With NBA legends LeBron James and James Harden facing off Saturday in Houston, we look back at their long history of head-to-head battles.
This Saturday night’s game in Houston will be the 20th career meeting between Rockets guard James Harden and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, and the first of the 2019-20 NBA season.
Both men are former league MVPs and future Hall of Famers, and widely considered among the greatest to ever play the sport.
In those 19 career matchups, the statistical averages of each player are markedly similar. James is averaging 27.4 points, 6.8 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Harden has tallied 24.2 points, 6.6 assists, and 6.1 rebounds, according to Basketball-Reference. James’ team has won 10 of those games, while Harden’s squad has taken nine.
However, the battle has tilted Harden’s way since the October 2012 trade that sent him to Houston, where he’s been a permanent starter since. In those 13 games, Harden has gone 7-6 against James’ teams.
Since James joined the Lakers in 2018, the Rockets have won two of the three matchups in which both stars have played, with Harden averaging an astounding 38.6 points, 7.3 assists, and 7.6 rebounds per game. James has countered with 27.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.
From a Houston perspective, the most memorable game between the rival stars took place nearly five years ago on March 1, 2015. It was the first season of James’ second stint with his hometown Cavaliers, with Cleveland (37-23) visiting Houston (40-18) for a Sunday matinee on ABC.
In what became an overtime classic, Harden finished with 33 points (8-of-18 shooting), eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks in 42 minutes, while James had 37 points (15-of-35 shooting), eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and three blocks.
But that March 2015 game would be remembered most for the extracurricular activity that surrounded it, both during and after.
Late in the third quarter, with James attempting to force a jump ball and perhaps shoving at Harden on his way to the floor, Harden was whistled for a flagrant foul for then kicking James below the belt. He was later suspended for Houston’s next game.
Harden said postgame that the kick was not intentional, but Cavaliers players (including James) came to a different conclusion.
Later in the game, there was a bizarre no-call when the arms of both stars were tangled for several seconds. In postgame comments, then-Houston coach Kevin McHale said it “looked like square dancing.”
McHale on the Harden-LeBron no call: "It looked like square dancing to me."
In the postgame officiating report, the league acknowledged that fouls on both players should have been called.
Both stars traded haymakers down the stretch of the fourth quarter and overtime, and it briefly appeared the Cavaliers would get the last laugh when James was fouled with just over four seconds left in overtime and his team trailing by just one point.
But James missed both free throws, and Houston finished with a 105-103 statement win over the eventual Eastern Conference champions. Both teams met the same fate in the 2015 playoffs by losing in the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals, respectively, to Golden State.
For Harden and the Rockets, the fun didn’t stop when the clock ran out. Later that night, the team’s official Twitter account poked fun at James’ usual “King James” nickname by tweeting out a custom graphic with that title applied to Harden, instead.
On the other side, given the two missed free throws late in overtime, James didn’t take well to the loss. A few hours later, he posted what became known as the “sad mirror selfie” to his Instagram account.
Nearly five years later, Saturday’s game — also on that same Toyota Center court — probably won’t have all those layers of drama. But since it’s the first nationally televised Saturday night game of the 2019-20 season, the league and ABC surely wouldn’t mind a repeat performance.
Ben Watson returned to New England in 2019, reuniting with the team that drafted him in 2004 and with which he played his first six seasons in the NFL.
Ben Watson returned to New England in 2019, reuniting with the team that drafted him in 2004 and with which he played his first six seasons in the NFL.
Ben Watson returned to New England in 2019, reuniting with the team that drafted him in 2004 and with which he played his first six seasons in the NFL.
Ben Watson returned to New England in 2019, reuniting with the team that drafted him in 2004 and with which he played his first six seasons in the NFL.
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and his Tigers visited the White House on Friday to meet President Donald Trump in honor of their national title win over Clemson.
Naturally, the topic of the Cincinnati Bengals came up.
Those Bengals hold the first pick in the 2020 NFL draft and figure to use it on Burrow, an Ohio native who grew up about three hours from the city.
Simple enough, right? Burrow isn’t going to say anything else and all logical presumptions point to his being more than happy to head home and play in Ohio.
