Browns QB Shedeur Sanders opens up on relationship with Dillon Gabriel
Browns QB Shedeur Sanders opens up on relationship with Dillon Gabriel
Everybody wants to pit the two Cleveland Browns rookie quarterbacks, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, against one another. However, the two seem to be enjoying each other's company as OTAs near.
The two rookies have already spent a great time together through the rookie minicamp, the NFLPA Rookie Premier, and mandatory minicamp. With a four-way quarterback competition set to begin in July, there is a reason to have intrigue in how these guys interact. Sanders has already stated that the quarterback room as a whole is a unified front, but he also has spoken directly about his relationship with Gabriel:
'Everything's been cool... He's a cool person. I like how he handles situations, especially just the negative media that's coming his way. I'm just happy he's positive; he's able to handle everything. We're truly cool.'
Holding two first round picks next year, the Browns are going to need to find out what they have in Gabriel and Sanders, and fast. If they find themselves in a position to take a gunslinger like Indiana's Fernando Mendoza or South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, they are going to have to do it.
Can these two take what they are learning from one another and show the Browns some sort of immediate promise toward being a quality starter at the NFL level?
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New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
Thunder struck with a midrange shooting slump at the wrong time in NBA Finals
INDIANAPOLIS — How do the Oklahoma City Thunder surprisingly find themselves down 2-1 to the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals? I can give you two versions of the story, both of which are equally valid. On one hand, there is the sheer fact of a more energetic Indiana side repeatedly outhustling, outscrapping, outrunning and ultimately outlasting Oklahoma City in Game 3. Call it 'energy' or 'playing with force' or whatever euphemism you want to use, but the tape doesn't lie. Rewatching the game on Thursday, the Thunder looked like a team on the last game of a four-games-in-five-nights trip. They played with little pace, were beaten to nearly every loose ball and completely ran out of gas at the end. Advertisement Of particular note was that the Thunder's best player was guilty on many of these fronts. Perhaps it's not surprising that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was worn out by the end after a 42-minute stint where he was repeatedly attacked on defense while the Pacers picked him up full court on offense. What's a bit more shocking is how out of sorts the MVP looked even at the beginning. Eight seconds into the game, he picked up a frustration foul shoving away Andrew Nembhard. Minutes later, he already seemed exhausted. Check out this play, where he lets another player bring the ball up, jogs in a circle for a bit, then completely taps out of the play and grabs his shorts. This wasn't in the fourth quarter; it was in the fourth minute. Indiana's plan was to deny Gilgeous-Alexander from catching the ball anywhere, even 90 feet from the basket. After making baskets, Nembhard routinely raced in to deny an inbound pass before Gilgeous-Alexander could have a free catch. It was a nice adjustment by Indiana. What was amazing, however, was how meekly the Thunder acquiesced to this arrangement. On play after play, Gilgeous-Alexander either made no move at all to get open or pointed to a different player for the inbounder to pass to. One wonders if Gilgeous-Alexander was dealing with something physically, because he seemed to be conserving energy almost from the opening tip. Or maybe he just had a bad night; it happens. Gilgeous-Alexander was awesome in Games 1 and 2, and I expect the Thunder to give a much more valiant effort in Game 4. But underlying everything that happened in the first three games is another explanation, a bigger-picture question that's gnawing at me: Why can't the Thunder make 2s? Advertisement Oklahoma City has only made 47.4 percent of its 2-point shots this series, a ghastly figure that would have ranked last by a mile in the regular season. The league average was 54.5 percent; the worst team in the league (Charlotte) shot 49.9 percent. The poor shooting inside the arc is a key reason the Thunder offense is only posting a 113.6 offensive rating for the series after rolling to a 119.2 mark in the regular season (good for third in the league) and posting a 118.6 mark against a fearsome Minnesota Timberwolves defense in the Western Conference finals. Usually, a struggle like that could be explained by 3-point variance, but not here: Oklahoma City has made 39.8 percent from downtown in the three games. The Thunder are also drawing fouls at a high rate, making their freebies (83.6 percent) and doing solid work on the offensive glass. Even turnovers — Game 3 aside — have been a plus, with a very respectable 11.9 percent rate for the series. But the one area their offense figured