At 6:50 PM CT, federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela who was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022.
In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed…
Protests emerged after an ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Federal authorities have said she was shot in self-defense, however city and state leaders and other supporters of Good have maintained that her killing was unjustified.
Other postponed NBA games
The NBA has recently seen other regular-season games around the league postponed.
A matchup between the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets was rescheduled to an earlier time to accommodate for catastrophic winter storms sweeping across the country.
A Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat regular-season game at United Center in Chicago was postponed on Jan. 8 because the court was unsafe for basketball activities due to moisture on the floor from a rainy day in Chicago.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Quadir Copeland scored 20 points and had nine assists, Ven-Allen Lubin had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and N.C. State beat Pittsburgh 81-72 on Saturday.
Paul McNeil Jr. added 15 points on five 3-pointers and along with Copeland and Lubin led a surge over the final eight minutes to send the Wolfpack (14-6, 5-2 ACC) to their fourth win in five games and seventh in their last nine. Tre Holloman added 10 points.
Roman Siulepa had 15 points and 13 rebounds, Cameron Corhen 10 points and 10 rebounds, Damarco Minor 13 points and Barry Dunning Jr. 12 for the Panthers (8-12, 1-6), who have lost five of their last six.
Trailing by four, Lubin scored to lead off a 12-0 run that Copeland and McNeil combined to finish for their first lead since the start of the half. ACC preseason player of the year Darrion Williams finished with only seven points but came off the bench with four fouls after the final media timeout to help maintain the cushion with four straight points.
Nojus Indrusaitis hit a 3 to cut the lead to seven with 35 seconds remaining but Lubin finished the scoring with an alley-opp dunk.
Copeland's drive at the end of the first half had N.C. State up 34-33.
N.C. State made 22 of 27 free throws to just 11 of 25 for Pitt and outscored the Panthers 22-3 off turnovers to offset a 52-31 disadvantage on the boards.
Up next
NC State is home against Syracuse on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh is home against Wake Forest on Tuesday.
Swimming with sharks is a dangerous form of aquatics.
Skating with the Sharks once was tons of fun for San Jose's visiting NHL teams.. That is, until this year with GM Mike Grier's sextet making a serious bid for a Pacific Division playoff berth.
The Rangers, who now have become "The Loser Team Of GM's Letters," completed their four-game Western tour at the Shark Tank with an anticipated loss; this time 3-1.
With absolutely nothing to play for now but pride – not in abundance on this New York team – the Beloved Blueshirts left for home after having to rely on third-string back-up goalie Spencer Martin to get them through this whole ugly mess.
"You can't blame Martin," says The Old Scout. "The Rangers didn't get goals for Igor Shesterkin nor Jonathan Quick; so why should they get red lights for Martin?"
Based on how the Rangers seem to have given up, it likely will get murkier when they host the Bruins on Monday at The World's Most Infamous Arena – that is, infamous for this disheveled home team.
Apart from savoring what's left of the season, certain New York players are left with personal challenges.
Last night, for example, in addition to trying to win a game, there was the matter of stopping Macklin Celebrini who led the Sharks in scoring last year and this term could possibly top the NHL scoring list.
But last night The Celebrini Gang – associates include Will Smith and William Eklund – played a speedy game with Celebrini supplying the difference with two first period goals.
By contrast, the Rangers' core scorers – Breadman Panarin, Vin Trocheck, Mika Zebanejad, J.T. Miller – are getting old by NHL standards and playing old.
Worse still, the kids who are supposed to be their "future" are producing the square-root-of Chai Nothing.
Although the injury report for tomorrow’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans isn’t due for a few more hours, Spurs wing Devin Vassell confirmed to the media at practice today that will return from his 13-game absence, albeit on a minutes restriction. Regardless, in his own words, he’s just happy to be back.
