MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jake Bates kicked a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left and the Detroit Lions beat Minnesota 31-29 on Sunday, handing the Vikings their first loss in a back-and-forth game befitting of the NFL’s strongest division.
Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 116 yards and two of Detroit’s three second-quarter touchdowns. He also helped Jared Goff guide the Lions 48 yards in four plays to get in range for their rookie kicker while forcing the Vikings to burn their timeouts. Bates is 10 for 10 on field goals this season.
Goff went 22 for 25 for 280 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers in his third straight game with a 140-plus passer rating, joining Aaron Rodgers (2011), Kurt Warner (1999) and Roger Staubach (1971) as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to accomplish the feat.
Gibbs had 150 total yards to spearhead a commanding performance by the Lions (5-1) at the line of scrimmage against the defense that entered the week with a rushing average per play (3.6) allowed that was the second-best in the league.
Ivan Pace Jr. returned David Montgomery’s fumble 35 yards for a touchdown with 5:50 remaining to give the Vikings (5-1) a one-point lead after they trailed 21-10 at halftime, but Sam Darnold’s crucial 2-point conversion pass sailed past Justin Jefferson.
The Vikings neared midfield on their last-gasp possession, but they were too far away for their own perfect rookie Will Reichard to attempt a field goal. Darnold was sacked to end the game and give the Lions their fourth consecutive victory over the Vikings for their longest streak in the series since 1961-63.
Aaron Jones rushed for 93 yards and a TD for Minnesota despite being listed as questionable with a hamstring injury. Jefferson had 81 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Reichard made three field goals, including a 57-yarder.
Darnold went 22 for 27 for 259 yards, but he spoiled a promising drive in the second quarter when the Vikings needed to regain some rhythm by ignoring a wide-open Jones in the flat off a play-action fake and forcing a throw to Jordan Addison that was intercepted by a diving Brian Branch.
The Lions played a second quarter for the ages. They had three scoring drives that all covered at least 69 yards on the strength of some shrewd play-calling by offensive coordinator Ben Johnson that rendered the chess moves by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores moot, as Goff beat blitz after blitz.
Injury report
Lions: RB Montgomery (knee) limped off in the first quarter but returned before halftime. … RG Kevin Zeitler (groin) was inactive, and his backup Kayode Awosika was flagged twice for holding and once for a false start in the first quarter. One holding call was declined by the Vikings because they sacked Goff on the play.
Vikings: LB Blake Cashman (toe) was inactive.
Up next
Lions: Host the Tennessee Titans next Sunday afternoon.
Vikings: Play at the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Saquon Barkley made a memorable return to MetLife Stadium, rushing for 176 yards and a touchdown and turning early jeers to cheers as he led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 28-3 victory over the offensively inept New York Giants on Sunday.
Jalen Hurts scored on two tush-push quarterback sneaks and threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown as the Eagles (4-2) beat the Giants (2-5) for the sixth time in seven games and 14th in 17. Philadelphia’s defense was just as good, recording eight sacks and limiting New York to 119 yards.
What was different this time was Barkley was wearing an Eagles uniform. The second pick overall by New York in 2018, he left as a free agent after last season and signed a three-year, $37.5 million contract in March. He was greeted by boos but they didn’t last.
Barkley was worth every penny on Sunday, waking up the Eagles with a 55-yard run around left end to set up his 3-yard TD that put Philadelphia ahead 7-0 in the second quarter. Hurts then connected with Brown on a go route on fourth down to increase the margin to 14-0.
Barkley’s 38-yard scamper up the middle set up Hurts’ first tush push in the third quarter and his 41-yarder in the fourth quarter led to the second. Barkley’s 176 yards rushing on 17 carries — 10.4 yards per — was the second-highest total of his career, and he didn’t play much late. His career best was 189 yards against Washington on Dec. 22, 2019.
After the game ended, Giants coach Brian Daboll hung around to hug Barkley.
Hurts finished 10 of 14 for 114 yards and his day was over after his second TD run. He was sacked four times, including twice by Dexter Lawrence, who now has nine.
Greg Joseph kicked a 38-yard field goal for the Giants in the final seconds of the first half. Daboll drew some sarcastic cheers early in the fourth quarter when he pulled quarterback Daniel Jones for Drew Lock. A battered Jones finished 14 of 21 for 99 yards, with rookie receiver Malik Nabers catching four for 41 yards.
The Giants are winless in four games at home and have scored one touchdown.
Injuries
Eagles: RG Mekhi Becton sustained a concussion in the first half and was replaced by Tyler Steen.
Giants: CB Cor’Dale Flott left late in the first half with a groin injury. Backup LB Ty Summers injured an ankle in punt coverage and did not return in the second half.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — It’s fitting that a record-breaking season for the WNBA would come down to a winner-take-all Game 5 of its Finals.
