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SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

boston — This

topsy-turvy

Eastern

Conference finals,

in which leads

inflate and two

teams alternate

role-playing as the

unworthy stooge

of the night, makes no sense.

How can the best representatives

of the conference, judged not

only through their work in the

regular season but also by how

they’ve outlasted every playoff

opponent to this point, produce a

series with such wild pendulum

swings? It defies explanation.

One night, the Miami Heat

looks ready for its ring sizing.

The next, it turns into impostors

to the throne. Jimmy Butler

made history with his lofty stat

line in Game 1, but by the fourth

matchup Monday night he was

part of a Miami starting lineup

that went 0 for the opening

81 / 2 minutes, with 14 straight

misses, and whose single point

through eight minutes was the

lowest by a playoff team in a

quarter-century.

And the same goes for the

Boston Celtics. Their players can

spend one game queuing for the

trainer’s room and two nights

later take turns blocking the next

Heat player’s shot, as they did

during their defensive showcase

in Game 4’s runaway 102-82 win

— which came without Marcus

Smart, the league’s defensive

player of the year.

On the surface, the numbers

indicate that the Celtics and Heat

have evenly split the four games

played, with the ever-pivotal

SEE BUCKNER ON D2

Celtics-Heat

is somehow

both lopsided

and dead even

Candace

Buckner

“Baby steps,” Strasburg said. He has to

think that way, because there’s no point

in worrying about what’s past and what

awaits for the rest of the season when the

goal is simply to take to another mound

in another game in five days.

The results of Strasburg’s first rehab

start in what has been a frustrating,

twisting road back from surgery to

address thoracic outlet syndrome —

22 / 3 innings and 61 pitches in which he

struggled with his command and dealt

with the expected rust a year on the shelf

would cause — have no bearing on and

give zero indication as to what might

happen next. But there is no “next”

without what happened Tuesday for the

Fredericksburg Nationals against the

Salem Red Sox. Baby steps.

“It was good to just be out there in a

competitive situation,” the 33-year-old

said. “Now I have someplace to start from

and someplace to build from.”

The numbers are unimpressive — four

walks, three hits, three strikeouts, three

earned runs and just 31 of those 61

pitches for strikes. Strasburg’s message:

Dismiss the results. His fastball was all

over the place. He spiked breaking balls

in front of the plate. Fine. It’s a minor

league game that’s a platform to work his

way back. He threw all of his pitches. His

shoulder wasn’t fatigued afterward. Now,

he can see a path.

SEE SVRLUGA ON D3

Major moment in the minors

Strasburg takes his first ‘baby steps’ back in a rehab start. The Nats need them to keep coming.

In so many ways, what

happened Tuesday night

here in Fredericksburg —

at Virginia Credit Union

Stadium rather than

Nationals Park, in a low

Class A Carolina League

game that centers on

development rather than

a National League matchup that affects

the pennant race — was so much more

important to the future of the

Washington Nationals than anything

that transpired 55 miles north. There, the

flailing big league club was overmatched

by the Los Angeles Dodgers again. Here,

Stephen Strasburg took to the mound in

a competitive game for the first time in

51 weeks.

Barry

Svrluga

BY EMILY GIAMBALVO

Just over the left field wall that
lists Maryland baseball’s modest
assortment of accolades lies the
Shell, a green complex that —
despite what it lacks, including air
conditioning and heat — has
shaped the Terrapins’ program.
The glorified tent — a “temporary
structure,” Coach Rob Vaughn
said, but one that has been there
for more than a decade — serves as
the team’s hitting facility, far from
what some top programs enjoy.
Temperatures are blazing in-
side during the summer, and in
the winter, portable heaters work
to offer some reprieve. When it
rains, the Shell floods. Once, while
players were hitting, it collapsed
because of snow.
Vaughn said a fellow Big Ten
coach told him: “Rob, I know you
want something nicer than this,
but I’m telling you this building
right here makes the wrong peo-
ple say no.”
An indoor facility is supposed
to one day replace the Shell, but
that won’t change what Vaughn
believes: Talent matters, but so
does having the right kind of peo-

ple — ones who care about build-

ing a program and are committed

to his vision of a gritty team. Those

are the players who are now the

fabric of the team during a histor-

ic season.

