NBA Finals Resume, USMNT Wins at Copa America

After a two day break, the NBA Finals resume tonight from Cleveland, where the Cavs will host the Warriors in game three. Can the Cavs get things turned around on their home floor? They enter tonight absolutely needing a win or else this is going to be over in a hurry, and to do so they need better play out of both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love (not to mention everybody else). There has been a lot of (deserved) criticism of Irving and Love for their play in Oakland, where they were unable to take advantage of the Warriors' switching defense and failed to offer much on the defensive end themselves.

Frankly, the Cavs looked overmatched in the first two games of the series and while it wouldn't be shocking to see them win something of a desperation game tonight, a series turnaround doesn't feel likely.

Meanwhile, for everyone else, draft prep continues. The Wolves are expected to have Kentucky big man Skal Labissiere and Croatian forward Dragan Bender in Minneapolis over the next week or so, and continue to play things close to the vest. I get the sense that nobody actually knows anything about what Thibs and Layden are thinking.

The NBA referees union has come out against publishing "Last Two Minute Reports" which detail the accuracy of every call (and non-call) made in the last two minutes of games. I can't blame the union for this--their job is to protect their members, and these reports are fodder for abuse. The league of course sees it as a step toward transparency (though it could be seen more as an illusion of transparency).  At any rate, they aren't going away.

The Lynx continue to win. See Tony's recap on the front page--they had a rare come from behind victory last night against Phoenix at Target Center to move to 8-0 on the season. At this point three teams have separated themselves in the WNBA--the Lynx and Sparks are both unbeaten, and the Atlanta Dream are 6-2. Nobody else is over .500. Big game for the Lynx coming up on Friday when they are in Atlanta to take on the Dream.

The U.S. got a much needed win last night in the Copa America, taking down CONCACAF rival Costa Rica 4-0. I was unable to watch the match unfortunately, so any commentary would be appreciated by your humble blog manager. Sounds like some of the veterans stepped up after looking poor against Colombia.  Klinsman went with the same starting lineup from the first game, which was an interesting and potentially disastrous choice, but it worked out.  The U.S. will advance out of the group stage with a win or draw against Paraguay in the final group game on Saturday.

Today in history

452: Italy invaded by Attila the Hun
1191: Richard I (Lionheart) arrives in Acre at the start of his Crusade
1789: James Madison introduces proposed Bill of Rights in the House
1815: 39 German states unite under Act of Confederation
1861: Tennessee votes to secede
1892: Homer Plessy refuses to go to "black" car on train, precipitating Plessy v. Ferguson
1949: Siam officially changes name to Thailand

Today's musical birthday is Kanye West, born in 1977