The HoopsHype Daily: The Knicks are a mess yet again

After falling to 2-8 on the season, key Knicks executives held an impromptu press conference where they said a lot but nothing at the same time.

FIZDALE’S SEAT GETTING TOASTY: On Sunday, the New York Knicks dropped their eighth game in 10 tries, falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-87 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final scoreline would indicate. Things got interesting after the contest, when two of the team’s top decision makers, president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, held an awkward impromptu press conference where they declared their displeasure with New York’s progress this season while maintaining their faith in the plan they put together and in their head coach, David Fizdale. Really, though, it felt like the two executives said a whole lot of nothing, making the entire exercise rather pointless.

Regardless, it goes without saying that if the Knicks continue going down the porous path they currently find themselves on, Fizdale, who feels the pressure, will be gone. At the same time, is that really going to change anything? The team’s management had a terrible offseason, no matter how the Knicks try to spin it, one where they failed to land a marquee free agent despite having loads of cap space, and responded by signing multiple middling power forwards and no point guards. Basically, years and years of poor decision-making out of New York’s front office continued in the summer of 2019.

And what’s the common thread that all of those poor Knicks offseasons have? They have pretty much all occurred over the last 20 years, when James Dolan became the team’s owner. It’s pretty clear what New York’s principal problem is, and until that problem is no longer there, the team won’t escape this purgatory they’ve been in for multiple decades.

David Fizdale is now 19-73 as Knicks head coach.

ON AAU AND LOAD MANAGEMENT: HoopsHype spoke to various NBA players to find out their thoughts on whether young athletes getting overworked during their AAU days is leading to a need for load management when they get older. Some very interesting comments here from Zach LaVine, Myles Turner and others.

ANOTHER OFF-COURT WAITERS INCIDENT: Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters suffered a panic attack on Thursday during the team’s flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles. The cause of the panic attack? A weed gummy given to him by a teammate.

🤦 It’s far from Waiters’ first issue this season, giving Miami little choice but to suspend the mercurial 2-guard for 10 games without pay. This is Waiters’ second suspension of the young season. Waiters never playing another minute for the Heat is quickly becoming a very real possibility.

SUPERMAN BACK IN THE DUNK CONTEST? Dwight Howard is playing the most impactful basketball he’s played in years. We broke down his game here. Howard is feeling so good, in fact, that he told TMZ he’s thought about doing the dunk contest this season. Howard has one dunk contest victory to his name, which came back in 2008.

LUKA MVP CAMPAIGN: Based on his play so far, there’s a very good chance Mavs guard Luka Doncic receives MVP votes at the end of the season. He would be the youngest international player ever to achieve that, beating Hakeem Olajuwon.

CURRY RETURN: Brandon Payne, Stephen Curry’s personal trainer, spoke to NBC Sports’ Tom Haberstroh and told him that Curry wants to return this season, but it’ll depend on how his rehab goes.

HAYWARD GOES DOWN… AGAIN: Celtics swingman Gordon Hayward, who was playing the best basketball he has since his brutal leg injury, got hurt again this weekend, fracturing his left hand against the Spurs. A doctor who spoke to the Boston Sports Journal says he could be out for at least four weeks depending on whether he has surgery or not. 

RONDO’S SEASON DEBUT POSTPONED: Rajon Rondo was supposed to make his return against the Raptors on Sunday, but had his season debut postponed yet again. Once he does return, one has to wonder how much playing time he gets. Head coach Frank Vogel will have to determine how much he values Rondo’s defense and ability to run the offense versus his poor three-point shooting.

STAR SET TO RETURN: Pistons forward Blake Griffin has been listed as probable for Detroit’s game against the Timberwolves on Monday. It would be his first game action since April 22.

POTENTIAL TOP PICK INELIGIBLE: On Friday, the NCAA announced 2020 potential No. 1 pick James Wiseman has been deemed ineligible. If he doesn’t play again this season, it’ll be interesting to note how much that affects his draft stock.

GETTING PAPER: According to a report, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has a new five-year contract with the company, one that will pay him $8 million per year. That’s more than all but 150 NBA players, and as much as Lou Williams makes on his Clippers deal.

SALARY QUIZ: WHO’S THIS NBA PLAYER? 🤔

Click here for the answer.

