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.
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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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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.
AP
DENVER - No baby yet.
But Carmelo Anthony didn’t want to risk missing the birth of his first child. So after scoring 21 points and grabbing seven boards in a 106-91 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night, he scurried out of the Pepsi Center and straight to the hospital.
“She’s fine right now,” Anthony said of his fiancee, actress La La Vazquez. “I don’t think anything is going to happen tonight.”
Anthony said he thought he played pretty well considering his mind was thinking of his impending baby boy. He tried to push it aside for the game.
“I just wanted to come out and win a basketball game,” said Anthony, who won’t make the trip to Golden State on Wednesday night. “Prove to people I don’t have to score 30 points to win a basketball game.”
Anthony had plenty of help Tuesday night as Allen Iverson scored 25 points and Nene finished with 15 points and 14 boards. Steve Blake came off the bench to add 13 points and six assists.
“We need any win we can get,” Iverson said. “We have to concentrate on one game at a time and just worry about the game we are playing. Tonight was a big game, but the rest of the games from here on out are going to be big games.”
Anthony played Tuesday night with an attitude. He was fired up after coach George Karl reportedly called him out in a Denver Post newspaper column. In the column, Karl said he didn’t think Anthony was listening and that he was frustrated.
“The comments in the paper were not directed at Melo, but at the whole team,” Karl said.
Regardless, it got Anthony’s attention.
“This is another blow I’ve got to take and put behind me,” Anthony said. “I’m not an immature person, I know that. I don’t want to start (something) between me and George.”
Tyson Chandler finished with 15 points and 18 rebounds for his 13th straight double-double. It’s also his 20th straight game with double-digit rebounds.
Chris Paul had 13 points and 14 assists while Rasual Butler contributed 11, including three 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter. The Hornets have now lost four of their last five.
“This is a frustrating loss,” Chandler said. “This is one of the more frustrating losses. I felt we could have won.”
Hornets coach Byron Scott said the loss boiled down to effort.
“We aren’t competing for 48 minutes,” Scott said.
Denver led by as many as 23 points with 3:20 left in the third quarter. However, the Hornets cut the deficit to 96-88 with 4:58 remaining in the game on a jumper by Jannero Pargo.
Normally, the thought of a fourth-quarter collapse might have the Nuggets on edge, but not this time. The Nuggets, who’ve lost 10 times when leading after three quarters, scored seven straight points to secure the victory.
“We (weren’t) going to give this game away,” Anthony said.
After the game, Karl was highly complimentary of Anthony, his star in training.
“I think Melo had one of his best performances since the All-Star break,” Karl said.
Karl also tried to downplay his comments.
“The NBA is not a perfect coaching forum. It never has been and never will be,” he said. “I still believe, as I tell them after I criticize them, that I think you can be (darn) good. Do you want to be (darn) good? Show me.
“What disappoints me about this situation we are in now is that we have a crowd base that wants to pick us up and cheer for us and get excited and like the team and fall in love, but we are playing too much muddy basketball to get them behind us.”
Notes: The Hornets are 2-1 against Denver this season. ... Denver guard J.R. Smith was a surprise contributor when he was inserted into the lineup with 1:34 remaining, his first game back since tearing the lateral meniscus in his left knee against San Antonio on Feb. 20. He had arthroscopic surgery the next day. He’d missed the last five games with the injury. ... Eduardo Najera finished with 10 points. ... Marcus Camby grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked six shots despite playing with a sore tailbone.
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
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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.
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