Sports
Mike Brown Is One Win Away From the Ultimate NBA Redemption Story
After firing Tom Thibodeau following New York’s Eastern Conference Finals loss last year, many people turned their nose up when the Knicks replaced him with Mike Brown.
The Knicks had a lengthy search that was stonewalled when New York was rejected permission to interview Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch.
The result landed on Brown, who was fired mid-season by the Sacramento Kings in 2024.
Brown’s firing in Sacramento came one day after he blasted De’Aaron Fox for a boneheaded play. Fox’s error in Game 4 cost the San Antonio Spurs an opportunity to even the series at two games a piece – and proved Brown’s point from many seasons ago.
But his win against Fox isn’t the only thing that would be vindicated if the Knicks can win the championship this season. Brown has won four championships as an assistant coach, but doesn’t have a ring of his own as a head coach.
His journey began with a young LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. Brown lost the 2007 NBA Finals, where the Cavs were overmatched by a better Spurs team. Now, more than two decades later, Brown is one win away from beating that same franchise to win his first championship as a head coach.
After being fired by the Cavs in 2010 as owner Dan Gilbert tried to lure LeBron James back to Cleveland, Brown spent two seasons as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers as Phil Jackson’s successor. He dealt with a shortened season due to the lockout and then had to deal with the headache of trying to make washed up Steve Nash and Dwight Howard work alongside Kobe Bryant.
Naturally, that gig didn’t last long.
Gilbert admitted firing Brown the first time was a “mistake” and the Cavs hired him again in 2013. But that season was the first time in Brown’s career that he posted a losing record, and reported infighting in the locker room caused Gilbert to fire him again. Brown already conquered revenge on Cleveland by sweeping the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Brown spent two seasons away from the NBA before joining Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach from 2016-2022. That was one of the most dominant stretches in NBA history and led Brown to getting hired by the Kings, which resulted in Sacramento’s first postseason appearance since 2006.
Brown has won everywhere he’s gone. But over the course of two decades, it’s never come all the way together for the 56-year-old head coach. Now, he needs to coach his way to one more win in New York’s next three attempts to deliver the Knicks their first championship in 53 years.
Sports
Rockies vs. Athletics Sunday June 14 Betting Pick
The Sunday MLB card is loaded today with plenty of intriguing matchups to wrap up the weekend.
The Philadelphia Phillies (38-32) visit the Milwaukee Brewers (42-26) for the rubber match of their series. Philadelphia outlasted Milwaukee, 9-8 last night as ace Cristopher Sanchez heads to the mound today for the Phillies.
We’ll break down two plays for the Sunday action. Remember to monitor the odds throughout the day, as the sides and totals market is constantly changing.
Here are the free MLB picks for Sunday, June 14. Odds Courtesy of DraftKings.
Rockies (+149) at Athletics – 3:05 p.m. ET
The A’s (35-35) conclude a six-game stretch in Las Vegas today before heading back to Sacramento to host the Pirates on Monday. The Rockies (26-45) look to avoid the sweep today after dropping a pair of two-run decisions in the first two games.
Colorado has won four of Tomoyuki Sugano’s last five starts with the lone defeat coming to the Dodgers. Sugano has given up three or fewer runs in each of those outings, along with a 3.62 road ERA.
Jeffrey Springs counters for the A’s, who are 1-6 in his past seven starts. Springs started in that wild 15-14 loss in 12 innings to the Brewers last Monday, allowing five runs in five innings. The southpaw has yielded nine home runs in the past five games, as the Rockies went deep once in each of the first two losses.
Colorado looks to end a 10-game losing streak in series finales today, as they showcase the hotter pitcher against an Athletics’ squad that is 1-3 when looking to pull off a sweep.
Our Current Best Offers
Channel debug: betting
Sports
Guardians-Tigers series finale postponed by inclement weather
Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians, with a tarp on the field during the afternoon on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio. The finale of a three-game series between the Cleveland Guardians and visiting Detroit Tigers was postponed Sunday because of inclement weather.
The game was rescheduled for the second half of the season with American League Central rivals now set to play a split doubleheader at Cleveland on Sept. 4.
The Guardians were poised for the three-game series sweep with a 3-2 victory Friday and a 3-1 victory Saturday. Cleveland put star third baseman Jose Ramirez on the 10-day injured list earlier Sunday with a broken bone in his hand.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Four World Cup Teams Who Have No Real Chance of Winning It All
Pretty much everyone knows France and Argentina are serious World Cup contenders. We also feel pretty confident that Cape Verde and Curacao aren’t.
But some sides are coming to the 2026 tournament with vibes higher than their true chances.
Here’s four teams who definitely aren’t winning the World Cup, even though they probably think they can.
Croatia
What legendary midfielder Luka Modric and manager Zlatko Dalic engineered in helping a nation of fewer than four million people finish second at the 2018 World Cup and third in 2022 is nothing short of extraordinary.
But 2026 is where it ends.
Modric is 40. And while he is still playing the overwhelming majority of minutes for AC Milan,it was for a
Rossinieri side that failed again to reach the UEFA Champions League despite not having any European commitments in 2025-206.
But Croatia still rely on him, as they do on the 37-year-old Ivan Perisic. Their options at striker are underwhelming, their draw is tough and their schedule is brutal. They’d have to play eight matches to win the title in just 33 days, and that’s too much for a team that skews this old.
Portugal
Roberto Martinez’s Portuguese squad is not nearly as reliant on older players across the pitch, but the 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is still the man relied on to produce goals, leading his side with five in World Cup qualifying.
That might be sustainable if Ronaldo played in more of the Lionel Messi model, where he’s guaranteed to make others on the pitch better even if he isn’t finding the net. But that’s hardly been the case with
CR7, particularly later in his career.
He’s already on the defensive with the media after two underwhelming performances in tune-up friendlies. And if circumstances force Martinez to opt for someone else on the pitch, Ronaldo’s history of not always taking such news in stride is well documented.
Germany
Yes, the Germans are tied with Italy as Europe’s most-decorated World Cup nation. But Italy has shown us how little that means. And as for the present-day Der Mannschaft, while the team is balanced with good players across the formation, it’s hard to identify anyone who is truly great in the role the national team is asking of them.
That includes Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, who perhaps qualifies among the best in the world at his natural position as a second forward or attacking midfielder, but not as much when he’s asked to lead the line as a No. 9. Until proven otherwise, it also includes Florian Wirtz, who moved to Liverpool last summer for a reported Premier League transfer fee of $117.5 million but hasn’t yet lived up to the pricetag.
This is still a strong enough team that a deep-ish run (think semifinals) is possible. But capturing the title takes a little more quality than this version of Germany has.
Uruguay
La Celeste have historically been a South American answer to what Croatia have done in recent years, but this World Cup finds the first-ever champions amid their own generational transition.
Luis Suarez retired from international play and has now been engaged in a war of words with polarizing Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa. Darwin Nunez made the puzzling decision to head to the Saudi Pro League last summer instead of finding a way out of Liverpool that kept him in Europe.
Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde is as exceptional as he is versatile. But the rest of Uruguay’s strength is in the back half of the pitch. That’s an OK formula for getting out of the group, but it’s hard to know where
La Celeste’s moment of magic may come from when they need it.
