One year ago, the Minnesota Vikings decided that cornerback Jeff Okudah would suffice as a CB3 solution for Brian Flores’s defense, a plan that went pear-shaped rather quickly during the regular season. This go-round, Minnesota opted for James Pierre of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and according to The Athletic, that’s the proper CB3 meal ticket.

Pierre gives Brian Flores a steadier cornerback option than last year’s plan.

Pierre represented the Vikings’ primary defensive secondary addition of the offseason, and Minnesota may feast accordingly.

The PIT Connection Could Pay Off

Okudah is out, and Pierre is in.

The Athletic on Pierre

In last week’s episode of The Athletic’s main NFL podcast, Robert Hays specifically named Pierre to the Vikings as one of the league’s “sneaky good” offseason additions.

Hays explained:

From Week 10 on, which is exactly when James Pierre started playing at a high clip, the Steelers were playing Cover 2 about 20 percent of the time, which was the fifth-highest rate in the league and a notable jump from what they had done in any previous season. That was the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Well, he’s going to Minnesota, where they’re doing it 26, 27 percent.

And if you go back and just think about the best moments from Pierre’s second half of last season, a lot of it is where he’s playing that Cover 2 corner in the flat, sinking underneath, making stuff happen. He was very adept at doing that stuff. And now he’s going to a place where they’re going to be asking their corners to do more of that than almost any other team.

Pierre was affordable, too. Minnesota secured his services for two years and $8.5 million.

Pierre in PIT

Last year, the Vikings settled for the aforementioned Okudah at CB3. This season, their approach to the position seems much more serious with Pierre’s acquisition.

Pierre brings a solid track record, having played nearly 400 defensive snaps last season and earning an impressive Pro Football Focus grade of 86.8. His six years under Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh further underscore the appeal. If Tomlin trusted him, he must be good, right?

Pierre isn’t expected to be a star in Flores’s defense. His primary role is to provide stability: hold his own on the outside, tackle reliably, communicate effectively, avoid coverage busts, and prevent the secondary from faltering if Byron Murphy Jr. or Isaiah Rodgers miss time.

It makes Pierre a valuable veteran safety net for the Vikings, especially in a position prone to breakdowns when injuries occur. Based on his performance last season, he appears fully capable of fulfilling this crucial role.

Pierre also fired up a 41.4 passer rating allowed in 2025 — music to the ears of Vikings fans who wanted more from Okudah.

Better Late than Never

The “bad” part of Pierre? He’s a late bloomer. The new Viking will turn 30 this season, so history shows that his career’s prime is in the rearview.

Thankfully, Minnesota needs Pierre to perform as a steady and competent CB3, not a shutdown Pro Bowler. Pierre also has less tread on his tires than his peers who entered the league in 2020. He’s played 2,668 snaps in six seasons, or about 444 per season.

If Pierre can continue his 2025 production in Minnesota for a year, two, three, or four, he’ll be well worth the 2026 free-agent contract. But if you expect him to develop into the next big thing, that window has passed. He’s a solid veteran to have on the roster, not a star in training.

A Gerald Alexander Carryover

Longtime Vikings coach Daronte Jones left the organization this offseason, hired by the Washington Commanders for his first audition as an NFL defensive coordinator. To replace Jones, who served as Minnesota’s defensive pass game coordinator, the Vikings tabbed Alexander from the Steelers. He overlapped with Pierre in Pittsburgh.

In that vein, it was no coincidence that the Vikings’ very first free agency signing in March turned out to be Pierre. Alexander brought Pierre along for the ride.

