List of All Articles with Tag 'g'

The Denver Nuggets have pushed the Phoenix Suns to the brink in a series that hasn’t been short star power.With that in mind, I have two stars that I love in the prop market in Game 6, as well as one Nuggets role player that is undervalued in the scoring department.Here’s how to ...

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham took a shot at Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who complained about flopping in their second-round series.The Golden State Warriors are on the brink of elimination entering Game 5, as they are down 1-3 in their second-round series against the...

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher tried to troll TCU for getting blown out by Georgia, apparently forgetting the Aggies didn't even make a bowl.The TCU Horned Frogs were the kings of Texas in the 2022 college football season, coming just one game away from being kings of the sport, ...

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell wasn't too pleased that he missed out on making the All-NBA First team on Wednesday night.The NBA playoffs continued on Wednesday night with two Game 5's, as the New York Knicks looked to stave off elimination by the Miami Heat, while the Los ...

Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer revealed who he believes is going to win the Heisman Trophy in the 2023 season, and it isn't last year's winner.Last season, the college football world kept close tabs on the Heisman Trophy competition. There were a variety of legitimate contend...

The Braves are going to be without Max Fried and Kyle Wright for a while now, so which trade targets should they be eyeing to help the pitching staff?The Atlanta Braves have the second-best record in baseball through the first month-and-a-half (give or take) of the 2023 MLB season. Ronald Acu&nt...

Preseason divisional favorites the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals are both in last place.

Former Houston Texans pass rusher J.J. Watt revealed that he considered ending his career with the Green Bay Packers after becoming a free agent in 2021.Prior to the end of the 2022 NFL season, Arizona Cardinals pass rusher J.J. Watt announced his retirement from the game. Watt etched his name a...

The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking to bounce back from another underwhelming campaign. Here are three players who will likely not be back next season.Last offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves made one of the splashiest moves, shipping four first-round picks, a 2026 pick swap, guard Patrick ...

Chicago Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins suggested that the team would like to give outfielder Cody Bellinger a contract extension.The Chicago Cubs are slightly below .500 entering May 10, but are still less than a handful of games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates for first place in the NL Centr...

Matt Rhule might not have enough corn-magic to land Dylan Raiola for Nebraska football, so where would the Huskers turn for the future at QB?There are a lot of reasons to believe that Matt Rhule can help return Nebraska football to its former glory. One of those reasons, however, might not be Dy...

The cameras panned to the technical director in the San Siro stands. There were plenty of reasons to pick out Paolo Maldini, and his job title is not the most prominent. Not for the man who remains the byword for elegantly effortless defending, not when his name is synonymous with the European Cup. Arguably the greatest left-back of all time was scarcely witnessing a defensive masterclass. Even if he had, the primacy of Mauro Tassotti, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Maldini himself would have remained unchallenged: they are perhaps football’s greatest back four and certainly AC Milan’s. Comparisons were rarely going to flatter Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Simon Kjaer and Theo Hernandez. A shambolic showing made them more glaring. Admittedly, Maldini knows such defining European games can take on a life of their own. He captained AC Milan during Deportivo la Coruna’s four-goal comeback in 2004 and Liverpool’s blitz of three goals in seven minutes in the 2005 final. Inter’s burst of two in four minutes might have brought unpleasant flashbacks. But Maldini won five European Cup finals and Milan conceded a solitary goal in them. And, 11 minutes into their first semi-final for 16 years, they were two down, and to two of the elderly. Maldini could be a poster boy for veterans: a Champions League winner for the last time a few weeks before his 39th birthday, he remains the oldest scorer in a final, at 36. Which, Edin Dzeko may feel, is enviably youthful. When he rifled Inter into the lead, he became the second oldest scorer in a semi-final, behind only Ryan Giggs. After a 37-year-old scorer came a youngster of 34; Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another throwback figure. When Jose Mourinho’s Inter won the Champions League in 2010, it was a famously experienced side. Simone Inzaghi may hope that, in his scorers at least, he has borrowed from the same formula. Dzeko and Mkhitaryan can suit the image of Serie A as a retirement home, a comfortable abode for footballers too old to gegenpress. The reality is more complicated and the Italian renaissance has entailed astute recruitment and a host of players over a decade Dzeko’s junior. But the rhythms of the division can be suited to the elderly. Those who are tactically adept and technically proficient, as Dzeko is, can stave off the passing of time. It helps that he has both a target man’s presence; so, too, that he is a beautiful striker of a ball. Dzeko has long been a wonderful volleyer. Five years ago, he scored a goal for Roma against Chelsea that had a hint of Marco van Basten about it; except that, unlike the great Dutchman, he scored it with his less favoured left foot. A derby opener came with another swing of his left foot, another clean connection, another lovely goal. It was the 400th of a career for club and country that began with Dzeko as a nondescript midfielder in the Bosnian league. He has come a long way since then, but the journey may yet carry him to Istanbul and transport Inter back to their past. The goals of another quintessential No. 9, Diego Milito, won the Nerazzurri the Champions League in 2010. The false nine has become more prevalent and popular in the intervening 13 years, but Dzeko is the old-fashioned centre-forward who never went away. Five years ago he scored in each leg of a Champions League semi-final, but for Roma and in vain and both of them after Liverpool’s five-goal blitz at Anfield. Eighteen years ago, he may have been cheering on AC Milan against Liverpool. Dzeko’s hero is the record scorer in the history of the derby della Madonnina; admittedly all of those goals came for the Rossoneri and it was easier for the Bosnian to be open about his love of Andriy Shevchenko before he joined Milan’s, and San Siro’s, other club. Shevchenko was in the crowd, sat in front of Maldini, to witness a terrific finish. He saw Mkhitaryan, an old rival from Dynamo Kiev’s games against Shakhtar Donetsk, surge into the Milan box and lift a shot over Mike Maignan. The Armenian ran straight through the middle. It was too easy. Somehow Milan’s shoddy defending did not yield more goals. Hakan Calhanoglu, who has crossed the city, hit the post. Referee Jesus Gil Manzano first awarded Lautaro Martinez a penalty and then rescinded his own decision. Maignan made a terrific save from Dzeko. And so Milan will return to their home ground as the away team in six days, still in with a chance that Maldini will play a part in securing a sixth European Cup, to add to the 1963 triumph, when his father Cesare captained them, and 1969, a rare Maldini-free success. But not if they defend like this, and not if the old master Dzeko is similarly clinical. Read More Milan derby creates thrilling sensory overload that shows how football should be The Milan derby crowns Serie A’s return - here is why it means so much more AC Milan are back – but not as how you remember them Milan derby creates thrilling sensory overload that shows how football should be Lazio extend Napoli’s wait for title by a day at least Chelsea take control of WSL title race with thrashing of Leicester