For the first time since 2019, the league championship will go the distance. This one will be in New York on Sunday night.
The Minnesota Lynx staved off elimination with an 82-80 win over the New York Liberty on Friday night to force the fifth game.
“I think that, you know, for our team, we bounce back after a loss really, really well, and making sure that everybody is on the same page going forward,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said. “In the playoffs, in a series, there’s going to be momentum shifts. There were momentum shifts in the game tonight. But mentally, understanding what’s our ultimate goal, how are things going right here.
“Like (coach) Sandy (Brondello) said in the locker room, we haven’t won anything yet; we haven’t lost anything yet. And we have the opportunity to do that Sunday.”
The first four games of the series have come down to the last few possessions and have included an overtime game and a last-second shot, which have led to record ratings. The first three games each had over a million viewers on average, with the audience growing for each contest. They also have had huge crowds in attendance.
History will be on the line for both teams Sunday. Minnesota stands one victory away from a record fifth WNBA title, which would break a tie with the Houston Comets and Seattle Storm. The Liberty are looking for their first title and have lost in the Finals five times. The team was one of the original eight franchises when the league began in 1997 and is the only one left of that group not to have won it all.
Since the league switched to a best-of-five format in 2005, seven other series have gone the distance. The home team has won five of those contests, including in 2019.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve was involved in three straight Game 5s from 2015-17 with the Lynx. She won two of them. She also was an assistant with Detroit when the Shock split two decisive games in 2006-2007.
“I don’t think about the other ones,” Reeve said. “I feel very blessed in my career to have a chance to been a part of so many. I haven’t won them all. … What I’m thrilled about is that this group gets to experience the Game 5.”
New York had the best record in the regular season and earned the right to have the decisive game on its home court.
“That’s what we said we worked for all season long. Minnesota did what they needed to do here to tie it up, and now we go back home. We love playing in front of our home crowd,” Brondello said. “So it will definitely be another sellout, and it will definitely be loud. And we have to bring our A game.
“I have a lot of respect for Minnesota, don’t get me wrong. This is a really tough team. They play well. They compete. So we’ve got one more game, and we’re going to win on our home court.”
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson’s unsuccessful and disappointing stay with Cleveland has taken another significant turn.
The embattled quarterback was carted off the field Sunday with a right Achilles tendon injury he suffered on a noncontact play against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Watson, who has not lived up to expectations in his two-plus seasons with Cleveland, went down without being touched on a second down play with 1:26 left in the first half.
Watson dropped back to pass at the Cincinnati 21-yard line. When he planted, his right leg buckled and he dropped to the ground.
Watson immediately put his hands to his head as he lay on the field in obvious pain. Cleveland’s training staff rushed out to assist him and were soon joined by all of the Browns as well as the Bengals, who came over from their sideline to surround Watson and offer their support.
As he was driven off, Watson, whose arrival in Cleveland split the fan base, pulled a towel over his head as fans applauded.
Shortly after halftime, the Browns said Watson had injured his Achilles tendon and that he wouldn’t return.
Based on his reaction, Watson may not be back again this season.
Cleveland signed Watson to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract in 2022. He was suspended 11 games by the NFL in his first year with Cleveland, and his second season was cut short after just six starts because of a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Watson has played poorly this season, leading to calls for coach Kevin Stefanski to bench him. He was booed during pregame introductions.
Before getting hurt, Watson was 15 of 17 for 128 yards. He was sacked twice. Second-year QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson replaced him. Thompson-Robinson was Watson’s backup for the first time this season ahead of Jameis Winston.
The Browns mortgaged their short-term future to get Watson, sending three first-round draft picks to Houston for the three-time Pro Bowler. The 28-year-old has made far more headlines off the field than on it.
He was accused of sexual assault and harassment by more than two dozen women for inappropriate behavior during massage therapy sessions in Texas. Watson settled numerous civil lawsuits brought against him.
The league is still investigating a recent allegation against Watson brought by a woman who accused him of sexual assault. Watson recently reached a confidential settlement to close that case.
(AP) — Oregon became the fourth team this season to hold the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press college football poll, moving into the top spot on Sunday for the first time in 12 years after Texas lost at home to Georgia.
Vanderbilt made its first appearance since the 2013 season, at No. 25, and defending national champion Michigan fell out after a second straight loss dropped it to 4-3.
Unbeaten Oregon followed its one-point home win over Ohio State with its first road shutout in 32 years, a 35-0 rout of Purdue, and received 59 of 61 first-place votes.
Georgia, which has won three straight games since its loss to Alabama, made a three-spot jump to No. 2 on the strength of its 30-15 win at previously No. 1 Texas. The Bulldogs got the other two first-place votes.
No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State were idle Saturday and held their spots. Texas dropped to No. 5 after Georgia held it 28 points under its scoring average.
