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The2025 NCAA baseball tournamentis set to kick off Friday with regional action across 16 host sites. As is the case in any tournament, some teams will have an easier path to reach the super regional – and eventually the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Vanderbilt earned the No. 1 overall seed, but the Commodores don't necessarily have the easiest path to reach the CWS. REQUIRED READING:College baseball tournament bracket winners and losers start with SEC Meanwhile, Southern Miss wrestled away the No. 16 seed and the final regional hosting privilege, but the Golden Eagles are rewarded with the toughest path to even reach the super regional round. Here's a power ranking of the toughest regionals in the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament based on the mean RPI of the four teams in the bracket: No. 16 Southern Miss:19 Alabama:13 Miami:40 Columbia:60 Median RPI:33 The Golden Eagles barely earned the final top-16 seed to host the regional but will face the stiffest competition to reach the super regionals, which would be rewarded with potentially facing No. 1 Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide will come in with a chip on their shoulder after being denied a hosting bid despite finishing ranked No. 13 in RPI. The Hurricanes and Lions present the toughest draws as No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively. No. 14 Tennessee:10 Wake Forest:30 Cincinnati:34 Miami (Ohio):80 Median RPI:38.5 The defending national champion Vols don't have an easy path by any means, as Wake Forest and Cincinnati have proven to be strong teams with top-34 RPIs during the regular season. Tennessee has the second-toughest regional opener, having to square off against Miami (Ohio). If the Vols can come out of their regional, they'll be as battle-tested as any team in the super regional round. No. 8 Oregon State:7 TCU:17 USC:44 St. Mary's: 89 Median RPI:39.25 The Beavers earned the right to host not only a regional, but also a super regional if they can withstand the Corvallis Regional. Oregon State will have to get past a tough Horned Frogs team that narrowly missed making the tournament last season. USC is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, while Saint Mary's won the West Coast Conference tournament championship. No. 2 Texas: 4 UTSA:25 Kansas State:37 Houston Christian:94 Median RPI:40 Not only did the Longhorns draw the short end of the stick by not getting the No. 1 overall seed, but they also have one of the hardest paths in the regional round. UTSA and Kansas State can give Texas a run for its money in the Austin Regional. First-year coach Jim Schlossnagle has his work cut out with this regional draw. No. 11 Clemson:9 West Virginia:28 Kentucky:38 USC Upstate:86 Median RPI:40.25 Clemson will be one of a few seeded programs on upset alert, having to face a dangerous Mountaineers team. The Tigers don't want to experience deja vu from last season when Florida walked into the Clemson Regional and knocked them off. Playing in the SEC, Kentucky also played a gauntlet of a schedule and could prove to be a major challenge in the regional. No. 10 Ole Miss:12 Georgia Tech:20 Western Kentucky:42 Murray State:90 Median RPI:41 Ole Miss is back in the regionals for the first time since 2022 and hosting for the first time since 2021. However, the road to a super regional for the Rebels will be anything but easy. The Yellow Jackets could very well have been hosting a regional if a game or two had gone their way in the regular season or the ACC tournament. Georgia Tech was projected to be one of the hosts leading up to the conference tournaments. No. 13 Coastal Carolina:8 Florida:18 East Carolina:66 Fairfield:74 Median RPI:41.5 Coastal Carolina could argue it was underseeded after finishing with the No. 8 RPI in the country through conference championships. Yet, the Chanticleers are the No. 13 overall seed and face a squad that ended up winning a regional as a guest last season in Florida. The Gators began the season 1-11 in SEC play but finished with 18 wins in their final 24 conference games. Florida is a dangerous visiting team, seeking its third consecutive College World Series trip. East Carolina and Fairfield are also ranked well within the top 75 in RPI. No. 1 Vanderbilt:1 Louisville:32 ETSU:36 Wright State:102 Median RPI:42.75 The Commodores earned the No. 1 seed after defeating Ole Miss 3-2 in the SEC tournament championship game and earning the No. 1 overall spot in the RPI heading into the selection show. Vanderbilt, despite a lofty baseball history, will be the top seed in the tournament for the second time in program history. Vanderbilt will have to get past a pair of top 36 RPI-ranked teams, but it will open with a matchup against a Wright State team that went 2-10 against Quad-1 opponents. No. 15 UCLA:15 UC Irvine:23 Arizona State:49 Fresno State:100 Median RPI:46.75 The Bruins will have a tough test against UC Irvine and face a former Pac-12 opponent in Arizona State. However, opening against Fresno State gives UCLA a chance to open the tournament with positive momentum. UCLA is playing in its first regional since 2022. No. 5 UNC:6 Oklahoma:26 Nebraska:50 Holy Cross:144 Median RPI:56.50 UNC draws a favorable road in the regional round after beating Florida State in the ACC tournament semifinals. While Oklahoma was tested in the SEC, the Sooners played the No. 213-ranked out-of-conference schedule and finished with a 9-9 road record. North Carolina went 25-6 at home this season. No. 3 Arkansas: 5 Kansas:24 Creighton:45 North Dakota State:152 Median RPI:56.50 Arkansas' path to the super regionals will start with North Dakota State, the No. 152-ranked team in RPI, but it will get tougher with matchups against potentially Creighton and Kansas from there. The Razorbacks posted a dominant 32-4 record at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, this season. Despite finishing the season 20-32, the Bison clinched an automatic berth in the tournament after winning the Summit League tournament. No. 12Oregon: 16 Arizona:27 Cal Poly:29 Utah Valley:170 Median RPI:60.50 The Eugene Regional is anything but a cakewalk, despite being this low on the list. Arizona and Cal Poly each had strong 2025 regular seasons and have more than enough talent to steal the regional and pull off an upset. Utah Valley, which finished the season ranked No. 171 in RPI, is making its second-ever NCAA tournament appearance. No. 7 Georgia:2 Duke:31 Oklahoma State:46 Binghamton:163 Median RPI:60.50 Despite having the same media RPI as the Eugene Regional, it's clear the Bulldogs have a slightly easier path than Oregon. Duke is just outside the top 30 in RPI, while Oklahoma State finished the season 28-23 and 5-12 in Quad-1 games. Binghamton is making its sixth NCAA tournament appearance and owns a 1-10 record, with its lone win coming in the Greenville Regional in 2009. No. 9 Florida State:14 Northeastern:22 Mississippi State:35 Bethune-Cookman:200 Median RPI:67.5 Link Jarrett and Florida State missed out on a hosting seed by one ranking. The Seminoles likely would have played host if they had defeated North Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals. While RPI doesn't suggest it, the Seminoles have to play a Northeastern team that has won 27 consecutive games and is arguably the hottest team in the nation. Mississippi State is an SEC squad that could also give FSU a run for its money. On the other hand, the Wildcats enter the tournament after beating FAMU in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship game in dramatic fashion on athree-run walk-off home run by Andrey Martinez. No. 3 Auburn:3 NC State: 33 Stetson:62 Central Connecticut:183 Median RPI:70.25 The Tigers earning the No. 3 overall seed probably shocked a lot of college baseball fans, as their 38-18 record likely did not jump off the page. However, Auburn was the No. 3-ranked team when it comes to RPI. NC State, however, is a team capable of knocking off the Tigers and the Hatters always play a tough out-of-conference schedule. Auburn opens the regional against Central Connecticut, which, despite a 31-15 record, went 0-2 in Quad-1 and 2 games. No. 6 LSU:11 Dallas Baptist:21 Rhode Island:68 Little Rock:238 Median RPI:84.5 While LSU has the lowest median RPI of any regional, that does not mean its path to hosting a super regional is easy. Dallas Baptist is making its fifth consecutive regional appearance, including having pulled off an upset in the Columbia Regional in 2021. Little Rock enters the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in RPI after finishing the season eight games below .500. The Trojans won five games in four days to win the Ohio Valley conference tournament and steal an automatic bid. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Ranking NCAA baseball tournament regionals by RPI

