By Adam Roberts – 7/6/2021

One of the Brewers’ pieces from the Willy Adames trade is already off to a new location in exchange for a new first baseman.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the team is acquiring Rowdy Tellez from the Toronto Blue Jays and sending away picther Trevor Richards. Rosenthal said any other pieces in the deal are uncertain.

Tellez has spent the last few weeks in the majors following a .209 batting average this season with 29 hits and four home runs. He will bring a left-handed power bat to the lineup and could be used rather quickly if the newest bout of Keston Hiura struggles continues.

Milwaukee is on the road tonight for game two of the Mets’ series.

By Adam Roberts – 7/6/2021

Yes this is a Rodgers story. No, it does not revolve around his standing with the team.

Today, Aaron will team up with Bryson DeChambeau in a competition against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana as part of this year’s edition of “The Match”. The golf exhibition has been a highly popular event for TNT each year, with last year’s events featuring Mickselon, Brady, Tiger Woods, and Peyton Manning in May and Mickelson, Manning, Charles Barkley, and Steph Curry in November.

Rodgers is of course no stranger to the links; he’s said his best handicap was a 3.5, roughly four and a half strokes better than Brady. Tom does have the above experience in this event, however, including a hole out. Both players have also played in celebrity pro-ams before, with Rodgers placing eighth in the American Century Championship back in 2017.

In any case, the play-by-play will be chock full of all that sweet, sweet Rodgers-Packers drama speculation, in case you haven’t had your fix in a while…

By Adam Roberts – 7/5/2021

The high of the Milwaukee Bucks making the first NBA Finals since 1974 seemed to wear off pretty quickly for the Bucks players after the ECF win over Atlanta Saturday night.

While there were certainly plenty of smiles to be found in the locker room during postgame, I’d say the general tone was one of measured pride. After the last few postseasons, I don’t think anyone would have complained if the Bucks jumped for joy all night long. However, it seems the general consensus is that the job is not done, and that’s a great approach to take considering the task at hand.

Milwaukee will meet the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals, a team that joined the association the same year as the Bucks but without a championship to show for it. Their last trip to the finals was in 1993, resulting in a loss to MJ and the Bulls. This year is the best chance Phoenix has had at a title since Mike D’Antoni-Steve Nash era, and their roster consists of more potential scorers on one team than the Bucks have faced this postseason. Be it Devin Booker or Chris Paul shooting 34 and 40% from three this season respectively, Jae Crowder and Cameron Payne’s consistency at the free throw line, or Deandre Ayton giving the offense numerous second chances with offensive rebounds, this Suns team is built to score and score often.

Vegas certainly favors the Suns for this reason; Phoenix opened at -175 at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill, with the Bucks listed as +150 underdogs. Phoenix is a 5.5-point favorite over Milwaukee in Game 1 on Tuesday as well. It should be noted these numbers are definitely skewed due to the fact that Giannis will likely miss at least the start of the series.

Despite this, watching how the Bucks rallied around each other after the series with Atlanta was knotted up following Giannis’s injury should provide fans some solace that unlike in the past, THIS Bucks team may have some closer genes. They’ve now come back down 3-2 to the Nets and come back from a 2-2 series without their #1 guy. Middleton and Holiday will need to decide who’s best served to defend against Booker or CP3, and from their the rest of the squad will need to continue the scrappy play they’ve manufactured over the last two games.

Do that, and this can at least be a pretty even series. Should Giannis be able to safely return, then things get REALLY interesting.

Either way, this series should be seen as a win for a league long lambasted for it’s “super teams” and a seeming lack of parity. Don’t let pundits convince you this season should have an asterisk attached. If anything, it’s the total opposite. Both of these teams have had to deal with their own injury/illness issues this postseason, and have found a way to make it work. You don’t get this deep in to a postseason as grinding as the NBA’s based on luck or chance.

Best of luck to both teams this series, and of course #BucksIn6.

By Adam Roberts – 7/2/2021

Joint practices in the NFL are nothing new, but it can be easy to forget that they happen during the training camp period. They can usually be a hotbed for pushing and shoving matches as players start to ratchet up their competitive sides.

Brian Costello reports that this year, Green Bay is set to practice against Zach Wilson and the New York Jets. The practices will be held August 18th and 19th before the two play each other in a preseason game August 21st. It will be the first time the Jets have had joint practices since 2018.

The Jordan Love vs Zach Wilson matchup could be interesting to watch, as well as give yet another chance to see how Joe Barry’s defensive schemes look against other teams.

By Adam Roberts – 7/1/2021

No surprises here, but tonight’s Game Five in Milwaukee will not feature the services of the Greek Freak.

Giannis was officially ruled out by the team this afternoon, a likely indication that Giannis will probably miss the remainder of the Eastern Conference Finals with his hyperextended knee. The good news of course came yesterday that there was no structural damage caused by his Game Four injury, but without him on the floor Milwaukee will have to find some source of paint presence that makes Giannis such a valuable asset in this series.

Don’t forget, our Game Five coverage begins this evening at 7 on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 and here at espnlacrosse.com!