Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.13.24
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Wolves Rally to Trounce Clippers
I won’t lie, I went to bed last night thinking I’d be waking up to write a late season Wolves obituary because things were going the wrong way fast.
But after falling behind by 22 points in the first half, the Wolves dominated every facet of the game, routing the Clippers 111-100 in LA. It marked Minnesota’s biggest comeback win in 12 years.
Great night for Anthony Edwards - 37 points - but they also got 28 from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and 23 from Mike Conley. The Wolves won despite getting just 18 points from their starting frontcourt.
Wild Beats Coyotes, Six Back
With three of their next four games coming against non playoff teams and a fourth they’re battling with, it would behoove the Wild to take all eight points.
The first two points came last night, albeit not easily, as the Wild eeked out a 4-1 (two empty netters) win over the Coyotes at The X. Anaheim is in town Thursday, before the Wild is at the Blues on Saturday in a huge game.
Kirill Kaprizov scored two more goals and Ryan Hartman continued his surge; his 17th goal went down as the game-winner. But Minnesota lost Joel Eriksson-Ek due to injury. No further details available this morning.
The Wild, 11-4-2 since the All-Star Break, moved within six points of Vegas for the final playoff spot, but have played one more game than the Golden Knights, who secured a last second OT and then win last night.
Cousins to Falcons; Darnold, Jones Appear Vikings-Bound
The Vikings will pay Sam Darnold $10 million this year, which makes sense because he’s about 1/18th of the quarterback that new Atlanta Falcons signal caller Kirk Cousins is getting over the next four years. Seems like the Vikings were never seriously in the running for Cousins, who won’t have to go to Green Bay and Chicago in cold weather months for likely the remainder of his career.
Darnold is a former No. 3 overall pick who has just not panned out. He served as the 49ers backup this past season, and has a 21-35 mark in six seasons with the Jets, Panthers and Niners.
He’s widely viewed as a bridge to the future, assuming Vikings’ brass will trade up for a QB in the top five picks in next month’s draft.
The Vikings also lost oft-injured pass rusher Danielle Hunter.
But the pick-ups were big, starting with Packers RB Aaron Jones, who will have a major chip on his shoulder next year after getting released. He’s nearing 30 but is better than anything the Vikings put on the field this past season and most of the prior.
The Vikings also brought former Eden Prairie and Gopher standout LB Blake Cashman home, while also signing edge rushers Jonathan Greenard (12.5 sacks last season) and Andrew Van Ginkel.
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