What a Week for Boston Sports!
Before I get into the article, I just want to say Black Lives Matter. Black people are 3x more likely to be killed at the hands of police than whites, and that needs to stop. If you want to read more, here’s an article I just read this morning.
Back to the regularly scheduled programming:
So much has happened in this last week (and two days) for Boston sports. While not everything has been good (and I’ll speak on that), there is definitely much to be excited about for these teams. Let’s take a look at the news for each team and talk about where it puts them:
New England Patriots
Summary: Julian Edelman retirement, multiple draft rumors
There’s not too much to say about the Pats right now, but the retirement of Edelman definitely hurts emotionally. He’s been a big part of the team the last 11 years in one way or another, but it was clear last year he was hurting, so I can’t say I’m not surprised about it. Next year will definitely be interesting. On the flip side, the Patriots seem really interested in former Alabama QB Mac Jones (though his pro day didn’t inspire much confidence). Time will tell to see who the Patriots end up taking with their highest pick since Jerod Mayo in 2008.
Boston Bruins
Summary: 2-2-1 record since 4/5, traded Anders Bjork and a 2021 second round pick for Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar
I’m not much into hockey. I enjoy watching it, but I don’t follow it like I do other sports. That said, the vibe I’m getting from friends and twitter follows of mine is that the Hall trade is a good one for them. The B’s need goal scoring, and Hall should help in that area. He’s not a top-notch player since winning the Hart trophy in 2018, but still can be solid. Time will tell, but things are looking up for the Bruins. They’re in 4th place in the division at the moment, but have played the least amount of games at 39. They’re still well behind the top 3 teams, but they have a chance to close the gap or at least separate themselves from the rest of the division.
Boston Celtics
Summary: 4-1 record since 4/4, Jayson Tatum Eastern Conference player of the week.
The Celtics definitely beat up on some bad teams this past week, but the second half against the Nuggets was an impressive ending. Holding a playoff-bound team to just 8 points on the 4th quarter? Impressive. The Celtics are definitely underperforming on the season, as they’re just the 7th seed as of now, but a top 4 seed is certainly within striking distance. New addition Evan Fournier has only played 4 out of 10 games since joining the team, so we’re still waiting to see how that trade has truly impacted the team. I’m cautiously excited for the rest of the season, especially if Tatum can continue to put up 31.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists like he did to earn Player of the Week.
NBA Players of the Week for Week 16.
West: Paul George (@LAClippers)
East: Jayson Tatum (@celtics) pic.twitter.com/p27ykP0nUw— NBA (@NBA) April 12, 2021
Boston Red Sox
Summary: 6-1 record since 4/4, 6 game win streak, J.D. Martinez Player of the Week
Don’t let the Sox get hot! After dropping the first three games of the season, the Red Sox bounced back to crush the reigning AL champion Tampa Bay Rays and redeem themselves against the Baltimore Orioles (who they lost the first series to). The offense took a few games to click, but now it’s pairing with strong pitching performances to lead this team to look a lot better than many were thinking. J.D. Martinez is leading the offensive charge, winning AL Player of the Week with a four home runs and an over 1.000 OPS, having an extra base hit in each of the 9 games so far. It’s been a beauty to see.
J.D. Martinez named AL Player of the Week. He posted a slash line of .458/.500/1.125 with 11 hits, four doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs
He's just the third active player to collect at least nine player of the week awards joining Albert Pujols (12) and Justin Verlander (9).
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) April 12, 2021
Let’s see if the team can keep it up in this upcoming series with the Twins.
While there has been some sad news for Boston sports, there’s been a whole lot of good as well. Hopefully things can keep trending in the right direction and we’ll get back to our championship ways sooner rather than later.
– Pat Shuman (@PShu1996 on Twitter) Check out my other articles here!