Devin Vassell told us after practice this morning he will return to action Sunday against New Orleans. He’s responding here to a question about whether he will be on a minutes restriction. pic.twitter.com/28JWNRMs9G
Vassell has missed the last 13 games with an adductor strain, which is a series muscles located in the inner thigh that connect to the groin and help stabilize the pelvis. It can be a very stubborn injury that can result in a rupture if not allowed to properly heal. He had been traveling with the team for the last couple of weeks and seen practicing, and this stretch of one game in five days (the have two days off both before and after Sunday’s game) felt like an ideal target date.
In his absence, the Spurs have gone 8-5 while struggling with offense and overall consistency. (Isn’t it nice to be able to “complain” about a winning record again?) While Vassell may not be THE answer to bringing them back to their Christmas form, he is one of few Spurs who can dribble and create is own shot almost anywhere on the floor, making him an ideal release valve when a play breaks down. He has also been shooting a steady 38% from three this season, so even if he initially comes off the bench while on a minutes restriction, hopefully he can help the Spurs find more consistency there as well.
The injury report for tomorrow’s game is due at 5 PM, and the only other name to watch will be Luke Kornet, who missed Thursday’s game against the Jazz with the same “injury”, although Mitch Johnson said it was very short term and he didn’t expect him to miss much time. If he’s back and there’s no new injuries reported, this will be the healthiest the Spurs have been since December.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing their first game of the season against the Orlando Magic. They’ll see them again just a few days later in Cleveland. Let’s take a look at this initial matchup.
Where Each Team Stands
These two teams might be close in the standings, but they have been heading in opposite directions since late December.
Orlando has fallen to the bottom 10 in offense and defense during this stretch, with the seventh-worst net rating in the league. The Cavs, on the other hand, are 9th in offense, 10th in defense, and 11th in net rating since December 22nd. All stats are according to Cleaning the Glass, which removes garbage time.
That’s not to say this game will be easy. The Magic are still a quality team, and the Cavs aren’t exactly a powerhouse right now. But it’s worth knowing where each team stands entering this matchup. The Cavs have every opportunity to continue trending upwards if they take care of business against the struggling Magic.
Back to Back
The Cavs are playing in the second night of a back-to-back tonight. They are 4-3 this season when playing with no rest.
Of course, every NBA team has to deal with the same scheduling issues. But this is worth mentioning because Cleveland has struggled to show consistent effort throughout the season. This game is ripe with potential to be a stinker, considering the circumstances.
That’s no excuse if it happens. I’m only pointing out the situation. Let’s see if the Cavs can play with the appropriate energy and intensity tonight.
Evan Mobley’s Groove
Six of the last eight quarters have been lights out for Evan Mobley. He dominated Charlotte in the first half, then crushed the Kings for the entire game last night. His 27 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks were a reminder of how talented Mobley is.
Can he keep it up?
The Cavs aren’t a title contender without this version of Mobley. He’s finding his groove for the first time this season, and another dominant performance would have us feeling pretty good.
The Knicks (26*–18) take the court in Philly today, trying to avoid an 0-3 hole in their season series with the 76ers (24-19). New York comes in buoyed by Wednesday’s record-setting rout of Brooklyn, but the Sixers have already solved them twice, in fairly convincing fashion. Will New York’s wings finally neutralize Tyrese Maxey? Will their frontcourt stand up to Joel Embiid? Are our heroes truly back on track or was Wednesday’s annihilation of the Nets merely fool’s gold?
Find out at 3 p.m. EST on ABC. This is your game thread. This is Liberty Ballers. Please don’t post large photos, GIFs, or links to illegal streams in the thread. Be good ambassadors of humanity. And go Knicks!
* Should be one more, but the Cup final doesn’t count.
While the main theme of the Tiger farm system is the group of top shelf prospects leading the way, the other big story in the system is a pretty disastrous run of pitcher injuries over the last two years. They’ve invested pretty heavily in prep pitching over the last three drafts, and right now they don’t necessarily have much to show for it. It’s going to be a major problem if the organization isn’t able to produce a whole lot of major league caliber pitching in a few years. Left-hander Ethan Schiefelbein got a big bonus as their competitive balance round B (72nd overall) pick in 2024, and like the other big prep signings in 2023 and 2024, he was barely on the mound at all in 2025.
