Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
MINNEAPOLIS - Watch out NBA, Greg Oden is starting to clear the cobwebs from two injuries, giving Brandon Roy a monster presence down low for the young Portland Trail Blazers.
Playing the first back-to-back of his career, the former No. 1 draft pick followed his first double-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 23 minutes. Roy then closed things out in the Blazers’ 88-83 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
“The guys were like, ’You killed in college, you can do it here,”’ said Oden, who missed all of last season with a knee injury and six games this one with a sprained foot. “I knew if I kept working it would come.”
Roy, who was originally chosen by the Timberwolves but traded for Randy Foye on draft night, scored 24 points for the Blazers, including a driving layup and a fast-break dunk in the closing minute that gave them the lead for good.
But it was Oden’s performance on the heels of an 11-point, 11-rebound game against New Orleans that had Roy excited for this team’s immediate future.
“That was just a taste of it,” Roy said. “He didn’t give you the whole meal, it was just a taste of what he’s going to do.”
Al Jefferson had 26 points and six rebounds for the Timberwolves (1-7), who have lost seven in a row since an opening night victory over Sacramento.
It was a familiar formula for the Wolves. They led by 12 points with 5½ minutes to play in the third quarter, but let a double-digit lead slip away for the fourth time this season. Five of their last six losses have been by five points or less.
“It’s like groundhog day,” coach Randy Wittman said.
Jefferson made eight of his first nine shots, having little trouble shooting under, over or around Portland’s skyline of a front — with the 7-foot-1 Joel Przybilla, the 7-foot Oden and 6-11 LaMarcus Aldridge all taking a crack at him.
His reverse layup gave the Wolves a 10-point lead less than 2 minutes into the second half, but it was mostly downhill from there.
Sergio Rodriguez’s 3-pointer to open the fourth cut the lead to 71-68, and Oden ripped the ball from Jefferson on the low block to start a break finished by a jumper from Steve Blake to tie it at 77 with 3:52 to play.
Oden then threw down a dunk in transition to give Portland an 81-79 lead with 2:58 to go, its first lead since the opening of the second quarter.
“He seems to be getting his confidence and getting his feel for playing with our guys,” coach Nate McMillan said. “And our guys are getting used to playing with him.”
This one will sting just a little bit more for the Wolves.
The Foye-Roy trade has been heavily scrutinized in the Twin Cities, largely because Roy has emerged as a bona fide star and one of the rising clutch players in the game.
Foye, meanwhile, was benched for Sebastian Telfair four games ago and still hasn’t fulfilled the promise he had coming out of Villanova.
Foye finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three turnovers, including the crucial one with his team down 84-83 to Roy turned into a breakaway dunk.
Wittman wasn’t so much concerned about the final minutes as he was by some selfish play in the third quarter that allowed Portland to creep back in.
The coach refused to single any one out, but reserve guard Rashad McCants appeared to be particularly guilty. McCants took nine shots — most of them ill-advised — in nine minutes. He was quickly yanked in the third quarter when he missed a wild turnaround jumper, then jacked up a 3-pointer early in the shot clock on the next possession.
“When I have to substitute because guys don’t want to play the right way, we’re not going to win close games,” Wittman said. “That’s going to come back to bite you every time.
“It’s not the last five minutes, because if you took care of your business in a team manner, a 10-point lead at halftime might be 15.”
Notes: Telfair collided with Blake in the third quarter and came up spitting up blood. He returned in the fourth. ... Wolves C Jason Collins made his season debut. He missed most of the preseason and the first five games with an elbow injury after a freak golf cart accident. ... Roy scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
 | 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 |
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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.