Sports
Monday, July 11, 2016
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7
Cubs struggling in midst of big season
The Associated Press
Kevin Durant, former Oklahoma City Thunder superstar, had one finals appearance in nine seasons with the team. Durant announced last Monday that he was signing with the Golden State Warriors, who have made it to the finals twice in a row.
Durant leaves contender for chance with Warriors
Tom Burton Staff writer
DeKalb | NBA superstar Kevin Durant took the sports world by storm Monday, announcing his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign a two-year, $54 million deal with the Golden State Warriors. Durant, 27, is leaving a franchise he has been with for his entire nineyear career. He said his experiences as a free agent were by far the most challenging in his professional life. The forward met with a handful of teams before ultimately making his decision to join the Warriors, a team he was unable to surpass in the playoffs for the last couple years. The Thunder and Warriors played in the conference finals of this year’s playoffs, with OKC infamously blowing
a 3-1 lead to lose the series. Some may disagree with Durant’s decision to leave the Thunder to join a team that finished with a 73-9 record last year and was one win shy of repeating as NBA Champions. “I’m viewing this as one of the weakest moves I’ve ever seen by a superstar, plain and simple,” said ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. “Kevin Durant is one of the top three players in the world and he ran away from the challenge that he faces in order to jump on the bandwagon of a team that is a little bit better.” The Warriors sold Durant on winning championships during their meeting, which Golden State players and executives both
Durant career stats PPG: 27.4 RPG: 7.0 APG: 3.7
attended. A notable contributor to the Durant signing was reigning MVP Stephen Curry, who sent Durant a text message following his meeting with the team, letting him know that he could care less about who the face of the franchise is and who gets the most recognition. It’s tough to tell how Durant will impact a team as successful as the Golden State Warriors, but the NBA world will be eager to find out.
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Record by month
DeKalb | The Chicago Cubs are the top team in baseball, but have lost six out of their last seven games, their worst stretch of the season. The Cubs went just 16-12 for the entire month of June, still a very respectable record at four games above .500. But after their 35-15 start, the month marked a dry spell in the season for the club. At one point this season, the Cubs were projected to have 119 wins which if accomplished, would give them the best record of any baseball team ever as only three teams have attained 116 wins throughout the history of baseball. After everything clicked for the team early in the season, injuries seem to be stockpiling as Dexter Fowler, Jorge Soler, Miguel Montero, Jason Heyward, Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist all missed games in June, the first two still being on the disabled list. Even with one of the deepest farm systems in baseball, the Cubs are running thin on extras. Because of these injuries, the Cubs have had to call up and rely on highly touted
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June: 16-12 prospects such as outfielder Albert Almora Jr., and catcher/outfielder Willson Contreras. Contreras showed why he was such a highly touted prospect as he sent the first pitch he saw over the vines at Wrigley Field for a home run. The pitching has not been nearly as sharp for the Cubs either, especially from the middle relief pitchers. Jake Arrieta has come back down to earth, not getting out of the fifth inning in his last four starts after going a club-record 23 consecutive starts recording a quality start (at least six innings pitched while giving up three earned runs or less). The Cubs will have a chance to catch a breather during this month’s all-star break and will come back in the second half of the season looking to clinch the division for the first time since 2008.
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