data-mm-id=”_0zrbmaanx”>One of the points The Last Dance has really hammered home for basketball fans is how hard it is to win championships in consecutive seasons. Playing at least 98 games two or three years in a row, and being rewarded with only three and a half months to recover, takes an immense physical toll. There's the mental weight of being defending championships, dealing with the expectations and the fact that the team has a target on its back every night they take the floor. Then there's the issues that naturally arise with teammates, who are people as well as basketball players. Most people don't get along with their coworkers all the time, much less if they have to work with the same two dozen people, day in and day out, for years at a time– and most people don't work with some of the most maniacally competitive characters in the world. That's how it was for Jordan's Bulls back in both 1993 and 1998: it's really freaking hard to win back-to-back-to-back titles. It may not even be that much fun, either. ESPN's Nick Friedall penned an article published today about the weight the Golden State Warriors felt in the second leg of their attempted three-peat, and general manager Bob Myers said there wasn't joy in their 2018 title run. “”The second time with Kevin [in 2018] it felt like, ‘Well, we just did what we were supposed to do, and great job,'” Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers said of the last time the Warriors won a title. “It wasn’t joy. I’m sure a lot of people felt differently. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. I think there’s just a weight to everything. And so I’m sure [the Bulls] felt that weight of everything, weight of relationships.””- ESPN In retrospect, 2017-2018 was the first full season that the general discourse among fans towards the Warriors was filled with vitriol. Nobody outside of the Bay Area was rooting for Golden State back in 2016-2017, but there was still a chance they could fail, that Kevin Durant's addition would somehow backfire. Their stroll to a championship that season proved a team with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Durant resulted in the inevitable. The cracks didn't start to show within the Warriors until the 2018-19 season, and the tax of playing into June several years in a row resulted in a torn Achilles for Durant and a torn ACL for Thompson. It's all just a lot. You could see similar consequences affecting the Miami Heat in the last season of their run; LeBron James and Co. looked simply exhausted by the final game of the 2014 Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers tried to trade Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant's valuable sidekick, after two championships and ultimately couldn't secure the third for the three-peat. Kobe and Shaq's personal issues dissolved the early 2000s Lakers dynasty after three rings. NBA teams can be a very fragile ecosystem, and championship contention pushes everyone to the brink. It's remarkable to know all that and still see repeat champions. The final two episodes of The Last Dance should portray that better than anything.
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Arturo Vidal believes Chile deserved their 2-1 win over Peru as they got their 2018 World Cup qualifying bid back on track.
After winning their opening two games, La Roja has tasted victory just once in seven matches prior to their clash with Peru on Tuesday.
However, Vidal his country s one shining light in a difficult campaign netted both goals and insists the South American champions are firing on all cylinders again.
I m happy because the team returned to winning ways, and this is deserved, he said afterwards. Today was a good game.
We went back to what we have done before, when we won two championships [2015, 2016 Copa Americas]. The team is very involved [in the qualification race] and we hope to reach the World Cup.
[This win] is best en…
Juventus manager Antonio Conte is anticipating his side s recent dominance of Serie A to be challenged next season.
Conte has guided Juventus to consecutive Italian titles since taking over in 2011.
The Turin club start their 2013-14 campaign at Sampdoria on August 25.
Conte s men finished nine points clear of second-place Napoli last season, but the 44-year-old is expecting a tougher fight next term.
The values of clubs are changing, our rivals are getting stronger, he told Gazzetta dello Sport. It will be a very open championship.
Juve, Milan and Inter are traditionally title contenders. Napoli have spent €75m-€80m and have reinforced with Rafael Benitez, a great coach who has won it all.
Fiorentina have legitimate hopes. Not only do they have …
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The most anticipated match of the season is upon us as Real Madrid and Liverpool prepare to lock horns in the Champions League final this Saturday. A mouth-watering clash between the two powerful sides will decided on who will get a privilege to lift the coveted trophy and place a crown on a difficult season already in the rearview mirror.
Real Madrid
Los Blancos have endured a difficult time domestically and will be looking to salvage the entire 2017/18 season with a win in Kyiv. Real Madrid are the Champions League defending champions and 12-time winners who are competing for their third successive European title. Having already eliminated the likes of PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich on their road to the final…
James Harden has joined MLS club Houston Dynamo s ownership group.
