Month: January 2020

Chris Gotterup sets the pace on opening day of the Jones Cup

Chris Gotterup mixed six birdies in with two bogeys to navigate his way to the top of a loaded field of collegians, juniors and mid-amateurs

There weren’t any particular fireworks to speak of in Chris Gotterup’s opening round of the Jones Cup Invitational on Friday, but a round of 4-under 68 at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia was enough to leave the Rutgers junior with the reins on the opening day of the first major amateur event of 2020.

Gotterup mixed six birdies in with two bogeys to navigate his way to the top of a field loaded with the top collegians, juniors and mid-amateurs in the country. The Little Silver, New Jersey native got hot in the middle of his round, logging five of his six birdies from Nos. 6 to 14. A bogey at the par-3 15th condensed his lead from two shots to one.

Leaderboard: Jones Cup Invitational

Julien Sale, a senior at Arkansas State, opened with a birdie but immediately gave it back with a bogey at his second hole. He ended the day with 3-under 67, good for solo second.

Sale led the Red Wolves in scoring this fall as they charted a rise to the No. 39 spot in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Only seven other players broke par on Friday at Ocean Forest, making it a relatively tight squeeze at the top of the leaderboard. Perhaps none of those men has unfinished business at the Jones Cup quite like Davis Thompson, a St. Simons Island, Georgia native – and the University of Georgia’s leading scorer this fall. He opened with 2-under 70.

A year ago, Thompson was tied with Akshay Bhatia after 36 holes when torrential rain wiped out the final round. He and Bhatia went to the par-4 first hole for sudden death, but Bhatia made quick work of him when Thompson put his drive in the water and made bogey.

In the year since, Thompson has won an NCAA Regional, finished at the top of Western Amateur stroke play, won another college title and played the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour, finishing in the top 25.

The group of seven men tied for 10th at even includes several notables, among them U.S. Amateur runner-up John Augenstein, a Vanderbilt senior. Oklahoma senior Quade Cummins, winner of this summer’s Pacific Coast Amateur, is also on that number as well as 2018 Jones Cup champion Garrett Barber and U.S. Amateur semifinalist Cohen Trolio, a high-school junior from West Point, Mississippi.

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Watch ESPN’s beautiful tribute video for Kobe and Gianna Bryant

This was incredible.

The Los Angeles Lakers returned to the Staples Center to play their first game since NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others lost their lives in a tragic helicopter accident last weekend.

In the pre-game broadcast on ESPN, a panel of former players and broadcasters shared their memories of Bryant, and ESPN aired a phenomenal tribute video narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan.

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Cage Warriors 115: Local heroes set for action in European promotion’s Belfast debut

Cage Warriors will host its first show in Belfast, Northern Ireland on May 16, with a host of local stars set for action at the SSE Arena.

Cage Warriors will head to Belfast for the first time for Cage Warriors 115, and the promotion has already confirmed a host of local favorites will feature on the card.

The event, which will take place at the SSE Arena on May 16 and streamed live on UFC Fight Pass, will be headlined by [autotag]Rhys McKee[/autotag], who heads into his latest bout riding a three-fight win streak after a hugely successful year in 2019. Now the Ballymena native will look to position himself for a shot at championship gold at 170 pounds with a big win on home soil.

Former BAMMA lightweight champion McKee (10-2-1) defeated Jefferson George and Perry Goodwin at 155 pounds in his first two bouts under the Cage Warriors banner, but moved up to welterweight and scored a 63-second knockout of Hakon Foss in his last outing at Cage Warriors 110 last November.

McKee will be joined by fellow countrymen [autotag]Joe McColgan[/autotag], [autotag]Decky McAleenan[/autotag] and unbeaten prospect [autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag], with each man heading into Belfast with momentum on their side.

McColgan (6-2-1) followed up his spectacular draw with Mehdi Ben Lakhtar in September 2019 with a first-round submission of Robbie Scott at Cage Warriors 110, while McAleenan (6-3) snapped his two-fight losing skid with a hard-earned decision victory over Antanas Jazbutis on the same night. Hughes (4-0), meanwhile, will look to continue his unbeaten run as he looks to build on his first-round submission finish at Cage Warriors Unplugged 2 last September.

