advance, but it’s not going to do any good. For me, with every aspect of the game, I try to live in today. Take care of what today needs.
“And worry about tomorrow when it gets here. That mentality has allowed me to be more present and take care of my body and do things the right way so I’m prepped for a longer season.”
And oh, what a season.
Headrick has posted a 1.55 ERA in his 65 games, striking out 79 in 64 innings. His 20 holds are eighth in the American League, and he’s holding opponents to a .224 average, with just three homers surrendered.
Yet any number of statistics don’t illustrate Headrick’s value as much as any phrase that exemplifies reliability.
The man posts, as they say.
“We’re always trying to take inventory with guys on a daily basis,” says Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. “Are they emotionally up for it? Are they mentally or physically exhausted? He’s done a good job communicating when he needs a day. We typically avoid three in a row and four out of five. There have been a couple instances this year we’ve had to push a guy because of the schedule or where the starters were at.
“He’s always been up for it. It’s a testament to how he’s taken care of his body, how he’s managing his throwing program and how efficient he is out there.”
He’d better be efficient. Running your fastball up to 95 mph, mixing in a slider, a sinker and a splitter isn’t necessarily easy on the arm.
Proctor remains one of the game’s cautionary tales. He pitched in 83 games in both 2006 and 2007 but by 2009 his right elbow had, in the words of orthopedist James Andrews, “turned to mush.”
In fact, nine of the top 10 games pitched totals in Yankees history came under Torre’s watch between 1997 and 2007. Safe to say the Yankees are warier of the season’s odometer in this era.
“Definitely something we’ve got to be mindful of, especially as we head down the stretch,” says Blake. “You gotta be smart.”
But the way these Yankees are built makes this challenging. At 71-55, they have a firm grasp on the No. 1 wild card in the AL, and are five games behind Tampa Bay in the East. Minus reigning MVP Aaron Judge, though, and with Cody Bellinger starting a rehab assignment Thursday, it has been a grind.
The value is reflected in the team’s WAR totals. Cy Young Award favorite Cam Schlittler is No. 1, followed by Bellinger and Fried. No. 4, with 2.6 WAR? That’d be Headrick, selected off waivers from the Twins in February 2025.
Righty set-up man Paul Blackburn (2.3) is tied with 34-homer All-Star Ben Rice for fourth. Weird year.
Yet Headrick and Co. keep answering. They’ve taken two games off the Orioles here by 3-1 and 5-3 scores, with four of their relievers – Fernando Cruz, Headrick, Blackburn and closer David Bednar – all pitching back-to-back.
While Cruz gave up a game-tying home run Wednesday, all got their jobs done, with the other lefty, Tim Hill, retiring all four batters after starter Will Warren went just four innings.
The Yankees are 41-24 when Headrick pitches, perhaps the best proof of his high-leverage lifestyle.
“They’ve been awesome,” says manager Aaron Boone. “It’s why we’re in this position playing where we are now, is the strength of our starting rotation, anchored by Bus at the end.”
Headrick calls the bullpen’s success “contagious,” and it is evident. The unit ranks second in the majors with a 3.02 ERA and seventh in strikeouts per nine innings, buttressed by a precision that comes with a 2.49 strikeout-walk ratio that ranks ninth in MLB.
He’s pitched three times in four days on a half-dozen occasions, though the Yankees have avoided throwing him three days in a row, for now.
Still, showing up, in a sense, is half the battle.
“I take a ton of pride. I love being able to help this team win games any day I can,” says Headrick. “Whenever that opportunity comes and they call my name, it’s my job to be ready and I’m going to go out there and give it everything I have.”
Feb 21, 2025; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays catcher Christian Bethancourt (60) participates in media day at the Blue Jays Player Development Complex. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
The Pittsburgh Pirates made a minor move yesterday, acquiring catcher Christian Bethancourt from the New York Yankees for the ever nebulous cash considerations.
The 34-year-old Bethancourt was playing in the Minors for the Yankees organization, and while he will be a Minor League player for the Bucs, officially to be assigned to Triple-A Indianpolis, he will be part of the taxi squad for the Bucs for their extended road trip on Friday.
