SportsZone Chicago

Bulls Beat Magic - DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine each scored 32 points, Nikola Vucevic added 26 points and 13 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls turned back a late rally and beat the Orlando Magic 128-109 on Saturday night. Mo Wagner led the Magic with 27 points, combining with Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs to lead a furious second-half rally that cut a 25-point deficit to six with 5:08 remaining.Click below to read more: https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401468899

Chicago Blackhawks Lose to Oilers - Tyson Barrie scored twice, Connor McDavid had his NHL-best 41st goal and the Edmonton Oilers headed into their All-Star break with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had a goal and two assists, and Evander Kane and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Oilers (28-18-4). They are 7-0-1 in their last eight games. Jason Dickinson, Jonathan Toews and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Blackhawks (15-29-4). They have lost three of their last four. Click below to read more: https://www.espn.com/nhl/recap/_/gameId/40145937

Candace Parker plans to sign with the Las Vegas Aces, the two-time WNBA champion announced via Instagram on Saturday. The Aces won their first championship last season and have landed one the biggest names in free agency to aid their pursuit of back-to-back titles. After leading the Los Angeles Sparks to a championship win in 2016, the 15-year veteran helped the Chicago Sky win their first in 2021. Because of her upbringing in Naperville, Illinois, Parker's decision to leave Los Angeles after 13 seasons for the Sky meant that she was going home. After two successful seasons there, this move carries the same sentiment. In the statement, Parker wrote that Las Vegas is the perfect destination in her free agency because she can compete for a third championship there while being close to her wife, daughter and son.
Click below to read more:
https://sports.yahoo.com/two-time-wnba-champion-candace-parker-announces-plans-to-sign-with-las-vegas-aces-225340533.htm

Blackhawks Beat Flames - Two games into his NHL career, Blackhawks rookie goaltender Jaxson Stauber is playing like a poised veteran. Stauber stopped 34 shots for his second consecutive win and 13 players contributed a point as Chicago beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 Thursday night. Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, Jason Dickinson, Sam Lafferty and Connor Murphy scored for the Blackhawks (15-28-4), who entered last in the NHL standings. Max Domi had an assist, extending his point streak to four games. Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Flames (23-17-9), sitting outside a playoff spot in the Western Conference after winning the Pacific Division last year. Click below to read more: https://www.espn.com/nhl/recap/_/gameId/401459361

Bulls Lose to Hornets - After giving up a 20 point lead against the Pacers on Tuesday, the Bulls have now followed that up by getting blown out by the Charlotte Hornets 111-96. While not giving up a huge lead like against the Pacers, the Bulls were up eight at the half and double digits multiple times in this game even in the third quarter. The Bulls had ample opportunities to pull away from the Hornets as Charlotte missed 17 three-point shots at one point (yes you read that right). Click below to read more: https://www.blogabull.com/2023/1/26/23573750/bulls-vs-hornets-final-score-its-all-falling-apart-blown-out-111-96-in-charlott

Panthers Hire Reich as Head Coach - The Carolina Panthers have decided on their next head coach. Panthers Hire Reich as New Head Coach - Carolina is hiring former Colts coach Frank Reich, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Thursday. The team later announced the news. Reich will receive a four-year contract, Rapoport added. Reich's history with the Panthers dates back to the franchise's first regular-season game in existence, in which Reich threw the team's first touchdown pass (to tight end Pete Metzelaars). Reich eventually moved on from Carolina as a player, but returns to Charlotte as the new leader of the club nearly 18 years after he became its first starting quarterback. Click below to read more: https://www.nfl.com/news/panthers-hiring-former-colts-coach-frank-reich-as-head-coach

Jets Hire Hackett as OC - The Jets have found their new offensive coordinator - and that is going to lead to speculation about who their new quarterback will be. The Jets hired Nathaniel Hackett to run their offense, and he has one connection that is going to drive plenty of speculation. Hackett was the Packers offensive coordinator from 2019-21 and worked closely with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who may hit the trade block this offseason. If the Jets do pursue Rodgers, Hackett could be part of attracting him to Gang Green. Click below to read more: https://nypost.com/2023/01/26/jets-hire-nathaniel-hackett-as-offensive-coordinator-with-aaron-rodgers-speculation-lingering

The Houston Astros announced Thursday that they have hired Dana Brown, previously the Atlanta Braves' vice president of scouting, as their new general manager, ending a two-month search process after they parted ways with James Click. With the promotion, Brown becomes the only Black general manager in MLB. Before his four-year tenure as the Braves' head of scouting, Brown worked for the Toronto Blue Jays for nine years as special assistant to the general manager, with earlier stints as the director of scouting for the Washington Nationals and as a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Click below to read more:
https://sports.yahoo.com/astros-hire-braves-vp-dana-brown-who-becomes-mlbs-only-black-gm-191704249.htm

