Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 2-19-19

Sports
Kevin Durant Wins MVP Leading Epic NBA All-Star Game Rally
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Offseason Free Agents Options
Steelers Consider Making Le’Veon Bell’s Exit Very Messy
The Steelers don’t have to let Le’Veon Bell walk without getting anything for him.
There is a complicated av- enue they can take with the dis- gruntled running back that will add yet another chapter to this saga.
Pittsburgh can place a tran- sition tag on Bell, which would allow them to match any offer he receives on the open market. The tag would cost $14.5 mil- lion this season, and allow the Steelers a chance to at least get something for Bell in a trade. It’s an option they are strongly considering and ready to take, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Now, it is not simple. For the Steelers to tag Bell and then trade him, they would need him to sign the transition tag.
LE'VEON BELL
Considering the poor relation- ship between him, his agent Adisa Bakari and the team, that is no given. Bell, 26, opted not to play this past season without a contract extension after Pittsburgh put the fran- chise tag on him for a second straight year.
Hamidou Diallo Wins NBA Slam Dunk Contest
Kevin Durant puts up a shot for Team LeBron during the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.
HAMIDOU DIALLO
It was a day of winning for the University of Kentucky Athletics program.
The softball and baseball teams got road wins, and the basketball team dominated the No. 1 team in the country at Rupp Arena.
However, it wasn’t just cur- rent Kentucky Wildcats ath- letes getting big-time wins.
Former Kentucky basketball guard and now Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Hamidou Diallo won the 2019 NBA slam dunk contest Saturday night, defeating Knicks guard Dennis Smith, Jr.
Hornets forward Miles Bridges and Hawks forward John Collins.
Diallo put together a show for the Charlotte crowd that included a dunk over all-time great and seven-footer Shaquille O’Neal.
LeBron James’ slumping Lakers are below .500 and out of playoff position.
But his star-studded, hand- picked Team LeBron squad led by Kevin Durant showed resilience at Sunday’s All-Star Game, rallying from a 20- point first-half deficit to defeat Team Giannis, 178-164, at Spectrum Center.
If only James could take some of these guys back to Los Angeles.
Kevin Durant won All- Star Game MVP honors, scor- ing 31 points on 6-of-9 from 3-point range for Team Le- Bron in his 10th All-Star ap- pearance. Maybe next February, the free-agent Du- rant could be at the All-Star
Game representing the Knicks.
Durant was 3-of-3 from 3- point range in the fourth quar- ter to keep Team LeBron comfortably ahead late.
“We definitely talked about it at halftime,’’ Durant said. “We gave up [95 points in the first half]. Coach Mike Mal- one said the record is 194 and we don’t won’t to get that put on us. Guys just buckled down and wanted to win after a while.’’
There were no Knicks or former Knicks in the contest. Nets guard D’Angelo Rus- sell, who played just 12 min- utes for Team Giannis, finished with six points and three assists.
Harris Knocks Off Curry In 3-Point Contest
Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris defeated Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the 3-Point Contest on All-Star Saturday Night at Spectrum Center.
Harris made nine in a row on the second and third racks and again mopped up on the moneyball rack with all five going in for a 26-point round. He reached the finals with 25 points in the opening round.
Curry, who made the three-man finals along with Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield, fell short de- spite making nine of his first 10 to open the championship round. He finished with 24 points in the finals.
GERALD MCCOY
DESEAN JACKSON
Tiger Woods Fades At Riviera: 'I Got Tired'
Twenty-eight holes under tough conditions Sunday at de- manding Riviera Country Club was just too much for Tiger Woods.
"I got tired," he admitted to reporters (via PGATour.com ) after fading with four bogeys in his last 10 holes at the Genesis Open.
With the temperature in the 40s and wind gusts approach- ing 30 mph, Woods finished at 6 under, eight shots back of winner J.B. Holmes.
"I don't know if I'm the only one, but I definitely felt it today. Wind, cold. I was at 10 (under) and I slipped four shots coming in. That's the way it goes,” he said.
Suffice it to say he wasn't the only one. Justin Thomas, the tournament leader for most of the way, shot a 75. Adam Scott carded a 76 and Jordan Spieth finished with an 81 to cap a tournament that battled the elements from Thursday on.
“The weather, the long days
TIGER WOODS
and just the temperature, try- ing to be focused for long, long periods of time, it took a toll on a lot of us out there today,” Woods said.
Woods said he planned to take Monday off ("The sticks aren't coming out of the travel bag," he joked in a post-round standup) and won't start trying to prepare until Tuesday for his trip this week to the WGC- Mexico Championship in the high altitude of Mexico City.
At the moment, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only have $16.4 million in cap space after the release on Vinny Curry. While it does not seem like the team has a lot of room for free agent sign- ings or flexibility to re-sign current players set to hit the open market, the Bucs have a lot of flexible contracts that can be cut with no penalties.
Some of those names that could be cut in order to free cap space to fill other holes include punter Bryan Anger, Desean Jackson, Demar Dotson, and Ger- ald McCoy. With all of
these players over 30, this is both an attempt to clear cap space and for the team to make an effort to get younger. If all of the above players are cut by the Bucs, over $30 million will be cleared in cap space, which would put the team with around $46 million to play with.
With their major needs at safety, offensive tackle, and along the defensive line, the Bucs only have six picks in the upcoming draft to add rookies to the roster, so holes will have to be filled through free agency.
JOE HARRIS
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019