Bethancourt has bounced around the league quite a bit, spending time with the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Rays, San Diego Padres, Oakland A’s, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, and even did a stint with the Bucs back in 2021.
He hit 11 homers in 2022 and again in 2023, but he’s just a career .225 hitter, and his high water mark for RBIs was 34.
Nonetheless, with Endy Rodriguez once again dealing with injury issues, the Bucs are shorthanded at catcher, and having another backstop in the mix, especially for the upcoming road trip, was a priority for the team.
So a minor move for the Bucs, but one that appears neccessary. Welcome back to the ‘Burgh, Christian.
Basketball: NBA Finals: Boston Celtics general manager Red Auerbach victorious with players after winning game and series vs Houston Rockets at The Summit. Game 6. Houston, TX 5/14/1981 CREDIT: Andy Hayt (Photo by Andy Hayt /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X25583 TK5 R3 F13 )
NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.
“Anyone who tells you they knew Bird would be as good as he turned out—including me—is a liar.”
Red Auerbach
After the Celtics won their thirteenth title in 1976, the team sort of fell apart. The merger between the ABA and the NBA brought new talent into the league, and in any case, championship success was difficult for any team to sustain in the 1970s, a decade in which eight different teams won titles (only the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics won more than a single title). Havlicek was past his prime, and the Celtics were basically a one-man team, relying on the tough-as-nails but undersized Dave Cowens to carry them at both ends of the court. A young Cedric Maxwell had been drafted in 1977, but he was still coming into his own as a player.
The Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1977, coming off a pedestrian 44-38 record, and they fell even farther the following season, one in which Tommy Heinsohn was replaced as coach by Satch Sanders, who was himself replaced by Dave Cowens the following season, all to ultimately disastrous results. Boston’s 29-53 record in 1978/79 was the worst of the Red Auerbach era.
The unsettled coaching situation and on-court struggles were accompanied by front-office turmoil.
Red had stockpiled three first round picks in the 1979 draft, with the goal of rebuilding the Celtics, but Boston’s new owner, John Y. Brown had other ideas. On February 12, 1979, he traded Tom Barker and those three picks to the New York Knicks for Bob McAdoo.
An incensed Red gave Brown an ultimatum. Either you go or I do.
The threat had teeth. Red had been approached by the Knicks and had an offer in hand to take over basketball operations for the franchise.
Brown backed down almost immediately.
The Celtics had been passed from owner to owner since Walter Brown’s death in 1964—John Y. Brown’s consortium was the eighth in 14 years—and the one constant through all those changes was Red Auerbach.
Brown knew that if he kept the Celtics, he’d probably be burned in effigy on the Boston Common—in fact, that would probably be the most anodyne outcome of forcing Red out—plus he had acquired a sudden urge to run for governor in his home state of Kentucky.
By the end of March, Brown was ready to close on a deal proposed by minority owner Harry Mangurian, and the Celtics were back in the hands of ownership that was willing to leave the basketball decisions in the hands of the most capable guy in league history when it came to those things.
Now Red may have lost those three picks in the 1979 draft, but things turned out alright in the end.
In 1978, Red drafted Larry Bird, despite knowing that he had no intention of leaving school before the end of the 1979 season. It was a calculated risk. The catch was that the Celtics had to sign Bird to a contract before the 1979 draft, otherwise he could re-enter it, and the odds were that he would be picked before Boston had a chance to grab him—and as it turned out, the team ended up with no first round picks in that draft in any event. “I knew this was my shot at him,” Red would tell John Feinstein years later, “I was thinking long term.”
The team also hired Bill Fitch as head coach; Fitch was Red’s first hire from outside the Celtics family, and his coaching pedigree was far from elite. Fitch was in his ninth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had hired him out of the college ranks in their first season. His cumulative record was 304-434 for a less-than-impressive .411 winning percentage. But there was something about him that Red liked.
