Yahoo Sports AM: Morant magic
In today's edition: Ja Morant's electric return, Alexander Ovechkin's career-worst slump, NFL power rankings, Barcelona selling its soul, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏈 Rodgers update: Aaron Rodgers has all but ruled himself out for the year, saying it would take 3-4 weeks for him to be 100% medically cleared to play.
⚽️ Highest-paid player: Houston Dash forward María Sánchez has signed a four-year, $1.5 million deal, making her the NWSL’s highest-paid player.
🏀 Curry sinks Celtics: After a rare game without a 3-pointer, Steph Curry hit six of them (including a stepback dagger) to lead the Warriors past the Celtics in overtime.
🏈 First bowl win: UTSA rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat Marshall, 35-17, in the Frisco Bowl and record the program’s first-ever bowl victory.
⚽️ MLS SuperDraft: Tyrese Spicer (Lipscomb), Wayne Frederick (Duke), Logan Farrington (Oregon State), Kimani Stewart-Baynes (Maryland) and Nate Jones (Washington) were taken with the first five picks in Tuesday’s MLS SuperDraft. See all 87 picks.
🏀 Morant shines in debut, hits game-winner
Ja Morant wasted no time announcing his return. In his first NBA game in nearly eight months, the Grizzlies star rallied Memphis from a 19-point halftime deficit then hit the game-winning shot to beat the Pelicans, 115-113, in New Orleans.
By the numbers: Morant finished with 34 points, eight assists and six rebounds in his return from a 25-game suspension for multiple gun-related incidents. "Basketball is my life, what I love, therapeutic for me," he said postgame. "I'm just excited to be back."
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine: "The Grizzlies entered tonight dead last in offensive efficiency … They just scored 120 points-per-100 [possessions] against a near-top-10 Pelicans defense. It's not always as simple as one guy, but sometimes it's not not that simple."
Further reading: For Morant, true redemption won’t come on the court
🏒 Chasing Gretzky (or not...)
Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record (894 career NHL goals) was long considered untouchable until Alexander Ovechkin started threatening his mark. Now, with Ovechkin stuck in a career-worst slump, his chances of catching "The Great One" could be fading.
Where it stands: The 38-year-old Ovechkin has just five goals this season — and two were scored on empty nets. He's gone a career-worst 13 straight games without a goal entering tonight's tilt against the Islanders (7:30pm ET, TNT) and sits 67 goals shy of Gretzky's mark.
Side-by-side:
Gretzky: 894 goals on 5,088 shots (17.6%); 204 power play goals
Ovechkin: 827 goals on 6,459 shots (12.8%); 300 power play goals
Looking ahead: The chase is very much still on, but Ovechkin passing Gretzky no longer feels like a certainty. Two primary concerns: injury and opportunity, notes Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post ($).
Ovechkin has remained remarkably healthy over his career, but playing power forward in the NHL takes a toll on a player's body, especially at age 38. Plus, if this slump continues, coach Spencer Carbery might have no choice but to tinker with the power play, something he has admitted to thinking about, perhaps moving Ovechkin from his familiar spot at the left faceoff circle. If either of those things happen, Ovechkin's chase of Gretzky's coveted scoring mark could become a lot more complicated.
🏈 NFL power rankings: Bills on the rise
If the playoffs started today, Buffalo wouldn’t be in the field. That hasn’t stopped the red-hot Bills from rising to No. 3 in this week’s NFL power rankings and improving their Super Bowl odds to +1200 (seventh-best at BetMGM).
Top 10: The Bills jumped two spots after annihilating the Cowboys, who fell two spots. The Ravens and Dolphins both moved up a spot after beating the Jaguars and Jets, while the Eagles dropped two spots after losing to the Seahawks.
49ers: 11-3
Ravens: 11-3 (up 1)
Bills: 8-6 (up 2)
Cowboys: 10-4 (down 2)
Dolphins: 10-4 (up 1)
Eagles: 10-4 (down 2)
Chiefs: 9-5
Lions: 10-4
Browns: 9-5
Bengals: 8-6
Elsewhere: The Raiders (up five to No. 23), Buccaneers (up three to No. 17) and Colts (up three to No. 13) were this week’s biggest risers. The Broncos (down six to No. 18), Packers (down four to No. 19) and Steelers (down three to No. 22) were the biggest fallers.
