Chicago Sports

MILWAUKEE – DeMar DeRozan knows Jrue Holiday all too well.

The Bulls veteran knows the way Holiday likes to defend him, knows his tendencies, and has seen every move the Milwaukee point guard has in his arsenal.

DeRozan should. He’s been witness to it since both of them were 11 year olds making a name for themselves in the Los Angeles area.

“Every time we played against each other it was always memorable,” DeRozan said on Wednesday. “In high school we played with each other multiple times in tournaments. Jrue was always one of my favorite players to compete against, and obviously we played against each other in college, so it goes way back to when we were 11 and 12 for sure.”

Holiday went to Campbell Hall High School and then UCLA, while DeRozan was Compton’s finest, playing for Compton High School and then signing with UCLA’s backyard rival at USC.

And even after all these years, all the matchups on the same team or opposite sides, Holiday still has the ability to make life uncomfortable for not only DeRozan, but whoever he has to guard.

“Some people are just gifted to have awareness, quickness, feel, anticipation,” DeRozan said. “All the things he shows now he’s had that. He’s just one of those players that’s gifted to do the thing he does defensively.

“AAU basketball, through high school, I knew his family, he knew my family, so we go way back to when we were kids. He doesn’t talk much. He just goes out there and does whatever he needs to in order to compete. That’s just who he is.”

So is that why DeRozan was a dismal 6-for-25 in the Game 1 loss?

Not necessarily. Yes, Holiday did match up with DeRozan a good amount, but so did Wesley Matthews and even a bit of Khris Middleton.

That’s what makes this series difficult for both DeRozan and Zach LaVine. Holiday might be the stopper of the group, and they can throw him on either Bulls scorer, but Matthews is also an irritant on the defensive end.

According to DeRozan, the key for the rest of the series will be matching that defensive intensity that Holiday & Co. bring or expect to plan an early vacation.

“It’s one of those times where you’ve got to go through it to kind of feel and understand what it’s really like,” DeRozan said. “Now you have a better idea of how to approach it [after Game 1] and dig even deeper physically and mentally.”

Ball-ing out

Lonzo Ball was still trying to help his teammates out as much as he could as an injured bystander, but the point guard was still dealing with discomfort in the left knee, according to coach Billy Donovan.

Ball was ruled out for the rest of the season earlier this month, and now the questions are how much longer will the bone bruise be an issue before the team can start getting him ready for an offseason training program?

“The biggest thing they have to deal with is how to get away from the pain,” Donovan said. “That’s the thing they’re trying to do, to get rid of the discomfort. I’m not sure how long that takes. There has been a plan laid out as far as time here [in Chicago], time in [Los Angeles], how do we manage the situation and get him back to being healthy and feeling good?

“If it gets to a place where he’s still having discomfort after a longer period of time, I don’t know what the next step would be.”

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London-based choreographer Cathy Marston can’t read “Of Mice and Men” without weeping. And without the Joffrey Ballet, she couldn’t create the world premiere ballet of John Steinbeck’s shattering chronicle of Depression-era life.

“I was only 16 or 17 when I read it in secondary school, high school in the UK,” she said on a break during April’s first week of in-person rehearsals. “It’s heart-breaking and heart-warming, all at the same time. I’ve always wanted to do it. But you need just the right company to take it on,” she said.

More than two years in the making, the production opens April 27 in a shared bill with the Joffrey premiere of “Serenade,” George Balanchine’s first ballet created in the U.S. almost 90 years ago.

“Of Mice and Men” follows Lennie (danced by Dylan Gutierrez) and George (dance by Xavier Nunez), best friends tramping the country in the early 1930s, when dust storms and drought intersected with a cataclysmic collapse of the economy and threw millions of people out of work. The Great Depression-era plot begins as the friends, ever in a race to stay a meal or two ahead of starvation, find jobs as ranch hands. The story ends when both are forced to flee the ranch, their varied modes of departure a brutal, tragic testimony to the almighty powers of devotion and desperation.

Marston began the adaptation during the pandemic lockdown, Marston said, working closely with her dramaturg and long-time creative partner Edward Kemp.

“I needed an ensemble that is both classically trained and open to new movements. I knew the Joffrey had that, from working with them [in 2019] on my adaptation of ‘Jane Eyre.’ That was one big reason I wanted the company for ‘Mice and Men.’

“I rarely start rehearsals with a set idea of how I want something to look or sound. I’m not a choreographer who says, ‘do this move like me.’ I’m more trying to draw movement out of the dancers,” she said.

