NEWARK, N.J. — Flyers forward Tyson Foerster sat down for locker clean-out day in April and noted that despite finishing with 25 goals and 43 points in 81 games yet again, it took some time to find the back of the net consistently.
Last season, it was Game 33 when he scored his ninth goal of the season. It was a step up from his rookie year, when it took him 49, despite scoring three times in eight games in March of the previous season.
“I think I was getting chances earlier before, too, [but] I just wasn’t able to score. But finally, the puck started going in for me in waves,” Foerster said back in April about his end-of-season surge.
Right now, the waves are coming in hot and heavy, like there’s a hurricane brewing off the coast. Foerster has scored nine goals so far this season, including five in the past five games.
Skating in just 19 of the Flyers’ first 23 games this season due to a lower-body injury, Foerster is becoming the sniper everyone envisioned when he was drafted 23rd overall in the 2020 NHL draft.
“His release of his shot is really elite … but when he gets that puck in the slot or these prime areas, his release, really, it’s an elite shot, so I give him a lot of credit,” coach Rick Tocchet said.
Foerster will credit his scoring prowess to the bounces he’s been getting, but he’s also creating opportunities. His goal in the first period on Friday in the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout win against the New York Islanders was because of the forward, who is known for his high hockey IQ, poked the puck away from Emil Heineman of the Islanders after he couldn’t handle an errant pass by Travis Konecny.
Flyers right wing Tyson Foerster back-hands the puck against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 20.
He had the perfect shooting lane, and he beat goalie David Rittich glove side easily.
“He’s a scrappy [player],” Tocchet said. “Even on that goal, there’s a blind pass in the middle, the Islanders had it, but he knocked it off the guy and scored. I mean, that’s a big, huge play for us. I call him, he’s just a hockey player.”
Foerster didn’t spend time working on his shot over the summer; he spent the majority of the time recovering from an elbow infection. And his linemates have shifted from Noah Cates and Bobby Brink to Cates and Konecny.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio has played 63 minutes, 34 seconds together at five-on-five. Although the opposition has 61 chances to the Flyers’ 55 when they are on the ice, they have outscored other teams, 5-0.
Tocchet credited Foerster for being someone who can find the open space to maintain the foundational triangle. It is one of the most basic offensive-zone strategies in hockey, having forwards create the shape of a triangle, as it is not only about puck support and having a high man, but also creating a bit of turmoil for the team defending.
“I feel like I can read off Catesy and TK,” Foerster said. “TK likes to go high sometimes, and I like to go high. And Catesy is usually in the corner battling it up and getting the pucks up to us, so he’s done a great job of that. But, if I see TK going high, I usually try and go to the net and, you know, hopefully bang one in that way.”
Former coach John Tortorella heavily relied on Foerster when he was behind the Flyers bench. Now Tocchet is doing the same.
Foerster plays power play, is now on the second pairing for the penalty kill, and in the last minute of a game, unless Tocchet puts three centers out on the ice, “He’s probably the next guy, so he’s a guy that we really rely on, and he wants that responsibility.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start in goal. He was in the net when the Flyers beat the New Jersey Devils, 6-3, last Saturday.
A dominant first half allowed Villanova to conquer Harvard, 52-7, in the first round of the FCS playoffs on Saturday.
No. 6/9 and 12th-seeded Villanova (10-2) stretched its win streak to nine and now has won 23 consecutive home games — the longest active streak in Division I football. No. 15/19 Harvard (9-2), struggling with drops, managed to gather just 31 yards of total offense, while Villanova’s defense forced the Crimson into three consecutive first-half three-and-outs.
Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide completed 14 of his 22 attempts, throwing for 193 passing yards and three touchdowns, while also scoring one on the ground. McQuaide is averaging 211.3 passing yards per game.
The Wildcats’ running back room has continued to be unstoppable despite being without its star, David Avit, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury.
Isaiah Ragland runs past Harvard’s defensive line on Saturday.
Isaiah Ragland led Villanova’s rushing attack, totaling a career-high 152 yards and a touchdown. It was Ragland’s second game of his career with triple-digit rushing yards.
“All glory goes to God,” Ragland said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be able to do anything I did. But we take pride in loving our [offensive] line, and this past week, we really took pride in that. We don’t like to be in the media and stuff like that, but we know we get a lot of disrespect, and we took that. We took that to heart as we should.”
Villanova finished with a season-high 512 yards of total offense, rushing for 319.
Fast Villanova start buries Harvard
Villanova won the coin toss and elected to receive. The Wildcats capitalized on the decision, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive off a 45-yard rushing touchdown by Ragland.
On the following Harvard drive, the Crimson marched all the way downfield and were in scoring position. Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig targeted Ryan Osborne in the end zone, and Villanova’s Newton Essiem came down with the ball for an interception.
