6:46 AM ET For many series, this is a critical juncture: Teams with a 2-0 lead in a seven-game playoff series are 324-51 (86.4 percent) in those series. The Vegas Golden Knights are already there. Four more teams — the Colorado Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks — have a chance to
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Valtteri Bottas headed Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes dominated first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix. Bottas was 0.039 seconds quicker than Hamilton, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third was 0.939secs off. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth, separated by just 0.011secs. Haas’ Romain Grosjean was a surprise sixth. Racing Point’s
1:33 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Australia’s senior assistant coach Andrew McDonald will not join the touring party to England because of his contract with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Australia’s limited-overs tour of England kicks off on September 4 and will end on September 16, three days before the start of IPL 2020 in the
4:00 AM ET Welcome to ESPN’s Insider Notebook, featuring contributions from our reporters across the top leagues around the world. In this edition, there’s the latest on Arsenal’s investigation into their record £72 million signing. Plus: Barcelona start their search for a new boss. Jump to: Barca hunt for new boss | Mourinho and Levy’s
11:00 AM ET All the scenarios, all the magic numbers, all the scoreboard watching — it’s all getting settled on Thursday. Here is where things stand as four teams battle for two spots in this weekend’s Western Conference play-in: Portland Trail Blazers: win and they’re in (as the No. 8 seed). Memphis Grizzlies: win and
8:46 PM ET NCAA president Mark Emmert on Thursday made it clear that the NCAA has no authority to tell the SEC, ACC or Big 12 — or any other conference or school, for that matter — that it can’t play college football this fall. “We have no authority to do that,” he said during
Olympic and world champion cyclist Elinor Barker says there is still a lot of “ignorance” surrounding women’s sport, with women facing different attitudes to men doing the same event. The Briton, 25, has won five world titles plus European Championships and Commonwealth Games golds. Barker feels her efforts would be viewed differently if she were
11:03 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Former two-weight UFC champion Daniel Cormier has repeatedly stated his heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic on Saturday will be the final fight of his career. What does UFC president Dana White think each time he hears that? “No, it’s not,” White told ESPN on Thursday. “No, it’s not.”
10:49 PM ET ESPN News Services Tyler Strafaci is moving on at the U.S. Amateur, and he has the caddie for his opponent to thank. Strafaci, a Georgia Tech star, was all square with Argentina’s Segundo Oliva Pinto entering the 18th hole of their round of 16 match Thursday at Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Oregon.
10:25 PM ET ESPN News Services The St. Louis Cardinals‘ series opener against the Chicago White Sox has been postponed to Saturday, giving the Cardinals an extra day to recover from a coronavirus outbreak. The Cardinals, who haven’t played since July 29, were set to resume their season Friday night in Chicago. But the series
7:00 AM ET For Robin Lehner, the situation would have been comical had it not been so maddening. The blade popped off the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender’s skate — twice — against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series on Tuesday night. At one point, he was scrambling on the ice to
6:35 PM ET Before their Champions League quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann called on Tyler Adams and the rest of his players to step out of the shadows and embrace the blinding spotlight that used to shine on their former star striker Timo Werner. With Werner watching his old team in
6:38 PM ET NCAA president Mark Emmert said on Thursday there won’t be fall NCAA championships because there’s not enough schools participating because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — a decision that impacts 22 championships, including FCS football. “The Board of Governors also established if you don’t have half of the schools playing a sport,
2:07 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN For New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, it’s time to turn the page to next season and focus on getting better — with his game and his body. “I’ll talk to my coaches and see what I need to do better from their point of view,” Williamson said Thursday morning.
11:06 AM ET SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers are making George Kittle the highest-paid tight end in NFL history. By a lot. The Niners and Kittle agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract on Thursday, league sources confirmed to ESPN. The deal was first reported by Barstool Sports, which reports Kittle received
6:26 PM BST Hosting rights for the next two men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups will be awarded within the same process as World Rugby attempt to build on the success of Japan 2019, the governing body announced on Thursday. The announcement means the 2025 and 2029 women’s and 2027 and 2021 men’s World Cup
6:55 AM ET NFL NationESPN As 2020 NFL training camps move from strength and conditioning work to padded practice over the next week, the competition for starting jobs will heat up across the league. There will be a maximum of 14 padded practices per team and, with no preseason games due to the coronavirus pandemic,
5:07 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Indians pitcher Zach Plesac feels he and teammate Mike Clevinger have been unfairly portrayed as “bad people” in the aftermath of the pitchers being quarantined by the team for violating COVID-19 protocols last weekend in Chicago. Plesac said he posted a six-minute video on his Instagram page Thursday