“The deep, platonic love that George and Lennie share is atypical for most classical ballets, which tend to focus more on romantic love. It doesn’t look like a classical ballet, because there are more modern or contemporary movements, but it’s all very much rooted in classical tradition. The dancers use the language of both. And every step has to be full of nuance and intention.”

Rehearsals via Zoom began well over a year ago; Marston in Switzerland, the Joffrey ensemble in their various quarantine quarters across the globe.

“Edward and I had words for each character, sometimes right from the language of the book, sometimes from imagination. Like for George: ‘sharp, restless, hackles up, smart.’ For Lennie: ‘lumbering, sloping, fog, jumbled.’ We’d give the words to the dancers, they’d add their own, we’d figure out what expressing them physically looked like.

“Obviously it would have been much nicer to do it in person, but by the time I got to Chicago, the dancers were really, really prepared,” she said.

Marston’s adaptation for the 19-person ensemble has two Georges: “George” goes about the daily business of survival and caring for Lennie. “Shadow George” is forever haunted by the choice he’s forced to make in the climactic scene. “It can be tricky because Steinbeck gives them all such specific physical attributes. Lennie has to be a very large man, George much smaller,” she said. Plus, she needed four Georges and two Lennies, because the roles alternate by performance.

Getting movie/television composer Thomas Newman to tackle his first-ever ballet score for the Joffrey’s 47-piece orchestra was “a total longshot,” said Joffrey artistic director Ashley Wheater. It was also the first name Marston gave when they began talking about who should create the score.

Newman’s bona fides include an Emmy Award for penning the theme of “Six Feet Under” and a resume that includes more than 50 film scores as varied as “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Skyfall,” the latter an Oscar-winning theme song for Adele. He is also a second-generation film composer, son of composer Alfred Newman, (who wrote, among other things, the 20th century logo theme still in use today), and cousin to Randy (“Short People”) Newman.

“I’ve never done a narrative ballet, and it seemed fascinating to me,” Newman said from his home in southern California. “And this setting, where Steinbeck has it all take place? This is where I’m from. This is where I am. I look out my window and I can see the land he was writing about.

“Doing film tends is a reactive process. You see something, you’re given something, you react to it,” Newman continued. “This isn’t like that. It was frankly kind of baffling to me at first, how the music had to sub-textualize everything, because there would be no words at all. It was more collaborative than anything.”

For Marston, part of the process meant deepening the character known only as “Curly’s Wife” (danced by Christina Rocas), a woman who dreams of a bigger, better life far from the ranch.

“I expanded her role, gave her more attention,” Marston said. “I’ve been drawn to all these characters because of their qualities as human beings, and I want them to have time to show their complexities.

“To me, it’s a piece about empathy and friendship, both things that are really life-affirming,” she concluded. “Although I still can’t read it without crying.”

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CLEVELAND — The White Sox waited three days to play baseball Wednesday.

And when they played, after two days of sitting in Cleveland because of two postponed games, it looked like they hadn’t played in three weeks. In one of the worst displays of defensive baseball seen in recent memory, the Sox infield made four errors in the first two innings and left-hander Dallas Keuchel allowed eight consecutive hits, all singles except for a Jose Ramirez grand slam.

One of the hits was originally scored an error on first baseman Jose Abreu, failing to backhand a ground ball he probably should have had. The official scorer’s change cut the Sox total of errors from five to four.

The defensive fiasco started with bad throws by shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Jake Burger on the Guardians’ first two at-bats. Abreu was in position for a backhand scoop of Burger’s throw made on the run, but he failed to glove the ball. Anderson made two more fielding errors in the second as the Sox fell behind 10-0 against Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber.

The Sox entered with a 6-3 record, having won each of their first three series against the Tigers, Mariners and Rays. Monday’s game in Cleveland was called off because of snow, and Tuesday’s was postponed because of cold and poor field conditions. Wednesday’s game, the first of a doubleheader, was played under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s.

Keuchel was charged with 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits. He struck out one batter and walked none. He threw 48 pitches, 32 for strikes.

His replacement, 30-year-old rookie lefty Tanner Banks, was much better with four perfect innings. Banks struck out two and threw 37 of 49 pitches for strikes while keeping his ERA at 0.00 over four appearances and 9 1/3 innings.

Anderson did make a nice play from deep in the hole in the fourth inning and center fielder Luis Robert followed by making a running catch at the wall. And Anderson stabbed a one-hopper on his backhand in the seventh for another nice play.

Bieber, meanwhile, cruised with six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking none while allowing four hits, one of them an RBI double by Anderson.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. –Dominik Kubalik had been a healthy scratch before, particularly during his rookie NHL season, although he certainly wasn’t accustomed to it.

