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Luis Gonzo game 7 hit

Here in Scottsdale, we understand the importance of 25 years. We at all times understand what that championship means — it became such a big deal that MLB Network presented the stories of that championship, and of course we understand the relevance of the time. We carry that moment with us today, even if we were not present in that moment.

Twenty-five years ago, on November 4, 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks won Game 7 of the World Series in the bottom of the ninth inning, and it remains the only championship this state has ever won.

The New York Yankees were the three-time defending champions, and they were three outs away from a fourth straight. Alfonso Soriano had homered off Curt Schilling in the eighth to put New York up 2-1, and Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer the game has known, was on the mound to finish it.

Mark Grace led off the ninth with a single. Damian Miller bunted, Rivera threw to second, the throw was off, and both runners were safe. Jay Bell bunted and Grace was forced at home. Tony Womack doubled down the right-field line to score Miller and tie it 2-2, and Craig Counsell was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Then came the part people here still talk about. On the broadcast, Tim McCarver said it before it happened: Rivera‘s cutter in on a left-hander breaks bats, but it can also leave a ball out over the plate where a left-hander can serve it the other way. Luis Gonzalez stepped in, the infield came in, and Gonzalez got exactly that pitch — a soft single over second base that fell in. Bell scored, and the Diamondbacks won 3-2.

Randy Johnson and Schilling shared the MVP. Johnson had started and won Game 6 the night before, then came out of the bullpen and won Game 7 too. The Diamondbacks were in their fourth season — the youngest expansion team ever to win it all.

The Yankees didn’t win another one until 2009. Arizona hasn’t won another one at all. That’s why, 25 years later, the moment is still carried here.

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© Old Town News Scottsdale — oldtownnews.us

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The LA Clippers (1-7) had this one. They built a 20-point lead in the first half, led by nine going into the fourth quarter, and led by four with 1:19 left in overtime — and still lost, 117-116, to the Miami Heat (3-5) on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, their seventh straight loss.

Klay Thompson hit the winner, a three-pointer from the left wing with one second left in overtime. The Clippers led 116-112 after Darius Garland‘s floater with 1:19 to go — Garland scored all nine of the Clippers‘ points in the extra period — but Bam Adebayo cut it to two with a fadeaway at 1:04, the Clippers came up empty the rest of the way, and Thompson made them pay.

The game flipped twice. Miami led 33-24 after one quarter, and then the Clippers opened the second quarter with a 26-2 run, went up 63-43 with 3:12 left in the half, and led 67-52 at halftime after a 43-point second quarter in which they shot 72.7 percent. Miami took the third quarter 26-20 to cut it to nine, then won the fourth 29-20 to tie it, and Adebayo missed a jumper at the regulation buzzer that would have won it there.

Garland led the Clippers with 26 points and seven assists on 10-of-14 shooting. Rui Hachimura added 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Brook Lopez 20 points and eight rebounds, Derrick Jones Jr. 12 points and eight rebounds, and Keaton Wagler 11 off the bench. For Miami, Adebayo had a season-high 35 points and 10 rebounds, Thompson 30 points on eight three-pointers, Giannis Antetokounmpo 27 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, and Davion Mitchell 11 points and 10 assists.

Side by side, the Clippers shot the ball better and lost anyway. The Clippers shot 47.8 percent to Miami‘s 43.0, and made more threes, 16-of-43 to 10-of-40 — but Miami won the game at the line and in the paint. The Heat made 21 of 26 free throws to the Clippers‘ 14 of 20, outscored them 54-40 in the paint, won the rebounds 59-57 with twice as many offensive boards, 12 to 6, and moved the ball better, 35 assists to 30. The killer was the turnovers: the Clippers gave it away 20 times to Miami‘s 12, and those mistakes became 23 Heat points in a one-point game. Fast-break points were even at 17, and the Clippers‘ bench outscored Miami‘s 32-11 — none of it enough.

It is the second straight game the Clippers have lost after holding a double-digit fourth-quarter lead.

