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CLEVELAND — As the Cavaliers were pushing their home record to 10-0 and improving the franchise's historic start to an eye-popping 17-1, a solitary voice rose from the seats that could be heard throughout the lower bowl of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. "M-V-P! M-V-P!” the lone fan chanted. Down on the floor, Donovan Mitchell noticed. However, it wasn't directed at the five-time All-Star, but a teammate shooting free throws. Later, Ty Jerome wanted proof it happened. "Did you get it on video?” the reserve guard asked. Cleveland's unexpected start has produced an unexpected rising star. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome yells after making a basket against the Chicago Bulls during the second half of a game on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Chicago. After missing all but two games last season with a severe ankle injury that dragged on and required surgery, Jerome, a former Virginia star, has not only become an invaluable piece for first-year Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson but is emblematic of the team's early-season success. This wasn't expected — not by the Cavs and certainly not by Jerome. “He's in this zone,” Atkinson said of the 27-year-old Jerome, already with his fourth NBA team. “It's phenomenal.” While he's been good from the jump this season, Jerome has taken his game to another level this past week. One night after the Cavs lost in Boston after 15 straight wins, Jerome made seven 3-pointers — two on Steph Curry-like heat checks just inside the halfcourt logo — in the first half and finished with a career-high 29 points in a win over New Orleans. For an encore on Sunday, he matched Mitchell, his longtime friend and boyhood teammate in New York, with 26 points and six assists as the Cavs downed Toronto. That performance prompted the MVP chant from the fan who once reserved the somewhat sarcastic salute for popular Cavs sub Cedi Osman. Jerome has a been a marvel since the beginning of training camp, when he made a first impression on Atkinson that has only grown stronger. “Since the moment he stepped in our gym,” Atkinson said when asked how long he knew Jerome would be a major contributor this season. “He’s been phenomenal every day. I mean, (general manager) Koby (Altman) jokes about MVP of August, September, October. We're all expecting, not expecting, but when is it going to start dipping? "OK, it’s open gym. OK, it’s training camp. OK, first five games. He just keeps going and it's a real, real credit to him. He’s just in a state of grace right now. It’s beautiful to watch.” The same could be said for the Cavs, whose burst from the gate under Atkinson is one of the league's best stories. The 57-year-old Atkinson, an affable, fast-talking hoops junkie from Long Island, has made Cleveland an offensive powerhouse. The Cavs lead the league in virtually every statistical category — points, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, point differential and offensive rating. It's a system based on pace, ball movement and fundamentals and it's hard to defend. “A chaotic environment with standard principles,” Atkinson said. Former guard Ty Jerome has played a key role in the Cleveland Cavaliers' hot start this season. Atkinson is getting the best from Cleveland's core four of players — Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — while also developing his bench, something predecessor J.B. Bickerstaff struggled to do. Jerome, who played on Virginia's national championship team in 2019, gives Atkinson a multi-skilled player capable on both ends of the floor. He's come off the bench to provide points or a key assist, and Atkinson deploys him defensively to pester point guards. “It's hard to take him out of the game,” Atkinson said. "He’s in every conversation at all times. ‘Do we need Ty in there?’ He’s playing phenomenally.” Mitchell isn't surprised. He's goes way back with Jerome, playing with him on a Riverside (New York) