Rick Carlisle’s first teams in Detroit and Indiana were defense focused, but his belief in randomized action helped him build Pacers’ wide-open offense.

INDIANAPOLIS – Tyrese Haliburton calls it ‘organized chaos.’

The Rick Carlisle system of offense as currently constituted is for there to be no system, at least not one that is easily recognizable by opponents. There is a playbook with set plays — lots of them — but the intention is to use that sparingly for specific situations and for the players on the floor to flow and vibe in such a way that creates constant ball and player movement. The nightly goal for each player is to ‘play random’ so defenders don’t have a clear sense of where their man or the ball is going next, but to make all that randomness cohesive so that as frequently as possible, it gets the ball to the right player at the right time at the right spot.

It’s like jazz on a basketball court, and in Carlisle’s fourth season as head coach of the the Pacers, that offensive approach has become one of the most dominant forces in the NBA.

Last year, the Pacers scored 123.3 points per game, the sixth-highest figure in league history and the highest figure in the NBA in 40 seasons. This year the Pacers were a little less prolific, averaging 117.4 points per game to finish seventh in the NBA, but paired with an increased focus on defense it led the Pacers to a 50-win season and now it has them back in the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight season. Haliburton and the Pacers shocked the Knicks 138-135 in OT in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

The Pacers’ success, particularly on offense, is the product of a group of players that has bought in and a coach that has evolved. In the early years of his head coaching career at a time when the style of play in the NBA was dramatically different, Carlisle could be the type to steer a team with a white-knuckle grip on the wheel. But over time he’s learned the importance of putting trust in players and they’ve rewarded him for that faith.

‘I think it’s freedom that the coaching staff gives us,’ forward Aaron Nesmith said. ‘We talk about it all the time. He trusts the offense and us. We have such great offensive players on our team I think we just are able to read the game. We’re pretty friendly off the court and it translates on the court as well.’

Carlisle’s trust in players has become one of his most valuable assets as a coach and it’s helped make him adaptable over the eras he’s been in the game since he broke in as a head coach with the Detroit Pistons in 2001. He sits 11th on the all-time wins list with 993 regular season wins with only Doc Rivers ahead of him among active coaches. He’s 14th among all coaches in playoff wins with 79 in now his 16th trip to the postseason, and he’s arguably in the midst of his best chance at a title since 2011.

‘Where Rick has always been good in my opinion,’ Rivers said, ‘is he coaches the team he has.’

‘This is ridiculous’

Carlisle was hired by the Dallas Mavericks in 2008 in hopes he would make a good team great.

Under the ownership of Mark Cuban, the Mavs had gone from a forgettable lottery team in the 1990s to a consistent contender, winning at least 50 games and making the playoffs each year from 2001-08 with three 60-win teams and the 2005-06 Western Conference championship in that mix. However, previous coach Avery Johnson had been fired because the Mavs followed their NBA Finals appearance with back-to-back first-round playoff exits — including one in 2007 when the Mavs won 67 games but lost to the No. 8 seed Golden State Warriors — and Dallas wanted more. Carlisle took over a team with two future Hall-of-Famers in Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd carrying the expectation he could take them to the next level.

The Mavs began that season by losing seven of their first nine games including five straight. Carlisle realized then the most important thing he needed to do was find a way to get out of the way. He saw the game slow down as the Mavs looked to him for guidance on every possession, which made less sense because their floor leader in Kidd was already a 14-year NBA veteran at 35 with nine All-Star appearances and six All-NBA selections to his name and their other top players including Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Josh Howard and Erick Dampier were in their late 20s and early 30s and had plenty of experience, as well.

‘At a certain point, watching Jason Kidd, him looking over at the bench for calls, finally one day it just hit me that this is ridiculous,’ Carlisle said. ‘I’m gonna talk to him about just taking over all that stuff, running the team. Run plays, don’t run plays, just get guys immersed in the game. Lead, all that kinda stuff. He was unbelievably great.’

From that point, the Mavs went 48-25 to finish 50-32, then beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. Two years later, they won the franchise its first NBA championship, taking down LeBron James’ first Miami Heat team. Each of those first three teams finished in the top 10 in the NBA in offensive rating and they won even though they were never better than 10th in scoring defense or eighth in defensive rating.

‘Our season changed and so obviously from that point forward for the next couple of years we stayed the course on that,’ Carlisle said. ‘Our game became more of a free-flowing random game and that was one of the big things that led us to a title in 2011.’

