#crunch-time

#crunch-time

Throughout the Miami Heat's up-and-down season, Jimmy Butler has remained steadfast in his confident approach.And after squandering a chance to close out this Eastern Conference finals series at home against the Boston Celtics, that did not change."The only thing I'm going to say is, We'll be OK," Butler said Tuesday night.

With the Boston Celtics' season on the line for the second straight campaign, Jayson Tatum showed up when it mattered the most.As Jayson Tatum's idol, Kobe Bryant, once said, "The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win."With the season on the brink away from home, Tatum embodied those words from his childhood hero during the most important win of the Boston Celtics season in Game 6 against the 76ers.

NESN's Gio Rivera sees the possible injury absence of Marcus Smart due to a chest contusion as "daunting news" for the Boston Celtics - making the case that his fourth-quarter performance from Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers makes him one of the team's primary clutch time players."This comes as especially daunting news, not just because the Celtics are trailing the 76ers 0-1, but because Smart came up big in crunch time, after being anchored by Jaylen Brown's lack of offensive production - three field goal attempts in the second half with two turnovers - and Jayson Tatum's inability to shine on the big stage," Rivera wrote.

Since the All-Star Break, the Boston Celtics have lost numerous games due in large part to how they have played in crunch time.That includes overtime losses to the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, and a head scratching loss the bottom-dwelling Houston Rockets.The most recent loss came last Saturday night to the Utah Jazz.

Last season, at the trade deadline, the Boston Celtics acquired Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs.By all accounts, the trade was a win for both teams.White was a quality playmaker and great defender, someone who could effectively eat minutes and take some of the load off of Marcus Smart.In the 26 games with Boston, White proved to be a great acquisition.

Nic Antaya/Getty Images  Anthony Davis was brilliant during Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics with 37 points and 12 rebounds behind 13-of-24 shooting from the field.But it was two missed shots that stood out the most.Davis went to the free-throw line with 28 seconds remaining and the Los Angeles Lakers holding on to a two-point lead after a dramatic back-and-forth that saw multiple comebacks.

Only two games left in the Bundesliga - this is crunch time.Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig will both be looking for wins here.One is looking for an 11th consecutive title, and the other just wants to be in the Champions League next season.Both are pretty good teams, so we'll be in for a good game.Thomas Tuchel has a relatively healthy squad, although he is still missing key players like a striker, a goalkeeper, a 80m euro defender.

Bayern Munich have the advantage over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League thanks to a slender win in the French capital, with Kingsley Coman proving the difference with a superb effort.The return leg is crunch time, with former Bayern player and legend Franck Ribéry unable to predict the outcome of the game.

It's crunch time in the Women's Super League and with less than two weeks of the season left, the fates of the top four teams in the table are yet to be decided with the title and Champions League qualification places still on the line.- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) Arsenal and Chelsea still have three matches left to play, and therefore each have a game in hand on both Manchester United and Manchester City, but United are top of the table by one point over defending champions Chelsea.

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images Ben Simmons was the primary storyline coming into Wednesday's game between his Brooklyn Nets and his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, but he was on the bench in crunch time of a 137-133 loss."So if you're thinking about being aggressive, you will be aggressive," Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters when asked why Simmons was on the bench at the end of the game.

The Los Angeles Clippers have fallen below .500having lost both nights of a back-to-back; first against the Philadelphia 76ers 120-110, and then again in a blow out versus the Utah Jazz 126-103.As fans continue to question the direction they're heading in, internally - both within the organization and within the league as a whole - there doesn't seem to be quite as much concern about their playoff prospects, but Clipper Nation is yet to be convinced their club has what it takes to make a deep run.

Missed opportunities:
Brian Robinson Jr. getting more touches late in the game:

"Well again, I think you'd like to be able to do what you want to do a little bit more freely.Unfortunately, the circumstances did dictate some other things.But yeah, I would've loved to continue to see if we could have fed him.

The Miami Heat have shown themselves to be a smarter, more adaptive, more disciplined team during this second-round playoff series.What bothered me most of all, however, was how much fight they showed through the first four games than our New York Knicks.Miami got to every loose ball, grabbed every key rebound, while the guys in orange and blue seemed to treat this series like a pre-season home-and-home.

Mike Breen said it best: "(Julius) Randle shoots better with a defender on him."Indeed he does, as he matched his career high Friday night with 46 points.Breen referred to the Three-Point Contest, where Randle came in second to last.Unfortunately, Randle's game doesn't translate to the All-Star festivities.

