We have Game 3 of the World Series tonight. The Rays, down 2-0, are at home and will try to get back in the series against the Brewers.
The University of Houston’s own Robert Gasser pitches for the Brewers, while the Dominican Republic’s own Freddy Peralta goes for the Rays.
It is a 7 p.m. Central start on Fox.
Talk about it here.
The Brewers took both games at home to start the World Series. They take that 2-0 lead to the Trop tonight as the Brewers and Rays face off for Game 3.
The Brewers look like they’ll start Robert Gasser, a fly ball pitcher who got 1.5 fWAR in 109.1 innings and 21 appearances (20 starts). This season was his first major work in MLB; he threw only 33.2 MLB innings across 2024 and 2025. He has given up only 1 run in 9 innings across 2 starts in the 2026 postseason.
The Rays will start former Brewer Freddy Peralta tonight. He has given up only 2 runs in 16.2 innings of postseason work, which included a brief appearance out of the bullpen against Cleveland.
The game starts at 7:00pm US Central time. You can watch on FOX/FOX ONE or listen on ESPN Radio.
Lineups:
A straightforward and fulfilling series of blog posts might involve looking at the top 5 moments from a given season, but this is McCovey Chronicles and I’m me, so, let’s look at the top 5 stories from this dreadful series. Whereas a moment encapsulates a series of events — or a single event! — and its commensurate emotion(s), a story is a range of events and a host of emotions that creates a narrative. The San Francisco Giants wanted to tell a certain story in 2026 but instead let’s look at the one they actually told.
We’ll start with the aspect of the roster that heralded the 2026 team’s downfall. That area of the roster that was the “key offseason target” last year netted a group that included Tyler Mahler and Adrian Houser for the rotation and, um, some guys for the bullpen: Sam Hentges, Jason Foley, Reiver Sanmartin, Caleb Kilian, Rowan Wick, and Ryan Borucki. For some, this list might be uninspiring. For the Giants, it was basically a perfectly executed plan:
“We’re most definitely open to trying to add some arms that we think are going to help us on the starting side and the bullpen side.”
Now, why did the Giants think that this group would help? Well, add it all up, and Mahler and Houser were basically worth 4 WAR combined. Hentges and Foley were both ~1.5-WAR relievers at their peaks (2023) — adding those into the mix basically put a possible floor at where the pitching staff ended 2025 (+15.8 fWAR), and then it would be a matter of younger players taking a step forward.
That this group wound up amounted to just about 2 WAR total (3.5-WAR gap) is a good reason why the staff finished at just 9.8 fWAR in value after the season. The other, of course, is that a lot of players failed to develop or simply slid into disaster territory (Ryan Walker). Logan Webb missing time with injury and missing his projected WAR by maybe 1.5 is another factor, along with all those other injuries, but the point is: the Giants thought they had a good plan that just didn’t work out.
It’s not exactly arrogance, but it does smack of something personality-driven. It was pretty clear from the outside looking in that their offseason decisions signaled some sort of shrug or fingers crossed theme or simply being comfortable with the results of a Lotto scratcher, but it does seem like the Giants — led by Buster Posey, of course — seems to be constructing a front office pitching philosophy from first principles. Maybe it’s the hubris of thinking that all the collective knowledge from the Moneyball era is bunk or maybe it’s the result of really coming to underst and that “baseball is hard,” but if a dumb, worthless pile of loser blogger nonsense like me could see that Tyler Mahle, Adrian Houser, and some TJ recovery guys weren’t going to bolster a pitching staff and that relying on development success was a risky proposition in the face of a decade of relative non-success and that expecting things to improve significantly under the direction of a neophyte major league coaching staff was a bad idea, then I can only draw the conclusion that they didn’t see something I didn’t, they thought something different about their own decision-making.
Could I have been wrong, too? Well, sure, I often am; but, all I was doing was looking at numbers and some basic context and not imagining that the floor was something different from what was plainly obvious. And, I think Buster Posey’s comments about this offseason suggest that I am more right for viewing the situation this way all along than I was wrong. Andrew Baggarly wrote up the team’s approach to the offseason from the pitching-side of the equation (a serendipitous discovery this morning as I was working on this piece) and put this quote from Posey in his article for The Athletic:
“So with the way the game’s changed, to me, we have to make an effort to increase stuff in our system and get it to the big-league level.
Again, this feels like constructing a pitching staff from first principles.
