playoffs Page 40 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Success won’t be so easy for the Utah Jazz this time around
The NBA is back, and the Western Conference is looking even more stacked than last year. The glamour division of the Pacific looks to be the standout of the association, with a strong possibility of sending four teams to the postseason. The second-best division in the west this year will be the Nort...

2021 NBA Southeast Division Preview: The Hawks are going to break your heart
The Atlanta Hawks appeared in the franchise’s second Eastern Conference Finals last season, and their fans are preparing for what they think could be another long playoff run this year. In 2015-16, the Hawks ran into LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East Finals, resulting in a 4-0 Cav...

If Giannis did what I think he just did, the rest of the NBA is in trouble, with or without Kyrie
When we last left two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo he was ordering a cheat meal fit for a champion: 50 (not 51, not 49) chicken minis from Chick-Fil-A, with a large Sprite/lemonade. This was a month after narrowly defeating the Brooklyn Nets while we all complained about his jump shot holding ...

Dominique Wilkins is owed an apology and the only asterisk I’ll accept in sports
Dominique Wilkins is owed apologies from a lot of you people. ...

Okay, who thought a MNF Wild Card Game was a good idea?
Monday Night Football is great… for the fans. We always appreciate an extra night of NFL football. For the teams involved though, it’s not very appealing. Sure, it gives those teams an extra day to prepare for their opponent, but it also gives them one fewer day to prepare for their opponent the fol...

Patrick Mahomes is just not the greatest anymore
The biggest myth in the NFL is that Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league....

2021 NHL Previews: Fifty-four years between Cups for Toronto, going on 55
The Toronto Maple Leafs have now crossed the Rangers Line. The most famous Stanley Cup drought in history belonged to New York, which for years had to hear “1940” chants until Mark Messier, Mike Richter, and company finally broke the hex in 1994....

Deadspin Fixes: the MLB playoff format
I noticed Dodgers fans were already bitching to protect themselves even before first pitch about the unfairness of the playoff system that saw their team win 106 games yet faced with the indignity of having to play in the Wild-Card Game. Followed nicely with Yankees fans complaining last night, beca...

Can we please stop discussing parity and playoff expansion in college football?
As a college football fan, I am begging everyone to please stop....

Jump around!
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens finally figured out a way to jump over the hurdle that had been Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football, 36-35....

The Chiefs slept through the first half of Week 1 and still won, but how long can they keep this up?
After falling behind early in the game, the Kansas City Chiefs survived a brief scare in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns with a 33-29 win. The Chiefs looked to be suffering from a Super Bowl hangover in the first half as they headed into halftime down 22-10. The Browns came out ready with their ...

‘Malice at the Palace’ documentary is a reminder of the damage that coded language can cause
“I’m never talking about this sh*t again. Can you get that on camera?”...

The only thing certain about this upcoming NFL season is that Falcons and Cowboys fans will cry
Well, well, well… we are actually going to see an NFL football game tonight....

Deadspin fixes NBA free agency, Part VI: The Sleepers
This isn’t a best of, and it can’t be; we don’t even know who will be available by the time this goes up. ...

Team USA takes out all its frustrations on Iran, but it’ll only get tougher from here
OK, look, Team USA wasn’t losing to Iran....

Olympics are confirming what we already knew: NBA officiating is trash
It’s safe to say at this point that the USA men’s basketball team has not lived up to its expectations. The team consists of some of the best players in the world, and yet, despite the abundance of talent, Team USA continues to fall short against lesser opponents. No matter what head coach Gregg Pop...

Why can’t we have nice things, like a Game 7 tonight?
Shoulda, woulda, coulda....

Deadspin waffles: Why the Bucks will win Game 6… aaand why they won’t
Jeff Teague is on the verge of winning a championship. ...

NBA Finals now best of 3, but <i>nearly</i> a 'win or go home' Saturday
Saturday night is a must-win for the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks – literally....

The Bucks bench is in a tough spot
Because the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t getting the necessary consistency from Giannis Antetokoumnpo’s co-stars, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, their bench has been unfairly forced to overcompensate, and they haven’t....