Pekke Rinne loses puck in gear, causing hilarious delay in OT (Video)

 

In overtime of Game 4 between the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, Hawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson shot the puck around the boards and goalie Pekka Rinne cut it off behind his goal cage.

Innocent enough, right? Well, the next moment was one of sheer panic for all the players on the ice: The puck disappeared. Rinne dramatically dropped to his knees trying to save an invisible puck.

The referee blew his whistle to stop play, and the comedy began – for the next three minutes, Rinne removed gear, shimmied around, put his hands in his pants and searched for the disc.

He then finally dug the puck out from inside his right leg pad, where it hopped into as it went around the boards, tossing it out to center ice.

Hey, if nothing else, this unanticipated delay gave all the dead-tired players a breather with 5:34 left in overtime.

This is actually the second time this has happened to a goalie this season, as Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby “hatched” the puck in a game back in January.

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Rockets dunk Mavericks into submission, grab 2-0 lead

At first glance, a 12-point road loss to the Western Conference's No. 2 seed should not suggest that a team is in crisis. But the Dallas Mavericks' 111-99 loss to the Houston Rockets in Game 2 of their first-round series was no ordinary game.

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To be more specific, the fourth quarter saw the Rockets pummel the Mavericks into submission with a barrage of alley-oops and dunks keyed by an unlikely player — veteran forward Josh Smith. With MVP candidate James Harden struggling to shoot with consistency, Smith found Dwight Howard for several alley-oops and looked like his old dynamic self from his Atlanta Hawks heyday. Up just one point entering the period, Houston ended up with a 30-19 final-quarter advantage that looked far more dominant than the margin suggests. The Mavericks are now in a 2-0 hole and face many questions about their interior defense, a terrible performance from Dirk Nowitzki, and an apparent benching of Rajon Rondo.

Let's start with the Rockets' dunk party, because it jumped out for the sheer ease with which they seemed to finish at the rim. Smith served as the team's primary facilitator at the beginning of the fourth quarter and found his onetime AAU teammate Howard for several finishes at the rim. Dallas had no defensive answer — Nowitzki could not check Smith, and Amar'e Stoudemire and others could not impede Howard and others around the basket. The result was 14 dunks over the course of the game, as many as any team has had in a postseason game since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001, when they had Shaquille O'Neal at his most dominant and Kobe Bryant at his athletic peak. Take a look at just one of the alley-opps here:

Or enjoy this emphatic slam from Smith:

It was a positive period of play for the Rockets for several reasons. Howard finished with a team-high 28 points (10-of-15 FG, 8-of-11 FT) and 12 rebounds in a performance that suggested he is nearly fully recovered from the right knee soreness injury that sidelined him for two months. It was also nice to see the Rockets play especially well without Harden on the floor. MVP arguments in Harden's favor have stated that the team's offense would be lost without him, and that's appeared to be the case for much of this season. But Smith was tremendous on a night where Harden went just 5-of-17 from the field (plus 13-of-13 from the line) and starting forwards Terrence Jones and Trevor Ariza combined to shoot 2-of-15 for nine points. Smith's 15 points, nine assists (seven in the fourth quarter!), and eight rebounds changed the game.

It's hard to know if he can reproduce this performance, because there have been few precedents for it in the last few seasons. While Smith nearly notched a triple-double in a late March game against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, he is mostly known these days for his poor shot selection. The furiously active monster who affected games in numerous ways with the Hawks is essentially no more, which is what made his excellent Game 2 so fascinating. If it doesn't happen again, then at least we got to experience this version of Smith in such an important situation.

The good news for the Rockets is that they don't depend on Smith playing in this way. On the other side, the Mavericks have to wonder if they can bounce back from such an overwhelming failure late. It was not a pretty sight for most of the night, but their interior defense was so lackluster as to suggest that Rick Carlisle might need to reform his big-man rotation for Game 3 to give Bernard James more minutes and perhaps add superior defenders to other spots in the lineup. No team can expect stellar defense from Stoudemire and Nowitzki at this point in their careers, but they were so bad Tuesday that it's worth wondering how their offense could possibly make up for it. That certainly wasn't the case in this game — Amar'e took only three shots (though he made them all) while Dirk went 3-of-14 for 10 points.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the team's regular point guard offered no positive impact. Rajon Rondo suffered through a horrible first half that included an unforced eight-second violation and was subbed out for good after a technical foul and personal foul in the first 34 seconds of the third quarter. Here's what he looked like as the Mavericks floundered to the loss:

🎶 Hello darkness my old friend... 🎶 http://ift.tt/1Fd5HAD

— Greg Wissinger (@gwiss) April 22, 2015

Rondo finished with four points and one assist in 10 minutes, enough to compel questions about his role for the rest of the series. Not surprisingly, he didn't talk to media after the game. Rondo and Rick Carlisle have had issues with each other throughout this season, but it was supposed to get better in the playoffs, where the enigmatic point guard typically shines. If anything, though, Rondo has been at his worst in these first two games. Regardless of how the rest of the series goes, it is very hard to imagine him coming back to Dallas as a free agent this summer.

The best news for the Mavericks right now is that they play at home on Friday. A change of scenery and two days off could allow them to collect themselves and find something that works. Whether it involves Rondo or some other combination of players remains to be seen — all Carlisle and his staff know is that Game 3 can't possibly involve quite so many dunks.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Nicklas Backstrom's OT goal for Capitals evens series with Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Facing a 3-1 series deficit, the Capitals received contributions from their two biggest stars and beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in overtime. Nicklas Backstrom scored for the third straight game as Washington evened the series 2-2 with Game 5 Thursday night in D.C.

Star number one was captain Alex Ovechkin, who deflected a John Carlson shot for a 1-0 lead 13:06 into the game. The early lead was big for the Capitals, as they had failed to score first in each of the first three games of the series after posting a 37-2-2 record, tops in the NHL, during the regular season when doing so.

In the second period, the Capitals opened the door time and time again, giving the Islanders every opportunity to take the lead. That door was the penalty box, and with the game tied at one after Casey Cizikas’ late first period goal, New York tried to get its struggling power play going.

The game, according to Backstrom, was won in that second frame when the Capitals took three penalties in a 5:12 span. Washington killed each of them off, keeping the Islanders without a power play goal in 10 opportunities through four games.

“One mistake, one shot can cost you a game,” said Ovechkin. “We did a great job to handle the pressure.” 

The atmosphere inside Nassau Coliseum was again loud and boisterous, and with an overtime chance for the Islanders to go up 3-1 in the series, they had their shot, but Backstrom silenced everyone 11:09 into the extra frame:

The goal was a perfect example of what Washington didn’t do enough of in Game 3: create havoc in front of Jaroslav Halak. The Islanders netminder saw just about everything on Sunday afternoon and many of the Capitals’ shots were fired directly into his chest.

“It’s a good job by [Joel] Ward in front of the net there,” said Backstrom, whose performance in Game 4 was described as “all-world” by Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. “Without him there, it wouldn’t be a goal.”

“It’s standard in this league. In order to score you’ve got to get traffic,” said Ward. 

Now the Capitals can breathe a bit as they head back to Verizon Center for Game 4. It’s a best-of-three series now with both teams on even ground.

“This game could have gone either way,” said Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik. “Obviously 3-1 or 2-2, that’s a big difference. You always look at this game as a big swing game.

“Nothing’s going to be easy the rest of the series. It will all be like it was tonight.”

