WENGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Marco Odermatt already has no equals on the World Cup skiing circuit.
Now the Swiss star is set to claim the record in the biggest event on home snow, too.
Odermatt led a shortened race Saturday to set up his fourth career downhill victory in Wengen – breaking a tie for the most downhill victories on the famed Lauberhorn course with Franz Klammer and Beat Feuz.
Austrian standout Klammer claimed his three Wengen downhill wins in the 1970s while Feuz, another Swiss skier, claimed his third victory in 2020.
What’s more is that Odermatt’s four wins would come in succession.
Odermatt finished a massive 0.79 seconds ahead of Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr and 0.90 ahead of Italy's Giovanni Franzoni, who claimed his first caeer victory in Friday's super-G.
Lower-ranked skiers were still coming down the course.
Strong winds prompted organizers to drastically shorten the course — making the narrow and tactical “Kernen S” section the key to the race. Odermatt mastered the section perfectly and carried away a faster speed on the exit than anyone else.
Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Money, two other Swiss skiers, stood fourth and fifth, respectively.
Von Allmen, the world champion in downhill last season, took a riskier approach and skied into a television camera lining the course inside the “S” section. Then he crashed in the finish area — although appeared unhurt.
Dominik Paris of Italy was sixth after registering the top speed at 151.57 kph (94 kph).
It’s the first of the two weekends at the circuit’s classic venues, with Kitzbuehel, Austria, up next. Then the focus will switch to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy — with the men to ski in Bormio.
Overall, it was set to be Odermatt’s 52nd World Cup victory, moving him within two wins of matching Hermann Maier for third place on the all-time men’s list. He's also got a massive lead in the standings as he chases a fifth consecutive overall World Cup title.
Odermatt immediately knew he had done something special again, screaming with delight in the finish area and waving to the crowd, which was made up almost entirely of fans waving Swiss flags.
YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Luciano Benavides exploited a navigation blunder by Ricky Brabec minutes from the finish of the Dakar Rally to sensationally win the motorbike title on Saturday by two seconds — the smallest margin ever.
Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah safely secured his sixth car title on the 13th and final stage, a flat-out 105-kilometer sprint along the Red Sea coast to Yanbu.
Brabec was hurtling toward his third Dakar victory. While Benavides' KTM was faster in real time, Brabec's Honda was collecting time bonuses for opening the way and extending his overnight lead of 3 minutes, 20 seconds.
Then seven kilometers from the finish Brabec took a wrong turn. Benavides didn't. He saw a headlight turn around and slowed to see who it was. When he realized it was Brabec, Benavides knew the “almost impossible” was possible.
“I saw the opportunity and I took it,” he said. “I felt ready all day. I told everyone at the start of the stage ‘This Dakar is for me.’”
Benavides finished second on the stage to teammate Edgar Canet, who won his third stage of this Dakar. When Brabec arrived 3:22 behind Benavides, the Argentine's team lifted him on their shoulders and shouted “Lu-chan-oh, Lu-chan-oh.”
“It's unreal,” Benavides said. “Two seconds after two weeks and almost 8,000 kilometers is something that is hard to understand.”
The previous closest margin was 43 seconds by Luciano's older brother Kevin. That was another stunning comeback. Kevin started the 2023 final stage 12 seconds behind and won his second motorbike title.
Brabec's Honda teammate Tosha Schareina was a distant third after coming second last year.
Luciano started his ninth Dakar never having reached the podium and just three months after tearing knee ligaments in the Moroccan Rally.
Even after he started the second week with consecutive stage wins, he rode in the shadow of teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders, who was dominating the race until he crashed on Wednesday and broke his collarbone and sternum. Sanders continued practically riding one-handed and finished fifth for valuable points in the defense of his world rally-raid title.
Brabec won Friday's stage to gather an overall lead that even Benavides thought “was mathematically almost impossible” to overcome.
But, he said, “I never stopped believing. For me there was no strategy any days, I just give my best. I never tried to slow down. I feel bad for Ricky. He did a mistake and (it) cost (him) the Dakar.”
No. 6 for Al-Attiyah
Al-Attiyah confirmed his sixth car title — two behind the record of former teammate Stéphane Peterhansel -- and first for Dacia after a cautious final drive, nearly nine minutes behind Mattias Ekström, who won his car-leading fourth stage.
Nani Roma could hack only six minutes off the overall leader's pace and Al-Attiyah ultimately beat Roma by 9:42, easily the lowest margin of his six victories.
Al-Attiyah has won for four different manufacturers in 2011 and 2015 in Argentina, in 2019 in Peru and in 2022, 2023 and this year in Saudi.
Roma, the 2014 car champion, earned his first podium finish since 2019. Ekström's Ford held off Sébastien Loeb's Dacia by 37 seconds for consecutive third-place finishes.
I remember last January like it is burned into my brain. As the season hit the halfway point, you could feel the dread creeping in from the corners. The Suns were 21-20, and even then it felt like the ground was already shifting beneath them. Everyone knew the January schedule was supposed to be soft. The hope was that it would act as a springboard after months of underwhelming basketball. Instead, it felt like borrowed time.