But a healthy scratch three games in a row? That was something he’d never endured.

“It’s a new experience,” he said Monday. “You’re trying to take it the best you can: get some extra work on the ice, be in the gym a little bit, refresh my mind, keep my head a little loose. And when you get a chance to go back, just be ready for it.”

After surprisingly staying with the Blackhawks through the trade deadline, Kubalik hoped he’d be able to at least finish his incredibly disappointing 2021-22 season on a high note.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it has panned out. Kubalik has fluctuated in and out of the Hawks’ lineup more than ever this April, including that stretch of three straight games –against the Stars, Kings and Sharks — on the outside looking in.

Asked if he believes the time he spent as a scratch, watching the games from high up in the press box, could help him — something often mentioned by players in his situation –Kubalik’s answer tellingly reflected just how much of a beating his morale has taken this year.

“Obviously you can learn from it,” he said. “When you’re on the ice, you have a second to make a decision. When you’re playing with confidence, you usually make good decisions. When you’re not, you’re trying to force plays, maybe try to make something happen, but you shouldn’t do that. Yeah, sometimes it’s nice to watch it [from above], but obviously on the ice, it’s different.”

He did score in his return to the lineup Saturday against the Predators, and he actually enters Wednesday with a respectable seven points in his last 10 games. But his reputation as a down-on-his-luck scorer looks like it’ll follow him into restricted free agency this summer, and it currently seems unlikely the Hawks will re-sign him.

“He’s an NHL [player],” interim coach Derek King said. “He’s good enough to play in the NHL. He’s just having one of those years, [and] it just happened to be bad timing.

“I’m not sure what his deal’s going to be — if he’s back, or if he’s going to go somewhere else. But he’ll eventually get out of it and he’ll put some numbers up. He’ll score some goals.”

Defensive rotation

King has established a steady rotation of defensemen lately with Riley Stillman, Erik Gustafsson, Caleb Jones and Calvin de Haan taking turns playing and sitting out.

On Wednesday against the Coyotes –the Hawks’ final trip to Gila River Arena before the Coyotes move to Arizona State’s new but tiny (5,000-seat) arena next season — the former two dressed and the latter two sat.

Gustafsson’s repeated returns to the lineup have frustrated some fans, who understandably see no reason to continue playing the struggling veteran on an expiring contract. But King explained Wednesday he wants to be respectful to everyone until the final day.

“He’s part of the team,” King said. “And maybe he can give us a power play quarterback –he brings something different. It’s not based on play, it’s just the human element of it. These guys are here. They’re been a part of the team all year. I’m not just goingto go, ‘You know what, you’re not playing the last 10 games because I need to play [somebody else].”

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CLEVELAND — The White Sox waited three days to play baseball Wednesday.

And when they played, after two days of sitting in Cleveland because of two postponed games, it looked like they hadn’t played in three weeks. In one of the worst displays of defensive baseball seen in recent memory, the Sox infield made four errors in the first two innings and left-hander Dallas Keuchel allowed eight consecutive hits, all singles except for a Jose Ramirez grand slam.

One of the hits was originally scored an error on first baseman Jose Abreu, failing to backhand a ground ball he probably should have had. The official scorer’s change cut the Sox total of errors from five to four.

The defensive fiasco started with bad throws by shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Jake Burger on the Guardians’ first two at-bats. Abreu was in position for a backhand scoop of Burger’s throw made on the run, but he failed to glove the ball. Anderson made two more fielding errors in the second as the Sox fell behind 10-0 against Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber.

The Sox entered with a 6-3 record, having won each of their first three series against the Tigers, Mariners and Rays. Monday’s game in Cleveland was called off because of snow, and Tuesday’s was postponed because of cold and poor field conditions. Wednesday’s game, the first of a doubleheader, was played under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s.

Keuchel was charged with 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits. He struck out one batter and walked none. He threw 48 pitches, 32 for strikes.

His replacement, 30-year-old rookie lefty Tanner Banks, was much better with four perfect innings. Banks struck out two and threw 37 of 49 pitches for strikes while keeping his ERA at 0.00 over four appearances and 9 1/3 innings.

Anderson did make a nice play from deep in the hole in the fourth inning and center fielder Luis Robert followed by making a running catch at the wall.

Bieber, meanwhile, cruised with six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking none while allowing four hits, one of them an RBI double by Anderson.

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The Bears’ trade of Khalil Mack to the Chargers caught his teammates off guard.

They still don’t seem to have recovered.

