標籤: upsets

If the Portland Trail Blazers can somehow upset the San Antonio Spurs in the quarterfinals of the NBA playoffs, a new report suggests they could get a boost from one of the greatest players in franchise history.

The Trail Blazers entered their first playoff series against the Spurs in several years as major underdogs. And it’s understandable why. San Antonio appears to be a real threat to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to 2026 Defensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama.

However, in Game 2, the French phenom had a bad leak, causing him to fall on his face and suffer a concussion. While he is traveling with the team, he is unlikely to feature in Game 3, and is likely to return in Game 4. After winning Tuesday’s game, and with Wembayama’s return date unclear, suddenly, this series is looking a lot more winnable for the Trail Blazers.

The door is open for Damian Lillard to return during the 2026 NBA playoffs

Well, if they can somehow accomplish the unthinkable and advance to the next round, it seems like there’s an outside chance they could get the inclusion of a certain Trail Blazers legend.

“Although it may seem unbelievable, the franchise has not completely ruled out the possibility that Damian Lillard could make a surprise appearance in the postseason this year,” multiple sources told The Oregonian. “I wouldn’t rule out any possibilities,” one source said.

Obviously, Lillard won’t progress and become the player he was before tearing his ACL a year ago. However, in a potential series against the Denver Nuggets or Minnesota Timberwolves, he could at least serve as a rookie. But there’s a possibility he could be a prolific scorer and three-point threat off the bench. The nine-time All-Star won this year’s NBA Three-Point Contest.

After earning a journalism degree in 2017, Jason Burgos worked as a contributor to several sites, including MMA Sacca… More about Jason Burgos

If you’re feeling very frustrated with your job, just be thankful you’re not coach Doc Rivers of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Rivers may have lost his voice again after the Bucks suffered an embarrassing 128-96 loss to the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center on Thursday. At one point, Milwaukee was down by 37 points.

The Bucks got off to a sluggish start, with the Jazz outscoring them 30–19 in the first quarter. It was all downhill from there, as they fell to 28–41 in a deer in headlights season.

As Eric Nehm of The Athletic reported, Rivers was brutally honest about his performance after the game.

“We played very badly. Didn’t play with any competitive spirit tonight.”

The Bucks shot only 41% from the floor and were outrebounded 47-35. They reduced their turnovers by 28 points.

When you can’t beat a team that’s already staring at defeat, something is very wrong.

“I thought the first group set the tone. I thought the first group arrived, and everybody in that group was trying to score. It’s so fun, we had a great shootaround today where the ball was moving around. Everything was second act,” Rivers said.

“The first six times, the guy who was supposed to go (in the second act) kept it intact. But at the end of the day, the onus is on me to play them the right way.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the game due to injury management. It was recently reported that the Bucks wanted to lock up Antetokounmpo for the remainder of the season, but the two-time MVP refused.

Ryan Rollins led Milwaukee with 15 points, three rebounds and five assists, while Cam Thomas had 14 points, two rebounds and four assists off the bench.

The Toronto Raptors have to be very concerned that they can’t buy a win against a top-10 opponent in the NBA. Their troubles against the best teams in the league continued on Wednesday, as they let a very winnable game against the San Antonio Spurs slip through their fingers with a choke job in the fourth quarter, as they ultimately lost 110-107 at home.

The Raptors are now 4-15 against teams with top-10 records, and this could be their most crushing defeat yet. Most of their losses against tough opposition were not very close, as their opponent had their way against Toronto. But this was a game in which they led by double figures in the fourth, but allowed the Spurs to attack them in the final frame, with even Victor Wembanyama struggling with his shot all night.

A possible reason for the Raptors’ poor performance in the end was Scottie Barnes being less than 100 percent healthy. A multipositional destroyer who can play against smaller defenders, Barnes was reportedly playing “on one leg” and he was “playing through pain” as head coach Darko Rajakovic told TSN’s Josh Levenberg after the game.

This is a concern with 23 games left in the season amid the Raptors’ battle for position in the East, as they will need a healthy Barnes to be a threat, as without him, they could be completely disappointing against the best teams in the league.

Scottie Barnes is the Raptors’ best player

A lot was said about the Raptors’ acquisition of Brandon Ingram and how he has given Toronto a legitimate weapon to rely on in crunch time. While Ingram has been very good, people shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking of him as the Raptors’ best player, as that honor still belongs to Barnes.

Barnes can legitimately defend one through five, and while his offensive game isn’t great on the perimeter, his two-way play is incredible. According to PBP stats, his net rating is plus-6.1, which is the best in the team.

Macclesfield staged one of the great all-time FA Cup shocks by knocking out holders Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The National League North side – who are ranked 117 places below their opponents – ran out 2-1 winners over the Premier League side at Moss Rose.

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The Cheshire club, managed by Wayne Rooney’s brother John, opened the scoring just before the interval thanks to a superb header from captain Paul Dawson.

Dawson’s opener led sport co-commentator Andy Townsend to claim that Macclesfield were on the cusp of one of the competitions’ biggest giant-killing acts.

“What a moment,” Townsend said. “This goal could be one of the biggest in FA Cup history. And it’s fully deserved – Macclesfield have been the better team over the last 20 minutes.”

And incredibly, it got even better when Isaac Buckley-Ricketts’ deft touch from close range extended Macclesfield’s advantage.

Palace pushed for hard in the final stages in an attempt to claw onto the trophy.

And tensions were ramped up when Yeremy Pino fired in a superb free-kick in the final minute to half the deficit.

But despite six minutes of added time, Macclesfield held on to record a famous FA Cup win to dump the holders out as the lowest-ranked side left in the competition.

The final whistle sparked jubilant scenes as fans streamed onto the pitch to celebrate with the players.