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Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones offer hope for the future of New York football

Both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones showed everyone how they can be the next franchise quarterbacks in New York.

The future shined a little brighter for the Jets and Giants on Sunday.

It’s hard to see positives amid such a disappointing season for the Jets and the Giants, but Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones both showed their abilities to play competitive games. Darnold displayed all of his athletic mobility without any of his signature turnovers to throw for 230 yards and two scores on his way to the win, while Jones found holes in the Jets defense to finish with 303 passing yards with four touchdowns. 

Neither the Jets nor the Giants fielded even a remotely good pass defense, so this game won’t paint a perfect picture of either Darnold’s or Jones’ potential. But there were enough bright spots from both quarterbacks to give New York fans a glimmer of hope once the rest of the roster is fixed.

Darnold needed to have a good game after a horrendous three-game stretch, and he finished with his first turnover-less game since Week 1. He was in much better command of the offense and looked every bit as good a quarterback as he could be.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Darnold’s game – and the one that’s gotten him into trouble with turnovers as well – is his ability to go off-script and find his receivers by extending plays with his legs outside the pocket. Recently, those plays have resulted in costly turnovers for the Jets. But against the Giants, Darnold played mistake-free and led three touchdown drives by making throws you only see from the best.

Darnold didn’t back down from adversity and consistently poor pass blocking. He rebounded and didn’t change his game despite a month-stretch of mistake-ridden play.

Jones, meanwhile, went toe-to-toe with Darnold and matched him almost point-for-point most of the afternoon. He hit Darius Slayton on two second-quarter touchdowns to draw within one point and then found Golden Tate on back-to-back touchdown drives to take the lead. Jones continues to improve every week for the Giants and seemingly always finds ways to make the big play. Sunday’s loss was Jones’ second game with at least 300 passing yards and four total touchdowns.

Jones played well but also fumbled the ball three times – one of which resulted in Jamal Adams’ incredible strip-sack touchdown. He’s shown the ability to be the Giants’ franchise quarterback but, like all young quarterbacks, needs to hold onto the ball. Coincidentally, Darnold has the same problem for the Jets and has looked atrocious at times with inexcusable mistakes. Darnold corrected a lot of problems from the past three weeks to finish the game with a clean sheet – Jones just needs to do the same. 

Again, this isn’t a final judgment call on the abilities of Darnold and Jones. They bother played against very weak defenses. But even against bad teams, they performed well enough to give hope in a city that hasn’t seen much in recent years when it comes to competent quarterback play. Both quarterbacks obviously still have issues, primarily when it comes to holding onto the football. But this first duel between Darnold and Jones could signal a shift in New York football, one that could feature two long-term solutions at quarterback if each team learns from the mistakes of its past to build a solid roster around the two.

An updated look at Dolphins’ 2020 1st-round picks after Week 10

An updated look at where each of the Miami Dolphins’ 2020 1st-round picks sit in the NFL Draft order.

You just can’t stop the juggernaut that is the 2019 Miami Dolphins, what else can you say? In all seriousness, the Dolphins took advantage of playing QB Brian Hoyer in Week 10 of the 2019 season by notching a 16-12 victory over the Colts in Indianapolis. And in the process, the Dolphins have the first winning streak in Brian Flores’ tenure as the head coach.

Looking ahead, Miami’s posturing for the 2020 NFL Draft wasn’t greatly aided by the results of the NFL’s Week 10 action. The Dolphins won, the Steelers won and the Texans were off — all three of the picks Miami owns in the 2020 NFL Draft have either held steady or moved up the ladder from their positioning at this point in time last week.

So here’s where Miami’s picks currently stand, although you’d be wise to avoid hitting the panic button.

Miami’s Pick: 4th overall

Last week, this pick was the 4th overall pick in the draft — so Miami’s win wasn’t detrimental to their overall posturing. The Cincinnati Bengals now hold a commanding 2 game lead in the race for the 1st-pick in the draft. Considering the rest of each team’s schedule, the Bengals are probably going to hold the top pick. But Miami is still on track to finish with a top-5 pick and from there, they can use some of their extra ammunition to jump up and ensure they grab a top quarterback.

