Author: teddoncic

Scrambling at the Portland Classic looks like this: Jeeno Thitikul standing just off the 18th green with a one-shot lead and the tournament still alive. She had already spent Sunday attacking Columbia Edgewater. Six birdies came in her first seven holes. A 25-foot eagle dropped at the 10th. Her driver had plenty of heat, averaging 286 yards during the final round. None of that made the last hole comfortable. Thitikul had missed the green. Behind her, Chanettee Wannasaen and Arpichaya Yubol were sitting at 21-under. One careless touch could reopen the tournament. So Thitikul did what Portland champions have to…

Par-five scoring decided the Portland Classic when Jeeno Thitikul reached the 10th tee needing an answer. She had spent Sunday tearing through Columbia Edgewater, starting with a birdie at the first before running off five straight from Nos. 3 through 7. Then the charge hit its first snag. A bogey at the ninth sent her toward the back nine with the tournament still tight and two fellow Thai players refusing to disappear. The next hole measured 512 yards, and Thitikul drove into the left rough. Water guarded the front-right portion of the green, so the safer response after a bogey…

The Timberwolves small-ball identity should look different the first time Chris Finch puts his new group on the floor. LaMelo Ball can grab a rebound and push before the defense gets set. Anthony Edwards can sprint into open space instead of constantly attacking a loaded paint, while Jonathan Kuminga beats a slower center down the floor and Jaden McDaniels trails to punish the defense from three. Minnesota spent the summer creating that possibility. The transformation started June 25, when the Wolves agreed to acquire Ball from Charlotte. The four-team deal became official July 10 and sent Naz Reid to the…

The Timberwolves’ free-throw problem survived almost everything Minnesota threw at it last season. Anthony Edwards attacked downhill. The offense generated contact. Chris Finch’s team reached the line 25.3 times per game. Then came the frustrating part: Minnesota made only 75.2 percent of those attempts, the second-worst rate in the NBA. Now the roster looks different. LaMelo Ball has arrived to share creation duties with Edwards. Jonathan Kuminga brings another explosive body barreling toward the rim. Julius Randle and Naz Reid are gone. Minnesota spent the summer changing how its offense will function without removing the one weakness that can make…

Screen navigation will define Minnesota’s 2026-27 season. The warning arrived last May, when San Antonio walked into Target Center and hung 139 points on the Timberwolves to end their season. Stephon Castle scored 32, De’Aaron Fox added 21 points and nine assists, and the Spurs hit 18 threes in a 139-109 Game 6 demolition. San Antonio did not score every basket through the same action, but Minnesota kept facing the same kind of stress: a guard turns the corner, Rudy Gobert steps toward the ball, and the next pass forces the defense to scramble. That is the issue Chris Finch…

Bucks wing depth has become the uncomfortable question hanging over Milwaukee as training camp approaches. Life after Giannis Antetokounmpo was always going to feel strange. Now the roster makes that absence impossible to ignore. Picture opening night. Tyler Herro handles the ball, Myles Turner, signed away from Indiana in July 2025, protects the rim, and Ryan Rollins gives Taylor Jenkins another creator in the backcourt. Then comes small forward, where the certainty disappears. Turner gives the Bucks an established defensive anchor through the middle, but Milwaukee no longer has Giannis erasing mistakes from every direction. The blockbuster with Miami changed…

Heat interior depth became the quiet cost of Miami’s blockbuster for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Heat landed one of the league’s most destructive interior scorers and paired him with Bam Adebayo, but they also sent seven-foot prospect Kel’el Ware to Milwaukee as part of the deal. That trade gave Erik Spoelstra star power most coaches would kill for, while also taking away the young center who had handled many of the dirty minutes behind Bam. Then Nick Richards arrived, and the conversation changed. Miami no longer enters camp wondering whether it has enough size. Giannis stands 6-foot-11. Bam brings strength, mobility…

Heat closeout discipline will tell Erik Spoelstra more about this roster than any September shooting drill. Pairing Giannis Antetokounmpo with Bam Adebayo gives Miami two defenders capable of swallowing a drive before it reaches the rim. Yet the harder test often begins 20 feet away, when the ball leaves the paint and skips toward a shooter waiting in the corner. During the 2025-26 season, Miami played at 103.4 possessions per 48 minutes, the NBA’s fastest pace. Basketball Reference also placed the Heat 13th in defensive rating at 114.5 points allowed per 100 possessions. That combination matters because more possessions meant…

Jeeno Thitikul had 137 yards left on the 17th hole and almost no room for indecision. Chanettee Wannasaen had already fired a closing 63. Arpichaya Yubol was still within reach. The breeze had begun moving through Columbia Edgewater, and Thitikul’s advantage had been reduced to the width of one good swing. She pulled a wedge. The flag sat on the middle tier of the green, so Thitikul started the ball just right of the target, caught the slope and watched it feed toward the hole. Then she buried the birdie putt. One hole later, the Portland Classic belonged to her.…

Jeeno Thitikul mastered Columbia Edgewater’s fast greens when the Portland Classic demanded her best putting under maximum pressure. Two shots behind entering Sunday, she attacked immediately, pouring in six birdies across her first seven holes. The noise around the final group changed with every make, and so did the shape of the tournament. Then came the interruption. A bogey at No. 9 gave the field a breath and briefly stalled Thitikul’s charge. She answered one hole later with something far more decisive: a 25-foot eagle putt at the par-5 10th that restored her momentum in a single roll. She would…