The combination of rookie Larry Bird and an experienced hand on the bench galvanized the Celtics, who went from 29-53 to 61-21 in the 1979/80 season. The Celtics lost to the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Sixers, in turn, lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, as Magic Johnson’s rookie season ended in a Finals championship.
1979/80 was Dave Cowens’ final year with the team, leaving the Celtics in need of front court talent, but Red, who had all his 1979 first round picks traded out from under him, figured out a way to land a pair of low post Hall of Famers with his picks in the first round of the 1980 draft.
The Celtics had gotten involved in a goofy situation with Detroit. They signed M.L. Carr, which meant that the Pistons were owed compensation, but instead of sending Detroit a draft pick—the usual procedure—the Celtics arranged to send them Bob McAdoo—a Hall-of-Famer who just never fit in with the Celtics. However, since McAdoo was more valuable than a draft pick, the Pistons agreed to send Boston two picks in the 1980 draft.
This was not a good deal for Detroit.
The Pistons ended up with the worst record in the NBA in 1979/80, and a coin flip gave them the first pick overall.
At the time, there was a clear consensus that the best player coming out of the draft was a center, Joe Barry Carroll from Purdue.
Red, however, saw things a bit differently. He wasn’t as impressed by Carroll as the rest of the league was. He didn’t want Carroll, he wanted Minnesota’s Kevin McHale.
Now the Golden State Warriors had the third pick in the draft, and they had a center Auerbach liked, Robert Parish, so Red reached out to Al Attles—who was Golden State’s coach and GM, and offered both of his picks in the first round for the Warriors’ number three pick. And, since the Warriors were going to be drafting Joe Barry Carroll, they probably didn’t need Robert Parish anymore, so maybe they could send him along as part of the trade as well.
One can only imagine Al Attles’ glee at the thought of getting the player he wanted and another pick in exchange for, essentially, a backup center, provided Carroll lived up to expectations. This is the thing about so many of Red’s masterpiece trades: it almost always seemed, from a certain perspective, that Red was getting ripped off—like when he traded two future Hall-of-Famers for a center who couldn’t really score, but who would win eleven championships nonetheless.
Thus, on June 10, 1980, the Celtics added Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Larry Bird and formed one of the most impressive front courts in NBA history.
Joe Barry Carroll? Well, suffice to say that Globe columnist Ray Fitzgerald was not wrong when he mentioned concerns about Carroll’s motivation the day after the Celtics traded their number one pick to the Warriors.
This is where things stood at the start of the 1980/81 season…
The Regular Season
BOSTON – 1981: The 1980-81 NBA Champion Boston Celtics pose for a team portrait at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Front row (left to right): Chris Ford, Cedric Maxwell, President and General Manager Red Auerbach, Coach Bill Fitch, Chairman of the Board Harry T. Mangurian Jr., Larry Bird, Nate Archibald. Back row: Assistant coach K.C. Jones, Wayne Kreklow, M.L. Carr, Rick Robey, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Eric Fernsten, Gerald Henderson, assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers and Trainer Ray Melchiorre. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright NBAE 2002 (Photo by NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Celtics cruised to a 62-20 record, marking a one game improvement from the previous season. They racked up winning streaks of 12 and 13 games bracketing a single loss for a stretch of 25-1 play in the middle of the season. Apart from a somewhat surprising three game losing streak that straddled the All-Star break in January and February, the Celtics never lost two games in a row.
The rookie Kevin McHale appeared in all 82 games, but started just one, making him the latest sixth man in the Celtics’ long tradition. His contributions were just a slim indication of the player he’d become, as he averaged ten points on 53.5% shooting from the field and just 67.9% from the line.
In his second year, Larry Bird finished second in MVP voting and made first team All-NBA. Nate “Tiny” Archibald gave the Celtics standout play from the point guard spot, and the Celtics ended the season with five players averaging double figures. Bird, who played power forward in his early years in the league, led the team in rebounds at almost 11 per game, a total that topped Robert Parish’s 9.5 per game. Although remembered mostly for his offense these days, Bird was an extremely capable two-way player before injuries limited his role to a primarily offensive one.
