Sports Today: NBA Finals finally set, LeBron talks Jordan, Horizon League expansion, etc.

Credit: Pool

Credit: Pool

The Reds were rained out, the Cavaliers put away the Celtics in another laugher so naturally it’s time to talk conference expansion. 

What is next for the Horizon League with Valparaiso officially gone?

The league's commissioner says it will look to expand — possibly before the start of next season but more likely later than that.

Not only will they try to replace the Crusaders to get back to 10 teams, a move to 14 or 16 isn’t out of the question.

RELATED: Raiders rout NKU to advance in baseball tournament 

One team that immediately comes to mind as a potential fit for a bigger Horizon League? Belmont.

The Bruins have dominated the Ohio Valley Conference recently, thanks in no small part to graduating senior Evan Bradds of Greeneview.

Perhaps they could be ready for a new challenge.

READ MORE: Horizon Leagues eyes expansion as Valpo departs for Missouri Valley 

Speaking of the Reds, I am tempted to point out the rainout in Cleveland last night and rescheduled game playing havoc on the schedule is another example of how dumb these two-game interleague series are, but I won't.

Instead I’ll say maybe they just need all the days off they can get now given the injuries in the pitching rotation and the innings piling up for the bullpen.

RELATED: Let's end interleague play

Amir Garrett is the latest starter to go on the DL. The lefty has a hip strain that apparently is already a week or so old.

Manager Bryan Price told MLB.com the team hopes to have him back soon:

"The best-case scenario is he misses those 10 days of DL time and is ready to go right immediately following that," Price said. "The intention is to keep him from putting a lot of weight on his hip as he goes through the initial days of rehab. Then we'll get him back in the mix and be able to throw bullpens, which would be an essential part before we agree to get him back in the rotation."

The postponement means they will only need a fifth starter once before Garrett can come off the DL, and it gives us another day to bask in the way the Reds rallied to win in Cleveland on Wednesday night.

That's now two wins against the Indians when they were down to their last out. You might remember the other as well...

As for the Cavaliers, I’m not sure if their mercy killing of the Celtics was a good thing or not for the NBA, which ridiculously won’t start the Finals until next Thursday. 

We’ll have way too much time to break down the matchup with the Golden State Warriors, but at least it’s finally here.

I wrote before the season there was more to this year than the countdown to Warriors-Cavs III, and that was true, at least until the playoffs started.

Watching Russel Westbrook and James Harden wreak havoc on the west was fun in the regular season. So was seeing the Celtics and Wizards rise up in the East.

They’ve all fallen by the wayside, and the postseason up to now has felt mostly like a waste of time — especially because of injuries to major stars such as Isaiah Thomas and Kawhi Leonard.

RELATED: 2 start times set for Ohio State football games

Hopefully everyone is healthy throughout the Finals so we can see if Golden State is really the super team it set out to be — “Hey, how can we make winning even less of a challenge than LeBron has? Oh, sign Kevin Durant, duh!” — or if James is able to keep his thrown.

One interesting aspect of this matchup was on display last night.

The Warriors and Cavaliers have flipped with Golden State being top heavy and Cleveland now the team that has an edge in depth.

🔥#CavsCeltics | #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/IRxuzAoz20— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 26, 2017

Also you may have heard LeBron now has more postseason points than Michael Jordan. That's a nice accomplishment, but he's still only got half as many championships so it doesn't mean a whole lot in the far overdone argument about which one is better.

Just enjoy The James Show as many times as you can before it’s over and worry about the legacy when the time comes.

LeBron himself seems to be handling the Jordan comparisons better than we have in the media.

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