Perhaps this is just a necessary evil or built-in aspect of a first-time org leader, but, yeah. Pitchers have been throwing harder for a while now. Logan Webb has stood out as an exception to that, which is why he’s always been remarkable. But, yeah, Carlos Rodon, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto — why else would the Giants be extremely interested in them? Hard-throwing strikeout guys.
Baggarly’s piece does verify something that was easy to suspect while watching the team pitch this season: confusion and discoordination when it came to messaging and emphasis.
It took weeks of discussions in October to identify deeper issues that included a muddled hierarchy among the pitching coaches under a manager, Vitello, who was navigating a 162-game season for the first time.
“When we sat back and analyzed the way the group operated this year, we all felt there needed to be a clearer chain of command,” Posey said. “That’s where we’re going to start: It’s going to flow through Meccage and we need these guys to work as a team. […] if we have to sit and meet as a group for 15 or 20 minutes each day to get everybody on the same page, and they can argue through everything there is to argue, that’s what we’re gonna do. That was not done daily last year.
So, the Giants had part of a plan. It’s hard not to imagine that this disorganization and limited imagination on the pitching side stayed in that group, and that’s why this was one of the key storylines of the season. Of course, the biggest incident of the season involved the pitching staff, too, so, between that and Posey’s comments in The Athletic piece and the simple matter of their dreadful on-field performance (eighth-worst team ERA and sixth-worst WAR total of the Oracle Park era).
The thing about “stuff” is that it’s expensive if you don’t develop it internally. The Giants’ 7.58 K/9 (the easiest marker of stuff) ranks 17th out of 27 seasons at Oracle Park, right between 2017 (7.65) and 2014 (7.52), right between the eras where you couldn’t have a bunch of groundballers (2017) and you could (2014). The 3.75 BB/9 is the third-worst of the Oracle Park era, after only 2008 (4.07) and 2000 (3.88). And their player development seemed to be focused on producing more Logan Webbs than strikeout guys before lucking into Jackson Flora, and so course-correcting seems like a really tall task, especially in a single offseason.
We’ll see how the Cleveland Cavaliers stack up against a Minnesota Timberwolves team that looked like a title contender at the start of the season.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have watched as 20+ point leads have vanished in three of their last six games, dating back to last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. It’s a troubling trend that has to be addressed — even if they aren’t the only team in the league that’s been affected.
“It happens,” said Kenny Atkinson. “The timing hasn’t been great, but just in general, I would say with all of the variance in the way the NBA is played today — it’s something we had to address and keep talking about it.”
Atkinson isn’t wrong. Just two days before the Cavs blew a 29-point lead to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics suffered a similar fate in their opening game against Detroit. For all of Cleveland’s pain from Game 1 of the Conference Finals versus New York, the Spurs are feeling even worse about their Game 4 collapse in the Finals.
Blown leads happen across sports. It’s even worse in basketball now that three-point variance and possesion-maxxing has become the norm. Cleveland has just been on the wrong end of the stick multiple games in a row.
“We showed the guys some clips of the World Cup of England when they had that lead against Argentina — they were pushing forward, being aggressive, and then they just kind of went back,” said Atkinson. “The message to the guys was we have to keep attacking.”
Building a lead is difficult. Maintaining one is supposed to be the easy part. But Atkinson believes that big leads can cause complacency — and the key to staying in front is not taking your foot off the gas.
“Your natural inclination is to hold back and slow down… but I think every team makes that mistake; they become passive when you have to keep attacking.”
Of course, above all else, you have to keep playing good basketball.
Cleveland’s recent collapses have happened on the basketball court, not in their own heads. Mental toughness is an intangible skill. Turnovers and offensive rebounds are the manifestation of this. They go hand-in-hand, and it begins with staying committed to the plan and aggression that gave you the lead to begin with.
“I think we know what hurts leads,” said Atkinson. “Turnovers, the other team’s offensive rebounding, and of course, the three-point variance — so those are the things we can control, but also switch the mentality to be more aggressive.”
Golden State Warriors fans are already pushing the panic button after their team’s 0-3 to start the season.
Four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t think the Warriors’ issues will improve any time soon, given his harsh comments during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” show on Monday.
“I don’t feel like the the front office is is believing in Steph the way everybody in the world believes in Steph. And I think the evidence is pretty apparent,” Cousins, who played with the Warriors during the 2018-19 season, said.
