Sports Then and Now

Less than 24 hours after the World Health Organization declared the spread of the coronavirus to be a pandemic the sports world is coming to a screeching halt as sports leagues and college conferences struggle to deal with this intersection between public health and the sports world.

It started Wednesday afternoon with the NCAA announcing that all of their upcoming championships would be played without fans.

With most of the premier Division I conferences having started their men’s basketball tournaments earlier this week, it didn’t take long until they all announced that they would not admit fans starting on Thursday.

However, after a Wednesday evening address by the President as well as continued uncertainty on how best to address the growing crisis, by soon before game time on Thursday most conferences, including the ACC, Big Ten and SEC had all canceled the remainder of their tournaments. The Big East tipped off their first game on Thursday (Creighton against St. Johns), but the game and tournament were later canceled.

 So, what is typically one of the most exciting weekends for college basketball now looks to be an opportunity to catch up on shows from Netflix or Amazon Prime.

College basketball is not the only major sports group impacted by the growing crisis.

After two members of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus the game Wednesday night between the Oklahoma Thunder and Utah Jazz was postponed and the NBA later announced an immediate suspension of their season.

Steph Curry scored 22 points to lead a balanced Golden State offense in a game one win.

Game 1 between the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors was exactly what everybody expected. Golden State got off to a hot start at Oracle Arena and cruised to a 106-94 victory.

The Warriors now have a perfect 5-0 record in the playoffs and don’t look like they’ll be challenged in this semifinals series.

But then again, Utah has some issues that prevented them from being as competitive as they would’ve liked. Let’s discuss what these issues were, along with if you should consider betting on the Jazz.

Utah vs Golden State Game 2 Betting Odds Released by BetOnline.ag

Point Spread: Utah +12.5 (-110); Golden State -12.5(-110)
Money line: Utah +700; Golden State -1400
Totals: 204 (over -115) (under -105)
Gametime: 10:30pm ET on Thursday, May 4

Golden State Warriors Game 2 Preview

As mentioned in the introduction, Golden State didn’t have much of a problem with Utah. They were up by 12 early in the second quarter and never looked threatened from there on out.

All five Warrior starters scored in double digits, with Steph Curry leading the way with 22 points. Five bench players also scored for Golden State too.

Perhaps the most-telling sign of Golden State’s easy victory is that they got 32 assists. Utah had trouble staying with Curry, which led to plenty of defensive breakdowns and easy baskets for the Warriors.

Golden State doesn’t need to change much heading into Game 2 of this series. Their defense was strong, they made shots, and they did a good job of dealing with Utah’s slowed-down pace. The Warriors will look to replicate their success in an effort to go up 2-0. Read the rest of this entry →

Jerry Sloan spent years leading superstar guards, including Jeff Hornacek and John Stockton...

When Jerry Sloan took over the reins of the Utah Jazz on December 9, 1988, Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, the television classic Seinfeld was still months from hitting the airwaves and surfing the web was a term still years from having a meaning.

In the NBA, Michael Jordan was coming off his first MVP season, but was still two and a half years away from winning his first NBA Championship. Magic Johnson and the Lakers were trying (unsuccessfully it would turn out) for an NBA three-peat and 40 players who would be on NBA rosters in 2011 weren’t yet born.

Much changed in the ensuing 23 seasons, but the one constant in the NBA was that Sloan would be on the sidelines for the Jazz and that Utah would have a hard-working team built on fundamentals and a team philosophy.

Before announcing his resignation on Thursday, Sloan was the longest tenured coach with one organization in any of the four major professional sports. During his time leading the Jazz, the NBA had 245 coaching changes, including 13 alone by the Los Angeles Clippers. Read the rest of this entry →