The show also marks the second appearance of the year for Dublin’s Ian Garry, with the undefeated Irishman set to kick off his year with back-to-back fights. Garry (3-0) will make his first appearance of 2020 at Cage Warriors 113 in London on Mar. 20, and is scheduled make a swift turnaround to compete in Belfast on May 16.

Their respective opponents are set to be announced in due course.

Nets earn another double-digit win with victory over Bulls

Kyrie Irving went off against the Chicago Bulls on Friday, helping the Brooklyn Nets cruise to a 133-118 win.

Kyrie Irving went off against the Chicago Bulls on Friday. The Brooklyn Nets point guard drill 19 of the 23 shots he took on Friday (7-for-9 from 3-point territory), en route to a 54-point performance in the 133-118 win over the Bulls.

The Nets have now won back-to-back games by double-digits (125-115 over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday). Since December 11, the Nets have won back-to-back games three times, though they haven’t won three games in a row since December 4-8.

Irving’s 54 points put him three points shy of tying the franchise’s single-game scoring record (Deron Williams, 57 points). Irving is the first Net to ever score 50 in a game twice in a season. He’s also the first Net to ever score 45 or more in a game three times in a season.

Spencer Dinwiddie finished second in scoring with 20 points. He went 7-for-14 from the floor (4-for-7 from deep).

Dinwiddie also led the Nets with seven assists. Irving had five assists and five rebounds.

Caris LeVert didn’t have a strong scoring night, but he did dish out six assists. Jarrett Allen had five assists throughout his 12-point performance.

Taurean Prince and DeAndre Jordan led the Nets with eight rebounds apiece. Prince also scored 16 points.

Pelicans vs. Grizzlies Recap: The good, the bad and the Ball

The New Orleans Pelicans turned it up a notch in the second half on Friday and blew out the Memphis Grizzlies for the second time this season, winning 139-111.

The New Orleans Pelicans turned it up a notch in the second half on Friday and blew out the Memphis Grizzlies for the second time this season, winning 139-111.

The Good: Third quarter

After struggling to put the Grizzlies away in the first half, the Pelicans put together a stellar third period to put this game away. New Orleans turned a 66-59 halftime lead into a 110-86 advantage after outscoring Memphis 44-27 out of the half.

Most impressively, after a sloppy first half, the Pelicans didn’t commit a turnover in the third period.

Honorable mentions: Zion Williamson catching lobs, playoff chances, shooting percentages, attacking Jonas Valanciunas out of ball screens

The Bad: First-half turnovers

The only reason the game was close in the first half was due to so many turnovers by the Pelicans. It’s long, long been the Achilles heel for the Pelicans and when it happens, it derails the offense.

Likewise, when it doesn’t happen, the Pelicans can put together third quarters and seconds halves like the one on Friday where they can make a current playoff team in the Western Conference look pedestrian at times, even if they were short-handed.

The Ball: Red-hot three-point shooting

Lonzo Ball had struggled with his jumper in recent games, going just 3-of-16 from beyond the arc in the previous two games entering Friday. But he had one of his best shooting performances of the season from range against the Grizzlies, going 5-of-7 from three to finish with 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

The five three-pointers are the second-most he’s had on the season behind only his seven three-pointers against Houston in late December. And while he found Williamson multiple times for lobs on the night, his six turnovers were tied for the second-most he’s had on the year as the lone ugly part of his outing.

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DeAndre Hopkins says Bill O’Brien ‘does a great job’ handling Texans’ coaching and GM duties

Houston Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins says that coach Bill O’Brien has done well pulling double duty leading the team and being general manager.

Count Houston Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins as someone who believes that Bill O’Brien is doing well pulling double duty as coach and general manager.

The three-time All-Pro joined SB Nation Radio’s “The Main Event” on Friday from Radio Row in Miami, and spent some time talking about the latest moves the Texans have made in the front office.

“You know, it’s not easy, man,” Hopkins said. “I’m pretty sure he has a lot on his plate, but he handles it pretty well. Being able to go out there and still coach a team at a competitive level the way we did and compete for almost a title, man, it’s not easy. He’s human, but he does a great job handling it very well.”

