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.
Reuters
MIAMI - A barrage of 3-pointers brought the Detroit Pistons to the brink of claiming a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference finals.
Then the long shots stopped falling, and the Miami Heat evened the series.
The Pistons missed six of their final seven 3-point tries, including two that were rushed by Rasheed Wallace in the final 2 minutes. Their reliance on the long shot — and a 40-point night from Miami guard Dwyane Wade — helped the Heat eke out a 92-86 win in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
“Maybe we took some quick outside shots,” said Pistons coach Larry Brown, whose team finished 9-for-23 from 3-point range. “But I thought it was a great game. They just made the plays at the end that we made in Game 1.”
Wallace had a chance to tie the game on a 3-pointer with about 30 seconds left, but the shot missed. Shaquille O’Neal grabbed the rebound and the Heat held on.
“We had the game where we wanted it,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “We were down 87-84. Sheed had a wide-open look. I’ll take that. I’ll take that all night. I think the whole arena was scared. I heard the whole arena gasping for air when he pulled up. We got what we wanted; it didn’t go down.”
Detroit connected on eight 3-pointers in the first 38 minutes Wednesday — including ones by Billups and Lindsey Hunter to end the third quarter, when the Pistons completed the climb from a 14-point first-half deficit and took a 63-62 lead.
Tayshaun Prince and Hunter each connected from behind the arc to open the fourth, giving the Pistons a 69-66 lead. Billups hit another 3-pointer with 6:08 left, again putting Detroit on top 76-74.
But the Pistons wouldn’t lead again — and it wasn’t a coincidence that they didn’t hit another 3-pointer.
“I thought we did a better job to getting to them on the 3s,” Heat forward Eddie Jones said. “That third quarter, we didn’t. We gave them a lot of airspace and they drained them.”
Detroit isn’t a team that heavily relies on the outside shot. The Pistons averaged 4.4 3-pointers per game in the regular season, and made 5.3 per game — on 33.7 percent shooting — in their first 12 playoff games.
Yet the 3-pointers were falling in waves early in the second half of Game 2. The Pistons were 5-for-8 from long range in the third quarter. Those 15 points matched Miami’s total points in the period, during which Detroit turned an 11-point halftime deficit into a one-point lead.
And another 3-pointer that may have been ill-advised provided one of the game’s biggest turning points.
Billups spotted up on the right wing with 2:40 left, and let fly with a shot that would have brought the Pistons within two points. But Wade came from behind and blocked the shot, sending the sellout crowd into a roar.
“He’s as good as it gets in our league,” Brown said.
Damon Jones’ layup 11 seconds later pushed Miami’s lead to 87-80 and the outcome was never seriously in doubt again.
“We’re kicking ourselves. ... It’s basically our fault,” Wallace said. “We just missed some shots down the stretch and they made some shots. Can’t take nothing away from that.”
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.