Boston had the league’s best record, but they weren’t at the top of the league in any statistical category. Their best stat was a defensive one, where opponent points per game, at 104, was good for second in the league.
The Celtics did all this with a rather young team. Bird was in his second year, McHale was a rookie, Parish had four years’ experience coming into the season and Cedric Maxwell had three. Tiny Archibald was the team’s only real veteran, with nine years in the league.
Eastern Playoffs
The Eastern Conference looked to be a meat grinder. The Celtics were tied for the best record with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Milwaukee Bucks, coached by old friend Don Nelson, weren’t far behind with a 60-22 record.
The NBA had expanded the playoffs to three rounds in 1975, with the two division champs getting byes from the best-of-three opening round. This meant that Boston, which held the tiebreaker over Philly, got to take a breather while waiting for their second round opponent to be decided.
In that first round, the Chicago Bulls, who finished with a 45-37 record made quick work of the higher seeded Knicks, sweeping New York 2-0. This set them up to face Boston.
Things did not go well for Chicago. They lost in four. Boston’s average margin of victory was 8.25 points as they finished +33 for the series. Larry Bird led all players in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, with a 23.5/13/7.3/3.0 stat line.
(Original Caption) Driving for the basket, Boston Celtics' Larry Bird puts a shoulder into Chicago Bulls, David Greenwood in the first quarter action of the Bulls-Celtics fourth semi-final conference playoff game, 4/12.
The Eastern Conference Finals were a rematch from the previous year. Once again it was the Sixers and the Celtics—a rivalry from this era that is sometimes lost beneath the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. The Celtics and Sixers faced off four times in the playoffs during the Bird era—more times than the Celtics matched up against the Lakers, albeit for lower stakes.
Boston’s series against Philly was an absolute classic.
The teams had finished the season with identical records, so the matchup figured to be close and entertaining, and the first game delivered on both counts.
In game one, the Celtics rallied from a ten point deficit and were clinging to a one point lead with less than four seconds left when Billy Cunningham drew up a play for Sixers rookie Andrew Toney that sent him baseline. He got past Cedric Maxwell who felt that it was better to foul him than give him two easy points from a layup.
Toney stepped to the line and delivered the equalizer and the game winner in succession. Final score? 105-104, Philly. The Sixers had seized home court and put the Celtics in a 1-0 hole.
The man who would, with justice, become known as the “Boston Strangler” had introduced himself to the Garden with an exclamation point.
Game two went Boston’s way without much drama as the C’s tallied a 19 point victory, 118-99. Toney led all scorers with 35, but Bird was a close second with 34.
Game three went to Philly, putting the Celtics in a 2-1 hole with the next game being another road contest.
Game four looked to be all Philly as well; the home team had an 18 point lead in the second half, forcing the Celtics to claw their way back into the game. They were down four points, 107-103, when they turned their defense up to maximum. They caused a 24 second violation, which was followed by a bucket from Tiny Archibald that gave them a real shot. The score was 107-105 Philly with just over a minute remaining. The score stayed there until there were eight seconds left in the game. The Celtics nabbed a rebound off a miss by Bobby Jones, and while Bill Fitch signaled in vain for a time out, Archibald began to push the ball up court. Jones reacted to his miss by running the length of the court, figuring that Archibald would send the ball into Bird who was standing near the opposite basket.
His instincts were correct, and Jones snatched the pass before Bird could get his hands on it, sealing the victory and putting the Celtics up against the wall.
Boston wasn’t facing just one ‘must-win’ game. They were looking at three of them.
A team that had struggled mightily against the Sixers in three of the first four games would need to figure out how to beat Philly not just once, but three times in a row.
It’s not much of a spoiler to say that they did. After all, this is a column about a championship season, not an exit from the Eastern Conference Finals.
But those games… Oh, those games… The Celtics won three in a row by a total of five points. Each victory was by just about the thinnest margin possible.