Before that point, the hallmark of Carlisle’s teams was stingy defense at a time when the NBA and the Eastern Conference in particular played a slow, grind-it-out game. He won 50 games as a first-year head coach with Detroit by averaging 94.3 points per game and holding opponents to 92.2 per game, finishing sixth in the league in scoring defense and eighth in defensive efficiency. That year just four teams averaged 100 points per game and no team averaged more than 105 per game. The following season, the Pistons won 50 games again and reached the Eastern Conference finals by leading the league in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 87.7 points per game.

But Carlisle could sense the game was changing. He followed closely the work of Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns executive who had been appointed by then-commissioner David Stern to chair a select committee that advised the NBA’s Board of Governors on rules changes designed to increase freedom of movement and spacing to make the game a little more wide-open and high scoring. With the Mavericks, he knew he had a special collection of offensive talent — especially Nowitzki — and that maximizing their potential would require something different than getting the most out of the early-aughts Pistons. Even when they had personnel changes after the championship season he knew he’d have to be adaptable to new moves.

‘I was going to base my career on taking the players that were there and trying to do the very best to help them succeed,’ Carlisle said. ‘Mark Cuban was a big influence because after we won the title, we didn’t bring back the exact same team. We had good players but we had a lot of roster movement each year. We had seven or eight new players over the next three or four or even five years. That created some real fertile opportunities to keep adjusting. I just think it’s difficult to pigeon hole yourself as you’re just a certain style coach. The opportunities to teach become limited and it just kind of affects your whole approach to the game.’

Carlisle had ingrained trust in the idea of player freedom and free-flowing basketball because he’d seen it work as a player himself. He earned a championship ring on one of the most high-IQ squads the league had ever seen — the 1985-86 Celtics that included Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. So he knew that approach could work.

‘That was the big thing for me,’ Carlisle said. ‘It was a simple system. There were great players there. … Part of a playoff style is you’ve gotta be able to play a random, unpredictable game or a ‘flow game’ … You gotta acquire players that you know can do that, that can handle the trust involved with that responsibility, and the privilege really.’

The Mavericks eventually found another star who could handle that kind of responsibility in Luka Doncic, and he was starting to show the heights he could reach when Carlisle and the Mavs decided to part ways and Dallas made Kidd the head coach. Carlisle went back to Indiana to take over a team that was headed toward a full rebuild, but before the end of his first year, the Pacers acquired exactly the sort of player Carlisle wanted to run his offense.

‘He ran with it’

The Mavericks held the No. 18 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, but they knew that wasn’t going to be high enough to get the player they wanted. Carlisle and the front office believed in Haliburton more than most teams, but they also knew that the top 17 weren’t going to pass on him.

‘In the 2020 draft, we were desperately trying to move up to take him in the first round,’ Carlisle said. ‘… We knew that he could play with Luka and that he could be just another essential piece to our build in Dallas.’

Nobody made the Mavs a deal. The Sacramento Kings took Haliburton No. 12 overall and the Mavericks ended up taking Josh Green 18th, but Carlisle kept an eye on Haliburton’s development. And when the Pacers decided at the 2022 trade deadline they needed a roster overhaul, they created shockwaves in the league by sending All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis to the Kings with other pieces for Haliburton along with sharpshooter Buddy Hield.

Haliburton was initially stunned by the move because he had hopes of staying with the same franchise for his whole career. However, Carlisle had dinner with Haliburton his first night in town and gave him an idea of the responsibility he had in store for him.

‘When you make a trade like that and a kid like Tyrese goes from a situation in Sacramento where he thought he was going to be there long-term and a big part of what they were building, it can be shell-shocking that you’re going 2,000 miles away to some place in the Midwest that maybe you’ve never even been before,’ Carlisle said. ‘I wanted to make sure that he felt, No. 1, welcome, and No. 2, that I had great confidence in what he was not only able to do at that present time, but going forward. I thought him having the keys to the team was an important thing to get across in that first conversation. And he loved it. He ran with it.’

Carlisle could tell he made the right call immediately. The Pacers lost their first game with Haliburton at the helm 120-113, but he scored 23 points and had six assists. Even with a skeleton roster and little cohesion with anyone on the team outside of Hield, he had the offense whirling.

