#defense

#defense

The defense kept the odds in the defending champs' favor. The Eagles' revamped pass rush made Jordan Love uncomfortable all night, helping to hold the Packers scoreless through three quarters for just the third time under head coach Matt LaFleur. Philly's offense showed a little life late by the way of a 36-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith, and that was enough to push the Eagles to 7-2 as they ready for another heavyweight bout against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Not that it mattered to Butler, who recognized and appreciated all of the less flashy things Horford has still brought to the game. "As great of screens as he sets for me, and protecting everybody at the rim and making all the right plays, whenever he's open, he gets the ball for sure," Butler said. Horford rewarded Butler's faith repeatedly. Each of the 39-year-old center's four 3-point makes came off Butler assists.

I think what separates a lot of players from this level to the NBA level is, can you do it consistently? Everyone knows what your identity is. It's the players that can do it every single night, who are the ones that get opportunities. I'm excited for our group. I still think we haven't scratched the surface for how well we can be defensively. But this was another awesome step for us.

We lost this game at the defensive end, Pitino said. They (Alabama) were the better basketball team tonight.

Doncic matched his career high for steals in a regular-season game Wednesday. The guard averaging 40 points per game claimed his defense was the only thing he did well on a night when he finished one rebound short of a triple-double. While collecting 35 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, he was an inefficient nine-for-27 from the field and four-for-11 from three.

To the fans, perfection is not only boring, it's useless. It defeats the purpose of caring in the first place. The reason that baseball is interesting at all is because it's hard, because it can never be played perfectly. The value of sports is not in watching perfection, but in watching players try to achieve perfection while inevitably failing, just like the rest of us do in real life every day.

Raptors rookie Collin Murray-Boyles returned to the lineup after missing the first two games for the Raptors. He finished with 0 points, 2 rebounds and 0/4 from the field in 13 minutes. Scottie Barnes put up 33 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal in 33 minutes but it wasn't enough. Sandro Mamukelashvili added 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench.

Duncan Robinson left the Miami Heat this summer in a sign-and-trade with the Pistons, agreeing to a three-year, $48 million deal. Detroit has played only four games this season, but fans have already gotten a taste of the Duncan Robinson experience. He scored in double-digits in one of those four games, finishing with 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three in the Pistons' 115-111 win against the Rockets. It came at a good time, as in Detroit's season opener, Robinson had only two points on 0-of-5 shooting from deep in 32 minutes. In the Pistons' previous two games (a win over the Celtics and a loss to the Cavaliers), Robinson shot a combined 4-of-12 from three for 16 points (eight in each game).

Pleasantries weren't the point of the conference call with Mick Cronin. The UCLA basketball coach asked the player who could help his team contend for a national title about his plans after college. That was easy enough. Dent told Cronin that he wanted to play in the NBA. OK, Cronin responded, let's say you're playing the Lakers tomorrow. Who would you guard?

That legendary Jose Mourinho side strolled to victory in the Premier League title race that year, conceding a record low number of just 15 goals in 38 games. The previous record had been Arsenal's, when they conceded just 17 goals in the 1998/99 campaign, but it looks like the Gunners could reclaim the record if they carry on performing as well as they have this season.

The biggest play was the last one. With one out in the ninth and Toronto's Addison Barger at second base, representing the tying run, Andrés Giménez sliced a broken-ball liner to left field. The Dodgers' Kiké Hernández got a great jump on the ball and made a running catch, followed by a poor throw to second in an attempt to double off Barger. The ball took a tricky hop but Rojas stuck with it, catching the ball behind his left knee and hanging on as the retreating Barger knocked him to the ground. Rojas rolled on his back and pumped him right arm three times in celebration.

In a season that started with infield candidates ranging from Alex Bregman, Trevor Story, Kristian Campbell, Triston Casas, Rafael Devers, and Marcelo Mayer, David Hamilton managed to make it into 91 games. That's way too many! His large presence in box scores is the byproduct of a tumultuous year in the infield. David Hamilton is fast, and actually plays good defense when used at second base. If he's the last guy on your roster, he's not a bad guy to have around.