With Marco Silva leaving after five years, can the club take advantage of the links their new coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, has with Real Madrid?
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 15th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 11th
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This post is going to be short and sweet. Here’s the video of Gregg Popovich speaking at Don Nelson’s funeral on Thursday in Dallas. It speaks for itself:
Pop looks and sounds as if he continues to progress in his recovery. Really great words. It was 100% Pop, classic, and still classy given the the depth of the event.
Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.
Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.
With the UK experiencing the driest summer on record, we look at how the weather is affecting the pitches and courses across the country
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PensBurgh’s 2026 edition of the Top 25 Under 25 countdown rolls on with Hendrix Lapierre, a 24-year-old forward who gets a fresh start with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the hopes he can blossom the way a few other young players have in recent seasons.
Catch up on the previous entries for this year:
Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
#25: Chase Pietila, D
#24: Ryan Miller, F
#23: Finn Harding, D
#22: Peyton Kettles, D
#21: Zam Plante, F
#21 (bonus): Brady Peddle, D
#20: Melvin Fernstrom, F
#19: Tanner Howe, F
#18: Tomas Galvas, D
#17: Pierce Mbuyi, F
#16: Jake Livanavage, D
#15: Owen Pickering, D
#14: Tristan Broz, F
#13: Avery Hayes, F
#12: Ville Koivunen, F
Age: 24 (Feb. 9, 2002)
Acquired Via: Trade with the Washington Capitals
Height/Weight: 6-foot, 190 pounds
The Penguins offseason began with the trade for Lapierre, bringing him over from the Washington Capitals for third-and fifth-round draft picks.
After being a first-round pick by the Capitals (No. 22 overall in 2020), Lapierre spent the first six years of his career in the Capitals organization and produced some mixed results. He made his initial NHL debut late in the 2021-22 season by appearing in six games, and then spent the next few years split between the Capitals and the American Hockey League.
The 2025-26 season was his first full year in the NHL, appearing in 74 games and scoring just four goals with 12 assists. He did not score his first goal of the season until Jan. 23, ending what had been a shocking 90-game regular season goal-scoring drought that stretched all the way back to March 18, 2024. It’s really difficult to be an NHL player and go 90 consecutive games without scoring a single game, and it is a frustrating combination of bad luck and some overall struggles.
But while the offense has not always been there at the NHL level for Lapierre in the form of actual goal-production, he has still managed to make himself useful, especially when it comes to his defensive play. That was especially the case during the 2025-26 season when he had some of the best defensive metrics on the entire Capitals roster among the team’s forwards.
Of the 12 Capitals forwards that logged at least 500 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time, Lapierre had the following ranks defensively:
He did have some of the more favorable offensive zone start numbers on the roster (51 percent, which was the fourth-highest on the roster), but the play generally went in the right direction when he was on the ice. The Capitals out-chanced, out-shot and out-scored their opponents with him on the ice. And while the offensive zone start numbers were somewhat favorable, it’s not like he was playing alongside the Capitals’ best offensive players.
His most common linemates throughout the course of the season were the likes of Brandon Duhaime, Ethan Frank and Sonny Milano. That is very much a depth role, and he mostly played it well despite the lack of offense.
It creates an interesting situation for him as it relates to the Penguins going in to the 2026-27 season.
On one hand, the Penguins are already overloaded at the forward position, to the point where a player like Justin Brazeau, who scored 17 goals a year ago, is going to have a hard time finding a spot in the lineup, let alone returning young players like Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty.
But the Penguins are also looking to improve their overall defensive play, and that isn’t just going to come from changes on their defense pairings (where half of the lineup has already been overhauled this offseason with Kaedan Korczak, Declan Carlile and Trevor van Riemsdyk all coming in). It also has to come from their forward play, and given what Lapierre showed in his first full season with the Capitals, he can potentially help improve that a lot in a depth role. Especially following the offseason departure of Noel Accairi and his free agent signing with the Philadelphia Flyers.
He also fits the mold of the type of player the Penguins have been targeting over the past year-plus: Early-to-mid-20s, at one time a top prospect, some success at the NHL level, even in a limited role, and probably needing a fresh start and change of scenery somewhere else. They have had some success with those moves.
The question now becomes whether or not Lapierre can win a roster spot in a deep forward competition, and whether or not there is more offensive upside to his game.
