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Lions advance to first NFC title game since 1991 season with win vs. Buccaneers

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Lions advance to first NFC title game since 1991 season with win vs. Buccaneers

By Larry Holder, Colton Pouncy and Mike Jones

It’s only the second time in NFL history where this statement has been true: The Detroit Lions are one win away from a berth in the Super Bowl.

The Lions pulled away in the fourth quarter after both teams flip-flopped scoring throughout the first three quarters as Detroit knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 in the NFC divisional round on Sunday at Ford Field.

Detroit will travel to face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. The Niners toppled the Green Bay Packers in Saturday’s divisional round matchup.

This will be the Lions’ second NFC Championship Game appearance in the Super Bowl era. Detroit fell to Washington in the 1991 season in its first appearance.

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Rookie tailback Jahmyr Gibbs darted through the middle of the offensive line, then took his cut to the left for a 31-yard touchdown run with 13:13 left in the game to push the Lions ahead 24-17. Then Detroit sealed it when Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 9-yard TD pass to make it 31-17 with 6:22 remaining.

Goff went 30-of-43 passing for 287 yards with two touchdowns resulting in a 103.5 passer rating.

The Bucs managed to cut the lead to 31-23 on the next possession when Baker Mayfield found Mike Evans for a 16-yard TD pass at the 4:41 mark. The two-point conversion attempt failed. Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes picked off Mayfield with 1:33 left, though, to thwart any comeback.

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The Lions’ fourth-quarter scoring sequence erased the trend from the first 45 minutes.

Detroit’s Craig Reynolds punched in a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down to push Detroit up 17-10 with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter. Mayfield helped Tampa Bay tie it up on the ensuing possession with a second game-tying TD by hitting Rachaad White on a screen pass for a 12-yard scoring connection.

Mayfield went 26-of-41 passing for 349 yards with three TDs and two interceptions for a 94.5 passer rating. Evans hauled in eight receptions for 147 yards and one TD.

The back-and-forth scoring trend started in the first half. Detroit broke a 3-3 tie when Goff hit Josh Reynolds on a crossing route for a 9-yard touchdown connection early in the second quarter.

The Athletic has live coverage of Chiefs vs. Bills in the AFC divisional round matchup

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Then Evans added consecutive catches of 27 and 29 yards from Mayfield with less than a minute left put the Bucs at the 2. Mayfield capped off a 92-yard drive by finding Cade Otton on the next play for a 2-yard TD grab to make it 10-10 heading into halftime.

Lions fans, this is happening!

The Lions are going to the NFC Championship. Yes, you read that right.

Those Lions are one win away from a Super Bowl appearance. They’re in this position because they took care of business against the Buccaneers, making every play they needed to. The offense put up 31 points, keeping its foot on the gas pedal and capitalizing in the red zone. The defense kept the Lions in this one until the offense was ready, and made the game-sealing play via a Barnes interception. That was a complete win, in the playoffs, for this Lions team. Detroit advances.

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The Lions will face their biggest test yet, traveling to San Francisco to take on the 49ers. It won’t be easy going against Christian McCaffrey and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but these Lions believe they can play anywhere, against anyone, and win. We’ll see what they have in store next week. — Colton Pouncy, Lions beat writer

GO DEEPER

Lions are winning playoff games and changing perceptions of what they can accomplish

Tampa Bay’s valiant fight comes up short

Tampa Bay put up a valiant fight, but in the fourth quarter just couldn’t come up with the stops needed to overtake the Lions. And then the Detroit defense stepped up big with the interception to seal the game. Detroit was just the better team. This game — especially in the second half — felt like a prize fight, but the Lions were the slightly more skilled and slightly more talented fighter and prevailed.

This one will sting for a while for Mayfield, but he delivered some very clutch plays under pressure for the Bucs and gave them a chance until that final possession. — Mike Jones, national NFL writer

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(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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Joel Embiid 'disappointed' with Knicks fans taking over 76ers arena

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Joel Embiid 'disappointed' with Knicks fans taking over 76ers arena

As Jalen Brunson stood at the free throw line at the end of the New York Knicks’ Game 4 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, a roar of “MVP” chants filled Wells Fargo Center. 

