“For sure,” Flacco said. “I just think mentally to get yourself back to the point where you feel comfortable doing that kind of thing, obviously the physical part doesn’t need any explanation, but the mental part, especially at his position, is pretty cool.”
Hamlin had to be revived on the field last season after suffering cardiac arrest during a Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was hospitalized for nine days following the incident.
Hamlin played in three games this season, including Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Flacco, meanwhile, didn’t have an offer to play this season until the Browns signed him in December. He threw for 1,616 yards and 13 touchdowns in six starts, leading the Browns into the playoffs, where they lost 41-14 to the Houston Texans in the AFC wild-card round.
“I don’t necessarily know what I’m coming back from,” Flacco said. “Most of the guys on that list, I don’t know what they’re coming back from. That’s probably my initial reaction.”
Hamlin closed as a -400 favorite to win the award, according to ESPN BET, followed by Flacco (+320), Mayfield (+1100) and Stafford (+10000).
Flacco said he was grateful to be among the finalists.
“Anytime you’re getting recognized in this league for playing well, it’s flattering. It’s a cool group to be a part of, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m just coming back from being old and not being on a team for a couple months.”
Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots are moving forward with plans to promote defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington to defensive coordinator, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The Patriots have informed other candidates that Covington is the choice, a source relayed to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The move was expected as Covington, 34, enters his eighth season with the Patriots. He has worked closely with first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, first as outside linebackers coach in 2019 and the last four seasons as defensive line coach.
Covington’s solid work with the defensive line was reflected, in part, by the Patriots allowing a league-low 3.3 yards per carry in 2023. Third-year defensive lineman Christian Barmore also emerged as a breakout star.
In a further reflection of Covington’s rise, the Arizona Cardinals had requested permission to interview him for their defensive coordinator vacancy last year. Covington also served as a defensive coordinator at the Senior Bowl last year.
With Covington expected to be named Patriots defensive coordinator, it increases the likelihood that much of the team’s defensive staff remains intact, with the lingering question on what Steve Belichick and Brian Belichick — the sons of former head coach Bill Belichick — decide to do.
Steve Belichick, the linebackers coach who called the plays in recent years, has earned the opportunity to remain on staff, according to Mayo. If he chooses to stay, the projection is that he would be a top aide/senior advisor to Mayo, with whom he developed a close relationship over the last decade.
Brian Belichick, the safeties coach, has also earned the opportunity to stay, per Mayo.
The Patriots are still interviewing candidates for offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator, with that process expected to shift into a higher gear with in-person interviews this week.
Sports Illustrated first reported news of Covington’s expected promotion.
ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
Right-handed reliever Hector Neris and the Cubs are in agreement on a one-year, $9 million contract that includes an option, sources told ESPN, bolstering the back end of Chicago’s bullpen with the top reliever remaining in free agency.
Neris, 34, was third among all pitchers in baseball last year with a 1.71 ERA over 68⅓ innings, the best season of his 10-year career.
A $9 million option for 2025 belongs to the team unless Neris reaches 60 games — he has done so six of his past seven full seasons — at which point it turns into a player option. With more than $2.5 million per year available in incentives, the deal can max out at $23.25 million for two years.
The Cubs have slow-played the winter, waiting until mid-January to sign their first free agent — Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga — and now striking with Neris, whose deal is pending a physical. Coming off an 83-79 season, Chicago is chasing National League Central winner Milwaukee, which earlier this week signed first baseman Rhys Hoskins to a two-year, $34 million deal.
Chicago had a middle-of-the-pack bullpen in 2023, and Adbert Alzolay emerged as a reliable closer in his first full season with the team as a reliever. Waiver claim Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. proved useful as well, and Neris will factor heavily into the Cubs’ late-inning mix.
Relying almost exclusively on a fastball and splitter, Neris has grown into a rare sort: the reliable late-inning reliever. Over those past seven seasons, he has averaged 68⅓ innings per season with a 3.14 ERA pitching for Philadelphia and Houston. He is an elite strikeout pitcher, averaging 11.2 per nine innings throughout his career, and has racked up 89 saves.
The Cubs remain in the market for a free agent bat and could potentially reunite with center fielder Cody Bellinger, who thrived in Chicago last year, hitting .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs, 97 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.
ATLANTA — Dallas coach Jason Kidd had no worries about Luke Doncic’s scoring spree disturbing the Mavericks’ game plan.
“He is the game plan,” Kidd said.
On a record-setting night, it was a winning plan.
Doncic scored a franchise-record 73 points, tied for the fourth-most in NBA history and surpassed only by Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant, to power the Mavericks to a 148-143 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Doncic blew past his personal best and team-record 60 points after scoring a team-record 41 points in the first half.
His record night came only four days after Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid scored a franchise-record 70 points, then the most in the NBA this season, in the 76ers’ 133-123 win over San Antonio on Monday night.
Through it all, Doncic kept looking for his teammates and contributing more than points. He grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and led the Mavericks with seven assists.
“The three assists are what he’s probably thinking about in the locker room to have a triple-double,” Kidd said.
Doncic insisted the win was the biggest reason to celebrate after he overcame constant extra attention from Atlanta’s defense.
“You’ve got to continue to play and have trust in your teammates,” Doncic said.
A three-point play with 2:58 remaining gave Doncic 70 points. With Dallas leading 140-136, Doncic added another three-point play to cap his night.
Against the team that drafted him in 2018, Doncic joined Chamberlain and David Thompson among players who scored 73 points. Chamberlain, who owns the NBA record with 100 points, also had a 78-point game, while Bryant finished with 81 points.
“Those names are special,” Doncic said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Doncic’s teammates doused him with a water shower in the locker room, as cheers were heard from the hallway.
The Mavericks rode Doncic’s big game to end their three-game losing streak while handing the Hawks their fourth straight loss. Doncic made 25 of 33 shots from the field, 8 of 13 3-pointers and 15 of 16 free throws. The field goals made set another personal record.
“He was hot. He was going,” said Trae Young, who led Atlanta with 30 points. “We were trying everything. We were trying to trap him.”
Josh Green scored 21 points for Dallas, but Doncic carried the offense.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Green said.
Young’s 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining trimmed the Dallas lead to 146-143. Jalen Johnson added 25 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 24 for Atlanta.
Doncic scored 23 points in the second quarter after opening with 18 in the first.
Doncic, who averages 33.6 points, nailed a 3-pointer with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter, giving him a season-high 51 points. He then took aim at his career high of 60 points, also the Dallas record, set against the New York Knicks on Dec. 27, 2022.
The Hawks had no answer for Doncic. Jalen Johnson opened as Atlanta’s primary defender on the 6-foot-7 guard. Saddiq Bey, Dejounte Murray and others tried without success to slow Doncic’s high-scoring pace.
Doncic’s milestone game came in his original NBA home — at least for a few minutes.
Doncic was selected by the Hawks with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft before having his draft rights traded to Dallas for Young with the No. 5 pick and a 2019 first-round pick used to select Cam Reddish.
Doncic scored 41 points in the first half to set a franchise record for points in any half. He made 17 of 22 shots from the field, including 6 of 9 3-pointers, in the half.
The Mavericks’ previous high mark for points in a half was 34 by Dirk Nowitzki in the second half against Utah on Nov. 3, 2009.
Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving missed his second consecutive game with a sprained right thumb. He was injured against Boston on Monday.
Dallas forward Derrick Jones Jr. sprained his left wrist with 30 seconds remaining in the first half and did not return.
Young cleared the concussion protocol after missing two games.
The rematch between the teams, originally scheduled for April 5 in Dallas, has been moved to April 4, the league announced Friday.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: Host Sacramento Kings on Saturday. The Kings, who are one spot ahead of eighth-place Dallas in the Western Conference, won the first meeting between the teams, 129-113, on Nov. 19 at Dallas.
The final rankings update for the 2024 class has wrapped up and there were plenty of big moves and controversial decisions that coaches, players and fans are discussing.
The national analyst team sits down at the Rankings Roundtable to discuss.
1. WHO MIGHT BE RANKED TOO HIGH?
Tyanthony Smith (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)
ADAM FRIEDMAN: Tyanthony Smith
Smith has plenty of physical gifts that impress but he needs to show significant development at the college level to live up to where he ended up in the Rivals250. The Texas signee has a big wingspan and can be an explosive blitzer but his read-and-react abilities leave something to be desired.
Smith’s frame is very lean so he’ll need to develop a lot of time to adding mass so he doesn’t get swallowed up by offensive linemen at the next level.
South Carolina signee Dylan Stewart had a very difficult week of practices at the Under Armour Game and I worry that we’re falling in love with the way he looks and overlooking how he played against national competition.
I want to give Stewart the benefit of the doubt and consider his whole resume and not only a week of practices at one event because we’ve been burned by players before when we’ve done that. But it was hard to see a future first-round pick out there. He has all the physical tools to be elite but Stewart needs to learn how to put them together.
KJ Bolden has everything you look for in the modern-day safety. He’s got the size at 6-foot and close to 200 pounds. There is a strong track and field background which shows athleticism. He could have probably been a good Power Five wide receiver recruit as well.
