Connect with us

Sports

Kevin Durant comes back in stupendous style as Brooklyn Nets open season with unequivocal home win

Published

on

In front of the Nets’ season opener against the Warriors, Golden State mentor Steve Kerr plunked down to observe some film of his previous player Kevin Durant. He pulled up Brooklyn’s preseason game against Boston and took in Durant’s first serious play since tearing his Achilles in June of 2019.

“I didn’t know what to expect given that it’s been really a year and a half since his last game,” Kerr said. “But I could not tell one difference between seeing him 18 months ago and seeing him the other night.”

Durant has avoided making any broad decrees, yet Kerr got an unparalleled view to Durant’s strength on Tuesday as he set up 22 focuses in a 125-99 triumph against his previous group.

Also, this time, it wasn’t a preseason warm-up.

“I think we had a solid first start,” Durant said after the game. “So we want to build on it. I was looking forward to coming out here and getting a ‘W,’ and I was glad we were able to come out and finish the job.”

Durant depleted midrange jumpers over Andrew Wiggins, raised for one-gave pummels, strung the ball through safeguards to discover DeAndre Jordan at the edge and sprinkled in 3s. While he wasn’t on a minutes limitation, mentor Steve Nash said before the game that he would be “thoughtful” with Durant’s playing time. He wound up out on the floor for 25 minutes.

Alongside his scoring, Durant had 5 bounce back, 3 helps and 3 takes. He shot 7-of-16 from the field and didn’t miss from the free toss line in seven endeavors. Durant said that he didn’t feel he expected to demonstrate that he could coordinate his degree of play in 2019 to come to a meaningful conclusion.

“I don’t think I have to show anybody anything,” Durant said. “I’m just going to come out there and just hoop … So, I don’t feel like I’ve got to prove myself, but I want to go out there and be able to do whatever Coach needs me to out on the floor.”

Heroes star Stephen Curry had the option to summarize confronting his previous colleague in single word: “Awful.”

“With KD out there — the way that he looked, he looked all the way healthy, confident in his body, so it was good to see obviously from a health standpoint,” Curry said. “That means a lot to come off an injury like that.”

With Durant and Kyrie Irving driving the way, Brooklyn got steam rapidly. The Nets leaped out to a 18-8 lead in the primary quarter after Durant took off toward the bushel and conveyed a definitive dunk. He piled up a brisk 10 focuses in the principal quarter, and Irving – who hasn’t played serious b-ball since February in the wake of harming his shoulder – drove the group with a mid 17 focuses.

Irving – who nailed almost unthinkably profound 3-pointers and exhibited his showy, signature ballhandling – got done with a group high 26 focuses.

Irving said after the game that he was energized by the game, however has bigger objectives for the season. He said on occasion in his vocation, he was up to speed “just trying to play ‘hero’ basketball.”

This season, he stated, he is attempting to zero in additional on aggregate group objectives.

“As a young player,” Irving said, “you think that scoring a bunch of points, doing a bunch of things, getting a bunch of accolades are great. I definitely was going after those things, and now, I really don’t care for any of those individual accolades or goals. It doesn’t bother me. I know I’m validated culturally. That’s all that matters. I don’t need All-NBA; I don’t need the MVP. I just want the championship with a great team that I can look back in history and say, ‘We did it our way, and we had fun doing it.'”

Neither Durant nor Irving played in the final quarter.

As Durant advanced toward the seat toward the finish of the second from last quarter, his night complete, he high-fived each partner and mentor, smiling as he advanced from the primary line of collapsing seats to his seat in the subsequent line. He gazed up at the scoreboard, as though taking in the numbers behind his return that were shown, and pulled his dim warm-up shirt over his head.

With Irving close by, Durant looked as their colleagues added to Brooklyn’s lead. At a certain point in the final quarter, the Nets were up by more than 30. Durant applauded and given out more high-fives, the following stage of his rebound total.

Sports

Dodgers Unveil Plans for Friday Parade and Stadium Celebration

Published

on

The Dodgers announced Wednesday night that they would celebrate their World Series victory on Friday with a parade in Downtown Los Angeles and a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium. The full broadcast of both tournaments will be available on AM 570, local television stations, and Spectrum SportsNet LA. Fans will not be able to attend both events due to scheduling conflicts, transportation, and logistical issues.

The parade will start at Gloria Molina Grand Park on Spring Street in front of City Hall at 11 a.m. PT. The procession will begin with an official kickoff by Mayor Karen Bass and go for 45 minutes from 1st Street to Grand Avenue to 5th Street, ending at the corner of 5th and Flower Street. Dodgers players will ride double-decker buses during the parade. Due to extensive street closures and a shortage of public parking, those who desire to join the parade are strongly recommended to use public transportation.

At around 12:15 p.m., a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium will start after the procession. The stadium’s entrance gates will open at 9 a.m., and parking gates for attendees will open at 8:30 a.m. There will be food and merchandise for sale. Before the team arrives, there will be entertainment inside the stadium, including DodgerVision scoreboards that will show the parade. This event will be subject to all Dodger Stadium policies and procedures, including the reminder that signs, bags, and other objects that are prohibited by our policies are not allowed.

