leo Page 62 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Kawhi Leonard Is Doing Everything A Player Could Be Asked To Do
Kawhi Leonard is no longer the defensive marauder he once was, maybe because he’s been saddled with Jordanesque duties on the other side of the ball. The Raptors’ sludgy tar-pit offense leaves Leonard no possession to catch his breath. Almost every trip down the floor, he’s relied upon to create som...
Trail Blazers Solve Many Of Game 1's Problems, Still Narrowly Fall To The Warriors
The Portland Trail Blazers made a real contest out of Game 2 of their Western Conference Finals series against the Golden State Warriors. After getting blown out in Game 1, head coach Terry Stots rejiggered his lineups and—thank God—his defensive approach, and the result was a 15-point halftime lead...
Kawhi Leonard And Joel Embiid Co-Starred In The Greatest Photo Of The NBA Season
Experienced live, Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer-beater was an agonizing bounce-bounce-bounce-bounce. As a still image, all the drama on the floor could be frozen in time. Toronto-based photojournalist Mark Blinch masterfully captured the full spread. This shot appears to have been taken at some poin...
The Raptors' Defense Was Outrageous In The Clutch
The Sixers hit their last field goal in the half-court—a long, and-one leaner by J.J. Redick—with 3:29 remaining in Game 7. Then the Raptors put the clamps on. Philly would only even hit the rim one more time, off a heroic Jimmy Butler transition play. As stagnant and deferential as the Raptors have...
Kawhi Leonard Wins Game 7 With Insane Buzzer-Beater, Sends Joel Embiid Home Sobbing
The Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers just got done with a ragged and at times infuriating Game 7 to end the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Raptors won the game, 92-90, thanks to this buzzer-beater from Kawhi Leonard. Hooooooooly shit, wait until you see this shot:...
An Ailing Joel Embiid Isn't All That Ails The 76ers
The 76ers were blown out in Game 5 Tuesday night, 125–89, by Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors. Nothing much worked for Philadelphia—the closest they came to a functional offense was Jimmy Butler willing his way to the line for 11 free throws. By the midpoint of the fourth quarter, the game had ...
Kawhi Leonard Just Dunks The Absolute Hell Out Of The 76ers
Kawhi Leonard is doing it again. He put up a 13-and-10 double-double before halftime of Game 5 of the 76ers-Raptors conference semifinal series, with three assists and a pair of steals. It’s not clear tonight that the Raptors even require all these damn heroics—they’re up 21 at the half and the Sixe...
Kawhi Leonard Is Just Very Frickin' Good
Look, man. I think the Toronto Raptors are still outright failing at lots of fairly basic manufacturing-a-series-win-type shit. They still have no plan, for example, for creating a steady diet of reasonably high-percentage shots. Or for attacking J.J. Redick, Philadelphia’s best shooter and most vul...
The Raptors Are Doing Whatever The Hell This Is Again
Well, shit....
Poor Shaq Is Just There To Get Laughed At Now
The recurring theme of this latest iteration of TNT’s Inside The NBA concerns Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley’s friendly rivalry occasionally transforming into real enmity. If last night’s edition of Shaq vs. Chuck is any indication, though, the storyline may be done and dusted. ...
Italian Soccer's Latest Response To Racist Fan Behavior Is Embarrassing
The biggest story at Juventus today should be the whirlwind ascent of the baby-faced striker phenom, Moise Kean. Yesterday, the 19-year-old Italian of Ivorian descent scored the match-killing goal against Cagliari, his fourth goal in his last four games for club and country. And while Kean is indeed...
Report: Wizards To Replace Ernie Grunfeld, Finally, My God, I Thought They'd Never Do It
The Washington Wizards have fired longtime team president and head personnel honcho Ernie Grunfeld, according to a tweet by the Times’s Marc Stein that made the top of my head explode like Mount St. Helens, splattering the interior walls of my home with confetti and glitter....
Papa John's Hires New Papa: Shaq
If you’re a company whose business is making and selling pizza—really if you’re any kind of company, in any kind of business—it’s not beneficial to be most famous for your infamous erstwhile CEO. If you’re Papa John’s, and that CEO—an egotistical nightmare who just last month staged a coup to try an...
The City Got Too Big For Fran Dunphy And Phil Martelli
There was something appropriate about Fran Dunphy and Phil Martelli exiting the scene on the same day. Dunphy’s “retirement” as Temple’s head coach had been announced in advance; his final season with the Owls ended with last night’s First Four loss to Belmont. Hours earlier, Saint Joseph’s surpris...
UFC Fighter Leaves Post-Fight Interview To Fight Another Fighter Backstage
Jorge Masvidal showed out in Saturday’s fight against recent welterweight title challenger Darren Till in London, as he knocked out the Englishman with an overhand left in the second round. Masvidal apparently wasn’t content with smacking around just one fighter that night, because after the bout he...
Minnesota High School Hockey Announcer Yanked Off Air After "Lynching Ropes" Comment
Doug McLeod, a play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Boys’ State Hockey Tournament, was pulled off the air Thursday after he referred to “lynching ropes” during a game broadcast....
DeMar DeRozan Was Cruelly Reminded That The Raptors Are Better Off Without Him
It’s not often that such an on-the-nose metaphor for an event that happened outside of a basketball court takes place in such a venue, but that’s exactly what happened in the dying embers of Toronto’s game against San Antonio on Friday night. ...
Charles Barkley Uses <i>Inside The NBA</i> To Debut His Jussie Smollett Material
Charles Barkley normally uses his spot on TNT’s Inside the NBA to get into extraordinarily dumb arguments with Shaq, but in yesterday’s edition, he tried out some jokes about the case of Jussie Smollett, the actor who allegedly set up a hate crime on himself because he wasn’t happy with his salary o...