Sports
NBA disagrees with LeBron James and Lakers, supports calls made late in Game 2 loss
The NBA endorsed the calls made by officials during the final two minutes of the Lakers’ 101-99 playoff loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday night.
LeBron James and the Lakers, who led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, complained shortly after losing on a buzzer-beating shot by Denver’s Jamal Murray and falling behind 2-0 in the Western Conference playoff series.
In the two-minute report the league issues assessing officiating decisions made late in games, the sole error the NBA flagged was that Nikola Jokic should have been called for a defensive three-second violation with 1:53 left in the game and the Lakers leading 93-92. Jokic and the Nuggets clogged the passing lanes around Anthony Davis during the play. Austin Reaves missed a three-pointer late in the shot clock and Denver got the rebound.
James was perplexed when referees called him for a foul during a Murray drive with 57.1 seconds left. The Nuggets guard nailed both free throws to tie the score 97-97.
Afterward, some fans questioned why Lakers coach Darvin Ham didn’t use one of his challenges to contest the call and prompt a review. It’s unlikely he would have won the challenge.
The two-minute report stated James extended his forearm and initiated contact with Murray’s front, which affected his drive to the basket. “The illegal contact occurs prior to Murray’s gather and a non-shooting foul is correctly assessed,” the report read.
The NBA only publishes reports evaluating calls in the final two minutes of games and didn’t address other calls the Lakers protested.
Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. was called for a shooting foul on D’Angelo Russell late in the third quarter, only for the call to be overturned after a challenge by Nuggets coach Michael Malone. Crew chief Scott Foster announced over the public address system that Porter’s contact was “marginal.”
The Lakers disagreed.
“That’s a foul,” Russell tweeted after the game, “we all saw it on national television.”
James vented his frustration about the replay center that reviews contested calls.
“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest. … D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What the f— do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go [like that]. It doesn’t make sense to me,” James said after the loss. “It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. … And then I just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game too. Like, what are we doing? … It’s … stupid.”
Ham told reporters after the game: “It’s tough, some tough calls, some tough non-calls. … It’s getting real tricky. Go through the season, games being officiated one way and then getting the playoffs, and then it’s like, I guess it’s left up to the interpretation of the three individual guys that’s doing the job out there.
“But all that said, you just have to know that yeah, it stings.”
Sports
Tom Brady appears angry with Jeff Ross' Robert Kraft joke during Netflix roast: 'Don't say that s— again'
Tom Brady knew that everything was on the table for his live Netflix roast on Sunday night, including the ending of his marriage to Gisele Bündchen.
But when “roast master” Jeff Ross said a joke about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Brady seemed quick to shut it down.
During Ross’s joke presentation, he mentioned Brady being taken 199th overall in the NFL Draft, and he said he walked into Kraft’s office to tell him something.
“’I’m the best decision your organization has ever made,’” Ross said.
But Ross wasn’t done.
“’Would you like a massage?’” he said.
PATRIOTS’ JEROD MAYO DOUBTS TOM BRADY WANTS TO PLAY QUARTERBACK FOR HIS OLD TEAM
WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
The Los Angeles Forum was a mixture of laughs and groans as Ross poked fun at a serious charge that Kraft had faced in early 2019.
In February 2019, Kraft was charged in a multicounty investigation of massage parlors that included a secret video recording in the spas’ lobbies and rooms. Police said the recordings showed Kraft and other men engaging in sex acts with women and paying them.
Kraft would plead not guilty to the charge, issued a public apology in March 2019 and would be cleared of a soliciting sex charge in 2020.
Brady turned toward Ross once the joke was said, and as Ross looked over at Kraft in the crowd, Brady came into frame and tried to whisper something to Ross. But it was caught by a microphone.
“Don’t say that s— again,” he said quickly to Ross, who acknowledged it with a laugh.
Brady likely knew there were going to be some things said that he might not like, but he seemed to want the subject of the jokes to stay with him, not his former owner.
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Sports
Shohei Ohtani has sweeping Dodgers dreaming of a different October
This wasn’t October. This can’t be confused with October. This has nothing to do with October.
Yet make no mistake, the Dodgers’ weekend sweep of the Atlanta Braves at a rollicking Dodger Stadium was a fair predictor of an entirely different sort of October.
An October with Shohei Ohtani.
Goodness, the imagination soars, like a 464-foot blast into the lunging grasps of the pavilion partiers.
My, the possibilities seem endless, like a 412-foot rocket that disappears over the center-field fence.
Ohtani authored both moments during Sunday’s 5-1 sweeping victory, once again leaving witnesses searching for adjectives.
“He just keeps doing things that we haven’t seen before,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Leading this team to its first full-season title in 36 years would qualify as something else few have seen before, wouldn’t it?
Heavens, the potential is enormous.