Pittsburgh’s Pick: 22th overall

Minkah Fitzpatrick is single handedly working to sour this pick as much as possible for the Miami Dolphins. Fitzpatrick continued to shine in Pittsburgh, notching an interception yesterday to ice a Steelers victory over the Los Angeles Rams. The Steelers are up to four straight wins and currently hold the 6th-seed in the AFC playoff picture, mostly aided by Miami’s defeat of the Colts, who otherwise would have held that spot.

There’s a lot of ballgame left this season. The Steelers have more winnable games ahead of them. It’s hard to see this pick finishing much higher than this, however. The Colts aren’t going away once they get QB Jacoby Brissett back and the Buffalo Bills are 6-3 and have several more winnable football games on the horizon.

Houston’s Pick: 26th overall

The good news: The Texans didn’t win yesterday. The bad news: they didn’t lose, either. The other good news? The Texans go to Baltimore next Sunday to play the red hot Ravens. This pick has been steady in the mid-20s and that should be the expectation for Miami fans when things are all said and done.

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Rams open as 6.5-point favorites over Bears in Week 11

The Rams are home favorites over the Bears despite losing in ugly fashion Sunday.

There’s only been one game this season where the Los Angeles Rams were not favored at kickoff. Week 11 won’t be one of those games as they enter their matchup with the Chicago Bears as the favorites.

Despite losing a disappointing game to the Steelers on Sunday in which the offense scored zero touchdowns, the Rams are significant favorites over Chicago at home in Week 11. According to BetMGM, the opening line has Los Angeles favored by 6.5 points.

The fact that the Rams are at home definitely helps and pushes the line in their favor, but the home team typically only gets three points built in. So clearly the oddsmakers still view the Rams as the better team, even after that ugly loss in Pittsburgh.

The over/under line was set at 41.5 points, which is tied for the second-lowest total since Sean McVay joined the Rams. In Week 3 of 2017, the Rams-49ers game had an over/under of 40.5 points, which turned into a 41-39 shootout win by Los Angeles.

The season opener in 2017 between the Rams and Colts had an over/under of 41.5 points, and Los Angeles won that one 46-9.

This will be a prime-time matchup between the Rams and Bears with kickoff set for 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday night. The last time these two teams met, Chicago completely shut down the Rams offense, winning 15-6.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Rams-Bears early odds: Chicago big road dogs vs. Los Angeles Rams in Week 11

The struggling Los Angeles Rams are heavy favorites over the equally-struggling Chicago Bears during Sunday Night Football.

Sunday Night Football features the Los Angeles Rams (5-4) host the Chicago Bears (4-5) during Week 11’s NFL regular season matchup Sunday, Nov. 17th, at 8:20 p.m. ET at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The game can be watched on NBC. The Rams enter as the solid favorite, according to odds from BetMGM.

The Rams (-295) are favored by 6.5 (-115) points against the spread (ATS) over the Bears. New to sports betting? With a spread of -6.5, that means the Rams need to not only beat the Bears, but they need to win by at least seven points for an ATS wager on them to cash. That half-point is referred to as a hook.

Looking to place a bet on this game or others? Get some action in the game at BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!

Feeling a upset? A $10 wager on the Bears (+230) would pay $23.00 in profit should they win outright. Meanwhile, a $10 wager on the Rams to win outright returns a profit of just $3.39.

The Over/Under on the Bears/Rams game has been set at 41.5, with a +105 line on the Over and an -125 on the Under for this Week 11 NFL matchup.

Want to get some action on this game? Place a sports bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and tips, access SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Bears LB Nick Kwiatkoski steps up in place of injured LB Danny Trevathan

The Bears lost starting LB Danny Trevathan to a gruesome elbow injury, but reserve LB Nick Kwiatkoski stepped up in his absence.

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When Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan suffered a gruesome elbow injury, backup Nick Kwiatkoski rose to the occasion in his place in Chicago’s 20-13 victory over the Lions.

Trevathan left the game in the first quarter after his arm bent the wrong way as he attempted to sack Lions quarterback Jeff Driskel. Trevathan immediately left the field, knowing that something was wrong.

While Bears coach Matt Nagy didn’t offer an update on Trevathan’s injury, it appeared to be similar to defensive tackle Akiem Hick’s elbow dislocation, perhaps worse.

Kwiatkoski relieved Trevathan with one of the best games of his career. He finished second in tackles with 9, recorded a sack and had the Bears’ lone takeaway — an interception of Driskel early in the third quarter, which led to a Bears scoring drive.