Bradley Beal was moved to the bench. Jusuf Nurkic followed, playing his final game as a Sun on January 7 before getting dealt on February 6. The whispers were getting louder. Discontent hung in the air. Mike Budenholzer was yanking every lever he could find, searching for a spark. Any spark. From the outside, it felt like watching a car crash unfold in real time. Every adjustment seemed to stack on top of the last, and nothing slowed the impact.
We know how the story ended.
A year later, I still find myself shaking my head at where this team is and how it got here. Back then, it felt like the only path forward was detonation. Strip it down. Cash in the most valuable assets. Escape the weight of bad decisions, a miserable season, and a cap sheet that read like a cautionary tale. There did not seem to be an exit ramp. It felt boxed in. Trapped.
And yet, here we are.
One year later, there is hope. There is a team worth investing in emotionally again. A group that plays with a style, toughness, and grit that actually mirrors the city it represents. Living in a desert is not normal. Enduring more than 100 days a year above 100° is absurd. That kind of environment hardens you. It demands thick skin. Stubbornness. A little bit of madness. The Suns are starting to personify that. Tough. Relentless. Slightly unhinged in the best way.
So now that we have hit the halfway point, it felt like the right time to take a step back and look at this team year over year. Five different statistics. One simple question. How different does this feel from where the Suns were at this same point a season ago?
Record
Last Year: 21-10 This Year: 24-17
Yes, we start with the record. On paper, the Suns are only three games better than they were a season ago, but the trajectory tells a completely different story. They sit seventh in the Western Conference and are within three games of the four seed.
Last season, they were 21-0 at this same point, but the path there was shaky. They stumbled to a 16-19 mark through their first 35 games, then rattled off five wins in six just to claw back to respectability. That surge landed them in the 10 seed. It never felt stable. It never felt sustainable. This version of the Suns does.
Ratings
Last Year: 114.2 OFF (10th), 115.3 DEF (22nd), -1.1 NET (17th) This Year: 114.5 OFF (16th), 112.1 DEF (5th), +2.3 NET (11th)
You can feel the difference between this team and last year’s group almost immediately. Last season’s Suns were built around offense. When you have Kevin Durant, you are going to score, and most nights it is going to be efficient. That part always showed up. It was never the concern. The problem was everything wrapped around it. The defense was a mess, and through the first 41 games, they sat at a -1.1 net rating. That told the real story.
This season has flipped the script. The offense can bog down at times, and that is part of why the return of Jalen Green looms so large, because he is an offense-based player who can tilt the floor. But the foundation is different now. The Suns are sitting at a 112.1 defensive rating, fifth best in the league. That defense has pushed them to a +2.3 net rating, which ranks 11th overall.
It is a thin line, but it matters. Last year’s Suns were a bottom-half net rating team. This year’s group lives on the other side of that divide. That is not noise. That is a shift.
Three-Pointers
Last Year: 571 This Year: 594
How many times did I beat the three-point drum last season? With Mike Budenholzer coming in, the assumption was simple. More threes. That was supposed to be the offensive shift. And sure enough, the Suns are taking more threes this season than they did a year ago.
But the real wrinkle is not only that they are letting it fly. It is what is happening on the other end. This team is active. Disruptive. Annoying in the best way. They already have 431 steals this season, second most in the entire league. Last year’s group was at 317 through 41, which ranked 22nd. That gap tells you everything.
The threes are part of the story. The defense is the headline.
Plus/minus is a fickle stat. It gets weaponized far too often in single-game debates. Even over a week, I do not lean on it much, because it is so dependent on who you share the floor with. I could be out there doing absolutely nothing, but if Devin Booker rattles off 15 points in a quarter while I am standing next to him, congratulations, I am a +15.
Over 41 games, though, it starts to tell you something real. And the difference between this season and last season is loud. A 151-point swing in the positive direction.
This is not the offensive machine that last year’s blueprint was chasing. And I am fine with that. This team has something far more valuable. A defense that can actually shut people down. That defensive backbone is what shows up in this metric. I will take the ability to stop someone every time over trying to bludgeon teams with offense.
Maybe that is the scar tissue talking. I am a product of the Seven Seconds or Less era. I watched those Suns teams light up scoreboards year after year. Beautiful basketball. Historic offense. And every postseason, when it came time to get one stop, they could not do it. That lesson sticks. Defense travels. Defense survives. And this version of the Suns finally understands that.
Deflections
Last Year: 589 (26th) This Year: 829 (6th)
This team hustles. We have seen it all season, and it is one of the reasons people connect with this group. You cannot flip the game off because they are down 15 in the first half. Not with this team. They keep coming. They keep scrapping. They do the small things that drag them back into games possession by possession.
Deflections tell that story better than almost anything. It is the clearest measure of effort. Are you standing around watching the ball move, or are you hunting passing lanes? Are you sitting back, or are you crowding entry passes and making life uncomfortable? This season, the difference is not subtle. It is not even close compared to last year.
That single statistic captures what your eyes already tell you every night. This team plays harder. It plays with intent. And that hustle is the foundation of everything else they have built.
What a difference a year makes for Phoenix. Thru 41 games last year vs this year.