Just don’t expect this to be the end of the topic — Burrow is probably going to have this question thrown at him constantly throughout the draft process.
After an offseason full of trade rumors, OKC hosts the Heat on Friday. Miami is 10-11 on the road and has lost two of their last three.
It very easily could’ve been the other way around.
If things had worked out the way everyone thought they would back in July, it would be Chris Paul leading the Miami Heat into Chesapeake Energy Arena for Friday night’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But as it is, Paul is running point for a surprising Thunder squad that’s sitting at No. 7 in the Western Conference standings and fighting for a spot in the postseason.
One of the hottest teams in the NBA during the month of December, Oklahoma City has cooled off a little in the month of January, having dropped two of their last three.
Against the Raptors on Wednesday night, OKC fell behind by 30 before making a furious comeback that saw them draw within just a few points in the final minutes.
That’s been their M.O. to get down in the first half, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had a historic triple-double earlier this week against the Timberwolves, told ESPN that OKC needs to find ways to get off to a faster start.
“We know if there’s time on the clock, there’s nothing us as a group is not capable of. It’s been a little bit of us in the past to get down a little bit — a lot actually — to start games. We’ve just got to figure out a way to not let that happen, and put together a full four quarters.”
Miami comes into Friday second in the Eastern Conference, but the Heat have struggled on the road and are just 10-11 away from South Beach.
Friday night’s matchup is the first between the two teams this year. They split the regular-season series in 2018-19.
Gary Payton opens up about trash-talking, matching up against Michael Jordan, Seattle’s push to get an NBA team again, fatherhood and more.
Gary Payton is one of the best defenders in NBA history and one of the game’s all-time great point guards. The Hall of Famer impacted games in many ways, as evidenced by his career stats: He ranks fourth all-time in steals (2,445), 10th all-time in assists (8,966) and 38th all-time in points (21,813).
In addition to earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1996, Payton made nine All-NBA Teams and nine All-Defensive First Teams. He was also a nine-time All-Star, and the NBA recently made him available to encourage fans to vote for the 2020 All-Star Game starters before the deadline on Jan. 20. Fans can vote on NBA.com, on the NBA app or on Google.
HoopsHype spoke one-on-one with Payton and the NBA legend was extremely candid and honest throughout the conversation.
You’re one of the all-time great trash talkers in professional sports. Were there ever any opponents who surprised you with their trash talk? Any guys who chirped back when you didn’t expect it?
GP: (Laughs) Well, whoever I went at didn’t usually come back at me. Reggie Miller’s trash-talking was good, Michael Jordan’s was good. I only got to see Larry Bird twice in two years and he was hurt, really, most of the time. But when he did get on the floor with me, he had a lot of nice ones. He was a chatterbox and I didn’t really know he was like that. But he was! He was cocky and arrogant; he’d go at you and tell you where he was going to shoot it and tell you that he was going to shoot in your face, you know what I’m saying? Those three were the main ones, basically. Then, Kevin Garnett got onto the scene and he would start with his talking. Those were the main ones. Those four guys were the ones who I really wanted to go up against because I knew there’d be some chatter back. Most guys wouldn’t say anything or, if they did, their coach would tell them to be quiet and leave me alone because they didn’t want to wake up the beast. It was one of them things. But it was them four that I really looked forward to playing against.
Do random people ever come up to you on the street and talk trash to you, just so they can say that they’ve talked trash to Gary Payton?
GP: Yeah, that’s a lot of people’s main thing. They’ll see me somewhere and then they’ll say something to try to get me to go back and forth with them. Then, they’re like, “This is all I wanted! This is why I came up to you! They always say that you trash-talked a lot on the court, so we wanted to hear it and see if you trash talk everywhere!” You know if it’s someone who is trying to egg you on to do something. A lot of people, a lot of fans, will do things just because they want to see if they can push your buttons. Sometimes, you’ll go along with it and have fun with it; sometimes, you just have to let it go because some people let it get out of hand. But, yes, it does happen.
