A look at two of this week’s top high school football playoff games in the Southland:
FRIDAY
Leuzinger (8-1) at Crean Lutheran (10-0), 7 p.m.
Leuzinger, the Bay League champions, has a top offensive line and an aggressive, hard-hitting defense that will try to contain Crean Lutheran’s athletic quarterback, Caden Jones, who has 29 touchdown passes. This Division 2 opener is part of a division loaded with tough first-round matchups. The pick: Leuzinger.
Can Laguna Beach deal with Notre Dame’s huge offensive line? That’s the big question in this Division 3 playoff opener. Versatile quarterback Wyatt Brown has run for 19 touchdowns. If the Knights can throw around their weight, things will look good. Laguna Beach has talented junior quarterback Jack Hurst, who has 41 touchdown passes. The pick: Notre Dame.
Carson High, an 11-time City Section champion, has been seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division playoffs under first-year coach William Lowe.
Birmingham, which has a 54-game winning streak against City Section opponents, was seeded No. 2. San Pedro is No. 3 and unbeaten Palisades is No. 4.
Carson will host No. 8-seeded King/Drew on Nov. 14. Palisades is the home team against No. 5 Garfield, while San Pedro hosts No. 6 Crenshaw and Birmingham hosts No. 7 Kennedy.
There was no City Open Division champion last season after Narbonne had to vacate the title for rule violations.
Venice is seeded No. 1 in Division I. Cleveland is No. 1 in Division II and Santee is top seeded in Division III.
In girls’ flag football, San Pedro was given the No. 1 seed for the Open Division. Games begin on Friday, with San Pedro hosting No. 8 Verdugo Hills; No. 4 Marshall is at No. 5 Banning; No. 6 Wilson visits No. 3 Panorama; and No. 7 Narbonne travels to No. 2 Eagle Rock.
Taylor Townsend put aside the controversy over comments made about her by Jelena Ostapenko to stun fifth seed Mirra Andreeva and reach the US Open last 16.
The 29-year-old American said her 7-5 6-2 win over the Russian was “bigger than me” as she reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2019.
Fellow players including Naomi Osaka came to Townsend’s defence this week after Ostapenko told her she had “no education” and “no class” after their second-round match on Wednesday.
Osaka said those comments were “one of the worst things you could say to a black tennis player”.
Ostapenko argued with Townsend after losing 7-5 6-1 and claimed the American doubles specialist had not apologised after a net cord landed in her favour.
The 2017 French Open champion denied any element of racism to her remarks and Townsend said she did not think there was a racial undertone to the Latvian’s comments.
After claiming one of the biggest wins of her singles career against Andreeva on Friday, Townsend told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium: “This feels good.
“All I’m going to say is welcome to the show. I feel amazing. I’m really just proud that I kept the main thing the main thing.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me over these last 48 hours.
“It’s bigger than me. It’s about the message, it’s about the representation, it’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself and I did that tonight.
“You guys saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.”
Townsend, who will play unseeded Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round on Sunday, took just 76 minutes under the lights to surge past 18-year-old Andreeva with some fearless shot making.
She came through a tense first set before running away with the second, hitting a total of 23 winners.
The World Series could end in November this year. Major League Baseball can do without all the “Mr. November” jokes, so the league took a creative step last year: a flexible start date for the World Series.
It’s not easy to cram a four-round postseason in a month. But it’s even less ideal if the World Series teams roll through the league championship series, then sit around for close to a week before the World Series starts.
MLB unveiled this creative reform last year: If both World Series teams complete the league championship series in no more than five games, the start of the World Series would move up three days. Nothing kills interest in an everyday sport like a week off before the most important games of the season.
The reform did not come into play last season. Although the New York Yankees won the American League Championship Series in five games, the Dodgers needed six games to complete the NLCS.
When MLB announced its postseason schedule Tuesday, the flexible start date for the World Series was gone. With the Dodgers coming within one victory of making that happen last season, league officials and television partners had the chance to prepare for two possibilities for the start of the World Series. The uncertainty of what date to promote, and the need for alternate travel plans and hotel blocks, left the parties with the thought that a fixed date for the World Series remained a better plan.
