Florida Poly students invest $250,000 in planned $85M Student Achievement Center
Taki Tsetsekas (center), president of Florida Polytechnic University's Student Government Association, signs a resolution approving the investment of $250,000 in the construction of the Student Achievement Center. From left are SGA officers Jonathan Gauthier, treasurer, Hannah Friday, chief of staff, and Lang Towl, vice president.
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New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
Everything you need to know about the 2025 NBA Finals between Thunder, Pacers
Just catching up ahead of the start of the NBA Finals this week? We've got you covered. With two small-market teams set to face off for the Larry O'Brien Trophy, there remains a good bit of the NBA-viewing public who perhaps didn't see much of the Oklahoma City Thunder or Indiana Pacers on national TV this season. So, allow us to bring you up to speed on what you might have missed. Advertisement Here's everything you need to know about the Thunder and Pacers, courtesy of The Athletic NBA staff's coverage. + Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not just an elite scorer; he's so, so smooth with it. Watching him get buckets is almost therapeutic. Right before our eyes, SGA has blossomed into a historic scoring machine His handle is silkier than one of his half-buttoned shirts. He doesn't wow you with dribble moves, but he handles the rock so fluidly. His moves and counters. The improvisational way he manipulates leverage and shifts into spaces. And it's all punctuated with a midrange jumper that ol' heads would call butter. He's the new Kevin Durant in that sense. You know how KD makes putting the ball in the basket feel like breathing? How it feels so automatic as to be inevitable? SGA is of that ilk. Smooth for no reason. He scores like cats walk. Like Les Twins dance. Like Penelope Cruz says, 'Nespresso.' (Read more from Marcus Thompson II) + NBA titles aren't won without star talent populating the top of the roster. The Thunder have it. But 68-win teams aren't built without layers of depth and a firm identity. The Thunder also have it. They are a ferocious, turnover-hungry bunch engulfing the league on the defensive end. That starts at the point of attack, where Oklahoma City has developed, drafted and traded for the three-headed monster of Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso — three of the league's best on-ball bulldogs who go about their business differently but torment opponents together over 48 relentless minutes. 'It's endless,' Caruso said. 'An endless wave.' (Read more from Anthony Slater) + A unique approach has taken SGA to the pinnacle of basketball. Most high school recruit rankings plopped him somewhere in the 30s before he headed to Kentucky in 2017. He wasn't drafted until the end of the lottery the next year. The LA Clippers dealt him to the Thunder as part of the Paul George trade after only one pro season, when he showed promise, but no one predicted he would become one of the NBA's preeminent franchise centerpieces. His in-season workouts are more routine than those summertime sessions, going through usual warm-ups with Oklahoma City's coaches before games, practices or in open gyms. But the offseason is when Gilgeous-Alexander's process stands out because no one of his level does it like him: with the same group of loyal friends who never sniffed the NBA and with a slew of live defenders at all times hustling until their hearts feel like they'll give out just to gang up on a slithery scorer. (Read more from Fred Katz) Advertisement + Nikola Jokić, a second-round pick (No. 41) in the 2014 NBA Draft, probably has the most unforeseen rise to league MVP. But Gilgeous-Alexander, who edged out Jokić to prevent the center from winning his fourth MVP, has an atypical path compared to giants like Durant, Russell Westbrook or James Harden, all drafted top four by Thunder general manager Sam Presti. Nobody was labeling Gilgeous-Alexander a future star when the Thunder acquired him. Including himself. (Read more from Anthony Slater) + In his nearly two-decade run since — Sam Presti is the NBA's third-longest tenured lead basketball decision-maker behind only Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley — some of his shrewdest transactions have been of a certain variety. He generates financial flexibility, absorbs a contract (often a respected veteran) and generates an asset along with it. The first of those maneuvers came at the expense of Steve Kerr, and when tracing the ramifications of it, might be the greatest example of how the smaller moves can help generate a domino effect that produces the birth and rebirth of a contending franchise. (Read more from Anthony Slater) + Coming up short with Team Canada in last summer's Olympics played a part in fueling SGA for this special Thunder run. 