You did a phenomenal job of locking up Michael Jordan in the 1996 NBA Finals. It may be one of the best defensive efforts against Jordan. What were those battles with MJ like and do you take pride in the fact that you were one of the toughest defensive matchups he faced?
GP: It was just a challenge. It was like… He was the best offensive player and I was the best defensive player. It was just a challenge. I looked forward to those matchups all the time because I knew if I talked to him, he was going to talk back and we were going to go at it. That would make TV [ratings] go up and a lot of things go up; that’s what we were doing. Then, I would make it a point to challenge myself. I’d think, “I know I can’t stop him, but I can contain him.” You know you’re not going to stop him altogether – that’s not going to happen – so you just focus on how you can slow him down. If he’s usually scoring 35 or 40 points per night, can I hold him to 23 or 24 points? Yeah, I could. I would just make things a little bit difficult for him. If you let any great player be comfortable, they’re going to dominate you. If you take them out of their comfort zone and make them do things that they aren’t used to doing, you’re going to be effective. That’s all I’d try to do with Michael. I tried to pressure him and make it really difficult for him to get the basketball. Then, if he got the basketball, I’d just be a gnat. If you make him miss a couple shots and then you go down on the other end of the floor and you’re scoring on him when he’s guarding you, he’s going to want to come back and go right at you. They get frustrated when the last four or five trips down the floor, I’m scoring and they’re not, especially if the referees aren’t calling anything for them. That’s all I’d try to do. I wanted to get under his skin a bit and see what happens.
When I interviewed Ron Harper, he said that trash-talking would sometimes cause Michael Jordan to flip a switch and take his game to another level. You obviously had a lot of success against Jordan, but did you ever hold back against certain players (or at certain times) because talking trash may have fired your opponent up and helped them?
GP: I didn’t care. That was my whole thing, going in every night and trash-talking because… what can you do? Can you out-talk me? Are you going to get frustrated? Are you going to be focused enough to not concentrate on me throughout the entire game? Because I’m going to continue to talk and continue to play well. I’m going to play well because that’s my game. I never went into a game like, “Let me not talk to this guy.” None of my teammates or coaches ever said that either. They’d say, “Let’s just let Gary do what he do.” That’s what I did. That was my game-plan. I want to get my opponent in a different state of mind. If they’re focusing on me instead of their teammates and the game-plan, I got you. I’m going to trap you in, and then you’re about to get subbed out in a minute because you’re going to start making a lot of mistakes. That was my whole approach.
When I spoke with Michael Cooper, we discussed how he’d fare as a defender in today’s NBA. He said that even though he couldn’t be as physical these days, he’d still lock down today’s stars because of his length and speed. He said Kevin Durant would give him trouble, but he could cover anyone else. Do you ever think about how you’d fare in today’s NBA, defending guys like James Harden and Stephen Curry?
GP: The younger guys always say, “Well, in your era, you guys couldn’t do this or that.” If that’s the case, I wish you could come to our era and play in our era. I wish we had a time machine so that we could put them in our era and see how they would fare. Sometimes, they say, “Well, you couldn’t play in this era because of the shooting and scoring!” Well, when we were in our early 20s, we were pretty athletic and dominant too; that’s why you know about us. It’s just changed. You can’t put your hands on guys. The league is about scoring; they want you to score and they want to run up the points, so it’s entertaining. In our era, we were talking about locking guys down. We were talking about beating you up. We were talking about putting you on your back if you tried to come in the paint and dunk. We wanted you to think that you may get hurt every time you came in the paint. You know what I’m saying? Now, that will get you a flagrant or get you kicked out of the game and they may even suspend you after evaluating it. We didn’t have all of that. We’d put you on your back, they’d look at it and then you’d go on about your business. It’s just so different.
If I played in this era, I would adjust to it. If I played now, the first thing I’d do is go straight to the referees and say, “Look, here’s how I’m going to play. Make sure you let me play defense. If you’re going to let them play offense, let me play defense.” It’s just like what Patrick Beverley is doing right now. He gets into you and, because the referees know what he’s doing and how he plays, they let him play. You just have to get to the point where the refs know how you play, so they adjust. I would probably go talk to all of the refs before every game like, “You know how I play. If you want this game to be okay, let me play defense like you let him play offense. Now, if he pushes off, call it. If I foul him, call it. But let us play.” And then I’m going to go back at my guy on the other end and see if he can guard me. That’s a big difference from our era: We wanted to go back at the player who was scoring on us. Now, there’s all of the switching and stuff. We wouldn’t have played that way. I’m going at that guy, locking him down and making some else beat us.
