Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APHornets acquire Jackson from Nets
The New Orleans Hornets added frontcourt depth by acquiring forwards Marc Jackson and Linton Johnson III from the New Jersey Nets for forward Bostjan Nachbar.
“Both of them are physical. Both of them are aggressive,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said by telephone. “It just gives us a different look.”
The Hornets had been looking to add depth in the frontcourt even before forward Chris Andersen was disqualified from the NBA last month for violating the league’s drug policy. They got even more needy when Jackson Vroman broke his right wrist Wednesday following a dunk against Utah.
The Nets, meanwhile, were able to create some salary space with the deal.
“This enables us to get under the luxury tax, which was part of it,” team president Rod Thorn said. “Nachbar’s a good athlete who has had some moments in the league. We’re hopeful he can give us some help on our bench.”
Jackson, a 6-foot-10 forward, was averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 37 games off the bench for New Jersey. In six NBA seasons, he is averaging 8.5 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Jackson had publicly hinted at wanting to be traded in December, and his minutes had dropped steadily since January to the point where he appeared in only five of the team’s 13 games in February.
“Marc Jackson is a banger, a very physical guy who can make shots,” Scott said.
Jackson, 31, averaged 12 points and 5.0 rebounds in 81 games, including 23 starts, for Philadelphia last season.
“I don’t think we can hope for that much. He’ll be playing in a backup role here,” Scott said.
Johnson, a 6-8 forward, has played in only nine games for the Nets, averaging 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds in 3.9 minutes. He and Jackson join veteran forward Aaron Williams, who was acquired from the Toronto Raptors last month, as the backups to David West and P.J. Brown.
Vroman had helped fill that role following Andersen’s dismissal. He started the last two games as leading scorer West was away with his wife and newborn child. Vroman was averaging 1.8 points and 2.1 rebounds, but will miss the rest of the season.
Nachbar, 25, started the first 13 games for the Hornets before spraining his right knee in November and missing six weeks. Desmond Mason, who was acquired in a preseason trade, supplanted Nachbar in the starting lineup and Rasual Butler’s development as a dependable reserve left the 6-foot-9 Slovenian relegated to infrequent duty off the bench.
His role picked up the past two weeks, when he averaged 5.5 points over the past six games, including two 11-point performances. Nachbar averaged 5.0 points in 23 games overall this season.
“We would have loved to get a big without giving up anybody, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Scott said.
Scott said the Hornets were close to another deal, but ran out of time before the deadline at 3 p.m. EST deadline.
Thorn said the Nets spoke with several other teams Thursday but were unable to make any other deals. New Jersey holds two first-round picks in the 2006 draft.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Lin on on 'Linsanity' Knicks guard Jeremy Lin discusses the hype surrounding his recent rise in New York. |
 | Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman |
Do you have a burning NBA question? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag. |  |
 | Special feature |
 |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.