Sports
Jimmy Butler questionable as Warriors, Rockets gear up for Game 4
Apr 26, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (left) and forward Jimmy Butler III (right) hug after defeating the Houston Rockets during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images The Golden State Warriors survived one playoff game without Jimmy Butler. They are hoping he’s not a spectator again on Monday night.
Golden State will learn sometime before tipoff whether they will have their star forward in Game 4 when it hosts the Houston Rockets in Game 4 at San Francisco.
Butler, who is listed as questionable, missed Saturday’s 104-93 home win over the Rockets due to a pelvic injury and glute muscle soreness after he was injured in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr doesn’t yet have a feel of whether Butler will suit up when his team attempts to stretch its lead to 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.
“He’s literally day-to-day,” Kerr said. “We have (Sunday) off and it will be helpful for him to have another day. It’s a night game so he gets a few extra hours. We’ll see. I have no idea right now if he will play.”
Butler was a force in Game 1 when he contributed 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals in Golden State’s 95-85 road victory.
With Butler watching from the bench Saturday, veteran Stephen Curry guided the Warriors back from a 13-point deficit to post a pivotal victory.
Curry scored 36 points to move into 10th place on the NBA’s all-time postseason scoring list with 4,053 points. He passed former San Antonio Spurs great Tony Parker (4,045).
Curry also had nine assists and seven rebounds in a strong all-around effort.
“This is what superstars do in playoff games,” Kerr said. “You can’t win games without the great players in this league. When you go deep, the playoffs get tougher and tougher, and great players just give the whole team confidence. And that’s what Steph does.”
Golden State also received 42 bench points in the victory. Buddy Hield scored 17 points and Gary Payton II had 16 on 7-of-9 shooting.
“The intensity is fun, it’s great,” Hield said of the postseason stage. “You just have to enjoy the moment and seize the moment. You can’t be shy.”
Houston is kicking itself after letting a golden opportunity get away. The Rockets began the fourth quarter with a 71-69 lead before Golden State turned things up a notch and outscored Houston 35-22 in the decisive period.
“I thought they executed at a higher level than we did,” said Rockets guard Fred VanVleet, who tallied a team-leading 17 points.
VanVleet was among the Houston backcourt players powerless to slow Curry, who had 21 second-half points. Curry is averaging 29 points, seven assists and six rebounds and has made 14 of 31 3-point shots in the series.
“We’re not going to hold him to three points every time we play him, I think we’ve got to understand that,” VanVleet said. “He’s one of the all-time greats. I think our coverages were a little slow, some of the switching and some of the physicality were a touch down from where we had it ramped up the previous game.”
Rockets guard Jalen Green was unable to follow up his stellar 38-point outing in Game 2. He had just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting for his second anemic game of the series. Green had seven points on 3-of-15 shooting in Houston’s Game 1 loss.
“We gave him too much separation in Game 2,” Kerr said. “They did a good job of getting him downhill and creating space. We did a better job (Saturday night) of taking away some of his space.”
Alperen Sengun paces Houston with averages of 19.3 points and 12 rebounds in the series. Green averages 18 points. VanVleet is averaging 11.3 points but shooting just 26.8 percent (11 of 41).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tundra Esports advances to grand final of DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs
Tundra Esports swept Team Liquid in the upper-bracket final on Saturday to advance to the grand final of the DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs.
The grand final on Sunday will pit Tundra Esports against the winner of the lower-bracket final earlier in the day between Team Liquid and Aurora Gaming in the double-elimination format.
The $1 million Dota 2 event began with 16 teams competing in a round-robin stage split into two groups of eight teams. All series consisted of two games, and the top four teams from each group advanced to Group Stage 2, a single round robin featuring best-of-three matches that ran through Friday.
The playoffs feature best-of-three matches until the grand final, which will be best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $250,000 in prize money and a $40,000 club reward. The runner-up side will get $100,000 and a $30,000 club reward.
Aurora Gaming opened play on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Xtreme Gaming in the lower-bracket semifinal. Xtreme Gaming opened with a win in 40 minutes on red before Aurora Gaming rallied to wins in 47 and 29 minutes, both on red.
Russia’s Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko logged a 21-4-28 kill-death-assist ratio for Aurora Gaming, while teammate Artem “Lorenof” Melnyk of Ukraine post a 23-8-30 K-D-A over three games. Wang “Ame” Chunyu of China had a 23-9-13 K-D-A ratio for Xtreme Gaming, which finished fourth in the tournament.
Tundra Esports dispatched Team Liquid 2-0 in the upper-bracket final, winning in 46 minutes on red and 39 minutes on green.
Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko of Russia posted a 32-2-19 K-D-A ratio for Tundra Esports and teammate Neta “33” Shapira of Israel had a 24-5-30. Michael “MiCKe” Vu of Sweden posted a 13-10-6 ratio for Team Liquid.
