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Sydney has a history of hosting Ashes comebacks – and launching dynasties | Geoff Lemon

Classic New Years Tests offer clues for how England and Australia can end this series on their terms at the SCG and set up for the next

If you’re an England cricket team, a Test in Sydney doesn’t look so bad. The last few weeks have merited constant updating of England’s horrible streak in Australia since January 1987, which last week’s Melbourne win improved only as far as 51 played, seven won, eight drawn, 36 lost. In Sydney over that time, the calculation is a little friendlier, at 10 played, four drawn, two won, only four lost.

So while the trophy is gone, a strong showing in this match could offer optimism that it might be a springboard for the future. Sydney has a history of involvement in Ashes comebacks, whether within a match, within a series, or in the longer term.

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MacKinnon scores 400th goal and Nichushkin nets hat trick as Avalanche rout Blues 6-1

DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, including his 400th career goal, and Valeri Nichushkin netted his second NHL hat trick as the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 6-1 on Wednesday night for their ninth straight win.

MacKinnon became the third player in franchise history to reach 400 goals and first to score them all for the Avalanche. Joe Sakic had 625 goals, the first 233 coming with the Quebec Nordiques before the team moved to Colorado. Michel Goulet is second in club history with 456, all for Quebec.

MacKinnon, who added two assists, leads the NHL with 34 goals. His 70 points were tied with Edmonton star Connor McDavid for most in the league.

Nichushkin scored twice during a four-goal barrage in the first 4:39 of the game and finished with three goals. Brock Nelson scored later on a power play for Colorado, and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 12 shots.

Colorado has won 15 straight at home, where it is 17-0-2, and has just two regulation losses (30-2-7) this season. The Avalanche’s 69 points tied the 1929-30 Boston Bruins for the most through 39 games.

Jordan Binnington allowed four goals on the first eight shots he faced and finished with 37 saves. Dalibor Dvorsky scored for St. Louis, which has dropped two straight. The Blues’ 13 shots on goal were a season low.

Nichushkin made it 1-0 a minute in, and MacKinnon scored his first of the game at 3:13. Nichushkin got his second of the night 13 seconds later, and MacKinnon’s slap shot 1:13 after that capped the early scoring.

It was the fastest four goals to start a game in franchise history and third in NHL history.

Nelson, who got his 300th career assist on Nichushkin’s first goal, scored midway through the game. Nichushkin scored 1:34 after Dvorsky spoiled Blackwood’s shutout bid with his sixth of the season.

Up next

Blues: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night.

Avalanche: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

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PDC World Championship darts quarter-finals: Van Veen and Littler cruise into semis

Gian van Veen stunned Luke Humphries with a 5-1 victory after Luke Littler whitewashed Krzysztof Ratajski

*Searle (1) 2-0 (0) Clayton Another break of throw for Searle! Clayton missed a dart at D16, a terrible effort, and Searle took out 116 on tops with the air of a man strolling to the paper shop on a brisk winter morning. His finishing has been outrageous.

Searle (1) 1-0 (0) Clayton*

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Tatsuya Imai signs with Astros after being linked to Phils

Tatsuya Imai signs with Astros after being linked to Phils originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai has agreed to terms on a three-year deal with the Houston Astros, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

This closes the door on a potential Phillies addition that had gained traction recently.

Imai, 27, spent eight seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Seibu Lions, compiling a 3.15 ERA across 159 appearances. He was coming off a breakout 2025 season, posting a 1.92 ERA in 24 starts with 178 strikeouts over 163 2/3 innings, while significantly improving his command. His WHIP was a career-best at 0.89.

His contract with Houston includes opt-outs after each season with an average annual value of $18 million, with a number of incentives.

The Phillies were among the teams linked to Imai as his posting window neared its Friday deadline, but Philadelphia ultimately did not land the right-hander.

Missing out on Imai keeps the club’s rotation picture largely unchanged — and places added emphasis on its internal decisions.

The Phillies already have significant money, just over $102 million, committed to starting pitching, with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sánchez all on multi-year deals, plus Jesús Luzardo in his final year of arbitration.

This move, though, keeps the door open for a reunion with southpaw Ranger Suárez.