MUNICH (AP) — European club soccer reaches its crowning moment with theChampions League finalin Munich on Saturday. This season's showpiece pits French champion Paris Saint-Germain against Italian runner-up Inter Milan, with the former striving for its first ever European Cup title, while Inter is going for its fourth. Success for PSG would make it the first French champion of Europe since bitter rival Marseille in 1993, and finally reward years of huge investment from its Qatari backers, who bought a majority stake in the club in 2011. Inter faces the prospect of a trophyless season after seeing Napoli pip it to the Italian title. But Inter has shown it's a threat on the European stage with epic wins overBarcelona in the semifinalsand Bayern Munich in the quarters. Here's your guide to the final. When is the Champions League final? — Kickoff is at 9 p.m. local time in Germany on Saturday. That's 3 p.m. ET or 1900 GMT. How to watch the final on TV? — In the U.S., on Paramount+. DAZN will show it in Canada. — Other countries arelisted here. Players to look out for in the final — Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé have all left PSG but that doesn't mean there aren't players to watch. Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has starred for the team since joining from Napoli in January. Bradley Barcola, Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembelé are chipping in the goals that Mbappé's no longer scoring, and the team has one of the world's best goalkeepers in Gianluigi Donnarumma, formerly of Milan. — Inter counts on Argentina star Lautaro Martínez to lead the team with his captaincy and goals. Which stadium is hosting the final? — The match will take place in Bayern Munich's 75,000 capacity home stadium, known as Allianz Arena for sponsorship reasons since it opened in 2005, though UEFA refers to it as Munich Football Arena during its competitions. Key facts — PSG would become only the second French champion of Europe with a win. The closest it came so far was in 2020 when it lost in the final to Bayern after a restructured tournament because of the coronavirus pandemic. — Inter's success in 2010 ended its long wait since back-to-back wins in 1964 and '65. But it lost on its last appearance in the final, to Manchester City in 2023. This will be its seventh final altogether. It has won three and lost three so far. — This will be the fifth European Cup final to be played in Munich. Each of the previous four produced a first-time winner: Nottingham Forest in 1979, Marseille in 1993, Borussia Dortmund in 1997, and Chelsea in 2012. ___ AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Fiorentina says coach Raffaele Palladino has left the Serie A club "by mutual consent" after only one season in charge. It was reported earlier this week that Palladino had handed in his resignation but that the club was trying to convince the 41-year-old coach to stay. "Fiorentina can confirm that Raffaele Palladino's contract, as well as those of his backroom team, has today been terminated by mutual consent," the Italian club said Friday ina brief statement. Palladino coached Fiorentina to a sixth-placed finish in Serie A and a Conference League spot. It was regarded as a successful season, so his reported resignation had caught club management off guard. Fiorentina also reached the semifinals of the Conference League. It had lost in the final of that competition in each of the previous two seasons, under Vincenzo Italiano. Less than a week after the season ended,the Serie A coaching carouselis ramping up.Massimiliano Allegri returned to AC Milanon Friday and a number of other changes are expected. ___ AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

HOUSTON (AP) — Soon after Lance McCullers Jr.'s family received online death threats following a tough start by the Houston Astros' pitcher, his 5-year-old daughter, Ava, overheard wife Kara talking on the phone about it. What followed was a painful conversation between McCullers and his little girl. "She asked me when I came home: 'Daddy like what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?'" McCullers told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "So, those conversations are tough to deal with." McCullers is one of two MLB pitchers whose families have received online death threats this month as internet abuse of players and their families is on the rise. Boston reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media soon after the incident with McCullersto call out people who were threatening his wife's life and directing "vile" comments at him. The Astros contacted MLB security and the Houston Police Department following the threats to McCullers. An police spokesperson said Thursday that it remains an ongoing investigation. McCullers, who has two young daughters, took immediate action after the threats and hired 24-hour security for his family. "You have to at that point," he said. Abuse increasing with rise in sports gambling Players from around the league agree that online abuse has gotten progressively worse in recent years. Milwaukee's Christian Yelich, a 13-year MLB veteran and the 2018 NL MVP, said receiving online abuse is "a nightly thing" for most players. "I think over the last few years it's definitely increased," he said. "It's increased to the point that you're just: 'All right, here we go.' It doesn't even really register on your radar anymore. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. You're just so used to that on a day-to-day, night-to-night basis. It's not just me. It's everybody in here, based on performance." And many players believe it's directly linked to the rise in legalized sports betting. "You get a lot of DMs or stuff like that about you ruining someone's bet or something ridiculous like that," veteran Red Sox reliever Justin Wilson said. "I guess they should make better bets." Hendriks has had enough Hendriks, a 36-year-old reliever whopreviously battlednon-Hodgkin lymphoma, said on Instagram that he and his wife received death threats after a loss to the Mets. He added that people left comments saying that they wished he would have died from cancer among other abusive comments. He later discussed the issue and his decision to speak out about it. "Enough is enough," he said. "Like at some point, everyone just like sucking up and dealing with it isn't accomplishing anything. And we pass along to security. We pass along to whoever we need to, but nothing ends up happening. And it happens again the next night. And so, at some point, someone has to make a stand. And it's one of those things where the more eyes we get on it, the more voices we get talking about it. Hopefully it can push it in the right direction." What teams are doing Both the Astros and the Red Sox are working with MLB security to take action against social media users who direct threats toward players and their families. Red Sox spokesperson Abby Murphy added that they've taken steps in recent years to make sure player' families are safe during games. That includes security staff and Boston police stationed in the family section at home and dedicated security in the traveling party to monitor the family section on the road. Murphy said identifying those who make anonymous threats online is difficult, but: "both the Red Sox and MLB have cyber programs and analysts dedicated to identifying and removing these accounts." The Astros have uniformed police officers stationed in the family section, a practice that was implemented well before the threats to McCullers and his family. Abandoning social media For some players, online abuse has gotten so bad that they've abandoned social media. Detroit All-Star outfielder Riley Greene is one of them, saying he got off because he received so many messages from people blaming him for failed bets. "I deleted it," he said of Instagram. "I'm off it. It sucks, but it's the world we live in, and we can't do anything about it. People would DM me and say nasty things, tell me how bad of a player I am, and say nasty stuff that we don't want to hear." Criticism is part of the game, threats are not The 31-year-old McCullers, who returned this year after missing two full seasons with injuries, said dealing with this has been the worst thing that's happened in his career. He understands the passion of fans and knows that being criticized for a poor performance is part of the game. But he believes there's a "moral line" that fans shouldn't cross. "People should want us to succeed," he said. "We want to succeed, but it shouldn't come at a cost to our families, the kids in our life, having to feel like they're not safe where they live or where they sit at games." Houston manager Joe Espadawas livid when he learned about the threats to McCullers and his familyand was visibly upset when he addressed what happened with reporters. Espada added that the team has mental health professionals available to the players to talk about the toll such abuse takes on them and any other issues they may be dealing with. "We are aware that when we step on the field, fans expect and we expect the best out of ourselves," Espada said this week. "But when we are trying to do our best and things don't go our way while we're trying to give you everything we got and now you're threatening our families and kids — now I do have a big issue with that, right? I just did not like it." Kansas City's Salvador Perez, a 14-year MLB veteran, hasn't experienced online abuse but was appalled by what happened to McCullers. If something like that happened to him he said it would change the way he interacts with fans. "Now some fans, real fans, they're gonna pay for that, too," he said. "Because if I was him, I wouldn't take a picture or sign anything for noboby because of that one day." McCullers wouldn't go that far but admitted it has changed his mindset. "It does make you kind of shell up a little bit," he said. "It does make you kind of not want to go places. I guess that's just probably the human reaction to it." Finding a solution While most players have dealt with some level of online abuse in their careers, no one has a good idea of how to stop it. "I'm thankful I'm not in a position where I have to find a solution to this," Tigers' pitcher Tyler Holton said. "But as a person who is involved in this, I wish this wasn't a topic of conversation." White Sox outfielder Mike Tauchman is disheartened at how bad player abuse has gotten. While it's mostly online, he added that he's had teammates that have had racist and homophobic things yelled at them during games. "Outside of just simply not having social media I really don't see that getting better before it just continues to get worse," he said. "I mean, I think it's kind of the way things are now. Like, people just feel like they have the right to say whatever they want to whoever they want and it's behind a keyboard and there's really no repercussions, right?" ___ AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick and AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen, Kyle Hightower, Larry Lage and Steve Megargee contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

