NBA rescinds Green, Nene Game 2 technicals - ESPN

12:45 PM ET

The NBA has rescinded technical fouls called Tuesday night against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and Houston Rockets center Nene, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

The league's decision means Green's total number of postseason technical fouls has been reduced from four to three.

Seven technicals in one postseason span results in an automatic one-game suspension.

The technicals were called against Green and Nene late in the third quarter of Game 2 between the Warriors and Rockets, when the players exchanged a few words and were quickly given double technicals by official Ed Malloy.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game that the team would speak to the NBA in hopes they would rescind the technical foul before Game 3 on Saturday.

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2019-05-01 16:08:22Z
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Liverpool Fans Shove Old Man Into A Fountain, Generally Wreak Havoc At Barcelona Plaza - Deadspin

Photo: Michael Regan (Getty Images)

This should go without saying, but if you are part of a group of traveling soccer fans, please do not push elderly people into fountains. That’s a lesson not learned by a group of Liverpool fans in Barcelona for the Champions League semifinal, who played true to stereotypes by rampaging through the Catalan city, causing mayhem and insulting the populace.

The most vivid example of this is a video that made the rounds on Twitter on Tuesday showing someone shoving an old man into a fountain at the Plaça Reial, with red-clad fans calling the man “Mr. Miyagi” and cackling:

The old guy wasn’t the only bystander to suffer the moronic wrath of what appears to be the same fan, who also dunked another man into the water:

According to AS, six Liverpool fans were detained by Barcelona police in connection to the incident, which devolved into fans throwing beer cans at police officers when they descended on the plaza to break up the hooliganism. The mayhem was not contained to the plaza, either. At a nearby hotel, Liverpool fans reportedly attacked two hotel workers, leaving them in need of medical attention, according to Mundo Deportivo. Two other people were injured in the fighting, with one coming away with a broken nose.

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Liverpool CEO Peter Moore put out a statement on Twitter after the incident, lightly condemning the actions without addressing them specifically:

The club itself also put out a statement on its website, using harsher words (“clearly totally unacceptable” and “will not be tolerated” is more effective than a plea for respect) and promising to work with both Merseyside Police and Spanish authorities to identify the culprits.

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While not as destructive as the England/Russia kerfuffle in Marseille during the 2016 Euros, Tuesday’s incident seems in some way worse due to its complete one-sidedness. At least in Marseille, fans were fighting each other. Pushing an old man into a fountain and then racially abusing him, throwing beer cans at police, and attacking hotel workers is a sure way to not just wreak havoc, but also to continue the age-old stereotype that English tourists, soccer ones especially, are the worst.

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2019-05-01 14:23:00Z
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Warriors vs. Rockets Game 2 score, takeaways: Golden State's balanced effort bests Houston to take 2-0 series lead - CBS Sports

The second-round series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets has already had plenty of drama, and it continued in the first half of Game 2, when both Stephen Curry and James Harden suffered minor injuries. 

While both players ultimately returned to the game, it was the Rockets who made the late charge to put themselves in a position to steal home-court advantage in this best-of-seven series. However, in the end, it wasn't enough as the defending champions held on for a 115-109 victory. 

With the series shifting from Oakland to Houston for Game 3, there will be plenty of pressure on both sides to ensure that they pick up the next win in this series in hopes of punching their ticket to the Western Conference finals. 

CBS Sports will be with you throughout Game 2 between the Warriors and Rockets. If you are unable to view the live application below, please click here.

If you missed anything from tonight's game, get caught up here.

Here's everything you need to know about Warriors vs. Rockets Game 2

Balanced scoring from both sides

The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors have two of the most talented rosters in the NBA and they put that on display on Tuesday night as the title contenders received big-time performances from their best players. 

In the end, there were 11 players in total who scored in double figures, all of the starters on each team eclipsed the 10-point plateau, with James Harden and Kevin Durant each recording 29 points for their respective side. 

Rockets, Warriors take advantage of 3-point line

After a less than spectacular effort from beyond the arc in Game 1, the Rockets and Warriors each converted on more than 10 attempts from the three-point line in Tuesday night's showdown in Oakland as the two sides combined for 28 makes from the perimeter in the game itself. 

Taking care of the basketball was paramount in the end

Both of these teams are more than capable of converting on the long ball, as we have seen throughout the year, but what mattered the most on Tuesday night was their ability to take care of the basketball and, in the end, it was the team that turned it over the least (12 for the Warriors compared to 17 for the Rockets) which came out on top.