“I think if you start fast, it’s hard to [stop] a team that’s rolling on both sides of the ball,” Ragland said. “We take so much pride on offense. We trust our defense and our defense trusts us.”
oh. my. goodness.
absolute gem of a play from @pmcquaide_3 to Lucas Kopecky
The Wildcats were able to capitalize on the takeaway. McQuaide connected with Lucas Kopecky in the end zone on 4th and 10 for a 30-yard touchdown. On the previous play, McQuaide’s pass landed right in the hands of Harvard’s Austin-Jake Guillory, but it was dropped.
Ja’briel Mace scored a rushing touchdown to cap off Villanova’s first-half scoring. It was the third game of the last four that Mace has scored a rushing touchdown.
Villanova’s defense freezes Harvard
Harvard had no solutions for Villanova’s poised defense. The Crimson were held to a season-low 213 yards of total offense and managed only two red zone trips, while the Wildcats won the turnover battle, 3-0.
Villanova’s defense totaled three sacks and seven tackles for a loss. Shane Hartzell had a team-high seven tackles (four solo) and half a sack. He currently leads the team with 81 total tackles this season.
In the first half, Harvard was held to four first downs, and all of its drives ended in a punt or turnover.
“We knew earlier in the year, the secondary may have lacked little experience because they’re a young group,” said Villanova linebacker Richie Kimmel. “They have a true swagger. They’re a tight-knit group. [The] whole defense, we’re a tight-knit group. Everyone’s doing their 1-of-11 to make sure someone else succeeds. We are doing everything in our power defensively. We take things personally. If I’m being honest, if we have a rushing attack coming in, they’re not going to gain yards on us.”
Kimmel tied a team-high seven total tackles (three solo) and 1.5 tackles for a loss.
Harvard receivers dropped three touchdown passes, along with other wide-open passes. Craig went 9-for-21 (43%) on pass attempts and had 107 yards in the air.
“What I’ll say about [our young secondary] is they don’t lack confidence, but they did lack experience,” coach Mark Ferrante said. “And now they’re getting the experience to hopefully match the confidence. We’re playing much better complementary football. You can see how if something happens good on special teams or on defense or on offense, it sparks the other two areas. And early in the season, we kind of didn’t have that. Now, the three phases are playing together, and that’s exciting to see.”
Villanova’s Pat McQuaide runs past the defensive line scoring a touchdown against Harvard on Saturday.
Up next
With Villanova advancing, it will now travel to face fifth-seeded and No. 3/4 Lehigh (12-0) in the second round next Saturday, with kickoff set for noon (ESPN+). Lehigh earned a bye in the first round of the FCS Playoffs.
In the last meeting, the Wildcats defeated the Mountain Hawks, 38-10, on Sept. 2, 2023, in their season opener. Villanova has not lost to Lehigh in the Ferrante era (6-0) and leads the all-time series, 14-5.
NEW YORK — Whenever Adem Bona works through his pregame shooting routine, he eventually moves to the corner and fires three-pointer after three-pointer. The 76ers’ second-year big man even takes a step back to plant his feet out of bounds, a tactic designed to make any “real” long-range attempt feel less daunting.
So when Bona got a pass with about one minute remaining in Friday’s matchup at the Brooklyn Nets, he recalled the advice of player development coach Fabulous Flournoy and launched without hesitation.
“Don’t give yourself time to think much about it or what the situation was,” Bona recalled. “ … It was just catch, and let it fly.”
Bona’s first career NBA three-point make — which arrived after he missed the previous five games with a sprained ankle — could be viewed these days as a nod to Andre Drummond, the Sixers’ other previously non-shooting center who has suddenly become a legitimate threat from the corner. The Sixers now might need more of that from Bona — who also finished the Sixers’ 115-103 victory in Brooklyn with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, six rebounds, and four blocks — after Drummond left the game in the second quarter with a right knee sprain.
It was the latest example of what Sixers coach Nick Nurse called “two steps forward, one back” in the injury department, which in the short term could lead to some patchwork frontcourt lineups.
“We were just piecing it together,” Nurse said after the game.
The other step forward? Paul George returned from a one-game absence due to a sprained ankle to total an efficient 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting in his fourth game this season. He also continues to re-acclimate on a minutes restriction following offseason knee surgery, saying he recently landed on an approach to “activate” the knee before games.
Still, the Sixers (10-8) struggled to put away the already-tanking Nets (3-15), who played Friday without top scorers Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas. Yet even with Bona’s and George’s return — and before Drummond’s departure — the Sixers took the floor without injured starters Joel Embiid (knee), VJ Edgecombe (calf), and Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) along with key reserve Trendon Watford (adductor). Through 18 games, max-contract players Embiid, George, and star guard Tyrese Maxey have yet to share the floor.
Andre Drummond (1) leaves court after getting injured during the first half against Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
In comments with an unintentionally short shelf life, Nurse spoke before Friday’s game about the benefits of reintroducing Bona’s size and “bounce” to the Sixers’ rotation. Those qualities could spell Drummond, who had been enjoying a resurgent season by averaging 8.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in 16 games entering Friday. The Sixers are otherwise undersized without Embiid, who on Friday missed his ninth consecutive game with an issue with his right knee.