If you’re new to the Alexander experience, here’s his resume:

The Vikings’ defense ranked third in the NFL last year per EPA/Play and DVOA. Pierre and Alexander enter a wonderful situation that may only improve with Okudah off the roster.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker

Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Titans openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan continued their record-breaking run in IPL 2026, once again tearing apart the bowling attack during the clash against Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. The GT opening duo produced yet another commanding partnership and, in the process, entered an elite list in T20 cricket history. Gill and Sudharsan registered their 10th century stand together in men’s T20 cricket, equalling the all-time record jointly held by the legendary pairs of Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli, Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan and AB de Villiers-Virat Kohli. What makes the achievement even more staggering is the speed at which the GT pair has got there. Gill and Sudharsan needed only 46 innings to complete 10 century stands – far fewer than the other legendary pairs on the list. Gayle and Kohli took 63 innings, Babar and Rizwan 75, while de Villiers and Kohli required 77 innings.

The pair also set another IPL record during the innings. This was Gill and Sudharsan’s seventh century partnership for the opening wicket in IPL history – the most by any opening pair in the tournament. They went past the iconic combinations of David Warner & Shikhar Dhawan and Travis Head & Abhishek Sharma, both of whom had six century opening stands.Gill and Sudharsan also continued their dominance in terms of consistency. The duo overtook the celebrated Virat Kohli-Faf du Plessis pair and equalled Rohit Sharma-Ishan Kishan for the second-most 50-plus opening stands in IPL history.The GT pair now has 15 fifty-plus opening partnerships in just 31 innings — a phenomenal ratio rarely seen in IPL history. Only Warner and Dhawan are ahead with 18 fifty-plus stands, but they needed 48 innings to achieve the feat.

The numbers become even more extraordinary when one looks at the overall run aggregate and scoring rate. Gill and Sudharsan have already piled up 1898 runs together as an opening pair at an astonishing average of 67.78 and a run-rate of 9.87 – making them one of the most destructive and reliable opening combinations the league has ever seen.Only Warner and Dhawan have scored more runs as an IPL opening pair, but the GT duo enjoys a significantly superior average and scoring tempo compared to most other partnerships on the list.

The match also turned into a personal milestone for Gujarat Titans skipper Gill, who became the seventh-fastest batter in men’s T20 cricket to complete 6000 runs in terms of innings. Gill reached the landmark in his 185th innings, only marginally behind Kohli, who had taken 184 innings.

Gill’s feat becomes even more remarkable considering he is among only four players in men’s T20 cricket history to aggregate more than 6000 runs before turning 27. The elite list also includes Babar Azam, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Will Jacks.Gujarat Titans have already qualified for the playoffs.

The ideal of NBA roster-building rarely actually aligns with the reality of an 82-game grind in the regular season and a four-round sprint in the playoffs. Teams pour their resources into gathering two or three stars. They pay a handful of top-of-the-market role players. And then, one or two pieces are pulled out of the Jenga tower, and the whole structure collapses. The Los Angeles Lakers might have been able to to give the Oklahoma City Thunder a real series with Luka Dončić. The Minnesota Timberwolves couldn’t stress the San Antonio Spurs with Anthony Edwards hobbled and Donte DiVincenzo out.

The Spurs and the Thunder — thanks largely to the mountains of draft picks they’ve accumulated and the cheap rookie deals some stars are playing on — have been able to injury-proof their rosters as effectively as any team ever has. San Antonio’s run to the NBA Cup final came with Victor Wembanyama coming off the bench. The Thunder just won 64 games with only two players suiting up for 70 or more games. 

These teams are built with the redundancies the modern NBA demands. Both have had the means to invest in another superstar if they’ve wanted to, and both have turned down the chance, knowing that the physical demands of the pace-and-space NBA necessitate a degree of depth their all-in counterparts can’t match. At this stage of the playoffs, teams are playing every other night. Muscle injuries seem more common than ever, and the exhausting effects of playing basketball with the degree of physicality that these teams reach compounds over time.

San Antonio and Oklahoma City played a double-overtime classic in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox was already out with an ankle sprain. In Game 2, the Thunder lost Jalen Williams to a hamstring strain after just seven minutes. He’d played 37 minutes in Game 1 after missing the previous six Thunder playoff games with another hamstring strain. San Antonio, meanwhile, lost its second point guard, Dylan Harper, with yet another hamstring injury.

