Now that five-time All-Star Anthony Davis has his first taste of a playoff triumph
Kyle Okposo Jersey , he sounds eager to see what’s next.Davis’ Pelicans looked like anything but a shoo-in for the postseason after fellow All-Star DeMarcus Cousins was lost for the season in late January with an
Achilles tear. They needed 81 games just to clinch a playoff spot. They ran the
table during a pressure-packed final five games of the regular season, climbing
to sixth in the Western Conference.
Four games later, New Orleans is on a nine-game winning streak and moving on to the second round of the playoffs for only the second time in 16 seasons since
the NBA returned to the city in 2002.
”A lot of people counted us out after the injury to DeMarcus, so this is amazing,” Davis said following Saturday’s series-clinching, 131-123 victory over
third-seeded Portland. ”But we have to get ready for the second round.”
The Pelicans appear destined to play second-seeded Golden State in Round 2. The Warriors entered Sunday with a chance to sweep their first-round series
against San Antonio.
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry figures that facing the defending champs will be no easy task, even if Stephen Curry struggles to come back from his knee
injury.
”If it is Golden State, we’re playing the NBA champs and we understand that,” said Gentry, adding that he’s a little amused by hearing his former boss, Steve
Kerr, talk about the ”turmoil” the Warriors endured this season. ”I don’t think
it’s turmoil if you win (58) games.”
The Pelicans would not be the favorites against Golden State. But given how they’ve played lately
Auston Matthews Jersey , another upset bid isn’t entirely out of the question – particularly with Curry’s injury casting doubt on when he’ll return
and how effective he’ll be.
New Orleans’ current winning streak included a victory at Golden State. In their first-round series against Portland, the Pelicans proved they could get
considerable scoring from players other than Davis when they needed it.
After Davis led the Pelicans with 35 points in Game 1, Holiday scored a team-high 33 in Game 2. When the series shifted to New Orleans for Game 3,
forward Nikola Mirotic had a team-high 30 points.
Then in Game 4, a determined Davis and Holiday combined for 88 points, with Davis scoring a franchise playoff-record 47 and Holiday capping his 41-point
outing with a clutch 3 and 18-foot jumper in the final minutes.
”Hats off to New Orleans. They played really well,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. ”Their stars put on a show. … They had different people step up at
different times.”
Having a veteran guard like Rajon Rondo to run the offense helped.
Pushing the pace, Rondo racked up 53 assists in four games and mixed in his share of slashing layups when defenses over-committed to Davis or Holiday.
”I came here to win a championship. I didn’t come here to beat a team in the first round or the second round,” said the 32-year-old Rondo, who won a title
with Boston in 2008. ”My expectations were high coming in, knowing the talent I
was playing with.
”We were able to come together as a team that plays for one another. We believe in each other,” Rondo continued. ”This is just one check mark of the
bigger goal that we have in mind. We are going to try to get a couple of days of
rest and come back locked in and ready to go.”
When the final horn sounded on the Blazers’ season
Womens Devante Smith-Pelly Jersey , Portland star guard Damian Lillard exchanged a long hug with Davis. Afterward, Lillard discussed his appreciation
for the Pelicans star, who needed six seasons to experience his first playoff
victory with New Orleans, and who didn’t even get to participate in the playoffs
in four of his first five years in the NBA.
”He’s had it hard. I couldn’t imagine what it’s like going all those years not being able to compete in the postseason when you’re that level of player,”
Lillard said. ”I congratulate him. … You’ve got to give credit where it’s due. I
give him credit for his performance and their team. And he’s also a great dude.
So, you can’t be mad at him.”
Perhaps even the Pelicans next-round opponents will be happy for Davis. But one can bet they won’t be all that happy to have to play against him.
—
Swimmer Ryan Lochte has been suspended until July 2019 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
The 12-time Olympic medalist has been sanctioned for getting an intravenous infusion, a method that broke anti-doping rules.
U.S. officials say Lochte was not using a banned substance. But under anti-doping rules, athletes typically cannot receive IVs unless related to a
hospitalization or through an exemption.
Lochte posted a photo of himself getting the IV in May and that image prompted the investigation. He was entered in four events at the national
championships that start Wednesday in California.
It’s his second suspension since the Rio Olympics. He was banned for 10 months after claiming he and three other U.S. swimmers were robbed at gunpoint
at those 2016 Games, a tale that quickly unraveled.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A prosecutor in the trial of former Tennessee football players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams says they used their status
as athletes to rape a woman in a ”case about power, privilege and
protection.”
Defense lawyers countered that the woman voluntarily had sex with both men before lying out of embarrassment.
The trial for Johnson and Williams got underway Monday, nearly four years after the incident in question. Each is charged with aggravated rape.
Johnson was a star linebacker and Williams a defensive back for Tennessee when a woman says both men raped her in the early morning hours of Nov.
16
Marcus Foligno Jersey , 2014. Johnson and Williams never played for Tennessee again and were indicted on February 2015.
”They pass her back and forth like a rag doll,” Knox County deputy district attorney general Kyle Hixson said in his opening statement. ”To them, that’s all
she was.”
Defense lawyers offered a starkly different account of what happened that night during a party at Johnson’s apartment, which followed a Tennessee victory
over Kentucky.
PRO FOOTBALL
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A county medical examiner says Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Tony Sparano died of heart disease.
The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Monday that the 56-year-old Sparano died of arteriosclerotic heart disease, or hardening of the
arteries. The manner of death is listed as natural.
Sparano died Sunday in Eden Prairie, a Minneapolis suburb. He had been the Vikings’ offensive line coach since 2016.
Sparano began his NFL coaching career in 1999 and had stints as a head coach with the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders.
He was the Dolphins’ head coach from 2008-11 and went 29-32. He went 11-5 and won the AFC East in his first season with Miami.
Sparano also spent time with the Browns, Redskins, Jaguars, Cowboys and 49ers.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) – Mets minor leaguer Tim Tebow is set for hand surgery Tuesday and likely done for the season, dashing his hopes of playing in the majors this
year.
The 30-year-old outfielder will have surgery in New York to remove his broken right hamate bone. He hurt himself last week swinging the bat.
The former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner was hitting .273 with six home runs and 36 RBIs in 84 games for Double-A Binghamton. He doubled in the
Eastern League All-Star Game this month.
Tebow had been considered a candidate for a September call-up by the injury-depleted Mets. The recovery time is six to eight weeks, Mets assistant
general manager John Ricco said.
Tebow had been hitting well lately for the Rumble Ponies during his second full season in the minors.
SPORTS GAMBLING
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – The Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey took in nearly $3.5 million in sports bets during its first nine days of accepting such
bets.
And most of that came from two weekends that sandwiched a dead period for major professional sports caused by baseball’s All-Star break
Womens Samuel Girard Jersey , when there was little to bet on, with basketball and soccer World Cup over, and football and hockey months away from
beginning their seasons.
Meadowlands operator Jeff Gural told The Associated Press it accepted just under $3.5 million worth of sports bets since it began taking them on July
14.
”We did OK,” Gural said Monday. ”Our goal the first weekend was to exceed $1 million which we did. The next four days were quiet with nothing to bet on due
to the All-Star break.”
This past Saturday, with baseball having resumed, the track took in over $650,000, and additional bets on baseball and other sports came in
Sunday.
Miami Dolphins Customized Jerseys