And this week’s public messaging about the state of Embiid’s knee could be perplexing to an outsider. Embiid was initially listed as questionable to play Tuesday against the Magic on the NBA’s official injury report, before being ruled out the afternoon of that game. On Thursday’s report, Embiid was immediately ruled out for the game in Brooklyn the following night.
“We’ve been thinking he’s been trending towards getting there, and he just hasn’t yet,” Nurse said before Friday’s game. “They just haven’t cleared him to go. That’s all it is. Pretty much the same thing I keep telling you. He’s just not there yet.”
Embiid’s absence has yielded an opportunity to start for Drummond, who during Friday’s game had totaled seven points and four rebounds in 11 minutes before hitting the floor and grabbing his knee. Though the 6-foot-11, 280-pounder needed to be helped off the court, he was standing under his own power with his knee wrapped following the game. George empathized with Drummond in the postgame locker room, because George was hampered by a knee hyperextension last season.
“I know that injury very well,” he said. “ … It’s a tough rehab. I mean, I don’t know the severity of it [for Drummond]. But hopefully, it wasn’t the case that mine was, because it’s a challenge.”
Drummond’s injury, plus foul trouble with multiple players, forced the Sixers into some unconventional frontcourt looks against the Nets. Rookie Johni Broome played the first legitimate rotation minutes of his NBA career, sometimes alongside Justin Edwards as the power forward. There were stretches with two-way players Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker on the floor together as a small-ball look.
Dominick Barlow (25) drives past Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton during the second half on Friday.
Nurse said after the game that he was pleased with the playmaking from those big men whenever the Nets forced the ball out of Maxey’s hands.
“There was a lot of dunks and there was a lot of driving layups,” Nurse said. “There was a couple kick-outs. So, for the most part, those guys handled things really well.
“Those guys are fairly new to the league, and [opponents are] going to put the ball in their hands and see what they can do with it time and time again.”
Part of Drummond’s value to these Sixers has been his mentorship of younger players, including Bona. The veteran noticed Bona getting “a little overwhelmed” as his role increased, prompting Drummond to sit next to Bona on the bench.
“Listen,” Drummond told Bona, “this is a huge, huge opportunity for you to showcase yourself and be present in the moment and have fun with this. Because, right now, you’re young, so messing up is OK. So I would try and do as many things as you can, just to showcase yourself and just stay with it.”
Bona initially beat out Drummond for the backup center job during the preseason, before Drummond recently regained that spot. Bona understands that consistency — rather than shorter bursts of impactful play as a rim protector and athletic finisher — is the next step in his development.
“It was maybe not 20 minutes of amazing play,” Nurse said of Bona’s production before his injury. “But there was always that spurt of three or four minutes that gets you to that next part of the game — or sparks you on a momentum run.”
Bona’s first career three-pointer certainly qualified as that type of moment. And it was a fitting homage to Drummond, whose role Bona might need to replace for the time being.
“He shot that confidently,” Nurse said, “and looked good.”
Over in the visitors’ locker room, the head coach had his shirt off. He was flexing and jumping and shouting and looking like a man who might soon be taken away by some folks in white gowns. Ben Johnson had every right to act a fool. He earned it. His team earned it. All anybody else could do was shrug.
“We’ve got great people in this team that I have a lot of faith and belief in,” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert said after a disconcertingly definitive 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears. “I think we still have everything we want ahead of us.”
It is getting harder for those of us outside the locker room to share in that belief. The Bears didn’t just beat the Eagles on Friday evening. They shook them to their core. They walked into Lincoln Financial Field on the day after Thanksgiving as a seven-point underdog with a rookie head coach and a second-year quarterback who might not be good and they walked out with a win that lifted them to the second-best record in the NFC and dealt a serious blow to the Eagles’ hopes of landing the conference’s top playoff seed.
The Bears will frame it as a statement victory. It felt more like a statement loss by the Eagles. They lost an important game in tough conditions against an opponent that entered the day having earned none of the benefit of the doubt. In short, the Eagles did exactly the opposite of what they had done, almost without exception, over their previous 32 games. They made it very clear that they were not the better team.
That’s a remarkable thing to write, considering the circumstances. The Bears entered the day with an 8-3 record that couldn’t be taken seriously. They’d played the second-easiest schedule in the NFL, the easiest in the NFC by far, with six of their eight wins coming against teams that ranked among the 12 worst in point differential. The other two victories came against winning teams who barely qualified as such: the 6-5-1 Dallas Cowboys and the 6-5 Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, until Friday, the Bears had been outscored on the season.
“The sky is falling outside the locker room, we understand that, but I have nothing but confidence in the men in this locker room, players and coaches included,” said running back Saquon Barkley, who finished with 56 yards on 13 carries and has now gained 60 or fewer yards in nine of 12 games on the season. “It’s going to take all of us to come together, block out the noise.”