How to watch Game 3

• Date: Saturday, May 4
  
• Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
  
• Location: Toyota Center -- Houston, Texas
• TV channel: ABC
  
• Live stats: GameTracker  
• Online streaming: WATCHESPN  
• Odds: N/A

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2019-05-01 14:14:00Z
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Giannis Antetokounmpo Wanted More. That Was Bad for the Celtics. - The New York Times

MILWAUKEE — The Bucks were finally starting to feel good about themselves. They had a modest lead against the Boston Celtics, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was finding his familiar rhythm: the pep, the bounce, the power, the poise.

But when Antetokounmpo buried his first 3-pointer midway through third quarter on Tuesday, he looked more relieved than triumphant. It was enough of a momentum-building play that Celtics Coach Brad Stevens had to call timeout. But there was Antetokounmpo: jogging slowly toward halfcourt with his head bowed, talking to himself.

Antetokounmpo clearly wanted more — more of a lead, more winning plays, more of everything that has made him so special this season. On Tuesday, as he emerged from a short-lived funk to help lift the Bucks to a 123-102 victory in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, he also showed the continuing growth of his game.

“The one thing about Giannis is, he’s always demanding a lot out of himself,” Bucks guard Pat Connaughton said. “You don’t get to be that good if you don’t.”

Antetokounmpo finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds as the Bucks tied the best-of-seven series at one game apiece. He had struggled on Sunday in Game 1, scoring 22 points while shooting 7 of 21 from the field in a 112-90 loss.

Before Game 2, Antetokounmpo sounded almost conflicted. He said he knew that he had to be more assertive, but he also wanted to involve his teammates more. In the loss, he had been double- and triple-teamed by defenders whenever he got the ball. So maybe, he said, he needed to pass more — or at least to make quicker decisions.

He also received a fairly urgent phone call from his older brother Thanasis, a former member of the Knicks who now plays pro basketball in Greece. The message: You need to play harder.

“I play for my family,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said after practice on Monday. “So when my family comes and says: ‘Giannis, come on, man. You’ve got to go. You’ve got to be the aggressor, make the right pass.’ That kind of stabs you in your heart. But at the end of the day, it’s the truth, and I know they’re always going to tell me the truth.”

In fairness, Connaughton said, Antetokounmpo’s teammates had not exactly done him any favors in the series opener. It was not so much the outside shots they missed, though they missed most of them. (As a team, the Bucks shot 34.8 percent from the field in the loss.)

“It was all the stuff that led to us not hitting shots,” Connaughton said. “It was the way we didn’t get spacing. It was the way we didn’t get to the deep corners. If you look at the film, there’s literally four guys in a row standing at the free throw line defending Giannis. It was a wall. And how do you combat that? By making sure our spacing is right.”

On Tuesday, the Bucks made all the necessary corrections, and Antetokounmpo helped himself by being far more decisive. The ball did not stop with him at the top of the key. If he felt defensive pressure coming, he found teammates like Khris Middleton (28 points) and Eric Bledsoe (21 points) on the perimeter — or he drove hard at the basket. Antetokounmpo did not do any tiptoeing in Game 2.

“Obviously, I think that’s more what we’re accustomed to seeing,” Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer said of the victory. “I liked our spirit, our activity and our competitiveness up and down the roster.”

For his part, Antetokounmpo said he was awaiting another phone call from his brother.

“He’ll probably be proud,” he said.

The Celtics, meanwhile, came unglued, particularly in the third quarter as the Bucks assembled a 24-2 run to blow the game open. Kyrie Irving, Boston’s All-Star point guard, shot 4 of 18 from the field and finished with 9 points. Jayson Tatum was invisible, scoring 5 points. And Gordon Hayward attempted just five shots off the bench.

“Everyone knew Game 1 was not going to repeat itself,” Stevens said, adding: “They deserved to win.”

Antetokounmpo, Stevens said, inflicted a lot of his damage by getting “downhill” with the full force of his 6-foot-11 frame. But he also displayed his versatility by stepping outside and sinking a pair of 3-pointers during Milwaukee’s run in the third quarter.

Now in his sixth season, Antetokounmpo, 24, has been slowly working to add the 3-point shot to his repertoire, with mixed results — and that might be putting it generously. He attempted a career-high 2.8 3-pointers a game this season, but connected on just 25.6 percent of them.

Connaughton, who often joined Antetokounmpo for late-night shooting sessions this season, said it was all a matter of confidence. Antetokounmpo has already developed excellent mechanics. Even without a reliable jumper, he is difficult to defend. Adding one would make the job nearly impossible.

