NBA Playoffs Check-In: Most Likely Edition

It's been awhile since we checked in with the NBA Playoffs so let's do a pseudo preview two games into all of the series. 

Most Likely to Entertain: Oklahoma City-San Antonio - If this series ends in five, I would be stunned because these two teams are evenly matched. Both don't have an answer for the other. San Antonio's guards can't keep up with Russell Westbrook in company. Oklahoma City can't find a guy to put on LaMarcus Aldridge who is out of his goddamn mind. After the Game 2 fiasco, I'm interested to see how both teams respond in Game 3. I wouldn't be surprised if a blowout happen, but I'm thinking another close one.

Most Likely to Go Seven Games; Miami-Toronto - This is an old school playoff series from the early 2000's where you wouldn't have a lot of points, but you still get good games due to them all being close. The first two games went to overtime therefore it's a pretty easy assumption this could all the way to seven games. These teams are very evenly matched. DeMar DeRozan's free throws and Dwyane Wade's injuries are the current concerns.

Most Likely to Have a Superstar Missing: Portland-Golden State - I do believe the Warriors are doing the right thing by sitting Steph Curry, but that doesn't mean that we, the fan, aren't getting the best product. Golden State will probably take this five with Portland. This is a bad matchup for the Blazers whether Curry is on the court or not which is a bad sign.

Most Likely to End In a Sweep: Cleveland-Atlanta - How did we get here where Cleveland is beating everyone's ass into submission?  Cavaliers got hot at the right time and are on a whole another level than anyone left in the NBA Playoffs. I do believe Atlanta gets one at home, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cleveland goes 8-0. FU LeBron and FU Kyrie are a ton of fun. The chip on both their shoulders are huge.

Predators Win a Three-Overtime Thriller

It took 3 Overtime periods, but the @PredsNHL tied this series up in Game 4. Don't Miss A Moment. #StanleyCup https://t.co/b8aLfq8tLQ

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 6, 2016

Nashville Predators had never won an overtime game at their home rink.
Additionally, they have never been 2-2 with a team in the conference semifinals. Both changed on Thursday night as the Predators won in triple overtime with Mike Fischer finding the night to bring this series back to even. Great win for Nashville as they trailed late in regulation and needed a goal from James Neal with under five minutes left to force overtime.

The two teams will get together on Saturday night for Game 5. Good bar watch for those out on Saturday with the game starting at 9:00 pm.

Bench celly was awesome too.

A+ Bench Reaction https://t.co/gxRX2lbrhF

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 6, 2016

Charlie.

Justin Timberlake Notches Song of the Summer.

RED HOT FLAMES. I'm not a huge Justin Timberlake guy. I like him, but
recently, I'm not as into him as I was when he first start doing his solo stuff. But this is fantastic.  This is the Song of the Summer for sure, I don't really see how someone competes with this song. My man Feits made that claim yesterday and he was all over it. It's insanely catchy and just a feel good, summer, song.

Anna Kendrick dancing in this video doesn't suck either.

Charlie.

Reports Say Joe Paterno Knew About Sandusky's Child Abuse in 76'

The line in question states that one of Penn State's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky."

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State's athletic director at the time. (via PennLive) 

Huge news out of the courts late Thursday afternoon told us the inevitable about Joe Paterno, former head football coach at Penn State. He knew all along about how vile Jerry Sandusky was and did nothing about it.  This is very much like the Catholic Church where they tried to cover it up and sweep it under the rug. This paints a very bad light into Paterno, the man, not the football coach. Penn State truthers are trying to deny this and defend Paterno as they do so weirdly yet this is a cut and dry fact versus speculation.

Charlie.

BrewCap Vol. 28: Help: Starting Pitching Wanted

Milwaukee Brewers faced a pitcher in Alfredo Simon who has been terrible to start the year. He's given up many home runs as well as can't really seem to find the strike zone. Yet Simon pitched into the eighth inning against Milwaukee as the starting pitching imploded for another day setting up a tired bullpen for the weekend in Cincinnati.

Player of the Game (Reds): Jay Bruce (OF) - Mama, there goes that man again. Jay Bruce will forever and always be the leader of the Brewers Killers Club, and that's not changing in 2016. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning to give the Reds a 3-0 lead very early on in this game. Why Brewers coaches haven't figured out a way to stop Bruce is puzzling.  It's been 10 years and he still those this stuff.

Golden Sombrero Honoree: Chase Anderson (P) - Remember when he started out the year with two scoreless outings?  Everyone thought maybe this guy will be the difference maker and become trade bait. Since then, he's been a disaster. Anderson surrendered six runs with one unearned on the night. It all happended in the first three innings of the game. Milwaukee cannot put themselves in a hole early on.

Lowlight: Great American always seems to not welcome Milwaukee - Brewers haven't been successful at Cincinnati for the past couple years, and tonight was no different. Anderson isn't a long-time Brewer, but it always seems Milwaukee loses any juice when playing at GABP. It could be a long weekend.

Highlight: For as bad as Anderson was tonight, Chris Capauno had his best night as a 2016 Brewer with two strong innings including five strikeouts. This is the first time in three appearances Capuano hasn't allowed a run.

