Category: JwPlayerVideo

What is the most disappointing aspect of the Redskins’ 2019 season?

The Redskins have been historically bad this season but it’s made worse by their inability to take advantage of a historically bad NFC East.

[jwplayer s2wMepUo-ThvAeFxT]

If someone were to ask you to name what you thought was the most frustrating thing about the Washington Redskins 2019 season, what would you say?

Is it the Trent Williams situation, or the tempered development of Dwayne Haskins? Maybe another year of questionable planning from Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder? Perhaps it’s all of those combined, which have culminated in one giant mishap for the Redskins:

They missed out on taking advantage of a historically dreadful season from the rest of the NFC East.

Washington’s division has long been one of the toughest in the NFL in recent history. Along with the Redskins, the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, and New York Giants have combined to be the most successful division in the NFL since the 1970 NFL merger, with 21 NFC championship wins and 13 Super Bowl victories. You wouldn’t know that by looking at it thus far in 2019, as the division has a combined record of 13-24 just past the midway point in the season which ranks dead last in the NFL. The next worst division is the AFC South, which sits at 15-21 while being boosted by an 0-9 start from the Cincinnati Bengals.

While the Redskins aren’t the only team to blame for the abysmal season in the NFC East, they surely get a big piece of the pie. However, looking around them and seeing the turmoil felt by divisional rivals does almost more harm than good, as it shows what could have been possible if the team could have put together a few wins this season; if they could have found a way to put points on the board and actually resembled a professional football team with a path forward. Those are two big ‘ifs,’ but the point stands.

The Eagles — who won a Super Bowl in the last two seasons — sit at 5-4 without a capable defense. The Cowboys — who are one of the NFL’s most historically successful teams — sit at 5-4 with a question mark at the QB position. The Giants — who have a future Hall of Fame running back and a QB who is growing more capable by the week — sit at 2-8 with another chance at a top pick in 2020.

Then there’s the Redskins, sitting there at 1-8 with no answers for the present, and no plan for the future. When they look around at the rest of the division, it’s unlikely that they’ll smile and utter the adage that misery loves company; rather they’ll see this all as a big missed opportunity. If they couldn’t find a way out of this dogpile version of the NFC East in 2019, then how will they ever do it in the future?

[vertical-gallery id=24890]

James Holzhauer’s ‘Jeopardy!’ rematch against Emma Boettcher will have to wait

We’re a step closer, though.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Jeopardy! rematch everyone has been waiting isn’t happening quite yet.

Every since University of Chicago librarian Emma Boettcher ended James Holzhauer’s 32-game winning streak (and the sports gambler from Las Vegas classily congratulated her), fans of the game show have been waiting for the Tournament of Champions to see if they could get through the field and face each other at some point on their way to finals.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait one more round to see if it’s going to happen.

Per the Jeopardy! official site, Boettcher will play against Dhruv Gaur and Kyle Jones on Monday, Nov. 11 (UPDATE: She won!). Holzhauer gets sports industry consultant Steven Grade and Rachel Lindgren on Tuesday. There’s one more semifinal on Wednesday to decide the third player in the final, so if Boettcher and Holzhauer win their games, it won’t be a complete one-on-one head-to-head battle.

So let’s see what happens this week. If so, get your popcorn (and buzzers) ready.

[jwplayer wFCMgj9o-q2aasYxh]

Despite win, Brett Brown says Sixers turnovers are a ‘problem’

Despite a win on Sunday, Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown was not happy with the turnovers the team committed.

[jwplayer oxAdaBIS-z6KDnl0B]

The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a much-needed 114-106 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday to put a stop to a three-game losing skid and it gave some good vibes to the team. However, despite the win, there are still some issues the Sixers must figure out.

One of them is limiting turnovers which have been their biggest issue to begin the season. Their turnovers cost them the game in Denver to end the road trip and their 20 turnovers on Sunday, 12 of which came in the first half, were an eyesore.

Coach Brett Brown understands that this is a new team and it will take time to figure everything out, but the turnovers are an issue as he stated:

This is what I tell the team: until we can fix this, this is a house built on sand. It is fool’s gold and we have to find a discipline and a better way to control that. The turnovers in the first half, some of them were live ball, a lot of them were just getting things batted out of our hands. We can’t fool ourselves, this is a problem. This is a problem and we need to own it.

