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🚨 Headlines

🎾 Novak hires Andy: Novak Djokovic has appointed his former rival, Andy Murray, to his coaching team as he prepares for the 2025 Australian Open.

🏀 Streak snapped: UCLA women’s hoops took down top-ranked South Carolina, 77-62, to snap their 43-game winning streak.

⛳️ Richest season ever: Jeeno Thitikul won the $4 million first-place prize at the Tour Championship to finish the season with $6.06 million in official money, a new LPGA record.

🇮🇪 McGregor found liable: MMA fighter Connor McGregor was found liable for sexual assault in a civil case in Dublin and must pay his accuser $257,000 in damages.

⚽️ MLS Cup Playoffs: And then there were four. Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle will meet in the West Final; Orlando City and New York Red Bulls will meet in the East Final.

🏈 NFL Sunday: Barkley runs wild (again)

Saquon Barkley for MVP? The Eagles running back added to his remarkable season with 255 rushing yards (ninth-most ever) in Sunday night’s 37-20 win over the Rams.

Back-to-back: Barkley is the first player to have 500+ scrimmage yards over a two-game span since Walter Payton in November 1977.

• This week: 26 carries, 255 yards, 2 TD; 4 receptions, 47 yards

• Last week: 26 carries, 146 yards, 2 TD; 2 receptions, 52 yards

By the numbers: Barkley (1,392 yards through 11 games) is on pace to become the ninth member of the 2,000 yards club. Four of the eight current members won MVP that year (O.J. Simpson in 1973, Barry Sanders in 1997, Terrell Davis in 1998, Adrian Peterson in 2012).

From Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon…

The Eagles cultivate such a great rushing ecosystem. We’ve seen multiple different backs have career-best years in Philly alongside Jalen Hurts and behind this offensive line the last three seasons.

The current-era Eagles have never employed a running back like Saquon Barkley, who can take over a game and launch this ecosystem into the stratosphere. He makes the team right when the scheme is wrong.

I just don’t know how we’re still having the same conversations about running back value when we’ve seen an elite back like this weaponize an already great rushing attack. He’s not even the only one doing it; look at 2022-23 Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco and Derrick Henry in Baltimore.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey: The Giants lost 30-7 to the Buccaneers in their first game since releasing QB Daniel Jones, the player they chose over Barkley in a brainless decision forever immortalized on “Hard Knocks.” They are now 2-9 and haven’t held a lead since the Mets were tied 1-1 in the NLDS… 50 days ago.

Around the league:

• Cowboys 34, Commanders 26: Dallas and Washington combined for five touchdowns in the final five minutes of this bonkers affair, which featured two missed extra points, two missed field goals, two kick return TDs, a blocked field goal and a blocked punt.

• Chiefs 30, Panthers 27: Kansas City eked out a win thanks to a big game from Patrick Mahomes (269 yards, 3 TD, 60 rush yards) and a walk-off field goal from rookie Spencer Shrader. Eight of the Chiefs’ 10 wins have come by a single score.

• Vikings 30, Bears 27 (OT): Sam Darnold (330 yards, 2 TD) and a trio of players with over 100 scrimmage yards (Aaron Jones, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson) handed the Bears their fifth straight loss, also on a walk-off field goal.

• Titans 32, Texans 27: Entering Sunday, teams that took 8+ sacks and committed 3+ turnovers were 6-145 in the Super Bowl era. They are now 7-145 after Tennessee stunned first-place Houston on the road.

More scores: Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6 | Lions 24, Colts 6 | Dolphins 34, Patriots 15 | Broncos 29, Raiders 19 | Packers 38, 49ers 10

🏀 The death of the mid-range

The following is based on Tom Haberstroh’s latest Yahoo Sports feature: The NBA’s ‘shot desert’ problem is real. Could 3-point dunks save us?

There is a growing grumble around the NBA that the sport is suffering — and TV ratings are tumbling — because the math says players should fire up 3s at a high rate, often at the expense of dunks and other more exciting basketball plays.

What they’re saying: On opening night, after the Celtics launched 61 3-pointers in a sleepy rout over the Knicks, FS1’s Nick Wright, in a clip that generated millions of views on X, lamented the modern playing style and called for the league to change its rules:

“The NBA is at its best when dudes are flying over people, meeting ’em at the rim. That is when it’s at its best television product. A bunch of finesse guys hanging out at the 3-point line hoisting 30-footers is not good TV.”

How did we get here? The NBA’s problem isn’t just the rise of 3-pointers; it’s the “sameness” that has come as a result. Everyone’s shooting the same damn shots, and it all traces back to the death of the mid-range — an area of the court that was abandoned by analytically-driven basketball minds looking to squeeze every morsel of efficiency out of every possession.

Then vs. now: In 1996-97, the first season of shot-location data, the Michael Jordan-led Bulls paced the NBA with 41.5 mid-range shots per game. This season, the Kings lead the league with 14.1 attempts, and most teams are in the single digits. The craziest part? It’s gotten to the point where teams will go entire games without scoring from the mid-range area at all…

The rise of “desert games”: This season, there have been 24 instances in which a team didn’t score a single point in the mid-range area. For decades, we never saw one such game — even as recently as 2010-11. Then one. Then two. Then a big jump to 64 (inspired by the Moreyball Rockets, who won 65 games the year before). Then, a plateau around 80 such games. This season, we’re on track for 136 (!!). There’s a “desert game” almost every night now.

Here’s Tom…

This is a radical change in strategy that has transpired right before our eyes. When Stephen Curry came into the league in 2009, we went the entire season without seeing a desert game. Curry was the transcendent shooter that lit the fire. James Harden/Moreyball fanned the flames. The Celtics poured gasoline on it. Now it’s wildfire spreading across the league.

Track it next time you watch an NBA game. Notice how teams rarely take the open mid-range shot, opting instead to drive into the paint and kick. Drive and kick. Drive and kick. Until an open 3 is created. Or the rim protectors cry, “Uncle.”

Keep reading: Could 3-point dunks save us?

🇺🇸 Photos across America

Norman, Oklahoma — Unranked Oklahoma stunned No. 7 Alabama, 24-3, to hand the Tide their first three-loss season since 2010. It was one of four huge upsets on Saturday that could drastically shake up the CFP rankings.

Kansas City — The Orlando Pride won their first NWSL championship on Saturday, beating the Washington Spirit, 1-0, to cap the best season in league history.

Las Vegas — Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinched his fourth straight F1 title with a fifth-place finish at Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished 1-2 in Sin City, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the podium.

🌎 Photos around the world

Manchester, England — Tottenham blanked Manchester City, 4-0, to send the reigning champs’ season even further off the rails. City have now lost five straight matches, and Saturday’s four-goal defeat was the worst of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career.

Málaga, Spain — World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Italy defeated the Netherlands on Sunday to win their second straight Davis Cup — four days after the Italian women won the Billie Jean King Cup.

Gurgl, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending 99th World Cup win on Saturday, giving her a shot to reach an even 100 next week on her home snow in Vermont.

📆 Nov. 25, 2020: Caitlin’s college debut

Four years ago today, Caitlin Clark made her Iowa debut, beginning one of the greatest careers in college hoops history.

Then vs. now: Clark’s debut came during COVID, so the announced crowd for Iowa’s 96-81 win over Northern Iowa was just 365 people. Four years later, her Indiana Fever set the WNBA’s single-season home attendance record (340,715 fans), and her final regular-season game against the Mystics had the largest crowd in league history (20,711).

A career to remember: Clark was a two-time National Player of the Year, three-time unanimous first-team All-American, and she led the Hawkeyes to a 109-30 record and back-to-back national championship games.

• Freshman: 26.6 pts, 5.9 reb, 7.1 ast, 1.3 stl, 3.9 threes per game

• Sophomore: 27.0 pts, 8.0 reb, 8.0 ast, 1.5 stl, 2.8 threes per game

• Junior: 27.8 pts, 7.1 reb, 8.6 ast, 1.5 stl, 3.7 threes per game

• Senior: 31.6 pts, 7.4 reb, 8.9 ast, 1.7 stl, 5.2 threes per game

By the numbers: Clark’s 3,951 points are the most in D1 history (men or women), her 548 threes are the most ever by a woman, and her 1,144 assists are the third-most. She scored fewer than 10 points just once in 139 games, and had nearly as many 40-point games (13) as games with fewer than 20 points (15).

📺 Watchlist: The Harbaugh Bowl

The Chargers host the Ravens tonight* (8:15pm, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) in a matchup of likely AFC playoff teams coached by brothers.

Family affair: John Harbaugh is 2-0 against his little brother, Jim, including a 34-31 win in Super Bowl XLVII. The third edition of the “Harbaugh Bowl” will be particularly special for the brothers: today just so happens to be their parents’, Jack and Jackie’s, wedding anniversary.

More to watch:

• 🏀 NBA: Mavericks at Hawks (7:30pm, NBA); Thunder at Kings (10pm, NBA)

• 🏀 NCAAM: No. 2 UConn vs. Memphis (2:30pm, ESPN2); No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 5 Iowa State (9pm, ESPNU); No. 10 UNC vs. Dayton (11:30pm, ESPN2) … Maui Invitational.

• 🏀 NCAAW: No. 16 North Carolina vs. Indiana (12pm, ESPN2) … Battle 4 Atlantis championship in the Bahamas.

• ⚽️ Premier League: Newcastle vs. West Ham (3pm, USA)

*Join the discussion: The Yahoo Sports app has a new Discussions feature, where you can chat with fellow fans and interact with Yahoo experts during live games. Two of our NFL writers, Nate Tice and Charles Robinson, will be online during tonight’s game. Join the party.

🏈 NFL trivia

Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, who face off tonight in Los Angeles, are two of five QBs with at least 100 passing TDs and 10 rushing TDs since 2020 (Herbert’s rookie year).

Question: Who are the other three?

Hint: They all play in the AFC.

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top 13 plays of the weekend

1. ⚽️ Dirty Harry

2. 🏈 99 yards to the house

3. 🏀 Reed Sheppard!

4. ⚽️ Bicycle kick goal

5. ⚽️ Another bicycle kick goal

6. 🏈 Caleb Downs for six

7. 🏀 At the buzzer!

8. 🏈 Hauls it in at the last

9. 🏒 Filthy finish

10. 🏀 This one’s for Sister Jean

11. 🏀 The Greek Freak

12. 🏈 One hand

13. 🏈 Impressive INT

Watch all 13.

Trivia answer: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Russell Wilson

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