Video Details
The Indiana Pacers beat down the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and have forced the first Game 7 in the Finals since 2016. Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes discuss if the Pacers being 7.5 point underdogs is disrespectful.
23 MINS AGO・first things first・3:51
This news was originally published on this post .
About the author
Euro 2025: Finland team guide – can the underdogs produce another historic upset?
Never the winners, but capable of an upset or two against the right opponents, Finland’s women’s national team are seated in European soccer’s mid-tier. The Helmarit (the Boreal Owls) shocked the women’s football world in 2005, reaching the semifinals after drawing with Sweden and defeating Denmark, before falling to Germany in the penultimate match.AdvertisementAs hosts in 2009, expectations were high, but they’ve yet to return to those elite heights. Under coach Marko Saloranta, they have qualified for this year’s tournament via the playoffs, landing in Group A alongside Norway, Iceland, and hosts Switzerland. Ranked 26th in FIFA’s standings, they won’t stun crowds; however, they are not going down without a fight.Who is the manager?Saloranta has led the senior team since 2022 after briefly taking charge in 2017. He has also led youth teams and served as an assistant coach since […]
Will PSR always lead to the transfer merry-go-round we have seen over the past year?
As the clock ticked onward and football’s pseudo-transfer deadline approached, Aston Villa executives were worried. It was late June last year and, needing a deal before their accounting period ended to stave off fears of a rules breach, the man they were resting their hopes on was over 5,000 miles away with a contract to sign.AdvertisementDouglas Luiz, playing in the United States for Brazil in the Copa America, did eventually join Juventus in time for Villa to record the profit on the sale within their 2023-24 books. In turn, they managed to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) last season; they would have failed without that sale.A year on, as The Athletic detailed recently, Villa approach the end of June in a similar state of regulatory concern. It is widely expected they will need to sell […]
I attended Britain’s poshest sports events. This is what I learned
The train from central London to Ascot is a hotbed of sharp suits, stunning designer dresses and brow sweat.It’s 26C (79 Fahrenheit), summer has finally arrived in England, and, for the immaculately dressed people heading for a day at the races in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, that’s perfect timing.AdvertisementFor a start, it gives the above-average ratio of people who have decided to wear sunglasses on the train an excuse to keep them on, despite the carriage being in the shade and, well, inside.Without meaning to stereotype, there are a lot of people who really, really love themselves on this train. To be blunt, it’s a high tosser ratio. Much higher than usual.Normally, a train full of people heading to a sporting event, a football match, for example, would involve at least some discussion about the day ahead.Two […]
Vondroušová a Lehečka zabojují o finále
Předloňská wimbledonská šampionka Vondroušová si návrat na trávu patřičně užívá. V prvním kole v německé metropoli vyřadila vítězku letošního Australian Open, Američanku Madison Keysovou 7:5, 7:6. V následující rundě si vyšlápla na světovou dvanáctku, Rusku Dianu Šnajderovou, kterou skolila ve třech setech. V repríze předloňského finále Wimbledonu, v rámci berlínského čtvrtfinále, vyhrála za hodinu a 15 minut nad Tunisankou Uns Džábirovou 6:4, 6:1.Po návratu po zranění ramena vyhrála rodačka ze Sokolova pátý ze šesti zápasů. V semifinále ale před ní stojí nejtěžší možná překážka, tou je světová jednička Sabalenková. Běloruska jako nejvýše nasazená dostala v prvním kole volno, ve druhém se téměř dvě hodiny trápila se 112. hráčkou žebříčku Rebekou Masarovou ze Švýcarska, ale nakonec postup urvala. Pořádné drama pak poražená finalistka posledního Roland Garros prožila v duelu s Jelenou Rybakinovou z Kazachstánu, v tie-breaku třetí sady odvrátila Běloruska hned čtyři mečboly, aby si nakonec došla pro celkový triumf. Vondroušová se Sabalenkovou poměří síly poosmé […]
Nicolas Jackson’s red card: The most concerning part is he doesn’t fully understand how it happened
It is very difficult to defend Nicolas Jackson, but that did not stop Enzo Maresca trying.Deep in the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field, in the repurposed locker room of the Philadelphia Eagles, Maresca picked the most surprising answer possible when invited to talk about Jackson’s latest moment of self-destructive madness: a studs-up tackle to the ankle of Flamengo defender Ayrton Lucas near the touchline that drew an immediate red card from referee Ivan Arcides Barton Cisneros, prompted no visible protests from any of the Chelsea players or staff close enough to have a perfect view, and condemned his team to a 3-1 defeat in their second FIFA Club World Cup match. Nicolas Jackson, who was sent off in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat away at Newcastle United in May, has seen red again. The Senegalese forward is dismissed just four minutes after […]
Off-target shots: How the rise of the ‘good miss’ is aiding talent ID in football
Off-target shots are football’s missed opportunity, in more ways than one.As the analytics revolution began to sweep through the sport in the early 2010s, shots on goal quickly became a key area of interest, with the aim of identifying the game’s most ruthless finishers firmly in mind.Some years after expected goals (xG) came expected goals on target (xGOT) — a metric that estimates the quality of on-target shots, taking into account factors such as the angle from which the shot was taken from, and its placement within the goal frame, to give an indication of how likely the subsequent effort was likely to find its way in.AdvertisementIt has since been used to evaluate both finishing ability — rewarding players who turn low-quality opportunities into high-quality attempts on goal with a positive shooting goals added (SGA) score — as well as […]
Related
Euro 2025: Finland team guide – can the underdogs produce another historic upset?