DALLAS (AP) — This playoff run has felt different for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, though they are now back in the same place. They haveadvanced to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row, again against Florida after losing a seven-game series to the Panthers last June. "I think we're better for going through last year. It's a great learning experience and it's really driven us all year," McDavid, their captain, said after the Oilers wrapped up their second Western Conference title in a row. "This run has felt different than last year. It's felt very normal. ... I don't want to say boring because it's not boring at all. It hasn't been as emotional." Edmonton won in its first clinching opportunity in all three series so far this postseason. After losing their first two games at Los Angeles in the opening round, the Oilers won four in a row against the Kings, took out Vegas in five games and then did the same to the Dallas Stars in a West final rematch that ended with a 6-3 win Thursday night. Game 1 of their Stanley Cup rematch is Wednesday night in Edmonton. "We haven't had the highs and we haven't had the lows. It's just kind of been steady,"McDavid said. "I think that does put us in a good position. You know those games can be emotionally draining. We're not drained. ... You know, we've got as good a chance as they do." Florida wrapped up the East in five games over Carolina to get to itsthird Stanley Cup Final in a row. The Panthers won the first three games against Edmonton last year, then finished it off with a2-1 victoryafter the Oilers forced a Game 7. That was the first Stanley Cup Final for the Oilers since 2006, their only other one since the franchise's five titles in a seven-season span from 1984-90. "I think we spent seven months getting ready for this playoff run. Like, I think it was on our minds since we lost that last game," coach Kris Knoblauch said. "A long, tough summer, and training camp, regular season and it was just kind of punching our card, showing up, wanting the playoffs, just having another opportunity." While top scorers McDavid (26 points, six goals) and Leon Draisaitl (25 points, seven goals) were the players on the podium after the West clincher, these playoffs have been more than a two-man show for the Oilers. Nineteen different players have goals, 11 of them have at least three. Corey Perry, 40, has seven goals — the most in a single postseason by any player 39 or older. Both goalies, Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, have won six games. Regular-season starter Skinner was replaced in net after the two losses to the Kings. He took over again when Pickard got hurt midway through the second round against Vegas. Skinner finished off the Golden Knights with consecutive shutouts, including a 1-0 overtime win in the clincher, and posted another shutout against the Stars. "We're mature. We've learned, and we're learning every game. The way we're playing, the calmness on the bench and making plays when things are going hairy on the ice," Perry said. "This group, it's been a want since the end of last year. There's been a lot of things said about what happened last year and self-reflecting. But here we are." So are they glad they get another shot at the Panthers? "It doesn't matter. You're competing for a Stanley Cup," said Perry, a Cup champion at age 22 with Anaheim in 2007, and now going into his fifth Final in six seasons while still seeking another title. "I mean we know what they're about. We played them seven times and they're a good team," Draisaitl said. "We're really a good team as well. Obviously it's nice to get a shot at, you know, getting some revenge, but a long ways from that." ___ AP NHL playoffs:https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cupandhttps://apnews.com/hub/nhl

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - A British man appeared in court on Friday charged with causing grievous bodily harm after a car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans during this week's victory parade. Paul Doyle, from the West Derby area of Liverpool, is charged with seven offences including dangerous driving and two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The 53-year-old appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Friday morning and confirmed his name, address and date of birth before the case was briefly adjourned. The incident took place in Liverpool's packed city centre on Monday evening, as around a million people had come out to celebrate Liverpool's Premier League win and watch an open-top bus parade the team and its staff with the trophy. (Reporting by Phil Noble in Liverpool and Sam Tobin and Sam Tabahriti in London; editing by William James)

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Faizan Zaki's enthusiasm for spelling nearly got the better of him. Ultimately, his joyful approach made him the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. The favorite entering the bee after his runner-up finish last year — during which he never misspelled a word in a conventional spelling round, only tolose a lightning-round tiebreakerthat he didn't practice for — the shaggy-haired Faizan wore the burden of expectations lightly, sauntering to the microphone in a black hoodie and spelling his words with casual glee. Throughout Thursday night's finals, the 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, looked like a champion in waiting. Then he nearly threw it away. But even a shocking moment of overconfidence couldn't prevent him from seizing the title of best speller in the English language. With the bee down to three spellers, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane missed their words back-to-back, putting Faizan two words away from victory. The first was "commelina," but instead of asking the requisite questions — definition, language of origin — to make sure he knew it, Faizan let his showman's instincts take over. "K-A-M," he said, then stopped himself. "OK, let me do this. Oh, shoot!" "Just ring the bell," he told head judge Mary Brooks, who obliged. "So now you know what happens," Brooks said, and the other two spellers returned to the stage. Later, standing next to the trophy with confetti at his feet, Faizan said: "I'm definitely going to be having nightmares about that tonight." Even pronouncer Jacques Bailly tried to slow Faizan down before his winning word, "eclaircissement," but Faizan didn't ask a single question before spelling it correctly, and he pumped his fists and collapsed to the stage after saying the final letter. The bee celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, and Faizan may be the first champion who's remembered more for a word he got wrong than one he got right. "I think he cared too much about his aura," said Bruhat Soma, Faizan's buddy who beat him in the "spell-off" tiebreaker last year. Faizan had a more nuanced explanation: After not preparing for the spell-off last year, he overcorrected, emphasizing speed during his study sessions. Although Bruhat was fast last year when he needed to be, he followed the familiar playbook for champion spellers: asking thorough questions, spelling slowly and metronomically, showing little emotion. Those are among the hallmarks of well-coached spellers, and Faizan had three coaches: Scott Remer, Sam Evans and Sohum Sukhantankar. None of them could turn Faizan into a robot on stage. "He's crazy. He's having a good time, and he's doing what he loves, which is spelling," Evans said. Said Zaki Anwar, Faizan's father: "He's the GOAT. I actually believe that. He's really good, man. He's been doing it for so long, and he knows the dictionary in and out." A thrilling centennial After last year's bee had little drama before an abrupt move to the spell-off, Scrippstweaked the competition rules, giving judges more leeway to let the competition play out before going to the tiebreaker. The nine finalists delivered. During one stretch, six spellers got 28 consecutive words right, and there were three perfect rounds during the finals. The last time there was a single perfect round wasthe infamous 2019 bee, which ended in an eight-way tie. Sarv, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, who ultimately finished third, would have been the youngest champion since Nihar Janga in 2016. He has three years of eligibility remaining. The most poised and mature of the final three, Sarvadnya — who's from Visalia, California — ends his career as the runner-up. He's 14 and in the eighth grade, which means he has aged out of the competition. It's not a bad way to go out, considering that Faizan became just the fifth runner-up in a century to come back and win, and the first since Sean Conley in 2001. Including Faizan, whose parents emigrated from southern India, 30 of the past 36 champions have been Indian American, a run that began with Nupur Lala's victory in 1999, which was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound." Lala was among the dozens of past champions who attended this year and signed autographs for spellers, families and bee fans to honor the anniversary. With the winner's haul of $52,500 added to his second-place prize of $25,000, Faizan increased his bee earnings to $77,500. His big splurge with his winnings last year? A $1,500 Rubik's cube with 21 squares on each side. This time, he said he'd donate a large portion of his winnings to charity. The bee began in 1925 when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. For the past 14 years, Scripps has hosted the competition at a convention center just outside the nation's capital, but the bee returns downtown next year to Constitution Hall, a nearly century-old concert venue near the White House. A passionate champion Faizan has been spelling for more than half his life. He competed in the 2019 bee as a 7-year-old, getting in through a wild-card program that has since been discontinued. He qualified again in 2023 and made the semifinals before last year's second-place finish. "One thing that differentiates him is he really has a passion for this. In his free time, when he's not studying for the bee, he's literally looking up archaic, obsolete words that have no chance of being asked," Bruhat said. "I don't think he cares as much about the title as his passion for language and words." Faizan had no regrets about showing that enthusiasm, even though it nearly cost him. "No offense to Bruhat, but I think he really took the bee a little too seriously," Faizan said. "I decided to have fun with this bee, and I did well, and here I am." ___ Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his workhere.