“I’ll go on the record and say I think [Warriors GM Mike] Dunleavy [Jr.] has done a s—t job, as far as putting a roster around Steph Curry. Why this guy still has a job, I’ll never know,” he added.
Boogie Cousins GOES OFF on the Golden State Warriors
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) October 26, 2026
"Dunleavy has done a sh*t job putting a roster around Steph Curry."@MichelleDBeadle | @boogiecousins | @TeamLou23pic.twitter.com/BmpFTLMChm
“I think he’s done a horrible job as far as putting a good group around him; they’re still running the same outdated system, as far as going extremely small. I think the other night, Steve Kerr put in a lineup and the tallest guy on the floor was 6’6″. It just doesn’t work!” Cousins continued.
It doesn’t work anymore. It doesn’t work. The system is outdated,” he said before adding that it “sucks” Curry’s career is ending this way.
Cousins voiced what many Warriors fans have been feeling. Especially right now, given how poorly the team has looked in the first week or so of the season.
If you have YoutubeTV, you’re probably split screening this one. Eagles on one side, World Series on the other.
Let’s talk about it.
The Dallas Mavericks (1-2) are on the road to start the week, facing off against the Miami Heat (0-3) in a nationally televised game on NBA TV (if you consider that national television). The Mavericks are coming off a loss to the San Antonio Spurs that had a final score that looked way worse than most of the game felt. The Heat lost to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday and are still seeking their first win of the season. Here are the main things to know:
In surprising injury news, Cooper Flagg is listed as probable after leaving the Indiana Pacer game with a shoulder injury that was initially expected to cost him several games. Kyrie Irving will also return to the court following a scheduled rest (ACL recovery). Dereck Lively is still out. Santi Aldama will miss this game as well as he recovers from knee surgery. Naji Marshall is a surprise addition to the reporting, missing the game with an illness. Caleb Martin will also miss the game as he’s still dealing with a thumb sprain. The Miami Heat aren’t missing anyone.
This has the makings of a very entertaining game. The Heat look like they have no idea how to play around Giannis and haven’t shown any real signs of improvement. They need a win or this is going to get weird. Dallas, on the other hand, is playing free. They took it to the Spurs for nearly three quarters before the Western Conference champions woke up. Dallas thumped the Pacers the night before. The team looks like they’re having fun. So that’s what I expect from this game as well.
Since you’re here checking out this post, it’s for one of two reasons.
If you’re part of the former, please consider signing up for an account. You get way fewer ads, and you can comment! If you’re part of the latter group: GO GET THE APP. I’m serious. The app has some real-time features specifically for game threads like this one and you can comment and get notified really, really easily. It’s part of what’s keeping this whole series of sites going. So go do it for us and in doing so, you’ll see why the experience is simply better.
Consider joining me on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube; I will be going live tonight, and I need y’all to join and participate!
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Despite the stated desire from coach Pete DeBoer to be careful with Matthew Schaefer’s workload, the 19-year-old’s minutes are up by over 90 seconds per game from last season, enough that he’s now fourth in the league at an eye-popping 26:13 per night.
That, however, is not an issue for either Schaefer or the Islanders, albeit for different reasons.
For Schaefer’s part, he simply likes playing, feels his body is fine and is never going to ask for fewer minutes.
And for the Islanders’ part, DeBoer pointed at the breakdown of those minutes — namely, taking Schaefer off the penalty kill this season — as the team’s way of managing him, rather than the raw number.
“I think 26 minutes isn’t necessarily all the same type of minutes,” DeBoer said after the Islanders practiced on Monday at Bridgestone Arena. “If you’re defending all night, if you’re killing penalties, those are different minutes [than] power play and offensive situations, things like that.”
Through Schaefer’s first year and change in the NHL, there’s been little reason to suspect that his workload has had a massive effect on his day-to-day output. He’s yet to experience an extended slump in the NHL, and doesn’t tend to fade late in games, even when the Islanders lean on him heavily.
To the extent there’s a worry, it’s less about the here and now and more that the mileage Schaefer accumulates as a teenager could affect him in the future.
“Obviously sometimes [DeBoer] will check in and be like, make sure you’re resting the body, taking the option you need and things like that,” Schaefer told The Post. “At the end of the day, I think he knows I love to be out there. I’m still young, so try to burn some energy out there. It’s fun.”
