The World of Sports

New on Sports Illustrated: The Pitcher's Duel That Wasn't: Cole Channels Seaver as Yankees Shell Bieber

<a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/09/30/cole-beats-bieber-yankees-indians">
The Yankees-Indians Game 1 matchup between Gerrit Cole and Shane Bieber was supposed to be a pitcher's duel. It never materialized.
In the first postseason start of his career, Cleveland Indians righthander Shane Bieber decided to do something he had not done all season: start the game with four straight fastballs. Bad idea. In just that eyeblink, the New York Yankees led Game 1 of the Wild Card Series 2-0, Bieber was guiding the baseball without velocity or conviction, and the shine from his
</a><a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/09/21/shane-bieber-should-win-american-league-mvp">Triple Crown season</a> lost luster. From there it degraded further.
The duel between Gerrit Cole, the <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/12/11/gerrit-cole-yankees">richest pitcher in baseball</a>, and Bieber, the presumptive Cy Young Award winner, never materialized for even one inning. Cole in his own way pitched an homage to the <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/23/tom-seaver-1969-mets-world-series">late Tom Seaver</a>. On the first day of postseason baseball since the great Seaver passed away, Cole joined him as the only pitchers with at least 13 strikeouts without a walk in a postseason game.
Cole was as brilliant as you would expect him to be against a weak-hitting Indians lineup and with Yankees manager Aaron Boone smartly letting Kyle Higashioka catch Cole instead of the erratic Gary Sánchez. (Actually, that one was an easy decision to make.)
Cleveland’s only <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/09/29/baseball-playoff-preview-yankees-dodgers-question">path to victory</a> was to have Bieber outpitch Cole, which seemed possible given Bieber was 8-1 with a 1.65 ERA in 12 starts. This might be a good time to mention that Bieber went 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA in six starts against losing teams.
At his best, Bieber keeps the ball out of the middle of the plate, gets more swings than anybody on strike-to-ball breaking pitches (they track in the zone but dart out late) and averages 94.1 mph on well-placed fastballs. None of that happened Tuesday night in what became an overwhelming <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/gerrit-cole-bests-shane-bieber-as-yankees-rout-indians-wild-card-series-opener">12-3 Yankees win</a>.
Bieber kept leaving fastballs over the fat of the plate. It started with DJ LeMahieu ripping pitch No. 3 for a single and <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/aaron-judge-starts-postseason-with-home-run-off-shane-bieber">Aaron Judge blasting No. 4 for a home run</a>. Bieber had no extra gear on his heater. Four of the Yankees’ five run-scoring hits off Bieber resulted from below-average velocity fastballs. Bieber threw a first-pitch fastball to Luke Voit in the fifth inning that registered just 91.8 mph, his slowest fastball of the season. His lack of command and velocity was the story of the game.
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“It seemed to me, he’s a young kid,” acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said. “He seemed too excited. His first postseason game. Fastballs kept coming back into the zone. His breaking ball was ball-to-ball.”
You are not beating the Yankees without good fastball command. Bieber was historically bad. He allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in less than five innings. Only five other American League pitchers ever did that in a postseason game: Phil Hughes (2010 ALCS), Josh Beckett (2008 ALCS), Chien-Ming Wang (2007 ALDS), David Wells (2002 ALDS) and Jack Morris (1992 World Series).
None did so in the year they won the Cy Young Award. But that’s the trompe l’oeil of this <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/09/28/baseball-stats-rule-changes-world-series">pandemic-shortened season</a>. Nobody, including Bieber, had an historic year in 2020. Great seasons? Sure. But Bieber throwing 77 1/3 innings isn’t close to the 233 2/3 innings Johan Santana threw in 2006 to win the last pitching Triple Crown.
“I felt extremely prepared coming into the start,” Bieber said. “I fell behind the first hitter. That first inning didn’t go as planned. I just wasn’t as aggressive as I wish I could have been with my off-speed pitches in the zone and fastballs in.
“I was getting myself in some bad counts. When I made mistakes they took advantage of it.”
Meanwhile, Cole bullied the Indians with his fastball and looked every bit like the <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/12/11/gerrit-cole-new-york-yankees">postseason white whale</a> Yankees GM Brian Cashman has been hunting for years. The turning point to Cole’s season began on a hot afternoon in <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/braves/">Atlanta</a> on Aug. 26. Cole could not get on the same page with Sánchez. The more he shook signs the more aggravated he looked. Four times Cole threw pitches in the strike zone that were called balls, thanks to Sánchez’s poor framing skills. Cole threw only 60% strikes, well below his season average of 66%. Cole gave up five runs in five innings. Sweat and frustration poured from within him. He looked exasperated.
In his next start, again with Sánchez behind the plate, Cole gave up four runs in five innings.
Cole is a technician on the mound. He studies hitters voraciously and talks about pitch sequences the way great composers do symphonic scores. He is demanding of his catchers, requiring them to keep up with his encyclopedic mind. It simply wasn’t working with Sánchez. Finally, on Sept. 5, Boone put Higashioka behind the plate for Cole. Everything changed. Cole now gets the strikes he is supposed to get, and maybe a few he should not. He doesn’t spend the night shaking multiple signs. Boone has been smart enough to leave the pitcher-catcher combo intact ever since. In five starts since the change, Cole is 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA with 47 strikeouts and five walks. Sánchez might not catch him again; certainly not this postseason.
In his 1973 playoff gem, Seaver lost to the Reds, 2-1, in the bottom of the ninth in NLCS Game 1. On his best days, like Game 1, Cole recalls the brilliance of Seaver with that rare combination of power and command at elite levels. Bieber, a premier strike thrower, had his own share of exquisite nights this pandemic season. But none of his best craftsmanship was on display Tuesday night. The setting was different. This was postseason baseball, when the stakes get higher, the margin of error gets smaller, and a 60-game regular season suddenly means nothing.

