June 2025

There were 1,837 posts published in June 2025 (this is page 101 of 184).

Giants tie Dodgers for 1st in NL West with Casey Schmitt grand slam leading to 6-2 win

Casey Schmitt‘s third-inning grand slam led the San Francisco Giants to a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, resulting in a tie for first place in the National League West. 

The Giants jumped to an early lead on a solo home run in the top of the first by Willy Adames, who crushed a fastball left up in the middle of the strike zone by Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Los Angeles tied the score at 1-1 in the second after Logan Webb walked Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández to begin the inning. Smith moved to third on a Max Muncy groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Andy Pages.

However, Yamamoto gave up the lead for good in the third by walking Jung Hoo Lee, Heliot Ramos and Wilmer Flores to load the bases. In between those walks, he struck out Willy Adames and Dominic Smith to provide a chance to escape the inning with no damage. But Schmitt got hold of a splitter low and inside and knew he hit the pitch out of the park. 

The Dodgers added a run in the seventh on Hernández’s 12th home run of the year, but the Giants matched that with an Andrew Knizner homer to restore the four-run lead. Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker each pitched a scoreless, hitless inning to close out the victory. 

Los Angeles has lost two of its past three games and seven of 12, allowing San Francisco to catch them for first place in the division at 41-29. The San Diego Padres (38-30) are two games behind both teams after a 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks (35-34) on Friday. San Diego has lost three of four games and six of 10.

Yamamoto was roughed up for the second outing in a row, allowing five runs on six hits and five walks over 4 2/3 innings. He threw only 56 of his 102 pitches for strikes. Justin Wrobleski pitched the remaining 4 1/3 innings to save the Dodgers’ bullpen, giving up only Knizner’s home run while notching five strikeouts.

“I was having a little struggle to hit my spots where I wanted to locate my pitches,” Yamamoto said afterward through an interpreter (via the Orange County Register). “That led me to fall behind. And then gave up the three walks. And then after that the grand slam.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he thought Yamamoto’s stuff was good, but the pitcher tried to be “too fine” with his pitches, which affected his command.

Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 4.35 ERA) starts for the Dodgers on Saturday, while Landen Roupp (4-4, 3.29) goes for the Giants. 

With minutes left before their title dreams faded, Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder’s biggest stars stepped up

NDIANAPOLIS — “He never blinks, never shies away from the moment.”

Alex Caruso’s description of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is apt. This was the biggest moment in Gilgous-Alexander’s young career, and there may not be a more crucial one in the future. The MVP-leader of Oklahoma City had been bottled up again by the physicality and pressure of Indiana’s defense for three and a half quarters. Every possession was tough for him, the Thunder couldn’t shake SGA free. He couldn’t get his teammates going and had zero assists on the night.

With 3:52 left in the game, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault leaned into his stars — he started asking for Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams pick-and-rolls. The goal was to force a switch and get Aaron Nesmith off SGA and get Andrew Nembhard on him — Gildgeous-Alexander shot 6-of-9 for the game with Nembhard as his primary defender.

It worked. This pick-and-roll threw off the Pacers’ defense just enough to allow SGA to score 15 of the Thunder’s final 16 points (eight from the free throw line) in the final four minutes of the game and secure the win and tie the NBA Finals 2-2 heading back to Oklahoma City.

” Winning, especially this time of the season, it comes down to the moments, it’s going to come down to late game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Every team is good. There’s rarely going to be a blowout. It comes down to the moments and who is willing to make winning plays on both ends of the floor.

“I relish those moments, love the moments, good or bad. When I was a kid shooting at my driveway, I’d count down the clock for those moments. Now I get to live it.”

Part of what keeps the Thunder calm and focused in those moments is Gilgous-Alexander’s steady, focused, stoic demeanor.

“You really wouldn’t know whether he’s up three, down three, up 30, down 30, eating dinner on a Wednesday,” Daigneault said. “He’s pretty much the same guy.”

