Friday Sports 4/5/19
5 April 2019 Sports
Sports from Wayne Mausser
Giannis Antetokounmpo outdueled fellow MVP candidate Joel Embiid, finishing with 45 points and 13 rebounds and leading Milwaukee to a 128-122 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night as the Bucks clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Khris Middleton added 22 points and George Hill had 20 for the Bucks, who locked up home-court advantage with three regular-season games remaining.
Embiid returned from a three-game absence and had 34 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists and three blocks.
J.J. Redick scored 29 points and Mike Scott, starting for injured Jimmy Butler, had 22 points for the 76ers, who are two games in front of Boston in the race for the No. 3 seed in the East with three games left.
The Bucks lost Eric Bledsoe to an ejection when tempers flared 2½ minutes into the contest. After Antetokounmpo hit a 3, Bledsoe pushed Embiid in the back. The 76ers’ big man tossed the ball back at Bledsoe, and Bledsoe retaliated by firing the ball at Embiid’s chest.
Scott and Embiid were issued technical fouls and Bledsoe, the Bucks’ third-leading scorer, was assessed a pair of technicals, resulting in his disqualification. The Bucks host Brooklyn on Saturday.
The Brewers start a three-game home series with the Cubs tonight at Miller Park. Jose Quintana will go against Chicago’s Brandon Woodruff. The Brewers have won five-in-a-row and are 6-1 in the N.L. Central. First pitch is at 7:10. The game is on AM1100 and 98.3, WISS.
According to a story by Bleacher Report, the relationship between former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers was flawed from the start.
“Aaron’s always had a chip on his shoulder with Mike,” Ryan Grant, the Packers’ starting running back from 2007 to 2012, told Bleacher Report. “The guy who ended up becoming your coach passed on you when he had a chance. Aaron was upset that Mike passed on him—that Mike actually verbally said that Alex Smith was a better quarterback.”
Another longtime teammate agrees: “That was a large cancer in the locker room. It wasn’t a secret.”
McCarthy was fired during the 2018 season after the Packers fell to Arizona at home on Dec. 2, and the Packers completed their season 6-9-1, missing the playoffs for a second straight season.
There had been whispers of the quarterback-coach relationship falling apart to the point where Rodgers was changing McCarthy’s plays in the huddle.
Jordy Nelson says he’s working on a deal to retire as a member of the Green Bay Packers.
Nelson says he’s talked to Packers President Mark Murphy about signing a 1-day deal so he can end where he started. Nelson was drafted by the Packers in 2008 and played last season with the Oakland Raiders. He announced his retirement last week.
Speaking on “The Dan Patrick Show” Wednesday, Nelson says the Packers didn’t show any interest after the Raiders released him. He says the Seattle Seahawks and the Raiders, at a reduced price, showed interest, but he and his family decided to return to Kansas.
Nelson admits it would be hard to say no if Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers called asking him to return to Green Bay.
Josh Sitton, a former longtime Green Bay Packers player, is calling it a career.
The Packers website report says that Sitton announced his retirement in a radio interview Thursday.
The 32-year-old was a fourth-round pick of the Packers out of Central Florida in 2008. Including the playoffs, Sitton started 125 of the Packers’ 134 games during his eight years with the team.
After the Packers unexpectedly released Sitton at the end of the 2016 training camp, Sitton signed with the Chicago Bears, where he started 25 games in two years. Sitton finished his career with the Miami Dolphins, where he played in one game in 2018.
Sitton is the latest in a string of former Packers to retire recently, joining offensive lineman T.J. Lang, wide receiver Jordy Nelson and fullback John Kuhn.
The men’s NCAA baskeball semi-finals are Saturday. Virginia, coached by former Green Bay Phonnix star, Tony Bennett, the son of coach Dick Bennett, plays Auburn in the opener and in the second game, Texas Tech meets Michigan State. The two winners meet Monday night for the National Championship.
The Green Bay men’s basketball team fell 90-70 at Marshall Thursday night in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship game.
Linc Darner’s team held its largest lead at 37-24 in the first half after a Sandy Cohen three pointer, but the team fell by 20.
Cohen scored 13 points in his final career game. ShanQuan Hemphill led the way with 21 points for the Phoenix.
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