⚽️ Barcelona keeps selling pieces of its soul to stay afloat
In 2021, FC Barcelona was "technically bankrupt" — a result of reckless spending and mismanagement that led to Lionel Messi's exit. Two years later, the once-revered institution is still trying to recover.
From Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell:
On Wednesday night in Catalonia, sometime around 11pm, two hours after the 24th game of a spiraling season, beleaguered FC Barcelona players will board an airplane bound for Dallas.
At any sane club, they'd be decompressing, settling in for a week of Christmas vacation. But here, at a club that continues selling off pieces of its soul to stay afloat, they will fly 13 hours across the Atlantic, land around 5:15am Central Time, and play another soccer game that night.
When the game, a friendly against Club América, the recently crowned champion of Liga MX, kicks off at 8pm CT Thursday, their bodies will be weary. Their internal clocks, still on European time, will read 3am. They likely won't be thrilled that they've been dragged 5,000 miles from home for an exhibition, 32 hours after a meaningful La Liga match, when they could be resting and recovering.
But they will go, because their employer has said they will go, for a single reason: The friendly will reportedly net Barcelona some $5 million.
It will not help them climb out of fourth place in La Liga. It will not help Robert Lewandowski recharge his aging, misfiring legs. It will not keep Ilkay Gündogan or Frenkie de Jong fresh for a Champions League run this winter. It will not help current stars whatsoever.
But it will, temporarily, help the club navigate a financial mess of its own making.
📆 Dec. 20, 1921: Back to best-of-seven
102 years ago today, MLB commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis* cast the deciding vote to return to a best-of-seven World Series from the best-of-nine format the league had used in 1903 and from 1919-21.
Best-of-nine World Series:
1903: Boston Americans 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 3
1919: Cincinnati Reds 5, Chicago White Sox 3
1920: Cleveland Indians 5, Brooklyn Robins 2
1921: New York Giants 5, New York Yankees 3
🏀 1966: The NBA awarded a franchise to Seattle, expanding the league to 11 teams. The SuperSonics debuted the following year before relocating to Oklahoma City in 2008.
🏀 2005: Kobe Bryant scored a then-career-high 62 points against the Mavericks despite sitting the entire fourth quarter. One month later, he scored 81 points against the Raptors.
*What’s with that name? MLB's first commissioner received his unique name from Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia, where his father had been seriously wounded during the Civil War.
📺 Watchlist: College hoops triple-header
Men's college basketball takes center stage tonight, with a triple-header on ESPN featuring some of the sport's biggest programs playing in NBA arenas.
7pm ET: No. 21 Duke vs. No. 10 Baylor (at Madison Square Garden)
9pm: No. 11 UNC vs. No. 7 Oklahoma* (at Charlotte's Spectrum Center)
11pm: No. 4 Arizona vs. Alabama (at Phoenix's Footprint Center)
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Timberwolves at 76ers (7pm, NBA); Celtics at Kings (10pm, NBA)
🏒 NHL: Islanders at Capitals (7:30pm, TNT); Kraken at Kings (10pm, TNT)
*Still perfect: The Sooners are one of just four undefeated teams in men's college basketball, joining James Madison, Ole Miss and Houston.
⚾️ MLB trivia
Andrew McCutchen will return for his 16th MLB season after signing a one-year, $5 million deal with the Pirates.
Question: McCutchen is one home run away from becoming the third active player with 2,000 hits and 300 home runs. Which two players would he join?
Hint: One is a free agent. The other plays in the NL.
Answer at the bottom.
🏈 The year of the Mont
And now, for a useless yet very fun fact: We are one Montana victory away from an all-”Mont” North American College Football National Championship.
Canada: The University of Montreal won this year’s Vanier Cup with a 16-9 win over the University of British Columbia.
Mexico: The Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education won this year’s ONEFA championship on a wild final play.
Coming up: No. 2 Montana will play No. 1 South Dakota State in the FCS National Championship Game on January 7.
Trivia answer: Joey Votto and Freddie Freeman
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