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For the second time this year, the Footprint Center was the site of a marquee game turned unwatchable beatdown on Wednesday. The first came during last season's Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, in which the Dallas Mavericks blew the doors off Phoenix 123-90.
This time, it was the Boston Celtics on the happy end of a 125-98 blowout in Chris Paul's return from a heel injury. The game, nationally televised on ESPN, was supposed to be a battle of the top teams in the Eastern and Western Conference, with the Celtics tops in the NBA at 20-5 and the Suns at 16-8. Instead, it was like the Celtics were facing a tanking team.
The game was competitive until about halfway through the first quarter, when Boston broke off an 18-3 run. It only got worse from there. By the end of the first quarter, the Celtics were leading by 10. By halftime, they were leading by 27. At their peak in the third quarter, they were up an incomprehensible 45 points.
As they have all season, the Celtics hardly looked like a team smarting from an NBA Finals loss and one of the league's most turbulent offseasons.
It wasn't like this was a Jayson Tatum supernova game either (though there have been plenty of those this season). Tatum and his co-star Jaylen Brown both had a perfectly respectable 25 points.
The true source of the Celtics' success was a perfect night for their role players, pretty much across the board. Grant Williams had 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting with no turnovers. Blake Griffin, still starting for the injured Robert Williams III, nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. Sharpshooter Malcolm Brogdon was 7-of-9 for 16 points and five assists.
Marcus Smart and Derrick White weren't as offensively prolific, but their defense made the night miserable for Devin Booker (6-of-17 from the field) and Paul (2-of-6 with four turnovers).
This is basically what the Celtics have done all season under interim head coach Joe Mazzulla, as they have now won 11 games by double-digits. Meanwhile, the Suns might have some thinking to do.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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