Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 11-20-18

Sports
Steelers Pack Up Le'Veon Bell's Locker After Player Raid
Russell Wilson
Le’Veon Bell forfeited the season and $14.5 million when he failed to report to the team by Tuesday's fran- chise tag deadline to play in 2018.
Center and team captain Maurkice Pouncey said Bell's items will likely be shipped directly to the player, as is customary with such roster turnover.
Bell's locker went un- touched for more than two months but is now com- pletely empty a day after a handful of players sifted through his stuff for cleats, shirts and even mixtape CDs.
The ransack was not at all malicious but might have been therapeutic, said cor- nerback Mike Hilton, who added that everyone in the locker room likes Bell.
"Everybody was tired of talking about it and wonder- ing when he was going to show up or not," Hilton said. "[You'd see the locker]
backer Bud Dupree held up two pairs of Bell's Jor- dan cleats and said into the camera, "Appreciate the cleats, my guy. I wish you success, my guy."
The team was upset with Bell when he didn't show Week 1 but moved on with James Conner, who is among the league leaders in rushing yards and touch- downs.
Guard David DeCastro appreciates Bell's greatness as a Steeler -- averaging 128.9 total yards per game over five seasons -- and hopes he scores a massive contract in free agency. Bell is sitting out the year to pre- serve his health.
"It's a team sport and a business. It's tough. You can see both sides," DeCastro said. "No one's really wrong or right. That's what's really tough. I wish Le'Veon all the best, and I hope he gets all the money he can get.”
Past Green Bay
LE’VEON BELL
and think, OK, maybe he's going to show up. Now it's all understood, and everybody can really get past it."
Hilton, who secured one pair of Jordan cleats, said lockers are typically full of free football apparel that Bell probably wouldn't have needed.
In a video published by ESPN on Wednesday, line-
Russell Wilson threw for 225 yards and his 15-yard touchdown pass to Ed Dick- son with 5:08 left was the difference in the Seattle Sea- hawks’ 27-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thurs- day night.
In a key matchup in the race for the two NFC wild- card spots, Seattle (5-5) snapped a two-game losing streak by overcoming an early 14-3 deficit.
Wilson was shaky at times early game, but was outstanding in the fourth quarter, capping the winning drive by recognizing a blitz and hitting Dickson quickly for his second TD pass of the night. Seattle still has not lost three straight games since the middle of the 2011 sea- son.
Aaron Rodgers had a huge first half for Green Bay
RUSSELL WILSON
(4-5-1) and threw for 332 yards, but the Packers had just one scoring drive in the second half, helped by a 57- yard strike from Rodgers to Davante Adams.
Rodgers threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half, but never got the ball back after Green Bay punted with 4:20 left.
Caps Seattle’s Rally
LeBron James Passes Wilt
Draymond Green Talks
Chamberlain For 5th On NBA
To Kevin Durant, Will
All-Time Scoring List
Never 'Change Who I Am'
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James moved into fifth place on the NBA's all- time scoring list, climbing past Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.
Entering Wednesday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, James needed 39 points to claim the fifth spot from Chamberlain. He achieved the feat with a free throw in the fourth quarter and finished with 44.
The next step up the scor- ing chart holds a significant symbolic importance.
Assuming he reaches 32,293 career points, James will overtake Michael Jor- dan for fourth place.
NBA All-Time Scoring List Top Five
1. Kareem Abdul-Jab- bar (38,387)
2. Karl Malone (36,928)
3. Kobe Bryant (33,643)
4. Michael Jordan
WILT CHAMBERLAIN AND LEBRON JAMES
All-Star forward Dray- mond Green said on Thurs- day he believes the Golden State Warriors will grow stronger after his emotional exchanges with teammate Kevin Durant both during and following Monday night's loss to the LA Clippers.
Speaking for the first time since serving a one-game sus- pension for "conduct detri- mental to the team," Green offered a lengthy statement about the incident and did not take follow-up questions.
"Kevin and I spoke. We're moving forward," Green said. "I think there's no secret that I am an emotional player. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I play with that same emotion. Sometimes it gets the best of me and it doesn't work to my favor.
"I am going to live with that. Because it works in my favor to the good, as my ré- sumé speaks, and this team's résumé speaks, more so than it doesn't. So I am never going tochangewhoIam.Iam going to approach the game the same way that I always do.
KEVIN DURANT AND DRAYMOND GREEN
And like I said, we will con- tinue to move forward."
In the wake of the team- imposed suspension, Green said he spent time reading dif- ferent stories regarding spec- ulation the argument may lead to Durant's exit this sum- mer as a free agent.
Green, his teammates and Warriors coaches entered this season knowing a change in teams for Durant was a possibility, but Green is con- fident that one emotional out- burst early in the season isn't going to ultimately determine whether Durant leaves next summer.
(32,292)
5. LeBron James
(31,425)
"When I'm able to do whatIlovetodo,anddoitat this level—and even being mentioned with the greats that have ever played this game—it just always brings me back to my hometown of Akron, [Ohio]," James said after the game .
"And knowing where I come from, knowing how
hard it was to get to this point—it's just never being in satisfied mode. I give it all to the man above for giving me God-given abilities. I'm tak- ing full advantage of 'em. And then my coaching staff and my teammates through- out these 16 years so far have gotten me to this point."
A source also noted that "James said the ball and his jersey from the game would be sent to his I Promise School in Akron for display."
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018