“You wouldn’t know if it was a preseason game or it’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals down 2-1 with him,” said OKC’s Alex Caruso, who had 20 points and five steals of his own in the win. “That’s why we have such a good mentality as a group. That’s why we are able to find success in adversity. No matter what’s going on, you look at him and he’s the same. Underneath that stoic personality or (his) look on the court is a deep, deep-rooted competitiveness. That is sprinkled throughout the whole team.”

Holmgren’s defense

In those final minutes, the Pacers hunted another Thunder star, Chet Holmgren, getting him switched onto Tyrese Haliburton. That was the matchup Indiana wanted: Holmgren on an island against the Pacers’ All-NBA guy.

It didn’t work.

“I had just given up two drives right before that. Just kind of trying to learn from those and play them better in those instances,” Holmgren said of his play late. “I feel like I got a good contest. He was still able to get it off. He shoots a high-arcing shot. The whole time it’s in the air, a lot’s going through your mind. I’m just glad we were able to get those stops and close out the game.”

“We don’t [switch] a ton with him because he’s just so impactful at the rim, but he can really switch,” Daigneault said. “It’s funny, when he was coming out of the draft, that was one of the things that they really recognized with him, is that he’s very switchable. He’s got great feet. We just found ourselves behind the ball in a lot of plays tonight. The switching was able to get that under control late. We can’t do that unless he can do that. He was outstanding tonight.”

It feels like the Thunder snatched momentum in these NBA Finals with the win, tying the series 2-2 as they head home for Game 5.

Still, this was a game where the Pacers were the better team for 42 minutes, as their defense effectively bottled up SGA and the Thunder for much of the night. It’s a game they could have won if not for their own shooting troubles in the final minutes — they scored one bucket in the final five minutes — in the face of more defensive pressure.

If the Thunder are going to win a critical Game 5 at home, they are going to need a lot more Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren.

3 qualities Knicks should look for in next head coach

After being denied permission to speak to several head coaches under contract such as Jason Kidd, Ime Udoka and Chris Finch, the Knicks’ search for a head coach continues. The team has seemingly casted a wide net in its process to find a new coach to replace Tom Thibodeau.

It seems that there’s a possibility New York could go with a head coach with experience like Taylor Jenkins, the former Memphis Grizzlies head coach, or Mike Brown who most recently was the head coach for the Sacramento Kings.

They could also go young with former Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant.

Regardless of who the Knicks hire, let’s look at some characteristics the next Knicks head coach should have to get the best out of this team going forward.

Regular season schemer

Making adjustments is one of the most crucial qualities a head coach needs to thrive in the NBA. For all of this regular season under Thibodeau, the Knicks generally eschewed switching pick-and-rolls and off ball screens. 

In the second round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics, Thibs had New York switch ball screens and outside of some breakdowns and miscommunications, it generally worked. In the Conference Finals, the lack of preparation for guarding the Indiana Pacers’ non-stop movement hurt the Knicks. In Game 1, the Knicks seemed unsure if they were switching screens or fighting through them. And it hurt them, as Aaron Nesmith made six three-pointers in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to help Indiana come back from a 14-point deficit late.

Also, Thibodeau could have entertained trying different lineup combinations. It was well documented that New York’s starting lineup played more minutes than any other five-man unit in both the regular season and the playoffs. We never got a real chance to see Miles McBride on the floor in place of Josh Hart with New York’s four other starters.

The next coach experimenting with different lineups and playing styles would be important. Maybe a decision like that costs New York a regular season game here or there, but being prepared to adjust to different opponents and scenarios in the postseason is better for the long run.

A believer in ball movement

During Thibodeau’s five-year tenure as head coach, the Knicks never finished higher than 17th in assist rate. In fact, the club was in the bottom third of the category in four of the five years. Despite that, the Knicks managed to have a quality offense due to offensive rebounding and a low turnover rate.

Moving the ball doesn’t always lead to having a great offense. However, for the Knicks’ current roster construction, extra ball and body movement could boost New York’s ceiling in the postseason.

The Knicks’ top-five ranked offense in the regular season wilted in the postseason as teams took away Karl-Anthony Towns’ three-point shooting. There were too many times New York resorted to putting the ball in Jalen Brunson’s hand and isolating. Of all 16 playoff teams, the Knicks had the lowest assist rate (50.4 percent).