We don’t yet know the severity of either injury, nor can we be sure how much the Spurs will get out of Fox in this series, but through two games, Thunder-Spurs has been every bit the masterpiece we expected, and the physical toll of playing seven games at this level of intensity is only going to get higher. Whether there are more injuries or not, playing basketball at this level is exhausting. This series is turning into a war of attrition.

That’s a war either team would win comfortably against pretty much any other opponent. Against one another, they cancel one another out. It starts to come down to context.

Injury impact

San Antonio might be the only team in the NBA that the Thunder truly need Williams to beat. This is a half-court series for the Spurs, but a transition series for the Thunder. Three of Oklahoma City’s 10 worst half-court offensive games in terms of points per play came against San Antonio in the regular season because Wembanyama neutralizes so much of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s rim pressure. The name of the game for them is live-ball turnovers, and Williams, as one of the best transition scorers in the NBA, is their key to turning those turnovers into points.

His absence defensively is just as significant. Oklahoma City’s plan for Game 1 revolved around putting smaller defenders on Wembanyama so their bigger ones, most notably Chet Holmgren, could hang closer to the basket. Of course, this plan largely failed. Williams guarded Wembanyama for 16.6 partial possessions, according to NBA.com tracking data, and the Spurs scored 25 points in those possessions with Wembanyama making all five of his shot attempts. The Thunder won Game 2 with Isaiah Hartenstein taking a much more active role in guarding Wembanyama, but Williams still would have factored in meaningfully as a perimeter defender to throw at San Antonio’s guards.

That is an area in which the Thunder have more redundancy than perhaps any team in NBA history. Even Alex Caruso and Lu Dort can take possessions against Wembanyama. Ajay Mitchell can take on some of Williams’ half-court offensive burden as a secondary creator. His loss will be felt, but the Thunder played without him for most of the season. They know how to do it. They have pivots within this matchup if they need them.

San Antonio has far fewer available answers for the ball-handling it has lost. San Antonio’s regular rotation features only three high-level ball-handlers in Fox, Harper and Stephon Castle. Two of them are now hurt. The third is overburdened. Castle has to guard Gilgeous-Alexander. Asking him to do that and be the primary offensive initiator is simply too tall an order. Through two games in this series, Castle has an NBA record 20 turnovers.

The Spurs sensed the issue in Game 2. Third-string point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who had played 24 playoff minutes before Game 2 and played less than 300 minutes in the regular season, got seven minutes of run on Wednesday. He made two big 3-pointers and those minutes still went badly. McLaughlin is only 5-feet-11. He gave Gilgeous-Alexander an easy target to hunt on an otherwise stout Spurs defense. 

The Spurs responded with several consecutive possessions in a matchup zone that Oklahoma City solved instantly by sending Caruso to the middle of it. The first possession generated an easy lob to Holmgren. Wembanyama lunged out to contest a potential Caruso floater on the second, which opened an easy pass to Mitchell in the dunker’s spot. A few possessions later, Mitchell got and missed an open corner 3, and that ended San Antonio’s ill-fated zone experiment. The Spurs lost McLaughlin’s minutes by 10 points in a game that was decided by nine.

Getting Fox back would go a long way on this front. If nothing else, it helps keep McLaughlin off the floor, and Fox is both a low-turnover player and an experienced All-Star point guard who is suited to controlling tempo against an ultra-aggressive defense like Oklahoma City’s. But if he’s compromised physically, well, we don’t know how helpful he can really be.

How this benefits the Knicks and Cavs

The Spurs and Thunder were built to win under these conditions, but these injuries undeniably chip away at their superpower. Which one of them stands to benefit more from the other’s misfortune within this series is debatable, but the real winner here is playing in a different series on the other side of the country.