Dream League Season 28 prize pool, with prize money and club reward
1. $250,000, $40,000
2. $125,000, $30,000
3. $80,000, $25,000
4. $60,000, $20,000 — Xtreme Gaming
5. $45,000, $15,000 — Team Falcons
6. $35,000, $15,000 — PARIVISION
7. $30,000, $12,500 — BetBoom Team
8. $25,000, $12,500 — MOUZ
9-10. $20,000, $10,000 — OG, Natus Vincere
11-12. $17,500, $10,000 — Team Yandex, Team Spirit
13-14. $15,000, $10,000 — paiN Gaming, GamerLegion
15-16. $10,000, $10,000 — Yakult Brothers, Execration
–Field Level Media
Sports
LYON, Cloud9 in LCS Lock-In grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
LYON knocked out Sentinels to earn a meeting on Sunday with Cloud9 in the grand final of the League Championship Series 2026 Lock-In at Los Angeles.
LYON won 3-1 on Saturday in the lower-bracket final, taking the first map in 31 minutes as Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol of South Korea posted a 7-0-1 kill-death-assist ratio. LYON won again in 37 minutes as Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, an American/Indian player, had a 7-3-6 K-D-A and Berserker a 5-0-6.
Sentinels stayed alive with a victory in 34 minutes in the third game as Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea recorded a 5-0-8 K-D-A.
But LYON wrapped up the match by winning the fourth game in 39 minutes on red. Berserker contributed a 6-3-7 K-D-A.
Following the eight-team Swiss stage in the League of Legends event, six teams competed in the double-elimination playoffs, with all matches best-of-five. The overall winner qualifies for the First Stand Tournament, while the second- and third-place teams will head to the Americas Cup.
Both of the latter two events will be contested in Sao Paulo.
Cloud9, which finished atop the Swiss stage standings with a 3-0 record, has moved through the playoffs by beating FlyQuest 3-0 in the upper-bracket semifinal and Sentinels 3-0 in the upper-bracket final.
LYON, who finished fifth in the Swiss stage, eliminated FlyQuest with a 3-0 victory in the lower-bracket quarterfinals, then a 3-1 triumph over Team Liquid in the bracket’s semifinal before Saturday’s victory.
2026 League Championship Series Lock-In at Los Angeles prize pool
1. TBD, qualifies for First Stand Tournament
2. TBD, qualifies for America’s Cup
3. Sentinels, qualifies for America’s Cup
4. Team Liquid
5-6. FlyQuest, Disguised
7. Dignitas
8. Shopify Rebellion
–Field Level Media
Sports
OpTic Texas moves into first place in CDL Major 2 qualifying
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. OpTic Texas defeated Los Angeles Thieves in a battle of 4-0 teams to move to the top of the standings in qualifying for the Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major on Saturday.
In other second-day action of Week 3 competition, G2 Minnesota edged Riyadh Falcons, Toronto KOI beat Miami Heretics and Carolina Royal Ravens defeated Vancouver Surge.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the second major of the season, to be held March 27-29 in Marston Green, England, as part of the DreamHack Birmingham event.
The top six teams in qualifying head straight into the Stage 2 Major playoffs, while the teams in seventh through 10th place will compete in a play-in round.
The Stage 2 Major champion will receive $150,000 and 100 Call of Duty League points, while the runner-up will get $90,000 and 75 CDL points.
After Los Angeles Thieves claimed an opening 250-238 Den Hardpoint victory, OpTic Texas won the next three to claim a 3-1 victory. A 6-2 Exposure Search and Destroy triumph was followed by a 4-2 Den Overload win before the result was clinched with a 250-173 Colossus Hardpoint triumph.
In Saturday’s first match, G2 Minnesota won the final two games to come away with a 3-2 win. Riyadh opened with a 250-229 Scar Hardpoint victory and took a 2-1 lead with a 5-0 Scar Overload win. G2 leveled it at 1 with a 6-1 Raid Search and Destroy win, tied it at 2 with a convincing 250-134 Colossus Hardpoint victory and won the deciding Colossus Search and Destroy game 6-3.
Toronto finished a sweep of Miami with 250-182 Hardpoint, 6-4 Search and Destroy and 4-2 Overload victories, all on the Den map.
Carolina also swept Vancouver for its second victory in as many days after a 1-3 start. After opening with a 250-186 Blackheart Hardpoint win and following with a 6-2 Den Search and Destroy victory, the team closed out the win with an 8-2 Exposure Overload win.
The weekend schedule:
Sunday
–Toronto KOI vs. Paris Gentle Mates
–FaZe Vegas vs. Boston Breach
–Miami Heretics vs. Cloud9 New York
–Vancouver Surge vs. OpTic Texas
Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifiers standings (match record, map differential)
1. OpTic Texas, 5-0, +11
2. Los Angeles Thieves, 4-1, +8
3. Paris Gentle Mates, 3-1, +5
4. G2 Minnesota, 3-2, +1
5. Riyadh Falcons, 3-3, +2
6. Carolina Royal Ravens, 3-3, -1
7. FaZe Vegas, 2-3, 0
8. Toronto KOI, 2-3, -2
9. Miami Heretics, 1-3, -4
10.. Vancouver Surge, 1-3, -6
11. Cloud9 New York, 1-3, -7
12. Boston Breach, 1-4, -7
–Field Level Media
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Tundra Esports advances to grand final of DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs
