sports news update

The Oklahoma City Thunder win to force a game 7 The Oklahoma City Thunder forced a game seven with a 104-100 win over the Houston Rockets Monday night. SI’s Michael Shapiro and InsidetheThunder's, Eric Gee join Madelyn Burke to break down this closely contested Game 6.

Iowa State will allow fans to attend its season opener next month amid the coronavirus pandemic. Iowa State will allow fans to attend its season opener next month amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Cyclones announced Monday they will allow 25,000 fans to attend their September 12 game against Louisiana at Jack Trice Stadium, though health and safety measures will be mandated.

Miami Heat took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals over Milwaukee Monday night Jimmy Butler had a career playoff high 40 points as the Miami Heat took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals over Milwaukee Monday night. Heat reporter Shandel Richardson joins Madelyn Burke to break down Butler’s historic performance.

Brandon Ingram has been named the NBA's Most Improved Player of the 2019-2020 season. Brandon Ingram has been named the NBA's Most Improved Player of the 2019-2020 season. Ingram edged out Heat forward Bam Adebayo who came in second in voting, and Dallas's Luka Doncic, who was a distant third-place finisher for the award.

The Denver Nuggets will be seeking a first in franchise history, while the Utah Jazz are looking to avoid one, when the Northwest Division rivals meet in Game 7 of their NBA first-round playoff series Tuesday night near Orlando. The Nuggets have ridden a scoring explosion by Jamal Murray to earn consecutive wins and necessitate a win-or-go-home series finale for both teams. The winner earns the right to tackle the second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals. Playing in the sixth Game 7 in the franchise's NBA history, the third-seeded Nuggets will be attempting to advance for the first time ever in a best-of-seven in which they fell behind 3-1. Only 11 teams in the NBA's history have pulled off the series comeback from such a deficit. Denver played a pair of seven-gamers last year, beating San Antonio in the first round before falling to Portland in the Western Conference semifinals. The sixth-seeded Jazz will also be taking their sixth swing at...

The Cyclones will kick off their season against Louisiana on Sept. 12. Iowa State will allow fans to attend its season opener at Jack Trice Stadium next month amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Cyclones announced Monday that approximately 25,000 spectators are expected to attend their Sept. 12 matchup against Louisiana.  In a letter to fans , athletic director Jamie Pollard said the crowd will consist of season ticket holders only. Everyone in attendance must wear a face covering at all times, and anyone who refuses to wear one will be denied access and/or removed from the stadium. No tailgating will be permitted, and Pollard asked everyone to "honor other fans' wishes for physical distancing." "An important factor in the decision to allow fans is our belief that Cyclone fans are willing to adhere to our mitigation measures," Pollard wrote. "The purpose of this letter is to ask for your support in helping create a safe environment while also providing ...

Ingram received 42 first-place votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earned 326 total points. Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has been named the NBA’s most improved player in a season that saw him bounce back from a life-altering blood clot and a trade from the team that drafted him second-overall in 2016. Ingram, who came to New Orleans as part of a block-buster trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, averaged a team-leading and career-best 23.8 points per game while hitting 46.3% of his shots. He also became an NBA All-Star for the first time. “It goes back to last March, me getting injured, and not being able to be back on the court until September,” Ingram said on a Zoom call Monday with TNT after being informed he had won the award by his parents. “That’s very little time to start preseason and to start the regular season, but I was ready for it. Since Day 1...I just wanted to put in my work every single day and just get the best...

The Toronto Raptors will look to rebound from a sluggish Game 1 loss when they take on the Boston Celtics in the second game of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday evening near Orlando. The Raptors easily were turned away 112-94 in the first contest of the series Sunday, never leading in the game after trailing by 19 in the first quarter. Toronto shot 36.9 percent as a team, 25.0 percent from 3-point range and didn't look close to the club that put up 150 points in finishing off a four-game sweep of the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs' first round a week earlier. "Tough day for us, right?" said Raptors coach Nick Nurse after the defeat. "Nothing was much fun out there today. "They were great. We weren't very good. So we're going to have to bounce back." Losing has been an unfamiliar feeling for Toronto in the NBA bubble -- the team had only dropped one game during seeding, a 122-100 setback against Boston. The Rapt...

