hoot Page 11 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Giannis, please save us all from a Heat-Knicks series
My favorite part of the NBA playoffs is certainly not riding the highs and lows of the Jimmy Butler experience. As great as he plays two-three games per series, he’s better as an antagonist that a great team has to overcome. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best player in the NBA, and with him returning...

Well, Pat Bev knocked one team out of the playoffs
Even though he’s nearly 35 years old and basically a journeyman at this point in his career, Patrick Beverley always feels slighted whenever a team moves on from him. When the Lakers traded him to the Bulls after half a season, he said his goal was to “knock them out of the playoffs.”...

The Grizzlies should regret the NBA’s decision not to suspend Dillon Brooks
I’m only halfway through Netflix’s Beef series — chronicling the escalating conflict between two unstable drivers on opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum and the reverberations of their road rage incident in Southern California, but it fits Dillon Brooks’ plight. Dillon Brooks’ one-sided beef...

The Warriors vs Kings chaotic Game 4 finish was just delightful
Chaos should be absorbed in moderation. Watching the Succession characters act as if they’re on a Jerry Springer Show reboot, in which guests are from the top one percent is amusing chaos. A think tank/lobbyist organization called Foundation for Government Accountability working to get legislation p...

Did not foresee the 76ers being the most impressive team in the playoffs
Game 4 against the Brooklyn Nets is a game that would normally be a disappointing loss for the “Trust the Process” era Philadelphia 76ers. The opportunity to close out a first-round series against an inferior team, along with a Joel Embiid injury to navigate....

The Lakers need to humble the Grizzlies in Game 2 for sake of the NBA
The Memphis Grizzlies are on the brink of falling 2-0 to the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round series, which brings a smile to the faces of many people outside Tennessee. These young Grizzlies have talked a gang of mess all season and could find themselves in a deep hole after Wednesday night’...

A 'Bad Boy' suspended Draymond Green for something the old Detroit Pistons would have laughed at
For all the overblown nostalgia that looms around the toughness of the NBA during the ‘80s and ‘90s, you would think that one of the most important members — and primary defender of Michael Jordan — of the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys would have a different view on physical play in the NBA playoffs. Wel...

How funny would we find the Roy family if they ran the Los Angeles Lakers?
I’m glad everybody’s having a good time. You’re coming around, I’m coming around, we’re all coming around to laud Succession’s place in the hierarchy of prestige TV. It’s great, right? Buffoonish children unintentionally destroying their father’s empire by simply trying to act like serious people is...

Donovan Mitchell joins elite group of legendary NBA players in Cavs playoff debut
Donovan Mitchell had a magnificent start to his playoff career in Cleveland as he led all scorers in game one of the Cavs’ first-round series against the New York Knicks, dropping 38 points, albeit in a losing effort. Despite falling into a 0-1 hole and losing home-court advantage, Mitchell still ma...

Finding the NBA playoff X factors
The NBA playoffs are where superstars can add to — or subtract from — their legacies. They may come up clutch, or absolutely choke under the spotlight. The same goes for coaches. But there are always subplots around certain youngsters, role players, and unknowns who can make a name for themselves. T...

Isn’t it ironic, don’t you tank?
The Dallas Mavericks went from the Western Conference Finals to being fined for punting on the postseason in less than a year. As a result of a decision to sit key guys and play Luka Dončić only a quarter in essentially an elimination game against the Chicago Bulls on April 7, Mark Cuban’s pockets a...

United offers to comp Demar DeRozan's daughter's flight to Miami
Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan doesn’t want his daughter Diar to miss any more school after she attended — and possibly swung the game in the Bulls’ favor — the team’s 109-105 play-in tournament win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday instead of being in class. ...

DeMar DeRozan’s daughter drop-kicked basketball analytics
Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill said in Goodfellas that your killers “come with smiles.” The Toronto Raptors’ killer was a nine-year-old girl who surely arrived at Scotiabank Arena with a smile on her face, because her father allowed her to miss school. Once the game began though, Diar DeRozan was more rele...

Might be time for the Hawks, Mavericks to pull the plug on the stars they traded for in 2018
Zoom out on the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks 2018 draft-day trade and the results appear positive. Both franchises made a trip to the conference finals and were competitive against the eventual NBA Champion. Trae Young is a two-time NBA All-Star and was named third-team All-NBA last season. Lu...

Battle of the bottom of the Eastern Conference barrel
The Eastern Conference hasn’t been as wide open as the West this season, so their play-in race wasn’t nearly as exciting. There isn’t much expected from the play-in participants in the east, even though the Miami Heat were in the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason. In the east, the Milwaukee ...

Don’t be so quick to count out the Western Conference's top-seeded teams
A large swath of NBA media is out on the top seeds in the Western Conference — and it makes sense, because, for the first time since the 1996-97 season, the East is far and away superior....

If the NBA had a Dunk of the Year award, Ja Morant would be the winner
As we enter the final weekend of the NBA season, there are only a few regular season awards yet to be wrapped up. The most notable is the MVP race, but you’re delusional if you think I’m going to write about that. What I’m here to talk about today is the Dunk of the Year. It’s not an official award ...

LeBron leading Lakers' late playoff surge — with a first-round exit likely
The Los Angeles Lakers are riding high late in the season as they attempt to sneak into the top six of the Western Conference avoiding the play-in tournament. After beating Utah Tuesday night, L.A. sits a half-game back of the fifth-place Golden State Warriors and tied with the Clippers (both 41-38)...

Sacramento’s Mike Brown is NBA Coach of the Year — and it shouldn’t be close
The NBA regular season is rolling toward its end, which means award talk is heating up. You’ll hear about the MVP race primarily, but a few other awards are handed out each year that matter. Coach of the Year is one of them, and no one is more deserving in 2023 than Sacramento Kings head coach, Mike...