The Tigers have always had a penchant for power right-handers, though that’s not unusual, so Schiefelbein was a fairly anomalous selection for the organization. An advanced high school lefty with four solid offerings and good control for his age, but without the high velocity fastball that often gets prep pitchers big bonuses, was a bet more on physical projection than anything else. His mechanics and stable, easy delivery spoke to a high likelihood of developing into a plus command guy in time.
At his best, the California native out of Corona High School looked like his just needed to grow into major league caliber stuff without requiring the huge development in command and pitch shapes that most pitchers, especially prep pitchers, need to make to reach the major leagues. His upside wasn’t necessarily on the level of harder throwing prep picks with similar big bonuses like Owen Hall and Paul Wilson, but for a prep pitcher Schiefelbein had a distinctly high floor as well. That was augmented by the fact that he only turned 18 in April of his draft year, whereas many prep players in the draft are already 19 or close to it on draft day.
Now 19 years old, Schiefelbein suffered the same fate as most of the Tigers’ young pitchers in 2025. After extended spring camp, he made three short appearances in the Complex League, looking little changed from draft day, and then missed the rest of the season with an injury that was reportedly a shoulder strain that didn’t require surgery, but did take the rest of the summer to rehab. In Schiefelbein’s case, this isn’t too concerning, at least compared to the other major injuries plaguing the Tigers’ pitching ranks. Rather than pushing him back on the mound at Single-A ball late in the year, the young left-hander just spent his time building up his body and trying to add overall strength before embarking on what will hopefully be a successful full season debut in 2026.
Point being, while 2023 second rounder Paul Wilson won’t likely be on the mound until late this season and will turn 22 years old next December, and the Tigers other top 2024 prep picks, Owen Hall and Zach Swanson most notably, aren’t going to throw a full season until they’re 21 in 2027, Schiefelbein is still on track to get on the mound and pitch his way through the Complex and Single-A levels this season as a 20-year-old. The Tigers will be hoping it plays out that way as their prep pitcher heavy strategy in the draft is looking pretty rough at the moment.
Schiefelbein is a pretty prototypical lefty with a balanced delivery throwing from a high three-quarters arm slot. He was well known to scouts as a high school senior after pitching for Team USA, and he was pretty much unhittable in his final year of school posting a 0.27 ERA with 83 strikeouts to just 11 walks over 52 innings of work. He used a twoseam fastball, slider, knuckle curveball, circle changeup mix as of the last time we saw him on a mound and showed the ability to locate all four pitches pretty effectively. His fastball typically sat 90-91 mph though he touched 94-95 mph on multiple occasions in high school.
He looks like more of a supinator than a guy who is going to turn over nasty, horizontally breaking sinkers and changeups, so I would guess the Tigers will have him moving more to the fourseamer and perhaps try and develop a cutter as he moves through pro ball. His curve was the best secondary pitch for him as a senior, and he has good though not crazy spin rates on the breaking stuff. The slider and changeup were more crude, but he wasn’t afraid to throw them in the zone, and already spotted them well for his age.
Unfortunately, there just isn’t much more to add to his scouting report yet. Guys like Hall, Wilson, and Swanson are expected to get back on the mound this year, but only Hall is on track to start his 2026 season on time. Schiefelbein will have the stage to himself to a degree early on, and while the Tigers won’t be pushing him beyond 100 innings this early in his career, he should be ready to throw a full season by now, assuming no further injury trouble emerges.