The Terps (44-10) had never

won this many games, and they

still have the postseason to go.

Maryland won a conference title

for the first time since 1971 —

ending a drought that spanned

the lifetime of all members of the

young coaching staff — and the

group will aim to also win the Big

Ten tournament in Omaha, where

Maryland will face Indiana on

Thursday as the top seed. The

Terps have cracked the top 10 in

some national rankings, along

with the No. 3 slot in RPI. They’ve

shown the school’s administra-

tion and fan base what this pro-

gram can be.

Vaughn’s predecessor, John

Szefc, lifted Maryland out of a

SEE MARYLAND ON D6

After raising the bar, Terps

are aiming even higher

Maryland won Big Ten regular season title,

set school wins record a nd still w ants more

NBA PLAYOFFS

During a somber night

in Dallas, the Mavericks

stave off elimination. D2

TENNIS

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga offers

a brave, brilliant farewell

at the French Open. D3

BY MARK MASKE

atlanta — Several NFL team

owners said they would support a

significant suspension by the

league of Washington Command-

ers owner Daniel Snyder if allega-

tions of sexual harassment and

financial impropriety against him

and the team are substantiated.

But despite growing displea-

sure with a string of controversies

that began nearly two years ago,

the owners said no meaningful

steps have been taken toward

making a push to remove Snyder

from ownership of his franchise.

Snyder has denied all allega-

tions against him.

“There’s certainly concern,”

said one owner who, like the oth-

ers, spoke on the condition of

anonymity because of the sensi-

tivity of the topic. “There’s anger.

But there’s quite a difference be-

tween wishing he was gone and

taking steps to force him out.”

That owner and others said

they would support the league

taking significant disciplinary ac-

tion against Snyder if an investi-

gation being conducted by attor-

ney Mary Jo White corroborates

the allegations.

“It all depends on the report,”

the owner said. “We’ll have to see.

I would think a tough suspension

could be in order.”

Two other owners said they

were not aware of any efforts to

gauge support for attempting to

force Snyder to sell his franchise.

Such a move would require 24

votes among the 32 teams.

“If that’s happening, no one has

asked for my vote,” one said.

Another said: “I don’t think

that’s accurate.”

SEE NFL ON D7

Some peers

would back

a Snyder

suspension

But owners are w ary

of trying to force him

to sell the Commanders

Eastern Conference finals

Game 5: Celtics at Heat

Today, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Big Ten baseball tournament

First round: Maryland vs. Indiana

In Omaha

Tomorrow, 10 a.m., Big Ten Network

Mystics at Sun

S aturday, 7 p.m., Facebook Watch

Inside: Commanders’ McLaurin,

Young are absent from OTAs. D7

And at Nationals Park: The Dodgers cruise

by the Nats again, this time in a 9-4 rout. D3

BY KAREEM COPELAND

Alysha Clark was back in the

starting lineup Tuesday and went

through her new normal routine

during pregame introductions.

Her name was called, and she

jogged through a line of team-

mates and, this time, met Eliza-

beth Williams at the end. Wil-

liams held the top of her hands as

if doing a ballerina’s pirouette,

with both finishing with a curtsy.

A Clark curtsy toward the At-

lanta Dream bench after the

game would have been appropri-

ate, too.

After a slow start, the Mystics

rolled to a 70-50 victory. Washing-

ton beat Atlanta for the second

time in five days to improve to

6-2. Afterward, the Mystics de-

clined to talk about basketball in

the wake of a mass shooting at a

Texas elementary school Tuesday

that claimed the lives of at least

SEE MYSTICS ON D5

Clark’s defense sets t one i n victory

TERRANCE WILLIAMS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Elena Delle Donne waves to the crowd in the second half Tuesday after scoring her 4,000th point.

MYSTICS 70,

DREAM 50

Mystics give up fewest

points in game this year

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who last pitched in a game of consequence June 1, 2021, delivers during a rehab outing in Fredericksburg on Tuesday.