The World Series this year is set to start on Friday, Oct. 24, with a possible Game 7 on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The wild-card round starts Tuesday, Sept. 30, with the division series round starting Saturday, Oct. 4. The teams with the top two records in each league earn a bye in the first round and advance directly to the division series.
If the postseason started Tuesday, the Dodgers (68-51) would be the No. 3 seed in the NL, behind the Milwaukee Brewers (74-44) and the Philadelphia Phillies (69-49). The wild card teams, in order of seed, would be the Chicago Cubs (67-50), San Diego Padres (67-52) and the New York Mets (63-55).
In that scenario, the Dodgers and Mets — the NLCS combatants last season — would meet in the wild-card round this season.
Top seed Coco Gauff progressed to the fourth round of the Canadian Open after a comeback win against Veronika Kudermetova in Montreal.
The world number two recovered from a set and a break down to win 4-6 7-5 6-2 and make it to the final 16 of the tournament for the fifth time running.
The 2025 French Open champion will now face the winner of the clash between 18-year-old wildcard Victoria Mboko of Canada and Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.
Fourth seed Mirra Andreeva exited the competition after she was beaten 7-6 6-5 by 28th seed McCartney Kessler, who will meet Ukraine’s 27th seed Marta Kostyuk, who posted a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win against 15th seed Daria Kasatkina.
Unseeded Zhu Lin of China is also through to the fourth round after a 6-2 6-2 victory against Suzan Lamens.
In the men’s draw in Toronto, third seed Lorenzo Musetti crashed out of the tournament after the Italian was beaten 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 by 26th seed Alex Michelsen of the United States in the third round.
Michelsen’s win sets up an all-American clash in the fourth round where he could face either Learner Tien or Reilly Opelka.
Eighth seed Casper Ruud also reached the fourth round with a 7-6 6-4 win against Nuno Borges and will face 11th seed Karen Khachanov, who overcame Emilio Nava 6-7 6-4 6-1.
Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo got the better of compatriot Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets and will face either top seed Alexander Zverev or Matteo Arnaldi in the next stage.
LONDON — Defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova lost to No. 10 seed Emma Navarro 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday, extending a recent run of one-and-done winners at the All England Club.
Krejcikova faded in the third set, getting her blood pressure checked at the changeover after Navarro broke her to lead 3-2 at No. 1 Court. Krejcikova ate a banana and drank liquids during the medical timeout, while Navarro walked to her guest box and spoke to her coach during the break in action.
When play resumed, Krejcikova showed clear signs of being in distress, often leaning over and placing her hands on her knees between points.
“Part of you is telling yourself, ‘Just put a bunch of balls in the court, and that’s all you have to do.’ But then, she’s an amazing player, injuries or no injuries. So that’s not good enough,” said Navarro, who was born in New York, grew up in South Carolina and won the 2021 NCAA championship for the University of Virginia. “And then you trick yourself into taking too much off the ball and not playing the way you want to play. Not an easy challenge, for sure.”
Still, she managed to break right back to 3-all, before Navarro broke yet again and then held to lead 5-3. Two games later, it was over.
“I was able to serve a bit better and gained a little bit of traction on my return games, and from the ground, just played a little bit stronger,” said Navarro, 24, who will meet No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, on Monday for a quarterfinal berth. “I like to play scrappy, so I was able to play a few more scrappy points, get a few more balls back in the court.”
Most points were decided by what Krejcikova did. That’s how she ended up with 34 winners — 21 more than Navarro — and 53 unforced errors. Remarkably, Navarro finished with just 11 unforced errors.
Whoever ends up winning the women’s title on July 12 will be the ninth champion in the past nine editions of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. Serena Williams was the last repeat champ in 2016.
The trophy-takers since then have been Garbiñe Muguruza in 2017, Angelique Kerber in 2018, Simona Halep in 2019, Ash Barty in 2021 — all of whom are now retired — Elena Rybakina in 2022, Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and then Krejcikova. Rybakina also lost Saturday, while Vondrousova exited in the second round.
Last year’s triumph was the second at a major tournament for Krejcikova, who also won the 2021 French Open and was the No. 17 seed at Wimbledon this year.
This has been a fortnight filled with surprises, and Navarro is one of four top-10 seeds left in the women’s bracket. The others are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who won her third-round match Friday against Emma Raducanu, and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva and No. 8 Iga Swiatek, who both won Saturday.
