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Noah Okafor grabbed the only goal of an intense battle at Elland Road, as Jayden Bogle did well to escape red
A different fanfare for the common man – the Last Post – sounds poignantly. Silent, solemn remembrance of the fallen. After which Tottenham Hotspur get the ball rolling.
The teams emerge from the tunnel, so …
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In their first NBA Cup game, the Milwaukee Bucks followed a terrific first half with a disappointing second half and lost to the wounded Toronto Raptors, 121-107. The Bucks led most of the game and at one point were up 15; their first-half defence was great, which let them get out and score easily in transition. However, the second half, in which the Raptors scored 70 points, was what got the home side. Now, it doesn’t take much for me to get invested in the Bucks—whatever stage they’re at—but for whatever reason, this loss made me feel pretty damn bleak. Against a team without most of its primary offensive engines, Milwaukee should have been able to pull it out, and losing was really disheartening. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.
14 minutes, 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals, 5 turnovers, 3/3 FG, 1/1 3P, -12
Annnnnd we’re back to the bad version of Rollins. The issue in this one was obviously his turnovers; the Raptors like to apply heaps of pressure to the ball handler, so you have to stay composed with the ball. Rollins was rushed and, at times, just plain nonchalant; I mentioned in the Rapid Recap one instance in the fourth where he threw a left-handed whip pass across the middle of the floor that ended up in a layup down the other end. The other problem was Rollins’ defence. There were a few instances where his positioning was off, and he allowed his man to reject the screen and knife into the lane; Jenkins threw his hands up in disgust on one of them.
Grade: D
35 minutes, 23 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 turnovers, 7/16 FG, 1/5 3P, 0
Herro’s best playmaking game as a Buck, with five assists in the second quarter alone. The team had much more direction and flow when Herro was on the floor—evidenced by him being one of just two Bucks without a negative plus/minus—which they completely lost when he was off the floor.
Grade: B+
27 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 4/10 FG, 2/7 3P , 4/4 FT, -6
Jaquez started like a house on fire, scoring half of his points in the first few minutes of the game. I liked his use of “stampede cuts” in this one as well, where the player starts moving to the rim before the ball reaches their hands, catching their defender off guard. Jaquez had a few nice instances using stampedes to get into the lane and create. Unfortunately, his three-point shooting failed him for the most part.
Grade: C-
32 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 6/9 FG, 1/4 3P, +3
Overall, Kuzma played a solid game and, in particular, a great first half; he scored all 13 of his points on 5/6 shooting in the first, which included some very instinctive tip-ins. I liked how active he was as a screener, sprinting into the screen and getting himself in the right spots to receive the ball and finish around the rim. Additionally, Kuzma was basically their only credible defender for RJ Barrett, and for the most part, he did a good job with that assignment. BUT, as I seem to say every game, Kuzma did some enraging stuff too. He did his nightly drive to the rim with no vision for what else was going on, and most of his turnovers seemed to be live-ball. Moreover, I’ve noticed a trend where he makes a mistake and then gets pissy at his teammates for some reason, as if it were their fault.
Grade: C+
23 minutes, 0 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 0/7 FG, 0/4 3P, -4
Good golly. I don’t know, man, sometimes I want to shake Turner, but as Zac replied to me, “He’d probably break; his hands seem to shatter on every rebound or catch attempt.” Like, why is it so hard for a seven-footer like him to play more physically? The Raptors made Turner look like a child last night, which I was hoping wouldn’t happen because Toronto was meant to be one of the trade suitors for him! Myles, this was your audition, SMH.
Grade: F
13 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2/7 FG, 0/4 3P, 0
Another rough game for Ware, who seemingly can’t hit a three in a Bucks uniform, down to 20% on the year. Also not great to see him throw a fit on the sidelines after getting subbed off.
Grade: D-
10 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1/2 FG, 0/1 3P, -9
Kind of a nothing-y game from Jakucionis. Again, he didn’t do much wrong, but his niche of finding angles and getting into the lane looked harder against a gritty squad like the Raptors. KJ did make a great cut in the first half for his only field goal, though, which I loved.
Grade: C-
38 minutes, 21 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 8/14 FG, 1/5 3P, 4/6 FT, -5
Burries had his “I’ve arrived” game. I mean, we can talk about the scoring and athleticism around the rim, but I’m more interested in how he seems to grab every rebound in sight. It’s surreal to watch. Grabbing six boards in the first quarter, Burries had this “I’m not losing tonight, so jump on my back” vibe about him. The kid just has this nose for the ball and a will to pursue it like very few players I’ve seen. Burries is showing he’s a winner, and I can’t wait for him to gain confidence from this game and give us more like it in the future.
Grade: A+
24 minutes, 12 points, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4/9 FG, 4/8 3P, -19
Whenever the Raptors looked like they were about to get the game out of reach, Green would hit a three. One thing I will always appreciate about Green is that, despite his unassuming nature, he is never scared of the moment. Hit two huge ones in the fourth.
