Sports
High-scoring Cavaliers put unbeaten streak on line vs. Magic
Oct 30, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) warms up before the game between the Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson has made an immediate impact in his first season with the Cavaliers, who are off to the franchise’s best start since 2016-17.
After opening the season with five straight wins, the Cavaliers strive to remain unbeaten when they face the visiting Orlando Magic on Friday.
Orlando began its five-game road trip with a 102-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday after being held to 12 points in the fourth quarter.
The Magic will need a more consistent effort to keep pace with Cleveland, which has scored at least 110 points in all five games. The Cavaliers are thriving under Atkinson, who has made fourth-year forward Evan Mobley a centerpiece of the team’s offense.
“Sharing the ball and having Evan up at the top, being the distributor, he’s been doing an excellent job running our offense, basically,” Cleveland center Jarrett Allen said. “We put a lot through him. It just gets everybody open.”
Mobley scored 25 points in 19 minutes in a 134-110 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. Donovan Mitchell added 24 points and Allen recorded his third double-double of the season with 20 points and 17 rebounds.
Cleveland also received a spark off the bench from Caris LeVert, who scored 16 points in 22 minutes. The 30-year-old guard is shooting 68.8 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Cavaliers began Thursday with the NBA’s top offensive rating at 123.4, just ahead of the Boston Celtics.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” Atkinson said. “We’re developing, we’re still learning each other. Still a work in progress. But feels like we’re headed in the right direction.”
Friday’s game features a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, which Cleveland won in seven games.
Orlando forward Paolo Banchero is off to an impressive start after scoring 30-plus points in three of his first five games, including 50 on Monday against Indiana. However, Banchero was listed as questionable to face Cleveland due to a right abdominal strain.
Banchero had 31 points in Wednesdays’ loss to Chicago, while Jalen Suggs had 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. The Magic led by as many as 20 points in the first half before Chicago rallied in the third quarter and emerged with the victory.
“I think we settled too much, myself included, in that second half. Settling on too many jumpers as a team, not attacking the paint,” Banchero said. “But to their credit, they did a good job walling off and plugging the gaps in the second half.”
Orlando is shooting 34.6 percent from 3-point range and will need to improve on that mark against Cleveland, which leads the league at 41.1 percent.
Guard Gary Harris said the Magic have made 3-point shooting a point of emphasis this season. Orlando is one of 10 teams averaging at least 40 3-point attempts, and Harris said the goal is to maintain that pace.
“We definitely have to get up more threes,” Harris said. “You see how the league is trending, getting up shots. We definitely harped on the spacing all summer, especially in training camp. Just trying to keep the spacing, so if we have open shots, open looks, we take them. Then if we don’t, we give space for our guys to work.”
Orlando is monitoring the status of forward Franz Wagner, who has been limited in the past two games due to illness. He had seven points, three rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes against Chicago before exiting early in the fourth quarter. He is officially questionable for Friday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: RB David Montgomery 'wants out' of Detroit
Dec 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) looks on before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Lions running back David Montgomery “wants out” of Detroit after three seasons, ESPN reported on Sunday.
Montgomery, however, immediately appeared to refute the report on X, posting: “Damn, Dmo told you that?”
The ESPN report claims the Lions would want “a decent Day 3 pick (possibly a fifth-rounder)” in the 2026 NFL Draft in return for Montgomery, who turns 29 in June and is owed $6 million next season.
The report follows general manager Brad Holmes’ remarks after the season about Montgomery being unhappy with his playing time in 2025. Sharing a backfield with Jahmyr Gibbs, Montgomery rushed for a career-low 716 yards and eight touchdowns in 17 games (no starts).
“Those are conversations that we’re going to have to have because I’ve got a lot of respect for that player,” Holmes said of Montgomery in January. “He deserves to be in a situation where his skillset can be utilized, and so yeah would love for it to be here, but if it can’t be here then you’d just love to see where could work out best for him.”
At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Holmes said the situation with Montgomery is “fluid.” He signed a two-year extension during the 2024 season that runs through the end of the 2027 campaign.
“Yeah, I have been in touch with David’s agent, and his representation,” Holmes revealed. “Obviously, we love David, he’s a great player, we love to have him, you know, kind of want to put last year in the rear view, and just move forward. But, obviously, a player has to want to be at a certain place as well. The conversations are still fluid, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Montgomery has rushed for 2,506 yards and 33 touchdowns in 45 games (28 starts) in three seasons with Detroit (2023-25). He has 76 catches for 650 yards in that span.
He began his career with the NFC North rival Chicago Bears, who drafted him in the third round in 2019. Montgomery rushed for 3,609 yards and 26 scores in 60 games (51 starts) with the Bears (2019-22).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees LHP Ryan Yarbrough joins U.S. roster for WBC
Jun 18, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Ryan Yarbrough (33) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images New York Yankees left-hander Ryan Yarbrough was added to the Team USA roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic on Sunday.
The 34-year-old reliever replaces Minnesota Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, who is dealing with low back tightness. Ryan moves into the designated pitcher pool, meaning he is eligible for a call-up after each round of the WBC.
Yarbrough went 3-1 with a 4.36 ERA and one save in 19 games (eight starts) during his first season with the Yankees in 2025, striking out 55 batters and walking 19 in 64 innings.
Ryan Yarbrough has been added to our roster for the World Baseball Classic!#ForGlory???? pic.twitter.com/RrtKJQ20gz
— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) March 1, 2026
Team USA will play its first game of the 2026 WBC on Friday night, meeting Brazil in a Pool B contest in Houston.
Yarbrough has a career record of 56-41 with a 4.22 ERA and four saves in 215 games (76 starts) with the Tampa Bay Rays (2018-22), Kansas City Royals (2023), Los Angeles Dodgers (2023-24), Toronto Blue Jays (2024) and Yankees. The side-arming southpaw signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal in November to return to New York in 2026.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ex-pitcher Dan Serafini gets life sentence for '21 murder
Dan Serafini (file photo) pitched in MLB with seven teams. He was convited of first-degree murder. Former major league pitcher Dan Serafini was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday for the 2021 shootings of his in-laws in North Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Serafini, 52, was convicted in July of the first-degree murder of father-in-law Gary Spohr and the attempted first-degree murder of mother-in-law Wendy Wood during a burglary. Spohr, 70, died from a single gunshot and Wood, then 68, survived but died by suicide the following year.
In the courtroom on Friday in Auburn, Calif., Placer County prosecutor Morgan Gire described Spohr and Wood as loving grandparents.
“The impact of this attack has extended far beyond the immediate victims, deeply affecting family members and the broader community, and highlighting the lasting harm caused by deliberate violence,” Gire said.
Serafini, who pitched for six MLB teams from 1996 to 2007, addressed the court and maintained his innocence. He said he was out partying with his wife, Erin Spohr, at the time of the shooting and referred to himself as a “broken, imperfect man that makes mistakes,” according to MyNews4.
The Minnesota Twins selected Serafini, a native of the San Francisco area, with the No. 26 overall pick in the 1992 MLB Draft. He made his debut in 1996 and went on to appear in 104 games (33 starts) with the Twins, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies before his retirement in 2007.
He had a 15-16 record with a 6.04 ERA and one save. He threw 263 2/3 innings and struck out 127 batters.
–Field Level Media
Report: RB David Montgomery 'wants out' of Detroit
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