For the 20th time, there will be a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
Indiana will play at Oklahoma City on Sunday night in the final game of the season, with the winner getting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Home teams are 15-4 in Game 7 of the finals, but a road team — Cleveland, over Golden State — won the most recent of those games in 2016.
A look inside some numbers surrounding this matchup:
Odds are, nobody’s scoring 40
There have been only two 40-point scoring performances in Game 7 of the NBA Finals — and both came in losing efforts.
Jerry West scored 42 points in Game 7 of the 1969 series, but the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in Bill Russell’s final game. And Elgin Baylor scored 41 points in Game 7 in 1962 — another Lakers-Celtics matchup — but Boston prevailed in that one as well.
Bob Pettit had the third-highest scoring total in a Game 7. He had 39 for the St. Louis Hawks against the Celtics in 1957 … and Boston won that game as well.
The highest-scoring Game 7s in a winning effort? Those would be by Boston’s Tom Heinsohn in that 1957 game against St. Louis and Miami’s LeBron James in the 2013 series against San Antonio. Both had 37; Heinsohn’s was a double-overtime game, James got his in regulation.
And no team might break 100, either
Yes, these are high-scoring teams. Oklahoma City was No. 4 in points per game in the regular season (120.5 per game) and Indiana was No. 7 (117.4). The Thunder are second in that category in the playoffs (115.2), just ahead of No. 3 Indiana (115.1).
In Game 7, that might not matter much.
No team has reached 100 points in Game 7 of the NBA Finals since 1988. Or even topped 95 points, for that matter.
Coach Pat Riley, left, gets a hug from Wes Matthews after the Lakers defeated the Pistons in Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals.
(Bob Galbraith / Associated Press)
The last five Game 7s:
— 2016, Cleveland 93, Golden State 89
— 2013, Miami 95, San Antonio 88
— 2010, Los Angeles Lakers 83, Boston 79
— 2005, San Antonio 81, Detroit 74
— 1994, Houston 90, New York 84
The last finals Game 7 to see someone hit the century mark was when the Lakers beat the Pistons 108-105 in 1988.
Expect a close one
The average margin of victory in Game 7 of an NBA Finals: 6.9 points.
Each of the last eight such games have been decided by single digits. Only four have been double-digit wins: Boston over St. Louis by 19 in 1960, Minneapolis over New York by 17 in 1952, Boston over Milwaukee by 15 in 1974 and New York over the Lakers by 14 in 1970.
The closest Game 7 in the finals was Syracuse beating Fort Wayne 92-91 in 1955. That was one of six Game 7s decided by three points or less.
By seed
The Thunder are the 22nd No. 1 seed to play in Game 7 of an NBA Finals. Their 21 predecessors on that list are 12-9 in the ultimate game; seven of those games have been ones where both teams entered the playoffs as No. 1 seeds.
The Pacers are the fourth No. 4 seed to make Game 7 of the title round. Their three predecessors went 1-2 (Boston beat the Lakers in 1969, Seattle lost to Washington in 1978 and the Celtics lost to the Lakers in 2010).
Game 7 experience
It’ll be the fourth Game 7 for Indiana forwards Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner. Siakam’s teams have gone 2-1 in Game 7s, Turner’s have gone 1-2.
Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith is 2-0 in the pair of Game 7s in which he has played, with Indiana winning at New York last year and Boston beating Milwaukee in 2022. Both of those wins were in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith, driving agianst Thunder forward Chet Holmgren in a Game 6 win, has twice been on teams that won Game 7s.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s reigning MVP, has averaged 27 points in two previous Game 7s. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points in his lone Game 7 to this point.
No player on either side has previously been part of a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
New for some refs, too
The NBA doesn’t announce referee assignments until game day, so it won’t be known until Sunday morning who the three-person crew is for Game 7.
This much is certain: for at least two of the referees, it’ll be the first time on the NBA Finals Game 7 stage.
Scott Foster — who would seem a likely pick this year — worked Game 7 in 2013 alongside Dan Crawford and Monty McCutchen, and Game 7 of the title series in 2010 with Dan Crawford and Joe Crawford.
The most recent Game 7 was in 2016 and the crew for that game was Dan Crawford, McCutchen and Mike Callahan.
Outside of Foster, no referee in this year’s pool has been on the court for a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