Are there any current NBA players who remind you of yourself in terms of their game or tenacity? You mentioned Pat Beverley, so I’m guessing he’s one.
GP: There are two: Marcus Smart and Patrick Beverley. They both remind me of myself. They’ll go at you. Beverley is a little bit different because he doesn’t have the offensive game that I had. But Marcus is starting to become that kind of player – he’s starting to score and shoot the ball. But both of them are dogs on the defensive end. My son, [Gary Payton II], has a little of that in him and he’s doing the same thing. He can get at you when he wants to and he’s long for someone who’s 6-foot-3, so his length with hurt you too. When you have them type of guys who can play defense that type of way, it’s always a bonus for their team. When you have a guy who can lock down like that, he’s always giving you great stuff on that end. But can they give you something on the other end? All three of them need to work on their offense. My son needs to work on it, Pat needs to work on it and Marcus is starting to become a good scorer to be a two-way player, but he’s still working on it too. But those three guys remind me of myself defensively.
Last year, Tim Hardaway told me that he used to be really tough on his son, Tim Jr., to the point that they no longer discuss basketball because they agreed it was ruining their relationship. I’ve read that you were very tough on your son, Gary Payton II, and you even walked out of one of his high school games because you weren’t impressed with his effort. You obviously have so much information that you want to share with your son, but how do you find the right balance between pushing him really hard and giving him space to learn on his own?
GP: That’s a good question. It was the same way with me; I was the same way Tim was. I pressed my son too much. He was around basketball all the time and he got pressed a lot. It’s one of those things where you can steer your son away from loving the game of basketball. My son stopped liking it. As of today, he listens, but he don’t listen. It’s gotta come from somebody else. Then, when they don’t make it and they aren’t productive like they want to, you want to go say, “See, what did I tell you? Why don’t you want to listen to me?” But that’s not the right thing to do. So I’ve backed off from my son. When he calls me, if he calls me, I’ll say what I say and then leave it alone. I won’t even go into it anymore. Now that he’s got his guaranteed contract for the first time and he’s staying up, I told him, “You should’ve been doing this since day one.” But they always got excuses. This is a different era and they always got excuses, man. “They should’ve let me play!” or, “They let me play, but [they should’ve] let me do this or that!” It’s not about all that. It’s about seeing what the coach wants and doing it, doing what the organization wants. But, nowadays, I just let him do what he gotta do and however he wants to do it. I just don’t want to stray him away from nothing. And it is hard to listen to the caliber of father than I am, with what I did in the NBA and what I’ve become. It’s hard to do that, especially being named after me. It’s kind of hard and now, I just let it go. I just try to support him. If he calls and wants to talk about something, then I’ll talk about it. Other than that, I don’t call him after games or anything like that; I don’t do that anymore.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
You’re ambidextrous; you write with your left hand and shoot with your right hand. Obviously, a lot of NBA players learn to be effective with both hands, but you were actually born ambidextrous, so how much do you think that helped you in the NBA?