Until Friday, we could err on the side of nodding along to such sentiments. All season, as the Eagles have struggled to replicate last year’s dominance, they’ve insisted that their Super Bowl blowout of the Kansas City Chiefs was an exorcism of the demons of 2023. They swore they were a different team. They’d learned their lessons. Plus, they had an actual defense.
Neither of those things was evident against the Bears.
They allowed 281 rushing yards, their most since 2015 and the third-most in the last 50 years. They lost the turnover battle, in a fashion meek and mild, a fumble on a Tush Push and an ugly interception, both at the hands of the quarterback. Neither could be written off as the unfortunate byproducts of a warrior mindset.
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and quarterback Jalen Hurts have failed to inspire confidence for much of the season.
Every quarterback has bad days. Where they differ is in their energy. Some quarterbacks are maddening, some erratic, some just plain dumb. Hurts at his worst looks listless. A nonfactor. Completely uncompetitive.
His coaches look that way, too. For most of the last month, Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo have looked like video game players who suddenly move the difficulty slider from All-Pro to All-Madden. Again, the computer won handily. The issue isn’t a lack of improvement. It’s that things are getting worse.
“It was both units, offense, defense, hats off to them,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “They played a good game; they coached a good game. They outcoached us; they outplayed us. That’s obviously something that I need to go through and watch, look through it, but to say I don’t want to — again, they ran for however many yards. We didn’t run for many yards. We lost the turnover battle. We lost the explosive play battle. All those things are going to dictate the win and loss.”
They didn’t just lose. They are at a loss. No answers. No ideas, even. This was the most concerning game of the Sirianni era, and it isn’t particularly close. Sure, 2023 was ugly. But at least it hadn’t happened before. The three scariest words in the world are “here we go again.”
If this Eagles season ends up where it is currently heading, the faces of the Bears will be the last thing they see on their final swirl around the toilet bowl. This was the kind of loss that can break a team through what it reveals. Until now, they’ve maintained an air of invincibility, a belief in the virtue of winning ugly. While the latter may be true, the Eagles looked entirely vincible on Black Friday.
They could write off their loss to the Denver Broncos as a game they should have won. Their loss to the New York Giants was a Thursday night fluke. After their loss to the Cowboys last week, they could cling to their one great quarter.
Their loss to the Bears? It felt like a culmination to all of that. The end of their suspension of disbelief. They are back in the same place they were when it all went up in flames. Talk has sufficed until now. Adversity is easy in its hypothetical form. Now, the Eagles must actually show us what they are made of.
It would be unfair to pin the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears on Jalen Hurts, even if his two turnovers and ineffectiveness as a passer were contributing factors.
Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo’s inability to scheme to the quarterback’s strengths, while also covering for his weaknesses, again was the primary reason for another inept showing from the offense. The same could be said for their game plan in the run game.
The rest of the offense, meanwhile, underperformed — from the offensive line to skill position players. And, for the first time in some time, the defense can’t be absolved. Vic Fangio’s group couldn’t stop a pig in an alley. The Bears’ 281 rushing yards were the most the Eagles have allowed in 10 years.
The Eagles were collectively bad on Black Friday. “They had that thousand-yard stare in their eyes,” said one team source about players and coaches on the sidelines at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sirianni has a mini-bye to turn another two-game losing streak around. He’s done it before. He’s earned the benefit of doubt. But he may have to cut his offensive coordinator loose, alter the play-calling command, or bring in a consultant to save a unit that currently has no chance in the playoffs …
Assuming the 8-4 Eagles don’t collapse and fail to reach the postseason.
“We’re not changing the play caller,” Sirianni said.
Sirianni probably can’t change the quarterback, nor should he. The Eagles have won a lot of games with Hurts, including the Super Bowl just 9½ months ago. But his limitations as a dropback passer have been a season-long problem and are central to what’s plaguing the offense.
If you want to know why the Eagles can’t run the ball, look at the play-calling, the O-line, and running back Saquon Barkley. But don’t forget the quarterback. Defenses have concentrated their efforts on stopping Barkley, and Hurts has failed to consistently make them pay through the air despite lighter secondaries.
If you want to know why the passing route design sometimes looks rudimentary, look at Sirianni, Patullo and their nondescript scheme. But don’t forget the quarterback. There are swaths of the playbook that aren’t touched because Hurts isn’t comfortable with certain concepts.
And if you want to know why a group that returned 10 of 11 starters and costs more than any other offense in the NFL is among the worst in the league, look at the men in charge. But if Sirianni and Patullo are to be called out for failing to coach to their talent, Hurts has to face that same scrutiny.
On Friday, there was plenty beyond the big-picture problems to be critical of.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts jogs off the field after the loss to the Bears.
“A combination of a lot of things,” Hurts said when asked about the offensive struggles. “Ultimately, you look inward first, and I see it as how the flow of things has gone for us this year and being practical about that. I can’t turn the ball over, so the ultimate goal is to go out there and find a way to win.
“That’s been a direct correlation with success for us being able to protect the ball and so that really, really killed us.”