At the very least he has a chance to be an effective bottom-six player and defensive forward. If he can add some more offense to that the Penguins will have found themselves another good player.
NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.
“Boston is dead! Boston is dead !”
The winning streak ended in 1967. The eight-peat would not be extended. It seemed like the Philadelphia 76ers had emphatically ended the Boston dynasty – but in 1968 the Celtics would have something to say about that.
Red Auerbach had retired from coaching after the 1966 championship and was succeeded by Bill Russell, who took on the role of player-coach. That dual responsibility is unheard of today, but it wasn’t uncommon in the first three decades of the NBA. The league has seen 40 player-coaches, the last one being – fun fact – the Celtics’ Dave Cowens, who had a 27-41 record after coach Satch Sanders was fired a month into the 1978-79 season.
“We’re only dead until October.”
John Havlicek
During 1966-67, Boston and Philly were two giants at the top. The Celtics posted a 60-21 record, which in most years would lead the league, but the 76ers set a league record at 68-13.
Boston beat New York 3-1 in the first-round best-of-five series, then faced Philly, which had surrounded Wilt Chamberlain with the best supporting cast of his career. The Celtics had won the season series, 5-4, but the inspired Sixers took a 3-0 lead in their playoff matchup. Celtics pride delivered a Game 4 win, but Game 5 in Philly let loose emotions that had been building for a decade. The Sixers ran wild, 140-116, and the crowd chanted “Boston is dead!”
John Havlicek’s response: “We’re only dead until October.”
The 1967-68 regular season
Coaching presented a learning curve for Bill Russell, especially as he had no assistant coach (no team did at that time). Fortunately, his roster was filled with veteran players who could help out while Russell was on the court (which he was for roughly 40 minutes per game). Besides all that, Russell was trying to fill the shoes of the most successful coach in basketball, and perhaps all of sports.
Now with one season under his belt, Russell looked to start winning again in 1967-68. There had been some roster changes.
The roster was a good mix of young veterans and older guys. They started the season winning nine of their first 10 and finished 54-28 for second place in the East, eight games behind the Sixers.
Eastern playoffs
This was all that mattered this season: the chance to prove they weren’t done. Boston took on the Detroit Pistons in round one and managed to lose Game 3 at home, falling behind 2-1. Detroit was led by Dave Bing, who’d been Rookie of the Year in 1967, and now was the league scoring leader.
Coach Russell adjusted by moving John Havlicek from sixth man to the starting five, which helped Boston close out the series with three straight wins. Hondo scored 35 in Game 4 on the road, and the Celtics blew the game open with an 80-50 second-half margin. Bailey Howell had 30 points in Game 5 and Havlicek 31 in Game 6 to wrap it up.
Now for the Sixers, who were without injured starting forward Billy Cunningham. Game 1 was played the night after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The teams were offered the opportunity to delay the series for a period of mourning. They decided to play the first game, then pause for five days. Understandably, their minds and hearts weren’t totally involved in Game 1, but Havlicek had 35 and Sam Jones 28 as Boston made a nine-point halftime lead stand up, 127-118.
Philly regrouped and won the next three games, two of them in Boston. Veteran guard Hal Greer led all scorers with 31 and 28 points in Games 3 and 4, respectively. The situation stoked fears that the Celtics were headed for a repeat of last year. Moreover, no NBA team had come back from a 3-1 deficit.
The Game 5 crowd at Philadelphia was ready to bury Boston again, but Sam Jones wasn’t giving up. His vintage 37-point performance kept the Celts alive, 122-104. Havlicek joined him with a near triple-double, 29/9/10. Boston pulled away in the second half after trailing by one at halftime. In Game 6, Greer was on fire with 40 points, but his teammate Chamberlain was not, shooting 6 of 21 from the field and 8 of 22 at the line. Havlicek, Howell and Jones combined for 70 points in Boston’s 114-106 win, and the series was 3-3.
Game 7 in Philly was close much of the way, with Boston protecting a small lead into the fourth quarter. Guard Wally Jones rallied the Sixers to within four, and later big forward Luke Jackson scored to put them ahead by two with eight minutes left. Havlicek led the Celtics on a 14-7 run over the next five minutes, restoring their lead at 93-88. The Sixers fought back to within three, but in the final seconds Russell blocked forward Chet Walker’s layup. Boston had pulled off the upset, 100-96, and the first-ever comeback from down 3-1.