Suárez, who will also carry a hefty price tag in free agency, remains an option for Philadelphia to reinforce its rotation without adding an external arm. The club’s top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, will have the opportunity to compete for a rotation spot in spring training.

With Wheeler’s availability uncertain early next season and the club already pushing luxury-tax thresholds, a reunion with Suárez may still be unlikely, but it would provide continuity to one of the best rotations in the game.

For now, the Phillies will continue monitoring the starting pitching market. Whether that results in renewed talks with Suárez or they stand pat, Imai’s decision elsewhere narrows the options.

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Warriors report card entering 2026 after turbulent start: Slight improvement

Warriors report card entering 2026 after turbulent start: Slight improvement originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Since our initial Warriors Report Card following the first 20 games of the 2025-26 NBA season, Golden State has gone 8-6, a slight improvement from being 10-10 since we last checked in. 

The hardest part of the schedule is over. Living life on the road with constant back-to-backs is done. Now that 2026 is here, it’s go-time for the Warriors at 18-16. 

Here’s how they grade out so far this session entering the new year.

Offense

How does a team that has Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler rank 21st in points per game (115.6)? Turnovers. The Warriors have turned the ball over the second-most times in the entire NBA. It’s why 11 of their 16 leads have come from blown fourth-quarter leads. 

They’re now 5-13 when they have more turnovers than their opponents, 10-2 when they have fewer and 3-1 when they’re tied with their opponent in turnovers. The system still creates open shots. The problem is the Warriors miss too many of them and don’t take care of them well enough.

The Warriors rank 18th overall in offensive rating (114.3), and were 11th for the month of December (116.3).

Grade: C-

Defense 

Advanced statistics like the Warriors’ defense a whole lot more than their offense. For the season, the Warriors now are third in defensive rating (111.8) and were fifth in December (111.9). 

There still are cracks. Point of attack remains a concern. A lack of stopping ball-handlers, plus being a smaller team, has them ranked 17th in opponent points in the paint per game (51.3). Somehow, the Warriors rank fourth in opponent 3-point percentage (34.3 percent), even though it feels like teams catch fire from deep at the worst times.

Second, third and fourth options still are having career games against the Warriors. Yet the numbers tell a different story.

Grade: B-

Stars 

So much has changed around the NBA, and so much has remained the same for Curry and the Warriors. He still is the sun of their solar system, and still needs others to shine brighter around him. 

The Warriors are 4-6 in the 10 games Curry has scored 30-plus points. Curry for the third straight season is leading the NBA in 3-point attempts and makes per game while shooting just under 40 percent from deep. After missing five games to injury, he closed 2025 by scoring at least 20 points in eight of his final nine games, including two 39-point games and a 48-point game.

His second true star is Butler, who remains Mr. Efficient and has been everything the Warriors could hope for at 36 years old as of late. In his final seven games of the year, Butler averaged 21.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 90.7 percent at the free-throw line on 7.7 attempts per game while averaging 33 minutes per game.

And then there’s Green. The last two games of December were his only with a positive plus/minus. He was ejected one game and took himself out of another, and the Warriors were better without him in both. Less is becoming more for Green, and the Warriors know they still are at their best when he’s at his best in all facets.

Grade: B+/A-

Additions 

From our first iteration of Warriors Report Cards for this season, we established the three players who fit this category are rookie Will Richard, and veterans De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford.

To honor older players and give them a longer leash, Richard was a healthy DNP (Did Not Play) in three straight games during December. The Warriors lost all three. Since then, Richard has played 20 minutes per game and averaged 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game over the last six games, highlighted by his 10 points and two steals in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ win against the Nets in Brooklyn. 

Horford finally returned from a seven-game absence on Christmas, and Melton made his season debut. The Warriors’ Christmas win was a display of what Horford brings with four threes and rim protection, and though Melton has struggled to find his shot, he clearly is one of their top defensive players already and has been a plus-57 in the 10 games he has played.

Grade: C+

Youth 

For the seventh straight game to close the calendar year, two younger players have accompanied Curry, Butler and Green in the starting lineup. Moody and Post, at least for now, have security as starters. But that always can change, and the Warriors still need those two to find more consistency shooting the ball. 

