It's a well-known trope that English people always talk about the weather. But it dominated the discussion among Indians and New Zealanders ahead of what should be a highly-anticipated match between the only two undefeated sides remaining in the early stages of the World Cup.

After being confined to the Trent Bridge indoor nets for two days, New Zealand are keeping their selection cards close to their chest, likely to be influenced by how many overs they think might be played on Thursday. Repeated visits to the forecasting websites suggest there is anything from a 20 to 80% chance of rain at different stages. Make of that what you will.

"I said at the start of the tournament that luck is going to play a part," Ross Taylor said, speaking before New Zealand's final indoor training session. "With the weather, England is a beautiful place, but it's not famous for good weather. In saying that, there's still a long way to go in this tournament. I'm sure there's going to be rained out games that could affect us along the way. We found that in Taunton, and there have been times where forecasts have been wrong as well. Hopefully, tomorrow is one."

Taylor is no stranger to Trent Bridge after spending the 2018 season playing for Nottinghamshire. Stints at Sussex, Durham and this year at Middlesex means he is more familiar with the conditions than most.

"We had an outstanding summer last year, so there wasn't a lot of rained out games," Taylor said. "Traditionally, when you play here at county cricket, you play on either side. You don't normally play on the middle [pitch], which is the same for internationals.

"It [Trent Bridge] is a great place to play cricket. Traditionally, it can favour the batters at times, but I'm sure that bowlers will be going to have a little bit there. It [the pitch] has been under the covers for two or three days and hasn't seen the sun."

While New Zealand have a fully fit squad to choose from, at least one change has been forced on India, with Shikhar Dhawan's thumb injury keeping him out for at least two matches. That leaves India without a left-right combination at the top order. New Zealand, conversely, have a number of combinations upon which they could settle.

"I haven't been in the bowling meetings, but obviously Shikhar is a big loss to India," Taylor said. "He plays very well at the ICC tournaments and has a very good record over here. He and Rohit Sharma have a very good partnership, and I think they complement each other well because they're left and right-handed [batsmen respectively]. In terms of our line-up, I think we've had a similar balanced side for a long time, and when you do have a right-left hand combination, it does put pressure in different ways on the bowling opposition.

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"A lot of these grounds in the UK have a short boundary on one side, and if you've got two right-handers or two left-handers, you can't exploit it as much, where obviously having the right- and left-hand [combination], and the communication becomes very important to target those short boundaries.

"As we see, it's traditionally a short boundary here. If that is the case, then hopefully we can exploit it with the right-left-hander [combination], as I'm sure India and other teams that are playing here will try and do that."

A fresh pitch is being used for this match, one that is closer to the midpoint between the two square boundaries than either of the two pitches that have been used so far in the tournament, although the Fox Road boundary (68 metres) is still shorter than the Bridgford Road boundary (74 metres). If the match is shortened and the T20 tactics come into play, Taylor believes the pressure could be on Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal to contain New Zealand's power hitters.

"We've faced India a lot in recent times and had some success against them," Taylor said. "Obviously, two world-class spinners on their day... We'll have to wait and see what the wicket produces tomorrow.

"Some shorter boundaries, and sometimes that can play on the mind of the spinner, but as I said, with all the weather around and so much uncertainty, we'll just have to wait and see. And I'm sure the team that adapts the best will probably get the right result."

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov shot down the possibility of a Conor McGregor rematch at a news conference in London on Wednesday morning.

Nurmagomedov, who was promoting his upcoming fight with interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier, questioned why McGregor merited a second chance at the belt.

"The last three years he has only one victory and amateur boxing. How does he deserve a rematch?" Nurmagomedov asked. "He tapped. He begged me, 'Please don't kill me.' Now he's talking about a rematch?

"Tony Ferguson [is] on the line. People who have win streaks [are] on the line. But not the guy who don't win nothing the last three years. ... Right now I'm focused on Sept. 7."

Nurmagomedov and Poirier will fight for the unified title on that date in the main event of UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. Poirier (25-5-1) has won four in a row, most recently a unanimous decision victory against featherweight champion Max Holloway -- who had moved up in weight -- at UFC 236 in April.

Nurmagomedov, of Dagestan, has not lost in 27 professional fights. He submitted McGregor at UFC 229 last October by fourth-round neck crank. After the fight, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the Octagon and into the crowd to fight a member of McGregor's team and a brawl ensued. Both fighters were fined and suspended. Nurmagomedov is eligible to return next month.

The winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Poirier is expected to face Ferguson, who is riding a 12-fight win streak. He defeated Donald Cerrone at UFC 238 this past weekend by second-round TKO. Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been matched up together on multiple occasions, and each time the bout has fallen through.

"He deserves a title shot, in my opinion," Nurmagomedov said. "But when the UFC asked him to fight Max Holloway, he didn't take that fight. Right now, the problem is because of him. I don't know why he didn't take that fight. He took a regular fight with Cowboy [Cerrone]. I don't understand this.

"I don't want to underestimate my opponent, Dustin. He's a tough challenge for me and right now I don't want to think about other opponents."

United States women's national team forward Alex Morgan has said she is happy ignoring criticism of her team's celebrations during a record-breaking 13-0 victory over Thailand in their World Cup Group F opener on Tuesday, and that it would have been "disrespectful" not to have given their all for the full 90 minutes.

Morgan tied a tournament record with five goals in the lopsided win, while Samantha Mewis and Rose Lavelle each added a pair of goals for the United States, which broke the record for goals and margin of victory in a World Cup game.

