Williams

OKLAHOMA CITY — Game 5 was starting to look like Game 1 all over again. Oklahoma City, at home, takes a huge lead. Indiana comes roaring back in the fourth quarter.

Indiana won that one.

This time, the Thunder crafted a different ending — and a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals was their reward.

Jalen Williams scored a career playoff-high 40 points, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 and the Thunder moved one win from a title by beating the Pacers 120-109 on Monday night.

“We’re learning,” said Williams, whose previous playoff best was 34.

It was the 10th — and by far, the biggest — time the Thunder stars combined for more than 70 points in a game. Williams was 14 of 24 from the field, and Gilgeous-Alexander added 10 assists.

“It wasn’t a perfect game at all and there’s a lot of room for growth,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “But our improvement from Game 4 to Game 5 was critical.”

Pascal Siakam had 28 points for Indiana, which will host Game 6 on Thursday night. TJ McConnell added 18 for the Pacers, who whittled an 18-point deficit down to two in the fourth — then watched the Thunder pull away again, and for good.

“It kind of went away from us,” Siakam said. “But the fight was there.”

It was, but now everything favors the Thunder.

Teams that win Game 5 of an NBA Finals that was tied at 2-2 have gone on to win the series 23 times in 31 previous opportunities, or 74%. And teams with a 3-2 lead in the finals have won 40 times in 49 previous opportunities, or 82%.

But Game 5 was not easy. Far from it.

Down by 18 late in the second quarter, the Pacers — the comeback kings of these playoffs, with as many wins in this postseason from 15 points down or more (five) than the rest of the league has combined, including in Game 1 of this series — did what they do, chipping away. And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton reduced to basically playing decoy on offense because of a leg issue that he aggravated in the first quarter.

“He’s not 100%,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s pretty clear.”

Led by McConnell, who scored 13 points in just under seven minutes of the third, the Pacers got within five late in that quarter.

Then, Siakam went to work — a pair of free throws with 9:19 left got Indiana within four, then a three-pointer about a minute later made it 95-93. In the play-by-play era of the NBA, starting with the 1997 playoffs, teams with leads of 15 points or more in the finals were 80-9.

Make that 81-9 now, and the Thunder are one win away from giving Oklahoma City its first NBA title.

“That was honestly the same exact game as Game 1,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals, that’s what makes a team good.”

One more win, and his team will be certified as great.

Oklahoma have one hand on the trophy after a win 120-109 over Indiana, whose star player Haliburton struggled in Game 5.

Jalen Williams erupted for 40 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Indiana Pacers to score a 120-109 victory and move to within one win of clinching the NBA Finals.

An enthralling Game 5 battle in Oklahoma on Monday saw the Pacers climb out of an 18-point first-half hole to get within two points of the Thunder in the fourth quarter.

But just as Indiana threatened the latest in a series of trademark comebacks, the Thunder found an extra gear with Williams and NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander steering the team to a pivotal victory.

The win leaves the Thunder 3-2 up in the best-of-seven series, meaning they can seal the NBA crown with victory in Game 6 in Indianapolis on Thursday.

Williams finished with 40 points, six rebounds and four assists while Gilgeous-Alexander co-starred with 31 points and 10 assists, four blocks and two steals.

“My teammates instil a lot of confidence in me to go out and be me,” Williams said. “And [coach] Mark [Daigneault] has done a good job of telling me to just be myself.”

Williams said Oklahoma City’s experience in Game 1 – when they blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to lose – had helped them close out victory.

“Tonight was the exact same game as game one, to be honest,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals is what makes this team good and we were able to do that.”

Pascal Siakam led the Indiana charge with 28 points but the Pacers were left sweating on the health of star point guard Tyrese Haliburton after the loss.

Haliburton, whose fitness has been under a cloud since game two of the series, left the game in the first quarter with a right calf problem before returning later in the contest.

The Pacers talisman finished with just four points from a bitterly disappointing outing – all of them coming from free throws – as the Thunder’s vaunted defence clamped down on the Pacers.

“He’s not 100 percent, it’s pretty clear,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.

“We were concerned at half-time and he insisted on playing … but he’s not 100 percent. There’s a lot of guys in the series that aren’t.”