“Hey, it sucks seeing one of your guys go, one of the leaders,” linebacker Roquan Smith said Wednesday. “But hey, life goes on. I know he’s gonna do well out there in LA. You know, a healthy Mack is a damn good player, as we all know.”

The trade, agreed to in early March, netted the Bears the No. 48 overall pick in next week’s draft and a sixth-rounder in 2023. It was a tacit admission that the Bears are rebuilding.

Defensive end Trevis Gipson, who played behind Mack last year, remembers exactly where he was when he heard about the trade. He was at a friend’s house, and he thought his buddies were joking.

“So when I did see it on my phone, it was sort of like, ‘I can’t believe it’,” he said. “But at the same time, I do understand that it’s a business and things happen.”

He said he’ll miss the six-time Pro Bowl pass rusher.

“It sort of bothered me a little bit because I stole a lot of information from him,” he said. “Well, I hate to use the word ‘steal.’ But, yeah, I learned a lot from Khalil, man. He paved the way with a lot of things and showed me right from wrong. How to do certain techniques, how to carry myself as a vet in this league.”

Both he and Smith still stay in touch with Mack.

“I got a lot of respect for him,” Smith said. “I learned a lot from him. I appreciate him.”

Jackson back

One day after he wasn’t spotted at the volunteer minicamp practice, safety Eddie Jackson participated Wednesday.

“It was good to see him out there,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “He looked quick in the drills. Looked fluid, looked real athletic. … I thought he caught the ball well in drills. He has a good set of hands on him. I thought his vision was good in coverage from what I saw.

“So yeah, he looked good.”

Al-Quadin Muhammad, the defensive end whom the Bears signed to a two-year deal last month, did not attend Tuesday but was at practice Wednesday. Muhammad, however, did not participate in drills.

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, third-string quarterback Nick Foles and defensive ends Robert Quinn and Mario Edwards were not in attendance for the second-straight day. Bears general manager Ryan Poles has said the team will try to trade Foles, who is in the last year of his contract.

Practice eval

Ebeflus said quarterback Justin Fields looked good for the second-straight day.

“Much like I said [Tuesday] — good fundamentals, footwork’s improving, timing’s improving, looked good, operation was good–and same [Wednesday],” he said. “I think he took another step forward [Wednesday], and that’s really good for our football team.”

Fields faced the Bears’ defense for the first time; the team ran 12 plays apiece in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills inside the Walter Payton Center. They practiced indoors by design — Ebeflus said he wanted to test out his plan for inclement weather.

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No person in the organization will have as much influence on how coach Matt Eberflus’ does than quarterback Justin Fields. But linebacker Roquan Smith is next on the list.

As Eberflus lays the groundwork for the Bears defense this offseason, Smith isn’t just some guy. He’s the guy. Eberflus needs him as a partner, not just another player.

Fortunately for Eberflus and defensive coordinator Alan Williams, Smith is eager to form that relationship. The Bears are starting something new, and Smith is passionate about spearheading it.

“That’s a heck of an opportunity to have,” he said Wednesday. “Resetting things and starting over fresh — new faces, new regime — it’s a great opportunity to be the face of the new regime and doing whatever it takes to make this the best regime in Bears history. That’s my plan.”

Speaking of plans, Smith intends to see that through to the end. While his contract runs out at the end of this season and he has been dodgy on that subject at every turn over the past year, all indications are that he and the Bears will finalize something that keeps him around.

General manager Ryan Poles said last month he wants to do a deal before this season begins, and Smith envisions being a Bear for the long term.

“Absolutely, yeah,” Smith said. “That’s my plan.”

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Big Ten basketball tournaments are coming to Minneapolis.

The conference announced Wednesday that the women’s tournament will be held at Target Center in 2023 and 2024 and the men’s tournament will be played there in 2024. All 14 teams are automatic entrants in both events. The United Center will host the men’s basketball tournament in 2023 as a makeup for 2021 when the event was shifted to Indianapolis due to COVID-19 restrictions.

As part of the Big Ten’s effort to rotate host sites around its 11-state footprint, Minneapolis will become the fifth city to host the men’s tournament. Washington (2017) and New York (2018) were recent hosts, with Chicago and Indianapolis the most frequent host sites.

On the women’s side, Minneapolis will be the first non-Indianapolis host since 2015, when the tournament was held in Hoffman Estates. Target Center was the host of the NCAA Women’s Final Four earlier this month.

The Big Ten also finalized an agreement to keep the football championship game in Indianapolis through 2024. Lucas Oil Field has been the sole host of the game since it began in 2011.

