nba-playoffs Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Our Solution To NBA Restart? Let Playoff Teams Draft Players From Lottery Teams... We Did Two Rounds
When the NBA gets back on the court, it’s likely to be just for a made-for-TV playoff tournament. That leaves several big stars on the sidelines. At the same time, there’s a chance that a long layoff will lead to injuries among teams who do continue their 2020 campaigns, as well as the chance that p...

Emma Meesseman Proved She Can Carry The Mystics To Greatness (As Long As She Wants To Play For Them)
Going into the WNBA playoffs, it would have been fair to underestimate the impact of Washington Mystics forward Emma Meesseman. Though she was one of the Mystics’ most efficient scorers—she’d be in the 40-50-90 club if she had enough attempts to qualify—she often felt like a lesser version of her te...

The Mystics Did The Shit
The Washington Mystics used a strong fourth-quarter surge and the interior dominance of series MVP Emma Meesseman to overcome a second-half Connecticut Sun lead, then confidently held the relentless visitors at arm’s length down the stretch to win Game 5, 89–78, and capture the franchise’s first eve...

Joe Biden Tweets Best Recovery Wishes To Elena Delle Donne, Literally While She Is Playing In The WNBA Finals
Democratic presidential candidate and absolute spring chicken Joe Biden, who definitely has a very strong sense of what’s going on around him at all times and does not appreciate you constantly dabbing at his chin with a handkerchief, took some time out of his busy campaign schedule Sunday to wish M...

Report: The Sparks Imploded Because Derek Fisher Is An Overmatched Dingus Who Can't Handle Criticism
The Los Angeles Sparks’ 2019 season ended in ignominious fashion, as they were swept by the Connecticut Sun while their best player, Candace Parker, inexplicably sat on the bench for almost an entire half of a closeout game. After the loss, Parker raised an eyebrow toward her head coach Derek Fisher...

Right On Cue, Elena Delle Donne's Back Is All Screwed Up
Elena Delle Donne left Game 2 of the WNBA Finals with back spasms after just three minutes in the first quarter Tuesday night, not 24 hours after I (a blithering, cheeky idiot!) proclaimed the Washington Mystics more or less invincible. The Connecticut Sun managed to steal the game on Washington tur...

The Mystics Lost Elena Delle Donne And, Obviously, They Lost Game 2
The Washington Mystics were likely feeling confident heading into Tuesday’s WNBA Finals Game 2, as they looked all-around fantastic in their Game 1 win against the Connecticut Sun. But just a few minutes into tonight’s match-up, the Mystics would experience a disturbing flashback to last year’s Fina...

This Time Around, The Mystics Look Inevitable
Last September, the Washington Mystics skulked out of the WNBA Finals, having been swept in three games by the unstoppable Seattle Storm. A year later, the tables have turned. Elena Delle Donne has recovered from last year’s inconvenient knee injury; crafty Belgian forward Emma Meesseman is back aft...

Liz Cambage Talked Trash To The Washington Mystics And They Gave It Right Back To Her
After dropping 28 points in a dominant Game 3 semifinals win, Las Vegas Aces center Liz Cambage flexed on her opponents, saying in her postgame interview, “If they can’t handle it, get in the weight room or get out of the post.” The Washington Mystics heeded her advice. ...

Candace Parker Was Peeved After Derek Fisher Benched Her In An Elimination Game
Down 2-0 to the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Semifinals, the Los Angeles Sparks played out the last quarter and a half of their season Sunday night without Candace Parker, to the surprise of everyone involved, including Candace Parker....

Alyssa Thomas Couldn't Lift Her Arms Above Her Head, But She Carried A Team To Victory
The Connecticut Sun left the first game of their best-of-five semifinals series against the Los Angeles Sparks Tuesday night not only with a 84-75 win, but also with a narratively sweet one. For a season, the No. 2 Sun have felt like the WNBA’s most underrated team, beloved by their women’s basketba...

Dearica Hamby Wins Playoff Game With Absurd Steal-And-Heave
The Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky went back and forth throughout today’s highly entertaining single-elimination playoff game, and as the final seconds were ticking away, it looked like the Sky were on their way to escaping with a 92-90 win. That is not what happened....

Jordin Canada Might Just Be The Heir To Sue Bird's Throne
The defending champion Seattle Storm took the expected fall that came with a pair of devastating preseason injuries, going a mere 18-16 in 2019 after dominating the league with a 26-8 record last year. But even without reigning MVP Breanna Stewart or living legend Sue Bird, the Storm managed to snea...

It's Time For A National Conversation About Drake's Horny Watch
One thing that can be said about Drake that cannot be said about a disconcertingly large number of other famous people is that it is clear why he is famous. He has done actual things—performed some hugely popular songs about how disappointed he is in various exes; endorsed one of the better-liked le...

Here Are Some Cool Guys Who Are Now NBA Champions
Kawhi Leonard won his second career Finals MVP Thursday night, becoming the first player in NBA history to win one in each conference. The magnitude of what he personally accomplished likely will take some time to settle in: After missing a full season due to injury and forcing his way out of San An...
![Alameda County Sheriff's Office Wants To Charge Raptors Exec Masai Ujiri With Battery [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/itphupop5snhu4vufp83.jpg)
Alameda County Sheriff's Office Wants To Charge Raptors Exec Masai Ujiri With Battery [Update]
Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri was walking onto the floor Thursday night to celebrate his team’s championship when he appeared to get in some sort of altercation with a cop. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office claimed that Ujiri shoved one of its deputies and nudged him in th...

Pascal Siakam And Fred VanVleet Were Pure Joy
The very end of Game 6 was like holding in a sneeze. At the end of the NBA Finals you might expect a satisfying, full release of tension, but that moment never really came. Instead the refs puttered and dithered over what to do with that ersatz timeout and then a foul on Kawhi Leonard and then how m...

There's A Difference Between Luck That's Received And Luck That's Found
Other franchises will want to make a replicable plan out of the Toronto Raptors’ journey to one of the truly amazing championships in NBA history. That’s how it goes. There has to be some parable in what everybody just watched, even if it’s the dullest kind, the kind about the friggin’ salary cap. ...

Fuck Your Asterisk
I heard someone on sports talk radio the other day say that if the Raptors pulled out a win in these NBA Finals, fans would forget about what exactly happened to Golden State during the series—he made this supposition after Kevin Durant’s calf rolled up but before Klay Thompson’s knee buckled like a...

Kyle Lowry Kept The Raptors Alive
It was an up-and-down postseason in what’s been an up-and-down career for Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, but on Thursday night, when all of his teammates struggled to score out of the gate in Game 6, it was Lowry who helped give them the jumpstart they needed to eventually cross the finish line. As...