Typically there’d be some type of introduction, but I felt so bad for DeAndre Ayton’s mom and his future kids that one day will be exposed to what Darren Collison did to him on Tuesday night.
On Saturday night the boxing world gets a long awaited heavyweight showdown that’s been years in the making as Deontay Wilder puts his WBC heavyweight title on the line against a man regarded as the lineal heavyweight champion in Tyson Fury live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Before this two undefeated warriors do battle, we’ll take a look at five questions going into the big the fight
Let’s get started.
Power vs. Technician, who has the edge?
Deontay Wilder brings with him to the ring concussive punch power that can floor any man at heavyweight, but his opponent that will stand across for him is not at all moved by that.
Standing at six-foot-nine, Tyson Fury is looking down to his six-foot-seven opponent Deontay Wilder. Besides the size advantage,Tyson Fury’s natural boxing instincts, ring generalship and hand speed give him the edge, with Wilder’s obvious game-changing power making him the bigger wildcard.
Fury has fought heavy punchers in the past, where as Deontay Wilder has not be put in with this level of opposition outside of Luis Ortiz, who we can say his fight with Wilder came three or four years too late despite ending up being a helluva contest.
Are Tyson Fury’s warmup bouts from this past year enough?
It’s been pointed out on numerous occasions that Tyson Fury is actually the younger man going into this fight, but he’s certainly not the fighter in better physical shape.
We saw Fury for the first time in more than two years back in June since his victory over Wladmir Klitschko back on November 28th, 2015.
In his first fight back, he won what looked more like a glorified exhibition for the fans over Sefer Seferi as Seferi quit after four rounds. He turned around and two months later defeated Francesco Pianeta by unanimous decision. Both of those fights were 10-Round bouts, which might speak to Fury’s shape and physique.
He is looking lighter in the lead up to this super-fight, much lighter than he did against Sefer Seferi, and that may bode well for him, but is a real question if either of those fights from this past year have him ready to face the WBC champion.
Will Tyson Fury’s Gameplan Prove To Be Deontay Wilder’s Achilles heel?
Not many fighters have had the tools to implement what Fury will likely try to on Saturday night at the Staples Center, and if he has it his way, fans aren’t going to get a high-stakes slugfest.
Much like he did to negate Wladmir Klitschko’s power Germany back in 2015, Fury will look to pat away with the jab, smother Wilder’s punches, and counter, all while giving him an assortment of angles.
It’s not a knock on Deontay Wilder, who proved he doesn’t need to knock his opponent out to win when he took a unanimous decision over Bermane Stiverne in January 2015.
Will The Fight Sell?
Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza and Showtime put a great deal of money into promoting this heavyweight title matchup, and rightfully so. With their competitors HBO announcing in late September that they would be bowing out of the fight game, it’s a great opportunity for Showtime to reintroduce itself as a PPV presence.
This fight will be a test for Showtime, which is also partnered with Al Hamon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Some have been pessimistic about Deontay Wilder’s drawing power. Despite a 40-0 mark with 39 coming by knockout, his inability to sellout home venues in Alabama have people concerned that there just isn’t much interest in a fighter who’s special quality or “it” factor has come at the expense of fighting relatively weak competition.
They should get a boost from Tyson Fury’s fan following in the UK as well as his natural charisma shining through in the lead-up to this fight, but one aspect that may throw a wrench in PPV numbers is that Tyson Fury remains relatively unknown in the United States, even with a victory over Wladmir Klitschko under his belt.
Will The Winner Get Anthony Joshua?
That seems to be a question more so for the other side, as in Eddie Hearn, who is Joshua’s promoter. Both fighters have wanted to get their hands on Joshua for quite some time now, with Wilder calling for that fight as early as the fall of 2015.
Tyson Fury, meanwhile, was in the middle of the heavyweight drama between Wilder and Joshua from earlier this year, as Fury took to throwing his name in the hat for Deontay Wilder after verbally assaulting Joshua for not agreeing to fight Wilder.
Eddie Hearn said that he’s looking at April or May in the UK for a fight with Deontay Wilder, but there hasn’t been much said about a potential Tyson Fury matchup.
Fingers crossed the winner of this contest gets a shot at A.J. in 2019.
What are your thoughts on Wilder-Fury? Leave your comments below!
The Gotham Independent Film Awards kicked off this year’s Oscar season. As the name would suggest, only independent movies were in contention, so this year’s bigger movies like “Black Panther” or even “A Star is Born” weren’t eligible.