'I think losing that game (to France) really showed me like, 'Now I have to wait another four years for this.' (And) that showed me like, you don't ever want to take things for granted, because nothing in life is promised,' he told Sam Amick in April. 'Like (Thunder) coach (Mark Daigneault) said a couple weeks ago, this group that we have today could be the best group of players I ever play with. You think, 'Oh, we're all 25 or under, so we have a whole runway in front of us.' But you never know what happens.' (Read more from Sam Amick) + SGA was joined at the All-Star Game this season by third-year teammate Jalen Williams. As much as Presti, coach Mark Daigneault and the Thunder's front office warmed to Williams and used a third lottery pick of the 2022 draft on him, it's hard to believe any could've predicted an ascension to these heights this rapidly, Anthony Slater wrote in January ahead of Williams' All-Star selection. (Read more from Anthony Slater) + The Thunder bet big last summer, using a chunk of salary-cap space to sign a second center, Isaiah Hartenstein, in what they felt could be a successful twin-tower approach when combined with third star Chet Holmgren. The Thunder entered the playoffs confident their double-big approach could work against any type of lineup, 'or any team,' Daigneault said. But for it to turn into one of the swing factors in the Western Conference, lifting the Thunder franchise to its first finals since 2012, there was an internal feeling that it must turn from great to elite on the defensive end. (Read more from Anthony Slater) Advertisement + At 40, Daigneault is already considered one of the NBA's best head coaches. Here's why he likes to tell people that if you replayed his life 100 times, this outcome only happens once. (Read more from Anthony Slater) + SGA's trainer reflected on what can be learned from the league MVP: 'From day one, he already had a routine. He was already working. Everyone else was trying to dunk or do crazy moves. He had a paper that he wrote drills on and over in the corner of the gym, just working on his routine.' (Read more) + Which front office is the best in sports? In 2024, the answer to that question was the Oklahoma City Thunder, at least according to their front-office peers. Here's why. (Read more) + Is SGA a 'free-throw merchant?' No, says Eric Nehm. Watch the video below. + Tyrese Haliburton might be on top of the world now, but he remembers the day he couldn't look in the mirror. Those around him didn't know how much pain he was holding in. 'I was really trying to run away from what was going on and I think that point was for me to be like, 'Yo, I don't feel like myself. I don't feel all right. This s—, it's bad.' ' Haliburton said. 'I (was) struggling to look at myself in the mirror. I'm struggling to show up to work and get to the gym. I'm trying to avoid coming to work.' Here's how the Pacers star rediscovered his joy. (Read more from Jared Weiss) + As an exasperated league continues its never-ending quest to stamp out tanking, here come the Indiana Pacers rising from the debris of mediocrity, right on cue. (Read more from Jason Lloyd) + To anyone who has watched the Pacers play lately, their Finals berth is no surprise. They play a relentless, fast-paced, full-court style where they pressure the ball in the backcourt and, on offense, throw it ahead as soon as possible. They have two stars in Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, a competent and reliable bench and role players who seem to have been carved out of a marble slab by Michelangelo to fit perfectly around Haliburton and Siakam. But to the more casual follower — yes, the Pacers are a surprise. (Read more from Joe Vardon) Advertisement + This is the moment for which Pascal Siakam was brought to Indianapolis. With the trade, Siakam, twice an All-Star in Toronto and again this season with the Pacers, brought leadership and championship experience to a young, gutsy team. Siakam was meant to be a perfect complement to Haliburton. And he delivered. 'Well, if you have the right player to build around, it can happen much faster than you think,' head coach Rick Carlisle said. 'Getting Tyrese made it very clear what our identity as a team needed to be. We needed to be a fast-paced team with shooting, and we had some good shooting at the time. The Siakam trade took things to another level.' (Read more from Eric Koreen) + Haliburton's college coach Steve Prohm reflected on what makes the All-Star a special leader: 'Tyrese's personality, his smile, his demeanor allowed him to connect with anybody from any walk of life. Because of his presence, because of his personality, he empowered other guys to be better.' (Read more) + In his second head coaching stint here with the Pacers, with All-Star and Olympian Tyrese Haliburton the focal point, Rick Carlisle is seeking a second NBA title to go with the one he got in Dallas in 2011. 