鈥?A jury in St. Louis on Tuesday ordered the NFL's Rams to pay former running back Reggie Bush $12.5 million for a severe knee injury he suffered in 2015
Joel Iyiegbuniwe Color Rush Jersey , the team's final season in St. Louis before moving to Los Angeles.The jury found the Rams 100 percent liable for Bush's injury and ordered the team to pay $4.95 million in compensatory damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.Attorneys for the Rams said they plan to file a motion for a new trial.Bush was playing for the San Francisco 49ers when he was pushed out of bounds during a game on Nov. 1, 2015, at what was then the Edward Jones Dome, now known as the Dome at America's Center. He slipped on a surface that the lawsuit dubbed the "concrete ring of death," about 35 feet (11 meters) behind the 49ers' bench.Bush suffered a season-ending left knee injury. The lawsuit contended the injury undermined his earnings as a player for the rest of his career. He signed with Buffalo in 2016 and retired in 2017. Now 33, he works as an analyst for the NFL Network."Reggie lost his ability to do what he loved, and to bargain for a contract that he worked his entire life for," Bush's lawyer Tim Cronin said during closing statements. "These players get chewed up. They only have so many chances."Bush also sued public agencies that own and operate the dome, but a judge dismissed them from the suit last week after ruling that the team had control of game-day operations.Just a week before Bush's injury
Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey , Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown slid across the same concrete stretch and injured his shoulder.The concrete surface in the dome was covered with rubber padding two weeks after Bush was injured.Rams attorney Dan Allmayer said the team should not be held responsible for Bush's injury because it could not have foreseen a dangerous condition. He noted that no one besides McCown and Bush had been injured there over 20 seasons played at the dome.Allmayer said Bush's injury was caused by "pre-existing issues," not the fall on the concrete.NFL owners approved the request from Rams owner Stan Kroenke to move the team to Los Angeles in 2016. Copyright ©2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. Put Kevin Love's name atop the list of the Cavaliers that walked out of Cleveland's 25-point Eastern Conference finals Game 1 loss to Boston a little staggered, but with an unbowed head.
The reason: He's got a teammate by the name of LeBron James that's had a way of responding after lopsided playoff defeats.
Just ask the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers stunned the Cavs at home in their first-round opener, rolling to an 18-point victory. In Game 2, James was all but unstoppable as he replied with a 46-point, 12-rebound performance.
"I expect him to have a big response," Love said of James on Monday. "He's always done it. Even before he came back to Cleveland and since I've been here he's always responded big. …. He's going to approach this game as one that he's going to have to lead and bounce back."
Even if James does have a big Game 2 Tuesday night in Boston, he'll need some help – and the Cavaliers know it.
Love said he thought the Cavs were a "little soft" in the first half in Game 1. Getting tougher could mean a lineup change for the Cavaliers.
Coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged that he was at the least considering inserting Tristan Thompson into the lineup after Boston's Al Horford had his way in Game 1 Cheap Harold Landry Jersey , scoring 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
"It's definitely something we have to weigh," Lue said. "We weighed it before the series started, but we'd won seven out of eight and we weren't going to adjust until someone beat us and we didn't play well with that lineup and that got us to this point."
Lue said numbers showed that in the last three years, out of all the players that have guarded Horford over at least 30 possessions, Thompson is No. 1 in the league defending him.
"So that's a good thing to know," Lue said.
Boston also outscored Cleveland 60-38 in the paint. That, JR Smith said, is a sign James' supporting cast needs to do more.
"We've got to help `Bron," he said. "We can't just expect him to do everything. As role players, we've got to play our role."
Thompson came off the bench Sunday but has fared well opposite Horford in the past. Change would mean going away from the three-guard lineup of Smith Authentic Kennys Vargas Jersey , George Hill and Kyle Korver, along with James and Love. That lineup tormented the Raptors last series.
Thompson said the Cavs weren't able to "clean up the boo-boo on our lips" after the Celtics' initial run in Game 1.
"I think as a team, 1 through 5, we gotta all play tougher," Thompson said. "Obviously, when I check in the game I try to bring that toughness and that energy. But our starters gotta be ready to throw the first punch. We need them to do that, we need them to be physical and set a tone early."
He said his past playoff success against Horford has come by him being himself, which means being active early.
"Horford is playing very well right now and he's shooting the crap out of the ball," Thompson said. "When I go check into the game, whether it's him or (Aron) Baynes I just try to run the floor Youth J'Mon Moore Jersey , set pick-and-rolls and just try to work him on both ends so that hopefully by the second half his legs might be a little tired where he might not make that three that he makes in the first half."
Boston doesn't seem concerned about who the Cavs put on the floor.
The Celtics feel they are a much different team than the one that trudged into last year's conference finals matchup with Cleveland still toting the emotional baggage of helping teammate Isaiah Thomas cope with the death of his sister.
Boston also started that series on just a days' rest following a draining seven-game series with Washington.
None of that is a factor this time around for a rebuilt roster that despite being down two All-Stars in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, has found a synergy with its remaining group.
This incarnation of the Celtics is not only young and athletic but playing with a physicality that was missing at times last season.
The Celtics' starters scored 88 points in Game 1, while shooting 58 percent from the field and going 10 of 21 from the 3-point line. Cleveland's starters scored 46 points, shooting 33 percent from the field and going just 3 of 19 from beyond the arc.
"We got a lot of guys where we just don't care," Marcus Smart said. "(Cleveland is) here for a reason, because of the talent that they have. But we have talent as well.
"We have guys that are fearless. So we just go out there and do what we do."
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