About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2020)
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com SPORTS 2B Saturday, January 4, 2020 NBA Atlanta stays close but falls to Boston 109-106 Associated Press Jaylen Brown had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics over come an 18-point, first-quarter deficit against the NBA’s worst team and beat the Atlanta Hawks 109-106 on Friday night. Marcus Smart started in place of the flu- ridden Kemba Walker and scored 15 points, adding nine assists and hitting a 3-pointer that gave Boston a four-point lead with 43 seconds left. Gordon Hayward scored 18, and Enes Ranter had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Trae Young scored 28 points with 10 assists for the Hawks, who beat Orlando on Monday to snap a 10-game losing streak. But Daniel Theis blocked his potential game- winner in the final seconds, setting off a scramble for the loose ball that resulted in a brief shoving match. Smart and Alex Len were given matching technical fouls, then Smart made one of two free throws with 0.3 seconds left to ice the game. EARLY LEADS: John Collins had nine points and six rebounds in the first quarter, when Atlanta opened a 29-11 lead. ELISE AMEND0LAI The Associated Press Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) drives against Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) in the first quarter of Friday’s game in Boston. The Celtics erased almost all of it by half time, scoring the last five points of the first quarter and the first six of the second before heading into the break trailing only 55-53. Hayward hit a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to give Boston an 82-80 lead. The Hawks never led again, though they had a half-dozen chances to do so in the final minutes. NFL Legendary Dolphins coach Shula turns 90 Don Shula has been about longevity for, well, a long time. He entered the NFL as a player in 1951 and retired in 1995 after coach ing the Miami Dolphins for 26 years. He won more games than any coach in league history, a record that has stood for, coincidentally, 26 years. And now he’s turning 90. Shula’s birthday is Satur day. Anderson and others who played for the coach threw a surprise party for him last month, and about 100 people attended. “He said, ‘Where were all of you when I turned 89?’” Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese said. “It was the first time in the entire time I’m known him where he was genuinely surprised,” Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka said. “I think he was very happy. ” By comparison, Satur day’s celebration will be low-key, said Shula’s wife, Mary Anne. “He’s a little tired from all the things going on dur ing the holidays,” she said Friday. “But he’s doing fantastic.” Associated Press RED ■ Continued from 1B of 7-0 runs separated by a couple made shots from Donsha Gaither to briefly threaten the Red Elephant advantage, but 6 quick points from Dixon in the post through the middle of the period put Gainesville back up by double digits and put the comeback bid to rest. Late dunks from Dixon and Gaither put the finish ing touches on the team’s successful start to the region slate. “I just like the cohesive ness right now, and the scoreboard is taking care of itself,” Graham said of Gainesville’s current win ning streak. “One thing has remained constant: the guys have never wavered on their effort level in practice. Believing in what we do is half the battle. Now we’ve got them believing in them selves. We’re on the way.” GAINESVILLE GIRLS 60, HABERSHAM CEN TRAL 53: Freshman guard Zaria Williams scored 22 for the Lady Red Elephants and Lauren Teasley added 18 to lift Gainesville to the win in its first region game of the year. The Lady Red Elephants struggled early in the con test, as Habersham Central jumped out to a 19-5 lead in the first quarter, but 3s from Williams and Shya Martin right before the end of the period helped to slow the Lady Raiders’ momentum. Gainesville battled into the lead right before half time thanks in large part to 3-pointers from Williams, Teasley and Sadie Roach had an 18-6 run that spanned the bulk of the frame. The two teams exchanged a couple of big runs in the third quarter, but a pair of traditional 3-point plays from Teasley and Williams early in the fourth helped to widen the gap. Gainesville finished off the game 4 for 6 from the free throw line in the final minute to close the door on the region win. “The whole level of our play went up tonight,” Gainesville coach Alan Griffin said. “I feel like we played probably our best all around game. Our team defense was so good. I felt like that was really the dif ference for us.” Football/NFL Basketball/NBA Basketball/college Wild-card Playoffs Today’s games Buffalo at Houston, 4:35 p.m. (ABC/ESPN) Tennessee