Tag: time

John Deere Classic: Davis Thompson time to complete unfinished business john,deere,classic,davis,thompson,time,to,complete,unfinished,business,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour

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It seems Davis Thompson has some unfinished business to complete as he heads into the final day of the John Deere Classic.

He is the 54-hole leader at TPC Deere Run after he carded a bogey-free 9-under 62 to sit at 21-under total. Thompson built off his impressive 63-67 start with a phenomenal performance.

After settling for T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and T9 at the U.S. Open, Thompson is in contention for the third straight tournament.

“Last week, I was four back going into Sunday. I didn’t know what it would take to win that golf tournament,” Thompson said after his round on Saturday.

“I played really solid Sunday. Just came up one shot short. I feel like I’ve been playing well. Just tried to keep it going. Yeah, hopefully I got one more good one in me tomorrow.”

The former Georgia Bulldog may have recorded a bogey-free score, but he had to work for it. Even when he struggled, the Peach State native still made birdies.

He was 4-under after six holes and added a final birdie at 8 to make the turn in 30.

“Was in a little trouble on 5, but, yeah, to make that bunker shot and keep it going, that was great,” he said. “On 6, I hit a tree. It kicked back out on the fairway and made birdie.”

“It could have gone the other way. I guess it was just my day today. Hit a lot of good shots on the back nine and finished the round off well. Yeah, it was good.”

Thompson added four more birdies on the back nine to come home in 32 strokes and keep a clean scorecard. On the par-5 17th, he had to work for it after he went left off the tee. Miraculously, Thompson made a birdie to keep his momentum.

Through three rounds of play, he leads the field with 22 birdies and in strokes gained total (+14.733), as he is almost picking up 15 shots on the field. On Saturday alone, Thompson led the field in Strokes gained around the green (+2.780) and strokes gained total (+6.740).

His disposition did not change throughout the day. Thompson stayed calm and played his game.

The field has made 1,681 birdies through 54 holes. It is a birdie marathon at TPC Deere Run. There are 10 players within six shots of Thompson.

“Everybody is hungry. That’s what makes it difficult,” Thompson said. “There are a lot of losers every week. You can have great weeks and finish top 10. Your goal is to win the golf tournament. It’s frustrating at times, but this is what you work for, to put yourself in these positions.”

With bad weather coming into town, the PGA Tour opted to play off split tees to get in the tournament and avoid any delays. He, Eric Cole, and Aaron Rai are the final group as they tee off Sunday at 12:37 p.m. ET.

Eighteen holes stand in the way of Thompson and his first PGA Tour victory and become the latest player to earn their first win at the John Deere Classic.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

Russell Westbrook to the Nuggets trade rumors show time may be a flat circle russell,westbrook,to,the,nuggets,trade,rumors,show,time,may,be,a,flat,circle,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-trade-rumors,nba-free-agency,dot-com-grid-coverage

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The year is 2021. I am blogging about the Lakers. The team has failed to defend its title and is trading Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma while letting Alex Caruso walk for nothing, and replacing them with Russell Westbrook.

The year is 2024. I am blogging about the NBA. The Denver Nuggets have failed to defend their title, and are letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave for the Orlando Magic, and may add Russell Westbrook to their backcourt in his stead:

Further proving that NBA time may move in patterns rather than a series of unique events, this would also be the second time in two seasons that a team has salary-dumped Reggie Jackson to the Hornets in order to make room to add Russell Westbrook.

Now, obviously the context of these situations is different. The Lakers didn’t send out Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma for Westbrook because of second apron considerations (they are cheap and will likely never cross the second apron, but it didn’t exist yet). They just made a dumb trade.

The Nuggets are cheaping out on KCP not just for financial reasons or because they think Westbrook is as good or better, but also to avoid the myriad of actual roster penalties that would come from extending him at his market value, as my friend Ryan Blackburn summarized well recently at Mile High Sports:

Unfortunately, writing a blank check, while certainly appealing to Caldwell-Pope, is not in the best interest of the Nuggets competitively. The second tax apron, a new stipulation agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, isn’t just a financial burden, but a competitive one. The Nuggets will not be able to make competitive trades if they are over the second apron. They will not be able to use the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception in free agency. Even their first round draft pick in 2032 will be “frozen” if they finish the end of the 2024-25 season over the second apron, meaning they cannot use it in future trades. If they stay above the second apron in three of the next five seasons, that 2032 first round draft pick will be automatically sent to the end of the first round, regardless of Denver’s record.

Still, while the context may be different, it’s still hard not to feel like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen here while watching the Nuggets echo the Lakers’ previous mistake. Replacing the ultimate 3-and-D wing with the ultimate… well, opposite of those two qualities didn’t work out for the Lakers. Maybe Jokic making Westbrook a champion is the final way he can more thoroughly defeat LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers… but it’s difficult not to be skeptical that may be beyond even his talents.

So we’ll see if this works out better for Denver than it did the Lakers, but for now, it’s hard not to be tired of Earth. These people. Tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives.

