Draymond Green may think the play-in games to the playoffs are beneath him, but Steph Curry apparently is going to drag Green and the rest of the Warriors there by their collective dick if he has to. Curry went off for another 49 in a pretty gutsy 107-96 win in Philadelphia. As you have to note with every NBA game at the moment, someone(s) important didn’t play, and this time it was Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris of the Sixers. That shouldn’t take away from another virtuoso performance from Curry, who went 10-from-17 from three. It was the second-straight game Curry had 10 threes or more, and the fourth in the last five games. It was the 11th-straight game he had 30 points or more, the fourth out of five, and fifth out of eight, that he had more than 40. Curry is shooting 56 percent from the field in his last five games. His performance has been the catalyst for the Warriors to win six of their last eight, which has them a game-and-a-half behind Memphis for the eight seed, which at least comes with the bonus of having to win one game to get into the playoffs instead of two. Which might not mean much to a team with the recent prestige as the Warriors, but whatever. Curry at the moment is some sort of oracle. Curry iced the game with this three, and if you watch closely you can see Curry extract George Hill’s life-force through his pores right after the step-back: Hill knew what was coming, he knew what Steph wanted to do, yet still he got sold on the drive and then quickly realized he was sold a bill of goods and will just have to watch death from above. This is the good stuff. Speaking of great players winning games on their own, we present Connor McDavid from last night: That’s the Habs’ Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry playing the roles of Rocksteady and Bebop. Edmundson, who has somehow shielded the fact that he’s been a bum-ass bum for nearly a decade from the greater hockey world, doesn’t even have that bad of a gap on McDavid. It’s not great, but would work against just about anyone else. Of course, somewhere around the blue line he realizes he’s totally fucked, and even goes to straight-up tackle McDavid and grabs nothing but a handful of himself. The Oilers won 4-1, which essentially locks up for good the third spot for the in the North, and puts the second spot very much in play. If they keep running into d-men who provide a torero’s cape for No. 97, they’ll get it. Also in the NHL, Patrick Marleau broke the all-time games played record last night, appearing in his 1,768th game, passing Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe. Marleau has taken a fair amount of shit in his career, from being accused of being a playoff ghost to not appearing in any games that mattered, to his ill-fated Cup chasing with the Maple Leafs and Penguins the past couple years. But to make the bell for 21 seasons worth of games (and he would have broken this record earlier if it wasn’t for two lockouts and a pandemic) is above reproach, especially in a game that exacts the toll that hockey does. It’s unlikely to be broken any time soon, if at all. The feat was also responsible for this: On a personal note, yesterday was the first time I watched Liverpool FC after the announcement of the Super League. While the actual activity of watching the game was much the same — the hope that the first half performance would portend to something better that’s been on offer all of 2021, the frustration growing as the second half made it clear it wouldn’t be, the knuckles into the wall at the equalizing goal given up at the final whistle — the confusion at the final whistle wasn’t. During the game, those reflexes and instincts are hard to turn off for a fan. But after…was I supposed to be upset? Does it matter that they blew a big chance to their hopes of finishing in the top four? Should I be happy that they did? Is that what they deserve? The players don’t, but there’s no other way. What’s the point of the rest of it? Aren’t they just going to kick us out of the Champions League anyway if the ESL doesn’t take off until 2022? What if it doesn’t happen at all? Missing out on the Champions League is what we deserve anyway, right? I can’t remember another time being so lost. One of the lesser crimes, out of the sea of them, of this ESL breakaway is that the rest of this season is basically chaos for fans like me, or Chelsea supporters, or others of these teams. What are we playing for? There’s no defined context. We’re just guessing. And without any context, it’s just stuff happening. It doesn’t mean anything. Which is hardly the point.
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The hectic nature of European football this season means that we are once again gearing up for another week of UEFA Champions League action. We re half way through the group stage now and many groups already seem to have a clear direction in terms of who will qualify, with the same being true for Group C. Today, we re going to preview the impending clash between two sides that are separated by one place and just three points Porto and Manchester City.
Porto
In addition to being placed six points behind Sporting Lisbon in the Primeira Liga, Porto also know that they need to build up some momentum in the last few games of the group before they make their way into the knockout stage. The kings of Po…
Eddie Howe had no issue with Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley promising the club would win the Champions League, although he hopes they will have patience with him along the way.
Newcastle played their first major final in 24 years on Sunday but were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United in the EFL Cup showpiece at Wembley.
Staveley s response was a strong one, inspired by the experience of the defeat as she told talkSPORT: We will win the Carabao Cup, we will win the FA Cup, we will win the Champions League, and we will win the Premier League.
Those comments were relayed to Howe on Friday ahead of a trip to Manchester City, where Newcastle will attempt to get their Premier League campaign back on track.
I love Amanda s positivity, I love her outlook…
Barcelona and Real Madrid target Luka Jovic is a natural-born killer who will undoubtedly become one of the best strikers in the world, according to Savo Milosevic.
