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🚨 Headlines
🎾 Novak hires Andy: Novak Djokovic has appointed his former rival, Andy Murray, to his teaching crew as he prepares for the 2025 Australian Open.
🏀 Streak snapped: UCLA girls’s hoops took down top-ranked South Carolina, 77-62, to snap their 43-game successful streak.
⛳️ Richest season ever: Jeeno Thitikul gained the $4 million first-place prize on the Tour Championship to complete the season with $6.06 million in official cash, a brand new LPGA document.
🇮🇪 McGregor discovered liable: MMA fighter Connor McGregor was discovered accountable for sexual assault in a civil case in Dublin and should pay his accuser $257,000 in damages.
⚽️ MLS Cup Playoffs: After which there have been 4. Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle will meet within the West Remaining; Orlando Metropolis and New York Purple Bulls will meet within the East Remaining.
🏈 NFL Sunday: Barkley runs wild (once more)
Saquon Barkley for MVP? The Eagles operating again added to his exceptional season with 255 dashing yards (ninth-most ever) in Sunday night time’s 37-20 win over the Rams.
Again-to-back: Barkley is the primary participant to have 500+ scrimmage yards over a two-game span since Walter Payton in November 1977.
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This week: 26 carries, 255 yards, 2 TD; 4 receptions, 47 yards
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Final week: 26 carries, 146 yards, 2 TD; 2 receptions, 52 yards
By the numbers: Barkley (1,392 yards by means of 11 video games) is on tempo to turn into the ninth member of the two,000 yards membership. 4 of the eight present members gained MVP that yr (O.J. Simpson in 1973, Barry Sanders in 1997, Terrell Davis in 1998, Adrian Peterson in 2012).
From Yahoo Sports activities’ Matt Harmon…
The Eagles domesticate such an excellent dashing ecosystem. We have seen a number of totally different backs have career-best years in Philly alongside Jalen Hurts and behind this offensive line the final three seasons.
The present-era Eagles have by no means employed a operating again like Saquon Barkley, who can take over a sport and launch this ecosystem into the stratosphere. He makes the crew proper when the scheme is incorrect.
I simply do not understand how we’re nonetheless having the identical conversations about operating again worth once we’ve seen an elite again like this weaponize an already nice dashing assault. He isn’t even the one one doing it; have a look at 2022-23 Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco and Derrick Henry in Baltimore.
In the meantime, in New Jersey: The Giants misplaced 30-7 to the Buccaneers of their first sport since releasing QB Daniel Jones, the participant they selected over Barkley in a brainless determination eternally immortalized on “Arduous Knocks.” They’re now 2-9 and have not held a lead for the reason that Mets had been tied 1-1 within the NLDS… 50 days in the past.
Across the league:
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Cowboys 34, Commanders 26: Dallas and Washington mixed for 5 touchdowns within the remaining 5 minutes of this bonkers affair, which featured two missed additional factors, two missed discipline objectives, two kick return TDs, a blocked discipline objective and a blocked punt.
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Chiefs 30, Panthers 27: Kansas Metropolis eked out a win due to an enormous sport from Patrick Mahomes (269 yards, 3 TD, 60 rush yards) and a walk-off discipline objective from rookie Spencer Shrader. Eight of the Chiefs’ 10 wins have come by a single rating.
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Vikings 30, Bears 27 (OT): Sam Darnold (330 yards, 2 TD) and a trio of gamers with over 100 scrimmage yards (Aaron Jones, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson) handed the Bears their fifth straight loss, additionally on a walk-off discipline objective.
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Titans 32, Texans 27: Getting into Sunday, groups that took 8+ sacks and dedicated 3+ turnovers had been 6-145 within the Tremendous Bowl period. They’re now 7-145 after Tennessee surprised first-place Houston on the street.