PGA Tour: Cameron Davis wins Rocket Mortgage Classic for 2nd time pga,tour,cameron,davis,wins,rocket,mortgage,classic,for,nd,time,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

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One man’s loss is another man’s treasure, and that mantra certainly applied to the conclusion of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

With Cameron Davis in the clubhouse at 18-under-par, Akshay Bhatia arrived on the 72nd hole tied for the lead. The 18th hole is a long par-4, measuring 472 yards. This dogleg left ranked as the most challenging hole during the final round, as a creek bisects the fairway and snakes up the right side of the green.

But Bhatia had no issues off the tee. He striped his drive down the middle of the fairway and then knocked his approach to 32 feet away from the back right pin, with his ball nestling in the back left corner of the green.

Then disaster struck.

Bhatia hit a poor stroke with his birdie attempt, coming up four feet short. He then pulled his par putt, which lipped out on the low side and handed Davis the victory. It was the first three-putt Bhatia had all week.

“It sucks, no other way to put it,” Bhatia said after his round.

“Just sucks. It’s hard; you’ve got so much slope there, so you don’t want to run it five, six feet by. Yeah, just a little bit of nerves, honestly. I’m human, and the greens get slower throughout the day here; the poa annua is pretty tough.”

Davis, meanwhile, posted a 2-under 70, which included four birdies and two bogies. His first bogey came at the par-4 1st hole, and his second one came at the par-5 14th, thanks to an unfortunate break. The Australian hammered a 3-wood from 281 yards out and landed onto the front of the green, but his ball trickled back into the penalty area.

It looked like his chances had sunk there, but Davis bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 17th to get back to 18-under. He smashed his 3-wood on that hole again, as his second shot landed just short of the green. Davis then got up and down for birdie with ease.

With Davis at 18-under, a playoff seemed possible, but with the par-5 17th yielding plenty of birdies, somebody, like Bhatia or even Min Woo Lee, looked destined to reach 19-under and leave Davis just short of his second career PGA Tour victory.

But fate left Davis with his second career Rocket Mortgage Classic title, as he now hopes to make the International Team at the President’s Cup this Fall. He has the game to do so, so hopefully, this win will give him some momentum in the coming months—something he has not had as of late.

Before this week, Davis had not recorded a top-20 finish since The Masters, when he tied for 12th at Augusta National. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open and most recently tied for 48th at the Travelers Championship. But Davis proved to International Captian Mike Weir that he can turn things around quickly, a necessity for match play.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

The Celtics’ rivals handed them a championship one bad trade at a time the,celtics,rivals,handed,them,a,championship,one,bad,trade,at,a,time,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-playoffs,nba-playoffs-powerhouse-2024

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The West is a pecked-over, apron-strewn, parity-fest. The East has more superstar divas on first and second-round losers than it does 50-win teams. If 2023-24 turns indicative, it will be the Rest of the NBA vs. Boston for the next few years.

Not only did the 2023-24 Boston Celtics conclude a run for the ages — 80 victories in 101 tries, seven wins more than any other club, +11.4 regular season point differential, +8 postseason point differential — but it appears fit and settled to rule the NBA for as long as it takes Victor Wembanyama to find four palatable teammates to perform with.

Every Achilles has its heels: Boston owns merely traditional medicine’s answers for Unicorn Legs, 38-year old Al Horford is irreplaceable, at some future date opposing centers and forwards may learn not to attempt dunks upon the 6’4 Derrick White. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum might turn on one another, some argument over selling shares of the publishing rights to their inspirational story of friendship, playmaking. Boston is otherwise set.

Who do we blame for putting the NBA in this mess? Sensible authors credit the executives, former C’s boss Danny Ainge and current C’s chief Brad Stevens. I’d rather yell at the teams who traded Boston all these great players.

Milwaukee, for one. Picked to upend the East, never threatened. Boston knew it had the Bucks licked by the time Terry Stotts stormed out of his brand-new office. Not because Milwaukee was a mess, but because Boston was finishing its second week of practice with former Buck Jrue Holiday, a walking championship ring, the ultimate five-tool mensch.

Did Milwaukee know Holiday would end up in Boston when it triggered the trade with the Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard? Did Milwaukee care, or were the Bucks too besotted with Lillard’s 32.2-point potential?

Can we punish Portland for lending the C’s their shine? If the Blazer rebuilding plans falter, in spite of earning Golden State’s 2024 lottery pick (and Boston’s unprotected first-rounder in 2029) in October’s Holiday exchange, will we scoff in the future at Portland’s lost opportunity to field Jrue until he’s through?

No, blame Brooklyn.

All the shenanigans which indirectly helped Boston build its Larry Bird-backed champs in the 1980s — swapping entire teams with the Buffalo Braves, drafting Bird while he still plays college basketball, lopsided deals with Detroit and Golden State, seriously, what are the Buffalo Braves — barely compare to what the Brooklyn Nets handed the Boston Celtics in 2013.

Boston won 41 games and exited after the first round in 2012-13. Brooklyn called Boston on draft night to say Hey, that rebuilding you didn’t want anything to do with? We’ll take over from here.

Danny Ainge steered an uncomfortable, seemingly inevitable slog toward oblivion into the C’s you sees today: Boston traded Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry for the first-round picks (from Brooklyn and Atlanta) which became Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Collin Sexton. And James Young.