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The criticism has been about the team's relentless attack in the second half. After taking a 3-0 lead into halftime, the U.S. scored 10 more times in the final 45 minutes, with the players celebrating goal after goal even after the result was no longer in doubt.

"I think it's disrespectful if we don't show up and give our best and play our game for 90 minutes," Morgan said in an exclusive interview with ESPN on Wednesday morning. "It's disrespectful to the Thai team. And I believe they wanted us to play them straight up.

"And for the celebrations, these are goals we have dreamt of our entire life. I mean, I'm going to celebrate Mal Pugh's goal. I'm going to celebrate Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle. This is their first World Cup and I'm so proud of them. And I couldn't have dreamt of scoring five goals in a World Cup. So it's incredible for us all and I'm happy just ignoring those comments."

What couldn't be ignored was Thailand's lack of resistance against the dominant Americans, who came into the tournament as favorites to retain their world title.

Thailand manager Nualphan Lamsam apologised to fans after the match.

"We met with one of the strongest opponent in the world, but I did not think we would lose this much," Lamsam said, adding that she, the coaching staff, and the players "would like to apologise to all our fans ... and thanks for all their support."

"We will do our best in the next two games," she said.

U.S. manager Jill Ellis defended her team's aggressive style of play in the second half.

"This is a world championship, so every team here has been fantastic to get to this point. And I think that to be respectful to opponents is to play hard against opponents. It's a tournament where goal differential is important," Ellis said.

"When you get a deluge of goals like that, it's a good feeling. It builds confidence."

Abby Wambach, a veteran of four World Cups and the leading goal scorer in U.S. women's soccer history with 184, also took no issue with the team's performance.

"For all that have issue with many goals: for some players this is there first World Cup goal, and they should be excited," Wambach tweeted. "Imagine it being you out there. This is your dream of playing and then scoring in a World Cup. Celebrate. Would you tell a men's team to not score or celebrate?"

The United States, which leads Group F on goal differential after the lopsided win, will next play Chile on Sunday in Paris.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.

In a landmark appointment for the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers have hired University of California-Berkeley women's coach Lindsay Gottlieb to be an assistant coach on John Beilein's staff, it was announced Wednesday.

Gottlieb -- a Final Four and seven-time NCAA tournament head coach for the Golden Bears -- is the first women's collegiate head coach recruited to an NBA staff.

Sources said Gottlieb, 41, will sign a four-year contract and is expected to play a prominent role in support of Beilein and associate head coach JB Bickerstaff. Commissioner Adam Silver has been determined for the league to welcome more women's coaches into its ranks, and Gottlieb's stature and coaching credentials are unprecedented among women's coaches in the NBA.

"I am very thankful, proud and excited to be joining the Cavaliers as an assistant coach," Gottlieb said in a statement issued by the Cavaliers. "After meeting with [GM] Koby Altman, Coach Beilein and Coach Bickerstaff, I knew this was an organization I wanted to be a part of and a team I wanted to dedicate myself to. While this move provided a unique and special chance to move directly from Cal Berkeley and women's college basketball to the NBA, it was really about being part of building and growing something special and adding value to a team and organization that is focused on doing things in a way that I believe strongly in.

"The vision for the Cavs' future is compelling and I look forward to helping make it a reality. At the same time, on a personal level, I am honored to hopefully impact young girls and women to be empowered to pursue their own visions and to be inspired to turn them into reality as well."

Altman had been interested in pursuing a high-level women's college coach as part of the team's new staff. He identified and brought the idea to Beilein, sources said.

"The more we researched and got to know Lindsay, the more we came to understand that she would be an impactful part of where we want to go as a team," Altman said in a statement. "Coach Gottlieb brings a depth of basketball knowledge, leadership, perspective and approach to her craft that will fit very well with our team and staff alike. We're fortunate that she was willing to leave her role as head coach at such a solid and successful program at Cal."

Once Beilein met Gottlieb and discussed the ways that she could impact an NBA coaching staff and environment, Beilein became determined to recruit her to Cleveland, sources said. Cleveland reached a deal with Gottlieb and agent Bret Just of CAA late Tuesday night, sources said.

"I am excited to have a coach with Lindsay's experience as a part of the new coaching staff with the Cavaliers," Beilein said in a statement. "Lindsay truly values and embraces player development and a culture of winning basketball habits. Her success at Cal Berkeley speaks for itself and her insight in our meetings, practices and games will hold tremendous value.

"After sitting with her, it was easy to see how she will connect quickly with our staff and our players, and we all benefit because of that connection. I'm looking forward to merging all of her years of experience and vision for the game with our current and future coaching staff."

Gottlieb advanced to seven NCAA tournaments in her eight seasons at Cal, including a trip to the 2013 Final Four. She constructed a 179-89 (.668) record and coached several future WNBA players. Prior to Cal, Gottlieb had a 56-39 record, including an NCAA bid, in three seasons as coach of University of California-Santa Barbara. She's also coached with national teams for USA Basketball.

Gottlieb is believed to be the eighth female to share either an assistant coaching or player development role on an NBA, but joins the Cavaliers from the most prominent coaching perch of any of her predecessors -- a Power 5 college program with consistent Top 25 presence and a college salary believed to be the $700,000-plus range.

She is expected to have a level of staff prominence comparable to only two female coaching peers in the NBA: San Antonio's Becky Hammon and former Sacramento Kings assistant Nancy Lieberman.