at New England, 8:15 p.m. (CBS) Sunday’s games Minnesota at New Orleans, 1:05 p.m. (FOX) Seattle at Philadelphia, 4:40 p.m. (NBC) Divisional Playoffs Today’s games Philadelphia, Seattle or Minnesota at San Francisco, 4:35 p.m. (NBC) Houston, Buffalo or Tennessee at Baltimore, 8:15 p.m (CBS) Sunday’s games New England, Houston or Buffalo at Kansas City, 3:05 p.m. (CBS) New Orleans, Philadelphia or Seattle at Green Bay, 6:40 p.m. (FOX) Transactions BASEBALL National League WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Agreed to terms with RHP Will Harris on a three-year contract. FOOTBALL National Football League MIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed CB Rashard Causey to a futures contract. MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed CB Marcus Sherels. Placed CB Mike Hughes on IR. Canadian Football League MONTREAL ALOUETTES — Fired president and chief executive officer Patrick Boivin. Named CFL COO David Goldstein the interim president and chief executive officer. COLLEGE CALIFORNIA — Named Bill Musgrave offen sive coordinator. GEORGIA — RB DAndre Swift announced he will enter the NFL draft. MICHIGAN — C Cesar Ruiz announced he will enter the NFL draft. MINNESOTA — Announced wide receiv ers coach Matt Simon will also assume the duties as co-offensive coordinator. Named Mike Sanford Jr. co-offensive coordinator and quar terbacks coach. NEBRSKA — Dismissed RB Maurice Washington. NEW JERSEY CITY — Promoted Danielle Beam to associate director of athletics for student development/SWA. OHIO STATE — DE Chase Young announced he will enter the NFL draft. WAKE FOREST — Suspended men’s sopho more basketball Sharone Wright Jr. and Michael Wynn one game each for “failing to uphold the standards of Wake Forest Basketball.” WASHINGTON — Announced RB Salvon Ahmed will enter the NFL draft. EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pet GB Boston 24 8 .750 — Toronto 23 12 .657 2 1 / 2 Philadelphia 23 13 .639 3 Brooklyn 16 17 .485 8 1 / 2 New York 10 24 .294 15 Southeast Division W L Pet GB Miami 25 10 .714 — Orlando 16 19 .457 9 Charlotte 14 23 .378 12 Washington 10 24 .294 14 1 / 2 Atlanta 7 28 .200 18 Central Division W L Pet GB Milwaukee 31 5 .861 — Indiana 22 13 .629 8 1 / 2 Chicago 13 22 .371 17 1 / 2 Detroit 12 23 .343 18 1 / 2 Cleveland 10 24 .294 20 WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pet GB Houston 23 11 .676 — Dallas 22 12 .647 1 San Antonio 14 19 .424 8 1 / 2 Memphis 13 22 .371 10 1 / 2 New Orleans 11 23 .324 12 Northwest Division W L Pet GB Denver 24 10 .706 — Utah 22 12 .647 2 Oklahoma City 19 15 .559 5 Portland 15 21 .417 10 Minnesota 13 21 .382 11 Pacific Division W L Pet GB L.A. Lakers 27 7 .794 — L.A. Clippers 25 11 .694 3 Phoenix 13 21 .382 14 Sacramento 13 22 .371 14 1 / 2 Golden State 9 27 .250 19 Friday’s Games Boston 109, Atlanta 106 Orlando 105, Miami 85 Portland 122, Washington 103 Philadelphia at Houston, late New York at Phoenix, late New Orleans at L.A. Lakers, late Today’s Games Memphis at L.A. Clippers, 3:30 p.m. Toronto at Brooklyn, 6 p.m. Utah at Orlando, 7 p.m. Indiana at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. Oklahoma City at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m. Boston at Chicago, 8 p.m. Denver at Washington, 8 p.m. Charlotte at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. Detroit at Golden State, 8:30 p.m. San Antonio at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m. New Orleans at Sacramento, 10 p.m. Top 25 standings Friday’s games 1. Gonzaga (15-1) did not play. Next: vs. Pepperdine, Saturday. 2. Duke (12-1) did not play. Next: at Miami, Saturday. 3. Kansas (10-2) did not play. Next: vs. No. 16 West Virginia, Saturday. 4. Oregon (11-3) did not play. Next: at Utah, Saturday. 5. Ohio State (11-3) lost to Wisconsin 61-57. Next: at No. 15 Maryland, Tuesday. 6. Baylor (10-1) did not play. Next: vs. Texas, Saturday. 7. Louisville (11 -2) did not play. Next: vs. No. 18 Florida State, Saturday. 8. Auburn (12-0) did not play. Next: at Mississippi State, Saturday. 9. Memphis (12-1) did not play. Next: vs. Georgia, Saturday. 10. Villanova (10-2) did not play. Next: at Marquette, Saturday. 11. Butler (13-1) did not play. Next: vs. Creighton, Saturday. 12. Michigan (10-3) did not play. Next: at No. 14 Michigan State, Sunday. 13. San Diego State (14-0) did not play. Next: at Utah State, Saturday. 14. Michigan State (11-3) did not play. Next: vs. No. 12 Michigan, Sunday. 15. Maryland (11-2) did not play. Next: vs. Indiana, Saturday. 16. West Virginia (11-1) did not play. Next: at No. 3 Kansas, Saturday. 17. Kentucky (9-3) did not play. Next: vs. Missouri, Saturday. 18. Florida State (12-2) did not play. Next: at No. 7 Louisville, Saturday. 19. Virginia (10-2) did not play. Next: vs. Virginia Tech, Saturday. 20. Dayton (12-2) did not play. Next: at Saint Joseph’s, Sunday. 