Judd leads the San Jose Earthquakes against the LA Galaxy
Associated Press
San Jose Earthquakes (5-6-4, ninth in the Western Conference) vs. LA Galaxy (0-11-4, 16th in the Western Conference)
Carson, California; Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Los Angeles -103, San Jose +224, Draw +293; over/under is 3.5 goals
BOTTOM LINE: Preston Judd leads the San Jose Earthquakes into a matchup with the LA Galaxy after scoring three goals against the Houston Dynamo.
The Galaxy are 0-8-4 in conference matchups. The Galaxy have scored 13 goals while giving up 35 for a -22 goal differential.
The Earthquakes are 4-4-2 in conference matchups. The Earthquakes lead the MLS with 32 goals. Christian Arango leads the team with nine.
The matchup Wednesday is the first meeting this season between the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: Christian Ramirez has scored four goals with one assist for the Galaxy. Diego Fagundez has three goals over the past 10 games.
Arango has nine goals and one assist for the Earthquakes. Josef Martinez has scored five goals over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Galaxy: 0-8-2, averaging 0.9 goals, 2.9 shots on goal and 5.0 corner kicks per game while allowing 2.5 goals per game.
Earthquakes: 3-3-4, averaging 2.4 goals, 5.2 shots on goal and 4.6 corner kicks per game while allowing 1.8 goals per game.
NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY: Galaxy: Riqui Puig (injured).
Earthquakes: Noel Arthur Buck (injured), Niko Tsakiris (injured), Rodrigues (injured), Bruno Wilson (injured), Christian Arango (injured).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
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Before the Minnesota Timberwolves can get down to business in a summer filled with important roster decisions, they need to know who will be leading the charge on those decisions. Team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly made it clear on Monday that he is not going anywhere. 'Super happy here,' Connelly said at his end-of-the-season briefing. 'It's been great, not just working with the team, but this whole community really feels like home. I think you guys are stuck with me.' Advertisement Connelly reworked his contract last summer, pushing an option back until after this season so he could see how the team's ownership dispute played out. He drew interest from the Detroit Pistons last summer, league sources said, and several other teams have been monitoring his situation this season to see if one of the league's top executives would become available. Helping to build a team that made the Western Conference finals in back-to-back seasons only increased his value. 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New York Times
2 hours ago
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NBA and possession battle: How Thunder, Pacers stack up with their peers
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Same stuff everybody else emphasizes.' Advertisement The Thunder had 435 fewer turnovers than their opponents in the regular season, the best differential since the league began tracking turnovers in 1973. Such a historic margin helped offset their deficiency in offensive rebounding. As a result, only the Houston Rockets were better in the possession battle than the Thunder during the regular season. Here's a look at the possession battle rankings from the regular season, with the possession-battle column representing the approximate extra possessions a team earned per game based on the combined differentials of offensive rebounds and opponent turnovers: 'We do talk about that: more shots and better shots,' Daigneault said. 'It's that simple. You want to get more if you can, and you want to get the better shots in the game. How we do that is more process-based. But that's the name of the game. If you do that consistently, you'll be pretty good. 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He's obviously our highest usage player. And then the same is true on defense. We've got some monsters on the perimeter and rim deterrence at the rim. And that forces teams deeper into possessions, throwing more passes. All those things that increase the exposure risk of turnovers. Advertisement 'So it's personnel, and then it's fundamentals. And we let that kind of win the day.' The New York Knicks ranked in the top 10 in the possession battle during the regular season, and the Pacers ranked in the lower half of the league, but the possession battle was a key storyline in the East finals. The Pacers won the margin by six in their improbable Game 1 comeback win at Madison Square Garden, forcing eight more turnovers than the Knicks to overcome a 13-11 offensive rebounding deficit. New York actually won the possession battle in Game 4 by grabbing eight more offensive rebounds than the Pacers. But Indiana forced six more turnovers than the Knicks in a game that Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton compiled a historic 32-point triple-double with no turnovers. Like the Thunder have with Gilgeous-Alexander, the Pacers have an All-NBA primary playmaker who has an uncanny ability to generate voluminous levels of offense without giving the ball away. Haliburton's Game 4 performance was his third with at least 30 points, 15 assists and zero turnovers. Only five other players have done that since the NBA started tracking individual turnovers in 1977: three before Haliburton entered the NBA (John Stockton, Chris Paul, LeBron James) and two since Haliburton was drafted in 2020 (James Harden, Nikola Jokić). 'He was really throwing the ball ahead, which was really important for us,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton's Game 4 performance that gave Indiana a 3-1 series lead. 'To not have any turnovers in any of those situations, too, it's pretty remarkable. But this has become his thing, and there will be a new statistical category perhaps named after him somewhere down the line.' 