Deflections: Last year: 589 (26th) This year: 829 (6th)
I did not think we would get here. Not this fast. I was bracing myself for a rebuild and thankful it has been, on the surface, a successful retool. Credit where it belongs. Mat Ishbia. Brian Gregory. The decision to bring in Jordan Ott. Those moves are the reason we can even have these conversations right now.
Watching this team does not feel like homework anymore. It feels energizing. You tune in to see how aggressive they are going to be, how hard they are going to play, how they try to impose themselves on the game.
One of my favorite parts of this season, especially as someone who hosts a post-game podcast after every game, has been lurking in opposing teams’ subreddits. It is unfiltered chaos in there. Sometimes insightful. Sometimes completely unhinged. But there is one consistent theme that keeps popping up: nobody wants to play Phoenix.
Opposing fans keep comparing this team to the Bad Boys Pistons from the late 80s. Annoying. Disruptive. Physical. A team they complain about while secretly respecting. They might hate Grayson Allen. They might hate Dillon Brooks. But they all say the same thing. They would love those guys on their roster. That is what the Suns have become in one season.
Last year, this was a cupcake team. A date circled on the schedule. A matador defense where stars could stroll in, put up numbers, and leave happy. This year is different. Sure, the flight to the Valley in January still sounds nice. Warm weather. Sunshine. But once you walk into that arena, you know exactly what you are in for. A dog fight. I will take that version of the Suns every single time.
41 games down and 41 games to go. Seems like a fair spot to take pulse of how the Spurs season is going thus far.
To be clear, the Spurs have been exceeding expectations all season. They have adjusted to multiple players being injured at various times. From different starting lineups to a spree of seven straight games were the leading scorer was a different member of the squad, the players continue to elevate their on-court connections when it has mattered most.
One of the most telling aspects of the Spurs depth was when they went 9-4 while the emerging superstar was sidelined with a calf strain.
That said, they’re not perfect. They came up short in the NBA Emirates Cup. But be honest, at the beginning of the season did anyone see them making it that far? They’re the only team to have bested the NBA champs three times, but it’s the most recent meeting that still hurts. And I don’t know about you, but when I watch Victor Wembanyama, I see all the greatness a generational player has, and in one moment he makes some move that leaves me shaking my head.
One of the best highlights this season is watching Mitch Johnson come into his own as the official head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. His press conferences reveal a young, confident leader who is aware of where he and the team are. He’s not afraid to let them grow at a natural pace. It’s his pre-and post-game conferences bring the viewer into his mindset. One more than one occasion I have been reminded of just how young Wemby is. And all of a sudden I don’t see a bumbled play, I see the potential that Coach Johnson sees.
Patience has been the watchword ever since Wembanyama was drafted. For many fans, a couple of years is too long to wait. We must keep in mind that since Wemby donned a Spurs cap on draft night the team has added another Rookie of the Year, a nineteen-year-old downhill guard who plays beyond his years, and the 2023 Clutch Player of the Year.
When fans take a moment to realize that Fox and Wemby have barely played two dozen games together, restraint on everyone’s part is really unwarranted.
Although the team is young and developing, they’ve managed to bring in a great mix of experience. Fox, Luke Kornet, Kelly Olynyk, and Bismack Biyombo can offer so much. Even the latter two who aren’t getting as many minutes offer a valued presence and support to a locker room full of youth and vitality.
41 games down. With a record of 28-13 they are on pace to end the year with a record of wins in the mid-50s, a best since the 2016-2017 season.
Lots to celebrate and lots to be excited about.
How are you feeling now that the season is halfway done?
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Having Mitchell Robinson available only twice a week and the occasional Tuesday continues to undermine the Knicks. It is time for him to go. There, I said it. Load up your bows.
At times, Mitch has been my favorite Knick. He is one of the best rebounders to ever do it, a fun personality, and the longest-tenured ‘Bocker, too. That gives him a lot of rope. But load-management prevents the seven-foot center from playing back-to-backs, making for an erratic availability that must be disruptive to game planning. We have no confidence that he will survive through the playoffs, either. And this season’s numbers don’t justify the special treatment.
Indisputably, he is a prodigious talent on the glass, where he averages nine boards in 19.4 minutes per game. Almost five of those rebounds are offensive and lead to second (or third) shots. On the scoring side, his numbers have always been ugly. This season has been the worst. Mitch is averaging a career-low 4.6 points per game. His free throw percentage is forty, and he is far too cool to try granny-style.
This season, he has missed 13 of 41 games. The team has gone 17-11 with him, 8-5 without. Sure, it’s a flawed metric, but his plus-minus statistics suggest he has added to 13 games, of which the team won 11. In the 15 games where he was a zero or negative plus-minus, the team went 6-9.
Forgive my math (and tired eyes), but it looks like he’s played in 68% of the games so far this season, and contributed most positively in roughly half of his appearances. So, if he plays and he’s good, the team wins. The rest of the time—like 75% of the time—the team needs a reliable center.
Pipe down, I know Karl-Anthony Towns often starts at that position. But we have seen first-hand what Minnesota knew, which is that KAT cannot be your last line of defense. The guy is a turnstile whose natural inclination is to foul at the rim. That’s why Minny gave up so much to get Rudy Gobert. The big Frenchman made up for the defensive sins of Karl, who is otherwise a scoring-savant.