Using Clay Helton as a measuring stick, how much pressure are these nine coaches in heading into the fall? Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (Austin Peay turnover top hat sold separately):  MORE DASH: Here Goes...Something | 10 Intriguing Debuts THIRD QUARTER: PANDEMIC JOB SECURITY Behold, the spellbinding longevity of Clay Helton (21) . The USC coach has the lowest winning percentage of any full-time coach of the Trojans since Paul Hackett was fired in 2000—and yet he perseveres, 62 games into a tenure that has no end in sight. Circumstances have conspired to make Helton the poster boy for newfound job security in the normally treacherous realm of college football coaching. Helton went 5–7 in 2018 but wasn’t fired because his boss, Lynn Swann, had given him a lavish contract extension a few months earlier and might not have had any idea how to run a search for someone better. Helton went 8–5 in 2019 and kept his job because USC forced ...

Carmelo Anthony proved he can still play, but there will need to be some deep discussions about his role before he can return to play for Portland. Every weekday, SI’s Chris Mannix will check-in with his Bubble Bits, a quick hit on something notable from inside the NBA’s campus LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla – News, notes and observations while wondering if we can make this Jamal Murray-Donovan Mitchell duel a best-of-15 … · Carmelo Anthony says he thinks he has found a home in Portland. Do the Blazers feel the same way? There’s no question the decision to sign Anthony, who inked a one-year, veteran’s minimum (roughly $2 million) deal with the Blazers last November, paid off. Anthony averaged 15.4 points and 6.3 assists this season with the Blazers, mostly at power forward. In the playoffs, Skinny ‘Melo shifted to small forward and averaged 15.2 points, knocking down nearly 40% of his threes. Can Anthony, 36, still be a productive small forward? The Blazers frontcourt of Jusuf Nurkic a...

Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach are among those coaching in a new environment heading into the 2020 season. Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (Alabama Fauci Cup trophy photo ops sold separately, masks mandatory: MORE DASH: Here Goes...Something SECOND QUARTER: NEW FACES, NEW PLACES The 10 coaching debuts The Dash is most interested in seeing this fall: State of Mississippi (11). This was already the weirdest state in America when it comes to college football, and now they’ve added Lane Kiffin in Oxford and Mike Leach in Starkville. Let the eccentricity ripple. Kiffin has a quarterback battle to sort out between dual-threat John Rhys Plumlee and Matt Corral; Leach seems likely to go with Stanford grad transfer K.J. Costello but has holdover Garrett Shrader as well. The battle for fifth place in the SEC West has never been dull—especially last year, when Elijah Moore memorably lifted his leg —but now there are fresh personalities added to the sh...

Week 1 has arrived without many real answers to questions on how to handle the possibility of COVID-19 related game postponements. Before the Pac-12 decided against playing a fall football season, conference medical experts and administrators began exploring the tricky issue of developing policies for in-season interruptions. How many COVID-related cases makes a team ineligible to play? What exactly determines a no-contest or a postponement? Who has the final say on these decisions? “It becomes a very difficult calculation,” says Doug Aukerman, Oregon State’s team doctor and the chair of the Pac-12 medical advisory board who was part of the discussions. “You have to think about a lot of different pieces.” Week 1 of college football—at least the FBS version—has arrived without many real answers to those pressing questions. In just three days, Southern Miss hosts South Alabama and Central Arkansas plays UAB to kickoff what is sure to be the most bizarre football season in modern A...

Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg spoke with SI senior writer Chris Mannix, who is in the bubble, about Toronto's concern level when it comes to the play of the Raptors forward. Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam struggled as the Boston Celtics won game one of that series convincingly. If the Raptors have any chance of successfully defending their NBA title, they will surely need more from Siakam. Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg spoke with SI senior writer Chris Mannix, who is in the bubble, about Toronto's concern level when it comes to the play of the Raptors forward. 