Miami prevailed in a wild game at Louisville and remained No. 6, and Tennessee rose four spots to No. 7 following its win over Alabama. LSU, Clemson and Iowa State rounded out the top 10.
No team this season has held the No. 1 spot for more than three straight weeks. Georgia topped the poll in the preseason but a one-point win at unranked Kentucky in Week 3 bumped the Bulldogs out. Texas took over for two weeks, then gave way to Alabama following the Crimson Tide’s win over Georgia.
Alabama lasted one week at No. 1, getting upset at Vanderbilt after its win over Georgia. That allowed Texas to return to the top for two weeks.
Chip Kelly was coach of the only other Oregon teams to reach No. 1. The 2012 Ducks, led by Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, were in the top spot for one week in November 2012 after following a 10-0 start with a loss to Stanford. The 2010 team, which lost to Auburn in the BCS title game, spent six weeks at No. 1.
Poll points
This marks the first time since 2012 that four teams will play a game as the No. 1 team in the same season. Oregon was among the four that year. The others were Southern California, Alabama and Notre Dame. The other seasons since 2000 with four or more No. 1 teams were 2007 (4), 2008 (6) and 2010 (4).
Tennessee’s 24-17 win over Alabama produced the biggest moves in the poll. The Volunteers jumped from No. 11 to No. 7. The Crimson Tide dropped eight spots to No. 15, their lowest ranking since 2010.
Texas’ loss to Georgia was the first by a No. 1 team at home against a top-five opponent since Miami beat Florida State 17-16 in 1991.
In-and-out
Vanderbilt’s previous ranking was No. 24 in the final poll of the 2013 season. The Commodores, who beat Ball State to improve to 5-2, are off to their best start since opening 5-0 in 2008. That also was the last time Vandy was ranked in the regular season.
Michigan, which scored its fewest points in a game since 2014 in its 21-7 loss at Illinois, had been ranked in 54 consecutive polls since 2021.
Independent — 1 (No. 12).
Ranked vs. Ranked
—No. 20 Illinois at No. 1 Oregon. The Illini play the top-ranked team for the first time since 2007. They won 28-21 at Ohio State that year.
—No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt. First matchup since these teams met 12 times between 1899-1928. Commodores haven’t beaten two Top 25 opponents in the same season since 2008.
—No. 8 LSU at No. 14 Texas A&M. This has become one of the SEC’s better series lately. The teams have split their last three meetings.
—No. 12 Notre Dame at No. 24 Navy. This will be the 11th time in 97 meetings, and first since 2019, that both teams are ranked when they meet.
—No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama. Nothing comes easily for either team this season. The two-loss Crimson Tide haven’t dropped three games before November since 2006.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) -- The trial of Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged in the May 2023 choking death of a homeless man in a New York City subway car, is set to begin Monday with jury selection.
The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks, according to Judge Max Wiley.
Penny, 25, has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with Jordan Neely's death.
Wiley denied Penny's bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.
Penny put Neely, 30, in a fatal chokehold "that lasted approximately 6 minutes and continued well past the point at which Mr. Neely had stopped purposeful movement," prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office have said.
Penny's attorneys have said that they were “saddened at the loss of human life” but that Penny saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others," arguing that Neely was "insanely threatening" to passengers aboard the F train in Manhattan.
Witness accounts differ on Neely’s behavior in the train, prosecutors say.
They note that many witnesses relayed that Neely expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty, and most of the witnesses recount that Neely indicated a willingness to go to jail or prison.
Some witnesses report that Neely threatened to hurt people on the train, while others did not report hearing those threats.
Some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train; however, others have said though Neely had exhibited erratic behavior, he had not been threatening anyone in particular and had not become violent.
Some passengers on the train that day said they didn't feel threatened -- one "wasn't really worried about what was going on" and another called it "like another day typically in New York. That's what I'm used to seeing. I wasn't really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don't really hear anybody saying anything like that," according to court filings by the prosecution.
Other passengers described their fear in court filings. One passenger said they "have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that." Another said Neely was making “half-lunge movements” and coming within a “half a foot of people."
Neely, who was homeless at the time of his death, had a documented mental health history and a history of arrests, including alleged instances of disorderly conduct, fare evasion and assault, according to police sources.
Less than 30 seconds after Penny allegedly put Neely into a chokehold, the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette Station: "Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train. The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a court filing against Penny's dismissal request. Wiley denied all motions to suppress evidence on Oct. 4.
Footage of the interaction, which began about 2 minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely for about 4 minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train with a couple of male passengers nearby.
Prosecutors said that about 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely ceases all purposeful movement.
"After that moment, Mr. Neely's movements are best described as 'twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'" the prosecutor said.
The defense argued Penny had no intent to kill, but Steinglass noted that the second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.
"We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny's actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” said Penny's lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, after Penny’s request to dismiss the charge was denied.