(These are the days I’m especially grateful for all those years of the venerable Patrick Ewing.)
The solution does not appear to be on the roster. Early this season, back-up center Ariel Hukporti had us hyped enough at times to bandy about potential nicknames. Then he crashed back to Earth with some truly dud performances and a bagful of DNPs. I’m not entirely out on him, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of coaching up going on.
Guerschon Yabusele is not a center. Period. He may also not be a Knick . . . let me refresh my news feed.
So there’s KAT, Mitch, and Ariel on the depth chart. Those are your centers. Do you have faith in those guys landing the Larry O’Brien trophy? If so, you’re more generous than this writer.
A smart decision, from a basketball and business standpoint, would be to trade Robinson for a seven-footer by the February 5 deadline. He’s making $12.95 M this year and will likely hit the open market this summer as a UFA.
As for a trade: Who would want this oft-injured player who needs a new contract and plays limited games? And what big men are possibly available on the market before the deadline? Let’s ponder those topics with fresh eyes in another article. I just woke up at 4 a.m. with a burning desire to get this out of my system. Because: crazy.
Truly, I thought to unburden myself of this belief would be a relief (try saying that like Clyde, it’s fun). What I feel is bummed. There are numerous reasons, beyond basketball ability, to be fond of Mitch. The guy is a genuinely good egg; for starters, Google what he did for his grieving high school coach. In the locker room, his teammates seem to have enjoyed his jester personality (maybe with the exception of Randle). His is always the next jersey I will buy if I ever decide that I don’t have too many in the back of my closet already. Sure, his taste in music sucks. He still commits crimes on the free throw line. No one’s perfect. To see him leave New York will hurt the regions of my heart that have not yet hardened, and it will make the product even more bland. But if the Knicks are serious about raising another banner, it’s time to replace Mitch with a dependable, durable, and available center.
The Washington Wizards play the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Let’s get to it
Game info
When: Saturday, Jan. 17 at 9 p.m. ET
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA
How to watch: Monumental Sports Network
Injuries: For the Wizards, Cam Whitmore (shoulder), Bilal Coulibaly (back) and Trae Young (quadriceps) are out. Khris Middleton and Tristan Vukcevic are day-to-day.
For the Nuggets, Christian Braun (ankle), Nikola Jokic (knee), Jonas Valanciunas (calf), Cameron Johnson (knee) and Tamar Bates (foot) are out. Aaron Gordon, Bruce Bowen and Jamal Murray are day-to-day.
What to watch for
This week has been tough for Wizards fans since the team is in the middle of a five game losing streak with no end in sight. Losing last night/early this morning to the Sacramento Kings doesn’t help things because that was the most winnable game on paper.
Tonight, Washington will play a Denver team that is 28-13 and winners of five out of their last six games — and all of those games being decided by single digits. Franchise player Nikola Jokic and numerous others are out. But it will still be an uphill battle to get an upset on the second end of a back-to-back while the Nuggets have rested since last Wednesday when they beat the Dallas Mavericks, 118-109 on the road.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Open's first formal opening ceremony became the Roger Federer show on the eve of the season-opening major.
There was Crowded House, the band, playing a set of four hits. There was a full house — a capacity crowd in the 15,000-seat stadium.
Rod Laver, the great Australian player of Grand Slam fame, was in the house. The 87-year-old Aussie was sitting courtside in Rod Laver Arena, the center court at Melbourne Park named in his honor.
Federer, the six-time Australian Open winner and 20-time Grand Slam champion, partnered past champions Andre Agassi and then Ash Barty in an exhibition doubles match against Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt as the main feature of the program.
It went to script, with Federer winning the first point despite framing a forehand and then emphatically finishing off the victory with a leaping overhead winner.
Novak Djokovic, who has won 10 Australian titles among his record 24 major championships, was there to watch.
Australian Open organizers turned the 2026 edition into a three-week festival of tennis, with 217,999 fans attending across six days to watch exhibitions, qualifying and the 1 Point Slam before the main draw started.
Federer was back in Australia for the first time since 2021, making the trip now because he retired from competitive tennis before he could do a farewell season tour.
“It really truly means so much to me when people like Rocket (Laver) show up,” Federer said. “It’s super important to be grateful” to earlier generations of stars.
The Washington Wizards lost to the Sacramento Kings 128-115 on Friday in a battle between bottom feeders at Golden 1 Center.
The Wizards had to fight their way out of a huge hole they dug themselves in during the opening period. A three-pointer from Bub Carrington gave the Wizards a 7-6 advantage at the 9:33 mark of the first quarter. Washington held that lead for all of 17 seconds before Sacramento took it back for good. The Kings went on a 19-0 run to close out the first quarter, as the Wizards went scoreless for nearly five minutes.
Washington battled back in the second quarter. Alex Sarr led the way with his 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first half. One of his buckets came off a sweet dime from Tre Johnson.
Jamir Watkins also flashed more of his defensive potential on a strip and slam off DeMar DeRozan. He helped the Wizards trim the halftime deficit to 67-61.
The Wizards got the game to within three in the opening minutes of the second half. But the Kings once again closed the quarter strong, thanks to our old friend Russell Westbrook. The lead ballooned to 17 heading into the final period.
