Decisions for 2019-20 NBA performance awards will be based on play up to and including March 11, when the league suspended the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The season is slated to restart with eight regular-season seeding games per team at the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando, Florida on July 30.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported the news and noted that the awards include MVP, Rookie of Year, Sixth Man, Defensive Player and Coach of Year.
Final season stats will include the regular-season games that will take place in Florida, per Charania.
“The decision to exclude seeding games from awards voting ensures a fair process in which players and coaches from all 30 teams will have the same opportunity to be honored,” the NBA said in a note to teams, per Charania.
The top eight teams in the Eastern and Western Conference as well as the six teams within reach of a playoff spot in either conference have been invited to Florida. The eight teams encompassing the lowest portions of the standings have seen their seasons come to a close.
The voting process and winners will be announced by the league soon, according to Charania.
An ESPN Forecastpanel of experts was conducted on May 30 to determine picks for the award winners. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earned the panel’s NBA MVP award with 76 percent of the first-place votes. Los Angeles Lakers guard/forward LeBron James garnered the remainder of the first-place choices.
Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant was a near-unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year. He was excellent in his own right, but a Morant vs. Zion Williamson ROTY battle could have been epic. Unfortunately, Williamson suffered a torn meniscus during the preseason and didn’t suit up until January.
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse (59 percent of first-place votes) was the choice for Coach of the Year. The most hotly contested race was in the Sixth Man category, with no player earning more than 35 percent of first-place votes. That player was Los Angeles Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell, but he faces stiff competition that even includes teammate Lou Williams.
Antetokounmpo took home the Defensive Player of the Year choice. If he wins DPOY and MVP, then he will be just the third player in league history to earn that dual accomplishment in one season, with Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and ex-Houston Rockets superstar Hakeem Olajuwon doing so once each.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, who went from bench player to All-Star in one year, got 53 percent of first-place votes for the Most Improved Player honor.
Morant appears to be the biggest lock among those awards, with Antetokounmpo not too far behind. James was gaining some steam as an MVP candidate in the later stages of the year, however, with his Lakers cruising to a certain No. 1 seed in the Western Conference following a nine-game win streak and then an 11-1 stretch soon afterward.
The rest of the big awards at least appear to be contested in some fashion, but right now, the league is focused on pulling off the restart, which begins July 30 with the Pelicans playing the Utah Jazz.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia cornerback Daniel Harris was arrested on a reckless driving charge after police said he was driving 106 mph, the latest player on the top-ranked Bulldogs to run afoul of the law behind the wheel.
The sophomore from Miami was stopped by Athens-Clarke County police and booked into jail on five misdemeanor charges at 10:40 p.m. Thursday, according to an online report. He was released about an hour later on a total of $50 in bonds.
In addition to reckless driving, Harris was charged with no proof of insurance, driving an unregistered vehicle, failing to use safety belts and illegal tinting of the windows.
According to an incident report obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald, Harris was stopped near the Georgia campus after passing two other vehicles on a rainy evening in a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. He was clocked doing 41 mph over the speed limit of 65 mph.
The arrest came less than 48 hours before Georgia (2-0) played its first Southeastern Conference game at Kentucky.
Coach Kirby Smart has acknowledged struggling to get his players to drive safely — an issue that took on heightened importance since a crash that killed a player and a recruiting staffer in January 2023, shortly after the team celebrated its second straight national championship.
Football players at the school have been involved in at least two dozen driving-related violations such as DUI, reckless driving or speeding, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has reported. Offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy were killed in the crash that occurred while LeCroy and defensive tackle Jalen Carter were racing.
Smart has steadfastly declined to comment on any punishment that his players receive, though past history would indicate that Harris will be suspended for the game Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky.
Running back Trevor Etienne did not play in a season-opening victory over Clemson after an offseason arrest. He did play this past Saturday against Tennessee Tech.
Without providing specifics, Smart has said that players are disciplined with suspensions and fines through the collective that provides name, image and likeness payments to the school’s athletes.
“The incidents that have been happening off the field are not something we condone,” Smart said this summer before taking the stage at SEC Media Days in Dallas. “It’s very unfortunate, disappointing, I guess is the best word.”
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