© 2025
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

WAMC Sports Report 4/19/23: Celtics beat Hawks 119-106 for 2-0 series lead

WAMC
/
WAMC

Jayson Tatum had 29 points and an emphatic dunk to end a clinching late run and the Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-106 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Derrick White added 26 points and seven rebounds, and Jaylen Brown scored 18 points. Boston outscored Atlanta 64-40 in the paint. Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 29 points, and Trae Young had 24. Game 3 is Friday night in Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Darius Garland scored 32 points, 26 while setting an aggressive tone for Cleveland in the first half, and the Cavaliers evened their Eastern Conference playoff series against New York at one game apiece with a 107-90 victory over the Knicks. Garland scored 15 in the second quarter, when Cleveland tightened down defensively and dominated New York. The Cavs forced nine turnovers on the way to opening a 20-point halftime lead. The Cavs pushed their lead to 29 in the fourth. Caris LeVert scored 24 and Donovan Mitchell added 17 and a career playoff-high 13 assists for the Cavs. Julius Randle scored 22 and Jalen Brunson added 20 for New York, which will host Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Devin Booker scored 38 points, Kevin Durant had 25 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers 123-109 on Tuesday night in Game 2 to tie the Western Conference first-round series. Booker drilled a 3 just before the halftime buzzer to tie it and scored 18 points in the third quarter on 7-of-8 shooting, helping the Suns push to a 92-87 advantage entering the fourth. The series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday night. Kawhi Leonard led Los Angeles with 31 points.

Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended for one game without pay for stepping on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis and will miss Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round playoff series against the Kings on Thursday night. The NBA made the announcement two days before the series shifts to the defending champions’ home court at Chase Center. The NBA made the announcement of a decision by executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

The Golden State Warriors had gone 27 consecutive playoff series during the Stephen Curry era without falling behind 2-0. Steve Kerr hadn’t seen it, either, since he began coaching the team in 2014-15. Now, the defending NBA champions will need a mighty comeback and now without emotional leader Draymond Green. Green stomped on Domantas Sabonis during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s 114-106 defeat at Golden 1 Center and was penalized by the NBA with one-game suspension without pay. Game 3 against the Sacramento Kings is on Thursday in San Francisco.

NHL PLAYOFFS

Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 shots, Chris Kreider scored two power-play goals and the New York Rangers stunned the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan Lindgren and Filip Chytil also scored for the Rangers. Adam Fox had four assists and Artemi Panarin had two in this seventh renewal of this river rivalry in the postseason. The Devils, who set franchise records with 112 points and 52 wins, never got their rush game going. Their only goal came on a penalty shot by Jack Hughes late.

Brayden Point scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in the opening game of their first-round playoff series. Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry each had a goal and two assists, and Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton finished with a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for the Lightning, who scored four goals on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in his 100th playoff start. Ryan O’Reilly, William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov allowed six goals on 29 shots before being replaced by Joseph Woll at the start the third period. The rookie netminder finished with four stops.

Alex Wennberg had a goal and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 34 shots and the Seattle Kraken made a successful playoff debut by beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche 3-1. The second-year Kraken became the 13th expansion franchise to earn a win in their first postseason game, according to NHL Stats. Eeli Tolvanen scored the first playoff goal in franchise history early in the first period, and Morgan Geekie sealed it with a goal in the third. Mikko Rantanen scored and Alexandar Georgiev had 27 saves for the Avalanche. They saw their streak of 10 straight first-round wins come to a halt. It was a string that dated to 2020.    

Adam Lowry scored two goals and Blake Wheeler had a goal and two assists as and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round series. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal an assist, Kyle Connor also scored, and Nino Niederreiter had two assists for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves on a night in which the Jets’ defense allowed him to have a fairly stress-free game. William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, who suffered their first regulation loss in nine games. It also was the first regulation loss for Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit, who went 7-0-3 in the regular season. He stopped 26 shots. Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Winnipeg Jets forward Morgan Barron took a skate to his face Tuesday night that required more than 75 stitches. He returned to the ice less than a period later. Barron was injured in the first period during a big scramble in front of the Vegas Golden Knights’ net in Game 1 of the teams’ Western Conference first-round series. As players collapsed around the front of the net in pursuit of a loose puck, Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit’s skate cut Barron.