Whoever wins the Eastern Conference Finals is going to be an underdog against whoever escapes the West. There’s a sentiment out there that the Thunder and Spurs are playing the true NBA Finals as we speak, and the numbers support that. They were the NBA’s two best teams by both record and Cleaning the Glass net rating (which filters out garbage time) this season. Entering the series, as Carson Brebar noted, the Spurs had gone 34-3 in their last 37 games in which Wembanyama played at least 20 minutes while the Thunder had gone 28-1 in the last 29 games Gilgeous-Alexander played. At full strength, these are the two best teams in the NBA.

But the best team doesn’t always win the championship. You win it by beating the teams in front of you, and if you’re the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers right now, you’re probably enjoying watching these two heavyweights beat each other up to this degree. Both the Knicks and Cavaliers entered the Eastern Conference Finals with their full rosters available. The Knicks were without OG Anunoby in the last two games of the second round, but the Knicks had a nine-day break after their sweep of the 76ers, allowing him to play 34 minutes in New York’s Game 1 comeback over Cleveland.

If there’s a path to an Eastern Conference NBA champion, it probably starts with the Thunder and Spurs rendering one another mortal through a seven-game bloodbath. Oklahoma City and San Antonio are as deep as contenders get, but every team has a limit, and two games into the Western Conference Finals, they might be approaching theirs.

Former Bellator and Strikeforce boss Scott Coker has announced plans to launch a fight league next year which he hopes will become a “global brand in MMA”.

The project is backed by $60m (£44.7m) in funding, Coker said. He stated it will involve investors from within sport, media, technology and finance.

Coker, 63, is regarded as a pioneer in MMA after being instrumental in the rise of former promotion Strikeforce, which was purchased by the UFC’s parent company Zuffa in 2011.

His last major role was at Bellator, where he was the promotion’s president until it was acquired by the PFL at the end of 2023.

“I always knew that I would come back when the time was right, with the right vision and a carefully assembled team. That time has arrived,” said Coker, who will serve as the company’s CEO.

“There is a huge demand for a new global brand in MMA. This new league is about going back to basics: the integrity of competition, respect for the athletes and sharing their remarkable journeys with the world.

“We are building something authentic, something that belongs to the athletes and fans who live and breathe this sport.”

Details including the organisation’s name, structure and athletes are yet to be announced.

The term ‘fight league’ suggests it may adopt a round-robin structure, as opposed to a rankings-based matchmaking model like the UFC.

Although Coker’s last promotion Bellator struggled to rival the UFC’s popularity, his new project comes at a time when the sport’s landscape could be altering.

Last week, Ronda Rousey beat Gina Carano inside 15 seconds in a fight that was promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and watched by a record 17 million viewers on Netflix.

Rousey and fighters such as Cris Cyborg and Daniel Cormier built their brands in Coker’s Strikeforce before joining the UFC where they became champions and flourished.

Coker was also president of Strikeforce when Cyborg faced Carano in 2009 in the first women’s fight to headline a major MMA show.

Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann announced his 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada on Thursday.

With most of the surprises reported by local news in the days before the official announcement, the edge was taken off the squad reveal.

Nevertheless, the headline news is the shock return of veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who retired from international football after Euro 2024. The 40-year-old has enjoyed a strong season at Bayern Munich, particularly in the Champions League, but has also battled injuries. He recently signed a new one-year contract despite rumors of impending retirement.

Nagelsmann made it clear that Neuer would be the number one.

“We told Oli [Baumann] back in March that we’d had a meeting with Manu,” Nagelsmann said of the decision, admitting that it had been a blow for the Hoffenheim keeper but that he was still ready to help the team.

“My focus is on nominating the best three goalkeepers in the country and they are the best three,” he added. “We called him and asked him if he wanted to play for Germany again, and he wanted to play at the tournament. His sporting ability was considered above all, but we also wanted to know whether he was going to keep playing or retiring,” Nagelsmann said. “Everyone knows what kind of aura Manu has because of the experience he has and the titles he has won.”

