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Bronny talked about improvement then on Thursday showed it off scoring 17 on 7-of-10 shooting

Milwaukee Bucks v Los Angeles Lakers

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 20: Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 20, 2025 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)

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"I definitely think I've improved, not only as a player, but just having a different mindset as a player to go out and play my game and play the game that I know how to play. I feel really good about it — I see the progress."

Bronny James talked about his improvement, then went out and showed it on Thursday. Going against the Milwaukee Bucks on a night the Lakers were shorthanded (no LeBron James or Luka Doncic), Bronny had a career-high 17 points, shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 on 3-pointers, plus five assists in 30 minutes of action.

That's a career-high for Bronny, but what's more important is the efficiency of his shot. It's a sign of progress (although he was a team-worst -36), which is all the Lakers have asked of him this season. The Lakers drafted Bronny with the No. 55 pick — a spot deep in the draft where few players ever make the league — and locked him up on a cheap contract. He was a project and the Lakers were all in on giving him a chance (even if they drafted him to please LeBron, give Bronny credit for taking advantage of his opportunity and putting in the work).

The issue had been Bronny's handles and shot, and while he has to show he can be this guy consistently, what we saw Thursday was a positive sign. He's not going to get a lot of time on the court once the Lakers get healthy, or in the playoffs, but it's about stacking good days for Bronny and improving his game to the point J.J. Redick has to play him. For Bronny, Thursday was a good day.

The shorthanded Lakers still lost the game to the Bucks 118-89, with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the way with 28 points.

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Former Sabre Dylan Cozens Thriving With New Team

Dylan Cozens (© Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images)

After months of trade rumors, the Buffalo Sabres dealt forward Dylan Cozens to the Ottawa Senators on deadline day in a major move.

In the trade, the Senators acquired Cozens, defenseman Dennis Gilbert, and a 2026 second-round pick, while the Sabres landed forward Josh Norris and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker.

It was no secret that the Sabres were open to shaking up their roster after performing below expectations yet again this campaign. However, there is no question that Cozens is benefitting from his change of scenery early on.

In his first seven games with the Senators, Cozens has three goals, six points, 28 hits, and a plus-1 rating. This includes scoring a goal in the Senators' most recent matchup against the Colorado Avalanche on March 20. 

With numbers like these, Cozens is not only making an impact offensively but also providing plenty of grit for the Senators in the process. He has been looking more like the impactful top-six power forward he was with the Sabres during their 2022-23 season, where he set career highs with 31 goals, 37 assists, and 68 points.

Sometimes, players thrive after getting a fresh start, and Cozens is early on. It will be interesting to see if the former Sabre can keep this kind of play up with the Senators from here. 

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How Warriors tied franchise history with successful homestand

How Warriors tied franchise history with successful homestand originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

There is nothing quite like home.

The Warriors proved that to be true during their recent impressive homestand, in which they went 6-1 and improved to 41-29 on the season.

Golden State’s six wins and one loss over that seven-game stretch tied its franchise record.

The victories came over the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and, most recently, the Toronto Raptors.

Golden State’s lone loss at Chase Center during that near two-week stretch came at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, who pulled off a stunning victory playing without Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray.

The momentum came at the perfect time for the Warriors battling to stay in the top-six seed in the wild Western Conference. They currently hold a 1.5-game advantage over the No. 7 Los Angeles Clippers, and they are creeping two games behind the fifth-place Memphis Grizzlies with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

After they wrapped up a successful homestand, the Warriors now will embark on a six-game road trip as the playoff race continues to tighten.

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The Canadiens Dropped A Big Point

Samuel Montembeault had a tough time in New York - Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Another night, another crucial game for the Montreal Canadiens, who were taking on the New York Islanders on Thursday night in Long Island. After an emotive day for the Habs, in which Brendan Gallagher revealed he had recently lost his mother, Della, to cancer, it was time to get back to business to keep chasing a playoff spot.

A Tight-Knit Group

While Gallagher only announced his mother’s passing late on Wednesday night, we found out today that it happened some time ago when the Canadiens were in Calgary. Speaking to the media before the game, coach Martin St-Louis revealed it happened during the Canadiens’ trip out west earlier this month. He praised his team for how they stuck together to support their teammate in his hour of need and explained he did what he could to help the veteran get through the challenging event.

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St-Louis had lost his mother during the playoffs with the New York Rangers back in 2014 as they were facing the Canadiens. While it did bring back some memories for him, he explained not everyone deals with death in the same way, adding Gallagher felt like playing helped him cope with the ordeal.