Outside of Brunson, the Knicks don’t have many playmakers capable of breaking down the defense off the dribble. Adding more passing and off-ball movement could elevate players like Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby on the offensive end.

Embracing player development

Thibodeau has generally been known to lean on his starters, but that wasn’t always the case. Thibodeau embraced New York’s depth in the past when the bench was constantly beating opponents behind lineups that had Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose.

But as New York’s depth weakened through trades for its current core, Thibodeau relied even less on the bench. New York’s reserves were last in scoring during the regular season and second-to-last in the playoffs. 

We’ve seen both NBA Finalists, the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder internally develop second-round picks like Andrew Nembhard and undrafted players like Luguentz Dort. With several young players on the back end of the roster, the Knicks need a coach that will entertain the challenge of helping Pacome Dadiet, Tyler Kolek and Ariel Hukporti become players that the team can trust to receive regular rotation minutes down the road.

Celtics Draft Fits: Nique Clifford has big-time potential as 3-and-D wing

Celtics Draft Fits: Nique Clifford has big-time potential as 3-and-D wing originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

If you can shoot 3-pointers and defend at a high level, you’ll likely have a long and productive career in the NBA.

Those two skills have never been more in demand. Every single team in the league shot more than 30 3-pointers per game this past season. Only one team did that 10 years ago in the 2014-15 season. Shooting the 3-pointer and defending it are critical to success in 2025.

The Boston Celtics have used this formula to great success in the three seasons that Joe Mazzulla has been head coach, including a 2024 NBA championship. The C’s led the league in 3-point shots made per game and finished top five in defensive rating each of the last two seasons.

One player in the 2025 NBA Draft class who embodies these qualities and would be a good fit for the Celtics is Colorado State guard Nique Clifford.

The Celtics own the No. 28 overall pick in the first round and the second pick (No. 32 overall) in the second round of the upcoming draft. Clifford might be gone by the time the C’s are on the clock. But if he’ available at No. 28, he should be a top target for Boston.

More Celtics Draft Fits:

Learn more about Clifford and his potential fit with the C’s below:

Nique Clifford’s bio

  • Position: Guard
  • Height: 6-foot-6
  • Weight: 200
  • Birthdate: Feb. 9, 2002
  • Birthplace: Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • College: Colorado State

Nique Clifford’s collegiate stats

  • 2024-25 (w/Colorado State): 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 49.6 field goal percentage (36 games)
  • 2023-24 (w/Colorado State): 12.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 52.2 field goal percentage (36 games)
  • 2022-23 (w/Colorado): 5.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 37.4 field goal percentage (35 games)
  • 2021-22 (w/Colorado): 6.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 45.3 field goal percentage (33 games)
  • 2020-21 (w/Colorado): 1.0 points, 0.3 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 14.3 field goal percentage (14 games)

Nique Clifford’s collegiate accolades

  • 2025 All-Mountain West First Team
  • 2025 All-Mountain West Defensive Team
  • 2025 Mountain West Tournament MVP
  • 2024 All-Mountain West Third Team

Nique Clifford’s highlights

Why Nique Clifford fits with Celtics

Clifford was a bit of a late bloomer in college. After not making much of an impact for Colorado, he transferred to Colorado State for his last two years of eligibility and played fantastic.

In addition to his very good perimeter defensive skills, Clifford took his offensive game to another level last season by averaging a career-high 18.9 points per game and shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range. He’s also an excellent rebounder for a 6-foot-6 guard. His 9.6 rebounds per game in 2024-25 were the 13th-most in the nation. He was the only guard in Division 1 to rank top 20 in rebounds per game.

Our Celtics insider Chris Forsberg views Clifford as a great for Boston in the first round of the draft. The real question is whether he’ll be available at No. 28.

“The Colorado State senior will be 24 as a rookie, which leads to questions about just how much room he can blossom at the pro level,” Forsberg said, as seen in the video player above. “Now for the good stuff. He shot 38 percent from 3-point range as a senior and has a high basketball IQ. He’s been compared to Jalen Williams and Josh Hart.

