NBA Playoffs Continue, Coaches Getting Fired

The Cavaliers took a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference second round series with the Hawks last night behind another monster shooting performance from three. Overall they shot 21-39 from beyond the arc, after setting an NBA record for threes in a game in game two of the series. Last night's star was Channing Frye, who was red hot particularly in the 4th quarter when the Cavs stormed back from a deficit to win going away.  After shooting a solid 36% from three in the regular season, the Cavs are 61-115 in this series, so that's pretty good.

Meanwhile the Spurs took back home court advantage with a 100-96 win in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. They too had a strong night from three, making 10 of 19 attempts, but it was really their defense that told the tale, holding the Thunder to 41% shooting. Russell Westbrook scored 31, but took 31 shots to get there, and he and Kevin Durant combined for 10 turnovers.  Kawhi Leonard finished with 31 and 11 and was the best player on the floor last night.

Today's action features another pair of game threes--first the Raptors are in Miami with that series tied at one apiece after two close but not exactly beautiful games in Toronto.  Game time is 4:00 pm CDT on ESPN.

The Warriors visit the Blazers with a 2-0 series lead despite Steph Curry's absence.  Coach Steve Kerr said it was unlikely Curry would play tonight either, and it certainly makes sense to be cautious given their control of the series. That one is scheduled for 7:30 CDT on ABC.

Elsewhere, in the last couple of days Frank Vogel in Indiana and Dave Joerger in Memphis have both lost their coaching jobs. Apparently Joerger was not too happy in Memphis and that relationship was fairly broken, so I suppose it's no surprise, though the guy is a really good coach and I doubt the next guy will be better. The Grizzlies have a lot of decisions to make about their direction this summer which could affect who they go after to coach the team.

Vogel...I guess six years is a long time, but that guy is also a really good coach.  It sounds like Bird wants a more up tempo approach, but given the personnel, I thought Vogel played it right and got about as much as he could out of the group his entire tenure there.

It's hard to imagine we won't see both of those guys back on the sidelines with new teams in fairly short order. Joerger probably would have been the Wolves next head coach had Tom Thibodeau not been available.

This is a Saturday open thread.  Be good.

Today is a huge musical birthday in the classical world.  First we have:

Johannes Brahms, born on this day in 1833 (d. 1897):

Then we have Pyotr Tchaikovsky, born in 1840 (d. 1893)