Backstrom’s two-point night gives him six overall and puts him atop the NHL’s scoring list through a week of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He finished sixth in scoring during the regular season, yet seems to fly under the radar in conversations about the league's elite players.

On the ice, Backstrom is a picture of calm while carrying the puck and his vision as a playmaking center ranks among the best in the league. While Ovechkin may have the big personality, score 50-plus goals annually and wear the captain’s ‘C’ for Washington, there’s no doubt that the Capitals follow the Swedish pivot’s lead.

“He’s been on for a long time, not just tonight,” said Orpik. “He just quietly leads by example every day. I think he kind of sets the tone for this team, practice, games. 

“I don’t think anyone is surprised that he was the one who came up with that shot.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy

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Jose Bautista and Adam Jones exchange words after pimped home run

The Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics may have been the early leaders in baseball feuds this season, but the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles could steal that title soon.

Tempers flared during Tuesday's game following Jose Bautista's seventh inning home run. Early in the at-bat Orioles pitcher Jason Garcia threw a pitch that went behind Bautista. Both benches were warned following the event.

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On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Bautista launched a 95 mph fastball out to left for a two-run shot. Bautista took his sweet time admiring his shot before flipping his bat and rounding the bases. While he was running the bases, both Steve Pearce and Ryan Flaherty had things to say to Bautista.

Jose Bautista smacks a two-run HR, stands and watches it leave, flips bat and circles bases. Pearce at 1B, Flaherty at 2B both chirp him...

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) April 22, 2015

Bautista stared at the Orioles dugout once he crossed home plate.

That was hardly the end of this spat. As Bautista was heading out to right field the next inning, he and Adam Jones exchanged words.

Bautista says Jones called his HR trot “bush-league” – “or another word that sounds like bush-league.” Says pitch behind him was bush-league

— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) April 22, 2015

Following the game, it doesn't appear either side is backing down.

Adam Jones said Garcia wasn't trying to hit Bautista. Jones said HR trot was "uncalled for." "You pimp the pitcher, you're pimping me too"

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) April 22, 2015

In response, Bautista told Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, "I could care less what Adam Jones is saying." He continued to stoke the fires, admitting he admired his home run during the contest.

Jose Bautista: "You throw at me, I’m not going to forget. And if I get you right after, then I’m going to enjoy it and I did.”

— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) April 22, 2015

Bautista went on to say that he believes the Orioles throwing at him was "premeditated." He also took a shot at Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

Bautista: I think it’s all pretty well planned out & premeditated & I think they hide behind the way their manager acts and conducts himself

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) April 22, 2015

Showalter indicated that the issue was "closed" following the game, but also noted his displeasure with Bautista pimping the home run. Both Showalter and Jones mentioned a game last season in which Aaron Sanchez came close to hitting a number of Orioles.

Coincidentally, Sanchez is slated to start Wednesday.

Jones & Showalter both mentioned that Aaron Sanchez hit & came close to hitting some #Orioles in 2014. Guess who starts for #Jays tomorrow?

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) April 22, 2015

Based on the comments from everyone involved after the game, it appears this situation is far from over. The two sides are set to face off against each other the next two days, and it certainly sounds like things will be tense.

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This is just the fourth time the two teams have met this season. It seems certain the situation will escalate over the next two days, but the two clubs will still play 13 times following this current series. Unless cooler heads prevail, there's going to be plenty of opportunities for this wound to be re-opened. 

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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Wall and Beal star as Wizards handle Raptors, head to DC with 2-0 lead

Paul Pierce announced himself as a major factor in the Washington Wizards' first-round playoff series by antagonizing the Toronto Raptors before and during an overtime Game 1 win at the Air Canada Centre. Pierce is still an unpopular figure, but Torontonians will find no shortage of targets for their ire after a rough Game 2 on Tuesday night.

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Young backcourt stars John Wall and Bradley Beal excelled as the Wizards cruised to a 117-106 win behind several big runs and a relatively weak effort from the host Raptors. Washington now heads back to the Verizon Center for Friday's Game 3 with a 2-0 lead and as many as three home games (plus two more visits back to Toronto) in which to grab two more wins and close out the series. The Raptors are in very big trouble and may now have played their last game at home this season.

The night started well enough for the Raptors, who reversed their poor scoring in Game 1 with 31 first-quarter points and a five-point lead after 12 minutes. Unfortunately for Toronto, their troubles in Game 2 came primarily on the opposite side of the ball, where they especially struggled to contain Wall and Beal, who combined to play 82 minutes. Things got especially bad for the hosts in a 17-4 Wizards run over the final 4:30 of the second quarter that staked them a 60-49 halftime lead. Wall and Beal found success by attacking the rim with extreme prejudice and finding little resistance.

Toronto got to within just two points after a few minutes of the third, but Washington responded with an even more explosive offensive performance and put up 34 points in the final 8:30 to head into the fourth with a 97-75 advantage. Wall continued to dominate the game on his way to finishing with 26 points (8-of-16 FG, 8-of-11 FT) and 17 assists while Beal found plenty of pockets of space for a team-high 28 points (11-of-21 shooting). The story of the game was their ability to attack — the Raptors had no answer and the Wizards not surprisingly shot 53.2 percent from the field (including 10-of-21 on threes) with 34 free-throw attempts.

This combined shot chart for Wall and Beal tells a similar story:

Good attack from Wall (11 FTA) & Beal. Combined shot chart: http://ift.tt/1FcQNdF

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) April 22, 2015

The Raptors cut the deficit to as few as 10 thanks to some nice play from newly crowned Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams, but the threat did not feel especially credible. The minor comeback also came at a cost when starting point guard Kyle Lowry left the game around the 6:00 mark after suffering an injury to his left leg. Take a look at the play here:

Already nursing a bad back, Lowry returned to the bench did not re-enter the game. The All-Star point guard has had little success at the offensive end of late and put up just six points (3-of-10 FG) and four assists in 27 minutes, but it's hard to imagine the Raptors getting back in this series with Lowry unable to play major minutes. Although his plus-9 in Game 2 does not entirely line up with his contributions, the stat does indicate that he defended Wall better than any other Raptor.

No matter Lowry's status, it's tough to see the Raptors taking this series after losing two games at home. They have played few, if any, stretches with simultaneously competent defense and offense and there do not appear to be easy answers. Game 3 suddenly feels like a must-win.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Brooks Orpik takes skate, cup of beer to face as Capitals beat Isles in OT (Video)

Nicklas Backstrom scored 11:09 into overtime on Tuesday night to send the Washington Capitals out of Nassau Coliseum with a 2-2 series tie with the New York Islanders.

As the Caps celebrated, one fan in the stands decided to give Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik a parting gift – a cup of beer to the face.

Now, this is over 10 minutes into overtime – who’s still nursing that much beer at that point in the game, after what we can only assume was a third period beer cutoff?

In fainess to the Islanders fan we assume threw the cup, he or she might have been trying to give Orpik something to wipe the asbestos off his face. 

Alas, the Vine ends before we can see if Orpik delivers a head shot to the empty cup. As far as things hitting Orpik in the face this game, he's seen worse.

Orpik took teammate John Carlson's skate to his face but returned to the game in the second period. Because that's what Brooks Orpik does. (Via RMNB)

 

 

 

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Despite request, NFL gives Jets a home game on Rosh Hashanah

It will not be a very happy start to the NFL season for some New York Jets fans, who may end up choosing to celebrate a religious holiday over celebrating touchdowns.