A Carrington triple and a pair of Tre Johnson treys to open the fourth quarter helped get the Wizards within single digits. The Kings managed to stifle any moment for a run, holding on for a 13-point win.
Johnson finished with 18 points and 4 assists, while Sarr’s quiet second half left him at 19 points. Justin Champagnie and Kyshawn George each tacked on 15.
While Washington lost the battle, it won the tank war as the Kings went a full game ahead of the Wizards in the standings. The Wizards close out their road trip against the Nuggets in Denver.
Sometimes it just takes one statement victory to get things back on track. The San Antonio Spurs burst out of a rough 10-game stretch after Christmas with a blowout victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. All of a sudden, it feels like the team can once again conquer the Western Conference. But one game overreactions are a fool’s errand. Saturday night’s contest is a chance to prove the team is back on track against a team that is biting at their heels in the standings.
The Spurs will host the Minnesota Timberwolves after losing a heartbreaker to them in Minneapolis last Sunday. San Antonio will have the rest advantage, as the Wolves are coming off a late-night 110-105 loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night. Minnesota has been without its superstar, Anthony Edwards, for two straight games due to a foot injury, but his status for Saturday’s game is unknown.
The Wolves present a tough matchup for the Spurs, with their size, strength, athleticism, and shooting ability. San Antonio has collapsed late in both losses to Minnesota this season. A strong performance on both the offensive and defensive ends, as they had against Milwaukee, would help them earn their first win against the Wolves this season and create some separation in the standings.
Spurs Injuries: Stephon Castle – Questionable (illness), Harrison Ingram – Out (G League), Stanley Umude – Out (G League), David Jones-Garcia – Out (G League), Devin Vassell – Out (adductor)
Timberwolves Injuries: Not posted until 1 pm CT
What to watch for:
Julius Randle on Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama experienced offensive success against a fellow Frenchman, Rudy Gobert, in San Antonio’s last game against the Wolves. That success stopped when Randle became his primary defender. Randle was able to play physical and get underneath Wembanyama, forcing him off of his spot and making it nearly impossible for him to make a move toward the rim. If the Wolves decide to give Randle the Wemby assignment again, and they probably should, San Antonio will have to find a way to get Wembanyama open for good looks. Watch for the Spurs to use flex screens or even fade screens on the perimeter to open up some space for Wembanyama against a physical defense.
Three-point defense
The Spurs found out the Wolves can get hot in a hurry in both of their losses to Minnesota this year. The Wolves do a great job of spreading the ball out with their bigs, as Randle and Naz Reid are both threats from deep. Donte DiVincenzo is a flamethrower, and if role players like Bones Hyland and Jaden McDaniels get hot, the game can get out of hand quickly. San Antonio will need to close out to shooters and force tough shots to keep the Wolves down and out of the game.
Guard play
San Antonio’s guards looked great against the Bucks on Thursday. Stephon Castle was efficient, De’Aaron Fox looked comfortable with the ball in his hands, and Dylan Harper provided a spark off the bench. The Spurs have a ball-handling advantage if the trio plays up to its usual standards. Minnesota has long, tough perimeter defenders capable of making their lives difficult. San Antonio will need the most from their guard trio to secure a victory on Saturday.
That was a fun one, just wish it had started a little bit earlier.
Late Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Houston Rockets. It was the second straight game for the Wolves without Anthony Edwards as he recovers from an infection in his toe. Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch said he is still day-to-day with the injury.
Without their best player, it was always going to be an uphill climb for the Wolves, but they came out of the gates strong, taking a double-digit lead early in the second quarter. The defense was limiting Houston’s quality shots, the ball movement on offense was great, and they did a good job getting out in transition, scoring 16 fast break points in the first half.
The Rockets eventually whittled the Wolves’ lead down to two going into the halftime break. The slim margin would hold until the early parts of the fourth quarter when Houston scored seven straight points to give them an eight-point lead, their largest lead of the game to that point.
Without their best player on the floor, the Wolves could not find enough effective offense down the stretch of the game, turning the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter while making only a single 3-pointer on just three fourth-quarter attempts. Minnesota fell by a final score of 110-105.
Julius Randle and Kevin Durant were each the offensive engines for their team, each scoring 39 points. Randle’s scoring is now up to 27.7 points per game in the ten games Edwards has missed this season. Durant, like he always does, shot the ball incredibly well, going 11-18 from the field, 6-8 from beyond the arc, and 11-14 from the free-throw line.
Naz Reid was the other standout for the Timberwolves in the game, scoring 25 points as he made 8 of his 11 shots, including 5 makes from deep. After getting his first taste of rotation minutes on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, Joan Beringer kept his spot in the rotation, playing a total of six minutes as the Wolves experimented with a three-big lineup with Beringer, Randle, and Reid sharing the court together.
The centers for each team struggled mightily from the free-throw line as Rudy Gobert went 2-10 and Alperen Şengün shot 3-9. The two teams combined to go 40-69 from the free-throw line, both leaving a good number of points available that could have swung the balance of the game.