'I feel like we're making up stats at some point to make me look better,' joked Haliburton, the postseason leader in assists despite 16 players having more turnovers than him this postseason entering Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Knicks were favored entering the Eastern Conference finals and were expected to give the Pacers more of a challenge due to their ability to hurt Indiana on the glass. During the regular season, Thibodeau discussed 'fighting to win every possession and how important that is.' 'Every possession is important,' New York head coach Tom Thibodeau said. 'Where can you steal points from? You have to think that way throughout the course of the season.' Advertisement The only starting lineup change Thibodeau made this postseason was to insert Mitchell Robinson at center in place of forward Josh Hart; Robinson leads all players in offensive rebounds this postseason, and he had five in the Knicks' Game 6 loss against the Pacers, a game in which New York won the possession battle but was outscored 34-13 off turnovers. For the series, the Pacers outscored the Knicks 140-61 off turnovers. The Knicks failed to take advantage of their rebounding edge to the same degree, outscoring the Pacers only 99-83 on second-chance points. Going into next season, the possession battle figures to be a means for teams to sustain themselves even if the shooting isn't quite there yet. The Rockets led the NBA in the possession battle this season on the strength of what was the league's best offensive rebounding margin by far. 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Before his dismissal as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, Taylor Jenkins would make sure to flag clips if his team was slipping on offensive rebounds or turnovers. Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is even more direct about making sure his players know what the numbers look like during games. 'We try to keep that one really raw, and we focus on rebounding and turnovers,' Bickerstaff said. 'It was one of our focuses, because that raw number, the guys can just see it quickly on a stat sheet, or look up on most of the boards and see the total number of rebounds, the offensive rebounds that we're giving up, and then whatever our turnovers are. And they can kind of recognize that quickly. … It's a priority for us to try to win the possession battle every night.' Sometimes, the possession battle goes a long way toward explaining why a team might underachieve relative to its position entering the playoffs or why they weren't able to qualify for the postseason. 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Of the 12 best teams in the NBA in 3-point percentage, the Suns were the only team not to make the postseason, even though only the Bucks and Cavaliers were more accurate from 3. Only 10 teams were more accurate from the field overall than the Suns, but only the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz ranked lower in the possession battle. 'Offensive rebounding, we don't get very many of those,' Mike Budenholzer said one month before he was fired as Suns head coach. 'Turnovers, we talked a lot about us taking care of the ball more. We've got to turn teams over more. So I think those are kind of the big drivers of the possession game. We've got to be better, particularly the rebounding and the turnovers. It's what it comes down to.' The worst team in the league in the possession battle this past season was the team with the worst record, the Jazz. Will Hardy's team actually secured 26 more offensive rebounds than its opponents. But the Jazz were the anti-Thunder, setting the record this season for the worst turnover margin (444) since the league started tracking turnovers in 1973. Simply put, earning more shots via turnovers and offensive rebounds can transform losses into comeback wins and small leads into blowout victories. In the finals, shot making will be important, but it will be impossible to ignore which team can generate the most shots compared to its opponent. 'I take pride in taking care of the ball,' Haliburton said. 'I feel like the more we take care of the ball as a team, the more opportunities we can shoot the ball. I feel like the more shots we get in a game, the better opportunity we have to win. … I'd rather do really anything else on the basketball court than turn the ball over.'
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
The NBA's newest power is scary young, scary different and scary good
Follow the NBA — or anything, really — for too long, and your brain gets sentenced to myopia. You think about the game one way, honoring outworn rules and traditions and beliefs, shunning innovation as radical behavior. You can read hundreds of quotes about change and arrive only at the submissive conclusion that it's too difficult an aspiration. That's partly why, despite its burgeoning greatness, the Oklahoma City Thunder has been greeted with skepticism until now. It defies two NBA axioms that we refuse to let go. Young teams don't win championships. And in a league full of skilled players, it's perilous to rely on a defensive system that overemphasizes ball pressure and creating turnovers. In the face of convention, the Thunder has fashioned a distinct style of play by turning those no-nos into its greatest assets. Its youth is a blessing. When the season began, its average age was 24.7. If you limit it to the 14 players who have appeared in playoff games, it shrinks to 24.4. Only two players have reached 30, and the only 'old' rotation player is Alex Caruso, who turned 31 in February. Teammates playfully call him 'OG,' which is slang for original gangster. Or just old guy. Caruso is still in his prime, but born in 1994, he and reserve forward Kenrich Williams have at least three years on every other player on the roster. Still, the Thunder finished 68-14 during the regular season, tied for the sixth-highest winning percentage (.829) in league history. OKC is the youngest team to win 60 games, and if it defeats the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals, it would be the second youngest to be crowned champion, just a hair older than the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers. That