NBA

What Happened Last Night: Dwight Howard Returned To Orlando, US Crushed Puerto Rico At WBC

Didn’t watch sports on tv last night? Do you have something against the World Baseball Classic? You do? Okay, fine, we get it. But it’s not that bad, promise.

The United States beat Puerto Rico at the WBC.

There isn’t a right time for the World Baseball Classic. Should they hold it in the offseason, pitchers probably wouldn’t appreciate having to rev up the engines during a normal time of rest. They’re all about rhythm and routine and things, so a brief spike in intensity might not be so welcomed. Others have suggested that it take place during the season, a sort of two-week break during mid-summer. That would work, at least physically, but it’s hard to see pitchers wanting to tire their arms with extra innings and owners and managers buying in too. This whole right-before-the-season thing seems to be the best of both worlds – you have pitchers warming up for the regular season anyway, doing what they’d already be doing for their clubs (mostly). Hitters are rounding into form. Players care, at least selfishly, and so the game benefits on the whole. Or we could just do away with the whole thing and everyone would probably be happier for it.

Also: The U.S. beat Puerto Rico 7-1 yesterday, and will play the Dominican Republic on Thursday.

Dwight Howard returned to Orlando and Orlando Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard scored 39 points, shot 39 free throws and generally dominated in his Dwight Howard way en route to a big win: dunks, blocks, physical intimidating, that whole thing. We won’t rehash the entire game here – we’ve done that already in another space – but we would like to note that this is the Dwight Howard Los Angeles thought it was trading for. But if this is the Dwight Howard that finishes up the season and carries into the playoffs, you have to think that the wait will have been worth it: as much as we haggle over seeding, Los Angeles would have had to go through San Antonio and/or OKC anyway – maybe it would have happened in a different round, and maybe someone could have sprung an upset, but these were two series that Los Angeles leveraged its offseason towards.

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