Why does it matter? Well, last year’s Gotham Award winners ended up being pretty big contenders throughout the season. “Call Me by Your Name” “Get Out” “Lady Bird” and “Mudbound” all won Gothams and, while they didn’t end up with the Best Picture Oscar, the first three were nominated for it and all four were featured heavily throughout the awards season. While not always a surefire, the winners are almost staples of the upcoming awards shows.
Of this year’s big winners, the only one I hadn’t heard of, “The Rider” took home best feature film, the Gotham Awards equivalent to Best Picture. I’m not sure how it is that I haven’t heard of it — maybe it’s just that indie. Either way, here’s the trailer:
Personally, it doesn’t look like my kind of movie, but if it does keep showing up throughout awards season, I guess I’ll have to watch it and see what all the hype is about.
Ethan Hawke took home Best Actor for his role in “First Reformed.” Photo courtesy of variety.com
When I saw “First Reformed” this summer, I was worried it would be forgotten by the time awards season got here. At least for now, I was wrong because it won Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Ethan Hawke. It’s a slow, quiet film about a priest (Hawke) who’s struggling with his faith against
You definitely don’t have to be religious to enjoy this movie. It’s written and directed by Paul Schrader, the screenwriter of “Taxi Driver” but it doesn’t have much in common with the 1976 Scorsese movie. “First Reformed” is about losing hope, whether it be religious faith or faith in the future.
It’s available to stream for free if you have Amazon Prime, so why not give it a try?
Toni Collette stars as the grief-stricken Annie in “Hereditary.” Photo courtesy of ign.com
“Hereditary” is a ridiculously ambitious movie that got Toni Collette a much deserved Best Actress award. It’s a horror movie but it can also be seen as a melodrama about grief. Toni Collette plays a completely devastated woman, and her grief rings so painfully true, that it’s impossible to walk out of “Hereditary” not singing her praises. You can think it didn’t have a great ending or that it wasn’t what you expected, but you can’t say Collette didn’t do an amazing job.
If you haven’t seen “Hereditary” I strongly urge you to watch it sooner, rather than later, because it has some twists that the trailers definitely hadn’t prepared me for. It’s also insanely well directed, a feature debut for Ari Asher, who was also nominated for Breakthrough Director and the Audience Award.
Elsie Fisher won Best Breakthrough Actor for her work in “Eighth Grade.” Photo courtesy of A24
I’ve talked about how awkwardly accurate “Eighth Grade” feels, and the Gotham Awards seemed to agree, giving it both Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actress. I still think it’s too small to get anything other than a Best Screenplay nomination at the Oscars, but I could be wrong.
Largos Lanthimos’s “The Favourite” received Best Ensemble Cast for Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Olivia Colman while “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” won the Audience Award. I loved the Mr. Rogers documentary, but the fact that it couldn’t win Best Documentary here doesn’t speak well for its overall chances against Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s documentary “RBG.”
The Golden Globes nominations will be announced on December 6, with the actual show taking place one month later, on January 6.
The NFL playoff picture is so convoluted at the moment that you’d waste a lot of man hours trying to figure out each and every playoff scenario here as we are entering the month of December.
How wild and crazy is the playoff picture? Well for one, the NFC East may not need a team with a winning record to win it while the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns actually have something to play for over the final five weeks.
In short, every game from here on out is critical for teams in the hunt, and a number of those teams will be squaring off with each other over the final five weeks of the season.
In this week’s power rankings I will be evaluating every team in the situation of playing “spoiler” over the final five weeks of the season, seeing exactly which teams can affect wildcard contenders as well as playoff contenders vying for divisional supremacy, a first round bye and home-field advantage.
Let’s begin!
1. New Orleans Saints (10-1)
The New Orleans Saints could ruin the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers playoff chances. Dallas is leading the NFC East, but could still get in as a wildcard with nine or 10 wins.
2. Los Angeles Rams (10-1)
The Los Angeles Rams could effectively end the Detroit Lions playoff hopes this Sunday at Ford Field while also spoiling the Philadelphia Eagles’ in Week 15, as Philadelphia remains in the hunt for the NFC East or a wildcard.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (9-2)
The Kansas City Chiefs could spoil the Seattle Seahawks chances at a wildcard spot with a victory over them in Week 16.
