Weekend Wake Up: Cinderellas Undressed, Lakers Get Thunderstruck, Lee Lagging

Shattered Slippers. The last two belles of the ball were brutalized on Friday night, St. Mary’s taking the brunt of the beating from Baylor. Garrulous giant Omar Samhan managed just three points in a first half that began with Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn threes and ended with the Bears up 45-17. Baylor rolled by a 72-49 score, setting up an Elite Eight clash with Duke, and the Gaels barely made it seem that close.

Northern Iowa couldn’t fully finish its fairy tale, either. The Panthers entered halftime up seven, and then Tom Izzo’s team took over. Michigan State began the half on a 16-5 run, saddled NIU with a goose egg from the field over the last 10:22, got a clutch shot from Korie Lucious to go up four late, and won 59-52.

The Spartans’ Elite Eight opponent is the last “Cinderella” in the field (Butler’s too good for the label to fit), Tennessee. The Vols made zero threes in the second half against Ohio State, but thwarted two Evan Turner triples in the final seconds to preserve a 76-73 victory. And the talented Vols only qualify as a less conventional Cinderella because many expected their season to be cinders by now, and their six seed is the lowest remaining in the field.

Freaky Friday. The Oklahoma City Thunder are supposed to be “sneaky good,” not “beat the defending champs by 16 good.” And yet, by limiting Kobe Bryant 11 points and hounded him into nine turnovers, the Thunder built a 33-point lead entering the fourth quarter, threatened to establish a modern record for defensive performance against the Lakers, and eventually beat Los Angeles 91-75. Not bad for Kevin Durant (26 points) and company, and certainly the biggest stunner of an off-kilter NBA night. Friday also featured the resurgent Spurs stopping the Cavaliers, the Nets winning their way out of ignominy, and the Nuggets needing a buzzer-beater from Carmelo Anthony to survive the Raptors.

Little Lee-Way. Seattle traded for Cliff Lee to couple him with Felix Hernandez as baseball’s most potent pair of aces. That will have to wait, at the very least. The Mariners shut Lee down for five days on Friday, likely meaning he will start the season on the disabled list. But it’s the nature of the injury that’s most troubling: Lee has an abdominal strain, and each of two previous recoveries from that same injury cost Lee six weeks. For a team built to make a run at the AL West but unlikely to challenge for the wild card spot, losing even a handful of starts from a Cy Young winner would be a serious blow.

↵