How Sunday's results impacted the playoff picture in the Eastern and Western Conference - NBA CA | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Sports

How Sunday's results impacted the playoff picture in the Eastern and Western Conference – NBA CA

Published

 on


With the NBA Playoffs quickly approaching, the NBA restart continues with its busiest seeding game schedule on Sunday.

14 teams are in action with a seven-game slate that features a number of matchups that impact the postseason picture.

From the teams fighting for the West’s final playoff spot to the teams jockeying for position in the standings, here’s how each game has impacted the playoff picture.

BOX SCORE

Once again, do not count out Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.

DeMar DeRozan finished with a team-high 27 points (on 10-for-16 shooting) in 33 minutes to lead the Spurs to yet another big win. Rudy Gay finished with 19 off the bench while Dejounte Murray (18), Derrick White (16) and Marco Belinelli (14) made contributions on the offensive end.

The 22-year streak isn’t out of the question just yet.

The Pelicans were led by 31 points off the bench from JJ Redick while Zion Williamson scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds (five offensive). All-Star Brandon Ingram finished with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists for New Orleans.

What it means: San Antonio moves within one game of the No. 8 seed and currently sits in 11th in the West.

Following the Blazers’ win over the 76ers later in the day, the Pelicans have been officially eliminated from playoff contention.

BOX SCORE

After a rough showing in a big loss to the Boston Celtics, the Raptors bounced back to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies.

Pascal Siakam led the way with his best showing of the NBA restart, finishing with a game-high 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field and 4-for-9 from deep. Norman Powell also had an impressive game with 16 points off the bench.

Toronto has now won 50 games for five straight seasons.

The Grizzlies were led by 25 points from Dillon Brooks while Rookie of the Year finalist Ja Morant finished with a 17-point, 10-assist double-double. Memphis is now 1-5 during the NBA restart with two games remaining.

What it means: Toronto has clinched its sixth Atlantic Division title in seven years as well as the East’s No. 2 seed.

Memphis remains No. 8 in the West, for now, but now only has a one-game cushion over San Antonio and Portland with two games to play.

BOX SCORE

Without Steven Adams and Nerlens Noel, the Thunder led wire-to-wire as they earned their third win at the NBA’s restart.

Rookie Darius Bazley showed encouraging signs of promise, scoring a career-high 23 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes of action off the bench. Danilo Gallinari added 20 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Chris Paul added 13 points, nine assists and six boards of his own in an overall dominant performance from OKC.

It’s about development for the Wizards, who were led by second-year guard Jerome Robinson’s 19 points off the bench. Rookie Rui Hachimura added 11 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes.

What it means: OKC stays in fifth in the West. It holds a half-game over the Utah Jazz in sixth but remains one game behind the Houston Rockets, with their win later in the day.

The Wizards, who are now 0-5 in Orlando, have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Boston Celtics 122, Orlando Magic 119 [OT]

BOX SCORE

Big games from Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum propelled the Celtics to a narrow win over the Magic in overtime!

Hayward poured in 31 points on 12-for-18 shooting from the field, adding nine rebounds and six assists, while Tatum scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 26 points and 11 rebounds as they dropped their fourth-straight game.

What it means: The Celtics are now locked in the third seed, opening up a 4.0 game lead over the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. Meanwhile, the Magic are locked into the eighth seed after the Nets clinched the seventh seed with a win later in the day.

BOX SCORE

DAME TIME!!!

The Portland Trail Blazers continue their march towards the playoffs, thanks to a 51-point explosion from Damian Lillard.

Lillard scored 18 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter, capping off his fifth 50-point game of the season in style.

He shot an efficient 16-of-28 from the field, 4-of-12 from the 3-point line and 15-of-16 at the free-throw line as the Blazers move to a 3-3 record in Orlando.

With Joel Embiid exiting the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury, Josh Richardson stepped up on the offensive end for Philly, scoring a season-high 34 points, adding six assists, and five rebounds.

What it means: The Blazers pull to within half a game of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed, in the process, eliminating the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans from playoff contention.

Meanwhile, the 76ers remain in the sixth seed in the East, 1.0 game back of the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat.