The New York Knicks found a lead that was safe against the Indiana Pacers. In a 2025 Eastern Conference finals that has seen both teams choke away big leads, the Knicks found a Game 5 advantage and kept it against their fellow comeback artists in a 111-94 win. Game 6 is scheduled for Saturday in Indiana (8 p.m. ET, TNT). It was Indiana's first loss in a Game 5 all playoffs after closing out the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the same situation. The mechanics of the blowout came down to two major factors: Jalen Brunson and a miserable night on offense for the Pacers. The Knicks star posted 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting with five rebounds and five assists, continuing a stellar series in which he was averaging 33.3 points per game entering Thursday. Brunson joined LeBron James, Michael Jordan and potential NBA Finals opponent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the only players to post at least 10 games of 30 points and five assistsin a single postseason. Brunson's point guard counterpart, Tyrese Haliburton, was a bit quieter. He posted eight points on 2-of-7 shooting with six assists and two rebounds. As a team, the Pacers shot 40.5% with 20 turnovers. None of that is to say the Pacers were dead all night, though. The Knicks never trailed and were up by as many as 22 points late in the third quarter, but Indiana cut it to 12 early in the fourth quarter. Any fan in Madison Square Garden who says they weren't worried at that point is lying. It might be hyperbole to say that about a second half in which the Knicks led by double digits throughout, but that's the reputation the Pacers have earned given what they've done in all three of their series this postseason. Tom Thibodeau was certainly concerned, as that was when the Knicks head coach reinserted his starters. That group held on until Indiana finally waved the white flag with two minutes remaining. "Knicks in seven" chants rang out soon after. Now comes the harder part for New York. The Knicks staved off elimination at home with a loud crowd behind them, but Game 6 will feature a Gainbridge Fieldhouse audience fully aware of how close its team is to its first Finals since 2000. It will be loud, and it won't even be the only game the Knicks need to win. But for now, they can say they definitely looked like the better team on Thursday.

The Florida Panthers are looking to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, but to do so they'll have to beat a familiar foe — who is a slight favorite. The Edmonton Oilers and Panthers faced off in last year's Stanley Cup Final, and the Panthers won the series with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in Game 7. Florida entered as a -140 favorite over Edmonton last year. This season, the margin entering the series between the two teams is even smaller, asBetMGMopened the Oilers as -115 favorites and the Panthers at -105. Edmonton defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in six games, the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round in five games and the Dallas Stars in the conference finals in five games. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is searching for his first Stanley Cup. Florida beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the opening round, the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in Round 2 and the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the conference finals. Game 1 will be at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday on TNT.

In the summer of 2021, Paris Saint-Germain had seemingly everything it needed to get the one thing it didn't have: a reputation as one of global soccer's big winners. Its roster appeared built out of a video game. Kylian Mbappé, the 22-year-old World Cup champion from France, alongside Brazilian superstar Neymar and, in a breathtaking signing, Lionel Messi, the Argentine many considered the world's best player of all time. The collection of three of the world's best goal-scorers — and a total payroll of nearly $430 million — was made possible by the club's equally staggering resources. Since 2011, PSG has been owned by an arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, which spent freely to establish it among the world's most accomplished clubs. Although PSG routinely won France's top soccer division, it had never won the Champions League, Europe's annual and most prestigious club tournament, and only once played for the title. By some metrics, the two-year run featuring Mbappé, Messi and Neymar was a smashing success. Star-studded PSG raked in more than $1 billion in revenue, according to the club. But by exiting the Champions League in the round of 16 in 2022 and 2023, and with Mbappé, Neymar and Messi playing together in only about a third of their potential games, PSG never came close to conquering Europe on the field. All three stars eventually departed, replaced by younger, less expensive successors. For most clubs, that would have signaled the start of a rebuild. Instead, just two years later, a less-heralded, less-expensive version of PSG could win the most coveted title that eluded its starrier predecessors when it plays Internazionale of Milan in the Champions League final Saturday in Munich. A Champions League trophy would be notable not only for PSG, one of the most prominent clubs never to have won the tournament. Only one team from France has ever won it, and that was 32 years ago. PSG enters as the favorite because under manager Luis Enrique, it operates no longer as a star system but as a team, said NBC Sports analyst Robbie Mustoe, a former English Premier League player. "There's a lot of evidence that having star players in a team doesn't make a team, and PSG is such a great example with Neymar and Lionel Messi and Mbappé and everybody else they've had there," Mustoe said. "It takes an all-around team, and you can't really have passengers too much now. And what I mean by that is players that switch on when they have the ball and switch off when they don't have the ball. "PSG is such an amazing example of this, where they changed the manager, they obviously got rid of all the star players, they went younger, they went hungrier." Even with Mbappé only 22 years old in 2021, the average age on PSG's roster that season was 27.8, two years older than on its average opponent, thanks to 34-year-old Messi's joining 29-year-old Neymar and 33-year-old Ángel Di Maria. This season, the team's average age is 25, two years younger than that of its average opponent, a reflection of PSG's decision after the 2023 season to "completely change its strategy" of roster construction, Alice Lefebvre, a reporter for Agence France-Presse who covers PSG, said by email. Knicks playoff games have turned into photo shoots for A-list celebrities Oklahoma City Thunder advance to NBA Finals MLB invests in Athletes Unlimited Softball League ahead of June debut "The club's management have stopped obsessing over the Champions League, as they had done until now, and have officially stated that they are giving themselves time to build a project around the young players and youngsters coming through the Parisian training program," Lefebvre wrote. "As the season progressed, despite some internal tensions between a few players and Luis Enrique at the start of the season, a new spirit began to permeate the team. Everyone plays for everyone, and everyone presses for the ball, just as the coach wants." Enrique and sporting director Luís Campos recruited younger players including French winger Désiré Doué, 20, a breakout star for whom the team paid $54 million to acquire last summer, João Neves and Willian Pacho. The oldest mainstay is 31-year-old Brazilian defender Marquinhos. The majority of the team is either in its prime, such as leading scorer Ousmane Dembélé, or entering it, like 22-year-old Bradley Barcola, whom Enrique has called "the best passer in Ligue 1; he's one of the best dribblers in Europe." The arrival in January of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Italy strengthened PSG's ability to attack. Weaving it all together is Enrique, who was used to high-profile, high-pressure jobs before, after having managed Barcelona to a Champions League title, then coached the Spanish national team. When PSG hired him in 2023 after Messi had left and Neymar was in the process of exiting, Enrique arrived with a specific project, Lefebvre wrote, of getting young players who would defend and attack in unison. In Champions League competition, PSG owns the fourth-highest passing accuracy and the third-highestpossession percentage. "As long as Luis Enrique is here, the strategy will remain one of youth rather than stars," Lefebvre wrote. Enrique was also tasked with overhauling a change in attitude. The team would be built no longer on the potential brilliance of three players, but on the doggedness of all 11. "A Paris Saint-Germain player has to get used to starting, coming off the bench or even not being called up," Enrique told reporters amid the team's Champions League run. "We make sure that every player who comes on is at 100% and gives his all." Perhaps the coach's best work has been coaxing a career-best season out of Dembélé, whose potential had always been evident. Barcelona signed Dembélé in 2017 with ambitions of his becoming the successor to its outgoing star Neymar. Instead, during six inconsistent seasons combined, he scored 24 goals and assisted on 34 more. When PSG needed its own Neymar replacement in 2023, it placed its hopes on Dembélé, too. This season, his second for PSG, Dembélé scored 21 goals during the domestic season and eight more in 14 Champions League matches, and he added 10 assists between the two. Enrique's coaching has mimicked Dembélé's role earlier in his career at clubs in France and Germany, allowing for "more freedom to go everywhere on the pitch," Dembélé saidthis week. "I have my bearings," he said "I just try to create space and to cause a bit of chaos in midfield. This has been paying off so far." Relative to its past, PSG reined in its payroll this season to $220 million, a number that is nonetheless still larger than that of the three next-high-spending teams in France's top division combined and that would also rank second-highest in England's Premier League, the world's richest domestic soccer league. What is different is that now PSG could have a trophy to show for all that spending. While past PSG teams weren't prepared to "suffer," said Mustoe — a buzzword in global soccer with the loose definition of a team's ability to endure its struggles — this year, "they have a team that suffers with immense ability," he said. PSG proved it during the knockout stage of the Champions League, when advancing relies on the aggregate score of a two-game series. PSG lost in the round of 16 to Liverpool at home, then held firm to win on the road on penalties and advance. After it beat Aston Villa in the quarterfinals, it won again on the road to open its semifinal against Arsenal, then advanced to only the club's second Champions League final with a home win on May 7. "If we were to analyze everything that has happened in the UEFA Champions League this season, I think it would make a great thriller or horror film or even a very good series, because it has had a bit of everything," Enrique, who managed Barcelona to a Champions League title a decade ago,said this week. "I think we should be proud of what we've achieved. However, we have to finish the job because what we're really aiming for is to make history."