GP: That was just natural. I can bat on both sides. I shoot pool with my left and write with my left. I can throw left or right. It’s just something that came to me and then, I broke my right thumb when I was young. I had a cast on, so I played with my left hand during that time. That came easy to me. Then, when I got the pros, I posted up on my left side all the time and threw up shots, scoops, hooks or whatever I needed with my left hand. It’s just something that came to me and I was always happy that I could do things with both. Now, it’s still the same thing. People will say, “Why don’t you shoot with your left? Why are you doing that?” When I play Pop-A-Shot in an arcade, people will say, “You’re right-handed, so only shoot with your left!” And I’ll go, “Okay, I’ll shoot with my left!” They don’t read up on me! Then, after the game, they’re like, “Oh man, you’re making even more with your left!” Then, I’ll tell them, “I’m kind of left-handed, if you think about it.” Some people have looked and seen that my watch is on my right side, so they’ll ask, “Are you left-handed?” And I’m like, “Duh!” It’s just kind of fun to mess with people. (Laughs)
I wrote about Seattle’s basketball culture and how Jamal Crawford helps the next generation of Seattle players by training with them and mentoring them. He’s even let some prospects live with him. Jamal said that he’s just passing on what you and Doug Christie did for him when he was young. He said that when he was 15 years old, you guys helped him a lot and let him train with you. Do you remember getting to know Jamal as a teen and how nice is it to see that he’s been able to pay it forward and do the same thing for many young players?
GP: I basically helped raise Jamal. Jamal lived with me for a little bit when he came out of Michigan for one year of college. It’s a great feeling to see a kid like him, who’s so humble, give back to Seattle and do those things. I always knew he was going to be one of a kind because he would always listen and he was so humble. He was never talking about how good he was. And he was so knowledgeable, even when he was younger. What he’d do is pick your brain. Anytime there was an older guy or a veteran around, he would ask questions and try to learn different ways that he could better himself. Now, to see him grooming other players and doing the same stuff that we taught him, it’s a special thing. It’s nice to be able to look at him and say, “He listened! He learned it!” We just wanted to help him. Now, he’s doing that for other guys – and they’re going to listen to him and learn from him, so that they can be the next guys who do this and help the next generation.
Speaking of Seattle, what would it mean for you to stand in Key Arena and have your jersey retired in front of those fans at some point in the future?
GP: It would mean a lot to me. Those fans really were the ones who made everything happen for me. I was there for 13 seasons and that’s where I became a Hall of Famer. And the fans deserve it. I think they deserve to see that happen, just like they deserve to see Shawn Kemp’s jersey raised up and Detlef Schrempf’s jersey raised up – not just mine. You know what I’m saying? It would be great for those fans to see that and feel that because I know they’d go crazy, and it would be a great moment for myself too. I hope that we have an opportunity to do that. I do think it will come. I think basketball will get back to Seattle.
You’ve gotten involved with the fight to bring the NBA back to Seattle and you’ve said that the city could have a team in the next three-to-four years. Do you still think Seattle will get a team in the next few years and what are some things Seattle is doing to become even more appealing?
GP: I’m involved in that. We have a team of people who are really involved with that and we’re talking with Adam [Silver] all the time. We’re getting there. First of all, we have to make sure that we have an arena to play in. Key Arena is getting revamped for the hockey team that’s going to be there in 2021. After that, a lot of other little things have to happen like the TV deal has to come up again and we have to see if we can get a basketball team. They know. Like I said, Adam Silver is listening. We have a group that I’m a part of that is really, really working on it, so we just have to hope that it happens. We’re just laying low right because we want to make sure that everything is right so that when we that time comes and we do get that opportunity, they can be ready to move right in and give us that team.
I loved seeing you and Shawn Kemp back together for ESPN’s recent Monday Night Football intro prior to the Seahawks-Vikings game. It generated a huge response among fans too. How did that idea come together and what did you think of the fan reaction?
GP: It was something that the guys ESPN came up with and they got in touch with me and my people. Kenny Mayne from ESPN was really the one who really got it started. He told them, “I’ll get in touch with Gary,” because me and Kenny are really tight. He got in touch with me and when I heard the concept, I thought, “That’s great.” I knew it would trigger a lot of [nostalgia] and feelings about the Sonics. People hadn’t seen Shawn and I together in a long period of time. To see us doing that for the Seahawks and getting the fans ready for Monday Night Football against Minnesota, it was fun.
You reached the NBA Finals with three different teams – the 1996 Sonics (with Kemp), the 2004 Lakers (with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone) and the 2006 Heat (with Shaq and Dwyane Wade). Having seen what it took for three different franchises to reach the Finals, what would you say are the biggest keys to a team advancing that deep? Are there any specific characteristics that all three of those teams had in common?
