Celtics’ road trip was net positive despite some cause for concern: 13 observations

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[ad_1] After the Celtics’ longest road trip of the season, Jaylen Brown just wanted to get the heck home. Me? I just wanted to jot down observations from the six-game trek. 1. One day later, I am still trying to fathom the end of the Celtics’ win against the Lakers. Rarely does a game swing so violently in both directions. It would have been a brutal loss for Boston, especially after two straight losses entering the game, but became a meaningful victory. In the aftermath, Jayson Tatum said the comeback…

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Rats, cats and the birth of a new era of Houston basketball

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[ad_1] It was early in the 2014 school year and the Houston Cougars needed somewhere to practice. The main court inside Hofheinz Pavilion was being resurfaced and the athletic department’s only available practice courts were reserved by other sports. Of course, no one told first-year coach Kelvin Sampson any of this. He scrambled to find a gym for the week’s preseason practices. Sampson booked a two-hour block for the courts at the university’s student rec center. Not ideal, but they’d do. All he needed was 94 feet and two hoops;…

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Everton’s Tom Davies – not your average footballer

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[ad_1] It is easy to forget that Tom Davies is still only 24 years old.  Nearly six years have passed since his magnificent solo goal in a 4-0 win over Manchester City that announced his arrival as a Premier League player. That day, as he slalomed his way through Pep Guardiola’s side, evading challenges from Yaya Toure, Gael Clichy and John Stones before finishing with an impudent dink, it felt like we were witnessing the birth of a new star.  Since then, Davies has captained Everton, played in Europe for his…

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After Steph Curry’s shoulder injury, what’s next for struggling Warriors?

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[ad_1] INDIANAPOLIS — About 30 minutes after the Warriors dropped to 2-13 on the road, Steph Curry sat at his Indianapolis locker with his left arm dangling to his side in an immobile position. The training staff wrapped a huge ice pack around the top and back side of his injured shoulder. An already shaky state of affairs for the Warriors had hit an even bigger patch of turbulence. Curry had 38 points on 19 shots late in the third quarter against the Pacers, expending so much energy that he…

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Ryan Reaves makes presence felt in Wild’s win: ‘I kind of hit like a football player’

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[ad_1] ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Reaves flexed his muscle for the first time in a Wild sweater Wednesday night. Figuratively and literally. Like he was on the gridiron, Reaves, the son of a former NFL and CFL football player, the brother of a current CFL defensive lineman and one of the hardest hitters and toughest fighters in the NHL, hit the Detroit Red Wings’ Filip Hronek like a freight train three minutes into Wednesday’s eventual 4-1 Wild win. Not only did it cause the Red Wings to play 57…

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Bulls fall short again in crunchtime, lose overtime battle to Knicks

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[ad_1] CHICAGO — This time, with less than a second left, the Bulls called the right play. Alex Caruso made the right read, Patrick Williams had a great look and the Bulls had yet another chance to seal a victory. With 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation against New York, Williams caught a sideline out of bounds lob pass at the rim from Caruso. Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, however, broke up the game-winning shot and the Bulls went on to lose, 128-120, in a stagnant overtime session in which they managed…

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France, the imperfect back-to-back World Cup finalists

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[ad_1] L’Equipe called it un exploit venu des trefonds, a feat from the depths, and when you look at it that way, as a triumph over adversity as well as a valiant opponent, France’s progression to a second consecutive World Cup final looks that bit more impressive. The performance? Not so much, in truth. France coach Didier Deschamps admitted his team “weren’t perfect” in beating Morocco in Wednesday’s semi-final and that they “weren’t perfect” when they overcame England in the quarter-final either. Over the course of those two matches they…

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Lionel Messi winning World Cup would define him but he’s already among the greatest of all

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[ad_1] There have been times when the weight of a nation’s febrile hopes and dreams appeared too great a burden for Lionel Messi. It made him anxious, sick with nerves. It made the fear of failure unbearable and the pain of defeat even worse. Fernando Signorini, Argentina’s former fitness coach, recalls seeing Messi stagger into their dressing room, zombie-like, after a crushing 4-0 defeat by Germany in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, and collapse to the floor. There he sat, slumped in a gap between two benches, inconsolable, shouting, wailing,…

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