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Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Sport
- Wall Street Journal
The Mind-Blowing Comeback That Just Turned the NBA Finals Upside Down
Oklahoma City For pretty much the entire night, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, the Indiana Pacers played like garbage. They turned the ball over at record rates. They fell behind the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder by double digits, clawed some of it back—and then fell behind by even more. For 47 minutes and 59.7 seconds of a 48-minute game, they hadn't held the lead for one single instant. As it turns out, that's exactly where the Pacers wanted to be. Indiana capped a mind-boggling 15-point comeback in the fourth quarter—tied for the biggest Finals turnaround since 1971—when point guard Tyrese Haliburton pulled up and drained a jump shot with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. The clutch bucket gave the Pacers their only lead of the entire night—at the only moment it mattered. 'This group is a resilient group,' Haliburton said after securing the 111-110 victory. 'We don't give up until there is zero on the clock.' For any other team, those last-second heroics would count as a miracle. But the Pacers have spent the entire postseason having their prayers answered by the patron saint of improbable comebacks. Eight times these playoffs, Indiana has fallen behind by at least 15 points. On five of those occasions, they've come back to win. The key, in nearly every one of those turnarounds, is Haliburton—a playmaker with an awkward jump shot and ice water running through his veins. Four times in this postseason, he has connected on a shot with less than two seconds to tie a game or take a lead. 'It is a 48-minute game,' Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's MVP, said after having what looked like a sure series-opening victory snatched away. 'They teach you that lesson more than anyone else in the league—the hard way.' Entering Thursday's game, the Pacers had stunned every team they'd faced during the playoffs. Against the Bucks and Cavaliers in the opening two rounds, they came back from 7-point deficits with less than a minute to play. Against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, they dug out of a 14-point hole with 2:45 left on the clock. But even for the Pacers, Thursday's game was of a different order. Consider the various things stacked against them. The Thunder entered the game as perhaps the most dominant team in NBA history, having won their games this season by a record 12.9 points. To give the Thunder even more of an advantage, the Pacers spent the first half of the game coughing up the basketball as soon as they touched it, surrendering 19 first-half turnovers—the most in a Finals game since at least 2003, according to Stats Perform. And before he hit the shot that flipped the NBA Finals upside down, Haliburton had turned in a complete dud. Until he connected on the game-winner, Haliburton had scored just 12 points. Gilgeous-Alexander, on the other hand, had 38. So how did the Pacers make magic once again? It began with basketball's great equalizer: the 3-point shot. Although Oklahoma City spent most of the night with the ball in their hands, they made just 11 of their 30 3-pointers. Indiana, meanwhile, made the most of their long-range attempts, connecting on 18 of 39. Then came one crucial decision. After the Pacers—a team not known for their defense—forced Gilgeous-Alexander into a tough miss and gathered in the rebound, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle could have called a timeout and drawn up his team's last play. Instead, he chose to let the closing seconds play out in real time, trusting the point guard who had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat over and over again during the Pacers' playoff run. 'If we get a stop and get the rebound,' Carlisle said, 'we're gonna go, and hopefully get the ball in Tyrese's hands and look to make a play.' As it turned out, 'look to make a play' is the best play Carlisle could have called. Haliburton coolly sunk the shot, leaving the Thunder with almost no time on the clock and no chance for a late miracle of their own. As the series continues, Oklahoma City will look to rediscover the form that has made them so dominant throughout the regular season. But the Thunder have learned—the hard way—the most important lesson of playing the Pacers. If a lead feels comfortable…it's not. Write to Robert O'Connell at
New York Post
31-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani make more MLB history with first-inning home runs
Access the Yankees beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees. Try it free LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani did not take long to give the sport what it craved. The sluggers traded towering home runs in the first inning Friday night at Dodger Stadium, marking the first time in MLB history that both reigning MVPs homered in the first inning of the same game, according to Stats Perform. Advertisement Judge went first, demolishing Tony Gonsolin's 90 mph fastball and sending it 446 feet into the batter's eye in center field for the 1-0 lead and his 19th home run of the year. Ohtani returned the favor in the bottom of the first, crushing Max Fried's first pitch 417 feet to center for his 21st home run of the season that tied it back up. New York Yankees' Aaron Judge gestures after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Los Angeles. AP Advertisement It was a star-studded beginning to the World Series rematch. 