CWNNewsFeed

• Trail Blazers beat Grizzlies to Advance to Playoffs

  Aug 15, 2020 SportZ 0 Comments

  

   

  With a 122-126 victory over the Memphis Grizzles on Saturday morning, the Portland Trail Blazers have officially clenched the 8th seed for the Western Conference playoffs. This game marks the first time the NBA has implemented a play-in format for the final playoff berth; in this case, the 9th seed Grizzles had to win Saturday's game in order to force a winner-takes-all match-up on Sunday – if they won that, then they would have made the playoffs instead. But, that didn't happen. The Trail Blazers, behind numerous big performances, managed to pull together a fourth-quarter rally to win the game by four. Players like CJ McCollum and Carmelo Anthony were major contributors in their late-game comeback, with McCollum scoring 12 of his 29 points in the final quarter (including 8 in the final 3:08), and Carmelo hitting a big 3-pointer with under 30 seconds remaining. Additionally, Damian Lillard tallied a double-double – 31 points and 10 assists – and Jusuf Nurkic put up 22 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. For the Grizzlies, Ja Morant led the way with 35 points and 8 assists, while Jonas Valanciunas scored 22 and grabbed 17 rebounds, but it wasn't enough. The Portland Trail Blazers will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs starting Tuesday.

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• Opening Night at the NBA Bubble

  Jul 31, 2020 SportZ 0 Comments

  It was on March 11 when the NBA first postponed its season due to COID-19, after a few of its players started testing positive for the virus. For months, players and fans watched with anticipation as the NBA gradually unveiled plans for restarting, including when and where they would play. Finally, about four and a half months later, the regular season has officially continued.

  July 30 marked the opening night for the restarted season, where the first official match-ups played in the Orlando bubble. There were only two games. The first was the Utah Jazz vs the New Orleans Pelicans, where the Jazz won 106-104 behind Jordan Clarkson's 23 points – Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley also scored 20 apiece. The second, more anticipated match-up, was between the Clippers and the Lakers. It was another close game, with the Lakers winning by only two, 103-101, despite the 58 combined points from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Anthony Davis led the Lakers in scoring with 34 points, and LeBron James tallied a double-double, with 16 points and 11 rebounds, on top of 7 assists.

   

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• The NBA Planning to Restart in... Disney World?

  May 21, 2020 SportZ 0 Comments

  

   

  The NBA's developing plan for resuming the season has been a prevalent topic for weeks now, likely since the season was suspended in the first place due to coronavirus concerns. Several meetings were set up for this purpose, between players and executives alike, and many ideas were proposed.

   

  One factor the league will have to consider when reopening will be an appropriate return venue – an arena where NBA games can be played safely while the pandemic unfolds. During the past few days, one particular location became a highly-favored option amongst the NBA: Orlando. The NBA is reportedly engaging in “serious talks” to restart the season at Walt Disney World. This option has gained traction because it is a private property with all of the necessary facilities to host the games and accommodate for league personnel.

   

  Las Vegas is among other cities being considered. The NBA hopes to have players in training camp by mid-June, and playing televised games by mid-July.

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• KD Not Likely to Return if Season Resumes

  May 11, 2020 SportZ 0 Comments

  Throughout the past year, fans have been anticipating Kevin Durant's debut with the Brooklyn Nets, after suffering an injury during the 2019 playoffs. Although he had made it clear that he would not be returning this year, the league's postponement due to coronavirus has sparked speculation on whether or not he could return this season after all, assuming it resumes. After all, the schedule could be pushed back as far as October, which is technically when Durant had planned to make his return.

   

  Recently, sources have begun addressing these rumors. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, KD and the franchise are choosing to remain steadfast in their original plan, rather than rush him to finish the season, regardless of how long the season is postponed. That means he will likely not play until next season.

  

  However, Nets GM Sean Marks assured the public that Durant's return date was still flexible. According to him, the time-line of his return was not a matter they frequently discussed. Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that the risk involved with pushing KD's return outweighs the reward, as the Warriors demonstrated in last year's finals. Fortunately for fans, the possibility of an early return is still on the table.

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• Metta World Peace Goes by a New Name Now

  May 4, 2020 SportZ 0 Comments

  

   

  In addition to his former status as one of the top defenders in the NBA and his infamous cases of disciplinary issues, one of the many things fans know Ron Artest for was his name-change to Metta World Peace in the 2011 off-season, back when he still played for the Lakers. Although he was not the first NBA player to change his name, it was still an unusual occurrence, and made headlines nonetheless. Now, nearly nine years later, Metta has changed his name once again, marking the second time he has made this decision. According to sources, his name is now Metta Ford-Artest; he stated that he combined his surname with that of his wife's, whose name is Maya Ford.

  This is not the first instance where Metta's name surfaced regarding a name-change in the past few years. In 2014, during his year-long stint overseas, rumors emerged that he had changed his name to “Panda Friend”. Obviously, these rumors were not true – this is his first official name change since 2011.

  Metta's playing career ended after the 2016-17 season, when he had made a brief return to Los Angeles. He is currently the player development coach for the South Bay Lakers, the LA Lakers' G-League affiliate.

   

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