As the main influencer for the Texans’ five-man general managing council they had in place with vice president of football administration Chris Olsen as the interim GM, O’Brien orchestrated trades for left tackle Laremy Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills, and running back Carlos Hyde that kept the Texans competitive and repeated as AFC South champions. Houston also managed to win a wild-card playoff game in a 22-19 overtime thriller against the Buffalo Bills that helped produce results in chairman Cal McNair’s evaluation.

Hopkins believes that O’Brien’s experience as a coach gives him an advantage as a general manager.

Said Hopkins: “I think it’s definitely probably an advantage that he’s coached before and actually been out there on the football field and knows exactly what’s going on X’s and O’s wise. So, I’m pretty sure that helps.”

With O’Brien having all of the power, the buck stops with the former Penn State coach who is entering his seventh season with the Texans. If Houston still has trouble cracking into the NFL’s final four, then the evaluation of O’Brien’s performance falls from “great” to “stagnant.”

Kyrie Irving becomes first Nets player to score 50 twice in a season

Kyrie Irving had himself another memorable night in Brooklyn on Friday.

Kyrie Irving had himself another big game for the Brooklyn Nets on Friday against the Chicago Bulls. The superstar point guard scored 27 points before the end of the first half, marking the second time he’s scored 20 or more points the first half of a game this season.

The other time Irving scored 20-plus points in the first half of a game was the season opener, when he scored 29 points, en route to his 50-point performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Although he scored two fewer points on Friday than he did against the Timberwolves, his first half performance was more than enough for the point guard to reach the 50-point mark once again.

In doing so, Irving became the first Nets player to ever reach the 50-point on multiple occasions in a single season.

Irving finished with 54 points — three shy of tying the Nets franchise record (Deron Williams, 57).

Additionally, Irving is the first Nets player to ever eclipse the 45-point mark in a single season.

See LeBron James’ new Black Mamba tattoo in honor of Kobe Bryant

LeBron James shows off his new Kobe Bryant tattoo.

NBA players across the league have been paying tribute to Kobe Bryant and Bryant’s family this week after the horrible tragedy that claimed nine lives last weekend. Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis revealed on social media that they were both getting tattoos in honor of Bryant, and James showed off his new ink on Friday.

Before taking the floor at Staples Center for the Lakers’ first game since Bryant’s passing, James shared a photo of his new tattoo on Instagram. The tattoo, an illustration of a black mamba, features Bryant’s two numbers with the Lakers, and the words “Mamba 4 Life.”

The Lakers are paying tribute to Bryant for the rest of the season with a patch on their jersey, and the team also added Bryant’s numbers and initials to the floor design.

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Ilunga Makabu outpoints Michael Cieslak to win vacant 200-pound title

Ilunga Makabu rallied in the second half of the fight to outpoint Michal Cieslak and win a vacant cruiserweight title in in Africa.

A strange sequence of events ended with Ilunga Makabu winning a cruiserweight title in his native country.

Makabu signed a contract with promoter Don King in September only to sign a contract without him to fight Michal Cieslak for the vacant WBC title Friday in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where King hoped to reprise the legendary Rumble in the Jungle featuring Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

King had his lawyers send out a cease-and-desist letter to the WBC, hoping to stop the fight. Instead, some sort of deal was reached and the fight went on.

Cieslak (19-1, 13 KOs) was particularly effective early in the fight but Makabu (27-2, 24 KOs) gradually took control. He put Cieslak down in Round 4, although a rabbit punch seemed to be the key blow. Makabu went down himself in Round 5 when his glove touched the canvas after he absorbed a punch. However, Makabu got more work done in the later rounds to win a unanimous decision.

The scores were 114-112, 115-111 and 116-111.

Makabu, 32, was stopped by Tony Bellew in three rounds in his first attempt to win a major title, in 2016. He has now won eight consecutive fights.

Cieslak, 30, had never fought outside his native Poland.

Mourning Kobe Bryant fans feel that Friday’s Lakers game will provide closure

Mourners and fans gather outside of Staples Center ahead of the Lakers first game since the death of Kobe Bryant and eight others in a plane crash.

Mourners and fans gather outside of Staples Center ahead of the Lakers first game since the death of Kobe Bryant and eight others in a plane crash.