New on Sports Illustrated: The Pitcher's Duel That Wasn't: Cole Channels Seaver as Yankees Shell Bieber

The Yankees-Indians Game 1 matchup between Gerrit Cole and Shane Bieber was supposed to be a pitcher's duel. It never materialized. In the first postseason start of his career, Cleveland Indians righ…

30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Heat look to subdue Lakers in Game 1 of NBA Finals

<a href="https://www.si.com/nba/game/2270919">
For Miami to knock off the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday near Orlando, the Heat need to be at the top of their game.
Heat forward Jimmy Butler said even that might not be enough.
"We're going to have to play damn near perfect because they're such a good team and they do so many things well," Butler said after the Heat's series-clinching 125-113 win Sunday over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
"Obviously, you know the star power that they have. We're not going to back down, though. ... We're going to lock into this film and we're going to be ready to go. I think it will be some must-see TV."
Bam Adebayo sparked Miami's victory over Boston with 32 points and 14 rebounds. Butler scored 22 points and Tyler Herro added 19 for the Heat, who will be seeking their fourth NBA title.
The Heat won their last one in 2013, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh led them to the second of back-to-back titles by beating the San Antonio Spurs. Miami also captured the 2006 NBA crown over the Dallas Mavericks.
Los Angeles coach Frank Vogel said this year's version of the Heat will be a handful. Like the Lakers, they are 12-3 in the playoffs.
"They have three All-Star-level players in Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic," Vogel said, according to the Miami Herald. "When healthy, Dragic is an All-Star-level player. They (acquired) a Hall of Famer in Andre Iguodala.
"They have shooting, they have toughness. No surprise they've had such a successful postseason run. Very impressed with what they've been able to do beating three teams convincingly that if we played 82 games were on pace to win 50 games," Vogel added.
James led the way with 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his 27th triple-double of the postseason in Los Angeles' 117-107 win over Denver in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.
His performance helped put the Lakers in their first NBA Finals since 2010, when Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol lifted them past the Celtics in seven games for their 16th title. Boston has a league-best 17.
James, who missed the playoffs last season in his first year with the Lakers, scored 16 points in the fourth quarter.
"(James) just took over," said Anthony Davis, who contributed 27 points.
"He told us it was his time, told me it was his time and everybody just kind of got out of the way, just let him be him and he brought it home for us. He's always capable of doing that. He makes the right plays, he makes the right reads."
Davis said the goal this season was to get James back to the Finals and his fourth ring. James, Davis said, wants to get him his first.
"We don't want to let each other down," Davis said. "We know why I came here. We want to win a championship. We're four wins away. A step closer to our goal."
--Field Level Media
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New on Sports Illustrated: Heat look to subdue Lakers in Game 1 of NBA Finals