‘The first game he stepped on the floor, we played faster in that game than maybe any game I had ever coached before,’ Carlisle said. ‘That’s saying something. I’d coached a lot of games. It was clear that our blueprint had to be to built around his unique skills and vision and scoring ability and ability as an on-court connector.’

Said Rivers: ‘I think he realized early on with Haliburton, this may be one of those teams where I just have to wind him up and let him go. That’s why he’s such a sensational coach.’

‘Trial and error’

Building around Haliburton and building a randomized action-system, in Carlisle’s mind, meant finding players who play hard but play selfless.

When the Pacers got Haliburton, they already had a few pieces in place who fit that mold, though two of them sat out the end of that 2021-22 season with injuries. Center Myles Turner gave them a skilled big man who could score at all three levels and also pass, which made him dynamic as a ball-screen partner. Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell gave them a capable backup well conditioned enough to maintain pace and flow either with Haliburton on the floor or without him.

In the 2022 draft they added a top-lever perimeter scorer in Bennedict Mathurin and a combo guard in Andrew Nembhard who could play on the ball or off. They traded for Aaron Nesmith. The following year they added an elite floor runner and finisher in Obi Toppin. And then when they finally made a big trade for another All-Star caliber player, they found one with a remarkably low ego for his stature in Pascal Siakam.

And over the past three years, the Pacers have done what they could to keep that core together. With every game and every practice, they get a better sense of when to pass, when to drive and when to shoot.

‘It’s trial and error,’ Haliburton said. ‘Working on that through practice, working on that through games. … We have great offensive minds on our staff who continue to implement new things. We have a running joke that coach Carlisle has to add a new play every day.’

The Pacers have one of the most balanced teams in the NBA with seven players who averaged more than 10 points per game in the regular season but none who averaged more than 20.2 per game. They finished third in the league in field goal percentage, third in assists, fifth in fast-break points, seventh in pace and nine in offensive rating. They threw the second-most passes in the NBA with 330.5 per game after leading the league with 308.3 per game last season.

And, of course, the approach has produced wins. The Pacers went from a 25-win team in Carlisle’s first season to a 35-win team the following year to a 47-win team to a 50-win team. And now they’re just one step from the franchise’s second NBA Finals appearance and two steps from their first NBA title.

‘You just have a bunch of guys who want to play for each other,’ Siakam said. ‘You can’t have egos. You have to focus on team. We preach team and that’s the only thing in our minds. Once you have that mentality, it’s not easier, but you’re able to achieve that selfless basketball and playing for one thing, which is winning.’

‘It was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead,’ MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs had one playoff appearance in nine years before Shanahan, a Hall of Fame player, was hired in 2014. They now have the league’s longest active playoff streak at nine seasons, but the postseason woes continued for a team that last reached the conference finals in 2002 and last won the Stanley Cup in 1967.

They reached the second round this season for the second time since 2004 and won the first two games against the Florida Panthers in the second round. But they lost the series in seven games. Games 5 and 7 were 6-1 blowout losses at home.

That collapse could cause changes in the Core Four, especially since Mitch Marner and John Tavares are pending unrestricted free agents. Recently extended Auston Matthews and William Nylander also are part of that key group.

‘While I am proud of the rebuild we embarked on starting in 2014, ultimately, I came here to help win the Stanley Cup, and we did not,’ Shanahan said in a statement. ‘There is nothing more I wanted to deliver to our fans, and my biggest regret is that we could not finish the job.’

Sportsnet reported Wednesday that Islanders have sought permission to talk to Shanahan about a front-office position.

Heading into Thursday’s draw for the French Open, there was only one huge storyline: Where would Iga Swiatek, the women’s champion four of the last five years, end up? 

Due to a recent dip in form, Swiatek shockingly fell to the No. 5 seed, meaning one of the top four seeds would have to face the most accomplished clay courter of their generation in the quarterfinals. 

The loser of that random drawing?  Jasmine Paolini, who lost to Swiatek in last year’s final and comes to Roland Garros in top form, having just won the Italian Open in her home country. 

The big winner? Coco Gauff.

Gauff, the No. 2 seeded American still seeking a second Grand Slam title after winning the 2023 US Open, will begin this year’s French as a pretty solid favorite to make the final given how the draw shook out. 

Not only would Gauff dodge Swiatek until at least the final, pretty much all of the other prime contenders for the title ended up in the top half of the draw with No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka. 