But my two questions for Bolden are: Is he maxed out as a player and is he truly the No. 14 player in America? There are some players with enormous upside right behind him in the rankings. If any program is going to maximize his talents though, it’ll be the Georgia Bulldogs.
I’m not saying Luke Reynolds should have rocketed up the Rivals250 but he should have at least finished No. 1 in Connecticut. Not moving the Penn State signee up higher than No. 194 was a mistake.
Reynolds has all the tools to be a standout tight end and a big piece of Penn State’s offense down the road.
Every time we’ve seen Jayden Jackson in a game setting the Oklahoma signee has performed really well so it was surprising that he finished No. 188 overall and No. 10 at the defensive tackle spot.
If it was solely up to me, I would’ve moved the Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy standout to around eighth nationally and that would’ve put him inside the top 150. That might not be high enough, though, because Jackson has always been very productive.
Christian Bentancur is just outside of the Rivals100 but could easily be in the discussion for the best tight end for the 2024 class. He was extremely productive during his time in high school and you’ll find his name all over the Illinois record books.
In his final game of high school football he caught 21 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns.
The Clemson signee also performed well down in San Antonio for the All-American Bowl. Bentancur is the type of game-breaking offensive player that Clemson badly needs.
3. WHO DID YOU BATTLE FOR IN THE RANKINGS MEETING THAT WILL MAKE YOU LOOK SMART DOWN THE ROAD?
Gatlin Bair (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)
ADAM FRIEDMAN: Eddy Pierre-Louis
Eddy Pierre-Louis is a player the entire analyst team really likes and we’re way out on a limb with him. The rest of the industry doesn’t have him ranked anywhere close to where he ended in the Rivals250 and it’s really puzzling, honestly.
The Oklahoma signee is a 6-foot-4, 320-pound road-grader with elite strength, lateral quickness and athleticism for his position. Pierre-Louis is a shoe-in at Oklahoma and it will be really surprising if he doesn’t pan out in Norman.
Four-star receiver Gatlin Bair finished No. 56 overall but I wanted him to be even higher considering his athletic ability, speed and that he’s not a finished product yet. Bair is the fastest player in the 2024 class and while he had a hot-and-cold performance at the All-American Bowl, it was the first time he saw that level of competition in his high school career.
Michigan and Oregon are battling it out for him and he has special abilities. He has good size, he’s a quietly competitive kid and has elite track speed. At the NFL Combine he should blow people away.
GREG SMITH: Carter Nelson
It’s tricky making a push for an eight-man football player from Nebraska to be highly rated but tight end Carter Nelson made my job easy. Nelson has a rare blend of size (6-4, 215) and athleticism that can’t be taught.
He’s a multi-sport athlete that has been a star in track and basketball. On the track he’s got an 11.05 100-meter dash on his resume and a personal best 7-0 high jump. Once he gets used to 11-man football he could be a matchup nightmare in the Big Ten.
SEATTLE — The St. Louis Blues pulled off a two-goal rally for the second time in three games and continued to climb their way back into the playoff conversation in the Western Conference.
Pavel Buchnevich scored his second goal of the game 3:31 into overtime and the Blues beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 on Friday night.
St. Louis, which trailed 3-1 in the second period, won its fourth straight game and picked up two points in the crowded race for one of the Western Conference’s wild-card spots.
And they completed an impressive three-game road trip, rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat Calgary, topping Vancouver in overtime and finishing the trip with a comeback win in Seattle. All three games finished 4-3.
“We’re committed more to the standards that we’re asking for our guys and we’re starting to see that, and I think that has to do with resiliency,” interim St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “But I think guys are just more focused on what they can control right now and the things that we can’t control aren’t a distraction.”
Buchnevich scored his 15th goal of the season 1:27 into the third period to pull the Blues even at 3, beating Joey Daccord to the glove side off a feed from Robert Thomas.
St. Louis controlled the puck and had the better chances early in overtime and Buchnevich brought a perfect end to the Blues’ road trip by beating Daccord off a feed from Brayden Schenn.
Buchnevich finished with three points.
“He could not give me (a) better pass,” Buchnevich said. “I just got to hit the net lately. I miss the net a lot, so it’s good I hit the net right now.”
St. Louis (52 points) moved within one point of both Nashville and Los Angeles in the wild-card race, while Seattle (50 points) moved three points back. Both the Kraken and Blues have two games remaining before the All-Star break.
Thomas scored his 17th goal on a power play late in the second period that turned the momentum for St. Louis after Seattle had controlled most of the period. Oskar Sundqvist also scored on the power play 7:39 into the first period for St. Louis.
Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist for Seattle, but the Kraken lost for the fifth time in six games. Eeli Tolvanen and Brian Dumoulin also scored for the Kraken.
“It’s probably a game I think we probably should win. I thought we played good enough,” Bjorkstrand said. “Unfortunately, they found a way to tie it and from there we couldn’t really get that last goal.”
Bjorkstrand’s power-play goal 3:55 into the second period came moments after Daccord stopped a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush by the Blues. The save led to a breakout for Seattle and eventually Bjorkstrand’s sixth power-play goal of the season.
Bjorkstrand was also the reason for Tolvanen’s goal less than three minutes later. Bjorkstrand’s backcheck on Scott Perunovich led to a steal and Tolvanen eventually finished the play off a pass from Yanni Gourde.
But Seattle lamented the missed chances that could have given them a fourth goal. None was bigger than Jaden Schwartz missing an open net late in second period that would have given Seattle a 4-2 lead.
Daccord made 14 saves for the Kraken.
“It’s a tough point to lose. We played hard. We played a pretty good hockey game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
UP NEXT
Blues: Return home to face Los Angeles on Sunday.
Kraken: Close out their homestand against Columbus on Sunday.
Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick has led ESPN’s coverage of the Niners’ 2019 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam’s subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team’s relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick via Twitter @nwagoner
After missing Wednesday’s practice because of a left shoulder injury suffered in last week’s win against the Green Bay Packers, Samuel was a limited participant in Thursday’s session. That’s no small thing given that the Thursday practice is always the most strenuous for the 49ers.
Samuel’s return put a little extra pep in the Niners’ step.
“It’s awesome,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “Anytime he’s out there, he brings an extra set of juice that it’s hard to mimic without him.”
Samuel participated as he normally would during the portion of practice open to the media, stretching and later catching passes from Niners quarterback Brock Purdy during receiver and running back drills.
If he was dealing with any pain, it wasn’t apparent to observers.
“Deebo is always great,” tight end George Kittle said. “Just excited for him to be out there. He’s just such a huge part of our offense and everything that we do. And just his energy itself is infectious and he gets guys going and gets them confident. … Very excited to have Deebo out there. He looks great.”
It was the latest sign of progress for Samuel, who was hurt while battling for extra yards after a reception with 5:35 left in the opening quarter of last week’s divisional round win.
After the play, Samuel stayed on the ground as Niners medical staff rushed to help. He was initially evaluated for a concussion after a call from the spotters in the booth but was quickly cleared. He briefly returned to the game before heading to the locker room just before halftime. He was ruled out at the start of the third quarter.
Further testing on Samuel’s shoulder Sunday and Monday showed he did not have a hairline fracture, which offered hope that he’d be able to play this week if the pain began to subside.
Samuel missed nearly three full games — with the 49ers going 0-3 over that span — after suffering a similar-looking injury against the Cleveland Browns in Week 6. He returned for the Week 10 meeting against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His versatility is one of the keys to the Niners’ offense, which averaged 7.1 yards per play with Samuel on the field this season and 5.7 without him.
Fellow receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is a close friend of Samuel, said he expects him to play against the Lions.
“I do, personally,” Aiyuk said. “But just continue to pray for him that he can get better throughout the week and be out there with us to finish the job.”
It’s the first time in the 77-season history of the NBA that four different players have scored at least 60 points in a game in a five-night span. After there were a grand total of four 70-point contests between 1964 and 2022, there have now been four in the past 390 days.
So what’s driving this incredible scoring output? And just how high can NBA players go? Is Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100-point game still untouchable? We asked our NBA experts to break it down.
1. What’s driving these big scoring nights?
Chris Herring: It’s a perfect combination of historic efficiency and astronomical usage rate — and astronomical use of the 3-point line — with games being played at a high tempo. Defenses are spread thinner than ever trying to guard 7-footers out beyond the 3-point line.
And it leaves them with little to no chance in one-on-one scenarios against players such as Embiid and Doncic, who lead the league in the share of offensive possessions that end with them controlling the ball. It’s not lost on me that Doncic, who already handles the ball a league-high 8.5 minutes per game, tallied 73 on a night where co-star Kyrie Irving was out, and that Towns had 62 on a night where Anthony Edwards wasn’t himself because of an illness. Those extra chances make a difference when leaguewide shooting efficiency is the highest it’s ever been.