“Danny is grateful for the continued prayers and support through this difficult process."
Penny has raised more than $3 million for his legal defense fund ahead of the trial.
(NEW YORK) -- General Motors is "very serious about making Cadillac a premium brand again," Michael Simcoe -- the company's senior vice president of global design -- told ABC News in an interview about the "engineering and design tour de force" that is the new Celestiq.
The interview below has been edited for clarity.
Q: A huge trend in the industry now is customization, coachbuilding, bespoke vehicles. Why is Cadillac going in that direction and what has the response been like? And are you trying to appeal to customers who have Bentleys and Rolls-Royces?
A: With the Celestiq, we're offering customers the ability to truly customize everything. The tyranny of choices is there and we try to help them. Customers have the ability to touch every color and finish on the exterior and interior of the car to give it their own personality. Yes, there are a few competitors, but people at this level are looking for something very unique and very specific to them.
Q: How long does it take to build a Celestiq?
A: We can build two a day. We are building cars right now and a number of people have gone through the design process and selected their interior, their exterior with our designers. So their cars are now in line to be built.
Q: How many orders have you received?
A: I can't tell you that.
Q: Are customers coming to the Cadillac House in Michigan or are your designers flying all over the world to meet with clients?
A: They have a choice. We can do it online with them, they can come to Cadillac House and go through the samples with us. Or we'll send designers to customers if we need to.
Q: When did Cadillac make the decision to go ultra luxe and offer a product that starts at $350,000?
A: Cadillac has tried a number of times to reestablish its position. It was and is becoming again the standard of the world. That's the way we have always thought about it. Certainly for our customers we haven't delivered that, at least delivered what they expected. We have tried a number of times to through vision products and concept flagships to spark a rebirth of Cadillac.
The only way to prove internally and externally that we were very serious about making Cadillac a premium brand again was to do a vehicle like the Celestiq. It's an engineering and design tour de force and it's hand built. It's proof we can actually can take Cadillac back to the position it had in the past.
The Celestiq is new and represents the current generation. We really are predicting and showing people where we are going and I think that's very important. Cadillac will no longer be something static that people get a chance to ignore and forget. We will be out there with beautiful designs and vehicles that people fall in love with.
Q: Celestiq, Lyriq, Optiq, Escalade IQ -- why do all Cadillac EVs end in IQ?
A: We could have gone with our venerable names from the past, but that didn't seem right when we were moving the brand to an all EV-based architecture. It was a signal that these vehicles were our new generation of Cadillacs.
Q: When you were overseeing the design of these new EVs, particularly the Celestiq, what was important to include?
A: We wanted a vehicle that was different to some of the high-end competition. We feel like we did our own thing in proportion to the vehicle. It still has a long hood. It has a hint of Cadillac heritage in the way the interior was designed. These long, horizontal architecture lines with metallic finishes and detail inside the car -- that hints back to Cadillacs in the early 60s and 70s.
Q: Are customers actually going to drive the Celestiq or is it a vehicle to be chauffeured in?
A: This won't be their daily driver but it could be. It has 300-ish miles of range, lots of power, lots of performance. It's a very easy car to drive and control. It has four-wheel steering, so it drives like a small car. It has ride control and air suspension and all of the technical marvels like a large screen.
It is a spirited drive and it feels good. Jay Leno drove it and I think he enjoyed himself. But you can sit back here, in the second row, and it's a premium experience as well. We're not dictating where you should be.
Q: I want to ask about the CT5-V Blackwing and CT4-V Blackwing, two high-performance sedans that have received top praise from the enthusiast community. Are they going away now that the brand's direction is electric? What's the future for them?
A: I can't tell you in detail but they'll be around. We recognize the value of the cars so they''ll be around.
LONDON (AP) — Tank Bigsby rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns and Parker Washington returned a punt 96 yards for a score in Jacksonville’s 32-16 comeback win over the New England Patriots on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
Rookie receiver Brian Thomas Jr. caught a touchdown pass as the Jaguars (2-5) erased an early 10-0 deficit.
In his second start, Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye led one fourth-quarter scoring drive but couldn’t muster a second one as New England (1-6) lost its sixth straight game.
Bigsby scored on a 4-yard run after the Patriots turned the ball over on downs after the two-minute warning.
The win should at least temporarily ease some pressure off Jaguars coach Doug Pederson.
The Jaguars scored on four straight possessions after falling behind early.
Thomas caught a 6-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal to get the Jags on the board and he set up Jacksonville’s go-ahead score when he streaked down the middle of the field and caught a 58-yard pass to the New England 21.
Four plays later, Bigsby’s 1-yard plunge gave the Jags a 14-10 lead.
Washington’s record-setting 96-yard punt return for a touchdown made it 22-10. Lawrence threw to Thomas for the 2-point conversion after the Patriots were offside on the extra point attempt.
