Dallas, TX
Three Takeaways From OKC’s No. 1 Seed-Clinching Win Over Dallas
It was a history-making Sunday for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In its final game of a successful yet slightly surprising 57-win campaign, it became the youngest team to achieve both that win count and a No. 1 seed in a season. With an average age of 23.9 years old — increased heavily by the addition of Gordon Hayward — Oklahoma City is accomplishing things unprecedented for the stage its at.
The Dallas Mavericks had little opportunity to prevent that from happening. Most of their roster rested last night, including its star guard duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. This led to a 49-point loss, but one that ultimately mattered less for Dallas.
It was a combined effort for the Thunder, with all of its starting lineup receiving less than 20 minutes of playing time. The leader was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 15 points, followed by Aaron Wiggins’ 14 points.
Here are three takeaways from the 135-86 win:
1. Bring the Thunder
If yesterday’s win proved anything, it was that Oklahoma City is ready to embark on a playoff run.
The Thunder went on a five-game win streak to finish out the regular season, allowing the returning Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to get comfortable after dealing with minor injuries. The roster is fully ready to head into its first shot at the Larry O’Brien since the “bubble season” of 2020, with the highest expectations its had since the days of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
The pieces to the puzzle have fully come together, too. Gilgeous-Alexander has clearly been at the top of the MVP contention ladder, Chet Holmgren has been the second-best performing rookie of the year and Jalen Williams has made the expected sophomore jump, but it’s clicking even beyond that.
Josh Giddey played possibly his worst stretch of basketball of his entire career on multiple occasions throughout the season, but finally got back to his confident play in the final few weeks. Bench pieces such as Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins have been crucial pieces to Oklahoma City’s success, while the newest addition of Gordon Hayward has finally started to get comfortable.
No matter the age, inexperience or matchup, the Thunder is going to be the team that the Western Conference runs through. It’s hard to place exact expectations on a team with these circumstances, but as its proved all season long, you can’t count it out.
2. OKC has Depth
Although the playoffs tend to be the time for coaches to shorten the rotation, Oklahoma City certainly has the depth to last in the playoffs.
Due to the circumstances of a depleted Dallas lineup, the Thunder starters hardly had to play to secure one of the biggest blowout victories of the year. That allowed the bench unit to step in and do most of the damage, scoring 85 of the 135 total points.
Wiggins’ 14 points led the way for the bench, followed up by Ousmane Dieng’s 13, Wallace and Lindy Waters III’s 12. Wiggins and Wallace will certainly be the top pieces that come off the bench, but Dieng and Waters showed the potential to make an impact, even if the possibility is far more unlikely.
Teams never want to think about the possibility of their top players getting injured in the playoffs, but it can happen at anytime. If Gilgeous-Alexander fell it would be a much different story, but if players lower on the ladder came down with an injury, Oklahoma City would have plenty of options to retain the same production.
3. Potential First Round Matchups
Even though the Thunder has the No. 1 seed locked up, it won’t know its first round matchup until after the Play-In Tournament.
The four teams featured in the tournament in order are the New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. It includes teams that have previous playoff experience with superstar talent, so no matter the matchup, it won’t be a cakewalk for Oklahoma City.
As great as the Thunder has been throughout the entire season, it doesn’t have a player with the legendary status as a LeBron James or Stephen Curry. Those players alone can pose a serious challenge, even if their rosters are relatively weaker all-around. It certainly has the capability of beating those four teams, but it may not be as much of a shock if it fell in the first round.
Oklahoma City will set it eyes on its opponent after Friday, when the Play-In comes to a close.
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Dallas, TX
FC Dallas vs Toronto FC: Highlights, stats and quote sheet
Lineups
FC Dallas — Maarten Paes, Sam Junqua, Nkosi Tafari Burgess, Sebastien Ibeagha, Marco Farfan (Eugene Ansah – 68’), Liam Fraser, Patrickson Delgado (Asier Illarramendi – 54’), Ema Twumasi, Paul Arriola (Jesús Ferreira – 45’), Bernard Kamungo (Tsiki Ntsabeleng – 54’, (Dante Sealy – 72’), Petar Musa
Substitutes not used — Jimmy Maurer, Omar Gonzalez, Carl Sainté, Logan Farrington.
Toronto FC — Sean Johnson; Raoul Petretta (Sigurd Rosted – 17’), Nickseon Gomis, Kevin Long; Tyrese Spicer, Alonso Coello (Matty Longstaff – 64’, Deybi Flores, Federico Bernardeschi; Jonathan Osorio, Derrick Etienne Jr. (Kobe Franklin – 65’), Prince Osei Owusu (Deandre Kerr – 79’).
