ja Page 175 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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...

Can we please get an LS-U <em>30 for 30</em> already?
It’s hard to quantify what makes a thing charismatic. I recently went to New Orleans for the first time, and before I arrived, I was a little skeptical because often when people can’t shut up about how great something is, the expectation is set so high that anything but perfection is going to be a l...

<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...

The Los Angeles Clippers are the red circle of death of the NBA
Man, Steve Ballmer had to be feeling really good when he first got Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. I mean like “Steve Ballmer hyping up a pep rally” good or “Christmas morning presents as a child” good. He felt “Just bought a brand new XBox and am barely able to drive home below the speed limit” good...
![MLB, please don’t reinstate Trevor Bauer anytime soon [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/a7127441d92c0f9b92b40621643b502e.jpg)
MLB, please don’t reinstate Trevor Bauer anytime soon [Updated]
Trevor Bauer is going to be reinstated by Major League Baseball at some point. We might as well accept it from the outset. We don’t know when the reinstatement will come. Earlier this week, MLB extended Bauer’s administrative leave through April 22....

Man tries to argue what Lamar Jackson’s signature looks like… with Lamar Jackson
There are few things more devastating than thinking you’ve come across something incredibly valuable only to have an expert tell you that’s not the case. Most of the time after that happens though, the skepticism remains. “How is this 30-something-year-old schmuck supposed to know what an Abraham Li...

Joe Maddon out-galaxy brains himself, manages to win anyway
There are a couple of key questions in baseball over the past several years that regularly intersect: “Why can’t the Angels win anything when they have Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, two unique talents among the greatest the game has ever seen?” and “How did Joe Maddon ever win a World Series with th...

Sure seems as if Ryan Tannehill’s job ain't safe
Prior to 2021, I was chugging along on the Ryan Tannehill hype train. I still believed Derrick Henry was the key to Tennessee’s success, but I saw way too many people claiming Tannehill was a bum. He hadn’t done anything to prove he wasn’t able to contend in the AFC. He’d defeated Lamar Jackson and ...

Jackie Robinson died unhappy with baseball
There was no Jackie Robinson Day in 1972. On the 25th anniversary of him breaking the MLB color barrier on April 15, 1947 the league hadn’t retired his number. In fact until June 1972, the Dodgers had never retired a number. They would do so for him, Sandy Koufax, and Roy Campanella. The league didn...
![It's CJ McCollum's moment now: Paul George out [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/8d247f9aab987ffa757f9f5429d7b167.jpg)
It's CJ McCollum's moment now: Paul George out [UPDATED]
This story has been updated....

Only the NBA has teams in all three of Atlanta, New Orleans and Memphis and the league is much better for it
At Smoothie King Center in New Orleans they serve frozen daiquiris, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta there is a barbershop, at FedExForum in Memphis they regularly play, from the Oscar winning film Hustle and Flow, “Whoop that Trick.” ...

Zion Williamson got to show off his dunking ability, too bad he’s not playing
The fans who tuned into ESPN’s pregame coverage of San Antonio and New Orleans Wednesday night got a little extra treat. There was a Zion Williamson sighting on the court. Before the game, Williamson did some on-court work and put on a show for those in attendance, mostly team staff....

The Brian Kelly-Notre Dame breakup gets even messier
We’ve got a new rivalry on our hands — the tension has been brewing all off-season between LSU and Notre Dame, and it escalated this week when former Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron was photographed observing a spring practice in South Bend. ...

Who pissed in Stefan Savić’s pregame Gatorade?
Trying to help his team become the second from the Spanish capital to qualify for the UEFA Champions League semifinals, Stefan Savić went from composed center back to savage at the drop of a hat....

Here’s a solution for college coaches pissed off at the transfer portal
College coaches griping about the transfer portal and NIL deals turning college athletics into the Wild West is the new salmon crudo, aka a dish that’s so popular and served so often that Padma and Tom made fun of its omnipresence during an episode of Top Chef....

Sorry not sorry, Clayton Kershaw deserved a chance to finish that game
Look, I understand the arguments and the rationale. Clayton Kershaw is coming off an injury-plagued season and he didn’t even have a proper spring training to prepare for this season. He’s 34 and hasn’t had a 200-inning season since 2015. ...