Ohtani, who was elsewhere while the Dodgers were failing in 10 of their previous 11 postseasons, filled his first playoff atmosphere here with ohhs and ahhs and oh yeahs.
Ohh, he wrecked the pitching staff of the team with baseball’s best record for eight hits in 12 at-bats with three home runs and six RBIs in the three games.
Ahh, he had a game-tying single in extra innings on Friday, a tone-setting homer on Saturday, and two homers among his four hits on Sunday.
Oh yeah, he signed with the Dodgers this winter because he wanted to experience the sort of playoff setting that eluded him during six years in Anaheim, so it only figures he would soak it all in.
I asked him after Sunday’s game if he could feel the big-game atmosphere.
“Yeah, very much so,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton.
He was asked what it feels like to hit a ball 464 feet, the longest Dodgers homer this season, a leadoff shot in the eighth inning that landed deep in the left-center field seats.
“Slug is part of my game,” Ohtani said. “So being able to express that in a game situation like that … is important as well.”
That first part belongs on a T-shirt, no?
Slug Is Part Of My Game.
“That’s deep, people don’t hit the ball out there,” said Roberts when asked about those traveling 464 feet.
Equally as deep is a Dodgers roster dotted with key new players who do not bear the dark stain of postseasons past.
This Dodger team has a new pitcher, James Paxson, who is now 4-0 with a 3.06 ERA after throwing five strong innings Sunday.
Paxson has a 3.46 postseason ERA in three starts for the New York Yankees, so he understands the importance of this weekend’s furor.
“We played really well,” he said. “We showed how well we can play against a really good team.”
This Dodgers team also has a new outfielder, Teoscar Hernández , who hit his eighth homer Sunday and has equaled Ohtani’s 25 RBIs.
Hernández has two homers in four postseason games, so he also seems suited for the big stage.
“With our offense, every game is winnable,” Roberts said.
With Ohtani in the middle of it all, every game this weekend felt like a victory from the first pitch to Randy Newman. The Dodgers outscored the Braves 20-6 and trailed for only brief spells in what amounted to a three-day fiesta capped by Sunday’s Cinco de Mayo roars.
“I saw signs of postseason … it was good to see our guys play to the level and energy that the fans had this series,” Roberts said.
Ohtani said the feeling was contagious.
“I just feel like we’re overall playing really well, so that’s really helping me have quality at-bats and just feeling good overall,” he said.
The scary part for opponents is that both of his Sunday home runs were essentially opposite-field hits, which means his bat has discovered its mojo.
“When I feel confident that I can hit in that direction, then I know I can cover other pitches really well,” Ohtani said.
Paxson explained that in human terms.
“He’s awesome,” the pitcher said with a gasp. “So much power.”
The Dodgers could have used that power last October when they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a series in which they never led.
The Dodgers could have used that slug two postseasons ago when they couldn’t score in a four-game loss to the San Diego Padres.
And, yes, certainly, they will need every bit of Ohtani this fall if they once again meet the Braves. They are 3-1 against Atlanta during their postseason run, but it is the Braves who delivered the most recent blow with a four-games-to-two triumph in the 2021 National League Championship Series.
It’s far too early to be forecasting a rematch. It’s way too reckless to be celebrating a May sweep.
Yet as this weekend proved, it’s not too early to start believing.
For the last 11 years, the Dodgers didn’t have anyone like Shohei Ohtani.
Now they do, and anything is possible.
Sports
Former Bears quarterback Bob Avellini dead at 70
Former Chicago Bears quarterback Bob Avellini, who spent all nine of his NFL seasons in the Windy City, died Saturday. He was 70 years old.
The Bears announced that Avellini lost a battle with cancer.
“Bob was one-of-a-kind, a fierce and tough competitor,” the Bears said in a statement. “He’s perhaps best remembered for leading the Bears on an improbable run in 1977 to our first postseason appearance in fourteen years. He will be missed.”
In 1977, both Avellini and Walter Payton, the Bears’ star running back who reached the Hall of Fame, had their best career seasons.
Payton was certainly the beating heart of Chicago’s offense, rushing for a league-high 1,852 yards with 14 touchdowns on the ground.
MAHOMES MOUNTAIN: WHERE DO CALEB WILLIAMS, ROOKIES LAND ON NICK WRIGHT’S QB TIERS?
But Avellini had a career-high 2,004 yards on 154 completions with 11 touchdowns over 14 games.
As the team’s statement said, the Bears hadn’t made the playoffs in 14 years until 1977, when they finally broke the drought. However, the Bears were blown out by the Dallas Cowboys, 37-7, and Avellini threw four interceptions to one touchdown on 25 attempts.
Avellini had a 23-27 regular-season record in 73 games from 1975 through 1984, throwing for 7,111 yards and 33 touchdowns.
The Queens, New York City, native was in the same draft class as Payton, with the Bears picking Avellini 135th overall in the sixth round of the 1975 NFL Draft out of Maryland.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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