cia Page 99 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Jerry West and the Showtime Lakers are mad about their depiction in a Hollywood production of the most Hollywood era in sports
Jerry, Kareem, and Magic are pissed....

NBA Playoff ratings were on fire opening weekend, but that’s not the only way to define the league’s success
Television ratings are one of the most archaic ways to measure what people care about. We’re more than 20 years into the new millennium. Who has time to be held to a live television schedule? I remember as a child watching an episode of Home Improvement when Tim “The Toolman” Taylor was trying to av...

Paging Mr. Ben Simmons: Would you please report to the court?
Ben Simmons still has not played a game for the Brooklyn Nets. ...

Marcus Smart’s move to point guard earned him DPOY
The most surprising aspect of the Boston Celtics in-season turnaround was that the team did it with a position change rather than trading a major asset. Acquiring Derrick White helped with some much-needed guard depth, but really Marcus Smart being allowed to run point solidified his role and gave h...

Nikola Jokić looks flustered and angry
The man who is expected to win one the closest MVP battles in recent memory has supplied fuel to his detractors....

Well look here, the NBA got smart and finally hired social media’s favorite sports broadcaster
Imagine attempting to run a necessary errand before the start of Monday’s first playoff game. It’s the only time that you have during the day to complete this task. You scramble, get it completed and head home safely, but also with purpose, to get home and see as much of the first game as possible. ...

George Karl has a history of making a punching bag of DeMarcus Cousins and Black players
Behind closed doors, George Karl probably calls successful Black people “uppity.”...

The NWSL has some good Twitter beef
If Drive to Survive on Netflix has taught us anything, it’s that people love the story behind the story, and it can rocket the popularity of a sport if they allow people to see it. But you don’t need a Netflix special to get into some personality and character. Twitter can do that for you, as long a...

This is what the Warriors can still do
The Warriors seemed to have reconstituted death, if you can put aside all the goth connotations that spring from such a sentence. It’s in reference to their past Death Lineup that used to disappear opponents in the third quarters of most games when the Warriors were winning championships. ...

The USMNT is crafty in the middle but dangerous at both ends… to themselves
Being panicky and reactionary about the USMNT is now part of the deal. Perhaps it’s a sign we’re growing up. Fuck, three weeks ago, the US qualified for next fall’s World Cup (and got something of a favorable draw), Christian Pulisic was starting regularly for Chelsea — looking good doing it, too — ...

Is it finally winning time for Philadelphia?
On Saturday, the 76ers began the postseason by breezing past the Toronto Raptors with a ho-hum 131-111 drubbing. The 2022 playoffs is a significant crucible for Philadelphia. The legacy of The Process is at stake. If HBO ever decides to expand its foray into NBA biopics beyond the Showtime Lakers’ W...

Anthony Edwards has arrived as the man in Minnesota
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards made a lasting impression Saturday in his playoff debut against Memphis. Edwards kicked down the door and dominated the Grizzlies, setting a new Twolves record in scoring for a player in his first playoff game. ...

This Kyrie Irving situation is why Adam Silver should allow players to respond to idiot fans
For once, Kyrie Irving is right....

The Bill Russell Case for LeBron as Lakers Player-Coach
“You want the job, Russ?” offered Celtics retiring head coach Red Auerbach in 1966....

Ranking the NBA’s first round matchups by how likely we are to see an upset
The NBA’s playoffs are easily the most predictable of the major American sports leagues. Without the variability of baseball or the single playoff game format like football, it’s pretty rare that there are any true upsets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. In most years you look at the bracket ...

Boston vs. Kyrie, can everyone lose?
The NBA playoffs have tossed up enough good matchups to keep the first round interesting, even though the NBA usually leans chalky around this time. There weren’t a lot of great games this weekend. The first two on Saturday weren’t bad as the Jazz and Timberwolves got road wins. The Bulls kept thing...

Charles Tillman’s next act: Joining the FBI and raiding rappers’ houses?
Former Bears cornerback Charles Tillman can apparently add rapper Lil Reese to the lengthy list of people he forced to fumble the bag. Known for clamping down on receivers during his playing days, apparently he also clamped down on crime during his time as an FBI agent....

<em>Winning Time episode 7</em>: ‘Invisible Man’
When John C. Reilly and, ostensibly, Dr. Jerry Buss turns to address the camera, he speaks not in the future tense but the present. Reilly’s Buss is not granted foresight into what will become of his Lakers. He is far from an omniscient narrator and is in no way all-knowing, all-seeing. Instead, the...

Unlikely heroes lead way to start NBA playoffs
The stars were out for the first day of the NBA playoffs, with Donovan Mitchelll scoring 32 points to lead the Jazz to a 99-93 win in Dallas, Karl-Anthony Towns putting up 29 points and 13 boards to lead the Timberwolves to a Game 1 upset in Memphis, 130-117, and then Tyrese Maxey scored 38 points f...

USMNT in the knockout round! An Argentina-Brazil semifinal! Oh, Canada! (and more World Cup predictions)
Instead of a World Cup taking place in the summer, we’re waiting until the late fall for the festivities to start to get to a manageable playing temperature in Qatar. The 2022 FIFA World Cup draw took place a few weeks ago, giving a path to the 37 teams still in contention to lift the trophy. Four w...