Chris Sale became the fastest pitcher to reach 2,500 strikeouts, pitched six scoreless innings and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3 on Thursday night to split a doubleheader. The Phillies won the afternoon game 5-4. Sale (3-3) struck out Edmundo Sosa in the sixth inning for his eighth strikeout, to reach the milestone. He did it in 2,026 innings, surpassing the record of 2,107 2/3 set by Randy Johnson. Sale became the 40th pitcher in major league history to reach 2.500 strikeouts and joined Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer as the only active pitchers to have reached that plateau. Sosa was the last hitter Sale faced. He allowed just two hits in six shutout innings. Austin Riley had a double, a homer, and four RBIs, Ozzie Albies homered and drove in three, and Luke Williams had a pair of RBIs for the Braves, who snapped a three-game losing skid. Zack Wheeler (6-2) allowed six runs in 5 1/3 innings for the Phillies, who lost for just the second time in their last 13 games. BLUE JAYS 12, ATHLETICS 0 TORONTO (AP) — Ernie Clement homered and had five RBIs, Bo Bichette homered and drove in three runs, and Toronto used an eight-run second inning to rout the struggling Athletics. José Berríos (2-2) and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Blue Jays recorded their second straight shutout and fourth of the season. All four have come since May 20. The Athletics have lost three straight and 14 of 15, getting outscored 117-44 in that span. The A's have been outscored by 101 total runs this season. They've lost by 10 or more runs an MLB-worst seven times. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer and George Springer added a solo shot for Toronto. Alejandro Kirk reached base four times, scored twice and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. The A's have allowed at least one home run in 11 consecutive games, giving up 25 total homers in that span. Athletics opponents have hit 84 home runs this season. Berríos struck out nine in six innings to win for the first time since April 7 at Boston. Athletics left-hander Jacob Lopez (0-3) allowed seven runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings, his third straight losing start. RAYS 13, ASTROS 3 HOUSTON (AP) — Junior Caminero homered and drove in a career-high six RBIs to lead Tampa Bay to a win over Houston. The game was tied 3-all with no outs and two on in the seventh when Yandy Díaz's RBI single put the Rays on top. Tampa Bay made it 5-3 when Jonathan Aranda reached and Díaz scored on a fielding error by first baseman Victor Caratini. Caminero then connected off Bryan King (3-1) on his 11th homer this season to push the lead to 8-3. The 21-year-old Caminero, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, drove in two more runs on a double in Tampa Bay's five-run eighth that made it 13-3. Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz hit solo homers for the Astros, whose four-game winning streak was halted. NATIONALS 9, MARINERS 3, 10 INNINGS SEATTLE (AP) — Josh Bell hit a three-run homer in a seven-run 10th inning in Washington's victory over Seattle. The Nationals set a franchise record for runs in an extra inning. Rookie Daylen Lile got the outburst started against Collin Snider (1-1) with a sacrifice fly to deep right that came just a few feet shy of a home run. Luis Garcia Jr. doubled home a pair of runs before Bell hit eighth home run of the season and second in two days. For a good while, it appeared Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore would require little offensive support, considering MLB's strikeout leader racked up eight strikeouts across six shutout innings to up his season total to 101. Gore was buoyed, too, byJames Wood's two-RBI double to left field in the sixth inning,and was in line for the victory that instead went to Nationals reliever Jose A. Ferrer (2-2). But in the seventh, the Mariners drew back even. Leody Taveras and Ben Williamson had back-to-back RBI singles to tied it at 2.

At the end of last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, Faizan Zaki grimaced, nodded his head and offered a gracious handshake as runner-up to winner Bruhat Soma after a dramatic spell-off. One year later, Zaki stood alone, with a trophy in hand. The 13-year-old Allen, Texas, native beat out eight other finalists to win the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday in National Harbor, Maryland. His winning word: "éclaircissement." You can see the moment he won in the video above. His prizes: $50,000 cash from Scripps, a medal and the Scripps Cup trophy $2,500 cash from Merriam-Webster, plus a reference library from the dictionary company. $400 worth of books from Encyclopædia Britannica $1,000 in Scholastic Dollars donated to the school of his choice A five-year subscription to a News-O-Matic platform for his school First runner-up Sarvadnya Kadam will receive $25,000, while second runner-up Sarv Dharavane will get $15,000. Zaki had previously competed three times in the spelling bee, finishing 370th in 2019, 21st in 2023 and as the runner-up in 2024. It was nearly another heartbreaker for Zaki earlier in the finals, though. He was poised to win the event after Kadam and Dharavane both misspelled their words in the 18th round. After being asked to spell "commelina," Zaki jumped the gun and started spelling before bothering to ask for the definition or origin. Three letters in — "K, A, M" — Zaki realized his mistake. Kadam and Dharavane reentered the competition, with Dharavane quipping, "This is surprising." Fortunately for Zaki, Dharavane misspelled his next word too, while Kadam fell in the next round, setting him up to take the title. On the final word, longtime spelling bee pronouncer, and former champion, Jacques Bailly playfully asked for "all of us to take a deep breath," to which Zaki deadpanned, "That did not help at all." Zaki again didn't ask for the definition or origin of "éclaircissement," but he clearly had the letters in his head as soon as he heard it. And as soon as the judges confirmed he got it right, he fell to the ground, followed a moment later by the confetti. You can see every word Zaki spelled on his way to victory here.

