More Questions Than Answers 🤷
It’s Friday, and we’ve got a lot to cover ahead of a busy sports weekend, so let’s jump right in!
First up, the…
NBA 🏀
Because the NBA Cup is in the quarterfinal stage, and those games don’t start until Tuesday, this is the first Friday in a while without Cup games!
But don’t worry! There’s still a ton of action to cover.
Best game: There’s been a lot of talk this week about whether Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to request a trade.
He’s spent his entire 13-year NBA career with the Bucks.
His two brothers, Alex and Thanasis, are also on the team.
And, he led the Bucks to their second NBA championship (the first in 50 years!) in 2021.
But this season? The Bucks have a losing record and don’t look like a team that can compete for a title.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
But in the meantime, we can watch what happened Wednesday night, when the 9-13 Bucks played the 17-4 Pistons.
🎥 Hit play on these highlights!
What a clutch finish for the Bucks to win, 113-109!
But what a terrible start, with Giannis going down with a right calf injury. Now, he’s expected to miss a few weeks.
Maybe it’s a preview of the Bucks’ future without him?
That brings us to…
Biggest news: Heading into last night’s Lakers vs. Raptors game, LeBron James had scored double digits (that’s 10+ points) in 1,297 straight regular season games.
The streak started on January 6, 2007, when LeBron still played for Cleveland. (And Giannis was only 12 years old!)
That’s nearly 16-straight seasons of double-digit scoring in every single game! 🤯
But last night, he finished with only 8 points, missing 13 of his 17 shots.
No way the Lakers won, right?
🎥 Check out this ending!
That was Rui Hachimura on the game-winning three.
The assist? LeBron James.
And I bet he’d take a team win over an individual record every single time.
Let’s see if we can top that ending with our…
Wildest play: I like watching an epic alley-oop or impossible blocked shot. But I love watching a great player catch fire and score over and over and over and over.
And that’s exactly what Denver star Jamal Murray did on Wednesday night against Indiana: scoring 52 points and making 19 of his 25 shots, including 10 of 11 threes.
🎥 Want to see what it looked like?
🔥🔥🔥
🎥 But should we also see an alley-oop and block?
Okay, fine. It was an accidental alley-oop on an air ball…
But did you see how Philly star Tyrese Maxey sprinted back on defense after his air ball to block what would have been the game-winning layup?
Never give up on a play!
And now, time for…
College Football 🎓🏈
We’re done with the regular season and ready for conference championship games.
Here are the best ones to watch:
#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship (both teams are 12-0, but only one will enter the playoff still undefeated)
#3 Georgia vs. #9 Alabama in the SEC Championship (a potential revenge game for Georgia after they lost to Bama in September, 24-21)
#4 Texas Tech vs. #11 BYU in the Big 12 Championship (a potential revenge game for BYU after they lost to Tech last month, 29-7)
Prediction time…
Now, here’s the twist.
While those are three great matchups… most of those teams are going to make the playoff even if they lose.
Check out the latest College Football Playoff rankings:
Remember: 12 teams make the playoff. But it’s not necessarily the 12 highest-ranked teams.
That’s because the rules say five spots must go to the five highest-ranked conference champions. And the remaining seven spots go to the next highest-ranked teams.
So, here’s what the bracket would look like based on the current rankings:
See spots #11 and #12? They’re not going to #11-ranked BYU and #12-ranked Miami, but are being held for the fourth- and fifth-highest ranked conference champions.
Here’s who that could be:
#17 Virginia, if they beat unranked Duke in the ACC Championship
Whichever team wins the American Championship game between #20 Tulane and #24 North Texas
#25 James Madison, if they beat unranked Troy in the Sun Belt Championship, and Virginia loses to Duke
Whew! It’s a lot to take in. But don’t worry, we’ll know on Sunday after the games are played and break it all down for you next week!
👀 In the meantime… want to play a game?
Write down the first letter of every team we listed that’s playing in a conference championship game.
🧠 Now, can you rearrange the letters you wrote down to spell at least three different real words (they can be as long or as short as you want)?
🏅 Want extra credit? Rearrange exactly five letters to spell what you shout when you win a certain game that’s played with numbers and letters!
💬 Drop your answers in the comments!
Finally, let’s finish with…
NFL Week 14 👔🏈
Back to a regular Thursday night with just one game (after three on Thanksgiving).
But it was a great matchup… at least on paper.
The 6-5-1 Dallas Cowboys just beat the Chiefs and need to keep winning to catch the Eagles in the NFC East.
And the 7-5 Detroit Lions just lost to the Packers and fell to third in the NFC North, behind the Bears and Packers.
Did the actual game live up to the hype? And which team helped their playoff chances?
🎥 Click here to watch the highlights on NFL.com!
That’s a big win for the Lions, who now have a better than 50% chance of making the playoffs.
The Cowboys? Now less than 10%.
Looking ahead to the rest of the Week 14 games, here are more worth watching:
Bengals (4-8) at Bills (8-4): Will a healthy Joe Burrow keep Cincinnati in the playoff hunt against Josh Allen, who is 5-1 at home this year?
Colts (8-4) at Jaguars (8-4): With both teams tied in the AFC South, who takes the lead?
Steelers (6-6) at Ravens (6-6): Same question… but for the AFC North?
Bears (9-3) at Packers (8-3-1): These teams play two times in the next three weeks… who wins game one?
Texans (7-5) at Chiefs (6-6): Winner stays in the playoff hunt, loser is likely out… does Patrick Mahomes have any magic left this year?
Eagles (8-4) at Chargers (8-4): Will Chargers QB Justin Herbert be able to play on Monday Night Football just a week after having surgery to fix a broken bone in his hand?
Get your popcorn ready, because it’s a great slate of games! 🍿
And when it’s all done, we’ll be back to share the highlights.
Have a great weekend!
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