For Miami to knock off the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday near Orlando, the Heat need to be at the top of their game. Heat forward Jimmy Butler said even that might not b…

30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Aces Rally in Second Half vs. Sun to Advance to WNBA Finals

<a href="https://www.si.com/wnba/2020/09/30/aces-game-5-win-sun-advance-wnba-finals">
Despite trailing by six points at halftime, the Las Vegas Aces rallied past the Connecticut Sun to advance to the 2020 WNBA Finals.
Despite trailing by six points at halftime, the Las Vegas Aces rallied past the Connecticut Sun to advance to the 2020 WNBA Finals. 
Las Vegas limited the Sun to just 18 second half points and held the Sun scoreless in the final 2:39 of the contest.
</a><a href="https://www.si.com/wnba/2020/09/17/wnba-awards-aja-wilson-mvp-crystal-dangerfield-rookie-of-year">2020 league MVP</a> A'ja Wilson scored a game-high 23 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in the victory, doing so while playing the entire 40-minute contest.
Veteran Aces guard Angel McCoughtry added 20 points in the victory, helping to make up the production that Las Vegas lost mid-series when two-time WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby was ruled out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 22 points and 10 rebounds while DeWanna Bonner finished Game 5 with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bonner missed a last-gasp 20-foot jumper on Connecticut's final possession of the game.
With their victory on Tuesday, Las Vegas will advance to face No. 2 Seattle in the upcoming Finals. Seattle swept the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA semifinals. 
The Aces and Storm open their series on Friday night.

New on Sports Illustrated: Aces Rally in Second Half vs. Sun to Advance to WNBA Finals

Despite trailing by six points at halftime, the Las Vegas Aces rallied past the Connecticut Sun to advance to the 2020 WNBA Finals. Despite trailing by six points at halftime, the Las Vegas Aces rall…

30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Arsenal-Liverpool Preview

<a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/game/2257751">
Jurgen Klopp has lauded Arsenal's Mikel Arteta as an "exceptional" manager as Liverpool look to make it 61 Premier League games unbeaten at Anfield.
Liverpool have won their opening two matches of the Premier League campaign, overcoming Leeds United and Chelsea.
Arsenal, too, have started well, with the FA Cup holders – who defeated Liverpool on penalties in the Community Shield in August and in the league in July – having beat Fulham and West Ham.
The Reds are unbeaten at Anfield since April 2017, but Klopp insists he is not focused on that run as he highlighted Arteta's skill as a manager.
"Mikel showed in a pretty short period of time that he is an exceptional football manager," Klopp told a news conference. The structure of the team is absolutely exceptional. "You can see a lot of things – good organisation, freedom for the players. He's done a pretty impressive job, changed the whole mood in the club. I don't think a lot of people thought he would have won any competition, but he did that. That's pretty impressive. Tough, tough opponent.
"The only moment when I think about that number [60 home games unbeaten] is when somebody asks me about it. I'm absolutely not interested. It's our home. But it's no secret recipe. We never expect to lose, but we don't expect to win. We know we have to work."
Thiago Alcantara came on for his debut in Liverpool's win over Chelsea, completing 75 passes in the second half, and Klopp suggested the playmaker may start on Monday.
The ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder is a player Arteta is full of admiration for.
"Really like him from my time in Barcelona. A great signing for Liverpool," Arteta told a news conference. "They are getting better and better, have less weaknesses. They are a fantastic side."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Liverpool – Sadio Mane
After Mohamed Salah starred against Leeds, it was Mane's turn to take the impetus against Chelsea. He got off the mark with a double at Stamford Bridge, and his pace and tenacity is sure to cause Arsenal's defence issues.
Arsenal – Alexandre Lacazette
Lacazette has scored four goals in his last six Premier League games, netting in both of his appearances so far this season. He last scored in three consecutive league games back in February 2019.
KEY OPTA FACTS
• Liverpool have won their last four home league games against Arsenal – they have not won more consecutively against the Gunners at Anfield since a run of seven between 1981-1988.
• Arsenal's 2-1 victory over Liverpool back in July was their first win over the Reds in 10 Premier League games. The Gunners are looking to win back-to-back league games against them for the first time since September 2012.
• Since a 1-0 victory over Leicester in April 2017, Arsenal are winless in their last six Premier League games against the reigning champions (0-2-4). However, Arsenal have won each of their last three against Liverpool with the Reds as reigning champions (2-0 in May 1989, 3-0 in December 1990 and 1-0 in March 1991).
• Arsenal are looking to win their opening three games to a Premier League season for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, when they won their first five.
• In 24 Premier League appearances against Arsenal combined for Liverpool, Roberto Firmino (eight), Mohamed Salah (five) and Mane (five) have netted 67 per cent of the Reds' goals versus the Gunners since August 2015.
• Arteta is looking to become the first Arsenal manager to win on his first away trip to Liverpool in all competitions since Tom Whittaker in December 1947. Nine Gunners managers since then have failed to win their first such visit, with eight of those losing.
</a>

