12 hours ago 4

The comeback kings strike again as the Pacers take Game 1 over OKC

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🚨 Headlines

🥎 Texas Tech forces Game 3: The Red Raiders held off the Longhorns in a 4-3 victory, as star pitcher NiJaree Canady struck out the final batter with the tying run on third. They'll play a decisive Game 3 tonight.

🏀 KD to NYC? The Knicks reportedly made an offer for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline, and there's some belief that they could revisit that deal this offseason as the Suns look to shed Durant's $54.7 million salary.

🎾 Women's final set: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka took down three-time defending champion Iga Świątek and No. 2 Coco Gauff dispatched tournament darling Loïs Boisson to set up a top-two clash in the French Open final.

⚾️ Ownership change imminent: Jerry Reinsdorf has agreed to sell his majority stake in the White Sox to current minority owner Justin Ishbia as soon as 2029. Ishbia is the brother of Suns owner, Mat Ishbia.

⚽️ Poch's picks: The USMNT's 26-man Gold Cup roster features seven players making their national team debut. Manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes to use these games as an extended tryout for next year's World Cup.

🏀 The comeback kings strike again

The Pacers will not die. The Knicks warned us. The Cavaliers warned us. The Bucks warned us. And now, the Thunder have learned their own lesson.

Oops, they did it again: Indiana staged yet another epic comeback in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, outscoring Oklahoma City 32-16 down the stretch and erasing a nine-point deficit in the final three minutes to pull off an unlikely 111-110 victory and steal a game for the fourth straight series.

Round 1: Erased a seven-point deficit in the final 35 seconds of Game 5
Round 2: Erased another seven-point deficit in the final minute of Game 2
East Finals: Erased a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes of Game 1
NBA Finals: Erased a nine-point deficit in the final three minutes of Game 1

The comeback kings: The Thunder went up 94-79 with 9:42 remaining in the fourth quarter and victory seemed inevitable. Turns out, the Pacers had them right where they wanted them: They're now 5-3 this postseason when trailing by 15+ points.

(Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

The game-winner: Tyrese Haliburton's last-second jump shot gave the Pacers their first and only lead of the game and left the capacity crowd at Paycom Center stunned. He's now 6-for-7 (85.7%) when taking a shot to tie or take the lead in the final 90 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime this postseason. He just keeps on doing it, man!

Go deeper: History repeats, and OKC stands stunned (Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports)

🏈 It's official: Rodgers is a Steeler

Aaron Rodgers is joining the Steelers on a one-year deal, the team announced Thursday. The future Hall of Famer plans to fly to Pittsburgh this week and participate in mandatory minicamp next week.

From Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson:

Like many others before Rodgers, this is a late-career embrace born out of necessity. Half need on the part of a team trying to capture one last gasp at whatever its current roster can be; and half need on the part of a fading QB trying to finish his career in flourish rather than frustration.

This is Brett Favre in Minneapolis, Warren Moon in Seattle, Carson Palmer in Arizona, Drew Bledsoe in Dallas. Or, well, Russell Wilson … in Pittsburgh.

The results of those previous unions were mixed, but the connective tissue binding all of them is what waited on the other side of the alliance for each of the franchises: some element of change or transition, if not a full-blown rebuild.

Fun fact: Rodgers, 41, will become the eighth QB among the NFL's top 20 all-time passing yardage leaders to take starting snaps for at least three different franchises, joining the five guys mentioned above (Favre, Moon, Palmer, Bledsoe, Wilson) plus Tom Brady and Joe Flacco.

⚾️ Sorting out MLB's buyers and sellers

Summer is almost upon us, which means the MLB trade deadline (July 31) lurks in the distance. Where do teams stand as of today? Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz on the likely buyers and sellers:

Buyers: Yankees (38-23), Dodgers (38-25), Tigers (41-23), Mets (39-24), Phillies (37-25), Cubs (39-23), Padres (35-26), Astros (34-28), Mariners (32-29), Royals (33-30), Braves (27-34).
Sellers: Rockies (12-50), White Sox (20-43), Marlins (23-37), Orioles (25-36), Pirates (23-40), Athletics (24-40), Nationals (29-33), Angels (28-33).