Tim MacMahon: There are a lot of reasons, but No. 1 on the list is that the NBA has never seen this much skill. We’ve never seen anyone with Doncic’s blend of size, strength, savvy, handles, footwork and touch, allowing him to comfortably create his own shot anywhere within 30 feet of the hoop. Karl-Anthony Towns has proclaimed himself the greatest shooting big of all time, and while most would give the nod to Dirk Nowitzki, KAT can make a statistical case. Joel Embiid is a 7-foot-2, 280-pound center who makes midrange jumpers seem like layups. So does Devin Booker, who is potent whether he’s creating for himself or playing off the ball. And the modern schemes give these stars space to display their wide array of gifts.
Kevin Pelton: A combination of factors. NBA offenses have never been more efficient than they are right now, and the data showing which shots are more valuable has also made it possible for stars to maintain sky-high usage rates without sacrificing efficiency. Lastly, the calendar may play a role. Historically, there have been more 60-point games in January than any other month both overall and per total games played.
2. What, if anything, can defenses do to stop these big nights?
Herring: It seems too simplistic to say it this way, but just like I was confused by the Spurs not doubling Embiid earlier in the week, it was puzzling to me that Atlanta waited so incredibly long to throw a second body in front of Doncic. (At least San Antonio is a young team.) Blitzing and doubling shouldn’t only happen once you realize someone’s on pace to hit a scoring mark. Superstars have to see several looks over the course of the game — including doubles and backcourt pressures — or else they’re almost certain to torch you repeatedly.
play
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Devin Booker drops 62 but Suns fade late
Devin Booker puts on a clinic with 62 points in the Suns’ slim loss to the Pacers.
MacMahon: Man, if I could figure this out, the Milwaukee Bucks would have given me $40 million or so to solve their defensive problems. The simple answer is to send a second defender at a superstar when he starts cooking. The Hawks tried that in the second half against Doncic, holding him to a mere 32 points after halftime. Not only did Atlanta hardly slow down Doncic, but the doubles and Doncic’s passing created wide-open looks for his teammates.
Pelton: I do think the Hawks might have been wise to trap Luka off pick-and-rolls from the start of a game the Mavericks played without Kyrie Irving. On the Atlanta broadcast, color analyst Dominique Wilkins — whose career high was 57 points — couldn’t believe how little resistance Doncic was getting in the first half. Per Second Spectrum tracking, the Hawks blitzed just two of Luka’s first-half pick-and-rolls with a pair of defenders before trying it six times after halftime. By then, it was too late.
3. Which 60-plus scoring performance this week was most impressive?
Herring: I’ll go with Luka’s, given that he nearly logged a triple-double on the road, and did it on the heels of getting heavy criticism earlier in the week. Much like Embiid’s showing on Monday, Luka’s showing was impressive because, aside from one corner try in the fourth, you didn’t get the sense he was forcing anything to reach his numbers. He simply possessed the ball enough and shot it well enough to get there relatively naturally.
MacMahon: I better go with Doncic — for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I believe it. He scored the most points on the fewest field goal attempts (25-of-33), did it without co-star Kyrie Irving in uniform and fell only a few assists shy of a triple-double. You also have to consider the circumstances: Dallas desperately needed a win after losing five of the previous seven games, and Doncic responded to 48 hours of criticism for his petulant performance in Wednesday’s loss to the Suns with the best game of his brilliant career.
Pelton: I’d also pick Luka, whose 64.0 game score surpassed Embiid’s 70-point game for the highest for any NBA player this season and was second only to Michael Jordan’s 64.6 in March 1990 among all games in the Stathead.com database since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78. Although these Hawks won’t be compared to the 1995-96 Bulls, this was also a more competitive opponent on the road than Embiid’s matchup at home against the Spurs.
4. Fact or fiction: Luka’s 73 points will hold as the season’s high mark?
Herring: Fiction. Honestly, with so many people flirting with 70 this past week, it makes me think that Kobe’s mark will likely fall soon — if not this season, then probably in the next year or two. Guys are just too efficient, and defenses are often operating at too much of a disadvantage to hold down individual scorers.
MacMahon: Fact. I’ll play the percentages and say 73 will hold up, considering it has only been surpassed three times in the history of the league. Then again, I would have said the same thing about Embiid’s 70. Hey, the Mavs will face the Hawks again April 4 in Dallas.
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0:48
KD has priceless reaction to Joel Embiid’s 70-point game
Suns star Kevin Durant looks at a reporter in disbelief after being informed about Joel Embiid’s 70-point performance for the 76ers.
Pelton: Fiction. There does seem to be something contagious about these huge scoring outputs in terms of convincing other players they can match or surpass the previous total. The bar has been set and the rest of the league now has two-plus months to surpass it.
5. What will it take for someone to score 82 (or, dare we say, 101)?
Herring: A couple of these games this week finished with pretty tight final scores. Overtime would certainly be one way to do it. From what we saw Friday, a club staying in the same defensive alignment despite how hot a player gets might be another way to all but guarantee it.
MacMahon: A superstar with a hot hand who gets a friendly whistle against one of the worst defenses of all time. There are a handful of superstars who are capable and a handful of teams with defenses that are that terrible.
Pelton: A defense that decides letting the opposing superstar go one-on-one the entire game is their best strategy, no matter the potential for being on the wrong side of a historic scoring effort. The fact that both 62-point games this week ended in losses provides some proof of concept, although Towns, and to a lesser extent Booker, going cold was a major factor in their teams losing leads.
Bonus! Which player will be next to reach 70?
Herring: I actually could see it being Luka, again. The fact that he handles the ball as much as he does, can get hot from deep and plays alongside a star teammate, Kyrie Irving, who misses action from time to time, makes him one of the best candidates.
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1:52
KAT’s career-high 62 points not enough as Wolves fall to Hornets
Karl-Anthony Towns breaks his own franchise record with 62 points in the Timberwolves’ loss to the Hornets.
MacMahon: Is it Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s turn? The other three players averaging at least 30 points per game — Embiid, Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo — have all scored at least 64 in a game this season. Gilgeous-Alexander’s career-high is only 44 points, so maybe he’s due for an explosion. He’s not a prolific 3-point shooter, which limits his historic-high-volume scoring potential, but he’s as dangerous as anyone off the dribble — and he gets to the free throw line a lot, a staple of these sorts of nights.
Pelton: Antetokounmpo, whose 64-point game against the Indiana Pacers in December has almost been forgotten in the wake of this week.
Eric Woodyard covers the Detroit Lions for ESPN. He joined ESPN in September 2019 as an NBA reporter dedicated to the Midwest region before switching to his current role in April 2021. The Flint, Mich. native is a graduate of Western Michigan University and has authored/co-authored three books: “Wasted, Ethan’s Talent Search” and “All In: The Kelvin Torbert Story”. He is a proud parent of one son, Ethan. You can follow him on Twitter: @E_Woodyard
DETROIT — There are two numbers Detroiters will never forget: 0 and 16.
They represent the Detroit Lions‘ 2008 season — the one in which they became the first team in NFL history to play a 16-game schedule without winning a game (though the 2017 Cleveland Browns eventually joined them).
The team set a record for most losses in a season, while allowing the third-most points, the fourth-most touchdowns and the second-most rushing touchdowns in league history. Those Lions were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 11, which was tied for the earliest a team’s postseason hopes had been dashed since 1990.
Five different quarterbacks threw at least one pass for Detroit — Dan Orlovsky, Jon Kitna, Daunte Culpepper, Drew Stanton and Drew Henson — with one of them making the most emblematic play of that miserable season.
In a Week 6 game at the Minnesota Vikings, Orlovsky took a shotgun snap from the Lions’ 1-yard line. Feeling pressure from Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, he scrambled to his right and took about six steps out of the back of the end zone before realizing he had unwittingly handed Minnesota a safety.
It was a play that would live in infamy, as would the team. But there was a silver lining, though the Lions didn’t know it at the time. When the current Lions visit the San Francisco 49ers for Sunday’s NFC Championship Game (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox), Dan Campbell, a veteran tight end on that 2008 team, will lead them out. Over his three years as head coach in Detroit, Campbell has taken the team from a 3-13-1 record in Year 1 to a win away from the franchise’s first Super Bowl bid.
A hamstring injury limited Campbell to one game in 2008, but he has since become the face of the current Lions turnaround — in part, he says, because of his experience as a player on that 0-fer team.
“I got hurt early. I wasn’t around for the whole year, but it’s one of those where you can’t get out of your own way. You just continue to find ways to lose, unfortunately,” Campbell said of the 2008 season.
“You’re always going to learn lessons over time, no matter where you’ve been, the good and the bad. And some of the best lessons you learn are when things don’t go right. And so, I’ve been fortunate to see it all,” he said. “I’ve seen it all. Been at the lowest and I’ve been at the highest and you learn along the way. And that helps.”
With the Lions on the verge of history, members of the 2008 team are feeling especially connected to this year’s squad — largely because of Campbell.
Here is what they told ESPN about the current Detroit team.
What do you think of Dan Campbell, and what does it mean that he — a member of the 2008 team — is now leading the turnaround?