Key metric for how good a time I am having as a Knicks fan: am I googling "tom thibodeau young"?Yes.Quite recently, I regarded that mullet.This weekend made it impossible not to.On Friday, Julius Randle finessed a near-turnover into a fadeaway dagger over the Heat, then (literally) toppled coach Thibs with the excitement of their eighth straight win-beautiful.

Man City's search for a historic treble has entered crunch time, but this is when Pep Guardiola's side typically perform at their apex.The Citizens haven't tasted defeat since February, and their imperious form has thrust them into pole position to secure their third-straight Premier League title after Arsenal led the way for so long.

The Toronto Raptors face the very distinct possibility of losing Fred VanVleet in free agency.While they will likely bend over backward to appease him and keep him in town, the firing of Nick Nurse and his likely exorbitant price tag create some serious obstacles that could come in the way of him achieving his full potential.

The Toronto Raptors welcomed the Minnesota Timberwolves to Scotiabank Arena tonight as they attempt to climb in the standings during the last weeks of the regular NBA Season.With nearly similar records and placements in the East and West, it's crunch time for both these teams.The T-Wolves came into this game undermanned, missing Anthony Edwards after he suffered a bad ankle injury last night.

The Toronto Raptors appeared to be so bereft of playmakers in the rotation that Nick Nurse turned back to former first-round draft pick Malachi Flynn in the hope of getting a spark.Considering how the early returns have looked, putting him back in the squad seems to have been a solid decision.Flynn may be shooting 39% from the field in his last five games, but he is making 43% of his 3-pointers on just under six attempts per game.

The Raptors 905 could have been near the top of the standings halfway through the G League Showcase Cup.Instead, they find themselves in the middle of the pack and at risk of missing out on the playoffs.This week, the Raptors 905 hosted the Long Island Nets for a couple of games.The Nets only had eight players in uniform and had neither of their two-way contract players on the fold.

Dalano Banton and the Toronto Raptors were faced with a serious lack of depth that they needed to overcome against old coach Dwane Casey and the Detroit Pistons.With Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Trent Jr. all inactive, names like Banton and Malachi Flynn needed to star.Banton was forced into the starting lineup thanks to all of the injured players, which was a pretty big gamble for Nick Nurse to take.

A win is a win is a win.Who cares if it's against a team that's barely above the relegation zone and it's happening in the middle of the goddamn workday on a Wednesday?It had to happen.As the Serie A season heads into crunch time, every single point is vital, and Juventus found themselves on a four-game winless skid entering Wednesday.

The Toronto Raptors were able to beat out the rival Boston Celtics and secure the addition of former Washington Wizards guard Will Barton.Toronto needed some offensive juice off the bench, and the longtime Denver Nuggets wing will certainly suffice.Barton was signed after the Raptors decided to part ways with Juancho Hernangomez.

Was the basketball good?Not particularly.But Sunday's win was vital for the Warriors, and in that 109-104 victory over the Timberwolves, the Dubs showed something that is just as important as good execution: scrappiness.The Warriors don't have anything close to their full coterie of stars, and they predictably fell behind the Timberwolves by double digits to start the first and second halves.

With Anthony Davis officially out for an extended period, the shorthanded Lakers stepped up and beat the Wizards, 119-117, to win their second home game in a row in their last homestand of the year.The Lakers improved to 13-16 thanks to a fourth-quarter rally led by LeBron James and Austin Reaves, who scored eight of the team's last ten points.

For the most part, AI is exceptionally bad at illustrating hands.They come out six-fingered or four-fingered or, even worse, just some wispy ends that fade into the background.AI has been programming large Western 1940s-era smiles onto people of various cultures.It's been reshaping images we know and refitting them according to prompts.

Jimmy Butler is the heart and soul of the Miami Heat.He is the JIMVP, the leader of the team in every sort of way.He has proved that repeatedly over the course of the last few seasons since we acquired him.Having a player of Butler's caliber rep a Miami jersey every night is truly a blessing for all of Heat Nation.

Jimmy Butler is the heart and soul of the Miami Heat.He is the JIMVP, the leader of the team in every sort of way.He has proved that repeatedly over the course of the last few seasons since we acquired him.Having a player of Butler's caliber rep a Miami jersey every night is truly a blessing for all of Heat Nation.

NBA players can project absolute confidence from the podium of a postgame press conference, but out on the floor, in the heat of play, they'll show you what they're really afraid of.A young player might clam up when the ball swings their way in crunch time.An aging veteran-feeling their own athletic mortality-might balk at the kind of fast break they used to dominate.

We're well past the halfway point of the regular season, and the Warriors can't figure out what kind of team they are.When he was asked about his concern level for the Warriors last week, Golden State wing Klay Thompson was nearly offended by the question.None.Zero.Just get us [to the playoffs] healthy hopefully with a good seed, he said.

