TORONTO: The last time Toronto and Philadelphia played was on Feb. 5, a night where the Raptors went into the 76ers’ home building and had absolutely no trouble on the way to an easy win. Later that night, the 76ers struck a deal to get Tobias Harris. And about a day later, the Raptors went out and got Marc Gasol.
The roster-remodeling that the 76ers and Raptors were involved in at the trade deadline was done with postseason goals in mind — so it seems fitting that the teams are about to square off for a berth in the Eastern Conference finals.
The second round of the NBA playoffs starts on Saturday when Philadelphia goes to Toronto for Game 1.
“Both have had a lot of changes throughout the year,” Toronto forward Pascal Siakam said. “It will definitely feel different. It kind of feels like the first time we’re meeting them.”
Toronto has won 21 of the last 24 meetings between the teams and went 3-1 against the 76ers this season, numbers that both sides agree are largely irrelevant.
“We’ve never played them with the team we have,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “The context needs to be somewhat considered.”
That goes back to what happened almost immediately following the last Raptors-76ers matchup.
Toronto’s 119-107, wasn’t-as-close-as-that-looks victory hadn’t been in the books for an hour before news broke that the 76ers were sending three players and four draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott. It’s already paid off for Philly in many ways; Marjanovic has been a solid backup for Joel Embiid and Scott made perhaps the biggest shot of the 76ers’ first-round win over Brooklyn.
Scott is now ailing and seems likely to miss Game 1, if not more, with a heel injury. The speed the Raptors play with may affect how Philly plans to use Marjanovic in this series. But Harris fits in perfectly with the 76ers’ needs on both ends — just as Gasol, who will be primarily tasked with slowing Embiid, has done since joining the Raptors.
“Everybody loaded up,” Brown said. “They really loaded up. It was an arms race for the Eastern Conference championship.”
Embiid averaged 26.3 points against the Raptors and Ben Simmons shot 63 percent in the four games, but was also forced into 6.3 turnovers per game in the season series. For Toronto, Kyle Lowry averaged 16.8 points, while Siakam averaged 16.3 on 52% shooting. And Kawhi Leonard averaged 30.3 points in three meetings against Philadelphia — with the game he sat out in the series being the only one where the 76ers prevailed.
Raptors and 76ers made changes this season, and now face off
Raptors and 76ers made changes this season, and now face off
- Scott is now ailing and seems likely to miss Game 1, if not more, with a heel injury
Al-Nassr retain women’s volleyball title at Saudi Games
- Al-Qadsiah Club take swimming gold in men’s 4x100 medley relay
- Al-Fateh Club’s Patrick Zymek wins gold in 200-meter backstroke event
RIYADH: Al-Nassr women’s volleyball team successfully defended their Saudi Games title on Friday, beating Al-Ula in a one-way final.
Ahlam Al-Omari from the board of the Saudi Volleyball Federation, presented the gold medals to the winners after their three-set (25-10, 25-17, 25-13) victory.
Samira Asghari, from the International Olympic Committee, and Hanan Al-Qahtani, from the Saudi Volleyball Federation, watched the match, which was held at the Ministry of Sports Hall at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex in Riyadh.
Al-Ula won silver, while Al-Fayhaa took bronze after defeating Al-Anqa 3-0.
In the swimming pool, Al-Qadsiah Club won gold in the men’s 4x100-meter medley relay, while Al-Hilal Club took silver and Al-Adalah Club bronze.
In the men’s 200-meter backstroke, Al-Fateh Club’s Patrick Zymek won the gold medal, ahead of Al-Qadsiah’s Ali Al-Essa and Abdulmajid Al-Marwani of Al-Khaleej.
Farouk Al-Jidaily of Al-Ahli won gold in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, while Alexander Younis of Aqua Falcon Academy took silver and Mohammed Al-Zaki of Al-Adalah bronze.
Ahmed Al-Qudmani, president of the Saudi Swimming Federation, handed out the swimming medals at an event attended by British Olympic swimming champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medal winner Adam Peaty.
In the badminton competition, Muqrin Al-Muqrin, president of the Saudi Badminton Federation, handed out the medals to the winners of the men’s and women’s singles events, which concluded at Boulevard 4.
