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Gianna Bryant, 13, was going to carry on a basketball legacy

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She had next.

Her name was Gianna Maria Onore Bryant. The world, now and forever, knows her as Gigi. Her dad, Kobe Bryant, called her Mambacita. He was Mamba, of course, and she was going to be basketball’s female version of him. She was going to play at Connecticut and head to the WNBA. That was the plan.

Over the years, the world watched her grow from a babe in her father’s arms, to a small child trying to hold his Finals MVP trophy to his companion at WNBA, college and NBA games around the country, listening to her father break down play and watching every detail on the court, just as he always did.

“Gigi was really turning into a special player,” said Russ Davis, the women’s basketball coach at Vanguard University in Southern California and someone who became close with Bryant in recent years. “It’s hard to predict her future, but with the way she was improving and the way she understood the game, she was going to have a bright one.”

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Gigi was 13. She was one of the nine people, her father also among them, on the helicopter that crashed Sunday morning into a hillside in Calabasas, California, as the group made its way to a basketball tournament where she was supposed to be playing. The helicopter burst into flames. All nine — including two of her teammates — died, officials said.

Kobe and Vanessa Bryant had four daughters. Gigi was the baller of the group. She was going to carry on the Bryant name in basketball. Few things in life made Bryant happier than that realization.

“I try to watch as much film as I can,” Gigi said in an interview with Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS in 2019, when she and her dad attended the Las Vegas Aces’ WNBA opener. “More information, more inspiration.”

She was even sounding like her dad.

The film study was working. So, too, was the five- or six- or seven-times-a-week workouts that Bryant would host for Gigi and her teammates on the team he coached. They ran the triangle offence, the one where Bryant had so much success with during his career. Grown men, professionals, the best players in the world, struggled with the triangle. Bryant had pre-teen girls figuring it out.

“He never yelled or anything,” Davis said. “They just listened to him.”

Earlier this month, Bryant posted a short video clip of Gigi in a game. The sequence: dribble-drive, pass to the corner, post up, wait for the ball to come back, catch, footwork, shoot the fadeaway.

Her father’s unstoppable fadeaway.

She scored. Of course.

“Gigi getting better every day,” her dad wrote.

Bryant and Gigi went to a UConn home game against Houston last March. Bryant wore a UConn shirt — just like Gigi was — and told SNY television during an in-game interview that he was thrilled that one of his daughters wanted to follow in his sneakers and take up the family basketball business.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool,” Bryant said. “She started out playing soccer, which I love. But she came to me about a year and a half ago and said, `Can you teach me the game?’ I said, `Sure.’ We started working a little bit and the next thing you know it became a true passion of hers. So, it’s wonderful.”

Many of Gigi’s favourite players had UConn ties, like Katie Lou Samuelson — she had played for Davis, which led to the initial connection between he and Bryant — and Gabby Williams.

“From what I saw,” Williams said Monday, “she was going to be heaps better than me.”

Williams was floored when Gigi told her she was her favourite player. She would FaceTime with the Bryants before games, gave Gigi her Chicago Sky uniforms, even practiced with Gigi and her teammates and was blown away by how hard she had to play against them.

“She had the right mentality, so confident, relentless, so mean and aggressive,” Williams said. “And then (she would) walk off the court with the biggest, sweetest smile on her face. But my favourite part about her was just seeing how much she loved the game and loved to learn.

“It’s intimidating to have to follow in those footsteps,” Williams added, “but she really embraced it.”

The UConn allegiance made all the sense in the world. Bryant played in Los Angeles, but he was a Philadelphia guy. So is UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who was heartbroken by the news of the crash Sunday. UConn has been the gold standard in the women’s college game for a generation, driven by excellence. Bryant identified with that quality.

Jewell Loyd of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm knew plenty about Gigi. Loyd sponsors an AAU team in Seattle. They played against Bryant’s team, and over the years Loyd and Bryant forged an extremely special, extremely close bond. They looked at one another as family.

Her description of Gigi? “Awesome,” Loyd said.