The NFL decided that the Jets will play a home game against the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 13 to start the season. This game coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which starts that night and runs until Tuesday. That the NFL would decide to start the Jets season at home on this date is beyond a head scratcher, especially considering they had eight road games they could have chosen for the Jets for that week.

It is, simply put, a shmo decision.

New York City is home to an estimated 1.9 million Jewish people, making it the second largest Jewish metropolitan area in the world after Tel Aviv. There are also an estimated 516,450 New Jersey residents with a Jewish background, further impacting potential fans for the game. With this in mind, the team requested a road game to start the season due to the sensitivity of this issue with a large segment of their fanbase. But the NFL, which determines the schedule, did not comply.

However, the team did win over the league when it asked for a 1 p.m. start to the game if it had to start the season at home. Since the holiday officially begins at sundown on that Sunday evening, the team hopes any Jewish fans wishing to ring in the New Year will still be able to watch the Jets game before observing the day. The game will begin at 1 p.m.

Sunset is expected to be 7:09 p.m., hopefully giving fans enough time to leave MetLife Stadium and head to their homes for the start of the holiday.

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Kristian R. Dyer writes for Metro New York and is a contributor to Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KristianRDyer

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2015 NFL schedule: CBS praying Thursday nights aren't truly awful again

Thursday's such a crazy, lazy day
Thursday has its own peculiar way of saying: ‘Hey’
Sometimes Thursday almost makes you want to run away
Thursday's such a crazy, lazy day.

— "(Thursday) Here's Why I Did Not Go To Work Today," Harry Nilsson

CBS won a bidding war for the highly prized "Thursday Night Football" broadcasting rights a year ago, and in their eight games (all of which were shared on NFL Network simultaneously) the network was rewarded with margins of victory of 20, 42, 31, 32, five, two, 14 and 18 points. All for the pauper's sum of a reported $275 million to $300 million.

Such a crazy, lazy day indeed. Think the NFL has a marketable product on its hands?

CBS opted to renew its 2015 season Thursday nights, much like — one might argue — the way that a poker player who gets beat on an inside straight on the river opts to double down his bet on the ensuing hand purely out of seething, law-of-averages spite. The price the network paid this year is said to be slightly higher than the 2014 package (inflation, you know), but you have to wonder how excited or nervous CBS really was about how the slate would roll out.

At first blush? It's not awful. (But then again, neither was last year's prior to the games being played.)

Not counting the NBC-owned season-opening game, or the Thanksgiving contests on three different networks, the Thursday schedule is as follows:

September 17: Broncos at Chiefs (CBS and NFL Network)
September 24: Washington at Giants (CBS and NFL Network)
October 1: Ravens at Steelers (CBS and NFL Network)
October 8: Colts at Texans (CBS and NFL Network)
October 15: Falcons at Saints (CBS and NFL Network)
October 22: Seahawks at 49ers (CBS and NFL Network)
October 29: Dolphins at Patriots (CBS and NFL Network)
November 5: Browns at Bengals (NFL Network only)
November 12: Bills at Jets (NFL Network only)
November 19: Titans at Jaguars (NFL Network only)
December 3: Packers at Lions (CBS and NFL Network)
December 10: Vikings at Cardinals (NFL Network only)
December 17: Buccaneers at Rams (NFL Network only)
December 24: Chargers at Raiders (NFL Network only)

As was the case in 2014, the CBS games are all division games. Their portion starts off strong with Peyton Manning facing off against the only team that beat the Super Bowl teams a year ago in rowdy Arrowhead Stadium, followed by Odell Beckham Jr. (who clearly is a commodity now, based on his four Sunday and Monday prime-time appearances) and the Giants hosting the Fighting Daniel Snyders. Follow that with four good rivalries and plenty of star power, and there's potential.

We're still quite leery of the Browns to kick off November, facing a blah Bengals team no less, and yet the Bills and Rex Ryan returning to Gotham to face the Jets should be great off-broadway entertainment. We'll swallow hard on Titans-Jags (hey, every team gets at least one night game) and the hit-or-miss December games, although the one that CBS is broadcasting (Packers at Lions) could actually be respectable.

The hope is that, rejecting Nilsson's lyrics, Thursday doesn't make us want to run away. That's what last season did for most of us, and if it happens again, CBS might chalk it up to bad karma and walk away in 2016.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm

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LeBron James, Kyrie Irving take over late to lead Cavs past Celtics, take 2-0 lead

Through eight quarters of postseason action, we've yet to see the best that the Cleveland Cavaliers have to offer on a consistent basis. We have, though, seen All-Star surges from their two top guns, and so far, that's been enough.

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LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combined for 56 points, including the Cavs' final 28 points overall, on Tuesday, leading the way to a 99-91 win in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series against the seventh-seeded Celtics.

Once again, Brad Stevens' club came out ready to play, making a concerted effort to press Cleveland's ball-handlers defensively, contest everything and take the fight right to the heavily favored Cavs. But despite missing 22 of their 29 3-point shots and committing 18 turnovers that led to 22 Celtics points, the Cavs were able to hold on behind the scoring prowess of James and Irving to take a commanding 2-0 lead with the stage set to shift to Boston.

"That's a very well-coached team. Very well-coached, very well-prepared," James told TNT's Rachel Nichols after the game. "For us being a new group together, we're learning on the fly. I think being down, being able to come back, face a little adversity, I think it's good for us. We can make a couple more mistakes at home than we can on the road, and we can't play how we've played in Game 1 and Game 2 come Thursday in Boston."

James scored 15 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, with Irving pouring in nine of his 26 in the frame. They outscored the Celtics 24-21 in the final frame by themselves, with James bouncing back from a sluggish start to take control down the stretch.

"[My teammates] needed me to be a leader [in the fourth quarter] and that's all I tried to do," said James, who made 11 of his 22 field-goal attempts to go with nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocks alongside six turnovers in 42 minutes. "Tried to score, tried to rebound, tried to assist. I've got 11 turnovers in two games. I need to clean that up — that's 5 1/2 per game, that's not good, I've got to clean that up — but I just try to do whatever this team needs to help them win."

While James started slowly for the second straight game, Irving picked up right where he left off in his sensational Game 1. The All-Star point guard scored nine points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first quarter, teaming with center Timofey Mozgov (eight points and three blocks in 9 1/2 minutes) to keep the Cavs' offense afloat as James, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith combined for just six points on nine shots in the first.

But while Irving and Mozgov were cooking, the Celtics were making their presence felt with hard-nosed defense, working to deny the ball and plug up passing lanes. Boston created four Cleveland in the first 6 1/2 minutes to take an early 16-8 lead behind hot starts from center Tyler Zeller and rookie guard Marcus Smart.

Cleveland would regain its footing with a flurry of buckets — one Kyrie layup out of the pick-and-roll, another off a fast-break dime from LeBron, and a pair of Mozgov dunks — but the Celtics rode hard work on the glass (seven offensive rebounds, 12 second-chance points) and opportunistic play off Cleveland cough-ups to a 26-25 lead after 12 minutes.

Boston kept the pressure on in the second, continuing to create good looks off purposeful ball movement that took advantage of a lackadaisical Cleveland defense while forcing the Cavs to take tough shots. An Avery Bradley layup off a sweet hit-ahead pass in transition by Evan Turner pushed the Celtics lead to 45-38 with just over 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the second, leading to some uncomfortable murmurs among the Quicken Loans Arena faithful:

The Cavs answered the call, however, closing the quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 51-50 lead into halftime, before opening it up in the third. Attacking play from Irving and Love resulted in trips to the foul line, and Mozgov overwhelmed Boston's bigs to get buckets for himself on the interior and create second-chances for his teammates. Before you knew it, the lead had ballooned to 14, highlighted by a pair of above-the-rim hookups among members of the Big Three.

