October 27, 2008 | Volume 109, Issue 16

HOW THEY'LL FINISH

The Big Three is back, but a playoff hero isn't. Who will fill his role for the reigning champs?

LeBron James finally gets a top playmaker, and his team is one step closer to the Finals

As the window closes on this veteran group, one rising star offers a glimpse of the future

The smallest man on the team needs to make a bigger impact for his club to go further

This scrappy team is no longer hurting in the half-court, thanks to a Brand-name signing

The club filled a big hole up front thanks to this point guard's excelente development

Agent Zero's protégé has a new mission: Score a bunch until his mentor gets healthy

A talented team that stumbled last season reboots with a new coach and point guard

Rays vs. Phillies is a World Series you can bank on

The housecleaning nearly complete, they can get back to the business of winning games

Why would Larry Brown come back to coach this club? Seemingly for all the right reasons

A midseason pickup launched them on a surprise run. An encore won't be as easy

The new coach wants to make defense the top priority. How soon will his players buy in?

They still won't be very good, but at least they'll be more watchable under Mike D'Antoni

Good health and a gold medal have given the star a boost—but he doesn't have a lot of help

In with the new: fresh faces and a dribble-drive offense. Out with the old: success

With a healthy Andrew Bynum in the lineup, these Finalists think they can go all the way

They took a one-year lease on a high-risk forward. The potential payoff: a shot at a title

Go ahead, overlook them now. They know who they are, and where they'll be in June

And now, for something different: turning the biggest head case into a super sub

This on-the-cusp team raided the world champs for a veteran with a winning touch

The players welcome a coaching change, but now they have to find a new way to play

The power forward who thrived with Oden out now gets to show what he can really do

With three of its core players 34 or older, the retooled team gears up for a last playoff run

Founder: Henry R. Luce 1898--1967

They've vowed to finally get defensive, but without their stopper it's too tall an order

His best player left, but Don Nelson will still run-and-gun in what is likely his last season

The return of a native son will make this season more palatable than the last one

A shooting guard is the one shining light for a franchise in the midst of major rebuilding

A top pick with loads of attitude and lofty goals? This team's dull days may be over

The franchise player's doing just fine, but wins won't come sweeping down the plain

The perennial cellar dwellers would be happy if this Gasol is half the player his brother is

QUIETLY, KEVIN HART tries every day to turn his big lie into the truth. He chooses not to talk about his mistake to the media, which in itself is a sign that he is wiser now, because talking about...

O, 'Bama

Concussions can be tough to diagnose—and deadly—in high school athletes

WHO'S Hot

Who is the most dangerous running back in the NFL?

Hospitalized After reportedly having surgery to remove part of his right foot, UNC-Asheville center Kenny George (above), who at 7'7" is the nation's tallest college basketball player. George, 22,...

JEREMY SHOCKEY Saints tight end, on being fully recovered from a hernia: "It's the first time I can sneeze without feeling like I'm getting stabbed at a bar."

PETA sent a letter to Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino asking him to stop eating Spam.

Presenting the Sports Name of the Year

79 Percentage of NCAA athletes who began school in 2001 who have received degrees within six years, an alltime one-year high.

Who had the best first games in sports?

IT WAS beginning to look like Barry Bonds (right) might quietly fade into retirement—but not so fast. Last week the players' association said it had evidence that team owners acted in concert to...

Garishly dressed game guy Monty Hall

What to watch and watch for

POWERED BY TAKKLE

APRIL SEEMS like so long ago: The Dow was above 12,000, the Yankees were in playoff contention, and the market for memorabilia from soon-to-be-closed Yankee and Shea stadiums seemed to be...

The Interview Colt McCoy TEXAS QUARTERBACK

The NFL Mike Holmgren's farewell season in Seattle isn't going as planned • Dr. Z's pick: the Giants over the Steelers

It almost seems as if the Giants and the Steelers have been kept apart deliberately through the years. New York never tested Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain Super Bowl champs of the 1970s. Pittsburgh...

