Sports
No. 18 Purdue takes on Rutgers with eye on league standings
Purdue’s Braden Smith (3) during the Indiana versus Purdue mens basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. No. 18 Purdue is hoping its recent troubles have come to an end and that it can look ahead toward postseason play.
With a four-game slide in the rearview mirror, the Boilermakers look to win a second straight game when they face Rutgers on Tuesday night in Big Ten play in West Lafayette, Ind.
Purdue (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten) dropped four straight games — three to ranked teams — before ending the slide with Friday’s 76-66 home victory over UCLA.
That leaves the Boilermakers in a three-way tie for third place with Wisconsin and Maryland as they hunt for positioning for the upcoming Big Ten tournament.
“I don’t care who you are as a coach, I don’t care who you are as a player, you have self-doubt,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
“When you lose games, now you start to look into it, but you’ve got to stick to what you’re doing.
“If you stick to what you’re doing and you stay connected and you fight, you’re going to grow and you’re going to get out of some things. So, hopefully we can build and just get better.”
Boilermakers star junior point guard Braden Smith became the school’s all-time leader in career assists when he had eight against the Bruins. It raised his total to 696 in 103 games, passing Bruce Parkinson (690 from 1972-77).
“Bruce Parkinson was a great player here and a very successful player,” Painter said. “To hold honors or records or anything that long is pretty cool, because records are made to be broken. But for someone to do it in their junior year (like Smith) is pretty cool.
“He’s got a knack, he works hard, he’s a good player. A lot of times, people want to give you credit, but like, he walked in here passing. He’s got a feel and he’s got a read, comes from a basketball family. Just happy for him.”
Smith leads Purdue in assists (8.7 average), 3-pointers (66) and steals (69) and stands second in scoring at 16 points per game. Trey Kaufman-Renn averages a team-best 19.6 points.
Rutgers (14-15, 7-11) is in a four-way for 11th place and will be trying to bounce back from a painful 84-82 road loss at then-No. 15 Michigan.
The Scarlet Knights appeared destined to be owners of a three-game winning streak when they led 74-62 with 11-plus minutes remaining.
Rutgers later fell behind, but was back in front by a point as the clock wound down before Michigan escaped when Nimari Burnett drilled a long 3-pointer as time expired.
Even though the Scarlet Knights blew the huge lead, coach Steve Pikiell pointed at the officiating, and not solely because the Wolverines attempted 14 more free throws (32 to 18) than Rutgers.
“Just (expletive) devastated for our (expletive) guys,” Pikiell said on the Rutgers postgame radio interview. “Played so hard (expletive) the whole time. Excuse my language.
“A couple of (down the) stretch calls, I thought there were travels (on Michigan). We couldn’t get a stop, but I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Coming into this place and playing toe-to-toe with them the whole time, and you lose on that play?”
Lathan Sommerville scored a career-high 17 points and Dylan Harper also scored 17 for the Scarlet Knights. Tyson Acuff added 16 points.
Harper averages a team-best 19.3 points while Ace Bailey chips in with 18.2 per game for Rutgers, which has lost the last four meetings with the Boilermakers.
Purdue posted a 68-50 win over host Rutgers on Jan. 9. Smith stood out with 16 points, 14 assists and three steals. Bailey had 17 points and seven rebounds for Rutgers, which established a season low for points.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Why Cavaliers Should Cover at Home in Game 7 Against Raptors
In the world of basketball, the saying goes, “a series doesn’t start until someone loses at home”. Well, we’re heading into game seven in Cleveland, and neither the Raptors or Cavaliers have been able to steal one on the road. If the Raptors want to pull off the big-time upset, they’re going to have to end that streak and find a way to pull one out in Rocket Arena.
The Cavs have been heavy favorites each game in this series, and enter Sunday once again as 8.5-point favorites. Cleveland is 2-1 ATS at home this series, and had to go the final two minutes of game five without scoring to not be 3-0 ATS.
That’s been the biggest negative for Cleveland in this series. They’ve struggled to close out games and threw away two road games against the Raptors, and now are battling to avoid a massive collapse here in this one.
However, despite losing game six in dramatic fashion, I think they figured a few things out. Donovan Mitchell finally came alive in the 4th quarter, scoring 11 points, finally figuring out how to get into the teeth of this large, physical Raptors defense.
A big reason Toronto’s defense has looked so great is the play of Scottie Barnes. He’s been the by far best player in the series, shutting down Mitchell and company on defense, and scoring on whoever’s thrown on him from Cleveland.
Shockingly, James Harden has actually done a solid job walling up against Barnes. He and Dean Wade have been the only two players to give Barnes any fits at all. Speaking of Wade, it was shocking to see him out of the Cleveland starting lineup the last few games. He’s been inconsistent offensively, but has still provided spacing and saved Cleveland defensively.
Wade has a +23 net rating for the Cavs in the postseason, easily the best on the entire team. Max Strus, who replaced him in the starting lineup, has been a -8.3. More specifically, the starting lineup with Strus has been a -19.7, while the one with Wade has been a +30.8. Cleveland ran the lineup with Wade as they made their comeback in game six, so if he’s inserted back in the starting lineup, I think they have a great chance to cover in this one.