The Islanders moved Matias Maccelli (lower body) and Calum Ritchie (lower body) to injured reserve, clearing two roster spots with which they called up Kashawn Aitcheson and Pierre Engvall as paper transactions.
Neither Aitcheson nor Engvall are expected to play or even to join the team, but adding their cap hits allows the Islanders to get closer to the salary cap ceiling and maximize their long-term injury pool, if and when Alexander Romanov is added to LTIR. Paper transactions in the opposite direction — that is, sending a player down on paper to maximize cap accrual — has been legislated out of the NHL, but doing so with a call-up is still allowed.
Moving to IR doesn’t affect the time frame for Maccelli or Ritchie, as both have already missed the required seven days.
Maccelli is expected to begin skating on his own Tuesday.
Selections questions are once again on everyone’s tongue as Australia appears set to ring the changes for the deciding Test against South Africa in Cape Town, starting Tuesday night.
The controversies and speculation are aplenty as the Milwaukee Brewers take a two-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays into Game 3 of the World Series. For the third time this postseason, the Brewers take the road having won the first two games of the series, with a chance to put the most pressure possible on their opponent.
Since 2018, when the rebuild was complete, the World Series was on everyone’s mind. During each run between then and now, only a few players stayed; one of those was Freddy Peralta. Most people had the belief that he was going to be the arm to start Game 1 of the World Series for the Brewers; instead, it’s Game 3 for the Rays.
While the former ace facing his former team is heartfelt and bittersweet, the Brewers have a chance to quiet Tropicana Field…or will it be loud, filled with Brewers faithful looking to witness their club win their first World Series? As ticket prices rose in Milwaukee, they fell in Tampa Bay. Wisconsinites have teamed together, as some reports have said that nearly 30% of the tickets sold for Games 3 & 4 were from The Good Land.
Tonight, the sweet-swinging Brewers will look to continue their postseason success as they enter riding a season-high seven-game winning streak. While the Rays tried to get sneaky with their rotation plans, it has yet to faze the Brewers offense as they have taken down Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez. Tonight, against their old friend, they’ll have their hands full. The first meeting between the two has already occurred, and it wasn’t a pleasant homecoming for Peralta, as he allowed seven runs on eight hits, two home runs, and a pair of walks on July 20 as a New York Met.
To further the confidence of the Brewers’ bats against Peralta, each player in the lineup has at least one hit in their career against him, with William Contreras leading the way batting .500 with a couple of RBIs, and Jackson Chourio batting .444 with an RBI and two stolen bases.
As has been the case in each of the last three games that the Brewers have been in, Robert Gasser is handed the ball in an attempt to provide some length and relief to the bullpen. Perhaps the biggest question mark entering the postseason has become the biggest surprise, as Gasser has allowed just one run through nine innings pitched. He’s facing a lineup that hasn’t seen a ton of him, nor had a lot of success, as five of the nine starters for the Rays haven’t recorded a hit.
The biggest storyline for the Rays lineup entering play tonight is that manager Kevin Cash has benched Jonathan Aranda for the first time this postseason, despite having reached base in five of his eight World Series plate appearances. Now, it’s expected that he’ll make an appearance in the lineup once Gasser leaves the mound, but the biggest thing that has gone right for the Rays offense this World Series is now gone. Replacing Aranda is Ryan Vilade, whom the Brewers have seen twice as he’s struck out once.
For the first time since 2021, the Brewers will play a postseason game on the East Coast, as first pitch is slated for 7 p.m. CT. You’ll be able to watch the game on FOX and listen to the game on WTMJ.
The gruesome lower-leg injury that led to Oklahoma City Thunder standout Jalen Williams being taken off the court on a stretcher on Sunday, Oct. 25, will cost him a significant portion, if not all, of the 2026-27 NBA season.
Williams suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle in his left leg, Thunder general manager Sam Presti confirmed in a Monday, Oct. 26, press conference. Presti said the injury will require surgery but did not provide a timeline for Williams' potential return to the team.
Presti called the injury one that's more associated with contact sports like football, but added that he'd been in contact with Williams, who was determined to move forward.
"He's as tough as they come. He's an elite competitor," Presti said. "Even last night, just miraculous in terms of his outlook in the way he's looking forward to attacking this. And, you know, we're going to be with him the entire way."
