ICYMI: Last Weekend
This is my 100th article! Thank you to everyone who has supported Around the Associations for the last year and a half. I’ve appreciated covering a variety of sports by use of several different mediums and look forward to continuing my pursuit of being a sports writer and commentator. To round out 100 articles, let’s round out last weekend with a summary of what was one of the busiest sports weekends in recent memory.
The PGA Championship
Day 2 of the PGA Championship brought lots of drama. Early on Friday morning, there was a fatal car accident near the Valhalla Golf Club. World number one, Scottie Scheffler was on his way to the course and was told by one police officer to meander through the crash. Another officer on the scene wanted Scheffler to wait, and tried to stop his car as he drove forward as instructed by the first officer, but ended up getting dragged 10-15 feet. Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic — with the first charge a felony and the other three misdemeanors. Scheffler was detained for a few hours until his charges were dropped and he went on with his regularly scheduled golf.
Scheffler ended up hitting -5 on the day and said to the media afterwards, “I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell – that was a first for me.” But Scheffler’s forgettable day three performance, which broke his personal streak of 46 straight rounds below par, knocked him out of contention where Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and Sahith Theegala entered the final round as the three favorites. Late in the final day, the top three golfers in the standings were Schauffele (-20), Bryson DeChambeau (-19), and Viktor Hovland (-19). With Schauffele fighting for par at hole 17, DeChambeau drilled a birdie putt on hole 18, firing up the crowd, and bringing him into a first-place tie with Schauffele at -20 as his round concluded. Hovland would miss two crucial putts, but would lock up a third place finish at -18.
Schauffele and Morikawa were the last group remaining, and Schauffele would have to birdie the par five to win the championship outright, or else he would either be sent to a one hole playoff with DeChambeau with a par, or sent home with anything worse. After three shots, Schauffele found himself with a ball located six feet and two inches away from the hole. Schauffele, who had grown a reputation throughout the tournament of being a bit shaky and uncertain before hitting, must’ve felt inner demons as he stepped up to strike the putt, but you wouldn’t have known when he hit it. The 30-year old stepped up and watched as the ball swirled around the edge of the cup and into the hole, earning him the first major tournament victory of his career.
Said Schauffele after his win: "Winning, I said it earlier, is a result. This is awesome, it's super sweet, but when I break it down, I'm really proud of how I handled certain moments on the course today, different from the past."
NBA Playoffs
There were three NBA games played on Saturday and Sunday. The first game was arguably the best game of the playoffs. In a monumental game 6 with Dallas leading Oklahoma City by three games to two, the two juggernauts threw haymakers at each other in a tight fourth quarter. Between two P.J. Washington threes, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams buckets, a lucky bounce on a Kyrie Irving three, and a miraculous turnaround fade from Derrick Jones Jr., the Mavericks found themselves up by five with 1:11 remaining.
In a rush, Gilgeous-Alexander hit a huge three, and would later hit a technical free throw, setting up a massive possession that ended with a Chet Holmgren slam. OKC led by 116-115 but Dallas was going to have one final say in attempt to close out the series. With six seconds left, Luka Doncic drove, swiveled in the lane, but with defenders draped all over him, had no other choice but to kick the ball out to Washington in the left corner. Washington pump faked SGA who caught Washington’s arm on the way down and was whistled for the foul. The Mavs swingman hit two free throws to give his team a one-point lead, missed the third on purpose, and watched as Williams launched a last-gasp heave for the Thunder. It missed, and Dallas was moving onto their second conference finals in three years.
It turned out that the classic game 6 in Dallas would just be the appetizer to the two-course entrée of game 7s. I already wrote about Knicks vs Pacers and Nuggets vs Timberwolves in my game 7 analysis article so I’ll be brief here, but the improbability of the inexperienced sixth seeded Pacers blowing out the Knicks at MSG and the young, fearless Timberwolves sinking the defending champs in their building was truly sensational to watch.
Tyrese Haliburton took control from very early on, knocking down three after three, and finishing with a team-high 26 points. As he has all season, Haliburton got a lot of help with three other players scoring at least 19 points. The Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals were they will try to bounce back from an 0-1 deficit against the Boston Celtics.
Edwards struggled mightily in the first half of game 7 in Denver, shooting 1-7 from the field for four points, but his suffocating defense on Jamal Murray, playmaking, and timely three-pointers were enough to put Minnesota over the top and move them forward into their first conference finals ever. The difference for Minnesota was their supporting cast—Jaden McDaniels had 23 points on 7-10 shooting and Naz Reid came in clutch off the bench with 11 points of his own. On Denver’s side, every player not named Jokic or Murray combined for an abysmal 21 points on 8-28 shooting.