Next for the Clippers: home Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans. Next for the Heat: at the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Lakers (7-2) took the Sacramento Kings‘ early punch, took the game over in the middle quarters, and beat the Kings (1-7), 116-103, on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.

Sacramento scored 13 of the game’s first 18 points, but the first quarter ended 28-28, and from there Luka Doncic ran the night. He scored 11 straight points late in the second quarter — three straight three-pointers in the run — to push Los Angeles ahead 57-48, and the Lakers led 61-54 at halftime. The lead reached 16 in the third quarter, and Ziaire Williams‘ free throws made it 100-85 with 6:21 to play.

The Kings made one last push — two three-pointers from Malik Monk and another from Emanuel Sharp cut it to 101-94 with 4:07 left. Doncic answered at the line, fouled on a three-point attempt and making all three, then combined with Walker Kessler for four more free throws in a seven-point run that doubled the margin and ended it.

Doncic finished with 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists — 11-of-23 from the field, 6-of-13 from three, 12-of-13 at the line. It was his third straight 40-point game, his fifth of the season, and his sixth straight game with at least 35. He has 308 points in his first eight games, the first player to top 300 that fast since Michael Jordan in 1988-89. Austin Reaves added 21 points, Kessler 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, and Williams and Collin Sexton 10 each off the bench.

Side by side, the game was won at the line and off mistakes. Both teams made the same number of shots, but Los Angeles shot 44.9 percent to Sacramento‘s 38.9, and the threes were even at 12 apiece. The difference was everything else: the Lakers shot 38 free throws and made 34; the Kings made 21 of 28. Sacramento turned it over 18 times to Los Angeles‘ 12, and those mistakes became 23 Lakers points against only eight the other way. The Kings actually won the glass, 46-38, behind Domantas Sabonis‘ 17 rebounds, and had more assists, 23-20 — but shooting under 39 percent while giving away possessions and free throws is not a formula that survives a Doncic night.

Darius Acuff Jr. led Sacramento with 22 points and 12 assists. Zach LaVine scored 21, and Sabonis had 16 points and 17 rebounds. The Kings are 0-3 at home.

Next for the Lakers: home Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers. Next for the Kings: home Friday against the San Antonio Spurs.

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings (5-7-2) got their best player back and put on a show for the national audience, beating the San Jose Sharks (7-9-1), 7-2, on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena in a game carried nationally on TNT.

Adrian Kempe, who missed Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Buffalo with an undisclosed injury, needed 1:23 to announce his return — a breakaway wrist shot from the slot past Yaroslav Askarov. He buried a one-timer in the right circle off Erik Gustafsson‘s pass at 16:09, and Quinton Byfield waited in the slot for a one-timer off Artemi Panarin‘s pass on the power play at 18:38 — Kempe with the secondary assist — and it was 3-0 after one period.

Macklin Celebrini got San Jose on the board at 5:07 of the second, a power-play wrist shot from the high slot through traffic, his sixth goal of the season. Erik Haula restored the three-goal margin at 11:10, a backhand from the slot off Kenny Connors‘ centering pass — Connors‘ first assist and first point in three NHL games. Then Kempe finished the hat trick at 15:51, a one-timer from the left circle off Alex Laferriere‘s cross-slot pass. It was his fifth career hat trick, tying Charlie Simmer and Jimmy Carson for ninth in Kings history, and he added the assist for a four-point night.

Joel Armia made it 6-1 at 2:12 of the third, attacking the crease and sweeping in Haula‘s centering pass. Ivar Stenberg‘s power-play shot deflected in off Joel Edmundson at 9:41 to make it 6-2, and Byfield closed it at 14:28, tipping Panarin‘s shot on the power play for his second power-play goal of the night. Panarin finished with four assists.

Side by side, the strange number is the shots: San Jose outshot Los Angeles 32-27 and lost by five. That’s the goaltending — Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves, Askarov 20, and a .938 night beats a .741 night every time. The special teams ran the same direction both ways: the Kings scored three power-play goals, with a power-play goal in three straight games

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns (1-5) started the night the way they wanted and lost it in one quarter, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers (6-1), 132-119, on Wednesday night at Mortgage Matchup Center — their fourth straight loss.

