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Three takeaways from Serbia's bronze-medal win over Germany
Serbia has won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. It overcame Germany, who are the reigning world champions, with a 93-83 victory on Saturday. Germany had been among the favorites to secure a medal in basketball. However, back-to-back losses cost them dearly.
Here are three takeaways from Serbia's win.
1. Franz Wagner's three-point shot is a concern
Wagner ended his time in the Olympics with a 20% conversion rate from the perimeter in his six outings. The rising forward, who has proved himself to be an All-Star-level talent for the Orlando Magic, has struggled with his three-point shooting for months. After another difficult showing from deep against Serbia, where he went 0-of-4, there is clearly a lot of work to be done before the new NBA season begins.
There's no doubting Wagner's overall skill and diverse talent. However, he must rediscover his perimeter jumper if he wants to keep growing his game and proving himself to be a star of the future.
2. A triple-double for Nikola Jokic
Speaking of stars, Nikola Jokic reminded everyone why he's the best player in the world with a triple-double performance. The reigning NBA MVP ended the game with 19 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds while shooting 7-of-15 from the field.
It's been interesting to see Jokic's role with the Serbian national team. He has been used as part of the system rather than having a system built around him, which directly contrasts his role under Mike Malone in the NBA. Nevertheless, Jokic has been a standout performer in the Olympics and will now begin his offseason with a bronze medal to his name.
3. Serbia had too much talent for Germany to overcome
Serbia had six players score in double digits, including two who combined for 25 points from the bench. They also played some lockdown defense courtesy of their incredibly high intensity throughout the game. At times, Germany looked outmatched and outgunned. Serbia's talent pool continues to improve, and in the third-place game, it looked to have a more talented roster than what Germany could put on the floor.
The Germans enjoyed a strong FIBA World Cup last summer. Given their fourth-placed finish at the Olympics, it will be interesting to see how they pick themselves back up in the coming years.
More must-reads:
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- Brewers' run of dominance makes MLB history with more left to achieve
- The 'Most career 40-point playoff games' quiz
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Perhaps Superman Paul Skenes has found his kryptonite
Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes may continue to be one of the top contenders for the National League Cy Young Award, but there is one place where he has appeared mortal this season. On Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers did to Skenes what they have done to plenty of MLB pitchers in 2025 ... put up big offensive numbers. For the second time this season, Skenes also pitched in Milwaukee on June 25, the Brewers forced him from the game after just 4.0 innings on Tuesday night, logging six hits and four runs during his time on the mound. Both of those performances came at Milwaukee's home stadium (American Family Field) and both are now Skenes' shortest outings of the season. While another NL Central team has put up more runs against Skenes this season (the St. Louis Cardinals nicked him for five runs in 6.0 innings on April 8), no other team has had the same kind of success over multiple starts by Skenes in 2025 as have the Brewers inside their home stadium. In all this season, Skenes has given up 10 hits and eight runs in 8.0 innings in Milwaukee. It was his third career outing on the road against the Brewers, with his lone 2024 start representing arguably the best outing of his rookie season. On July 11, 2024, Skenes struck out 11 and didn't allow a hit over 7.0 innings as the Pirates would eventually post a 1-0 victory. Tuesday's short outing was highlighted by a pair of Milwaukee home runs, including a leadoff solo shot by Sal Frelick that quickly set the tone for the Brewers. While Milwaukee's hit parade helped raise Skenes' ERA on the season to 2.13, it's hardly any reason for concern in a season where the 23-year-old right-hander is still a heavy favorite (-600) to win the NL Cy Young Award, per BetMGM. Skenes struggling in Milwaukee is likely more yet another stamp of approval on the Brewers' potential to be a threat once the postseason arrives. With an 18-4 record since the All-Star break entering Tuesday, Milwaukee has taken over the NL Central race from the Chicago Cubs. So what's the good news for Skenes? This is Pittsburgh's last trip to Milwaukee this season and the next-to-last series for the Pirates against the red-hot Brewers. Milwaukee will visit PNC Park for a three-game series on Sept. 5-7 and, if Skenes gets a chance for revenge against Milwaukee, there couldn't be a better place for him to take the mound. This season, in 11 starts covering 68.2 innings, Skenes has a 1.70 ERA in the Steel City.