Prep pitchers take time. Even Jackson Jobe, widely regarded as one of the most advanced and talented prep pitchers of the past decade, struggled through most of his first two seasons and dealt with a host of minor injuries before suddenly breaking out in a big way two years out from his draft day. Schiefelbein is going to be a longer term project, so this season we’ll just be looking for more muscle on his slender 6’2” frame, and for him to stay healthy and start refining his craft. That would be very welcome progress in his age 20 season. The upside here is something like Cole Hamels as the absolute best case scenario, but the more realistic hope is that Schiefelbein stays healthy as he builds himself up over the next few seasons, and hits his likeliest positive outcome as a solid 3-4 level starting pitcher.
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) leaves the field following the seventh inning of the Major League Baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians on September 24, 2025, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH.
Jose Ramirez isn’t leaving Cleveland any time soon.
The star third baseman signed a seven-year, $175 million extension to keep him with the Guardians through the 2032 season, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The deal includes $70 million in deferred compensation, per Passan.
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) leaves the field following the seventh inning of the Major League Baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians on September 24, 2025, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
His new contract adds an additional four years and $106 million to the three years, $69 million he was already owed from the 2022 extension.
Ramirez, 33, has become an icon in Cleveland since debuting in 2013, and now appears set to play his entire career with the franchise.
The Dominican Republic product first joined the team all the way back in 2009 at 17.
After a slow-ish start to his big league career, Ramirez broke out during Cleveland’s American League pennant-winning 2016 season, hitting .312/.363/.462 with 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases while receiving a few down-ballot MVP votes.
In 13 seasons, Ramirez has made seven All-Star teams and won six Silver Slugger awards.
He’s finished in the top five in the AL MVP voting five times.
Last season, Ramirez showed no signs of slowing down, slashing .283/.360/.503 with 30 long balls and a career-high 44 stolen bags.
With 15 more home runs and 13 more swipes, Ramirez will become the ninth player in MLB history to reach 300 homers and 300 stolen bases.
While they haven’t gotten over the World Series hump, the Guardians have enjoyed one of the best stretches in franchise history since Ramirez’s debut, making the playoffs in eight out of 13 seasons.
The Celtics could be without Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta when they face the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night. Brown (left hamstring tightness) and Queta (non-COVID illness) are both probable.
Brown strained his hamstring in the preseason and has been dealing with some tightness in that hamstring over the past week, which he said affected him on Friday night. Still, he tallied a 27-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double, the fifth triple-double of his career.
“I’ve been dealing with some hamstring tightness, so I didn’t have my bursts today, where they were switching the five onto me with Claxton, and he’s, in my opinion, way too far,” Brown said. “I should be able to just blow by him and do what I do, but I just didn’t have that acceleration tonight. Sometimes that can mess with your head a little bit, but I found other ways to be effective, trusted my teammates, rebounded the ball, and things like that.”
The Celtics will almost undoubtedly be exhausted when gameplay tips off on Saturday; they are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and several key players logged heavy minutes in Friday’s double overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets: Brown played 46 minutes, Payton Pritchard played 40 minutes, Sam Hauser played 39 minutes, and Anfernee Simons played 37.
Neemias Queta, meanwhile, is once again dealing with an illness that triggered two-way rookie Amari Williams to take a last-second commercial flight from Portland, Maine, to New York City. Queta ended up playing and fouling out after 28 minutes of action, tallying 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Williams ended up playing 5 minutes in the win, making several key plays in overtime to help secure the Celtics’ 130-126 victory.
“Neemy wasn’t feeling great, so I flew in today,” Williams said. “Just kind of being ready for whatever — you don’t really know.”
In addition to Queta and Brown, Jayson Tatum (Achilles rupture repair) and Josh Minott (left ankle sprain) remain sidelined.
Celtics Injury Report vs. Chicago (1/24):
Jaylen Brown – Left Hamstring Tightness – PROBABLE Josh Minott – Left Ankle Sprain – OUT Neemias Queta – Illness (Non-Covid) – PROBABLE Jayson Tatum – Right Achilles Repair – OUT
The Celtics face the Bulls for the second time this season
Last time the two teams faced off in early January, Anfernee Simons exploded for 27 points and the Celtics came away with a 115-101 victory.