Of the injury, Presti said, "things could have been a lot worse." Presti evoked past injuries that have cost the team's stars significant time, including Williams battling multiple injuries last season and Chet Holmgren losing his rookie season to a foot injury.
Presti said "he hadn't given a lot of thought" to any roster moves in response to the loss of a key player this early in the season. Williams is a career 17.9 point-per-game player who made the NBA All-Star Game in his last healthy season in 2024-25.
Presti also gave an update on fourth-year guard Cason Wallace, who suffered a left labral tear in his shoulder that will require surgery and sideline one of the Thunder's top defenders for an undetermined amount of time.
Wallace was attempting to fight through a screen early in the Oct. 25 game when he grabbed his shoulder area in pain and was escorted off the court.
Wallace finished eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting in the 2025-26 season.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, this type of tear can take up to six to 12 months of recovery following surgery.
Oklahoma City will be short-handed for their game against Phoenix Suns Monday at Paycom Center. While Williams and Wallace are out indefinitely, Chet Holmgren (right patellar tendinitis) is also sitting out the home game.
The absence of Holmgren could be precautionary, considering it’s the second night of a back-to-back stretch for the Thunder. He missed all five of the Thunder’s preseason games due in part to a quad contusion.
Phoenix Suns coach Jordan Ott addressed Williams' injury before his team took the court against the Thunder Monday night, telling reporters he and his staff saw the play because they were watching the game and scouting the team they were playing next.
"Feel for any athlete that's worked their way back, and tried to stay healthy ... Just unfortunate news, but this is sports," Ott said. "Got to go out and play, play the next game. We know that they'll bring a lot of energy to this one. We gotta match it." — Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic
"We all saw it because we were watching the game, scouting and playing next. It was a big topic amongst us at shootaround. At the time we didn't know exactly what it was or the extent was."
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) October 27, 2026
Suns coach Jordan Ott on OKC forward Jalen Williams, who will undergo surgery after… pic.twitter.com/qo6QuaC4WH
Williams' injury occurred after an awkward landing under the basket with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter in the Thunder's 108-101 home victory over the Clippers.
Williams went up for a dunk at the 1:15 mark in the fourth quarter and was fouled by Clippers guard Kris Dunn, who came in hard from behind while Derrick Jones Jr. was guarding Williams underneath.
Williams' left foot rolled under his leg upon landing, and it was immediately clear that he had suffered a significant injury. A team official was seen coming over to place a towel over Williams' leg as he was quickly attended to by an athletic trainer, while Thunder stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren reacted in shock nearby.
The tone in Paycom Center immediately changed in the arena as members of both teams began to turn away, while Thunder players could be seen getting emotional over the scene.
OH NO 💔
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 26, 2026
Jalen Williams suffers a serious lower-leg injury after an awkward landing.
pic.twitter.com/94x3rJvUn1
The crowd was heard chanting "JDub" before the 25-year-old All-Star was carted off the court on a stretcher. He was seen giving two thumbs up to the fans in the arena.
Known as a versatile two-way player, Williams won a championship with the Thunder in 2025 and was named to the All-NBA third team and the All-Defensive second team for the 2024-25 season. Williams is one of Oklahoma City's premier ball handlers and offensive engines, and he is often the primary creator when two-time and defending NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the bench.
"I just feel bad for him," Gilgeous-Alexander said, while fighting tears in his postgame interview. "... We just got to hold the fort down until he comes back."
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was asked for the status of injured players, including Williams, after the game. Daigneault said that Williams' injury "speaks for itself."
“Those are tough, man," Daigneault said when talking about the feeling in the locker room. "We're not doing great.”
The coach thanked the fans for their support of Williams and chanting his name after the injury.
“I think anybody that's in the arena can empathize with that," Daigneault said. "So appreciate our fans for doing so.”
The fibula is the smaller bone in the lower leg, and a fracture of that bone is considered less serious than a break to the larger tibia, which supports the body's weight. According to the Cleveland Clinic, recovery from a fibula fracture can vary depending on the type of break, but often involves recovery of six to eight weeks for the bone to heal completely, followed by a period of physical therapy.
Fibula fractures don't typically cause long-term complications and usually heal faster than other leg fractures because the fibula doesn't support your weight when you stand and move.
The fibula fracture sounds bad, but the ankle dislocation could be more concerning for Williams' future. According to Cleveland Clinic, the dislocation could "take several months or longer to heal," and people who dislocate a joint are more likely to dislocate it again in the future. Williams will likely need to wear a protective brace throughout his playing career to reduce risk of future dislocation.
