This weekend was filled with spectacular sports finishes, specifically in the NBA.
Saturday night, Kevin Durant continued to position himself as the anti-Lebron James as the wiry, scoring phenom demanded the ball down the stretch after his team blew a sizable lead versus the Spurs in Game 4. Durant scored 16 straight points to lead his team to victory. Of course he was helped by Sergei Ibaka’s 11-for-11 deadeye shooting performance. But when it came time to get down to serious business, wanted the ball in his hands and he got results.
On the other side of the country, the Boston Celtics tied up the Eastern Conference series Sunday night with a razor thin win at home versus the Miami Heat. In a game that highlighted how awful NBA officials have been throughout the postseason, both teams were forced to deal with the loss of a star as James and Paul Pierce both fouled out of the game.
Before he was given the boot, James took and made a big shot in clutch time, nailing a big three-pointer with 37.5 seconds remaining in regulation. Of course, the other LeBron showed back up just in time to pass up a chance to ice the game at the buzzer to make a horrible last second pass to Udonis Haslem for an equally horrible shot attempt. James needs to shoot the ball in that situation. Period.
He didn’t. The Heat lost in overtime after Dwayne Wade missed a good look from downtown. It happens.
Did Mayweather drop dirty for PEDs?
A few weeks ago, Maxboxing.com writer Gabriel Montoya wrote an article questioning whether Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Golden Boy Promotions had an agreement with the USDA to hold back the B-sample of Mayweather’s drug tests until after the boxer had completed the fighter. Furthermore, Montoya’s sources suggested Mayweather and GBP may have had an agreement to suppress positive drug tests if they were determined to be triggered by inadvertent use and that Mayweather indeed failed three drug tests, which were dismissed due to the agreement.
Montoya’s piece disappeared from the internet after GBP lawyers threatened a defamation suit. However, Montoya has paid his dues in the boxing press world. He’s a respected writer, not a fly-by-night blogger looking for shock value.
The removal of the article may show his sources never provided concrete proof. But the story is another bizarre and baffling twist in the drug testing drama surrounding a potential, but seemingly improbably bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