A large contingent of Knicks fans traveled about two hours south of Madison Square Garden to support their New York team, and they were rewarded with a 47-point performance from Brunson as the series returns to the Big Apple 3-1 in the Knicks’ favor.

And some of those fans leaving Wells Fargo Center stood in the lobby and were heard chanting, “F— Embiid,” referencing the 76ers’ reigning MVP, Joel Embiid. 

Joel Embiid (21) of the Philadelphia 76ers shoots over Isaiah Hartenstein of the New York Knicks during the first quarter in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on April 28, 2024. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

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Speaking with reporters after the loss, Embiid was not happy with the Knicks’ presence in the building.

“Disappointing. I love our fans,” Embiid said, per SNY. “Think it’s unfortunate, and I’m not calling them out, but it is disappointing. Obviously, you got a lot of Knicks fans, and they’re down the road, and I’ve never seen it, and I’ve been here for 10 years.”

“Yeah, it kind of pi—s me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town. They’ve always shown up, and I don’t think that should happen. Yeah. It’s not OK.”

JALEN BRUNSON SETS NEW KNICKS PLAYOFF RECORD WITH BRILLIANT GAME 4 PERFORMANCE IN WIN OVER 76ERS

It wasn’t just when Brunson took his final free throws of the game that Knicks fans started getting rowdy in enemy territory. All game long, Knicks fans were heard shouting, chanting and urging their team on as they tried to match the home Sixers fans.

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Joel Embiid fights for ball

Joel Embiid (21) of the Philadelphia 76ers fights for the ball with Isaiah Hartenstein of the New York Knicks during the second quarter in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on April 28, 2024. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

“This Philadelphia fan base – I’ve said this before – is very relentless, very passionate. I’m an Eagles fan, I would know. Seeing the Knicks here, hearing the Knicks here was pretty cool, and it’s awesome,” Brunson said. 

“The fans are special,” Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein said. “It’s probably the closest you’ll ever get to European fans.”

Embiid, who finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds, shot 7 of 19 from the field, though he was 12 of 14 from the charity stripe. He had his home fans screaming in the first quarter when he dropped 10 of the team’s 27 points to take an early lead against the Knicks.

However, the Knicks battled back, and Brunson was the one leading the way. OG Anunoby had 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Miles “Deuce” McBride dropped 13 points off the bench.

Joel Embiid reacts on court

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers is shown during the fourth quarter in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on April 28, 2024. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

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New York was able to win one on the road as it heads back to MSG, where their fan presence will be even louder in hopes the Knicks can end the series on Tuesday night.

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Dodgers' winning streak ends when late rally fizzles Sunday

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Dodgers' winning streak ends when late rally fizzles Sunday

After six consecutive wins this week, three empty at-bats doomed the Dodgers on Sunday.

Despite trailing the Toronto Blue Jays by multiple runs for most of the afternoon at Rogers Centre — in a game the hosts got a big second-inning rally from their offense, a dominant start from right-hander Kevin Gausman and a bunch of dazzling plays defensively — the door to a Dodgers comeback opened in the top of the eighth inning.

But, in the kind of squandered sequence the team had avoided during its return to form, the Dodgers failed to capitalize, wasting a bases-loaded situation in their eventual 3-1 loss to the scuffling Blue Jays.

“All the games we’ve lost, we’ve had a chance or opportunity to come back and win,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “We just haven’t had that big hit. Kind of the same thing today.”

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It was Muncy who came closest to flipping the script in the eighth inning, when the Dodgers (18-12) finally found life against the Blue Jays bullpen following Gasuman’s seven-inning start.

Austin Barnes drew a leadoff walk. Mookie Betts smacked a double into the gap. And with no outs in the inning, the team had the heart of its order coming to the plate.

It didn’t make a difference.

Shohei Ohtani popped up after chasing two fastballs out of the zone. Teoscar Hernández struck out after Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked in front of him. And then, Muncy watched a deep towering drive die at the warning track, just missing extra bases (if not more) on a 370-foot flyout hit a little too high to clear the wall in right center.

“Can’t really say I missed it,” Muncy said, noting the ball’s lofted 42-degree launch angle. “Just hit it too high.”

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That all but sealed the Dodgers’ first defeat since last Saturday, a setback in which — well before their close call in the eighth inning — almost nothing seemed to break their way.