“The adjustment for him is understanding, ‘I can shoot,’” Connaughton said. “Sometimes the hardest shot is when people are giving you space to shoot, because it messes with your head. And for 23 years of his life, people have been telling him, ‘Go to the basket! Go to the basket!’ Now, he’s got to adjust to saying, ‘Oh, I can shoot. This is a part of my game.’”

After he made his first 3-pointer against the Celtics on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo expressed relief. After the second one, he did a little dance and shimmied his shoulders.

Soon enough, he was looking ahead to Game 3 on Friday in Boston.

“Every game,” Antetokounmpo said, “is going to get tougher and tougher and tougher.”

Perhaps for his opponents most of all.

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2019-05-01 12:20:42Z
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Stipe Miocic finally gets his rematch against Daniel Cormier - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic’s patience will pay off in a big way this summer.

ESPN reports that Brock Lesnar has informed the UFC he plans to retire from mixed martial arts, effectively cancelling a potential showdown between Lesnar and current UFC champ Daniel Cormier.

That clears the way for Miocic to get his rematch with Cormier on Aug. 17. UFC president Dana White confirmed the rematch and the date to ESPN on Tuesday night. Miocic followed suit with a Twitter post insisting he’s “ready for a fight…”

Miocic lost his UFC Heavyweight Championship to Cormier via first-round knockout in July 2018. Prior to that, Miocic had set the record for the most consecutive UFC Heavyweight title defenses in history.

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2019-05-01 10:23:00Z
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Kyrie Irving, Celtics confident they'll bounce back in Game 3 - WEEI

MILWAUKEE -- For a team that suffered from a 21-point loss against the Bucks in Game 2 of their best-of-7 series, the Celtics seemed rather breezy throughout their postgame interviews.

After becoming the only undefeated team in the playoffs (4-0), Boston dropped its first game of the against the Bucks in a blowout fashion before players like Kyrie Irving, Marcus Morris and Al Horford spoke briefly about what went wrong in the second half of their 123-102 loss, and gave reporters the sense that the defeat simply boiled down to the Bucks making shots. 

"They came out with a sense of urgency," Morris said. "Played well, they made shots. They shot 50 threes, they made 20-something or so. That was probably the game right there."

But what did the Bucks do differently in the second half -- where they went off on a 31-4 run -- that blew the Celtics out of the water before the final frame?

"It wasn't anything differently than what we saw in the first half. I just think they were scrambling, playing frantic defense and we got a little frantic, took some quick shots that led out to transition baskets," Irving said. "We gave them some pretty easy plays but they made the right reads as well. Like I said, when you attempt 47 threes, it's absurd in an NBA game but that's the way they've played all season. We just have to be ready to weather the storm. Be ready for Game 3."

Did the Celtics lack a sense of urgency against the Bucks?

"I felt like we were playing at a high level, just have to give them credit," Horford answered. "They played better than us tonight.

"We have to look at the film. Sometimes you look at things one way, look at film and it's a little different. But we have to defend the 3-point better, that's one thing I can tell you and go from there." 

Perimeter defense is definitely a good place to start. The Celtics allowed 20 3-pointers, which equated to slightly less than half of Milwaukee's point total (123). Khris Middleton (7-of-10) led the way while Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez connected on a combined 6-of-9 from deep. 

Boston failed to close out on the Bucks' shooters in the second half the same way we saw it defend the arc in Game 1, coupled with the defensive approach Milwaukee had entering the second half -- where it strung together defensive stops and turnovers that were converted into easy buckets. The Bucks made defensive switches after halftime with a primary focus in mind -- shadow Irving and throw bodies at Horford. 

The pick-and-roll plays between the two veterans established open shots and easy lanes for their teammates throughout the first two quarters until Ersan Ilyasova, who pressured Horford and George Hill, who stayed in front of Irving, returned five minutes into the second half and led the defense that eventually triggered a shooting spree for Milwaukee's shooters.

The second-half adjustments triggered a whopping 31-4 Bucks run. 

"They've got the guys that can do that," Brad Stevens said after the game. "They did it last year, a lot. That's an easy thing for them to adjust to. I thought they did a really good job of it. They even switched Mirotic a little bit, switched Ilyasova a little bit and kept Lopez as a protector. That's where they've been great all year. They have a lot of versatility, they have a lot of defensive versatility. Everybody knew Game 1 was not going to repeat itself. They did a good job of owning the space on both ends of the court.