While any close loss is a missed opportunity for a team like the Wolves with lofty goals, this game will not come with a ton of baggage for the Wolves. Not having Edwards available made getting a win tough against a solid and potentially desperate Houston team, which had just gotten shellacked by the Oklahoma City Thunder a night ago.
It’s also easy to wonder how the game may have gone differently if Edwards had been able to suit up. Not having him available made it tough offensively for the Wolves against Houston’s ninth-rated defense.
Some losses make it feel like the sky is falling. Other losses, like tonight, you can shrug your shoulders and just try to get the next one.
Up Next
The Timberwolves don’t get much time to rest, as they have less than 20 hours to prepare for their next game, a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs at 7:00 PM CT. It is a quick turnaround between games, as you will see in the NBA, making it a real test as Minnesota takes on the team with the second-best record in the West. Fans can watch tomorrow’s game on FanDuel Sports Network.
Durant, who is in his first season with Houston, powered the Rockets with a season-high scoring effort.
He finished the first half of play with 18 points after making 7-of-11 shots from the field and helped the Rockets close the gap only trailing Minnesota by two points after a 3-pointer with just a second remaining in the second quarter.
For the game, Durant made six of his eight shots from long range.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Domantas Sabonis scored 13 points in his return from a knee injury, Russell Westbrook had 26 and the Sacramento Kings beat the Washington Wizards 128-115 on Friday night for their fourth straight victory.
Sabonis returned after missing 27 games because of a partially torn meniscus in his left knee. The three-time All-Star forward/center came off the bench, entering with 5:11 left in the first quarter.
Sabonis also had seven rebounds and five assists in a little over 21 minutes. He was 5 of 6 from field, with the miss coming from 3 -point range.
Dennis Schroder also was back for the Kings after serving a three-game suspension for confronting Lakers star Luka Doncic after a game in Los Angeles. Schroder had 15 points and five assists.
Westbrook was 9 of 14 from the field, hitting 6 of 9 3-pointers, and had six assists. DeMar DeRozan scored 17 points, and Precious Achiuwa and Zach LaVine each had 16.
The Kings have won the first three games of a seven-game homestand to improve to 12-30. They opened the run against Houston, then beat the Lakers and New York.
Alex Sarr led Washington with 19 points, and Tre Johnson had 18. The Wizards dropped to 10-30 with their fifth straight loss.
Washington newcomer Trae Young — acquired from Atlanta in a deal that sent CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Hawks — is sidelined by knee and quadriceps injuries. He will be re-evaluated in mid-February.
Sacramento led 67-61 at the half after scoring 41 points in the first quarter and giving up 39 in the second. The Kings had a 34-23 edge in the third.
Jaylon Tyson’s career-high 39 points led Cleveland to the win. Tyson couldn’t miss as he went 13-17 from the field. He was the only Cavalier to score over 20 points.
Tyson connected on 7-9 from threes. He is now hitting 45.8% of his threes on 4.1 attempts per game. This is up from shooting 34.5% from distance last season.
Tyson finished the game with a 97.1 effective field goal percentage and a 99.3 true shooting percentage. That seems pretty good, yeah?
All 13 of Tyson’s field-goal makes were assisted. Tyson’s ability to play within the offense has stood out this season. He’s done an excellent job of moving off the ball and attacking whenever he gets an opening to do so. Tyson did that brilliantly on Friday. Everything was within the flow of the offense, he wasn’t forcing anything, and he continually made the right offensive play, as evidenced by his game-winning assist to Mobley.
Donovan Mitchell’s 13 points are his second-fewest in a game this season. He struggled to get into a scoring rhythm with the Sixers’ doubling him every chance they could. Mitchell finished the game shooting 4-13 from the field. This included going 0-4 on looks in the paint and not attempting a shot in the restricted area.
The Cavs are now 2-7 when Mitchell scores 21 or fewer points. The Cavaliers have typically gone as Mitchell has from a scoring perspective. That’s why they’re 9-1 when he scores 35 or more. This game was a rare exception.
Mitchell chipped in a season-high 12 assists. However, this was accompanied by six turnovers, which is the second most he’s had this season.
Five of Donovan Mitchell’s 12 assists went to Tyson. The Sixers were blitzing Mitchell whenever they could, especially when they brought a screen his way. Mitchell used this to his advantage by getting Tyson involved. Tyson was able to make them pay as a scorer in the short roll and as a shooter out of these actions.
Cleveland turned it over 18 times. This was eight more giveaways than the Sixers. This led to the Sixers winning the points off turnovers battle 32-15.
The Cavs had three players with four or more turnovers: Mitchell (6), Evan Mobley (4), and Jaylon Tyson (4).
The Cavs are now 6-1 when they turn it over 18 or more times. This stat is a good reminder that correlation does not always equal causation.
Joel Embiid scored 16 of his 33 points off long midrange jumpers. Jarrett Allen did a great job of keeping Embiid out of the paint on Wednesday. Instead of trying to get back there, Embiid took the midrange shots that Allen was giving him, going 8-15 on long twos. Allen could’ve been stronger with contesting those jumpers, but you’d rather limit him to taking a shot he makes 47% of the time instead of one he makes 64% of the time.
The Cavs went 17-34 (50%) from three. This was the second time they’ve shot 50% or better from three in a game. They’re now 7-2 when they connect on more than 42% of their triples.
