ap Page 1154 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Each NBA playoff team's <i>Succession</i> character
Have we all recovered from that tear-jerker of an episode on Sunday? I mean to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves unravel in front of the world was absolutely heart-wrenching. Just kidding. I know the Timberwolves’ imploding was about as sad as [SPOILER ALERT] Logan Roy finally kicking the bucket late...

The Sports Emmys are lacking, so Deadspin is here to pick up the slack
A problem with the Sports Emmys is there simply aren’t enough categories for individuals. Most awards are for shows, segments, reports, documentaries, etc. Only a handful acknowledge the on-air personalities, so those who care about bringing home some hardware are in for an uphill battle....

DeMar DeRozan’s daughter drop-kicked basketball analytics
Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill said in Goodfellas that your killers “come with smiles.” The Toronto Raptors’ killer was a nine-year-old girl who surely arrived at Scotiabank Arena with a smile on her face, because her father allowed her to miss school. Once the game began though, Diar DeRozan was more rele...

Toronto sports, man
On one level, I get it. I bet Toronto is a lot like Chicago. Whenever the first warm stretch hits, you’re looking for any excuse to be outside. And most likely drunk as shit when you are. Usually that streak doesn’t hit until somewhere around Memorial Day, so to get it in April feels like you’re ste...

American hero T.J. Oshie’s time in the nation’s capital should come to an end
As the Washington Capitals exited last year’s playoffs in the first round against an upstart Florida Panthers squad, it felt like the end of an era. The core of the team stayed together from their 2018 Stanley Cup victory but hadn’t won a playoff game since and was only growing grayer. And if being ...

Gregg Popovich isn't here for your thoughts and prayers
Before the NBA’s regular season wrapped up, before his San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks in the finale, Gregg Popovich didn’t want to talk about his future. The 74-year-old Hall of Famer brushed off questions about his retirement. Instead, during his pregame media availability, the all-tim...

The Tampa Bay Rays can sure beat the tar out of awful teams
You can only play who is on the schedule. That’s an axiom as old as baseball, and it’s mostly true. The Tampa Bay Rays got to start their season with nine games against MLB’s kids with mittens pinned to their jackets year-round, and they’ve done all they can do. Which is to beat the ever-loving piss...

Battle of the bottom of the Eastern Conference barrel
The Eastern Conference hasn’t been as wide open as the West this season, so their play-in race wasn’t nearly as exciting. There isn’t much expected from the play-in participants in the east, even though the Miami Heat were in the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason. In the east, the Milwaukee ...

The Mavericks give away the game
Well now it’s pretty obvious what NBA teams really think of the play-in tournament. The Dallas Mavericks spent the weekend doing everything they could to drop right out of the 10th seed and into the draft lottery, which they successfully did. Mavericks fans are probably most excited about the season...

Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...

Erie County should tell the Buffalo Bills to kick rocks
Terry Pegula is worth $6.7 billion. ...

Can we just skip the Eastern Conference play-in tournament this year?
As the NBA regular season nears its end, teams continue to jockey for playoff and play-in tournament positions producing some wild races heading toward the finish line. The race in the West is setting up for a photo finish over the last few days, with both playoff and play-in implications on the lin...

Manny Machado getting run over arguing a pitch-clock K is objectively funny
There was bound to be an adjustment period as MLB entered the pitch clock era, and my question is, did basketball handle the implementation of the shot clock as poorly as this? Manny Machado was the first player to earn a strike via clock violation in spring training, and he became the first player ...

How does a 'progressive' team like the Warriors continue to employ Anthony Lamb?
When the Golden State Warriors converted Anthony Lamb’s contract for the rest of the season back in March, head coach Steve Kerr called it a “pretty easy decision” as the team has dealt with injuries, absences, and poor bench play — especially on the road. ...

Sacramento’s Mike Brown is NBA Coach of the Year — and it shouldn’t be close
The NBA regular season is rolling toward its end, which means award talk is heating up. You’ll hear about the MVP race primarily, but a few other awards are handed out each year that matter. Coach of the Year is one of them, and no one is more deserving in 2023 than Sacramento Kings head coach, Mike...

UConn is the top men’s basketball program of the last 25 years
Of course there have been both more highly anticipated and better-played NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship games than the one that took place on Monday night. It didn’t take long to realize that Connecticut was going to defeat San Diego State, thereby winning the championship in the most dominating...

The new NBA CBA does nothing for the entertainment value of the game
The NBA this season is arguably more competitive than it has ever been. The Western Conference is up for grabs and the Eastern Conference has three heavyweights at the top, each capable of knocking out the other with a mighty blow. While there is no single dominant roster that the rest of the league...

The NBA’s new CBA is almost here, bells and whistles included
The NBA and NBPA have all but finalized a new CBA, and as far as CBAs go, it’s pretty interesting. From what I’ve read, it seems very reactionary and definitely will have a lasting impact on the Association, its players, and its teams. There’s a new games limit to be eligible for postseason awards, ...

The Great Debates tournament: GOATs galore in the final
It’s time to crown a champion — or at least pretend like we don’t know who is going to win this tournament. Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James is the question of our times, like when West Coast vs. East Coast was the fulcrum point of the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. If I could bottle whatever it is that lead...
