kevindraper Page 80 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Packers Loss Sends Small Child Into Devastated Weeping Frenzy
Little man is legitimately upset here (and maybe a little sleepy), and with good reason. Green Bay's swift collapse yesterday was probably his first crushing sports loss, and he got a nice jersey on for the game and everything. His mom tries comforting him with a "we got next year," but next year ...

Deadspin Up All Night: What Have I Become?
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Go find a puppy to pet. ...

Greg Monroe Goes Silent Rather Than Throw Josh Smith Under The Bus
The Pistons have gone 10-2 since cutting Josh Smith, including last night's win over the Indiana Pacers that featured a last second tip-in by Andre Drummond. One of the players to benefit most from Smith's absence is Greg Monroe, who has more time to work in the post now that defenses can't double...

Trent Richardson Didn't Travel To New England For "Personal Reasons"
As first reported by Kevin Bowen, Colts running back Trent Richardson did not travel with the team to New England for Sunday night's AFC Championship Game, for what were termed "personal reasons." There is no indication yet what those personal reasons are. ...

Lefty Spinning Bounce Passes Are The Best Bounce Passes
A spinning lefty bounce pass to a guy who didn't even seem to be open? Usually we only see those from Manu Ginobili, but Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell shows he has a little game, too. Even though it is probably somehow an NCAA violation, Sam Thompson should have to owe Russell for blowing the layup ...

What's Going On With Russell Westbrook And The Media?
Last night Russell Westbrook submitted a line of 17 points, 17 assists, and 15 rebounds—becoming just the fourth player to ever do so—as the Thunder handily beat the best team in the league. He should've been happy—hell, maybe he was—but it didn't stop him from going off on reporters in the post...

Heat Owner Gloats About How Cleveland Is A Shitty Place To Work
Once upon a time, Heat owner Micky Arison and LeBron James were thick as thieves. After all, James (and some other guys) won Arison two NBA titles. But now that James has returned "home" to Cleveland, Arison wants him to know what a big mistake he made. ...

Chelsea Is Terrifying, Scores Beautiful Goal After Intricate Buildup
Facing Chelsea is downright horrifying, and Swansea are learning that firsthand today. This is their second goal—Oscar scored in the first minute—and it is a beautiful interplay of passes reminiscent of, dare I say it, peak-Barcelona. Few teams in the world are so stocked with talent to have playe...

For Maybe The First Time This Season, Kobe And LeBron Have Some Fun
Neither Kobe Bryant nor LeBron James has had a very enjoyable season. Kobe is fighting an increasingly sclerotic body and plays for the hopeless Lakers, while LeBron has already missed his most games in a season ever and plays for the dramatically underwhelming Cavaliers. But in a narrow Cavs win ...

For Some Reason, Doc Rivers Thinks Austin Rivers Is The Solution
Basically everyone agrees that the Los Angeles Clippers’s biggest weakness is wing defense. To reach the NBA Finals, the Clippers will have to make it through players like Kevin Durant, James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Kawhi Leonard—and that’s just in the Western Conference. To stop these wing score...

Harrison Barnes Forces Revision To The Definition Of A Shabazz Assist
Last week I introduced the Shabazz Assist, a revolutionary new statistic that properly credits a player for missing dunks that "ricochet perfectly to an open teammate in the corner." But like any forefront in advanced analytics, the Shabazz Assist remains a work in progress, and in hindsight its p...

P.J. Hairston Flies And Flops Into Coach Pop
This might be the least believable flop I've ever seen in the NBA....

Mark Jackson Returned To Oracle Arena And Threw Shade: An Explainer
The Golden State Warriors took on the discombobulated, LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers last Friday and beat them soundly. Even more interesting than the game on the floor was what was happening on press row, where ESPN's Mark Jackson was working his first Warriors game since being fired as t...

LeBron Moves Coach Blatt Aside To Attend To Grown Folks' Business
This is just David Blatt's existence now isn't it, suffering a long string of indignities and being treated more like a rookie player than a rookie coach? One day he is forced to clarify his comments after saying Kevin Love is not a max contract player, the next LeBron James is pushing him (likely t...

Kurt Busch's Testimony: My Ex-Girlfriend Is A Trained Assassin
Back in November, Kurt Busch's ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll accused him of smashing her head into a motorhome wall three times, and filed for a protection order. The first two days of a hearing regarding the order were held in Kent County (Del.) Family Court in December. According to ESPN, Drisco...

Zdeno Chara Drops Cedric Paquette With One Punch
I went to go look up Cedric Paquette's height and weight, figuring a "Cedric Paquette is tiny. Zdeno Chara is 6'9", 255 pounds. The result when they fought was predictable." lede would be pretty good. Except I learned from Hockey Reference that Cedric Paquette is actually 6'1", 198 pounds: Zdeno C...

Germany's Absurd World Cup Fake Free Kick Actually Worked In Practice
Remember that absurd, failed free kick that Germany attempted against Algeria in the World Cup? In case not, we've embedded video of it below. In the 88th minute of a 0-0 game—Germany would eventually win 2-1 in a dramatic extra time period on Mesut Özil's 120th minute goal—Germany won a free kick a...

Domestic Violence Charges Against Hope Solo Dropped
U.S. Women's National team goalkeeper Hope Solo had both misdemeanor assault charges against her dropped Tuesday, according to the New York Times. Solo was arrested in June, after police responded to a 911 call from her home and found her sister and 17-year-old nephew with visible injuries. The poli...

OSU Shuts Down Oregon's Offense To Win The National Championship
62. 46. 48. 38. 24. 42. 45. 59. 45. 51. 44. 47. 51. 59. 20. That's how many points Oregon scored each game this season....

Nikola Vucevic Whomps On Pau Gasol's Head With Dunk
Pau Gasol is having his best season in a couple of years, suggesting that his recent demise wasn't about physical ability but the psychic torture that the Mike D'Antoni-Dwight Howard-Old Kobe Bryant-Nick Young Los Angeles Lakers imposed upon him. But one of the cool things about the NBA is that almo...