You can hope beyond hope, but the Miami Heat are going to win the NBA Championship.

Despite 43 points (on an efficient 32 shots…) from Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder could not overcome a near triple-double from LeBron James last night. The 104-98 loss puts OKC in a must-win situation for the remainder of the series.

LeBron James missed much of the 4^th quarter due to leg soreness (I refuse to open the door for silly jokes by calling them “cramps). Regardless, James turned in another statement-type performance, putting up a 26/9/12 line. He also had 2 steals, despite being a bad defender.

Game 5 is tomorrow night in Miami. Expect the expected.

So, um, things didn’t work out so well for Ukraine yesterday…

Here are your quarterfinal matchups. All matches begin at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday: Portugal v. Czech Republic

Friday: Greece v. Germany

Saturday: Spain v. France

Sunday: England v. Italy

The Nationals lost their 4^th straight game last night. No one is talking about that.

In the bottom of the 8^th, Rays manager Joe Maddon went to his bullpen and former Nat Joel Peralta.  Before Peralta could throw his first pitch, Nats manager Davey Johnson approached home plate umpire Tim Timmons and asked for him to check Peralta. Timmons confiscated the pitcher’s glove and upon a cursory examination, discovered pine tar inside of his glove. Peralta was ejected. Joe Maddon was not so happy.

Maddon had Nats reliever Ryan Matteus checked (he was clean), and the Rays won the game 5-4. After the game, Maddon implied that Johnson was a part of the female anatomy, located somewhere below the waist yet above the knee.

The two teams will play a very friendly Game 2 tonight. Stephen Strasburg will look to stop the bleeding (and perhaps start some). He’ll be opposed by Rays prospect Chris Archer, who will be making his big league debut. 7:05/MASN2

So, there’s no European soccer today. There isn’t an NBA game. And the Bulletin has people coming over for dinner tonight. So why don’t we all just take the night off? Or we could sneak into our bedroom to repeatedly check the score of the Nats game. You know, whatever you feel like doing.