New on Sports Illustrated: Arsenal-Liverpool Preview

Jurgen Klopp has lauded Arsenal's Mikel Arteta as an "exceptional" manager as Liverpool look to make it 61 Premier League games unbeaten at Anfield. Liverpool have won their opening two matches of th…

30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Chris Mack Is Bringing Fire Back to Kentucky-Louisville Rivalry With Jab at John Calipari

<a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/09/30/kentucky-louisville-rivalry-john-calipari-chris-mack">
Lately, the Wildcats vs. the Cardinals had lost a bit of its edge. But now Chris Mack is fully prepared to take on John Calipari.
You like Duke–North Carolina? We all do. Great games, great teams, great entertainment.
But if you want piss and vinegar with your college basketball rivalry instead of wine and cheese, you must salute the hate of Kentucky-Louisville. You must respect the petty. You must embrace the enmity of two fan bases that really, really—no, really—despise each other.
Remember,
</a><a href="http://www.thecardinalconnect.com/video-kentucky-and-louisville-fans-fight-at-dialysis-center/#.X3PHlC2ZPs0">two senior citizens fought at a dialysis clinic over the rivalry in 2012</a>, before their teams met in the Final Four. Until they do that on Tobacco Road, those fancy pants programs can stand down.
Lately, the Wildcats vs. the Cardinals had lost a bit of its switchblade, streetfight edge. For one thing, Kentucky has played hammer to Louisville’s nail—the Cats have won three straight and six of the last seven. For another, the coaches had stopped doing their chippy part: Rick Pitino got tired of John Calipari’s goading and tried simply ignoring him; David Padgett was an interim coach who barely had his feet on the ground before absorbing a pummeling from Cal; and for the past two years, Chris Mack was just warming up to the task of combating Cal.
Now? Consider Mack fully lathered.
<figure><img height="349" src="https://www.si.com/.image/c_fit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTc1NzU2Mzc1MzU0MzIwNzYx/john-calipari-chris-mack.jpg" width="620" /></figure>
Mark Dec. 26th on your calendar—sources told Sports Illustrated that likely is when the 2020 game will be played, though it hasn’t been announced. Boxing Day might literally be boxing day when Mack and Calipari get together in the Yum Center.
Tuesday evening, <a href="https://www.si.com/college/louisville/basketball/mack-takes-shot-at-calipari">Mack released a two-minute Twitter video savaging Calipari</a> and Kentucky for alleged scheduling shenanigans surrounding this year’s game. It was a bravura performance.
“Cards fans, your fearless leader Coach Mack,” he said, launching his oratory. “I keep getting asked, ‘Coach, are we playing THE game? Are you scared? Are you a chicken? You won’t play Kentucky?’”
Dramatic pause.
“As for the UK series, here’s the thing: I want to do what’s most convenient for John and his program. You do believe that, right? That I want to do what’s best for John?”
Provocative! Go on.
“Never mind the fact that we had a mutually agreed upon date of Dec. 12 to play the game, and never mind the fact that they backed out of the 12th, because they were returning from London on Dec. 6 after playing Michigan. Thought it was too close to the 12th. Never mind the fact that that Dec. 6 game got canceled—no trip to London. Can we play that game on the 12th? Never mind the fact that they scheduled Notre Dame in lieu of playing us on the mutually agreed upon date of Dec. 12. Never mind the fact that they called ESPN and tried to change one of our ACC games without our knowledge or permission.”