English Premier League
Manchester City had owned the Premier League for a while, winning five championships in six seasons. But since the start of last year, Arsenal has been threatening to overtake Man City for the trophy. In the 2022/23 season, Arsenal led the table for 248 days (the most in Premier League history by a team that didn’t win the title). On day 249 a.k.a. matchweek 30 of 38, Man City snatched first place from the Gunners with a 4-1 over Southampton while Arsenal tied Liverpool 2-2, courtesy of an 87th minute banger from Roberto Firmino. For the next eight weeks, Arsenal would only win three more games, lose three, and draw two more—far worse than their usual pace for the season. Man City, meanwhile, wouldn’t lose until week 38 when they had already locked up the title.
This season, Arsenal had been nipping at Man City’s heals for weeks upon weeks.With a game in hand, Arsenal would take the lead in the table with about ten weeks to go, but it wouldn’t last. Much like the 2022/23 season, Man City caught fire and reeled off nine straight wins—none more important than their 3-1 victory against West Ham on Sunday to win them their sixth EPL title in seven years. Two goals by Phil Foden including an 2nd minute screamer gave City an early advantage and a right-footed rocket by Rodri was the icing on the cake.
Arsenal won their last six games of the season, so Man City had no room for error in their pursuit of the crown, and as usual, they didn’t fold under pressure.
NHL Playoffs
On Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers destroyed the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 in game 6 of their conference semifinal series. It was just the second game in the whole playoffs that Edmonton emerged victorious without goals from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Instead, the two Oilers stars combined for five assists. That’s just the third time they’ve done so all season. Edmonton went on to win 3-2 in game 7, fending off a late surge from Vancouver, to advancing to their second conference finals in three years.
The team that they will play in round three had a game 6 of their own late on Friday night. Led by a balanced attack that includes Jason Robertson, Jamie Benn, and Joe Pavelski, the Dallas Stars found themselves in a tie game at the end of regulation with Nathan McKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche.
With 7:31 left in the first overtime period, Dallas won a face-off that kicked the puck out to Thomas Harley who fed it inside to a wide open Mason Marchment. Marchment sent the puck into the back of the net, seemingly ending it for the Stars, but their brief celebration was drowned out by an abrupt whistle. The officials, in what is probably the worst call I’ve ever seen in my short time as a hockey fan given the magnitude of the moment, ruled that goalie interference would eradicate the goal even though Colorado’s Cale Makar clearly shoved Dallas’ Matt Duchene into the goaltender.
Stunned, Dallas had to play on. The tide was starting to swing towards the Avalanche about halfway through second overtime, and Dallas’ goalie, Jake Oettinger, was being forced to make save after save. However, justice would be served when there was a scramble around the Colorado net with about 8:20 left, and Pavelski flipped the puck to Duchene. The very man whose penalty took away the win for Dallas, calmly flipped the puck into the back of the net as the clock struck midnight, sending Colorado fans home sad and Dallas to the next round happy.
Major League Baseball
It’s rare that there’s a noteworthy baseball event in the regular season. Even if there is an unreal walk-off win, one win is one win, and in the grand scheme of the 162 game season, that win is essentially a non-factor. However, player debuts certainly have the ability to make a big splash. Last Friday afternoon (the start of the weekend for Cubs fans), top prospect of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Paul Skenes, was making his second start. In his first start, Skenes gave up 3 earned runs in 4.2 innings of ball, but cleared the 100 miles per hour mark on his pitches far more often that any pitcher this season, leaving a great deal of intrigue around his second go.
Skenes outplayed his expectations, pitching for six innings and allowing no hits while striking out 11 batters including his first seven. He is the first pitcher in Pirates history to start a game with seven strikeouts and came up just two short of tying the all-time major league record. His 11 strikeouts without a hit will likely live as the rookie record for many years, and Skenes did so in just his second career big-league start. Additionally, Skenes cleared 100 miles per hour 12 times. It’s safe to say that the Pirates phenom is on track to be one of the greats.
I love late October because it is the one stretch in the entire calendar year where every big four sport as well as premier league overlaps with each other. But sometimes, even with the absence of a few sports (football in this case), a gem like this weekend is produced, and reminds us why we love sports so much.
Huzzah! Keep 'em coming.