21. Penn State (11 -2) did not play. Next: vs. No. 23 Iowa, Saturday. 22. Texas Tech (9-3) did not play. Next: vs. Oklahoma State, Saturday. 23. Iowa (10-3) did not play. Next: at No. 21 Penn State, Saturday. 24. Wichita State (12-1) did not play. Next: vs. Mississippi, Saturday. 25. Arizona (10-3) did not play. Next: vs. Arizona State, Saturday. Today’s games No. 6 Baylor at Oklahoma, 5 p.m. No. 17 Gonzaga at San Diego, 5 p.m. No. 24 Minnesota at Nebraska, 6 p.m. TODAY ON TV FOOTBALL BASKETBALL ■ Armed Forces Bowl: Southern Mississippi vs. Tulane, 11:30 a.m., ESPN ■ All-American Bowl: From San Antonio, 1 p.m., NBC ■ NFL Playoffs: Bills vs. Texans, 4:30 p.m., ABC ■ NFL Playoffs: Patriots vs. Titans, 8 p.m., CBS ■ Indiana at Maryland, noon, Fox ■ Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, noon, ESPN2 ■ LSU at Tennessee, noon, ESPNU ■ Creighton at Butler, noon, Fox Sports 1 ■ Villanova at Marquette, 2 p.m., Fox ■ Florida State at Louisville, 2 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Connecticut at South Florida, 2 p.m., ESPNU ■ Notre Dame at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Mississippi at Wichita State, 4 p.m., ESPNU ■ Alabama at Florida, 6 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Iowa State at TCU, 6 p.m., ESPNU ■ Duke at Miami, 8 p.m., ESPN ■ Texas at Baylor, 8 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Bradley at Northern Iowa, 8 p.m., ESPNU ■ Pepperdine at Gonzaga, 10 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Air Force at UNLV, 10 p.m., ESPNU NFL McCaffrey makes history MICHAEL CONROY I The Associated Press Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey (22) is tackled by Indianapolis Colts’ Clayton Geathers (26) and Anthony Walker (50) during the first half of the game Dec. 22 in Indianapolis. Carolina RB also picked as All-Pro at flex position Associated Press Christian McCaffrey’s ver satility and superb statistics helped him to a rare double: The Carolina Panthers run ning back has made The Associated Press NFL All- Pro Team at two positions. McCaffrey rushed for 1,387 yards and 15 touch downs while catching a phe nomenal 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four TDs. He became the third player in NFL history to fin ish with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season, join ing Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk and Roger Craig, who is on the senior ballot for the hall this year. That so impressed the 50 members of a nationwide media panel who regularly cover the NFL for McCaf frey to be voted the first- team running back and the top flex player. The flex position was cre ated in 2016 to reward play ers who epitomize the way offense is now played in pro football. Not one fits that descrip tion better than McCaffrey, whose terrific season came for a 5-11 team. “It means a lot,” says McCaffrey, a third-year pro. ”It is a big honor and that is something that you don’t work hard for it, but when it comes you are really grate ful and appreciative.” McCaffrey’s achieve ment was complemented by the unanimous selections of New Orleans receiver Michael Thomas and New England cornerback Ste- phon Gilmore. It’s the second straight season both made the squad, Thomas doing it with an NFL-record 149 catches, Gilmore anchoring the league’s top-ranked defense. Ravens sensation Lamar Jackson, who in his second season led Baltimore to a league-best 14-2 mark, was chosen as quarterback. Jackson and McCaffrey were among 14 first-time All-Pros. Rams safety Eric Weddle, who witnessed the jukes and jaunts of Jackson firsthand in a 45-6 Ravens romp. “When you get on the field and you get to the speed of what they run, it’s tough,” says Weddle, a former All-Pro. ”1 mean, some of the plays I didn’t know who had the ball because they run it so efficiently.” This special class includes several multiple All-Pros: Rams DT Aaron Donald and Seahawks LB Bobby Wag ner, each for a fifth time; Cowboys right guard Zack Martin and Ravens kicker Justin Tucker for a fourth time. Bears kick returner Cor- darrelle Patterson made his third All-Pro roster, as did Eagles center Jason Kelce and Texans receiver DeAn- dre Hopkins. All-Pros for the second time included Thomas, Gilmore, Cardinals edge rusher Chandler Jones, Steelers DT Cam Heyward, Patriots special teamer Mat thew Slater, Colts left guard Quenton Nelson, and Ravens defensive back Marcus Peters, who shared that spot with the teammate Marlon Humphrey and the Chiefs’ Tyrann Mathieu (second appearance). Thomas, Gilmore, Nel son, Hopkins, Kelce, Martin, Donald, Wagner and Tucker repeated from 2018. The other newcomers were Humphrey; 49ers tight end George Kittle; Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley; Saints right tackle Ryan Ramczyk; Steel ers edge rusher T.J. Watt; Saints linebacker