Gottlieb has long had an intrigue with the NBA. She has been a regular visitor to Golden State Warriors practices as a guest of Bob Myers and Steve Kerr, and previously spent time at a LA Clippers training camp.

"I also want to thank Cal for what has been an amazing job, and really my home and family, for the better part of 15 years," Gottlieb said. "It is very difficult to say goodbye. The university leadership, the athletic department, my fellow coaches, staff and, most of all, our players have been wonderful and inspiring to work with. The program is in great shape and I have no doubt it will continue to have a high level of success."

The Toronto Raptors got so close to the championship on Monday, only for the Golden State Warriors to stave off elimination in a whirlwind final three minutes. A loss like that would rock most teams. Game 6 of the NBA Finals -- the Warriors' last game at Oakland's Oracle Arena -- on Thursday will test Toronto's resolve.

Toronto kept an even temperament through an unusual regular season and sometimes dramatic playoffs. That should serve it well now.

As the Raptors -- up 3-2 in the series -- prepare to chase the title in a hostile environment, the specter of a possible Game 7 looming, they can look back at the steadiness with which they handled what most within the team consider the closest thing to a pivotal moment in this postseason run.

In the locker room before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Philadelphia, with the Raptors trailing the 76ers two games to one, Nick Nurse, Toronto's coach, readied his players for a film session meant to both point out their failings in a very personal way and inspire them.

He cued up clips of each rotation player -- Nurse can't remember the exact number; he thinks it was his top eight -- failing to match the physicality of a huge 76ers team that had bullied them in a 116-95 Game 3 romp.

"They were what I called out-of-character plays," Nurse told ESPN.com. "And I put them back-to-back with in-character plays. It was something where maybe Kyle [Lowry] was on his guy, and that guy broke out and Kyle didn't even move and let him score. And the next clip was Kyle flying over and taking a charge. Or Pascal [Siakam] getting shoved out of the way by Ben Simmons, and Simmons laying it in. And then Pascal blocking him out, taking the ball and going the other way."

Nurse didn't yell or raise his voice, players and coaches recall. He played that card in a film session after the Orlando Magic upset the Raptors in Game 1 of their first-round series. Nurse plays those cards sparingly.

"He showed us clips that were us not being ourselves," Danny Green said. "'You guys weren't into people. You weren't making them feel you.' And then he showed us clips of games we won. 'This is how physical you gotta be. This is how you guard people.' And remember: Nick isn't really a defensive coach."

The Raptors didn't panic after that Game 3. They aren't wired that way. But it got their attention. It unnerved them a bit. It still stands as the best game the current Sixers core has ever played together -- and one of the three or four finest performances by any team in this postseason. Ask anyone around these Raptors to identify when they felt vulnerable during this title run and they will almost unanimously name those two days between Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia -- and not when they trailed the Milwaukee Bucks 2-0 in the conference finals.

"It was a little later in the series [than against the Bucks], so it felt a little different," Nurse said. The Raptors were also on the road. "We strolled past them in Game 1, and [the media] was like, 'Here comes the sweep.' And then they snuck out Game 2 and kicked our ass in Game 3. We didn't bring it. It was regroup or pack-the-bags time."

Green offered his take.

"I'm not saying Milwaukee isn't talented, but Philly has so many talented guys across the board," Green said. "They are much bigger. We weren't sure we were going to be able to find our rhythm against them. With Milwaukee, we knew the [fast] pace they played was in our favor. They weren't as big. We knew we could defend them."

(One of the big takeaways of the second round is that for all their fit issues -- Simmons' lack of shooting, all the stars jostling for touches -- the Sixers as currently constituted are really good. They are a problem.)

The Raptors still had all their home games in hand when they trailed Milwaukee 2-0. They already had surrendered home court to the Sixers as they prepared for Game 4 in Philadelphia.

The regrouping started at practice the day after Game 3. On a whiteboard inside the arena locker room, Nurse wrote a half-dozen tactical changes the Raptors needed to make on both offense and defense. They changed their pick-and-roll coverage against the Jimmy Butler/Joel Embiid two-man game and adjusted to take away Embiid's hard rolls to the basket, Nurse said. He also wrote out a third column on the board: effort.

"It was, 'Guys, I hate to say this, but we just gotta play harder, better, more physical,'" Nurse recalled.

Nurse also rejiggered his rotation, including matching Marc Gasol's minutes with those of Embiid -- so that Embiid did not have chances to overpower Serge Ibaka.

The next night, the team had to change hotels and stay in Delaware because of a conference that had overtaken downtown Philadelphia. The team had known about the change weeks in advance, but any disruption of routine in the playoffs can add unwanted discomfort. A month later, it was a detail the team chuckled about.

The film session came in the hours before Game 4. "It was necessary," Gasol said. "You have to show guys, and not just tell them."

Nurse had never been an NBA head coach before this season, but he has two decades of experience in the lead seat in minor leagues across the world. He managed the season with an unusual calm for a first-year NBA head coach. He did not over-practice. He did not overwhelm the team with film. On some days, even after bad games, he did not show them any film at all.

He understood the wear and tear of the 82-game grind. He knew he would need to inundate the players with X's and O's details when it really mattered.

"There were a lot of games where I knew we didn't play well and we won, and I just kind of filed the win away and got the hell on with it and didn't really address it," Nurse said. "Now in this long playoff run, we were able to address some problem areas."

All the mental and tactical preparation didn't exactly flip the Philly series on its ear. Toronto eked out Game 4 101-96, behind 39 points from Kawhi Leonard on 13-of-20 shooting -- including 5-of-7 from deep. It felt as if the Raptors needed every ounce Leonard could give -- every point, every shot -- as they wheezed toward the finish line of a game they had to have.