Generally, turnovers are a coaching issue that needs to be taken care of and it falls on Brown and his staff to help the players understand their issue so they can grow in that area.

I’m the head coach. I’ve got to find a way to fix it. There needs to be a level of accountability with the players and that’s that. It’s not anything we take lightly, we don’t dismiss it, the times are over where you’re looking at some of the young guys and you can justify it. You can’t do that anymore and it’s time that we get better at that. The players know it, they understand it, but we’ve got to fix it. That’s how I see the turnover thing in general.

Tobias Harris, who had a team-high four turnovers to go along with his 14 points, has accepted his role in the turnover issue and understands that he needs to better as well.

Yeah, I mean that’s been our biggest thing this year. A lot of them have just come from myself, like today with two travels in the beginning. We were continuing to find each other and our spots. We were looking at how we want to play and things we can do to execute better, so if we can just limit the turnovers to half of those and protect the ball a little bit better, I think that’ll help us out a whole lot.

The Sixers entered the night ranked 20th in the league in turnovers averaging 18.5 per game and with the 20 they tallied on Sunday, the number will rise a tad.

A lot of it is due to the newness of the team and it will take time to get the chemistry down pat and for them to feel each other out, but this is a very real issue for Philadelphia. They can get away with it against the Hornets, but against the better teams, it will cost them games.

The Cowboys pretended to have a black cat in the lineup and it was all bad luck

So much for all that luck.

On Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys leaned hard into the luck of the black cat that invaded last week’s Monday Night Football game against the New York Giants … and it didn’t pay off.

The feline, as you may recall, ran onto the field at MetLife Stadium and caused a delay. It turns out it could be part of a group of cats who live in or around the area and was a part of so many memes. It’s still at large at the moment, but Dallas brought its spirit to AT&T Stadium.

They stuck the “MVP Rally Cat” (No. 9 for its number of lives, of course, well played) in the starting lineup:

And linebacker Jaylon Smith wore a shirt featuring the feline:

But the luck of the cat ran out as the Vikings won a heck of a game, 28-24, a contest that included a head-scratcher of a decision to fair catch a punt with under 30 seconds left.

So maybe Jerry Jones needs to hire the cat as the team’s next head coach?

[jwplayer wFCMgj9o-q2aasYxh]

Anthony Davis admits he is still feeling discomfort in his right shoulder

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis admits he is still feeling discomfort in his right shoulder following loss to the Toronto Raptors.

[jwplayer a0ieagZH-z6KDnl0B]

The Toronto Raptors snapped the Los Angeles Lakers seven-game winning streak on Sunday. Playing without Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry, the Raptors used a 13-3 run with just over nine minutes left to help secure the 113-104 victory. LeBron James posted his fourth triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds during the loss, while Anthony Davis paced the Lakers with 27 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

Following the game, Davis admitted that he’s still feeling the lingering effects of the shoulder injury he suffered on a dunk attempt earlier this season. He told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that he re-aggravated the injured shoulder on a block of Pascal Siakam during the Toronto loss which increased the level of pain that he played with throughout the night.

“There’s really never a play I don’t feel it,” Davis said of his injured right shoulder. “I’m going to go out there and play. I try not to let it affect my game. I just play through it and then worry about taking care of it after the game.”

A.D. hasn’t missed a game all season despite the ailing shoulder and is averaging 26.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in 35 minutes of work. He’s also been critical in helping to establish the Lakers interior defense while offering a career-high of 3.1 blocks per contest. His treatment for the aggravated shoulder includes wearing a compression T-shirt under his jersey and having a heat pack applied while he’s on the bench. Davis was not removed from the game due to injury on Sunday and logged 38 minutes in defeat.

[lawrence-related id=21480]

[lawrence-related id=21357]

Giants’ John Mara angrily stormed out of MetLife Stadium following loss to Jets

A visibly furious John Mara stormed out of MetLife Stadium following the New York Giants’ loss to the Jets on Sunday.

[jwplayer s2wMepUo-ThvAeFxT]

New York Giants co-owner John Mara is a man of patience — too patient at times — but one way to test that is losing to the New York Jets, which is exactly what head coach Pat Shurmur & Co. did on Sunday afternoon.

Following a 34-27 defeat at the hands of their in-city rivals, which marks a legitimate low point for the franchise, Mara was approached by the beat pool.

