Entering the playoffs, Milwauke was seen as head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference despite dealing with injuries to key players all season. Someone forgot to pass that memo to the Miami Heat, who have come out the gates smoking hot and now have a 3-1 lead over the Bucks. A team that prides itself on its defense allowed Jimmy Butler to drop 56 points on them and do it in a late-game comeback. Game 4 of this first-round series wasn’t a matchup where Giannis Antetokounmpo was ineffective due to his back injury — he posted a triple-double with 26 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds. Jimmy Buckets just wasn’t going to lose on Monday night. While Giannis’ back shouldn’t be used as an excuse for losing, it’s absolutely a concern with his team facing a 3-1 deficit. Milwaukee looked out of sorts, especially late in the fourth quarter, when Miami made its final run to get back into the game and eventually take the lead. They started a 13-0 run with just over six minutes left in regulation and Butler capped it off with an emphatic dunk to take a 102-101 lead with 3:17 remaining. At that point, you could see the life and energy completely drained from the Bucks. They looked defeated. Following the game, TNT’s Inside the NBA crew broke down this all-time great performance by Jimmy F’n Butler, and Charles Barkley notably mentioned how strange it was that Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer didn’t call a timeout to stop the Heat’s momentum during that 13-0 run. Barkley may say and do some outlandish things, but he was on point with this comment. That final run by Miami may have been the beginning of the end for Milwaukee. Everybody knows Butler isn’t going to quit, especially in the playoffs, but no one outside of Dade County expected the Heat to have a real shot at winning this series. Now they are one game away from becoming the first No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 since Philly did it to Chicago in 2012. Boston was supposed to be Milwaukee’s biggest challenge this year and the only team really standing in their way of returning to the NBA Finals. Now they will have to go seven games if they plan to advance. In this series, they’ve already lost one game at home to the Heat, so game five shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion. They’ll need to come out and play like everything is on the line because it is.
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Hernandez left United for a one-year loan spell at Madrid in 2014-15, but the Santiago Bernabeu side opted against making the deal permanent after just seven starts in LaLiga.
The 28-year-old has impressed since his move to the Bundesliga, though, and he believes getting regular first-team action again has been key to his success at Leverkusen.
I am playing more, I am making more minutes, Hernandez told El Pais.
I got very few opportunities at Madrid. It was very difficult for me. I hardly got any game time during the first half of my t…
FIFA has revealed record viewing figures for the 2019 eWorld Cup tournament held in London, which generated more than 47 million views.
Online viewership for the three-day competition at The O2 increased by 60 per cent up from 29 million views in 2018.
The Grand Final was shown by 21 different broadcasters across 75 territories, while the EA SPORTS FIFA 19 Global Series – which began in October 2018 – garnered over 140 million views in total.
During the eWorld Cup, 32 FIFA 19 players competed, with Germany s Mohammed MoAuba Harkous crowned champion.
Harkous claimed a grand prize of $250,000, while also receiving an invitation to The Best FIFA Football Awards, which will be held in Milan in September.
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Inter Milan have finally completed a move to sign Christian Eriksen from Tottenham Hotspur. Despite the fact at one point it seemed the move was not going to be completed before the end of the transfer window, both sides eventually reached an agreement. The Serie A giants acquired the Denmark international for a reported €20 million fee.
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Birmingham v Bolton
Not really a battle of the giants this one. In fact, if you have some paint drying somewhere it may be more enjoyable to watch that!
Birmingham don’t score enough goals although they did manage a win at Hull last time out. Having said that, who hasn’t managed a win at Hull?
Bolton also won on their last league outing and I expect they’ll have just enough to grab a win.
SoccerNews prediction: 0-1
Blackburn v Aston Villa
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Australia s Mark Bresciano is in danger of missing the World Cup in Brazil, due to a four-month ban for an illegal transfer to Al Gharafa.
Bresciano has been fined $1.8 million and faces four months on the sidelines and the prospect of missing next year s World Cup, unless his appeal is successful.
Qatari club Al Gharafa, who boasted Harry Kewell in their ranks last year, are suspended from all transfer activity for one year.
Al Nasr have been notified of their right to compensation by FIFA, despite a report by Gulf News in April claiming the 33-year-old Bresciano had bought out the remainder of his two-year contract in the UAE.
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Galatasaray have said Lukas Podolski will stay at the club after interest from Beijing Guoan failed to materialise.
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Podolski is our player and continues to be.
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Eintracht Frankfurt and AC Milan have agreed a swap deal involving Ante Rebic and Andre Silva, according to the Bundesliga club s sporting director Fredi Bobic.
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The clubs have an agreement, Bobic told Sky in Germany. If everything goes OK, Silva will be a Frankfurt player tomorrow and Rebic will be in Milan.
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Rafael Benitez
Being a football manager is not easy that’s for sure. Even at the lowly level I manage at , it is really difficult to keep a squad of eighteen players happy. If they are not playing, they are moaning and it is usually about the manager!
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I would like to spend my whole career at Liverpool, but we players live to play. My aim is to go to the World Cup and for this I have to be playing. When the coach says nothing to you and you are well, with no physical problems and training well, you cannot help but think it must be something personal. If I m doing something badly and you are my boss, and you value me, then you are g…
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The Argentine maestro scored the opening two goals before setting up Neymar for the third in stoppage time as the Catalan giants moved to the brink of their fourth final in the past 10 seasons.
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