to have a massive advantage has instead been a total zero. The Thunder ranked seventh in the league in 2-point shooting at 55.9 percent, while the Pacers were 23rd in 2-point defense at 55.4 percent — the worst mark of any playoff team. Additionally, 2-point shooting is usually more stable than 3-point shooting, and there should be less variance after three games because nearly twice as many shots are 2s. If you're wondering, the postseason's first three rounds didn't provide any indication that this dramatic shift would happen. The Thunder made 54 percent of their 2s against the Denver Nuggets and 55.7 percent against the Wolves. Indiana allowed the New York Knicks to shoot 56.1 percent in the conference finals and, before that, the injury-addled Cleveland Cavaliers made 52.8 percent against them. Based on the regular-season results, we'd expect the Thunder to be shooting 57 percent on 2s in this series, and instead, they're shooting a full 10 points worse. For three games, that's a difference of about 28 points (allowing for the fact that some of the extra misses were offensive rebounded), more than enough to swing the outcomes of Games 1 and 3. Advertisement Digging deeper on the 2-point woes, the main culprits are the Thunder's best players. Of the top fix Oklahoma City players in finals minutes, only Chet Holmgren has made more than half his 2s, and he's barely eeking past at 13-of-25 (52 percent). Jalen Williams has only made 42.5 percent of his 2s, and Gilgeous-Alexander just 50 percent, which is a problem since those two account for more than half the team's attempts. Personnel choices have likely been a factor, too. Isaiah Hartenstein and Aaron Wiggins were the team's two most accurate 2-point shooters in the regular season, combining for 13.2 attempts per game; they have only taken 16 the entire finals as the role of each has shriveled. Limiting fast-break points has been a factor: Oklahoma City averaged a whopping 17.2 fast-break points per game in the previous two rounds against Denver and Minnesota, but the Thunder have averaged a piddling 8.4 thus far in the finals. Subtracting some of those easy run-outs definitely impacts 2-point percentage; the Thunder shot 64.6 percent inside 5 feet in the regular season and 63.7 percent in the last two playoff rounds (even after I eliminated the four-game stampede over Memphis) but just 55.3 percent in these finals. The shooting stats also reveal a more mundane issue: The Thunder's two best players have missed a ton of makable middies. On 2s beyond 10 feet, Oklahoma City shot 46.4 percent in the regular season, 49.1 percent in the last two playoff rounds … and 36.1 percent in the finals. Williams lamented after Game 1 that many of his misses were on shots in his wheelhouse, 'shots that I rep,' as he put it. He missed all four of his long 2s while Gilgeous-Alexander went 2 of 8, hugely consequential misses in a one-point loss. Even in an otherwise strong performance in Game 3, Williams was 2 of 7 on 2s beyond 10 feet while Gilgeous-Alexander was 3 of 8. Most of them were clean looks, too. Even in the Thunder's breakout Game 2 win, the duo combined to shoot 7 of 13 on these shots; solid, but hardly a hailstorm. For the series, that makes them 14 of 40 on the midrange shots that have been a huge bulwark of the Thunder's half-court offense all season. For Williams, the pull-ups going left have abandoned him suddenly. This one from Game 3 is a practice shot for him, and it's not even close: Late in the third quarter, he had another example of a frustrating miss when he was isolated against the lumbering Thomas Bryant and easily got to a pull-up, only to have it hit three parts of the rim and bounce out. Similarly, Gilgeous-Alexander had some tough shots against good contests from the Pacers but also has to feel like he left some money on the table. He shoots about 99 percent when he turns baseline from the left block, but this shot over a lukewarm contest from Ben Sheppard didn't find the mark: He bonked another shot from the same spot in the second half, albeit under a bit more duress from Nembhard. So, what do we make of this? It's too reductive to say that the Thunder are just going to automatically make more long 2s next game; that's not how this works. And of course, this isn't the only element of shooting variance at work here; at some point, Lu Dort might cool off from 3, for instance, and I don't think the Thunder can count on their 'free-throw defense' to save them quite as many points in the upcoming games. Needless to say, if I were the Thunder, I'd be much more concerned about the effort and exhaustion piece of the puzzle, and particularly about how to manage Gilgeous-Alexander through games so he has some juice left to take over at the end. Advertisement Nonetheless, the Thunder probably need to solve both problems to win three of the next four and claim the franchise's first title in Oklahoma. Most expected that a Pacers' victory template would include their full-court pace and pressure gassing the mighty Thunder, but Oklahoma City's wayward 2-point shooting is an unforeseen complication. Sure, the law of averages might eventually tilt back the Thunder's way on these shots, but we don't have 82 games to wait. Their margin of error is gone. The effort needs to ramp up, and the middies have to start falling. (Top photo of Jalen Williams and Bennedict Mathurin: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A year ago Tyrese Haliburton was a punchline. Now he's the NBA's finest punch-out artist