Kwiakoski once again proved to not only be an adamant fill-in but a productive one, just like he did earlier this season in place of linebacker Roquan Smith, who was a healthy scratch against the Minnesota Vikings.

‘‘It’s just preparation,’’ he said, via the Sun-Times. ‘‘As a linebacker, you plan on playing. Things happen throughout the course of a season, and you have to be ready for it.’’

Trevathan looks to be out awhile with his elbow injury, and Kwiatkoski suddenly has a big opportunity in front of him.

‘‘It’s not the way I want it to happen,” Kwiatkoski said. “Danny’s a close friend of mine.’’

But Kwiatkoski will get his chance this week as the Bears travel to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Sunday Night Football.

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Golden Tate to Giants fans: ‘Trust the process’

New York Giants coaches and players apologized to the fan base on Sunday, but asked that they continue to trust the process.

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New York Giants veteran wide receiver Golden Tate had a message for Big Blue fans following a 34-27 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium and it’s not the sort of message they are interested in hearing right now.

“You know, well first I’m going to apologize to the Giants pride because I know how important this game is. I know we were expecting to come out and get a big time win against the other New York team, but we didn’t,” Tate told reporters. “The only thing I can ask at this point is just be patient and try to trust the process. Just know the people inside the building, we’re working, we still believe we can, we’ve just got to go out there and do it.”

This is like a broken record for Giants fans, who have been blindly “trusting the process” since 2012. And all they’ve gotten for their faith is one of the worst stretches in the history of Giants football.

“I think they should be as disappointed with the fact that we lost as I am. That’s what I would say,” head coach Pat Shurmur said when asked what he’d say to the fans.

An admittedly “embarrassed” Jabrill Peppers, who very clearly wasn’t interested in discussing the latest loss but fielded questions like a champ anyway, was equally as blunt when asked about his message to fans.

“We are fed up too. At the end of the day, everybody can feel how they feel, we are going to go back to the drawing board, put together a good two weeks of work and come out of this bye week ready to go,” Peppers said.

So there you have it, Giants fans. The team is sorry and asking you to trust the process.

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Sunday’s NFL upsets were a bloodbath for survivor pools

Week 10 destroyed survivor pools everywhere.

If you lost in your NFL survivor pool (in case you don’t know what that is: you enter a pool of contestants who pick one outright winner per week and can’t use that team again the rest of the season; the overall winner “survives” when everyone else is eliminated) this weekend, you already know about what an awful Sunday it was for entrants.

Perhaps if you picked the Baltimore Ravens to run all over the Cincinnati Bengals, you survived.

But let’s review: the Kansas City Chiefs had Patrick Mahomes return and lost to the Tennessee Titans. The New Orleans Saints put up a whole nine points against the woeful Atlanta Falcons defense. The Miami Dolphins won their second straight game (!) in a victory over the Indianapolis Colts, who were without their starting QB. You could even throw in the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Los Angeles Rams.

That was bad news for anyone who picked those favorites:

The Falcons leaned into it:

Brutal.

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PODCAST: Did the Bills offense hand the Browns a win?

Buffalo Bills podcast following Week 10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

The Buffalo Bills failed to defeat the Cleveland Browns, falling 19-16 in Cleveland to fall to 6-3 on the season. While at first glance, it’s easy to point the finger at kicker Stephen Haushcka for missing a game-tying field goal, the problem is much deeper, yet obvious.

For months, many of the Bills critics have questioned the Bills offense, with much push back from biased “Billievers” and Josh Allen apologists. If this game doesn’t change those opinions, nothing will. Poor clock management, conservative play-calling and key plays not extending drives were all a major part of this team’s misfortunes in Cleveland.
Daboll has been a figure who, if this Bills season goes south quick, could find himself as the scapegoat when it comes to appeasing the fan base at the end of the season. His play calling has seemingly limited this offenses potential, and does not look as explosive as it could. It has even led many to believe that Josh Allen isn’t the franchise quarterback that the team thought he was.
Fortunately for Buffalo, if there is anything positive to examine, the Bills are not down and out, and have the opportunity to build their cushion as the first Wild Card spot, although there are some teams beginning to catch up.
Billswire Podcast Hosts Matt and Jeremy discuss the Week 10 loss to the Cleveland Browns:

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