2020 NBA 3-Point Contest Format changing this year; all eight participants confirmed


The 3-Point Contest is one of the most iconic parts of the NBA's All-Star Weekend, and has remained largely unchanged since its inception back in 1986. But this year, the league has decided it needs to be shaken up. It announced the changes Tuesday, as the contest will include two extra shots this year. Each shot will be from six feet behind the 3-point line, and will be worth three points. In addition, contestants will get an extra 10 seconds to complete all the shots, raising the time limit from 60 seconds to 70 seconds. The 2020 MTN DEW 3-Point Contest features a new look with the addition of two shots in the "MTN DEW Zone" – two locations positioned equidistant between...

Knicks fire president Steve Mills days before trade deadline


The New York Knicks fired team president Steve Mills on Tuesday, just two days out from the NBA trade deadline, the team announced. Mills had served as the president of basketball operations since 2017, with his tenure as executive vice president and general manager dating back to 2013. During that time, the Knicks have gone a combined 117-365 without a single playoff appearance. Mills' run as basketball czar coincides directly with their spiral from a 54-win playoff team into an NBA punchline. It wasn't all his fault. From 2013-2017, Mills served under Phil Jackson, whose head-scratching decision making over that four-year span put Mills behind the eight ball from the start of his president tenure. Things only got worse from there under Mills -- not...

Kevin Durant running again


Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, who suffered an Achilles injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, is making his way back:   https://twitter.com/Krisplashed/status/1224766092184301568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224766092184301568&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkbasket.net%2F67733-kevin-durant-running-again sources : talkbasket

Lakers vs. Spurs odds, line: 2020 NBA picks, Feb. 4


The San Antonio Spurs finish off a back-to-back road swing through Los Angeles on Tuesday when they take on LeBron James and the host Lakers at Staples Center. The Spurs (22-26), who are 10th in the Western Conference standings and fourth in the Southwest Division, are 8-15 on the road, while the Lakers (37-11), who lead the Western Conference, have the second-best record in the league behind the Milwaukee Bucks (42-7). Tip-off is set for 10 p.m. ET. Los Angeles has dominated Western Conference foes, going 24-5 against them. Los Angeles is a 12-point favorite in the latest Spurs vs. Lakers odds, while the over-under for total points scored is set at 229. Before making any Lakers vs. Spurs picks, check out the NBA predictions from the SportsLine Projection...

Nuggets vs. Blazers odds, line: 2020 NBA picks, Feb. 4


Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets (34-16) will host Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers (23-27) on Tuesday. The Nuggets are finally starting to get healthier after playing without three starters for the majority of 2020. Gary Harris is back with the team, while Jamal Murray (ankle) has been upgraded to questionable after missing Denver's past 10 games. Paul Millsap (knee), Michael Porter Jr. (ankle) and Mason Plumlee (foot) are all still out. Portland doesn't have any new injuries to report. Tip-off for this one is set for 9 p.m ET from the Pepsi Center. Sportsbooks list the Nuggets as 4.5-point road favorites, while the over-under for total points is 226 in the latest Nuggets vs. Blazers odds. Before making any Blazers vs. Nuggets picks or NBA predictions, you'll want to see what SportsLine's advanced computer model...

Rockets vs. Hornets odds, line: 2020 NBA picks, Feb. 4


The Houston Rockets (31-18) will face the Charlotte Hornets (16-34) in a cross-conference battle on Tuesday evening. James Harden leads the way for Houston, while Charlotte is keyed by Devonte' Graham and Terry Rozier. Russell Westbrook (thumb) is listed as doubtful to play for Houston, while Clint Capela (heel) is out. The Hornets could also be dealing with injuries, headlined by PJ Washington (ankle), who missed the team's game on Monday evening. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. ET at Toyota Center. Sportsbooks list the Rockets as 13.5-point home favorites, holding steady from the opener, while the over-under, or total number of points Vegas thinks will be scored, is 228.5 in the latest Hornets vs. Rockets odds. Before making any Rockets vs. Hornets picks or NBA predictions, see what SportsLine's advanced computer model has to say. The...

Bucks vs. Pelicans odds, line: 2020 NBA picks, Feb. 4


Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks (42-7) square off against Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans (20-30) in an intriguing NBA battle on Tuesday evening. The Bucks enter as the NBA's best team, while the Pelicans are playing improved basketball in recent days. George Hill (hamstring) will miss the game for the Bucks, while Kenrich Williams (back) and Darius Miller (Achilles) will be absent for New Orleans. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Smoothie King Center. Sportsbooks list the Bucks as 6.5-point road favorites, up half a point from the opening line, while the over-under, or total number of points Vegas thinks will be scored, is 244.5 in the latest Bucks vs. Pelicans odds. Before making any Pelicans vs. Bucks picks or NBA predictions, see what SportsLine's projection model has to say. The...

NEW DATES FOR B SITE QUALIFIERS ANNOUNCED


B Site and FACEIT have announced that they have rescheduled some of the open qualifiers to avoid a clash with the ESL One Rio Major qualifiers. The first open qualifier will now start one day later in all three regions and the last one will end one day earlier to avoid clashing with two of the ESL One Rio qualifiers that will be held in Europe and North America. The second and third B Site open qualifiers, scheduled for February 8 and 9 respectively, will not be changed. This means that they will both clash with the third Major qualifier in Europe and North America, but B Site told HLTV.org that it will welcome all teams who are eliminated on...

