The NBA complaint department has been hard at work this season. If someone prompted ChatGPT to write a report for the 2022-23 product it would be titled “The National Load Management Association: How street clothes became more noticeable than basketball uniforms.” Throw in an All-Star Game with the intensity of a shootaround, and the pre-playoff NBA product was giving serious clearance rack vibes. People who have paid for regular-season games in which stars were resting, and for an all-star event that was a game in title only won’t get refunds for those tickets, but NBA fans across the nation received restitution from the players with an outstanding weekend of action. It started with a Thirsty Thursday teaser, with the Boston Celtics defeating the Indiana Pacers in overtime, and the Philadelphia 76ers enduring a torrential early 3-point shooting performance from the Memphis Grizzlies to pull out a victory. Friday’s first nationally televised game was a dud with the Milwaukee Bucks walloping the Miami Heat 128-99 and the second was a decent watch. The Phoenix Suns held off the scrappy Oklahoma City Thunder sans their all-star — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The late game though, that 10:30 p.m. est Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Clippers matchup turned out to be a game for the record books. The Kings won in double overtime —176-175 — in what was the second-highest-scoring in NBA history. Malik Monk threw down a double-pump slam in traffic on his way to 45 points on the night. Russell Westbrook dished out 16 assists in his Clippers debut. Kawhi Leonard played the most regular-season minutes of his NBA career and was still able to play 33 minutes in another overtime game two nights later in a 134-124 loss to the Denver Nuggets. It was more of the same throughout the rest of the weekend. The 76ers and Celtics played in a thrilling potential playoff preview in the NBA’s featured Saturday night post-football season slot. The Celtics eked out a 110-107 victory once Joel Embiid’s ¾ court heave was waved off. In another nationally televised game on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers overcame their largest deficit in 20 years to defeat the Dallas Mavericks 111-108, bringing them within a game of the final play-in spot. Oh, and Damian Lillard scored 71 points during the Portland Trail Blazers’ 131-114 victory. An Impressive feat even if it happened against the hapless Houston Rockets. Once again the NBA showed that at its best, it is an entertainment product that can go toe to toe with any other one. With great crowds in Philadelphia and Dallas, and individual greatness by Leonard, Monk, and Lillard, the NBA was truly FANtasic over the last few days. That level of play, however, does give credence to good-faith criticisms about the product that has put out for fan consumption on a regular basis this season. Of course, it’s unrealistic for the NBA to be at its high-flying, clutch-shot-making best throughout an entire 82-game schedule. Humans can’t be expected to be at their best all of the time, and most of us don’t jump and land on hardwood courts for six-eight months every year. Still, the way that the league roared out of the All-Star break, if the NBA wants to solve any issues with television ratings that is certainly a great way to do so. Sure there will still be millions of young people out there who consume the sport through TikTok and gossip blogs but there is always a market for thrilling television. Last weekend showed that the NBA can still thrill with the best of them. Of course, it won’t last with star players surely on their way out of uniform and back to their unique wardrobes for select nights, as certain teams gear up for the postseason and others for the May draft lottery. But for one weekend, whether intentional or not, at least the NBA acknowledged that it needed to put in some literal overtime to show some fan appreciation. Especially after that bonfire gathering disguised as an All-Star Game.
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Controversies continue to plague the Premier League, with the 115 charges for financial wrongdoing still hanging over Manchester City. What s more, the reigning champions have now launched legal proceedings against the league as well.
Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams believes the English top flight needs to ensure it remains as competitive as possible in these circumstances.
We ve spent £200m here at Arsenal just to get near to them
Tony Adams on Man City s 115 charges
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL)
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Eight teams appear to be in the race to qualify for next season s Champions League by finishing in the top four in the Premier League, and Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is obviously aware that it won t be easy for his team to achieve that goal.
United are currently fifth with 26 points, three less than Tottenham Hotspur in fourth and four less than Newcastle in third, but with a game in hand on both those rivals.
“We are aware that competition is tough.”
Erik ten Hag on the race for the top four.
— Football Daily (@footballdaily)
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Best Odds: 4/7
Bookmaker:
Two nations who are still looking to pick up their first victory at this year s Gold Cup, defending champions Mexico and Guatemala will meet at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas this week.
Guatemala
Starting with Guatemala, while they might have managed to open this year s Gold Cup riding a real high, they failed to lay much of a glove on El Salvador. Hugely outplayed when they made the trip to the Toyota Stadium earlier in the week, interim boss Rafael Loredo saw his side get hit with a deserved 2-0 defeat in their Group A opener. Only managing to snatch a spot at this year s tournament as a late replacement and with no time to complete any real preparations, it is no surprise that Los Chapines are tipped as a landslide underdog to make any k…
Paddy McCarthy has put pen to paper on a one-year contract extension at Crystal Palace, tying him to the club until the end of 2015-16.