"They put us where they wanted to when they were on defense and when they were on offense, they took us where they wanted to."

Add MVP-candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo to the fire and the Celtics found themselves on the wrong end of a blowout. The Greek Freak scored 23 of his 29 points in the second and third frame on 7-of-12 attempts, including 2-of-3 from deep and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. 

The trio of Giannis, Middleton and Bledsoe combined for 78 points, carrying the offense while the Bucks collectively buckled down defensively throughout the second half. However, Irving can't wait to respond in Game 3, after his lackluster 9 points on 4-of-18 performance. 

He's said it plenty of times throughout the regular season and reminded reporters once again after Game 2 -- Irving relishes in these moments and has already moved onto Friday night at TD Garden, where the Celtics will look to grab a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series.

"This is what I signed up for," Irving said. "This is what Boston traded me for. Being able to go back, get back in the trenches, get ready for another battle on Friday -- that's what you live for. Basketball is fun when it comes like this and you have to respond and this is the type of basketball you want to be playing this time of year. We'll look at film but I already have a clue of the way I want to play going into Game 3." 

Related:

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2019-05-01 08:47:26Z
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Harden 'can barely see' after injury to both eyes - ESPN

3:36 AM ET

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Houston Rockets star James Harden said he "can barely see" after getting hit in both eyes Tuesday night during the first quarter of a 115-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals series.

Harden, who had bleeding in both eyes and suffered a laceration on his left eyelid, returned in the second quarter and finished with 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting as the Warriors took a 2-0 series lead.

Harden's eyes were especially sensitive to light. He squinted and shielded his eyes repeatedly during the game and throughout his postgame news conference. He said his vision was a problem after taking an inadvertent shot from Golden State's Draymond Green and didn't know if it would continue to be an issue when the series resumes Saturday in Houston.

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"It's pretty blurry right now," Harden said. "Hopefully it gets better day by day."

Warriors star guard Stephen Curry also briefly left the game because of an injury in the first quarter, dislocating the middle finger on his left hand when he tried to tip the ball away from Rockets center Clint Capela. Curry missed a few minutes while getting an X-ray, which was negative, and a tape job on the finger.

Curry scored 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting (3-of-13 from 3-point range) in the win.

"It looked bad when he came off the floor," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I looked at the finger and I was just hoping it was a dislocation and not a break. And fortunately, that's what it turned out to be. As far as whether it bothered him, you can ask him that. I thought he did some great things for us and fueled us; and may not have shot the 3 that well, but played a great game for us."

Said Curry: "It hurts, but it's all right. Didn't break anything. Fortunate, and some higher power's looking out for me on that one. Just gotta deal with pain and hopefully, before Saturday, that goes away and will be fine."

Curry didn't sound concerned the injury would limit him moving forward, especially since the Warriors will get a full day off Wednesday. Curry even joked that his block on Capela in the second half, with his injured left hand, was worth a little extra pain.

"I ain't got a block like that in a minute, so I'll take the pain for that for sure," he said.

Harden was hurt when Green's left hand smacked him in the face a little more than five minutes into the game. The contact, which did not result in a foul call, occurred while Harden was attempting to rebound his own miss after driving to the basket, with Green also pursuing the loose ball.

Harden remained facedown in the lane for the entire ensuing possession for the Warriors, who took advantage of the 5-on-4 situation by getting Kevin Durant a good look at a corner 3-pointer, which he swished. The Rockets called timeout with 6 minutes, 27 seconds left to allow Harden to receive medical treatment.

As Harden walked across the court to the Rockets' locker room with members of Houston's athletic training staff, Green approached him to apologize.

"I made a mistake and hit him in his eye," Green said. "Just [wanted] to check on him. It's not about hurting anybody out here. So many times, people forget that when a guy [has] an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It's not just about this game."

Harden remained in the locker room until returning to the Rockets' bench with 9:38 left in the second quarter. He checked back into the game at the 7:09 mark of the quarter. Houston managed to trim the deficit from nine to five points in the time that Harden missed.

"He got raked pretty good in the eyes, but that's him," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I mean, I didn't have a doubt that he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I'm sure he would have loved to play better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great."

Harden's issues with his vision were not evident in his performance. He actually had his highest field goal percentage of this postseason (9-of-19, 47.4 percent) despite missing his first three shots before suffering the injury.

All four of Harden's assists occurred after the injury.

"I can barely see," said Harden, who took some eye drops to numb the pain. "Just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates."

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

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2019-05-01 07:19:12Z
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