Elias Says...
Special to ESPN.com
NBA
JAZZ END LOSING STREAK IN LA-LA LAND
From Elias: The Jazz ended an eight-game losing streak with a win against the Lakers in Los Angeles. It's the first time in 44 years that an NBA team ended a losing streak of at least eight games with a road win against the Lakers. In February 1967 the Bulls took an eight-game losing streak into the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and defeated a Lakers' team that featured Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, 133-119
WIZARDS END RECORD STREAK WITH A WIN
From Elias: The Wizards have won three consecutive games for the first time since April 2008, a span of 244 games. That was the most consecutive games without a three-game winning streak in NBA history. The previous record was held by the 76ers, who went 243 games without winning three in a row from October 1971 to March 1974.
WILLIAMS HANDS OUT 21 ASSISTS
From Elias: Deron Williams had 21 assists for the Nets Tuesday night, his fifth career 20-assist game, his first for the Nets. Only one other active player has had a 20-assist game for two different teams: Andre Miller had one for Cleveland (Dec. 15, 2001) and one for Denver (Dec. 8, 2006).
BIG DAY FOR J.J.
From Elias: J.J. Hickson scored 16 points and hauled in 19 rebounds for the Cavaliers Tuesday night. The last Cavaliers player with that many points and rebounds in a non-overtime game was Carlos Boozer on March 30, 2004 at Dallas (23 points, 20 rebounds).
DD MATCHES VC
From Elias: DeMar DeRozan scored 36 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Raptors' loss in New York. Only one other starting guard in Raptors' history scored at least 35 points and hauled in at least 10 rebounds in a game: Vince Carter, who did it six times.
NO MAGIC FROM BEYOND THE ARC
From Elias: The Magic missed 18 straight three-point field goal attempts in their win over the Bucks. Orlando is the second team this season to have a drought like that. The Kings missed 18 straight "treys" on April 1 against Denver.
CLIPPERS CLIP GRIZ
From Elias: The Clippers beat the Grizzlies 82-81 Tuesday night. It was the fewest points the Clippers have scored in a win since January 9, 2004 when they beat the Raptors 78-68. The Clippers were 0-69 in games in which they scored no more than 82 points in a game since that date.
LEE HAS BIG NIGHT
From Elias: David Lee scored 29 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the Warrior's win Tuesday night. The last Golden state player with that many points and rebounds in a game was Donyell Marshall on February 23, 2000 at Milwaukee (37 points, 21 rebounds).
NHL
VANEK IS NOT AFRAID OF LIGHTNING
From Elias: Thomas Vanek recorded his first hat trick of the season and the seventh of his NHL career with three goals in the Sabres' 4-2 win over the Lightning. Vanek has scored 22 goals in 24 career games versus Tampa Bay and three of his seven hat tricks have come at the expense of the Lightning. He's had more multiple-goal games against the Lightning (six) than any other NHL team.
300 FOR OVY
From Elias: Alex Ovechkin scored the 300th regular-season goal of his NHL career in the Capitals' game at Toronto. Ovechkin (age 25 years, 200 days as of Tuesday) is the sixth youngest player in NHL history to reach the 300-goal milestone and the youngest to do so since Steve Yzerman in 1990 (age 25 years, 176 days). Ovechkin got to the 300-goal plateau in 473 games, seventh-quickest in league history and the fastest since Teemu Selanne in 1999 (464 games). Wayne Gretzky (who else?) holds the NHL records for youngest (age 22 years, 321 days) and quickest (350 games) to 300 career goals.
DUBNYK IS A FIRST
From Elias: The Edmonton Oilers, who are all but assured of finishing with the worst record in the NHL this season, beat the team that's clinched the best record in the league this season, the Vancouver Canucks, 2-0, on Tuesday, with rookie Devan Dubnyk recording his second NHL shutout. The President's Trophy-winning Canucks entered play on Tuesday with 113 points, 54 more than the last-place Oilers. Dubnyk is the first rookie goaltender ever to shut out an opponent that came into the game with at least 113 points that season. The last veteran netminder to do so was Colorado's Peter Budaj in a shootout loss to the 115-point San Jose Sharks on April 7, 2009, after the Avs and Sharks played to a 0-0 tie for 65 minutes.
P.K. SCORES IN O.T.
From Elias: Rookie defenseman P.K. Subban's second overtime goal of the season earned the Canadiens a 2-1 win against the Blackhawks on Thursday, a victory that clinched a playoff berth for Montreal. Subban is only the third rookie defenseman to score two overtime goals in one season since the NHL introduced the five-minute OT format in 1983. The others are Chicago's Brent Seabrook in 2005-06 and Anaheim's Cam Fowler this season. Subban is only the second Canadiens D-man to score two OT goals in one season under the current rules; the first was Sheldon Souray in 2006-07.
FOUR-POINT GAME FOR SPEZZA
From Elias: Jason Spezza tallied one goal and three assists in the Senators' 5-2 win over the struggling Flyers. It was Spezza's third four-point game of the season and his 11th career game with four or more points. Spezza is the first Ottawa player with three games of four-plus points in one season since Daniel Alfredsson had three in 2007-08.
