stern Page 44 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Celtics need to wake up and move on from either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown
The Boston Celtics have one of the richest legacies in North American sports, but as of late, they have not been able to get over that hump to capture another NBA championship. In recent years, their two young stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have led them to multiple Eastern Conference Finals a...

Give DeMar DeRozan his flowers for putting the Bulls in first place
What a three-game stretch for the fifth-leading scorer in the NBA, DeMar DeRozan. Mr. Anti-analytics has been letting his mid-range shot fly all season, propelling him to a scoring average of 26.9 points per game. With 28 points and six assists on Monday DeRozan was the Chicago Bulls’ leader in poin...

Out of shape? James Harden says absolutely not after returning home for Christmas to pound on the Lakers and Clippers
Christmas at home might be the turning point in James Harden’s 2021-22 season. The Brooklyn Nets played at Crypto.com arena against the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27, and in between those two games, Harden’s high school in Lakewood, Calif., retired ...
![[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/0124ba961e791e1e056e5b9b9ac99d38.jpg)
[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols
Less than two hours after this piece was published, the Nets announced that Kyrie Irving has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, because of course he did....

Anthony Edwards is breaking records and giving T-Wolves fans something to get excited about
There could already be a new challenger coming for Steph Curry’s long-distance shooting crown, and his name is Anthony Edwards....

Nikola Jokić's performance brings up the age-old question: ‘How good must your team be in order to win MVP?’
The Denver Nuggets are currently 12-13, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh in the Western Conference. Despite having Aaron Gordon for the entirety of this season, the Nuggets just can’t seem to get going. After starting the season 9-4, the Nuggets dropped six straight games and fell below .5...

The Miami Hurricanes and Chicago Bulls have put the pedal to the metal, but don’t expect them to be what they were in the past
The young, promising Chicago Bulls are in second place in the Eastern Conference, and the Miami Hurricanes have high hopes after hiring a new football coach — it’s like it’s 1989 all over again. Fans of both teams have great reason to be excited....

No amount of complaining or passionate rants into a TV camera will change Anthony Davis into who you want him to be
We all need to accept Anthony Davis for who he is as a basketball player. He’s not a back to the basket jump hook type of scorer, a 3-point shooter, or the ball-handling guard that he would’ve been at Cleveland State — and only at Cleveland State — had he not grown seven inches between his junior an...

The Philadelphia Union got screwed, but there was probably little MLS could do
We don’t think any of the current seasons taking place now as “COVID seasons” like we did of the previous ones played in empty stadiums/arenas or in weird, neutral venues altogether. But it still very much is, which the Philadelphia Union learned the all-too hard way yesterday....

Phoenix Suns’ solstice coming in part due to steadiness of coaching
On Nov. 4, ESPN published a report detailing the racist and misogynistic culture created by Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver within the organization, which had reached a point where one former executive was quoted as saying “there’s literally nothing you could tell me about him from a misogynistic o...

Sooners’ planned move to the SEC might’ve pushed Riley to USC
There were too many openings at too many big colleges for a notable school or two not to be on the losing side even after being on the side of winning for so long. In a not so subtle reminder that there’s always a bigger fish, Lincoln Riley opted for Southern California rather than the Southeastern ...

Devin Booker is staking his claim for the crown of best shooting guard in the NBA and he’s got a damn good argument
Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker is following in the footsteps of his mentor, Kobe Bryant, staking his claim as the best at his position in the NBA. Like Bryant, it’s taken Booker a few years to scale that mountain of elite two-guards, but I think we can say he has arrived at the peak....

Why did anyone think an ex-Lion would help?
In some ways, NFL teams and fanbases can be a lot like that friend you have who makes terrible romantic choices. No matter how many times you explain to them that no, they can’t “fix” that person, or “save” them, they still try. And it always ends in tears when said romantic prospect turns out to be...

Suns keep rising, maybe now you’ll notice
So, you look up one day, and the Phoenix Suns have won 16 straight games....

Corporate names on sports venues are dumb, we have suggestions
Sick of corporate names on your sports stadiums and arenas? So are we. So, let’s fix it, and get the names of all these places right, once and for all. ...

Darryl Sutter might look like Sam the Eagle but he’s doing that thing again
Merely by looking at him, and certainly when you hear him talk, it’s easy to dismiss Darryl Sutter as the hilt of old-school NHL coaches. Throw in the fact that he was nothing more than a bottom-six grinder in his playing career, and you’d be forgiven for concluding that he would send his teams out ...

The WNBA unveils new playoff format
The WNBA announced a new playoff format today that will increase the number of potential games in the tournament and completely get rid of single-elimination games. It will remain an eight-team playoff, with teams seeded based on overall standings over a 36-game regular season, but the first- and se...

HBO filmed Colts’ Nyheim Hines fanboying out on Tavon Austin and it’s very sweet
I had no idea that Tavon Austin was playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Nine years ago he was the most explosive player in college football at West Virginia, and arguably one of the most dynamic players in the history of the sport. At 5-foot-8 and under 180 pounds, he was still the No. 8 overall p...

DeMar DeRozan took that personally
DeMar DeRozan is taking it personally. The 32-year-old Chicago Bulls forward put up 38 points in a convincing victory against the Lakers last night, after racking up 35 against the Clippers at the Staples Center. The “Bulls are back” whispers are a little more audible these days, as fans ever-so-ten...

Adam Silver doing his best Vince McMahon impression in NBA’s new deal with UAE
I’m not sure what’s more obvious: A media outlet taking the NBA to task for a multiyear partnership with the United Arab Emirates, or the inevitable controversy that will come of it. It doesn’t take long to unearth copious amounts of dirt about the UAE’s record and ongoing pursuit of human rights vi...