Washington Wizards
fromThe New Yorker
18 hours agoThe N.B.A. Has a Tanking Problem
Tanking remains a strong incentive for teams, despite league efforts to combat it.
Chang, the Hall of Famer who won the 1989 French Open at age 17 and later rose to No. 2 in the world, has rarely taken on coaching roles since retiring from the tour. But the opportunity to mentor Tien - a rising 20-year-old American with a brainy game and similar background - proved intriguing.
It's time for the CIF state championships in basketball and soccer (first time for soccer) in Sacramento on Friday and Saturday. Basketball will be played at Golden 1 Center. Soccer is at Natomas High.
Thanks to a defense-free 126-110 road loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, our 26-38 Bulls remain in the ninth slot in Tankathon's reverse standings, behind the 23-39 Memphis Grizzlies and the 21-43 Dallas Mavericks.
Last season, Haugh was a key reserve for the Florida team that cut down the nets in San Antonio. This season, he is a bona fide All-America candidate and first-round NBA draft prospect who could lead the Gators to their second back-to-back national title reign in program history. His scoring average has increased from 9.8 to 16.9 points while maintaining a similar impact on the glass with 6.0 rebounds per game.
They were right. If you've been around interscholastic sports long enough, you can sense trouble. The real problem arrived in the fourth quarter, when two players tackled each other at half court. Coaches and teammates rushed in, and one boy appeared to kick the player from the opposing team. Security and administrators broke up the tussle, but this time parents made it to the center of the action.
On a cool Wednesday afternoon before the US Open last year, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev were busy fine-tuning their games in an intense practice set at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison, semi-finalists in the mixed doubles tournament, were scheduled to take their place at the hour and the American pair duly arrived a couple of minutes before their allotted slot.
The final game of the night was Crespi pulling out a 65-61 win over Loyola when Isaiah Barnes scored while falling down with 15 seconds left for the game-clinching basket. Despite the loss, Loyola claimed fourth place in the seedings while finishing in a three-way tie for fourth with Crespi and St. Francis. The Cubs, though, are 14-14 and will need a win Saturday against the winner of Thursday's Bishop Alemany (No. 8) vs. St. Francis (No. 5) game to keep alive their Southern Section playoff hopes. You need a .500 or better record to be considered for an at-large berth.
If I told you I have played football for 15 years, you'd probably assume that I'm decent. Unfortunately, I am not. I have three left feet and a not-very-convincing shot on goal. Despite how many years I have put into the sport, these things show little to no improvement. I play football for the joy of it: the rush of the first whistle; the exhilaration of making a successful tackle or a clever pass;
The increase is being largely driven by the Gen Z population, as basketball is now the 6th most popular sport among the 18-24 year old demographic. Despite there being major continental competitions across Europe like the EuroLeague and EuroCup, basketball is a sleeping giant that is awakening in the UK. This movement is likely to cause a massive shift in the sport's associated betting markets as well, but the big question of whether basketball can break into the mainstream remains.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia brought charges against 26 people they say were involved in a scheme to fix bets on college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association games. The point-shaving scheme, according to a 70-page indictment unsealed that morning, involved at least three dozen players on 17 different teams. Twenty of the defendants played college basketball during at least one of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NCAA seasons.
A University of Florida basketball crowd started a brutal chant for an opposing player who returned to college after an unsuccessful stint in the NBA. During Sunday's game between the Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide, Alabama center Charles Bediako was at the free throw line when the chant rang out across the gym. As he prepared to shoot, the crowd's criticism of the 23-year-old was loud and clear, as G League dropout! could be heard on the TV broadcast.
The NBA Shooting Stars competition returns to All-Star weekend after an 11-year hiatus, the league announced on Saturday with four teams set to compete in the Feb. 14 event. The Shooting Stars competition will feature a two-round format in which all teams participate in the first round with the top two advancing to the final rounds. Teams will be given 70 seconds to score points by hitting shots at seven locations on the court with each team member shooting in a set order at each spot.