It's been 15 years since an Italian club last lifted theChampions Leaguetrophy – a long and barren stretch for thecalcio-mad country. To see a team from Italy win the most coveted prize in European clubsoccerfeels overdue, particularly given the nation's history and pedigree in the sport. That could all change this weekend whenInter Milanfaces Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Munich on Saturday – a second Champions League final in three years for theNerazzurri. A fourth European title for Inter might be a flickering reminder of the golden era of Italian club soccer in the 1990s, back when Serie A was home to the greatest players of the time. Today's teams hardly boast the same number of global superstars, but Champions League success for Inter – following the lesser European titles of the Europa League and Conference League for Atalanta and AS Roma, respectively – would perhaps offer a glimpse of an Italian Renaissance. "Italian football was really feeling a bit down on itself up until recent years, about its record in European competition," Adam Summerton, a TNT Sports commentator who closely follows Italy's Serie A, toldCNN Sports. "I think it had almost become an embarrassment, really, for a league the size of Italy and the standing of Italy. … Some of that pride now has been restored with the performances of teams in recent years, but in order to truly restore that – and I guess for Italian football to gain that bit of pride back – I think to win the Champions League, to win the ultimate prize, to have a club that has to be called the best team in Europe, that's massive." Inter has been on the cusp of silverware on three, arguably four, occasions this season. Just last weekend, it came achingly close to winning the Serie A title, only to finish a single point behind champion Napoli on the final matchday. That prompted manager Simone Inzaghi to acknowledge that there had been "a lot of suffering in me and in the players" at the start of this week, though Saturday's final offers a chance to ease that pain. And one positive for Inter is that Inzaghi and many of his players have been in this position before, the current squad not radically different to the one whichnarrowly lost to Manchester City in the 2023 final. This Inter team is full of experienced campaigners – the likes of defenders Francesco Acerbi and Matteo Darmian, plus midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It has the highest average age of any squad in Italy this past season – 29.1, according toTransfermarkt– and will be hungry for silverware after a series of near-misses. As well as failing to clinch the league title, Inter lost to bitter rival AC Milan in January's Italian Super Cup and again to Milan in April's Italian Cup semifinals. But the bigger picture for theNerazzurriis one of success under Inzaghi. The 49-year-old, who arrived at the club in 2021, has already won a Scudetto, two Italian Cups and three Italian Super Cups during his time in charge. Just to reach two Champions League finals is also an impressive feat, especially given the financial firepower of some of Europe's top clubs – the likes ofReal Madrid, Manchester City, and, indeed, PSG. "This isn't just a coach who's a flash in the pan or somebody who's up and coming," says Summerton. "People might disagree, but in my view, he's an established, elite-level coach now, and I think that to win the Champions League would give that validation, recognition, and underline that this is a guy whose work really needs to be taken seriously." Inzaghi, a former striker who spent most of his playing career with Lazio, is under contract with Inter until 2026. He hasreportedlybeen offered more than $23 million per season (€20 million) to take charge of Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, but was reluctant to talk about his future when asked this week. "It's the same thing every year, when I was at Lazio and at Inter,"saidInzaghi. "Luckily, there are requests from Italy, from abroad and from Saudi Arabia. "But I think it would be crazy right now to think about that. As the (club) president said, with whom I have a great relationship, the day after the game we'll sit down and talk, as we've always done over the years, with only one objective, which is the good of Inter." Understandably, a Champions League trophy would provide a huge boost to Inzaghi's managerial resumé – because of the funds at his disposal and the teams he would have beaten along the way. Having conceded just one goal in this season's group stages, Inter then saw off Feyenoord, Bayern Munich, and –in sensational fashion– Barcelona in the knockout stages. The breathless, mad-cap win in the semifinals against Barça – finally ending 7-6 on aggregate after Acerbi's stoppage-time equalizer and Davide Frattesi's extra-time winner – will be remembered as one of the great nights in the club's history. Crucially, it showed that Inter under Inzaghi has the tools and tactics to compete with – and beat – the best teams in Europe. "They have this incredible ability to adapt, to be flexible," says Summerton. "They play within a formation that Inzaghi is pretty wedded to – the 3-5-2 – but there is so much flexibility within that formation, in the way that they play. "I think that Inter are a really tricky side for PSG to play in the final because of that versatility that they have, the rotations that they play with. They're a very, very difficult team to play against." Ahead of the final, Inter has been boosted by the return of captain Lautaro Martínez, whose nine goals in 13 games represents one of the best returns in the Champions League this season – only four players have scored more. Martínez is looking to add a Champions League medal to an already impressive haul of trophies in his career: the World Cup and two Copa América titles with Argentina, as well as two league titles with Inter. "To experience another final of this scale, in this competition, is going to be incredible," hetoldUEFA this week, adding: "I really want to enjoy the moment, this final, this game. Then if it comes to fruition, it will be a dream come true." It will be a dream, too, for those Inter fans who have waited 15 years to taste Champions League glory once again. Now, only one team stands in the way of the trophy's long-awaited return to Italy. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

"Knicks in 7" chants echoed around "The World's Most Famous Arena" on Thursday night as the duo of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns led the New York Knicks to an Eastern Conference Finals-extending 111-94 win over the Indiana Pacers. Despite being pushed to the brink of elimination, the Knicks came out the gates fast and stomped the Pacers to force a Game 6. Brunson finished with 32 points, while Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds. The 29-year-old Towns came into Game 5 listed as a game-time decision with a knee contusion, but showed little signs of discomfort in the dominant win. "I looked at the game and it said Game 5 do-or-die. That was pretty much all I needed to see," Towns told reporters after the game. "Shout out to our medical staff. They gave me a chance to go out there and compete tonight." The Knicks suffered two brutal losses to open the series at Madison Square Garden but were able to shake them off, securing their first home win of the ECF so far. With a who's who of celebrities sitting courtside – including actors Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller, Kylie Jenner, and director Spike Lee – it was the captain Brunson that set the tone for the Knickerbockers. The 28-year-old Brunson scored 14 first quarter points and set a franchise record with his 21st career postseason game of at least 30 points with New York. That was not the only record broken: Brunson and Towns became the first teammates to both score 20+ points in each of the first five games of a conference finals since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal did so for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002. "He was cooking. That's what I saw. I saw him cooking," Towns said of Brunson. "Especially when you're getting points at that kind of rate, you got to get some stops. You want to be able to get some stops while cap is on that kind of burner." Besides the offensive feats for the Knicks, it was their defense especially keying in on stopping Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton. In Indiana's Game 4 win,the two-time All Star finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds, 15 assists, four steals and zero turnovers. It was the first time in league playoff history that a player had registered at least 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds without a turnover. However, Game 5 yielded a much different result for Haliburton, who finished with eight points and six assists. "We're up 3-1, their season is on the line today," Haliburton said. "Understand they are going to come out and play hard. … Now, it is on us to respond in Game 6. When you get here, at this point, there is no such thing as surprises. You got to be prepared for whatever is to come. "Kudos to them, they played better than us today. We've got to be prepared for Game 6." Brunson downplayed if he felt pressure to outplay Haliburton after his previous games' heroics. "He played phenomenal in Game 4. Our backs are against the wall," Brunson said. "I wasn't thinking, 'I need to play better than him.' I was just thinking, 'I need to help my team win.' And that's my mindset every time I am on the court." The Pacers, looking to clinch their second-ever NBA Finals appearance, will have another go on Saturday night in front of their home fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