Indiana fans and former coach Tom Crean, having gone through the scheduling wringer with Calipari and Kentucky a few years ago, nod knowingly. Now, is that flurry of jabs 100% accurate? We’ll see what Kentucky says when Cal responds—bet the house, he will respond. But know this: Cal has never been shy about calling the suits in Bristol to apply some pressure and get things in his favor. That part is 100% believable.
Now back to Mack:
“Never mind the fact that Coach Stoops and his football program at the University of Kentucky honored that request in football, to move Louisville’s home game from 2020 to 2021. If you could do it in football, seems like you could do it in basketball. Never mind the fact that the University of Cincinnati asked us to do the same exact thing that we’re asking Kentucky to do, and we honored that request.”
Some explanatory backstory here: With the pandemic wreaking havoc on scheduling, Mack ruminated on a podcast last week <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2020/09/23/chris-mack-doesnt-know-louisville-and-kentucky-play-in-2020/3512032001/">about playing this year’s Kentucky-Louisville game at a neutral site</a>, then pushing back the contract so Louisville would benefit (monetarily and competitively) from a full house in ’21 as opposed to playing Kentucky in an empty or nearly-empty 22,000-seat arena. (That’s the reason why Cincinnati asked to move its game against Louisville back a season.)
Apparently, Mack’s podcast comments prompted this from Calipari Tuesday, according to The Courier-Journal: “If they choose not to play, then we’ll plug in another team. We already have that team set." And that, in turn, appears to be what set Mack off later in the day.
And now, the dramatic conclusion of Chris Mack Goes Off.
“Listen, I don’t want to stand in the way of college basketball’s best rivalry. Whatever is most convenient for Coach Cal …”
Slams fist on table.
“… We’ll do it. See you in the Yum Center. Go Cards.”
And with that, the dying embers of the rivalry roared back to blast furnace force. The edge is back. The heat is on.
Do you see Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams bickering in public? You do not. It helps that the Atlantic Coast Conference schedules their games against each other, so they don’t have to. It also helps that each coach is secure in his station, with eight national championships between them and many years on the job.
Here in the commonwealth of Kentucky? The default position is not playing nice. When the two sides do play nice, it feels fake. It often is fake. In a state without pro sports, the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry is all-consuming. In a state with some distinct demographic differences between the fan bases, the culture war is real.
These are reasons why Calipari was the perfect addition. He thrives on conflict and is most comfortable in a fight, which is why he perceives so many enemies. He needs them.
This time, Cal didn’t even have to go looking for a fight.
And let it be said that Mack isn’t one to back down from a scrap. When he coached at Xavier, the deeply contentious rivalry with Cincinnati was at or near peak viciousness. (It included one major in-game brawl, resulting in long player suspensions, while Mack was coaching the Musketeers and Mick Cronin was coaching the Bearcats.)
That Chris Mack hasn’t been the one we’ve seen going up against John Calipari the previous two Decembers. But he made a theatrical appearance Tuesday. And now, as Cal likes to say, the most heated and hateful rivalry in college basketball is on like Donkey Kong.

New on Sports Illustrated: Chris Mack Is Bringing Fire Back to Kentucky-Louisville Rivalry With Jab at John Calipari

Lately, the Wildcats vs. the Cardinals had lost a bit of its edge. But now Chris Mack is fully prepared to take on John Calipari. You like Duke–North Carolina? We all do. Great games, great teams, gr…

30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Messi Says Push to Leave Barca Was 'With Club's Best Interests in Mind'