Lawrence completed 15 of 20 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. Thomas had five receptions for 89 yards.
Missed opportunities
The Jags had trouble expanding their lead in the second half.
They opened the second half by driving to the New England 3 but settled for a field goal — increasing their lead to 25-10 — when Christian Kirk couldn’t get a second foot down in the corner of the end zone on a third down throw.
On its next drive, Jacksonville drove down the field on a 17-play drive but Bigsby was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 from the 6.
Maye got the Patriots back into the end zone less than three minutes later when he found K.J. Osborn for a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 25-16 after Andre Cisco earlier dropped a would-be interception. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.
In a first for the Patriots this season, they scored on their opening drive. JaMycal Hasty caught a pass in the flat and made Josh Hines-Allen and Cisco miss to get into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown reception.
Maye finished 26 of 37 for 276 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
(ROSWELL, NM) -- Roswell, New Mexico, experienced an overnight "Flash Flood Emergency" on Saturday, the National Weather Service reported -- the highest tier of flash flood warning.
Between 4 and 9 inches of rain fell in parts of the state, prompting the NWS to declare a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" alert -- a warning issued when a Flash Flood Emergency occurs in an area of significant population.
The NWS issued a flood warning for east central, northeast, and southeast New Mexico through to the early hours of Monday. A flash flood watch remains in effect for eastern New Mexico through Sunday night.
Additional rain is expected through Sunday, falling on ground already saturated by Saturday's downpours and thus raising the risk of further flash flooding.
Roswell was inundated with an all-time record daily rainfall of 5.78 inches -- higher than the previous record of 5.65 inches set on Nov. 1, 1901.
Emergency services reported that numerous rescues were ongoing throughout the Roswell area, with water entering homes and cutting off numerous roads.
The Chaves County Sheriff's Office shared an emergency alert on its Facebook page warning of "an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation."
The Sheriff's Office later shared videos of people being brought to safety through floodwaters and of roads being cut off by rising water.
The Spring River in the Cahoon area rose rapidly, stranding several vehicles under bridges along the river.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
DALLAS (AP) — Matt Duchene scored the first two goals, Jake Oettinger won his first start since signing a big contract extension, and the Dallas Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Saturday in their first meeting since last season’s Western Conference Final.
Roope Hintz also scored and Jason Robertson added an empty-netter as the Stars improved to 4-0 at home this season by beating the team that eliminated them in six games in the West final.
Oettinger stopped 30 shots in his first appearance since signing a $66 million, eight-year extension that could keep the 25-year-old with the team that drafted him until the 2032-33 season.
Duchene scored a power-play goal late in the second period and made it 2-0 with his third of the season 12:06 into the third.
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl ended Oettinger’s shutout bid with less than three minutes remaining.
Takeaways
Oilers: Stuart Skinner wasn’t tested much early after stopping 72 of 76 Dallas shots as the Oilers won the last three games in the West final last season. The Stars had just 11 shots through two periods.
Stars: Dallas was 1 of 17 on the power play this season when Duchene scored off the face-off that started the first chance against Edmonton late in the second.
Key moment
Oettinger stopped Zach Hyman on a point-blank shot early in the third, which started a flurry of activity in front of and behind the Dallas net in the first eight minutes of the final frame with Dallas holding a one-goal lead.
Key stat
Hintz had a three-point game, assisting on Duchene’s first goal and getting the secondary assist on Robertson’s empty-netter.
Up next
The Oilers open a two-game homestand on Tuesday against Carolina. The Stars begin a two-game trip at Buffalo on Tuesday.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Here are some of the awards that Victor Wembanyama received over the last 12 months: the NBA rookie of the year trophy, a spot on the All-Rookie team, a first-team All-Defense selection, three rookie of the month awards and most recently an Olympic silver medal.
They’re all nice. They’re also not enough.
Wembanyama wants more, much more, and as the San Antonio Spurs star from France gets set to enter Year 2 of his NBA career — after living up to practically every lofty expectation there was in Year 1 — he’s not shy about saying that he’s thinking bigger.
“It’s the same for all of my trophies, team trophies or even individual,” Wembanyama said. “I love them. I really cherish them. But I want all my trophies that I get right now to be bricks to build something great in the future. You know, one brick by itself is not much. You can get a palace when you accumulate them.”
Let the building process continue, then.
If San Antonio is going to get back into the playoff mix this season, Wembanyama will have to be one of the biggest reasons why. Still officially listed at 7-foot-3 by the Spurs — he looks at least a couple of inches taller, though he says he hasn’t grown — Wembanyama knows all eyes are on him this season, even though there probably isn’t anybody in the NBA that can look him eye to eye. He was the unanimous rookie of the year and the runner-up in the defensive player of the year balloting after averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, a league-best 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game last season.