First, there was James hooking up with Love on a reverse alley-oop dunk from a step past half-court:

Then, LeBron found himself on the receiving end of a runout lob from Kyrie, resulting in a thunderous throwdown:

The Celtics wouldn't go away, though, making a run once spark-plug reserve guard Isaiah Thomas came into the game to initiate offense. The diminutive point man's persistent attacking off the dribble against whichever Cav he came across — Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert — collapsed the Cleveland defense, and his ability to finish through contact helped did the rest:

With Mozgov on the bench for the final 6 1/2 minutes of the quarter after picking up his fourth foul, there was nobody in the paint to deter Thomas, whose dribble-penetration created openings for Jared Sullinger and Jae Crowder to cook. Behind big minutes from the bench, Boston closed the quarter on a 14-7 run that cut Cleveland's lead to 75-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

From there, Boston hung tough, drawing within a single bucket after this tough and-one layup by Thomas with just over nine minutes remaining:

But LeBron and Irving just kept providing answers every time the Celtics got close, keeping the feisty underdogs at arm's length before James put an end to things with a block on a Zeller runner in the lane followed by a layup right past the former Cavalier center on the other end:

The highlight doesn't show the two huge offensive rebounds — one by Shumpert, the other by Tristan Thompson, who absolutely terrorized the Celtics on the glass (11 rebounds, five offensive, in 26 1/2 minutes off the bench) — to extend the Cavs' final possession and give LeBron the opportunity to put the game to bed. After Boston controlled the boards early, Cleveland took over late, finishing with a 47-39 rebounding edge, a 20-19 advantage in second-chance points, and a 42-36 upper hand in points in the paint led by Mozgov (16 points, seven rebounds, five blocks) as they pulled out the win.

Thomas finished with 22 points on 6-for-14 shooting with seven assists and four turnovers in 30 minutes off the bench for the Celtics, who exit Cleveland down two games but having played the seemingly coasting Cavs tighter than many expected and feeling very much in the thick of the series.

"We're right there," Thomas said after the game. "I think we shot 38 [percent] and we're still in the game. We gotta lock in and get this next game."

To get it, they're going to have to find some answers for James and Irving. For his part, coach Stevens seems encouraged by the improvement his team made in that department between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night.

"We made those guys earn everything they got, and I think that's a step in the right direction from Game 1," he said.

That's certainly better than a step in the wrong one, but at this time of year, moral victories get you nothing but one loss closer to the end of your season. The Celtics very well may be able to shoot and play better when action resumes at TD Garden on Thursday night; whether that would be enough to overtake a Cavaliers team that can throw a pair of All-World scorers and playmakers at them, though, remains an open question.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Petr Mrazek bounces back, shuts out Bolts in Game 3

Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek is all about making amends.

He was pulled in Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after giving up four goals on 18 shots. But every other time he was pulled this season, he responded with an awesome effort, going 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.

His bounce-back in Game 3 was even better: a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday night, making 22 saves and giving the Red Wings a 2-1 series lead. Pavel Datsyuk, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening scored for Detroit, which won on home ice.

The Red Wings played much better in front of Mrazek after giving up 30 shots to the Bolts in Game 3. Steven Stamkos was limited to three shot attempts. Tyler Johnson was limited to two shots. Ondrej Palat had one shot attempt. Detroit blocked 10 shots to Tampa’s five. 

“I thought we were way better. We looked like a real hockey team," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. 

Earlier, Babcock said he didn’t believe in bounce-back games, saying that NHL goalies don’t need them if they’re playing up to standards.

“If you think you need a bounce-back game, that means you had a bad game,” said Babcock.

“We expect him to play good every night.”

In Game 3, he was better than good. And the Red Wings are in the driver’s seat. 

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NHL bans media from using Periscope, Meerkat to subvert rights-holders

During the Ottawa Senators’ push for the playoffs, I pointed my phone at my television, fired up Periscope and streamed a shootout against the Toronto Maple Leafs while offering pithy commentary.

Within minutes, without any promotion on other social media, I had hundreds of people watching along with me.

It was at that point I realized the potential of the app and the completely nebulous legalities of it. Was this kosher? No idea. Was this awesome? Absolutely.

So the question then became how I could use this technology during coverage. At Game 1 of the New York Rangers’ series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, I did live Periscope intermission coverage. That seemed OK.

Some of the other people in the press box that were Periscoping the pregame skate or postgame comments? That seemed a little more dicey, given the NHL’s rules about shooting video at events where big media companies held the broadcast rights.

On Tuesday, the League finally addressed the real-time streaming issue, via a memo from deputy commissioner Bill Daly: 

We have been advised that certain individuals attending NHL games pursuant to credentialed access are streaming live footage from inside NHL arenas before, during and after NHL games using technology offered by companies such as Periscope and Meerkat.  As a reminder, NHL media credentials prohibit any “unauthorized use of any transmission, picture or other depiction or description of game action, game information, player interview or other arena activity . . . without prior written approval of” NHL or the team as applicable.

Without limiting the generality of the credential language, any streaming of footage in violation of the NHL’s Broadcast Guidelines (including, for example, live streaming inside the arena less than 30 minutes before the start of the game) and Media Access Policy is expressly prohibited.

So no more Periscoping warm-ups.

Again, one understands protecting the media rights for companies paying millions for exclusivity. But is that exclusivity violated by live streaming warm-ups? Or intermission? Or the coach’s press conference?

Is the NHL, which was one of the more liberal policies for fans uploading game video to YouTube, acting a bit too draconian here?

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2015 NFL schedule: Sunday, Monday night games all about Chip Kelly, Colts, OBJ

The Sunday night and Monday night NFL schedule is where your eyes typically start, right?

When the NFL releases the season schedule in full, as it did Tuesday night, you're naturally drawn to the night games — especially those on non-Thursdays. We expect great evening theater in our pro football.

But some of those games tend to fall flat. Some now, when the schedule is brand new, and some later, after we've found out that everyone's Super Bowl favorite is actually a crappy team. That can happen as soon as September.

But the league does its best to please its media partners — in this case, NBC for Sundays and ESPN for Mondays. (We'll discuss the Thursday schedule in a different blog entry.) Does it always work? No, which is why we feel we can point out to you where it falls flat.

Here's a look at the week-by-week prime-time games for Sunday and Monday ... and which ones you actually should watch:

WEEK 1
Sunday: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Monday: Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons; Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers

Our take: Not a bad way to start the first week of football, but ... maybe we expected a little more? Yes, we have a division rivalry with Cowboys-Giants, and maybe Odell Beckham Jr. (recurring theme alert) or Dez Bryant do something ridiculous; we're in good hands with Al Michaels on the call there. And the next night, we have the wack-a-doodle Eagles, and I like my Chip Kelly after dark, so that's good. But playing the Falcons? Kinda meh. And that's the undercard? The nightcap is a battle of a Jim Harbaugh-less 49ers against a maybe Adrian Peterson-less Vikings? Consider us underwhelmed a bit.

Verdict: We rank them thusly: in chronological order — Giants-Boys, then the battle of the birds, followed by that game out west. If you skip the last one, no one will question why.