Injuries at QB and a decimated wideout corps are contributing to a miserable farewell season for Mike Holmgren

This week's touts include some stat lines to believe in, and others you should ignore

Having lost their coach, their quarterback and some top recruits, Clemson faces a major rebuilding job

1 Pittsburgh (5--1) is shaping up as the favorite to win the Big East. Behind an improved offensive line, sophomore running back LeSean McCoy racked up 298 yards and five touchdowns in wins over...

Bernard Hopkins silenced critics by thrashing undefeated middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, 17 years his junior

SI's top-ranked fighters, across classes:

It may be hurting his competitive effort this year, but Tony Stewart is building a smokin' team for 2009

Jimmie Johnson (right) didn't clinch his third straight Sprint Cup title for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville, but it'll be an upset if he isn't hoisting the big trophy again at...

Someday soon—in a year, two tops—you won't think twice if you hear the words, "THE RAYS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!" In the meantime these young American League champs are worthy of taking on the...

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

The Rays will be vulnerable to the Phillies' left-leaning rotation, but the AL champs are the more complete team

Breaking News • Real-time Scores • Daily Analysis

Many a tree has been felled, many a sonnet delivered in the name of the Cubs fan and his 100 years of suffering—but what of the snakebitten Philadelphia fan, whose own title drought stands at...

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

To cut it as an NFL cornerback requires the ability to read minds, eyes and hips; the tools to match up with wideouts half a foot taller; and above all the ego to bounce back from regular doses of...

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

In their war with the wideouts, cornerbacks typically turn to one another, trading tips and tricks to gain a tactical edge

Discharged

New president ... New players ... New coach ... New revenues ... New mind-set ...

Every week brings a new showcase battle as the BCS race heats up. Next up is No. 3 Penn State, thinking title game if it can get by Ohio State at the Horseshoe. And after that...

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

As the growing insurgency spread chaos across Iraq, the author found solace—and fleeting friendships—in daily runs in the streets of the capital

Like other high school football teams across northern Mexico, Prepa Tec of Monterrey wondered how it would match up against a top Texas program. Last month it found out

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

Sixteen months after he was chosen first overall, a healthy Greg Oden has finally taken the court for the Blazers. With the addition of his rebounding and shot blocking—and maybe even his...

The Trail Blazers will be one of the NBA's most improved teams. Turn the page to see SI's predictions for how many more or less wins each club will have.

The Celtics' instant success gives hope—and clues—to rebuilding teams eager to contend

The Blazers welcome another '07 pick—who could make nearly as big an impact as Oden

A forecast of how many more—or fewer—wins every team will have this season compared to last (and some history too)

A primer on the players, coaches, teams and issues to keep an eye on as the season begins (plus a little trade talk for when the February deadline nears)

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

A difficult week on three fronts

Judge shuts down the 6th hole at Winged Foot after a neighbor sues

WHO Marc Turnesa

"Missing the better part of a year won't matter. Tiger Woods will be as great as ever when he comes back next season."

Which presidential candidate would be better for golf?

TWO YEARS ago I wrote about Seve Ballesteros's retirement with great sadness; when I was a kid growing up in the game, he was such an inspiration to me. Now Seve's (below) suffering real hardship...

A high school team learns a few lessons on the LPGA tour

Padraig Harrington wins PGA of America's player of the year award

Despite a veneer of showbiz glitter and a breakthrough win by Marc Turnesa, everyone in Las Vegas was talking about the harder edge to life on the PGA Tour

Marc Turnesa's win was his first on Tour but old hat to his famous forebears

The World Series can be puzzling

Rearrange the letters in the tan squares to answer this question: What would any postseason baseball player like to be called?

Spoiler Alert! Turn the page for solutions to the crossword and the descrambler.

Sports Night on DVD evokes ESPN in its prime

IF THE World Series gets to a Game 6, it will be delayed eight minutes (to 8:35 p.m. Eastern) so Fox, like CBS and NBC, can air a half-hour infomercial by Democratic presidential candidate Barack...