He likely will be an All-Star this season. He already is getting talked about as an MVP candidate. He’s the favorite to win defensive player of the year. There’s been only a handful of players who have garnered this much respect going into their sophomore NBA year, and Wembanyama has earned everything that people say about him.
“It’s a matter of time,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You know, he’s an incredible talent. He’s very dedicated as well. I think we saw that summer in the Olympics, particularly in France when there were great expectations for that team. And the biggest moments are when he played his best, including our final game. I think that was his best game. But the last two or three games, you could see it trending in that direction when they really needed him to step up. That was impressive.”
The Paris Olympics — where Wembanyama had the basketball gold-medal hopes of an entire host nation on his shoulders — were yet another stage where he did not disappoint. He averaged 15.8 points and 9.7 rebounds, was picked as FIBA’s Rising Star of the tournament and made the All-Star Five (FIBA’s version of an all-tournament team) alongside MVP LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Dennis Schroder.
Wembanyama saved his best for last in Paris, scoring 26 points in the gold-medal game against the U.S., enough to keep France close but not enough to overcome the flurry of 3-pointers that Curry made in the final minutes to seal a fifth consecutive Olympic title for the Americans.
It was yet another reminder that Wembanyama isn’t on his way to stardom. He already is there, and the Olympics might be a springboard to the next level of stardom.
“Victor was great,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who watched Wembanyama in Paris. “He improved steadily throughout the Olympics and ended up being very formidable. But for all the players over all these years that have played in FIBA and gone in the summertime, it’s always a plus.”
Wembanyama finds inspiration from all around the game. He raves about fellow rookie of the year Caitlin Clark, the WNBA star from the Indiana Fever. (“When she was in college … the only college player that I was in awe of. I’m saying men’s and women’s basketball. She’s probably the most impressive,” Wembanyama said.) And he’s eager to learn from a couple of highly decorated veterans that the Spurs brought in this summer, Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes.
“He works extremely hard,” Paul said of Wembanyama. “His ability to shoot, pass, dribble, do everything, his defense … it’s taken some getting used to. We’re a work in progress.”
As point guard, Paul’s job is to make life easy for Wembanyama on the court. That doesn’t mean he will take it easy on Wembanyama off the court. The Spurs had a table tennis tournament during the preseason and Paul beat Wembanyama in the semifinals.
That didn’t sit well with Wembanyama. And what he said after that for-bragging-rights event might shed some light on his true mindset entering his second NBA season. In short, when he faces a challenge a second time, he wants to do better than he did the first time around.
“Today, he’s the best. It’s not going to last,” Wembanyama said after the table tennis showdown. “I don’t have a lot of experience in pingpong, but I’ve improved a lot lately. So, it’s not going to last.”
He doesn’t have a lot of NBA experience either. But he’s improved. The league knows what’s coming. He was almost unguardable last year and he’s going to be better now.
“A successful year would be a year where we don’t lose time doing the mistakes we did last year and we apply our improvements right away,” Wembanyama said. “I think it’s going well because when I watch everybody — and I watched everybody during the summer — everybody was putting in some super hard work. And it just seems like it’s going to pay off.”
(WASHINGTON) -- With just 16 days until Election Day, the Democratic governors of the three "Blue Wall" battleground states touted the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris' ground game, and predicted she would prevail in their states but acknowledged how close the presidential race is.
"I think Kamala Harris wins, but make no mistake, it's close," Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "We're not afraid of that… It causes us to get out and work, and that's what we're doing."
Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers sat down with Raddatz in the Pittsburgh area for an exclusive interview that aired Sunday. The interview came during the governors' bus tour through the critical battlegrounds that some pundits say represent Harris' best path to the presidency.
The three so-called "Blue Wall" swing states are key to a Democratic victory. All three voted for Donald Trump in 2016 -- the first time since 1992 that they backed the Republican candidate. Four years later, President Joe Biden won them back.
If Harris wins Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania -- plus the single electoral vote in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District -- she would hit the 270-electoral vote threshold needed to win the White House, even if she lost the other four battleground states.
The race is statistically tied in all three "Blue Wall" states, according to 538 polling averages.
"Listen, the only people that are not surprised about these polls are us three. We all expect this. We are not upset about it, we're not scared. We're determined to make sure we do everything in our power to win this thing," Whitmer said.
Evers said he believes the race is still "undecided" at this point because many voters simply aren't paying much attention yet.
"I talk to people just about every day that are, are torn about what to… how they're going to vote. And so I think there are people that can be convinced, absolutely," Evers said. "There are people that, frankly, don't follow this on a daily basis."
With 19 electoral votes up for grabs -- the most of the battleground states -- Pennsylvania is the prize both campaigns want to win. The margins have been exceedingly close in recent presidential elections, with Trump taking the state by 0.7 of a percentage point in 2016 and Biden winning by 1.2 points in 2020.