WEEK 2
Sunday: Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
Monday: New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

Our take: Oh, yeah. This is what we came for. A rematch of the NFC title game, but this time it's in Green Bay. We're already asking our bosses if we can go. This is choice stuff here, and yet it's not a revenge — don't be that fan. If the Packers win, it's not going to make up for blowing a two-TD lead for a trip to the Super Bowl. Now that we have that out of the way ... you wonder if the Seahawks' banged-up secondary will be in top form this early in the season. Frankly, the Packers probably catch a mini-break getting the Seahawks this early in the season. As for the Monday game, this does't look super sexy, especially with the Jets having a new coach and being rudderless (as of now) as QB. But think of it this way: A good Jets defense got better, adding Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, and a good Colts offense got better, adding Andre Johnson and Frank Gore.

Verdict: When we put it like that, the MNF game doesn't sound so bad, eh? We know Sunday will be great. Watch both games. Trust us. 

WEEK 3
Sunday: Denver Broncos at Detroit Lions
Monday: Kansas City Chiefs at Green Bay Packers

Our take: Oh. Yeah, that's our initial reaction. Look, these are four good teams on paper, and we could be treated to two very good matchups here. But Broncos-Lions in prime time? Hmm. We frankly thought this might be a Thanksgiving game or a Sunday game. We're not complaining with a Peyton Manning night game in his possible swan song season. We're not. It's just ... hmm. Same with the Monday game. Two straight at night at home for the Packers? Consider this: Many Packers fans make the drive up from Milwaukee, so that's two weeks in a row with games on school nights.

Verdict: Yeah, we're still watching both. They're just ... weird matchups, that's all.

WEEK 4
Sunday: Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
Monday: Lions at Seahawks

Our take: We still love the Lions? They lose three-quarters of their defensive line and Reggie Bush and they get two early prime-time games early on. Just a feeling here that this one might flop. The Seahawks fans get geeked for night games, though, so there's that. In the opening act, it's no slouch. You have America's Team heading down to the Big Easy — another town that loves getting well-lubricated before evening contests. These teams have had some nice battles in the past decade or so, so we can get behind that one.

Verdict: If we're being honest, we're actually slightly more tuned up about the Cowboys-Saints game.

WEEK 5
Sunday: 49ers at Giants
Monday: Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers

Our take: Someone needs to explain this Niners thing to me. Are they going to be good? The Giants, we get — Beckham and Eli, and heck, I'll say it: I think this is a better team than people realize. But the 49ers aren't sneaking up on anyone, and we don't mean that in a good way. This is not, we'll safely predict, going to be up there with the 1990 NFC championship game or the 2002 wild-card madness game in this rivalry. Putting the Chargers on at night is dangerous. This could be the final season in San Diego, and that talk — moving to L.A. — could dominate the pre-game chatter, especially if Philip Rivers is not on the team. Maybe if Marcus Mariota becomes a Charger ...

Verdict: Check back with us after the draft. We'll probably watch both, but we might need a decent reason why.

WEEK 6
Sunday: New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts
Monday: Giants at Eagles

Our take: The NFL loves Beckham the Giants! And Tebow Chip! And, yes, the Colts and Patriots now will have played for the past 73 years in a row.

Verdict: We love the two games. Start up the coffee pot. We're pot committed.

WEEK 7
Sunday: Eagles at Carolina Panthers
Monday: Baltimore Ravens at Arizona Cardinals

Our take: What's up with the teams that have back-to-back night games? We have Packers in Weeks 2 and 3; Lions in Weeks 3 and 4; Giants in Weeks 5 and 6; and now Eagles featured in consecutive night games. That's weird, right? Well, whatever ... our Eagles fetish still should be alive by this point. And hey, kudos on the unusual but compelling Monday matchup of two teams that you can't count out for as a bizarro Super Bowl matchup with their great head coaches and wooden-stiff, strong-armed QBs.

Verdict: More Eagles, sure, and the Panthers could be decent. That's a check. The second game looks good, too. Two nice ones.

WEEK 8
Sunday: Packers at Broncos
Monday: Colts at Panthers

Our take: Again with the back-to-back thing! And the Panthers, no less. Someone in the league office had a little too much brandy when they made this thing up, but again, we're fairly OK with this matchup. Why? Well, for one, it's the first-ever meeting of Andre Luck and Cam Newton, so we can finally end the age-old debate over which is the better quarterback. You know, that debate that exactly no one ever has had. Oh, and Packers-Broncos, a metaphorical torch passing from Manning to Aaron Rodgers? Yeah, we're in.

Verdict: Four legit MVP candidates at quarterback. No questions asked here. 

WEEK 9
Sunday: Eagles at Cowboys
Monday: Chicago Bears at Chargers

Our take: OK, now this you can safely call a revenge game. When a really talented player is rebuffed by his former team and he joins a rival team and those two teams — which are rivals in the first place — play in the city in which the rebuffed player once played? Yup, revenge city, baby. It's the DeMarco Murray Bowl, y'all. As for the Monday game ... what in the what? New Bears head coach John Fox grew up in San Diego and went to SDSU; that's literally the best we can offer up. 

Verdict: Sunday fun day. Oh, and we need to be up early that Tuesday morning.

WEEK 10
Sunday: Cardinals at Seahawls
Monday: Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals

Our take: We're still buying on the NFC West, and these two teams — even if the Seahawks have won four the of the past five head to head, and seven of the past 10 — make for good football. The Monday nighter is a weird reprise of the teams' playoff games from a few years back, but really both could be decent (if they found good quarterbacks).

Verdict: First game, absolutely. Second game ... J.J. Watt going Fox (Andy Dalton) hunting? Ok, we're in.

WEEK 11
Sunday: Chiefs at Chargers
Monday: Buffalo Bills at Patriots

Our take: First thought is that someone high up on the Chargers payroll has some dirt on someone in the league office. Three prime-time games?! In a seven-week span no less! Second thought: Rex in Foxboro is always great, and we're frankly stunned it took this long.

Verdict: The old Grateful Dead adage — never miss a Sunday show — typically holds true for the NFL, too, but we might consider other options if the right one comes along. As for Monday, the phone is going on airplane mode. Don't bother us while we gorge on Rex vs. Belichick and Brady. That's quality programming right there.

WEEK 12
Sunday: Patriots at Broncos
Monday: Ravens at Cleveland Browns

Our take: It is written into the league bylaws that Brady and Manning face off, don't you know? OK, this really could be the last time they face off, so it's big. It will be the 17th meeting of the quarterbacks, with Brady holding an 11-5 record advantage in the game, and there's something just odd about the number 17, so assume they'll face off in the playoffs. And once more after that in the Pro Bowl, as part of some Roger Goodell-mandated ratings trap. 

Verdict: Skipping Broncos-Patriots is un-American, and probably illegal. We don't want to get in trouble. Oh, and Browns! They make the cut. The league's hope here is that Josh McCown will have disintegrated by this point and that Johnny Manziel will be the only living quarterback remaining on the roster. If so, we'll check that game out, too. 

WEEK 13
Sunday: Colts at Steelers
Monday: Cowboys at Washington Redskins

Our take: This is the Colts' fourth prime-time game. How about that? It's only the Steelers' second. The NFL clearly believes the Colts are the more marquee team this coming season, and yet playing in Pittsburgh is tough, especially in early December when the Heinz Field turf could pass for Dagobah in the new Star Wars movies. The Colts are 6-15 all-time vs. the Steelers, and when they played last fall Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns and 522 yards. Can Andrew Luck do better?