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As the countdown continues to the 2022 NFL draft, some big rumors are starting to fly around the league.

On Tuesday afternoon, NFL insider Adam Schefter dropped a report that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel potentially wants to “move on” from the team and has put extension talks on hold for now. And on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the initial report, Samuel has requested a trade per Jeff Darlington:

This has already been a wild offseason with Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams both being traded earlier this season. Now, a dynamic playmaker who has been used as a receiver and a running back is now on the market and the Chicago Bears should absolutely make a call.

Right now, the report is fresh and no teams have been connected to Samuel. However, things will start to pick up here in the coming hours and days. For a team like Chicago who needs to surround Justin Fields with weapons, making the call to San Francisco should be a priority.

Adding Samuel would give the Bears another dynamic to their offense and suddenly make this offseason a win despite limited moves. It would take at least both seconds this year and potentially future picks which is something that Ryan Poles values but landing a player like this should make it worth it.

The 26-year-old Samuel is coming off a big 2021 season, finishing the year with 1,405 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. He also led the league averaging 18.2 yards per reception. Samuel added 59 rushing attempts for 365 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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CLEVELAND — Lucas Giolito passed his simulated game test in Arizona Tuesday and will return to the rotation Sunday when the White Sox play the Twins.

Giolito, on the injured list with a low abdominal strain on his left side, returned to the team Tuesday night and declared himself fit to start in Minnesota where the Sox close out a six-game road trip against AL Central teams.

“It went pretty well, I felt healthy,” Giolito said Wednesday before the Sox played the Guardians in a straight doubleheader at Progressive Field. “That was the goal … and to be ready to rejoin the rotation and hoping to make a good impact going forward.”

Giolito said he threw about 50 pitches, getting up three times.

“We get the big guy back,” manager Tony La Russa said Wednesday. “We’ve been surviving, keep maintaining that mode because we still have some guys out but he’s a big guy to get back.”

Sustaining an unusual injury for a pitcher, Giolito exited his Opening Day start against the Tigers April 8 after pitching four scoreless innings after feeling discomfort. But he’s back to “feeling very strong” now, he said.

Giolito will have missed two starts. It helped that he was able to throw shortly after Opening Day.

“It was weird. It sucked,” Giolito said. “But going to push forward now and get back to what I like doing a lot.”

Giolito should go beyond three innings and 50 pitches Sunday. How much more is to be determined.

“We’ll see how much the Twins cooperate,” La Russa said.

“People who watched him said he was throwing the ball well. Figure out a way to be sharp with one appearance but health is the important part and he’s excited. So right now depending on how he feels today and when he throws his bullpen, pencil him in for Sunday.”

Eloy out with sore ankle

Eloy Jimenez is still sore after fouling a pitch off his left ankle against the Mariners Wednesday. After playing all three games of last weekend’s series against the Rays and having Monday and Tuesday off because of postponed games in Cleveland, he was out of the lineup in Game 1 Wednesday and seemed unlikely to play in Game 2.

“He twisted it somehow, too, making some kind of move after he got hit or something,” La Russa said. “It’s more than just the bruise because soreness is soreness. There’s some swelling there. But that’s how it started.”

Toward the end of the weekend, Jimenez “didn’t have a good foundation with that one leg” at the plate, La Russa said.He did some running and took some swings indoors Wednesday.

“I don’t know that I’d pinch hit him unless it was bases loaded and two outs and it wouldn’t hurt him to have to jog but he’s feeling better,” La Russa said. “Just have to be careful.”

Cueto at Charlotte

Johnny Cueto finished his work in Arizona and is in Charlotte, where he’ll pitch soon for the Triple-A Knights in his final step toward joining the Sox.

Signed to a one-year, $4.2 million minor league contract on April 4, reports onthe 36-year-old Cueto have been favorable.

“Heard the ball is coming out of his hand good,” La Russa said. “He’s a pitch maker, he has that touch. They’ve been very complimentary about how he has been locating and his array of pitches.”

Cueto, 36, could provide a needed boost of rotation depth, depending on how much the three-time top-six finisher in Cy Young voting has left. He’ll probably need at least two starts at Charlotte.

“You can only speed it up so much,” La Russa said. “We’re looking forward to having him up here.”

Moncada ‘better’ but no timetable for return

Yoan Moncada (oblique) has begun taking swings but under control and not full bore and still has no timetable for a return, La Russa said.

“I just saw on the report, he’s feeling better, but he’ll make a move and might even sneeze and he’ll feel something,” La Russa said. “You do something violent, take a swing and then you’ve got … you’ve got to let that thing play out.”

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