Nfl

In the NBA’s Western Conference semifinals, the team that revolutionized professional basketball only a few years ago, the Warriors, is facing the team that has taken Golden State’s 3-point-bonanza style to an extreme: the Houston Rockets. The story of both teams, who meet Tuesday in Game 2, is 3-pointers delivered in bulk. In 2015-16, the Warriors’ Stephen Curry attempted 886 3-pointers, an NBA record that seemed untouchable. This season, the Rockets’ James Harden crossed that threshold with three weeks remaining in the season, finishing with 1,028 3-point attempts. The strategy may rankle older fans and coaches who still view the 3-point line as some sort of gimmick. But more than ever, NBA teams understand the probabilistic value of a 3-point shot. If a 24-foot shot has almost the same likelihood of going in as a midrange jumper, but it’s worth 3 points instead of 2, why bother with the 2-pointer at all? In his new book, “Sprawlball,” Kirk … [Read more...] about News In the NBA, 2-pointers are so last century

By Ben Strauss The Washington Post Tues., April 30, 2019 In the spring of 1998, ESPN launched a new magazine, with a cover featuring a series of young stars primed to take over their sports. Kobe Bryant led a cast that also included Alex Rodriguez, Kordell Stewart and Eric Lindros. The quartet stared straight ahead, steely-eyed, aside a headline that read, “Next” in big red letters. It was a reference to the aspirations of the magazine, too. “It was a very brash statement,” John Skipper, the former ESPN president who oversaw the launch of the magazine, said recently on Bill Simmons’ podcast. Twenty-one years later, ESPN the Magazine — at least the print version — will be cancelled. ESPN announced an internal reorganization Tuesday under senior vice president of content Rob King, part of which includes ceasing publication of the magazine in September. “Consumer habits are evolving rapidly, and this requires ESPN to evolve … [Read more...] about ESPN the Magazine will cease print edition