La Crosse Tribune Sports News

The NBA playoffs start this weekend, and there's no shortage of story lines worth following. Here's a list of 10 to get you started:

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Chris Beard has met with Texas Tech about its coaching vacancy, less than two weeks after being named UNLV's coach.

DALLAS (AP) — Jason Spezza was skating up the right side in his first playoff game with the Dallas Stars when he faked a slap shot.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest times in a start-and-stop practice session beset by a number of tire problems.

GREEN BAY — Only once in the last 95 years have the Green Bay Packers started the regular season with back-to-back road games.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rougned Odor had a tiebreaking two-run double as part of a Texas rally that preserved a career-best nine-game winning streak for ace Cole Hamels.

A big part of playing junior hockey — some say the biggest — is pushing physical and mental development to the point where the NCAA Division I coaches take a first look, then a second.

BASEBALL

It was a bleak start for the Logan High School baseball team on Thursday.

CHICAGO (AP) — Jason Hammel pitched six scoreless innings, drove home one run and scored another to lead the Chicago Cubs to an 8-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night for their best start since 1969.

Emmie Davis played a key role as a junior on a Holmen High School volleyball team filled with seniors last fall.

The Central High School baseball team has had some hiccups in first-year coach Joe Branson’s first season as coach. Thursday, however, the Red Raiders didn’t skip a beat in rolling past MVC foe Sparta at Copeland Park.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Going into the locker room at the first intermission, the Washington Capitals had no goals but all the momentum.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Whenever the New York Islanders got behind, they fought their way out of trouble.

BOWLING

HOLMEN — Abbey Colburn’s solo home run in the top of the fourth inning did more than put a run on the board in a scoreless game.

Leon Jacobs’ 2015 football season was far from a memorable one.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Steve Kerr makes one thing perfectly clear: This special season is not about him. Far from it. Even if he is so perfectly entwined with the record-setting Golden State Warriors and the Chicago Bulls group Kerr…

Super Bowl rematch. Minus Peyton Manning, of course.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck had historic careers at UConn. The trio made more history Thursday night in the WNBA as the top three picks in the draft.