4. Chicago Bears (8-3)
To the joy of Chicago fans, the Chicago Bears could spoil the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings chances at wildcard spots. Minnesota, however, is still in well play for the NFC North.
5. New England Patriots (8-3)
The New England Patriots will have a chance to spoil the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills’ chances at the postseason. Two of those games are at home where they are undefeated.
6. Houston Texans (8-3)
The Houston Texans have an important game in two weeks with their AFC South rival Indianapolis Colts. Winning that game not only dents Indianapolis’ chances of a AFC South title, but also a wildcard.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3-1)
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a chance to dent Cincinnati’s playoff hopes at home in Week 17, but with Andy Dalton lost for the rest of the season, they may not have to. There’s also some team coming to town in Week 15.
8. Los Angeles Chargers (8-3)
The Los Angeles Chargers will have plenty of opportunities to play spoiler with three games remaining vs wildcard contenders, but the game they most are looking forward to is Week 17 at Denver where they can exact revenge for a Week 11 loss in Carson, California.
9. Dallas Cowboys (6-5)
The Dallas Cowboys will have the opportunity to spoil the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts seasons. Both teams are in the hunt for their divisions.
10. Minnesota Vikings (6-4-1)
The Minnesota Vikings will have an opportunity to spoil Seattle’s season in Week 14 when they make the trip to the Pacific West.
11. Baltimore Ravens (6-5)
The Baltimore Ravens will have a chance to play spoiler in Week 16 vs the Los Angeles Chargers. Consider that Los Angeles has games with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs before, and this may be a pressure packed situation for the Chargers.
12. Indianapolis Colts (6-5)
The Indianapolis Colts can play spoiler vs the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans. Tennessee may be out of the hunt for a wildcard by the time that Week 17 matchup takes place.
13. Seattle Seahawks (6-5)
The Seattle Seahawks have a pivotal matchup with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14, one in-which they’ll have an opportunity to leapfrog Minnesota in the playoff race while hurting Minnesota’s playoff chances.
14. Carolina Panthers (6-5)
The Carolina Panthers will have an opportunity in Week 16 to potentially ruin the Atlanta Falcons wildcard chances, but it may not be necessary with Atlanta’s upcoming schedule. They also have two games remaining with New Orleans in which they could keep New Orleans from home-field.
15. Washington Redskins (6-5)
If Washington wants any chance at the NFC East, they’ll have to beat the Philadelphia Eagles at least once. They’ll have two opportunities to do so, with one loss doing harm for Philadelphia’s playoff chances.
16. Philadelphia Eagles (5-6)
The Philadelphia Eagles will have a chance to ruin the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins playoff chances. They have a total of three games vs those teams over the final five weeks of the season.
17. Tennessee Titans (5-6)
The Tennessee Titans have a chance to spoil Indianapolis and Washington’s playoff hopes. They’d most likely need to beat Indianapolis in Week 17 to make the postseason.
18. Denver Broncos (5-6)
The Denver Broncos can spoil one of their AFC wildcard competitors season next week when they face the Cincinnati Bengals, and then in Week 17 when they host the Los Angeles Chargers.
19. Cleveland Browns (4-6-1)
The Cleveland Browns are a dangerous team that over their final five games will have the opportunity to spoil playoff contenders vying for a division title or a wildcard spot seasons. All five of their remaining opponents, which include the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers, are in the hunt.
20. Green Bay Packers (4-6-1)
Green Bay may not get into the postseason even if they run the table, but if they do, they could potentially ruin Chicago’s chances at a division title with a win at Soldier Field in Week 15.
21. Miami Dolphins (5-6)
Miami has little margin for error at this point of the season, and mathematically they can derail the Bills faint postseason chances next week. They also can negatively affect New England’s playoff standing with a victory over them in Week 14.
22. Atlanta Falcons (4-7)
The Atlanta Falcons are on the verge of missing the postseason, and if they do, they’ll have a chance to keep the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers on the outside with them.
23. Detroit Lions (4-7)
Detroit is another team a loss away from being virtually eliminated from the postseason picture. As much as that saddens and angers Lions fans, being a hindrance to Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings playoff chances in the final two weeks may be just what the doctor ordered.
24. Cincinnati Bengals (5-6)
The Cincinnati Bengals have dropped five out of their past six games, and with Dalton lost, perhaps keeping Pittsburgh from a first-round bye and Los Angeles and Denver from the postseason can serve as consolation prizes for a team unlikely to make the postseason.
