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🏀 Good morning to everybody however particularly …
JOEL EMBIID AND SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER
Joel Embiid is again, and the 76ers are again within the win column. After lacking 4 video games attributable to an ankle damage, Philadelphia’s celebrity returned with a 31-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in a 110-97 win over the Bulls. It is Embiid’s 14th straight 30-point, 10-rebound recreation. Solely Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have had longer streaks.
In some way, it may need been solely the second-most spectacular efficiency from an MVP contender: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 36 factors because the Thunder held on for an exciting 127-123 win over the Celtics in a recreation that includes two of the NBA’s 4 high groups.
It is no coincidence Embiid and Gilgeous-Alexander are battling for No. 1 in Brad Botkin’s newest MVP rankings.
👍 Honorable mentions
😐 And never such a superb morning for …
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DAVID TEPPER AND THE CAROLINA PANTHERS
The NFL fined Panthers proprietor David Tepper $300,000 for throwing a drink at a Jaguars fan within the enviornment’s seating bowl from his non-public suite throughout Sunday’s 26-0 loss in Jacksonville.
Sure, this can be a drop within the bucket for Tepper, who’s value over $20 billion. However you may’t put a value on dignity, and Tepper’s was compromised in essentially the most public of eyes. It is one factor to run a franchise into the bottom. It is one other factor to lash out at followers like a toddler.
Sadly for Tepper, he has now completed each. The Panthers are 2-14 this season and can quickly be on the lookout for their third full-time coach of the final 15 months: Tepper fired Matt Rhule 5 video games into final season and Frank Reich 11 video games into this season. Since Tepper turned proprietor in 2018, solely the Jets have a worse report than the Panthers.
This teaching search may be much more daunting than the final. Final offseason, the Panthers traded two first-round picks, two second-round picks and star vast receiver D.J. Moore to the Bears to maneuver as much as No. 1 and choose Bryce Younger. Now, this 12 months’s No. 1 choose belongs to Chicago, leaving minimal draft capital, Younger has endured a nightmare rookie 12 months, the roster is missing, and there is an proprietor who added “publicly embarrassing himself and his franchise” to a protracted record of mishaps.
Tepper has dug himself an enormous gap, and he retains digging.
😅 Not so honorable mentions
🏈 NFL Energy Rankings and what we discovered from Week 17
USATSI
Welcome to Week 18 within the NFL, the place change is omnipresent. In Pete Prisco’s remaining Energy Rankings of the common season, six of the highest seven groups modified locations, and eight groups general — 1 / 4 of the league(!) — moved no less than 4 spots. However we do now have a stable No. 1. This is the highest 5:
- Ravens (earlier: 1)
- 49ers (3)
- Cowboys (9)
- Payments (6)
- Browns (7)
The Payments transferring again into the highest 5 exhibits the superb margins of the NFL. Come the tip of Sunday night time, the Payments could possibly be the AFC No. 2 seed, a wild-card staff … or out of the playoffs utterly. Oh yeah, and so they’re taking part in within the remaining recreation of the common season, the 8:20 p.m. begin in Miami towards the division-rival Dolphins. Drama incoming!
The excellent news is Allen has dominated Miami (10-1 report together with playoffs), and with the AFC East crown on the road, there are few gamers you’d need extra at quarterback. Pete says if the Payments make the postseason, they could possibly be the Ravens’ largest menace within the AFC.
As for one more staff that will likely be an enormous menace, the Chiefs held regular at No. 8. It is decrease than Kansas Metropolis has been at this level underneath Patrick Mahomes traditionally, however a key a part of the Kansas Metropolis assault reemerged Sunday, Jeff Kerr notes in his “One factor we discovered about every staff in Week 17.”
- Kerr: “Massive performs returned in an enormous method: The Chiefs nonetheless had the offensive issues that plagued all of them season, but made up for it with huge performs. Isiah Pacheco had runs of 35 yards and 37 yards within the first half, and Rashee Rice caught the longest move for the 12 months for Kansas Metropolis (67 yards). Justin Watson even had a 41-yard catch. … A superb signal Kansas Metropolis can transfer the ball down the sector heading into the postseason.”
Positive, it got here towards the struggling Bengals‘ protection, however the Chiefs will take any and all optimistic indicators offensively.
🏆 Storylines abound for Michigan-Washington
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Monday night time’s title recreation in Houston ought to be a doozy. We’re right down to No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 2 Washington within the Faculty Soccer Playoff championship. We touched on it a bit yesterday, however now that we’re one other day nearer, we are able to take a deeper dive, and Dennis Dodd did simply that.
There are such a lot of storylines. It is the ultimate soccer recreation involving a Pac-12 staff and, oddly, it is towards a future convention rival. Washington will be part of the Massive Ten subsequent season and even performs Michigan Oct. 5. Kalen DeBoer and Michael Penix Jr., in the meantime, give the Huskies a feel-good air, whereas the Wolverines are simply forged as villains given Jim Harbaugh‘s controversies. And whereas DeBoer appears to be constructing a dynasty within the Pacific Northwest, Harbaugh may be teaching his remaining recreation with the Wolverines.
However on the finish of the day what issues is what takes place on the sector, and that will likely be a story as previous as time: offense vs. protection. Dennis has keys for each groups:
- Dodd: “Michigan: Preserve doing the identical factor. Pound the rock, and defensively, pound the opponent. But it surely was one factor to smother punchless Massive Ten offenses and one other to gradual an Alabama squad that was on a heater. … Washington: Washington offers up a load of yards however not that many factors (24 per recreation). … Nonetheless, UW has wanted to outscore just about everybody all season. They’re high 10 in touchdowns and factors. They’re one of the best imitation of LSU in 2019 since LSU in 2019.”
🏈 Rating … all … 41 … bowl video games.
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Talking of these CFP semifinals, they have been nice. However how do they issue into what have been one of the best bowl video games of the season? Tom Fornelli ranked all 41 earlier than they have been performed and has now ranked all 41 now that they are completed. So the place does the Rose Bowl rank? And the place does the Sugar Bowl rank?
- Fornelli: “No. 2: Gator Bowl — No. 22 Clemson 38, Kentucky 35 — There have been 42 factors scored within the fourth quarter of this recreation, greater than in any fourth quarter in bowl recreation historical past — and that was simply a part of what went down within the Gator Bowl. There have been eight lead adjustments, together with 4 within the fourth quarter, as each groups saved buying and selling haymakers. … All bowl video games sooner or later ought to examine tape of the 2023 Gator Bowl for an thought of what they need to need to be. There wasn’t even an edible mascot, or a novelty Gatorade dump on this recreation, however it did not want it. All the pieces that occurred on the sector was greater than sufficient.”
📺 What we’re watching Wednesday
🏀 No. 16 Clemson at Miami, 8 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Bulls at Knicks, 8:30 p.m. on ABC
🏀 Warmth at Lakers, 10 p.m. on ESPN
