Tuesday’s 6-pack:
— Cavaliers 119, Bulls 113- Cleveland starters were minus-30, their subs +60.
— Rockets 107, Wizards 92- Alperen Sengun scored 27 points, had 17 rebounds.
— Nets 107, Pelicans 105- Ben Simmons had 12 assists, 5 rebounds in 22:00
— Thunder 134, Clippers 128- Gilgeous-Alexander scored career-high 45 points.
— Spurs 116, Kings 96- San Antonio made 22 of 46 shots behind the arc.
— Alabama 72, McNeese State 64- Alabama was 11-34 on arc, 11-16 inside arc.
Quote of the Day
“It’s great to be part of history. I never want to take those things for granted along the road when we’re doing it in various ways. We’re doing it in ways where we are blowing out teams. We’re winning from behind. We’re winning close games. And it’s somebody different every night leading the charge. It’s always a group effort.”
Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell
Tuesday’s quiz
Los Angeles Clippers have existed since 1970, but they’ve played home games in two other cities. Where did the Clippers call home their first eight years in the NBA?
Monday’s quiz
Oakland A’s drafted Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray with the 9th pick in the 2018 draft.
Sunday’s quiz
Oregon was the last Pac-12 team to win the Rose Bowl.
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Dolphins 23, Rams 15
Dolphins scored a TD on their first drive of each half.
Their six drives in between TD’s: 25 plays, 41 yards, 2 turnovers.
Miami was 6-13 on third down, Rams 3-12.
Miami allowed 17-10-15 points in wins, 31-24-16-31-28-30 in losses.
QB Tagovailoa is 34-23 as an NFL starter.
Rams’ first five drives: 17 plays, 27 yards, two turnovers.
Rams rest of game: 57 plays, 268 yards, 5-6 on field goals.
LA outgained Miami, 327-238, but didn’t score a touchdown.
Rams are 1-5 scoring less than 26 points.
LA is 4-9-1 ATS in last 14 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
— RIP to the great football coach John Robinson, who passed away at age 89.
Coach Robinson was 104-35-4 coaching USC, going 8-1 in bowl games; he was 79-75 coaching the Rams, making the playoffs in six of his nine seasons. He was also UNLV’s coach for six years, winning the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl.
— July 1986, I went to Rams’ training camp at Cal-State Fullerton; coach Robinson was on the field at the end of practice, watching kicker Mike Lansford practice.
There was almost no security there; I figure what the hell, I stepped over the security rope and walked on the field and talked to coach Robinson for a few minutes, wished him well.
He should’ve thrown my butt out of there but he didn’t; he was cordial for a couple minutes and I scooted over to where players were signing autographs. Was always appreciative of that.
John Robinson led the Rams during the Eric Dickerson/Jim Everett era; he was an excellent coach who thrived at his teams running the ball.
RIP, sir.
— NFL divisional trends (non-division games):
NFC East home teams are 3-9 ATS.
NFC North home teams are 11-4 ATS
NFC South home teams are 4-9 ATS
NFC West teams are 11-15-1 ATS
AFC East underdogs are 5-9-1 ATS
AFC North road teams are 11-4 ATS
AFC South road underdogs are 3-9 ATS
AFC West favorites are 10-4 ATS
— Dallas Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott is off to New York City for a second opinion on a serious hamstring injury, which probably requires season-ending surgery.
— Nebraska fired their offensive coordinator, brought in former Houston/West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen to be the OC for the rest of this season.
Nebraska is 5-4, needs one more win to be bowl eligible for first time since 2016.
— Florida State is 1-9, losing their last three games by 20+ points each; they fired both their coordinators and another assistant this weekend- this is going to be the Seminoles’ worst year since 1974, when they went 1-10, two years before Bobby Bowden got to Tallahassee.
Head coach Mike Norvell has a contract that pays him $84M thru 2031. Whoops.
Famous birthdays, November 12th:
Neil Young, 79
Cliff Harris, 76
Steve Bartkowski, 72
Jody Davis, 68
Sammy Sosa, 56
Ryan Gosling, 44
Anne Hathaway, 42
Charlie Morton, 41
Russell Westbrook, 36
Marcell Ozuna, 34
Trey Burke, 32
Paolo Banchero, 22
— Miami Marlins named Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough their new manager; he spent the past four years on the Dodgers’ coaching staff. He managed in the Blue Jays’ minor league system from 2007-13, so he has experience. McCullough will be the Marlins’ 17th manager in their 32-year history.
Marlins, by the way, used 45 pitchers this season, the most ever by a team in one year.
— Don Mattingly’s son Preston was promoted to general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies; he figures to learn under the tutelage of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for three years. Dombrowski is 68 years old, has three years left on his contract.
Former big leaugue OF Sam Fuld has been the Phillies’ GM since December 2020, but he is going back to college to get his Master of Business Administration and will become the team’s president of business operations when he gets his degree in 2026.
— Random fact: Winner of the Boston Marathon gets $150,000; winners of the marathons in New York City and Chicago get $100,000 each,
— NBA’s in-season tournament starts tonight; it is a tournament that begins with group play followed by single elimination knockout rounds. It is designed to increase interest in early season NBA season games, which haven’t always been that popular.
Last year was the first in-season tournament; Lakers won it, then finished the season 47-35 but fired their coach, which makes you believe the Lakers’ owners didn’t care that much about it.
— Cleveland Cavaliers have started this season 12-0, the best start for any team since Golden State nine years ago. Cavaliers are the 8th NBA team to start a season 12-0.
— Winnipeg Jets are the first NHL team ever to start a season 14-1; their only loss was 6-4 at home to Toronto October 28th. In their last three games, Jets have allowed only one goal.
— High school QB Cole Leinart, son of former USC star and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, committed to play college ball at Southern Methodist in the ACC.
