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: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
ASSOCIATED PRESSGerald Wallace, Bobcats
You could look at Wallace’s scoring dip this season (16.9 points per game in 2008-09 vs. 19.4 in 2007-08) and surmise that he’s taken a step backward, but that would be overlooking the escalation of efficiency he’s shown under Larry Brown. He's the Bobcats’ leading scorer despite averaging just 11.5 field-goal attempts per game. By comparison, the NBA’s leading scorer, Dwyane Wade, is taking a league-high 21.9 shots per game.
Then again, efficiency hasn’t always been Wallace’s strong suit, and it would be almost tragic if a player known as “Crash” somehow became synonymous with caution. But fear not — Wallace hasn’t reigned in his aggressiveness; he is simply learning how best to summon it.
In his last 16 games, the relentless and occasionally reckless forward — who boldly declared to the Charlotte Observer last month that “I just ignore pain now” — has averaged 19.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, pushing the Bobcats for at least a brief moment into the playoff conversation.
With the Bobcats now close to elimination from the postseason picture — and by extension close to temporarily vanishing from the basketball landscape — Wallace’s performance in 2008-09 isn’t likely to resonate throughout the offseason. However, it can’t be overlooked that at age 26, Wallace’s most fierce and determined season to date could be directly on the horizon.
Monta Ellis, Warriors
By most accounts, if you signed a lucrative contract over the summer, then shortly thereafter violated said contract by getting into a moped accident (leading to a severe ankle injury and subsequent team-mandated 30-game suspension), your season would be considered something of an unmitigated disaster. And considering that Ellis has played just 25 games in 2008-09 and is currently sidelined once again with ankle trouble, his campaign certainly isn’t getting the most encouraging closing chapter.
But finding your way onto the cusp of a competitive eruption isn’t about having the best season imaginable in 2008-09; it’s about providing a startlingly clear glimpse of what’s to come next year.
For a 12-game stretch between March 11 and April 1, Ellis was nothing short of ferocious. During that span, the fourth-year pro averaged 25.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals, capped off by a 42-point, nine-rebound, nine-assist tour de force in an April 1 game against Sacramento, a contest that admittedly featured very little defense, but still showcased an offensive-minded 23-year-old guard on the brink of something formidable in 2009-10.
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.
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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.
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.