While certainly not something Thunder coaches, executives, players and staff are paying attention to, the betting markets also took notice of the major injuries to Williams and Wallace – both of whom will require surgery and extended time off.
As of the evening of Monday, Oct. 26, the Thunder's 2027 NBA championship odds lengthened to +347 from +238 on Oct. 24, per BetFinder’s consensus. In implied probability – the likelihood of winning suggested by betting odds – Oklahoma City fell 7.2 percentage points from 29.6% to 22.4%. That’s the largest peak-to-trough decline of any NBA team in BetFinder data dating to July 7.
That shift dropped Oklahoma City behind San Antonio, which became the new championship favorite at +288.
Butt bettors still give the Thunder a just over one-in-five shot at the title, per implied probability. — Jared Belby
Williams was limited to just 33 regular-season games and five playoff appearances during the 2025-26 season as he recovered from two wrist surgeries and suffered multiple hamstring strains.
Williams has dealt with lower body injuries throughout his career, including ankle injuries in 2024 and hip injuries in early 2025. He also had a previous wrist injury in 2023.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thunder lose starters Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace to injuries requiring surgery
The Washington Wizards play their 2nd straight game on the road. Tonight they will face the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. tonight. Watch the game on the Monumental Sports Network.
Go Wizards!
SALT LAKE CITY — The statistic that Austin Reaves was told after the Lakers’ comeback win over the Jazz was so astounding that the star guard was taken aback.
“Jesus Christ,” Reaves said. “I didn’t know it was that bad.”
The stat that drew that reaction: The Jazz grabbed 21 more rebounds than the Lakers on Sunday at Delta Center.
The hosts grabbed six more defensive rebounds (32-26), but the real advantage came on the offensive glass.
The Jazz nabbed 15 more offensive rebounds (20-5) than the Lakers, leading to a 34-11 advantage in second-chance points.
Ace Bailey had more offensive rebounds (six) than the Lakers did as a team.
Luka Doncic, who was Bailey’s primary defender, took blame for the Jazz wing’s early domination on the boards, with the former Rutgers star grabbing five offensive rebounds in the first quarter.
“We just didn’t box out sometimes,” Doncic said. “I think Ace Bailey got like three offensive rebounds on me so that was my bad point.
But the struggles on the glass against the Jazz weren’t isolated to Sunday.
The Lakers have been a putrid defensive rebounding team since the moment this group first stepped on a court together.
It was a significant preseason talking point.
They gave up 13 offensive rebounds in their preseason-opening win over the Kings on Oct. 5 en route to ranking 23rd in defensive rebounding rate among all NBA teams during the preseason.
And they’ve been even worse to start the regular season, ranking second-to-last in defensive rebounding.
There was a hope that Walker Kessler, who played in just two of the five preseason games, would be a difference-maker on the glass.
That hasn’t been the case so far, with the Lakers struggling on the defensive boards regardless of who’s on the floor.
“Box out,” coach JJ Redick responded when asked how the Lakers can improve.
Reaves echoed Redick.
“It’s as simple as box out, but I’ve tried to box out a couple times and the ball just goes over my head and I can’t grab it,” he said. “I guess I need to learn to jump higher. I don’t know.”
Whatever the solution is, the Lakers need to find it.
Hot shooting has carried them to a 3-0 start, but they can’t expect to turn into the championship-caliber team they’re setting out to be if they’re being doubled up in second-chance points on a nightly basis. Opponents are averaging 23 second-chance points compared to the Lakers’ 11.3 so far,
The Lakers were focused on cleaning up their turnover struggles entering the weekend.
And they did that, at least for one game, by only recording 10 giveaways against the Jazz
But they still have another weakness to address.
And if they don’t fix it, it’s only a matter of time until it comes back to bite them in a more significant way.
Batter aiming for Newlands return after injuring neck in second Test
Marnus Labuschagne set to keep place; Nic Maddinson dropped
Australia will give key batter Steve Smith as much time as possible to prove his fitness ahead of the third and final Test against South Africa at Newlands, captain Pat Cummins said.
Smith injured his neck in South Africa’s innings and 31-run victory in the second Test in Gqeberha which levelled the series at 1-1 going into the decider in Cape Town starting on Tuesday.
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