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Draymond Green served up his latest hot take on the newest episode of his podcast this week as the Warriors star made his prediction for the 2023 NBA finals.
Slated for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, this year’s NBA Finals will feature a battle between the Nuggets and star center Nikola Jokić, against the Heat and star guard Jimmy Butler. The meeting will mark the second time a No. 8 seed (Miami) will appear in the Finals, as well as the first Finals appearance for top-seeded Denver.
In his breakdown of the series, Green explained the Nuggets’ ability to close out their previous series as the “one key thing” that the four-time Golden State champion believes will make all the difference in the long run. Denver earned a Finals berth after going 12–3 through their first three series, including a sweep over the Lakers in the West finals.
“They have not f—— around any of their series.” Green said. “They had opportunities to close, they close. They’re getting it done, they’re ready to win a championship.”
As for his series prediction, Green kept it short and simple, telling his viewers, “I got the Nuggets in five.”
.@Money23Green is riding with the Nuggets in five 🏆
“They have not f–ked around”
Full episode exclusively in the B/R app @TheVolumeSports https://t.co/d7VkV57e9s pic.twitter.com/MuSuTWTBtp
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 1, 2023
In addition to having the best chance to win, Denver also has, according to Green, the “the best player in the series” in Jokić, who he said is “on some all-time great type stuff right now.” The two-time MVP enters the Finals in the midst of a historic postseason run, which included an epic four-game run against L.A. that helped him break the single-season playoff record for triple-doubles.
Needless to say, Green, like many NBA fans, certainly seems amped to see Denver and Miami clash for the Larry O’Brien trophy. And, if the road to Thursday has been any indication, the series is sure to give Green and fans plenty to talk about in the coming days.
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Author: Jelani Scott
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Archeologists digging in the Negev desert in southern Israel have uncovered evidence of a booming wine industry dating back more than 1,500 years. They have also found and genetically analyzed two ancient winegrape varieties that thrived in the hot, dry climate of the region. Some members of Israel’s young wine industry hope to use the grapes to produce wines with a link to the region’s long history.
Prof. Guy Bar-Oz is a bio-archaeologist at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa who began digging in the region in 2015 and at the Avdat archaeological site in 2018. His goal was to find out why the people who lived there 1,500 years ago abandoned the region. His early excavations focused on middens, ancient trash piles. He and his colleagues were surprised by how many grape pips they dug up.
The ancient city of Avdah (or Abdah) was founded in the 1st century BCE by the Nabataeans, a people who ruled parts of modern-day Israel, Jordan and Syria. They are best known for building the ancient city of Petra, their capital, and were neighbors of ancient Judea. Avdah was an important town between Petra and Gaza, part of a trade route for spices. Later, the Nabataeans’ land was absorbed into the Roman and then Byzantine empires. The region has strong links to our collective wine past.
By 600 CE, the population living in Avdat were Greek speakers and Christian. They lived on the eastern edge of the vast Byzantine empire, which controlled much of the land touching the Mediterranean sea. The hinterlands of Gaza were used for agriculture, and these vintners had access to the trade routes of the empire and the kingdoms in what is today Western Europe. Adding to their good fortune, Jerusalem was a busy pilgrimage destination, bringing visitors from all over. In other words, it was a good market for wine.
The evidence for commercial wine production in the area is persuasive. Archeologists have uncovered large wine presses, the remains of pressed grapes, dovecotes positioned to provide guano to fertilize the vines, the traces of irrigation systems—everything necessary to prosper at viticulture in a marginal environment.
“They didn’t have enough water so they built water systems to collect water during the winter,” said Dr. Meirav Meiri, curator of Bioarcheology and Head of the Animal and Plant Ancient DNA Laboratory at the Steinhardt Museum in Tel Aviv, who worked on the research. “From these sites we can see that the people who lived there knew how to take advantage of what they had to have a successful life.”
The researchers decided they needed to learn more about the grape remains they found. “We wanted to know what varieties they grew,” said Meiri. “Did they bring them from somewhere else in the Byzantine empire or Europe, or were they local varieties?”
Over the last few decades the Negev has become trendy place to plant a vineyard, but the vines are international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. The ancient varieties have been lost.
The archeological team gathered grape pips from three sites and used target-enriched genomic-wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to determine the grapes’ lineage. They also sequenced modern indigenous cultivars as well as wild and feral grapes gathered across Israel.
They found that the Byzantine farmers grew numerous, genetically diverse grapes in field blends. “Maybe this diversity [in the vineyards] was a strategy for food security,” said Bar-Oz. Different varieties might have been more resistant to disease or drought, ripen earlier or later. “And if they all ripen on the same day, you’ll have problems bringing them to the wine press.”
Two pips were of particular interest. A33 is a direct relative, likely a parent-offspring relationship, of the modern Lebanese grape Asswad Karech, also known as Syriki in Greece. “It’s amazing,” said Meiri. “It has many names, but it’s the same variety, and it’s still growing in the region, but not in Israel.”