That interaction went about as well as could be expected.

Rather than fielding questions, a clearly furious Mara didn’t bat an eye, storming by the media and angrily exiting the stadium without saying so much as a single word.

It’s not unusual for Mara to avoid the media after a game — whether it’s a win or a loss — but occasionally he’ll provide a one-liner out to acknowledge their presence. That was not at all the case on Sunday as he was likely attempting to avoid saying something he’d regret.

Mara’s frustration with the team’s losing has boiled over in recent years, resulting in a series of uncharacteristic instances highlighted by the in-season firing of Ben McAdoo and a little chair throwing here and there. However, that frustration has to be at an all-time high at this point.

The Giants are mired in a six-game losing streak, are headed for another top 5 pick in the NFL Draft and have become a legitimate laughingstock. The pressure is now on the owner to step up, step in and find a way to right this ship.

[lawrence-related id=632359,632355,632259]

The Detroit Lions should sit Matthew Stafford for his own good

The Detroit Lions should shutdown quarterback Matthew Stafford for the season, for his own good — and the teams.

[jwplayer s2wMepUo-ThvAeFxT]

You could forgive Matthew Stafford for not knowing quite what to do with himself. After all, for the past 136 games, each and every time the Detroit Lions took the field on Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday, or even the occasional Saturday), he was there, commanding the huddle, trying to lead his team to victory.

So it had to be a bit weird when Stafford returned from the opening coin toss and put on not a helmet, but an earpiece. Standing awkwardly on the sideline, you could sense a discomfort that had nothing to do with the fractured bones in his back that sidelined him for the first time in nearly nine years.

Unfortunately for Stafford, he needs to get used to that uncomfortable feeling for a while. Because, if the Lions are smart, Stafford will not see the field again in 2019.

For the second consecutive season, Stafford has broken small bones in his back. And even if the injury is not quite the same one that he played through last season – and even though NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Stafford could be back on the field as soon as next week – the Lions need to think long and hard before they put him under center again.

There is no question that the goal of coach Matt Patricia has to be to win every game. Not just for his future, but because — the Miami Dolphins tank-a-thon aside — winning is always better than losing.

But there’s a bigger picture to think about. Something more important than beating Dallas next Sunday or Washington the one after that.

Stafford is the unquestioned most important player on the Lions. He’s the most important athlete in Detroit. Period. And he’s going to stay that way for a long time.

Before Stafford’s injury, he was on pace for the best and most efficient season of his career. If the Lions hope to compete for a Super Bowl in the next decade, riding Stafford’s arm is the only way it’s going to happen.

Which is why the Lions can’t sacrifice the future for one or two more wins in a season that is going nowhere. After the Lions’ 20-13 loss to Chicago, they sit at a woeful 3-5-1. To make the playoffs, they would have to win their remaining seven games, and honestly, even that would likely not be enough in a stacked NFC.

The Lions have a duty to the future of the franchise (both in the literal and figurative sense of the word) to look past this Sunday and to 2020 and beyond.

Backs are tricky — just ask Tony Romo, who is leading CBS’s broadcast team instead of the Dallas Cowboys right now because of a series of back injuries. And even if doctors say that it’s just a pain management issue, or that Stafford can’t make things worse by playing, the Lions need to be as cautious as possible.

Had this been Stafford’s first back injury, and if the Lions still had a heartbeat’s chance of making the playoffs, then, sure, maybe you consider throwing him back out there. But this is Stafford’s second back injury this season, and the second straight year he’s literally broken his back trying to carry this team to respectability.

For as disappointing as the 2019 season has been, and as hard as it is to see right now, the Lions are not that far away from being an honest-to-gosh competitor in the NFC. The team will have a decent amount of cap space again, what looks to be another potential top-10 draft pick, and with a few tweaks to the coaching staff (looking at you Paul Pasqualoni), it isn’t hard to see how the bounces could go the Lions’ way in 2020.

But none of that will happen if Stafford isn’t completely healthy and if the team has to hold its breath every time he takes a hard hit because they never let his back completely heal.

That’s why the Lions should shut Stafford down for his own good — and the team’s.

And who knows, maybe after a couple of weeks, Stafford won’t look so awkward on the sideline anymore.

