Sports

The Kings have a new head coach.

Luke Walton, who parted way with the Los Angeles Lakers last week, was introduced to Sacramento Monday afternoon at Golden 1 Center.

General Manager Vlade Divac said at a press conference that Walton’s hiring was fast. “I didn’t want to waste time because I felt very confident he’s the guy to take us to the next level,” Divac said.

The Kings fired coach Dave Joerger last week after the team’s best finish since the 2005-06 season. Divac said he felt someone else would be better suited to improve upon the team’s 39-43 finish.

Walton says he embraces the Kings fast-paced play and aggressive offense. “We’re gonna shoot a lot of threes this year,” Walton said on Tuesday. “Shooting a lot of threes is what’s best for us. Like I said, we’re gonna play fast.”

Walton was on two championship teams as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, and two as a player with the Lakers. He said it will take a strong work ethic and good team culture to transition the Kings from a playoff contender into a champion.

“A lot of teams always see the final result of a championship team and don’t realize how much hard work goes in,” Walton said.

Walton served as head coach for the Lakers during the past three seasons, including this past season when Lebron James joined the franchise. Divac praised his handling of the high-profile job and said he and Walton “have the same soul about basketball.”

“I’ve known Luke for a long, long time. So, I know how he views basketball. It’s very similar to what I view,” Divac said. “When I realized he’s available, it’s an easy call for me to kind of reach out and sit down and talk about [the] opportunity.”

Sacramento fired Joerger last Thursday following a 39-43 finish that was the best record for the franchise in 13 years. Walton was dismissed in Los Angeles a day later when he failed to get the Lakers into the postseason in the first year with James.

Kings general manager Divac met with Walton on Saturday and the two sides quickly came to the agreement that was formally announced Monday.

The 39-year-old Walton was 98-148 in three years with Los Angeles in his first full-time head coaching job. He was 37-45 this season and was unable to make the playoffs even once.

Walton also has experience as an assistant for Golden State, helping the Warriors win the 2015 title and then leading the team to a 39-4 record, including 24 straight wins to open the 2015-16 season, as interim coach while Steve Kerr was sidelined following complications from a pair of back surgeries.

That performance helped him get the job with the Lakers but he was unable to duplicate that success with a roster with far less talent during his first two years and then again this year, even with James on board.

Walton now takes over an up-and-coming team in Sacramento that features several talented young players acquired by Divac: guards De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, forward Marvin Bagley III and center Willie Cauley-Stein. The Kings finished 39-43, nine games out of a playoff spot after being tied for the Western Conference's eighth seed heading into the final game before the All-Star break.

Sacramento had its most wins since going 44-38 in 2005-06 during coach Rick Adelman's final season. That ended a run of eight straight playoff berths and Sacramento hasn't been back to the postseason since for the NBA's longest active drought.

Joerger was the ninth coach since Adelman was fired in 2006 and none was able to post a winning record or earn a playoff berth. In fact, since moving to Sacramento before the 1985-86 season, the only winning seasons for the Kings came in Adelman's eight years at the helm, highlighted by a trip to the Western Conference final in 2002.

Divac is now counting on Walton being the one who can get the team back to the level it reached under Adelman, when the Kings were a contender for several years and played an entertaining brand of basketball.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“I want to stay humble, but I have to talk because the other guys talk too much, and... I understand the crazy power the UFC PR machine has.”
--Khabib Nurmagomedov

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- It isn’t difficult to like Khabib Nurmagomedov as an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) choker, but it’s difficult to accept his manners and unrestrained tantrums.

Houston Rockets guard James Harden has been a scoring phenomenon but for the past two games, it has been historic. What’s going on? Let’s take a look.
The Houston Rockets have nine games left remaining in the season and it appears as if they are primed for the postseason. We all had our doubts early into the season but this team is peaking at the right time.

The No. 3 seed is going to be likely for the Houston Rockets but it’s anybody’s guess as far as who their opponent will be when the dust settles at the end of the season. But, the Houston Rockets have a slight chance in catching the Denver Nuggets for the No. 2 seed and that would be even sweeter.