Another pip, A32, is the oldest white wine grape identified so far. And some think it could be a link to a legendary white wine of Gaza. There are literary references in Europe, from the fifth and sixth centuries, extolling the quality of a sweet white wine, Vinum Gazum or Gaza wine. Wine was known by its port of origin, and the amphorae used to ship the wine would have been unique to that region.
But experts don’t know for sure where the Gaza merchants sourced their wine. Avdah was on the trade route to Gaza and the port would have been a two-day walk from the Negev vineyards. The archeologists know that wine for export was carried by camel in elongated amphorae, easily stacked, then shipped by sea. Wine for local and regional consumption was stored in smaller, round vessels. Significant quantities of shards from Gaza amphorae have been found in Western Europe and the British Isles. But after the sixth century, the luxury elixir disappears from records.
Pip A32 was discovered in a sealed room in a Byzantine monastery, dating to the eight century. That’s after the heyday of Gaza wine production, which ended mysteriously two hundred years earlier. Christian monasteries remained and they produced wine for their own consumption. Could the monks have kept the famous Gaza wine growing through the centuries of political, economic and social upheaval?
The evidence shows that for two centuries, the winemakers enjoyed a boom economy. And suddenly they didn’t. But the reason for the collapse of the once flourishing wine industry remains a mystery.
“We could see from the way the houses were built that they meant to stay forever, but something went wrong,” said Bar-Oz. “What happened?”
One theory lays the blame on the Muslim conquest, around 640 CE, but carbon dating reveals that wine production largely dried up more than 100 years earlier. Archeologists found houses had been sealed with stones, methodically, with care, as if to protect them until their owners returned.
Two other theories—climate change and the plague—were also explored. From the evidence found at the three sites, it does not appear that either pushed this wine-centric society to collapse. The reason was probably economic. It was a time of upheaval, and the empire’s eastern territories, which relied on Byzantine globalization, may have lost their export markets, leading to a collapse in the local economy. “The facts tell a complex story,” said Bar-Oz.
But soon it could be possible to taste an authentic Negev wine from ancient grapes, possibly even the legendary white wine of Gaza. A research grant has helped propagate the two ancient grapes and plant five acres in the Negev highlands, bringing the ancient Byzantine vineyards to the 21st century. The researchers plan to begin planting the vineyard in September.
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Author: David Carnoy
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Author: David Carnoy
Former Dodgers and Padres first baseman Steve Garvey could possibly launch a bid to run for a United States Senate seat in California as a Republican in the 2024 election, Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
The 74-year-old has never ran for public office before. However, Republican strategist Andy Gharakhani is advising Garvey during his decision-making process, and he told the L.A. Times that the former MLB star could announce a bid somewhat soon if he so chooses.
“He is being contacted by leaders up and down the state,” Gharakhani said. “They’re recruiting him to run from both sides, Republican and Democrat, and he’s seriously considering it. We should have a decision made here in the next few weeks.”
Garvey would be running to replace longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein, who recently announced she would not be running in 2024 due to health concerns.
As of March, around 20 candidates had filed to run for the Senate seat. Garvey has yet to comment on his decision.
During his 18 seasons in professional baseball, Garvey made 10 All-Star team and earned four Gold Gloves, while helping the Dodgers win the 1981 World Series title. He was also named the National League MVP in ’74 and received the National League Championship MVP award while on both the Dodgers (’78) and the Padres (’84).
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Author: Madison Williams
MIRAMAR BEACH – The SEC’s schedule debate is over—at least for now.
At their annual spring meetings within the Hilton Sandestin, league administrators agreed to continue playing eight conference games when Texas and Oklahoma arrive in 2024, eschewing a nine-game format in a move that is likely to draw criticism from the rest of the college football world.
In a debate that has raged for more than a year, officials finally agreed to a compromise. They will remain at eight games in what many refer to as a temporary or short-term model with a pathway to an eventual move to a nine-game format, something that SI reported earlier this week. Commissioner Greg Sankey announced the news Thursday, the third day of the four-day meetings.
A majority vote of the 14 league schools was needed to change the scheduling model from eight games. Only five programs publicly expressed their support for a nine-game format: LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida and Missouri. Texas and Oklahoma do not get a vote because they do not become full voting members until July of 2024.
The 2024 schedules were not released, though the league is expected to preserve primary and secondary rivalries. For instance, Alabama’s primary is Auburn and its secondary is Tennessee. Georgia’s primary is Florida and its secondary is Auburn. New member Texas has a primary in Oklahoma and a secondary in Texas A&M. Mississippi State and Ole Miss play one another in the Egg Bowl each season, and Arkansas and Missouri have an annual rivalry clash as well.
However, if the eight-game model continues beyond one year, secondary rivalries could be lost. In the format, each team would play one permanent opponent and rotate seven new teams every other year. This allows the league to play every other team—home and away—in a four-year span. But it also would turn annual secondary rivalries into bi-annual matchups.
A nine-game schedule—with three permanents and six rotational—is more conducive to retaining those games.
Yet, the league passed on nine, electing instead to go to a placeholder type format.
