data-mm-id=”_cwd1o1qig”>The discourse this week will mainly be focused around the Los Angeles Clippers and how it all went wrong. Rightfully so, too. Never before have we seen a team with that much talent and hype fold in this manner. How can a starting five with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard not score a single point in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter? How did Doc Rivers manage to blow his third 3-1 playoff lead? These questions will dominate a good portion of basketball discussion for the next few months. But man, how about those Nuggets? As you've surely heard by now, they're the first team in NBA history to come back from multiple 3-1 deficits in the same playoffs. First they did it against the Utah Jazz, then against Los Angeles. There were points, especially in the Clippers series, where it felt like it was over. But Nikola Jokic kept doing the Joker thing he does and Jamal Murray hit every timely shot needed. Now they have an appointment with the Los Angeles Lakers with a berth to the NBA Finals on the line. The Nuggets really should not have done this. That isn't remarkable insight considering they went down 3-1. But this team is not made up of the parts that we've collectively decided make up a championship team. They don't have a wing stopper who will stifle opposing scorers with reckless abandon and contend for an NBA All-Defense spot regularly. They don't have any truly great two-way players. They don't have a traditional rim protector. What they do have are two offensive juggernauts in Jokic and Murray. They have a collection of good players who play together. Gary Harris and Torey Craig were just good enough on both ends to win games. Paul Millsap directs the defense and makes the occasional timely shot. Michael Porter Jr. has proven to be their X-factor and a plus/minus god despite the fact that he looks like a lost puppy on defense more often than not. Above all, they're clearly more mentally tough than the Clippers team they just beat, who folded in the face of adversity time and time again. The Nuggets just don't look the part, especially compared to the team they vanquished. Their offense is centered around Jokic, a lumbering giant with questionable defense more often than not. Mike Malone is not a decorated head coach by NBA standards. Murray is a flamethrower but he averaged less than 20 points per game during the regular season. After a decade of watching super teams roll their way to titles, the Nuggets just aren't what we expect from championship contenders. And yet. Here we are. They're four wins away from the finals. They came back from double-digit deficits in three straight games with their backs against the wall against arguably the most talented team in the league. How they did it no longer matters, only that they did it. Now they'll have to do it again against the greatest player of this generation and the best all-around big man in the game. Time to see if they can defy the odds one last time before fighting for a championship.
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The Boca Juniors forward has been heavily linked with a switch to the Chinese Super League after Shanghai chairman Wu Xiaohui revealed there had been a breakthrough in talks for Tevez s services.
An annual figure of €40million has reportedly been offered to Tevez to move to China, with coach Gus Poyet saying it would be a pleasure to have the Argentina international in his squad.
Tevez remains unsure what his future will hold, though, and says he will use his time off to make a decision.
I do not know what I am going to do, he told a media conference.
I have many problems in my head to think about, [like] wh…
Alexandre Pato said there is no Brazilian striker better than him, with Dunga set to announce his next squad on Thursday.
The Sao Paulo forward struck his ninth goal of the season on Sunday in his team s 2-1 victory over Gremio, with Pato and Co. sitting fifth in the Campeonato Brasileiro with 12 wins from 25 matches in 2015.
Pato has scored seven goals in Sao Paulo s last 12 league games and said he deserves a Brazil recall, having not represented his country since a friendly against Zambia in October 2013.
Brazil will play Chile and Venezuela in World Cup qualifiers on October 8 and 13 respectively.
My goal is to return to the national team. There s a selection on Thursday, I have a lot of potential and I am prepared to be selected, he told TV Bandeir…
According to , Real Madrid are interested in acquiring the services of Vancouver Whitecaps youngster Alphonso Davies. The 17-year-old put himself on the map upon debuting in the MLS at the age of just 15 back in 2016, and now, he s attracting the attention of some of the biggest clubs in European football.
In addition to Real Madrid teams like Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich and Manchester United have all expressed their interest in making a move for Davies. The Vancouver Whitecaps currently find themselves in the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, although Davies has certainly played a big part in getting them there.
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Jose Peseiro insists he is not afraid after being appointed head coach of Sporting CP for a second time, despite the turmoil that has engulfed the club in recent months.
Peseiro, who guided Sporting to the UEFA Cup final in 2005 during a 16-month spell as coach, replaces Sinisa Mihajlovic, who lasted just nine days at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The Sporting squad was decimated at the end of the 2017-18 season when fans invaded the training ground and attacked players, many of whom terminated their contracts in the aftermath of the incident.
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(GSM) Dutch forward Daniel de Ridder will spend the rest of the season on loan at Israel s Hapoel Tel Aviv, after failing to make a regular appearance in Wigan Athletic s line-up.
The 25-year-old, who also holds the Israeli nationality through his mother, has not played a single league match this season, after featurinf in 18 games in the 2008-09 edition of the Premiership.
De Ridder began his career at Ajax in 2002, and has since represented Celta de Vigo and Birmingham City before joining Wigan in the summer of 2008.
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…
New Manchester City signing Jesus Navas has set his sights on winning the UEFA Champions League.
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…
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has dismissed reports linking Luis Suarez with a shock world-record transfer to Manchester United.
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Newcastle United have completed the signing of striker Yoshinori Muto after he was awarded a work permit.
The Magpies had to wait for the relevant documents to be ratified in order to complete the deal, despite Muto having already agreed a four-year contract.
The club confirmed on Wednesday that the process has been completed, meaning he becomes their fifth signing of the transfer window, following Martin Dubravka, Ki Sung-yueng and Fabian Schar and the loan deal for Kenedy.
However, the 26-year-old will have to miss Saturday s friendly with Augsburg while he waits to be granted a visa.
As the first Japanese Newcastle United player, I am honoured to be a player for such a big club, said Muto, who joins from Mainz for a reported £9.5million fee.
…
Chelsea moved to within a point of Women’s Super League leaders Manchester United with a 6-0 thrashing of Leicester before boss Emma Hayes ramped up the pressure by revelling in the fun of the chase.
Pernille Harder struck twice for the defending champions to help them warm up for Sunday’s FA Cup final against title rivals Man United at Wembley with another emphatic victory.
After thumping Everton 7-0 last weekend, Chelsea picked up where they left off at Kingsmeadow with Guro Reiten, Erin Cuthbert, Lauren James and Jelena Cankovic on target alongside Harder’s second consecutive brace.
The current table close the gap to just one point and leap above !
— Barclays Women s Super League (@BarclaysWSL)
It kept the five-time WSL winners in …
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In what is a heavyweight Serie A showdown on Saturday evening, Inter Milan will travel to the San Siro when they meet Roma.
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