
Indianapolis Colts' DE Samson Ebukam provides update on Achilles injury
Indianapolis Colts' DE Samson Ebukam provides update on Achilles injury Indianapolis Colts' DE Samson Ebukam provided an update on his Achilles injury.
Indianapolis Colts' defensive end Samson Ebukam met with reporters on Wednesday and provided an injury update as he continues to work his way back from an Achilles injury.
According to Joel Erickson of the Indy Star, Ebukam says that he will be in a "great spot" by the end of OTAs and expects to be cleared for training camp.
Ebukam suffered an Achilles injury in late July last summer at the start of training camp. Initially, there were conversations about a potential return for him late in the season, but even if the Colts had made the playoffs, Ebukam said that never became a real possibility.
During Ebukam's first season with the Colts in 2023, he led the team in sacks with 9.5, and his 48 pressures were the second-most behind only DeForest Buckner.
Earlier this offseason, GM Chris Ballard mentioned that the defense missed Ebukam's physicality, energy, and toughness.
Once back in the mix, Ebukam will rejoin a Colts' defensive end rotation that includes Laiatu Latu, Kwity Paye, and second-round pick JT Tuimoloau.
Without Dayo Odeyingbo, the Colts are losing their top-pressure getter from the 2024 season. Replacing that production will be a group effort, but a Year 2 jump from Latu and the return of Ebukam will be key factors in that equation.
There is, however, some uncertainty around what to expect from Ebukam. Typically, an Achilles injury can be one that takes a full season before a player returns to their original form.
"It's a concern, absolutely," Ballard said of Ebukam coming off the Achilles' injury via the team site. "But when you know who the kid is and what he stands for and the effort he puts into everything, I'm willing to make that bet. We missed his physicality. Undeniably, we missed what Samson brought a year ago."

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Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
'I love this mid-western energy; it's beautiful': How the Pacers fans helped win Game 3
INDIANAPOLIS — After T.J. McConnell tallied his fourth assist of the second quarter less than three minutes into the period, he gestured for Indiana Pacers fans to make more noise before pointing to his ears and said, 'I can't hear you.' An already boisterous crowd draped in gold shirts that read 'But this is Indiana' got even louder. Indiana hosted an NBA Finals game for the first time since 2000 on Wednesday. The Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 to take a 2-1 series lead behind dominant bench play spearheaded by Bennedict Mathurin. The third-year guard finished with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. 'The state of Indiana is about basketball, and that's the first time I really felt it,' Mathurin said about the Pacers crowd at Game 3. Among the Pacers crowd was former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, Indianapolis 500 champion Alex Palou, Indiana Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Aaliyah Boston, Pacers legend Reggie Miller, Manchester City star Manuel Akanji and actor and Pacers fan Terry Crews. Re-live the Pacers unbelievable run to the NBA Finals in IndyStar's commemorative book During the fourth quarter, McAfee appeared on the jumbotron to remind fans that 'it's been 9,126 days since our state hosted an NBA Finals,' urging them to 'turn this city up.' The Pacers faithful responded to McAfee's call, but by this juncture in the game, the crowd noise had already motivated Crews to switch careers. 'I was half suited up. I was ready to go out there,' said Crews, who was wearing a Jermaine O'Neal Pacers jersey. 'Hearing this crowd made me feel like I wanted to go out and play. I love this mid-western energy; it's beautiful.' To opponents, that energy is daunting. Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox was on the Lakers team that defeated the Pacers in their last finals appearance. Wednesday's Game 3 in Indianapolis felt no different than the one Fox played in 20 years ago. 'This is my second Game 3 in Indiana and the first time I couldn't hear myself think,' Fox, who attended Warsaw High School in Indiana, told IndyStar. "This time, I don't have to compete, but it matches the same intensity I've always known Indiana basketball to have. It doesn't matter if it's middle school, high school, college or the pros.' Fox called the Pacers crowd the 'sixth man' and said a supportive crowd like Indiana's will 'push a player on' and allow players to have hope in comeback scenarios. The Thunder held a five-point lead heading into the fourth before being outscored 32-18 in the final period. The Pacers made 13-of-21 field goals and held the Thunder to 35% shooting in the fourth. 'They (the crowd) were everything we had hoped for tonight. We talked about telling our crowd through the media that we really need them,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'They were great. Especially in the fourth quarter, it just went up a few decibels.' Sure, Pacers fans are loud. But Paycom Center is also thunderous when Oklahoma plays. To Fox, however, Indiana distinguishes itself from the Thunder and the rest of the league because behind the deafening noise levels is a profound knowledge of basketball. 'You have an educated IQ basketball fan that has come from birth playing basketball and understanding the game, so they're passionate and connective to every possession because they comprehend it on another level,' Fox said. Matt Asen, known as the 'Pacer Guy,' has been a franchise fan for 38 years. Asen believes the Pacers have the 'coach and the depth' to defeat the Thunder. Asen hopes the Pacers fan base can cheer their team to a Game 4 victory on Friday. 'We rocked the building tonight and hopefully we can rock Oklahoma out of here,' Asen said. 'New York and Boston they root for their superstars and they think they deserve it. But in 49 states, it's just basketball, but this is Indiana,' Asen said. 'We are an educated fan base hungry for a championship.'

Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
How Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton shut out the noise and found a way to beat the Thunder
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He admits that he is "chronically online" and has a better sense of the NBA and how it's covered than just about any other active player, but at this stage he's actively trying to avoid the social media that he usually drinks in. "I think the commentary is always going to be what it is, you know?" Haliburton said. "Most of the time, the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn't care less. Honestly, like what do they really know about basketball?" Re-live the Pacers unbelievable run to the NBA Finals in IndyStar's commemorative book Haliburton is aware there's a correlation between his scoring and the Pacers' success. He averaged 21.2 points in wins in the regular season on 14.6 field goal attempts per game and 14.3 points per game on 12.4 field goal attempts in defeats. But he views his scoring less as a cause of the Pacers' wins and more of a connected effect. He scores more and the Pacers win more when he's getting two feet in the paint, and that happens when he's orchestrating the Pacers whirling, ball-movement oriented offense the way that he wants to. The wispy 6-5, 185-pounder who was raised on Magic Johnson highlight videos is neither physically nor mentally built to doggedly drive into the lane to pile up shots and draw fouls in an effort to score 30 or 40 points every night. But when he gets the offense spinning, he can put up big scoring and assist numbers by letting the game come to him. Usually when he doesn't score much, that's a sign of a deeper dysfunction in execution, and Haliburton looks to find that issue rather than focus on his field goal attempts. And in Game 3 he made the adjustments he needed to make. After scoring 17 points in Sunday's Game 2 with 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter after the Pacers had faded too far to come back, Haliburton dazzled in Game 3 with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to help lead the Pacers to a 116-107 win over the Thunder on Wednesday in their first NBA Finals home game since 2000. Twenty-five years to the day after the Pacers' Game 3 win over the Lakers in the 2000 Finals, they took a 2-1 lead in this NBA Finals with Game 4 coming up Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Haliburton didn't view the performance as a triumph of aggression or will but of an adjustment in mindset and strategy against a Thunder defense that he told ESPN he considers to be the best he's played against. In Game 2, Haliburton believed he allowed the Pacers' system of randomized movement to become too predictable and too predicated on high ball screens -- usually Haliburton's bread and butter, but an action that plays right into the hands of a swarming Thunder defense. In Game 3, he mixed up actions well enough to create space which was beneficial not only for him but everyone else on the Pacers' roster. Their 116 points were the most they've scored in a game this series, they shot a series-best 51.8% from the floor and scored 50 points in the paint after scoring just 34 in each of the first two games. "We did a great job of just playing off the pitch, off handoffs, screening, all those things," Haliburton said. "I thought we did a great job of -- this is a defense that you can't consistently give them the same look. If you try to hold the ball and call for screens, they crawl into you and pack the paint. It's not easy. It's really tough. That's why they are such a historical defense. You just have to continue to give them different looks as much as you can. I thought we did a great job of just playing and continuing to play random basketball. Against a team like this, there's not really play calls. You've just got to play." That's what Haliburton did and he let his own offense come to him as the game went along. He didn't take a shot for nearly six minutes to start the game and he missed his first field goal attempt, a 20-foot step-back pull-up jumper with 6:10 to go in the first quarter. But he followed that by driving past Thunder All-NBA second team defender Jalen Williams to the right side of the foul line and hitting a 16-foot floater over Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein with 5:10 to play in the first quarter. Then he hit his first 3-pointer in first-team All-Defensive Team pick Luguentz Dort's face with 3:00 to go in the period and suddenly he had his rhythm established early. Haliburton put faith in his floater -- a weapon he's admittedly sometimes too reluctant to use -- hitting three mid-range shots in that fashion over top of charging big men. He scored two buckets at the rim -- one an impressive finish on a drive through contact and the other an easy two-handed fast-break dunk off a steal. He was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, hitting his most 3s since he made five in his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound triple-double in the Pacers' win over the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But he didn't just look for his own offense. He helped get fellow All-Star Pascal Siakam started early as Siakam scored the Pacers first six points en route to a 