Up Next; Wily Peralta is on paternity leave meaning Tyler Cravy gets the ball tomorrow night versus Tim Adleman making his second straight of his pro career. Could be a wild one.

Charlie.

Milwaukee Bucks Show Off Inside of New Arena

Milwaukee Bucks had a talk with the Journal Sentinel tonight at Turner Hall. They unveiled some of the looks of inside the stadium. This is completely different than what we have seen with the Bradley Center. The idea of the public bars, the club at the top level of the stadium along with the bowl being focused on basketball. The opportunities are endless for the Bucks with this new arena. It's much like when Miller Park was being built and the excitement around it. Look forward to seeing the finished product in two years.

Click to see the rest of the images. 

Charlie.

Packers WR Battle Shall Be Fascinating

Green Bay Packers are going to have quite the duel in the Dairyland for three Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the only two 'safe' receivers are Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. The rest could be cut or traded if need be to fill other roster needs. Here's how I see it shaking out for the Packers..
wide receiver spots with five receivers plus practice squad darlings available.

Ty Montgomery is your number three receiver, Davante Adams at four, Jeff Janis at five and Trevor Davis at sixth. Davis needs some time to grow, and Janis goes over Jared Abbrederis due to his special teams. If Montgomery has another injury, this could be a different story.  Love that Adams is getting targeted here. I see it as a bit of a motivation tool.

Charlie.

25 THREES THOUGH?????

How to hit 25 threes in a single @NBA game, courtesy of the Wine & Gold:#ALLin216https://t.co/nax4i1dU27

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 5, 2016

Holy hell. Cleveland Cavaliers announced themselves to the rest of the NBA
tonight. That's clear as day. They whooped the Atlanta Hawks with a rousing 123-98 victory where Cleveland, as a team, had 25 threes. J.R. Smith led the way with seven threes, and LeBron James scored 27 to lead all scorers. Only three Cavs players did not make a three, Timofey Mosgov, Tristan Thompson and James Jones.

Cavaliers have looked like the best team in the playoffs, and this isn't a weak Eastern Conference anymore. This series goes to Atlanta for Game 3 on Saturday.

Charlie.

BrewCap Vol. 26: Carter and Lucroy Carry Brew Crew

As the great Lou Brown once said, 'That's what we call a winning streak.'  After losing seven of eight, Milwaukee responded with three straight wins and will look for the sweep against Los Angeles Angels. This would be Milwaukee's first sweep of Los Angeles since 1996.

Player of the Game (Brewers): Chris Carter (1B) - Stay hot, Chris Carter. For the second time in three games, Carter belted two home runs in a game. He's had four home runs in the last three games. Carter is two off Nolan Arenado's lead for home runs in all of baseball. He's hitting .287 with a .356 OBP. Everyone wants to talk about trading Braun, but Carter will get a haul come July.

Golden Sombrero Honoree: Nick Tropeano (P) - Angels pitcher inherited a four-run and should have been able to cook from there. Instead, Tropeano gave up homers to Jonathan Lucroy and two to Carter resulting in five Brewers runs. It's a similar story to what happened with Jared Weaver last night.

Highlight: Not truly a highlight, but Junior Guerra settling down after the first three innings to pitch the next three without any issue. All of the damage happened early and it's worth seeing what he can do again on the mound when his start comes up again in the rotation.

The Big Moment: Michael Blazek nearly puked on his shoes in the seventh inning as he loaded the bases with no outs. Thankfully, he received some good defense from Yadiel Rivera then forced Yunel Esocbar to ground out into a double play. Good to see from this Milwaukee bullpen preserving a lead.

Up Next; As mentioned, Milwaukee will go for the sweep this afternoon. Hector Santiago has been very good to begin the year. Zach Davies has not and I believe if Davies struggles again, a move will be made with his spot in the rotation.

Charlie.

Not Many Will Remember Kyle Lowry's Buzzer-Beater

Classic Green Bay vs. Arizona situation for the Toronto Raptors tonight against Miami Heat. They trailed by three with three seconds left and no timeouts. This led to an amazing heave by Kyle Lowry at halfcourt for the tie.  Toronto would fail to capitalize in the overtime period and lose the game, 102-96.

If Miami wins this in five or six, no one is remember the shot Lowry took tonight. Also many will focus that Lowry is still practicing after the game into the wee hours of the night.

Charlie.

Ryan Reaves Blows Stars' Bench Kisses After a Scrap

Ryan Reaves blew the Stars bench a kiss, teammates copied him, Blues PA played Kiss by Prince #Mashup https://t.co/U8gHyYeT59

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 4, 2016

St. Louis Blues trashed the Dallas Stars tonight in a 6-1 #BEATEMDOWN at Scottrade Center to get a 2-1 lead. Stars wanted to win the fight at the end of the game though, and enforcer Ryan Reaves was having absolutely none of it. He laid the literal #BEATEMDOWN on him, and after Reaves finished him off, he blew a kiss to the Stars' bench which is about as disrespectful as it gets. Game 4 will be on Thursday night.