The messy middle: The Twins (34-28), Blue Jays (33-29), Giants (35-28) and Guardians (33-28) aren't expected to make many moves, while the Rays (33-29), Brewers (34-29) and Red Sox (30-34) may thread the needle as buyers and sellers. It's hard to pin down exactly what the Reds (30-33), Diamondbacks (31-31), Cardinals (34-28) and Rangers (29-34) will do.

📺 Weekend Watchlist

One more game in Edmonton before the series heads to Florida. (Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)

🏒 Stanley Cup Final, Game 2 | Fri. 8pm ET, TNT

The Oilers can put themselves in excellent position with a victory tonight: Teams who take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the title 91% of the time (50-5).

🏀 NBA Finals, Game 2 | Sun. 8pm, ABC

After the Pacers pulled off yet another stunning postseason comeback, the Thunder will try to even the series at one game apiece before heading to Indy.

🎾 French Open, Semis and Finals | Fri-Sun, TNT

Today's men's semifinals: No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti (8:30am) and No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 6 Novak Djokovic (1pm). Then it's No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 2 Coco Gauff in tomorrow's women's final (9am), followed by the men's final on Sunday (9am).

🥎 WCWS Final, Game 3 | Fri. 8pm, ESPN

Texas and Texas Tech face off in a rubber match as both programs chase their first national championship. What more could you ask for?

🐎 The 157th Belmont Stakes | Sat. 7pm, Fox

Preakness winner Journalism is currently favored (8-5) over Derby winner Sovereignty (2-1) to win the final leg of the Triple Crown.

🏈 UFL, Conference Finals | Sunday, ABC/Fox

Michigan Panthers at Birmingham Stallions (3pm, ABC) and DC Defenders at St. Louis Battlehawks (6pm, Fox) for a trip to the championship.

More to watch:

⚾️ NCAA Baseball: Super Regionals (Fri-Sun, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU) … Eight best-of-three series hosted by the higher seed begin today, with the winners moving on to the CWS.
⚾️ MLB: Cubs at Tigers (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Padres at Brewers (Sun. 1pm, Roku); Red Sox at Yankees (Sun. 7pm, ESPN)
⚽️ UEFA Nations League: Portugal vs. Spain (Sun. 3pm, Fox) … Final in Munich.
⛳️ PGA: Canadian Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS) … Thorbjørn Olesen and Cristobal Del Solar (-9) are tied for the lead after Round 1.
⛳️ LIV: Virginia (Fri-Sun, Fox/FS1) … At Robert Trent Jones Golf Club near D.C.
🏀 WNBA: Aces at Valkyries (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Fever at Sky (Sat. 8pm, CBS) … Commissioner's Cup.
⚽️ Soccer: USMNT vs. Turkey (Sat. 3:30pm, TNT) … The first of two friendlies for the Americans before the Gold Cup kicks off next weekend.
🥍 PLL: Week 2 (Fri-Sat, ESPN+/ABC) … In Charlotte.
🏁 NASCAR: Michigan (Sun. 2pm, Prime)

Full weekend slate.

⚾️ MLB trivia

Kimbrel is back with the Braves after spending his first five seasons in Atlanta. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Former All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel is being called up by Atlanta, where he beat out a fellow Brave to win Rookie of the Year in 2011.

Question: Who was that teammate?
Hint: Still plays in the NL.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ Fry vs. Fried

How often do you see a batter facing a pitcher whose name is just the batter's name in the past tense? That was the situation on Thursday at Yankee Stadium, where Cleveland's David Fry stepped in against New York's Max Fried.

Rare occurrence: Fried has faced another Fry in the big leagues (Jace Fry in 2019), but the only other matchup of different forms of a verb in MLB history appears to be Brown vs. Browning, which happened a few times.

Trivia answer: Freddie Freeman

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