Boston shot 47.6% from the floor in Game 7 while holding the Sixers to 35.2%. Jones led the Celtics with 22 points while Russell posted 12 points, 26 boards, 5 assists and, according to the Boston Globe game report, unofficially 10 blocks.
Russell said it was the most satisfying victory of his career. Satch Sanders revealed that the pick-and-roll play was the catalyst for the comeback from 3-1.
“We kept running it over and over, again and again…. and Philadelphia just couldn’t deal with it…It forced Wilt into a switching situation and he sort of refused. And when he did switch, he had problems with Sam or Havlicek.”
Chamberlain’s stats were mystifying: 14 points, 4 of 9 field goals, 6 of 15 free throws. He attempted just two shots in the second half. After averaging 24 points in the regular season, that lack of aggression plus missing nine free throws in a four-point loss just didn’t cut it.
In the end, the Celtics were the opposite of dead. They had risen and were heading back to the NBA Finals to meet the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth time.
NBA Finals
The Celtics were worn down after the Sixers series, and the Lakers were rested, not having the drama in the West that the Cs had in the East. There was a risk of letdown for Boston, as well. Nevertheless, Boston won Game 1 on the parquet, 107-101. The Celtics had a 59-40 second half after trailing at halftime. Then the Lakers, as they always seemed to do in the Finals, regrouped and won Game 2. But the Celtics, as was their habit, won Game 3 in LA and went home tied 2-2.
Turning point
Most of the pivotal Game 5 looked good for the Celtics, who compiled a 30-18 margin in the third quarter and led by 14 with one quarter to go. However, LA rallied to tie, forcing overtime. With 56 seconds left in the OT, Havlicek hit a corner jumper for a two-point lead. Next, Elgin Baylor drove to the rim looking for the tying hoop and got a good look over Don Nelson, but Russell brought the help defense and swatted the shot away.
A Nelson free throw pushed the lead to three. LA was unable to score again and Boston had a 3-2 series lead.
It wasn’t over until…
The Celtics were determined to avoid a Game 7. They made that clear by winning the Game 6 first half, 70-50. The Lakers had no answer.
The heroes we needed
Notable facts and stats
In summary
The Boston Celtics dynasty was revived and flourishing, with 10 banners. Bill Russell got the player-coach job done on both fronts, including playing and winning a Game 7 on the road for the first time. Celtics pride helped them persevere and win against enormous odds. And the Sixers, who a year ago some were calling the greatest team ever, learned how difficult it was to repeat.
Banner Years continues Monday with a review of the 1968-69 season and the road to winning Banner 11.
Russell Westbrook, we hardly knew ye.
No, seriously. Russell Westbrook played one season with the Houston Rockets. So why does he feel like such an integral part of their recent past?
There are likely a few reasons. Westbrook leaves a huge impression. It was also, at times (for reasons that were largely not his fault), painful to watch. Perhaps most importantly, his lone 2019-20 season as a Rocket was the final, dying gasp of the James Harden era.
But James Harden didn’t retire (as of this writing) yesterday. Russell Westbrook did. When The Beard’s time comes, expect me to publish a piece that largely amounts to “waaaaaaaa”.
My feelings on Westbrook are, probably much the same as a lot of readers, more complicated. My best friends know not to bring up the 2015-16 MVP race around me unless they’re in the mood for a diatribe. In what world is an extra rebound and a half more important than 10 wins? So if the Rockets had schemed for Harden to get rebounds just a bit more often, he averages the forever arbitrary triple-double and gets his MVP?
Ugh. Blarg, even. Let’s move on. For all of his flaws, Westbrook was a transcendent talent.
That’s the point here.
Let it be said that the trade Daryl Morey made to acquire Westbrook could be the first case study in a textbook called “How to not Make an NBA Trade”.
That’s not Westbrook’s fault – that’s Morey’s fault. When he retires, I’ll write a piece about how he meticulously and brilliantly crafted one of the best teams in the NBA only to knock it over like a petulant child who’d grown tired of playing with a sand castle.