'If your desire in life is to lead and to teach, NBA head coaching is the ultimate crucible,' Carlisle said. (Read more from David Aldridge) + When Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith became the first player ever to make six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of an NBA playoff game, doing so all in the final 4:46 of Game 1 against the Knicks without a single miss, his high school coach saw something he recognized. Something they'd rehearsed. 'His brain was supposed to shut it down and say, 'Oh, let's get ready for the next one,'' John 'JP' Pearson said. 'He doesn't. He is a different breed.' (Read more from Jay King and Shakeia Taylor) + It's understandable that one would nap on the Pacers, especially after a snoozer of a trade deadline. They were swept by the eventual champion Boston Celtics in last year's Eastern Conference finals; like Boston, the Pacers chose continuity in the 2024 offseason. Here's why no one should feel like they snuck up on any team during this year's playoffs. (Read more from Law Murray) + Haliburton heard the haters — and learned to channel those feelings. It started with cutting out the distractions and sources of anxiety. He deleted X from his phone in an attempt to go cold turkey on immersive doomscrolling. He started going back to church, recognizing he was getting caught up within himself and wanting to look at the positives in life. '(Fans) can't wait for a team to be doing bad so people can dunk on you on Twitter, you know what I mean? The s— is so stupid,' Haliburton said. 'It's just part of it. People want to see us not do well so they can talk s—.' Now that Haliburton is in a better place. Maybe he can crack his phone open, see a bunch of trash emojis and crack a smile. They can talk all they want, but he's ready to clap back on his terms, one drive at a time. (Read more from Jared Weiss and Sam Amick) + Haliburton is no longer the overlooked Wisconsin native with the funny-looking jumper. He's the face of the Pacers, with hopes of doing what Reggie Miller once did: Leading Indiana to the NBA Finals. It's a heavy burden, but Haliburton is deeply motivated by those who question his legitimacy — especially those he respects. 'Why haven't you won yet?' he remembers Jeff Van Gundy asking him during the FIBA World Cup last year. It's a question that enraged and fueled him. (Read more from James Boyd) • Game 1: June 5, 8:30 p.m., at Oklahoma City • Game 2: June 8, 8 p.m., at Oklahoma City • Game 3: June 11, 8:30 p.m., at Indiana • Game 4: June 13, 8:30 p.m., at Indiana • Game 5*: June 16, 8:30 p.m., at Oklahoma City • Game 6*: June 19, 8:30 p.m., at Indiana • Game 7*: June 22, 8 p.m., at Oklahoma City * if necessary Streaming: Fubo (try for free), ESPN+
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Pacers vs. Thunder Game 1 Predictions: Odds, expert picks, recent stats, trends and best bets for June 5
On Thursday, June 5, the Indiana Pacers (50-32) and Oklahoma City Thunder (68-14) are all set to square off from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Indiana Pacers capped off its magical run with a 4-2 series win over the Knicks at home, giving NBA fans one of the most memorable runs since the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Indiana beat both Milwaukee and Cleveland in five games apiece before finishing the Knicks off in six. Advertisement On the other hand, the Thunder were the favorite to win the NBA Finals for months and are four wins away from accomplishing this rare feat after sliding by the Timberwolves in five games. Denver did give OKC a run with a seven-game series after the 4-0 sweep in the first round, but that's the only sweat the Thunder have endured lately. Oklahoma City won both meetings versus Indiana this season by 6 and 21 points (120-114, 132-111). Chet Holmgren did not play in either meeting this season and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 and 45 points on the Pacers with 8 assists and 7 rebounds in each game. We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts. Listen to the Rotoworld Basketball Show for the latest fantasy player news, waiver claims, roster advice and more from our experts all season long. Click here or download it wherever you get your podcasts. Game details & how to watch Pacers vs. Thunder live today Date: Thursday, June 5, 2025 Time: 8:30PM EST Site: Paycom Center City: Oklahoma City, OK Network/Streaming: ESPN / ABC Advertisement Never miss a second of the action and stay up to date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day NBA schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game. Game odds for Pacers vs. Thunder The latest