Grade: B
15 minutes, 7 points, 1 block, 3/5 FG, -11
Ament got two of his three buckets in transition, while the other came on a nice baseline cut where he smartly waited for the defender to jump, then calmly put in the and-one. Not many other notes, other than that I thought Ament’s minutes were generally quite positive.
Grade: B-
7 minutes, 0 points, 0/0 FG, -7
Sims was forced into extended minutes because Turner had early foul trouble and Ware looked borderline unplayable at times. He did his job defensively, but you could tell the Raptors were happy to double all on-ball screens Sims set because they didn’t trust his decision-making out of the short roll, which is a strategy we saw from opponents last year too.
Grade: C
Based on Jenkins’s postgame comments, the team clearly wasn’t doing much of what they had been instructed to do in practice. His decision to close with no centre was the right one, but that then made it tough to rebound. Part of the issue is that the Bucks are leaning on flawed veterans; you don’t want to turn to Kuzma to close as a two-way wing, but there aren’t many other great options, especially when you needed someone beefy enough to deal with Barrett. Jaquez is a fine player, but he’s a seventh man on a good team. Turner is a great locker room guy, but he drives you mad with his lack of physicality. I say this to reiterate that Jenkins is working with a rough set of cards right now, and I struggle to think another coach could have got a different result with this same group of personnel.
Grade: C
DNP-CD: Ousmane Dieng, Caris LeVert, Gary Trent Jr.
Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance, Bogoljub Markovic,
Milwaukee’s centre rotation might be the league’s worst when both play poorly.
The Bucks return to Fiserv on Sunday night to face the Boston Celtics. Watch at 7:00 p.m. CST on MY24.
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (5-9-2, 12 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Los Angeles Kings (5-7-2, 12 points, 7th place Pacific Division)
When: 9:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally televised game on ABTV and Sportsnet Pittsburgh, streaming for out of market at ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins have less than 24 hours from tonight’s puck drop before the team’s next game starts at 8 p.m. ET Sunday in Anaheim. The Pens will then stick around on the West Coast for a Wednesday game against the San Jose Sharks before returning to Pittsburgh to play the Ottawa Senators next Saturday.
Opponent Track: The Kings opened the season on a six-game losing streak but have since gone 5-3, most recently claiming a 7-2 win Wednesday over the visiting San Jose Sharks.
Season Series: The Penguins will see the Kings again Dec. 17 in Pittsburgh.
Hidden Stat: The Kings were the last team in the NHL to record their first win this season after their 0-4-2 opening to the campaign, per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens.
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Artemi Panarin – Alex Laferriere – Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore – Quinton Byfield – Corey Perry
Andre Lee – Scott Laughton – Martin Chromiak
Erik Haula – Kenny Connors – Joel Armia
DEFENSEMEN
Erik Gustafsson / Brandt Clarke
Joel Edmundson / Drew Doughty
Mikey Anderson / Brian Dumoulin
Goalies: Darcy Kuemper, Anton Forsberg
Potential scratches: Alex Turcotte (day to day), Cody Ceci, Samuel Helenius
Injured Reserve: Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Fiala (LTIR)
Season stats
via hockeydb
There are a lot of similarities between the Kings and Penguin rosters at first glance. The Kings are one of the oldest teams in the NHL. They’re not getting much production outside of their veteran players. And they’re stuck in the awkward spot between a retool and a rebuild after getting eliminated from the first round of last year’s playoffs.
The Kings might still be hoping this team is one superstar away from contention. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported earlier this week the Kings have “already talked about” a potential trade for Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov and “would be all over it if possible.”
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Tommy Novak – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Egor Chinakhov – Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin
Ville Koivunen – Hendrix Lapierre – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Nick Robertson
DEFENSEMEN
Sam Girard / Erik Karlsson
Spencer Stastney / Kaeden Korczak
Declan Carlile / Kris Letang
Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov
Potential Scratches: Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Solovyov
IR: Ryan Graves, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Elmer Soderblom, Bryan Rust
We’ve played “Take Your Pick” with the Red Sox before, so let’s do it again.
OverTheMonster.com’s Matt Gross took an extensive look this week at the multitude of internal and external rumors about who could be starting shortstop for the Red Sox when baseball ramps up in 2027.
I believe there are four names Red Sox Nation would consider: two external and two internal. Who makes sense? Who can hold down and stay at the position? Who actually elevates the Boston lineup to actually win a playoff series and more?
Let’s dive into it with these four shortstops.
Trevor Story (Red Sox)
2026 Season: 64 games, .235/.271/.351, .621 OPS, 5 HR, 29 RBI, -2 OAA, -1 DRS
The incumbent.
As has been the story of the majority of his Red Sox career, Story had another gruesome start to 2026 and then found himself back on the injured list. He struggled to ever get going offensively outside of a few nice moments upon his return with Roman Anthony in late August. With the glove, his standout defense that maintained his value a few years ago is regressing before our eyes. It feels risky to run him back out for the final year of his contract in 2027, but can the Red Sox realistically find a trade partner for him? Especially since doing the same for Masataka Yoshida and Jarren Duran is already difficult.
