Roche On Bergeron's Concussion, Rondo's Arm and Gonzalez' Swing
BOSTON (CBS) - Once again it's a great time to be a sports fan in Boston and New England as we have it all going on. So, as we wish a belated Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms out there, here are some thoughts on the Boston sports scene...
- Sat down with Claude Julien Sunday for Sports Final and I get the impression that the Bruins are planning for life without Patrice Bergeron in the Eastern Conference Finals against Tampa Bay. Claude is first concerned about the person and knowing that Bergeron has had some bad concussions over the past few seasons, I have to believe the club will be overly cautious on this one. With that said, Claude feels his team is better prepared for this now than in the past with the additions of Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly at the trade deadline.
Julien On Injured Players
- One place where Bergeron may be missed the most is on face-offs. He has been dominant in that department in the first two rounds. It may be an easy thing for fans to overlook, but it is a huge part of the game especially late in games.
- Tyler Seguin should step into the line-up for Bergeron, but will probably play on the third line. Tough to expect much out of a kid, who hasn't played in an NHL game in about a month. However, it had to be killing him watching from above. Maybe his energy and speed will help him pull a surprise or two in this next round.
- It looks like a Thursday-Saturday Game 1 and 2 scenario this week at the Garden for the B's and Lightning series unless the San Jose-Detroit series goes to a seventh game. At that point, Game 1 of the B's set could be Saturday. At least both the Bruins and Lightning are in the same boat with neither team really getting more time off than the other.
- We've seen John Havlicek, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce rise up from injuries and return to help their respective Celtics team win games and series and now add Rajon Rondo to the list. The most telling thing about Rondo's dislocated elbow injury is that Doc Rivers couldn't watch the replays of it. He even said Sunday that he stopped the film just before Rondo hit the floor as he tried to judge if Wade's take down was dirty (Doc didn't think so). Amazing the way Rondo played with one arm. I think he'll try to play in Game 4 which is once again a must-win game, in my opinion for the C's.
Read: Injured Celtics Expected To Play, Rondo Game Time Decision
- Lost in the Rondo injury was the throwback night from Kevin Garnett. I felt the reason why the Celts lost the first two games In Miami was because the Big Three didn't play like the Big Three. They certainly did Saturday night with KG notching 28 points and 18 rebounds. He was a monster on both ends of the floor.
Read: Celtics-Heat Playoff Schedule
- Doc Rivers feels that he should be able to get out of Shaq going forward what he got in Game 3 (at least 8-10 minutes). He didn't move that well, but also didn't shut it down.
- As for the Red Sox, that was as sweet a swing as you'll ever see from Adrian Gonzalez when he homered into the Monster Seats Sunday. He looked for a pitch in a certain area, which he likes to do, got it and drove it. Great stuff.
Read: Gonzalez Homers, Red Sox Beat Twins 9-5
- I don't know about you, but I feel like the Sox are wasting Jacoby Ellsbury's hitting streak. The team needs to start putting together long streaks of winning, such as 10 of 11....etc. Their inconsistency as an entire team is killing them these first two months. They simply need to pitch, hit, and play defense better than they have. Period.