The Suns led 34-29 after one quarter behind Devin Booker, who set the tone early. “Came out super aggressive, really got us started in a good place in that first quarter,” Jordan Ott said in the postgame media availability. “Started the game well — right energy, focus — definitely helped lead the way.”

Then Portland shot 14-for-19 in a 43-point second quarter while the Suns managed 25, and the game flipped to 72-59 at halftime. The Trail Blazers pushed the lead to 22 late in the third. Booker went to the dressing room with 2:51 left in the third after being struck on the head by Robert Williams III on a layup attempt; he returned with 9:59 left in the game, did not score again, and fouled out. Miles Bridges‘ jumper cut it to 120-107 with 4:11 left, and the Suns got within nine — no closer. The 132 points are the most Phoenix has allowed this season.

Booker scored 33 points, 13-for-13 at the free-throw line. Jalen Green added 22, 12 of them in the fourth quarter. Bridges had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists with four three-pointers, and Dillon Brooks 15. For Portland: Damian Lillard 25 points, Donovan Clingan 24 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, Deni Avdija 21 points and 12 assists, Jrue Holiday 15 with five three-pointers.

Put the two teams’ numbers next to each other and the game explains itself. Portland shot 51.2 percent to the Suns‘ 44.6 — the Blazers simply made more of the shots both teams took. From three it was 14 makes to 10, 35.9 percent to 27.8. The Suns fouled their way into the biggest gap of the night: 29 fouls sent Portland to the line 41 times, against 31 attempts for Phoenix — nine extra trips is how a team wins the free-throw count 30-27 while shooting it worse. On the glass, the league’s best rebounding team beat a Suns team tied for last in rebounding margin 47-39, and that turned into the effort points: 17-11 on second chances, 19-9 on the fast break, 56-46 in the paint. Portland‘s bench outscored Phoenix‘s 42-25. The one number the Suns won was turnovers, 12 to 18 — and even that only bought them 21 points, because everything else ran the other way.

That sheet is what Ott has been talking about. “Guarding the basketball. Simple as that,” he said. “One-on-one guarding the basketball. And then fouling, finishing possessions — defensive rebounding, which has been a continuous problem area for us.”

“We gotta shore up this phase, because now everyone knows — everyone can go on their own analytics website and see where we are defensive rebounding, see where we are guarding the ball — until we prove that we can do it.”

On Luke Kennard, who played 14 minutes without attempting a three: “We’re encouraging him to shoot every window he has. But him, along with everyone else — guard the basketball, help us rebound. The ball will find you on the offensive end.”

On Green: “You could feel again Jalen‘s energy and spirit was high level tonight, and then the ball found him.”

And there is no time to sit in it. “We gotta win the recovery battle right now — don’t skip the steps,” Ott said. “When you lose, you want to get back out there as soon as possible.”

Portland lost Vit Krejci to a fractured lower leg in the third quarter.

Next for the Suns: the Orlando Magic at Mortgage Matchup Center on Thursday night, the second half of the season’s first back-to-back, with the seven-game homestand continuing. Portland, 5-0 on the road, finishes its trip Friday at the Los Angeles Lakers in its first NBA Cup game.

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PHOENIX — The Grand Canyon Antelopes (1-0) never trailed in their season opener Wednesday night, beating the Jackson State Tigers (0-2), 77-55, at Global Credit Union Arena.

Grand Canyon set it up in the first half. The Lopes led 20-13 after one quarter and 46-22 at halftime, outscoring Jackson State 26-9 in the second quarter while the Tigers shot 2-of-12. The lead was 67-37 after three quarters. Jackson State won the fourth 18-10, long after it was decided — the lead never changed hands all night.

Nyadieng Yiech led Grand Canyon with 18 points and 11 rebounds, going 7-for-7 at the free-throw line. Chloe Mann scored 16 points in 15 minutes off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers, and Jana Sallman added 12 points and Maya Foz 11.

