What’s New

Email
print

Free-agent guard Joe Johnson is returning to the NBA after a three-year absence and at age 40, as he signed a 10-day contract with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.

Johnson is expected to play in Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He last played in the 2018 Western Conference finals for the Houston Rockets.

The Celtics have had seven players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols this week. They were forced to sign 15-year veteran C.J. Miles to a 10-day contract to fill out their roster for Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The deal reunites Johnson with the team that drafted him in 2001. He played half a season for the Celtics in 2001-02 before being traded to the Phoenix Suns that season.

Johnson is a seven-time All-Star and has averaged 16.0 points in 1,276 career games for the Suns, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz and Rockets.

Read More

Please send all scores and corrections to [email protected]

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

BIG NORTHERN

North Boone at Winnebago, 7:00

NOBLE LEAGUE – BLUE

Golder at Rauner, 10:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Oak Lawn at Thornton Fr. South, 2:30

NON CONFERENCE

Agricultural Science at King

Andrew at Marist, PPD

Aurora Central at Lisle, 6:45

Buffalo Grove at Schaumburg, 7:00

Burlington Central at Rockford Lutheran, 7:00

DeKalb at Dunlap, 6:30

Douglass at Wells, 3:00

Dyett at Wheaton-Warr. South, 7:15

Earlville at Yorkville Christian, 7:00

Fenger at Leo, 7:00

Gardner-So. Wilmington at Reed-Custer, 6:45

Geneva at Metea Valley, 6:00

Kennedy at Shepard, 6:30

Lake Park at Elk Grove, 6:00

Libertyville at Palatine, 6:00

Manley at Austin, 4:00

Midland at Stark County, 7:30

Morgan Park at Glenbrook South, 2:00

Northtown at Schurz, 11:00

Pecatonica at Hinckley-Big Rock, 6:45

Rauner at Golder, 10:00

Riverside-Brookfield at St. Edward, 7:00

Somonauk at Plano, 7:00

Waukegan at Maine West, 3:00

Wheeling at Taft, CNL

Zion-Benton at North Chicago, 7:00

HINSDALE CENTRAL

Stevenson vs. Morton, 9:30

Oak Forest vs. Maine South, CNL

Homewood-Flossmoor vs. Willowbrook, 12:30

St. Rita vs. Lincoln-Way Central, 2:00

Marian Catholic vs. Richards, 3:45

Oswego East vs. Auburn, 5:15

Hinsdale Central vs. St. Charles East, 7:00

DePaul vs. Glenbard East, 8:30

JACOBS

Prairie Ridge vs. South Elgin, 9:00

Grant vs. Cary-Grove, 10:30

Crystal Lake South vs. Johnsburg, 12:00

Bartlett vs. Marian Central, 1:30

Loyola vs. Streamwood, 3:00

Barrington vs. Grayslake Central, 4:30

Waubonsie Valley vs. Larkin, 6:00

Jacobs vs. Jefferson, 7:30

MARENGO

Richmond-Burton vs. Woodstock, 9:00a

Stillman Valley vs. Harvard, 10:30

Crystal Lake Central vs. Fenton, 12:00

Grayslake North vs. Harvest Christian, 1:30

Sycamore vs. Woodstock North, 3:00

Freeport vs. Rochelle, 4:30

Genoa-Kingston vs. Rockford Christian, 6:00

Marengo vs. Wauconda, 7:30

Read More

As a frequent critic of the density and travel-heaviness of the NHL schedule, Jonathan Toews is worried about what effect the extended holiday pause will have on the later-season schedule.

But as a 33-year-old Blackhawks captain coming off a lost season, Toews’ immediate focus has to be getting through each game, one at a time. And therefore, in the short term, he knows this break — which began Wednesday and runs through Sunday — will help him by providing time to rest and recover.

“For me personally, it’s definitely a relief,” Toews said Tuesday. “It’s nice to get a few days here and there to maintain and take care of myself, and [to] get myself in better condition going forward for the rest of the season.