Dema- rio Davis; Vikings LB Eric Kendricks; Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White; safeties Jamal Adams of the Jets and Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Steelers; Titans punter Brett Kern; and Saints punt returner Deonte Harris, the only rookie on the team. “When you got here and people start talking about All-Pro and that’s the best of the best, you’re like ‘Pro Bowl is cool, but I need to get the best of the best.,” says Wagner, who led the NFL in tackles this season. “As you get older you kind of understand how hard these things are to get. And so you don’t take any of them for granted and are very grate ful for your health, grateful for your teammates. As you get older you reflect and you appreciate things differently that you might not have had when you were young.” Ramczyk once played Division III college ball. Now look at him. “It’s just pretty crazy that I was at a little D-3 school and I’m like, ‘If I’m going to play this game, I’m going to play to be the best I pos sibly can be,” he says, add ing the All-Pro designation is “pretty awesome. It’s pretty cool.” Not surprisingly, Balti more led the All-Pro Team with five selections, while New Orleans had four, Bal timore and Pittsburgh each had three. League’s TV ratings get a spike second straight year Associated Press The NFL goes into the playoffs with its regular-sea- son ratings having gone up for the second straight year, the first time the league has seen back-to-back increases since 2010. The league’s 100th season was its most viewed in four years as games averaged 16.5 million viewers on tele vision. That is a 5% increase over 2018, according to Nielsen. Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs his own sports tele vision consulting company, attributes the continued increases to the emergence of younger players as well as the league becoming year- around programming. “The league is quite for tunate with young players who have had tremendous publicity in college doing quite well. They’ve also had some good games and have largely avoided off-field controversy,” he said. “The NFL has also learned from the NBA’s playbook of stay ing on the sports page and being relevant during the offseason with the combine and draft keeping them on the front pages for several months.” The NFL said in a release that female viewers were up 5 % over last season and that women have accounted for at least 35% of the audience for each of the past three years. Digital streaming continues to see significant gains with a 51% jump. The league reported an average of 487,000 online viewers via different packages. One constant is that Dallas continues to be a big draw. The Cowboys had three of the five most-watched games and they had the top game on every pack age except “Monday Night Football.” Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day game against Buffalo on CBS was the top game at 32.6 million. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” once again saw the biggest gains with an 8% increase for the second straight year. The 17-game package over 16 weeks aver aged 12.57 million viewers. The most-watched Mon day night game was Seat tle’s overtime win over San Francisco on Nov. 11 (16.73 million). That was also the highest viewership for a Monday night game since Dallas vs. Detroit in 2016. Fox Sports - which has this year’s Super Bowl -- averaged 19.24 million viewers for its Sunday games, a 7% increase. The “America’s Game of the Week” continues to be the top window, averaging 24.36 million. Fox had this sea son’s most watched Sunday afternoon game as the Nov. 24 matchup between Dallas and New England drew 29.9 million. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” had its best sea son since 2015, averaging 20.5 million (5% increase). The Sept. 29 game between Dallas and New Orleans led the way at 24.2 million. Last week’s matchup between San Francisco and Seattle averaged 22.8 million, mak ing it the most viewed game in the package’s 14-year his tory between a pair of West Coast teams. CBS and the Fox/NFL Network Thursday night package each had 4% increases. The Thursday night package averaged 15.4 million with Dallas vs. Chicago on Dec. 5 being the most-viewed game (18.8 million). CBS averaged 17.22 mil lion for its best regular sea son since 2016. The league’s packages don’t begin to expire until after the 2021 season, but negotiations on extensions with all of the league’s broadcast partners could begin soon. “The NFL continues to be the Tiffany of sports programming. It is such an important property for the networks and carriers that the competition will be just as strong even if the ratings were flat,” Pilson said. “The major sports properties have become even more efficient in delivering audiences to advertisers. More efficient is more valuable.”