Jalen Williams scored 40 points for Oklahoma City Thunder as they held off an Indiana Pacers comeback to win 120-109 and take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.

The Pacers reduced an 18-point deficit from the second quarter to two points in the fourth quarter before Williams, whose tally was a career best in a play-off game, and team-mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped guide the Thunder to victory.

NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander provided 31 points along with 10 assists as home side Oklahoma moved one win away from securing the NBA title in the best-of-seven series.

“My team-mates instil a lot of confidence in me to go out and be me,” Williams said. “And [coach] Mark [Daigneault] has done a good job of telling me to just be myself.

“I don’t got to be anything more and that’s given me a lot of confidence.”

The Pacers had overcome a 15-point deficit in game one to win but could not repeat the feat in game five.

“Tonight was the exact same game as game one, to be honest,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals is what makes this team good and we were able to do that.”

Game six will take place in Indianapolis on Thursday at 20:30 local time (Friday, 01:00 BST), with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton insisting he will be ready for the contest.

Haliburton scored just four points in 34 minutes of action in game five, with Indiana coach Rick Carlisle saying the player was “not 100%”.

He added: “It’s pretty clear. But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.

“We were concerned at half-time. He insisted on playing.”

Haliburton said: “It’s the Finals, man. I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my team-mates any way I can.

“I was not great tonight by any means, but it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play. It is what it is. Got to be ready to go for game six.”

Liverpool set for Bradley Barcola swoop, Premier League trio interested in Jadon Sancho, Everton and Newcastle lead Jack Grealish race.

Liverpool are set to swoop for Paris St-Germain’s 22-year-old France forward Bradley Barcola – even after completing a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Germany attacker Florian Wirtz, 22. (Sun), external

Aston Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham are monitoring developments with Jadon Sancho, 25, after the England winger’s return to Manchester United following his loan spell at Chelsea. (Sun), external

Everton and Newcastle are leading the race to sign England forward Jack Grealish, 29, from Manchester City this summer. (Football Insider), external

Bayer Leverkusen are considering a move for Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah, 22. (Athletic – subscription required), external

Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez is likely to leave Liverpool this summer, with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal making contact about the 25-year-old this week. (Talksport), external

Nunez, though, is understood to favour staying in Europe, with a move to Spain or Italy his preference. (Mirror), external

Athletic Bilbao hope to agree a pay rise and contract extension with 22-year-old Spain winger Nico Williams, to stave off interest from Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea. (Marca – in Spanish), external

Williams has told Bayern he is open to a move to Germany and his management is in talks with the Bundesliga champions. (Sky Sports Germany), external

Germany winger Leroy Sane, 29, has rejected an offer from Al-Hilal and agreed to join Galatasaray after talks over a new contract with Bayern Munich failed. (Sky Sport Germany), external

In something of a grand gesture, Caleb Williams stood at a lectern Wednesday to explain that excerpts from an upcoming book were old news. A year after scheming to avoid playing for the Bears, he is committed to turning around the franchise.

Leaping from the USC campus to the top rung of the NFL draft a year ago, Williams aspired to be like John Elway and Eli Manning.

Just not in the way one might expect.

Sure, he wanted to lead a team to multiple Super Bowl titles like those two quarterbacks, whose career statistics were remarkably similar. Both played 16 years in the NFL for only one team — Elway with the Denver Broncos and Manning with the New York Giants — and both passed for 50,000 yards and 300 touchdowns.

But Williams, egged on by his father, is described in American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback by ESPN journalist Seth Wickersham as entertaining creative ways to spurn the team that held the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft.

Just like Elway and Manning had done.

Elway proclaimed his refusal to play for the Baltimore Colts after they drafted him first overall in 1983, leading to a trade to the Broncos. Manning refused to play for the San Diego Chargers after being drafted first overall in 2004, forcing a trade to the Giants.

However, Williams was unsuccessful in his effort. The Bears drafted him and he pledged his allegiance to them while enduring a rocky rookie season in which he was sacked more than any other NFL quarterback and the team struggled to a 5-12 record.

