Author: Shekari Philemon

Winning a championship is supposed to make everything easier, right? Free parades, endless highlight reels, maybe even a little extra love at contract time. For the New York Knicks, though, the hangover from last season’s title run comes with a hefty price tag. The Knicks opened their preseason schedule Monday night, but one of the biggest pieces of their championship puzzle is still at odds with the front office. Karl-Anthony Towns and the team remain far apart on a contract extension, and the big man isn’t exactly feeling optimistic. Towns isn’t sugarcoating it Asked Monday whether a new deal could…

Usually it’s the players getting flagged, fined and suspended. This week, the zebras got a taste of their own medicine. The NFL has suspended line judge Jeff Seeman for two games and referee Adrian Hill for one game over separate instances of unprofessional conduct toward a player. The punishments were handed down by Ramon George, the league’s vice president of officiating. A heated moment in Arizona’s loss Seeman’s trouble started during the Arizona Cardinals’ 36-24 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday. Cameras caught the line judge apparently cursing at Cardinals tight end Trey McBride. The flare-up came on…

NEW ORLEANS — Remember when the Atlanta Falcons couldn’t buy a touchdown? Yeah, that feels like ancient history now. In just two weeks, Atlanta’s offense has pulled off one of the most improbable turnarounds of the young NFL season. We’re talking worst to first, zero to hero, flip phone to smartphone. Through the first two games, Atlanta scored a combined 16 points, the fewest in the league. Then somebody flipped the switch. After a 45-24 win over the rival New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, Atlanta has piled up a league-high 80 combined points in Weeks 3 and 4.…

BEIJING — Tennis can turn on a dime, but Monday’s China Open semifinal took that to a whole new level. Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from his semifinal against Novak Djokovic after a ball he hit flew into the stands and struck a spectator sitting in the front row. One moment he was fighting to stay alive in the match. The next, his tournament was over. One swing, one wild sequence Here’s how it went down. Djokovic led 7-5, 5-3 and was serving for the match when he put away a forehand volley winner. The ball bounced off the advertising boards…

MONACO — Tennis fans, brace yourselves. The man sitting atop the rankings is officially putting his racket away for the rest of 2026. Top-ranked Jannik Sinner announced Tuesday that he will miss the remainder of the season as he continues to deal with an injured knee. If you’ve been wondering when the Italian star would be back on court, the answer is now officially next year. A summer high, then silence Rewind to July. The 25-year-old was on top of the tennis world, beating Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon final to successfully defend his title at the All England Club.…

Efton Chism III caught a diving one handed touchdown with 1:50 remaining on Sunday to complete New England’s 29 to 26 comeback win in Buffalo, a play that became the focus of a postgame exchange between the two teams. What was said about it? Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson dismissed it. He described the catch as a hell of a play by a practice squad player and an elevated guy, said the receiver would probably not be heard from again and suggested the catch would not be repeated. He also said New England had not done anything better than Buffalo, that…

Lewis Hamilton finished third after recovering from near the back of the field, following a Ferrari decision to start him on slick tyres on a wet surface at the Bahrain Grand Prix, run this year at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit. What went wrong at the start? The tyre choice. He dropped from second to 16th on the opening lap as cars on intermediates passed him, with his Ferrari struggling for grip. He said he had raised concerns before the start, telling the pit wall twice that the track was still wet after inspecting the pit lane surface himself. The team’s…

Carlos Alcaraz reached his first final since returning from a four and a half month injury layoff, beating qualifier Jaume Munar 5 to 7, 6 to 3, 6 to 1 in the Japan Open semifinals on Monday. What happened in the first set? A collapse he could not explain. Having broken midway through to take control, he lost 14 consecutive points to hand the set over, ending it with back to back double faults. The run extended to 16 straight points into the second set. He said afterwards that he did not know what happened and that he seems to…

San Antonio announced before Sunday’s intrasquad scrimmage that forward Tobias Harris strained his left calf during training camp, leaving him questionable for the Oct. 20 season opener against Oklahoma City. What is the timeline? Open. A team spokesman said he would sit out Sunday’s scrimmage and be reevaluated after the preseason, which means no return date has been set and the opener is the first checkpoint rather than a target. How serious is a calf strain? It depends entirely on grade, which has not been disclosed. A mild strain can resolve in a week or two. A more significant one…

Philadelphia held its annual intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday in front of roughly 10,000 people, moving the exhibition from its G League affiliate’s arena in Delaware to its own building to accommodate demand. Why does the venue change matter? Because it is the clearest available measure of interest. A practice game that previously fit in a minor league arena now fills a portion of an NBA one, with fans queuing in the atrium an hour before a noon start. That is a commercial signal rather than a basketball one, and it is the most concrete thing the day produced. What was…