Extra scores: Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6 | Lions 24, Colts 6 | Dolphins 34, Patriots 15 | Broncos 29, Raiders 19 | Packers 38, 49ers 10
🏀 The demise of the mid-range
The next relies on Tom Haberstroh’s newest Yahoo Sports activities characteristic: The NBA’s ‘shot desert’ downside is actual. May 3-point dunks save us?
There’s a rising grumble across the NBA that the game is struggling — and TV rankings are tumbling — as a result of the mathematics says gamers ought to hearth up 3s at a excessive price, typically on the expense of dunks and different extra thrilling basketball performs.
What they’re saying: On opening night time, after the Celtics launched 61 3-pointers in a sleepy rout over the Knicks, FS1’s Nick Wright, in a clip that generated tens of millions of views on X, lamented the trendy taking part in model and referred to as for the league to alter its guidelines:
“The NBA is at its greatest when dudes are flying over individuals, assembly ’em on the rim. That’s when it is at its greatest tv product. A bunch of finesse guys hanging out on the 3-point line hoisting 30-footers will not be good TV.”
How did we get right here? The NBA’s downside is not simply the rise of 3-pointers; it is the “sameness” that has come consequently. Everybody’s capturing the identical rattling pictures, and all of it traces again to the demise of the mid-range — an space of the courtroom that was deserted by analytically-driven basketball minds trying to squeeze each morsel of effectivity out of each possession.
Then vs. now: In 1996-97, the primary season of shot-location knowledge, the Michael Jordan-led Bulls paced the NBA with 41.5 mid-range pictures per sport. This season, the Kings lead the league with 14.1 makes an attempt, and most groups are within the single digits. The craziest half? It is gotten to the purpose the place groups will go total video games with out scoring from the mid-range space in any respect…
The rise of “desert video games”: This season, there have been 24 cases wherein a crew did not rating a single level within the mid-range space. For many years, we by no means noticed one such sport — at the same time as lately as 2010-11. Then one. Then two. Then an enormous bounce to 64 (impressed by the Moreyball Rockets, who gained 65 video games the yr earlier than). Then, a plateau round 80 such video games. This season, we’re on monitor for 136 (!!). There is a “desert sport” nearly each night time now.
This is Tom…
It is a radical change in technique that has transpired proper earlier than our eyes. When Stephen Curry got here into the league in 2009, we went your entire season with out seeing a desert sport. Curry was the transcendent shooter that lit the fireplace. James Harden/Moreyball fanned the flames. The Celtics poured gasoline on it. Now it is wildfire spreading throughout the league.
Monitor it subsequent time you watch an NBA sport. Discover how groups hardly ever take the open mid-range shot, opting as a substitute to drive into the paint and kick. Drive and kick. Drive and kick. Till an open 3 is created. Or the rim protectors cry, “Uncle.”
Preserve studying: May 3-point dunks save us?
🇺🇸 Images throughout America
Norman, Oklahoma — Unranked Oklahoma surprised No. 7 Alabama, 24-3, handy the Tide their first three-loss season since 2010. It was one in all 4 enormous upsets on Saturday that would drastically shake up the CFP rankings.
Kansas Metropolis — The Orlando Satisfaction gained their first NWSL championship on Saturday, beating the Washington Spirit, 1-0, to cap the most effective season in league historical past.
Las Vegas — Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen clinched his fourth straight F1 title with a fifth-place end at Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton completed 1-2 in Sin Metropolis, whereas Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the rostrum.
🌎 Images world wide
Manchester, England — Tottenham blanked Manchester Metropolis, 4-0, to ship the reigning champs’ season even additional off the rails. Metropolis have now misplaced 5 straight matches, and Saturday’s four-goal defeat was the worst of Pep Guardiola’s managerial profession.
Málaga, Spain — World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Italy defeated the Netherlands on Sunday to win their second straight Davis Cup — 4 days after the Italian girls gained the Billie Jean King Cup.
Gurgl, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending 99th World Cup win on Saturday, giving her a shot to succeed in a fair 100 subsequent week on her residence snow in Vermont.
