Rams start strong, hold off Saints
MINNEAPOLIS — anthony edwards had 27 points to steady minnesota and the Timberwolves beat Los angeles 118-111 on Thursday to hand the Lakers — with Lebron James sitting out on the second night of back-to-back games — their fourth straight loss.
at 21-6, the West-leading Timberwolves tied boston for the overall Nba lead.
Karl-anthony Towns had 21 points for minnesota before limping to the locker room for further examination on an lower-leg injury with 5:07 left and the Wolves awake after a sleepy third quarter.
mike conley finished with 16 points, eight assists and two of the team’s 13 steals and rudy Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds as the Wolves avoided consecutive losses for the first time this season and improved to 12-1 at home.
anthony davis had 31 points and eight rebounds, and rui Hachimura — in the starting lineup with James out to rest tendinitis in his ankle — scored 18 points as the Lakers fell to 1-5 since winning the Nba in-season Tournament. They’re 15-14 overall and 5-11 on the road.
Pistons drop 25th straight to move within loss of tying NBA single-season record
detroit — Kelly Olynyk scored 25 points and the short-handed Utah Jazz beat detroit 119-111 on Thursday night for the Pistons’ 25th straight loss — one short of the Nba single season record.
The 2010-11 cleveland cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers share the record at 26. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.
“i want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them,” first-year coach monty Williams said. “a team that played last night got (50) points off turnovers and rebounds. it is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories.”
The Pistons fell to 2-26, with the crowd chanting “Sell the team! Sell the team!” at the end in a loud statement to owner Tom Gores and his Platinum equity firm. detroit will be back in action Saturday night in brooklyn.
“We’re not 2-26 bad — no way are we that bad,” said cade cunningham, who led detroit with 28 points and 10 assists. “i think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball.”
Saturday night’s Billschargers game on Peacock will not have commercials during fourth quarter
Saturday night’s game between the buffalo bills and Los angeles chargers already carried significance as the first NFL game to be exclusively streamed on Peacock.
The matchup will also feature another milestone as Nbc and the NFL announced Thursday morning that the fourth quarter will be commercial free for the first time.
Nbcuniversal says there will be a 40% reduction in the standard ad time for an NFL game which should result in at least 12 additional minutes of game-related content.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Matthew Stafford passed for 328 yards and two touchdowns, rookie Puka Nacua had nine catches for a career-high 164 yards and a score, and the Los Angeles Rams surged forward in the NFC playoff race with a 30-22 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night.
Kyren Williams rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown, and Demarcus Robinson added 82 yards receiving and another score in the fifth victory in six games for the Rams (8-7), who are above .500 for the first time since Week 1.
With its second win in five days during a self-described remodeling season, Los Angeles also jumped past Minnesota (7-7) and moved to sixth in the NFC standings in its bid to secure a wild card playoff spot – and an increasingly possible opening-round showdown with the Detroit Lions, Stafford’s team for 12 seasons.
Los Angeles led 30-7 with 12:44 left in the fourth quarter after scoring on six of its first eight possessions, but allowed its opponent to make it interesting for the second straight week.
Derek Carr threw TD passes to Juwan Johnson and A.T. Perry on the Saints’ next two drives, with a 2-point conversion trimming the Rams’ lead to eight points with 3:53 to play.
But Nacua recovered an onside kick and then got a key first down on a 9-yard jet sweep, and the Rams ran out the clock on their fourth straight home victory.
Carr passed for 319 yards and hit Rashid Shaheed for an early 45-yard TD for the Saints (7-8), whose two-game winning streak ended with a painfully slow start and 458 yards allowed by their defense.
Although this loss hurts its chances, New Orleans is still in serious contention for a playoff spot and the NFC South title because it finishes the season with
week what he’s shown the Bears this season.
“Improvement,” he said. “They know. They know. Everybody knows who I am in the building. Like I said, I can control what I can control and that’s it.”
Fields had a rough game last week. He was 19 of 40 for 166 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a 46.5 rating against the NFL’S top-ranked defense. He has also struggled as a passer late in games throughout his career, with a 62.4 fourth-quarter passer rating. Compare that to ratings of 84.1, 84.4 and 99.7 in the first, second and third quarters.
RISING MCBRIDE
The emergence of tight end Trey Mcbride has been one of the biggest positives of the season for the Cardinals. The second-year player out of Colorado State has already set a franchise record for receptions by a tight end with three games left in the season.