“Despite playing in an unheralded conference, Clifford’s progress late in his college career could intrigue some teams. If he slides, he might be available close to Boston’s first pick at No. 28.”

Boeing 787 crashes into Indian medical school, killing hundreds

Photo of Damaged tail section of the aircraft protruding from the side of a building.
Damaged tail section of the aircraft protruding from the side of a building.
Image: Indian Prime Minister’s Office.
Related articles
Collaborate!

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Thursday, an Air India Boeing 787-8 bound for Gatwick Airport in London crashed into Ahmenabad, Gujarat, northwestern India shortly after takeoff from a nearby airport. It was 1:38 p.m. local time (08:08 UTC). All but one of the 242 people on board perished in the crash, along with dozens more on the ground.

The plane struck the city’s Meghani Nagar neighborhood, crushing a residential building belonging to a nearby medical school. Firefighters and other emergency personnel reached the crash site and began loading victims onto stretchers.

The airline reported there were 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian on the airplane. Air India’s parent company, Tata Group, promised to pay for the medical care of the injured and to help rebuild the medical college. It also offered 10 million rupees (US$116,117) to the families of of those who died in the crash.

Boeing, the United States National Transportation Safety Board, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration all announced that they planned to cooperate with Indian authorities in investigating the crash.

It’s nothing short of a miracle”.

—Shivani Raja, member of parliament for Leicester East, India

According to The Guardian, which cited the Hindustan Times, the crash’s sole survivor, a British-Indian man named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A, said the plane made a loud noise almost immediately after takeoff: “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.” Vishwash’s brother Ajay, who was also onboard, did not survive. Vishwash was on his way to the United Kingdom from Leicester, England where he was returning after visiting family in India.

The Guardian also quoted Agence France-Presse, which reported a local resident saying, “We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames. We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital.”

Per Aviation Safety Network data, this is the first reported crash of any version of the 787. The 787-8 subseries is designed specifically to handle long, nonstop routes. The 787 fleet, called Dreamliners, carried its billionth passenger in May 2025, fourteen years after first entering airline use.


Sources

[edit]

Share this: 
E-mail this story
Share on Facebook
Share on reddit.com


Knicks reportedly set to interview Taylor Jenkins, Mike Brown to become next head coach

The Knicks are done flirting with other teams’ coaches (well… probably) and have settled into focusing on coaches currently available.

The Knicks are set next week to interview Taylor Jenkins (the recently-fired Memphis Grizzlies coach) and Mike Brown (a veteran NBA coach, most recently of Sacramento, where he helped them break their playoff drought), reports James Edwards III at The Athletic. However, they may not be alone, and the Knicks may not be done with coaches currently employed by other teams.

The Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Kidd and the Chicago Bulls’ Billy Donovan are two the New York might circle back to in the coming weeks, according to league sources. The belief around the league is that Kidd and Donovan are looking for contract extensions from their current franchises, and if those don’t materialize, they might be open to joining the Knicks.

In addition to Jenkins and Brown interviewing next week, New York is also expected to start contacting organizations to speak with assistant head coaches about the opening, per a league source.

That could open the door for New York to interview former Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, who is currently an assistant in Cleveland, was a finalist for the Phoenix Suns’ job, and is a favorite with a segment of the Knicks fan base.

New York fired Tom Thibodeau — who had just led the team to its first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years — without an upgrade at coach lined up, or even a clear plan of succession in place. They reached out to five teams (that we are aware of) to inquire about their currently employed coaches, however, all five did not give New York permission to talk to those coaches.

Jenkins is the winningest coach in Grizzlies history, but was fired with three weeks to go in the season. He has a good reputation around the league, which remained intact after the firing, as the team went 4-9 without him (including the playoffs). There were reports he had lost the locker room, and in particular star Ja Morant, in large part because of a change in offensive philosophy this season — one pushed by team management.

Brown coached the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals during the LeBron James era — where he developed ties with current Knicks power broker William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley — as well as coaching the Lakers and Kings. He also interviewed for the Knicks job in 2020, when it went to Thibodeau.