Karl-Anthony Towns knew where the Eastern Conference finals stood as he evaluated the pain in his left knee prior to the Thursday game. The New York Knicks were staring at elimination, and the consequences supplied Towns with a clear course of action. "I looked at the game and it was 'Game 5, do or die,'" Towns said. "That was pretty much all I needed to see." Towns and Jalen Brunson were both on top of their games and New York staved off elimination with a convincing 111-94 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers in Game 5. The Knicks, who cut their deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, will have the opportunity to tie when the teams meet Saturday night in Indianapolis. Brunson scored 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting and Towns played through his injury to record 24 points and 13 rebounds as the third-seeded Knicks led wire to wire. "I just feel like we played better," Brunson said. "We played to our standards." Towns believes the Knicks have to play with the same conviction in Game 6. "We have no room for error," Towns said. "Our backs are against the wall and every game is do or die. If we don't bring that energy or execution, our season will be over." Bennedict Mathurin registered 23 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the fourth-seeded Pacers. Pascal Siakam had 15 points, and reserve Obi Toppin added 11. Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton was largely silent, finishing with eight points, on 2-of-7 shooting, and six assists. Two nights earlier, he had 30 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds and zero turnovers in a stellar Game 4 effort. "Rough night for me. I've got to be better setting the tone and getting downhill," Haliburton said. "I feel I didn't do a great job of that. ... They picked up the pressure a little bit more and applied more as the game went on. Put it on me. I got to be better in Game 6." The Knicks shot 49.4 percent from the field in Game 5, including 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) from 3-point range. Josh Hart had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Mikal Bridges also scored 12 points, and OG Anunoby had 11 points. Indiana connected on 40.5 percent of its shots and was 10 of 30 from behind the arc while committing 19 turnovers. The Pacers trailed by as many as 22 points. "It was a bad start. We never had the lead," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "There were a multitude of things going wrong. There were stretches in the game where we got a little bit of traction but never enough." The Knicks led by 11 at halftime but pushed the edge to 72-52 on two free throws by Anunoby with 6:32 remaining in the third quarter. Indiana displayed life with a 12-2 run to move within 74-64 on two foul shots by Mathurin with 4:09 left in the period. Brunson had six points, including a four-point play, as New York answered with 12 straight points. Miles "Deuce" McBride hit a jumper to cap it and make it 86-64 with 2:12 remaining. The Pacers responded with a 9-2 burst before Bridges sank a 12-footer with 1.8 seconds left to give the Knicks a 90-73 advantage entering the final stanza. New York led by 20 in the fourth before Indiana scored nine of the next 10 points to creep within 96-84 with 8:15 remaining. However, Hart answered with consecutive baskets and Bridges hit a jumper to make it an 18-point margin with 5:41 remaining. Towns' driving basket made it 106-90 with 2:44 left, and Carlisle waved the white flag by removing Haliburton, Mathurin and Siakam from the contest. "We've been a resilient team all year," Siakam said. "We've shown all year we can fight and we can bounce back. Our strength is sticking together as a team ... "It's always been us against the world, and that's not going to change. Nobody wanted us here, but every barrier that was there, we broke that. We're up 3-2 in the series and we're going to go back home." Towns had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the first half as New York led 56-45 at the break. Siakam had nine points in the half for the Pacers. Indiana trailed by two early in the second quarter before New York rattled off 14 of the next 16 points to take a 48-34 lead with 5:07 left in the half. The 14-point edge was the Knicks' largest before intermission. --Field Level Media

NEW DELHI (AP) — The world's richest franchise cricket league is ongoing in India, a cricket- crazy country of 1.4 billion. The Indian Premier League features top players from around the world and attracts hundreds of millions of TV viewers. While the format leads to high-tempo action on the field, Twenty20 cricket has also sparked an evolution in off-field entertainment in cricket. Cheerleaders dancing on podiums, DJs sitting behind decks spinning tunes, and fancy dress themes are all part of the T20 game for crowds, bringing a colorful new twist for those at the stadium and broadcast viewers. This year, 65 international cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and Afghanistan have joined India's high-profile players in the tournament. The tournament started March 23 and the final is set for June 3 at Ahmedabad. The championship decider will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium, the world's largest cricket venue with a seating capacity of 132,000. _______ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

The Edmonton Oilers get their shot at revenge in the Stanley Cup Final after claiming a 6-3 road victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday to close out the Western Conference finals. Connor McDavid collected one goal and one assist as the Oilers dispatched the Stars in five games in the best-of-seven series. Next up is a rematch of last year's finals against the Panthers, won by Florida in seven games. "They're a really good team and we're a really good team as well," Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said of the Panthers. "It's nice to get a shot at getting some revenge, but we're a long ways from that. We'll enjoy this and get ready." Game 1 will be Wednesday at Edmonton. Corey Perry, Mattias Janmark, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for the Oilers, who have won 12 of their past 14 playoff games and eliminated the Stars in the conference finals for the second consecutive year. Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner made 14 saves. In last year's Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton lost the first three games but pushed it to the limit before dropping the deciding game 2-1. Now the Oilers have their opportunity to not only win the Stanley Cup but claim the crown against the club that broke their hearts. "I think we're better for going through last year," McDavid said. "It's a great learning experience and really driven us all year. This run has felt very different than last year. It's felt very normal. ... "Games can be emotionally draining, but we're not drained. We've got as good a chance as they do." Jason Robertson scored twice and Roope Hintz tallied once for Dallas, which has lost out in the Stanley Cup chase in the third round three straight years. Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley each recorded two assists. Starting Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger was pulled after surrendering goals on the first two shots he faced. Casey DeSmith made 17 saves in relief. "We felt we had a solid group from top to bottom, and that's why this stings pretty bad," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "It (hurts). Three years in a row now you get that close and come up short. It's not a good feeling." Sensing their chance to close out the series, the Oilers staked an early 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Perry at 2:31, Janmark at 7:09 and then Skinner -- playing his first game since the playoff opener -- 58 seconds later for his first career playoff goal. On Perry's goal, McDavid collected his 100th career playoff assist in his 90th game, the second-fastest player to hit the century mark for postseason helpers, behind only Wayne Gretzky (70 games). Robertson scored for the third consecutive game at 11:40 of the opening frame and Hintz made it a one-goal game with a power-play tally at 12:27 of the second period to draw Dallas close. However, McDavid restored Edmonton's two-goal lead two minutes later with a breakaway tally. Robertson's second of the game 38 seconds into the third period again brought the Stars within one, but Kane responded at 3:21 of the final period. Kapanen's empty-net goal in the last minute rounded out the scoring. Dallas failed to record a shot on goal in the final 16:17 of the game, but a big story going forward will be the goalie change. "I didn't blame it all on Jake, but the reality is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton (before Thursday)," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "And we give up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. It was partly to spark our team and ... status quo had not been working." --Field Level Media

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A huge economic boost, 40,000 British and Irish visitors in a swathe of red supporter gear, and the combined rugby might of four countries set to take on Australia. The 10-match British and Irish Lions tour — a once-every-12-year occasion for Australia — kicks off next month and local organizers are already primed for the influx of rugby-loving visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The first of three test matches is 50 days away, in Brisbane on July 19. The second test is scheduled for July 26 in Melbourne and the third in Sydney on Aug. 2. "The Lions is something that tends to reach beyond just the rugby union fans,"Australia head coach Joe Schmidtsaid during a visit Friday to Suncorp Stadium, "because it's such an infrequent tour, people just get interested and we'd love to earn the support of all those folk by being really competitive. "I'd love to think we're in the hunt." Who are the Lions? The first Lions tour in 1888 comprised mostly English players and included matches in Australia and New Zealand. The tradition grew and since 1989, a Lions squad featuring Irish, England, Scottish and Welsh players has toured every four years on a rotational basis to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Andy Farrell is head coach of a 38-man squad for the 2025 tour, with England lock Maro Itoje selected as captain. Recent history Australian rugby has declined since its historic 2001 series victory over the Lions. The 1999 Rugby World Cup champions recovered to clinch that series with back-to-back wins in Melbourne and Sydney after a first-test loss in Brisbane, when the Wallabies were stunned by a crowd overwhelmingly dominated by visiting fans. In 2013, the Lions — coming off a mid-week loss to the Canberra-based Brumbies in a tour game — edged Australia 23-21 in the first test in Brisbane and then, after losing 16-15 in Melbourne, rallied for a comprehensive 41-6 victory in Sydney. Wallabies resurgence After failing to make the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in 2023, Australia has been in a rebuilding phase under New Zealand-born Schmidt, a former Ireland coach. The Wallabies had six wins in 13 tests in a2024 season that ended in a 22-19 loss to Irelandin Dublin, but an influx of new players and some improved performances have increased expectations for 2025. Schmidt, who will start assembling his squad next month as domestic teams bow out of the Super Rugby Pacific championship, knows that the Wallabies need to start being more consistent to win back the support of an Australian public which has a vast number of sporting choices. The Wallabies are No. 8 in the World Rugby rankings for men's international teams and need to improve quickly to get a good seeding for the 2027 World Cup, which Australia is hosting. We "need a series of really good performances and, and it's something that we're aspirational about and we work really hard behind the scenes to try to get into the mix," Schmidt said. "I think some of the promising signs, the way the Wallabies finished off last year, the way the Super Rugby teams have competed this year, and so it's our challenge to try to continue that." Seeing red James Horwill, Australia's captain in the 2013 series, has seen enough red when it comes to Lions tours. His enduring memory of the 2001 series, when he was a teenager watching the first test on TV? "It felt like a home game for the British and Irish Lions just with just with the red shirts and the crowd," he said. He said there was more obvious support for Australia 12 years ago with more fans in gold, but the red of the Lions still stood out. "You walk out of the hotel, there was red everywhere. It's almost like the British and Irish Lions fans don't bring anything else other than red t-shirts," he said. "They wear it everywhere, so we need our fans here to step up to the mark because we know they're coming in droves from the U.K." ___ AP rugby:https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) From high-octane lineups to crafty pitching, this Yankees-Dodgers battle is baseball's main event of this weekend. As Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz of the "Baseball Bar-B-Cast" podcast put it: "I don't think we have to explain why Dodgers-Yankees is compelling … There is some stuff here, people." Here is some of the stuff: As pointed out in the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," there's a different energy compared to their last showdown. This isn't just a rehashing of last year's World Series vibe. Both the Yankees (35-20) and Dodgers (34-22) are entering the weekend as true contenders, but, if anything, the Yankees look stronger this time around. Mintz summed it up like this: "Last year it was pretty clear pretty quickly that the Yankees were playing worse baseball than the Dodgers. That's not the case right now. There's a strong argument the Yankees are better than the Dodgers." The Yankees' run differential is nearly double that of the Dodgers (+113 to +65), and their recent form has been more consistent across the board. Shusterman's take: "The Yankees are playing much better, basically, across the board, they've been way more consistent. The run differential speaks for itself. They have a lot more of their team clicking." The arms on display promise some compelling duels: Friday —Max Fried vs. Tony GonsolinSaturday —Will Warren vs. Landon KnackSunday —Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Ryan Yarbrough Mintz points out the intrigue around pitchers: "Will Warren I'm interested in. He was not a character during the World Series last year. Neither was Max Fried. I'll take Max Fried against Shohei Ohtani. Thank you very much." It's also a series full of new faces — like the Yankees' Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt. As Shusterman jokes, expect the networks to lean heavily into World Series nostalgia. Will we see countless replays of Freddie Freeman's grand slam in the World Series opener? Probably. The over-under, according to the "Bar-B-Cast" is set at 12.5. But don't let that distract from the fact that this series is packed with new storylines and fresh drama. Title favorites:The defending champion Dodgers have the best odds to win the World Series (+240 at BetMGM), and the Yankees aren't too far behind (+550). The Tigers (+900), Mets (+900), Phillies (+950), Cubs (+1500) and Mariners (+1800) are the only other teams with better than 20-1 odds. MVP favorites:Reigning MVPs Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are mashing. If the season ended today, they would both be virtual locks to win the awards again, which would be three in four years for Judge and four in five years for Ohtani. Judge leads the AL in every part of the triple-slash (.391/.488/.739), runs (51), hits (81), total bases (153) and WAR (4.2). He's also second in HRs (18), RBI (47) and walks (38). Ohtani leads the NL in HRs (20), runs (59), slugging (.648) and total bases (140), is second in WAR (2.8) and OPS (1.042) and is top 10 in BA (.292) and steals (11). Looking ahead:There's still a lot of baseball left, but if the Yankees and Dodgers each make it back to the Fall Classic it will bejust the 10th World Series rematch ever, and the first since these same two teams did it nearly 50 years ago (1977-78). For more of the latest baseball news and debates, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" onApple,SpotifyorYouTube.

TheDallas Starsgot off to a bad start whilebeing eliminated Thursday nightby theEdmonton Oilers. A careless penalty. A power-play goal in which Corey Perry was left alone in front. Another defensive breakdown on the Oilers' second goal by Mattias Janmark at 7:09. Stars coach Peter DeBoer called a timeout, then did something shocking: He pulled star goaltender Jake Oettinger and inserted backup Casey DeSmith. DeBoer explained his reasoning afterward, saying he didn't fully blame Oettinger for the goals but at the same time, he cited the "reality" of the situation. "If you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton and we gave up two goals on two shots in an elimination game," DeBoer said. "It was partly to spark our team and wake them up and partly knowing that status quo had not been working. That's a pretty big sample size." Jake Oettinger's night is DONE 5 mins into Game 5 😳He gets pulled after allowing 2 goals on the Oilers' first 2 shots 😬pic.twitter.com/gSSyXUZsZJ — Gino Hard (@GinoHard_)May 30, 2025 DeSmith gave up a quick goal to Jeff Skinner and though the Stars pulled close on a couple of occasions. they fell 6-3. "We didn't roll over," DeBoer said. Oettinger was one of three U.S. goalies at the 4 Nations Face-Off who could also be thenetminders for the 2026 Olympics. Top goalie Connor Hellebuyck hadsome tough games on the roadfor the Winnipeg Jets in the playoffs. Boston's Jeremy Swayman missed the playoffs but helped theUSA win a rare gold medalat the world championships. The Stars have now lost three consecutive trips to the Western Conference final. "Our group needs to go – you know, coaches, players – and reflect in the summer on what we can do when we get to this point against the best teams," DeBoer said. The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Stars' Jake Oettinger pulled; coach Peter DeBoer explains why