The Cleveland Browns Clinch Playoffs and The Pistons Beat The Celtics

That’s how you stir up a Thursday night. Playoffs, losing streaks, big college wins! Let’s run through it on a beautiful Friday that sets up a long weekend!

Browns Clinch Playoffs

🏈Did Cleveland finally get the right QB? Joe Flacco has only been with the team for a month. Now, he led them to a crucial 37-20 victory over the New York Jets. This win secured an unexpected playoff berth for the Browns, only their second since 2002. I actually feel comfortable saying it was Flacco last night and not just the defense.

❤️‍🩹 Even when the season seemed like it was going to be a loss because of injury after injury, Flacco pulled his butt off the couch and went 4-1 as a starter.

🏈 Flacco threw 3 TD passes in a wild first half; he also threw a pick 6. Flacco finished 19-29 for 309 yards. You need to give credit to the Browns' players because they made plays like this yesterday.

💪 The Browns’ defense continued their dominant play with a pick 6 in the first half, and then they held the Jets to just 3 points in the 2nd half.

Pistons Continue Their Record-Breaking Season

The Detroit Pistons have lost their 28th game and tied the longest losing streak in the NBA. The Philadelphia 76ers had the record of 28 straight losses, but it was spanned between two seasons.

Here’s the best part.

The Detroit Pistons were up 21 against the Boston Celtics (one of the best teams in the NBA), and they squandered the opportunity to end their terrible streak. The Pistons went into halftime with a 19-point lead, and the Celtics quickly erased it in the third quarter. Literally, the lead was gone in 7 minutes, and the Pistons only scored 16 points in the 3rd.

⏳️ It took the Pistons having a last-second finish to get this game into OT, and then Boston would outscore Detroit 20-14 for the win.

👉️ Cade Cunningham had 31 for Detroit. Boston got 35 from Kristaps Porzingis and 31 from Jayson Tatum

Some Other NBA Stats Lines

🏀 The San Antonio Spurs are 5-25 on the year and have been easing Victor Wembanyama into his minutes. Wemby helped the Spurs get a 118-105 win over the Portland Trailblazers last night as he put up 30 points in the matchup.

🏀 Nikola Jokic recorded another triple-double in a 142-105 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Jokic finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists.

🏀 Anthony Edwards had the daily high in points when he finished with 44 to help the T-Wolves to a 118-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks. It looks like Edwards has a new spin move, too!

College Bowl Scoreboard

🏈 #14 Arizona beat #12 Oklahoma 38-24 last night. The worst thing for the Sooner was they outgained Arizona by 179 yards. This wasn’t an Arizona win as much as an Oklahoma loss. OU turned the ball over six times and gave Arizona some good field position to put some points up. Hell, Arizona got an INT, had a -9-yard drive, and still got 3 points.

🤡 If Arizona beat Oklahoma, and Oklahoma beat Texas, and if Texas wins the natty, does Arizona have the claim that they could be the best team in the nation? LOL

🏈We got a little taste of what the ACC will be like next year when Boston College had some 4th quarter magic over #24 SMU last night. QB Thomas Castellanos played Superman as he rushed the ball 21 times for 156 yards and 2 TDs. Both TDs came in the 4th when BC was originally trailing 14-10 and would win 23-14.

Edmonton Oilers Are Rebounding From A Rough Start

The Edmonton Oilers were off to a leaky start this season and had to make a coaching change early in the year. That change seems to be paying off, as Edmonton won 11 of their last 14 matchups, including a 5-0 shutout against the San Jose Shark last night.

👉️ Here’s the important thing. The Oilers are doing this without relying on Connor McDavid to score 3 goals a night. The Oilers had a 4-0 lead in the 1st period and added extra buffer with an additional goal in the 2nd. They had five different scorers last night. This is the type of stuff you need to get deep into the playoffs.

👀 It also helps if you score in the first 60 seconds of the game…just saying!

🥅 Stuart Skinner saved 25 shots last night for the Oilers to keep the scoreboard clean.

Don’t Tell Me There’s Nothing On Tonight _{^{(all times are EST)}}

College Football Bowls

#22 Clemson vs Kentucky (TaxSlayer Gator Bowl)

📺️ Gametime is Noon on ESPN

💰️ Clemson is favored by 3.5 points and the O/U is 44.5

#19 Oregon State vs #16 Notre Dame (Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl)

📺️ Gameti8me is 2 pm on CBS

💰️ ND is favored by 6 points and the O/U is 40.5

Memphis vs Iowa State (AutoZone Liberty Bowl)

📺️ Gametime is 3:30 pm on ESPN

💰️ Iowa State is favored by 10.5 and the O/U is 57.5

#9 Missouri vs #7 Ohio State (Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic)

📺️ Gametime is 8 pm on ESPN

💰️ OSU is favored by 5 points and the O/U is 49.5

NBA _{^{(full schedule here)}}

🏀 Bucks @ Cavaliers, 7:30 pm on NBA TV

🏀 Grizzlies @ Clippers, 10:30 pm on NBA TV

College Basketball _{^{(full schedule here)}}

🏀 San Diego State @ #13 Gonzaga, 9 pm on ESPN2

NHL

All games are streaming on ESPN+ or will be on your local sports programs. Here are some key matchups for tonight, and you can find the full schedule here.

🏒 NY Rangers @ Florida Panthers, 7 pm

🏒 Washington Capitals @ NY Islanders, 7:30 pm

🏑 Colorado Avalanche @ St. Louis Blues, 8 pm

That’s all for today.

Enjoy your Friday happy hours!

-The Daily Breakroom