Month: May 2017

Wizards vs. Hawks, NBA playoffs 2017: Schedule, predictions, and news

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This series could be a heated, seven-game prize fight, or a four-game sweep that we cannot have end soon enough. It’s nearly impossible to figure out the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks, and this playoff series has us stumped trying to predict it.

Washington is the Eastern Conference’s most surprising team. John Wall had his best season yet, playing well enough that he could have been considered for the MVP had it not been a historic race, while Bradley Beal finally stayed healthy from front to back, just about. Between those two and the steadily improving Otto Porter Jr., the Wizards are very deserving of their spot as a top-four seed in the conference.

The Thunder never really appeared to have a real shot against the Rockets in this series. No matter how well Russell Westbrook played, the Thunder team as a whole would fall short. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation during the playoffs, but honestly, it was that way all year for him. If nothing else, his final game of the season was a perfect metaphor for what had been going on all year.

Westbrook’s line speaks volumes: 47 points, 10 rebounds, nine Cheap Zach Parise Wild Jerseys assists, 15-of-34 shooting. His fourth quarter stats reveal another layer: four points, 2-of-11 shooting. Let’s go another layer: on his final shot attempt, he stole an offensive rebound from the Rockets, who really should have known better, immediately scored on a layup, and missed a layup in a foolhardy attempt to earn another Denver Broncos Cheap Jerseys possession through offensive rebounding, even though the made shot would have turned it into a three-point game.

You could see right away that Crosby was in bad shape

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There were questions coming into Game 3 on whether or not Holtby was his best to start this series. The Capitals netminder shut down any talk that he’s not up to the task quite forcefully in the victory, as Holtby saved 28 of the 30 shots he faced. The two final-minute goals are hard to pin on him, as Malkin’s beat him at a weird angle and Schultz’s was deflected in front of the net. All with a man up with the goaltender pulled, mind you.

We’ve got a lot to unpack here. Crosby took maybe Direct Cheap Jerseys four good shots in a timeframe of as many seconds. His foot kicked out from behind by Alex Ovechkin, some stick work slashing immediately afterwards, and then the cross-check from Niskanen, all the while his leg was all tangled up underneath him. Not good.

You could see right away that Crosby was in bad shape. He had that awful look in his eyes that anyone hates to see. Crosby would leave the game and not return.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it as best as he could last night. The Penguins need to move forward to Game 4 regardless of what Crosby’s status is. Last night completely confirms and proves that his mantra to his players of “Just Play” is perfect. The team loses Crosby for the night, ends up losing Conor Sheary as well, and they don’t give up. They’re playing with 10 forwards, but they battle back and tie the game and force overtime. It was interesting to see that Sullivan cared not to offer his opinion on the hit. It wasn’t Discount Volleyball Jerseys the same situation across the hall with Barry Trotz, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Do these players regret their decisions to turn pro?

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Philip Rivers turned Tyrell Williams into a 1,000-yard receiver last fall. Just imagine what he can do with Clemson standout Mike Williams. Los Angeles didn’t just supercharge Rivers’ passing game with a new weapon, it also added two dynamic blockers — Forrest Lamp and Dan Feeney — to keep him upright and clear holes for tailback Melvin Gordon.

This moment. Is the worst moment. In sports.

I hate it and I love it and I hate that I love it and I love myself for hating it. It SUCKS. There is nothing more agonizing than the helpless feeling you get watching this on TV. You see the puck. It’s right there. Half of the players missed it. The goalie is somewhere but definitely not in the net. In the half second before you see Carlson race for it, your sports body is yearning to be on the ice in that moment.

Destiny and glory and the sweet release of sports success and hockey playoff hero bliss is right there, holding out its hand for you to take it and run, and you can do absolutely f***-all about it.

You can do nothing. Nothing but watch and wither and die as NHL Jerseys China the play unfolds and bodies fly everywhere and the moment passes.

They might be tired of playing football for no liquid payment, given the immense physical peril the sport puts its players in. Risking your body for free is something any reasonable person might decide not to do.

Do these players regret their decisions to turn pro? Surely some do. Not every career decision is a good one. But I’m quite certain these players know their own needs and goals better than any New Nike NFL Jerseys of us do. It’s hard for us to judge them en masse.

Falcons have figured out how to nail the NFL draft under Dan Quinn

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Each year, teams dream of adding players through the draft who can put them in Super Bowl contention. The Falcons did exactly that over the last two offseasons, and a lot of Atlanta’s draft success is thanks to head coach Dan Quinn.

You can see Quinn’s influence in the selection of strong safety Keanu Neal in last year’s draft. Most mock draft projections had Neal pegged as a second-rounder, but the Falcons selected him with the 17th overall pick in 2016. The pick didn’t earn the team high draft grades, but the Falcons saw how Neal would fit in their defense. They were right. Neal finished his rookie season with 106 tackles and five forced fumbles.

Look, this game was over after a quarter. You can see the actual score after 12 minutes — Bucks 32, Raptors 12 — and if you didn’t watch the game, you might think Toronto was just missing shots and Milwaukee had everything going. No, trust me, if you watched that first quarter, you knew that game was over right in that moment. Indeed, Toronto never even managed the facsimile of a run to get back into the game, losing the second quarter by seven points and the third by five more.

But Antetokounmpo obviously isn’t being asked to carry an enormous load — his teammates are swarming all around him, with Khris Middleton popping off for 20 points in the starting five while Greg Monroe dropped 16 off the bench.

Milwaukee didn’t have this defense during the regular season, not for three games like we’ve seen in this series. Much of that is the Thon Maker effect, as the rookie is rapidly learning just how debilitating his massive arm length and craft foot speed are to an opposing offense. Add in another couple Best Quality Cheap Jerseys dozen feet worth of wingspan from the rest of the starting five, and if they’re playing fundamentally sound American Cheap Jerseys basketball, it’s just so hard to score.

Pat Elflein goes from versatile lineman for Ohio State to Vikings in 2017 NFL draft

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The Ohio State product can play right or left guard and center.

The Vikings traded up and drafted offensive lineman Pat Elflein out of Ohio State with the No. 70 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft.

After redshirting his freshman year, Elflein saw playing time for three seasons at right and left guard before making the transition to center in 2016. Despite only playing the position for one season, he cleaned up in the postseason, being named first-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, Big Ten Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year, and winning the Rimington Trophy.

According to the New York Post’s original report on the lawsuit, a helmet in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton that was supposedly worn by Manning in Super Bowl XLII against the Patriots is one of the dozens of fake items.

Other fake items include “several” Manning jerseys, as well as a pair of 2012 Super Bowl helmets. One of the incidents came in 2005, when Manning allegedly asked Skiba for an old beat-up game helmet, signed it, and then put it on the market as a helmet from his rookie season.

The lawsuit also claims Skiba doctored a helmet from 2008 to make it appear as the Cheap Dolphins Jerseys one Manning wore in the Super Bowl that season. The logical spot for Melifonwu in a defense is as a box safety in the Kam Chancellor mold. But Oakland drafted a hard-hitting strong safety last year in the first round when the team took Karl Joseph.

Sorting out the secondary will be an interesting storyline for the Raiders in 2017 and it could mean Joseph takes over at free safety for Reggie Nelson, freeing up Melifonwu to be Cheap Barcelona Jerseys the thumper in the secondary.