Jane Njoku

Damian Lillard set a Milwaukee Bucks postseason record by scoring 35 points in the first half of Milwaukee’s Game 1 victory in their Eastern Conference NBA first-round playoff series with the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. 

Lillard scored the most points by a Bucks player in either half of a playoff game. Giannis Antetokunmpo holds the single-game playoff scoring record for Milwaukee. He has 50 points in a title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

With Antetokunmpo on the bench with a strained left calf Sunday, the Bucks called Lillard early and often. Consecutively, Lillard secured 19 points in the opening period. That is the highest individual first-quarter total in a playoff opener since 1997. He had 35 points by halftime, the highest individual first-half total in a playoff game.

Lillard’s feat came after Kevin Durant had 38 at the break for the Golden State Warriors in a 2019 first-round game with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Lillard scored 16 of the Bucks’ first 20 points, all in the opening nine minutes. He capped his 19-point first quarter by hitting a step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Furthermore, he was also fouled while making a 3-pointer. He later completed a four-point play that handed Milwaukee a 30-point lead in the first half.

During that remarkable first-half performance, Damian Lillard delivered 11 of 19 from the floor. He sent 6 of 10 from the 3-point range, and 7 of 7 on free-throw attempts. This accounts for all his points in the Bucks 109-94 victory.

The Atlanta Braves get to face a familiar enemy again.

Just a week and a half after securing two out of three at their home, the Braves are hosting the Miami Marlins at Truist Park for another three-game set. 

Bryce Elder, who was announced as the starter for the game after Sunday Night Baseball, is Atlanta’s starter for the series opener, opposed by lefty Ryan Weathers for Miami.

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins on Monday, April 22nd

Here is how the Braves lineup for the match:

• RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
• SS Orlando Arcia.
• 1B Matt Olson.
• DH Marcell Ozuna.
• C Travis d’Arnaud.
• LF Adam Duvall.
• CF Michael Harris II.
• 2B David Fletcher.

Elder will make his first MLB start of the 2024 season, but it will be against Miami. He has started seven matches against the Marlins in the last two seasons, going 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA. One of the best starts of the 2023 season was against the same opponent; seven innings of scoreless baseball with three hits and no walks, striking out six in a 6-0 Braves win on May 2nd.

One of Miami’s best hitters in 2024, Bryan De La Cruz, is the one to watch here, as he’s 4-8 with a homer and four RBIs off of Elder.

Here is the lineup for the Marlins:

• 2B Luis Arraez.
• DH Bryan De La Cruz.
• CF Jazz Chisholm Jr.
• 1B Josh Bell.
• RF Jesús Sánchez.
• SS Tim Anderson.
• LF Nick Gordon.
• 3B Emmanuel Rivera.
• C Nick Fortes.

Weathers, 24, has made one start against Atlanta, this was early last year when he was a member of the San Diego Padres. He went six innings, permitting two runs on six hits, while walking and striking out five in a 2-0 Braves victory in San Diego. Austin Riley took him deep in that game, with the third baseman being 2-4 with three RBIs in his career against Weathers.

Hunter Wendelstedt ejected Aaron Boone five pitches into the New York Yankees’ day game against the Oakland Athletics. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone is no stranger to being ejected from games. The Umpire sent him out early in Monday afternoon’s game against the Athletics in Yankee Stadium. This is his 35th career ejection. 

A fan yelled out something, and Wendelstedt sent Boone out for it. This was just five pitches into the game and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt told Boone in no uncertain terms that one more word and he was out.

In another video, which includes NSFW language, Boone can be heard pleading; “I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING, HUNTER!” 

The smoking gun here is that a fan in a blue shirt in the front row can be seen yelling something and that is what caused Wendelstedt to run Boone.

“I didn’t even go after Hunter, I was more upset on the appeal,” he said (via YES Network. “I said ‘Hunter you can call it, too’ and he came back at me pretty hard, to which I didn’t respond. I just said, ‘OK,’ went down and it’s embarrassing. It is a bad — it’s embarrassing.” 

Boone also said he would reach out to Major League Baseball about the ejection.

“Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout,” Wendelstedt said after the game (via MLB.com). “… I don’t want to eject a ballplayer. We need to keep them in the game. That’s what the fans pay to see. Aaron Boone runs the Yankees. What he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that will be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. I heard something come from the far end of the dugout, it had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees. So he’s the one that had to go.”

Wendelstedt also accepted that Boone “probably’’ did not comment. 

However, if there was already excessive talking, threatening to remove a manager after “one more word’’ is generally the right call from the umpire. And then Wendelstedt thought he heard another word from Boone. He made a mistake, but it doesn’t feel like he could have undone the ejection once he realized he was wrong.