“This year has been just a grind, physically and mentally, trying to get back to … the level I’m capable of playing at, where I feel like I’m contributing to our team. I’m moving in the right direction. Time like this definitely helps me personally.”

Before the current COVID-19 surge hastened this temporary NHL shutdown, giving everyone a few days off, Toews had been playing easily his best hockey since his return.

His long-awaited first goal of the season Dec. 9 versus the Canadiens jumpstarted a four-game point streak, which included his second goal Dec. 11 versus the Maple Leafs and third goal Dec. 17 versus the Predators. After tallying just nine points in his first 25 games this season — and just one in his last 11 games before the Montreal trip — those four points in a five-game span were a welcome sight.

Toews also won 66 of 100 faceoffs in those five games. And in them, the Hawks produced a 27-21 advantage in scoring chances and 12-5 advantage in high-danger scoring chances during his even-strength ice time, indicating his defensive- and neutral-zone play was effective, too. He now ranks third on the team this season in even-strength scoring-chance ratio, trailing only Brandon Hagel and (strangely) Erik Gustafsson.

“Whether we [got] this break or not, [my] confidence is coming back,” Toews said. “It definitely helps when you see the puck go in and you have a couple on the scoresheet. It feels a lot better right now. I’m just looking forward, not really looking back.”

Knowing his performance is now trending upward, though, seemed to make Toews more willing Tuesday to discuss his struggles earlier this fall to rediscover his old playing rhythm.

He’d previously been hesitant to dive too deeply into that topic because he didn’t want to sound like he was making excuses for himself.

“To be quite honest, I feel like my instincts and the way I think the game, that’s like riding a bike — it’s there,” Toews said. “[But] as games go along, you get three or four games into a week and the recovery’s not quite there.

“All of a sudden, it’s difficult not to become calculated going into a game, knowing you don’t quite have it. You have to make smarter plays and get off the ice early. Not that you’re cutting corners, but you’re trying not to bite off more you can chew.

“The way the season started, not scoring a goal for however many games, there’s no doubt that builds on you and snowballs. It’s tough to get out of it unless you just go out there and play with more energy.”

After this week of rest, Toews’ challenge will be to pick up where he left off, to keep his newfound scoring touch going. He admitted that can be tough coming off a longer break — “there’s always that one- or two-day adjustment where you’re trying to get back to game speed,” he said.

But at least his body should have a little more energy built back up in its reserves by then.

Read More

Considering the number of bodies the Raptors were piling up in the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocol, it was probably smart for the league to postpone the Wednesday night game against the Bulls at the United Center.

Toronto landed in Chicago on Tuesday night with a skeleton lineup, as well as traveling party, having been decimated with positive tests, headlined by Precious Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn, Pascal Siakim, Gary Trent Jr., and Fred VanVleet.

Suspending the game was the right move.

That might be a tough sell for Alfonzo McKinnie, however.

Then again, a player like McKinnie isn’t operating with the same mindset as most throughout the Association. The well-travelled forward isn’t guaranteed an opportunity tomorrow, let alone on Dec. 26, when the Bulls are scheduled to play their next game.

It’s about trying to take advantage of a situation that has a shelf life, and erasing a day from that calendar does him no good.

“Man, to be honest, it’s the biggest dream come true,” McKinnie said of playing for his hometown Bulls. “I’m a West Side kid. I grew up like 10, 15 minutes down the way. House was a Bulls house. Watched the Bulls growing up. So just being able to compete on the highest stage in my hometown, on my favorite side of the city, the West Side, it’s been surreal to be honest.

“Just putting that jersey on has been everything for me.”

But for how long?

The Bulls nabbed McKinnie — as well as Stanley Johnson — a few weeks back when they were granted hardship exemptions in the wake of eventually 10 players going into the protocol.

For a player like McKinnie, however, he couldn’t have asked for a better fit. Playing for Curie and then Marshall High School, McKinnie had spent time on four other NBA rosters, and was kicking it around with yet another G-League team, this time Mexico City.

When the Bulls reached out to him, not only was he headed back to the NBA, but for a homecoming.

