Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Florida Gators football along with the rest of the SEC was in action last Saturday. Here is a look at the results from each game.
Ten of the Southeastern Conference’s 14 members played on December 5, including three ranked teams.
As we at Gators Wire have done each week this season, this is a rundown of all the happenings from college football’s premier conference.
Team rankings are courtesy of the Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY Sports.
Kawhi Leonard had an uncharacteristically off night, and we’ve got a series in Clippers-Nuggets.
After the Clippers needed six games to see off the Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs, I figured they would have shaken off the rust, and would take care of business until they (inevitably) met the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
While the Nuggets had some piece in Nikola Jokic and an ascendant Jamal Murray, I figured Denver had to be exhausted after their epic, randomly thrilling first-round series against Utah.
The Clippers would take care of business. They have the better team, and one of the best few players alive in Kawhi Leonard. As long as Leonard didn’t forget how to play basketball, L.A. would dispatch Denver and pretty easily.
In Game 2, Kawhi Leonard forgot how to play basketball.
Well, he didn’t forget how to play basketball, but he had about as bad a night as you could expect to see from last year’s Finals MVP.
Leonard went 4-17 from the field on the night, including 0-3 from three, and four turnovers. It speaks to Leonard’s greatness that he still finished with a more than respectable 13-10-8 line on the night, but the Clippers demand more from him than a 24% shooting night and only seven free throws. His +/- on the night was a team-worst -16.
On the flip side, the Nuggets came out aggressively. Denver jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the opening minutes, with Jokic and Murray playing extremely aggressively and the Clippers looking like they were waking up from a late nap.
The first quarter ended 44-25 to Denver, and despite a couple late pushes from L.A., they never looked in danger of giving up that lead.
They won a convincing Game 2 and evened up the series. Jamal Murray looked like the best player on the floor for the night, and Jokic got a ton of good looks in the post against a good Clippers defense.
This win tells Denver they belong, and if they can keep the intensity up, they can run the Clippers off the floor in stretches. And they showed, for one game at least, they can keep Kawhi in check. Not a lot of teams can say that.
Kawhi just played about as badly as he’s ever played, and he nearly finished with a triple double and the Clippers only lost by single digits. With 2:37 in the fourth, they pulled the game within seven. A couple different bounces in the last two minutes, and they could have won that game.
Even if Kawhi looked out of it, Paul George looked like himself again. After some early stumbles in the playoffs, George has settled in, and finished with 22 points and 8 rebounds on the night. His lack of free throws (only five on the night) and Kawhi’s lack of free throws in discouraging, but it provides an easy narrative for the Clippers coaching staff — get aggressive, and we win.
This series isn’t going to be a cake walk for the Clippers. We get more basketball. This is going to be fun.
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The Raptors looked finish. Now they look like a contender to win the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors were done. They were cooked.
It was Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Celtics, and Toronto was down two games to zero. The Celtics had a two-point lead with half a second left — surely not enough time to get a good look at the basket.
Then Kyle Lowry heaved the ball across the court over a 7-foot-tall defender on an inbounds play, the ball landed smoothly in the hands of OG Anunoby, and Anunoby drained the shot.
The Raptors were alive. And following a convincing Game 4 win over Boston on Saturday, they suddenly look more than just alive … they look like a team that can threaten to win the Eastern Conference.
First, let’s discuss Game 4. Yes, the Celtics went cold from beyond the arc, with Jaylen Brown especially having a nightmarish evening, going 2-for-11 from deep. Jayson Tatum didn’t fare much better — while he was able to get to the line and get his points, he shot 1-for-6 from 3 on the night.
So sure, shots weren’t falling. But the Raptors’ defensive adjustments caused problems for the Celtics. The conscious Toronto effort to keep the ball out of Kemba Walker’s hands worked, as Walker finished with just nine shot attempts on the night. (He also finished 1-6 from deep, as did, weirdly, Marcus Smart.)
With no Gordon Hayward (ankle), the Celtics didn’t have another real scoring threat who could change up the game. The Raptors closed out on deep shots hard, and dared the Celtics’ non-stars to beat them. It worked.
On the offensive end, the Raptors were aggressive, with Pascal Siakam leading the attack and working to get to the rim. With him as an aggressive slasher, the Raptors were able to get open looks from deep for Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Serge Ibaka. Ibaka especially was a surprising offensive force, finishing with 18 points after going 7-9 from the floor and 4-4 from deep.
The series is 2-2, and this series feels like it’s going seven games. The one worrying thing for the Raptors has to be fatigue. With the season on the line, Raptors coach Nick Nurse went with a shortened bench. Only eight Raptors played on Saturday, and one — Matt Thomas — got three minutes.
Lowry, Siakam, and VanVleet all played 44+ minutes on Saturday. All three played 38+ minutes in Game 3. I admire Nurse for saying “screw it” with the season on the line and playing his best players as much as humanly possible, but he’ll have to manage those minutes going forward.
If the Raptors can keep this going, however, the East suddenly looks a bit wide open. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are surprisingly down 3-0 to Jimmy Butler and the Heat, and with Giannis reportedly fighting an injury, Miami could coast into the Eastern Conference Finals with a win on Sunday.
Miami is great, but that’s a team that the Raptors or Celtics will feel they can compete with, and beat.
With a half second left in Game 3, the Raptors looked finished. Now, they’ve got a clear path to the NBA Finals.
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The match ended in a draw, but there were still plenty of highlights in the matchup between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Barcelona and Real Madrid took part in another edition of El Clasico on Wednesday, a game that was rescheduled from October after the previous game was postponed due to Catalan protests.
The match ended in a 0-0 draw, and what it lacked in goals, it had in drama. Barcelona’s Gerard Pique cleared a shot off the line, only for Sergio Ramos to go and block a shot from going in at the other end moments later.
Later in the match, Messi would put the ball on Jordi Alba’s left foot, in alone on goal, only for Alba to drag his shot just wide.
In the second half, Gareth Bale had multiple clear chances, including a ball go in the net for Real Madrid, only to have it called back for offside.
It ended 0-0. See all the action below.
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The Clippers were at full strength with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the court, and took in the Celtics in a game that went to overtime. See all the highlights.
It’s fun when a hyped-up game comes out and exceeds expectations.
The Boston Celtics traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on Wednesday night, who finally had their full-look roster with Paul George returning from injury and Kawhi Leonard on the court.
The Clippers looked good. The Celtics also looked good! It went to overtime, a deserved result as for the entire game it felt like neither team could pull away. This wasn’t a game of big runs. They just traded baskets and stops all night.
The game went to overtime after Jayson Tatum went and broke George’s ankles and drained a huge three to tie the game late, but the Clippers went on a nice run in OT and were able to hang on and win 107-104, thanks in part to a fantastic last-second block from Leonard.
If you had to ask: No, Leonard didn’t celebrate at all, because he’s Kawhi Leonard.
It was a bit of a wonky game because it’s clear that George and Leonard are still figuring things out. It’s wild to say that, considering George finished with 25-5-8 and Leonard finished with 17-6-3, but Leonard especially was a little more deferential than we usually see him. It was also a bit wonky in that the Celtics’ Kemba Walker had an uncharacteristic off night, finishing with 13 points on 4 of 17 shooting.
Tatum had 30 though, and backup point guard Brad Wanamaker came hot off the bench and got 14 points.
Potential finals matchup? Maybe. Sure. We’d do that.
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