Cleveland’s 34 three-point attempts were their fifth-fewest in a game this season. They’re also 7-2 when they take 35 or fewer threes.
The Cavs held the Sixers to just 61.5% shooting at the rim (30th percentile). This wasn’t a great defensive game from Cleveland, but being able to defend the rim this well is a good sign that their defense was probably a little better than it seemed. The number of easy baskets off turnovers made it difficult to judge the Cavs on that end.
Mobley had four blocks for the second straight game. The Cavs are 5-2 when he records four or more rejections in a game.
Craig Porter Jr. tied a career high with 11 assists. He performed well filling in for Darius Garland in the starting lineup, who missed the game with a toe injury on his other foot. Porter turned it over only once and wasn’t part of the team’s problems with holding onto the ball.
De’Andre Hunter and Porter led the team in plus/minus (+12). The Cavs played some of their best basketball with Hunter on the court. He provided 16 points and four assists on 7-13 shooting. This was Hunter’s second strong outing in a row.
Six Cavaliers had double-digit points: Tyson (39), Hunter (16), Mobley (15), Mitchell (13), Tyrese Proctor (13), and Allen (10).
The Cavs closed the game on a 13-4 run. They played their best basketball in the clutch, which allowed them to rally back from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit. With the win, the Cavs are 9-14 in clutch situations (games that are within five points in the final five minutes).
With all due respect to the paying customers of Scotiabank Arena, the NBA’s best players continue missing games in Toronto.
Kawhi Leonard joined the growing list of stars to not suit up against the Raptors, including Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, and Jaylen Brown.
Lucky for Los Angeles, they still have another All-Star who can both entertain and frustrate the opposition’s fans, James Harden.
The Bearded One overcame a slow first half to lead the visiting Clippers to a thrilling overtime win over the short-handed Raptors. Harden finished with 31 points and 10 assists. He received help up and down the roster as three other starters and two bench players each scored in double figures. Ivica Zubac had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. In addition to being a pest all night on defense, Kris Dunn finished with 15 points and 4 steals. Jordan Miller led all reserves with 19 points and 6 assists, to go along with a game-high +20.
For most of the game, Toronto was led by Jamal Shead, who ended up with 15 points and a career-high 13 assists. Scottie Barnes took over in the overtime period, ultimately leading the Raptors with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Heading into this matchup, the Clippers had rebounded from a 6-21 start, winning 11 of its previous 13 games (now 12 of 14). In addition to Kawhi’s absence (knee), Los Angeles was also Bogdan Bogdanovic (hamstring), Derrick Jones Jr. (knee), Patrick Baldwin Jr. (hip), and Chris Paul (uuhhhh).
The injury report remained long for the Raptors as they were without Jakob Poeltl (back), RJ Barrett (ankle), Immanuel Quickley (back spasms), Ja’Kobe Walter (hip pointer), Jamison Battle (ankle), and Chucky Hepburn (knee).
With Kawhi out, LA’s offense was clearly going to be very Harden-heavy. Darko Rajakovic held no punches and started the game with Scottie Barnes guarding the . On one of the first possessions, Harden called for a screen from Ivica Zubac, who was being guarded by Collin Murray-Boyles. Suffice to say, the possession ended with the Clippers not scoring.
Scottie Barnes + Collin Murray-Boyles have the BEST 2-man duo Defensive Rating in the league the last 7 games.
Brandon Ingram has played well against the Clippers, mainly with his time on the Pelicans. On one sequence, he patiently waited for Harden to finish his dribble-shimmy-dance routine and blocked a stepback three attempt. Before Harden could complain for a foul call, Brandon was already sprinting out for an eventual fastbreak layup.
Halfway through the first quarter, Toronto had 10 fastbreak points, forced 3 turnovers, and had jumped out to an 18-4 lead.
With Quickley out for a second consecutive game, Jamal Shead took the proverbial bull by the horns. The Houston Cougar alum took advantage of the attention given to Ingram and Barnes to torch the Clippers with 10 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds in the first quarter alone!
Just like in Indiana, Toronto grabbed an early lead and didn’t let up. The Raptors ended the first quarter with a 32-24 lead, holding Los Angeles to 43% shooting and 20% from three, including 0-5 from Harden.
While the first 12 minutes were highlighted by Toronto’s ability to get out in transition, the offense slowed down in the second quarter when Ingram and Barnes took turns resting. Instead the relied on its defense to stem the Clipper tide. At the center of that defense — as has been the growing case since Poeltl’s injury — was Murray-Boyles.
CMB and Barnes surprised Zubac with a well-timed double-team, causing Big Z into a traveling violation. Shortly after, CMB doubled the ballhandler, then somehow recovered in time to block the three-point attempt. On a nightly basis, Collin has at least one defensive highlight that makes your jaw drop. If nothing else happens, Murray-Boyles has injected a similar kind of excitement that Barnes once garnered.
Toronto’s offense went through a bit of a lull in the second quarter as Los Angeles slowly crept back into the game. By the time Rajakovic called a timeout with 3:52 remaining in the second quarter, the Clippers had whittled the deficit down to 46-43.
