Go to Source Author: AP News There will be no sneaking up on anybody now as the hottest team in the NBA bubble figures to be in for a stern test Thursday when the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.The Blazers have been in playoff mode for some time, winning five of their last six regular-season games just to get the crack at the play-in game in order to advance to the first round, and then winning that, too, when they knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122 on Saturday.Throughout that late run, though, the Blazers never had to face the same team twice, much less face the same team in consecutive

Go to Source Author: Jon Wertheim Despite tennis' successful return so far, questions about the 2020 U.S. Open still remain, plus thoughts on Jennifer Brady's Lexington win, the Bryan brothers and more tennis news.Hope everyone is safe, sane and masked.• Our most recent podcast featured ATP ascending star Jannik Sinner, who was lovely talking about being a teenage prospect in the age of Corona.• Next: Stacey Allaster, the tournament director, will go through FAQ about the 2020 U.S. Open. • Speaking of, we were told that—pointedly as a one-time exception—the tours and USTA have agreed to permit players to issue messages of social justice on their attire and shoes. There are all sorts of sizing restrictions (as there always are with patches)

Go to Source Author: Ross Dellenger The model includes five hours a week that can be spent on the field in contactless drills.Schools that have canceled their fall seasons will be allowed to practice this fall for up to five hours a week, according to a proposal that’s expected to be approved by the Division I Council later Wednesday.The NCAA Football Oversight Committee approved a recommendation Tuesday to grant those impacted teams 12 hours a week of football work with their players this fall, five of which can be spent on the field in contactless drills and seven of which can be spent in strength and conditioning work and meetings. This somewhat unprecedented hybrid model is a middle ground between the typical

Go to Source Author: AP News The undermanned Brooklyn Nets are picking up playoff experience on the fly.The Nets will be taking lessons learned in their loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series into Game 2 on Wednesday afternoon near Orlando.The NBA defending champion Raptors made an early statement in Monday's series opener by opening a 33-point lead in the second quarter.The Nets put on a surge of their own to cut their deficit to eight points before the Raptors regained control and cruised to a 134-110 victory."They're champions and have played on the big stage before, and seemed like they were trying to deliver an early message," Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn said.

Go to Source Author: AP News The Game 1 result of their Western Conference matchup with the Dallas Mavericks pleased Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, but he wasn't completely happy with the performance.Regardless, Rivers believes there will be improvement Wednesday when the Clippers meet the Mavericks in Game 2 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.The Clippers prevailed 118-110 on Monday. Kawhi Leonard had 29 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals, while Paul George contributed 27 points for Los Angeles. Marcus Morris Sr. added 19 points."We've got a lot to build from. We're going to look at the film and see what we can improve from," said Leonard, who connected on 11-of-21 shots from the floor

Go to Source Author: Jenna West Find out how to watch Bayern Munich vs. Lyon in the Champions League semifinal Wednesday, August 19.Bayern Munich and Lyon will meet Wednesday for a spot in Sunday's Champions League final against PSG.The two sides will face off in the semifinal at Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal, behind closed doors.How to Watch:Time: 3 p.m. ETTV Channel: TUDN USA and UnivisionLive Stream: You can stream the game on fuboTV. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can also watch via CBS All Access.Lyon looks to take down another European heavyweight and set up an all-French final against PSG, which handled RB Leipzig with ease by winning 3-0 in the other semifinal on Tuesday. On its way

Go to Source Author: AP News The Boston Celtics will attempt once again to wear down Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid when the Eastern Conference clubs continue their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series with Game 2 on Wednesday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.The third-seeded Celtics prevailed 109-101 in the series opener, getting 32 points from Jayson Tatum and 29 from frontcourt partner Jaylen Brown.Equally important, the Celtics rotated fresh bodies on Embiid, who scored 11 points in the game's first 7:08, helping the 76ers take a 17-16 lead, but then just 15 more the rest of the way.Embiid did not make a field goal over the final 11:36, with his last hoop -- a 22-footer on the first

Go to Source Author: Emma Baccellieri If only for a moment, it looked like this season might be a redux of the Year of the Pitcher.For the first two weeks of the season, MLB offenses looked... weird.The league batting average hovered around .230—down more than 20 points from 2019 and lower than anything that baseball had seen in decades, roughly around the mark set in the Year of the Pitcher in 1968. There were no major changes in walks or strikeouts, but BABIP (batting average on balls in play) had completely collapsed. That meant a lack of base hits, which tilt the overall offensive numbers significantly. It all prompted a wave of quick analysis—was this the result of changes in pitching strategy? of

Go to Source Author: Jeremy Woo With the 2020 NBA draft lottery finally upon us, The Crossover offers a look at where each team stands.The final stretch of the most protracted draft cycle in NBA history begins in earnest with Thursday’s lottery, determining the fates of the league’s underachievers and letting the first major wave of offseason speculation commence in earnest. Of course, the NBA’s decision to “smooth” the lottery odds and build more equal-opportunity into everyone’s favorite, random, franchise-altering system paid off immediately in 2019, with New Orleans and Memphis making surprise leaps into the No. 1 and No. 2 slots. It so happened that there were two legitimate cornerstone prospects in last year’s draft. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant injected

Go to Source Author: Jimmy Traina Here's some context for the narrative surrounding NBA ratings.1. Here's the thing about television ratings: They can be spun to fit any narrative you want.The NBA's ratings, before coronavirus shut down the league in March, were down from last season. And ratings for the seeding games were down even further.So obviously, you can read those two sentences and make the claim that the NBA is having a viewership problem and leave it at that and offer no context.I would like to add some context, on a narrow scale and on a broad scale.When ratings are down for any sport, it's not because of one reason. There are always multiple things at play. One big problem for