Good morning! Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Thursday morning.
Don't hurt 'em, DeAndre! Is this the dunk of the year? It is certainly an early candidate, and of course it is DeAndre Jordan. Once you get over the sheer power of the dunk, there are a couple of things to appreciate here: 1) Notice where Jordan is when this play begins. He is at mid-court, not even thinking about being a part of the action; 2) Notice that the ball almost goes through the hoop twice. Amazing. The Clippers went on to beat the Bucks 109-95.
Matt Barnes hit the craziest of game-winners. Barnes did everything wrong on this half-court shot, except miss it. With the Grizzlies down two at the end of the game, Barnes grabbed a rebound and even though his coach wanted a timeout, and even though there were still three seconds left on the clock, and even though the Clippers only needed two points, he chucked up a shot from mid-court. Incredibly, the prayer was answered and it went in. It was the classic, "NO, NO, NO ... GREAT SHOT!"
Sometimes it is best to be lucky and good. It has been a rough season for Chelsea in the Premier League as they have struggled to defend their title. But things have fared a little better in the Champions League. Still, Chelsea needed a win over Porto to guarantee they would advance to the knockout stage and that's what they did with the help of Diego Costa and a lucky bounce. In the 12th minute, Costa had a breakaway that was stopped by the keeper, but the shot ricoched off of a defender and into the goal just before a second defender arrived to clear it. Chelsea went on to win 2-0.