Franklin Arias (Red Sox – Triple-A)
2026 Season (Double-A/Triple-A): 117 games, .323/.400/.557, .957 OPS, 25 HR, 91 RBI
Arias was worthy of attention in the system before last season. Then came a slugfest formerly unknown in his game.
MLB’s No. 2 prospect mashed 25 home runs and made power a greater part of his offensive profile, thus rewriting his ceiling upon his eventual arrival to the big leagues. He can grind out at-bats, consistently took his walks, and now impressed the organization with his newfound ability to do damage and impact the baseball.
He doesn’t have the same publicly tracked defensive metrics like his MLB counterparts, but Arias does feature a 55-grade arm and a 60-grade field tool according to MLB Pipeline.
The Red Sox haven’t gotten what they expected from the “Big Three” in that round of amplifying homegrown talent. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t ride with Arias in 2027. He’s certainly earned the opportunity. Do the Red Sox believe he makes sense over these other candidates?
Elly De La Cruz (Reds)
2026 Season: 143 games, .283/.365/.515, .880 OPS, 30 HR, 79 RBI, +7 OAA, -6 DRS
I’m sure this is going to be the name that lights up the comments. And it should be.
Cruz is an electrifying player with real offensive firepower and a cannon for an arm at shortstop. He had his best season of his career in 2026 and did so in 30-30 fashion. I don’t need to sit here advocating for this move – we know he’s a stud.
Here’s what it comes down to: De La Cruz enters his first arbitration year in 2027 and can go to free agency after 2029. What do the Red Sox have left to trade for him and can they close the deal on an extension with a top-20 player in the sport?
C.J. Abrams (Nationals)
2026 Season: 152 games. .261/.336/.497, .834 OPS, 33 HR, 106 RBI, -17 OAA, -5 DRS
Let’s look at another name that intertwined with the Red Sox at last year’s trade deadline.
Abrams is a dynamic player with solid power and speed. Craig Breslow and Paul Taboni are comfortable trade partners, so another Red Sox-Nationals deal isn’t crazy.
Abrams did have a rather rough defensive season in 2026 and may not stay at shortstop long term. So is he worth the investment of a blockbuster trade package in this era of the run-prevention Red Sox?
It’s not a perfect fit.
With the lockout looming at the end of the month, this offseason appears ready to heat up quickly, as teams are eager to get at least some of their business done before the baseball world freezes at the order of the league owners. While much of the attention has, so far, centered on the free agent market — options exercised and declined, qualifying offers extended, players from Japan and Korea posted — chances are, given Brian Cashman’s history, the Yankees will be just as active on the trade market, if not more so. Over the past decade, he has acquired Ryan Weathers, Cody Bellinger, Juan Soto, Trent Grisham, Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jameson Taillon, James Paxton, and Giancarlo Stanton in offseason deals. While it’s not yet clear who exactly will be available this winter, as the old saying goes, you have to give something to get something, so we can take a look at which players on the 40-man roster the Yankees might use to swing a deal.
They say you can never have enough pitching, and while that’s true, the Yankees are in the rare position where they have some depth to work with. Between presumptive AL Cy Young Cam Schlittler, 2023 AL Cy Young Gerrit Cole, and a pair of southpaws with multiple top-six finishes in Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, the Yankees starting rotation has quite an extensive resume. Obviously, no team wants to shed too much of its pitching depth — we said much the same thing about the Yankees’ 2025 rotation when they traded Nestor Cortes, only for them to need to turn Ryan Yarbrough into a starter and promote Schlittler mid-season — but still, this category represents the Yankees’ biggest trade chips, and for the right bat, it may very well be worth it…and it becomes a no-brainer if they sign Tarik Skubal as a replacement.
Of the three, Will Warren seems to me to have the most value. While he lacks the ceiling of Ryan Weathers, he does have two things going for him: less of an injury history (he made more than 30 appearances in each of his first two complete seasons, and has yet to miss a start due to injury) and more years of team control (he is entering his third full season, while Weathers will be a free agent after 2028). Ironically, those very same reasons may also be why Weathers is the pitcher the team is more likely to lose. Due to his injury history — he made just one appearance last year, and hasn’t made more than 16 starts since 2023 — the veteran Clarke Schmidt is unlikely to go anywhere on the trade block; honestly, he may even be at risk of a non-tender.
Three years ago, the Yankees made the biggest non-Shohei Ohtani splash of the offseason by using their minor league pitching depth to swing a deal for the best bat on the trade market, Juan Soto. While it’s not exactly a one-to-one comparison, the Yankees do have a similar amount of depth ammunition in the trio of Luis Gil, Elmer Rodríguez, and Brendan Beck. As the 2024 Rookie of the Year, Gil has the longest track record, but as Andrés noted yesterday, his stuff has not been sufficiently effective in order to overcome his lack of command — in short, whereas he used to be effectively wild, he’s now just wild — and it’s entirely possible the Yankees decide to non-tender him to save the roster spot. Brendan Beck, meanwhile…exists.
