For the third consecutive season, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, given annually to "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game."Bergeron, long known for his exemplary, two-way play, won the award following the 2011-2012 season.The other finalists named by the NHL today are Chicago's Jonathan Toews and LA's Anze Kopitar. Toews won the award last season.

DETROIT--Not that it's a surprise to anyone who has watched him play over the past few years, but Patrice Bergeron was named one of the three finalists for the Selke Award today along with the Los Angeles Kings' Anze Kopitar and the Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews. The award is given to the game's best defensive...

Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, awarded to the NHL‘s best defensive forward. The other two finalists are Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks and Anze Kopitar of the Kings. Bergeron won the award in 2012 and finished second behind Toews last season. His case for winning a second Selke [...]

DETROIT — To the surprise of no one, Patrice Bergeron finished in the top three in Selke voting for the trophy annually awarded to the league’s best defensive forward. The other nominees were Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews; Bergeron will in all likelihood win, with Kopitar likely finishing second and Toews coming in third. Bergeron won [...]

DETROIT -- Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, the NHL announced Thursday morning. Also nominated for the award are Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Selke is awarded to the forward who best excels in...

The Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers are 53-53 at halftime of Game 2 of their Western Conference playoff matchup. LaMarcus Aldridge (23 points) and Dwight Howard (25 points) are engaged in a battle of all-star big men.

Dwight Howard was spectacular early in Game 2 but the Rockets still lost and wasted his strong effort.

The focus of Rockets’ opponents since the beginning of the season has been on their duo of superstars, James Harden and Dwight Howard. But as he did in last year’s playoffs and throughout this season, forward Chandler Parsons is forcing Portland to pick its poison. In Game 1 of the first round playoff series against […]

Dwight Howard brought the first-quarter thunder for the Houston Rockets but Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge brought the rain all night long as the Trail Blazers defeated the Rockets and walked out of Houston with a 2-0 series lead. Ladies and Gentlemen, Blazersedge,com would like to open the recap of...

Rockets center Dwight Howard after Houston's 112-105 loss to the Trail Blazers in Game 2, as Portland grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Here's how the Yankees reacted following pitcher Michael Pineda's ejection for using an illegal substance (pine tar).

Also (probably) had it on his hand on April 10 vs. Red Sox

Pineda was ejected in the second inning for having a foreign substance on his neck

Pineda did it again.

It didn’t take Dirk Nowitzki more than three minutes in his postgame chat with media members to sound the alarm bells. Sure, he was happy about getting a win in Game 2 against the Spurs and leveling the best-of-seven first-round …

SAN ANTONIO – Dirk Nowitzki enjoyed the Mavericks’ first playoff victory since they clinched the 2011 championship for a few minutes before he started fretting about Game 3. The Mavs seized homecourt advantage in the series by routing the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 at the AT&T Center. However,...

Dwyane Wade, who took fewer three-pointers than he ever has this season, has been lofting more in recent games (at least before Game 2) and said he wants that “weapon in the playoffs, even more than the regular season.”

View this gallery here.

We'll have a very brief GIF Breakdown of this contest because it was a game that didn't provide us fans with many highlight worthy plays. The first possession for the Spurs resulted in a three for Danny Green, which was something that we didn't see in Game One. Tony Parker drove into the paint and found an open Green in the right corner and the former Tar Heel connected for three. For a brief moment I thought the Spurs we know and love were back. I love watching Timmy work in the post. Here he has Shawn Marion matched up against him and he goes into a spin move only to find that he is...

Tony Parker is ready to take more of an aggressive shooting approach if needed.

We recently held our annual Patriots Draft Party at Gillette Stadium, where ESPN analysts Mike Reiss, Field Yates, Tedy Bruschi and Trevor Matich answered questions and gave their analysis on the team. The first clip we’re posting today deals with the Patriots’ aggressive approach to free agency this offseason. “Sometimes it’s cyclical for the New England Patriots on what they’ll do,” Bruschi said. “I don’t think you can ever predict what they’ll do.

The New England Patriots have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with former Rams and Redskins linebacker Josh Hull, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Hull, 26, spent part the 2013 season in Washington after three years with the Rams,...

Every Thursday on ESPNBoston.com, there is a Patriots chat in the late morning/early afternoon. Today's chat kicked off at 11 a.m., can be recapped here, and included some of the following topics: 1. A variety of thoughts on the 2014 regular-season schedule. 2. Considering the possibility of trading...

Thanks to another incredible individual performance from LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers return to Portland with a 2-0 lead over the Rockets in the best-of-seven series.

The Trail Blazers and Rockets are headed to Portland, and the Blazers halfway to a playoff series victory.Here are highlights of our coverage of this first-round playoff series, which the Blazers lead 2-0 after a second consecutive dominant performance from Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge.

LaMarcus Aldridge scores 43 points, Damian Lillard fights through a poor shooting night to flirt with a triple-double, and the Blazers' bench wakes up.

Q: If Josh McRoberts is suspended, do you think Charlotte will go with an ultra-small lineup for Saturday's Game 3? How would the Heat counter? -- David.

Josh McRoberts denied any malicious intent on a hard foul against LeBron James during Wednesday's Game 2 loss.