Houston Rockets 129, Sacramento Kings 112

BOX SCORE

No Russell Westbrook, no problem!

Austin Rivers delivered a monster game off the bench against the Kings, recording a career-high 41 points, adding six rebounds, and four assists. He shot the ball at an efficient clip, going 14-of-20 from the field and 6-of-11 from the 3-point line to help the Rockets tighten their grip on the no.4 seed.

James Harden added 32 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists as they improve to a 4-1 record in the bubble.

What it means: With the win, the Rockets secure the Southwest Division for the third consecutive season and now hold a 1.0 game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder and a 1.5 game lead over the Utah Jazz

The Blazers’ win over the 76ers ended the Kings’ slim playoff chances, extending their postseason drought to 14 years.

BOX SCORE

The Brooklyn Nets improve to 4-2 in the bubble after an upset win over the LA Clippers.

The Nets led by as many as 21 points, thanks to a huge first-quarter performance where they outscored the Clippers 45-24, led by Caris LeVert and Joe Harris.

LeVert poured in 27 points and 13 assists, while Harris added 25 points (23 in the first half) and Tyler Johnson 21 off the bench.

Kawhi Leonard recorded a game-high 39 points for the Clippers, who fall to a 3-3 record in Orlando, with two seeding games remaining.

What it means: The Nets have officially clinched the no.7 seed in the Eastern Conference, setting up a first-round series with the defending champion Toronto Raptors, while the no.2 seed Clippers now hold just a 1.0 game lead over the Denver Nuggets.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move

Published

 on

 

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen‘s celebrity status.

A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.

Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.

Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.

“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”

Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.

Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.

Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.

Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.

While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.

“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.

At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”

Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.

Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.

He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.

And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.

Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Top figure skaters ready to hit the ice at Skate Canada International

Published

 on

 

Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps along with ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier headline a strong field at Skate Canada International. The Canadians say they’re excited to perform in front of a home crowd as the world’s best figure skaters arrive in Halifax. (Oct. 24, 2024)

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Nico Echavarria shoots another 64 to lead the Zozo Championship by 2 shots after the second round

Published

 on

 

INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Nico Echavarria shot a 6-under 64 on Friday — matching his 64 on Thursday — to lead by two shots over Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas after the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Thomas shot 64 and Moore carded 67 with three others just three shots off the lead including Seamus Power, who had the day’s low round of 62 at the Narashino Country Club.

Thomas has twice won the PGA Championship but is winless in two years on the PGA Tour.

Eric Cole (67) and C.T. Pan (66) were also three behind heading to Saturday.

Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian at 5-under and tied for 16th.

Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., is two shots back of Taylor and tied for 31st.

“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” said Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas. His lone PGA win was last year in Puerto Rico.

He had a two-round total of 12-under 128.

“I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so it’s good to be in this position. There’s got to be some pressure,” he added. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday — the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”

Rickie Fowler, a crowd favorite in Japan because of his connections to the country, shot 64 to go with an opening 68 and was four shots back going into the weekend. Max Greyserman was also four behind after a 68.

“It would be amazing to win here,” said Fowler, whose mother has Japanese roots. “Came close a few years ago.”

Fowler tied for second in 2022

Fowler described his roots as “pretty far removed for Japan, but I’m sure I have relatives here, but I don’t know anyone. Japanese culture’s always been a fairly big part of life growing up. I always love being over here.”

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama shot his second 71 and was 14 shots off the lead.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 67 and pulled within eight shot of the lead, and Xander Schauffele — British Open and PGA winner this season — shot 65 and was 10 behind after a 73 on Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan out here,” Morikawa said, another player with Japanese connections. “I just have to execute shots a little better.”

“I am the defending champ, but that doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to play better just because I won here,” he added. “It’s a brand new week, it’s a year later. I feel like my golf game is still in a good spot. I just haven’t executed my shots. When that doesn’t happen it makes golf a little tougher.”

Schauffele turned 31 on Friday and said he was serenaded before his opening tee shot. He also has ties to Japan. His mother grew up in Japan and his grandparents live in the Tokyo area.

“Nice way to spend my 31st birthday,” he said.

___

AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version