The deal earned Boston a trade exception which it used to deal for the first-round pick it later packaged to acquire Isaiah Thomas. Thomas plus Sexton’s draft rights were dealt for Kyrie Irving.

Amongst the salary fodder gleaned from the Brooklyn deal was Keith Bogans’ ongoing contract, which Boston eventually dealt for Dwight Powell, an asset in the 2014 Rajon Rondo deal with Dallas. The $12.9 million trade exception earned from the Rondo transaction was dealt with Jeff Green to Memphis for the first-round pick which became Aaron Nesmith. Nesmith became Malcolm Brogdon, whose charms lured Portland into dealing Jrue Holiday to Boston.

Brooklyn did not flourish in the wake of its acquisitions. The ex-Celt Nets lost in the second round in 2014 and finished two games behind a 40-win Boston playoff team in 2015 before fading in the opening round to Atlanta, the Hawks thriving in 2014-15 despite the loss of James Young.

The 76ers own a percentage in our green future. Philly fans should be angry, the suits in the front office keep pulling crap like this:

Jaylen Brown, taken No. 3 overall in the 2016 draft by Boston (with Brooklyn’s pick) won Eastern finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP in 2024. Ben Simmons was Philly’s pick as the NBA’s top overall selection in 2016, the ostensible payoff after seasons of Processing, and hasn’t played important basketball in three years. Jaylen Brown won the 2024 Dunk Contest slamming with his off hand, we still don’t know if Ben Simmons uses the correct hand while shooting.

Brown made All-Rookie team as Boston cruised to the 2017 Eastern finals, while Simmons missed his entire rookie campaign with a broken foot, earning Philly the No. 3 pick in the 2017 draft. Boston owned the top pick, from Brooklyn, and Philly general manager Bryan Colangelo collared together a trade package for his division rival: Boston earns a future first-round pick and deals down to No. 3 to select Jayson Tatum. Newly slanted into the top selection, Philly selected Markelle Fultz, later dealt for Tyrese Maxey, who is not Jayson Tatum.

Boston used the pick Philly sent its way (2019’s No. 14 pick Romeo Langford) in the package for Derrick White.

That’s right, blame the Spurs.

Romeo Langford played two-and-a-half excruciating seasons in Boston. Langford lapped up 94 games of what-was-that-shot basketball before the Spurs took Romeo and Josh Richardson and a future first-rounder (from the Celtics, so, big whup) for Derrick White, who big whups opponents’ shots all over the place.

White blocked just as many shots with the Spurs, but whupping must be easier with bigs like Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis running astride Derrick. Back to blame.

In 2019 the Sixers signed Al Horford away from the Celtics, real underhanded stuff, tremendous work, the sort of thing to do (instead of trading lottery picks) to a divisional rival. Whether Al worked alongside Joel Embiid or backed him up, whatever, do what one can to hurt the Celtics.

Of course, the Celtics swept the Horford-stretched Sixers out of Al’s only postseason with Philadelphia. The 76ers lost nerve a month into the next season and dealt Horford and what will likely be Philly’s 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City for Danny Green.

Boston earned Horford back for the price of its own first-round pick in 2021 (Alperen Şengün), happily paid for the final $53.5 million on the back end of the deal Al signed with Philly, a tag which earned them the Bird rights to keep Horford through 2025 at under $10 million per season.

Horford could have been a Sixer the whole time, spelling Embiid, not being on the Celtics.

Also, why did Washington trade Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston as if Washington were the ones getting Marcus Smart or a first-round pick in the deal? The Wizards received neither, and let the Celtics tow their unicorn away. Boston ganked what turned into Golden State’s 2024 lottery pick out of that deal, used to sweeten the swap for Holiday.

Want to add more sugar? Blame the Lakers while they’re down and out in a Beverly Hills restaurant where they have an uncomfortably-large tab, lowballing another head coach candidate.

In the 2016 NBA draft the Lakers selected Brandon Ingram on the board with Jaylen Brown available, and in 2017 chose Lonzo Ball with Jayson Tatum in play. Each were understandable selections, each played the largest role in ensuring Anthony Davis’ move to El Lay, neither was any better than Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, a duo to rule the world with.

The Celtics gave everyone a chance, left itself prone to accurate criticism through loss after postseason loss yet mostly kept course. Boston fell to the usual batch of rough injury and bad free agent luck, whiffed on some vets, blew some playoff games at home. Even this season’s “be careful, he’s always injured” trade risk — the regular season-saving Porziņģis — was injured for the important half the playoffs.

Credit the Celtics, a dominant turn in 2023-24 after a decade’s dismantling of the Big Three’s single championship.

But blame them for what comes next, the actualization of Daryl Morey’s threes-first philosophy, 29 other NBA teams showing up to 2024-25 ready to attempt 49 three-pointers per game.

This shouldn’t be the C’s legacy, this club is far too pleasant to watch. Eight or nine different NBA teams ensured as much.

Kelly Dwyer covers the NBA at The Second Arrangement and thinks the NBA should cap three-pointers at 33 attempts per team per game, Larry Bird’s number.