Jon Kitna, Lions QB: When you experience something like that, you’ve got one of two things you can do: You can tuck tail and run, or you can just continue to approach life head on, and that’s who Dan is. He has a feeling for the city of Detroit and the organization of Detroit and what it’s been through. It’s one thing to see it from afar, but when you’ve sat in it, went through it, to where we were at halfway through the season in 2007 [at 6-2] and feeling like we had things turning in the right direction then to see it fall apart, I think that certainly has been something that helps him be more of the right guy for that job.
Calvin Johnson, Lions WR: It’s just going full circle from the 0-16 team as a player on that team to being a head coach and leading your team in the whole opposite direction of where we went back then. A big part of that is Dan himself, being a player turned coach and surrounding himself with a bunch of player-coaches on his staff. … You kind of dial in a little more when you have a player-coach, and you see that happening. You saw it when it happened last year and it kind of clicked for them halfway through the season.
Drew Henson, Lions QB: To have someone from that group to be on the other side of the one of the greatest runs in Lions history, sports sometimes have a great way of telling stories and having narratives, and I certainly think that every guy from that 2008 team is front and center, wherever they’re at, cheering for these guys with a big smile on their face … because it’s been a long time coming and they deserve it.
Dan Orlovsky, Lions QB: Dan was lunch pail every day. Just a show up to work, do your absolute very best at work, work as hard as you possibly can every single day, and that stood out. I was somewhat younger, and as a young guy when you watched a pro, he was one of those guys that you watched and said “That’s what it looks like. That’s how a pro goes about it on a day-to-day basis.” He didn’t let circumstances control him or emotions control him, he was just there to work.
Rod Marinelli, Lions head coach: I’ll tell you what, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to succeed or would succeed because the type of player he was, he’s the same type of coach — exactly. Hard-nosed. Everything he had. Every day. He had a bad elbow and I mean; he was all bandaged up every day and the pride he took, winning a one-on-one in either a pass block or a route and the intensity of it. You got everything he had every second. And that team is reflecting Dan’s personality.
Looking back, did you have any idea Campbell would become a coach and be good at it?
Johnson: I don’t even know if Dan knew he would be a coach back then, but he’s a leader of men. He led by example back then. Now, he can lead by example, he can lead with words because he’s been there and done that and he’s had some great examples, whether it’s some players around him or coaches that he’s been around, and you can see that paying off. He’s surrounded himself with good company.
Mike Furrey, Lions WR: When you played with him, he was probably one of the best teammates that you could ask for because he was sincere. He helped out the younger guys and he just had a passion to do whatever he could to help the team win. And he played like that, he acted like that, and it was every day. So, it’s not surprising that that locker room has bought into who he is because he’s very genuine.
Orlovsky: I was never surprised that he got hired or that he climbed so quickly because of his self-accountability and the personal pride that he carried. I wasn’t surprised in that regard. I wasn’t surprised by the press conference [when Campbell famously talked about biting kneecaps]. This is probably not the right thing to say, but I’m just being honest: I guess my surprise with him is how well-coached they seem and how intelligent and detailed they seem.
What’s the biggest difference about the organization from then to now?
Henson: They drafted really well. They know what they want to be. They’ve got almost all former players as coaches and their ability to have guys that have been there and done it and can relate to the players and the players can relate and trust them goes a long way.
Marinelli: I see incredible leadership from the top of the organization, and I see that leadership come down, and I think how they pick players and I know that Dan is involved in that, and they listen to him. That thing starts from the top down, and Dan’s the perfect guy and perfect fit for that organization and they’ve done a terrific job in hiring good coaches and making it a place where guys want to stay.
Kitna: To me, it seems like there’s vertical alignment. From ownership, straight on down your roster, your coaching staff, the people that work in the building. It just feels like there’s complete alignment there.
Johnson: A lot of it has to do with what [Lions general manager] Brad Holmes and Dan are bringing to the team. We’ve seen Brad build a Super Bowl-caliber team coming from out west, from [the Los Angeles Rams], and we know what Dan does as a player-coach. All we want is a player-coach because he gets us. He understands the struggle. So when you have somebody that understands the struggle, but at the same time, understands where Detroit has been and understands the grit that represents Detroit, that is nothing but his authentic self. He is Detroit.
Furrey: It always felt like everything was against you back then, and now it just feels like, watching the game, it feels like everything is starting to fit the right way and go the Lions’ way. Ever since the hypothetical Bobby Layne Curse, it feels like it’s gone the opposite direction.
What does this season mean for Lions fans?
Kitna: It’s everything. We know what sports does. Sports is a unifying thing. And when cities and communities and organizations get to experience some of the things that Detroit is experiencing now, coming off the heels of what happened right down the road in Ann Arbor [with the Michigan football team winning the national championship], it’s amazing.”
Johnson: This is almost up there with religion. This thing is bringing folks to tears. You’ve got folks crying out here. And I get it. It warmed my heart to see them dudes do it just because, even though we weren’t able to do it, we still bleed blue.
Henson: This is for the people in Michigan, this is for the fans of generations. They’ve been waiting on this and there’s no better sports town in the country, if you can get on the right side of things, and I think everybody’s seeing it. … I don’t think you can help but pull for the Lions because it stands for all the good in sports.
Furrey: Even back in the day in 2008, when we didn’t win any games, [the fans] didn’t quit. That town is legit. That town is full of a fan base that is real and deserving and I just couldn’t be more happy for everybody that’s been waiting for this to happen, and it’s been fun to watch.
What do you most like about the 2023 Lions?
Jim Colletto, Lions offensive coordinator: They play so hard. They’ve got a great quarterback. And defensively, they play with great intensity and effort and their offense functions well. They run the ball well and you can see that the attitude of the head coach that’s watching them on the sideline is [injected] into the team.
Furrey: You see a team. You see a bunch of guys that are unselfish. They’re working their rear ends off. They have a high passion for playing the game. They execute at a high level. They make huge plays in big moments, on both sides of the ball, and they play with that grit that I know that came from one person and Danny has instilled that.
Marinelli: They fight. I think they play like Dan played. They are tough. On defense they fly around. They have a good attitude, hustle, well-coached, all of those things. On offense, they run the ball with toughness, and he’s got the QB [Jared Goff] that everybody would love. That guy’s a terrific leader and a terrific player. So, it fits. Everything just kind of fits.”
Johnson: What I like most about this squad is that, yeah, you have a couple stars on this team, but I feel like honestly we might have had more stars back on the team when I played, but you have some guys who have been around the league and you have some solid veterans. And what excites me most is that you’re starting to see some of these players that people might not have known about, start to emerge and make plays.
Is this the greatest Lions team of the Super Bowl era?
Johnson: There were stars on some of the other teams, like Barry [Sanders], and we had stars on our teams with Matthew [Stafford], myself and you can keep going on and on, but as far as just a team, what we’re seeing, the energy that we feel … Hey, I’ll tell you this, the conversations that I be having with all the guys that come back and that I played with, we just be thinking about, “Dog, if we were on this team, you know how good we would be?” Yeah, we had some talent, but it’s like with this coach, with this staff, with that culture.
Kitna: They’ve got a chance to do something that nobody’s ever done. So, yeah.
Furrey: That would be hard to debate trying to put somebody else in that picture with what they’ve put together with that whole offensive line and that defensive line. That front, those linebackers, the duo that they have in the backfield right now with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs and their wideouts and Amon-Ra St. Brown. And then obviously Goff playing at a high level. I don’t know if Detroit has ever really seen the culmination of all those pieces put together, playing the way they’re playing at the same time. Obviously, there’s been a lot of talent with Barry Sanders and Herman Moore and Calvin Johnson and a lot of talent there, but the collective of all those guys, it would be hard to compare anybody to that.
Colletto: It’s got to be right up there. This day and age of the talent they have in the NFL and what they’ve accomplished and the record they’ve accomplished, it’s got to be right at the top.
Did you ever think Detroit would be this good?
Kitna: I did. Because I saw the investment of the ownership, and it takes a lot to get everybody aligned and they’ve done that. They got the right guy. He was tough-minded enough to be 0-10-1 and still believe in what he knows to be true, and he got the right guy to go along with him with [GM] Brad Holmes, so it’s fantastic.
Furrey: To be honest with you, I did. It’s because there’s something up there in Detroit that’s special. And it’s a huge sports town and they’ve got great facilities and what the Ford family represents. You always felt like you had a chance to be a team like this and for some reason, one way or the other, the football gods, it just wasn’t meant to be. Now, they are and it’s long overdue. I think everyone that’s played in that organization knows what they’ve been through and what the organization has been through and the potential that they’ve had at times, and now to see all of this happen, I’m very proud to be a veteran of the Detroit Lions.
After having suffered through the 0-16 season, do you have any advice for this team?
Marinelli: Do what you do. Just continue to do what you do and it’s good enough. And listen to your coach. That’s what they’ve created in that city.
Kitna: Listen to your coach, man. Listen to your coach.
Johnson: Live in the moment. Enjoy this moment. Don’t overlook the moment. … I only got to go to the playoffs twice, and you hear about guys talking about how they made it to the Super Bowl as a rookie and then they didn’t touch [it] again for the rest of their career. So just live in the moment and don’t overlook it because this is huge.