Red Sox Alex Verdugo connected on his third walk-off hit already this season.Alex Verdugo delivered in the clutch once again.The Red Sox outfielder slugged a 385-foot home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Boston to a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays.It stands as Verdugo's third walk-off hit of the season already, and his fifth home run.

SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) - James Reimer earned his third shutout of the season and the San Jose Sharks snapped a nine-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory over Winnipeg, handing the Jets a costly defeat as they try to secure a playoff spot."When you get a shutout, it's nice," Reimer said.

With the fantasy football regular season coming to an end, it's important to start the right guys.Here are several solid running back sleepers for Week 13.It's crunch time in fantasy football.Hopefully you're in a position to make a playoff push in the coming weeks.In order to do that, you have to make the right starts, especially at running back and wide receiver.

The Lakers couldn't miss.Then they could.And then they couldn't again.Best to keep the inexplicable simple.Despite being outscored by 32 points in the second quarter, the Lakers came back from 25 down in the third to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 121-112 on Sunday night.It was the second-largest second-half comeback in franchise history.

The writing was already on the wall.At age 33, and after spending the entire 2022 season without a team, Dont'a Hightower coming back to the NFL never appeared to be a realistic option.The only question was when he would officially pull the plug on his career.Earlier on Tuesday, he did just that.Hightower announced his retirement, ending a career that spanned 11 years and 134 regular season and playoff games - all with one franchise.

The Washington Wizards' Saturday night matchup against the Sacramento Kings is a tale of two similarly desperate franchises who tried the same tactic to return to relevance.Out of the 30 teams in the NBA, the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings likely rank 29th and 30th, respectively, in front office competence over the last decade and a half.

Celtics It may well mean ceding the No. 1 seed to the Bucks, but it is paramount for the Celtics to be as physically ready for the playoff grind as possible.Seven observations on the Celtics while chuckling at the realization that Al Horford made as many 3-pointers against the Knicks last week (six) as he made in the first six seasons of his NBA career.

Celtics Tatum fought through his shooting struggles and made a 3-pointer with a second left to give the Celtics the win.Jayson Tatum didn't make as many shots as he would've liked to on Saturday night, but he made the one that mattered the most - and he called it, too.After Joel Embiid hit a pair of free throws to tie Saturday's Celtics-76ers game up at 107-107, Boston called timeout with 10.1 seconds left to bring the ball to midcourt.

Celtics Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla will have some personnel decisions to make come playoff time.Call it a contender's conundrum.A pleasant problem, if there is such a thing.Or maybe a dilemma of depth.Not quite two full seasons into his tenure as Celtics president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens - who is off to an Auerbachian start when it comes to talent procurement in this savvier era, when no one is trading the rights to elite college prospects for Ice Capades dates - has assembled a roster with more than five players who deserve to be on the court when a game's outcome is at stake.

Celtics "He came up and looked like he was 25 today."Al Horford has tacked a ton of mileage onto his 36-year-old frame.Between the regular season and playoffs, Horford has logged 1,134 games over his 16 seasons of pro basketball.Once a featured frontcourt star, Horford has evolved into a seasoned veteran on the Celtics' roster.

Bruins Orlov has been praised for his multi-dimensional play, which helped the Capitals in the past.The Bruins swung a big trade Thursday to bolster their forward depth and, more importantly, strengthen their top defensive pairings.Boston acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov, along with forward Garnet Hathaway, from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forward Craig Smith and three draft picks, including a first-round pick.

Tyrel Jackson Williams can't say what exactly helps an influencer strike it big: He calls internet fame a "lightning-in-the-bottle effect."But his character in the revival, Sackson, is chasing that acclaim.One of two new cater-waiters on the team - notably, the only Gen-Z addition - Sackson's area of expertise is foreign to the rest, although the dream- and fame-chasing are core to them all.

It is crunch time in the housing industry.Sadly, for some organizations, that means there have been job losses and cutbacks that leave some former employees wondering, "What's next?"Whether you've been affected by industry layoffs or you're future-proofing your career, applying for new positions and interviewing can be daunting.

There could be one of the most significant events of the entire NBA season taking place when the Lakers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Los Angeles on Tuesday, as Austin Reaves said at practice on Monday that he will likely return to the team's lineup for that matchup.What, did you think I was talking about something else?

Austin Reaves said he "feels great", and expects to be probable to play tomorrow vs. OKC after missing the last month and change with a hamstring injury.-

In an era of basketball that is littered with labels like "primary creators," "hubs" and "3 and D'ers", players like Wenyen Gabriel often get clustered within a miscellaneous column.He does not posses a singular skill like shooting, he does not have a definitive position and he is already on his fifth team in just four years.

