Last Week In Sports: May 30, 2022

Last week saw both NBA Finals teams close out their Conference Finals, each NHL Conference Finals berth decided but one (Rangers-Canes tonight, anyone?), and both an MLB and a WNBA championship favorite look absolutely untouchable. Let’s celebrate some of those achievements and talk over some of the major happenings over the last week.

NBA Team of the Week

The Celtics are our NBA Team of the Week! They came back from down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals, going 3-1 this week en route to their first NBA Finals berth since Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen were all in town. Jayson Tatum was named the first ever Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and I think it would be very difficult to argue against his selection. An additional shoutout to the Golden State Warriors, who went 1-1 this week and will be meeting the Celtics in the Finals.

NHL Team of the Week

Our NHL Team of the Week is the Edmonton Oilers, who went 2-0 to send Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co. to their first Western Conference Finals. They’ll meet the Colorado Avalanche, which is far from an easy win, but it is nice to finally see some postseason success out of The Oil.

MLB Team of the Week

The Los Angeles Dodgers went 6-1 this past week, earning our MLB Team of the Week honors. Their lone loss was a 1-0 battle with the Washington Nationals, the first team to shut out the Dodgers all year, but it is hard to focus on that too much when they went 6-1 with an average scoring margin of +4.4 runs.

They aren’t just beating opponents, they’re sending opponents home without entering a save situation a lot of nights. We’ve known for a long time that LA’s National League team was going to be dangerous this year. Here they are, reminding us.

WNBA Team of the Week

What better WNBA Team of the Week than the Las Vegas Aces? A 2-0 week that saw them crush the Los Angeles Sparks and beat the defending champion Chicago Sky has the Aces in the Western Conference’s driver’s seat.

Vegas’ team is 8-1 and look poised to earn a high seed in this year’s postseason. One important thing to note is Brittney Griner’s absence from the court this season. She has been classified as wrongfully detained and held for 102 days at the writing of this post. Bring Brittney home.

Other highlights from sports this past week

May 23rd, 2022- Ian Happ homers in sixth straight game against the Reds, making him the first Chicago Cub to ever homer in six straight against a particular opponent.

May 24th, 2022- Luka Dončić leads both teams outright in points, rebounds, and assists for the third time in his postseason career when facing elimination. The only player to lead his team in points, rebounds, and assists when facing elimination more times in his career is LeBron James, who has done so five times.

May 25th, 2022- Kyle Lowry and Max Strus go a combined 0-15 from the floor, the worst shooting night by a starting backcourt since we began tracking starters in 1970-71.

May 26th, 2022- The Golden State Warriors’ Big Three of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green win their 21st playoff series together, the second most of any trio over the last 30 years, trailing only Tim Duncan, Manu Ginóbili, and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, who combined to win 27 postseason series.

May 28th, 2022- Alex Faedo becomes first pitcher to go 5+ innings and allow two or fewer runs in each of his first five career major league appearances since Steven Matz in 2015.

Ben Remelius

Ben Remelius is a senior at the University of Missouri studying statistics. He is passionate about using data science to answer pressing and interesting sports questions. As a native St. Louisan, Ben cheers on the Cardinals, Blues, Tigers, and his adopted Chiefs and Pelicans. You can find him at twitter.com/benremelius.