Substitutes not used — Aimé Mabika, Kosi Thompson, Jesús Batiz, Luka Gavran
Scoring Summary:
TOR: Federico Bernardeschi (penalty kick) – 45’+8’
TOR: Federico Bernardeschi (Jonathan Osorio) – 53’
TOR: Matthew Longstaff (Federico Bernardeschi) – 82’
DAL: Sam Junqua (Jesús Ferreira) – 87’
Misconduct Summary:
DAL: Petar Musa (caution) – 9’
DAL: Ema Twumasi (caution) – 56’
TOR: Nickseon Gomis (caution) – 72’
TOR: Sigurd Rosted (caution) – 95’
Weather: 57°F, Cloudy
Stats
FC DALLAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Nico Estévez
General thoughts on the match…
“We had opportunities and chances to make the difference early in the game but we were not clean enough, we have to learn from that, we have to be better in order to win. We cannot be dominant, create good situations, put ourselves in good spots and then after make the wrong pass, or rush the last pass. A player like (Federico) Bernardeschi made the difference today.”
On the second half adjustments…
“At halftime, what I told the guys is that we could win this game, we had to adjust a couple of things. Subbing Tsiki, Asier and Jesus, helped us a lot to get balls into the pocket. It was just the last pass, the last action that was not connected.”
On the team bouncing back…
“Every game gives you a good understanding on where the issues can be and where we have to get better. And we have to be better. We’re not good enough right now. And this is my takeaway from today. We are not good enough. We are making good steps but we are not at the level that we all would like to be.”
Forward Paul Arriola
On tonights game…
“Two teams that matched up together in similar formations. We knew where these spaces would be, but we did not execute those. Obviously (Federico) Bernardeschi had an amazing game and was the game changer for them(Toronto FC). It feels a lot worse than what the game actually was, but that’s my first initial feeling. We have to look back at the game and see what we can fix. We don’t have time to dwell on it, we have an opportunity to bounce back on Tuesday in Open Cup play.”
On the Open Cup match on Tuesday…
“Regardless win or lose, the Open Cup match on Tuesday is important for us. It’s an amazing opportunity to play in front of our fans at home, and it’s a great match up. There’s not much time to think about this game. We will study this game to correct what needs to be fixed ahead of the match on Tuesday. But we will move on and look forward to the next one.”
Dallas, TX
Dallas’ new strategy to shutter homeless encampments
It is rewarding to see that efforts to reduce homelessness continue to yield results. Based on the latest point-in-time count, homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties declined for the third consecutive year.
This trend indicates that homelessness strategies are working for some individuals who have fallen on hard times. However, the strategies aren’t working for a significant number of visibly homeless individuals on streets and encampments within the city of Dallas, including those on City Hall’s doorstep. Homelessness intervention efforts now must make shuttering encampments and safely housing these homeless individuals a pressing priority. Too many chronically homeless people have been on the streets for years and must have humane but clear intervention.
Toward that end, Housing Forward, which coordinates homelessness strategies in Dallas and Collin counties, last week announced a goal to cut street homelessness by 50% by 2026 from 2021 levels when homelessness here reached an all-time high.
The $30 million, public-private plan would emphasize closing encampments in public spaces with a targeted “Street to Home” strategy to deploy behavioral health care and rehousing assistance onsite to speed up the process. Much of that focus will be on the central business district — including the area outside City Hall — where homeless advocates estimate that 300 to 400 people regularly gather.
This is a much-needed next step to address a multilayered problem that negatively affects homeless individuals and Dallas neighborhoods. The most recent point-in-time count conducted in Dallas and Collin counties in January revealed 3,718 homeless individuals, a 12% drop from 2023. And since 2021, when the homeless count reached its peak of 4,570, overall homelessness has declined 19% and unsheltered homelessness 24%. The homeless count in the city of Dallas stood at 2,929, an 8% decline from last year and a 20% decrease since 2022.
However, visible street homelessness, often synonymous with chronic homelessness, fell just 6.5% from last year’s count, suggesting that a new strategy is needed to more effectively empty, close, clean and secure homeless encampments so that these enclaves don’t reconstitute.
The reality is that public encampments pose unacceptable public health and safety problems. Unfortunately, transition of the most visible homeless individuals from life on the streets to rehabilitation services, housing and a better life isn’t happening fast enough.
Housing Forward’s new approach wisely recognizes the need for a more urgent response to mitigate public health, safety and quality of life concerns of entrenched encampments without compromising successful strategies. Housing Forward says the region has successfully housed over 10,000 previously homeless individuals — many of them families, homeless youth and veterans — since 2021.
Dallas is moving in the right direction, thanks in part to a more coordinated homeless response system than existed a decade ago. But in the interest of recapturing quality of life, Dallas must redouble its efforts to reduce the erosive impact of chronic homelessness and visible public encampments.
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Dallas, TX
Bernardeschi scores 2 goals to help Toronto beat Dallas 3-1
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto FC, led by two goals from Federico Bernardeschi, beat FC Dallas on Saturday night by a score of 3-1.
Bernardeschi scored his first goal for Toronto (6-4-1) in the third minute of first-half stoppage time. He added a goal in the 52nd minute, assisted by Jonathan Osorio. Bernardeschi also had one assist in the game.
Bernardeschi, the 30-year-old Italian star, scored for the first time since he netted two goals in a 3-2 loss to CF Montreal on Aug. 20, a string of 19 consecutive games.
Toronto also got one goal from Matthew Longstaff.
Dallas’ (2-6-2) goal was scored by Sam Junqua.
Toronto outshot Dallas 13-7, with six shots on goal to two for Dallas.
___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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