Jovic has been linked with LaLiga giants Barca and Madrid after taking Europe by storm this season, scoring 25 goals in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Only Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski (21) has scored more 2018-19 Bundesliga goals than Jovic (17), whose two-year loan from Portuguese giants Benfica became permanent last week.
Eintracht are reportedly set to cash in on Jovic amid interest from Barca and Madrid, and 102-time Serbia international Milosevic, who hails from the same city – Bijeljina – as his countryman, insisted the 21-year-old striker is destined for greatness.
…
Joao Felix hinted that a long-term future with Chelsea hinges on whether Champions League football is secured for next season.
The Portugal international arrived on loan from Atletico Madrid in a flurry of mid-season activity for the Blues.
However, Saturday s victory over Leeds United in the Premier League was only Chelsea s second from 12 matches in 2023 and their first since beating Crystal Palace in January, ending a run of six games without a win (D3 L3).
Graham Potter s side are well adrift in the hunt for a top-four finish and Champions League football next term as a result, sitting 11 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
While Joao Felix expressed his happiness at Stamford Bridge, he suggested a permanent move depends on whether they can turn th…
Serie-A winning coach Massimiliano Allegri will be rewarded with a new contract next week, Juventus director Giuseppe Marotta confirmed.
Allegri delivered a fifth consecutive Scudetto to Juventus without the Turin giants kicking a ball on Monday after Roma defeated second-placed Napoli 1-0.
The 48-year-old has guided Juventus who are 12 points clear with three matches remaining this season to two Serie A titles since replacing Antonio Conte in 2014.
Allegri also led Juve to last season s Champions League final and a contract extension is now forthcoming, with his deal set to expire next year.
Our relationship with Allegri is one that s going really well, Marotta told Premium Sport.
We are very satisfied [with him and his work], and we will ex…
Nigel de Jong is desperate to help Milan get back into the UEFA Champions League with a strong second half of the season.
The Serie A giants endured a miserable 2013-14 campaign, eventually limping to an eighth-placed finish as both Massimiliano Allegri and Clarence Seedorf failed to kick-start their season.
Milan have shown signs of recovery in Filippo Inzaghi s first season as head coach, and they reached the mid-season break in seventh position just two points adrift of Lazio in third.
And Netherlands international De Jong believes a club of Milan s stature must be playing in Europe s premier club competition.
My goal this year is to reach the Champions League with Milan, he said at a sponsor s event in Dubai.
That is where Milan belong…
Former Netherlands star Edwin van der Sar is hopeful his country will be able to exact revenge on Spain for their 2010 World Cup final defeat.
The 41-year-old, who retired from football last year, feel Spain are rightly favourites to retain their European crown, but insists the Dutch can cause Vicente del Bosque s side all sorts of problems.
For the Euro, the favourites are Spain, Van der Sar told Goal.com. They have a very strong team with a great generation of young players and were amazing in the last World Cup.
Another great rival will be Germany.
Netherlands had a very good game the other day (a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland). I hope that they will take revenge for the defeat in the final against Spain two years ago.
TheNetherlands hav…
The English Football Association has confirmed that Great Britain will field a football team in the 2012 Olympics. Whilst there are many twists and turns to that story before the time comes, it is definitely an interesting exercise to look at what a Great Britain team would look like at the moment.
Most of us in Britain have always thought that Team GB would be pretty formidable. When you look at the actual players available, does that thought really have any basis in reality?
Let’s look at the runners and riders for the current GB team;
Goalkeepers
David James (England), Craig Gordon (Scotland), Wayne Hennessey (Wales), Maik Taylor (N.Ireland).
Right back
Micah Richards, Gary Neville (England), Alan Hutton (Scotland), Chris Gunter (Wa…
Man United thrash Ipswich and Forest, Shearer tops the charts – 10,000 Premier League games in numbe
The Premier League will tick past the 10,000-game mark during Saturday s matches.
Since its maiden season following a breakaway from the Football League in 1992-93, the Premier League has seen 9,996 contests staged, with Manchester City s early Saturday kick-off at Burnley next on the agenda.
It means one of the day s 15:00 GMT kick-offs at Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leicester City, Manchester United or West Brom will earn the distinction of being the 10,000th game.
Here, with the help of Opta, we look at some of the Premier League s stand-out numbers as the competition approaches 10,000 matches.
Weekend football has come around quick
— Premier League (@premierleague)
9-0 – The biggest win in Premier League history, wh…
Former Barcelona star Hristo Stoichkov would be surprised to see Neymar leave Paris Saint-Germain to join Real Madrid.
The Brazil international has been linked with a shock return to Spain at the end of the season, despite having only moved to PSG last August for a world-record fee of €222million.
Speculation the 26-year-old is unsettled in France has prompted persistent talk of a move to Madrid, who are said to be considering huge investment in the playing squad before next season after a dreadful defence of their league title.
But Stoichkov, a five-time LaLiga winner across two glittering spells at Camp Nou, cannot see Neymar moving to the Santiago Bernabeu.
I don t see him at Real Madrid, he told Radio Marca.
I wish him all the best for …