Football / Sports

Champions League: Rangers to play Malmo or HJK Helsinki, Celtic draw PSV or Galatasaray in third qualifying round

Rangers to play Malmo or HJK Helsinki in first Champions League fixtures for 10 years; Celtic handed tie with PSV or Galatasaray, but must first beat Midtjylland in second qualifying round; both sides guaranteed to be playing group-stage European football this year.

Rangers’ fixtures with Malmo or HJK Helsinki will be their first in the Champions League since 2011, while they have not reached the group stage since 2010

Celtic are bidding to reach the group stage for the first time in four years, but they must first beat Denmark’s Midtjylland in their two-legged second qualifying round tie before taking on PSV or Galatasaray.

The first leg of that tie will take place at Celtic Park on Tuesday night, and will be Ange Postecoglou’s first competitive game as Celtic manager.

Both Rangers and Celtic will be away in their first legs of the third qualifying round, which will be played on August 3 or 4. The second legs will take place on August 10.

Should HJK Helsinki beat Malmo in their second qualifying round encounter, it will set up a reunion for Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, who played for the Finnish club for just under 18 months before moving to Ibrox in the summer of 2017.

As last season’s Scottish Premiership winners, Rangers will be playing in the champions’ path section of the draw, while Celtic, who finished second to Rangers, will be competing in the league path.

Sides on the champions’ path that are beaten in the third qualifying round will enter the Europa League play-offs. If they lose at that stage, they will compete in the inaugural Europa Conference League.

However, the sides on the league path that are knocked out in the third qualifying round will automatically enter the group stages of the Europa League.

As a result, both Rangers and Celtic are guaranteed to be playing group-stage European football this season.

Ajer, Ntcham left out of Celtic’s CL squad

Kristoffer Ajer and Olivier Ntcham have been left out of Celtic’s squad ahead of their Champions League …

Basket Ball / Sports

James Harden triple-double leads Nets past Celtics

The Brooklyn Nets are headed to the second round. The Eastern Conference’s second seed completed a gentleman’s sweep against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. All three of the Nets’ stars put together strong performances, but James Harden led the way in the 123-109 victory.

Harden did a little bit of everything as usual and led all scorers with 34 points in a triple-double effort. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 10 assists to finish with a game-high 75.5 DKFP. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant poured in 25 and 24 points, respectively. Boston’s lone star wasn’t enough to keep up with one of the NBA’s most productive offenses. Jayson Tatum only trailed Harden in points with 32 to go along with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Tatum tallied 55.25 DKFP in a game-high 41 minutes.

The Nets covered the spread by the skin of their teeth as 12.5-point favorites. The absences of Kemba Walker and Robert Williams gave the home team a major edge, and it handled business for Brooklyn backers.

The Nets will take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round. Milwaukee lost its first matchup against Brooklyn two-thirds of its Big 3 were active, but won the next two matchups. Milwaukee’s offense and defense dominated the Miami Heat in a sweep in the first round thanks to far above-average offense and defense. Keeping that up against the NBA’s best scoring offense will be a challenge, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and company might have the tools to pull an upset off…

Basket Ball / Sports

Nba Playoff Updates

Nets vs. Celtics score: Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving in perfect sync as Brooklyn takes 2-0 lead

 

In Game 1, Brooklyn’s Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving took eight 3-pointers each. In Game 2, they took 12 total shots each. The balance these guys are showing, the feel for playing in harmony, is incredible when you consider they only suited up for eight total games together during the regular season.

On Tuesday, Durant led the way with 26 points, while Harden finished with 20 and Irving 15. They shot a collective 20-for-36 from the field, including 7-of-13 from beyond the arc and 14-for-14 from the free-throw line. Because the stars are playing such an efficient, balanced brand of offense, the Nets were able to get everyone involved in Game 2 to the tune of 31 team assists. When you have this kind of individual scoring and you’re still racking up 30-plus assists, you’re really onto something.

 

Through the first seven minutes on Tuesday, Harris was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc for 16 points. He finished the first half 5-for-7 from deep for 22 points in 15 minutes. He was a plus-29 for the game.

Harris would be a fantastic shooter and player on any team, but with all the attention that Durant, Harden and Irving command, he’s borderline unfair on the Nets. No shooter who hit 47.5 percent of his 3s in the regular season (as Harris did on over six attempts per game) should get the number of open looks that Harris gets, but what other choice does Boston, or any other defense for that matter, have?

Harris found his looks in a variety of ways. In transition:

Obviously, the Celtics need Tatum to do more than play; they need him to play like a superstar if they want to have a chance to get back in this series. Tatum finished Game 2 with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting. Suffice it to say, that’s not going to get it done.

Tatum

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