Gauff, who recently lost in the finals of Rome (to Paolini) and Madrid (to Sabalenka), even avoided tricky opponents in the early rounds – at least on paper. Her potential third-round opponent, No. 30 Anna Kalinskaya, has never advanced beyond the second round in Paris. In the fourth round, she would be projected to face former Roland Garros winner Barbora Krejcikova, who is coming off a back injury and hasn’t played an official match this year. 

In the quarterfinals, Gauff would potentially play No. 7 Madison Keys, who started the year hot with the Australian Open title but has cooled down considerably over the last couple months. And Gauff’s most likely semifinal opponents would be No. 6 Mirra Andreeva, whom she’s beaten twice in routine fashion on clay recently, or No. 3 seeded American Jessica Pegula, who is much more comfortable on hard court than the French surface. 

Meanwhile, if Sabalenka is going to make the final, she must deal with several stumbling blocks including potentially a quarterfinal against Zheng Qinwen, who won the Olympics last year at Roland Garros, and whoever emerges from the Paolini/Swiatek quarter. Of course, Swiatek may not even get there because she is potentially lined up for a round of 16 match with Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French champion, whom she has never beaten in six matches. 

Here are the four other key observations from the French Open draw. 

We may finally get Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in a Grand Slam final. For whatever reason, the top two players in men’s tennis have never met with one of the four big trophies on the line among their 11 career matches. But given how these two have pulled clear of the field, it is destined to happen several times – probably beginning here. Sinner, who has won the last two Slams, came off the three-month suspension he negotiated with WADA over last year’s banned substance positive (which he blamed on contamination), and reached the final in Rome before running out of gas against Alcaraz. In fact, Alcaraz has won their last four meetings and has a 7-4 overall lead in the rivalry – but Sinner is 52-2 against everyone else since last year’s French Open. 
Novak Djokovic is a big mystery. Since retiring from the Australian Open semifinals due to injury, he’s just 6-5 as of Thursday morning with more matches pending this weekend at a warm-up tournament in Geneva. The truth is, Djokovic just hasn’t looked very good since he miraculously won the Olympic title last summer. But that’s not surprising: At age 38 and having accomplished everything there is to do in the sport, his physical decline and motivation are major question marks. Given what we’ve seen from Djokovic for more than a calendar year, the odds of him grinding out seven best-of-five matches on clay to win his fourth French crown are low. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if Djokovic took advantage of a pretty favorable draw, reached the quarterfinals and even beat No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev to spark a glimmer of hope. 
Oddly, most of the American men got bunched up in one quarter headlined by No. 4 Taylor Fritz. He could have to face No. 32 Alex Michelsen in the third round and either Frances Tiafoe or Sebastian Korda in the fourth round. The favorite to emerge from that quarter, however, might be No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti, a dazzling Italian shotmaker who has been stellar on clay this year. Ben Shelton, the No. 13 seed, landed in the Alcaraz section and has a tough opener against veteran Lorenzo Sonego. Tommy Paul, who made the semis in Rome, should get an interesting round of 16 matchup against two-time French finalist Casper Ruud. 
Keep an eye on Naomi Osaka. Though her results since coming back from childbirth have been middling at best, and clay isn’t her best surface by any measure, she did recently win a minor league-level title in Saint Malo, France. If she can get past a first round against No. 10 seed Paula Badosa, who continues to struggle with injuries, the draw would really open up for her to make a round of 16 run or deeper. 

The 2025 NBA Western Conference finals have begun, with the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder hosting the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 on Thursday night. The Thunder currently lead the series 1-0.

Coming off a Game 7 victory that eliminated the Denver Nuggets in the second round, the Thunder secured a decisive 114-88 win against the Timberwolves in Tuesday’s Game 1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 31 points, including 20 scored in the second half. Jalen Williams contributed 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Chet Holmgren added 15 points and seven rebounds.

It was the Thunder’s defense that kept the Timberwolves at bay, forcing 19 turnovers and compelling Minnesota to take shots from outside the paint.

Here is how to watch Game 2 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

What time is Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Oklahoma City Thunder?

Game 2 of the NBA’s Western Conference final series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder gets underway at 8:30 p.m. ET.

How to watch Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: TV, stream

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
Location: Paycom Center; Oklahoma City
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+, Fubo

The Indiana Fever hosted the Atlanta Dream in their first meeting of the season Tuesday. Atlanta won the game 91-90 despite a last-minute comeback by Indiana.