Bulls Lose to Pacers - Bennedict Mathurin looked at the Indiana Pacers' 21-point first-half deficit and saw an opportunity. He kept urging his teammates to play hard, to follow the game plan and insisted they eventually could come back. Again. Then the 20-year-old rookie made sure of it. Mathurin and Myles Turner each scored 26 points and Mathurin broke free for the decisive basket with 29.1 seconds left to give the Pacers a 116-110 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night. Mathurin certainly caused headaches for the Bulls, who had a three-game winning streak end. DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points to lead Chicago and Nikola Vucevic added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists as his streak of 11 consecutive double-doubles also ended. Click below to read more: https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401468868
Blackhawks Lose to Canucks -The Blackhawks fell to the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday. Here are 10 observations from the loss: The Canucks dominated in shot attempts (80-34), shots on goal (48-14), scoring chances (46-15) and high-danger chances (22-6), per Natural Stat Trick. The Blackhawks' 14 shots was a new season-low, and the 46 scoring chances against and 22 high-danger chances against were tied for their second-highest totals of the season. A very lopsided stat sheet. Click below to read more: https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/blackhawks/10-observations-canucks-beat-blackhawks-open-rick-tocchet-er

Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored twice and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Sunday night. Kevin Fiala had two assists and Pheonix Copley stopped 18 shots to help the Kings snap a four-game losing streak. Defenseman Ian Mitchell scored his first goal of the season for Chicago, spoiling Copley's shutout bid with 3:15 remaining. Petr
Mrazek finished with 25 saves. The Blackhawks had won three straight and six of their previous seven. Read more at:
https://www.espn.com/nhl/recap/_/gameId/40145933

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Kansas City Chiefs - The Kansas City Chiefs have punched their ticket to the AFC Championship Game for the fifth straight season, as Andy Reid's squad defeated Doug Pederson and the Jacksonville Jaguars, 27-20. Patrick Mahomes suffered an ankle injury toward the end of the first quarter after taking a low hit. He missed one drive, but shook off the pain and returned in the second half to lead Kansas City to victory.
Click below to read more: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/chiefs-vs-jaguars-score-takeaways-patrick-mahomes-shakes-off-ankle-injury-leads-kansas-city-afc-title-game/live/

New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles - If there was any doubt as to who the team to beat in the NFC is, the Eagles put that to bed on Saturday night. Fueled by impressive performances from Jalen Hurts, Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell, among others, Philadelphia waltzed past the Giants 38-7 at home to advance to the NFC championship game. In the battle of dual-threat QBs, it was Hurts who got the better of Giants signal-caller Daniel Jones. The first-time Pro Bowler completed 16 of 24 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns and added another score on the ground.
Click below to read more: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/giants-eagles-live-score-highlights-playoffs/uwtvzkwgsucmssgwi5htfsw

After the Sabres were completely flat against the Panthers at home yesterday, we probably should have expected a better effort from them. I wouldn't characterize their game as "inspired" tonight, but they took advantage of a lot of terrible defensive coverage and an ugly turnover on the power play to get out to a two-goal lead in the second period.
The Blackhawks tried to battle back against Seattle on Saturday, but the five-goal deficit they were facing was too much; they out-scored the Kraken 4-2 in the final 40 minutes. Tonight, the Blackhawks erased a two-goal deficit in the third period and took the game to overtime. Seth Jones' game improved more as the game went on, and he picked up the game-tying goal with 55 seconds left on the clock.
Click below to read more:
https://www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2023/01/17/blackhawks-4-sabres-3-ot-three-stars-key-takeaways

49ers Beat Seahawks - The 49ers took Seattle's best punch in the first half and were able to withstand it, thanks to a strong effort over the final two quarters that allowed San Francisco to run away with the 41-23 victory and advance to the divisional round. The postseason lights didn't seem to bother rookie Brock Purdy, who finished with 332 yards and four total touchdowns in the win. He became the first rookie quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw and run for a touchdown in his first career playoff start. Furthermore, he's the first rookie quarterback with four total touchdowns in a postseason game.
Click below to read more: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/49ers-vs-seahawks-score-takeaways-brock-purdy-makes-playoff-history-accounts-for-4-tds-in-rout-of-seattle/live

Jaguars Beat Chargers - Up 27-0 late in the first half of their wild-card clash with the Jaguars, the Chargers looked to be cruising toward an assured playoff victory and their first Divisional Round appearance in four years. Two hours and a methodical, historic and eventually inevitable Jacksonville comeback later, Los Angeles was heading home instead. "I'm hurting for everybody in that locker room," Chargers coach Brandon Staley said after their 31-30 defeat in Duval. "It's a special group of guys. This is the toughest way that you can lose in the playoffs."
Click below to read more: https://www.nfl.com/news/chargers-blow-27-point-lead-in-historic-postseason-loss-to-jaguars-the-toughest-