DETROIT >> After 24 hours of speculating, Henrik Zetterberg appears to be in the lineup for Game 4 against the Boston Bruins Zetterberg began the morning skate on a line with Pavel Datsyuk and Justin Abdelkader. Todd Bertuzzi also appears …

DETROIT — Mike Babcock used the expression “who knows?” when talking about whether game-time decision Henrik Zetterberg will play in Game 4 against the Bruins. Claude Julien thinks he knows. “In my mind, he’s going to be there tonight,” Julien said. Zetterberg has not played an NHL game since February 8 and had back surgery [...]

Just when it looked like Washington would be swept by the Angels, Jayson Werth's timely RBIs and a walk-off from Adam LaRoche helped the Nats escape with a win.

Adam LaRoche’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning in Wednesday’s 5-4 walkoff capped not only another comeback victory but provided another encouraging sign that the Nationals’ cleanup hitter is locked in at the plate and rebounding from last season. LaRoche finished the night...

He scores 15 points and makes key plays at the end of the third quarter.

Dorell Wright played just 18 minutes off the bench in Wednesday's Game 2 win, but was highly effective with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, three blocks and three 3-pointers.

Bobby Abreu will start in left field and hit sixth during Thursday’s day-game against the Cardinals (Mets on Twitter, Apr. 24). His last major league start was July 25, 2012, for the Dodgers. Curtis Granderson will get the day off, despite ending a career-long hitless streak with a single in the first inning Wednesday night. Granderson is […]

 

And there was no one surprised. Mike Conley Winner of the 2013-14 Joe Dumars Award for sportsmanship At least no Grizzlies' fans were surprised. We've long known that Mike is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth fellas around the NBA. I don't think I've ever heard a single ill word spoken about Conley other than the fact that he beats everyone in every competitive challenge he's presented. You never see Mike talking ish on the court, and I can count on one hand the number of times he's displayed animated emotion on the basketball court. Number 11 just takes care of business and gives a...

Trevor Booker pumped his fist and leaned over the baseline after Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich missed the first of two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining in Game 2 of the Wizards’ first-round playoff series. Realizing that Hinrich was set to intentionally miss the second attempt, Booker raised his elbows to his chest and […]

In an interview published Tuesday, Billy King recounts the process that led him to hire Jason Kidd, admitting that he was reluctant at first when "ownership" suggested Kidd as coach, then after one meeting changed his mind.  King also reiterated that he now knows what kind of player Kidd wants and will be pursuing them (no names) this off-season. "One thing I knew, I wanted a leader," King told Isiah Thomas of NBA TV. "because most people look for guys (with) x's and o's. That's great, but if you can't lead, then x's and o's doesn't work. "And ownership said, 'what about Jason Kidd?' And I...

DETROIT >> Daniel Alfredsson will miss his second straight playoff game due to a problem with his back. Wings coach Mike Babcock said Alfredsson, who has no points and no shots in goals in two games in this series with …

If you’re a Celtics fan, then you know this: Boston has never had lottery luck. This year, the C’€™s tough luck started early. With the lottery still almost a month away, the C’s already lost a coin flip to Utah, breaking the tie for the fourth position. Here’€™s what losing the coin flip means for […]

Texans former first round pick DeAndre Hopkins may not have had the flash of Tavon Austin or the spectacular production of Keenan Allen, but he might already be the most dangerous weapon in the 2013 class. Read on and find out how the next Andre Johnson could already be in H-Town. Everyone knows Andre Johnson is big, fast, and catches everything in his zip code. What everyone does not know, however, is that Johnson is also one of the greatest route runners to ever play the game. While Jerry Rice set unbreakable records by making every release and every cut look exactly the same on a snap...

The point guard started cold in Game 2 but went off for 12 points in the third quarter to help ignite the Dallas blowout.

Coming out of exit interviews today was news about Ben Bishop's injuries. He suffered a torn ligament in his wrist in January and a dislocated elbow on April 8. While the elbow was healing and Bishop was looking towards playing in Game 6 if there was one, that was not to be. (Sorry.) After Bishop suffered dislocated elbow on April 8, he said Stamkos gave him a hug and Bishop almost started crying, knew he'd miss playoffs — Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) April 24, 2014 However we did learn more details about the nagging wrist injury we all knew was bothering him throughout the...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Chris Colabello might be driving in runs at a record pace, but he’ll have to make the All-Star Game as a write-in candidate. When the American League all-star ballot is unveiled Friday at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins’ cleanup man will not b... Read more..

Kari Lehtonen has been outstanding on home ice, but can he carry that play into a crucial Game 5 matchup in Anaheim? On Monday night, Kari Lehtonen was magical. In the first Dallas Stars home playoff game in six years the veteran netminder stopped all 37 shots he faced in the game and quickly erased many of the doubts that he could find success in the postseason and lead his team to a crucial victory. Unlike the first two games in Anaheim, Lehtonen suddenly appeared calm and collected in net and challenged shooters and skated away with a big shutout victory. Wednesday night's game was a bit...

The Flyers starting goaltender will return to the crease to begin Game 4. We kind of assumed this would happen after he saw ice time in the third period of Game 3, but Steve Mason will indeed get the start for the Flyers in what's virtually a must-win on home ice in Game 4 on Friday night. Craig Berube announced it Thursday afternoon. Mason was well enough to dress as Ray Emery's backup on Tuesday in Game 3, and after the game got out of reach towards the end of the third period, Mason came in to get some game action. "It's good to get back out there," Mason said of that Game 3 ice time....