BOSTON – APRIL 29: Julius Erving #6 of the Philadelphia 76ers shoots a layup over Kevin McHale #32 of the Boston Celtics in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 1981 NBA Playoffs at the Boston Garden on April 29, 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 111-109 and won the series 4-3. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1981 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Over those three games, Larry Bird scored 80 points and hauled in 38 rebounds. He dished out 14 assists, and logged ten steals. He was turnover prone in the first two of these three games, but in the decisive game seven, he logged five steals and only one turnover.
In game five, the Sixers had a six point lead with just over a minute and a half left in the game, but they failed to score the rest of the way as Boston went on a 7-0 run that featured a block by Parish, a layup and a hustle play that secured a loose ball from Bird, and three clutch free throws by M.L. Carr. Philly, on the other hand, couldn’t handle the pressure from Boston’s defense, as they missed multiple chances to put the game—and the series—away.
Game six, in Philly, was another two point affair.
Once again, Philly seemed on the brink of closing out the series. They had a 17 point lead in the first half in an environment that was beyond hostile to the Celtics.
Decades before the ‘Malice in the Palace,’ Cedric Maxwell was charged by a fan with a pointed object of some sort in the third quarter; retaliation by Maxwell, Archibald and Chris Ford took them five rows deep into the Spectrum crowd. Nobody was ejected. Nobody was suspended. It was a different time.
Somehow, somehow, the Celtics turned that deficit into a fourth quarter lead. As the clock wound down, Andrew Toney found himself up against Kevin McHale with the game on the line. McHale was trying to lure Toney into shooting the ball because the alternative was having Toney dump the ball into Darryl Dawkins, and McHale didn’t have high hopes of stopping the massive Sixers center.
McHale succeeded in luring Toney into a shot that he leaped up to contest, and he ever so slightly “ticked” the ball, pushing it off target and into his hands. “I was hoping somebody would foul me,” McHale said after the game, but the Sixers opted to let a bit more time run down before fouling Tiny Archibald, who sealed the Celtics victory with a pair of free throws.
The series was tied 3-3 and headed back to Boston for a decisive game 7.
Once again, the Celtics found themselves in a hole.
With 5:24 left in the game, Philadelphia had a 89-82 lead.
Bear in mind that the final score of this game was 91-90
The Celtics held the Sixers to just one point—and no field goals—over almost five and a half minutes of absolute desperate, must-win basketball.
It’s one thing to clamp down on a team during a regular season game when there’s not much on the line, but here, for both teams, everything was on the line.
The Celtics forced five turnovers—of which three were steals by Larry Bird—and the Sixers missed all six field goals they attempted during that span.
“Inspired, determined—maniacal” was how Bob Ryan described the Celtics’ defense to close out the game and the series.
With a minute to go, Bird gave the Celtics the game winner, capping a 9-0 run. He’d come out of a scrum under the basket with the ball, “I wanted the ball in my hands,” he said after the game, “that’s the only place in the world I wanted it.” He ran it coast-to-coast, delivering a layup that sealed the game.
The Sixers, who outshot the Celtics 48.8% to 38.2%, sent the Celtics to the line 35 times during the game, where Boston’s abysmal shooting nonetheless gave them a more than sufficient margin, as they made 22 free throws against just 12 by the Sixers.
(Original Caption) Outstretched arms reach for Celtics' Larry Bird (center, #33) as he leaves the basketball court for the dressing room after the Celtics defeated the 76ers, 91-90, to win the 7th and deciding game of the NBA's Eastern Conference title. The Celtics came back from a 1-3 deficit, beoming only the 4th team in NBA playoff history the feat. The Celtics now meet the Houston Rockets in the NBA Championship Series.
The Western Playoffs
On the opposite coast, there was an open rebellion in Los Angeles. The defending champs were chafing under coach Paul Westhead, and although they did well enough in the regular season, winning 54 games, they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets, who finished the season with just a 42-40 record.
The Rockets proceeded to knock off 52-win San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs, which set them up to face the Kansas City Kings. The Western Conference produced not one but two Cinderella teams that year, as the Kings, who finished the season with a sub .500 record (40-42) knocked off the Suns, who were the number one seed in the West, in seven games in the semis.