No quarterback had been as efficient in protecting the ball this season. Hurts had just one interception and two lost fumbles in the first 11 games. But the Bears force turnovers at a higher rate than any defense.
And Hurts was careless when he was flushed from the pocket early in the third quarter and was picked off by former Eagle Kevin Byard for the safety’s NFL-leading sixth interception.
“I saw Kevin coming over and I knew there was a chance he was going to be able to make a play on the ball,” Hurts said. “Just was trying to give him a chance and throw it to the sideline where A.J. [Brown] could try and make a play on it, and I wasn’t able to connect with him.”
The defense held and Hurts bounced back on the ensuing drive. He drove the offense 92 yards and hooked up with Brown for a 33-yard touchdown. Jake Elliott missed the extra point, but the Eagles only trailed, 10-9, despite having just four first downs on their first seven possessions.
Saquon Barkley found some running lanes on Friday, but it wasn’t enough.
Then Eagles outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt intercepted Caleb Williams. Off the turnover, Barkley ran three times for 24 yards down to the Chicago 12 and the Eagles appeared primed to take an inconceivable lead. But Hurts was stripped by cornerback Nahshon Wright when he was stood up on a Tush Push.
“I have to hold onto the ball,” Hurts said when asked if he felt there should have been an earlier whistle to blow the play dead. “It definitely presents itself as an issue and it always has. It’s just never gotten us and so today it got us, and it’s something that we and I need to tighten up.”
As for the Eagles’ patented quarterback sneak, Hurts admitted that “it’s becoming tougher and tougher” to execute.
It was a tough day to execute the passing game with winds blowing at 18 miles per hour at kickoff. Hurts’ passing inefficiency should be viewed through that lens. Williams completed just 47.2% of his throws. Hurts finished 19 of 34 (55.9%) and threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
But he was 9 of 18 through 3½ quarters. Hurts converted just one of seven third downs as a passer over that span. He threw behind receiver DeVonta Smith on an early third down and the Eagles settled for a field goal.
“It was two guys on two different pages,” Hurts said, “and that’s a bit of the issues that we’ve kind of been having.”
Smith, who caught five of eight targets for 48 yards, declined an interview request after the game because he said he had to see the team doctor. He’s been dealing with various injuries. Brown had more success, pulling in 10 of 12 attempts for 132 yards and two scores.
But the outspoken receiver didn’t seem any more pleased even though he’s been more involved in the last three games. Brown understands the run game is paramount to the Eagles offense functioning at a high level.
“They’re making it extremely tough to run the ball,” Brown said of opposing defenses. “And we have to run the ball. We have to. That’s how you get the game going, you know?”
Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown have seemed more on the same page in recent weeks, a good sign for a team that needs one.
It’s a shame because the Eagles got some push and there were some lanes for Barkley to run through against one of the league’s worst run defenses. But the offense was hardly on the field in the first half partly because the defense couldn’t contain Bears running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.
Hurts also had some moments on the ground. He picked up 23 yards off a draw that set up the first touchdown. It’s long been one of the Eagles’ more effective plays, but only recently has it been featured.
There were more run-pass option plays this week, and Hurts kept once as a runner. But including him more in the run game might be like trying to stuff toothpaste back into a tube. There are so many issues with the offense, and yet, it wasn’t just Sirianni who defended Patullo.
“That’s a crazy question,” Brown said when asked about making coaching changes.
He said receivers were getting schemed open. So why has the passing game been listless?
Hurts supported Patullo — seemingly with a caveat.
“I have confidence in him,” he said. “I have confidence in this team. I have confidence in us when we’re collaborative. I have a lot of confidence when we have an identity.”
The offense had an identity built around Hurts, which was to establish the run — with his involvement — and open the downfield passing game. And when the Eagles secured a lead in the fourth quarter, they could salt the game away behind their four-minute offense.
But they haven’t been able to run at will anymore and Hurts hasn’t been able to shoulder the offense as a dropback passer — at least on a game-to-game basis.
“I thought he made some good plays, had some good scrambles, had some good things that he did,” Sirianni said of his quarterback. “Just like all of us, he had some plays that he’ll want back, and he had some really good plays, but, again, we just weren’t consistent enough as a whole.”
Hurts can win, obviously. Some inside the NovaCare Complex seem to have forgotten that, based on frustrations with how he’s performing seeping into the public. He isn’t perfect. Far from it.
But he’s been good enough. And he’ll have to be — for now. It’s on Sirianni to figure it out.
It appears the Nets (3-15, 1-3 East Group B) bring out the best in the Sixers (10-8, 1-3), who needed a pick-me-up following Tuesday’s 144-103 home loss to the Orlando Magic.
The victory also helped them avoid a season-long three-game losing streak.
This isn’t the first time the Sixers have recorded a blowout victory over Brooklyn after a loss. They defeated the Nets 129-105 in Brooklyn on Nov. 2, after losing 109-108 at home to the Boston Celtics on Oct. 31.