The truly valuable minor league pitcher currently on the 40-man is Rodríguez. He turned heads playing for Puerto Rico during the World Baseball Classic, before putting together a strong season in Scranton (8-4, 2.45 ERA in 106.1 innings). While his Major League numbers weren’t quite there — he had a 5.40 ERA in six starts this season, and was only able to make it out of the fifth just once — he’s still young, having turned 23 back in August.
Catcher J.C. Escarra was the feel-good story of the 2025 season. A long-time minor league journeyman who had worked as an uber driver, bounced around independent and affiliated ball, and finally earned a chance to crack a Major League roster, the 30-year-old catcher overcame all odds to earn the backup catcher job out of spring training. Furthermore, he established himself as one of the game’s elite framers, finishing eighth in the league with 5 Framing Runs — tied with Carlos Narváez and Pedro Pagés, who caught 6000 more pitches than he did!
Unfortunately, Escarra was unable to build upon his 2025 campaign. His framing declined to league-average (he was worth exactly 0 framing runs this year), and has shadow strike percentage dropped from 49.6 percent to 47.9. While these numbers aren’t exactly bad, this defensive regression also coincided with an absolutely terrible year at the plate, Escarra posting a .188/.239/.271 slash line in 92 plate appearances. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that the Yankees sent him down to Scranton towards the end of June in favor of the right-handed Ali Sanchez, and never recalled him.
At this point, it’s clear that the Yankees will not be counting on Escarra as a significant contributor to the Major League roster next season. Austin Wells remains slotted in as the starting catcher, and all indications are that the team is looking to pair him with a right-handed backup. And although the Yankees might just keep Escarra around as minor league depth — he is solid defensively and posted a .301/.375/.488 slash line with Scranton last season, and good catching depth is hard to find — those very same reasons might make him valuable on the trade market. After all, Adley Rutschman netted the Orioles three of Boston’s top-five prospects, plus another starting-caliber catcher in Carlos Narváez. Escarra’s definitely not worth the same as a former No. 1 pick, but much like Kyle Higashioka in the Trent Grisham/Juan Soto trade, he could be a valuable secondary piece.
Ok, it might be a tad unfair to call Ryan McMahon a trade chip, as it seems unlikely the Yankees would be able to get anything of value for a weak-hitting third baseman whose defensive performance took a nose dive this season and who will be owed $16 million next season. But, on the YES Hot Stove this week, Jack Curry reported that the Yankees see third base as an area of need, and while it’s entirely possible that the Yankees opt to simply release McMahon — they have shown a willingness to eat dead money on deals in recent years, especially during the last year of the contract — I can’t help but wonder if, like the Sonny Gray and Marcus Stroman situations, the team will try to work the trade market and find a new home for him.
It might seem unbelievable that the Yankees could get anything for a player who Baseball-Reference valued as perfectly replacement level and FanGraphs saw as worth just 0.5 fWAR in 2026, but if the front office is willing to pay down the salary — or even eat the whole thing — they may be able to get a lottery ticket minor league arm from a team desperate for basic competence at third base. It’s not super likely, but not as ridiculous as you might think — nine third basemen with at least 350 plate appearances accumulated less fWAR than McMahon last season.
Once the darling of the Yankees farm system, Jasson Domínguez has had repeated setbacks as a big leaguer. After an amazing debut at the end of 2023, he tore his UCL and missed the first half of 2024. Defensive struggles in the outfield then kept him from leapfrogging the struggling Alex Verdugo down the stretch, and the Martian played a bench role all throughout the run to the World Series. The Opening Day starter in left field in 2025, he was outplayed by Trent Grisham, and spent the majority of the season as a fourth outfielder primarily playing against righties. He began the 2026 season in Triple-A, was recalled at the start of May, immediately hit the shelf with a concussion after crashing into the wall in left field, and was leapfrogged by Spencer Jones in the depth chart. Given significant playing time in right field due to Aaron Judge’s injury, he posted just a .225/.267/.368 slash and watched his platoon splits flip. He slashed just a meager .194/.241/.333 against righties, while posting a .275/.310/.425 line against southpaws. Looking for more consistency, the team swung a deal for Heliot Ramos at the deadline, and sent the Martian back to Scranton for good.
If the Yankees were to trade Domínguez now, they would be selling low on him, and since the Martian still has an option remaining (assuming the number of options doesn’t change during the CBA, that is), the smart play may be to hold onto him in the hope that he bounces back enough to either become a contributor in the Bronx or a more valuable trade piece. If the right deal were to come across, though, don’t expect to see Domínguez be the reason it falls apart.
For the most part, I have kept the focus on players who are on the 40-man roster. On a practical level, it’s a limit that keeps this piece at a reasonable length, as there are literally dozens of prospects who could be floated in trades this winter. I will, though, make one exception: top prospect Dax Kilby, who has been drawing a lot of attention this fall with his dominant performance in the Arizona Fall League.
