ann Page 48 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Women’s World Cup is already a battle of attrition
The World Cup is always a measure of health and a team’s ability to deal with it. It comes at the end of a long season — unless you’ve fisted it into a desert, totalitarian country that makes you have it in the middle of the season — and players have logged the most possible miles before they play i...

Milwaukee should be embarrassed
Entering the playoffs, Milwaukee was seen as head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference despite dealing with injuries to key players all season. Someone forgot to pass that memo to the Miami Heat, who have come out the gates smoking hot and now have a 3-1 lead over the Bucks....

Giannis, please save us all from a Heat-Knicks series
My favorite part of the NBA playoffs is certainly not riding the highs and lows of the Jimmy Butler experience. As great as he plays two-three games per series, he’s better as an antagonist that a great team has to overcome. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best player in the NBA, and with him returning...

When did the NBA playoffs become the NHL playoffs?
The first round of the NBA playoffs usually isn’t all that good, which doesn’t stop people from complaining about it. The difference between the top seeds and lower seeds is large enough that those series should result in nothing more than dress rehearsals for the true powers and the later rounds. W...

US Soccer might have actually made a good decision
There is always a suspicion that US Soccer has fucked up. They’re too insular, too greedy, too cheap, and too weird to ever get out of their own way. Even when it looks like they’re taking a step forward, they’ll find a way to sabotage it. The Berhalter-Reyna mess is perhaps the perfect example of j...

Well, Pat Bev knocked one team out of the playoffs
Even though he’s nearly 35 years old and basically a journeyman at this point in his career, Patrick Beverley always feels slighted whenever a team moves on from him. When the Lakers traded him to the Bulls after half a season, he said his goal was to “knock them out of the playoffs.”...

The Grizzlies should regret the NBA’s decision not to suspend Dillon Brooks
I’m only halfway through Netflix’s Beef series — chronicling the escalating conflict between two unstable drivers on opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum and the reverberations of their road rage incident in Southern California, but it fits Dillon Brooks’ plight. Dillon Brooks’ one-sided beef...

Draymond Green has nobody to blame but himself
Draymond Green’s footprints being logged into the NBA’s evidence locker is the least surprising event on everyone’s playoff bingo card. The Golden State Warriors’ loyal foot soldier has accumulated a track record of highlight kicks longer than David Beckham while maintaining a permanent victim statu...

In their infinite wisdom, the Cavinder Twins turn to… Jake Paul?
I don’t know what part of “Down with influencers” landed me on the Cavinder Twins beat, yet here I am, writing my third story on Haley and Hanna as if my only motivation in life is engaging with their content. I’d rather throw myself to the wolves or discover what “YouTubers” are than bring you up t...

Sports leagues are ‘stepping up’ to ‘save’ you from sports betting ads
The burgeoning sports gambling industry in America took a blow Wednesday after professional leagues across the country combined forces to form the Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising, a group designed to “regulate” the boom in bookie ads currently flooding the internet and corruptin...

What do the Jets do if they don't land Aaron Rodgers?
The New York Jets are in a potentially awkward position if a deal to land Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers continues to stall, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo noted it has — or doesn’t materialize at all. Gang Green could be lurking in the quarterback wilderness looking for a solution at QB onc...

How funny would we find the Roy family if they ran the Los Angeles Lakers?
I’m glad everybody’s having a good time. You’re coming around, I’m coming around, we’re all coming around to laud Succession’s place in the hierarchy of prestige TV. It’s great, right? Buffoonish children unintentionally destroying their father’s empire by simply trying to act like serious people is...

Overreacting to Game 1 of each NBA Playoff series
One game into each NBA postseason series feels like a good time to make some premature, bold declarations. The postseason tipped off with a fury of finishes that ranged from exciting to anesthesia. But Game 1 is a starter kit that we’ll try to extrapolate on. It would be wise to tread carefully in t...

Kevin Love’s surprise cameo starring beside Jimmy Buckets helps Miami squash Milwaukee
If you’re a casual NBA fan, you may have forgotten about Kevin Love, as it feels like he hasn’t played much since things fell apart in Cleveland after LeBron James bolted for Los Angeles following the 2018 postseason. Love stepped up, making a surprise appearance in the Miami Heat’s game one victory...

Half of the road teams took 1-0 leads in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs — welcome to April Madness
Just weeks after March Madness gave us an NCAA Tournament that provided multiple historic upsets during its first weekend, it looks like the pros in the NBA took that personally. Four of the eight matchups from this past weekend’s Game Ones were won by the road team. And one of them was the Miami He...

Hey NBA— stop allowing players to 'defend' with bogus charge calls
I was born decades after the Great Depression, so I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. James Naismith. I know that he wanted a game without contact but to make an honest attempt at that goal, players on defense should not be allowed to slide in front of players on offense whose feet are at most o...

Russell Westbrook — flaws and all — was crucial in the Clippers’ Game 1 victory
For those who may be too young to remember Russell Westbrook’s best work, show them from the 1:08 mark in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Clippers 115-110, 2023 Game 1 playoff victory against the Phoenix Suns, to when the clock stops at 10.1 seconds....

Here's which NBA playoff teams will boom or bust
NBA fans are preparing for one of the most equitable and competitive playoffs in recent memory. The lack of an active dynasty or superteam has the door open for nearly any team to make a Finals run. We’ve highlighted five teams headed toward playoff glory and five teams destined for despair. We cons...

Leave Zion Williamson alone. Did Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka not teach us anything?
From college to the NBA, as long as we’ve been watching Zion Williamson play basketball, he’s never had a season that wasn’t impacted by an injury. Since his one-and-done year at Duke to his four seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, the league’s most electrifying player still hasn’t been able to s...