When pressed on his communication, Nagelsmann was open in his response.

“There are always things you can look back on and say you could have done better, but I have no guarantee that it will be received much better,” he said. “Football is a daily business. Please understand that not every detail of my conversations with the players can be made public. I try to explain things thoroughly and keep people informed. Sometimes I’m not as successful as I’d like to be, and sometimes I am.”

The other big news was the selection of teenager Lennart Karl (18). Karl has impressed for Bayern this season and also looked comfortable when making his Germany debut earlier this year. Felix Nmecha recovered from injury in time to make the squad, with Nagelsmann saying the midfielder had all the tools to become one of the best in his position in the world.

Amiri and Sane in, Bischof and El Mala out

Elsewhere in the squad, Nadiem Amiri, the German born midfielder whose parents are from Afghanistan, made the final 26. Youngster Maxi Beier was favored, along with Leroy Sane, whose flashes of quality in Germany colors were enough to make the cut. “He has huge appreciation in the team and he is excellent in tight spaces,” Nagelsmann said.

Nathaniel Brown was also included, with Nagelsmann saying the right back probably didn’t even realize how good he is. Both Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller and Jamie Leweling also made the final 26, with the Germany head coach citing the latter’s one-on-one skills as a key factor in his decision.

Despite not playing for Germany since early 2025 as a result of injury, Jamala Musiala was named in the squad with Nagelsmann explaining the forward can “decide the outcome of games, even tournaments, with just a few moves.”

Niclas Füllkrug, Tom Bischof and Said El Mala missed out, as did Chris Führich and Maxi Mittelstädt. 

The squad announcement was slightly more personal than two years ago, when a creative marketing campaign displayed German culture and regions as a way to reveal Germany’s Euro 2024 squad. This time around, social media videos with messages from friends and family and motivational words from Nagelsmann for 12 players in the final squad were released in the hours before the official announcement.

Neuer news both a surprise and a major talking point

The news of Neuer’s surprise return was reported on across Germany in the days before the squad announcement. It comes as a shock because Neuer was retired, but also because Neuer and Nagelsmann famously fell out during the latter’s time as Bayern Munich coach.Furthermore, Nagelsmann has been outspoken in the last 12 months about Oliver Baumann being Germany’s number one, stating more than once that Germany did not have a goalkeeper problem.

While many Germany fans are unlikely to travel for the tournament, the team’s preparations begin at the end of this month. The squad will assemble in the final week of May (with the exception of Kai Havertz, who is in the Champions League final with Arsenal) and the team will play a friendly against Finland in Mainz on May 31. After that, Germany fly out to the US on June 2. There, Nagelsmann’s side will play a friendly against the USA in Chicago on June 6 before their first World Cup game on June 14 against Curacao in Houston. The team’s base camp will be in North Carolina.

Germany’s squad in full

Goalkeepers

• Manuel Neuer (40, Bayern Munich)
• Oliver Baumann (35, Hoffenheim)
• Alexander Nübel (29, Stuttgart)
• Jonas Urbig (22, Bayern Munich)*

*training goalkeeper

Defenders

• Jonathan Tah (30, Bayern Munich)
• Joshua Kimmich (c) (31, Bayern Munich)
• Nico Schlotterbeck (26, Borussia Dortmund)
• Antonio Rüdiger (33, Real Madrid)
• David Raum (28, RB Lepizig)
• Nathaniel Brown (22, Eintracht Frankfurt)
• Waldemar Anton (29, Borussia Dortmund)
• Malick Thiaw (24, Newcastle United)

Midfielders

• Pascal Gross (34, Brighton and Hove Albion)
• Leon Goretzka (31, Bayern Munich)
• Aleksandar Pavlovic (22, Bayern Munich)
• Felix Nmecha (25, Borussia Dortmund)
• Nadiem Amiri (29, Mainz)
• Angelo Stiller (25, Stuttgart)