Yet he felt compelled to hold a news conference at the Bears training camp in Lake Forest, Ill., to explain why he entertained thoughts of spurning Chicago and instead landing in, say, Minnesota. Williams admitted he and his parents discussed ways to dodge the Bears.

Williams couldn’t speak for his father. Carl Williams told Wickersham that “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die,” and consulted with Manning’s father, Archie, a former NFL quarterback who had helped strategize his son’s trade from the Chargers to the Giants.

But Williams made it clear he is all in with new Bears head coach Ben Johnson and the franchise’s commitment to turning around its fortunes. He said he changed his tune about Chicago after meeting with Bears brass ahead of last year’s draft.

“After I came on my visit here, it was a … deliberate and determined answer that I wanted to come here,” Williams said. “I wanted to be here. I love being here.”

“I wanted to come here and be the guy and be a part and be a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around.”

“This thing” is a franchise that hasn’t posted a winning record since 2018 and whose all-time leading passer is the middling Jay Cutler. The Bears’ most renowned quarterback is Sid Luckman, who helped them win four NFL championships in the 1940s while passing for a paltry 14,686 yards in 11 seasons. They won one more pre-Super Bowl title, in 1963, and have won only one of the LIX (59) Super Bowls, in 1985.

No wonder Carl Williams was against his son — a Heisman Trophy winner at USC in 2022 — getting locked into what amounts to a five-year rookie contract with Chicago. That son, now a 23-year-old man, said he no longer responds unquestioningly to his father’s marching orders.

“I shut him down quite a bit,” Williams said. “He has ideas and he’s a smart man and so I listen. I always listen.

“I’m very fortunate to be in this position in the sense of playing quarterback, but also very fortunate to have a very strong-minded father. We talk very often, my mom and my dad are my best friends, so being able to have conversations with them to understand that everything they say is also portrayed on me.”

Wickersham’s book will be published in September. Another excerpt describes Williams as becoming enamored with the idea of playing for Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell after they had a predraft meeting.

But the overriding theme of his four-minute opening statement at the news conference was that he is focused on becoming the best quarterback possible for the Chicago Bears. He’d prefer that everyone just forget that he had misgivings a year ago.

“We are here focused on the future,” he said, “we are here focused on the present and really trying to get this train going, picking up steam and choo-chooing along.”

Rams running back Kyren Williams is waiting patiently.

During the offseason, the team solidified its offense by re-signing left tackle Alaric Jackson and receiver Tutu Atwell, adding free-agent receiver Davante Adams and offensive lineman Coleman Shelton and adjusting the contract of quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Williams, who rushed for more than 1,100 yards in each of the last two seasons, is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is eligible for an extension.

In April, the Rams and Williams’ agent exchanged proposed contract terms. But with organized team activities scheduled to begin next week, a deal has not been done.

Still, Williams said he was “feeling good” about the situation.

“I know with time it’s going to happen,” Williams said last week in Pasadena, where he helped distribute new shoes to kids affected by the Eaton Fire.

And if Williams and the Rams do not reach a deal before the season?

“I would love for it to get done so I can take care of my family and the loved ones that helped me get here,” he said. “I’ve always got trust in God. Whether it happens now or I play out the season, I know it’s going to happen eventually.

“And so, time will tell. I just know I’ve got to do what I need to do each and every single day to make sure that it does happen in my favor.”

Rams running back Kyren Williams, second from right, helped distribute new shoes to kids affected by Eaton fire last week in a joint effort between the Seattle Seahawks and Rams.

(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)

Williams, a 2022 fifth-round draft pick from Notre Dame, was slowed by injuries much of his rookie season. But in 12 games in 2023, he rushed for 1,144 yards, scored 15 touchdowns and was voted to the Pro Bowl. In 16 games last season, he rushed for 1,299 yards and scored 16 touchdowns and helped the Rams advance to the NFC divisional round.

Williams, 24, leads a Rams running back corps that includes second-year pro Blake Corum, Ronnie Rivers, Cody Schrader and rookie Jarquez Hunter, a fourth-round draft pick from Auburn.

Williams is scheduled to earn about $5.4 million this season, according to Overthecap.com. The Rams have not given a running back a top-level extension since they awarded Todd Gurley a then-record deal before the 2018 season.