The Celtics have won two straight games and 6 of their last 10 games, currently holding a 28-16 record, good for second-best in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls, meanwhile, have won three straight games and 5 of their last 10 games. They’re currently in the play-in mix with a 22-22 record.
The Bulls will be without Noa Essengue (left shoulder surgery), Zach Collins (right toe sprain), and Tre Jones (left hamstring strain).
In one of the most exciting games of the season, the Boston Celtics eked out a win over the Brooklyn Nets in a double OT thriller on Friday night. It was a back-and-forth game of runs, 22 lead changes, 13 ties, and no lead bigger than 11 points. With the Nets having lost their last game 120-66, I don’t think anyone expected this game to be as close as it was, but ultimately, the Celtics did what they needed to do to stave off a bitter defeat to one of the league’s worst teams.
With just under two and a half minutes left in regulation, Boston had a 9-point lead, but a 10-1 flurry by Brooklyn sent the game into overtime. Momentum clearly was on their side, but the Celtics managed to take a 4-point lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the period. Again, the Nets fought back, and this time it felt like they put the nail in the coffin, sinking two free throws to take a 5-point lead with just 8 seconds left. That’s when an unlikely hero emerged.
Between the free throws, Joe Mazzulla subbed Amari Williams in for Baylor Scheierman. Amari Williams, one of Boston’s second-round picks from this year’s draft who currently is on a two-way contract, was shooting around with the Maine Celtics that very same morning.
At this point in the game, Neemias Queta and Luka Garza had both fouled out. Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman, both vets with size, were sitting at the end of the bench. Joe could have gone to either of them, but instead, went with the 23-year-old rookie who flew in on a commercial flight from Portland, Maine just two hours before the game, seemingly a last-minute decision after Queta was tabbed “questionable” with an illness.
With that one substitution, Mazzulla saved the game. The Celtics opted not to use their last timeout just yet, having Sam Hauser inbound the ball from the baseline. Sam threw a perfect spiral down to Williams, who jumped up to catch the ball around the opposite free-throw line and touch-passed it over to Payton Pritchard before even landing on the ground. Payton threw a quick pump-fake to get the defender to jump, and then knocked down a massive side-step three to make it a 2-point game with just 3.9 seconds left.
Celtics using Amari Williams skillset in the clutch. Needed a tall guy to go up and catch the long pass and be able to pass that to PP good job pic.twitter.com/0yvLEzXkxu
After the game, Pritchard noted that the Celtics had practiced that exact play before, but never with Amari. Williams is known to be a great passer, though, and had practiced the play separately with the rest of the Maine squad. It serves as a testament to the system which the Celtics have set up, an amazing display of continuity and connectivity between both the NBA and G-League teams, something which fellow CelticsBlogger, Nik Land, has previously highlighted on the site. It’s also a testament to the trust Joe has in that system, as well as the players.
Speaking of trust, as we return to the game, the Celtics are still down by two at this point. Thanks to a quick foul and a missed free throw by the Nets, Boston was given a chance to tie the game, a 3-point game with three seconds left. Another smart substitution by Mazzulla, reading how the defense had set up, Joe brought in another rookie, Hugo Gonzalez. That late sub seemed to bring on a defensive miscommunication, which led to maybe the shot of the game, a wide-open corner three for Gonzalez, who nailed the shot to bring on a second overtime.
It was in this second overtime where Amari really made his mark. Williams made just his second field-goal of the season for Boston with 3.5 minutes left in the period, a tough and-one bucket to give the Celtics a three-point lead. He ran in perfect flow with Pritchard, roaming the paint to find an opening as Payton worked the defense to set Amari up.