The man himself looked at peace speaking about it with the media. Asked if tonight’s game would be a challenge, he explained that it had been since he found out, but the Ottawa game was the last one before the funerals, which were held on Wednesday. As “luck” would have it, her passing happened while the team was out west, and Gallagher said the whole team took a bus and came to the Gallagher family home to spend time with them, which was an appreciated unannounced visit. 

The Need To Separate Yourself

No matter how good an opposing goaltender is, when you dominate in shots as the Canadiens did on Thursday night, you must convert some of those opportunities. This might just be one of the topics touched on the most by St-Louis in the post-game pressers: his team’s inability to separate itself from the opponent when dominating.  

No scoring is one thing, but when you feed a monster like Ilya Sorokin, shoots, and he eats them all, his team’s confidence grows exponentially. When you have a goaltender like that behind you, you’re not panicking because you’re not scoring enough; you have “the man” back there.

Montreal’s dominance in the middle frame was evident, but they couldn’t score a single goal (that wasn’t called back for offside, that is), and as a result, the Islanders, full of confidence, were able to score a second power-play goal on the night. It's no small feat for the team with the worst power play before Thursday night’s game.

Some Saves Have To Be Made

On Tuesday night, when Samuel Montembeault gave Travis Hamonic a questionable goal, his teammates bounced right back and bailed him out, but on Thursday night, there were two questionable goals.

No one’s perfect, but a goal near side like the one in the first frame and a gut punch through the goaltender in the third will always be challenging to overcome for any team. On a contender, the goaltender is better than that. The coach has said he doesn’t want to overwork his starter in the past, so could we see Jakub Dobes on Saturday? It’s not out of the question, especially since the youngster beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in the shootout back in January.

Thankfully for Montembeault, there might just be a new ghost in the rafters who travels with the Canadiens as well. For the second game in a row, Gallagher scored a goal and pounded his heart hard, dedicating an other lamplighter to Della, his mother.

The goal sent the game to overtime, but as a hockey game is not a Hollywood script; when Lane Hutson turned on the jets and lost the puck deep in the offensive zone in extra time, the Islanders got an odd-man rush, and Bo Horvat scored the game-winning goal. While the loss will be disappointing for St-Louis’ men, none of the Habs’ rivals in the playoff race won tonight, so the point lost doesn’t hurt too much.

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Warriors share positive Steph injury update before six-game road trip

Warriors share positive Steph injury update before six-game road trip originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Take a sigh of relief, Dub Nation.

An MRI on Warriors superstar Steph Curry confirmed he sustained a pelvic contusion but no structural damage, the team shared in a release Friday morning.

Curry won’t travel with the team as it begins a six-game road trip Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, and he has been ruled out of the game.

He will be re-evaluated Monday.

Curry sustained the injury during the third quarter of Golden State’s win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night after he had a scary fall under the basket. The star guard immediately grabbed his lower back in pain and went to Golden State’s locker room shortly after.

The Warriors later ruled Curry out of the game with a pelvic contusion. He finished the game with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 2 of 4 from 3-point range.

In Year 16, Curry is averaging 24.2 points on 44.7-percent shooting from the field and 39.4 percent from long-range, with 4.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.2 minutes through 60 games this season.

After the Hawks, the Warriors will face the Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers before returning home on April 4 to face the Denver Nuggets.

Entering the road trip, Golden State is 41-29 and sixth in the Western Conference after an impressive 6-1 homestand.

The Heat are 11 games under .500 and on a nine-game losing streak. The Pelicans have a 19-51 record, and the Spurs are just above them in the Western Conference standings.

Golden State has the fourth-easiest remaining schedule in the West, per Tankathon, so the Warriors likely will be extra cautious with their superstar while banking on their other leaders, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, and key role players, to step up in Curry’s indefinite absence to ensure he’s fresh and ready to go come playoff time.

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Phillies rotation is better equipped if disaster strikes in 2025

Phillies rotation is better equipped if disaster strikes in 2025 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

CLEARWATER, Fla. — It’s been said that the Phillies have one of the best top-to-bottom rotations in baseball going into the new season.

Of course, many who said it also thought the Eagles should be underdogs to Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX. As Yogi Berra noted, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Once the first pitch is thrown at Nationals Park on March 27, those rah-rah words will be worthless as Confederate money. All that will matter is how well they actually pitch.

And the best-case scenario is intoxicating.

Zack Wheeler replicates his 2024 dominance and wins his first Cy Young Award after two agonizingly close misses. Aaron Nola sidesteps the one-bad-inning syndrome that has dogged him recently and also earns Cy Young votes. Left-hander Ranger Suarez, who was scary good a year ago before a variety of ailments derailed him, goes wire-to-wire at the top of his form. Cristopher Sanchez continues to blossom. Jesus Luzardo, the signature offseason acquisition, bounces back from injuries and pitches as well as he did for the Marlins in 2022 and 2023.