No Democrat has won the presidency without Pennsylvania since 1948. Both campaigns have invested heavily in the Keystone State, pouring in more than $500 million collectively in TV ad spending and reservations through the end of the year, the New York Times reported.
"I think it's a must-win, and we want to win here," Shapiro said. "I think both candidates believe that Pennsylvania is critical. I just think we've got a better candidate. We got a better message."
But Trump's message resonates with about half of the voters in their states, polls show. Asked to explain Trump's appeal, Shapiro acknowledged that people are frustrated with government.
"I think what people are craving are leaders who know how to get stuff done for them," Shapiro said. "Donald Trump talks a good game about that. Now he has a history of failing to deliver over and over and over again. And I think part of our responsibility here is to make sure we're letting folks know that … when he had the keys to the White House before, he failed the American people time and time again."
"He's a charlatan," Whitmer added. "He's convinced people that he is strong when he's actually very weak."
In all three states, Democrats need to see high turnout among the voting blocs that traditionally back their candidates, like Black voters concentrated in the metropolitan areas.
In Wisconsin, the decline in Black voter turnout since 2012 has been steep, dropping from 78% in 2012 to 43% in 2020, according to Census data.
But Evers said his state is in "a much better place this time" and pointed to an improved ground game to reach voters.
"I feel confident that it's going to be much larger than the last time. And it's important to make sure that all people in Wisconsin feel that this election means something to them, and so we've upped the ground game in all our areas around the state, whether it's rural, whether it's in the Milwaukee area," he said.
In neighboring Michigan, Democrats remain concerned that Arab and Muslim American voters will not turn out for Harris due to frustrations with the Biden administration's support for Israel as the war and suffering in Gaza continue a year after Hamas' brutal attack against the U.S. ally.
Michigan is home to nearly 400,000 Arab Americans, according to the Arab American Institute. The Uncommitted Movement decided not to endorse a candidate in the presidential race, and the Abandon Harris campaign put its support behind Green Party candidate Jill Stein's bid.
Pressed on how to convince these voters to support Harris, Whitmer said that dialogue is important. She also argued that Harris is the only candidate committed to finding solutions.
"At the end of the day, do you want a leader who's going to throw gas on the fire to keep you angry so that you tune out?" asked Whitmer. "Or do you want one who's going to try to get in there and solve problems?... That's what Kamala Harris offers."
Given what happened after Trump lost the 2020 election, whether he concedes defeat if he loses to Harris remains an open question. Trump has already started to cast doubt on the integrity of the election, baselessly claiming last week in a podcast interview, "If the election is not rigged, we're going to win. If it is rigged, I guess that's a different story."
All three governors voiced confidence in the citizens of their states to lawfully administer election law and count the votes, while raising concerns about Trump.
"He's already laying the groundwork to undermine the outcome of this election," Whitmer said. "They are trying to pull the wool over the American public's eyes once again, and we're anticipating that they'll continue to try to do that when they lose this election, assuming they lose this election. But I'm going to make sure every vote gets counted."
"I've got great confidence in the good people in Pennsylvania to count the votes accurately and to respect the will of the people. I do not have confidence that Donald Trump won't whine about it, won't put out dangerous rhetoric and mis- and disinformation," Shapiro added. "We're prepared for anything Donald Trump throws at us, and we're going to make sure the will of the people is protected."
(WASHINGTON) -- Politicos in Washoe County, Nevada, proudly refer to their home as "the swingiest county in the swingiest state," where voters in the sprawling and sparsely populated swath of desert might very well tilt the scales of a deadlocked presidential election in November.
But Washoe has also carved out a reputation as the epicenter of a troubling nationwide trend: County officials refusing, for one reason or another, to certify election results.
Despite a legal requirement to accept the vote tally and pass the results along to state election officials, county supervisors in at least eight states have bucked this ministerial duty in recent election cycles, according to one watchdog group, prompting concern among democracy experts that it could upend voters' faith in the election process.
"What was a sort of wild and desperate idea in 2020 has caught on with certifying officials in the last couple of elections," said Sean Morales-Doyle, a voting rights expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank. "It won't be a successful tactic to overturn the outcome of our election, or to stop certification. But it will cause chaos and distrust in the meantime."
In Washoe County, two members of the county board of commissioners have emerged as symbols of the broader dispute over vote certification: Alexis Hill, the Democratic chair of the board, and Michael Clark, a Republican commissioner. During board meetings, the two sit less than ten feet from each other on the dais. But when it comes to just about everything else -- including the role of the commission in certifying election results -- they are miles apart.
Hill, 41, lives just blocks from downtown Reno, the county's most populous city, with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. Most days, she commutes to the county offices on her e-bike. Clark, 73, decamps each day to his ranch near Washoe Lake, where he tends to his horses, mules and dogs. On weekends, he rides his Harley.