Whoever the Knicks hire as coach, they are not rushing into a deal. They will interview Jenkins and Brown, then possibly others (former Denver coach Michael Malone is out there, but league sources tell NBC Sports it’s a long shot that he gets his foot in the door, he is seen as too similar to Thibodeau). They will wait to see if the situation in Dallas or Chicago changes. With no other coaching vacancies, New York is not going to lose a candidate it likes to another team.

Fulton invited to second pre-draft NBA workout

CJ Fulton has been playing college basketball for Charleston Cougars [Getty Images]

Belfast basketball player CJ Fulton has been invited to a second pre-draft NBA workout camp, this time with the Denver Nuggets.

The 22-year-old guard, who had previously been invited to workout with the Minnesota Timberwolves, is seeking to become the third Irish-born player to earn the chance to compete at the highest level in the United States after Pat Burke and Susan Moran.

Burke played for Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns in the NBA between 2002 and 2007 while Moran was part of the New York Liberty squad during the 2002 WNBA season.

Fulton will now have the opportunity to impress a second set of coaches before this year’s NBA draft on 25-26 June.

The son of former Ireland international Adrian Fulton, CJ formerly played for St Malachy’s College and Belfast Star, helping the latter win the Basketball Ireland Super League title for the first time in 21 years in 2020.

He moved to the Winchendon School in Boston before securing a collegiate scholarship with Pennsylvania-based Lafayette University.

Following a move to Charleston Cougars, he made his debut in college basketball’s ‘March Madness’ tournament in 2024 after helping his side win the CAA Conference Tournament.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached the NBA’s Western Conference finals in each of the past two seasons, losing the best-of-seven series to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Timberwolves roster includes three-time All-Star guard Anthony Edwards, the NBA’s number one draft pick in 2020.

Led by three-time NBA most valuable player Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets were NBA champions in 2023 but have lost in the Western Conference semi-finals in each of the past two seasons.

How Thunder broke wild Warriors record in Game 4 win vs. Pacers

How Thunder broke wild Warriors record in Game 4 win vs. Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Oklahoma City Thunder tied their NBA Finals series against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night and broke a longstanding Warriors record in the process.

With their 111-104 win in Game 4 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Thunder set a new NBA single-season scoring record with 12,205 points between the 2024-25 regular season and postseason. The 2028-19 Warriors previously held the record with 12,161 points.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did plenty of the Thunder’s scoring on Friday with 35 points on 12-of-24 shooting with 10 made free throws on 10 attempts. The 2024-25 NBA MVP led Oklahoma City in regular-season scoring with 32.7 points per game and is averaging 30.4 points per game this postseason.

Gilgeous-Alexander also became the latest player to record a 15-point fourth quarter in the Finals, joining Steph Curry and LeBron James as the last three players to do so.

The Thunder also have another high-octane scorer in Jalen Williams, who certainly helped them reach the record, and Gilgeous-Alexander ranks No. 2 in the NBA with 669 total free-throw attempts in the regular season.

The 2018-19 Warriors lost that season’s Finals to the Toronto Raptors, but the prolific scoring team’s path to the championship series was one to remember, with countless other records set by the Splash Bros.

Curry and Klay Thompson set or tied seven regular-season NBA scoring records: Most 3-pointers made in game (Thompson, 14); most games with 10-plus 3-pointers in a season (Curry, six); most 3-pointers made in a half (Thompson, 10); most 3-pointers made without missing (Thompson, 10); most consecutive games with at least five 3-pointers (Curry, seven); most games with 11-plus 3-pointers (Curry, 13); and most two-pointers made in the first four games of the season (Curry, 22).

Curry also set the record that postseason for most 3-pointers made in the NBA playoffs with 470, and the Warriors set eight other playoff scoring records and tied another that year (Kevin Durant tied Charles Barkley for the most points scored in a first half in a playoff game with 38).

The Thunder now reign supreme in perhaps the most consequential scoring record of all, but none of that really matters unless they hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the second time in franchise history.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast