Heat’s Jones knocks top seed Durant from 2K tournament
With the NBA season on an indefinite hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, a handful of the league’s players are providing some live entertainment this weekend.
The 16-player NBA 2K Players Tournament opened on Friday night with top seed Kevin Durant bounced by No. 16 seed Derrick Jones Jr.
Players are seeded by their overall rating in the NBA 2K20 title, then by tenure in the league.
Durant, the injured Brooklyn Nets star and former Warrior who has a 96 rating, chose the Los Angeles Clippers as his team but said he was let down by his defense in the lopsided loss to Jones (78 rating). The Miami Heat forward, who was the NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner in February, used the Milwaukee Bucks in his 78-62 victory.
Jones got 22 points from Khris Middleton and 20 from Giannis Antetokounmpo in the virtual game televised by ESPN.
Players in the tournament are allowed a pool of eight teams they can choose from during the tournament, but each team can be used by that player just once. Jones advances to the quarterfinals, but he cannot play as Milwaukee again.
Jones and Durant had little to say during their matchup, but the Bulls’ Zach Lavine and the Suns’ Deandre Ayton kept the chatter lively in what was a two-point game at halftime. The 7-vs.-10 matchup was won by Ayton.
The Hawks’ Trae Young, playing as the Bucks, obliterated the Kings’ Harrison Barnes, playing as the Toronto Raptors, 101-59. Young, the event’s second seed, advances to a quarterfinal matchup with Ayton.
In the final game of the night, the Clippers’ Patrick Beverley, using the Bucks, produced an 84-54 rout of the Trail Blazers’ Hassan Whiteside, playing as the Los Angeles Lakers. Beverley is seeded 14th.
The first round continues Sunday with the last four games, all to air live on ESPN2. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday night on ESPN2, and the semifinals and final will air April 11 on ESPN. The champion will get $100,000 to donate to the coronavirus-relief charity of his choice.
All games are available live on the NBA or NBA 2K Twitter, Twitch, Youtube and Facebook channels.
H-O-R-S-E CHALLENGE HAS A SHOT >> A staple of driveways everywhere, a H-O-R-S-E competition among top NBA players could be coming to national television in the near future, ESPN’S Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday.
The NBA and ESPN are finalizing the details, with each player possibility participating from their own home gym, as person-to-person interaction is limited during the coronavirus pandemic.
Soccer
PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS REJECT PAY CUT >> English Premier League players rejected a move by clubs to cut their wages by 30% during the coronavirus pandemic, escalating a bitter public row as their union claimed the government would lose out on more than 200 million pounds (around $245 million) in tax.
The union’s strident stance came after further talks Saturday involving clubs and the league as Liverpool became the latest Premier League side defying political anger by using a government bailout scheme to furlough some non-playing staff.
College football
NOYER TO STAY WITH BUFFS >> Colorado quarterback Sam Noyer withdrew from the transfer portal, according to the Boulder Daily Camera.
Noyer, who was moved to safety for his junior season in 2019, had announced his intention to leave the Buffaloes earlier this offseason. Instead, he will join the competition to replace departed three-year starter Stephen Montez.
Noyer played in nine games at quarterback during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, completing 21 of 41 passes for 179 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. TWEET COSTS LEACH LINEMAN >> A Mississippi State defensive tackle entered the transfer portal Friday, one day after a controversial tweet by new Bulldogs coach Mike Leach. Fabien Lovett, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound redshirt sophomore, had 19 tackles and one sack in 2019 and has three years of eligibility remaining.
Lovett declared his intentions to transfer on Twitter, but did not specify whether it was related to Leach’s sincedeleted tweet of a meme that featured a woman knitting a noose for her husband during a coronavirus quarantine. Lovett responded to Leach’s tweet with “wtf” on his Twitter account.
Rated as a three-star recruit in the 2018 recruiting class by the 247Sports composite, Lovett chose the Bulldogs over offers from Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, Memphis and Southern Miss.