“When I went to work out with Kobe, most kids her age would be on the tablet,” Loyd said. “She stayed still and watched the entire time. Didn’t say anything. She was studying the game of basketball. If that didn’t say Kobe, I don’t know what does.”

Even NBA players were impressed. Atlanta’s Trae Young couldn’t believe it when Bryant told him that Gigi was a huge fan of his and was trying to emulate parts of his game. So Young paid tribute Sunday by opening a Hawks game in a No. 8 jersey, before switching back to his customary No. 11.

Afterward, Young recalled some of his final conversation with Bryant.

“He said how proud he was of me and how he wants me to continue to be a role model for kids growing up, for Gigi,” Young said.

There were similarities in how father and daughter looked — the dark, piercing eyes, especially — but Loyd also saw similarities in the way father and daughter played the game. Both, she said, were methodical. Both were willing to outwork their opponents. Gigi knew who her father was and knew that meant a lot of eyeballs would be on her, that comparisons between her and her dad on the court were going to be inevitable.

Gigi didn’t care, either.

She wanted to be like Dad.

“That’s his legacy,” Loyd said.

That’s now Gigi’s legacy as well.

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Brad Treliving on Mitch Marner's injury status: "In all likelihood, it is a minor injury, but we want to be respectful of it" – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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At the NHL GM Meetings, Brad Treliving spoke to TSN’s Geno Reda about the status of Mitch Marner’s ankle injury, his options in net, and his first trade deadline as manager of the team.


When you hear high-ankle sprain, there is a bit of trepidation that it could be a lingering issue. Are you concerned about it at all?

Treliving: In all likelihood, it is a minor injury, but we want to be respectful of it. We have some time now. Mitch has been off the ice in the last couple of days, but we will ramp him up this week and take it day by day to see how he is feeling. Hopefully, he will be back sooner than later.

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There was a scare with Ilya Samsonov when he went down during practice, but he is okay and still playing. How important is it for you as the GM to know who your number-one goalie is before the postseason?

Treliving: The good news is that we have two goalies who are really capable. Interesting situations for both. We know the season Ilya has had. The way he has bounced back and played recently gives us great confidence in him. And we know what Joe (Woll) is capable of.

Joe has gone through an injury and come back from it. Now, it is just a matter of him getting into the net. You try to balance both of those things with the fact that these are really important games. The points are important.

Sammy is going well right now. We have enough games down the stretch where both goalies are going to get into the net. That question will answer itself as we get closer to the playoffs.

We have to qualify first, but we feel confident in both goaltenders. Hopefully, both will be healthy when we get there. We are confident in both guys.

You made the comment, “We did all we thought we could do,” after the trade deadline. You inherited a lot of the roster and cap situation. How much longer do you think it will be before you can feel as though it is “your” team and you are heading into a postseason with a team you were able to put together?

Treliving: I have had an opportunity to do those things from day one. We have made some changes. We made some additions.

Through the deadline, there are three factors: there is the availability of players, those that fit, and the cost of those players. What kind of impact are they going to have on your team?

We’re excited about the things we did and the players we added at the deadline. We want to manage both the immediate right now but also the assets that we do have remaining.  At the same time, what was the true availability of certain players?

We will continue to work on it. The deadline has passed. We are focused on finishing the regular season and getting into the playoffs. We will continue to work to make this team better throughout the summer and go from there.

It looks like the team is locked into the third-place spot in the Atlantic Division. That would mean either Florida or Boston in the first round. Do you feel the team is more ready to face either of them this time around?

Treliving: We are not going to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have to secure a spot first. That is goal number one. We have a lot of difficult games down the stretch. Once we can secure a spot, we’ll start focusing on who we are playing.

It sounds cliche, but it is the truth. Every team is a great team — certainly in our division. Boston and Florida are great teams, and you look at Tampa. Detroit has had some struggles recently, but they’ve had a heck of a year.

The division is deep as it is throughout the conference. We are not focused on who a potential matchup could be. Number one, we are focused on getting there. Number two, it’s about getting our game to the highest level we can get to. Once we get there, we will play who we play and go from there.