The Nets ranked last in the league in scoring (109.2 points per game), rebounding (39.4), and defensive rating (122.7), 29th in defensive three-point percentage (.389), and 28th in field-goal percentage (.440), and defensive field-goal percentage (.502) entering Friday’s game.
In addition, the Nets are winless at home and faced the Sixers without leading scorers Michael Porter Jr. (24.2 points) and Cam Thomas (21.4).
The Sixers took advantage and had one of their most balanced attacks of the season.
Sixers guard Quentin Grimes (right) had 19 points against the Nets on Friday.
Tyrese Maxey flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Jared McCain had his best game of the season, posting 20 points and a career-high five steals. Quentin Grimes added 19 points and nine assists. Paul George finished with 14 points and two steals in 21 minutes, 21 seconds after missing Tuesday’s game with a sprained right ankle.
Adem Bona had 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting, which was highlighted by his first career three-pointer, after missing the previous five games with a sprained right ankle. The reserve center also had six rebounds and a game-high three blocks. And Dominick Barlow (10 points, 10 rebounds) was the other double-digit scorer.
Kyle Lowry, in his 20th season, even made his second appearance of the season. Both ironically came against the Nets. This time, the reserve point guard entered the game at the start of the second quarter and played 11:10.
The Nets have the league’s fourth-worst record. It’s hard to put a lot of stock into this victory, other than it serving as a confidence boost for individual players like McCain (right thumb surgery/left knee surgery) and Bona returning from injuries.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey defends Brooklyn’s Egor Demin during the third quarter of Friday’s game.
Another injury
Yet, all wasn’t good for the Sixers, who earlier in the day felt good about Bona and George returning from injuries.
Bona’s return was supposed help take pressure off Drummond. The 32-year-old had been the lone legitimate center in the past five games with Joel Embiid (right knee soreness) and Bona both sidelined.
However, Drummond sprained his knee while landing underneath the Nets’ basket with 6:52 left in the half. HoopsHype is reporting that Drummond hyperextended his knee on the play.
Drummond ended up sitting on the court in pain. He had to be helped off the floor and needed a wheelchair to get into the locker room.
His injury forced the Sixers to insert seldom-used rookie Johni Broome in the second quarter after Bona picked up his third foul. Drummond’s injury is a tough break for him and the Sixers.
76ers center Andre Drummond (1) leaves court after getting injured during the first half of Friday’s game.
He left the game with seven points, four rebounds, and one assist to go with one block in 10:31. Drummond is also averaging 8.2 points and 10.3 rebounds in his 14th NBA season. He is averaging the most rebounds in a season since his 24-game stint with the Nets (10.3 rebounds) in 2022 after the Sixers traded him in Feb. 2022.
Meanwhile, Embiid missed his ninth consecutive game on Friday because of knee injuries. He missed the last eight as the team manages the soreness in his right knee. He also missed the Sixers’ 111-108 home loss to the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 9 because he doesn’t play on back-to-back nights to rest his left knee.
Two other starters, Kelly Oubre Jr. (sprained left knee) and VJ Edgecombe (left calf strain), and reserve forward Trendon Watford (left adductor strain) are also sidelined.
Friday was the sixth straight game that Oubre has missed, and the third for Edgecombe. Watford suffered his injury in Tuesday’s loss to the Magic.
Brooklyn Nets’ Drake Powell (center) is defended by Sixers center Adem Bona, left, and Jared McCain during Friday night’s game.
Elite shot blocking
The Sixers blocked seven shots after coming into Friday’s game with the league-leading 6.4 blocks per game. They are third in total blocks (116) behind Detroit Pistons (117) and the Dallas Mavericks (120). And it didn’t take long for them to showcase their rim protection against the Nets.
Drummond blocked Egor Dёmin’s seven-foot jumper 52 seconds into the game. He also altered several shots before being subbed out by Bona with 2:37 left in the quarter.
Not to be outdone, Bona blocked two shots in the second quarter. He recorded his third block early in the third quarter. Jabari Walker, Barlow, and Maxey had the other blocks.
“I think obviously we wanted to keep building on the performances we had last camp, and the emphasis on coming out strong and sticking to our principles, and I think that’s what we did,” said U.S. veteran Rose Lavelle, who earned her 116th cap. “Overall, I think a really good team performance.”
The United States wasted no time in attacking Italy’s goalie Laura Giuliani, scoring inside the first two minutes.
Fresh off their NWSL title with Gotham, Lilly Reale found teammate Lavelle to start the sequence. Lavelle then went wide to Alyssa Thompson, who quickly returned the ball. Lavelle found Moultrie, who went far side for her second goal in as many appearances with the team.
“We talked about starting fast and starting strong, and I think the momentum carried out,” Moultrie said. “We had a really good week of training, so I feel like it flowed into the first minutes of the game.”
An offside call on Lavelle at the 48-minute mark denied Moultrie her second goal.