The Irish defender moved to Selhurst Park from Charlton Athletic in 2008, and was almost an ever-present during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns.
Since Palace won promotion to the Premier League under Ian Holloway in 2013, McCarthy has made just one top-flight appearance, but the club confirmed on Friday that they had agreed terms with the 31-year-old.
McCarthy is now working under Neil Warnock for a second time, after the latter was the man to bring McCarthy to Palace six years ago.
He s the same old gaffer that left last time, he said.
Obviously since the last time he was here he s had the added experience in…
Pele leaves an inestimable legacy after changing football with his sporting artistry and genius , the Brazil great s former side New York Cosmos said on Thursday.
The three-time World Cup winner s death was confirmed by Sao Paulo s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital after he suffered multiple organ failure.
Pele had battled colon cancer prior to his passing, with his family travelling to be alongside him earlier in December after he had been moved to palliative care when his body stopped responding to treatment.
The 82-year-old has been lauded by numerous tributes from sporting greats, clubs and various organisations after his iconic career with Brazil and Santos.
He scored 643 goals in 659 matches over an 18-year period for Brazilian side Santos before r…
Marcus Rashford has revealed he was benched for Manchester United’s Premier League win over Wolves after he overslept and was late for a team meeting.
The in-form United forward was among the substitutes for the Premier League clash at Molineux on New Year’s Eve, but came on to score the only goal of the game.
Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag said the England international was left out of the starting line-up for a breach of discipline and Rashford confirmed he was punished for staying in bed too long.
I was a little bit late for a meeting, he told BT Sport. I just slept in and overslept. It s a mistake that can happen.
[I was] obviously disappointed not to play, but I understand the decision. I think we can draw a line under it and move on.
5 …
Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette has talked up the prospect of playing for Barcelona after confirming that he wants to leave at the end of the season.
The 25-year-old has frequently been linked with a move to a European giant after developing into one of Ligue 1 s most devastating attacking players since his senior debut in 2010.
Lyon claimed last August that they had rejected a €35million bid from Arsenal for Lacazette, who has scored 18 goals in 17 league games this season, while Barca reportedly made enquiries before signing Paco Alcacer from Valencia.
The France international says he feels that the end of this season will be the right time for him to move on from Lyon and admits it would be a dream to move to Camp Nou.
I think that the right moment…
Serie A fallen giants have apparently begun preparations for the new season and a new era as the triple-winners from 2010 prepare a detailed plan to rebuild their squad.
Inter reportedly made an agreement to sign young Atalanta defender Alessandro Bastoni, the latest player to emerge from Atalanta’s youth set-up.
With 5 goals to his name for the Primavera side, the exciting 17-year-old has also been involved in 119 minutes of Serie A action this season.
Inter Milan director of sport Piero Ausilio has personally visited Atalanta’s counterpart Tullio Tinti with the two men making an arrangement on a sale that would see Bastoni remain at Atalanta for another year, before moving to Inter in 2018.
La Gazzetta dello Sport has recently suggested that Basto…
All four English clubs will be quietly confident of making it to the knockout stages of the Champions League
The draw for the Champions League was made yesterday and it handed English clubs mixed fortunes.
Champions Manchester City was drawn in the same group as Bayern Munich, while Liverpool was drawn alongside holders Real Madrid.
Arsenal will meet Dortmund for a second year running and Chelsea look to have been handed the most comfortable draw of all the English clubs.
Manchester City
Manchester City faces Bayern Munich for a second consecutive season and will also face Serie A runners-up Roma and another team that the Citizens are familiar with CSKA Moscow. The group is considered this season’s group of death.
City defeated the Bava…
Liverpool would be willing to sell Daniel Sturridge for the price of £15million, according to .
Sturridge arrived to Liverpool in January 2013, and since then he has made 133 appearances and scored 63 goals for the Reds. He was a vital ingredient in the team that came agonizingly close to winning the Premier League in 2013/14, forming an incredibly lethal partnership with Luis Suarez. Between them, the duo scored 52 goals in the league alone in that season.
However, injuries have plagued his career ever since and he has always been a little knock away from spending significant time out of action. With manager Jürgen Klopp extremely happy with the current attacking trio, Sturridge s chances of breaking back into the starting XI at Anfield are very slim at best. He spe…