Verdict: Both of these games are rematches from very interesting 2014 games, including the Redskins' Colt McCoy-led upset of the Cowboys. It might have to be McCoy again in this one, assuming the chatty Robert Griffin III has been benched and is filibustering across town on Capitol Hill.

WEEK 14
Sunday: Seahawks at Ravens
Monday: Giants at Miami Dolphins

Our take: The 2012 and 2013 season champs meet on the east coast, and as our previously stated love for the way both teams go about their business, you don't need to convince us to find the remote. Giants-Fish might require a tiny bit more convincing, but maybe not that much. Some feel these non-playoff teams from a year ago might be among the more improved clubs going, and sometimes these some people are not wrong.

Verdict: Do you think ESPN will mention Beckham? What about Ndamukong Suh? We'll tune in to find out and report back to you on that.

WEEK 15
Sunday: Bengals at 49ers
Monday: Lions at Saints

Our take: Seriously? What about either the Bengals or 49ers screams featured matchup? They have the sex appeal of the Dick Van Dyke Show. They have two head coaches who have the personality of Kristen Stewart's chewing gum. And yeah, we know the Lions and Saints have some recent history, having played five times in the past seven years, but outside of the thriller a year ago, what is the excitement?

Verdict: Xmas presents are not buying themselves.

WEEK 16

Sunday: Steelers at Ravens
Monday: Bengals at Broncos

Our take: Steelers-Ravens is classic fare. Two teams that despite each other. We get it, even if the rivalry is not quite the same as it was a few years ago. Still pretty great in our minds. And even though we knocked the Bengals down — yes, the team that was on prime time a week earlier, naturally — we'll withhold judgment in this space. Because if this is Peyton Manning's final regular-season night game, we are happy it will come against Dalton.

Verdict: Miss what could be Peyton's final regular-season game? No freaking chance. 

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm

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Jon Jay demonstrates possibly the worst dive you'll ever see

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay is not a bad player. The 30-year-old owns a career .293/.358/.394 slash line over 2,464 plate appearances. He doesn't hit for a ton of power, but he's still a really useful player.

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Jon Jay is a good player. Have we stressed that enough? Good, because this diving attempt from Tuesday's game against the Washington Nationals is one of the worst defensive plays we've ever seen.

This feels like the equivalent of Harry Doyle's "just a bit outside" quote for an outfielder.

Coincidentally, this play took place during MLB Network's Statcast game. We don't want to pile on Jay, but we would love to see the route efficiency on that play. 

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Thankfully, the only thing this dive hurt was Jay's pride. Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn was able to pitch around the leadoff double, and made it out of the inning without giving up any runs.

Because of that, Jay can probably rest easy. It was embarrassing, sure, but it could have been worse. Sometimes, bad plays happen to good players. This was one of those instances. 

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Kevin Harvick honored at the White House

Kevin Harvick's pilgrimage to the White House happened Tuesday.

The 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion was honored by President Barack Obama for his title.

"It’s great to have Kevin’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, who is here," Obama said. "We’ve also got Greg Zipadelli –- almost messed it up there; it’s like Obama, too many vowels. And the team from Stewart-Haas Racing.  NASCAR’s leadership is here as well. Brian France is here and Mike Helton. Welcome back. 

"And even though the Budweiser Chevy got the White House parking pass this year, I am sure Tony Stewart doesn’t mind adding another Owner’s Championship to his collection. So congratulations to Tony."

President Obama also made sure to incorporate Steve Byrnes into his remarks about Harvick. The Fox announcer passed away earlier Tuesday.

"I also want to offer my condolences to everybody in the NASCAR community on the passing of a legendary reporter and broadcaster, Steve Byrnes," Obama said. "And I know a lot of fans’ thoughts and prayers today are with his wife, Karen, and his son, Bryson. We are here to celebrate, though, Kevin Harvick.  This was an exciting year for the “Four Car.”  As the season started, Kevin had a new team, a new crew chief to adjust to.  It usually takes a little time for a driver and a crew chief to find their groove, but Kevin and Rodney seemed to figure out each other in a hurry – sort of like when Joe Biden joined my team.

"So they had instant chemistry.  And as Kevin can tell you, when you have a trusted partner shouting world-class advice into your ear at every turn, you can’t lose."

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Paul Finebaum: A 'chance' Braxton Miller transfers to Alabama

Despite making no public statements to suggest he's heading to another school, speculation continues about Braxton Miller possibly finishing his college career at Ohio State.

Tuesday, radio host and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum said a he talked to a source who said there was "a chance" Miller could end up at Alabama.

.@finebaum just said he talked to a source at Alabama who said there's "a chance" Braxton Miller comes to Alabama.

— Marc Torrence (@marctorrence) April 21, 2015

There's also a chance you could win the lottery this week.

Miller, as you know, missed the 2014 season with a shoulder injury, which he's currently rehabbing. He was replaced by J.T. Barrett and Barrett was replaced by Cardale Jones after he got hurt. Both Barrett and Jones are back, as you know. Both Barrett and Jones are good, as you know. So is Miller. And, Ohio State is keeping quiet about the quarterback competition for 2015.

Alabama coach Nick Saban was asked about any possible transfer on Tuesday. In the least startling news you've heard today, he said he was not going to talk about any players on other teams.

From AL.com:

"I'm not really to talk about any other players on any other team," Saban said before the question was finished. "I know nothing about any such rumors. I don't even know who you're talking about but I don't know about any of those things."

Because of the shoulder injury, Miller is seen as potentially the odd man out because he could be a graduate transfer and play immediately if he so chooses. In January, he said at Ohio State's celebration of its 2014 title that "We've got another year."

Barrett has said he thinks discussion of Miller transferring is "silly."

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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2015 NFL schedule: Top 10 must-watch games of the regular season

As much as we love every NFL game, they're not all created equal.

Sure, we'll watch the Tennessee Titans face the Jacksonville Jaguars (twice ... gulp) but there's a little more excitement for the marquee games on the 2015 NFL regular-season schedule.

With that, here are the 10 games that stand apart from the rest on this season's slate, the top 10 must-watch games of the NFL regular season (all times Eastern):

10.* Tennessee Titans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Week 1
Sept. 13, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)

This one gets an asterisk because of what might happen next week. Yes, these were the two worst teams in the NFL last season. But you wouldn't be interested in seeing No. 1 pick Jameis Winston starting for Tampa Bay against No. 2 pick Marcus Mariota for the Titans in each player's NFL debut? It's on the list if the draft plays out like that. If not ...

10. Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals, Week 17
Jan. 3, 4:25 p.m. (Fox)

It appears the 49ers could take a big step back, so the Seahawks need a new NFC West rival. How about the Cardinals? Arizona was really good before Carson Palmer’s injury last year. Maybe the Cardinals will get another shot to take the NFC West from the Seahawks in Week 17, and maybe they'll be reasonably healthy this time around.

9. Buffalo Bills at Philadelphia Eagles, Week 14
Dec. 13, 1 p.m. (CBS)

This will be the Chip Kelly-LeSean McCoy Bowl after the Eagles traded McCoy this offseason, and McCoy has had some pointed things to say about his former team. But it’s also a really good game between two intriguing teams.

8. Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 13
Dec. 6, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

When these two teams met last season, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had 522 yards and six touchdowns. These are two of the teams jostling for position to challenge the Patriots in the AFC, and this game could have big seeding implications. And a lot of passing yards, with Andrew Luck on Indianapolis' side trying to match Roethisberger.

7. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers, Week 14
Dec. 13, 4:25 p.m. (Fox)

Dez Bryant returns to the scene of the crime, when his fourth-down catch in the playoffs was overturned on replay review (ask a Cowboys fan, and “crime” would be the kindest word they use for that play). That was a classic game, and the two teams are more than capable of presenting another fun matchup.

6. New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins, Week 17
Jan. 3, 1 p.m. (CBS)

It's a bit of a projection to call this a top-10 game. The Patriots have won the AFC East 11 times over the past 12 seasons, and maybe they run away with the division again. But the Dolphins did their best to at least make this finale interesting, including landing free-agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh this offseason. This would be a fantastic "Sunday Night Football" regular-season finale if the division title is on the line.

5 (tie). Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles, Week 2
Sept. 20, 4:25 p.m. (Fox)

Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys, Week 9
Nov. 8, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

DeMarco Murray’s revenge? The NFL’s reigning offensive player of the year couldn’t come to a contract agreement with the Cowboys, so the Eagles happily signed him. Murray or not, these games between these two rivals will go a long way in figuring out who wins the NFC East.

4. New England Patriots at Denver Broncos, Week 12
Nov. 29, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

It seems like we’ve been saying “Enjoy this Tom Brady-Peyton Manning meeting, it might be the last!” for years, but then they both guide first-place teams and get scheduled against each other again the next season. This one will be in Denver, which Manning should like. The last three regular-season meetings have been in New England, with the Patriots winning all three. The one time Brady visited Manning in Denver was the 2013 AFC championship game. Denver won 26-16.

3. Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys, Week 8
Nov. 1, 4:25 p.m. (Fox)

These two teams turned in what might have been the best regular-season game in 2014, with the Cowboys upsetting the Seahawks in Seattle. This isn’t the same Cowboys team, without Murray, but it should still be a heck of a battle.

2. New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts, Week 6
Oct. 18, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

The way the Patriots keep beating Andrew Luck’s Colts seems like … well, it seems like a few years ago when Manning’s Colts couldn’t get over the hump against New England. With Luck, the Colts are 0-4 against New England and each loss was by at least 21 points. If the Colts want to take the next step, they have to play better against the kings of the NFL, and they loaded up in free agency for that task. And don't forget that the Patriots might come into this one with some bad feelings over the Colts' role in the deflate-gate controversy last season.

1. Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers, Week 2
Sept. 20, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

Think Green Bay might be fired up for this one? Forget about getting revenge for last year’s NFC championship game collapse, this is a monster game for the 2015 NFC race. If the Packers can win at Lambeau Field, maybe an NFC title game rematch in the playoffs would be in frigid Wisconsin. This is going to be a really fun game.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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Mavericks' Chandler Parsons, Devin Harris out for Game 2 vs. Rockets

The Dallas Mavericks enter Tuesday's Game 2 against the Houston Rockets needing a win to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole, and they're going to be pursuing their split short-handed.

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Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle announced about an hour before tipoff that swingman Chandler Parsons will be on the inactive list for Tuesday's tilt, as he continues to suffer from a right knee injury that cost him the final six games of the regular season. Parsons returned to action in Game 1, showing a bit of explosiveness in scoring 10 points and grabbing five rebounds in 37 minutes of work.

Parsons reaggravated the injury midway through the second quarter, though, and seemed labored thereafter. He struggled to get lift on his jumper en route to a 5-for-15 finish from the floor and looking a couple of steps slow as he tried to move laterally on defense in Saturday's 118-108 loss.

Dallas hoped that two days of rest and treatment before Game 2 would help Parsons get back to full health, but he still isn't 100 percent. In fact, it sounds like he's quite a ways away from it:

Carlisle said the team is "very concerned" about Parsons and its apparent that he's been in more pain than he's been letting on.

— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) April 22, 2015

Carlisle on the potential Parsons misses more or the remainder of this series: "That does loom as a possibility, but we'll see tomorrow."

— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) April 22, 2015

Even if Parsons misses just the one game, his absence deals a major blow to a Mavericks team that desperately needs his talents on both ends of the floor.

His combination of off-the-dribble creativity, driving prowess and keep-you-honest 3-point shooting represents Dallas' best chance for making Rockets guard James Harden work on the defensive end of the floor, which, in turn, represents Dallas' best chance for limiting the MVP candidate's effectiveness on the offensive end late into high-leverage games. And as Carlisle continues to hunt for workable lineup combinations that provide enough spacing, playmaking and offensive juice to challenge a Rockets defense that ranked among the league's best this season and looked awfully formidable during the 17-plus minutes that center Dwight Howard stalked the paint on Saturday.

Without the 26-year-old Florida product, who averaged 15.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 33 minutes per game in his first season in Dallas after leaving Houston in free agency, the Mavericks figure to rely more heavily on their corps of veteran wing reserves to do battle with the Rockets' perimeter players. Unfortunately, they'll be without one of those key pieces, too:

Carlisle said Devin Harris is ALSO inactive for Game 2.

— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) April 22, 2015

No Parsons and no Harris, who aggravated a lingering injury to the big toe on his left foot in the Game 1 loss, likely means increased roles for three veteran backups — 34-year-old Richard Jefferson, who logged just four minutes and four seconds of playing time in game 1; Charlie Villanueva, who scored six points in less than two minutes of burn in his postseason debut; and fourth-line point guard Raymond Felton, who didn't see any action in Game 1. If starting guards Monta Ellis and Rajon Rondo continue to struggle as they did in Game 1, combining for 31 points on 32 shots, one or more of those reserves figures to have to pick up the slack to keep Houston from taking a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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2015 NFL schedule: League releases the full regular-season slate

The long NFL offseason seems a little more palatable when there's a Week 1 opponent to look forward to.

Each NFL team found out who it will start the 2015 regular season against, and the rest of the schedule too (see the entire schedule here on NFL.com). The opening game of the season will be the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the defending champion New England Patriots on Thursday, Sept. 10 (a favorable break for the Patriots because the Steelers will be without All-Pro running back Le'Veon Bell due to suspension). The first "Sunday Night Football" game of the season, on Sept. 13, will be the New York Giants traveling to face the Dallas Cowboys. As usual, the NFL has a doubleheader scheduled for "Monday Night Football" in Week 1. The Philadelphia Eagles, one of the most interesting teams this season after a flurry of offseason moves, play at the Atlanta Falcons in the first game. The San Francisco 49ers will host the late Monday night game against the Minnesota Vikings and Adrian Peterson ... if Peterson is still with the Vikings.

The NFL decided to go with three NFC vs. NFC games on Thanksgiving for the second straight season. The Eagles kick it off at the Detroit Lions, the Carolina Panthers will play at the Dallas Cowboys, and the third Thanksgiving game will be the Chicago Bears at the Green Bay Packers. That will be the Packers' first home Thanksgiving game since playing the Hammond Pros in 1923.

There will be rematches of each conference championship game from last season, and each rematch will be on "Sunday Night Football." On Sept. 20, the Green Bay Packers will host the Seattle Seahawks on NBC, which is one of the most interesting games on the entire regular-season schedule. The New England Patriots will play at the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 18 in a prime-time game.

There was also a welcomed change for the Denver Broncos in this year's schedule. For years, a CBS conflict with the U.S. Open tennis tournament prevented the Broncos from opening the season at home in their usual late-afternoon slot. The U.S. Open is moving to ESPN this year. So the Broncos will open the regular season at home against the Baltimore Ravens in the late-afternoon time slot, in one of the best games of Week 1.