Self-awareness may be Tyrese Haliburton's greatest attribute. That was obvious at last summer's Olympics as the 25-year-old All-Star was confined to the Team USA bench. Instead of hitting out at online fans who kept tabs on Indiana Pacers star's smiles, high fives and other displays of team spirit to make up for his lack of on-court statistics, Haliburton seized on the chance to dunk on himself. After the US pipped France in the final, Haliburton posted a selfie with his gold medal. 'When you ain't do nun on the group project and still get an A,' he wrote. Advertisement Schedule Best-of-seven-games series. All times US eastern time (EDT). Thu 5 Jun Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110 Sun 8 Jun Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107 Wed 11 Jun Game 3: Pacers 116, Thunder 107 Fri 13 Jun Game 4: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm Mon 16 Jun Game 5: Pacers at Thunder, 8.30pm Thu 19 Jun Game 6: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm* Sun 22 Jun Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, 8pm* *-if necessary How to watch In the US, all games will air on ABC. Streaming options include or the ABC app (with a participating TV provider login), as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and Sling TV (via ESPN3 for ABC games). NBA League Pass offers replays, but live finals games are subject to blackout restrictions in the US. Advertisement In the UK, the games will be available on TNT Sports and Discovery+. As for streaming, NBA League Pass will provide live and on-demand access to all Finals games without blackout restrictions. In Australia, the games will broadcast live on ESPN Australia. Kayo Sports and Foxtel Now will stream the games live, while NBA League Pass will offer live and on-demand access without blackout restrictions. This year, however, Haliburton has proved that he's no joke. His late-game heroics are the main reason why the Indiana Pacers are just two wins from the NBA title. Time and again during these playoffs Haliburton has snatched the Pacers back from what had looked like certain defeat – and with every M Night Shyamalan twist he orchestrates on court, he shows that no moment is ever too big for him. Where another player might struggle to add one clutch playoff bucket to his highlight reel, Haliburton has made a game-tying or game-winning shot in every round of this year's postseason – a heady accomplishment only Reggie Miller, Haliburton's Pacers archetype, can match. In the first round against Milwaukee, Haliburton beat Giannis Antetokounmpo for a layup to steal Game 5 in overtime and close the series. Late in Game 2 of the conference semi-finals versus Cleveland, Haliburton sank a three-pointer off his own missed free-throw to stun the home crowd and take a 2-0 series lead. In the opening game of the conference finals, Haliburton not only bounced in a buzzer-beater three to force overtime against New York. He celebrated by grabbing his neck and reprising Miller's notorious choking gesture from the 1994 conference finals series, triggering Knicks fans all over again as Miller looked on approvingly. Then, in the Game 1 victory over the Thunder in the NBA finals, the Pacers achieved their only lead when Haliburton hit the game's last shot with 0.3 seconds left to cap his team's fifth comeback while trailing by 15 points or more these playoffs – the most since Miller's Pacers stormed through the brackets in 1998. Advertisement Related: The unsinkable Pacers don't need the lead. They just need the last word | Claire de Lune Counting the regular season and the playoffs this year, Haliburton is a robust 86.7% on shots taken inside the final two minutes (including overtime) to tie or take the lead. The same fans who once joked about Haliburton's smiles-per-game at the Olympics have shifted to likening his uncanny talent for upending win-probability trend lines to basketball terrorism. Nicknames for Haliburton on social media include The Haliban and, when he beat Thunder in Game 1 of the finals, Himothy McVeigh, a play on the Oklahoma City bomber (It should go without saying that such wordplay is in questionable taste.) All of this has put the league, already under fire for its muted NBA finals spectacle, in the unfortunate position of having to astroturf another Haliburton nickname, The Moment, in hopes of stopping the more charged ones from spreading further. (Newsflash: it hasn't caught on with fans.) That Haliburton has suddenly emerged as the man for the moment is a development few outside Indianapolis saw coming. At the Olympics, Haliburton struggled to break a Team USA point guard rotation that included all-time great shooter Steph Curry and Derrick White, the freshly minted NBA champion from the Boston Celtics. Altogether, Haliburton sat out three of six games and played 26 total minutes in Paris – the fewest of anyone on the team. Speaking to ESPN's Jamal Collier last month, he'd call his Olympic experience an 'ego check' and said the online jokes hurt. (The smile, it turns out, was just a cover.) 