CMB doing it on both ends: – Accurate kickout to the corner for 3 – Emphatic block at the rim – Smart move to create room to score pic.twitter.com/tvZ2WmOYEK
Toronto’s on-ball defense on Harden was excellent throughout the first half. Whether it was Barnes, Murray-Boyles, or even Gradey Dick guarding him, Harden simply could not generate enough separation for a clean shot. Not long after airballing a three-pointer — his sixth straight miss from beyond the arc to start the game — Harden was finally able knock down a three.
Three was actually the magic number for the Clippers in the first half. Kobe Sanders, Cam Christie, Kris Dunn, Jordan Miller, Zubac, and Harden each scored three field goals apiece! While it took the rest of them between 3 to 5 attempts to get there, Harden needed 13 attempts.
Toronto carried a 61-52 lead into halftime.
Clippers came out of halftime scorching hot and focused, scoring 16 of the first 18 points of the third quarter and grabbing (and extending) its first lead of the game, 68-63.
After leading wire-to-wire against the Pacers, Toronto took it to heart after seeing themselves trailing. An Ingram triple was followed by a Mamu run! Sandro Mamukelashvili almost single-handedly snapped the Raptors out of its funk, scoring the next 7 Toronto points and pushing the Raps back into the lead, 73-72.
Cue Gradey Dick’s music! The reigning Raptors Chain recipient hit back-to-back threes to bring the crowd to their feet. Then, to top it off, dove for a loose ball and threw an outlet to fellow Jayhawk, Ochai Agbaji, for a breakaway opportunity. Agbaji was fouled, but drained the ensuring free throws to raise the lead to nine.
The Raptors ended up closing the quarter on an 8-1 run to enter the final quarter with an 89-78 lead.
Similar to the second and third quarters, Ty Lue and his group of ragtag Clippers clawed their way back into the game. A contested triple by Brook Lopez (remember him?) cut the lead to 89-87. After a Darko timeout, a layup by Christie completed an 11-0 run by Los Angeles to tie the game.
Both teams got contributions up and down the roster. After CMB scored an and-1 layup to put the Raptors up 109-101 lead with 3:35 remaining, 13 different players were in double-figures — yet not a single player had reached 20 points.
From there, it was the James Harden show. After being kept in check for most of the game, Harden scored the game’s next 8 points while the Clippers defense kept Toronto from scoring. Both teams were unable to score in each of their last two possessions, including a potential game-winning, buzzer-beater, which Harden missed.
In the extra session, Harden grifted his way to charity stripe on consecutive possessions, giving the Clippers a 4-point edge. Both foul calls were touchy at best, but when you’re a veteran like Harden, you know how to work the referees.
Do the math on the previous 3 paragraphs and the tally reads: Harden — 12; Raptors — 0, spanning five minutes of game play between the fourth quarter and overtime. Barnes took the early deficit in overtime as a sign to take over. All in all, Scottie and James went back and forth throughout the extra period, scoring 8 points each. Ultimately, the Raptors couldn’t get a single point to end regulation and put the game away, or find ways to stop Harden in overtime to regain momentum.
The Clippers may have won because of Harden’s heroics, but he wouldn’t have had that opportunity if it wasn’t for the help of his teammates. Cam Christie chipped in with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting off the bench. Kobe Sanders amassed 13 points and 3 steals, stepping into the starting lineup for the ailing Leonard.
For the Raptors, Gradey Dick had a second consecutive positive game, finishing with 15 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Ingram (19 points), Mamukelashvili (13 points), Murray-Boyles (11 points), and Ochai Agbaji (15 points) also scored in double-figures. Shead’s 8 first-half assists tied a season-high for any half this season.
Toronto heads out for a five-game road trip, starting in Los Angeles (the Lakers, this time) on Sunday. With the trade deadline less than 3 weeks away and the Raptors seemingly in every single rumour, the team’s resolve will be tested as they cling to the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Tyson, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, set a new career high for a single game, topping the 31 points he scored in a double-overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers on April 13, 2025. But the 23-year-old only needed four quarters Friday night to establish a new personal best.
Tyson tallied 12 points in the first quarter and seven more in the second to give him 19 points at halftime. He came out of the break with 12 points in the third and closed the game with eight in the fourth quarter. In all he made 13 of 17 shots, including 7-for-9 on 3-pointers, and made all six of his free throws.
And, while he didn’t hit the game winner, he did have the game-winning assist – his fourth of the night – on Evan Mobley’s dunk with 4.8 seconds remaining. Tyson also added five rebounds as the Cavaliers (24-19) rallied from seven points down after three quarters, outscoring the Sixers (22-18) by 11 points in the final frame.
JAYLON TYSON FINDS EVAN MOBLEY FOR THE GAME-WINNER 🚨
It marked the second consecutive win for Cleveland in Philadelphia this week. The Cavaliers routed the 76ers 133-107 on Wednesday, Jan. 14; Tyson scored 12 in that contest.
Tyson has started 23 of 38 games this season as the Cavaliers have dealt with multiple injuries, including to point guard Darius Garland, who was injured in Wednesday's game. But Tyson’s big night against a conference rival could indicate that he is ready to assume an even bigger role as Cleveland makes a push to take a run at the top teams in the East.