team, led by a 24-year-old Bill Walton, went from 49-33 to postseason glory during a period of NBA parity similar to the current one. But the Thunder, which outscored opponents by a record 12.9 points over the first 82 games, is four victories from completing one of the best single-season performances the league has witnessed. Oklahoma City's coach, Mark Daigneault, is a creative former Connecticut student manager who refined his strategies by walking up nearly every rung of the basketball ladder. The players are young and focused, versatile and unselfish, exciting and overpowering. They're likable, cute even, right down to standing as a group during those corny postgame interviews. While celebrating their five-game romp through the Western Conference finals, players piled towels atop the shoulders of Daigneault during an interview. As he relayed all the superlatives about his players, he paused to grin and joke, 'They're idiots.' Before this run, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green suggested the Thunder wasn't serious, too interested in its 'bromance' to instill 'fear' in opponents. Many ran with the notion that, to be so good on paper, Oklahoma City isn't scary. Who knew the Thunder had to direct a horror movie to hoist a trophy? OKC players are serious competitors who act childish upon victory. They're mature when they need to be, which enables them to turn all that youth into the energy necessary to play a relentless brand of basketball. It starts on the defensive end. A year ago, when the Thunder improved from 40-42 to 57-25, it was a top-five defensive team. This season, it enjoyed an 11-win improvement while leading the league in defensive efficiency. It is an elite offensive squad — with an unrivaled ball-hawking defense. The Thunder forced a league-best 17 turnovers per game en route to that 68-14 record. In the playoffs, it has been even better, forcing 18 turnovers and scoring 23.8 points per game off opponent miscues. When challenged, Oklahoma City has been at its best. After the Denver Nuggets pushed it to a Game 7 in the second round, the Thunder responded with a defensive effort that forced 23 turnovers that led to 37 points in a 125-93 rout. St. John's Coach Rick Pitino posted about his admiration of the Thunder's defense last week. Pitino, a Hall of Famer who has coached in college and the NBA, mentioned that he has 'never' shown his NCAA teams video of NBA defenses in more than 40 years of coaching. Offense, absolutely. But defense? There was little from the NBA style of defending that he could incorporate in the college game. 'Until this past season,' Pitino wrote. He showed clips of the Thunder during multiple film sessions per week. 'Their switching, loading up to help, and rotations are awesome,' he wrote. 'And they're still so young!!!' OKC doesn't do any single thing in an unprecedented way, but Daigneault has created something novel with his fusion of various concepts. The Thunder's personnel also makes it different. No team has five perimeter defenders the caliber of defensive superstar Lu Dort, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Caruso. Power forward Chet Holmgren is among the league's best rim protectors. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, an offseason free agent addition, is the perfect fit. No matter who's in the lineup, there's little drop-off. Versatility and discipline are the Thunder's biggest strengths. It starts big and swallows all the space with its size and length. Then it goes small and turns into a defense that swarms, scrambles and recovers without many missed assignments. Traditionally, defensive mistakes are what make a coach leery to give minutes to inexperienced players. Despite having only four players with more than five years of NBA experience, Oklahoma City attacks with veteran-like attention to detail. 'It's hard to process because it was so different,' Minnesota Timberwolves all-star guard Anthony Edwards said of the OKC defense. 'It was always different every time. Heavy in the gaps. Sometimes trips the ball screens. Sometimes don't. They remind me of an AAU defensive team, just run and jump, fly around.' The Thunder is a team-building showpiece. It's a reflection of General Manager Sam Presti's willingness to think differently. In 2007, Presti was 30 years old when he was hired to rebuild the Seattle SuperSonics. He was by far the youngest leader of an NBA basketball operations department. For the past 18 years, he has led the organization through it all: relocation; the creation of the star-studded MVP trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden; the premature departures and teardown of a memorable team that never got over the championship hump; the trades that stockpiled a preposterous collection of draft picks; two painful rebuilding years in which the team went a combined 46-108; and a reconstruction that has led to a level of dominance few saw coming. This team is Presti's best work. When he was named executive of the year last month, it felt like both a season award and a recognition of his longtime stewardship of the roster. From his introduction 18 years ago, Presti has preached meticulous team-building, focusing on substance over style and aiming to create a basketball laboratory in which young players with the right mindset walked into a developmental safe space. Presti has created a culture of competition and experimentation, and to sustain it, the front office remains dedicated to looking deeply into players' makeup rather than following trends. That's how you build a team without a defensive weak link. That's how you trade Paul George in a package whose return includes Gilgeous-Alexander and watch him grow into an MVP because you didn't impose any limitations. That's how you build a talented team despite having just one player drafted in the top five (Holmgren, No. 2 in 2022). Right now, the Thunder is glued to the moment. Two years ahead of schedule, it has manipulated time in its favor. Old basketball stereotypes don't apply to OKC. It's something new. And unusual. Scary, too.