(It also helped Toronto that Embiid was wheezing a bit; he scored 11 points on just seven shot attempts while dealing with what the team termed a respiratory infection. If he is healthy, who knows how the rest of the postseason unfolds.)

With 1:01 left and Toronto clinging to a 91-90 lead, Leonard dribbled right around a Gasol screen and hit an off-the-dribble 3 over Embiid's outstretched arm to put Toronto up by four. It was not a game winner or a buzzer-beater. It did not bounce on the rim four times for dramatic effect. But it was nearly as big a shot as Leonard's legendary Game 7 corner heave that broke a tie, avoided overtime and ended the series.

"We were pressing late and needed a bucket," Nurse said. "We had nothing going. It was not open. It was just a monster shot."

One team official said he even considers it a bigger shot than Leonard's Game 7 clincher.

Toronto for the most part had an even-keeled, businesslike regular season. The Raptors took the long view of the regular season and followed the lead of their coach and stone-faced superstar. But if there was a moment when it all felt rickety to them -- when the season seemed on the brink -- it was those two days between Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia.

Toronto survived. Thursday night brings a new test.

Everyone who attended Game 5 of these strange NBA Finals, a series that has swung wildly from dull (Game 3) to incredibly intense (Game 5), is still shell-shocked to some degree.

The game, and probably the series, will be remembered for Kevin Durant's ruptured Achilles -- the decision to play him, the public tears from Bob Myers, the Golden State Warriors' president of basketball operations, and the private ones from other Golden State staffers.

In the immediate aftermath of the injury and a classic Golden State comeback, it was difficult to discuss the implications of a potential Achilles tear on the broader league landscape. It could change so many things for so many teams and players: the Knicks, Clippers, Warriors, Nets, Celtics, maybe Kyrie Irving, maybe Anthony Davis, but obviously for Durant more than all of them combined.

Durant will come back from this, but he might never be the same player. The history of Achilles injuries, as detailed by ESPN's Kevin Pelton, suggests Durant returning as something less than his old self is the most likely outcome.

Durant is not just a superstar. He is maybe the best player in the league, though Kawhi Leonard has asserted his claim -- and looked ready to cement it with a one-man, 10-point scoring run that catapulted the Toronto Raptors into a late six-point lead in Monday's game.

Durant has been there. He is a two-time Finals MVP. He is already, at age 30, 31st all time in scoring with 22,940 career regular-season points. Tall shooters age well. With good health, Durant could have ended up second or third on the scoring list. With pristine health and longevity, he could have challenged Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time record. He is a few rebounds and assists away from becoming the 18th player with at least 22,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 3,500 assists.

Again: He is 30. He is on pace to be one of the 10 greatest players ever, and that is probably underselling how his statistical résumé and postseason accomplishments would have looked in a decade had Monday night not happened.

Durant is more than a superstar. He is a historic giant.

As everyone tried to digest the shock of Durant crumbling, a classic Finals game unfolded. We will forget much of the basketball, and that is human and understandable, but here are eight moments I will try to freeze in my brain:

Klay's first crunchtime 3

This was Golden State's first possession after the now-infamous Nick Nurse timeout. Nurse's decision seemed strange in real time, with Toronto up 103-97 and all the momentum in its favor. But in the light of day, it feels as if we are perhaps attaching too much importance to a decision that is easy to see. If Nurse thought the Raptors were gassed, they probably were. The Warriors made only one substitution -- Quinn Cook for Andre Iguodala -- and it weakened their defense for a possession that could have put the game almost out of reach.

And then Steve Kerr unleashed this beauty. It is a variation of a typical action: big guy sets a screen for ball handler, and as his defender pauses to address that problem, darts away to set a pindown for another shooter. On most such plays, the screener -- Draymond Green -- cuts toward the hoop to screen for a shooter flying up from the baseline.

Kerr designed this set so that Green slices across the 3-point arc. The Warriors anticipated Toronto would have Green's man trap Stephen Curry, meaning no defender would be near Thompson as he curled around Green's second pick.

Toronto had been sending two bodies at Curry for most of the game, but they were in ideal position here to switch instead. They were playing small, with Pascal Siakam on the bench, Leonard at power forward, and Kyle Lowry defending Green. Lowry and Fred VanVleet are tailor-made to switch. But Toronto was in "trap" mode, and this deep cut caught the Raptors off guard.

Leonard does well meeting Thompson on the other side of Green's pick. Thompson and Green one-up him with a nice bit of improvisation: Green flips around for a second screen, and Thompson dribbles into pay dirt.

A stickler might argue Norman Powell should scramble up from the left corner, but he's on Cook -- a good shooter playing over Iguodala precisely because he merits this sort of respect.

This was in some ways a classic Splash Brothers win. The Warriors hit 20-of-42 from deep; Toronto clanked to an 8-of-32 mark. Golden State outscored Toronto by 36 points from 3-point range. That is really hard to overcome even if you win almost every other statistical category. It reminds a little of Game 4 on the 2016 Finals, when Golden State hit 11 more 3s than Cleveland in an 11-point win that seemed like a gut punch before the severity of Green's other sort of punch became known.

Golden State also got five 3s combined from Green, Iguodala, DeMarcus Cousins and Cook. They are going to need some threshold of open makes from those guys to win Games 6 and 7.