The game was won on the glass and inside. Grand Canyon outrebounded Jackson State 47-29, turned that into a 20-9 edge in second-chance points and a 30-22 edge in the paint, and made 19 of 21 free throws. The Lopes‘ bench outscored the Tigers‘ starters’ support, 26 points in all.

Ne’vaeh Buntley led Jackson State with 16 points. The Tigers shot 30.4 percent from the floor.

Next for Grand Canyon: the Oregon Ducks come to Global Credit Union Arena on Monday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

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The Phoenix Suns (1-4) open a seven-game homestand Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, and Oso Ighodaro knows what the first five games have come down to.

“Some turnovers and positioning offensively that weren’t great,” Ighodaro said at the Suns‘ shootaround Wednesday. “Defensively, I don’t know how many times we fouled them, but it felt like a lot. Got them to the line, a lot of fouls. So I’d say those were some biggest things.”

That was the story Monday at Golden State — fouls and the free throws in a 116-113 loss. What Ighodaro sees now is a new group learning to play as one.

“It’s getting better,” he said. “I think it’s confirming that we’re all on the same page. We gotta be on one page at all times for those moments. Those teams — the Nuggets have been together for a long time, they know exactly what they’re doing — and I feel like we gotta over-communicate in those times. We just gotta be better in that area.”

His own game is coming in the dunker spot, where he went 6-for-6 for 14 points off the bench Monday.

“I was active in my dunker spot, ready for the ball,” Ighodaro said. “Teams respecting shooting so much, obviously, so that creates pockets for me to slip. Teammates made good passes to me, so I got great looks.”

The competing, he said, is there now. The finishing is not.

“These past two, man, it really feels like we’re out there competing and really trying to do the right thing,” he said. “But trying is not good enough. We gotta get these things done. Pressure the ball — we had these really good moments. We’re talking about putting 48 minutes together this whole season, and we haven’t done it yet. Hopefully we can do that tonight.”

Tip is 7 p.m. at Mortgage Matchup Center.

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It is Jake Fette’s team now.

The true freshman from Del Valle High School in El Paso, Texas — a consensus four-star recruit and Elite 11 finalist, one of the highest-rated quarterbacks the Arizona State Sun Devils have ever signed — took over the offense in two weeks, and Kenny Dillingham made it official on Monday.

“Right now you gotta say it’s Jake Fette,” Dillingham said. “I think he’s earned it. He played really, really well in the second half, especially for a freshman on the road in that environment.”

What he earned it with started on Oct. 24 against Kansas State. Fette got about four minutes’ warning. Mikey Keene had hurt his knee, Cutter Boley had stalled, and the freshman came in cold with the Sun Devils (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) trailing 17-14. His first drive went 71 yards in seven plays for the go-ahead touchdown. Two drives later he went 65 yards in seven plays for another score, and Arizona State won 28-17. He threw only six passes, but they were the right ones — 14 yards to Omarion Miller on third down, a 22-yard back-shoulder throw to Reed Harris — and his reads next to fellow freshman Cardae Mack, who scored all four touchdowns, were right all afternoon.

At No. 8 BYU a week later, in his first career start, Fette was strip-sacked on his first dropback and sacked six times in the first half, and the Sun Devils went to the locker room down 17-3. The second half is why it is his team. He was not sacked again. He threw a 20-yard back-shoulder fade to Miller for his first career touchdown pass at the end of a 13-play, 81-yard drive, then drove 12 plays with two fourth-down conversions — running over a defender on a scramble along the way — and tied the game 17-17 with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller. He finished 22-of-42 for 166 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. On the season he is 26-of-50 for 224 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions — he has yet to throw a pick.

At BYU, Arizona State started true freshmen at quarterback and running back in the same game for the first time in program history. Fette joins Jake Plummer, Brock Osweiler and Jayden Daniels on the list of true freshmen who have started at quarterback for the Sun Devils.

