cia Page 36 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
LeBron James vs. Nikola Jokić, and the other Lakers-Nuggets Western Conference Finals storylines
We did not get Kevin Durant vs. Stephen Curry in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, the participants in the series are the best teams in the conference — the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers....
Make Bob Myers galaxy brain his way out of this one
The Golden State Warriors are no longer lightyears ahead of their NBA brethren. Following a second-round exit, the Dubs face a lot of the same issues that bring down over-extended contenders. There are bad contracts, big contracts, and aging stars who aren’t what they once were. Klay Thompson is set...
Can Denver avoid the choke when it counts most in the Western Conference Finals?
The NBA is down to its final four as this year’s conference finals have brought about Déjà vu, although this isn’t an illusion of the mind. Less than three years ago, we saw the same teams representing the NBA’s Eastern and Western Finals. In the west, we’ve got the Lakers and Nuggets in a rematch f...
This time for sure!
When I was growing up, it was understood that the Chicago Cubs would never have a third baseman. Or center fielder as well, but the third base gap was the more hallowed one because it followed Ron Santo. There was no universally beloved centerfielder whose legacy the team could never tread upon and ...
The NBA Playoffs have earlier start times from here on out — God is good
In 2015, I was in Los Angeles for the annual Online News Association Conference. It meant that as a Michigan native, I was up at 9:00 am PST to watch the Wolverines obliterate BYU 31-0 in a college football game that had a noon kickoff on East Coast time. That was also the day that I understood the ...
The final Brick for Vic stock report: NBA Draft Lottery edition
Stand on your head for one night because this is when everything gets flipped upside down so the NBA bottom feeders can plant the flag on a summit. Tuesday’s NBA Draft lottery is an especially important inflection point in NBA history. There won’t be any wavering over who will be the top pick in nex...
The NBA's young stars balled out in the second round of the playoffs
The boisterous people of Sacramento were not a part of the second round, but the basketball as a whole was no less exciting. As predicted, the Miami Heat and New York Knicks matchup was late 1990s NBA without the fights, but the 2020s NBA was at its best in the other series....
Tennessee Titans' draft pick Tyjae Spears is missing an ACL: Report
A running back missing an ACL, that is how a Division I football player can average 7.3 yards per touch, score 21 touchdowns as a senior, and fall to the third round. AAC 2023 Player of the Year Tyjae Spears wasn’t even the first player selected out of his conference. Rashee Rice was drafted with th...
For the Sixers, it’s never sunny in Philadelphia: 'The Process,' 10 years on
On a Tuesday afternoon in May of 2013, the Philadelphia 76ers officially entrusted their organization’s rebuild with a Stanford-educated egghead who had a bold vision for the future....
Joel Embiid is right
Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić are starkly different people. Yes, they are MVP centers who were not raised in America, but the similarities largely stop there. One player is from Africa and the other is from Europe. One player is the most physically dominant in the NBA, the other combines size, court ...
Joel Embiid’s play in Game 7 said more than all the pressers in the world
There isn’t really anything Joel Embiid could have said after his Game 7 beer belch that would have made up for it. He could have laid out all the mea culpas in the world, and Sixers fans are going to be pretty sharp-eyed and tongued (pardon for making you think about Philadelphian tongues) come nex...
Jeremy Lin ponders retirement after nasty concussion
Throughout Asia, Jeremy Lin has achieved rock-star status, and is still putting up platinum numbers against a lower level of competition than what he faced in the NBA. This season in Taiwan’s first fully professional basketball league, Lin has posted eye-popping averages of 26.3 points, 8.5 rebounds...
Here’s a shovel, Mauricio Pochettino
If you’re a manager who loves to tell players to do one out of a club, especially as an example to the rest of the squad how things are going to work under your leadership, then boy is Chelsea the place for you. And as Mauricio Pochettino, now the new manager at Stamford Bridge, is known to wield on...
We're all for the Miami Heat dunking on Stephen A. Smith
Longtime ESPN on-air personality Stephen A. Smith has made no secrets about where his NBA loyalties lie, and it’s in The Big Apple with the Knicks. And New York’s season ended Friday night with a Game 6 loss to the Heat. Of course, Smith took the loss personally, but that didn’t stop Miami from reco...
The idea of Kevin Durant was always better than the real Kevin Durant
Whenever someone talks about Kevin Durant, they bring up what he is capable of doing a lot more than they bring up what he actually does. I could retire if I had a dollar for every time Stephen A. Smith has said “6-foot-11, can pull up from 30.” But he doesn’t actually get the job done very often....
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics avoided the longest summer possible just in time
No one eats their young quite like Boston. Only Tom Brady and David Ortiz seemed to have gotten out of there alive. No matter what you do, if The Hub feels like you didn’t deliver when it counts they’ll not only send you out of town but they’ll make sure the road is paved with manure as well. Ask an...
Bob Huggins kept his job, Trump got his CNN Town Hall — white men won Wednesday
Sports and politics have always served as the smoking gun when it comes to proving that white male privilege is a real thing. It’s the reason why all of our presidents — besides one — have been white men, and why that same demographic dominates head coaching positions in sports. On Wednesday, the la...
Jalen Brunson keeps Knicks' season on life support
When the All-NBA teams were announced Wednesday, Jalen Brunson’s name was conspicuously missing. Point guard is a deep position, but Brunson has been one of the NBA’s hottest scorers this season....