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Canada's Team Homan down Norway for fourth straight win at women's worlds – TSN

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SYDNEY, N.S. — Canada’s Rachel Homan continued to roll at the women’s world curling championship with a 9-4 win Monday over Norway’s Marianne Roervik.

Homan improved to 4-0 after Canada’s lone game of the day at Centre 200.

Tuesday will be an important day for Homan, vice Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes because they face two undefeated countries.

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Homan takes on Italy’s Stefania Constantini (4-0) in the morning and defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland (5-0) at night.

“They’re two phenomenal teams and we know we will have to bring the same, or more, tomorrow,” Homan said. “I know they’re going to bring their A games, and we’re going to have to do the same.”

Norway shook hands when Homan hit for three points in the eighth end Monday.

After blanking the third, Homan’s shot stone on the button had opposing stones above and below in the fourth. Canada’s sweepers Miskew and Wilkes dragged Homan’s draw and curled it to the four-foot rings for another deuce and a 4-1 lead.

“Really well swept,” the skip said. “Tracy’s reading the line really good and called a good one there. Definitely a huge shot we needed to make sure we scored because it was looking like a steal for a while there.

“We’re all making a ton of big shots. It’s been going really good this week and hopefully it can continue.”

Norway countered with its first deuce of the game in the fifth end to trail 4-3.

Kristin Skaslien, who throws fourth stones for Roervik, navigated guards for a takeout at the back of the rings. A measurement on second stones confirmed Norway’s two points.

But Canada tightened its grip in the sixth end with Homan’s triple takeout to lie three with her first stone.

Skaslien’s shooter rolling wide left the Canadian skip a draw for a 6-3 lead.

Canada curled 92 per cent as a team in the game, led by Homan’s 94 per cent.

“(She’s) working really hard and it’s showing,” Miskew said. “The difference this year is we’re all throwing the rock very similar so she knows exactly how she has to throw her stones and trust what we tell her to make every shot.

“She’ll make anything out there.”

Homan opened the championship with a 7-6 victory over Sweden, a 7-4 defeat of Denmark, and a 10-6 win over the United States.

Norway (2-3) bounced back in Monday’s evening draw with a 11-5 victory in nine ends over Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz (1-4).

Italy downed Tabitha Peterson of the U.S. 10-3 on Monday afternoon to drop the latter to 2-3.

South Korea’s Eunji Gim (3-1) was a 9-4 winner over Japan’s Miyu Ueno.

Estonia’s Liisa Turman (1-4) went an extra end for a 10-7 win over New Zealand’s Jessica Smith (1-4), but lost 10-9 to Demark (4-1) in the evening draw when Madeleine Dupont counted three in the 10th end.

Tirinzoni stayed unbeaten with an 8-7 decision over Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz in the morning draw. Switzerland then won its fifth straight by beating Japan (1-4) 10-3 in eight ends in the evening draw. Tirinzoni scored three in the sixth end to go up 7-2, then added another three in the eighth to seal the deal.

Tirinzoni and teammate Alina Paetz, who throws fourth stones for the Swiss, are looking to become the first women to win five consecutive world championships.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 women’s world championship after Tirinzoni was victorious in 2019. Tirinzoni went on to build a run of titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

After dropping three straight, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg got into the win column with a quick, six-end 8-2 decision over New Zealand in the morning. She improved to 2-3 in the evening with a six-end 8-1 win over Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison, who slipped to 1-4. Scotland lost 9-2 to Denmark in seven ends earlier in the day.

The top six teams in the 13-country championship advance to the playoff round. Ties for the playoffs will be solved by head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play get byes to Saturday’s semifinals. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for the bronze medal Sunday morning. The winners meet for the gold Sunday evening.

Homan won the 2017 world championship in Beijing with Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle. Jennifer Jones skipped the last Canadian team to win it in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2024.

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Flames’ Wolf gets welcome-to-the-NHL moment from Capitals’ Ovechkin – Sportsnet.ca

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