“I remember being in the house with my grandmother and I always thought the Bulls had the dopest intro,” McKinnie said. “Standing out there on the court and hearing the intro, seeing the Bulls run through the other team’s bus, that’s something I remember being excited to see as a kid.”

He’s been playing like a guy excited to be living out his childhood dream, and while the sample size is small — just three games — putting in 25 minutes per game and averaging eight points for the Bulls in that time is huge for McKinnie.

That’s why a game postponed is a sort of gut-punch for the 6-foot-7, undrafted 29-year-old.

McKinnie wants to obviously stick with the Bulls, and if not at least have as many opportunities to put his game play on film for another team to notice. With how active the roster changes have been league-wide the last few weeks, bodies are needed.

But there’s another scenario that could play out. What if McKinnie has impressed enough where the Bulls want to keep him for the remainder of the season? He’s on his second 10-day contract, and has shown some versatility that maybe a Matt Thomas hasn’t.

“He’s a great guy, a team guy,” coach Billy Donovan said of McKinnie. “His learning of our system … just terminology, things we’re running, he’s done a good job of picking that up pretty quickly. And then he has shot the ball well. He can put it on the floor. He’s unselfish. And he gives you a lot of length on the perimeter defensively. He has fit in very, very well.”

For how long remains to be seen.

Read More

Bears quarterback Justin Fields has an ankle injury and will be limited in the team’s indoor walk-through Wednesday, coach Matt Nagy said.

Fields hurt his ankle in the second quarter Monday and first alerted the team of the injury Tuesday. The rookie quarterback said it felt better Wednesday.

Nagy said he doesn’t believe that Fields’ injury will prevent him from playing Sunday against the Seahawks. Asked the same question, Fields was more practical, saying he was just focused on it feeling better each day.

“I tweaked it in the second quarter but when you’re playing in the game, you got a bunch of adrenaline going on and stuff,” he said. “So, that’s when I first felt it but I was still good enough to play through it. Of course, it got worse after the game and the next morning. But it felt better this morning. …

“I mean, right now, I’m expected to play, but it’s really day-by-day.”

The Bears are holding a walk-through Wednesday because they’re on a short week. In that sense, Fields’ limited designation won’t cause him to miss much activity.

“It’s a mental day right now for all the guys anyway,” Nagy said. “So I just wanted to bring [Fields’ injury] up. And we’re just gonna be smart and protect him with that.”

With Andy Dalton on the reserve/COVID-19 list, Nick Foles is the second-stringer.

Read More

If a team is unavailable to play in College Football Playoff semifinals on Dec. 31 because of COVID-19 issues, the game will be forfeited and the available team will advance to the championship game.

With COVID-19 cases spiking across the country due to the omicron variant, the CFP announced Wednesday contingency plans for the semifinals and national championship game, which is scheduled for Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

No. 1 Alabama is scheduled to face No. 4 Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl in one New Year’s Eve semifinal and No. 2 Michigan is set to play No. 3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl in the nightcap of the CFP doubleheader.

“As we prepare for the Playoff, it’s wise and necessary to put into place additional precautions to protect those who will play and coach the games,” College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock said in a statement. “These policies will better protect our students and staffs while providing clarity in the event worst-case scenarios result.”

The contingency plans were agreed to by the CFP management committee, comprised of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director.

While there will be no rescheduling of either semifinal, the championship game could be delayed until as late as Jan. 14.

If a team cannot play in the title game, the available team will be declared national champion. If neither team has enough available players to play by Jan. 14, the championship will be considered vacated.

For the semifinals, if both teams scheduled to play each other are unavailable, that game shall be declared a no contest and the winner of the the other semifinal will be declared national champion.

If three semifinal teams are unavailable to play on Dec. 31, the team that is able to play will be declared national champion.

Read More

Email
print

Dallas Mavericks All-NBA guard Luka Doncic has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, threatening the loss of another league star for its slate of Christmas Day games.

Doncic and guard Trey Burke entered protocols on Wednesday, joining teammates Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber and Josh Green on the sidelines.

