Case of the Mondays: Costly Loss for Duke, and not Just Because it was to UNC

by Ricky Dimon - 3/6/2017

Duke took care of business on its home floor earlier this season against North Carolina, but the Blue Devils could not pull off the sweep . A date last Saturday with the Tar Heels in the Dean Dome in front Michael Jordan-and a whole lot of other UNC fans more hostile than Jordan, proved to be too much for the visitors. Thus Duke has some serious work in front of it if the team wants to cut down the nets at the upcoming ACC Tournament. On the NBA hardwood, meanwhile, the Celtics suffered an almost inexplicable loss to Phoenix on Sunday.

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Duke . Not unlike the first meeting at Cameron Indoor Stadium (an 86-78 Duke victory), Saturday night's battle was a back-and-forth affair before the home team pulled away late. It featured 24 lead changes and 14 ties, but the Heels put an end to the drama with a decent 11-5 run over the final 3:42. Although Grayson Allen finished with 14 points for the Devils, he made only two shots from the floor on four attempts (all from three-point range). Duke could have earned a double-bye in the ACC Tournament with a win, but it is now the No. 5 seed and must play on Wednesday against either Clemson or N.C. State before possible dates with Louisville in the quarterfinals and UNC in the semis. North Carolina is a +550 co-favorite with Kansas to win the National Championship.

Boston Celtics . Boston, which has been plagued by injuries all season long (the team has played just 24 games with its standard starting five), was without two starters against the Suns. Power forward Al Horford is out with a sprained elbow and guard Avery Bradley is dealing with a hamstring injury. "It's our whole year," head coach Brad Stevens lamented prior to Sunday's game. "We have everybody healthy for a few quarters and then we don't anymore. That's part of it. We've played without guys all year. We'll have to do that again. It'll be a real challenge. But it's a great opportunity for other guys to step up." They didn't step up-at least not to the extent that Boston could beat lowly Phoenix. The Celtics led by two in the final seconds before the Suns tied it on a layup by Eric Bledsoe, stole the ensuing inbounds pass, and got a three-pointer at the buzzer from Tyler Ulis to win 109-106. Boston's Isaiah Thomas is +2000 to win MVP.

Toronto Maple Leafs . Toronto is just about kissing its playoff chances goodbye. Five losses in a row have the Maple Leafs down to fourth place in the Atlantic Division and ninth place in the Eastern Conference. They have at least taken a point in three of the five setbacks (two shootout losses and one of the overtime variety), but the Leafs also fell to San Jose 3-1 last Tuesday and to Anaheim 5-2 three days later. Toronto is +4000 to win the Stanley Cup.

Kevin Harvick . It was all right there for Harvick to take home the checkered flag from Atlanta on Sunday. He was driving by far the best car (led 292 laps) but was caught for speeding on his final pit stop with 11 laps remaining and sent to the back of the lead-lap pack. Brad Keselowski benefited from the gaffe to get the victory, while Harvick finished ninth. Harvick has led a total of 734 laps in the last four Atlanta races and has not won once.

Rafael Nadal . Nadal is still without a title during the 2017 tennis season, which is not exactly a disastrous thing after only two months. But he has lost two finals-first to Roger Federer and then to…Sam Querrey?!? In Saturday night's Acapulco championship match, the second-seeded Nadal went down to the unseeded Querrey 6-3, 7-6(3) after the 40^th-ranked American fired a barrage of 19 aces (Nadal, by comparison, hit one). Of course, the Spaniard-who finished runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open-could not have been completely surprised. This is the same Querrey, after all, who upset Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last summer. Nadal is +250 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the French Open.

Justin Thomas . Thomas started this PGA Tour season in incredible fashion, winning back-to-back tournaments in Hawaii. In his next three starts he missed a cut, finished T39, and then missed another cut. The 23-year-old American had a chance to get back on the track-and do so with another winner's trophy-at this past week's World Golf Championship in Mexico City. Thomas led by one stroke heading into the final round and was in contention for much of Sunday, but he could not overcome a water-inspired double bogey on hole seven in addition to multiple mis-hit shots. He also launched his driver toward the crowd following one errant tee-off, after which criticism flowed. "Yes I'm an emotional player," Thomas later posted on Twitter. "It's in my character and always has been, I'll always have fire in me. Sorry to those offended by my actions". World No. 1 Dustin Johnson triumphed by one stroke over Tommy Fleetwood. Johnson is +160 to win exactly one major in 2017.

Atlanta United . Just what Atlanta needs: another sports franchise that blows second-half leads. In the club's first-ever Major League Soccer regular-season game on Sunday night, the United led 1-0 over the New York Red Bulls before it all fell apart at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium. The United's Yamil Asad found the back of the net in the 25^th minute, sending a sellout crowd of 55,000 into a frenzy, and they maintained the advantage until more than 30 minutes of second-half action had elapsed. New York, though, finally answered with goals in the 76^th and 82^nd minutes to prevail 2-1. Atlanta's collapse was all but sealed when Carlos Carmona incurred a red card in the 88^th minute, reducing his squad to 10 men. A meltdown of Super Bowl LI proportions this was not, but it was a rough end to what looked like a momentous debut match most of the way.

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