AMARI!!! Does a good job moving with the Pritchard switching dunker spots and giving him a window to pass. AND ONE pic.twitter.com/5u6VmCESPj
Immediately after that play, Nic Claxton came barreling towards Williams on the other end of the court, trying to body his way in for a layup. Amari held his ground without fouling, though, and got extremely close to blocking the shot. While it didn’t get recorded in the stat sheet, he still made a huge defensive play, forcing Claxton to miss, and preserving the Celtics 3-point lead.
With just over 40 seconds left in the period, the Celtics held a 4-point lead. Nolan Traore, one of Brooklyn’s many rookies, was having his best game of the season, 21 points on the night. With a sneaky fake-handoff, he was able to split Baylor Scheierman and Pritchard for what seemed like an open layup, but Williams, who was guarding the corner, recognized and reacted quickly enough to slide over and swat that shot away at its peak, another massive defensive play.
That block is ultimately what sealed the game at 130-126.
Through all of that, Amari played just 5:05 minutes while making an immeasurable impact on the game. This was only his ninth game with Boston, but this performance is already having fans asking themselves, why haven’t we seen more of him?
He was thrown into the game at the end of overtime after having spent the morning with a different team, and the entire rest of the night on the bench, yet he managed to look like a vet out there. He displayed incredible maturity, and everyone took notice. After the game, Mazzulla said, “for Amari to be able to sit there the entire game and be ready to execute some of the plays that we’ve run over in practice, it’s a credit to him and the coaching staff that work with him, getting him ready to go.” Pritchard shared the same sentiment, while also adding that the Celtics are “lucky to have” Williams.
Following the double-OT thriller, the Celtics find themselves on the second night of a back-to-back, facing off against the Chicago Bulls. After 58 minutes of gritty basketball, there will be plenty of tired legs, which could very well create another opportunity for Amari to take the floor, especially considering Queta was already questionable for the game with Brooklyn.
Regardless, it seems like Brad Stevens found another stud in the draft. Williams made a very compelling case to see more minutes up in Boston, and if he’s able to string together more performances like this one, maybe he can even see that two-way converted into a standard contract before the end of the year. His future certainly looks very bright.
There’s a special kind of torture reserved for Golden State fans watching today’s game against Minnesota. Not the usual anxiety of a regular season matchup against a Western Conference contender, but something deeper. Something that cuts straight to the bone.
The Warriors face the Timberwolves today missing Jimmy Butler, who tore his ACL on Monday. Last spring, when these teams met in the playoffs, Golden State was missing Steph Curry, who suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain in Game 1 of their second-round series. The Wolves won four straight games while Curry sat, ending what could have been a magical run after the Warriors upset the 2-seed Houston Rockets in seven games.
Do you see the cruel symmetry here? The universe has decided that Curry and Butler can’t both be healthy against Minnesota. Pick one. Never both.
Jimmy Butler played 388 mins this season without either Curry or Draymond on the court. Net rating in those mins: +15.9
The ability to not just survive but win those mins was the biggest thing Butler contributed, and there is zero way to make that up elsewhere. Just sucks.
This is the nightmare Dub Nation has been living since February 2025, when Mike Dunleavy traded for Butler and signed him to a two-year extension. The move was supposed to give Curry one last legitimate co-star, one final push at extending the dynasty’s championship window. And for a glorious stretch, it worked. The Warriors went 23-7 with Butler in the lineup down the stretch last season. They looked dangerous. They looked like a team that could make noise in the playoffs.
Then Curry went down in Game 1 against the Wolves, and Butler had to carry the load alone. He tried. God knows he tried. But asking a 36-year-old to single-handedly will a team past a hungry Minnesota squad featuring Anthony Edwards at the peak of his powers was asking too much. Now the roles are reversed. Butler’s out for the season. Curry, who turns 38 in March, is alone again. And the opponent? The same damn Timberwolves who eliminated them last spring.
The pain in the Bay Area isn’t just about losing games. It’s about watching a window slam shut in slow motion. These two superstars finally found each other at this stage of their careers, bringing complementary skills and championship DNA to Chase Center. But they’ve barely played meaningful basketball together when both are healthy and locked in. Injuries keep stealing what little time they have left.