The most egregiously horrendous part of the deal was attaching draft capital to flip Chris Paul for Westbrook. The other issue was that Westbrook couldn’t play alongside Clint Capela, which led to the Rockets’ infamous micro-ball experiment.
When they drew the Lakers in the second round of the 2019-20 postseason, we all knew it was over, whether we were willing to admit it or not. It just made clear, intuitive sense. The Lakers started two guys who were 7’0″ tall. Beating them with zero players over 6’7″ was perhaps literally impossible.
Somewhere in the annals of The Dream Shake, I wrote a piece about how I wish the Rockets had, instead of blowing it up and trading Westbrook for John Wall, gone out and got Marc Gasol, or Dewayne Dedmon, or even Paul Millsap the following summer. The same iteration of the team with a stretch big could have made a real title run in 2020-21. What can you do?
We are now 461 words into this article, and precious little has been done to commemorate Russell Westbrook. Again, this is a player with a complicated legacy.
Overcomplicated, even.
February, 2020. Capela is gone, Robert Covington is in. P.J. Tucker is officially the shortest man to ever start at the 5 in the NBA. Westbrook averages 33.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 54.9% from the field.
We’re too smart in 2026, or at least too knowledgeable. There is always context. Westbrook had limitations that made winning games more difficult than his counting stats suggest.
Yet, there has to be some breaking point where raw statistical output outweighs everything. Westbrook spent his entire career breaking that point. Say what you want about his approach, playstyle, limitations – the man is averaging 30, 10, and 10.
The man was a human singularity. An iconoclast. He was going to do it his way:
And honestly, for the most part, it worked.
It wasn’t Westbrook’s fault that Tucker was 6’5″ (which, to be clear, is not Tucker’s fault either). It’s not even fair to say it’s his fault that he couldn’t shoot. If you’re questioning Westbrook’s work ethic, you’re asking the wrong questions. It is a skill that he tried and failed to hone.
It’s a curse that befalls all superstar zero-time NBA champions. Their legacy is relitigated into the ground. There will be many think pieces about why Westbrook couldn’t get over the hump.
Let’s not forget that getting over the hump requires extraordinary luck. Westbrook is an NBA Finalist. He went to the Conference Finals three times. That’s a lot of winning for a losing player.
Full disclosure: This is not one of my favorite players in NBA history. If anything, this is a man who, to no fault of his own, potentially damaged the career of one of my favorite players in NBA history. Still, we should all remember Westbrook for what he was: One of the most unique talents in NBA history.
It didn’t take more than a season of Rockets basketball to see that.
Why Mike Dunleavy might be hinting Warriors make big 2027 NBA deadline trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Health is the NBA’s biggest bet every year when the league releases regular-season schedules for all 30 teams.
Everybody is hoping for a healthy Steph Curry on Christmas against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Curry is the sole reason the Warriors are slated to appear on Christmas for a 14th consecutive year. He’s why the Warriors even have 28 national games in the 2026-27 NBA season, down from 34 last season.
The bigger gamble is a healthy and close to full-strength Curry in the Warriors’ one game at Madison Square Garden this season. The game against the New York Knicks falls on a Saturday night, 5:30 p.m. PT on Feb. 13 at The Mecca. Those few details alone are an appointment for must-see TV and a list of top celebrities sitting along the sidelines.
It’s also the sixth and final game of a Warriors road trip that begins in LA and ends across the country in New York. The Warriors play the LA Clippers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics and the Knicks, in that order. Fortunately for them, the trip only features one back-to-back when the Warriors play in Chicago on a Tuesday night and Boston on a Wednesday night.
Their game in New York against the Knicks isn’t until that Saturday night, giving Curry and the Warriors two full days off in between. The date and the game hold a much different significance for Golden State than Steph’s yearly showcase under the MSG spotlight.
Why? Because it’s the Warriors’ first game after the Feb. 11 trade deadline.
“We have multiple ways to get better during the season, which is something we’ve done the last few years,” Dunleavy said Tuesday during a video press conference with local media. “Whether it’s adding [Jimmy] Butler, adding [Kristaps] Porzingis, you can go as far back as adding Andrew Wiggins. I’d say we’re pretty good about improving our team in the middle of the year.