MLB

Alex Verdugo singled home the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning on a fly ball that barely stayed fair at Fenway Park, giving the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in a bizarre finish. Umpires needed a few minutes to review Verdugo’s drive, which bounced off the low wall in right field just short of Pesky’s Pole, before officially declaring it a hit and the game over. That sparked a second round of celebrating by the Red Sox, who got 11 strikeouts from starter Chris Sale but little offense until the end. Reese McGuire had just tied it with a two-run single as the Red Sox rallied after allowing two runs in the top of the 10th. Max Kepler homered for Minnesota.

Shohei Ohtani homered at Yankee Stadium, 100 years to the day that Babe Ruth hit the first home run at the original ballpark in the Bronx. Ohtani turned on a 88.7 mph sweeper from Clarke Schmidt and hit a 116.7 mph drive that landed in the Yankees bullpen in right-center, 391 feet from home plate It was the fourth home run of the season for Ohtani and his eighth in 18 games against the Yankees. When the original Yankee Stadium opened across 161st St. on April 18, 1923, Ruth homered off Boston’s Howard Ehmke in New York’s 4-1 win.

Clayton Kershaw delivered a vintage performance for his 200th win, pitching seven splendid innings of three-hit ball as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 5-0. J.D. Martinez homered twice and drove in four runs, finishing with four hits to help the Dodgers stop New York’s five-game winning streak. Kershaw struck out nine to pass Mickey Lolich for 22nd place on the career list with 2,833 strikeouts. The three-time Cy Young Award winner improved to 200-88 over 16 major league seasons — the best winning percentage among the 117 pitchers to win 200 games. The only one of them with a lower career ERA than Kershaw is Hall of Famer Walter Johnson.

Lucas Giolito and four relievers combined on a one-hitter, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 to split a doubleheader. Brandon Marsh had Philadelphia’s only hit, an opposite-field double to left on reliever Aaron Bummer’s first pitch of the eighth inning. Giolito was pulled after throwing 102 pitches in six innings. He struck out seven, walked one and hit a batter. Reynaldo Lopez set down the last four batters, striking out three, to earn his third save. Jake Burger hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Bailey Falter. In the first game, Philadelphia's Josh Harrison homered among his three hits and drove in four runs as the Phillies won 7-4.

Jack Suwinski homered twice and drove in three runs, Vince Velasquez recovered from a rough start to pitch six solid innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Colorado 5-3, sending the Rockies to a season-high seventh consecutive loss. Connor Joe had a double and a triple against his former team, and Carlos Santana added an RBI double for the Pirates, who have won seven of their last nine road games. Kris Bryant homered and Elías Díaz had a two-run double in the first for the Rockies, who did not score over the final eight innings. Velasquez allowed five hits, only one after the first inning.

NFL

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin took to the podium and declared he's ready to resume his football career some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game. Hamlin says his “heart is still in the game," and adds that what happened on the field in Cincinnati isn't the end of his story. He spoke after participating in the team’s voluntary workout program on Tuesday. Bills general manager Brandon Beane says Hamlin was cleared to play after meeting with a third and final specialist on Friday. The second-year player from the Pittsburgh area collapsed on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle in a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals.

NBA DRAFT

Weeks after leading the University of Connecticut to the NCAA men’s basketball championship, Amsterdam, New York native Andre Jackson Jr. plans to enter the NBA draft. ESPN reports the Albany Academy graduate will retain his college eligibility. Jackson is thought to be a potential first-round pick, but could decide to return to the Huskies for his senior year by the end of May. UConn’s title run included two wins at MVP Arena in Albany, which served as a homecoming for the 6-foot-6 guard.

All contents © copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Alexander began his journalism career as a sports writer for Siena College's student paper The Promethean, and as a host for Siena's school radio station, WVCR-FM "The Saint." A Cubs fan, Alexander hosts the morning Sports Report in addition to producing Morning Edition. You can hear the sports reports over-the-air at 6:19 and 7:19 AM, and online on WAMC.org. He also speaks Spanish as a second language. To reach him, email ababbie@wamc.org, or call (518)-465-5233 x 190. You can also find him on Twitter/X: @ABabbieWAMC.