Drafted in the first round of the 2025 draft, Kilby had just 55 professional games headed into the AFL season, split between Rookie ball and Single-A. Despite the lack of playing time, though, he has not looked overmatched — far from it, in fact. Powered by a retooled swing, the 19-year-old shortstop has posted a .295/.357/.623 slash across 15 games, with 12 extra-base hits. While I don’t exactly expect the Yankees to trade him at this point, the San Diego Padres did express interest in him at the trade deadline when the Bombers inquired into Mason Miller’s availability, it doesn’t quite seem like he’s at the “untouchable” status that Anthony Volpe, Domínguez, Spencer Jones, and George Lombard Jr. had at times. If the team is willing to move Kilby, his value may never be higher than it is now.
It was a bad day at the offices of SNY, as the network made a number of layoffs.
The Mets are keeping Robert Stock in the organization, as they’ve inked him to a major league contract.
A.J. Ewing had a solid rookie season and will look to build on that moving forward.
ESPN examined the potential moves both New York teams might make this offseason.
Baseball America unveiled their list of top Phillies prospects.
Which pitchers could the Braves look to add to their rotation this offseason?
The Nationals have inked outfielder Jacob Young to a four-year, $23 million extension with an $8 million team option for a fifth year.
MLB.com broke this year’s crop of free agents into different tiers, with Tarik Skubal unsurprisingly standing alone at the of the class.MLB agents are usually competing against one another for the best deals for their clients, but they are now united in fighting against a salary cap.
Diamondbacks star outfielder Corbin Carroll underwent elbow surgery and expects to be ready for spring training.
The Yankees are losing one of their coaches, with catching coordinator Tanner Swanson heading to Seattle to serve as the Mariners’ bench coach.
The Blue Jays distanced themselves from the Islamophobic posts recently made by Anthony Santander.
The trial for Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Classe and Luis Ortiz continues to chug along.
Linda Surovich recapped the final season of Tyrone Taylor’s Mets tenure.
The Mets brought in an eventual member of their 2000 pennant-winning squad on this date in 1995 when they signed Rick Reed to a contract.
Some members from Generation Z might believe that the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers started and ended with a man named LeBron James (not once but twice). They couldn’t be more wrong. The Cavs joined the NBA in 1970 and accumulated plenty of interesting anecdotes through the years, especially early on. For example, they scouted the players for their expansion Draft with the help of trading cards that assistant coach Jim Lessig discovered while shopping for a few gallons of milk.
On that understandably subpar inaugural roster was also a man named Gary Suiter, whose biggest contributions were eating hot dogs in the stands during warmups and calling the front office disguised as a fan, lobbying for more playing time for—you guessed it—Gary Suiter. When the well-known bachelor tried to shake down the Cavs for bigger travel expenses by hiring a prostitute to play his wife, even the desperate Cavaliers had enough and kicked him out.
Later on, though, basketball really took off in Ohio. The Cavs featured some really exciting teams, especially when the aforementioned James came to town and then came again to actually win a title. Other teams that are fondly remembered in “The Land” are the squads from the late 1980s and 1990s that featured stalwarts like Mark Price, Ron Harper, Brad Daugherty, or Craig Ehlo. Exactly: the guy who is mostly remembered for crumbling to the floor after Michael Jordan’s famous first “shot”, one of the most iconic images in league history.
How history and Cleveland will remember the current iteration of Cavaliers remains to be seen, yet it might very well be decided this year. The headliners on Kenny Atkinson’s team are mostly unchanged from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals sweep at the hands our Knickerbockers. That result could be described as another conquered mountain ledge on the Knicks’ way to the NBA summit, or seen as just another failure by a Cavs’ core that’s been trying to win it all for about three years now.
At the heart of that core has been Donovan Mitchell and he is still the headliner at Rocket Arena this season. The stocky highflyer is scoring an efficient 22.5 points per game while probably sporting one of the more explosive games in the league these days. Fans are lamenting his decision making though, criticizing his constant hero ball and what they get for a massive $273 million dollar deal he signed in the summer. Next to Mitchell, a now 37-year-old James Harden runs the point for the Cavaliers, which might also impact “Spida” negatively. The former MVP is showing his age early on, only connects on 38 percent of his shots, and looks disinterested doing it every second night out.
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen still form Cleveland’s frontline—with all their shortcomings, yet also with plenty of talent. The ultra versatile Mobley has taken his physique and his game to another level in recent years, sports a much better jumper from the outside, and the former Defensive Player of the Year isn’t moved off his spots as easily he used to be. If you want a big to switch effortlessly on Jalen Brunson, he’s your man. His current season has been particularly promising with shooting splits of 56/48.6 (we’ll ignore the 63 percent from the line this time around). Allen is kind of there: big, athletic, and skilled, yet you won’t see him in any Strongman or Tough Mudder competitions any time soon.
After their four starters from last year, Cleveland has mixed it up a bit. They got emerging defensive specialist Peyton Watson from Denver (he is struggling early on with barely 10 points per game), found the talented Meleek Thomas (13.0 points) in the second round of the NBA Draft, and subscribed to the “Super Mario” Hezonja (8.6 points) experience. Sharpshooter Sam Merril and Jaylon Tyson are leftovers from last season and still contribute fairly consistently.