Klay gives Golden State the lead

It is the passing I'll remember most. Guys who see the game ahead of everyone else -- guys like Iguodala -- vibrate with a certain antsiness. They want the ball fast, because they already know where they are going with it, and if you wait an extra half-second to pass to them, the window they see -- but you don't -- will close. Iguodala jumps to meet the ball so he can get some extra oomph on what is otherwise almost a touch pass to Green.

"That's what Andre does," Thompson told me after the game.

Iguodala and Green fling the ball around so fast, Leonard cannot close out on Thompson without flying by him.

Perhaps Leonard should have stayed closer to Thompson, and wagered Marc Gasol could snuff Iguodala at the rim without help. But when the Warriors move the ball like this, opponents don't have time to think beyond a crisis response.

A very Klay off-the-dribble 3

How many guys dribble out of post-ups, toward half court, and pivot into contested off-the-dribble 3s? That is ridiculous. Thompson told me after the game he practices that exact shot. "It's a rhythm shot for me right there," he said.

The Raptors began doubling Thompson in the post in Game 4, probably to test his hamstring by making him dribble out of tight confines. The Raptors also like to spring traps on actions they have not trapped in prior games just to keep opponents off-balance.

One downside of putting Lowry on Thompson: Thompson is six inches taller than Lowry, and comfortable shooting over him.

Aside from some hiccups in Toronto's defense over the first 18 minutes, Game 5 was largely well played on both ends -- two great teams forcing each other to stretch themselves. Golden State had 52 points halfway through the second quarter; it had scored 54 over the next 30 minutes, and to get there required that crazy run of late-game shot-making.

When Danny Green got the Curry assignment, he did well (at least after the early going) hounding him all over the floor, and using his length to close gaps. VanVleet has managed well against Curry all series.

When Toronto switched, it mostly did so without exposing wide openings. Watch as three different Raptors guard Curry in the span of five seconds:

The Raptors often left Golden State only one profitable off-ball screening option: running the Splash Brothers off picks from Gasol's guy (or Serge Ibaka's), banking on Toronto's centers being a step slow lunging beyond the arc. For most of that possession, Gasol strikes the right balance -- no small thing -- in defending a Warriors non-shooter (Iguodala). He sags away from Iguodala to deter a potential Durant cut, and then returns to press when Iguodala gets the ball.

When Iguodala swings it to Curry, Gasol stays close -- knowing Thompson lurks nearby. But he turns to peek at Curry, and in that moment, Thompson zooms off of an Iguodala screen. Lowry slithers around it almost unscathed, but "almost" isn't quite enough given Thompson's height advantage and transcendent shooting. (Thompson is 20-of-35 from deep in this series.)

There are no great answers. If Gasol leaps to double Thompson, Iguodala rolls free to the rim, and Golden State's ping-ping-ping playmaking takes over from there. Forcing Golden State to make more passes is probably preferable to even semi-contested Thompson/Curry triples given the depleted state of the Warriors' roster, but the Warriors know how to do that.

Trapping also unlocks offensive rebounding rim-runs for Golden State's centers:

Golden State was on its "A" motion game on Monday. The two days off revived tired legs.

Curry jogs toward Thompson in the corner as if they are settling in for an off-ball screening dance -- another thing Toronto handled well in Game 5 -- only to accelerate into a U-turn around Kevon Looney. VanVleet loses a little ground veering around that pick. Still, that is good defense.

(Leonard, weirdly guarding Looney there, could switch, though that would require some high-level improv. His half-lurch toward Curry is useless, and yields Looney a head start.)

Expect Golden State to attack Gasol and Ibaka this way a lot in Game 6. It is one of the few fail-safes left in their bag. Toronto could try a few responses, including selling out even more dramatically off those screeners -- and any other non-shooter who happens to be nearby.

Another fail-safe: the Curry-Green pick-and-roll, the foundational play of the Warriors' dynasty. Golden State is scoring an ungodly 1.36 points per possession on any trip featuring such a play, per Second Spectrum data. Toronto hasn't quite gotten the rhythm of defending it; Green's defender often loiters in no-man's land, a traffic cone for Curry to scoot around. Curry's pick-and-roll volume is down slightly in this series. A small uptick might not solve everything given the paltry shooting around him, but it might help.

Kyle Lowry's moment

For about eight minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters, Lowry enjoyed one of the finest high-stakes stretches of his career in keeping Toronto close enough for Leonard to take the Raptors home.

He mostly attacked Cousins on switches, shaking him with start-and-stop dribbles, and setting up Ibaka on the pick-and-roll. Before the hectic endgame -- including that missed corner 3 for everything, and another wide-open missed triple with 2:15 left everyone has already forgotten -- that stretch looked to be Lowry's crowning moment.

He planted seeds for it early. Even amid a slow start in which he (and Gasol) appeared to pass up some decent 3s, Lowry was dialed in with his playmaking:

What a combination of ball fakes and pivot moves. Lowry notices Curry ducking under the pick, and instead of pulling up for an ultra-long triple, he beats Curry to the other side. That forces Looney to rotate farther from Gasol.

Lowry fakes one pass, steps through into a shot fake that coaxes Looney toward the rim, and finishes with a little water balloon drop-off to Big Spain.

Every bounce counts for three

Until Leonard's run, Golden State had an answer every time Toronto crept to within three or four points. (The Raptors also missed some open looks in those scenarios, including toward the end of the first half.)