But …

And you knew there was going to be a but …

Wheeler will turn 35 at the end of May. Including the playoffs, he’s pitched more than 200 innings each of the past two seasons, the first time he’s carried that workload in back-to-back years.

Nola has been remarkably consistent throughout his career but has fallen into a curious every-other-year pattern. Since his breakout season in 2018, his ERA has been much better in even-numbered years (3.07) than odd (4.32). The hope, then, is he breaks that mold in ’25.

Suarez was a beast through his first 15 starts in 2024 (10-1, 1.75) and largely ineffective after that (4-8, 6.17 in 12 starts with two trips to the injured list). He’s already dealing with back stiffness that may delay his start to the season. He’s also in his contract year, which some players embrace. And some don’t. Sanchez’ ERA also rose significantly in the second half, 3.79 compared to 2.96. And after a career year (10-10, 3.58, 208 strikeouts) for the Marlins in 2023, Luzardo was limited to 12 starts last year by elbow and lower back problems.

What will actually happen as the schedule unspools will almost certainly land somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. But write this down in ink: Every team will need more than their original five starters before it’s all over.

In 2024, MLB teams used an average of 12.87 different starting pitchers. Only the Mariners (7), Padres and Yankees (8) and Royals (9) needed fewer than 10. At the other end of the spectrum, the Dodgers, White Sox and Brewers required 17, the Angels 18 and the Marlins a staggering 20. Four full rotations’ worth.

The Phillies used an even dozen. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is relatively satisfied that the organization is well-armed to withstand the unexpected challenges that will inevitably pop up along the way.

“As confident as one can be,” he said earlier this spring while sitting in his BayCare Ballpark office. “You never can have enough options if the wrong guys get hurt. But the reality is that I think we’re about as deep as we’ve been in starting pitching since I’ve been here.”

Here are some of the potential options:

Joe Ross

The 31-year-old right-hander was used as a swingman by the Brewers last season before signing a one-year, $4 million contract with the Phillies that includes bonuses which could add another $1 million if he stays on the active roster all season. It has to be noted, though, that he had a 4.98 ERA in 10 starts for Milwaukee compared to 1.67 in 15 relief appearances.

Andrew Painter

The Phillies are bringing their touted 21-year-old uber-prospect along cautiously coming off his July 2023 Tommy John surgery but the expectation is that he’ll make his MLB debut this season.

Taijuan Walker

He was considered a longshot coming into spring training after an ugly 3-7, 7.10 stat line last season, but pitched well enough in the Grapefruit League to allow the organization to believe it could still get some value from the remaining two years and $36 million on his contract … or make him attractive to another team looking for pitching.

Which starter might get promoted from the minors when a need arises often depends on how well each candidate is performing at the time, as well as how well their next scheduled start lines up with when the big-league club has the hole to fill. “Some of our young starting pitching is starting to progress where we feel like they can give us some depth,” Dombrowski said. That category would include:

Seth Johnson

The 25-year-old acquired from Baltimore at last year’s deadline made his MLB debut last September after putting up a 1.52 ERA in August at Double A Reading. He’s really thrown the ball well,” manager Rob Thomson said early in spring training. “His one start, first in the major leagues last year in Miami (8 H, 3 BB, 9 ER in 2.1 IP), I kind of take that with a grain of salt. He’s throwing strikes while he’s been here. “

Moises Chace

The 21-year-old, who came to the Phillies along with Johnson in the deal that sent Gregory Soto to the Orioles, had 124 strikeouts in 80.1 innings at three minor league levels last season but also walked 40. If he can improve his command, he could arrive sooner rather than later.

Mick Abel

The Phillies’ first-round draft choice in 2020 hasn’t lived up to expectations to this point, mostly due to control issues. But he still has the power arm that tantalized scouts and, at 23, still has a chance to put it all together. “He’s really growing up. He gained 10, 15 pounds over the winter and he’s strong,” Thomson said.

Jean Cabrera

Was added to the 40-man roster in December after pitching in 20 games (19 starts) for High A Jersey Shore and Double A Reading last year. He struck out 110 in 106.2 innings and had a 1.21 WHIP.

Tyler Phillips

After being called up in June, he went 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in his first three starts. In his next three, though, his ERA was 13.91. But he’s experienced – 134 minor-league starts – and could be the right man at the right time if help is needed. Phillips is out of minor-league options.

Concluded Dombrowski: “I’m as comfortable where we are as you can be. But, again, you never know if it’s going to be enough.”