Attackers

• Kai Havertz (26, Arsenal)
• Nick Woltemade (24, Newcastle United)
• Deniz Undav (29, Stuttgart)
• Jamal Musiala (23, Bayern Munich)
• Florian Wirtz (23, Liverpool)
• Lennart Karl (18, Bayern Munich)
• Jamie Leweling (25, Stuttgart)
• Leroy Sané (30, Galatasaray)
• Maximilian Beier (23, Borussia Dortmund)

Edited by: Matt Pearson

GMHBA Stadium will play host to Saturday’s
Round 11 AFL game between Geelong Cats and
Sydney Swans. The game kicks off at 4:15 pm with Geelong Cats heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Geelong Cats vs.
Sydney Swans
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Saturday May 23, 2026 at 4:15 pm

Where: GMHBA Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Geelong Cats vs Sydney Swans Odds

Geelong Cats vs Sydney Swans Preview

Sydney faces one of its toughest assignments of the season when it travels to GMHBA Stadium to meet Geelong on Saturday afternoon. The Swans improved to 9-1 after holding off Collingwood in a high-quality contest at the SCG, with Brodie Grundy producing one of the standout individual performances of the season and Nick Blakey again driving Sydney’s attacking transition. Geelong also arrives full of confidence after dismantling Brisbane at the Gabba to reaffirm its premiership credentials. Shaun Mannagh was instrumental in the upset, finishing with five goals in a career-best display. The Cats have enjoyed recent success against Sydney, winning seven of the past 11 meetings, including a dominant victory at the SCG late last year. Geelong’s record at Kardinia Park against the Swans is particularly imposing, highlighted by a crushing 93-point result in 2023.

NEW YORK — The big question going into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals: How do you come back from that?

In the opener, the Cleveland Cavaliers led by 22 points with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before they disintegrated. Offensively, they started to “play the clock,” as Cavs big man Evan Mobley put it, slowing down instead of playing with the pace and purpose that had built the lead. Defensively, Cleveland gave up soft switches possession after possession, gift-wrapping the New York Knicks their preferred matchup: James Harden on Jalen Brunson. A bloodbath ensued.

The Knicks ended the game on a 44-11 run, coming away with a 115-104 win in overtime, the second-largest fourth-quarter comeback in a playoff game in the play-by-play era. Donovan Mitchell said his message to his teammates was straightforward: “We f—in’ blew it. All right, let’s respond for Game 2.”

When the media entered the visitors’ locker room at Madison Square Garden, it was as quiet as you’d expect. Maybe even quieter. Dean Wade, however, said that the Cavs are “not too down,” and Mitchell said they can’t let the loss “kill our momentum,” likening it to their Game 6 loss in the first round in Toronto, in which RJ Barrett’s crunch-time 3 bounced high above the backboard before falling through the net and forcing a deciding game.

Maybe Cleveland can bounce back on Thursday, the way it did in Game 7 of both the first and second rounds. Maybe it can’t, and it will unravel the way the Knicks’ last two playoff opponents did. Beyond noting that it’s a factor, though, there’s not much to say about the potential psychological impact of the collapse/comeback. So let’s talk about the basketball stuff.

Five questions about the rest of the Eastern Conference Finals:

1. Is Knicks’ fourth-quarter offense sustainable?

Just before Game 1, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said that New York was “a different team” than it was in the regular season, as it was running much of its offense through Karl-Anthony Towns. Atkinson said they needed to put pressure on Towns, and their off-ball defense needed to be on point, too. This, he said, would be one of the keys to the series.

Cleveland shut all of that down on Tuesday and lost anyway. The funny thing about the Knicks’ comeback is that it didn’t require any of the pretty stuff. They won with matchup-hunting and hero ball. Brunson got comfortable going at Harden one-on-one and converted a mix of clean looks and contested leaners. Eventually, Cleveland decided to put two on the ball, but its execution in those situations was terrible.

The Cavs obviously need to handle the Harden-hunting better. When New York surrounds Brunson with shooters, the way it did late in Game 1, the switches can’t be automatic. If and when they blitz him, they need to be on a string. I still can’t believe they played the 36-year-old Harden for the entire fourth quarter and overtime and left him on an island against Brunson as many times as they did. At the same time, though, the Knicks need to ask themselves a tough question: Can they win that particular way again?

For three-plus quarters, it seemed like Cleveland’s switching was going to be one of the major reasons it won the game. “I think we know we’re at our best when we keep people in front of us, and switching is the easiest way to avoid getting behind on screens,” Wade said. By staying out of rotation, the Cavs were able to prevent corner 3s, protect the defensive glass and slow down an offense that had been humming for weeks … until Brunson took over.

New York is surely thankful that the let-Brunson-cook strategy saved the day. Going forward, though, it might need to find other sources of offense.

2. Can Cavs put New York back in the blender?

Until the collapse, Cleveland’s offense appeared to be a step ahead of the Knicks. Mitchell in particular punished the Knicks for blitzing his pick-and-rolls, and the bigs made quick decisions in the pocket. There were some sloppy passes, but generally speaking, when the Cavs got in the paint, they knew they’d be able to find clean looks for their shooters, who did a good job relocating on the perimeter. They targeted Brunson a lot, and that almost always led to a high-quality shot.

“We were pinging the ball all over the place,” Atkinson said. 

Then all of that went away. The ball movement was replaced by zero- or one-pass possessions. Was that because of fatigue? Complacency? Renewed spirit and fight from New York? These were likely all a part of it, but had the offense merely gone from good to bad instead of good to atrocious, Cleveland would have won.

“It’s night and day,” Harden said. “When our pace is fast, we’re moving, we understand what we’re doing, our quality of shots is much better. And we’re able to get our defense set back.”

Knicks coach Mike Brown said that, defensively, they need to make sure their energy, effort and focus is there “no matter what coverage we’re in.” He said they didn’t look like themselves early on and were “really slow” when they put two on the ball and had to rotate. New York had executed at an extremely high level for most of the playoffs, so it was alarming how easily Cleveland put the Knicks in the blender for most of Game 1.

3. Can KAT get going?

Had New York not pulled off a miracle, Towns would be taking some heat right now. The Knicks can live with the occasional poor shooting night — he was 1 for 5 from deep in Game 1 — but the silly fouls and seven turnovers are another story. Towns could not consistently take advantage of smaller defenders, had trouble keeping control of the ball on his drives and missed a couple of layups. He also really needs to stop grabbing opponents’ arms right in front of referees.

Ideally, New York will get more out of Towns as an offensive hub as the series goes along. If that’s not viable against Cleveland, then it at least needs to unlock him as a scorer. If the Cavs are going to switch smaller defenders onto him — and even start possessions this way — then Towns needs to use his size in the post or on the glass.

4. What will the Knicks do with Hart (and Shamet)?

Landry Shamet changed the game for New York on Tuesday. By playing him instead of Hart with the Knicks’ other starters in the fourth quarter and overtime, Brown took away Jarrett Allen’s hiding place on defense. And on the other end, Shamet pestered Mitchell as much as he could, both on and off the ball, which had a lot to do with Cleveland’s difficulties getting into its offense.

There’s an argument that, based on how Game 1 ended, Shamet should take Hart’s place in the starting lineup. Hart has been the starter since late November, though, and the Knicks are used to teams putting their centers on him. Hart has shot just 12 for 45 (26.7%) from 3 in the playoffs, but shot 41.3% during the regular season.

“If Josh is open and his feet are set, he’s gotta let it fly,” Brown said. “He’s made shots. We feel like he’ll make shots. And if he doesn’t want to shoot it, he can get to his middy or he can go (dribble-handoff) with somebody.”