One such answer:

I mean, come on. When are you allowed to turn your head against these guys, or start transitioning into offense? Never? That must be a horrible feeling for Green -- watching that rebound ricochet over three Raptors, and right back to Curry, knowing you have abandoned Thompson. (It must be a freaking awesome feeling for Thompson: Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!) If this were a movie, someone -- probably Nurse -- would be screaming "NOOOOOOOOOO!" in slow motion.

Quinn Cook's fake timeout

Hold up: Did Cook use a fake timeout in the fourth quarter of an elimination game in the NBA Finals? "I did," he told me. "I practice that in my mind. Anytime Steve tells me to take [a timeout], I think about doing it." (Cook said Kerr indeed asked for a timeout, and you can see Kerr signaling for one.) "It's an NBA thing. You kinda point at the ref. But when I went to point the ref, Norman Powell cut me off, so I made a move."

I have long advocated that every team should have the fake timeout in its playbook. Cook says Curry does it now and then, but Cook has been a little wary of stepping out of his lane. He also worried this column might put Toronto onto the scent. I don't think so. The fake timeout works.

Block man, board man

OK, Kawhi. If Toronto had clinched the title, that sequence goes on a highlight reel in Springfield. It probably should anyway.

Boogie gets some help

The Warriors do not win without 14 points and six rebounds from Cousins, who sat on the bench until Durant's injury forced Kerr to rework Golden State's rotation. In the early part of the second quarter, Cousins set good screens, finished around the rim, and dished some nice passes.

Kerr drew this bad boy up out of a timeout. Draymond Green's hockey check nudges Toronto into switching Siakam onto Cousins. Siakam fronts Cousins, but the lob is clear because every help defender who might deter it is transfixed by the threat of Curry popping off a screen on the right wing.

Toronto attacked Cousins on the other end on almost every possession. It worked, though Cousins held his own on two pick-and-rolls -- one each by Leonard and Lowry -- with about 1:45 to go on the trip that ended with Lowry heaving the ball into the backcourt.

Cousins will have to dig deep in Game 6 -- especially if Looney is limited. (Golden State found some success switching against pick-and-rolls with Looney, though it felt tenuous. Their switching has been uneven overall; the Raptors have rumbled to the rim ahead of them too often. The team's remaining core four and Looney are minus-10 in 41 minutes, and have allowed Toronto a fat scoring number in that time, per NBA.com.)

Toronto will come at Cousins. Can he produce enough on offense to even things out again? Can the Warriors notch the first home win in this series since Game 1?

It feels dangerous predicting anything in the most off-kilter Finals in recent memory.

CLEVELAND -- Mike Clevinger is rejoining the Cleveland Indians' rotation sooner than anyone -- other than him -- expected.

The right-hander, whose season seemed in jeopardy when he strained a muscle in his upper back on April 7, will start Monday when Cleveland opens a four-game series on the road against the Texas Rangers.

It has been an unexpectedly quick comeback for Clevinger. The team's medical staff didn't think he'd pick up a ball for six to eight weeks, but the hard-throwing Clevinger bounced back. He'll face major league hitters following two minor league rehab starts.

"I got lucky, I guess you could say," Clevinger said Wednesday before the Indians wrapped up a two-game series with Cincinnati. "It's hard to say after an injury you got lucky, but that was kind of the case here."

It's also finally some good fortune for the Indians, who have been without ace Corey Kluber (broken arm) and Carlos Carrasco (blood condition) as they try to stay in striking distance of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

Kluber will get his six-week evaluation Thursday, and the Indians are hoping for more good news.

Clevinger pitched five scoreless innings for Double-A Akron on Tuesday, allowing three hits and striking out five. His velocity was in the mid-90s and manager Terry Francona said the reports on the 28-year-old have been overwhelmingly favorable.

"Last night was really good," Francona said. "Will he be able to command all his pitches the way he did with six weeks in spring training with a couple starts? I don't know. You hope. But we'll keep an eye on him and try to build him up in a way that he can stay healthy and be healthy and productive, but sure is exciting to see what he's doing."

Francona said it was a challenge to hold Clevinger back as he recovered.

"I would say that is the understatement of the year," Francona cracked. "It's the reason he probably got better quick, too. The 'want-to' is so strong. I remember the first time he threw down in Miami, I thought James [Quinlan, team trainer] was going pull a hammy trying to slow him down, but you see where he is now."

Clevinger, who went 13-8 with a 3.02 ERA last season, said he pushed Cleveland's medical staff as hard as he could -- even from the moment he left his second start of the season the fifth inning.

"I was trying to come back and throw the next day," Clevinger said. "I asked them every day even though I knew the timeline. I was like, 'I feel good, can I throw today?' I asked them every day to the point they that they were just getting [mad] at me for asking.

"I just saw the timeline and I was like, if anything, I want to be back before the All-Star break. I always had that in my mind, that I wanted to be back before then."

More than four years before he was drafted in the fourth round by the Boston Red Sox, before he cemented a career path in professional baseball, before he became the highest MLB draft selection from the Naval Academy, Noah Song needed to make a decision about what he wanted to do with his life. The choices were simple, but the decision was anything but. Song had received an offer to play baseball at the Naval Academy, his only opportunity to pitch in Division I, something he had long dreamed of doing. The idea of playing pro baseball out of high school wasn't even a possibility, let alone a consideration.

But the Navy came hand in hand with service time, which requires a level of commitment beyond the typical collegiate sports scholarship. While growing up, Song never gave his dad, Bill -- a commander with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department -- the impression he would have a future in the military. So to make sense of it all, Song drew up a pros-and-cons list, with his mom, Stacy, and his dad jotting down their thoughts.