Several youngsters off the bench have come on strong as of late. Brandin Podziemski scored 19 points on New Year’s Eve and averaged 12.7 points on 51.7 percent shooting in December. Trayce Jackson-Davis has re-emerged in the center rotation with strong finishes around the rim, and Richard continues to impress, earning Steve Kerr’s trust to close games with his two-way impact.

Writing about Jonathan Kuminga might as well be with invisible ink. Wednesday was his fifth straight healthy DNP and he already has received eight this season. January 15, the first day Kuminga becomes trade eligible, can’t come soon enough for him and the team.

Grade: C+

Health 

A number of bumps and bruises have hampered the Warriors while still avoiding major injury. 

Steph Curry missed five straight games due to a quad contusion, and his young brother Seth has been sidelined due to sciatic-nerve issues in his pelvis and lower back. Horford missed three weeks because of sciatica, and Green was out for a few weeks with a right foot sprain. This is about how it goes for a team that has seven players who are at least 33 years old. 

As teams around the league have seen their stars miss multiple weeks or worse, the Warriors have played a game of roulette with who will be healthy or have to take a seat. In this case, things could be much more grim for Golden State.

Grade: B-

Overall 

The Warriors finished 2025 by winning five of their last six games. Though they failed to earn their first four-game win streak of the season with a bad loss against the Raptors in Toronto, the Warriors are finally are finding consistency in their starting lineup and rotations, as well as the win column.

As 2026 begins, the Warriors are the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The goal going into the season was to be a top-six seed, and they hoped to get greedy as a top-four seed. Well, the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves are three games ahead of them, and the fourth-seeded Houston Rockets are four games ahead.

Starting Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 10 of the Warriors’ next 11 games are at home, and they don’t leave California until Jan. 22. This is their chance to bump their grades much closer to what they expected.

Grade: C+

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The Canadiens’ New Year’s Resolution

As the calendar turns to 2026, it’s the time of the year when we all take stock and decide to better ourselves by making resolutions. Granted, more often than not, those are out the window before January is even over, but if the Montreal Canadiens decided to make some resolutions, I believe these should be the ones.

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I know that should go without saying, but for some reason, the Canadiens are struggling to do that. Their goal differential in the second period currently stands at minus-13, and all too often, a great effort in the first frame is wasted because of a second-period collapse.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the case in the Habs’ last game against the Florida Panthers, but it happens so often that it’s almost a surprise when it doesn’t. Their minus-13 differential is the second worst in the league, quite a way away from the St. Louis Blues' minus-21, but still, it makes no sense for a team that’s plus-six in the first, plus-four in the third, plus-four in overtime, and plus-one overall to be minus-13 in the second frame.

The Canadiens have grown up a lot over the last few years, and the time for the mid-day nap is long gone. It’s time to be fully awake all game long and to compete like a team that’s after the Stanley Cup.

Shoot More

The year’s edition of the Canadiens is oozing with talent, and while that’s definitely a blessing, there are times when it can look like a curse. The Habs often seem to be looking for the perfect play rather than for the goal.

Someone like Demidov, who’s a pass-first kind of guy, needs to recognize a golden opportunity when it presents itself, and, in all fairness, he has been better at it of late, but collectively, there needs to be a conscious effort to do so.

The power play currently has a 25% success rate and is in fifth place in the league, but if the Habs were just a little more trigger-happy, it could be even higher.

Work On Breakaways

The number of times the Canadiens fail to score on the breakaway is staggering, so much so that when a player takes off on his own, there’s no sense of excitement anymore; some fans barely dare to look.

Josh Anderson has a lot of speed, and he has a knack for finding a way to evade coverage and show up all alone in front of the goaltender, but it’s the finishing that’s missing, and that’s the most crucial part.

It may be hard to recreate in-game situations in practice. Still, it’s worth a try. Giving the shooter a head start and launching a couple of defensemen in pursuit shortly after would serve two purposes: improving both sides of the breakaway plays.

I hope you’ve had a great 2025 and wish you all the best in the year ahead. Thank you for reading along this year, and I look forward to reporting on more Canadiens’ happenings in 2026.

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.  

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