“The most important thing right now is we got to get off to a good start. We can’t get in a hole because of the guys that we have out. So we’re gonna have to do some lifting early on to hold down the fort, and then after that, I feel pretty good about our ability. If we need to get better by adding talent, we can and we will.”
Dunleavy is in his third season as Warriors GM. He had a quiet trade deadline his first year when the Warriors were a .500 team at the time and shipped Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers for a second-round draft pick. Dunleavy then went star hunting his second year and wound up with Butler in a trade with the Miami Heat. With Curry and Butler both hurt, Dunleavy last season sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for Porzingis.
After playing in 15 games for the Warriors last season, plus the two play-in tournament games, Porzingis returned this offseason on a two-year, $40 million extension. The Warriors brought back Draymond Green, De’Anthony Melton, Al Horford and Gary Payton II. They’re the only team that hasn’t added any talent outside of the draft, with two current open spots on their 15-man roster.
But that isn’t how the Warriors see it.
“If people see us as running back a 37-win team, I would say we’ve added to that team from the way it started last year with a player like Porzingis,” Dunleavy said. “And then most importantly, we get into the season and we see how our guys come back from injuries like Moses [Moody] and Jimmy.”
The Warriors see Porzingis as identical to an offseason addition, and with the highest upside talent at center on the free agent market outside of Detroit Pistons restricted free agent Jalen Duren. They see Horford as someone who can have a much more normal offseason, working with the training staff and being more available at the start of the season. They see Melton as someone who finally gets to enjoy a healthy summer and is a better fit next to Curry than, say, Anfernee Simons.
They see rookie Yaxel Lenedeborg as a Day 1 starter who can help fill the shoes of Butler and Moody as well as anybody else, especially when it comes to the Warriors’ financial strains.
And yes, the Warriors are going to consider Butler and Moody as in-season additions, even as they face uphill battles coming back from injury.
Between Butler and Green, the Warriors have more than $84.5 million in expiring contracts alone right there. Porzingis has a $20 million player option for the 2027-28 season, but only $3 million is guaranteed until July 7, 2027. The Warriors’ books are being cleared for next summer, yet Dunleavy already is hinting at being players during this upcoming season’s trade deadline.
“If you just look at our books, our assets, all that stuff, we’ve got a lot of ways to entice teams and make things available and worthwhile for them to do a trade with us,” Dunleavy said. “So for those reasons, I feel pretty confident that if we have to improve the roster in the middle of the season we can.”
Looking at the Warriors’ assets, they own their first-round pick in each of the next three years. It belongs to them in 2030 if the pick falls between Nos. 1 and 20, but goes to the Memphis Grizzlies if it’s between Nos. 21 and 30. They then again own their first-round pick in 2031, 2032 and 2033.
Dunleavy says the Warriors have been “super aggressive” in years past, whether it be the offseason or going into the trade deadline. But the Warriors have been holding onto first-round draft picks as if they’re a delicate baby. You’d have to go all the way back to the summer of 2013 to find a time when the Warriors sent two or more first-round picks out in a trade. That brought them Andre Iguodala.
Butler didn’t involve multiple first-round picks. Neither did Wiggins. Most recently, the Warriors have balked at using two or more first-round picks on players like Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard, two aging stars who have their own injury concerns.
The Warriors were 25-24 when they traded for Butler in 2025. Last season, they were 27-24 when they traded for Porzingis. What kind of team will they be when the trade deadline comes around this season?
A total of 53 games will have been played by then. The Warriors will have gone on the road for 27 games and stayed back at home for 26, without including games from the results of the NBA Cup. Those first 53 games going into the trade deadline also include 10 back-to-backs, with two to go in the final 27 games.
The team the Warriors have put together for the season opener has never been how they look coming out of the trade deadline under Dunleavy. Internally, the Warriors don’t view themselves as running it back. Externally, they’re already touting their ability to look different a few months from now.
“If this was the in-season cup that we were solely focused on, yeah, we probably have a different roster right now,” Dunleavy said. “We’d be getting ready for a sprint, but it’s a marathon, and we have a season to get through, and we have the ability to improve our team not only in the offseason but throughout the season. And so that’s something I keep in mind and don’t feel like hey, we have to have our team set come October 21.
“The best version of our team is the most important version. It has to be in April, May and hopefully June.”
That is, as long as the Warriors can first make it through October, November, December and so on, a problem they’re again trying to reverse.