On some nights, as the decision weighed on his mind, he struggled to fall asleep.

"For an 18-year-old to make that kind of decision, it's pretty tough," Song said. "Obviously, no matter how badly you want to play baseball, you can't go there if you're not willing to do the military commitment."

His parents framed the opportunity simply: Don't think of this as mandatory service time. This is a career path, a job concretely in place once graduation day arrives.

Song already had pondered what a job serving the public might look like when he began to understand what his dad's career entailed. During his junior year of high school, as the rest of his classmates started figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives, Song looked into the deeper meaning of a working life. For years, he had understood that his dad, who has been with the sheriff's department for more than 28 years, served his community, but he didn't understand what that actually meant. So when Bill would tell his kids about work, Noah listened intently.

"I think he liked the whole part about it, the profession, the moral and ethical part, the honorable profession," Bill said.

Growing up, Noah said the Song home carried a familial culture of doing the little things -- and doing the little things well.

"It's like your daily honor," Noah said. "You don't cheat on any tests. You never do anything like that. It's just honestly something as simple as picking up your own trash off the group, just not littering. Just very, very simple things."

Bill moved to the United States from South Korea as a 5-year-old; when Noah was growing up, the family would gather for major holidays and bring a potluck of Korean food, most notably barbecue, bulgogi and mandu. Bill said his family's roots carry significant influence over the culture inside the home.

"All of our [extended] families are the same, as far as the moral and ethical," Bill said. "They all really feed off each other, all of [Noah's] cousins. The cousins are all of the same character, so it really wasn't hard for them."

For Noah, being raised by a police officer meant paying attention to every detail. Paying attention to the small details would eventually help build the bigger picture, his parents taught him.

"It's very, very, very small details all around, but it all adds up at the end of the day," Song said.

Having a distinctive last name brought with it a greater sense of responsibility.

"You want to really honor the family name more than anything," Song said. "It's like if you taint the family name, you're seen as an outcast, not because anybody hates you, but just because that's just kind of how it naturally ends up."

All of this prepared him for his visit to the Naval Academy, where Song asked endless questions about what would be expected of him, not even addressing the possibility of pro baseball. When he eventually signed his letter of intent, Song fully expected his baseball career to end after his senior season, as his future career in the Navy became the biggest reason to go to school in Annapolis, Maryland.

"Everybody on my baseball team's kind of like, 'Oh, well, are you going to be able to be drafted? Are you going to be able to go pro?'" Song said. "I was like, 'Well, if you go to Navy, that's not what's on your mind really.'"

Song entered Navy baseball similar to many other recruits: with a tall frame and room to grow, throwing in the mid-80s. Like he sees in a lot of college freshmen, Navy baseball head coach Paul Kostacopoulos saw an anxious 18-year-old in Song.

"Especially when you embark in something like the United States Naval Academy, you're going to be cautious," Kostacopoulos said. "You're going to be a little bit anxious of what is going to be in front of you."

However, Song quickly stood out, even among the players on the baseball team, impressing the coaching staff with his ability to make adjustments and adapt. The results started speaking for themselves when the righty was named the Patriot League rookie of the year and a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, landing on the radar of pro scouts.

By the time junior year arrived, as more scouts trickled into the stands for games, Navy's coaching staff and Song's family began realizing he had a chance to play baseball professionally. The velocity had steadily increased over the previous two seasons to 95 and 96 mph, and he added a slider, which would be a major strikeout pitch during his senior season. Song entered the draft after his junior season, but he told teams he would not sign unless he received a seven-figure signing bonus, which he would need to help repay the government for his collegiate education. Signing after his junior year would also require him to forgo his service -- the reason he had come to the Naval Academy in the first place.

"I told him that if he got seven figures, I'd put him in the Uber taxi myself to get him to go," Kostacopoulos said. "But it was never more than that, joking about it."

Undrafted, Song returned to Navy for his senior year and quickly earned the reputation as one of the best collegiate pitchers by leading the nation with 161 strikeouts and posting a 1.44 ERA. The accolades followed: Song was named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the best amateur player in the country, and he became the Naval Academy's first player named as a first-team All-American in baseball. As his draft stock ticked upward, as his one concrete career path slowly become two, Song began to step back and take stock of everything that had changed -- and why.

"I started to take pride in the way that I was raised," Song said. "Even though you're around the best of the best at the Naval Academy, sometimes you feel like everybody wasn't raised the same as you and you're kind of wondering, why is that? Why do I feel different than everybody else or why do I picture things a different way? I think it really comes down to how you were raised by your family and your environment."

Song, 22, told ESPN he is planning on signing his contract with the Red Sox in the next week, although the paperwork is still being reviewed by the Navy. MLB.com values the 137th overall pick of the draft at a $406,000 signing bonus. From there, Song will report to the short-season Class A Lowell Spinners before reporting to flight school in Pensacola, Florida, on Nov. 1 to start training as a naval flight officer and begin a five-year commitment to serve. Like Navy athletes of the past, such as NBA legend David Robinson, Song will become eligible in two years to petition to serve the remaining three years of his commitment in the reserves. But without his four years in Annapolis, Song said he would not even be in the position he is now.

"There was the education. That's free tuition, and that's huge because you realize there's no student debt, which is huge," Song said. "I mean, you're already starting off ahead of the game as it is already. And I think no matter what you tell everybody who's going to commit to Navy, no matter what, they don't truly feel the greatness of that until they graduate, because right now, I have no student debt, I'm way ahead of the curve, I'm getting paid as an officer, obviously, and it's just the greatest thing."