No one will be shocked if Hart makes a bunch of 3s, grabs a bunch of offensive rebounds and terrorizes Cleveland in transition on Thursday. He was -23 in 31 minutes in the opener, though, and, if New York’s spacing is an issue again, he could see fewer minutes in Game 2.

5. Will Mobley’s inverted pick-and-rolls return?

During the Pistons series, Mobley’s usage changed out of necessity. Atkinson told reporters after Game 7 that Cleveland had him handle the ball “more than ever” because it was trying to avoid Ausar Thompson, who was an absolute demon on defense.

In the last few games of the second round, the Cavs got good stuff out of Mobley’s inverted pick-and-rolls. He’s a smart passer and a dangerous driver, and opposing bigs aren’t used to navigating screens on the perimeter. They didn’t do much of this at MSG, though, and I wonder if they might go back to it, if only to lighten the load on Mitchell. (Despite Mitchell being quiet near the end of the game, Game 1 was only the third time this postseason — and the first time since Game 7 against the Raptors — that he spent more time with the ball in his hands than Harden did.) The stagnation down the stretch suggested that Cleveland could stand to diversify its attack.

Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Prasidh Krishna, Kulwant Khejroliya, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Luke Wood, Shahrukh Khan, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Ashok Sharma, Connor Esterhuizen.

Chennai Super Kings Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh, Akash Madhwal, Zakary Foulkes, MS Dhoni, Matt Henry, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Chahar, Kuldip Yadav, Macneil Noronha, Dian Forrester.

Jannik Sinner will begin his pursuit of a first French Open title, and a career grand slam, against French wildcard Clement Tabur in the first round of the men’s competition at Roland Garros.

Sinner is being heavily backed to win the tournament following his recent triumph at the Italian Open and the withdrawal of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Sinner in the 2025 final but withdrew from this year’s tournament with a wrist injury.

Should Sinner make it into the second round he could face Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley though the 24-year-old has a difficult opening match against Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo who sits 68 places above him in the world rankings.

No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev will also take on French opposition in the opening round as he was drawn out agains Benjamin Bonzi. The German faces a trickier task to reach the final with French hopeful Arthur Fils also on his side of the draw.

More pressingly, so is 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic who will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round. Djokovic is in the hunt for a record 25th major title but his campaign will begin is tricky fashion against the six foot seven 22-year-old Frenchman who has a powerful serve and the home fans advantage to back it up.

For Britain, Cameron Norrie enters the tournament as the 20th seed and the best chance of progressing through the rounds. He reached the fourth round last year before losing to Djokovic and will be hoping to get further this time around. Norrie hasn’t been in the best of form and will take on Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo first up.

In the women’s draw, defending champion Coco Gauff will face American compatriot Taylor Townsend in the first round as she looks to regain her title and banish the memories of losing the Italian Open to Elina Svitolina last weekend.

Gauff attended the draw at Roland Garros and was asked for her thoughts on last year’s victory and if she was ready to take to the famous clay courts once again.

“My mind definitely went blank,” she said recollecting her win. “Since I was little I always said that if I win at Roland Garros I wouldn’t fall on the ground as I didn’t want to get clay in my hair but I was so relieved that the match was over, because it was like three hours, so I just fell on the ground. It was disbelief.

“Yeah [I’m ready]. If I wasn’t ready I wouldn’t be here. I’m as ready as you can be, I feel like I had a good tournament in Rome and I’ve had similar preparation to last year, this year so I feel really ready.”

Elsewhere in the women’s draw No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka will face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, while No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina takes on Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia. Other ties of note are four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek facing Australian wildcard Emerson Jones and Italian Open champion Svitolina taking on Hungary’s Anna Bondar.

For Britain, Francesa Jones has the unenviable task of facing Beatriz Maia Haddad while Katie Boutler has drawn American teenage wildcard Akasha Urhobo.

Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, will face Argentina’s Solana Sierra who she was supposed to play at the Italian Open before withdrawing with a post-viral illness.