'A dark afternoon'
In the commissioners' chambers, Hill and Clark regularly tangle over budgets and policy. But no issue fires them up more than election integrity. And in July, Clark and two Republican colleagues made national headlines when they refused to certify the outcome of two local races -- prompting fears of what might come to pass in November.
"It was a dark afternoon," Hill told ABC News' Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran. "Decisions like that, they break institutions ... they make people believe that we don't have a fair and free election."
Clark relented a week later under "extreme duress," he explained at a commission meeting in July. The state's attorney general had threatened him with felony prosecution for failing to execute a duty of his office.
In an interview with ABC News' Terry Moran, Clark said he is not an election denier, but believes county election officials have failed to properly maintain the voter rolls. Clark pointed to thousands of mail-in ballots that were sent out to registered voters but returned to the county as undeliverable, which he characterized as evidence of poor recordkeeping by the registrar of voters.
"I believe that the people that are running the registrar of voters office can't keep accurate records," Clark said in the interview. "When I see sloppy bookkeeping, I don't trust it."
Washoe County Manager Eric Brown has acknowledged that the returned ballots might represent voters who had moved, thereby complicating their ability to vote -- but he said at a recent meeting that the county had upgraded its voter registration system, which he said "has enhanced tracking and certification capabilities."
"Moving forward, keeping track of voter records is going to be -- we'll be able to do that much more accurately," Brown said.
Clark also said his vote to not certify results in July -- which was the third time in his two-year tenure on the commission that he did so -- was precipitated by what election experts have called erroneous legal advice from a county attorney who told commissioners to vote their conscience.
Clark's vote "shocked" the state's elections chief, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar.
"It is a ministerial duty to certify the election," Aguilar, a Democratic, told ABC News' Terry Moran. "If there are concerns and questions about the election -- about the election process, about the election administration -- [the commission has] the power to schedule an agenda item to have a conversation about how elections work."
'That's just not their job'
All fifty states make election-certification by county officials a mandatory duty of their job to prevent local partisan politicians from meddling in election results. Election disputes, which frequently arise, are typically resolved through audits, recounts, and the courts.
"It may seem odd to people that [the county officials] who are certifying the election aren't necessarily the ones that investigate all the things that happened in the election," Morales-Doyle said. "But that's just not their job."
But in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, when former President Donald Trump sought to challenge the outcome of the vote, some county officials have refused to certify results.
It began in Wayne County, Michigan, where Trump reportedly pressured two county officials to not certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to the Detroit News. In the intervening election seasons, more than two dozen officials in eight states, including key swing states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, have followed suit, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
In Arizona, two Republican supervisors in Cochise County were charged with felonies for delaying certification of the 2022 midterm election until a court ordered them to do so. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial next year. Both also remain in their seats on the county board.
And in Georgia, a state judge this week issued a directive that county officials cannot block the certification of votes due to allegations of fraud or error, ruling that officials "have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results."
'How you undermine democracy'
Back in Nevada, election officials say they are preparing for any possible challenge to the upcoming election results.
"So is this a contagion?" Moran asked Aguilar. "Do you see this happening in other counties this time around?"
"It may, but I think we are prepared, and we have been preparing for the last 18 months to address any issue that comes up. This was one of them," Aguilar said. "I've been working extremely hard with the attorney general to anticipate some of these situations."
"We have pre-drafted legal filings -- kind of like a Mad Libs, right?" Aguilar said. "You know the county, you fill in the county name, you fill in the date, you fill in the facts. And you file that thing as soon as you can before the Nevada Supreme Court."
Experts say the failure of county officials to certify results is unlikely to succeed in delaying or altering the outcome of the presidential election. But that does not mean it should not alarm American voters.
"Every time this has been tried before, courts have put a quick end to it. And they will again this year," Morales-Doyle said. "But what it might do is undermine the public's faith in our process. And that's really damaging in and of itself."
"That's really harmful," he said. "Democracy works because people have faith in the outcome of their elections. If you undermine that enough, that's how you undermine democracy."
In Washoe County, Hill said she would "absolutely" certify the results, regardless of the outcome in the presidential race or in her own reelection race for commissioner.
"I feel like we are ready to go for this general election. And I have no concerns," she said. "I do believe that there are really good people who are trying to hold the house together."
Clark, for his part, offered a more reserved commitment.
"Are you going to certify an election in November?" Moran asked him.
"Well, I guess I'm going to have to," Clark said. "I don't want to have an argument with the attorney general. The attorney general and the state of Nevada have much deeper pockets than I have."
ABC News' Hannah Prince contributed to this report.
10-26-24 – Jeremy Flowers and Nicole Henry with the East Texas Crisis Center.
11-10-24 – Amber Verona and Lindsey Fronbuberuer discussing the Downtown development, parking and future plans.