Today’s game against Minnesota should serve as a mirror for the Timberwolves themselves. Yes, they’ve got Anthony Edwards ascending into superstardom. Julius Randle definitely provides legitimate secondary scoring. They’re clearly positioned to compete in the West for years to come. But talent means nothing if you can’t stay healthy long enough to capitalize on it.
The Wolves should watch what’s happening to Golden State with the clarity of a cautionary tale. This Warriors team has two future Hall of Famers, championship experience, and organizational stability. None of it matters when your stars can’t share the court during the games that count. One freak injury, one awkward landing, one hamstring that won’t cooperate, and your entire window evaporates.
The Jimmy Butler injury is just the latest heartbreak for Warriors fans. It gets to a point… pic.twitter.com/dfFQrSmof3
Minnesota has their own fragile window. Edwards is 24 and indestructible until he’s not. Randle has battled injuries throughout his career. Rudy Gobert is 33. These moments are fleeting in the NBA, even when you think you’ve built something sustainable. The Warriors learned this lesson the hard way. Today, Curry will take the court at Target Center carrying the weight of back-to-back seasons defined by injuries at the worst possible moments. He’ll face the franchise that eliminated his team when Butler couldn’t save them alone. Now Butler can’t help him.
This is what the end of a dynasty can look like. Not a dramatic collapse or a roster teardown, but a series of cruel coincidences that prevent greatness from manifesting one final time. The talent is there. The will is there. But the health? The universe has decided that’s asking too much.
Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler won 70% of their games together …
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Fadima Tall scored 12 points and No. 20 Princeton won its 15th consecutive game, defeating Brown 58-49 on Saturday.
Princeton led 47-43 halfway through the fourth quarter before Tall and Olivia Hutcherson led a quick six-point run that gave the Tigers a 54-43 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left in the game. Skye Belker hit four free throws in the final minute to close out the victory.
Belker finished with 11 points, and Toby Nweke added 10 for Princeton (17-1, 5-0 Ivy League). Tall grabbed eight rebounds and Ashley Chea had seven assists.
Grace Arnolie, the Ivy League scoring leader at 18.6 points per game, scored 14 points and Alyssa Moreland had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears (11-6, 3-2).
After trailing 15-9 through one quarter, the Tigers went on a 12-0 tear in the second quarter, holding Brown scoreless until Moreland's layup with two minutes remaining in the half. Princeton led 24-20 at halftime.
Princeton fell behind 27-26 early in the third quarter, but a 14-0 run put them ahead 40-27 with about five minutes left. Brown was held scoreless for nearly 4 minutes before rallying to pull within six points heading into the fourth quarter.
Princeton's No. 20 ranking is the program’s highest since the end of the 2014-15 season.
While the Golden State Warriors latest pipe dream of acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James grabbed the bulk of trade rumor headlines on Friday, the Dubs were tied to another wing. Per Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Warriors, Phoenix Suns, and Milwaukee Bucks are among several teams interested in Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges. A source told Amick the Hornets are eyeing at least one, “maybe two” first-round picks in a deal.
“As for Hornets that might be on the move, veteran forward Miles Bridges is drawing significant interest, league sources told The Athletic,” Amick wrote. “The Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns are all known to be among the interested parties, though it remains to be seen if any team can compel the Hornets to give Bridges up. Charlotte’s lack of interest in the Bucks’ Kyle Kuzma is known to be an obstacle to a potential deal between those two teams. Draft capital is also a pivotal part of the conversation.“
The Warriors interest in Bridges is disheartening given his history of intimate partner violence. Bridges has been arrested multiple times after incidents with the mother of his children and has been convicted of felony domestic violence. Bridges’ first arrest led him to miss the 2022-23 NBA season before the league handed him a 30-game suspension.