Furrey: Enjoy the moment but don’t miss it either. They got there because of their execution, their preparation and the goals that they’ve had. They’ve achieved everything they’ve set out to, and they did it the right way, so I wouldn’t change one bit. They’ve played in big games from Week 1. I would not change anything. It’s another game. It’s another big game. And just continue to do what you’re doing.
Henson: You’re carrying the torch for every squad that came before you. We’re in the history books for that year [2008] and they’ve got an opportunity to change the narrative of the whole franchise and I think they’ve done that to a point. And if they can finish it off, they would be obviously the greatest team in history, but one that’s remembered for generations.
As expected, Michigan Football has named Sherrone Moore the next J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach.
“I want to thank Coach Harbaugh for the faith that he has displayed in me over the past six years and for supporting my growth as a football coach during that time,” said Moore. “Thanks to Athletic Director Warde Manuel for putting his faith and trust in me to be the next leader of this football program. I also want to thank President Santa Ono and members of the Board of Regents for believing in me as well. I am excited to reward that belief and trust as the program’s next leader.
“I have been preparing my entire coaching career for this opportunity and I can’t think of a better place to be head coach than at the University of Michigan,” added Moore. “We will do everything each day as a TEAM to continue the legacy of championship football that has been played at Michigan for the past 144 years. Our standards will not change. We will be a smart, tough, dependable, relentless, and enthusiastic championship-level team that loves football and plays with passion for the game, the winged helmet and each other. We will also continue to achieve excellence off the field, in the classroom and in our communities. I am excited to start working in this new role with our players, coaches and staff.”
When Moore was seen as a head coach candidate toward the end of the 2022 season, Harbaugh was cut and dry and how ready he felt Moore was.
“Athletic directors are calling, ‘Hey, is Sherrone Moore ready to be a head coach?’ Beyond ready to be a head coach, Sherrone Moore.”
With Harbaugh exiting, he, of course, recommended that Moore take over at Michigan. Possibly, Harbaugh felt better leaving Michigan now, not just because he had accomplished it all by winning a National Championship, but because he knew he could leave the program in the hands of a man he trusts.
Sherrone Moore came to Michigan before the 2018 season to coach tight ends, the same position he had held previously at Central Michigan. Moore was also the assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator for the Chips. Some questioned the move initially, a common theme that has followed Moore’s time in Ann Arbor.
Moore made an immediate impact on the field with players like Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon. On the recruiting trail was no different, with Moore landing fellow Oklahoman Daxton Hill in the 2019 class. Moore was involved in the recruitments of JJ McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, Mazi Smith, Braiden McGregor, Mazi Smith, Trevor Keegan, and many more.
In 2021, Harbaugh once again showed his faith in Moore, promoting him to offensive line coach to replace Ed Warinner. This was another move many questioned given Warinner’s history and Moore’s greenness when it came to coaching offensive line. Moore of course himself played offensive line at Oklahoma, and worked with the OL as a grad assistant at Louisville under Charlie Strong, but how do you replace a veteran like Warinner?
Moore would go on to lead the offensive line to two straight Joe Moore Awards as the best offensive line unit in college football. The group was essential to the resurgence of Michigan Football in 2021 and the return to the power run game Jim Harbaugh has utilized throughout his career.
Moore was also given the title of co-offensive coordinator and given a bigger say in the offense, first alongside Josh Gattis and then Matt Weiss. After the 2022 season, Moore was given the role of sole offensive coordinator. And the difficult task of continuing to coach the offensive line while being coordinator.
Moore wore two hats throughout Michigan’s 2023 National Championship season and added a third, serving as acting head coach once during Harbaugh’s three-game suspension to start the season and in Michigan’s final three games against Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State while Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten Conference.
Harbaugh consistently cited not only his trust in Moore, but the players trust in Moore when it came to giving him the acting head coach role during Michigan’s most important stretch. As soon as news broke of Harbaugh to the Chargers, players and recruits hit social media to show support for Harbaugh, Michigan, and Moore as its next head coach.
No one knows how Moore’s tenure at Michigan will go. What we know is he has been doubted at almost every step and done nothing but exceed expectations. The one man who never doubted him, Jim Harbaugh, believes he is the man to lead Michigan, and Michigan agrees.
There will be changes, no doubt, as Moore works to put his own imprint on Michigan, but as Harbaugh leaves for Los Angeles, he leaves Michigan in a better place than we arrived. Maintaining the culture that he built with coaches like Moore will be priority number one for Moore. He will have to build his first staff, looking back to what got Michigan to the top of college football while looking forward to what can keep it there.
The Harbaugh era has ended at Michigan, and its time for Moore.
Kelvion Riggins has loved Texas A&M for years but when there was a coaching change the four-star linebacker was not so sure about the Aggies.Once position coach Jay Bateman moved over from Florida …
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The top stories and transfer rumours from Saturday’s newspapers…
DAILY MIRROR
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed star striker Victor Osimhen will leave the club at the end of the season, putting the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal on red alert.
Brentford are scouring the lower leagues for the next Ivan Toney as the Bees prepare for life without their talisman.
World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst was forced off stage with nosebleeds at his Farewell Tour, sparking health fears.
DAILY MAIL
The Carabao Cup final kick-off is set to be brought forward at the request of the police amidst concerns about clashes between Chelsea and Liverpool fans.
Chelsea have reportedly set an asking price of £37m for Romelu Lukaku, as they prepare to permanently offload the striker this summer at a loss of more than £60m.
Mohamed Salah has hit back at the critics who questioned his commitment to Egypt after he returned to England to receive treatment for the hamstring injury he sustained at the Africa Cup of Nations last week.
Chris Sutton believes Altay Bayindir must be handed his Manchester United debut in the absence of Andre Onana against Newport County in the FA Cup on Sunday.
THE SUN
Championship duo Southampton and Leeds are keen to secure a loan move for Bournemouth winger David Brooks.
DAILY STAR
Manchester City supporter Liam Gallagher has admitted he is delighted to see the back of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Liverpool part-owner LeBron James has thanked Jurgen Klopp after the German announced his intention to step down as manager.
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ESPN’s Mark Ogden and The Mirror’s Andy Dunn discuss the leading candidates to replace Jurgen Klopp when he leaves Liverpool at the end of the season
THE GUARDIAN
Mikaela Shiffrin avoided ligament damage after a heavy downhill crash where she needed to be helped off the course.
DAILY EXPRESS
Sunderland manager Michael Beale has demanded “more respect” from fans after claiming some want him out of the club because of his cockney accent.
Manchester United and Chelsea have both reportedly been offered the chance to sign Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite this month.
Brighton have reportedly expressed an interest in signing Tottenhm winger Bryan Gil.
DAILY RECORD
Brendan Rodgers insists Liel Abada is on the list of Celtic stars who are not for sale in January.
Hibs are keen on a move for Bournemouth defender Owen Bevan.
THE SCOTTISH SUN
The SFA are poised to formally give Bill Foley the green light to purchase a £6m stake in Hibs.
Motherwell have been rocked by a serious injury to full-back Adam Montgomery – just days after he joined on loan from Celtic.
Jannik Sinner speaks in a soft monotone, whether in his native Italian or his thoughtful, halting English.
A clenched fist by his belly is about all the emotion he lets anyone see on the court.
Nobody would describe anything about him as flashy; not his tennis game, not his wardrobe — which includes a lot of sweatpants and T-shirts — and not his quiet life off the court. He has freckles and a mop of wavy red hair.
Before we go much further, it’s probably healthy to add a disclaimer. We know this story is going to rely on some cultural stereotypes and generalizations about large populations in some of the biggest countries in Europe, or at least large populations of tennis players from those countries. We know there are exceptions. Many of them.
In this case, they are useful nevertheless because there is a well-earned stereotype of an Italian tennis player. They have a kind of flair lacing through their personalities and their games, whether it’s Matteo Berrettini’s booming serve or Lorenzo Musetti’s flashy backhand or the way Fabio Fognini zipped and zagged and mouthed around the court, never leaving any mystery about what he was thinking or feeling at any given moment.
If you understand Italian, you get an earful of colorful language from watching them play. When you watched these men or, in the past, Flavia Pennetta or Francesca Schiavone, there wasn’t any doubt you were watching a tennis player from Italy.
Sinner, left, and Lorenzo Musetti with last year’s Davis Cup trophy (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ITF)
There’s a fairly good reason for this, according to those who know him and Italy best. Sinner comes from the small town of San Candido in the northeast corner of Italy, a region tucked next to, and with plenty of cultural commonality with, Austria and the slightly further afield Germany.
“It’s a different part of Italy,” said Simone Vagnozzi, Sinner’s main coach during the past year. Italians from that region, Vagnozzi said, are very serious. “They don’t speak so much.”
Don’t get Vagnozzi wrong. In a quiet setting — around the hotel, or playing cards or golf (the other game that his other tennis guru, the veteran coach and commentator Darren Cahill, is trying to teach him) — Sinner is quick with a joke.
“So it’s really serious on the court when he practices, and this is maybe the German part of him. But he is also really funny, and this is more the Italian part,” Vagnozzi said.
This was just after Sinner crashed his coaches’ post-match news conference Friday, demanding that he be given a chance to ask the question of what it was really like to coach Jannik Sinner.
“It’s a crappy job,” Cahill answered. “We are not paid enough. The guy gives us a hard time all the time, and he’s forever actually taking our money in card games, and he gets a lot of enjoyment about that stuff.”
“Finally, the truth comes out,” Sinner said, then turned and left the room.
Jannik Sinner, breakout tennis star and understated Gucci model (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Gucci)
Sinner can often come across like a contradiction. His father is a chef and his mother waited tables in the restaurant where her husband cooked, providing Jannik with a comfortable but humble upbringing. He is a Gucci model and a Rolex ambassador. But catch him on a late summer afternoon after a morning of training at a mansion in the Hamptons during his preparations for the U.S. Open and he’s in sweats and a T-shirt and big, black-rimmed glasses, a bit amazed by, and shaking his head at, his surroundings.
Most people don’t see those parts of Sinner — the joker or the simple young man who will always think of himself as the son of hard-working restaurant staff.
They see the face on the fascia billboards and the silent thinker who watched the two other top players of his generation, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, burst past him in 2022, even though Sinner had made the quarterfinals of the French Open as a 19-year-old, which got him labelled as a ‘next big thing’.
Sinner, aged 19, lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2020 French Open quarterfinals (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Sinner preached patience. The coach who had raised him, Riccardo Piatti, the 65-year-old tennis sage known as one of the top minds in the game, had always told him to treat his first 150 tour matches as a learning experience.
To the outside world, Sinner talked in that passive monotone about the process of evolving into a top tennis player. Inside, in the quiet settings, he was thinking something else, and it was no joking matter.
One day, early in 2022, Sinner fired Piatti and his entire coaching team, replacing them with Vagnozzi, a new fitness trainer and physiotherapist, before this year, adding Cahill for his experience working with top players, including Simona Halep and Lleyton Hewitt.
All of them, most of all Sinner, have set themselves the task of turning Sinner into a more versatile player, someone who could do more than smack the ball from the baseline like a bot on a tennis video game. It was a two-step-forward-one-step-back approach to his career. His ranking slipped to 15 at the end of 2023 and from 10 at the end of 2022.
Still, he talked about patience and process. Inside, it was killing him. He saw Alcaraz winning Grand Slam titles and Rune leapfrogging him in the rankings as he tried to add weight, endurance and variety to his game. Would the work ever pay off?
“Patience can be your biggest enemy in one way, because if you’re not that patient, you rush in one way, and then you forget maybe some steps that you should do to become a better player, to become better physically,” Sinner said on Friday evening. “Then at some point, I don’t know, I feel like on the level what we are seeing now from my side is because of a whole year of work, and the process of what we have made to become the best version of what I am right now.”
“Patience is not easy to handle,” he added, “It’s also practice.”
This is where Cahill has been most helpful, as a calming influence, Sinner said, someone who can keep the balance between the quiet Germanic exterior and the playful and passionate Italian interior. The son of an Australian rules football coach, Cahill has learned the right moments to say the right words to Sinner.
Coach Darren Cahill and Sinner at last year’s Wimbledon (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
They talked little about tennis for hours before Friday’s match against Djokovic. “Then 20 minutes before the match, we talked about tactics, how to handle certain situations,” Sinner said. “Cahill helped not only me but the whole team to believe in ourselves, but also to enjoy, because we travel so much around the world, and to enjoy the time together is really important.”
On Sunday, he will face Daniil Medvedev in his first Grand Slam final.
The hard work has paid off.
(Top photo: Nicolo Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
PHOENIX — The comparison surfaced not long after Kevin Durant finished off the Chicago Bulls on Monday. In the final seconds, the Phoenix Suns forward buried a double-pump, did-he-just-do-that jumper to give the Suns a 115-113 win.
If you thought Durant’s incredible shot resembled Michael Jordan’s iconic double-pump jumper to eliminate the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the first round of the 1989 playoffs, you’re not alone. A couple of the Bulls from that very team agree.
An analyst for NBC Sports Chicago, Will Perdue watched Monday night’s game from a studio in Chicago. As soon as he saw Durant’s shot drop, he immediately recognized the significance.
“That was a double-pump!” said Perdue, who was in his rookie season out of Vanderbilt with the Bulls during the 1989 playoffs. “That’s the same thing Jordan did against (Craig) Ehlo in ’89. I was there!”
Those around him weren’t convinced.
“Watch it again,” Perdue said.
Obviously, the circumstances were different. Chicago’s win in 1989 came in a first-round elimination game, win or go home. Phoenix’s game Monday night unfolded during the middle of the season. And unlike the 1989 game, when Chicago trailed Cleveland 100-99 when Jordan got the ball, this game was tied when Suns guard Grayson Allen prepared to inbound with 6.3 seconds left.
But like 1989, everybody in the building knew where the ball was going. In 1989, it was Jordan. On Monday at Footprint Center, it was Durant. Jordan had to double-pump to keep Ehlo from blocking it. Durant had to do so to keep streaking Alex Caruso from deflecting it from behind.
Phoenix’s inbounds pass went to big man Jusuf Nurkic, who dished back to Durant. Chicago’s went directly to Jordan. Durant took one left-handed dribble. Jordan took two.
Durant double-pumped and shot from 17 — good.
Jordan double-pumped and shot from 17 — good.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Perdue said he remembered Jordan’s shot like it was yesterday. In 1989, he was stuck behind Bill Cartwright and Dave Corzine in the Bulls’ rotation. The play had unfolded on the far end of the court, away from the Chicago bench. Perdue stood on the baseline in Cleveland’s Richfield Coliseum. He saw Jordan jump. He saw him double-pump.
On Monday, he saw Durant do the same, changing his shot mid-air because Durant saw Caruso coming from behind.
“Caruso almost blocked it — and there’s a defender in the front?” Perdue said. “That’s one of those things, it’s almost like spidey sense. He’s got a third eye. Or an eye in the back of his head or something. … The perfect timing of the pump and then to take it back up, after Caruso had swung through to go up and shoot it. And if you notice, it was so pure the net barely moved.”
How hard is it to make such a shot?
“Basically, like taking a car that’s going 100 mph, jam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and go the opposite direction,” Perdue said. “And then still jam it back in first gear and go back the way you’re going. To try to be able to stop all that inertia in order to do that, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s 12.”
The similarities don’t end with Durant’s final shot. In fact, his performance Monday night pretty much mirrored Jordan’s from 1989. Check this out:
In the first half …
Durant was 4 of 13 from the field.
Jordan was 5 of 13.
In the second half …
Durant scored 30 points.
Jordan scored 30 points.
In the fourth quarter …
Durant scored 17 points.
Jordan scored 17 points.
For the game …
Durant finished 16 of 32 for 43 points.
Jordan finished 17 of 32 for 44.
In 1989, Sam Vincent was a reserve guard for the Bulls. In the Game 5 win over the Cavs, he played eight minutes, collecting two points and two assists. He was on the bench when Jordan broke Cleveland’s heart.
“We realized how big the moment was in terms of the win and advancing in the playoffs, but we didn’t realize the history that would be created around ‘The Shot,’” Vincent said. “A very impactful shot. An amazing shot. One of many for Michael. But it had significant importance for how the Bulls kind of grew up from there.”
Vincent missed Durant’s shot. As men’s basketball coach at Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla., he was watching film Monday night, preparing for Friday’s game against Keep Striving Prep. But after The Athletic sent him the video, Vincent agreed to take a look.
His reaction: Oh, wow.
“After looking at it a couple times,” Vincent said, “I did see the incredible, uncanny comparison to that shot Michael took in Cleveland.”
“What Kevin Durant did tonight, that was special.” – Head Coach Frank Vogel
Vincent said both players used their unique skills to their advantage. For Jordan, it was his ability to hang. (“I don’t see how he stayed in the air that long,” stunned Cleveland center Brad Daugherty had said after the 1989 game.) For Durant, it was his length.
“I don’t think it’s a shot that you practice, but I think a shot that you do practice — which I know Michael practiced a lot and I’m sure I’ve seen footage of Kevin doing it as well — and that’s being able to take a hard penetration dribble to a spot and then really elevate,” Vincent said. “You practice that shot over and over and in a game, the defense closes out. But because you worked on that shot, it’s a little bit easier to maneuver the ball to be able to get that shot off.”
Durant, 35, has played well all season, but lately he’s taken his game to a higher level. The Western Conference Player of the Week, he had 40 points in a home win over Indiana. A night later, he torched the Bulls. On Wednesday, he had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists as Phoenix routed Dallas, 132-109. After a slow start, Phoenix (26-18) has won seven in a row. Suddenly, those preseason championship hopes do not look so unrealistic.
In his 17th season, Durant has played a leading role in the reversal.
“I hope that the Phoenix Suns fans truly understand what they’re witnessing,” Perdue said. “And this has nothing to do with age. This has to do with greatness.”