General manager Les Snead has said that Rams would “definitely like to engineer a long-term partnership,” with Williams. Coach Sean McVay said in April that “bridging that gap” financially was the challenge.

“We’ll see how far that we have to go with that but he is a very important part of what we want to be moving forward,” McVay said, adding, “He knows how much I love him, and so we’ll see if we can get something done.”

In the meantime, Williams is preparing for the season — and continuing to contribute off the field with actions consistent with those that made him the Rams’ nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award last season.

Williams directed his $25,000 from the NFL Foundation to the LAFD Foundation to help with fire relief efforts, said Molly Higgins, the Rams’ executive vice president of community impact and engagement.

“He’s been very vocal in saying, ‘However I can help with the fire-impacted families, let me know,’” Higgins said.

So when the Seattle Seahawks reached out to the Rams offering to combine forces to distribute sneakers to needy kids affected by the fires, Williams signed on to assist team mascots and several former Seahawks players at the Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena.

“I couldn’t imagine what these young kids and their families went through when they lost their houses and things due to the fire so just being able to be here — this is a blessing,” Williams said.

As his contract situation plays out, the work on and off the field will continue, Williams said.

“My only purpose is to continue to get better,” he said, “and finding joy in each and every single day and finding something to get better at.”

Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian has bought a stake in Women’s Super League champions Chelsea.

Ohanian, who is the husband of American tennis star Serena Williams, will have a seat on the club’s board after purchasing a 8-10% share, believed to be worth around £20m.

In a post to X, external, Ohanian said: “I’ve bet big on women’s sports before, and I’m doing it again.

“I’m proud to announce that I’m joining Chelsea as an investor and board member. I’m honored for the chance to help this iconic club become every American’s favorite WSL team and much, much more.”

He also posted images of Chelsea kits with the names of his children, Olympia and Adira, on the backs.

The 42-year-old has invested in women’s football previously, as the largest shareholder in American club side Angel City FC until it was sold in 2024 for £192.3 million – the highest price for a women’s sports team until this deal.

“Ironheart” may have been delayed, but it appears she won’t be denied.

Marvel Television released the teaser trailer for “Ironheart” on Wednesday, giving audiences their first proper look at the upcoming show staring Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams. The series was announced back in 2020 before the character made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the 2022 film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Set after the events of “Wakanda Forever,” “Ironheart” will see Riri back home in Chicago as she strives to make her own impact and establish her own legacy — likely with a new high tech suit of armor she builds.

“After my internship abroad,” Riri says in the trailer, alluding to her time in Wakanda, “I want to build something undeniable. Something … iconic.”

In “Wakanda Forever,” Riri is introduced as an MIT whiz kid who catches the eyes of the Wakandans after inventing a vibranium detector. When Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) saves her life, Riri offers up her expertise to help Shuri (Letitia Wright) and the Wakandans beat their foes.

The teaser kicks off with Riri facing a test from the mysterious Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who can tap into the dark arts when he dons a magical hood.

“Riri, I see you,” Parker says in the trailer. “I see you’re fed up, waiting to be acknowledged for your greatness … I can give you the tools to help you carry out your vision.”

The teaser also offers glimpses of others in Riri’s orbit, including her best friend (played by Lyric Ross) and another “shady” young man (played by Alden Ehrenreich).

“Ironheart” boasts “Black Panther” and “Sinners” filmmaker Ryan Coogler among its executive producers. Chinaka Hodge is the show’s head writer and Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes directed all six episodes. “Ironheart” will hit Disney+ on June 24.

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams says he does not think he would have been called up to the British and Irish Lions squad if he had not been playing for Gloucester this season.

The number nine moved to the Cherry and Whites last summer from Cardiff Rugby and has been one of their stand-out players, making 23 appearances in all competitions so far.

Williams was one of three scrum-halves, along with Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park and England’s Alex Mitchell, selected by head coach Andy Farrell.

“I don’t think I’d be in this position if it wasn’t for Gloucester,” Williams told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

“I said before I’m grateful for the coaches, Lights [attack coach James Lightfoot Brown], Dom [defence coach Waldouck] and Skivs [director of rugby George Skivington] for allowing me to play the way we play at Gloucester.

“Coming here this season has helped me massively.”