GP: The Seattle team was a little bit different because we were already really good all year. We were really, really good. The other two teams, the Heat and the Lakers, we struggled, but then we got into a rhythm. When you get into a rhythm and get everyone on the same page at the end of the year, anything can happen. At the beginning of the year with that Lakers team, we were good and then Karl Malone got hurt so we went through a lull. I played all 82 games that year, but the other three guys didn’t play as many games and so we needed other players to step up. Then, we got into a rhythm and our team got that unity.
With the 1996 Sonics team, we were already there. We were the No. 2 team in the NBA right behind Chicago; people don’t remember that we won 64 games that year and they won 72, so we weren’t too far behind them. We beat them once during the season too, so we were one of their 10 losses. To me, you have to be in a rhythm at the end of the season, unless you’re a great team that wins all season long – like this Milwaukee team. This Bucks team can win a championship; they’re playing like we were in ’96, playing great all season. To me, you have to be in a rhythm and you have to be together. You need everyone to be clicking and playing well at the same time. That’s what we did in Miami, that’s what we did with the Lakers and that was happening the whole season in Seattle. The two Finals losses is that we just couldn’t overcome a great team. Detroit was playing really well to beat us in 2004. With Chicago in 1996, we [showed up] too late against them. We got over the hump in Miami in 2006 because we were able to take down that Dallas team. But I think rhythm and unity is what it’s all about.
You, Jason Kidd and Damian Lillard are all from Oakland. I know you really pushed Kidd when he was in high school, making him better and toughening him up, and you’ve mentored Lillard too. All three of you guys play have a similar poise and swagger. Why do you think Oakland keeps producing superstar point guards and would you agree that there are certain characteristics that you guys have in common because of your similar backgrounds?
GP: Yeah, I think we have a chip on our shoulder because of where we come from. You come out of the neighborhood and you’re always hearing about New York, Philly, L.A. and people say, “They’ve got the best basketball players!” You always hear that. I always said, “Well, why don’t you come down to the North. Come to Northern California! Let’s see what you can do here and see if you can do the same things you do everywhere else.” A lot of people come to Northern California and then they get these guards like us and they’re like, “Whoa!” But we’re not really pressed with all that. When you’re from this neighborhood, you go to different blocks and you go up against different players and we prove ourselves. I think we all have a chip on our shoulder and we want to prove everybody wrong. That’s what we do. We also had JR Rider, Antonio Davis… A lot of people don’t know this, but Bill Russell grew up in Oakland. Paul Silas grew up in Oakland. We have a lot of great basketball players, great baseball players, great people coming out of Oakland. It’s just that we don’t need to prove nothing until we get to the highest level. Go ahead and overlook us, but then look what happens. You end up with two Hall of Famers in me and Jason, and Dame is going to be one too. We just have a chip on our shoulder because people want to overlook us.
Alexa Pano, 15, won her second straight Amateur division title and her third in the last four years at the Doherty Women’s Amateur.
FORT LAUDERDALE – Alexa Pano said playing in the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship at Coral Ridge Country Club always has her in a good mood.
And it’s not just because she usually goes back to her Lake Worth home with a trophy.
Pano, 15, won her second straight Amateur division title and her third in the last four years, defeating Courtney McKim of Raleigh, N.C., 4 and 3, on a blustery, sometimes rainy Friday morning in the 88th edition of the prestigious tournament.
“It feels pretty good,” said Pano, who won the Amateur First Flight title when she was 9. “I always feel happy when I’m playing in this golf tournament. To start off the year with a win is a great start.
“It’s really nice to come back to defend. Every tournament, my goal is to win, so to repeat is really nice.”
In the Senior Championship division, top-seeded Judith Kyrinis of Thornhill, Ontario, defeated Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, California, on the first extra hole.
Down by three holes, Kyrinis won 13 and 15 with pars, and sent the match into overtime by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. She and Weworski returned to the first hole, where Kyrinis sank another 15-footer for birdie and the victory.
“I just made them at the right time. I’ve really been putting well all week,” said Kyrinis, a former U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion who birdied the final hole last year to win the Canadian Mid-Amateur and Senior Women’s Championship. “I knew anything could happen on some of those back-nine holes.”
