west Page 34 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The USMNT is crafty in the middle but dangerous at both ends… to themselves
Being panicky and reactionary about the USMNT is now part of the deal. Perhaps it’s a sign we’re growing up. Fuck, three weeks ago, the US qualified for next fall’s World Cup (and got something of a favorable draw), Christian Pulisic was starting regularly for Chelsea — looking good doing it, too — ...

Is it finally winning time for Philadelphia?
On Saturday, the 76ers began the postseason by breezing past the Toronto Raptors with a ho-hum 131-111 drubbing. The 2022 playoffs is a significant crucible for Philadelphia. The legacy of The Process is at stake. If HBO ever decides to expand its foray into NBA biopics beyond the Showtime Lakers’ W...

The Bill Russell Case for LeBron as Lakers Player-Coach
“You want the job, Russ?” offered Celtics retiring head coach Red Auerbach in 1966....

<em>Winning Time episode 7</em>: ‘Invisible Man’
When John C. Reilly and, ostensibly, Dr. Jerry Buss turns to address the camera, he speaks not in the future tense but the present. Reilly’s Buss is not granted foresight into what will become of his Lakers. He is far from an omniscient narrator and is in no way all-knowing, all-seeing. Instead, the...
![It's CJ McCollum's moment now: Paul George out [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/8d247f9aab987ffa757f9f5429d7b167.jpg)
It's CJ McCollum's moment now: Paul George out [UPDATED]
This story has been updated....

It’s not looking good for Steph Curry, or the Warriors’ playoff hopes
Unfortunately for the NBA, this playoff run may be without the Golden State Warriors very quickly. They have been battling injuries all season, and the most recent one might stretch into their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets. While the Nuggets are an interesting story for NBA-heads, th...

Russell Westbrook can’t see the forest… or the trees
Russell Westbrook didn’t hesitate to kick dirt on Frank Vogel after the latter was fired as Lakers coach....

When Jackie opened the door, these men walked through
It took 2,559 days after Jackie Robinson’s debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers for Major League Baseball to have its 42nd Black player appear in a game. Those seven years and two days saw 11 of the league’s 16 franchises integrate. The Boston Red Sox were the last to do so with Pumpsie Green in July 1959...

Have to admit, the Play-in is adding a lot of intrigue
Everyone’s favorite time of the year is finally here. We’re just days away from the NBA’s Play-in Tournament as eight teams battle for the right to get their spines pulled from them in the first round. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the Play-in when it was first introduced. I thought it water...

Oh no MJ, please don’t even think about trading for Russell Westbrook
MJ, please don’t do this....

The Bills have entered win-now mode this offseason
The Buffalo Bills were 13 seconds away from advancing to consecutive AFC championship games for the first time in 30 years. Then the Bills fell apart on defense, squandering the lead and eventually losing in overtime, 42-36, to the Kansas City Chiefs...

It should be demolition derby time for this Lakers team after finally being put out of their misery
A season that started out with so much hope in Los Angeles came to an end Tuesday night against the Lakers’ I-10 rivals, the Phoenix Suns, 121-110. The Lakers have three remaining games on the schedule, but the 11-point loss to the Suns eliminated LA from play-in contention. So, the Lakers have abso...

Kawhi Leonard was seen at a Clippers practice and there is absolutely a chance it changes the NBA playoffs
A ghost was spotted at the Los Angeles Clippers’ practice yesterday afternoon....

When is HBO green-lighting Whining Time: The story of the 2021-22 Lakers?
I’m not here to defend LeBron James. As recently as two weeks ago, I gave him shit for chasing the scoring title because it’s the only thing he can win this year. James also has enough obsessed, annoying fans willing to defend him by any memes possible, and this pitiful Lakers team was a failure of ...

After Kansas and North Carolina’s thriller it’s official: Transfers are in and one-and-dones are out
College basketball is full of rituals, and one of them is that the day after the season ends a host of publications will release their “way-too-early” preseason rankings, as more attention will be focused on mock drafts and the upcoming NBA Draft....

Becoming Kareem
To capture the intellectual acuity of Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, an actor portraying the seven-footer would need to possess a towering level of gravitas. Winning Time creator Max Borenstein had said casting Kareem was the hardest of the Showtime Lakers. When Solomon Hughes walked through the...

The top 10 clutch scorers in the upcoming NBA Playoffs
The NBA playoffs are just around the corner, and we’ve got tight races in each conference heading down the stretch. Most top teams are usually led by players who can take a game over, especially in the fourth quarter/crunch time. Some players have been left off the list for various reasons like inju...

There go the Rams doing what they do best: Spend dollars
The Los Angeles Rams are doing their best to be the 2000s New York Yankees. While the NFL is a hard-salary capped sport, they are doing their all to keep as much big-named talent on the roster as possible. They were not able to re-sign midseason acquisition Von Miller, so they instead added a big na...

Who are we taking to Qatar?
The USMNT punched their ticket with a true let’s-not-fuck-this-up-royally performance in Costa Rica. So now the attention turns to who are the 23 souls that Gregg Berhalter will be putting on the plane for the tournament. Our intrepid soccer goofuses Sam Fels and Eric Blum have some ideas....