Ryan Reaves has had enough of Curtis MacKenzie. Welcome to the #StanleyCup Playoffs, kid. #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/q5psGLTckm

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 4, 2016

Charlie.

BrewCap: What We've Missed

Since it's my blog and I'm trying new things why not a BrewCap to summarize the last four days since blogging?  We do some Halo talk but mostly Fish. 

Angels-Brewers

Jeremy Jeffress with a nice Francisco Rodriguez tribute: Scared me half to death. 

Mike Trout likes Miller Park: Four hits in his first game. 

Jimmy Nelson is growing into a star: Great to see from the young pitcher who'se been real good thus far. 

Hope Braun and Santana are alright: Both outfielders suffered from minor muscle aches. 

Marlins-Brewers

Adam Conley's near no-no: Found myself at Miller Park for this feat and I couldn't have been more mad at Don Mattingly. While I understood posthumously why he did it, it sucked inside the ballpark. When will you see a no hitter live? 

The artist formerly known as Mike Stanton is pretty strong: That was some home run. Just an absolute moonshot from him. 

Same goes for Chris Carter: He came up big on Sunday with two homers to help push Milwaukee ahead. 

TRIPLE PLAY: It's awesome to see live because people who weren't paying attention have no idea why the Brewers are walking off the field.  

Wily Peralta is a bum: No excuse for giving up 13 hits and five runs in a game where your team spotted you eleven runs. Peralta isn't good and we might need to accept it. 

Two straight wins, two more before the famous tweet.

Charlie. 

Tapping The Keg Podcast Ep. 188: A Bar Crawl for Rants

0:00-8:00 Mitch and Charlie come back for another edition where they start on a happy note talking about Leicester City's improbable EPL championship.

8:00-15:00: We talk about how the 90's Pub Crawl here in Milwaukee this weekend is stealing your money.

15:00-31:00: We talk about the Packers draft pick as well as a pinhead report dedicated to sportswriters.

32:00-37:00: Mitch and I look at the NBA Playoffs as to where they stand now. Of course, the Thunder-Spurs play the best game of the playoffs and it's the night we tape, that's our luck.

37:00-42:00: We wrap with some Brewers talk.

Thunder-Spurs Fiasco Is Exactly What NBA Needed

The entire crazy ending to the OKC-Spurs game pic.twitter.com/UyE0wye2u2

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 3, 2016

Last night's finish to Game 2 Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs game was easily the best finish in the playoffs thus far. A playoffs where 16 games have finished with over 20 point victories, and the league MVP Steph Curry is out with injury. NBA Playoffs lost interest with the casual fan until last night's game. That's what it takes to pull them back in.

Game 3 Thunder-Spurs on Friday night (Sidenote: Waiting until Friday for the next game is bullshit but whatever) is a must-watch game.  When have we said that about these playoffs? Not yet.  All that's needed is one more series to provide a little drama and intrigue, and the NBA Playoffs will be back in the front of everybody's brains.

As for the play itself, it's one big onion. So many layers to peel from this one. Dion Waiters probably hit Manu Ginobili and should have been called for an offensive foul. Ginobili hounded him and could have been called for interference. Kevin Durant got taken to the ground. Someone grabbed Steven Adams for Christ sakes!  Not to mention, Kawhi Leonard disappeared and San Antonio could have made an easy bucket for the win yet took the three-pointer.

i’m so woke i’m dead https://t.co/TLz7mQtjxO

— Greg Howard (@greghoward88) May 3, 2016

Charlie.

Letter From The Editor

Dear SnoTap,

Awhile back, I had said "We weren't going anywhere, but changes might be
coming from the post structure to how we're doing the day-to-day."  Flash forward to today, I haven't posted a blog since Friday morning. That's one of the longest spans of time in SnoTap history. One thing I promised myself is to always get back on the horse. People would start blogs only to end them three weeks later because it's hard and not easy.

That being said, we've failed you in many ways. I could be doing so many cool things utilizing social media and blogging yet I fail to capitalize due to being a human being. This isn't my job. I get paid elsewhere, and sure, I could kill myself to 3:00 am each day churning out blogs yet the message doesn't seem to be as effective as it once was for this site.

I like to blog, simply put. I'm not sure what I do without blogging. I'm sure I would read more which is probably good for me, but other than that, I could imagine there would be a void in my life. Maybe write a book, but who knows what that would be about for me. That being said, I didn't really miss it over the last four days. It sucked not to cover each Packers draft pick or bemoan about Brewers pitching yet I'm not getting the results I want from this space.

So what now?  I pride myself that we were ahead of the curve with sports/pop culture then fell behind while the ground swell of the market overtook the market. SnoTap 3.0 or 4.0 will make a comeback in that way.  As well as put our focus on Wisconsin sports and Wisconsin culture related topics more so Milwaukee and colleges.

I'm not quitting and turning out the lights here. Rather, I'm trying to develop something that will have a different feel for the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. Right now, our city starves for things that aren't the same old thing. There will be an announcement similar to this when the NBA Finals come around.

Love you all and thank you for reading through the years, it's time to start fresh. Whatever that means.

Any suggestions, drop me a line on Twitter 

Charlie.