cia Page 152 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

I enjoy whatever sport it is Damian Lillard plays
Back when I was in school in Boston in the pre-2004 days (yeah, I’m that fucking old and I don’t need you to remind me), I used to joke with the Red Sox fans in my circle that somehow the fact that the Sox lost the 1975 World Series had been erased from the record books thanks to Carlton Fisk’s home...

Hear me out, Knicks need to start Elfrid Payton over Derrick Rose to beat Hawks
Knicks fans have been fed up all season with Tom Thibodeau’s insistence on keeping Elfrid Payton in the starting lineup. After two absolutely dismal starts in the playoffs against the Hawks, in which Payton went a combined 0-for-5 shooting with one point, one assist, and one steal in 13 minutes, dur...

Donovan Mitchell is one playoff run away from being the best player on the planet
Donovan Mitchell really could be the NBA’s finest one day. ...

Hey, Knicks fans: At least you’re not the Maple Leafs
How bad was the Toronto Maple Leafs’ collapse? It’s better to be a Knicks fan right now....

Naomi Osaka was bullied out of the French Open
In 2006, Zach Greinke almost quit baseball. Racked with social anxiety, Greinke told the media he thought, “Why am I putting myself through torture when I didn’t really want to do it? I mean, I enjoyed playing, but everything else that went with it I didn’t.”...

Kristaps Porzingis needs to remember who he is
It’s time for Kristaps Porzingis to start being the guy the Mavs thought he was....

Man City's Pep just can’t help himself
Perhaps the true sign of a great manager is how long he can leave his team on autopilot once his system and tactics are installed. While each game requires minor adjustments here or there, they shouldn’t amount to much more than the grade on the tires. The engine remains the same. And no team should...

Pat Riley needs to re-evaluate his Heat
The Miami Heat season is over, and now we all have questions....

The Bucks are first to round two, and are looking like the team to beat (sorry, Nets)
For whatever reason, the Milwaukee Bucks completed Game 4 of Round 1 before the Philadelphia 76ers even began Game 3 of their series....

Why it matters that Marcell Ozuna was charged with strangulation
Braves star outfielder Marcell Ozuna was arrested on Saturday. What little we know about the incident comes via the Sandy Springs, Ga., Police Department, who issued the following statement Saturday night:...

Christian Pulisic just made American men’s soccer history — in Europe’s Champions League final
American men’s soccer remains, even with all the growth of Major League Soccer and the rise in popularity of the sport, very much a sleeping giant on the world stage....

Last night was an anomaly, but it still shows Nets need more than their big three
If you told me that the James Harden-Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving trio would combine for 96 points, opposite 50 from Jayson Tatum and only 6 from Kemba Walker, I would’ve thought the Nets won that game by double figures. ...

Deadspin’s Jesse Spector goes full Abe Simpson
Having turned 40, I’m aware that I have lots of OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD potential, but the NBA really needs to cool it with the constant uniform switching. Most of the time, whatever, we’ve all accepted that an NBA player’s job expectations in 2021 include modeling various styles of Nike activewear. ...

The ol’ ‘It’s tough to win when all but one of your stars sucks’ nights for Knicks
Julius Randle was 2-for-15 shooting, R.J. Barrett went 2-for-9, and Reggie Bullock shot 3-for-8. Even the Knicks’ instant-offense bench guys, Alec Burks and Immanuel Quickley, each struggled to 2-for-8 nights. ...

Last night saw the return of Anno Domini Austin Rivers
Austin Rivers and Anno Domini Beats were like wine and cheese in 2010-2011....

Great job, Japan… FIFA… IOC… y’all really just nailed everyone’s mood
The latest wave of COVID-19 appears to be ebbing in Japan, but on Friday the country still extended the state of emergency for many areas, and “pre-emergency measures” for other prefectures, including Chiba, just outside of Tokyo....

White people like Danny Ainge need to shut it about racism in Boston
There’s nothing more frustrating than white people discussing racism or men sharing their thoughts on pregnancy. And the group of people that usually commits both of those sins are white men, like Danny Ainge....

This is the Jimmy Butler I remember
The Bucks-Heat series was supposed to be one of the most intriguing of the first round. Last year’s Eastern Conference champ, going up against a Bucks team that, if they were to spit it early for the second straight year, could be facing some kind of organizational overhaul. There was the added spic...

Nuggets/Blazers is so much more than just Jokić vs. Lillard
Nikola Jokić and Damian Lillard are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do....

J. Cole’s pro basketball career is over — it should never have begun
Dreams are something J. Cole often raps about. It’s the name of his music label — Dreamville Records. But dreams aren’t promised. Sometimes one person’s dream can be another’s nightmare....