This was almost certainly the weakest Western Conference Finals matchup in history, as the teams were a combined .500 for the season.
The Rockets prevailed in a gentleman’s sweep; they were never seriously challenged by the Kings, who wouldn’t breathe this rarefied postseason air for another two decades.
The Finals
This contest was somewhat anticlimactic. The series went six games largely due to the play of Houston’s Hall-of-Fame bound center, Moses Malone.
But there was no real contest here. Maybe you could chalk up one or both of the Celtics’ losses to fatigue from having to battle back from a 3-1 deficit to the Sixers.
In this era, the Finals started just two days after the Eastern Conference Finals ended.
The series was in no way as close as the 4-2 win total might suggest. The Celtics won games by margins of 23 and 29 points, while the largest margin of victory the Rockets could manage was a five point gap in game four.
Today, Larry Bird’s play in the Finals gets a bit of scrutiny, and it’s true that the Legend did struggle to score, and if he had performed better, it’s unlikely that the series would have gone six games, as Boston’s losses were by a total of seven points, as opposed to a cumulative 66 point margin of victory across all four wins.
But that’s not the whole story. Bird led all Celtics with 92 rebounds and dang near nabbed as many as Malone—who grabbed 94 for the Rockets.
Bird led all players with 42 assists for the series, a total that was nine more than Tiny Archibald for the Celtics, and 17 more than the Houston’s leader in the category. His 14 steals also led both teams.
Even though Cedric Maxwell won the Finals MVP, it was clear that Larry Bird had arrived, and along with him, another Celtics dynasty.
HOUSTON, TX – MAY 14: Boston Celtics player Larry Bird, center, smokes Celtics coach Red Auerbach's cigar, after the Celtics beat the Houston Rockets 102 – 91, in the final game of the 1981 NBA Championships in Houston on May 14, 1981. Auerbach, right, reacts. (Photo by Frank O'Brien/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
Turning Point
The turning point was M.L. Carr’s clutch free throws at the end of game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. Carr capped a furious comeback that kept the Celtics alive and set up two more games that were, at least to Celtics fans, classic examples of the grit and resolve of their team. I wouldn’t want to speculate on how Sixers fans view those three games that they failed to finish.
It Wasn’t Over Until
Larry Bird scored the game seven winner against Philly and introduced himself to the big time with an epic performance that featured three steals in the final five minutes of the game to go along with a game high 23 points, eleven rebounds and five assists.
Tune in tomorrow for the matchup everyone was waiting for: Bird vs. Magic.
Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter, shown alongside pitcher Clayton Kershaw, faces questions about retaining the team amid multiple investigations. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling the Lakers just one year after buying the storied basketball franchise, executives working for another crown jewel in his sports empire — the Dodgers — were quick to say the billionaire had no plans to sell the team.
The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles since an ownership group led by Walter bought the then-bankrupt team in 2012, and the Dodgers now are considered the most successful — and lucrative — franchise in Major League Baseball.
Yet, amid Walter’s financial difficulties, including a federal inquiry into his insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion in undisclosed loans to his own companies, questions remain over whether the blowback will hit the Dodgers.
Walter has denied wrongdoing, and sports business experts say it’s far too soon to know whether the Dodgers will be in play. No charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses.
“If you’re judging on that — winning and revenue created — he’s been at the helm of all of that. … He does truly look like a white knight as it relates to his ownership of the Dodgers,” said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, “we don’t know what the issues are, and we don’t know the severity and the magnitude.”
Aside from the Lakers, the Dodgers are, by far, the most valuable of Walter’s handful of sports franchises, and industry sources not authorized to speak publicly about any potential sale told The Times that the team could fetch $10 billion to $13 billion.
Walter’s sports portfolio includes the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Assn.; the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team; a premier women’s tennis competition, the Billie Jean King Cup; and the entire Professional Women’s Hockey League. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates Walter has a net worth of $18.3 billion.