He takes over an offense that throws it in the top half of the Big 12 — about 255 passing yards a game, sixth in the conference — and runs for 140.3 yards a game, with Mack leading the backs at 400 yards and coming off a 123-yard game at BYU, his third 100-yard game of the season.

On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Brian Ward gets the Colorado Buffaloes (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) on Saturday, and he started with their receivers. 

“They’re incredibly talented at receiver,” Ward said. “They’re skilled players and are dynamic, and they make a lot of plays.”

His safety room has played the last four weeks without its leader.

“We lost a leader in the safety room — the old guy in the room that just has a lot of experience and a lot of wisdom and maturity, and brings the habits that you want into that room every day for those younger guys to learn and have an impact,” Ward said. “You lose a guy like that, you don’t replace him. You have to find different ways to adapt without him. Losing him is a big deal, but we have guys stepping up, and we’ve been steadily progressing without him. We had a plan for him to come back, and this came as a shock to all of us. It’s like anything else — how do you respond to adversity? You can’t change the plan. You gotta just adapt, and you gotta adjust, and continue to find ways to reemphasize things that are important in order to be successful.”

Fette makes his first home start Saturday against Colorado. Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. MST at Mountain America Stadium on ESPN2.

This was provided by Sun Devil source video.

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TEMPE — Kenny Dillingham put the problem plainly in practice today: the Arizona State Sun Devils are not bothering the quarterback enough, and it is costing them.

“We’re not impacting the quarterback enough, we’re not causing enough chaos,” Kenny Dillingham said. By his count, the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-5, 2-4 Big 12) sit among the 15 worst teams in the country at creating chaos on the quarterback — and a quarterback who is comfortable changes the game in front of you. “You let average guys play good and you let good guys play great in those settings.”

That is not only about blitzing, and he said so. It is hitting the quarterback, getting to him, and confusing him — because that combination is how turnovers happen. The Arizona State Sun Devils saw the other side of it Saturday at BYU: freshman Jake Fette, in his first start, was sacked six times and under pressure all afternoon in the 27-20 loss.

On offense, the work this week runs through what Jake Fette sees. The longer the staff is around a quarterback, Kenny Dillingham explained, the simpler the scheme gets — you learn whether he sees space cleanly in bunch sets that expand, or whether he wants open sets where he can count people, and you give him the checks his sideline information says he can handle. What Jake Fette reports back, Kenny Dillingham said, is accurate — and what showed in Provo was a second half where other guys got involved and everybody showed up more, with two third-quarter touchdown passes bringing the Arizona State Sun Devils back from 17-3 down.

Waiting Saturday is a different test for those receivers: the Colorado Buffaloes have really good corners, play a lot of man-to-man, and do not expect to need to double anybody — so the plan shows up on game day, against one-on-one coverage.

The Arizona State Sun Devils host the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, 5:30 p.m. MST on ESPN2.

This was provided by Sun Devil source video.

The Arizona Cardinals are finalizing a trade to send Jacoby Brissett to the Baltimore Ravens, with the deal expected to be completed this weekend.

First reported by Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport.

Baltimore needs a quarterback right now. The Baltimore Ravens lost Lamar Jackson to a thumb injury, and his backup, Tyler “Snoop” Huntley, to turf toe — so Jacoby Brissett goes there as a veteran who can step in.

In Arizona, his role was already gone. Jacoby Brissett was benched in the third quarter Sunday at Dallas, and Gardner Minshew II — who had not played a snap all season — led the Arizona Cardinals (3-5) back to a 33-30 overtime win over the Dallas Cowboys.

On Monday, head coach Mike LaFleur named Gardner Minshew II the starter, with rookie Carson Beck as the backup and Jacoby Brissett down to No. 3.

That order now stands for Sunday at Seattle: Gardner Minshew II starts for the Arizona Cardinals against the Seattle Seahawks, and Carson Beck is No. 2. The Seattle Seahawks will be without Sam Darnold, who is out — Drew Lock steps in at quarterback for Seattle.

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