Khadija Niza, of Al-Ittihad, won gold in the women’s competition, while Aerial Vinoflor of Al-Faisaly took silver and Sin Chengari of Al-Salamiya won bronze.
In the men’s event, Shamil Motamil of Al-Hilal won gold, Adnan Hassan of Al-Nassr took silver and Mahd Sheikh of Al-Riyadh won bronze.
Prince Saud bin Jalawi, governor of Jeddah, crowned the winners of the coastal rowing competition, which ran for two days at Obhur Corniche.
Rakan Ali Reda took gold in the men’s category, ahead of Turki Al-Aref and Moayad Al-Rshidi.
In the women’s event, Haya Al-Mami won gold ahead of Israa Qadri and Yusra Malaika.
The Saudi Games are being held for the third year, with 9,000 athletes representing 200 clubs competing in 52 sports. Gold medal winners also pick up a cash prize of SR1 million ($266,000), silver medal winners SR300,000 and bronze medal winners SR100,000.
Pogba has doping suspension cut to 18 months, eligible to play next March
- “The suspension is now 18 months, starting Sept. 11, 2023,” CAS director general Matthieu Reeb
- The France international was provisionally suspended by Italy’s national anti-doping organization in September 2023
PARIS: French soccer player Paul Pogba’s doping suspension has been cut to 18 months from an initial four years, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday.
“The suspension is now 18 months, starting Sept. 11, 2023,” CAS director general Matthieu Reeb told Reuters.
The France international was provisionally suspended by Italy’s national anti-doping organization (NADO Italia) in September 2023 after testing positive for DHEA — a banned substance that raises levels of testosterone.
The 31-year-old Pogba, who has a contract with Italy’s Juventus until June 2026, denied any wrongdoing and said in February he would appeal to CAS.
The doping test was performed after Juve’s 3-0 season-opening victory in Serie A at Udinese on Aug. 20, 2023.
The tribunal said it had detected prohibited “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites,” adding that the results were “consistent with the exogenous (external) origin of the target compounds.”
World’s best female tennis players heading to Riyadh next month
- The first professional women’s tennis event to take place in the Kingdom runs Nov. 2 to 9
- ‘We’re excited to begin a new chapter for tennis in the Kingdom,’ said Saudi Tennis Federation president Arij Mutabagani
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will welcome some of the world’s top tennis players — including Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus — next month for the Women’s Tennis Association Finals in Riyadh.
The championship will be the first professional women’s tennis tournament to take place in the Kingdom. It will run Nov. 2 to 9 at King Saudi University in Riyadh.
The top eight singles players and doubles pairs from the WTA will face off in the season-ending event, which will decide the 2024 champions. The tournament is the first of a three-year contract between the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation, with the Hologic WTA Tour’s flagship event making Riyadh its home through to 2026.
Saudi Tennis Federation president Arij Mutabagani said: “We’ve seen the passion that our young population has for the game, and our aim to inspire 1 million (people to take up) tennis by 2030 is progressing rapidly, as seen with the recent WTA community engagement programs that were rolled out across the city last week.
“With just 30 days to go until the world’s top female tennis stars compete here in Saudi Arabia for the first time, we’re excited to begin a new chapter for tennis in the Kingdo,” he added.
With WTA World Number 1 Swiatek, and 2024 US Open champion Sabalenka already confirmed for the season finale, the stage is set for a thrilling spectacle. Tickets are on sale via webook.com
The WTA Finals Riyadh is a key element of the STF’s plans to inspire participation in tennis across Saudi and is the latest international sports event to take place in the country. It is also part of the WTA’s aims to grow the game worldwide and inspire a new generation of girls to take to the court.
In recent weeks, WTA Finals tournament director Garbiñe Muguruza and community ambassador Judy Murray made the trip to Riyadh to kick off the WTA Community Engagement clinics supporting the STF’s efforts to inspire a new generation of Saudi tennis stars.