In the 64th minute, Sam Coffey dribbled down the middle and found Macario breaking on her left. Macario took the pass and fired a shot far side to give the United States a two-goal lead.
Macario added her second in the 76th minute when she snared a pass from the team’s youngest player, 18-year-old Lily Yohannes, and fired a shot from the top of the right side of the box to the far side of the goal.
It was Macario’s 15th goal in 28 international appearances. Macario has now been involved in 18 goals in her last 14 U.S. appearances.
“It was a great win, it’s always a pleasure being with this team,” said Macario, who has 12 goals and six assists since February of 2022. “I feel so happy to be in this environment, and I feel like it really just helps you be the best version of yourself.
“Lucky enough that (U.S. coach) Emma (Hayes) knows me very well, and she knows what I can bring to the team. This was a good year … in which I have just been trying to find some consistency … just trying to find my rhythm.”
NEW YORK — Tyrese Maxey scored 22 points, Jared McCain had 20 off the bench and the 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 115-103 on Friday night in an NBA Cup game.
Quentin Grimes added 19 points, and Paul George had 14 to help the short-handed Sixers snap a two-game losing streak.
The Sixers (10-8) played without starting center Joel Embiid (right knee management) and VJ Edgecombe (left calf tightness), and then lost backup center Andre Drummond (sprained right knee) midway through the second quarter.
Drummond attempted to block Tyrese Martin’s floater and then tried to grab the rebound with his left hand, but fell on the court and immediately reached for his knee.
Egor Demin scored a career-high 23 points, and Martin had 16 for Brooklyn. The Nets (3-15) have lost three consecutive games and fell to 0-9 at home this season. They are the only team without a home win this season, with their last one at Barclays Center on April 8 against New Orleans.
The Sixers led by as many as 21 points in the first half and saw their lead cut to nine after Brooklyn went on an 11-2 run, capped by Denim’s 3-pointer that made it 74-65 with 4 minutes, 7 seconds left in the third quarter.
Brooklyn Nets’ Drake Powell (center) is defended by Sixers center Adem Bona, left, and Jared McCain during Friday night’s game.
Denim cut it to nine again with a three-pointer with 4:35 to play. Demin’s layup made it 112-103 with 1:13 left in regulation before Grimes found an open Adem Bona, whose three-pointer extended the lead for good.
Both teams were 1-3 in NBA Cup play.
The Sixers will host the Atlanta Hawks at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday (6 p.m., NBCSP).
The interior linemen of the Chicago Bears were quick on their feet, Jordan Davis said. They are “savvy players” who attacked the Eagles, who are supposed to have a bruising defensive front, early and often Friday afternoon.
The Bears brought one of the better rushing attacks in the NFL to Lincoln Financial Field. One cut after another, D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai used the space created by Chicago’s front and made the Eagles pay. Swift, a Philly native and former Eagle, had nearly seven yards per carry on his way to 125 yards. Monangai, a rookie seventh-round pick, carried 22 times for 130 yards in the 24-15 win.
The Bears controlled the game and the clock with their two backs. As a team, they racked up 281 yards on 47 rushes, good for 6.1 yards per carry. It was the most rushing yards the Eagles have given up since 2015, and it was the first time since 1960 that two opposing rushers topped 100 yards during an Eagles home game.
“We knew we had to stop the run and then have fun and we just weren’t able to stop the run today,” linebacker Nakobe Dean said.
There was little fun for the Eagles’ defense, which was forced to defend 85 plays partially because of its inability to stop the run and because the Eagles’ offense struggled once again to sustain drives. The margin for error that offense has provided the defense in recent weeks is slim. And when it cracks the way it did Friday, the Eagles never really had a chance.
Jalen Carter likened the Bears’ rushing plan to what the Eagles faced in Week 2 last season vs. Atlanta, when they allowed 152 yards on 28 carries. Bears center Drew Dalman was on the Falcons last season. The Bears showed a lot of “sideways action,” Davis said.
The Eagles took too long to adjust, if they ever did at all. To Dean, they didn’t do a good enough job striking blocks, making reads, or playing off each other. Not being able to stop the run took some of the Eagles’ energy away, Dean said.
“By the time you know it, end of the first quarter, they already had damn near 100 yards rushing,” Davis said.
“We can’t take that long to figure out a remedy for that.”
Philly native and former Eagle D’Andre Swift had 125 rushing yards in his return to Philly.
It mostly was an uncharacteristic performance from the Eagles’ defense. Sure, Dallas roared back in its win Sunday, but that mostly was the Cowboys attacking a banged-up secondary. The Eagles have had occasional problems against the run this season, but not particularly lately. The Bears, however, rarely needed to throw. They won the battle at every level almost every time. They drove the Eagles off the line of scrimmage, got to the second level, and made the Eagles pay for taking poor angles.
Carter took ownership for some of the struggles.
“I blame myself on that,” he said. “There was some runs out there I got drove back or I wasn’t making an effect on the play. We kind of made an adjustment if you started seeing who was playing the first and second downs and then third down.”