odds as of Thursday: Odds: Pacers (+320), Thunder (-410) Spread: Thunder -9 Over/Under: 230.5 points That gives the Pacers an implied team point total of 110.5, and the Thunder 120.5. Want to know which sportsbook is offering the best lines for every game on the NBA calendar? Check out the NBC Sports' Live Odds tool to get all the latest updated info from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM & more! Expert picks & predictions for Thursday's Pacers vs. Thunder game NBC Sports Bet Best Bet Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas) likes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over 12.5 assists and rebounds (-115): "This might be a line that goes unnoticed in the first few games of the series. When you think about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, it's generally how great and effective of a scorer he is. However, SGA grabs boards and when help comes, he's a fantastic facilitator. Advertisement SGA has gone over this number in both meetings the two teams played against each other this season. He also went over in three of the five games in the Western Conference Finals. Sprinkle the double double as well." Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports) likes a sprinkle on SGA (+500) and Jalen Williams (+6600) to lead the series in assists: "Tyrese Haliburton obviously seems like the right choice, but in comparison, the odds say Haliburton is more likely to lead the series in assists than SGA is to win MVP -- I do not agree with that whatsoever. If Haliburton has two games with 5, 6 assists, or less, like he did in one of two regular season meetings, then this race will be much closer than the odds indicate, so I would sprinkle Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams in this market. Advertisement Both SGA and Williams averaged about 5 and 7 assists per game over the postseason with double-digit potential assists per game. There is a strong potential for double-double or even triple-double opportunities for both OKC stars." Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals. Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager. Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today's Pacers & Thunder game: Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline. Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Indiana Pacers at +9 Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 230.5 Advertisement Want even more NBA best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert NBA Predictions pagefrom NBC Sports for money line, spread and over/under picks for every game on today's calendar! Important stats, trends & insights to know ahead of Pacers vs. Thunder on Thursday Oklahoma City is 2-1 on the ML and ATS in Game 1's this postseason Indiana is 3-0 on the ML and ATS in Game 1's this postseason Oklahoma City is 8-1 on the ML at home this postseason, while Indiana is 6-2 on the ML as the road team Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the Western Conference Finals MVP with 31.4 PPG, 8.2 APG, and 5.2 APG Pascal Siakam won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP with 24.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NBA Top Trends tool on NBC Sports! Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: - Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) - Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) - Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports) - Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton cards jump in value as collectors seek next NBA megastar
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton have become focal points of the NBA trading card market as the young Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers stars have guided their teams to the NBA Finals. Outside of aging veterans like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the injured Victor Wembanyama, and the still massive shadow cast by Michael Jordan, the NBA card market lacks bonafide box office draws, resulting in WNBA cards selling for more than comparable NBA cards for the first time ever. Advertisement With the NBA Finals starting Thursday, this will be prime ground for SGA and Haliburton to prove they belong in the spotlight. The two stars, both making their first trip to the NBA Finals, have been two of the more heavily transacted players in the last 30 days in terms of total card sales, according to Market Movers, which tracks card sales across multiple marketplaces. The Pacers guard ranks seventh among all basketball players with more than 4,100 individual card sales. The Thunder guard and newly crowned league MVP ranks eighth with more than 3,400 card sales. SGA's cards have commanded a much higher price tag than Haliburton's lot, though. Through the past month, SGA ranks eighth in total dollars as his