dea Page 21 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Thunder, Magic luck out in a top-heavy NBA draft
After three years of embarrassing tanking, GM Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder have returned to relevance. They came into the NBA Lottery with the sixth-best odds at the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and ended up with the second pick in the draft. The Orlando Magic won the first pick and wi...

Timberwolves huffing fumes of playoff berth instead of coasting off them
The Minnesota Timberwolves were eliminated from the playoffs on April 29, and with that 114-106 loss to Memphis, we thought all aspects of the T-Wolves franchise would be gone until next season. For those of us who enjoy Anthony Edwards putting guys on posters and stupid fouls from Karl Anthony-Town...

We're seeing an NBA coaching reformation
If the success of Boston’s Ime Udoka and New Orleans’ Willie Green has taught NBA ownership anything, when it comes to hiring coaches, it should be out with the old, in with the new. These two rising coaching stars stepped into dysfunctional messes, with Udoka trying to bring together a team that wa...

It’s going to be a long summer in Phoenix after a Game 7 no-show against Dallas
Wow. Freaking wow....

Miles Robinson’s injury leaves USMNT in a bind
The conversation can’t be delayed. Procrastinating about specific personnel decisions that will expose Gregg Berhalter’s future at the helm of the United States men’s national team are now harmful to delay after this weekend. Miles Robinson went from World Cup lock to out of the 23-man roster being ...

NBA finally puts respect on Monty Williams’ name
Finally, somebody from the Phoenix Suns organization is getting the respect they deserve. This week, head coach Monty Williams was named NBA Coach of the Year, and it’s about damn time. Williams ran away with the voting racking up 81 first-place votes for a grand total of 458. Memphis Grizzlies head...

Can we get a more bingeable NBA Playoffs, please?
As we near the halfway point of the NBA Playoffs, it’s a good time to take inventory of what’s working, and what’s driving viewers to dive for the mute button any time they hear Lizzo’s “Now here go!” at the top of that commercial for cruise ships. While I could do an entire post about how I’d rathe...

COVID-19 is still the biggest X-factor of the NBA playoffs
The fat lady may be singing, but the coronavirus and all of its variants are still dancing like the party just started....

Leafs and Lightning are playing the strangest series
In a playoff series, especially one between two very good teams which the Lightning and Maple Leafs are, you expect some swings. No one expected a short series, which means twists and turns as teams exchange wins. Momentum generally swings on the performance level of your goalie the next night, but ...

After much consideration, the Giants got the steal of the draft, and it’s not even close
The New York Giants haven’t just found their next Michael Strahan. As lofty as putting the former Oregon Ducks’ All-American into a threshold in the stratosphere, in Kayvon Thibodeaux they might have found a player better than the gap-toothed Hall of Famer. And perhaps Thibodeaux will end up hosting...

True Basketball Crime: Justice for Gary Payton II
It was April 14 at 8:35 Central Time on Tuesday in Memphis, Tennessee when a hardwood crime was reported on the FedExForum floor....

DeAndre Ayton continues to show Phoenix that he’s pretty damn good and deserves a max extension
In professional sports, we often hear players go public with the desire for a new contract instead of just allowing their performance on the court or field to speak for them. But that isn’t how Phoenix Suns center DeAndre Ayton is handling his contract situation with the Suns. All Ayton’s done over ...

When it comes to PED coverage, MLB faces a double standard
The news that yet another NFL player was both popped and suspended for using banned performance enhancing drugs wasn’t a shock....

The Arizona Cardinals are trying, but they just can’t avoid bad news this offseason
Just as the future was beginning to look bright for the Arizona Cardinals, it has been looking rough since Week 14. They led not only the NFC West, but the entire conference for much of the season. Then No. 1 wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins went down with a torn MCL in a home loss to a division rival,...

David Griffin is Executive of the Year
Before Feb. 8, New Orleans Pelicans executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin was getting dragged for the team’s sorry state he oversaw. The Pelicans were 21 and 32, headed toward another disastrous season until that point. At the same time, Zion Williamson avoided the team at ...

Draft winners: Ravens, Eagles and yes, the Jets did the most
Round 5 has wrapped up, and all the big names have been plucked off the board and placed onto their future rosters. Quarterbacks fell, punters rose, Chattanooga had a first-round pick — what a weekend it’s been. With a dwindling selection left, we take a look at the winners of this year’s draft. ...

Quarterbacks and Nakobe Dean fall in the NFL Draft. Also: Draft Matt Araiza, you cowards!
Well, the second round passed without a QB in sight, making this draft just the third in the past 30 years to only see one quarterback selected in the first two rounds. And perhaps even more surprisingly, Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder went ahead of projected favorite Malik Willis, who the Seahawks pas...

MLB suspends Trevor Bauer for two seasons over sexual assault allegations
The MLB suspended Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer for two seasons over sexual assault allegations Friday. ...

2022 NFL Draft Day 2: Who are the best players available?
Round 1 is done, and it came with drama, surprise picks (you don’t see a Chattanooga guy in the first round to the Patriots every day), and some big names left on the board for Day 2. Before the second and third rounds kick off tonight at 7 p.m. EST, we’re looking at some of the best players left on...

NFL Draft Day provides a welcome rebuke to the NBA’s player empowerment era
It’s a widely known fact that Kyrie Irving is delusional. He’s a man of the people while walking among them unvaccinated. He thinks the Earth is flat, and has the NBA figured out even though he’s essentially a losing player without LeBron James. However, when he said he was going to keep “managing” ...