Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 3-29-16 Edition

Sports
Clippers' Blake Griffin Starts
Final Four Odds, Lines: North Carolina, Villanova Favored In Semifinals
After two exhilarating week- ends of NCAA Tournament ac- tion, our Final Four has been set with Villanova, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Syracuse earning spots in Houston for next weekend's festivities.
North Carolina, the only one of the four No. 1 seeds to win in its Elite Eight game, has opened as a heavy favorite (- 9.5) against Syracuse in the second of the two Saturday night contests. The Tar Heels won both regular season con- tests against the Orange, in- cluding an 11-point win in the Carrier Dome in Jim Boe- heim's first game back from a nine-game suspension.
After beating Kansas, the No. 1 overall seed, in Saturday night's South Regional final, Kris Jenkins and Villanova has opened as a slight favorite against Buddy Hield and Oklahoma.
6:09, TBS: Oklahoma (+2.5) vs. Villanova
8:49, TBS: North Car- olina (-9.5) vs. Syracuse
Here are the current odds for each team to win the national title:
North Carolina (+130) Villanova (+250) Oklahoma (+300) Syracuse (+1000)
Beauty Unlimited
HONEY
This week’s Beauty Unlimited feature is as sweet as the Ohio Players said in their song by the same name. This spirited young woman wants to be a star, and she under- stand there will be sacrifices made along the way. Still, Honey is confident she will get to exactly where she wants to be, and we appreciate her for appearing as this week’s Beauty Unlimited feature.
Serving Four-Game Suspension
LOS ANGELES -- Los An- geles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is medically cleared for all basketball activities and started serving his four- game suspension with Sun- day's 105-90 win against the Denver Nuggets.
He will return April 3 against the Washington Wiz- ards, the team said.
Griffin was suspended for four games by the team and also docked five games' pay of $859,442 for an altercation at a Toronto restaurant on Jan. 23. He suffered a broken right hand during the incident after punching an assistant equipment manager.
Griffin was cleared for contact on Saturday and went through his first workout since partially tearing his left quadriceps tendon on Christ- mas Day against the Los An- geles Lakers. Entering
BLAKE GRIFFIN
Sunday, he had missed the last 41 games due to the quad injury and the broken hand.
"We went through some offensive stuff [Saturday] and everything's a lot smoother when Blake's on the court," Clippers point guard Chris Paul said Sunday. "Just our continuity and the way our offense looks. And it just gives our team an ultimate confidence. But at the same time, we understand he has to work his way back in."
Among LeBron's Hopes, Dreams? Superteam With Melo, CP3, D-Wade
LeBron James made it clear he wasn't being face- tious when he said he wanted to team up with his best friends in the NBA -- Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade -- before their careers are through.
But he was unsure how fea- sible the scenario really is.
"I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together. ... At least one, maybe one or two seasons -- me, Melo, D-Wade, CP -- we can get a year in," James told Bleacher Report in Feb- ruary for a feature story on James' and Anthony's rela- tionship that was published Wednesday. "I would actually take a pay cut to do that."
In the article, James said he has harbored thoughts
CHRIS PAUL, LEBRON JAMES, CARMELO ANTHONY AND DWYANE WADE
about that potential lineup but declined to go into much deeper detail. Asked after the Cavaliers' 113-104 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday whether he has shared those thoughts with Anthony, Paul or Wade, James hinted he has.
"I mean, we've had plenty of conversations," James said. "We've been together for almost 15 years, so we've had plenty of conversations."
Cavaliers' J. R. Smith Sued For $2.5M After Nov. Nightclub Incident
Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith has been sued for $2.5 million by a man he got into an encounter with outside a New York City nightclub last November, according to doc- uments obtained by ESPN.com.
Justin Brown, who was 19 at the time, approached Smith at a pizza shop at about 4 a.m. after Smith had left 1Oak, a well-known club in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Brown claims Smith turned down a re- quest for a photo and then choked and struck him in his head and neck area. Brown is suing for physical injuries and emotional distress.
J.R. SMITH
Smith was asked about the lawsuit following the Cav- aliers' 107-93 win over the- New York Knicks on Saturday night.
"No, I ain't got no com- ment on that," Smith said. "It is what it is. So, we'll just see what happens."
Smith said he appreciated how the Cavs have supported him through the ordeal.
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