Three of Liverpool’s biggest stars are out of contract soon but Arne Slot is still smiling about it
- Manager Arne Slot still found time to joke about the situation on Friday when quizzed about their futures
- Questions about Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold will only grow as the season goes on and their contracts run down
LIVERPOOL, England: Mohamad Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have entered the final months of their contracts at Liverpool and can leave as free agents at the end of the season.
Yet, manager Arne Slot still found time to joke about the situation on Friday when quizzed about their futures.
“It’s the same boring answer as always and I could really understand if you ask me this once every two weeks but if you ask me this after two or three days again then you still get the same answer and people feel that I’m boring them,” Slot told reporters at his media conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace. “So, try it after the international break again.”
Questions about Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold will only grow as the season goes on and their contracts run down. All three will be able to talk to potential suitors outside of England from January.
All three are Liverpool icons given their roles in leading the Merseyside club to its first league title in 30 years in 2020 and having won the Champions League the season before.
Alexander-Arnold is a home-grown talent and, at the age of 26, a player whose best years are likely ahead of him.
In the cases of Salah, 32, and Van Dijk, 33, Liverpool are dealing with players at the latter stages of their careers, who are unlikely to have any sell-on value if handed long-term deals.
Those are factors that Liverpool executives such as football CEO Michael Edwards will have to consider.
Salah, who has consistently been linked with a move to the Saudi League, has been in outstanding form this season, with six goals in nine games as Liverpool has risen to the top of the Premier League and made a perfect start in the Champions League. If he is not to be offered a new deal, a January move would be a final chance to realize a financial return on the forward, who cost around $50 million when signed from Roma in 2017.
That would have a potentially detrimental impact on Liverpool’s season, while Salah would also miss out on a hefty signing bonus he would be able to negotiate as a free agent.
The same applies with Van Dijk, who is Liverpool’s captain and remains a rock at the heart of the defense.
Salah said he is treating this like his last season at the club, while Van Dijk has said he is calm about his position.
Liverpool spent around $150 million in total to sign the duo, who were so pivotal to its success under former manager Jurgen Klopp, and it would likely cost well in excess of that to replace them with like-for-like players.
All three players have been important to what has been such a promising start for Slot since he succeeded Klopp in the offseason.
And Slot was keen Friday to focus on maintaining that form, rather than contract discussions.
Liverpool can move four points clear at the top by beating Palace in the early kickoff, before defending champion Manchester City and Arsenal play later in the day.
There was no danger, he said, of his team getting carried away with its early success under him.
“We are Liverpool, so players are used to being on top of the league,” he said. “It would be very weird if a player at Liverpool is all of a sudden with his head in the clouds.”
Chelsea not ready for Premier League title tilt, says Maresca
- “I really don’t think we can compete with City and Arsenal,” Enzo Maresca said
- “The reason why is that City are working with the same manager for nine years, Arsenal for five years“
LONDON: Enzo Maresca says Chelsea are not ready to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title despite their impressive start to the season.
The Blues are fourth in the table and, with 15 goals, are the division’s top scorers after winning four of their six league games under the Italian.
Cole Palmer, who scored four first-half goals against Brighton last week, is one of the form players in the top-flight.
Maresca demonstrated Chelsea’s enviable strength in depth by fielding an entirely changed starting line-up for Thursday’s 4-2 Europa Conference League win over Gent.
However, three months into his tenure, the former Leicester boss dismissed suggestions Chelsea could challenge the league’s established top two and win a first title since 2017.
“I really don’t think we can compete with City and Arsenal,” he said. “I really think that, because we are not ready.
“The reason why is that City are working with the same manager for nine years, Arsenal for five years. It’s something that if you want to compete for important things, you need that time.”
Chelsea host Nottingham Forest on Sunday seeking their fourth league win in a row.
The mood around the club has been transformed since Forest’s last visit to Stamford Bridge a year ago when they won 1-0 during a poor run for Chelsea, who ultimately finished sixth after a strong finish.
Chelsea have spent lavishly over the past two years, compiling a huge squad with mixed results, but there are signs they may have turned a corner at last.
“When you win games it always creates energy, trust, confidence,” said Maresca. “It’s helping the process.
“But the players are the first to recognize when the team plays well or not. The results are helping but they are convinced because they can see clearly the purpose and identity we have.”