Jamal Murray has been sensational for the Denver Nuggets this postseason, but after he dropped 50 points to help force a game seven against the Utah Jazz, he was emotional as well. Murray cited George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, whose images appear on his shoes, as a source of strength and inspiration. Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg spoke with SI's Corey Parson about Murray's breakout performance in the bubble, as well as his and others continued use of the NBA platform. For more NBA coverage: NBA Rumors: Nets Interested in Spurs' Gregg Popovich as Next Head Coach SI Survey: Doctors Say They'd Play in the NBA and NHL, but not NFL and MLB NBA Power Rankings: Where Each Team Currently Stands In the Playoffs

Jamal Murray’s second 50-point game of the series was inspired by the memory of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. “These shoes give me life” Jamal Murray had the game of a lifetime on Sunday night, and he credits the emotional pain he played through with helping to propel him.  Murray had a lights-out shooting night, going 17-of-24 from the floor (including 9-of-12 from three) on his way to scoring 50 points in a 119–107 win to force a Game 7 against the Jazz.  It was Murray’s second 50-point game of the series. In the regular season, he never scored more than 39 points in a game and topped 30 just six times. He’s taken it to another level in the last three games of this playoff series, though. After dropping 50 in a narrow loss in Game 4, Murray had 42 in a Game 5 victory and then 50 again on Sunday. The only players to have multiple 50-point games in the same playoff series are Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Murray and Donovan Mitchell, who did it in Game 1 and Game 5...

College football is back. After this Summer it is kind of hard to believe but the sport has officially kicked off. However, how much different will this season look compared to what fans are used to? Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg spoke with SI senior writer Pat Forde to get his assessment on what to expect from this year as well as his thoughts on the current mood around college football. For more college football coverage: MMQB: Anthony Lynn on His COVID and Chargers’ QBs, the Miraculous Alex Smith, College Football’s MessPodcast: Why College Football Has No Consensus From Medical ExpertsThe Media Canceled College Football? I'll Take the Credit, Thanks

Jamal Murray extended his torrid run with 50 more points, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 119-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Jamal Murray-Donovan Mitchell duel will be settled in the first Game 7 in the bubble. Murray extended his torrid run with 50 more points, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 119-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night. Murray had his second 50-point game of the series to equal Mitchell, who finished with 44 in this one. No player has ever had more in an entire postseason. They will go at it one more time Tuesday night, with the winner advancing to face the Los Angeles Clippers, who finished off the Dallas Mavericks in six games on the same court a few hours earlier. Murray and his teammates are trying to become the 12th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a series and the first since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers completed the only one of those comebacks that came in the NBA Finals. “They ...

In addition to the series-saving performances from their celebrated trio of skilled guards, the Oklahoma City Thunder placed so much ballyhoo on the defensive effort of rookie Luguentz Dort that it was all but guaranteed the Houston Rockets would devise a suitable counterattack. In Game 5 last Saturday, the Rockets proved much more deliberate in making sure Dort felt the body of a screener as he defended James Harden, and the result was favorable. Harden produced his most efficient showing of the series and the Rockets rolled to a 114-80 victory that secured a 3-2 series lead and an opportunity to close out Oklahoma City on Monday near Orlando. Harden scored a game-high 31 points on just 15 shots while playing only 28 minutes. Harden recorded an effective field goal percentage of 86.7 percent and thrived by capitalizing on solid screens set against Dort and by exploiting alternate defenders when the Thunder allowed the switch. "First thing Dort is a very good defender but his ...

This season has provided a lot of hope for the future of the Mavericks franchise, here to talk more about the Mavs season is Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com The Dallas Mavericks looked as if they could pull off a comeback in the middle of the forth quarter in Sunday's Game Six against the Clippers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. However, they could not pull out the win. This season has provided a lot of hope for the future of the Mavericks franchise, here to talk more about the Mavs season is Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com 

Farbod Esnaashari joins Madelyn Burke to discuss the Clippers Game 6 win The Clippers have eliminated the Dallas Mavericks and will advance to the Western Conference Semifinals. Farbod Esnaashari joins Madelyn Burke to discuss the Clippers Game 6 win.

The Celtics jumped out to a 19-point lead by halftime in their blow-out win over the Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. • As anticipated series openers go, this one was a dud:  The Raptors and Celtics entered the Eastern Conference semifinals white hot. Boston was the only one that stayed that way, beating Toronto 112-94 in Sunday's Game 1. The Celtics led wire-to-wire, building a 19-point first half lead that Toronto couldn’t recover from. Jayson Tatum (21 points) and Marcus Smart (21) led the way, two of six Boston players in double-figures. On August 7, the Celtics shellacked the Raptors by 22. They nearly matched that on Sunday What happened to Toronto ? The Raps have a history of playing poorly in Game 1’s, but this was ugly. The vaunted Toronto defense was shredded in this one. Boston shot 47% from the floor and 43.6% from three. Corner threes were a huge problem for the Raptors. Boston’s drive-and-kick offense found wide open shooters in the corners...

