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.
AP filePowered by point guard and MVP candidate Steve Nash, the Suns led the NBA in scoring at 110.4 points per game and won a league-best 62 games. But the pace usually slows in the postseason, which may limit Phoenix’s effectiveness in the transition game.
“I know plenty of teams that were high-octane that won championships,” Suns All-Star center Amare Stoudemire said. “(Teams) haven’t stopped us the whole season. How are they going to stop us now?”
That is the task facing the eighth-seeded Grizzlies, who were swept by the top-seeded Spurs last year’s first round. Since the NBA went to 16 playoff teams in 1984, only two No. 8 seeds have won a first-round series.
Also Sunday, the Spurs host the Nuggets and the Wizards visit the Bulls.
Although seeded second, the Spurs are favored to win the West. They have a concern about Duncan, their superstar power forward and two-time NBA Finals MVP who is not totally recovered after missing 12 games with a severely sprained ankle late in the season.
San Antonio also may be without injured center Rasho Nesterovic. That could be a factor against Denver, which is 32-8 under coach George Karl and has a fleet of active big men it can run at Duncan.
“We match up OK (against Denver),” Duncan said. “They are really hot right now, playing well, and with a lot of confidence.”
The series between the Wizards and the Bulls should be an education for both teams. Fifth-seeded Washington has only two players on its roster with playoff experience, while five of fourth-seeded Chicago’s top seven players will be in their first postseason.
“We’re happy where we are,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “But we don’t have that playoff tenacity and that playoff personality. ... We got a lot of preparation to do. We have to get some type of playoff personality, we don’t have it.”
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
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Lin on on 'Linsanity' Knicks guard Jeremy Lin discusses the hype surrounding his recent rise in New York. |
 | 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 |
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
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.