The Mavericks play Milwaukee on Thursday, and Utah on Saturday night in Salt Lake City in the final of ESPN/ABC’s five Christmas Day games.

Players have to return consecutive negative tests in a 24 hour-period or be sidelined for 10 days before they can resume play.

Doncic had missed five straight games with what the team said was a sore ankle, but there were plans for him to return Thursday against the Bucks.

Read More

The Bears got three players — two starters — back from the reserve/COVID-19 list. And, in a sign that the coronavirus isn’t done running its way through the roster, put another player on it.

Safety Eddie Jackson and rookie right tackle Larry Borom, who both missed Monday night’s game against the Vikings after getting the coronavirus last week, were activated. So was practice squad outside linebacker Sam Kamara.

Tight end Jesper Horsted, who caught a touchdown as time expired in the 17-9 loss at Soldier Field on Sunday, was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list. He is vaccinated.

The Bears are still practicing without offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor. Both tested positive early last week. Bears head coach Matt Nagy said he expects them to return soon. Defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who tested positive last week, was cleared in time for the game.

Borom figures to regain his starting job after Germain Ifedi returned from injured reserve to play right tackle against the Vikings.

Read More

The Bears can do this the easy way or the hard way.

Actually, they found a third option: The most excruciating, untenable and unpleasant way imaginable.

That’s what chairman George McCaskey has chosen.

It could not be clearer that they’ll be firing coach Matt Nagy after this miserable season, which trudges on with a visit to the Seahawks on Sunday and for two more weeks after. But they insist on putting him — and everyone else — through the needless ordeal of seeing this to the end as the lamest of lame ducks rather than relieve him of supervising what has become basically the 2022 pre-preseason.

Nagy seems to know very well that he’s the temporary caretaker of a future that he won’t be part of. He has essentially fired himself a handful of times over the last few weeks.

Heading into a 45-30 loss to the Packers that dropped him to 1-7 in the rivalry, he said, “We have not been good enough against this team in the 3 1/2 years that I’ve been here.”

He showed the first sign of wearing down early in the loss to the Vikings on Monday when he erupted at back judge Terrence Miles for a flag that negated his defense’s third-down stop. That seemed to lead to his players feeling like anything goes, and Nagy realized — too late, as always — that he was the one who opened the floodgates.

Before he could bottle it back up and implore everyone to “just be smart… myself included,” rookie left tackle Teven Jenkins sunk a drive with an unnecessary-roughness penalty for swinging at a defender after a play late in the third quarter.

The Bears ultimately stumbled to a 17-9 loss. It would’ve been 17-3 if not for Justin Fields’ desperate throw to Jesper Horsted for a touchdown as time expired.

Nagy called plays that night, resuming a role he has twice been compelled to abdicate because of how poorly things have gone.

“Big picture: not enough points,” Nagy said, surely aware it was a self-incriminating comment by a coach who got this job because the Bears believed he’d be the NFL’s next brilliant offensive mind.

He was speaking specifically of the Vikings game when he said that, but it applies broadly to his tenure. At their best under Nagy, the Bears averaged 26.3 points per game in 2018, but it would’ve been just 22.4 if not for defensive touchdowns and turnovers that set the offense up in scoring range.

It has only plummeted since.

Nagy was frustrated Monday because his defense, despite being depleted by the coronavirus, obviously played well enough that the Bears should’ve won.

And that wasn’t a one-off. It has been the same conversation on repeat for Nagy.

Including the playoffs, the Bears have scored fewer than 20 points in 27 of his 64 games. He has lost seven games in which his defense held the opponent under 20 over the last three seasons.

“It starts with me, and it ends with me,” Nagy said. “I accept complete responsibility for that, and I think that’s important to understand. You learn a lot through this process.”

That sounds like something you’d write in a resignation letter.

His fate has been sealed since mangling the Ravens game in Week 11, if not before that. Everyone can see it, even him.

He has been unable to defend his work because there is no defending it. And it’s reached a stage where there’s no real purpose in continuing to ask other than to beat him over the head with his failures. That’s pointless and annoying.