First Test, day two: Australia 198; Bangladesh 351 for 6 in Darwin
Opener hits maiden Test century as tourists build 153-run lead
A maiden Test century by Tanzid Hasan has given Bangladesh a 153-run lead against an Australian side that were forced to use eight bowlers in Darwin.
In just his second Test match, the 25-year-old left-hander’s brilliant 101 put the Tigers in position to push for what would be their greatest win in long-form cricket.
Continue reading...Australia’s torrid start to the first Test against Bangladesh continued to begin the second day in Darwin, with the unfancied tourists powering towards a big first innings lead.
Queensland boss quits after winning three of five State of Origin series
Smith, Ballin, Thurston and Te’o touted as possible replacements
Billy Slater has made the shock decision to stand down as Queensland State of Origin coach, bowing out after five years in the role.
Maroons officials confirmed on Friday afternoon they were on the look out for a replacement, after Slater decided not to continue.
Continue reading...Lincoln’s joint head coaches, Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen, hope Championship rivals underestimate ‘amazing squad’
The last thing the Championship needs is another spying scandal, so when a lorry emblazoned with KGB parked up alongside Lincoln City’s training ground on Tuesday lunchtime there was laughter as staff pondered whether the Soviet Union was examining their set pieces. It shows the relaxed atmosphere at one of the second tier’s newest clubs, one that has had a summer of change yet maintained continuity by appointing joint head coaches.
Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen have replaced Michael Skubala, who led the Imps to 103 points and promotion back to this level after 65 years away before leaving for Bristol City. It was a symbiotic appointment because while the former assistants were devising a sales pitch to the club’s hierarchy, the wheels were already in motion to promote from within. Their plan is to banish English football’s memories of Liverpool’s ill-fated pairing of Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier. The duo are doing final preparations for Saturday’s season opener at the Riverside against Middlesbrough, who have spent more than £20m on summer signings – Lincoln have spent a quarter of that across their 142-year history, indicating the task ahead.
Continue reading...
After a frustrating sweep in San Diego, the Brewers are back in the win column. Despite trailing late, Milwaukee rallied against struggling Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz in the ninth inning, scoring three runs to steal a 5-4 win and start their four-game series in Los Angeles on the right foot.
Both Brewers starter Shane Drohan and Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki had a relatively smooth go of it through the first few innings. Drohan gave up a 111.7 mph rocket of a line drive to Shohei Ohtani that came close to making it over the center-field fence, while Sasaki walked a couple of batters, but neither team came particularly close to scoring until the top of the fourth.
Gary Sánchez led off the fourth by lining a Sasaki splitter back up the middle and into center field for a base hit. After Jake Bauers flew out for the first out, Sasaki walked Andrew Vaughn on four straight balls. That brought up Christian Yelich, who hit a hard line drive into left field. Sánchez, not exactly known for his speed on the basepaths, had to stop at third, but the single loaded the bases with only one out.
Sasaki, who’s struggled with his control in the past, then completely lost the handle against Joey Ortiz, walking him on four straight pitches to bring home the first run of the game.
Up next was David Hamilton, but Sasaki still couldn’t get it together, walking him on five pitches — three of which weren’t particularly close to the strike zone — to give the Brewers another run. That brought up Jackson Chourio with two outs and the bases loaded, but Chourio bailed Sasaki out by quickly going down 0-2 before swinging at a splitter in the dirt for strike three. Still, the Brewers managed to take the lead and run Sasaki’s pitch count up to nearly 80 by the end of the fourth.
Drohan finally allowed a run in the fifth after Miguel Rojas walked, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a Ben Rortvedt single. He came back out for the sixth but was clearly flagging, retiring Andy Pages on a hard line drive before walking Tommy Edman. Freddie Freeman then battled Drohan for nine pitches before successfully challenging a called strike three, resulting in a second straight walk.
With two on, one out, a one-run lead, and a tiring Drohan, it was time to make the call to the bullpen. Recently acquired Antonio Senzatela came in and struck out Teoscar Hernández on a foul tip for the second out. With two on and two out, Senzatela battled to a full count against Max Muncy, who turned on the sixth pitch of the at-bat — a 100 mph fastball — and crushed it over the fence in right-center field.
