data-mm-id=”_x8wdz3yis”>The top-seed Los Angeles Lakers did the thinkable on Saturday night when they eliminated the eight-seed Portland Trail Blazers from the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers won four consecutive games in such a convincing manner that the outcome seemed incredibly obvious from the start. And yet…From the minute it looked like the Blazers would make a run at the final spot in the Western Conference, people were coming forward to proclaim them a huge obstacle for the Lakers. Charles Barkley said the Blazers could / would beat the Lakers before the season even resumed. And he wasn't alone. As the Blazers blazed through the seeding games, beating the Grizzlies and taking Game 1 of the Lakers series, the Portland bandwagon filled up quickly with no regard for social distancing. The underdog Lakers pull off the upset! pic.twitter.com/T9UKRDFFIm— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) August 30, 2020Even generally brilliant minds were briefly swayed by the small sample size of a negative Game 1 result for the Lakers. And then 48 hours later most people had snapped back to reality. Anthony Davis dominated Game 2, the Lakers cruised in Games 3 and 4 and Damian Lillard got hurt and went home, leaving the longshots shorthanded as the Lakers completed the gentleman's sweep on Saturday night. So what were we all thinking? The Bucks dropping Game 1 of their series with the Magic was met with laughter, but no one was saying Orlando had a shot against the best team in the league. And there certainly weren't any people predicting the Hornets or Wizards were going to beat the Bucks back in June when they were on the outside looking in.What is it about the possibility of LeBron James failing that causes generally reasonable people to lose their minds and prognosticate the impossible? Is it because every misstep is more ammunition for the Michael Jordan debate? Yeah, probably. Deep down LeBron has been threatening one of the few things in this world that most people believed to be true – Jordan is the best ever. Whether LeBron is actually better or not is beside the point. His very existence is a threat that must be constantly mitigated. It doesn't matter who won the series, just saying they would lose for a month puts the thought in the back of people's heads that he almost did, even if he didn't. Sure, you end up looking dumb, but in the end, who was the one who really got owned the hardest?
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data-mm-id=”_h1qr1mtp8″>Green Bay Packers fans have stormed Southern California and taken over this week's game between their beloved Packers and the Los Angeles Chargers. It's yet another embarrassment for the Chargers who, in their third year in Los Angeles, can't seem to find enough fans to pack a 25,000-seat stadium. Check out some of the ridiculousness from today:The #Packers take the field to thunderous applause. Welcome to L.A.mbeau Field. #GBvsLAC pic.twitter.com/fT4awY3BGA— Derek Togerson (@DerekNBCSD) November 3, 2019Comparing the ovations for the Packers and Chargers here in LA. pic.twitter.com/ddj5B8SAGM— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) November 3, 2019Looks like 95% Packer fans out in Lambeau west @packeverywhere #GBvsLAC pic.twitter.com/LgitOPSehX— Hogg (…
data-mm-id=”_0tgmxa1h1″>The Super Bowl has finally arrived, and we here at The Big Lead have some bold predictions for it. The Chiefs Stifle the Niners' Ground Attack The Chiefs have the 29th-ranked run defense in the NFL by the yards per game metric. But in their last five games, they've only given up more than 100 yards once, and the most they've given up in that timespan is 122 to the Raiders. They kept Derrick Henry to double-digit yards in the AFC title game, something very few teams have managed to do this season. So they keep it up and surprise everyone by holding the Niners to less than 150 yards total rushing. Chris Jones will be a monster and the Chiefs rely on their sideline-to-sideline speed to keep the run game in check. — Liam McKeone Jimmy Garoppolo More …
data-mm-id=”_f44g0k7l4″>The MAC canceled all fall sports over the weekend, citing ongoing concerns over COVID outbreak and response. Mitigation efforts have failed, will likely continue to fail, and pulling the plug feels like the responsible, albeit extremely disappointing thing to do. Each conference is mulling its fate right now, with the Big Ten and Pac-12 on the bleaker side while more optimism exists in ACC, Big 12, and SEC circles. With the NCAA completely uninterested in leading a unified approach and establishing a one-size-fits all model for everyone to follow, disparate medical advisory boards are tasked with ensuring any on-field action can be justified as a risk, health-wise. The MAC pointed to the information it's been receiving from their board as a primary reason f…
data-mm-id=”_2cvvotw37″>Dez Bryant was a very late scratch from the Baltimore Ravens Tuesday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys. Bryant was understandably upset about having his comeback cut short by a positive COVID-19 test result. On top of that, he had to miss a game against his former team. And that's where it starts to look bad for the NFL. Bryant spent time before the game greeting his old teammates. One Ravens employee tweeted and deleted a picture of Bryant that showed him hugging Cowboys players. Between that and those players then going back to the Dallas locker room, you would assume that would be enough to at least delay the game, if not postpone it. According to ESPN, protocols were followed. “Immediately after being pulled from the field, Bryant sat for a…
data-mm-id=”_ma8w3l6ui”>On Thursday, PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne appeard on the Golf Channel for an interview about the PGA-LIV merger. In case you don't know, Dunne appears to be one of the primary architects of the massive move and also went on record less than one year ago ripping anybody who joined LIV. Previously, Sports Illustrated wrote a long feature on Dunne centered around how golf essentially saved his life; Dunne played golf on 9/11 instead of going to his office in the South Tower. All that is important context for the below video in which Dunne vehemently denies that the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund had anything to do with the terrorist attack. Then he said that if anybody could find someone involved with the 9/11 attacks, he'd kill them himself. p…