But the Bears seem content to let this continue.

They’re never fired a coach in season, but normal teams do. If something is inevitable, there’s no sense in delaying it.

This isn’t even about the early window for interviewing currently employed candidates on other staffs, because the Bears would need to be shockingly organized and prepared to take advantage of that. It’s not even clear who would be conducting those interviews if they’re firing general manager Ryan Pace, too.

The Bears would have to fire Nagy, fire Pace and announce a new chief decision maker — either as GM or president — in one swoop for that to matter. Highly unlikely.

It’ll take them well into January to get their long-term plans together. In the meantime, though, they’d be merciful to Nagy to let him go.

Read More

For MaShawn Plummer, becoming a firefighter earlier this year was a launching point for the rest of his life.

Plummer, 30, wanted to be good at his job and had dreams of advancing to the rank of chief. He and his girlfriend were preparing for the next step: marriage and kids.

“He had his life mapped out but, but God said ‘No,'” Plummer’s mother, Felicia Plummer Townsend, said Wednesday at a memorial service outside the fire station in Portage Park where the rookie firefighter had worked for several months.

Plummer died Tuesday, five days after he was critically injured while fighting an apartment fire in the Belmont Central neighborhood.

“He died doing what he loved doing. I have solace in knowing he died with dignity and grace and being of service,” Townsend Plummer told a crowd of about 100 people who gathered in front of the fire house in freezing temperatures.

“He died a hero,” said Plummer’s father, Jermaine Plummer, a field manager with Christy Webber, a landscaping company.

“I have to know what happened from the time he got on that truck. From the time he got to the hospital. I need to know, I need to know,” his mother said at the memorial.

An investigation into what led to Plummer’s death is underway, a Fire Department spokesman said Wednesday.

MaShawn PlummerChicago Fire Department

“This would have been his first big fire,” his mother said. “He’s put out kitchen fires and stuff like that. He was never apprehensive about going into a big fire, but in time he knew that would happen.”

Plummer grew up in Englewood and lived with his parents at his boyhood home near 51st Street and Lowe Avenue at the time he died.

“From the moment he got that letter saying it was time to report to the training academy, he was so overjoyed and he told me ‘This is my time to make a difference, my time to show people where I came from, that we can, we don’t have to be confined by where we live, our touch can reach far.’ And he got that opportunity, although it was short,” she said.

“We’re very proud,” said Jermaine Plummer.

“He loved life. That was his mission, to show love to anybody. There’s never been a time that anybody said anything negative about him…but that positivity and love he showed everywhere he went,” said Townsend Plummer, a record keeper at a law firm.

“He would do impromptu dance moves when he was happy. It was so silly because he wasn’t a good dancer,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not true, all black people can’t dance, he had no rhythm.

“My heart is heavy but I have so much joy because I know he touched so many people. He was that bright light in the room, the person that made you just say, ‘Who is that guy? I want to meet him,” she said.

Plummer, who had four sisters, attended Hales Franciscan High School before transferring to another school to play football. He was a defensive lineman.

Plummer graduated from Quincy University and worked for UPS and C.H. Robinson before joining the fire department, his family said.

Felicia Townsend Plummer expressed disappointment that Mayor Lori Lightfoot never visited with family at the hospital where her son was being treated before he died.

“The mayor called and she sent a text. I just wish she would have come to the hospital, and I know she’s busy, and I’m not political, I have no connections to any party or any vested interest, but I just wish she did. My son is a firefighter who worked for this city, who worked under her. Just come and see. Just come see. That’s it, that’s it, that’s all we want,” she said.

Eladio Luis Gomez, 37, lived in the basement of the apartment building that caught fire and also died as a result of the blaze.

His mother, Rita Velez, attended the memorial Wednesday and thanked firefighters for their efforts in trying to save her son.

She sobbed as she embraced Plummer’s mother and told her, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.”

A woman and a man who suffered injuries in the fire were still hospitalized in critical condition.

Read More