Jimmy Butler and Giannis Antetokounmpo go head-to-head when the fifth-seeded Miami Heat and top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks open a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series Monday night at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando. The All-Star forwards dueled just once in the regular season, with Butler getting the upper hand in the Heat's 105-89 home win on March 2. Butler contributed 18 points to the win, while Antetokounmpo was held far below his average with 13 points to go with 15 rebounds and just three assists. Butler sat out both other Miami-Milwaukee meetings in the regular season. The Heat won 131-126 in overtime on the road on the season's opening weekend in October, before the Bucks finally got into the win column with a 130-116 triumph inside the NBA bubble earlier this month. The Heat (2-1) were the only Eastern Conference team to win a season series with the Bucks this year. Dallas (2-0) and Denver (2-0) also accomplished the feat among Western ...

The 2020 season debut of Forde-Yard Dash includes a scouting report on how the 2020 season will be different from any of the 150 that preceded it. Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (Central Arkansas national championship merchandise sold separately):   FIRST QUARTER: HERE GOES … SOMETHING We have arrived at the soft launch of a strange season. We are tiptoeing into college football, when we are accustomed to a full charge like Ralphie thundering around Folsom Field and a marching band strutting across the grass. Week Zero featured one game, between FCS opponents. It was an entertaining and exciting game, a welcome return for those of us who have been jonesing since January, but still. Now here comes a nine-game Week One slate that consists of odds and ends—some Group of Five conference alphabet soup, plus BYU-Navy as the downsized headliner on Labor Day night. Better than nothing, certainly. (As long as playing games doesn’t lead to a viru...

Kemba Walker and Daniel Theis each had their first career playoff double-doubles in Sunday's game The Celtics beat the Raptors 112-94 in a dominating Game 1 win. Kemba Walker and Daniel Theis each had their first career playoff double-doubles as Boston takes a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

After NBA players decided to sit out to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, LeBron James discusses how he wanted to create tangible change with a plan. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Anytime there’s a significant event, there’s a reflexive desire to know everything . How, why, when . And events don’t come much bigger than NBA players' decision to resume playing after a two-day strike spawned by the shooting of Jacob Blake, the 29-year old Wisconsin man shot seven times by a police officer. We want to know what happened. And we want to know LeBron James’s role in it. James is the face of the NBA. At 35, he remains the league’s biggest star. His words carry weight with many players. A decision by James to leave the bubble would have likely ended the NBA season. In the days since, er, the decision, James has been silent. When the Lakers held their media availability on Friday, the team sent out Danny Green. It was just before 1 a.m. when James settled into a chair to answer questio...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) While the ultimate objective is to win a title, LeBron James said the Los Angeles Lakers achieved a key goal against the Portland Trail Blazers - and it wasn't simply to win the first-round playoff series. It was improvement. ''We got better throughout the course of the series,'' James said. ''We knew we were coming into a series versus a hot Portland team that was playing the best basketball inside the bubble along with Phoenix. So we wanted to just come in and try to work our game, get better and better as the games went on, as the series went on. And I believe we did that.'' James had 36 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and the Lakers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals, beating the short-handed Blazers 131-122 in Game 5 on Saturday night. Anthony Davis had a playoff-best 43 points for the top-seeded Lakers in their first playoff appearance since 2013. The Lakers hadn't won a playoff series since 20...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) Russell Westbrook returned. Dennis Schroder left. That was a fortunate turn of events for the Houston Rockets. James Harden scored 31 points, and Westbrook came back from an injury to face his former team in the playoffs for the first time, helping the Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-80 on Saturday night for a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series. ''We've missed him the first four games. Now we've got him, and let's see what we can do,'' Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. ''I knew he was going to be a little rusty, but he gave us a nice little spark.'' A two-time scoring champion and the 2016-17 league MVP, Westbrook averaged 27.1 points in his first season in Houston but had played just one game since Aug. 4 because of a strained right quadriceps -- missing the Rockets' first four playoff games. He finished with seven points, six rebounds and seven assists in 23 minutes against team w...