cards sold for nearly $667,000 all together. Haliburton sits 10th on this list with nearly $331,000 in sales. For perspective, Michael Jordan ranks No. 1 on this list with $5.6 million. Let's use the players' Panini Prizm Silver rookie cards with a gem mint 10 grade from PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) as the baseline to gauge their markets, as they are popular cards that are frequently transacted but are more scarce than the base versions. SGA's 2018 card — with the Los Angeles Clippers — stands as one of the most expensive Prizm Silver rookie cards yielding an average price of $1,200 within the last 30 days. Only Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic carry Prizm Silver rookie cards, and that's thanks in most part to a small population count for rookie cards with those two players. The $1,200 price tag is nearly double where it was at the beginning of the year, when this card averaged sales of $675. One SGA rookie card sold for as much as $1,400 during the last 30 days. His current card price has jumped 300 percent in the past two years, only carrying an average price tag of $300 in May 2023. Advertisement By the Thunder eliminating Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals, the door feels wide open for SGA to take a firmer grasp at becoming one of the next big things in the basketball card hobby. Edwards' card market launched in last season's playoffs, specifically his 2020 Prizm Silver rookie in a PSA 10. In April 2024, Ant Man's card only sold on average for $597. His monster on-court run during the next month, during which searches for his name on eBay shot up 1,850 percent compared to the start of the season, launched this card into orbit with average sales on May 9 up to around $1,840. One week later, Edwards' cards drastically dipped in value to average sales of $1,120. The Silver rarely reached or topped that daily average ever since. Once this year's postseason commenced, we were right back where we started with Edwards. His 2020 Prizm Silver in a PSA 10 was even lower in mid-April this year than where it was before his sharp uptick, selling for $561 on April 15. His market shot back up in May, with the Timberwolves' run to the Western Conference finals, as average sales reached as high as $1,090 as of May 20. Now with Minnesota falling to Oklahoma City, Edwards' gem mint Prizm Silver card is already dropping again, averaging $870 as of Sunday. The card market for Haliburton, the league's most overrated player according to his peers in this season's anonymous player poll by The Athletic, flourished from an immediate boom shortly after the Pacers landed a spot in the NBA Finals. Haliburton's 2020 Panini Prizm Black Finite one-of-a-kind rookie card with a PSA 10 grade sold for nearly $120,000 last Saturday, which is about $35,000 more than his highest selling card of any kind. This is quite the turnaround after Haliburton's market sank to an all-time low early this season. Advertisement Once selling for as high as $700 in September 2021, his 2020 Panini Prizm Silver PSA 10 graded rookie card only commanded an average price of $161 in mid December. This occurred five months before The Athletic published the poll. Haliburton's rookie card — with the Sacramento Kings — rarely commanded a sale of more than $200 until May. The card is now selling for an average of around $413 as of Sunday, with a high sale of $450 in the past 30 days. Had the New York Knicks toppled the Pacers, the NBA trading card world's eyes would've been glued to Knicks guard Jalen Brunson instead. His card values during the past year have been on a very similar plane as Haliburton. Brunson's 2018 Prizm Silver rookie card — with the Dallas Mavericks — in a PSA 10 sold on average as high as $318 in mid-May. After the Eastern Conference finals loss, the card now only averages $247 as of Sunday. Last season's NBA Finals felt the same way for a potential card value boom for Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. But he didn't play up to superstar level even though the Celtics won the title — so much so that teammate Jaylen Brown won the series MVP. Unfortunately for Tatum and his collectors, the forward ruptured his Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference finals this year and will likely miss much of next season. His 2017 Prizm Silver rookie card with a PSA 10 grade went from averaging $979 in early June 2024 down to $585 as of Sunday. So even if you're the top star of an NBA championship winning team, it's no promise the player's card value will not only vault but maintain a new heightened price. But if SGA or Haliburton play to an NBA Finals MVP level, maybe one of the two, or even both players, could propel themselves into a higher trading card price bracket. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