Never the winners, but capable of an upset or two against the right opponents, Finland’s women’s national team are seated in European soccer’s mid-tier. The Helmarit (the Boreal Owls) shocked the women’s football world in 2005, reaching the semifinals after drawing with Sweden and defeating Denmark, before falling to Germany in the penultimate match.AdvertisementAs hosts in 2009, expectations were high, but they’ve yet to return to those elite heights. Under coach Marko Saloranta, they have qualified for this year’s tournament via the playoffs, landing in Group A alongside Norway, Iceland, and hosts Switzerland. Ranked 26th in FIFA’s standings, they won’t stun crowds; however, they are not going down without a fight.Who is the manager?Saloranta has led the senior team since 2022 after briefly taking charge in 2017. He has also led youth teams and served as an assistant coach since […]
Will PSR always lead to the transfer merry-go-round we have seen over the past year?
As the clock ticked onward and football’s pseudo-transfer deadline approached, Aston Villa executives were worried. It was late June last year and, needing a deal before their accounting period ended to stave off fears of a rules breach, the man they were resting their hopes on was over 5,000 miles away with a contract to sign.AdvertisementDouglas Luiz, playing in the United States for Brazil in the Copa America, did eventually join Juventus in time for Villa to record the profit on the sale within their 2023-24 books. In turn, they managed to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) last season; they would have failed without that sale.A year on, as The Athletic detailed recently, Villa approach the end of June in a similar state of regulatory concern. It is widely expected they will need to sell […]
I attended Britain’s poshest sports events. This is what I learned
The train from central London to Ascot is a hotbed of sharp suits, stunning designer dresses and brow sweat.It’s 26C (79 Fahrenheit), summer has finally arrived in England, and, for the immaculately dressed people heading for a day at the races in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, that’s perfect timing.AdvertisementFor a start, it gives the above-average ratio of people who have decided to wear sunglasses on the train an excuse to keep them on, despite the carriage being in the shade and, well, inside.Without meaning to stereotype, there are a lot of people who really, really love themselves on this train. To be blunt, it’s a high tosser ratio. Much higher than usual.Normally, a train full of people heading to a sporting event, a football match, for example, would involve at least some discussion about the day ahead.Two […]
Vondroušová a Lehečka zabojují o finále
Předloňská wimbledonská šampionka Vondroušová si návrat na trávu patřičně užívá. V prvním kole v německé metropoli vyřadila vítězku letošního Australian Open, Američanku Madison Keysovou 7:5, 7:6. V následující rundě si vyšlápla na světovou dvanáctku, Rusku Dianu Šnajderovou, kterou skolila ve třech setech. V repríze předloňského finále Wimbledonu, v rámci berlínského čtvrtfinále, vyhrála za hodinu a 15 minut nad Tunisankou Uns Džábirovou 6:4, 6:1.Po návratu po zranění ramena vyhrála rodačka ze Sokolova pátý ze šesti zápasů. V semifinále ale před ní stojí nejtěžší možná překážka, tou je světová jednička Sabalenková. Běloruska jako nejvýše nasazená dostala v prvním kole volno, ve druhém se téměř dvě hodiny trápila se 112. hráčkou žebříčku Rebekou Masarovou ze Švýcarska, ale nakonec postup urvala. Pořádné drama pak poražená finalistka posledního Roland Garros prožila v duelu s Jelenou Rybakinovou z Kazachstánu, v tie-breaku třetí sady odvrátila Běloruska hned čtyři mečboly, aby si nakonec došla pro celkový triumf. Vondroušová se Sabalenkovou poměří síly poosmé […]
Nicolas Jackson’s red card: The most concerning part is he doesn’t fully understand how it happened
It is very difficult to defend Nicolas Jackson, but that did not stop Enzo Maresca trying.Deep in the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field, in the repurposed locker room of the Philadelphia Eagles, Maresca picked the most surprising answer possible when invited to talk about Jackson’s latest moment of self-destructive madness: a studs-up tackle to the ankle of Flamengo defender Ayrton Lucas near the touchline that drew an immediate red card from referee Ivan Arcides Barton Cisneros, prompted no visible protests from any of the Chelsea players or staff close enough to have a perfect view, and condemned his team to a 3-1 defeat in their second FIFA Club World Cup match. Nicolas Jackson, who was sent off in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat away at Newcastle United in May, has seen red again. The Senegalese forward is dismissed just four minutes after […]
Off-target shots: How the rise of the ‘good miss’ is aiding talent ID in football
Off-target shots are football’s missed opportunity, in more ways than one.As the analytics revolution began to sweep through the sport in the early 2010s, shots on goal quickly became a key area of interest, with the aim of identifying the game’s most ruthless finishers firmly in mind.Some years after expected goals (xG) came expected goals on target (xGOT) — a metric that estimates the quality of on-target shots, taking into account factors such as the angle from which the shot was taken from, and its placement within the goal frame, to give an indication of how likely the subsequent effort was likely to find its way in.AdvertisementIt has since been used to evaluate both finishing ability — rewarding players who turn low-quality opportunities into high-quality attempts on goal with a positive shooting goals added (SGA) score — as well as […]
Be the first to leave a comment