'It got to the point where all that conversation was weighing on me in a negative way for the first time in my life, which was weird,' Haliburton said. 'Basketball has always made me happy. And for the first time I wasn't happy.' Adding to the insults: Haliburton was nursing a hamstring injury suffered during a Cinderella run through the 2024 playoffs that was cut short when the top-seeded Celtics swept the sixth-seeded Pacers in the conference finals. Advertisement The hits didn't stop there. As the playoffs began in April, The Athletic asked NBA players who they considered the league's most overrated player. With 158 anonymous replies (or more than a quarter of the locker room population), Haliburton won handily – with 14.4% of the vote – over Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert and Atlanta pest Trae Young. But Haliburton, who further confessed to learning a lot from how USA teammates Jayson Tatum (who also went overlooked in the Olympic rotation) and Joel Embiid handled criticism on their respective NBA squads, didn't let the disrespect get him down this time. 'I must be doing something right,' Haliburton said in response to the poll. 'My focus is on this locker room and securing victories. I know who I am. I'm confident in myself and not concerned with what others think.' Haliburton has shown as much throughout the season, wearing a goofy smile as he rips hearts out from coast to coast. All the while he has navigated the ancillary controversies around his game – from the NBA banning his father, John, from attending games as punishment for taunting Antetokounmpo; to Haliburton himself nearly upstaging Pascal Siakam's acceptance of the conference finals MVP award – with grace and maturity. 'When we brought him here, we had a vision,' Haliburton said of Siakam, shrugging off his unwitting echo of a popular meme from a past NBA All-Star celebrity game. 'We envisioned doing something like this, doing something special.' It just confirms what teammates already know about Haliburton: he's not playing for the spotlight. That was obvious again in the Pacers' 116-107 victory over the Thunder on Wednesday night – a nip-tuck affair in which Haliburton made the difference with his defense and distribution of the ball, and Indiana's bench carried the day. In one late-game sequence, he managed to outfox Gilgeous-Alexander – a solid off-ball defender – in a clever half court set piece from the left elbow. Instead of dishing the ball off to a cutting Miles Turner, who only had SGA to beat in the lane, Haliburton fired the ball past Turner to Aaron Nesmith on the opposite wing – who then buried a three over a wrongfooted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to give the Pacers an eight-point lead with three minutes left. No, the play wasn't as sexy or as seismic as a Haliburton desperation heave. But there's no doubt it was clutch. 'I mean, I was like three months old last time they made the finals,' Haliburton joked to NBA TV while considering the significance of helping the Pacers to their first finals trip first finals trip in 25 years. 'As a group, every year we've taken a jump. We're here now, and we don't want to take this time for granted.' Now two wins from delivering the Pacers' first ever NBA championship (they had previously won three titles in the defunct ABA), Haliburton is on the brink of turning a series that began with low expectations into one that may forever live in NBA lore. It's quite the turnabout for a player who seemingly couldn't make the grade.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Colts minicamp takeaways: Daniel Jones a quick study; Justin Walley, AD Mitchell flash potential
INDIANAPOLIS — Alec Pierce has developed a reputation as the Indianapolis Colts' big-play receiver. His 22.3 yards per catch last year ranked No. 1 in the NFL, and a handful of his long receptions required him to win a 50-50 ball with a defender draped all over him. But throughout the Colts' three-day veteran minicamp, that was rarely the case. New Colts QB Daniel Jones put a cap on Indy's final spring practice Thursday with another steady performance, highlighted by a deep crosser to Pierce during 11-on-11 work. All Pierce had to do was catch the ball in stride. Advertisement On time. On target. Those have been the prevailing themes of Jones' game this spring as he competes for the starting quarterback job in Indianapolis, and he's already gained ground. Anthony Richardson, whom Jones will challenge for the QB1 role, recently 'aggravated' the AC joint in his surgically repaired throwing shoulder, according to Colts coach Shane Steichen. The 2023 No. 4 pick will be out indefinitely. In his absence, Jones received all of the starting reps during minicamp and appears to have acclimated well to his new surroundings because the football has hardly touched the crowd. 