The NFL's regular-season schedule release has become a big day on the sports calendar, in many ways overshadowing the NBA and NHL playoffs. The schedule release was covered with two hours of programming on ESPN's networks, and there was a three-hour schedule release show scheduled for NFL Network.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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Rampage Jackson cleared for UFC 186 after court lifts injunction

He was back, he was gone and now he is back again.

After news broke in early April that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was to be removed from his upcoming UFC 186 co-main event due to a lawsuit filed by his previous employer, Viacom-owned Bellator FC, fans were left with their hands in the air.

Steve Bosse, a former hockey player, was set to replace Rampage and meet Fabio Maldonado in Montreal, instead. The court injunction was set in New Jersey and it had seemed that Jackson's return to the UFC after a two-year absence would be put on hold for the foreseeable future.

In a rather surprising turn of events, the injunction was lifted Tuesday afternoon by the New Jersey court and now Jackson is free to compete on Saturday's card.

"We are happy with the decision from the New Jersey Court allowing Rampage to fight in Montreal this Saturday night," UFC president Dana White said in a release Tuesday. "I am looking forward to seeing Rampage back in the Octagon."

Jackson, who earned the company's 205-pound title in May 2007 after stopping Chuck Liddell with a first-round KO, lost the title the very next summer against Forrest Griffin in July 2008. Since the loss, Jackson's career became a bit of a mixed bag. Amassing a 4-4 record in the UFC post-Griffin, Jackson was on the outs with the MMA promotion by 2013. He subsequently made the jump to Bellator, where he went undefeated in three fights.

However, his tastes quickly soured in Bellator – a regime change was said to have underlined the discontent – and Jackson was vocal about his desire to return to the UFC.

A deal was signed in late 2014, relationships were presumably mended and Rampage was scheduled for his promotional return. And after a brief hiccup with the legal system, Rampage finally finds himself back in the co-main event of UFC 186 to the surprise of fans and pundits alike.

Another surprised individual in all of this is, most assuredly, Steve Bosse, the former hockey player/journeyman MMA fighter. For as quickly as he was on the marquee, he is just as swiftly removed – Bosse is no longer a part of the UFC 186 fight card.

 

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Pavel Dastyuk, Jiri Hudler and Anze Kopitar voted Lady Byng finalists

And your Lady Byng Memorial Trophy finalists are … 

Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, Jiri Hudler of the Calgary Flames and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings.

The award is annually given to “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” 

Generally, this ends up being some sort of combination of the best player with the fewest penalty minutes. 

So let’s break down the finalists as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association shall we?

Datsyuk had eight penalty minutes in 63 games played. Hudler had 14 penalty minutes in 78 games played. Kopitar had 10 penalty minutes in 79 games played. Datsyuk is a four-time winner of the award.

The NHL awards are June 24, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

As a voting member, I can say this is one of the hardest to pick, because the criteria is pretty loose and somewhat arbitrary. Last year’s winner was Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly who had two penalty minutes in 80 games played. His 12 penalty minutes in 82 games this year clearly put him in the goon category.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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Syracuse DL Isaiah Johnson medically disqualified due to concussions

Syracuse defensive lineman’s Isaiah Johnson’s football career could be over. 

The program announced Tuesday that team physician Dr. James Tucker medically disqualified Johnson from competing for Syracuse due to his history of concussions. Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 283-pound defensive end, was entering his junior year with the program.

In two seasons, Johnson played in 23 games and registered 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and an interception.

Johnson suffered his first concussion in November 2013 when he sacked Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. He missed the final two games of that season and told Syracuse.com in December 2013 that he “lost his memory for a week and a half” and that a concussion is “the worst thing (he’d) wish upon anyone.”

“I seriously don’t remember how I got home,” Johnson said of the return trip from FSU to Syracuse. “I mean, obviously on a plane, but I don’t remember getting on the plane. My dad said he came down. I don’t even remember seeing him.”

It’s unknown when Johnson’s other concussions occurred.

With the Orange replacing three starters on the defensive line, Johnson had a chance to see increased snaps in 2015. 

In addition to Johnson, two other Syracuse players – defensive end Tyler Marona and offensive lineman Kyle Knapp – had their careers cut short due to concussions in the past two seasons. 

For more Syracuse news, visit CuseConfidential.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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Dana White rips AKA for Cain Velasquez's injury-prone history

Over the last few years, the UFC has suffered a string of injuries to their main event fighters. During a particularly bad stretch in 2014, it seemed as if every other pay-per-view was losing its main event to injury.

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is one of the higher-profile fighters to be bitten by the injury bug with stunning regularity over the years. The American Kickboxing Academy product won the heavyweight title for a second time at UFC 155 in 2012, when he avenged a prior loss (his only defeat) to Junior dos Santos. Since winning the belt, he has defended it twice; a fight with Brazilian Antonio Silva at UFC 160 and a rematch with dos Santos at UFC 166 – both of which happened in 2013.

Velasquez hasn’t been heard from since. An interim title was put into effect, currently held by Fabricio Werdum, and the two are expected to meet at UFC 188 in June. That is, if, of course, Velasquez can stay healthy.

UFC president Dana White is growing tired of the card changes. It’s understandable, given the amount of promotion and man-hours it takes to pull off a UFC pay-per-view. A lost main event can cost the UFC millions – on top of having consumer confidence take a hit each time a fan’s favorite fighter pulls out of his (or her) bout.

In a recent interview with Setanta Sports, White gave his thoughts on just why, exactly, he thinks that these injuries are happening – specifically injuries to UFC heavyweight champ Velasquez.

"Some of the camps are still in the stone ages and need to be brought up to date," White said. "AKA is one of those places; you've got Cain Velasquez, our heavyweight champion, who's always hurt. Those guys go to war every day."

"He's training for a fight and he's going to war with Daniel Cormier every day. That's not how it's done. Not anymore. We need to educate a lot more."

AKA is a gym that carries a reputation for having some of the most intense sparring battles in the sport – most liken them to a full-on championship fight. So, it’s understandable that White may be a little upset that his valuable commodities are getting in such heated training sessions.

At UFC 180 in November of last year, Velasquez was set to defend his heavyweight title against challenger Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City. The fight had an immense amount of hype behind it and with Mexican-American Velasquez headlining, the Arena Ciudad de Mexico sold out its 21,000 seats posthaste – eight hours to be exact.

Velasquez was injured (reports were that he injured his knee in training), and heavyweight slugger Mark Hunt filled his spot, while the interim title was put into play. The Mexican crowd was fired up for the UFC’s debut in their country, yes, but it was just that – a debut. The UFC had a grace period with it being the company’s first show, and going forward, they can hardly expect the same turnout if their main event champions keep dropping like flies.

"We're working on how to try to fix things like that," said White. "Obviously educating the fighters on training better, training safer. We're building a new headquarters in Las Vegas. We break ground in June [2015] and it will be done the following June in 2016. We're building a huge facility for rehab and therapy.

"Normally what we would do is say, 'You blew your ACL out. We're going to send you to the best surgeon in the country and then come back and let us know when you're ready.' No [major sports franchise] does that.

"Now we're going to take the guys in and when they have surgery, they're going to be there in our facility with the best therapists recovering. We're going to watch over them and we're going to continue to educate these guys on how to train safer. We're going to try to fix the things you normally can't control. We're going to try to control the uncontrollable."

(Skip to 5:30 mark for White's comments on injuries in the UFC)

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