25. Buffalo Bills (4-7)
The Buffalo Bills are unlikely to win out to and get help to make the postseason, but they could do damage to Miami’s playoff chances, with games against them in Week 13 and Week 17.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-7)
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can potentially keep New Orleans from the number one seed in the NFC playoffs while hurting a number of other playoff hopefuls chances.
27. New York Giants (3-8)
The New York Giants have remaining games against the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Washington Redskins. All three of those teams are vying for division titles.
28. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-8)
The Jacksonville Jaguars have five remaining games against teams in the playoff hunt, three of those happen to be divisional rivals.
29. New York Jets (3-8)
The New York Jets have four remaining games against teams vying for a playoff spot, they could keep New England from a first round bye with an improbable upset in Week 17.
30. San Francisco 49ers (2-9)
The San Francisco 49ers play the Seattle Seahawks twice over the final five weeks of the season and the Los Angeles Rams once. They could damage Los Angeles’ chances at the first round bye or hurt Seattle’s at a wildcard spot.
31. Arizona Cardinals (2-9)
The Cardinals can do significant damage to the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks playoff chances with road victories. They also wouldn’t mind keeping Los Angeles from a first round bye.
32. Oakland Raiders (2-9)
The Oakland Raiders have the Kansas City Chiefs twice over the final five weeks of the season, as well as matchups with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. They could shake up the playoff picture with wins over the the first two teams mentioned.
What are your thoughts on this week’s NFL power rankings? Leave your comments below!
Franchise Start For Toronto Has Them Leading The Pack
The NBA regular-season is almost in the great white month of December already, how about that?
All I’ve been asked about lately is why I haven’t done NBA Power Rankings, a good question to ask to be honest as we’re in Week 7 of the 2018-19 season.
My response? It’s fun to look at other writers who do and who have, but for me personally it doesn’t feel needed to have a power ranking system with teams less than 15 games into the season.
We’re starting to see teams separate themselves from the pack (kind of), and not every team is clustered together with the same record, making it tough to distinguish who from who.
To this point, it’s been an interesting season to say the least, one in-which most preseason favorites are looking unsettled and still figuring things out. Two teams that were in the conference finals last season, the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, are both sitting at .500 post-Thanksgiving.
There’s plenty of time for those teams, as well as a number of slumbering clubs to figure it out as the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint.
Here are my NBA Power Rankings for the Week of 11/19 – 11/25.
1. Toronto Raptors (17-4)
After a scare in Orlando, the Toronto Raptors won their next three games by an average of 14.7 points to finish the week 4-0.
2. Milwaukee Bucks (14-5)
The Bucks are off to a strong start, but their puzzling loss at home to the Phoenix Suns last week prove there’s plenty of work to be done.
3. Golden State Warriors (14-7)
Golden State is 4-5 without Stephen Curry in the lineup, but Kevin Durant carried the team on his back in their past two victories, averaging 38 points in those wins.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder (12-7)
The Oklahoma City Thunder saw a seven-game home winning streak end on Friday night at the hands of the Nuggets, and Russell Westbrook’s 1-for-12 game from beyond the arc was a big reason why. He’s shooting a putrid 17 percent from deep to begin the season.
5. Philadelphia 76ers (14-8)
Philadelphia has some explaining to do for a 121-112 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on their home court last Friday, but Jimmy Butler helped ease the pain of that loss with his dagger 3-pointer on Sunday at the Barclays, his second game winner since joining the 76ers.
6. Los Angeles Clippers (13-6)
The only people more shocked by the Los Angeles Clippers start almost a quarter into the 2018-19 season is Las Vegas. Clips have done it by taking care of business at home, where they’ve won eight straight games.
7. Memphis Grizzlies (12-7)
The Memphis Grizzlies are off to the kind of start we’ve been accustomed to, and the leading cause of that is their defense, which is allowing a league-low 100.9 PPG.
8. Denver Nuggets (13-7)
After dropping six out of their past seven games, the Nuggets responded by winning their next three games, including two on the road over previous Western Conference playoff teams from a season ago.
9. Boston Celtics (10-10)
Brad Stevens may have said it best when he said there’s a myriad of issues permeating for the Boston Celtics. One of them? They’re one of the worst offenses in the NBA. Boston is third worst in the NBA in field goal percentage at 43.7 percent.