<a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/09/30/lionel-messi-barcelona-best-interest-comments">
Barcelona star Lionel Messi said that he acted with his team's best interests in mind this summer as he tried to leave the Spanish club.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi said that he acted with his team's best interests in mind this summer as he tried to leave the Spanish club. 
Speaking in his first interview since he announced he was remaining with the club, Messi took responsibility for any mistakes he might have made this summer. 
"I take responsibility for my errors and if they existed, it was only to make FC Barcelona better and stronger," he
</a><a href="https://www.sport.es/en/news/barca/exclusive-leo-messi-interview-everything-i-did-was-for-the-good-of-barcelona-8133776">told Diario Sport.</a>
"After so many disagreements, I would like to bring an end to everything. We all have to be united and assume that the best is yet to come."
In early September, <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/09/04/lionel-messi-staying-barcelona-contract">Messi announced his decision to stay with the club</a> despite expressing his desire to leave Barcelona by way of <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/08/25/lionel-messi-wants-to-leave-barcelona-transfer">a now infamous burofax</a>.
Messi's contract with Barcelona included a €700 million (approximately $835 million) release clause that proved prohibitive.
Messi's frustrations with the club boiled over following <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/08/14/bayern-munich-barcelona-champions-league-rout-setien-coutinho">an 8–2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals</a>. Manchester City was rumored to be a potential landing spot, with a reunion with manager Pep Guardiola a likely draw. 
Messi <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/09/07/lionel-messi-return-barcelona-training">returned to training with Barcelona in early September,</a> saying he wasn't happy with the club, but would rather stay than get into a legal battle with the “club of his life.”
He will remain with the club at least until the end of his contract in June 2021. 
 "I wanted to send a message to all the socios and fans that follow us. If at any moment, any of them were annoyed by something that I said or did, let there be no doubts that anything I did was always with the club's best interests in mind," Messi <a href="https://www.sport.es/en/news/barca/exclusive-leo-messi-interview-everything-i-did-was-for-the-good-of-barcelona-8133776">told Diario Sport.</a>

New on Sports Illustrated: Messi Says Push to Leave Barca Was 'With Club's Best Interests in Mind'

Barcelona star Lionel Messi said that he acted with his team's best interests in mind this summer as he tried to leave the Spanish club. Barcelona star Lionel Messi said that he acted with his team's…

30 Sep 2020

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30 Sep 2020

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30 Sep 2020

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30 Sep 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Bubble hockey champions: Tampa Bay Lightning win Stanley Cup

