Month: July 2020

Rui Hachimura’s aggressive play not enough as Wizards fall to Suns

Rui Hachimura played aggressively on Friday but the effort was not enough as the Wizards fell to the Suns in the season restart opener.

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Heeding advice from the coaching staff, Rui Hachimura played aggressively on Friday but the effort was not enough as the Washington Wizards fell to the Phoenix Suns in the season restart opener.

Hachimura scored a team-high 21 points and eight rebounds in the 125-112 loss. He finished by shooting 8-of-15 from the field while he made all five of his free-throw attempts. Overall, it was the performance that the Wizards needed but Hachimura couldn’t get enough help to win.

On a couple of occasions, Hachimura assumed the point guard duties and pushed the pace following a rebound. He dropped in a perfect pass to Thomas Bryant on one sequence in the third quarter for the easy dunk and opted to keep it himself later in the period.

With the loss, and following an Orlando Magic win earlier in the day, the Wizards dropped to six games behind the Brooklyn Nets in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The margin of error was already razor-thin to make the playoffs and that got a little tighter for the Wizards following the loss on Friday.

The Wizards play next on Sunday against the Nets.

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Does Bill Belichick believe Cam Newton will be the Patriots’ starting QB?

Most NFL pundits assume that Cam Newton will become the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback, but does head coach Bill Belichick?

(Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Most NFL pundits assume that Cam Newton will become the Patriots’ starting quarterback and that seems correct.

But as been Bill Belichick’s approach throughout his entire career as inarguably the greatest coach in NFL history, he had this to say Friday about the QB position:

“That spot is the same as all the other spots on the team. We have a long way to go. We’ll see how things turn out,” Belichick said Friday in his first public remarks since Newton signed with the team. “I can’t control how players perform; that’s up to them. We’ll give everyone an opportunity and see what happens. I don’t know.”

Newton is a former league MVP and he’s only 31. Plus, reports say he’s looking good and feeling good. After the departure of Tom Brady to Tampa Bay, the Pats did the right research in seeking out his replacement.

“We spent quite a bit of time with Cam, [had] a number of different people, and a number of different conversations, just trying to see how the fit would be. It was very positive on our end. I’m glad it worked out,” Belichick said.

Newton is on just a one-year contract, so we’ll see how this goes, as he competes with not-household-names Jarrett Stidham, a fellow Auburn alum, Brian Hoyer, an 11-year veteran, and undrafted free agent Brian Lewerke.

Not a real reach, but I’m going with the awes of Newton’s physical skills and saying he’s the starter on Week 1.

NBA works with Microsoft, Michelob ULTRA to put virtual fans courtside

The NBA has partnered with Microsoft and Michelob ULTRA to give fans a chance to sit “courtside” from the safety of their home.

The Boston Celtics may be playing games that count again safely ensconced at the Disney NBA campus entirely without fans, but there’s at least one way you can “attend” a game from the safety of your home.

You may have already seen or heard about the wall of virtual fans peppering the periphery of the court in the absence of flesh and blood attendees, one of several ideas the league has been using to make the resumed season as entertaining and unique as possible for fans watching the games from home.

But how to be chosen as one of the included virtual fans?

The initiative, a partnership between the NBA, Microsoft and Michelob ULTRA beer, is best explained by this excerpt from a blog post by Microsoft:

“In partnership with the NBA, we are announcing a reimagined fan experience powered by a new feature in Microsoft Teams called Together mode. Together mode uses AI segmentation technology to bring people together into a shared background like a conference room, coffee shop, or arena.

Using scientific principles of cognition and social perception, Together mode is more than a virtual background — it makes being together virtually actually feel like being together in-person. It’s easy to maintain natural eye contact, for instance, or register fellow participants’ emotions as they react to what’s happening — whether it’s a meeting announcement, a class presentation, or the sight of a favorite NBA player about to score a 3-pointer.”

This ‘Together Mode’ will be used to populate the 17-foot courtside video boards with the live video reaction of fans chosen to participate, with fans getting their own live feed of the game at home as well.

To have a chance at being included, fans must register at the Michelob ULTRA site UltraCourtside.com — Michelob is also offering giveaways on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube social media channels.

The odds may be long, but it’s always worth a shot to get “courtside” seats.

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Ernie Els makes hole-in-one; Billy Andrade, Tommy Armour III in Ally lead

Els recorded his 17th hole-in-one and finished the day at 3-under, just three shots behind leaders Billy Andrade and Tommy Armour III.

It didn’t long after the restart of the Champions Tour season for Ernie Els’ bar tab to grow.

Els, who has a win and a place in his previous three Champions Tour starts, wasn’t particularly pleased with his opening round at Warwick Hills G&CC as part of the Ally Challenge, the senior tour’s first event back after the pandemic stop.

But on his next-to-last hole of the day, Els turned his fortunes around, dropping a hole in one — his first in two years and the 17th of his career — at the course near Flint.

“Ricci (Roberts), my caddy, said, ‘you know, that was a nice golf swing,’ ” Els said. “The ball was in the air and the next thing, it was in the hole.”

Els finished the day at 3-under, just three shots behind leaders Billy Andrade and Tommy Armour III.

Andrade got hot on the back nine en route to the top of the leaderboard. He shot a 32 after the turn, burying birdies on Nos. 10, 13, 14 and 15. Although he insisted that he had been practicing in advance of the trip to Michigan, Andrade said it took the realization that the Champions Tour was returning to get his competitive juices flowing.

“Well, I think the biggest thing was the first two or three months,
there was no starting point really. And once we knew, OK, hey, we’re going to start at the Ally Challenge, we hope, OK, so now you have a starting point and then you can start vamping up your practice. But we’re over 50. It’s not like we are practicing a ton. But it’s nice to have a goal to work towards versus when this pandemic started,” Andrade said.  “It’s like we are definitely not playing, so it’s very, I think very difficult for professionals to get jazzed up to go out and play if you have nothing to work for. You know what I’m saying?

“So I think once we knew we were coming here, we were so excited, let’s get this thing started, let’s get the ball rolling. And I think all of us are really, really excited about being here and getting back into playing again.”

Bernhard Langer,  Wes Short, Jr. and Tom Gillis are tied at 5 under while Jim Furyk is 4 under in his first Champions Tour event.

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