When he arrives in Pensacola, Song will begin introductory flight school and learn the emergency protocols of working on an aircraft. Deemed too tall at 6-foot-4 to operate planes and helicopters in the field, Song will learn how to be a flight mission commander, as well. But he also is aware that two years away from competitive baseball is a long time.

"I'll try and keep up with baseball and throwing shape as much as I can, but at the same time, it's not going to be at the expense of my military career," Song said. "It's not going to be so that I'm incompetent in the military, by any means, so just trying to find that balance. And that's why I love the Naval Academy, because obviously I've had a taste of the military experience and the baseball experience balancing at the same time, so as long as I can keep that same mindset, it'll just keep me mentally engaged for both."

The road to the big leagues is already long enough without a two-year gap between pitches thrown in a competitive game. Song is the ninth Navy baseball player picked in the MLB amateur draft, and he hopes to become the third graduate to reach the majors, behind Mitch Harris, a 13th-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008, and Nemo Gaines, who played for the Washington Senators in 1921.

Song hopes to become an ambassador for sports in the Navy and an ambassador for the Navy in sports, and as Kostacopoulos notes, potentially change the trajectory of what a Naval Academy baseball player can accomplish.

"He's got two pretty big responsibilities, and I truly don't know the answer to that," Kostacopoulos said of how Song will handle the challenges of being a serving officer and then a professional athlete. "It's going to take a special person to make this work. I do think he is that special person."

CONCORD, N.C. – On a night when the publicity swirled around Bubba Wallace’s Bojangles’ Summer Shootout return, fellow Pro division veteran Joey Padgett stole the spotlight.

Padgett led wire to wire in the headlining 25-lap Pro division feature on the frontstretch quarter-mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway, notching his first Summer Shootout victory since the penultimate race in 2015, a span of 31 races and nearly four years.

William Robusto (Semi-Pro), Todd Midas (Masters), Tommy Good (Young Lions), Garin Mash (Bandolero Outlaw), Lucas Vera (Bandolero Bandits) and Payton Johnson (Beginner Bandolero) also won in their respective divisions on the second night of racing for the annual summer series for Legend cars and Bandoleros.

Padgett’s victory came over a hard-charging Carson Ferguson, who could get close in the Ladyga Motorsports No. 48 but never close enough to make a move for the lead. The Fab Specialties No. 78 hung on to claim the victory by .612 seconds at the checkered flag.

“We had a great car,” said Padgett after his second-career Summer Shootout win. “That thing was hooked up. Carson (Ferguson) just about wore me out, but I held him off.

“Man, that was fun,” he added. “I saw him close in a little bit and I was thinking, ‘Man, there has to be something else left in the tank,’ and we had just enough.”

Wallace made his Pro division return in the Chris Rogers-owned No. 76 on Tuesday night, claiming third in the race in his first Shootout start since 2012. He held off challenges from Zach Miller and Ryan Mackintosh for the majority of the distance. 

William Robusto and his older sister, Isabella Robusto, kept it all in the family with a one-two finish in the Semi–Pro division. 

Robusto took the lead via a bump-and-run on D.J. Canipe with five laps remaining. He opened the bottom lane for his sister to follow suit and take second, though she couldn’t quite get back to her brother’s bumper in the final lap to challenge for the win.

The Robusto siblings were followed by third-place finisher Braden Rogers.

“It was so hard (to hang on); I just had to stay to the bottom and try to defend,” Robusto said. “I’d just like to thank my mom and dad and my grandpa and everyone who’s helped me. This is a big night for me and for our family.”

Midas’ win in the Masters division nearly wasn’t, as he jumped the restart on lap 14 of the 25-lap feature over then-leader Robby Faggart.

However, Midas gave the position back, got to the bottom of the track, and then drove underneath Faggart to take a lead he would never relinquish.

Faggart would eventually slide to third, as Mark Green got around the No. 12 to earn second place, and Midas admitted afterward that he was watching Green in his mirrors.

“It’s pretty tough,” Midas said of the dual focus he had to employ as the race wound to a close. “(Getting bumped out of the way) is always in the back of your mind. I stopped focusing on it toward the end. What it’ll be is what it was, so it feels pretty good to win.

“We were skeptical about the new motors, but they’ve prevailed two nights in a row.”

The Young Lions made it to lap 16 of 25 before a rash of yellow flags pushed the race past its scheduled time limit and forced a caution-and-checkered finish.

Good led flag-to-flag from the pole, while Sam Butler brought his No. 8 home in second and opening night winner Landon Rapp completed the podium. The win was Good’s first Shootout victory for Ladyga Motorsports and the fifth of his career across all classes.

“It’s so awesome,” Good said of winning at Charlotte. “I can’t thank everyone at Ladyga and everyone who tunes our engines. My spotters were helping me figure out where I could go and to make sure I held the lead.”

Mash’s win was his second of the day, after winning the round one makeup feature earlier in the afternoon, and he held off Connor Yonchuk for the win just as he did in the first race.

Layton Harrison was unable to defend his opening-round victory in the Bandits division after breaking down on the third lap of the race. 

After a yellow for Harrison, Vera took over the lead and didn’t relinquish it as the field went green the rest of the way. Luke Morey and Tristan McKee rounded out the podium.

Johnson took the lead from Josh Horniman on lap 10 of the Beginner Bandolero feature and pulled away for victory, beating Kenton Case to the finish line by .451 seconds in the end.

To view race results for all divisions, advance to the next page.