In the Senior First Flight, Therese Quinn of Jacksonville defeated Natalie McNicholas of Naples, 2 up. In the Senior Second Flight title match, Mimi Hoffman of Springfield, Va., beat Mo Sheehan of Grayslake, Ill., 2 up.
McKim, 29, who runs the corporate real estate division of a medical company, went back and forth with Pano over the first seven holes. Pano sank an 8-foot par-saving putt to win the first hole, but McKim won the next two holes with pars to go 1 up.
“It was a bit of a struggle in the beginning figuring out the wind,” Pano said. “I kind of found a rhythm toward the middle of the round.”
Pano hit a lovely pitch to the par-5 fourth green and sank the birdie putt to square the match, and the players halved the next two holes with pars. McKim went ahead with a great birdie of her own after pitching her third shot to about five feet from the pin on the par-5 seventh hole.
McKim’s tee shot on the par-3 eighth landed in thick rough next to a bunker and the ball came out sideways and rolled to the bottom of the two-tiered green. McKim pitched the ball from there close to the hole, but Pano, whose tee shot landed on the top tier, two-putted for a par to pull even.
A turning point came on the long, par-4 ninth hole. Pano’s tee shot kicked into a bush and she had to take an unplayable and a one-shot penalty. She dropped the ball in the right rough, then hit a 3-wood 225 yards that ended up four feet from the flag. McKim, who also reached the green in three, missed her par putt and Pano made hers to take a 1-up lead.
“She played an unbelievable shot after taking an unplayable,” McKim said. “Hats off to her on that. That’s just crazy good.”
“Being able to save par definitely shifted the momentum my way and carried over to the back nine,” Pano said. “It was probably the best shot of the day and one I’ll never forget.”
McKim bogeyed the 10th after hitting into a fairway bunker – “I struggled with my driver all day,” she said – and coming up short of the green with her second shot to go 2 down. Pano then won her fourth straight hole, making birdie at the par-5 11th after her 70-yard pitch settled three feet from the hole.
Pano’s tee shot at the par-3 12th plugged in a bunker and McKim won the hole with a two-putt par. But Pano went back to 3 up with a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th, and her two-putt par on the 14th gave her a four-hole lead with four to play.
At the par-4 15th, McKim’s approach landed about 15 feet from the hole while Pano’s went over the green. But she chipped to within 18 inches, and after McKim missed her birdie try, Pano rolled in the short par putt to close out the match.
“I knew I had to get it tight. Especially with Courtney having a birdie putt,” said Pano, who had three birdies and three bogeys in 15 holes. “To be around even par for those holes, especially in that wind, was pretty good.”
How did Wisconsin’s tight ends do over the course of the 2019 season?
Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.
In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s tight ends from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
Wisconsin’s tight ends were hit hard by injuries in 2019.
Considering the Badgers only had two healthy tight ends at their disposal during the 2019 season. Luckily, Jake Ferguson or Cormac Sampson didn’t add their names to the injury list at the tight end position.
Tight ends coach Mickey Turner lost Luke Benzschawel and Gabe Lloyd both for the season during fall camp. Benzschawel was expected to be the number two tight end behind Ferguson. Lloyd who has appeared in 21 career games was expected to be a contributor as well.
In an attempt to absorb those two losses Zander Neuville was granted a sixth year of eligibility. However, Neuville like Benzschawel and Lloyd was lost for the season in early September before he could officially make his return to the team.
With Ferguson and Sampson being relied on so heavily over the 2019 season the two held up well. Ferguson finished the season second on the team in both receptions (33) and receiving yards (407) and had two touchdowns.
Ferguson for the second consecutive season caught at least one pass in every single game this season as he now has 69 career catches in 27 career games.
Sampson didn’t register a catch nor was he targeted in the passing game as his primary responsibility came in the run game. Sampson did well of helping open up running lanes for Jonathan Taylor and the rest of the backs. Sampson was able to help fill in the void of Benzschawel, Lloyd, and Neuville as the three were all going to be counted on as run blockers before they were lost for the season.