📆 Nov. 25, 2020: Caitlin’s faculty debut
4 years in the past immediately, Caitlin Clark made her Iowa debut, starting one of many best careers in faculty hoops historical past.
Then vs. now: Clark’s debut got here throughout COVID, so the introduced crowd for Iowa’s 96-81 win over Northern Iowa was simply 365 individuals. 4 years later, her Indiana Fever set the WNBA’s single-season residence attendance document (340,715 followers), and her remaining regular-season sport towards the Mystics had the most important crowd in league historical past (20,711).
A profession to recollect: Clark was a two-time Nationwide Participant of the Yr, three-time unanimous first-team All-American, and he or she led the Hawkeyes to a 109-30 document and back-to-back nationwide championship video games.
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Freshman: 26.6 pts, 5.9 reb, 7.1 ast, 1.3 stl, 3.9 threes per sport
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Sophomore: 27.0 pts, 8.0 reb, 8.0 ast, 1.5 stl, 2.8 threes per sport
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Junior: 27.8 pts, 7.1 reb, 8.6 ast, 1.5 stl, 3.7 threes per sport
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Senior: 31.6 pts, 7.4 reb, 8.9 ast, 1.7 stl, 5.2 threes per sport
By the numbers: Clark’s 3,951 factors are essentially the most in D1 historical past (males or girls), her 548 threes are essentially the most ever by a girl, and her 1,144 assists are the third-most. She scored fewer than 10 factors simply as soon as in 139 video games, and had almost as many 40-point video games (13) as video games with fewer than 20 factors (15).
📺 Watchlist: The Harbaugh Bowl
The Chargers host the Ravens tonight* (8:15pm, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) in a matchup of seemingly AFC playoff groups coached by brothers.
Household affair: John Harbaugh is 2-0 towards his little brother, Jim, together with a 34-31 win in Tremendous Bowl XLVII. The third version of the “Harbaugh Bowl” can be notably particular for the brothers: immediately simply so occurs to be their mother and father’, Jack and Jackie’s, marriage ceremony anniversary.
Extra to observe:
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🏀 NBA: Mavericks at Hawks (7:30pm, NBA); Thunder at Kings (10pm, NBA)
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🏀 NCAAM: No. 2 UConn vs. Memphis (2:30pm, ESPN2); No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 5 Iowa State (9pm, ESPNU); No. 10 UNC vs. Dayton (11:30pm, ESPN2) … Maui Invitational.
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🏀 NCAAW: No. 16 North Carolina vs. Indiana (12pm, ESPN2) … Battle 4 Atlantis championship within the Bahamas.
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⚽️ Premier League: Newcastle vs. West Ham (3pm, USA)
*Be part of the dialogue: The Yahoo Sports activities app has a brand new Discussions characteristic, the place you may chat with fellow followers and work together with Yahoo consultants throughout dwell video games. Two of our NFL writers, Nate Tice and Charles Robinson, can be on-line throughout tonight’s sport. Be part of the social gathering.
🏈 NFL trivia
Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, who face off tonight in Los Angeles, are two of 5 QBs with a minimum of 100 passing TDs and 10 dashing TDs since 2020 (Herbert’s rookie yr).
Query: Who’re the opposite three?
Trace: All of them play within the AFC.
Reply on the backside.
🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Prime 13 performs of the weekend
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⚽️ Soiled Harry
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🏈 99 yards to the home
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🏀 Reed Sheppard!
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⚽️ Bicycle kick objective
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⚽️ One other bicycle kick objective
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🏈 Caleb Downs for six
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🏀 On the buzzer!
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🏈 Hauls it in on the final
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🏒 Filthy end
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🏀 This one’s for Sister Jean
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🏀 The Greek Freak
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🏈 One hand
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🏈 Spectacular INT
Watch all 13.
Trivia reply: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Russell Wilson
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