'I like playing against the best,' Judge said in the leadup to the series. 'You want to play against the best teams, the best players. Ohtani's definitely one of the best players in the game, he has been for a long time. And he's off to another fantastic start this season.' Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after a solo home run during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium on May 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images Judge's home run was the first of four the Yankees hit in the first three innings. Advertisement Austin Wells led off the second with a solo shot before Trent Grisham added a two-run blast — the first homer for each of them since May 12. Paul Goldschmidt then led off the third inning with an opposite-field roundtripper.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🏆 McTominay-Conte 🔝 From Bastoni and Paz to Reijnders: Serie A's MVPs🏅
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here. Lega Serie A has announced the MVP winners for the 2024/2025 season. The overall best player was chosen as Scott McTominay, Napoli's midfielder, who impressed with his completeness and consistency. The awards were assigned thanks to advanced analyses by Stats Perform, based on tracking data from the Hawk-Eye system. Here are all the winners: Il MIGLIOR CALCIATORE della #SerieAEnilive 24/25 è: SCOTT MCTOMINAY👑 🏆@EASPORTSFC @easportsfcit — Lega Serie A (@SerieA) May 23, 2025 Alessandro Bastoni premiato come miglior difensore della Serie A 2024/2025 #ComoInter — Daniele Mari (@marifcinter) May 23, 2025 Il PHILADELPHIA COACH OF THE SEASON È: ANTONIO CONTE! 👑 🏆 — Lega Serie A (@SerieA) May 23, 2025 This patented system objectively evaluates not only technical and statistical events, but also positional data and off-the-ball movement, offering a precise overview of the players' contribution to the team's performance.
Telegraph
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Short passes and a willingness to run: How Red Roses have evolved game
If winning while underperforming is the true gauge of an elite team, then Saturday will have offered encouragement to England. John Mitchell was demonstrably disappointed with their defensive performance against France at the weekend, understatedly terming it as 'not up to Red Roses standard'. And yet, the hosts still prevailed with a 43-42 victory, illustrating the attacking excellence that characterises how England have progressed since the last World Cup. It is perhaps unfair to attribute a gut-wrenching loss to New Zealand to a lack of variety at that tournament two-and-a-half years ago. Losing Lydia Thompson to a red card just 18 minutes into the decider would have restricted any side. But, since then, players and coaches have continually alluded to their desire to expand. In the afterglow of another Six Nations clean sweep at the weekend, Mitchell was unequivocal about the improvements he has been most proud of. The 61-year-old proposed 'the way we work together as one' and short passing as two major facets. 'We're always designing different attacks in a certain zone of the field,' he added. 'That must be hard for opponents to read.' Abby Dow, who had signed off with two of England's seven tries from the right wing, recognises a marked shift in mindset. 'One thing we've taken a big step forward in is our want to play and give it a go,' she explained. 'Something that Mitch hammered home, especially in this game, is that we weren't here to defend a title. We were here to win one. When you look at the last World Cup, how often did we score from the maul? Yes, we went to it today, but we also had tries from our back three. 'The difference is that we're not just using our back three when it's not top four [teams in the world]. We're using them whenever we can and when it's on. There is a desire to ask 'why not?' I think that's key for us.' England's reliance on the maul at the World Cup in 2022 was foreshadowed by the Six Nations that year, during which 28 of their 45 tries began from line-outs; a share of just over 62 per cent. As a mark of their dominant driving game, hooker Lark Atkin-Davies ended up joint-top of the try-scorer's tally alongside Thompson and Sarah Bern. This year, England registered 33 tries across their five Six Nations fixtures. Thirteen of those were from line-outs, a much lower share of 39 per cent. Scrum put-ins yielded seven, up from just three in 2022. As for ball movement, the past campaign brought an England average of 2.25 passes per ruck according to Stats Perform. The corresponding figure in 2022 was 1.99, suggesting that Mitchell and attack coach Lou Meadows have sharpened handling skills. Across the tournament as a whole, England amassed around 200 more passes than any other Six Nations team. Short tip-ons to shift the point of contact have become a hallmark and there were delightful examples against France. This break from Maud Muir, following a transfer from Abbie Ward, split France in the lead-up to Dow's first try. England are running a flat pod of four players off Tatyana Heard here, a tactical trend that has grown in prominence around the world, in both the men's and women's games over the last year or so: This attack eventually comes to nothing, but again reinforces the value short passing in a different setting. From a line-out, England station three forwards – Alex Matthews, Muir and Maddie