21-point night. Haliburton still got center Myles Turner involved with pick-and-roll and pick and pop actions even though the Pacers tried not to live off those as much. He made plays "off the pitch," using give-and-go actions with bigs operating near the top of the key with their back to the basket catching his passes and tossing them right back to him and that got Haliburton downhill momentum that he could use to either go to the rim or pass and it helped keep the Thunder from loading up their defense quickly. The Pacers managed 41 field goal attempts in the paint after taking just 27 in Game 2. "Terrific," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton. "Look, every game you're going to have to make adjustments against this defense. There's just going to be different looks. You're going to have different high-level defenders on you. You're going to see some different coverage stuff. It's going to be constantly changing. So I thought his approach tonight was exactly what it needed to be, a combination of spatial awareness and aggression, and you know, a real good feel for aggression to score along with getting his teammates involved at the right times." Haliburton moves forward knowing that solving the Thunder defense for a game isn't the same as solving it for a series. Oklahoma City led the NBA in defensive rating and allowed the fewest paint points, and they'll find more ways to keep the ball away from the rim in Game 4. He also knows that there will be games when he's successfully bottled up or scores fewer points because he's more focused on creating for others. "I think there's going to be ebbs and flows," Haliburton said. "I'm never going to be, you know, super great and shoot so many shots every game consistently. There's going to be games where I don't and I've got to be able to find the right balance between the two. But I mean, I think experience is the best way I can learn from it. So seeing where I can be better is important through the first two games and just trying to be better today. You know, taking what the defense gives me, trying to play the right way and watch film and see where I can get better and be ready to go for Game 4." Haliburton has a lot of voices telling him he needs to shoot more. His personal trainer, Drew Hanlen, is particularly explicit about it, and Haliburton acknowledges that he sees plenty of examples of himself passing out on shots he should take and make in the course of a game. But part of that is a product of focus on making the textbook right play and keeping in mind the importance of involving his teammates. In turn, they trust his judgment. "Ty's got to do him," Siakam said. "That's what he's got to do, he's got to be himself every time he's out on the floor. He can impact the game in so many ways. So I'm really not worried about his scoring. I just know that he's going to make the right play. But when he's intentional about doing that every single play, I know something good is going to happen. So as long as he keeps doing that, we're going to be all right."


New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
J.J. McCarthy minicamp reps may not induce headlines — but that's OK (and intentional)
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McCarthy is a popular talking point in the NFL universe. There is a reason he is deserving of space right here. His burden is large. These Vikings, built to go further than was realistically possible in years past, will succeed or fail with the youngster. Kelly understands that. 'I think that's also why I'm here,' he said. He's right. Kelly's presence is just one of the countless steps taken by coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to maximize what's possible. It's not that former Vikings center Garrett Bradbury didn't have experience, especially within Minnesota's system. Kelly, though, is both a better player and a key cog who has worked with different quarterback personalities, skill sets and experience levels. Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, Anthony Richardson and others require varying degrees of assistance. One might suspect Kelly would be spending these practices passing tidbits to McCarthy. He's not. This, too, is calculated. 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Can you visualize the defense's structure and pull the trigger at the right time? Can you do it with 300-pound men bearing down on you in 2 1/2 seconds? There is also the psychological piece. Navigating real-world stressors and in-game trials calls for a sense of calm. Advertisement Each piece affects the other. Sounds easy, right? 'I think (J.J.) is right where he needs to be right now,' offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said Wednesday. 'And right where we thought he'd be. I don't think he'd come up here and say he mastered the offense. Every rep is a learning rep.' Every one of these days is an integral learning day, as cliched as that sounds, or as mundane as it looks. Although the Vikings shifted from organized team activities last week to minicamp this week, the speed of the drills remained the same. McCarthy has not taken one snap in an 11-on-11 setting with defensive coordinator Brian Flores' pass rush coming at him with its collective hair on fire. 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