The Dynamo announced on Thursday that the Houston Rockets superstar had become part of the group led by Gabriel Brener, also owners of the NWSL s Houston Dash.
Harden, arguably the face of Houston sports and winner of the NBA MVP award in 2018, joins six-weight world champion Oscar De La Hoya in the group.
I m very excited about the opportunity to join the ownership group of the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash and proud to be a part of a club with tremendous history and a great future, Harden said in a statement.
Houston is my home now, and I saw this as a way to invest in my city and expand my business interests at the same time. Soccer in general, and especially MLS, have exploded in…
Germany captain Michael Ballack insists his team will give everything they have to beat Russia in Moscow on October 10 and earn themselves an automatic place at the 2010 World Cup.
Germany are just one point clear at the top of the Group Four table ahead of deadly rivals Russia, but should Ballack s team beat the home side at Moscow s Luzhniki Stadium they will be uncatchable.
We are devoting all our focus, energy and commitment to the match, said the Chelsea star.
We can t let the artificial pitch be an excuse for us we ll just have to adapt to the conditions.
Russia have got a strong team and they have got results in the past, so we will have to be at our very best if we are to get something out of our trip to Moscow.
We re confident that w…
Turkey coach Fatih Terim said he will resign after his side, which failed to qualify for the World Cup finals after a 2-0 defeat to Belgium on Saturday, play their final qualifier against Armenia.
The match we play against Armenia will be my farewell match, said Terim on the Turkish federation s official website Sunday.
Turkey play Armenia in Bursa, northern Turkey on Wednesday but a win against the Group 5 basement side will not be sufficient.
With only three wins so far Turkey are third in the group, seven points behind play-off bound Bosnia-Herzegovina and 15 behind automatic qualifiers Spain.
Terim led Turkey to the semi-finals of the 2008 European championships, won by Spain, but in the World Cup qualifiers his side went from bad to worse having at…
Borussia Monchengladbach defender Alvaro Dominguez claims that, since the World Cup, everyone in Spain wants to play in the Bundesliga.
With Germany replacing Spain as world champions, Dominguez, who joined Gladbach from Atletico Madrid in 2012, declared the Bundesliga has become a very attractive destination for Spanish footballers, although he concedes it can make it more difficult to get into the national team.
Dominguez rates the Bundesliga s crowds and its stadiums above those of La Liga and, with the German top flight shown more on Spanish television than in the past, he predicts that more of his compatriots will arrive in Germany in the coming years.
It s getting more and more coverage on Spanish TV, Dominguez told the Bundesliga s website.
Since…
Inter president Massimo Moratti says he admires the way Mario Balotelli has matured since leaving the club in the summer of 2010.
Sporting director Pier Ausilio claimed in January that the Nerazzurri had first refusal if Manchester City were to sell Balotelli, but the 2010 Champions League winners did not take up their option as the 22-year-old joined arch-rivals AC Milan instead.
I have no regrets over Balotelli. We knew that we wouldn t re-sign him, unfortunately because of what happened in the past, Moratti told the club s official website.
If anything, I admire Balotelli for the fact that he s becoming more and more professional, and that s a very good thing.
That was the only problem he perhaps had and which he doesn t seem to have anymore.
…
Mohamed Salah will start for Egypt in their crunch World Cup Group A clash against hosts Russia, ending almost a month on the sidelines.
Salah collected a plethora of end-of-season awards after a stellar debut campaign with Liverpool that yielded an incredible 44 goals in all competitions.
However, 2017-18 ended in tears for the 26-year-old after he came off worst in a grappling challenge with Sergio Ramos during the Champions League final, leaving the action half an hour into a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid that plunged his World Cup participation into doubt.
The Egyptian Football Association pushed the notion of Salah making a swift and successful recovery from his shoulder injury, having declared him fit for both their matches in Russia.
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The experienced Slovenian shot stopper Samir Handanovic is ready to quit Inter in January in favour of a move to a Champions League side and Inter are believed to be actively seeking the proper replacement.
According to reports from the , the Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes has been pinpointed as the top January target for the Nerazzurri.
The 23-year-old Ederson moved to Benfica from Rio Ave in 2015 and is contracted to the Portuguese side until 2020.
The Serie A side are hopeful that the talented shot stopper could be persuaded to join Inter, but the Italians are unlikely to get their man on the cheap.
Ederson Moraes is regarded as huge prospect and the future of Benfica, who are ready to give him more playing time in the first team this season.
…