Just like that, the Brewers were down by two, and for a team coming off a series in which the offense struggled to produce big innings, it may have felt to the more pessimistic of fans like the game was already over.
It wasn’t.
DL Hall retired six straight batters in the seventh and eighth innings, but Milwaukee couldn’t score either, so the score remained 4-2 going into the top of the ninth. Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz, who’s been getting hit around since returning from the injured list in late July, came in to try to slam the door on the Brewers.
Leading off against Díaz was William Contreras, who got caught looking at strike three for the first out. Milwaukee was down to its final two outs, but Ortiz and Hamilton both came through in the clutch, lining singles through the infield to put runners on the corners. Up next was Chourio, who worked the count full before swinging at a slider half a foot off the plate. He managed to get enough of it off the end of the bat to poke it into shallow right-center for a base hit, scoring Ortiz and putting the tying run, Hamilton, on third.
Garrett Mitchell took Díaz’s next pitch for a strike, then swung at the second pitch — a slider in almost the exact same location — and sent it into right field for the Brewers’ fourth straight single, scoring Hamilton to tie the game.
Up next was Sánchez, who struck out on a called strike three that he challenged unsuccessfully. With two outs and the game still tied, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to go to his bullpen, calling on lefty Alex Vesia to face Jake Bauers. Bauers hit a ground ball through the right side that found a gap and trickled into right field for a single, scoring Chourio to put the Brewers ahead 5-4.
Bauers then stole second and Andrew Vaughn worked a walk to load the bases, but Christian Yelich grounded out — albeit on a hard-hit ball — to end the inning.
In what had been a fairly dramatic game, the bottom of the ninth was anticlimactic, which is exactly what the Brewers want to see from their closer. Trevor Megill came in and retired Mookie Betts, Muncy, and Kyle Tucker in order to secure the first victory of the road trip. For a team that lost a couple of fairly heartbreaking games in San Diego, it has to feel good to come away with a comeback victory over a stacked Dodgers team. Good pitching and timely hitting will always be a recipe for success.
Robert Gasser will be on the mound tomorrow opposite Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. It’s another West Coast night game, with first pitch set for 9:10 p.m. CT.
Australian wins 100m freestyle with teammate Liv Wunsch third
Lani Pallister leads Dolphins to women’s 4x200m freestyle relay gold
A surprised Meg Harris has confirmed her status as the latest golden girl of Australian swimming with victory at the Pan Pacific championships.
Just weeks after winning six gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Harris has collected another for winning the women’s 100m freestyle at the Pan Pacs.
Continue reading...The minute Bradley Beal opted out of his $5.6 million player option for this season — despite playing just six games last season due to hip surgery — it was expected that he would re-sign with the Clippers.
That's now a done deal.
Welcome back, Bradley Beal!
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 14, 2026
Catch him at @IntuitDome this season ️ https://t.co/nUroVpKxDWpic.twitter.com/TKfYLfR0Vb
This contract is for two years, $13.2 million, with a player option on the second year (and also a $3 million guarantee), Beal's agent Mark Bartelstein told NBA insider Chris Haynes. This is a small raise off the player option he turned down.
Beal, 33, was a free agent and had been linked to Miami in some reports, but that always seemed to be more smoke than fire.
Beal averaged 8.2 points in 20 minutes per game while shooting 36.8% from 3 last season in the six games he played. The season before, in Phoenix, he averaged 17 points per game at a good 59.8 true shooting percentage. The biggest issue with Beal has been health, he has not played in more than 60 games in a season since 2019.
Beal will be sharing time at the two with No. 5 draft pick Keaton Wagler, and coach Tyronn Lue likely will play them together at points. (Projecting Clippers lineups beyond that is pointless until the Kawhi Leonard trade either goes through or is called off.)
Canadian wins in championship-record time
Australia hold off Ledecky and US in 4x200 relay
US swimmers claim six golds on second night
Summer McIntosh of Canada led all the way in winning the 400m individual medley at the Pan Pacific Championships on Thursday night, bouncing back after a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle.
Australia led all but 150 meters of the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay, with the team of Inez Miller, Lani Pallister, Hannah Casey and Milla Jansen winning in 7min 42.40sec to lower the country’s championship mark of 7:44.12 set at the 2018 Pan Pacs.
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