rist Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

What happens when Green Bay, San Francisco meet in the playoffs
The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers square off in the first 1 seed-vs.-7 seed matchup in NFL history. The two teams will set a record for their 10th playoff meeting, with the Packers looking to even a series that’s spanned 27 years. In a rivalry that’s racked up plenty of historic moments,...

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need a two-man game
The best duo in the NBA put on a show against the best team in the East on Friday night. Denver’s 102-100 win over Boston snapped the Celtics’ perfect mark at TD Garden this season, and 27-game home-winning streak overall. Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray combined for 69 points, 20 rebounds and 14 assi...

Final 2023 NFL offensive leaders
The 2023 NFL regular season is over, and the league’s offensive leaders have been decided....

Here's the 1 time the right DOESN'T want athletes to 'stick to sports'
It seems that the right only wants athletes to stick to sports — unless the non-sports talk is something they like....

Gio Reyna knows he needs to justify the noise
The funny thing about Gio Reyna, and more to the point, all the noise about him – the controversy with his family and Gregg Berhalter, the anticipation of any appearance with the national team, the confidence that he’s the country’s most talented player – is that it is built on such a tiny foundatio...

2023 NFL postseason interceptions leaders
See how Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, and other top NFL players performed this season — check out more Deadspin NFL Stats below:...

Maple Leafs have unexpected problem; Winnipeg surprises everyone; Hockey players & psychologists?
It’s hard to be an afterthought for an NHL team in Canada, and yet it kind of feels like the Winnipeg Jets are one. They’re not grouped with either of the other blocks. They aren’t near Toronto or Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and even the Ottawa Senators get more shine from being caught betwee...

Revenge is a dish best served in the NFL playoffs
According to Christopher Wallace’s definition, beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep; when your moms ain’t safe up in the streets; when I see you, guaranteed to be an ICU; when you make your enemies, start your Jeep; and when you roll no less than 30 deep. While I don’t know how many of this...

The Texans are proof that serendipity is the NFL’s most valuable asset
Think about the Houston Texans’ path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn’t want to get sued also let the C...

Darvin Ham is not the reason the Lakers are losing
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...

Bowl shenanigans are at full-throat
The great thing about bowl season is it lets fans check in on programs they may not have watched much during the regular season. With 86 teams participating across 43 exhibitions, and little else to do but veg out on football, this seems like a good time for a little peer review. On Thursday, Miami ...

This week in the NFL: Travis Kelce is not pleased; Russell Wilson done in Denver?; Antonio Pierce disrespected in Vegas
Travic Kelce let it all out on an episode of his “New Heights” podcast with brother and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason. After the Chiefs lost three of their last four games, Travis called it “a frustrating f**king experience” and said that everyone – including himself – is contributing to the offe...

Jalen Hurts’ fugazi QB record is evidence that sometimes numbers do lie
The NFL’s Big Data complex, including Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus, would have you believe that numbers don’t lie, but the truth is that numbers can be untrustworthy little digits. They don’t explicitly generate faux stats, but accurate statistics can be framed deceptively. For instance, on...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2023: The complete rankings
Welcome to the grand finale of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities. Here’s hoping 2024 will be better. It probably won’t....

Question Luka Dončić all you want — just be OK with the eventual ‘I told you so’
Despite the risk of hyperbole devolving into hot take, I’ll say it: Year 6 Luka Dončić looks a lot like 1988-89 Michael Jordan, or 2007-08 LeBron James. I’m not saying he’s better than either of the GOATs. It’s simply impossible to watch what he’s doing, how he’s still improving, and think any other...

Derrick White’s All-Star bid is about to become the NBA’s ‘Brock Purdy for MVP’
After the Boston Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday in an early October trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, the five-time All-Defensive Team guard was billed as the solution to Boston’s need for a tempo-setting orchestrator. In theory, he was also the fourth All-Star in the Eastern Conference’s premie...

Lamar Jackson might win MVP, yet no other teams wanted him during the offseason?
It was about nine months ago when Lamar Jackson wanted to be traded from the Baltimore Ravens. The best quarterback in the history of two forever-linked franchises — the Ravens and the Cleveland Browns — was on the open market. Jackson is the only player besides Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes to ...

The San Francisco 49ers need to take an improv class
When rolling, the San Francisco 49ers look like they’re never going to lose again. Until Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Niners were undefeated this season when Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffery, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are healthy. And it looked as if that trend might continu...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: 10 more for the worst of 2023 (Nos. 30-21)
Oh, the hell with it, you know the drill by now. Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR continues on, as does the meaningless treadmill of existence. All is for naught and free will is an illusion!...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: The annual descent into madness continues (40-31)
Welcome once again, dearest and most beloved reader, to Deadspin’s vaunted IDIOT OF THE YEAR awards, the global phenomenon in which we say churlish things about people we dislike. Huzzah!...