In the wake of trading for Russell Westbrook, the Lakers were broadly and, almost universally, criticized for the move.From general critiques about the package of players and picks used to acquire him to the well known and understood limitations of Westbrook's game, there were very few - if any - who looked at the deal as a positive for the team.

The Lakers completed their six-game road trip with a 3-3 record, which, all things considered, isn't so bad.The team got out to a hot start with good wins vs. the Bucks and Wizards to begin the trip, but AD catching the flu and then Bron's sore ankle took the team out of rhythm, and led to back-to-back losses.

Obama looking to position himself well in case government shutdown threatened Marco Rubio tries to turn tables on Obama, laying blame at his feet Republicans will likely use their recess to figure out how far to go with this fight Republicans are right in saying President Barack Obama's new economy road show is a rerun full of policy proposals and political attacks the country, and the GOP, have heard before.

In our weekly roundup, we look at train routes through Germany and far beyond, difficult-to-translate German phrases and how much you need to earn in Germany to be considered well-off.Published: 23 January 2023 09:47 CET Travelling by train in Germany and beyond After the stress of the past few years with Covid and a turbulent 2022, people are excited to get out and explore.

After a split of the first two games in Baltimore, Game 3 of the Division Series was a big one.The division champion Yankees sent the reliable Hiroki Kuroda to the mound facing off against the Cinderella story of baseball in 2012: the Wild Card-winning Orioles.It was a game that would swing the series, one that featured surprising managerial moves, huge homers, and some excellent pitching throughout.

Five quarters wasn't enough to decide Sunday's rivalry game between the Washington Commanders and New York Giants.Trailing by a touchdown with three minutes remaining, Washington seemed headed for a loss.Until Taylor Heinicke channeled his inner ... Taylor Heinicke and led a scoring drive.Heinicke had a rough game up until that point, but he was nails leading the two-minute drill.

The Washington Commanders should be sitting here at 5-4 entering a primetime matchup against the undefeated Eagles.Instead, they blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead in Week 9 despite outplaying the Vikings for most of the game.That'll happen when your QB throws an interception to inject new life into the opposition, and you commit some costly penalties in crunch time.

Based on their recent track record, it was really only a matter of time until the Dallas Cowboys stumbled against an inferior opponent.After playing with fire against the Giants, Colts and Texans in consecutive weeks, Mike McCarthy's side choked away a 17-point second half lead to the underdog Jaguars on Sunday.

Tyron Smith has played 10 seasons at left tackle, starting 128 regular-season games, logging 8,251 regular-season snaps and earning eight Pro Bowls.He last played right tackle as a rookie in 2011.But Smith will return from a knee injury on Sunday expected to play right tackle.Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Smith has the position flex to make the move back to the other side.

A looming state requirement that San Francisco present plans to build 82,000 housing units is starting to hit crunch time, and right now our best-case scenario is stuck at shy of 60,000 units.We still have about two more months of left over the extremely boring but nonetheless very high stakes drama known as the San Francisco Housing Element, a requirement that the city submit a credible plan to have 82,000 new housing units built by the year 2031.

The Islanders are quickly making themselves comfortable in some of the most uncomfortable of situations.For the third time in their last sixth games - and for the second consecutive night - Lane Lambert's men overturned a multi-goal third-period deficit to pull out two points; the latest coming on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in a 4-3 thriller over the crosstown-rival Rangers.

HEY THERE, BUSY BEE!I am fully aware that you've been waaaay too busy to fill out that ballot, but it's crunch time.The election is TODAY and you must either drop your ballot in one of the many boxes scattered around the city, OR if you must mail it, make sure it's post-marked TODAY (Nov 8) so it will be counted.

It's the second night of a back to back match up between the Chicago Bulls and the Toronto Raptors tonight, as both teams travelled to Chicago after playing last night in Toronto.If you missed last night, The Raptors had a huge fourth quarter surge to beat the Bulls 113-104 - despite missing Pascal Siakam.

The Toronto Raptors are reeling, just a bit, after a Friday loss to the Sixers that featured something we don't normally see - a disappointing effort.Facing a Philly team without Joel Embiid, the Raptors nevertheless allowed a career-high explosion from playoff heel Tyrese Maxey, who dropped 44 points in a 112-90 win.

Don't let their winless start to the season fool you - the Orlando Magic have some fine young talent.They played the Knicks well Monday night, matching almost every Knick run with one of their own.Certain Knicks teams of the past might have even given away the game in the fourth quarter.But not this team.