rnc Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars haven’t thrown in the towel yet, unlike their NBA counterparts
We could be breaking out the brooms for all four NHL and NBA conference finals. The Denver Nuggets finished off the LeBron-LeLakers and the Miami Heat will eventually put the Celtics out of their misery on the hardcourt side of things....

You gotta wonder how Ime Udoka feels about the Boston Celtics being down 3-0
Losing to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals is one thing. But, being down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals to a Miami Heat team that needed the play-in to make the playoffs is another. It’s also the barometer that Joe Mazzulla has to deal with in a post-Ime Udoka world....

The Miami Heat kicked the Celtics in the head, teeth, calf, and everyone else in Game 3
I have seen some ass-whuppings administered in my lifetime. I remember in the fifth-grade baseball playoffs beating the top overall seed by about 20 runs. To put a championship cap on Alabama’s 2012 football season the Tide ran through Notre Dame so viciously, that their opponents lost the desire to...

Jimmy Butler completely sonned Grant Williams, Boston Celtics in Game 2
Forget what you’ve heard. The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler is the most dangerous weapon left in the NBA playoffs. Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams found that out the hard way during game two of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night. Williams chose the trash talk route and, of all people, chos...

Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons challenges LeBron James for biggest frontrunner in sports
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has built himself quite the reputation as one of the NFL’s best defensive players in just two years as a pro. He’s already a two-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection and took home Rookie of the Year honors. But he’s also developed a reputation for team hopping ...

YouTube TV’s ECF Game 1 debacle gave NBA cord-cutters an excuse to switch back to cable
The only Americans more upset with Disney than Ron DeSantis sycophants for one night were NBA fans watching The Little Mermaid instead of the Eastern Conference Finals on YouTube TV. But that anger is misplaced. YouTube TV was the culprit in Wednesday night’s Eastern Conference Finals streaming deba...

Playoff Jimmy Butler is Miami's most important player, but Kyle Lowry is proving to be the Heat’s X factor
Heat culture is a thing and something we’ve heard about for years. Despite Jimmy Butler’s denial, “Playoff Jimmy” is also a thing we’ve witnessed over the past few years in May and June. Another phenomenon that’s becoming clear is the resurgence of Kyle Lowry. Lowry, 37, had to put forth the effort ...

Boston Celtics are consistently inconsistent
The Boston Celtics are going to Celtic from time to time. The problem has reared its ugly head for a third consecutive series, and there appears to be no stopping it. After about 77 minutes of well-played basketball, they were due for a head-scratcher. It arrived in the second half of Game 1 of the ...

Boston and Miami battle to see who's the Beast in the East
In a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are set to square off for the third time in four years to crown the Beast in the East. While the Celtics remain the No. 2 seed, the Heat have been forced to defy the odds of returning to the ECF as the No. 8 see...

James Harden won the standoff with Doc Rivers
Doc Rivers came, he saw, and he squandered another opportunity to add to his ring count with a generational superstar at his disposal. Less than 48 hours after the Philadelphia 76ers came out punchdrunk in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics, Sixers brass launched Doc Rivers into the sun, possibly inc...

The NBA Playoffs have earlier start times from here on out — God is good
In 2015, I was in Los Angeles for the annual Online News Association Conference. It meant that as a Michigan native, I was up at 9:00 am PST to watch the Wolverines obliterate BYU 31-0 in a college football game that had a noon kickoff on East Coast time. That was also the day that I understood the ...

The NBA's young stars balled out in the second round of the playoffs
The boisterous people of Sacramento were not a part of the second round, but the basketball as a whole was no less exciting. As predicted, the Miami Heat and New York Knicks matchup was late 1990s NBA without the fights, but the 2020s NBA was at its best in the other series....

Jonathan Marchessault’s natural hat trick cements Golden Knights as Stanley Cup favorites
The Edmonton Oilers’ potential to turn back the clock officially stopped on Sunday night. Despite having two of the top five players in the league, a deep playoff run wasn’t in the cards, again. Three straight uninterrupted goals came in the second period off the stick of Jonathan Marchessault in th...

For the Sixers, it’s never sunny in Philadelphia: 'The Process,' 10 years on
On a Tuesday afternoon in May of 2013, the Philadelphia 76ers officially entrusted their organization’s rebuild with a Stanford-educated egghead who had a bold vision for the future....

We're all for the Miami Heat dunking on Stephen A. Smith
Longtime ESPN on-air personality Stephen A. Smith has made no secrets about where his NBA loyalties lie, and it’s in The Big Apple with the Knicks. And New York’s season ended Friday night with a Game 6 loss to the Heat. Of course, Smith took the loss personally, but that didn’t stop Miami from reco...

Jalen Brunson keeps Knicks' season on life support
When the All-NBA teams were announced Wednesday, Jalen Brunson’s name was conspicuously missing. Point guard is a deep position, but Brunson has been one of the NBA’s hottest scorers this season....

Lakers-Warriors Game 4 doubled as a West Coast DJ set
It is a shame that TNT has the Eastern Conference Finals this season. I have enjoyed New Edition at halftime during the Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers second-round matchup, and once the Miami Heat finish off the New York Knicks I do want to hear all of the Slip and Slide and Rick Ross catalog...

Why did Bronny James pick USC?
Bronny James finally made his long-rumored commitment to USC official this weekend, after months of speculation that indicated he was staying local to suit up for the Trojans. Weeks ago, James’ list of schools was whittled down to Ohio State, which sounded more like his dad living vicariously throug...

Celtics' Joe Mazzulla’s reluctance to call a timeout is a blunder that’s become too common
The use of timeouts in one-possession games is a contentious philosophical debate in NBA circles. Each end-of-game episode presents coaches with an ambiguous multiple-choice equation. Timeouts have an expiration date, but that hasn’t stopped coaches from attempting to carry them into the next game o...

The 'steal' of the 2023 NFL Draft
I remember a lot from my time in journalism school. It set the foundation for my career with tons of great professors who were happy to pass along their knowledge. Guess I was sick or had a head-splitting hangover the day the “steal from the people you’re covering” lesson took place. What are they t...