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.
BOSTON - Young point guard Rajon Rondo played so poorly in Game 5 of the NBA finals that Celtics coach Doc Rivers used him for just 14½ minutes. That all changed in Game 6.
Rondo was hesitant to shoot in Sunday night’s fifth game loss in Los Angeles. He even passed up an easy layup to throw the ball out for a longer shot that missed. Rondo hit one of seven shots and, Rivers said, was “just not playing well.”
The speedy second-year starter came of age on Tuesday night with a brilliant all-around game that helped Boston win its 17th NBA championship with a 131-92 victory over the Lakers.
His line: 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, six steals. With 18 steals, the Celtics broke the finals record of 17 by Golden State in 1975.
And there’s more: Rondo had just one turnover in 31 minutes. And the reluctant shooter fired the ball up 20 times, more than any of his teammates.
Pretty amazing, especially since he hurt his left ankle early in the third quarter of Game 3 — a Celtics loss — and spent most of the second half of that game on the bench. But Rivers knew how important he was to the team.
“He’s the one pure point guard on our team that has the ability to make plays, and that’s what we would lose” if Rondo didn’t play in Game 4, Rivers said.
But he played in that game and again in Game 5. He saved his best for the clincher.
One very happy baby
Glen Davis made his first appearance in the NBA finals on Tuesday night. He finally got his chance to do what so many other Celtics reserves did — contribute to a win.
And this was Boston’s biggest victory in 22 years, since their last NBA title in 1986.
Beefy “Big Baby” didn’t play in the first five games but was on the floor for almost eight minutes in the second quarter Tuesday night when Boston opened up a big lead over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 289-pound rookie with the easy smile went in for P.J. Brown with the Celtics leading 24-20 with 11:17 left in the second quarter. By the time Davis was replaced by Kendrick Perkins 3:37 before intermission, the lead was up to 47-34 — a 13-point bulge that never got smaller. Davis finished the game with three points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.
The bench made big contributions in the other Celtics wins against the Lakers. Sam Cassell had eight points in the 98-88 Game 1 win, Leon Powe scored 21 when in Boston’s 108-102 win in Game 2. And James Posey scored 18 and Eddie House 11 when Boston won in Los Angeles 97-91 to go up 3-1 in the series.
Davis actually was drafted by Seattle, but his rights were included in the deal on draft night that also sent Ray Allen to the Celtics.
Flying, finally
The Boston Celtics needed three airplanes to get back from Los Angeles, and that’s smelling a little fishy to coach Doc Rivers.
The Celtics were supposed to leave around 11 a.m. Monday, but they didn’t take off until close to 3 p.m., and didn’t land until 10:30 p.m. Asked about the travel problems, Rivers pointed a sarcastic finger squarely at Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and coach Phil Jackson.
“Why don’t you call Mitch Kupchak and Phil? They’ll probably tell you exactly what happened,” Rivers said to laughter. “It was a long day, it really was.”
When they played in the original Boston Garden, opponents used to complain that savvy Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach would turn off the air conditioning or the hot water in the visiting locker room. Although he maintained that the problems were the same for both sides — the old building didn’t even have air conditioning — Auerbach loved the fact that it was getting to the other team.
Maybe it’s payback time.
The original Celtics plane had a cracked windshield, so they were put on another one. After pushing back from the gate, the second plane developed mechanical problems so they had to come back.
“We had to unfortunately pull people off that one,” Rivers said. “And when we get there at the gate, we see the Laker plane taking off, and I was saying, ’Oh, this is nice.”’
Rivers said they sat on the plane for three to four hours before taking off.
Celtics rookie Gabe Pruitt, who said the team wound up on a plane that usually flies the Oakland Athletics, was also suspicious.
“Two planes?” he said. “What are the chances of that happening?”
Pruitt said he slept much of the time, while hurt players such as Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins received treatment for their injuries.
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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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.