Week 11 Roundup: 5 Things That Matter, Winners, Losers, Overrated, Underrated

The Week 11 college football roundup. The 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated, and what it all means.

[jwplayer PkCtjTd4-boEY74VG]

The Week 11 college football roundup. The 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated, and what it all means.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

College Football Week 11 Roundup

CFN 1-130 Rankings | Bowl Projections
Early Week 12 Line Lookahead
Rankings: AP | USA Today Coaches | FWAA
– Chad Morris fired: 5 possible options
– Predicting Second CFP Rankings
– Predicting every remaining game, conference race
Quick Thoughts: Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC
– 10 Quick Thoughts On LSU 46, Alabama 41

Week 11 Roundup
The Really Big Thing | Most Overrated Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means

5. Winners & Losers From Week 11

Winner: Ohio State’s defense 

The offense might be hanging up ridiculous numbers, but the defense – with or without Chase Young – has been more impressive. The Buckeyes lead the nation in total defense, allowing just 215 yards per game. To put this into perspective, Wisconsin is second, giving up 231 a game. No defense since 2011 Alabama has finished a season allowing fewer than 250 yards per game.

Loser: Missouri’s offense

This got bad, fast. QB Kelly Bryant has been less than 100%, and he was out in the loss to Georgia. Now, the Mizzou offense that came up with 400 yards or more in five of its first six games hasn’t hit the 300-yard mark in any of its last three.

Getting stuffed and shutout by Georgia is one thing, but the Tigers have scored a total of 21 points over the last three weeks playing Vanderbilt and Kentucky before going to Athens. However, they’re 5-0 at home, 0-4 on the road, and they host Florida this weekend.

Winner: Tennessee

Well would you look at that. Tennessee, after starting 1-4 with losses at home to Georgia State and BYU along the way, has ripped off wins in four of its last five games to get to 5-5. And now, after all the pain, and all the suffering, it just has to win one of its last two games at Missouri or at home against Vanderbilt to go bowling. As a warning, thought, the Vols were 5-5 last year before playing Mizzou and Vandy, too, and were outscored 88-30 in the two losses.

Loser: Kentucky  

Kentucky is keeping it all together with Scotch tape and bubble gum, but the lack of offensive punch has now become a problem. It had its shot late in the 17-13 loss to Tennessee, but couldn’t get into the end zone. Now, after failing to score 14 points in four of its last six games, it has two win two of its last three to go bowling. At Vanderbilt, UT Martin, Louisville – beat the Commodores, or else.

Winner: Illinois 

And they did it with room to spare. Not three weeks ago, the Illini were done. The Lovie Smith era was a disaster, there was no hope for anything positive, and the idea of going to a bowl game for the first time since 2014 and the second time since 2011 seemed ridiculous. And then it beat Wisconsin, rolled by Purdue and Rutgers, and last week, took down Michigan State on the road to get to six wins with two games to go. It also helped that …

Loser: Michigan State collapsed

There was the 12-men on the field debacle in the 10-7 loss to Arizona State. There was the blowout loss at Ohio State. There were the losses to Wisconsin and Penn State by a combined score of 66-7. There was the suspension of heart-and-soul LB Joe Bachie to a PED test.

But everything was back on track with a 31-10 lead against Illinois going into the fourth quarter, and then … it was the biggest comeback win in Illini history. Now MSU has lost four straight and has to win two of its last three against at Michigan, at Rutgers, and Maryland to get bowl eligible.

Winner: Florida program bowl projections

USF is the one team probably out of the hunt – needing to win two of the last three games against Cincinnati, Memphis and at UCF to get to six wins – and FIU has to win one of its last two games against Miami or Marshall, but everyone else in the Sunshine State will get a vacation.

UCF became bowl eligible a few weeks ago, and so did Florida. Florida Atlantic is all but locked in with seven wins. After a win over Louisville, Miami is set, and now … Florida State is there. After the win at Boston College – despite the loss of head coach Willie Taggart – all the Noles have to do is beat Alabama State and it gets to start a new bowl streak.

Loser: The Pac-12 bowl projections

The Pac-12 needs some crazy things to happen in a hurry to get more teams bowl eligible. Arizona, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington State and UCLA are all 4-5 and need to win two of their last three games. Arizona State is no lock, needing to win just one more with at Oregon State, Oregon, and Arizona to go, and 4-6 Colorado has to beat both Washington and Utah. Cal is 5-4, and it has to win one of its last three against USC, at Stanford and at UCLA.