ATK CS:GO new roster, TenZ and Fadey


ATK has announced their comeback as they sign a new roster featuring Cloud9 benched player Tyson 'Tenz' Ngo as a stand-in. The Cape Town-based organization re-enter the CS:GO scene after a month on the sidelines following the transfer of their previous roster to Cloud9, at the start of the year. TenZ is still contracted to Cloud9 as a professional player and streamer although he’s not an active member of the team’s lineup. Fady was a member of the previous ATK lineup prior to the lineup making some changes and bringing in Ricky “floppy” Kemery, Josh “oSee” Ohm and Ian “motm” Hardy. That core then went on to join Cloud9. TenZ and Fadey will be reuniting to some degree as TenZ had...

Gambit Esports bench gpk, replaced by fn


Early this Tuesday, Gambit Esports announced on their official Twitter account their decision to bench midlaner Danil 'gpk' Skutin for the upcoming ESL One Los Angeles 2020 qualifiers. Allegedly, the newcomer refused to take part at Gambit's boot camp. https://twitter.com/GambitEsports/status/1224603819008503808 According to rumors, gpk intended to join Virtus.pro but was not released from his contract with Gambit. In the worst case for gpk, the 18-year old pro player could not be allowed to participate in any professional matches and tournaments until his contract ends in 2021. While these allegations have not been confirmed yet, VP announced that they indeed changed their roster as well. Their new addition fn already played for Gambit at the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor in March 2019 and skyrocketed...

L!NKZ^ JOINS ISURUS AS MAX STEPS DOWN


Isurus have announced the signing of José "L!nKz^" Ortega to round out the team's roster, which was left down to four after Maximiliano "max" Gonzalez's departure. Isurus ended January down to four players following max's departure from the team just weeks after his first year on the squad. The Argentine organization has now announced the signing of Chilean AWPer L!nKz^ to take his place. max noted personal differences in his parting statement as the reason for stepping down from the roster, but is grateful for his time in the organization and thanked captain Nicolás "Noktse" Dávila and coach Rodrigo "pino" Manarino before making himself available to offers from other teams. L!nKz^ is best known for playing the WESG 2016 World Finals in Changzhou, China, with the likes of Cristian "Proxure" Rojas and Javier "FiReMaNNN" Collado, and is already reunited with his former Malvinas and Rejected teammate Marcos "decov9jse" Amato in Isurus' gaming house in Brazil. As one of the teams...

ESL ONE RIO TO SHOWCASE PLAYER-SELECTED SEEDING


The system will largely be the same as the one used for the previous Major hosted by ESL, IEM Katowice 2019, where ahead of the first two stages the participating teams themselves ranked their opponents from 1-15, which was then used to seed teams into the opening round of matches in the Swiss format. In this system, the seeding of each team is adjusted after every round based on the opponent they faced and on the result, with teams who pulled off an upset gaining a significant portion of the difference between theirs and the opponent's seeding (and vice versa), for example. One important change that will be introduced to the player-selected ranking at ESL One Rio is that, before...

Bulls’ Zach LaVine will participate in 3-Point Contest, per report


Bulls guard Zach LaVine didn’t get voted into the 2020 All-Star Game in Chicago, but he’s going to participate in the 3-Point Contest: https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1224480639409364998 As of right now, it looks like LaVine may not take part in the Slam Dunk Contest. There are already four committed participants in Dwight Howard, Aaron Gordon, Derrick Jones Jr. and Pat Connaughton, though perhaps there will still be a late surprise. However, LaVine had hinted previously that if he didn’t make the All-Star Game he’d likely focus on the 3-Point Contest because nobody has ever won both a Slam Dunk Contest and 3-Point Contest in their career. He won back-to-back Dunk Contests in 2015 and 2016. LaVine is having a stellar 3-point shooting season, hitting on 37.6% of his long-range attempts on 7.9 per game. He’s eighth in...

TEAM RANKING: JANUARY 2020


We have updated our Global team ranking - powered by EGB.com - for January 2020, a quiet month with only one notable LAN event. One month into 2020 and we're still only getting the first taste of top-tier Counter-Strike of the year after a rather dull month of January, featuring just one international LAN, DreamHack Open Leipzig, where BIG ran out victorious to prove that German CS is finally back on the menu. With the ICE Challenge only halfway through and BLAST Premier merely regarded as a qualifier, there aren't many changes across the board, with the top five looking exactly the same as in last month's ranking. BIG are knocking at the door for a top 20 place Despite a strong...

NBA Buy or Sell: Zion Williamson could still win Rookie of the Year


Buy or Sell: Zion Williamson could still win Rookie of the Year Zion Williamson looks like he's going to win a lot of hardware over the course of his career, but the Rookie of the Year Award won't be part of his collection. Since he made his debut last month, Williamson has lived up to the immense hype as he has quickly developed into a productive highlight machine for the Pelicans. However, he missed the first 44 games of his rookie campaign, and in that time, Grizzlies guard Ja Morant built up too large of a lead for Williamson to make up in the second half of the season (barring a major injury for Morant, of course, which no one wants to see). Morant has been as...

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