Locker Page 277 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A Timely And Exhaustive Preview Of The 2018 NBA Playoffs
Ah, casual sports fan: We meet again. The 2018 NBA playoffs begin this afternoon! How the hell will you know what is going on in the games, other than like a bunch of sweaty dudes bouncing a ball and throwing it through a pair of rings, if you don’t have some 10,000 words of preview and analysis to ...

Deadspin Up All Night: People All Over The World
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. It’s Friday....

Unleash Playoff LeBron
Fifteen years on, you could hardly be blamed for being desensitized to LeBron James. You and me and everyone else that plays with real and fake MVP votes at the end of every NBA season know how boring monotony can get, and so we stitch together some selective, season-specific argument sort-of-provi...

Watermelons, Cower In Fear At Your Mighty New Crocodile God
All hail the mighty Elvis, a 52-year-old crocodile in the Australian Reptile Park of Somersby, Australia, and my new God....

Thunder Announcer Who Said Russell Westbrook Was "Out Of His Cotton-Pickin' Mind" Suspended For One Game
Oklahoma City TV announcer Brian Davis has been suspended by the team for Game 1 of the Thunder’s first-round series against the Jazz after he used the phrase, “out of his cotton-pickin’ mind” to describe Russell Westbrook in the team’s final regular-season game. ...

MSU Board Meeting Erupts As Larry Nassar Victim Says School President Tried To Buy Her Off
While speaking at a tense Michigan State University board meeting today, Kaylee Lorincz, who said she was sexually abused by former MSU doctor Larry Nassar, detailed a troubling interaction with interim president John Engler. According to Lorincz, Engler attempted to “coerce” her into settling a civ...

Looks Like Woj Got A New Word-A-Day Calendar
“... a punishment that will vanquish him from the postseason roster, league sources told ESPN.” [ESPN]...

Thunder Call Out Announcer For Saying Russell Westbrook Was "Out Of His Cotton-Pickin' Mind"
During the second quarter of last night’s game against the Grizzlies, Thunder play-by-play man Brian Davis capped off a big Thunder play by declaring that Russell Westbrook “out of his cotton-pickin’ mind.”...

Deadspin Up All Night: Get In Line
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In today’s GQ profile, likely NBA MVP James Harden offered this insight into the league: “My mom—she hangs out with, like, moms of other players that I don’t even talk to,” he said. “There are mom meetings, things like that.” The next question, naturally, is whether Harden’s mom met with Wesley John...

Give Me The Rest Of The Smoothie Instead Of Throwing It Out
My very stupidest design feature is that I am always, at all times, hungry. This links neatly to my second-stupidest attribute, which is that I’m a sucker for smoothies, the most flagrantly upcharged non-artisan foodstuffs currently available for purchase....

Should The Giants Trade Odell Beckham?<em></em>
Odell Beckham is the only reason you should ever watch a New York Giants game, but he also happens to be in the final year of his contract and coming off a busted ankle. He wants to get paid, but it’s hard to see the Giants ponying up when MISTER MARA is out there with a clenched jaw, openly fuming ...

Nikola Jokic Almost Got There
For all the sublime basketball abilities that Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic inarguably possesses, it’s still strangely hard to pin down a solid picture of him as a franchise-defining superstar. All those genius passes and flawlessly executed post moves combine with slogging floor-bound defense and st...

Innocent Basketball Coach Released From Purgatory
The Orlando Magic have fired head coach Frank Vogel, according to a report by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Vogel coached the incoherent and hopeless but nonetheless consistently hilarious roster of the NBA’s least existent franchise for two seasons, both of which were real and actually happened, comp...

Tank Warfare, Or A Night At Mavericks-Suns
DALLAS — If the Mavericks were going to do what needed to be done on Tuesday night in the finale of their 2018 season, it would take an almost herculean effort. A guaranteed share of the NBA’s third-worst record and the attendant lottery-odds boost was on the line, but they would have to lock in, fo...

Timberwolves Survive Nikola Jokic To Earn First Playoff Bid In 13 Years
The NBA’s unofficial play-in game lived up to its importance tonight, as the Minnesota Timberwolves needed overtime to outlast the Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference eighth seed. Minnesota earned its playoff appearance with a 112-106 win, overcoming stellar play from Nikola Jokic—who scored 3...

Russell Westbrook Gets Another Triple-Double Season With An Appropriately Nuts Statline
Russell Westbrook completed one of the greatest regular season achievements in NBA history tonight, becoming the first player ever to average a triple-double in two straight years. He didn’t make it very suspenseful either. Safe in points and assists but needing 16 boards, Westbrook went all out for...

Deadspin Up All Night: Blue Train Lines
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. We don’t die, we multiply....

Russell Westbrook Says Shut Up About Stat-Padding
Russell Westbrook needs 16 rebounds tonight against the Grizzlies in order to average a triple-double for the second straight season, which would be an unimpeachably impressive achievement. After Carmelo Anthony joked earlier this week about Westbrook “stealing” rebounds, Westbrook spoke out against...

Here's Everything At Stake On The Last Night Of The NBA Regular Season
Tonight, anyone watching the NBA will get to see the closest possible regular-season equivalent of a play-in game when the Denver Nuggets travel to Minnesota to play the T-Wolves for the last playoff spot. Both clubs are 46-35, and Minnesota leads the season series 2-1, though a 100-96 win last week...