At 9:30 a.m., SportsNet LA and local networks CBS 2, NBC 4, KTLA 5, ABC 7, KCAL 9, and Fox 11 will start airing coverage of every event on Friday. On AM 570, there will be radio coverage.

The Los Angeles Dodger Foundation, which is working to address the most important issues confronting Los Angeles with a mission to enhance social justice, health care, education, and homelessness for all Angelenos, will get a part of the stadium event’s earnings.

Continue Reading

Sports

Tuten Leads the Hokies with 4 Touchdowns and 266 Running Yards in a Blowout Victory

Published

on

Thursday night, Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 42–21 thanks to a school record 266 yards and four touchdowns from Bhayshul Tuten.

For the Hokies (4-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and never trailed en way to a second straight victory, Kyron Drones added two rushing scores and a touchdown pass.

Tuten completed 18 carries while also scoring on 83 and 61-yard touchdown runs, the latter of which came with 8:28 remaining to win the game. And he caught a touchdown pass from Drones that was 20 yards in length.

Tuten declared, “Every game is a special game.” “That’s how I look at it. I just felt a little better today. We had a bye week. I felt great throughout practice. I took the knee brace off (for a sore knee). I felt fast, I felt good, I felt fluid. I just came out and balled today, and that’s what we needed.”

After trailing 28-0 at the half, Boston College (4-3, 1-2 ACC) got within 28-21 on a 5-yard run by Kye Robichaux with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter, and they were on the drive early in the fourth. However, Robichaux was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, and Virginia Tech took advantage of the next play. With 11:02 remaining, Tuten scored on a 6-yard run to give Virginia Tech a 35-21 lead.

“That’s a good team that we beat tonight,” stated Brent Pry, the coach of Virginia Tech. “And we beat them soundly.”

With his 266 rushing yards, Tuten eclipsed the previous school record of 253 established by Darren Evans in 2008 versus Maryland. After removing Tuten from the game because of his proximity to the record, the Virginia Tech coaching staff decided to put him back in to break it. During the Hokies’ last drive, Tuten set the record with a 17-yard run.

“I normally don’t like that, but a school record at a place like Tech with so many great running backs, and he was deserving with his performance,” Pry stated.

Drones completed 14 of 18 passes for 164 yards and ran for 40 yards. Drones scored on runs of 11 yards and 1 yard on the Hokies’ opening two possessions. The Hokies finished with a season-high 533 yards, trailing just Tuten and Drones.

The Eagles finished with 372 yards, led by Thomas Castellanos, who passed for 205 yards and two touchdowns.

“I felt really good about the preparation for the game,” Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien remarked. “Obviously, I was wrong. We’ve got to prepare differently, better, whatever it might be. We’ve got to figure it out. … We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got a good coaching staff. We do. We have a lot of experience. But we didn’t play well tonight, so that’s on the coaching. We’ve got to coach better and hopefully we’ll get it turned around.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Shohei Ohtani Gets Standing Ovation After Achieving 50-50 Milestone, Then Hits 52-52

Published

on

After securing the first 50-50 season in MLB history on Friday, Shohei Ohtani made a triumphant homecoming to Dodger Stadium. He continued doing what he does best after that.

The Los Angeles Dodgers player began the 52-52 club with a home run and a steal against the Colorado Rockies, after the teams reached 50-50 and 51-51 in the same game. In the fifth inning, Ohtani faced Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. He worked the count full before taking a pitch at his armpits to deep center field.

Few batters possess the ability to hit a pitch that high and blast it 423 feet in the opposite direction.

After a double and a single two innings later, Ohtani advanced to second base on Mookie Betts’ first pitch.

Ohtani broke Rickey Henderson’s record of 13 home runs in a single game set in 1986 by recording both a stolen base and a home run for the 14th time this season.

After going 9 for 10 with four home runs, two doubles, three steals, six runs, and 12 RBI in his last two games, Ohtani is now one home run behind Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. The majority of that output occurred on Thursday night against the Marlins, when Ohtani not only reached 50-50 with style, but he also had one of the best offensive outings in MLB history.

Ohtani combined an incredible season-long feat with the 16th 10-RBI game in MLB history in the same game that he hit his 49th, 50th, and 51st home runs of the year and stole his 50th and 51st bases. In addition, it was the first three-homer, two-steal game in MLB history, all on the anniversary of Ohtani’s unbelievable—that he didn’t have Tommy John surgery—on September 19, 2023.

The only downside of that magical night was that it happened on the road. Still, Ohtani received a curtain call at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Dodgers fans made an effort to show their support by giving him a standing ovation before his first at-bat on Friday, which earned him a wave in return.

Though it’s unclear how far into untested terrain Ohtani can go in homers and steals, he may have reached 50-50.

In addition, there’s the playoff issue. With eight games remaining, the 92-62 Dodgers have a four-game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West championship. They also secured their spot in the playoffs on Thursday. They’ll need to get beyond a string of pitching injuries if they hope to give Ohtani a ring, regardless of where they finish in his debut postseason.

Continue Reading

Trending

error: Content is protected !!