10. Los Angeles Lakers (11-8)
The Lakers are grinding out wins, but they couldn’t grind out a in their final game of the week on Sunday in a 108-104 loss to the Orlando Magic. It’s the second time Los Angeles has loss to Orlando in nine days.
11. Portland Trail Blazers (12-8)
The Portland Trail Blazers have lost three straight games, two of those losses came by 28 and 43 points last week. Ouch.
12. Houston Rockets (9-9)
The Houston Rockets appeared to have turned the corner on their sour start to the season with five consecutive wins, but we’re now questioning once again what this team is after an overtime loss in Detroit and a embarrassing loss the following night in Cleveland.
13. Indiana Pacers (11-8)
The Indiana Pacers are very much functioning like the team we saw a season ago. They are 6-7 in games where their opponents score 100+ points.When they don’t? Indiana’s 5-1 in games where they hold opponents under 100 points.
14. Orlando Magic (10-10)
The Orlando Magic were looking for Aaron Gordon to ascend this season into a possible All-Star, but if there’s an All-Star on this team, it’s Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is averaging 20.4 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 3.6 APG to begin the season.
15. Detroit Pistons (10-7)
A 3-1 week has Dwane Casey’s Detroit Pistons feeling good about themselves. They’ll continue a six-game homestand against the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors this week.
16. New Orleans Pelicans (10-10)
The New Orleans Pelicans road woes to begin the season come as a surprise. They are 2-9 on the road a season after finishing seven games above .500 away from the Smoothie King Center.
17. Sacramento Kings (10-10)
Sacramento had a .500 week against teams that made the postseason last season in the Western Conference, nearly escaping Golden State with a win. Not bad for one of the NBA’s youngest teams.
18. San Antonio Spurs (9-10)
The San Antonio Spurs aren’t winning on the road, putting up a 3-7 mark away from home to begin the season.
19. Dallas Mavericks (9-9)
If Dallas ever finds a way to win on the road, we can start talking Western Conference playoff contender as soon as this season. While 8-2 at home, they’re 1-7 on the road.
20. Charlotte Hornets (9-10)
The Charlotte Hornets 2-2 last week, with Kemba Walker scoring 43 points to sink the Boston Celtics in a 117-112 game. Hard to look past their latest defeat, however, which was a 124-123 loss on the road to the lowly Atlanta Hawks.
21. Utah Jazz (9-11)
The Jazz mirror last season’s team and how they started. Utah is in desperate need of a second consistent scorer, and right now they just don’t have that after it appeared over the first few games of the season that Rudy Gobert was ready for a much more heightened role in Utah’s offense.
22. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-11)
After a slow start to the season, Karl-Anthony Towns has picked things up for Minnesota. He had 35 points, 22 rebounds and six assists in Minnesota’s victory over Chicago on Saturday.
23. Brooklyn Nets (8-13)
The Brooklyn Nets are just 2-5 since losing Caris LeVert to a foot injury two weeks ago. A problem for the team has been their defense, which has suffered in his absence.
24. Miami Heat (7-12)
Dwyane Wade gave fans at Scotiabank Arena quite a show on Sunday night when he dropped 35 points off the bench vs the Toronto Raptors. In a season that has gotten off to a tough start, it’s a treat for Heat fans to watch Wade show his vintage self.
25. New York Knicks (7-14)
New York went 3-1 last week, winning three consecutive games for the first time since last December. If they win their next game, it’ll be their first four-game winning streak since last December as well.
26. Washington Wizards (7-12)
The Washington Wizards can’t buy a basket from deep and they may be even worse at defending the long ball, allowing teams to shoot 48.3 percent from beyond the arc.
27. Phoenix Suns (4-16)
The Phoenix Suns called on the ageless Jamal Crawford to help lead them to their first road win of the season last week, and he delivered. The Suns are 1-9 on the road this season.
28. Chicago Bulls (5-15)
The Chicago Bulls are getting scoring from Zach LaVine, but he’s been a defensive liability for the team. It makes you wonder if that was always the reason they weren’t as urgent to sign him to a contract this past offseason.
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-14)
The Cavaliers have been the NBA’s worst team for much of the season, but it’s hard to consider them the worst after two straight wins over the Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets.
30. Atlanta Hawks (4-16)
The Atlanta Hawks are allowing an NBA-worst 118.6 PPG. It’s been a key reason for Atlanta’s 4-16 start.
What are your thoughts on this week’s NBA Power Rankings? Leave your comments below!
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