LEHTONEN KARI'S THE LOAD
From Elias: Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen posted his third shutout in his last 12 starts with a 3-0 win against the Blue Jackets, though Lehtonen was protecting a 1-0 lead until Dallas clinched the game with two empty-net goals in the final minute. Lehtonen's three shutouts since March 11 are the most by any NHL goaltender. When Lehtonen notched the first of those three clean sheets with a 4-0 victory over Minnesota, he had the longest current streak of starts without a shutout among active goaltenders (69).
SURGING SERGEI
From Elias: Nashville's Sergei Kostitsyn extended his point streak to ten games when he scored the first of his two goals in the Predators' 6-3 win against the Thrashers. Kostitsyn is only the third player in Nashville history to record points in ten or more consecutive team games in one season. J.P. Dumont set the franchise record with points in 16 straight games in 2007-08, and Steve Sullivan had a pair of ten-game point streaks: one in 2005-06 and another in 2006-07.
MLB
ANOTHER 3-RUN BOMB FOR TEX
From Elias: Mark Teixeira hit a three-run home run for the Yankees Tuesday night, his third homer with at least two runners on base this season. Only three other players in major-league history hit three homers with at least two runners on base in his team's first five games of a season: Brant Alyea for the Twins in 1970, Mark McGwire for the Cardinals in 1998 and Charles Johnson for the Orioles in 2000.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
From Elias: All four of the Royals' wins have come in their final at-bat, matching an American League record. Two other A.L. teams had their first four wins come in their final at-bat: the 1901 Tigers and 1989 Royals.
STARLIN SHINES IN CHICAGO
From Elias: Starlin Castro had two hits Tuesday afternoon increasing his total to 10 for the season. Castro is the first player under the age of 22 with at least 10 hits through his team's first five games of a season since 21-year old Adrian Beltre did it for the Dodgers in 2000.
YOVANI PITCHES AND SCORES
From Elias: Yovani Gallardo threw a two-hit shutout and scored the only run in the Brewers' win over the Braves. The last pitcher to throw a shutout while allowing two or fewer hits and score the only run in a 1-0 win was Mark Davis for the Giants against the Dodgers on September 16, 1983.
Gallardo is the first Brewers pitcher to throw a shutout and allow no more than two hits in his first or second start of the season since Juan Nieves threw a no-hitter at Baltimore on April 15, 1987, his second start of that season.
Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves
YOUNG STICKS IT TO PHILLIES
From Elias: Chris Young had two hits in the third inning in his debut with the Mets in their win over the Phillies. Young is the first player to get two hits in an inning in his first game with a team since Adam LaRoche did it for the Braves against the Mets on April 7, 2004. The last pitcher to do such a thing was Dustin Hermanson for the Cardinals at Arizona on April 6, 2001.
New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies
THERE IS NO "O" IN CARDINALS
From Elias: The Cardinals have scored three or fewer runs in each of their five games this season. It's only the third time in team history that the Cardinals have scored three or fewer runs in each of the first five games of the season. They also did it in 1907 (first five games) and 1919 (eight).
HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM
From Elias: The Astros fell to the Reds dropping their record to 0-4. It's the second consecutive season that the Astros lost their first four games of the season; they started 0-8 in 2010. The last major-league team to start 0-4 or worse in consecutive seasons was the Tigers in 2002 and 2003. The last senior circuit team to do it was the Diamondbacks in 1998 and 1999.
Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros
CRAWFORD STARTS SLOW FOR SOX
From Elias: Carl Crawford, one of the Red Sox big offseason acquisitions, is 2-for-15 (.133) with no extra-base hits and six strikeouts in four games with his new team. Crawford's hits total is the lowest he has ever had in his first four games of a season and his strikeouts total is his most.
DEFENDING A.L. CHAMPS ARE 5-0
From Elias: The Rangers are the fifth major-league team since 1945 to start a season 5-0 after playing in the previous World Series, joining the 1970 Orioles (started 5-0), 1985 Tigers (6-0), 1998 Indians (6-0) and 2003 Giants (7-0).
WEAVER HAS MANNY'S NUMBER
From Elias: Jered Weaver struck out Manny Ramirez three times Tuesday night, the second time in his career he has done that in a game. He also turned the trick on August 18, 2007. Weaver is the only pitcher to K Manny three times in a game more than once.
Anaheim Angels, Tampa Bay Rays
ESCOBAR WALK-OFF HOME RUN FOR JAYS
From Elias: The Blue Jays beat the A's on Yunel Escobar's walk-off home run in the 10th inning. Escobar is the third Blue Jays shortstop to hit a walk-off home run. Tony Batista did it against the Braves on July 19, 1999 and Aaron Hill hit one against the Rays on September 15, 2006.
IS HE WERTH IT?
From Elias: Jayson Werth struck out in the first and second inning against Anibal Sanchez Tuesday night extending his streak to eight consecutive strikeouts against Sanchez. Werth ended that streak with a groundout against Sanchez in the fifth inning.
Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins
THREE TEAMS IN TROUBLE
From Elias: The Rays, Red Sox and Astros all fell to 0-4 with a loss tonight. The only team in major-league history to reach the World Series after starting a season with four straight losses was the 1985 Cardinals.
Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros