ja Page 249 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Will we actually see an NBA Finals without LeBron?
We might be in store for something very rare in the NBA — a Finals that doesn’t include LeBron James. With the Lakers down 3-2 to the Phoenix Suns, the possibility is becoming more and more likely that the defending champs won’t make it out of the first round. Not seeing Lebron making a deep playoff...

How is Brazil the better choice for Copa America?
You may be getting your large-sporting-events-that-shouldn’t-be-taking-place confused, and it would be understandable. There’s the Olympics, which just lost 10,000 volunteers, is in a state of emergency, and yet welcoming thousands of athletes from 200 countries — doesn’t seem all that sharp. There’...

MLB doesn’t need a 'face of baseball,' and the proof is in the playoffs
Mike Trout has as many MVP awards as career playoff games played, with three, and for as much talk as there might be in baseball — even from the commissioner — about MLB’s need for the best player of his generation to take on the mantle of the face of the game, no amount of marketing can make up for...

Grizzlies are closer than you think to being a part of the NBA’s upper echelon
The Grizzlies are a front office move away from wrecking the entire NBA....

With Mayweather-Paul, Showtime has morphed into Comedy Central
For boxing fans, it must be sad to watch what Showtime has become....

HEAR ME OUT: The Lakers need to sit Anthony Davis tonight
Anthony Davis should NOT play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest game of the season....

Coach K is retiring — Duke Basketball will be buck wild next season
Bonkers. Crazy. Nuts....

If only playoff hockey could just be playoff hockey and not these garbage hits
When hockey fans tell you, and they will tell you, that playoff hockey is the best thing in sports, what they’re imagining is that every game, every series, looks like Game 2 of the Avalanche and Knights. The thing is, of course, it doesn’t, and a lot of series are just noisy slogs as coaches really...

Saints’ Michael Thomas is going to prove all his haters wrong in 2021
If you ask a bunch of random people on the street who the best receiver in the National Football League is right now, you’d probably get a wide array of different answers. Green Bay’s Davante Adams would probably get a couple votes. Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins would as well. Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs,...

Damian Lillard is one of the greatest clutch players to touch a basketball
It’s time for us to have an honest conversation about Damian Lillard....

Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens are done — Boston should hire a Black coach – they do well there
Potential is a sly word, as it’s just a nice way to say someone hasn’t done anything yet. It’s a label we attach to people and things that we believe will be able to achieve a certain level of success. Potential is great to have until you don’t do anything with it....

Ja Morant’s mom won't attend Game 5 in Salt Lake City after harassment from racist fans
I know the overwhelming majority of NBA fans haven’t been throwing water bottles, or running onto the court, or spitting on players, ect. But the actions of a few Utah “fans” have caused Ja Morant’s mom to opt out of a complimentary offer to watch her son play on the road. For her, it’s just not wor...

Hear me out: Great as he is, it may be time for Blazers to move CJ McCollum
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the otherworldly performance Damian Lillard gave last night in a losing effort — 55 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, three blocks. He’s the first NBA player ever — EVER — regular season or postseason, to post at least 50 points, 10 assists, and 10 three-pointers mad...

Bob Brenly has always been a turd
This story can be done pretty much every season, and it’s so fucking tired, but yet you can’t help but be surprised at its regularity. Bob Brenly complains about modern baseball in a not-all-that-vaguely racist way. Last night’s target was Marcus Stroman:...

This week in The Ladies Room: NBC Sports Bay Area's Jessica Kleinschmidt
Welcome to the Ladies Room - A Deadspin Sports Podcast....

We can applaud Naomi Osaka without disparaging the media
Naomi Osaka’s decision to withdraw from the French Open has sparked necessary conversation about athletes and mental health. It was so important to her that she was willing to sacrifice a potential $1.8 million in prize money to put her own peace first. That’s not the act of a so-called diva, or of ...

The Chicago Cubs are the real-life team from 'Major League'
Now you have to imagine Tom Ricketts in her dress. Have a nice day....

Twins’ Josh Donaldson says pitchers are cheating – and he's got proof
Three-time All-Star and 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson is in year two of a four-year deal worth $92 million with the Minnesota Twins. In just over a year with the club, Donaldson is slashing just .225/.343/.422, for an OPS of .765 with Minnesota — a far cry from the numbers the star third baseman was pu...

Sports media has to change, it just hasn’t figured that out yet
You can’t ask the media to talk about a story involving the media....

Now the Leafs have the calamity they’ve always wanted
Because everything is outsized with the Leafs, the idea that they’ve been coughing up genuine chances at the Stanley Cup year-after-year has grown at the rate and scale of The Blob. Being the Leafs, everything around them is audibly multiplied by at least 12, so the sheer volume that is emitted from...