Two days later, the Fever will look to earn vengeance as the two teams finish up a home-and-home in Atlanta.

Indiana will once again rely on Caitlin Clark to lead it after the second-year pro racked up 27 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and two steals in Tuesday’s loss. Clark was key in the Fever’s fourth-quarter comeback, as she scored eight points and racked up four assists while Indiana outscored Atlanta 25-15 in the final frame.

Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell also enjoyed strong games, each contributing 24 points and working well in tandem with Clark, the primary ball-handler. Both will be key for Indiana, especially if Boston can help get Brittney Griner in foul trouble again.

Speaking of Griner, she fouled out for Atlanta but led the team in scoring with 21 points. Rhyne Howard also racked up 20 against the Fever as part of a well-rounded effort from the Dream’s starting lineup. Those two, Allisha Gray and Brionna Jones will be tasked with staying hot in order to keep pace with a Fever offense averaging 91.5 points per game.

Here’s how to watch the Fever vs. Dream game Thursday, along with updates and highlights from the game.

What time is Fever vs. Dream?

The Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 22 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

How to watch Fever vs. Dream game: TV, stream

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: State Farm Arena in Atlanta
TV (local): MeTV Indianapolis | PeachtreeTV
Stream: Prime Video

Fever vs. Dream odds

Odds via BetMGM

Spread: Fever (-4.5)
Moneyline: Fever (-190); Dream (+154)
Over/under: 173.5

That honor goes to his iconic header in the Champions League final against Manchester United, which capped off Barcelona’s treble winning 2008-09 season in La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

That goal will now be turned into a piece of art by artist Refik Anadol, and auctioned to benefit multiple nonprofits, including Inter Miami CF Foundation’s global partnership with UNICEF.

‘I’ve scored many goals that might have been even more beautiful and valuable — also because of their importance — but the header in the Champions League final against Manchester United has always been my favorite,’ Messi said in a statement released Thursday.

The artwork will be unveiled online by auction house Christie’s on June 11, with a public exhibition beginning July 15 at Christie’s New York at the Rockefeller Center. An international online auction period will be held July 15-22.

‘Top collectors in both the art and football worlds have contacted Christie’s expressing interest,’ Inter Miami’s statement read, adding that people working for Christie’s said the artwork has “the makings of a record-breaking sale.’

To score the goal, 5-foot-7 Messi leapt nearly 9 feet (2.70 meters) in the air, using his head to score past Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar on a pinpoint pass from Xavi Hernández.

Messi lost his left cleat mid-air, picked it up and kissed it as he ran toward a corner to celebrate the first of his three Champions League titles with Barcelona.

‘Leo Messi’s goal is more than a defining moment in sport — it is a complex expression of human intent, memory, and motion,” the artist said.Said Messi: ‘I already knew how special Refik Anadol’s work is, and after we had the chance to meet in Miami, it’s going to be exciting to see how he can transform a goal — a moment in sports — into a unique piece of art, like the ones he creates.’

Messi, 37, has accomplished a lot since that iconic moment. He scored the 860th goal of his career for club and country on May 10 with Inter Miami during a 4-1 loss to Minnesota United.

The Argentine World Cup champion and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner trails only Cristiano Ronaldo (934) on the all-time scoring list. He is Argentina’s all-time leading scorer with 112 goals, and he’s scored 672 goals with Barcelona, 32 goals with Paris Saint-Germain and 44 goals with Inter Miami.

The defending champion Florida Panthers are up 1-0 in the Eastern Conference finals because they did something against the Carolina Hurricanes that no other team had done in this year’s playoffs.

Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen gave up five goals and Carolina yielded two power-play goals in the same game for the first time in the 2025 postseason.

Carolina will try to get back on track on Thursday night and tie the best-of-seven series at home. To do that, the Hurricanes will have to end a 13-game losing streak in the conference finals that dates to 2009.

Here’s what to know about Game 2 between the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers, including game time and broadcasting and streaming information:

What time is Hurricanes vs. Panthers NHL playoff game?

Game 2 of the Carolina Hurricanes-Florida Panthers series is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

How to watch Hurricanes vs. Panthers NHL playoff game: TV, stream

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Location: Lenovo Center (Raleigh, North Carolina)

TV: TNT

Stream: Sling TV, Max

Mark Jankowski injury update

Hurricanes forward Mark Jankowski is “a good option” for Game 2, coach Rod Brind’Amour said. He left Game 1 of the second round against the Washington Capitals with an injury.