Right-hander Michael Grove got knocked around at the start of a scheduled bullpen game, giving up three runs on three hits — including Alejandro Kirk‘s homer — in the bottom of the second.

Dodgers pitcher Michael Grove delivers against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning Sunday.

(Mark Blinch / Getty Images)

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His counterpart, Gausman, halted a poor start to the year by giving up just one run on a Freeman solo blast in the sixth.

Every time the Dodgers hit the ball hard, the Blue Jays (14-15) found a way to avoid damage.

A deep drive from Ohtani in the first inning was snagged by center fielder Daulton Varsho, who turned his body at the last second before making a leaping catch as he crashed into the wall.

A fourth-inning fly ball from Freeman was caught on an equally athletic play by right fielder George Springer, who drifted to the warning track before flashing the leather with a jumping grab.

Then, Springer went full sprawl on an Andy Pages line drive in the ninth, extinguishing any hope of a late Dodgers comeback — and unlikely extension of their week-long winning streak.

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“They made plays,” Roberts said. “It was a good ballgame.”

Indeed, there were some silver linings Roberts and his team took from Sunday.

Freeman’s homer was just his second of the year, ending a month-long drought that has coincided with frustrating inconsistency for the former MVP — despite his .306 batting average on the year.

“Starting to more often [take] a good swing, rather than feeling one good swing every couple days,” Freeman said. I’m not trying to hit home runs. I don’t care. I just know once the swing is there for being a good hitter, the power will come behind it.”

Pages also continued his strong start to his first MLB call-up, collecting two more hits for a .302 batting average (and .861 on-base-plus-slugging percentage) through his first 11 career games.

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“I’m happy that he’s getting a good little run,” Roberts said this week of Pages, the club’s top outfield prospect. “He’s a hitter first with some power behind it. I like it.”

The one Dodgers star who didn’t do much Sunday: Ohtani, who cemented only his second hitless game in the last two weeks with his pop-out in the eighth inning.

Ohtani chased an inside fastball on the first pitch of the at-bat, fouling it off to the screen. Then, he swung outside the zone again on a heater near his chest, recording the first of three empty outs that ultimately decided the game.

Roberts didn’t criticize Ohtani’s swing choice, arguing that while the pitch was high, it was a ball “that I thought he could drive.”

But, like so many other moments Sunday, the swing amounted to nothing, sending the Dodgers to their first defeat in more than a week.

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Charles Barkley rips Pelicans after playoff exit, takes swipe at Texas city

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Charles Barkley rips Pelicans after playoff exit, takes swipe at Texas city

Charles Barkley criticized the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday as they were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in their playoff series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams each had at least 20 points as Oklahoma City won the game, 106-85. It’s the first playoff series the Thunder have won since they made it to the NBA Finals in 2016.

Charles Barkley on air before the Final Four semifinal game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack at State Farm Stadium on April 6, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

As NBA fans would jokingly say, the Pelicans are headed for a vacation in Cancun, Mexico. But the Pelicans were going somewhere worse, Barkley asserted on TNT, because of how badly the team played in the series loss to Oklahoma City. The Basketball Hall of Famer said they were headed for Galveston, Texas.

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“Where they going, Chuck?” Shaquille O’Neal asked.

LEBRON JAMES EXPLODES ON DARVIN HAM DURING LAKERS’ GAME 4 VICTORY OVER THE NUGGETS

Charles Barkley at the play-in game

Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Michael Wilbon before the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 7, 2023, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Mike Kirschbaum/NBAE via Getty Images)

“Galveston,” Barkley responded, leading Shaq to burst out laughing. “That dirty a– water. We not even gonna send them to Cancun. We’re gonna send them to Galveston where that dirty a– water be washing up on the shore. You people think they’re at the beach.

“We ain’t sending you to Cancun. Y’all quit. Y’all get down to Galveston. C’mon man. They didn’t even try, man. We ain’t giving them no plane ticket to the beach. We send their a– to Galveston, Texas, right where that dirty water washes up on the beach. They can’t even get in the water.”

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Oklahoma City will face the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks.

Thunder players vs Pelicans

Gordon Hayward of the Oklahoma City Thunder embraces Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the playoff game against the Pelicans on April 27, 2024, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. (Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)

Dallas leads the series against Los Angeles, 2-1.

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