NBA keeping coach’s challenge
The NBA coach’s challenge is back, and here to stay.
Following the recommendation from the league’s competition committee, the NBA’s board of governors voted Thursday to keep the challenge as an option for coaches going forward. It was introduced last year on a one-year trial.
Coaches challenged 700 calls last season, including the playoffs. Calls were overturned 308 times, or a rate of 44%.
Also approved by the board of governors Thursday: a plan to give teams the ability to expand their active roster on game nights from 13 to 15 for this season — a move being made largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic and in anticipation of the likelihood that teams will be missing players from time to time.
Plus, the trade deadline is finally set for this season: It’ll be March 25, or about two weeks into the “second half ” of the schedule. The schedule is known through March 4, with the remainder to be determined in the coming weeks.
College basketball: No. 17 Virginia added a game against top-ranked Gonzaga on Dec. 26 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Cavaliers (3-1) are set to restart their program after canceling four games during a 10-day shutdown because of COVID-19 issues.
College football: UCLA will not pursue the opportunity to play in a bowl game, the school announced. The Bruins joined a growing list of teams to make the decision not to extend the season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Bruins (3-3) are one of just two teams in the Pac-12 that have played the full six-game allotment that the conference had scheduled to this point, and they’re expected to host Stanford on Saturday in what will be the season finale for both teams.
NFL: Washington placed S Deshazor Everett on IR with a torn pectoral muscle. ... Former Ravens RB Lorenzo Taliaferro died Wednesday in his hometown of Williamsburg, Va. He was 28. A family member told a Baltimore TV station that Taliaferro died of a heart attack. A fourth-round draft pick by the Ravens in 2014, Taliaferro ran for 339 yards and scored five TDs in 19 games for the Ravens from 2014 to 2016. He struggled to stay on the field, ending each of his three seasons on IR. Taliaferro was a standout at Coastal Carolina. In 2013, he ran for 1,729 yards and 27 TDs and was named the Big South offensive player of the year.
NHL: The Panthers and All- Star winger Anthony Duclair agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.7 million, according to reports. Duclair, 25, had a career-high 23 goals last season for the Senators. ... Blues winger Alexander Steen, who won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2019, announced his retirement due to a back injury suffered last season. Steen ended a 15-year career that began with the Maple Leafs and ended with over 11 seasons with the Blues. The 36-yearold Steen has degenerative herniated disks in his spine, which allowed him to play in only four of the Blues’ nine postseason games last season. He finished with 245 goals and 377 assists in 1,018 career games.