Even if Cleveland got a bit longer and a bit more athletic, you still have to wonder where all of this is really going. They are good but how good really? Can they really compete with the top teams in the East? So far there is just a lot of “meh” in their profile. Standing at 5-4 they rank 9th in offensive rating and 14th in defensive rating. They play with a solid yet unspectacular pace (thank you, James Harden) and are average at best on the boards or from the field. Cleveland doesn’t turn the ball over, which is good, yet doesn’t force any turnovers either, which is bad (only the Bucks and Knicks make the opponent cough the ball up fewer times than Cleveland).
To be fair, Cleveland is a team that for the most part knows who it is, and such groups can take a little time shaking off the rust, especially after a long last season—we as Bocker buddies know all about it. The Cavaliers, just like the Knicks again, have a lot of things going for them, but it seems like Cleveland unlike New York also has a definitive ceiling. I’d mostly call it James Harden as he has never shown that he can be the ultimate difference maker in the postseason, at least not in a good way. Until then of course the Cavaliers are a perfectly fine, quality opponent, especially at home. They just proved it in their NBA cup last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, dismantling the fighting Nurses 119-95.
Let’s hope our Knicks fare a little better tonight and that the biggest historical significance of this game is another win for the good guys. At the very least we don’t have to worry about any of our players binge eating in the stands before the game, I guess. As funny as that would be.
Who: New York Knicks (4-4) at Cleveland Cavaliers (5-4)
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Place: Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
TV: MSG, NBATV
Follow: @ptknicksblog and bsky
Our 2026 player review series continues with Dominic Smith.
With the lockout looming, what do you think will happen to the Qualifying Offer?
The Washington Nationals and outfielder Jacob Young agreed to a four-year, $23M contract extension.
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll underwent elbow surgery but expects a mostly normal offseason.
Which free agent pitcher would you like to see the Braves pick up?
We’re going to find out this coming week who the award winners are for the different awards in each league. Had I had a vote, I’d go:
NL MVP: Pete Crow-Armstrong
AL MVP: Junior Caminero
NL Cy Young: Jacob Misiorowski
AL Cy Young: Cam Schlittler
NL Rookie of the Year: Sal Stewart
AL Rookie of the Year: Kevin McGonigle
Mostly stock picks, but they were remarkably easy this year to choose from. Maybe some of the different down ballot votes will be more interesting.
On to the links.
Phillies news:
MLB news:
CLEVELAND — The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy.
LeBron James has gotten many receptions from Cleveland Cavaliers fans over his 24 seasons in the league. None have been as half-hearted and uncarring as Friday’s.
There’s always been a certain buzz in the arena when James plays in Cleveland. That has been the case since he was in high school.
That juice, however, was lacking in his first trip back home in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. There were empty seats before tip-off. The ovation for him when he was announced in the starting lineups was positive, but hardly more than respectful. No tribute video was played, as has been the case for the last eight seasons. There were smatterings of boos and cheers throughout the night, but nothing more than what any other high-profile player gets at Rocket Arena. And a good number of fans were content heading out while James was still on the court.
In short, LeBron was just another guy participating in one of 41 home games against the Cavs.
“At this point it’s become normal,” Donovan Mitchell said of James’s return. “My first year, you see it, and now it’s just, we’re playing the Sixers, to be honest. You obviously understand that the stands are going to be packed and obviously cheer for him, and rightfully so. He’s a champion, he’s from here, and he deserves all that and more for what he’s done for the city. At this point it’s just regular. … For us it’s normal.”
The normality of this reception stands in stark contrast to what we saw last year. Then, the crowd showered him with praise all game, ultimately moving him to tears. At the time, it seemed unfathomable that he would receive anything but love in the building he called home for 11 years. This summer, however, changed that.
James chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency at the end of June. He then spent the first three weeks in July dragging his feet, leading those within the city and organization to believe he was returning to Cleveland. But then James threw a curveball and decided to go to a city he had no previous connection with and build a super team with the 76ers.
LeBron has earned the right to ring chase at the age of 41. But that comes with consequences, especially when you choose a conference rival over returning to a good team back home that also has a chance of winning a championship.
We saw the fallout of that choice on Friday night. There wasn’t the pain and vitriol from 2010. There wasn’t the love in all of his returns since 2018. Just emptiness.
LeBron understandably preferred this reaction to what he got when he first returned as a member of the Miami Heat. “Nothing can get as worse as December 2, 2010, from a reception standpoint,” James said. “I’ve seen the end of the depths of hell when it comes to a reception here.”
That night in 2010 was an absolute disaster. Cleveland should’ve handled that moment better. They have deserved all of the blame and condemnation that has come from how they handled that. Yet, hate comes from a place of passion. It comes from pain, an emotion that’s real. Fans cared about what happened that night.
