Nets, Wizards meet with NBA draft lottery looming
Mar 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Alex Sarr (20) takes a shot over Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner (33) during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images The Washington Wizards hit their nadir with a 162-109 home loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday — the most lopsided defeat in franchise history.
Washington (16-57) now will look to regroup for a matchup against the visiting Brooklyn Nets (23-51) on Saturday night.
In a game rife with NBA draft lottery implications, both teams stumble into the contest following ugly losses.
The Nets lost their sixth straight game on Friday, when they trailed by as many as 41 in a 132-100 home setback to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Washington would prefer to forget the records set in Thursday’s loss to Indiana. The Wizards allowed the most points in franchise history, while the Pacers made a franchise-record 27 3-pointers and scored their most points ever.
“You should be upset. You shouldn’t be happy, but it’s always about what you do going forward,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “Unfortunately, losses like this happen. You don’t want them to. No one’s happy about it. It’s how you go forward. It’s always how you respond.”
One bright spot in the defeat was the continued development of rookie center Alex Sarr, who scored 22 points and is averaging 17.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks this month.
The 7-foot Sarr, 19, has emerged as a top contender for the Rookie of the Year award, but he prefers to focus on the Wizards’ potential.
“I think it’s a nice accomplishment. But at the same time I think there’s way more than just getting an individual award,” Sarr said. “I’m going to be part of this team hopefully for a lot of years to come. And what we’re building right now is more important than (individual awards).”
The Wizards enter the game at far less than full strength. Khris Middleton (right knee) and Anthony Gill (left hip) exited Thursday’s loss with injuries and have been ruled out for Saturday. Kyshawn George has missed the past two games with a left ankle sprain and also is listed as out.
Washington is aiming for a season sweep of Brooklyn after winning its first two meetings — 119-102 on Feb. 5 and 107-99 on Feb. 24.
Brooklyn lost for the 16th time in its last 18 games on Friday, when the Clippers led 105-69 after three quarters.
“Who do you want to be?” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It goes down to, you know, we have high expectations on how we want to do things, and how we want to compete. I have to find a way to engage our players better, to play the right way, and that’s what we’ve done so far. Whether you win or lose, you play the right way with the right intentions.”
Keon Johnson had 13 points in the loss for Brooklyn, which signed forward Drew Timme to a multiyear deal before the game.
The 24-year-old Timme stood out in his NBA debut with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes.
“I mean, I was nervous as crap out there, but it was awesome, you know?” Timme said. “It was a dream come true. And I like this feeling. I don’t want it to end, so I gotta keep working hard.”
Timme was averaging 23.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 29 games (28 starts) this season for Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. He was undrafted in 2023 after four seasons at Gonzaga, where he was a second-team All-American three times.
–Field Level Media
Entertainment
Xiaomis new hyper car concept has the strangest cockpit weve ever seen
Xiaomi likes to bring cars to Barcelona; the company gave us the first glimpse of its SU7 Ultra supercar during last year’s MWC in March.
This year, however, Xiaomi has unveiled something that’s pretty far out there, even by its own standards. Called the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, it’s a hypercar that was designed to go really fast while slicing through the air in a way not many cars (or race cars, for that matter) can (Xiaomi says it’s been “sculpted by the wind”).
It feels kinda empty in there.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The company will bring the concept car to its MWC show floor in Barcelona on March 2, presumably when we’ll learn more about its powertrain, acceleration, battery, and other trivialities. Today, however, Xiaomi was mostly focused on how the air flows through the car, using a variety of wind tunnels and channels (and even a moving part on the car’s bottom) to make it more efficient.
The wheels and wheel covers are special, too.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Even the car’s wheels have special covers that are (somehow) magnetically set in place so they don’t rotate while the car moves, as that would also increase drag.
Mashable Light Speed
I bet your car doesn’t have a cocoon-shaped sofa.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Inside, it gets even nuttier. The seats are out; instead, you sit in a “cocoon-shaped sofa” with an x-wing steering wheel with five tiny displays, some of which apparently double as (contextual?) buttons. Most of the things you associate with a traditional car are gone; instead, it’s you in that sofa-shaped cockpit, that steering wheel, and the road. The car’s a two-seater, so don’t expect to bring your family on a trip in this one.
Fortunately, you might be able to get a cocoon-shaped sofa/cockpit for your home.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
In fact, most people probably won’t be able to afford a car like this, but Xiaomi’s got you covered, as it plans to release a gaming console/cockpit shaped just like the car’s cockpit, so you can race around in your own little cocoon in the relative safety of your home.
We don’t know how fast it goes. We don’t know where the batteries are, given that the car appears to be mostly wind tunnels under that cockpit. We don’t know if it’s ever going to make it to market. But boy, does it all look cool.
We’ll hopefully find out more on March 2 when that show floor opens, so stay tuned for pics and videos.
Topics
Mobile World Congress
Xiaomi
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
Xiaomis new hyper car concept has the strangest cockpit weve ever seen
Tundra Esports advances to grand final of DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs
