ap Page 1362 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Report: Maria Sharapova Won't Get A Wild Card For The French Open
How will women’s tennis welcome back Maria Sharapova—formerly its richest star, if not its most successful—after her 15-month ban for breaking its doping rules, however absurd those might be? Her return was bound to be messy. Because all of Sharapova’s ranking points dissolved during her absence fro...

The Wizards Have The Saddest Problem
The Washington Wizards have, in John Wall, the best player—by a mile!—in their playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. At pretty much any given moment, they have the better player at three of the five positions on the court. They have home-court advantage. And they’re in grave trouble, at least i...

Indiana's New Policy On Violent Athletes Is Useless And Joe Mixon Is The Proof
In a few days Joe Mixon will hear his name called, join his new NFL team, and smile as dozens of publicists set about selling the story of how football—glorious, all-American football—is giving Mixon a second chance at becoming a new and better man. There is, of course, no way of knowing if that’s t...

Holy Shit, That Warriors First Quarter
When the Warriors are hot, there’s nothing you can do. No other team so gleefully tosses their opponents in the trash and sets that trash on fire as the Warriors, and no Warriors run this playoffs has been as violent or as thorough as the incredible first quarter they put together tonight in Portlan...

The Raptors Finally Played Like A Team Worth Being Afraid Of
While the gates of the Eastern Conference are not exactly wide open, LeBron James’s chokehold on conference supremacy is as weak as it’s been in many years. The Cavaliers’ defense is worryingly porous and even though they just swept the Pacers, the series featured multiple blown leads and every game...

Maria Sharapova Is An Annoying Brand, Not A Vile Cheater
Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition on Wednesday at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart after receiving a wild card entry to the tournament. It will be her first tournament since she was banned from tennis for 15 months after testing positive for a banned substance last January. While th...

Serge Ibaka Had No Problem Dunking On Giannis Antetokounmpo Twice
The Raptors ripped out of the gates against the Bucks tonight hungry and unafraid to contend with Milwaukee’s imposing length. Giannis Antetokounmpo in particular has menaced the Raps on both ends of the court, but Serge Ibaka had no problem getting around and over him for this smooth jam....

This Is The Story About Robert Kraft's Casino Holdings That Rupert Murdoch's Paper Never Ran<em></em>
It goes without saying (hey there, Las Vegas Raiders!) that the NFL’s gambling policy is a hypocritical mess. But now that I no longer work for Rupert Murdoch, I can plainly state that every word out of Roger Goodell’s mouth about legalized sports betting for the past 20 months has been nothing but ...

Steven Adams And Russell Westbrook Smoothly Turned A Missed Free Throw Into Three Points
Rarely does an offensive rebound off an intentionally flubbed free throw work, but Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Steven Adams and Russell Westbrook pulled it off and made the most of it....

Old Man Joe Johnson Is Still A Thrill
If you flip on the game at just the right moment, you might confuse the Clippers-Jazz series for pickup ball at a ritzy nursing home. Witness Jamal Crawford (37), Paul Pierce (39), and Joe Johnson (35), all getting serious minutes in a closely contested playoff series. And in Johnson’s case, not mer...

Phillies Smack Three Honkin' Taters In A Row<em></em>
The Phillies, who haven’t finished above .500 since 2011, are actually making the early part of this season interesting—or at least, entertaining—for their fans. Granted: it’s still April, there’s essentially no chance of them catching the Nationals at any point over the next five months, and their ...

Deadspin Up All Night: Same Trailer, Different Park
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Let’s go....

Cavaliers Sweep As Pacers' Late Comeback Attempt Falls Short
After trailing the Cavaliers for most of today, the Pacers managed to come back and tie Game 4 with two and a half minutes remaining before taking their first second-half lead on a Thaddeus Young tip shot with 1:30 left—but LeBron answered with his first and only three-pointer of the game, and India...

Markieff Morris On Paul Millsap: "He's A Crybaby"
Another Wizards-Hawks game bringeth much fruit in the relatively bland Paul Millsap-Markieff Morris beef....

Deadspin Up All Night: You're My Elliot Stabler
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Go crazy....

Maria Sharapova's Agent Blasts Players Criticizing Her Wild-Card Return
Following a two-year ban for doping, which was reduced to 15 months on appeal, Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition next week after she received a wild-card entry in Stuttgart. She was also given wild cards to Madrid and Rome. A handful of prominent players have questioned Sharapova recei...

"We Got Our Ass Busted": Kyle Lowry Accurately Describes The Raptors' Miserable Night
The Raptors started tonight poorly, and they didn’t do anything to get better. Down 35-12 at the end of the first quarter (twelve points in the first quarter), they never made anything remotely resembling a run and ultimately got embarrassed to the tune of 104-77....

There Was Just Nothing The Pacers Could Do To Stop LeBron James
Down by 25 at halftime, the Cavaliers seemed as good as dead against the Pacers tonight. But then an explosion of offense from LeBron James helped fuel a 14-0 Cleveland run in the third quarter, and the ultimate result was the largest second-half comeback in postseason history....

Myles Turner Grabs Own Rebound To Unleash Insane Dunk
Behold, Myles Turner slamming down a viciously beautiful dunk in the second quarter of tonight’s Game 3 in the Pacers-Cavaliers series:...