<a href="https://www.si.com/nhl/game/2267205">
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) The joyful yells from the bench could be heard in the empty arena in the final seconds and the roar from players when Commissioner Gary Bettman called for Steven Stamkos to accept the Stanley Cup echoed even louder.
The triumph of winning the NHL championship in a bubble was certainly no less sweet for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Brayden Point scored his playoff-best 14th goal and the Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6 on Monday night to finish off the most unusual NHL postseason in history, staged nearly entirely in quarantine because of the pandemic.
The clock hitting zeros with no fans in attendance set off a celebration for a team that endured years of playoff heartbreak and two months in isolation - and their fans outside Amalie Arena in Tampa celebrated right along with them.
''It takes a lot to be in a bubble for 80 days or whatever long it was,'' said defenseman Victor Hedman, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. ''But it's all worth it now. We're coming home with the Cup.''
Before giving that trophy to Hedman, Bettman gave all the players credit for enduring a quarantine largely on their own for so long.
''To be in this place at this time under these circumstances is remarkable and frankly overwhelming,'' Bettman said. ''Frankly, all of the players who participated should feel like MVPs.''
Goals from Point and Blake Coleman and a 22-save shutout by Andrei Vasilevskiy in Game 6 were enough to power the Lightning to their second championship after winning it in 2004. That one came just ahead of a lockout that wiped out an entire season and similar uncertainty hangs in the air now because of the coronavirus.
Questions about the future were put off for a celebration by the Lightning and by the NHL, the first of the four major North American professional sports leagues to crown a champion since the start of the pandemic.
Tampa Bay's core group closed out the final with an almost poetic display of what got the Lightning to this point over the past several years and months. Point's goal came with assists from longtime standouts Nikita Kucherov and Hedman, key addition Coleman scored on an odd-man rush in the second and Vasilevskiy did his job on a relatively slow night in net.
Veteran defenseman Braydon Coburn was the first to get the Cup after Stamkos and Hedman, even though he played just three games in the postseason. He played 964 regular-season and 137 playoff games to get to this point, losing in the final twice before.
''The beauty of our team is everyone was chipping in,'' Point said. ''We got contributions from anyone and everyone at different times, and that's what makes this win so special.''
It was more of a coronation than a challenge as the dominant Lightning outshot the Stars 29-22 and looked like the powerhouse they've been for much of the past decade.
Tampa Bay's power play turned the series around after Dallas won the opener. Point's goal made it 7 for 16 over the past five games to decimate the Stars, who were undone by their lack of discipline and couldn't get enough ''Dobby'' magic from goaltender Anton Khudobin.
''There is no feelings right now,'' Khudobin said. ''Just empty, you know. We battled hard, especially with this situation, it's not easy to stay without families for two months and stuff like that.''
The Stars simply ran out of gas after injuries piled up.
''I couldn't ask more from our players,'' said coach Rick Bowness, an assistant for Tampa Bay for five years who was part of their 2015 run that fell short in the final. ''So it wasn't enough to beat that team, so it wasn't enough. But it's better than sitting here saying how we could done this or could have done. We don't second-guess anything we've done.''
The Lightning did to the Stars what Chicago did to them in the '15 final, when injuries built up. Tampa Bay had Point and No. 2 center Anthony Cirelli playing hurt this time, didn't have Stamkos for almost all of the playoffs - and still survived.
''These last six weeks have been really emotional for my family and I, not only on the ice but off the ice,'' said Stamkos, who played just 2:37 in the playoffs yet scored a goal in Game 3. ''I just want to say to my family: I love you guys so much. To all the friends and everyone who supported us along the way: We love you, we can't wait to celebrate with you.''
The painful playoff losses look like mile markers now - losing four consecutive games to Chicago after going up 2-1, blowing 3-2 series leads in the Eastern Conference final in 2016 and 2018, and last season's jaw-dropping, first-round sweep by Columbus after the Lightning had tied the NHL single-season wins record and won the Presidents' Trophy.
Coach Jon Cooper thought the attitude needed to change from wanting to beat every opponent 9-0 because that's not realistic in playoff hockey. His team went 12-3 in one-goal games this postseason, and he said the Lightning won because they were strengthened by years of ''heartbreak.''
Bettman was on hand exactly 201 days after his dismal if hopeful announcement that the season was being put on pause with 189 games left unplayed.
The league and players' union worked for nearly four months to iron out where, how and when to play so 2020 wouldn't join 1919 and 2004 as a year in which the Cup wasn't awarded. The plan they came up with was unusual. Like the NBA, it called for walling off teams from the public for months on end. Unlike the NBA, it called for doing it in two spots - Toronto and Edmonton, while the U.S. grappled with spiking coronavirus cases in too many places for NHL leadership to feel comfortable.
And it worked. After more than 31,000 tests, there were zero positive coronavirus cases reported among players, coaches and staff inside the bubbles and just a handful among hotel, arena or restaurant employees. There was nothing close to a breakout.
Bizarre as it was with no fans and manufactured crowd noise and light shows, the hockey was often top notch. The expanded, 24-team playoffs meant there was hockey nearly every day, sometimes from midday until past midnight, including a five-overtime marathon that was the second longest in modern hockey history. And in this unprecedented postseason, there were even two elimination games on the same day in the same arena.
By the conference finals, Rogers Place, a nearby JW Marriott and the rest of a heavily fenced bubble in downtown Edmonton became the center of hockey for fans thousands of miles away with Dallas and Tampa Bay, two of the southernmost teams in the league, settling the Cup in the NHL's northernmost arena.
In all, the NHL played 130 games in a bubble, 25 of them going into overtime, before the final horn set off a celebration by Tampa Bay that simply had to do with no fans in the stands, and few loved ones allowed on the ice to share the moment. Unable to hug them, players embraced each other and took out their phones to call and video chat with those who couldn't be there.
''We were in the bubble for this many days away from our friends and family, our support systems,'' Stamkos said. ''We love each and every person that has helped us and allowed us to come here and accomplish our dream.''
NOTES: Tampa Bay is the first team to win the Cup without a captain dressed for the clinching game since the 1977 Montreal Canadiens Yvan Cournoyer missed the playoffs because of back surgery. ... Kucherov's 27 assists are the third most in a single postseason behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. ... Alexander Volkov made his NHL playoff debut for Tampa Bay, which also saw Patrick Maroon become just the eighth player to win the Cup in back-to-back seasons with different teams (St. Louis).
UP NEXT
The NHL has targeted a tentative Dec. 1 start date for next season, but even Bettman acknowledged a later December or January start is possible. And even that is no guarantee given the uncertainty.
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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
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