However, as is unfortunately commonplace, the league has ignored red flags and allowed him to continue playing as if nothing happened.
On June 29, 2022, Bridges was arrested and charged with assaulting his then wife in front of their two children. Following the arrest, his wife publicly shared pictures on her Instagram, showing bruising and cuts all over her body. She also included an image of a medical report that listed her injuries as, “assault by strangulation, brain concussion, closed fracture of nasal bone, contusion of rib, multiple bruises, strain of neck muscle.”
Prosecutors originally charged Bridges with three felonies stemming from the incident, but Bridges reached a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid jail time. He was ultimately convicted of a single felony domestic violence charge and agreed to a long list of conditions alongside three months of probation.
It was unclear whether Bridges would play in the NBA again. After sitting out for a season and receiving a punishment from the league, he ultimately returned to the Hornets. As Bridges faced pushback for his return, she publicly defended him. However, the victim is the mother of Bridges’ two children, creating a complicated economic reality and one that later events create questions around.
“I want to apologize to everybody for the pain and embarrassment that I have caused everyone, especially my family,” Bridges said in his first public statements upon his return. “This year away I’ve used to prioritize going to therapy and becoming the best person I can be — someone that my family and everyone here can be proud of.”
Yet, in the same year that Bridges and his ex-partner made those statements, behind the scenes activity seriously undermines any idea that he underwent significant growth. One of the conditions of Bridges’ was honoring a 10-year protective order to have no contact and stay at least 100 yards away from the victim. Less than a year later, Bridges was arrested for violating that order on two separate incidents.
The first arrest warrant said Bridges had tried to contact her on social media and her phone in January of 2023, a clear violation of the order. He was then charged with multiple crimes after an incident where his former partner’s windshield was shattered in October. She originally said he threw pool balls at her window with her and their children inside. She would eventually retract and contradict her original statements, leading the charges to be dropped. Still, the fact that he was violating the protective order less than a year after his plea agreement, while claiming to have learned and reformed, raises serious questions.
Meanwhile Warriors forward Draymond Green, who attended the same college as Bridges, publicly defended him throughout the process. Green was working out with Bridges the week following his felony charges. Then, after Bridges was involved in an on-court altercation in a game with the Warriors, Green went out of his way postgame to say “Miles can do no wrong to me.” For someone as media savvy as Draymond, it’s hard to believe he did not strategically choose those words to spark reaction because of Bridges’ domestic violence history.
Bridges would be the most high-profile player the Warriors have acquired with a history of intimate partner violence under owner Joe Lacob. However, he would not be the first.
The Warriors signed Kendrick Nunn as an undrafted free agent out of Oakland University to a partially guaranteed contract and kept him in the G-League until he was signed away by the Miami Heat. Nunn had been dismissed from the University of Illinois after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery. The charges were related to an incident where a woman said Nunn struck her in the head, pushed her to the floor, and held her by the neck.
In the 2022-23 season, the Warriors signed Anthony Lamb to a two-way contract and eventually converted him to an NBA contract even though a classmate of Lamb’s had said he rape her while they were in college. Warriors general manager Bob Myers claimed the team had done due diligence related to the case, but the Warriors only contacted the NBA and other teams, never reaching out to the woman who had reported the incident to her University’s Title IX office. Steve Kerr never addressed the case directly either, and was highly complimentary of Lamb to media.
Batter will not be going to India and Sri Lanka despite fine form in the Big Bash but he does have an eye on the 2028 Olympics
Considering that Steve Smith was once observed changing gloves after facing eight balls, it is no surprise to see him throw down a gauntlet. The surprise is that he is doing so in 20-over cricket, the format where his batting has historically made the most modest impression.
It is an incongruity of Australia’s season that Smith has the hottest hand in the Big Bash League and it is too late to have him considered for an imminent World Cup with the squad selected weeks ago. Smith wanted to be there, but his bigger concern is not the T20 World Cup of 2026. It’s the Los Angeles Olympics of 2028.