Feaunati – in midfield. They go off the top from Natasha Hunt to Zoe Harrison and a second long pass finds Heard, who stoops to pluck the ball of her toes. Powerful forwards will attract a lot of attention in these scenarios, and England capitalise. Meg Jones carves from a much wider position in front of both Feaunati and Muir to split the defence: England have flexed mauling muscle over recent weeks. A drive cracked Ireland's resistance on the stroke of half-time in Cork and helped them break down France, either directly or – as Dow acknowledged – after England spread the ball to reward the work of their forwards. Claudia MacDonald's first-half try begins with a clever peel play, with Feaunati moving the ball away to Matthews and Hannah Botterman being launched between France's centres. Jones is proactive enough to step up at first receiver and throws a 19.6m pass to MacDonald: Insights according to Sage registered this as England's fourth-longest pass of the entire tournament. Although Harrison's display against France did feature the odd error, she was given the entire 80 minutes at fly-half and personified the widening range of the Red Roses. Even if England were 31-14 up at this point, a cross-field kick-pass towards Dow that travelled across Harrison's own 22 was a perfect example of pushing boundaries: A slightly harder strike would have outflanked France and put the ball into the path of Dow, as the latter acknowledges here: Harrison's break from first-receiver prior to Zoe Aldcroft 's try was evidence of an ability to take a gap if defenders drift off towards other potential carriers: 🤩 Captain Fantastic! Zoe Aldcroft crosses the line for @RedRosesRugby 💪 #GuinnessW6N — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 26, 2025 That is another threat for defences to worry about. As Mitchell stated, there are a growing number of those. This Six Nations, with a home World Cup looming large, will have presented a unique psychological challenge for the Red Roses. They did not reach for that as an excuse on Saturday, but it would have been understandable if it contributed to their defensive frailties against France. Should they return to Twickenham on September 27, there is one particular teaching from 2022 that they must heed when pressure inevitably comes on. 'What's important is that we stay where our feet are,' Dow said on Saturday. 'Right now, we're going into an off-season and I'm going to do as much gardening as I can. We're going to try to relax as much as we can because after that we have a really intense block. 'We will take every game we have with every bit of importance and strive to go, develop and enjoy. Enjoyment it is such a big part of it. If we are able to get to a World Cup final, I think we'll still try to apply those things – it'll be really important that we don't go within ourselves.' Rest is what the Red Roses require right now. When they return to pre-season training and then embark on another World Cup campaign, their mission will be to implement the painful lessons of experience by attacking with accuracy and variety.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
HBCU star earns Baltimore Ravens Pro Day invite
Elijah Williams isn't just chasing an NFL dream—he's chasing history. The Morgan State defensive lineman, fresh off a record-breaking college career, has been invited to participate in the Baltimore Ravens' NFL Local Pro Day, setting the stage for one of the most important workouts of his life. Williams leaves Morgan State as the program's all-time leader in sacks (31) and tackles for loss (52)—numbers that underscore his relentless presence on the defensive front. In 2024, he was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Year and became a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best defensive player in FCS football. His accolades also include being named a Stats Perform and AFCA All-American, solidifying his status as one of the most decorated defenders in HBCU football. Advertisement The NFL Local Pro Day offers regional players the chance to showcase their skills in front of NFL coaches and scouts. For Williams, that means competing in the very city where he built his college legacy. Unlike the national combine, these workouts are more intimate—allowing overlooked talent a closer shot at making a roster. Williams' invite from the Ravens is part of a growing tradition; the franchise has long shown respect for HBCU programs, hosting events like the HBCU career combine and actively scouting talent from schools like Bowie State and Morgan State. Related: Charlie Ward emerges as top candidate for FAMU basketball head coach opening Williams' journey reflects more than personal ambition—it represents a broader movement. As the 2025 NFL Draft nears, he's one of the top HBCU prospects in the class. His presence at the Ravens' facility is a reminder that elite talent exists across all levels of college football. And for every young athlete at an HBCU dreaming of the NFL, Williams' grind is proof that the path is real. Related: Stephen A. Smith: 'I have no choice' but to consider presidential bid As fans of HBCU football, it's time to rally around Elijah Williams. His story deserves attention, and his shot at the league deserves support. Follow his journey, spread the word, and let NFL teams know: the next great defensive disruptor may be coming straight out of Morgan State. Related: Morgan Price makes history as a repeat champion Related: Reality star sparks buzz by dating Morgan State hooper