At least nine member schools supported remaining at eight games for a variety of reasons, most notably that ESPN is, for now, not providing any additional revenue. Other concerns include 1) the uncertainty on the selection process in an expanded CFP and 2) future scheduling problems. Some programs have scheduled Power 5 nonconference games out for a decade. Some even have two Power 5 opponents in a single season expecting to continue playing eight league games. Moving to a ninth league game would give programs 11 Power 5 games in a season, and many athletic directors would prefer to then cancel one of those. In some cases, breaking nonconference game contracts is a seven-figure cost.
Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports
The future scheduling discussion has lingered over the conference as a somewhat divisive issue, mostly splitting the league along revenue-generating lines. However, there are bigger budget schools that, for now, support eight, such as Alabama and Auburn.
In an interview with SI in March, Alabama coach Nick Saban threw his weight behind an eight-game schedule that, he says, will create more balance. He did this while expressing his dissatisfaction for the three permanent opponents that the Tide would play annually (Auburn, Tennessee and LSU).
“I think [the SEC] has a better chance to get the parity right doing the eight games,” Saban told SI. “I’m talking about the balance of who has who.”
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Wednesday that he does not have enough information to vote on a long-term scheduling format—the most obvious clue yet that officials were working toward a short-term deal.
Some refer to this plan as a “temporary” solution until concerns over the CFP, additional TV revenue and future nonconference scheduling subside.
On the ESPN front, now is not the time for the network to announce that it’s giving the SEC millions more dollars to play an extra ninth game. The SEC’s sole broadcasting partner starting in 2024, ESPN is in the midst of several rounds of layoffs and has been public about its plan to be more selective in the future with spending.
The network is also involved or is soon to be involved in bidding for several other deals involving an expanded CFP, the NBA, the WWE and UFC. A short-term plan provides more time for the network to sift through its current predicament and avoid the public look of tossing around cash bags while cutting employees.
Questions linger about the selection process with the 12-team CFP. A move to nine games would result in eight more losses to conference members. That could mean the difference in a team making a bowl game and not. More importantly, it could mean the difference in a team advancing to the expanded CFP.
“My biggest question I would have is, how does the playoff look at it?” asks Auburn coach Hugh Freeze. “If you’re an SEC team and you’re really of quality and won a lot of good games but you drop two to top teams, or a third one, do you still get in? All of those are unknown.”
The SEC may be one of the few Power 5 leagues sticking with an eight-game format. Sankey is unmoved by such a prospect. He doesn’t care if the league faces criticism.
“I’m pretty sure the last game of the season was 65–7,” Sankey said on the Paul Finebaum Show of Georgia’s win over TCU in January’s title game. “If the indictment is that we don’t play the highest level of football, then someone isn’t watching the games.”
Sankey has not publicly expressed his support for either model, but he has suggested that the league continue to improve its value. “A league at the forefront of college athletics doesn’t stand still. This is a league at the forefront of college athletics,” he said Monday in a gathering with reporters.
Sankey has multiple times inferred that extra cash from ESPN is not and will not be the driving reason behind a decision on the scheduling. “[If] all you do is chase money, you make really bad decisions and I’m watching that in college sports right now,” he said. “We won’t do that here.”
That said, his membership sometimes sings a different tune. Many school officials in the eight-game camp ask a legitimate question: Why would we give extra content without extra revenue?
In the end, they did not.
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Author: Ross Dellenger
Introductory press conferences are typically a time for celebration and positive outlooks for the future. But new 76ers head coach Nick Nurse found himself in a slightly awkward situation on Thursday when he was asked point-blank what outcome he was hoping for in the James Harden situation.
Harden, who helped lead Philadelphia to the second round of the playoffs in a postseason performance that featured several high and low moments, has a $35.6 million player option for next season. With rumors swirling that Harden will decline the option and elect free agency—possibly to return to the Rockets—Nurse was asked by a reporter whether or not he wanted Harden to stay in Philadelphia.
His answer wasn’t exactly a definitive one, at least initially.
“James has a decision to make and I would be very happy if he came back.”
Nick Nurse on Harden’s future. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Gq7LFAZyPJ
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) June 1, 2023
Nurse also had plenty of praise for the former league MVP, and said that he would do his best to sell Harden on the Sixers’ championship potential to get him to remain in Philadelphia.
“Winning has to be the sell, right?” Nurse said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “Can we be good enough to win it all? That’s got to be a goal of his. And if it is, then he should stay here and play for us, because I think there’s a possibility of that.”
Harden had several clutch moments during the postseason, including a 45-point outburst in Game 1 of the Sixers’ series against the Celtics, but was unable to get the team past the second round. His struggles were particularly notable in Game 7, when he shot 3-for-11 from the field and finished with nine points in 40 minutes.
Nurse emphasized the importance of getting over the playoff hump with his new team, which has not gotten past the second round since 2001.
“You guys have mentioned the second round to me twice already, and we’re gonna hit that head on,” Nurse said. “Like we know we’re gonna we’re judged on how we play in the playoff. It was the same in Toronto; we hadn’t played that well, and certain players hadn’t played that well and all those kinds of things. So the reality is, that’s, that’s the truth. So, I would imagine from Day 1, we’re going to talk about that and that we’re going to try to attack that, you know. We’re gonna have to face it, and we’re gonna have to rise above it.”
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Author: Nick Selbe