Winner: SMU 59, East Carolina 51

1,280 yards of total offense. 912 yards of passing. Just four penalties, one turnover each, and a finish that went down to the wire. Both teams are incapable lately of playing uninteresting games.

Loser: UCF

There was some thought that UCF was going to rip through the rest of its schedule, catch a big break, and get right back to a New Year’s Six bowl game. And then the O came to a complete stop with just three points in the second half of the 34-31 loss to Tulsa.

Week 11 Roundup
The Really Big Thing | Most Overrated Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means

NEXT: The really big thing was …

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

College Football Playoff Rankings Projection, Week 2: What Will They Be On Tuesday Night?

What will the College Football Playoff rankings be in the second unveiling on Tuesday night?

[jwplayer PkCtjTd4-boEY74VG]

What will the College Football Playoff rankings be in the second unveiling on Tuesday night?

This just cleared up fast in a whole slew of ways.

After a big weekend with a slew of important results, there are now seven teams that control their own destinies. LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, Minnesota, Baylor and Penn State. For those seven, win out, and get into the College Football Playoff.

For everyone else – and this includes Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah – it’s going to take winning out and getting some help. This year, 12-1 with a Power Five conference championship might not be good enough because of …

Alabama.

The Crimson Tide haven’t beaten anyone of note other than Texas A&M, but how much will the committee care? With a date at Auburn to close out, if the Tide win and go 11-1, and if LSU wins out and goes 13-0 with an SEC championship, can there be a new precedent set?

There’s a long way to go, but unlike last year when there were just two unbeaten Power Five teams – Alabama and Clemson – along with Notre Dame by this point, there are five.

As always, a few things to keep in mind …

1. This is simply a snapshot. We can see how the committee is thinking early on, and we can get a first look at what it seems to like, but it gets thrown out next week and the process starts over.

2. In general, the committee over the first five years of this thing loves big wins and hates ugly losses. You can lose, but don’t get wiped out. At the end of the day, the committee can like any team it wants to, just because. However … big wins, big wins, big wins.

3. Each spot in the order is argued over. It’s not just a random list thrown together in a room. Everyone has to agree that team X needs to get put ahead of teams Y and Z. You might not agree with the rankings, but each spot in the top 25 has been meticulously debated.

And after all of that, it’s about feel, eye-test, and resumé.

So what will they be? Here’s the best guess for what the second College Football Playoff rankings will be on Tuesday night.

25. Kansas State Wildcats 6-3 (16)

Being the one team that beat Oklahoma will be just enough to allow the Wildcats to hang on in the top 25. The wins over Mississippi State and TCU help, and the three losses were to Baylor at home, and Texas and Oklahoma State on the road. All three will be likely be ranked.

24. Oklahoma State Cowboys 6-3 (25)

Arguably the biggest surprise in the first top 25, the Cowboys managed to somehow slip into the first rankings thanks to a win over a Kansas State team that beat Oklahoma. There isn’t a lot else to like, but despite the off-week, they’re not going to slip out of the rankings.

23. Texas Longhorns 6-3 (NR)

The win over Kansas State changes the game. The Longhorn loss to TCU hurts, and the rough game against Kansas is a problem, but the team managed to get by the Wildcats this week, and the two other losses were to Oklahoma and LSU – nothing wrong with that. The win over Oklahoma State a few weeks ago will be enough to get into the top 25.

22. SMU Mustangs 9-1 (25)

The offense is still a blast. There’s no defense whatsoever, but there’s still a win over a TCU team that beat Texas, and the offense has not scored 41 points or more in eight of its last nine games. It’ll move up a wee bit, but not enough to get in range of the Group of Five’s New Year’s Six bowl quite yet.

21. Navy Midshipmen 7-1 (24)

Navy was off this week, but it gets its chance to make a massive statement to the committee with a trip to Notre Dame this week and with SMU to follow. The win over Air Force was good, but that’s it. The ranking is almost all about the 7-1 record.

[lawrence-related id=499823]

20. Iowa Hawkeyes 6-3 (18)

How far will the Hawkeyes slide? Not far. The three losses were to Wisconsin and Michigan on the road and at home to Penn State by a combined 14 points. There isn’t a strong win – Iowa State comes close – but that chance is coming against Minnesota this week.

