usc Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Can Stanley Johnson be the difference for the Lakers?
It’s not wise to assume anything about Lakers fans, but, in this case, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they know that they can’t expect 7-9 from the field and 10 points in the fourth quarter on a regular basis from Stanley Johnson. He was a one-man wrecking crew on Monday...

Blame Dr. LeBronenstein for creating this monster
It’s easy to just want to blame Russell Westbrook....

The Wizards of odd
It feels like such a long time ago that the Washington Wizards were in first place in the Eastern Conference, winning 13 of their first 20 games. Since Nov. 29, however, Washington has gone 8-13, dropping it all the way down to ninth place in the East at 21-20. Talk about a fall from grace....

The world felt a just a bit less chaotic with Klay Thompson back on an NBA floor last night
Those lovable, plucky underdogs, the Golden State Warriors. A couple of tough seasons — really one terrible season and another season that ended in disappointment, proved to be a mere traffic jam on the Warriors’ freeway of dominance....

Centers aren’t extinct, they’ve just evolved
As humans, we tend to eulogize the extinct with reverence. The Dodo Bird. The Rocky Mountain Locust. The Golden Toad. And why wouldn’t we? It was us who eradicated these precious, sentient creatures. Some theorists would argue it had to do with their inability to adapt. But what if things are adapti...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2021: Tony La Russa, Tommy Tuberville, every NFL referee, and other esteemed dummies
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

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. ...

The U.S. needs to beat Mexico tonight, so it better act like it
There isn’t one crescendo to World Cup qualifying, but the U.S. hosting Mexico tonight is just about as close it gets. They’ll play again in the spring of course, and both have other matches to negotiate. But this is one of the games that gets highlighted as soon as the schedule is announced, and ev...

Bulls currently thriving with Alex Caruso, and the Lakers could’ve brought their defensive stalwart back at a discount
The 2019-20 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers were a much deeper team than just two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, and Alex Caruso were all key contributors on a team that finished the regular season 11th in offensive rating and third in defe...

Who needs triple-doubles anyway?
Believe it or not, the Washington Wizards are in a three-way tie for the top spot in the Eastern Conference 10 games into the season. Washington is flying under the radar at 7-3, while teams like the Bulls and Heat get everyone’s attention for improving their rosters in the offseason. But the Wizard...

NCAA shows it can still play God — the smiting part, at least
The NCAA is making a statement, that’s for sure — that being “don’t cooperate with us. It will only end badly for you, your players, and your school.”...

Rondo returns to Los Angeles through Salary Cap Magic
The Lakers are going to bring back Rajon Rondo, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the latest example of why the NBA’s salary cap is the only good salary cap in sports....

The Louisville jerk store called — it got its men
Louisville coach Chris Mack is suspended for six games after being found to have violated university guidelines while being extorted by former assistant Dino Gaudio, who was sentenced Friday to a year of probation and a $10,000 fine for doing said extorting....

Hey Lakers, take a step back and rethink this Westbrook deal
I don’t know about this one, chief. ...

Where should — or shouldn’t — some top rumored NBA Draft Day trade candidates go?
People pay more attention to these rumors than the games, it seems. You believe that shit?...

Have you heard the one about the doctor who didn’t get vaxxed and ruined his country’s Olympics?
The Olympics are always full of surprises, and right at the beginning of the Tokyo Games, there’s already a stunner: the first vaccine-shunning idiot to ruin things for a bunch of other people isn’t an American....

Because Tokyo 2021 is weird and shouldn’t be happening, Deadspinners recall their favorite past Olympic moments
Conflicted about tuning in tonight for the Opening Ceremonies of an Olympics that most of the host nation don’t even want in the middle of a pandemic where athletes are essentially being greeted with positive COVID-19 tests at the airport and rumors abound of possible cancellation even as it kicks o...

NFL doesn’t rate in St. Louis, the ‘Baseball Capital’ of the U.S.
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals had their largest attendance this season last night at Busch Stadium....

There are a lot of draft prospects who should have immense impacts after returning to school
We’ve thought for a few years that the 2021 Draft would be one of the best of this era, and while that hasn’t changed, a number of withdrawals should make way for a promising 2022 class as well....

Don’t be surprised if Kevin Love is really good in the Olympics
Experience matters and Kevin Love has it....