Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Good, The Bad and The...(14/02)

The Good – D.A Points

American D.A. Points clinched his first PGA Tour title with a two-shot victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday, after covering his last five holes in a stunning three under par.

Two strokes behind the leaders going into the final round, Points spectacularly holed out from 100 yards to eagle the par-five 14th on the way to a five-under 67 on the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

With his scorching run in bright sunshine after the turn, the 34 year old Points, charged past overnight leader Steve Marino and U.S. Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan to post a winning total of 15 under.

"Pebble Beach may be the most iconic place in America to play golf and to win here is just a dream come true", a beaming Points said greenside after earning the winner's cheque for US$1.116 million.

"I'm so grateful to have this opportunity".

Points was able celebrate to a double victory on Sunday as he also triumphed in the pro-am competition with his playing partner Bill Murray, the U.S. actor and comedian.

The Bad – DeMarcus Cousins

While the Sacramento Kings played in Phoenix today, rookie centre DeMarcus Cousins was waiting to learn his fate after being involved in a post-game altercation with a team-mate the previous night.

Cousins started the altercation with Kings forward Donte Greene in the team’s locker room because he was upset Greene passed the ball to point guard Tyreke Evans instead of Cousins for the final shot in a 99-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After Cousins boarded the Kings’ plane for their scheduled flight to Phoenix late Saturday, Coach Paul Westphal told the 20-year-old centre he would not be accompanying the team, per orders from general manager Geoff Petrie.

Cousins was listed as inactive for Sunday’s game, but has yet to be officially suspended because Kings officials are still reviewing the situation.

While Cousins’ team-mates get along well with him and hang out with him away from the court, they’re often frustrated by his moodiness and immaturity when things aren’t going his way, sources have said.

Concerns about Cousins’ maturity and character helped drop him to the fifth pick in last year’s draft. The Kings even hired Cousins’ former high school coach to help ease his transition to the NBA, but that hasn’t stopped the young centre from being involved in other incidents.

In other similar episodes, Cousins and Kings assistant coach Truck Robinson have had numerous heated exchanges during preseason practice and Cousins was also fined $5,000 by the Kings in October after responding to some trash talking from strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro, by saying he was going to hurt him.

The … Legend – Jerry Sloan

Jerry Sloan, the NBA's longest serving coach at one club, has stepped down from the Utah Jazz after 23 seasons in charge.

Sloan, who turns 69 next month, ranks third for the most wins for a coach in NBA history with a 1,221, which includes a stint as coach of the Chicago Bulls.

Only Don Nelson with 1,335 wins and Lenny Wilkens with 1,332, rank above Sloan on the all-time NBA victory list.

"My time is up", Sloan said. "It's time to move on…this will be tougher than I thought".

Despite Sloan's lengthy time on the bench, he never won an NBA title, coming closest when the Jazz lost to the Bulls in 1997 and 1998, but Sloan never let his failure to claim the ultimate prize diminish his love of the pursuit.

Sloan's years in the same job rank fourth on the all-time US sport list among managers and coaches of professional teams, trailing Connie Mack's 50 in baseball and 29-year NFL stints by Curly Lambeau at Green Bay and Tom Landry at Dallas.

During Sloan's time with Jazz, there were 245 coaching changes among other NBA clubs. When Sloan's tenure began, NBA franchises in Memphis, Toronto, Orlando, Minnesota and Charlotte had not yet been created.

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