Jalen Chatfield injury update

Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield skated Thursday morning after missing the past two games with an undisclosed injury. If Chatfield can’t go, Brind’Amour indicated he would lean toward having Scott Morrow over Alexander Nikishin in the lineup.

‘He understands our game a little better because he’s been playing it for a year,’ Brind’Amour said of Morrow.

Panthers’ second-round win costly to Maple Leafs president

Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan won’t have his contract renewed after the team fell short again in the playoffs.

The Maple Leafs have a nine-year playoff streak under Shanahan, who was hired in 2014, and reached the second round this season for the second time since 2004. They won the first two games against the Florida Panthers in the second round. But they lost the series in seven games. Games 5 and 7 were 6-1 blowout losses at home.

‘It was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead,’ MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement on Thursday.

The New York Liberty began their title defense with a 92-78 victory over the Las Vegas Aces. They will look to make it two consecutive victories Thursday when they travel to take on the Chicago Sky.

The Sky had a rough start to the season against the Indiana Fever. Chicago lost 93-58 in a game where the Sky shot just 29.1% from the field. Angel Reese had a 12-point, 17-rebound double-double, but she didn’t get much support from her teammates during the contest.

New York will be a tough matchup for Chicago, as the duo of Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones will match up well size-wise with the Sky’s frontcourt duo of Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The Liberty also have a productive, experienced backcourt duo in Natasha Cloud and Sabrina Ionescu that will test Chicago’s defense.

Perhaps a better 3-point shooting performance from Kia Nurse and Courtney Vandersloot, who went a combined 0-for-9 from deep in the Sky’s loss to the Fever, will provide Chicago a better chance to keep pace with New York’s well-rounded offense.

Here’s how to watch the Liberty vs. Sky matchup on Thursday.

What time is Liberty vs. Sky?

The New York Liberty vs. Chicago Sky game will tip off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 22 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

How to watch Liberty vs. Sky game: TV, stream

Time: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
Location: Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois
TV (local): My9 (New York) | The U (Chicago)
TV (national): WNBA League Pass
Stream: Fubo

A day after being charged with the loss in a defeat against the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Liam Hendriks posted to Instagram that he and his wife had been receiving threats and ‘horrible and cruel’ comments from fans.

‘Just as an FYI: Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel. You need help,’ Hendriks posted to his Instagram story. ‘Leaving comments to tell me to commit suicide and how you wish I died of cancer is disgusting and vile.’

A three-time All-Star, Hendriks revealed in January 2023 that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy. He announced he was cancer-free several months later and made his season debut in May, but only managed five appearances before ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2024 campaign.

‘Maybe you should take a step back and reevaluate your life’s purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their family,’ Hendriks wrote. ‘Whether you do it from your ‘fake accounts’ or are dumb enough to do it from your real account. I think I speak for all players who have had to deal with this in their career when I say: Enough is enough.’

Hendriks faced five batters in Boston’s loss 5-1, giving up three hits and three earned runs.

“Regardless of any situation, I’ve got to go out there and get the job done when I do pitch,” Hendriks told reporters after the game. “Today I didn’t.”

Liam Hendriks frustrated by bullpen role

Hendriks signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox ahead of the 2024 season, spending the first year recovering and rehabbing from surgery. The 36-year-old made his 2025 debut on April 20 and prior to his most recent outing, expressed his frustrations about his bullpen role.

“No rhyme or reason. I have no idea,” Hendriks said, per the Boston Globe. “It’s actually a source of contention that I’ve had with [the team] and I’ve had multiple conversations about.’

“I just want to pitch, because the track record over the course of however long speaks for itself,” Hendriks said. “The more I pitch, the better I get. If the theory is you want the best me, throw me.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged that he’s been trying to protect Hendriks as the reliever continues building his arm back up, but took responsibility for how he’s been deployed

“We have to use him. That’s on me,” Cora told reporters. “That’s on the pitching department. We’ve got to trust him. There’s a reason he’s here. Been there, done that. Right now, numbers-wise, he has been solid. The fastball is trending up, which is great. He has been able to bury the slider and the curveball, which is great. We have to use him.

“That’s the hard part. You want to take it easy with him, but at the same time, if we don’t use him, we’re doing a disservice not only to him but the whole bullpen. He needs to be a big part of this.”

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