Mock Trade Sends Suns' Dillon Brooks to Lakers for $66 Million Duo
The Phoenix Suns are set to enter next season with an almost completely different roster than what they had last season after making major changes to it this offseason. Of course, the Suns broke apart their star trio of Devin Booker, Keivn Durant and Bradley Beal as they traded Durant to the Houston Rockets and bought out Beal’s contract, allowing him to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. Now Booker is the only remaining star from their big three and he is set to be the centerpiece of Phoenix’s future after they signed him to a massive contract extension this summer. For the Suns, they have done a solid job of building a younger roster as they landed Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams via trades and also selected Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea in the 2025 draft. While the Suns have made some major moves this offseason, more could be on the way before the start of next season as multiple players continue to be in trade rumors. Suns predicted to send Dillon Brooks to Lakers With this in mind, SB Nations’ Jacob Rude recently released a mock trade that would see the Suns send Brooks to the Los Angeles Lakers for two players. In the trade, the Suns would send Brooks to the Lakers in exchange for Gabe Vincent and Maxi Kleber. This would be an interesting trade for both teams involved and one that does not make a ton of sense for the Suns to make. Of course, the Suns could look to trade Brooks at some point before next season’s trade deadline as they may try to add more young talent to their roster but to swap him for two veterans who struggled last season does not make a ton of sense for Phoenix. For the Lakers, adding Brooks to their roster would be a massive upgrade after losing Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency as the veteran forward would give them a solid scorer and great defender alongside Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Despite this, the Suns would likely want more in return in a potential trade for Brooks that would likely require Los Angeles to include draft capital and a young player. Because of this, it is highly unlikely that the Suns would consider this offer for Brooks, especially before he even suits up for their franchise.
Cardinals Announce Willson Contreras News After Leaving Rockies Game
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. blames Connor Zilisch for Shane van Gisbergen wreck: ‘I don’t like it’
The battle everyone predicted came to pass late in the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen on Saturday. It was the wonder kid, Connor Zilisch, against the road course warrior, Shane van Gisbergen. But the battle didn’t quite materialize. Instead, Zilisch got into van Gisbergen going into a turn with about 15 laps to go and wrecked him. The two drivers, teammates at the time racing for JR Motorsports, wouldn’t battle it out to the finish line. That left owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. less than enthused, despite Connor Zilisch going on to claim the win. “Connor coming back on the track and clipping him was avoidable,” Earnhardt said, breaking down the wreck on the Dale Jr. Download. “[SVG]’s shading left to make the entrance for Turn 7 and Connor’s options into Turn 7 (limited). He’s doing that and he had been doing this for many laps, to try to make it hard for Connor to get around. And he’s doing it again. And Connor didn’t cut him a break. “Connor could have lifted. Connor could have got back behind. There’s 15 laps in the race to go. This is like a last lap, last corner move. And there were so many laps left in the race. And we would have been gifted more laps of these two guys trying to battle.” There are two schools of thought to the whole thing. Well, at least. Earnhardt honed in on one of them: van Gisbergen is a heck of a defensive driver, and with 15 laps to go, Connor Zilisch may have been growing frustrated. So he just went for it. “I would say that that wreck was a result of them going lap, corner after corner after corner, and getting a little more and more aggressive with — I wouldn’t call what SVG was doing as blocking — he was just really trying to take away opportunity and line,” Earnhardt said. “He never threw like a Daytona, Talladega block, but he knows how to shade down the straightaway or be in a spot that makes really Connor’s options limited. He is very good. Very good.” Van Gisbergen was at a bit of a tire disadvantage at the time, having stayed out late in Stage 2 for track position. The thinking by most analysts was that Connor Zilisch could have passed van Gisbergen in the closing stretch without too much fuss. For Earnhardt, the real question is who Zilisch is as a driver. Even he’s not entirely sure yet. Was it inexperience showing in the wreck? Or was it something else entirely? “We don’t know everything about Connor,” Earnhardt said. “We don’t know how Connor keeps score, right, in his head. This may just be who Connor Zilisch is. Right? This might not be a young guy, inexperienced, making mistakes. This may be Connor saying, ‘You block, you pay.’ That also might be the case, where we might actually be realizing how he’s willing to stand his ground in moments like this, even against a teammate. “I don’t like it, right? I don’t like the 9 car getting destroyed. I want SVG to have a great experience driving our cars. I want SVG to want to do it again. Man, any car owner would love to have this guy behind the wheel of your car at the road courses.”
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