On Friday, I’m not sure if anyone cared too much anymore. There was appreciation, but there wasn’t undying love. There was frustration, but not enough to actually voice that displeasure. Just a tiredness of a decades-long relationship that keeps oscillating back and forth, without either side really being sure how much they mean to the other.
That uncarrying is the saddest place a relationship can find itself, especially one as personal as this. Arguably no professional athlete has meant more to a region than LeBron to Northeast Ohio. The journey from being the teenage prodigy from Akron to delivering the first professional championship in over half a century for a sports-starved region is truly impossible to put into words.
The relationship between LeBron and northeast Ohio will continue in some form beyond this. Maybe that appreciation is there if he plays future games in Cleveland. And most likely, that outpouring of love will return for the inevitable statue and jersey retirement ceremonies.
But then again, that isn’t guaranteed. James’s choice to presumably end his career in a different uniform could just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The rift that caused both sides to continue drifting apart forever.
Friday could have been LeBron’s last professional game in Northeast Ohio. Nothing about the future is guaranteed. And if so, there couldn’t have been a more pitiful way for things to end in Cleveland.
Luka Doncic has been nothing but extraordinary to start the Lakers’ season. He is hitting shots from all over the court with little or no separation between the defender and himself. The rest of the Lakers are feeding off his energy and playing inspired hoops. And the Lakers are winning! If Luka keeps this up, it will be a season for the ages. We can all thank ex-Mavericks GM Nico Harrison for what might turn out to be the most lopsided trade in the history of professional sports.
Dave Ring
Manhattan Beach
With all his logo threes, and fancy assists, Luka Doncic is the Caitlin Clark of the NBA.
Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood
Last weekend a letter concluded the only name for a Lakers team that plays hard and entertains every night is “Showtime Lakers.” That nickname belongs to the Laker teams from the 1980s, just like “Phi Slama Jama” belongs to the early 1980s University of Houston basketball team.
Regardless of a funny, informal nickname for this season’s Lakers, so far the starting unit has been great fun to watch. Not only has Luka Doncic been on a scoring tear, but Luka has been getting back on defense and even raising his hand when a foul is called on him.
Ken Feldman
Tarzana
I guess Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick forgot that LeBron James is no longer with the Lakers. How else can you explain the waiving of Dalton Knecht and keeping Bronny James. Am I the only one that noticed Bronny was sent down to the G League and Dalton had a successful debut with the Knicks?
Stan Shirai
Torrance
USC fans have wondered whether Lincoln Riley could measure up to a certain coach across town. After his performance in the Coliseum tunnel and his postgame news conference after the Ohio State game — cursing out Buckeyes’ staffers one minute, reading a prepared statement about “internal joy” the next — we now have our answer: Riley can be every bit as unhinged as Mick Cronin.
Wes Wellman
Santa Monica
As much as it pains me to say this as a lifelong Chargers fan, please trade Justin Herbert so he can salvage what is left of his once-stellar career (a la Drew Brees). I can no longer bear to watch the countless acknowledged injuries and unacknowledged concussions he sustains each game with this poorly coached team. You are destroying one of the “greatest quarterbacks” in our time.
Diane Hom
Claremont
The most intriguing question on the L.A. sports scene remains: Which UCLA Bruins team will be anointed No. 1 in the country first, undefeated footballers or basketballers?
Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates
LIV Golf Chief Executive Officer Scott O’Neil sure served up a heaping helping of atta-boy accolades. Lost in all that, LIV burned through $6 billion in under five years. Mr. O’Neil’s long list of accomplishments is lipstick on the pig. From inception that tour’s financial sensibilities were wack — $100 million, $200 million, $300 million signing bonuses before a stroke was played. Greed killed that beast.
David Griffin
Westwood
Thank you Bill Dwyre for reminding us that the game is played by the players and not by the announcers.
Does Joe Buck deserve $17 million a year, and should Troy Aikman even care, or know how much his partner is making? The guy’s a Hall of Fame quarterback, and as such, should be able to deal with life’s unfairness, if whatever he makes can be considered unfair.
Again, this is an insult to the workers, all of them, who barely can make ends meet. Both these guys should be grateful that life is unfair, but not if you’re making millions of dollars for flapping your lips about a game.
Ron Brumel
West Los Angeles
When I open my L.A. Times in the morning, I go directly to the sports section and search for Bill Plaschke’s column. I love his style and especially his wit. So he has a prediction miss or two here and there, but no one puts a smile on my face more than him. Keep it up Bill, we all need more laughter in our lives.
Carol Lindsey
Camarillo
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On the final game of the Spurs recent home stand, Victor Wembanyama had a historic game. The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week scored a career-high 52 points, grabbing 24 rebounds and tallying 8 blocked shots.
After the game Wemby was seen signing autographs for fans with the game ball in tow. Moments later in the locker room, he handed off the momento to Mitch Jihnsion to commemorate the head coache’s 100th win.
Johnson, who took over for legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, accumulated 32 wins while sitting in for Pop six games into the 2024-2025 season after he’d suffered a stroke. In his first full season as head coach, the Spurs won 62 games on their way the NBA Finals. After two losses to start the season,. the Spurs started a winning streak that as of Wednesday was six sicx in a row.
