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.
APThere were sloppy passes and errant shots, but at least it was fun for the kids, who got to see Dora the Explorer come on the court a few times and a half-deflated Elmo balloon hover over it during much of the second quarter.
And there were plenty of items tossed into the stands during giveaways — not counting Chandler’s third-quarter pass that landed in the fourth row.
“It looked like we won,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That’s all I care about.”
Sure it was messy, but these teams expected a tough go of it this season while building for the future.
During a second-quarter timeout, YES Network showed next summer’s projections for available salary cap space, where the Nets are expected to slightly edge the Knicks with around $24 million.
But the plan to save money to be aggressive in free agency leaves neither team with much hope of being competitive now. In need of a turnaround, the Knicks considered signing Allen Iverson this week before ruling it out Friday.
Despite some ugly shooting that included two airballs by Gallinari and a shot by Eddy Curry that nearly went over the backboard, the Knicks led 29-24 after one quarter. The period ended with a livid D’Antoni yelling at Nate Robinson after the Knicks guard shot at the wrong basket after taking an inbounds pass with 0.5 seconds left, instead of just letting the clock run out.
The shot went in just after the buzzer, nearly giving the Nets three points.
“He was like, ’What if it went in?”’ Robinson said. “I was like, ’My bad.’ I waited to the buzzer went off. He talked to me about it and to be ready to play.”
New York extended the advantage into double digits late in the second quarter and led 52-43 at halftime.
Notes: The Knicks will honor Yankees manager Joe Girardi with the November “City Spirit” Award, given to someone who’s made a “significant difference in the lives of others” during Sunday’s game against Boston. Driving home the night of the World Series clincher, he stopped to aid a motorist who had been injured in an accident.
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 |
 |
NBCSports.com |
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 |
| Special feature |
 | Fan ranker: Who will be MVP of the NBA? Visit each week during the regular season to rank the candidates. NBCSports.com |
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.