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.
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.
AP1971-72 LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Backstory
The Lakers booted coach Joe Mullaney after losing in the conference finals in 1971 in favor of Bill Sharman, whose Utah Stars just won the ABA title.
The regular season
If Elgin Baylor, who lost in the Finals eight times, needed any more evidence that he would never win a title, he got it nine games into the season. As Charley Rosen’s book “The Pivotal Season” recounts, players were growing tired of the “selfish and defenseless” Baylor. So Sharman held a “retirement party” for the 37-year-old Baylor to get him off the team. Immediately upon Baylor’s Nov. 5 “retirement,” the Lakers ran off 33 straight victories, a record that still stands. They didn’t just win -- they dominated. Only nine of those victories were by single digits. They won at Philadelphia by 40, and at Atlanta by 44. They were 30-0 in November and December.
The Lakers kept up the momentum, finishing a then-record 69-13. One key was Sharman convincing Wilt Chamberlain he should score less and play more like the center who vanquished him so often, Bill Russell.
Chamberlain dropped from 15 shots per game in 1971 to nine shots per game in 1972, averaging only 14.8 points. But he had a league-leading 19.2 rebounds, and his outlet passing helped fuel the Lakers’ fast-break game.
The postseason
The Lakers swept Chicago in the first round, got revenge against the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-led Bucks by a 4-2 margin in the conference final, and then took four out of five from the New York Knicks to win the NBA title. Not only was it the Lakers’ first title since moving to Los Angeles from Minneapolis in 1960, but also their first since George Mikan’s retirement in 1954.
Postscript
The Lakers were a one-year wonder, in part because of age. Baylor was old, but Chamberlain (35 in 1972) and Jerry West (33) were no kids either.
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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.
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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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.
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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