There have been reports that he is putting his shares of his most valuable professional soccer franchise, the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League, on the market.
But the Dodgers are the greatest show in baseball, playing before stadiums packed with fans willing to shell out top dollar to see a roster that includes international superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Last week, Dodgers president and part-owner Stan Kasten said the Lakers sale “really has nothing to do with the Dodgers” and that “there are no changes here or contemplated here.” And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at a news conference that he was “shocked” by news of the Lakers sale and had not heard of any potential changes to Dodgers ownership.
Andrew Granato, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in corporate finance and insurance, said that although it was not yet clear whether Walter would offload the Dodgers, it would not be impossible, given the speed and scale of the billionaire’s recent financial transactions and the mounting federal and public scrutiny.
“I imagine that no fan feels particularly comfortable if the owner of their favorite team is under ... investigation. Certainly, it’s not an ideal situation,” he said.
Walter was riding high after the Dodgers’ success and his $10-billion purchase of the Lakers last year. But the last few months have been challenging.
The loans by two Delaware life insurers that Walter owns were made to companies tied to him or his TWG Global holding company but were not disclosed as “related party” transactions as required, the Wall Street Journal reported. Related-party transactions made by insurers are required to be reported to limit conflicts of interest and protect policyholders, who have an interest in the financial strength of their insurers.
Walter, the 66-year-old chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners, led a group that included another Guggenheim executive and Magic Johnson in acquiring the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, then a record for an MLB team.
The Times has reported that he tapped the insurers he owned for financing, a deal that was later vetted by state insurance regulators.
However, the amount of related-party loans made by the two affiliated life insurers now under federal scrutiny is vastly more, amounting to 40% of the invested assets of Delaware Life as of Dec. 31, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit rating firm said that is the most of any North American life insurers it reviews.
It’s unclear where the money went, but the Wall Street Journal reported that billions were passed through a third party before being received by entities tied to Walter or his TWG Global holding company.
Last week, Walter stunned the sports world by selling a majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion to former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Walter has declined to comment on whether the sale was tied to the federal investigation.
The framework for a deal was consummated in a matter of days, Iger told interviewers last week. It still must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which meets in September.
Projecting an exact value for the Dodgers is difficult because MLB and its players union are engaged in contentious collective bargaining negotiations that many experts believe could result in a lockout when the current agreement expires in December.
Should a salary cap be agreed upon for the first time in MLB history, the valuation could jump to the high end, the source said. And about $1 billion of any sale would be subtracted to cover the Dodgers’ future commitments on deferred contracts.
The Dodgers’ massive local television deal with SportsNet LA directly elevates the franchise’s overall valuation.
Listing potential buyers should the Dodgers be for sale is challenging because the estimated value of the franchise is so much greater than almost any other MLB team. The record price for a sports franchise was the $12.5 billion for the Lakers.
Besides Kushner and Iger, those who have bid for teams aren’t in the $10-million-plus ballpark. The San Diego Padres were sold last week for $3.9 billion to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Another question that has arisen as Walter’s financial troubles have garnered headlines is whether MLB would conduct its own investigation into Dodgers ownership or pressure the billionaire and his partners to sell the team.
“Any time there is any kind of public question about owners, they look into it,” former Dodgers president Bob Graziano told The Times. “I would guess, because there is a federal investigation going on, they’re not launching their own investigation, but they are going to wait to see what comes out of the federal investigation.”
No investigation of any kind into the matter has been announced by MLB.
MLB has never formally stripped an owner of a franchise or forced an outright sale through a vote of franchise owners. But the league forced Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers in 2012 by exerting pressure and threatening a financial takeover or disciplinary action that would have stripped operational control.
When McCourt sold the team to Walter’s Guggenheim group, the franchise was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
When Guggenheim purchased the team in 2012, it outbid billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, who now owns the New York Mets. A group headed by former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre and L.A. developer Rick Caruso dropped out of the bidding ahead of Cohen. Additional bidders included media executive Leo Hindery, billionaire Tom Barrack, then-St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Jared Kushner.
Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.