Lastly, Toronto’s offense fell incredibly stagnant in game five after Brandon Ingram’s injury. If he’s unable to go in game seven, I can’t see a way they’re able to pull off the upset.
I love Cleveland -8.5 and o211.5 as they will move on to face the winner of Detroit and Orlando.
Sports
Braves' Spencer Strider set for season debut in finale vs. Rockies
Feb 20, 2026; North Port FL, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (99) poses for a photo during media day at CoolToday Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images It’s been a long road for Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider since his 20-win All-Star season in 2023.
Strider, 27, will be out to prove he’s not a shadow of his former self on Sunday afternoon when he makes his first start of the season as the Braves bid for a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in Denver.
After becoming the fastest pitcher to record 100 strikeouts (61 innings) in a season in modern MLB history in 2023, Strider made just two starts in 2024 before undergoing season-ending UCL surgery.
Last season, the right-hander went 7-14 with a 4.45 ERA across 23 starts in his return from injury.
Strider began this season on the injured list with an oblique strain but is prepared to rejoin the sizzling Braves. They have won both games of the weekend series to expand on the best record (24-10) in the majors. Atlanta remains the only team in the majors that hasn’t lost a series and holds a 7 1/2-game lead on the second-place Miami Marlins in the National League East.
The bad news for the Braves in their most recent win, 9-1 over the Rockies on Saturday, was the first-inning exit of star right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. due to a lower-body injury. He will undergo an MRI on Sunday.
“It didn’t look great, him coming off the field,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I am hoping it’s just some cramping and that type of thing, but he’s getting an MRI. That’s never good when you have to get an MRI.”
Acuna hit a leadoff single in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 23 games.
“You never like to be challenged like this,” Weiss said of the potential impact of losing Acuna. “He’s one of your best players and most talented players. If it happens, we’ll be OK. We’ve got lots of moving parts.”
Strider, meanwhile, has dominated the Rockies in three career appearances (two starts), going 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA. He struck out 16 batters and scattered two hits over eight innings in a 3-0 win over Colorado on Sept. 1, 2022, before fanning 13 Rockies in a six-inning win last June 14.
The Rockies, who have lost four of their past five games, will turn to veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-2, 3.48 ERA) in the series finale. He will make his fifth start of the season.
Freeland, 32, will appear in his second outing since being activated from the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation. On Tuesday, he surrendered four runs on five hits across five innings in a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
“I thought (Freeland) was really good,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I considered taking him out after the fourth, but had him go back out for one more and he was good. He competed, kept us right in the ballgame.”
Freeland, the all-time leader in franchise history in starts (235), is 1-5 with a 5.93 ERA in 10 career starts against the Braves.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Boston Celtics Title Window Could Be Closed After First-Round Exit
The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off the upset of the playoffs, knocking off the heavily favored Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the first round 109-100. Boston blew a 3-1 lead in this series and that became another brutal end to a Celtics season.
This core was able to win a finals in 2024, but outside of that important win, Boston has had a lot of disastrous playoff losses that seemingly go under the radar. The Celtics have owned the 76ers over the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era, and that makes this loss so much worse.
Of course, Tatum was absent from game seven due to injury, but Joel Embiid was missing for the entire first half of this series, so that feels like a bit of a wash. Not only that, but the Celtics were the two seed with Tatum missing most of the season anyways.
In recent years, the Celtics have now lost to the eight seed Miami Heat in the Conference Finals, got destroyed by the New York Knicks in the Conference Semis last year, had horrible playoff performances in the final two years of the Brad Stevens era to start the 2020s. They were able to win a Finals in a very down year across the board in the NBA, but this team has had let down spots all over the place in the playoffs.
Currently, it feels like the media has put a spotlight on the Cleveland Cavaliers first round struggles against the Toronto Raptors, but at least those struggles are coming in a 4 vs 5 first round matchup. Boston was completely outplayed by the 7-seed Sixers, who were missing their best player most of the series.
Of course VJ Edgecomb and Paul George having great runs as role players helps, and Tyrese Maxey is a full blown super star; however, this series feels like it’s being swept under the rug by the media. Boston got their ring, but I’m starting to think the window from that core is quietly closing. I’m also interested to see how much grace Boston fans will give to head coach Joe Mazulla.
Boston shot themselves out of this series. This is a team that lives and dies by the three, but at some point you need to make an adjustment when shots simply aren’t falling. Not only that, but the Sixers simply just felt like the better team in this series. I don’t think it’s just bad shooting that won Philly this series. They controlled this series and were able to do whatever they wanted against the Celtics.
The Sixers now head to New York to take on the Knicks, where they are far less of an underdog at only +198 to advance. I think this is a bit of a market overcorrection, and I wouldn’t bet on the Sixers to win this series. Boston might’ve just been a bit of an overrated team, that over performed without Tatum.
Why Cavaliers Should Cover at Home in Game 7 Against Raptors
Braves' Spencer Strider set for season debut in finale vs. Rockies