But to be honest, as long as the Houston Rockets immersed themselves into the postseason, the rest will fall into the place. That’s a near certainty with just a minute amount of games left in this season.

I had worried that this season was going to end up like 2015-16, where the roster underachieved their way to a playoff spot in a mostly forgettable affair centered around Dwight Howard‘s displeasure of not having the offense go through him.

Howard didn’t understand that there was a movement in the league that started with the Golden State Warriors that made offensive strategy more guard-centric then having an offense run through the center. The pace was picking up and Howard was ill-equipped to adapt to the changes.

But now that season is far in our rear-view with this team most recently being the Western Conference runner-up last season, it’s time to focus on how great James Harden has been this season and it’s hard to fathom how life would be without him.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle pointed out an interesting stat about Harden and it’s doozy.

What’s going on? Harden’s 57 points in a shocking 126-125 overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies this past Wednesday and his groundbreaking, 61-point performance in a incredible Friday night win over the San Antonio

Feigen indicates that those said points are the most scored in consecutive games over the past 50 years. He also added that the six games that he has scored 57+ points is more than any other player — with the exception of Wilt Chamberlain — in the history of the Association.

Wow. When your name is mentioned among one of the NBA’s greatest sons, that’s just the type of stuff that exudes excellence. Do I need to tell you that this man scored 100 points in a game, a record that still remains intact to this day? Yep and I certainly wish I was alive to see that incredible moment against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pa. back March 2, 1962.

This season that has been loaded with extraordinary accolades has been something short of remarkable for 2018-19. I cannot express enough in regard to how proud I am of him of what he’s doing and how his impact continues to transmogrify the Houston Rockets as we know it.

But one thing’s for sure, he’s far from done in his jaw-dropping efforts and I do believe that his best is yet to come. Let’s keep an eye out!

“I want to do all those things again. I want to be a hall of famer… We have to be better than last year. I have to be a better player,” he told the members of the press during his Manila pit stop of Under Armour Road Show

Washington--Injury-nagged 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose has undergone his latest operation, the Minnesota Timberwolves announced Saturday, saying he had arthroscopic surgery to remove right elbow bone chips.

Rose will be sidelined indefinitely but was already slated to miss the remainder of the regular season for the T-Wolves, who at 32-40 are one loss from being eliminated from playoff contention with 10 games remaining.

The 30-year-old point guard was a superstar playmaker for his hometown Chicago Bulls, but suffered a left knee injury in Chicago’s opening game of the 2012 NBA playoffs, missed the entire 2012-13 season and then suffered a right knee injury early in the 2013-14 campaign and missed most of that season as well.

Another knee injury followed and Rose was traded to New York in 2016, but in April 2017 suffered another left knee injury and underwent his fourth career knee surgery.

Rose played for Cleveland in the 2017-18 campaign before a trade to Utah, which released him. Rose signed with Minnesota and was reunited with ex-Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

Elsewhere, Kemba Walker scored 18 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter and the Charlotte Hornets kept their slim playoff hopes alive by rallying to beat the Boston Celtics 124-117.

Walker added 11 rebounds and nine assists in his 23rd game this season scoring 30 or more points.
Rookie Miles Bridges scored a career-high 20 points, Marvin Williams and Malik Monk added 13 points apiece and Dwayne Bacon scored 11.
Charlotte won its second straight, improved to 33-39 on the season.
Kyrie Irving led Boston with 31 points. Jaylen Brown added 29 points and Marcus Morris 15.
Also, Trae Young scored 32 points, including a last-second, go-ahead clutch basket, as the Atlanta Hawks snapped the Philadelphia 76ers six-game winning streak with a 129-127 win.​

“Once you stop benefiting their interest, you become an eyesore.”
--Chayan Tain

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Of the four reigning world welterweight champions in the four world governing bodies today, newly crowned World Boxing Association (WBA) champion Manny Pacquiao is the most divergent if not antipodal.