Johnson is t6he sixth Spurs coach to hit 100 wins with the Silver & Black.
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Maybe it was because it was an NBA Cup game. Maybe it was because Jayson Tatum was visiting his old stomping grounds. Maybe it was because the Celtics caught fire from 3. Mix that all together with a few notable absences from the Hornets roster and we got a 119-80 Boston blowout at The Spectrum Center on Friday Night.
Before being drafted in 2023, Hornets’ Brandon Miller called Paul George his GOAT. You can certainly see the similarities. The lanky 6’9 swingmen are both three level scorers with the biggest difference being the decade-plus between them.
Unfortunately, Miller left the game in the second half with a groin soreness with 8 points, a rebound, assist, steal, and block.
His idol put up similar numbers. Miller hit just 3-of-10; George was worse at 3-of-11.
However, the mutual admiration society doesn’t end there. Tatum once posted back in 2015 when he was at Chaminade that he was “Baby PG” and even boasted that he thinks that he was the first college player to wear the PG1s at Duke.
And whenever the Celtics travel down to North Carolina, it’s always going to be a special trip for Tatum. Even though The Hive is 150 miles away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, Tatum just has superpowers playing in Charlotte. Out of the 29 other NBA teams, Tatum averages the most points against the Hornets at nearly 30 per game. And in an NBA Cup game where point differential matters, the defending Player of the Week scored 34 points in just 29 minutes. He was 11-for-11 from the free throw line and 5-of-8 from behind the arc and neared triple-double territory with eight rebounds and nine assists without playing a minute in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics flirted with the NBA record for most threes in a game at 29, a feat they tied on Opening Night in 2024 against the Knicks. Boston had 17 at halftime and had it not been a blowout, they might have hit at least five more.
Instead, they settled for the NBA Cup record at 24 (on 44 attempts).
Up the eastern seaboard, the Maine Celtics opened their G League season against the Westchester Knicks in blowout fashion as well 123-94. Rookie Dillon Mitchell had six dunks and a triple, including this alley-oop from Milos Uzan.
Uzan and Chris Cenac Jr. had 21 a piece in the win.
“Just trying to channel my anger into love.” — head coach Joe Mazzulla to CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell on his mid-game hug with Neemias Queta
Mazzulla called a timeout because Queta fell down (again) and instead of just yelling at him, he gave him a hug.
After two games, the Celtics are 2-0 with a +53 differential. After the Hawks beat the Wizards 139-132 on Friday night, Boston stands alone at the top of the Eastern Conference’s Group C. They’ll continue this leg of their road-heavy November with a stop in Milwaukee on Sunday and then the marquee face-melter on Tuesday against the 76ers.
Friday’s win over the Hornets was every Celtics fans’ dream. Boston took an early lead and instead of letting Charlotte back into the game, they continued put the beatdown on the Hornets until they were up by as many as 46 points.
As sick as it is to get a worry-free Celtics win every once in a while, this one hit different. The fact that they were able to dominate an Emirates NBA Cup game like this simply means more — literally.
Boston sits head and shoulders above Group C now with a perfect 2-0 record and a +53 point differential. That second part is the key. If the first three runs of the Cup taught us anything, it’s that the points matter.
If you remember, the standings are decided by record, then head-to-head record, and then point differential. Anytime there’s a three-way tie, it goes straight to the points.
Boston is in full control of their fate at this point. Win their remaining games, and they’ll move onto the knockout stage — it’s that simple. As well all know, though, it isn’t always that easy with the Cs. In fact, they’ve never swept group play in the tournament. They love to lay an egg in some game that they have no business losing.
Their remaining matchups in the group are against the most formiddable teams — the Wizards and Hawks. These are two games Boston should win, but again, nothing is guaranteed.
In that case, we’re all thinking about points again.
If the best record in Group C is 3-1, then Boston could still win the group. But if it’s solely on head-to-head record, the other 3-1 team would likely be the one that beat them.
So… the Wild Card would be their only path forward.
After going down to Charlotte and bringing 48 minutes of pain to the hosts, the Cs hold the best point-differential in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers (+24), Heat (+20), and Pistons (+16) are the only other teams who are positive double-digits.
Granted, most teams have only played one Cup game, so they’ll have an extra chance to make up ground in that area. But Boston is looking good for now.
All of this is to say that as long as the Celtics win one more Cup game and don’t lose by a billion if they do drop one, then they should be on track to keep climbing towards their first ever deep run in the competition.
Frankly, if they don’t advance, it’ll be extremely disappointing.
As much as some fans don’t care for colorful courts and shenanigans that come with the Cup, it does add a lot of flare to these November nights and half a million bucks into the pockets of the players. Plus, if the Celtics are in a competition, you should want them to win every single time. The more trophies the franchise collects, the better.
Cricket Australia has responded after Usman Khawaja made a bombshell claim that sandpaper was also used in the second Test of the infamous 2018 South Africa series.