(Photo of Durant’s game-winner Monday against the Bulls: Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND — Befuddled birds will start chirping. Drivers trapped in a boundless traffic snarl will halt their honking. The temperature will plunge. Sluggers swatting batting practice tosses at Progressive Field will pause for a cosmic intermission.
At 3:13 p.m. ET on April 8, the springtime sky above downtown Cleveland will host a total solar eclipse, as the moon’s shadow sweeps across the middle of the country and eclipse chasers scramble to locate the perfect spot to witness the spectacle.
The orbits of the sun, the Earth and the moon will align so that the moon blocks out the full disc of the sun, casting darkness along a path that will extend from Mexico to Dallas to Little Rock to Indianapolis to Cleveland to Buffalo to Caribou, Maine. The phenomenon occurs every 18-24 months, but usually over vast oceans or uninhabited regions like Antarctica.
This one is headed for the spotlight, and it’s also on a collision course with the Cleveland Guardians’ home opener.
For two years, Cleveland officials have planned for an event in which the ensemble carries out its performance millions of miles from the front-row seats on Lake Erie’s shore. The showcase is expected to attract visitors to Cleveland from Canada, France, Ireland and Zimbabwe, plus states near and far. The city won’t land in the path of totality again until 2444.
To grant the Guardians an extension for their ongoing ballpark renovations, the league booked them a three-city, 11-day trip through Oakland, Seattle and Minneapolis to start the regular season. They’re one of three teams, along with the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, following that sequence, but they’re the only one with celestial complications.
The Guardians are now faced with a decision: Do they host their home opener that day, or that night, or shortly after the three-minute, 49-second phase of totality when day masquerades as night?
“Everybody talks about where they were when the Cavs won the championship,” said Chris Hartenstine, an education coordinator at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. “Everybody can say, ‘I was in the arena,’ ‘I was at the watch party,’ ‘I was watching with friends.’ This is one of those moments. It’s in science, not necessarily sports. The cool thing about the Guardians is you can get a little bit of both. ‘I was there on Opening Day when the eclipse happened.’”
The preparation for April 8, 2024, for many, began on Aug. 21, 2017, the date of the last total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. That’s when Cleveland restaurant owner Sam McNulty first entered a reminder on his phone’s calendar. Now, he’s fast-tracking the completion of a rooftop bar at Market Garden Brewery to accommodate the out-of-towners who have reserved tables for April 8.
For some, it started a bit earlier.
“I’ve been thinking about 2024 since I was a kid,” said Mike Kentrianakis, who has witnessed 14 total solar eclipses since 1979 from Indonesia, Chile, Gabon, Australia, China, Russia, Greece, Aruba, Canada, and — while over the Scotia Sea — north of the Antarctic Peninsula.
He watched the 2017 eclipse from Carbondale, Ill., and at the end of March, he’ll hop in a rental car in Queens, N.Y., and start his 15-hour trek to the same site, the rare city to fall in the path of totality in both 2017 and 2024.
“I’ll do anything for an eclipse,” Kentrianakis said.
Hartenstine anchored NASA’s public presentation from the path of totality seven years ago in a tent on the grassy area in front of the state capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Hartenstine went from sweating buckets in Jefferson City’s 90-degree summer heat to needing a sweatshirt. As darkness descended in the middle of the day, crickets and cicadas and birds chirped in confusion. Shadows sharpened to what Hartenstine described as “video game” levels as the moon impeded the sun’s effect, before it all returned to normal with disappointing speed.
“Four minutes is a song on the radio,” Hartenstine said. “You can totally miss the experience. You have to know ahead of time to know what you’re looking for and then you can really embrace it.”
While some embrace it, others have to plan around it. The eclipse coincides with the NCAA Women’s Final Four at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and the Cleveland International Film Festival at Playhouse Square. And, of course, the Guardians’ home opener – which, in at least some capacity, will have to surrender to the quirks of science for a once-in-a-lifetime total eclipse at the park.
Over the past few months, the Guardians have consulted with everyone from local authorities to NASA scientists as they tried to determine the best Opening Day approach. The Guardians have slated seven of their last eight home openers (in which fans were permitted) for 4:10 p.m. ET, but that time will fall in the partial eclipse window, and trying to barrel a 90 mph slider while sporting solar-filtered glasses is a tall order. If they choose a late-afternoon start time, fans could potentially view the eclipse from ballpark seats that have a view of the midday sun. Even if they opt for a night game, there will still be traffic-related challenges to sort through.
Few baseball teams have had to consider such questions before, but there is at least one example — and they leaned hard into the eclipse festivities.
In 2017, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Low A affiliate of the Rays, faced a similar quandary. Bowling Green, Ky., resided in the path of totality, and when an astronomy professor at nearby Western Kentucky University placed it on their radar a year in advance, the Hot Rods started their planning.
They settled on a brunch-timed first pitch, officially 10:34 a.m., as league rules prohibited them from starting much earlier. The teams, clad in black “moon” and white “sun” jerseys, breezed through the first eight innings, but just as the Hot Rods’ broadcaster expressed relief about the pace of play, the West Michigan Whitecaps pieced together a five-run ninth and the sunlight started to dim.
In 2017, the Bowling Green Hot Rods made an eclipse into a fully themed event, with special uniforms and a viewing party. (Steve Roberts / Bowling Green Hot Rods)
Had the game dragged on any longer than the two hours, 38 minutes it took, the teams would have paused the action. Instead, moments after the final out, players and fans sprawled out on the outfield grass as professors explained the science unfolding overhead.
The Hot Rods attracted a crowd of 6,006, one of the largest in the ballpark’s history, and certainly the largest for a Monday morning first pitch.
The Guardians have sold out every home opener since 1994, and it’s fair to expect that Progressive Field will again sell out its roughly 35,000 seats, eclipse or not. In a normal year, that might qualify as a major event downtown; this year, it’s got a lot of competition.
This is the first total solar eclipse over Cleveland since 1809, nearly a century before the city’s baseball outfit became a charter member of the American League. Destination Cleveland, an organization charged with bringing tourism to the city, estimates that 200,000 visitors will trek downtown that day. Most hotels in the city are already sold out.
“People are going to descend on Cleveland like we’ve never seen,” said Scott Vollmer, VP of education and exhibits for the Great Lakes Science Center.
NASA will broadcast the day’s events from outside the Great Lakes Science Center, where an expected crowd of 50,000 will gather for the grand finale of a three-day festival at the North Coast Harbor.
“It’s literally once-in-a-lifetime,” Vollmer said, “and all you have to do is look up to see it.”
Downtown Cleveland isn’t the only place expecting to be overrun with eclipse tourists. The suburb of Avon Lake, Ohio, about a half-hour west of downtown Cleveland, sits directly on the center line of totality, hence the town’s new slogan, “Totality’s best seat.”
Erin Fach, Avon Lake’s director of parks and recreation, has studied Hopkinsville, a small town in southwest Kentucky that welcomed visitors from 48 states for the 2017 eclipse. Fach and his team even dined at Ferrell’s, a Hopkinsville burger joint with one stove and a dozen barstools that, five years after the landmark event, still featured on its menu an eclipse burger — a double cheeseburger with bacon and a sunny-side-up egg.
Fach expects the town’s population of 30,000 to double or triple on April 8. He has prepared the city’s planners by describing the day as their annual July 4 fireworks show coinciding with the biggest high school football game they’ve ever hosted while another milestone event unfolds at the primary community park.
Now organizers and eclipse tourists alike are simply hoping the weather holds up and everyone can see the show. Cloud cover is a concern in Cleveland, but Hartenstine relayed cautious optimism that the temperature of Lake Erie will create a barrier of cold air that pushes a stagnant, overcast sky away from the waterfront. Colleagues at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have asked Hartenstine why eclipse chasers would venture to Cleveland on April 8 instead of Dallas or another city with a more accommodating spring forecast. Hartenstine pointed out that Cleveland has had clear skies on that date the last two years.
“The pinnacle (is) the totality,” Hartenstine said. “The last little glimmer of sunlight disappears behind the moon and then you have to take your eclipse glasses off or you won’t see anything. When you take those glasses off, you can see the corona of the sun radiating across the sky.
“That was the moment for me in 2017. I still didn’t get it. But once you take the glasses off and see the show, it becomes however long you have in that path of totality, whether it’s 20 seconds, or 3 minutes, 50 seconds, like Cleveland has. You have to take it in.
“That’s four minutes of visual phenomenon, amazement — and then it’s gone.”
The Guardians are expected to decide on their start time in the next few weeks. Whether they build the eclipse into the home opener or try to work around it, it will be a baseball experience with little precedent.
Kentrianakis plans to wait until 18-24 hours before the climax of the event to determine whether he’ll stay in Carbondale or hightail it to Cleveland. The city with the clearer forecast will win out. It’s the last total solar eclipse that will be visible in the contiguous U.S. until August 2044.
“It’s an indescribable experience,” he said. “It’s unlike anything you could imagine.
“Everyone’s gonna say, ‘That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.’”
(Top image: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photos: Bill Ingalls courtesy of NASA; Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — His hands balled into fists and his biceps flexed, running back Isiah Pacheco stomped along the Kansas City Chiefs’ sideline, his message accentuated by his demonstrative voice.
“Ay, bring that f—— energy!” Pacheco screamed at his offensive teammates, many of them nodding in agreement. “Bring that s—! Bring that s—!”
A few minutes later, the Chiefs began the second half of their divisional-round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, the first time Pacheco had played a road elimination game in his young, two-year career. With the Chiefs trailing by four points, Pacheco helped them score touchdowns on back-to-back drives by doing what has made him one of the NFL’s most distinctive players: Whenever he touched the ball, he ran with rage, intensity and brutality.
Pacheco’s running style was instrumental in the Chiefs advancing to the AFC Championship Game for the sixth consecutive season. He led all players with 97 rushing yards on 15 attempts, a sizable amount of those yards gained after the first defender made contact with him.
Sixty percent of Pacheco’s carries ended with him going over the expected yardage, according to the NFL Next Gen Stats, the highest percentage of any qualified running back in the divisional round.
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When Pacheco entered the end zone on his 4-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, which proved to be the game-winning score, he shouted another message to left tackle Donovan Smith and tight end Travis Kelce.
“They can’t f— with us!” Pacheco said. He continued to encourage his teammates when he reached the sideline, saying “Everything you got! Everything you got!”
In the Chiefs’ two postseason victories, over the Bills and Miami Dolphins, Pacheco has backed up his words with dominant performances.
His teammates have elevated their play, too. The Chiefs’ rushing attack, a part of the offense that was inconsistent at times during the regular season, has been exceptional in the playoffs. The offensive linemen — Smith, left guard Joe Thuney, center Creed Humphrey, right guard Trey Smith, right tackle Jawaan Taylor and backup guard Nick Allegretti — have been the superior group in the trenches. And the Chiefs’ three tight ends — Kelce, Noah Gray and Blake Bell — have all improved their blocking.
“I’m proud of how resilient the guys have been,” Humphrey said. “We’ve gotten through a little bit of a slump, but the guys kept pressing and we’ve improved, which is really good to see.”
Entering the playoffs, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and quarterback Patrick Mahomes acknowledged that the Chiefs offense would need to have a more simplified approach in the postseason to limit mistakes. The easiest way for coach Andy Reid and Nagy to accomplish that was to give Pacheco a larger role in the offense by increasing his workload. Pacheco’s 39 rushing attempts in the playoffs are the most he has had this season in a two-game stretch. He has been effective with those touches, too, producing 186 yards and two touchdowns — and eight rushes of 8 yards or more.
“I thought we did OK during the (regular season) with opportunities, but (offensive line coach) Andy Heck does a heck of a job with designing the runs, and the guys have executed them,” Reid said. “The offensive line takes a lot of pride in doing what they do. They know it starts with them and they’ve been very accurate with their blocking assignments.”
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Even in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history, with the temperature minus-4 degrees at kickoff at Arrowhead Stadium against the Dolphins, Pacheco still ran the ball with rugged aggression through multiple defenders, including his 3-yard touchdown. His highlights led many fans on social media to make exaggerated comparisons when watching him perform.
Before Wednesday’s practice, Pacheco shared his favorite.
“The funniest one, I thought, was when they say I run like I bite people,” Pacheco said, smiling and laughing. “I ain’t no zombie. Like, that was crazy. It’s a great opinion to have, I guess. For me, it’s just being determined and understanding that I have a goal to achieve.”
Just a month ago, Pacheco missed two games because he sustained another right shoulder injury, the same shoulder he injured during the Chiefs’ postseason run last year. He had what Reid described as a “clean-up” surgery, an arthroscopic procedure, before returning to the lineup on Christmas Day.
Since then, Pacheco has altered his routine after practice, ensuring he receives as much treatment as he can from the team’s medical staff.
“Last year was the longest season in my career, so understanding it’s the second year, there was no offseason for me,” Pacheco said. “I had surgery, so it’s been an ongoing (process). I (have) stayed longer in the building, being one of the last guys to leave.”
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Pacheco didn’t participate in Wednesday’s practice because of a sprained toe, a decision Reid made as a precaution. Pacheco expects to play Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and understands he could have 2o carries against the NFL’s top-ranked defense, which has allowed just 16.3 points per game.
“It’s very important to protect the ball,” said Pacheco, who has fumbled only once in five postseason games. “That’s the biggest part of the game, knowing the team knows you’re going to run it.”
Pacheco knows the ideal situation for him and the offensive linemen for Sunday’s game: A final drive in the fourth quarter where the mission is to gain the first down that would secure a victory and send the Chiefs to Super Bowl LVIII.
After Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a potential game-tying 44-yard field goal following the two-minute warning Sunday, the Chiefs still needed to gain another first down to exhaust all of their opponent’s timeouts. Pacheco ran through two defenders to gain 8 yards on first down. The Chiefs gained the game’s final first down on the next play, a 3-yard run up the middle by Pacheco.
“That’s what you want to do in that situation, let the coaches be able to put it on our shoulders up front,” Humphrey said of the offensive line. “I’m really proud of how the guys executed those two plays. Pop running really hard was awesome to see, too.”
Pacheco’s final two rushing attempts looked like his previous 13 in the game, full of determination, ferocity and hostility.
Before Pacheco left the podium Wednesday, a reporter asked a question he has heard before: Are you really angry when you’re running with the ball?
“Absolutely!” Pacheco quickly responded. “I’m willing to do whatever I have to do to get the job done.”
Zheng Qinwen has reached her first Grand Slam final. In fact, she is the first person from China to do so in 10 years.
Zheng grew up watching the last Chinese Grand Slam winner, Li Na, and has said she has watched the 2014 Australian Open final ‘at least 10 times.’ If you have been on tennis social media, no doubt you will have come across the image of Zheng watching Li win 10 years ago, transfixed by her achievement. Tennis in China was expected to boom as a result.
This was Qinwen Zheng watching Li Na winning the 2014 Australian Open title.
Ten years later, Zheng is into the 2024 Australian Open Women’s Final, becoming the first Chinese singles finalist at a Major since Li Na, herself.
It has taken until now for that to start to come to fruition.
One viral video this week saw Li sneak up on Zheng mid-interview and greet her like you would your best friend — with a smack on the bum. Zheng says they had barely met before this tournament. It is not every day you get to not only meet your idol but become buddies with them, too.
Li Na surprising Qinwen after she specifically brought her up in her post-win interview today 🥹
But before you go any further, stop and read this piece by Matt Futterman. It is the heart-wrenching story of Zheng Qinwen’s childhood when, as a seven-year-old, she was taken by her father to Wuhan to display her talent to a higher-level coach.
The major detail her father kept from her? She would be staying there.
He would not.
What else do you need to know about her?
Australian Open journey
The end of Zheng’s 2023 season was kiboshed by the return of Naomi Osaka. Wim Fissette had been her coach and the key to her climbing the rankings in 2023, reaching the quarterfinal of the U.S. Open before being stopped in her tracks by one Aryna Sabalenka, her opponent for Saturday’s final.
Osaka’s return to the sport after the birth of her first child, Shai, meant a reunion with Fissette. Zheng was devastated. “There is nothing I want to say about Wim Fissette,” she told reporters earlier this week.
That led Zheng to do the same and reunite with coach Pere Riba, who was alongside Coco Gauff during her success at the U.S. Open in 2023.
Zheng’s route to the final has been without any great hurdles. Not once has she played someone within the top 50. Her highest-ranked opponent was Great Britain’s Katie Boulter (54). That said, she has spent more than 11 hours on court.
This creates a small issue when analysing Zheng’s game because she has not been tested by anyone remotely close to her ranking at this Grand Slam.
Style of play
Sliding and stretching around the court, Zheng uses all of her 5ft 10in (178cm) frame to reach the ball and fizz back a forehand, often slicing it on the long diagonal. As a result, she has hit 165 winners over the past two weeks. This is a skill noted by Sabalenka, who said following her semifinal victory: “I think her (Zheng’s) forehand is her best shot. It’s quite heavy.
The new top-10-ranked player really tests the length of the court, too, hitting the lines, leaving little margin for error.
In addition to that powerful forehand, her serve is one to watch. She has 48 aces and counting for the tournament, the best in the women’s draw. By contrast, Sabalenka ranks third and has half that total.
Zheng Qinwen celebrates victory against Dayana Yastremska in the semifinal (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
The main battle she faces is thinking too much. “I think at the beginning of the first set I’m just thinking too much… Of course, that’s one of my problems,” she said after her quarterfinal. “So when I lost the first set directly, I tried to tell myself: ‘Stay focused. Don’t think too much. Just focus right now.’”
Zheng says Li offered her a similar observation: “It’s really simple advice: don’t think too much.”
Expect the Rod Laver Arena to be filled on Saturday with shouts of “jiayou”, which means “vamos” in Mandarin, as Zheng looks to emulate her idol and win at Melbourne Park.
Zheng is excited to reach the final. Someone just remind her to not think about it.
