finals Page 41 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Draymond Green is totally right, but sitting Andre Drummond is still what’s best for Cleveland
A pissed-off Draymond Green is one of the most insightful NBA minds we’re blessed to have....

Nets will be ultimate test of ‘defense wins championships’ theory
At some point, the Brooklyn Nets will need to get stops. Simultaneously, when it matters, they’ll need to prove they’re healthy. But even without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, James Harden was able to turnaround what would’ve been a dispiriting loss to the Phoenix Suns — who led by as many as 24 po...

The NBA All-Star Game is a fan event, and playing one without them is idiotic and dangerous
For the most part, the NBA has done a good job navigating through the pandemic....

The Miami Heat are victims of circumstance
It’s easy to eyeball the defending Eastern Conference champions through the prism of disappointment without absorbing the nuance plaguing their dispiriting season. ...

Defense and the play of a former Celtic gave Lakers their 17th NBA championship
Defense wins…. well, you know the rest....

Butler does it again — but like, at a whole ’nother level — to extend NBA Finals
If you watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, you know that just watching it was incredible and that not a whole lot needs to be said. The Heat extended everyone’s stay in The Bubble with a 111-108 win, with Jimmy Butler getting the best of LeBron James in a back-and-forth battle for the ...

Finals TV Ratings prove LeBron isn’t must-see TV
This was supposed to be appointment television....

Three years ago, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was balling with an ankle monitor, last night he helped LeBron James take a 3-1 lead in NBA Finals
Role players are imperative to a team’s championship run....

The Heat is off in NBA Finals; Time is a flat circle in WNBA Finals; Central teams all spit bit in MLB playoffs
The Lakers and Heat did indeed play a basketball game...

It wouldn’t be the NBA Finals without devastating injuries
It happens practically every year during the NBA Finals....

How a first quarter timeout helped LeBron James win Game 1 of The Finals for only the second time in his career
Whoever came up with the idea that a single play can’t determine the outcome of a game is a damn liar....

Lakers-Heat feels a lot like Lakers-Pistons
Before you simply dismiss the Miami Heat and hand the Los Angeles Lakers the NBA championship trophy, stop and take a little closer look at this matchup....

The NBA Finals begin tonight, here’s what you should know
Tonight’s matchup involves two fan bases that were bored during last year’s playoffs as the Heat and Lakers were at home, with Miami finishing with a 39-43 record while Los Angeles finished 37-45. It’s the first time two teams are meeting in the Finals that didn’t qualify for the postseason the year...

The Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL’s best organization, finally have their stamp
It’s funny, if you remove the esteem, the adjectives, the histrionics we attach to those who win championships and those who don’t, and just look at the results on paper, the difference is small. We attach a chasm between the teams that lift the trophies and those that they beat for them, but in rea...

Celtics stay alive and the hockey gods make an appearance
There are a maximum of 12 NBA games left this season thanks to the Celtics keeping their season alive....

Steven Stamkos gets his Willis Reed moment
The “Willis Reed Game” has grown in proportion as an epic through the decades, as these things tend to do as the years tick off. By this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a lot of younger fans assume that Willis Reed hobbled out of the Knicks locker room missing a leg, hopped around for 65 points,...

Olympic Gold Medalist Jordyn Wieber Tells Deadspin Why She Won't Attend USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Induction
As Jordyn Wieber walked off the mat after her floor routine at the 2012 Olympics, she was giddy, and a big smile danced across her face as she walked down the performance steps....

We Rank the Worst No. 1 Picks in NBA Lottery History
Since the NBA’s first draft lottery in 1985, there have been 11 first-overall picks who did not make an All-NBA team or appear in an All-Star Game. That number is a little inflated because Zion Williamson and DeAndre Ayton are just getting started, so when you’re trying to figure out which is the wo...

No One Has More To Lose On An NBA Reboot Than LeBron James
If — or when — the 2019-2020 NBA season gets back under way, there can be only one loser at season’s end....