'Very intelligent,' Steichen said of Jones. 'He works at it, grinds at it. So, I'm not surprised by how he's picked up the offense. Those meetings we have in the quarterback room … they've been really good. I'm very pleased with (Jones).' Jones didn't make many eye-popping throws this spring, but he kept the chains moving. One of his most impressive sequences came when he led the Colts down the field in a two-minute drill Wednesday that was capped by a short touchdown pass across the middle to Michael Pittman Jr. Jones threw the ball before Pittman even made it out of his break and squeezed the pass into a tight window as a few Colts defensive backs tried to close in but were too late. Jones said he was encouraged by Indy's execution in those late-game scenarios. He also cracked a smile when discussing the receiver on the other end of his precise TD pass. 'Pitt's gonna remind you where he is if you don't see him,' Jones said, laughing. 'But no, he's had a great spring, too. He's been really good.' As Richardson roamed the sidelines Thursday, it felt eerily similar to last year. In June 2024, he was held out of the final day of minicamp due to 'a little soreness' in his throwing shoulder. Richardson assured there was 'nothing to worry about,' but now that he's experiencing pain again in his surgically repaired AC joint, there is cause for concern. Advertisement Richardson recently flew to Los Angeles to have his AC joint reevaluated by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the same doctor who performed his shoulder procedure in October 2023. Steichen said Richardson is 'not going to need a procedure right now,' as the Colts hope their young QB will be available when training camp begins July 22, though there is no timeline for his return. If Richardson isn't available, the Colts may consider adding another veteran QB, especially with rookie Riley Leonard serving as the team's backup. The sixth-round pick has shown some promise with his dual-threat qualities and ability to extend plays, but overall, Leonard endured an up-and-down spring, including several off-target throws. Indianapolis did bring in 2022 third-round pick Desmond Ridder as a tryout participant in minicamp 'just to have an extra arm,' per Steichen. Asked if Ridder could stick around on the team's 90-man roster, Steichen simply said, 'We'll see.' Richardson was present for all three days of minicamp, encouraging his teammates and talking to his coaches, but he never threw a football with his right arm. The third-year QB typically held a towel throughout practice and homed in on his footwork when copying the other quarterbacks' participation in live drills. Steichen said the team would remain in regular contact with Richardson to track the progress of his shoulder before the team reconvenes for training camp next month. 'He's got his trainers in Florida. We got our trainers here,' Steichen said. 'We'll have a detailed plan going into this offseason. We'll be in contact via phone to make sure we're constantly communicating.' Steichen and new Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo spoke highly of rookie cornerback Justin Walley. The third-round pick has played inside and outside in Anarumo's scheme, and he's already flashed the instincts and ball skills that made him such an attractive prospect to the franchise. Advertisement 'He's got a long way to go, but the first mark of a corner is how you cover,' Anarumo said. 'I don't care if you have pads on or not. Either you can or you can't, and he's done a good job so far. He's just gotta get the details of (the defense), but we like the trajectory he's on.' Rookie first-round tight end Tyler Warren and second-year wide receiver AD Mitchell impressed, as well. The latter made a handful of highlight-worthy catches, showing off his rare body control, but the next step for Mitchell is to have his practice success lead to game-day dividends. A dot. 🎯 — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) June 12, 2025 The Colts selected Mitchell in the second round last year. He totaled just 23 catches for 312 yards and zero TDs. 'My rookie year, what's evident is getting open has never been my problem. Never really had an issue with that,' Mitchell said. 'So, now, it's not a question of, 'Do I belong?' It's like, 'OK, how do I stay here?' … I feel like just the day-to-day grind will take care of all of the rest of the stuff, especially on the field.' The following players did not participate on the final day of minicamp: LB Jaylon Carlies (shoulder rehab), DE Samson Ebukam (Achilles rehab), LB Zaire Franklin (left ankle rehab), CB Jaylon Jones (soft tissue injury), CB David Long Jr. (undisclosed), TE Maximilian Mang (undisclosed), S Daniel Scott (undisclosed), RT Braden Smith ('got dinged,' per Steichen), WR Blayne Taylor (undisclosed). Minicamp complete. ✔️ — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) June 12, 2025 (Photo of Riley Leonard and Daniel Jones: Grace Hollars / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