Redshirt freshman Jack Eschenbach appeared in four games at tight end. Eschenbach a walk-on from Downers Grove, Ill still needs to develop but gaining that playing experience this past year will help with his growth and confidence when the Badgers begin spring football.
2020 Wisconsin Tight Ends
Ferguson will continue to develop at tight end and with Wisconsin set to get back both Benzschawel and Lloyd at tight end in 2020 the Badgers depth should be a lot better at the position. In addition, spring football will be important for both Hayden Rucci and Clay Cundiff as both redshirted this past season. Cundiff only appeared in one game last year against Central Michigan but both will need to be consistent in all areas of what Turner asks from his tight ends in order for them to possibly see the field consistently. In addition the Badgers will add a pair of true freshman in Cam Large and Cole Dakovich to the tight end room.
Brandon Ingram’s quick progress gives the Pelicans’ one of the best young cores in the NBA.
As a sneaker lover, when I was younger I used to trade shoes with friend for a day or so — sometimes longer. It was just like your run of the mill NBA trade. “You give me this joint, I’ll give you that one, this one and this one when I come back to class tomorrow.”
Two of those that you get back are just throw-ins with the trade. They might be a bit beat. They probably stink a little bit, but they’re fixable. You can clean them. Once you do? Buddy, you’ve got a gem.
That gem is sudden Pelicans star Brandon Ingram. He’s the shoe that wasn’t the centerpiece of the trade. He wasn’t supposed to be special. You weren’t supposed to rely on him every day. Now, he’s your go-to guy. You’re not giving him back.
He proved that last night with a spectacular 49-point performance to end the Jazz’s 10-game winning streak, including this insane shot that should’ve been a game winner.
This dude is good now. He showed flashes in his time with the Lakers for a few season and then got caught up in the shadow of LeBron James. But now? He’s a legit star. He should be an All-Star this season.
That changes everything for the Pelicans.
The Pelicans have one of the NBA’s legit young cores now
Ingram coming on the scene changes everything for the Pelicans. Not only did they win the lottery and draft a potentially generational player in Zion Williamson, they also got an All-Star in return for Anthony Davis.
If you were ever going to trade away a superstar player, this is the exactly what you’d hope to get in return. They have already have a duo that will immediately be considered one of the best up-and-coming combos in the league. That’s a great place to start a rebuild.
Now, look, Williamson and Ingram are no Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook just yet. They’re not even Luka Doncic-Kristaps Porzingis level right now. Williamson has yet to play and this is Ingram’s first good season.
But they’ve got time, and with time they can figure it out.
We’re already seeing results
Don’t look now, but the Pelicans have rebounded from the dreadful start to the season and are just 2.5 games back on the 8th seed. The playoffs are still in the realm of possibility for them.
They’ve won seven of their last 10 games and are in a great space. Derrick Favors is finally a healthy fixture in the lineup, Lonzo Ball is starting to cook and Ingram is going crazy.
Williamson is coming back to the lineup next week and Jrue Holiday shouldn’t take too long after him to return. They could finally have a fully healthy squad heading into the All-Star break. After that, anything can happen.
It looks like J.J Redick might be in luck. His 13 year playoff streak might live on after all.
The Los Angeles Lakers should get one of their key contributors back on Saturday after a concussion earlier in the week.
The Los Angeles Lakers should have one of their key contributors back in the lineup when they face the talented backcourt duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook on Saturday night.
Alex Caruso, who missed most of Wednesday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic due to a concussion he suffered early in the game, is now considered probable for Saturday night’s game against the Rockets, according to SB Nation’s Harrison Faigen. Fellow reserve guard Rajon Rondo is currently questionable, but he did participate in practice as well.
The Lakers could use Caruso, who at 6-foot-5, would give them another decent option to throw at Harden, Westbrook and even Eric Gordon. The Rockets have a plethora of guards that can hurt you, meaning the Lakers will need every option at their disposal on the perimeter, especially if they don’t have Anthony Davis for a fifth straight game.
Rondo is recovering from a fractured right ring finger he suffered in last Saturday’s win at Oklahoma City. Rondo has missed the last two games.