19. Boise State Broncos 8-1 (22)

Boise State isn’t remotely passing the eye-test – it’s struggling way too much lately with QB Hank Bachmeier banged up and having a hard time staying on the field – but there’s still the win at Florida State, there’s still a win over Air Force, and in all, there’s a good chance it has wins over seven teams that will go bowling.

18. Memphis Tigers 8-1 (21)

The Tigers didn’t play this week, but their ranking will be strengthened – and improved – thanks to SMU coming up with a ninth win – MU beat SMU 54-48 two weeks ago. At the moment, the Tigers gave both SMU and Navy their only losses.

17. Cincinnati Bearcats 8-1 (20)

This will be one of the key teams that will benefit from the several losses this weekend. The 48-3 blowout of UConn won’t matter to the committee, but with losses by Iowa, Kansas State and Wake Forest, UC will move on up and stay on top of the Group of Five pack.

16. Notre Dame Fighting Irish 7-2 (15)

The 38-7 blowout win over Duke on the road was nice, but the Fighting Irish can’t get moved ahead of Michigan – they lost 45-14 a few weeks ago in Ann Arbor – and they need a lot of help to start moving up. However, beat Navy, Boston College and Stanford to finish at 10-2, and at worst, they’ll get one of the ACC’s top bowl games.

[lawrence-related id=498621]

15. Michigan Wolverines 7-2 (14)

The Wolverines will be stuck in neutral – and should drop a spot – after not playing this week and with a slew of other big things happening. With Michigan State, at Indiana, and Ohio State still to play, a New Year’s Six game will still be possible as they stay in the top 15.

14. Wisconsin Badgers 7-2 (13)

The 24-22 win over Iowa was nice, but it needs Minnesota to lose once, and it needs to win out against Nebraska, Purdue, and the Gophers to get to the Big Ten Championship. There’s going to be a LOT of traffic ahead of the Badgers to get to the Rose Bowl, but they’ll be in range.

13. Auburn Tigers 7-2 (11)

Will the committee fix the glitch? Auburn lost to Florida and LSU – it should be ranked behind those two. Florida also lost to Georgia – it’ll be ranked lower than the Dawgs. Auburn beat Oregon, who doesn’t have that many great wins, but the Ducks were No. 7 and AU 11. The Tigers can’t win the SEC West, but if they beat Georgia this week and shock Alabama, they’re a lock for the New Year’s Six, and maybe the Sugar Bowl.

12. Florida Gators 8-2 (10)

The committee will get it right by putting the Gators ahead of Auburn, but they’ll still be ranked too low. They’ll drop a bit only because of all the other things going on, and the 56-0 whacking of Vanderbilt won’t get a whole lot of respect. However, if they get by Missouri and Florida State to close things out, watch out for them to slip into a New Year’s Six game.

11. Oklahoma Sooners 8-1 (9)

The near-collapse to Iowa State will be enough for the committee to correct last week’s mistake. Now it’ll put an unbeaten Baylor – who beat the same Kansas State team that beat Oklahoma – higher, and the 89 points allowed in the last two games will jump off the page.

NEXT: Top Ten

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

LeBron James becomes first Lakers to get 4 triple-double in 1st 10 games

LeBron James made more franchise history for the Los Angeles Lakers even in their first loss in eight games.

[jwplayer dLhKyw02-z6KDnl0B]

Sunday night was the first time in two weeks that the Los Angeles Lakers felt what it was like to lose as the Toronto Raptors used a huge second half to end the Lakers seven-game win-streak. But even in the loss, LeBron James managed to make a small bit of Lakers history with his play.

With 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds, James recorded his fourth triple-double of the season. James became the first player in Lakers franchise history to record four triple-doubles in the first 10 games of the season. Interestingly enough, Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic has also accomplished the same feat this season. The Lakers still have one game left before they get to 10 as they sit at 7-2 after nine games.

Although James gets into the history books for the Lakers, he had a particularly bad night in his attempts to score the ball against a rangy and athletic Raptors front court. James was 5-15 from the field on Sunday and an uncharacteristic 3-6 from the free-throw line.

LeBron and the Lakers will head to Phoenix on Tuesday for a quick trip before returning to L.A. on Wednesday to face the Golden State Warriors.