What he meant by that was he found himself on the sidelines. The Eagles’ top interior lineman had to come off the field at times on obvious running downs.
“It’s my problems to deal with,” he said. “I ain’t fitting to tell y’all what I’m going through.”
What the defense is going through as a whole is a look-in-the-mirror moment.
Against Dallas, the Eagles allowed 473 total yards, the most in the Fangio era. On Friday, they surrendered 425 total yards and got destroyed trying to stop the run. They had just two tackles for loss.
“Things are going to happen,” cornerback Adoree’ Jackson said. “I always say the sky is not falling. Obviously you want to go out there and be perfect, make every tackle, shed every block, make every PBU, get the picks. Sometimes the game goes this way.”
Davis said he knows the negativity is going to come “from all angles at this point.”
“The reason why this s— stings, it hurts so much for us, is because we know that’s not our standard,” Davis said. “We have to be better. I was saying on the field that comes from all 11 of us. We have to do something different. If you want different results, you have to do something different. Whether that’s a little extra time in the meeting room, extra time in practice, playing blocks better, seeing blocks, we have to do better as individuals to become a better collective.
“We can’t do s— about what we put on the field now. We have to get back in the lab. We have a little bit longer week going into the Chargers game, and we just have to make sure that we get those problems fixed because it’s a copycat league. Everybody sees it; everybody knows that this could be a potential way to attack it. We just can’t let that happen.”
“This game is just going to be a launch pad for us to either get better or we can just stay the same and nothing changes,” Davis said. “I expect the guys on the defense to understand and answer that call.”
Nick Sirianni’s decision to go for two points following the Eagles’ late touchdown came under the microscope in the aftermath of their 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Trailing 24-9, A.J. Brown caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts on a slant, cutting the Eagles’ deficit to nine points with three minutes, 10 seconds remaining in regulation. The Eagles could have kicked an extra point to make it a one-score game and waited to go for two on their next possession if Vic Fangio’s defense made a stop.
At the time, the Eagles had all three timeouts, plus they scored the touchdown before the two-minute warning.
However, Sirianni opted to go for two immediately. The decision didn’t work out in the Eagles’ favor. Facing pressure, Hurts scrambled from the pocket and fired an incomplete pass for Saquon Barkley in the back of the end zone. Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze recovered the ensuing onside kick, marking the beginning of a nearly two-minute drive for the Bears’ offense.
The Eagles used all three of their timeouts to stop the clock on the Bears’ drive. By the time the Eagles got the ball back at their own 30-yard line, they had just 1:12 remaining in regulation. Hurts had to spike the ball twice on the drive to stop the clock, with the Eagles making it as far as the Bears’ 34 before settling for Jake Elliott’s missed 52-yard field goal attempt.
After the game, Sirianni defended his decision to go for two in that scenario.
“Obviously, we had to get one at one point,” Sirianni said. “We had to get a two-point conversion at one point. I’ve done a lot of studies on that in my notes down nine. I’m always going to go for a two in that scenario, so I followed the plan that … again, I don’t try to wing anything in situational football.
“Now, the thought behind it is you want to know exactly what you need right there. If you go down seven, then obviously it’s a one-score game. If you go down eight, I know it’s a one-score game as well. That’s what we do in that scenario.”
Sirianni added: “I’ll always go back and look and reconsider things. Had three timeouts there to be able to potentially kick it deep there if we did get it. Obviously, we didn’t in that particular case, but at some point, you’re going to need it and I always want to know early what I need going forward.”
Fox Sports color commentator and former Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen defended Sirianni’s decision in a post on X. He pointed to the analytics fueling that decision, asserting that a team that trails by 15 points will need three scores to make up that difference more than half of the time. The probability of scoring eight points on one possession is not high, he argued.
Olsen echoed what Sirianni said in his postgame remarks — the earlier a team knows how many possessions they need to erase the deficit, the better.
J.J. Watt, the CBS analyst and former All-Pro defensive end, responded to Olsen’s post and played devil’s advocate. While he agreed with the analytical rationale, he also asserted that the team’s mindset might be impacted knowing they are down one score instead of two.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is pressured by Chicago’s Austin Booker during the two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter.
Two-minute warning
Sirianni’s decision to go for two wasn’t the only eyebrow-raising situational decision he made.
The Eagles began their fourth possession of the game on their own 35-yard line with a 1-yard play-action pass to Brown on an out-breaking route. The 28-year-old receiver was marked down inbounds, though, with roughly 40 seconds remaining until the two-minute warning in the first half.
Instead of trying to get another play in before the clock hit two minutes, Sirianni decided to let the play clock wind down. Again, he defended his decision and took umbrage with the assertion that he wasn’t pushing to score.
“We had three timeouts, ball at the [36-yard-line],” Sirianni said. “We had plenty of time to go and score a touchdown and be the last ones with the football, so we got the one yard on the completion with 2:37. Then took it to the two-minute warning and we were going on the ball after that.”
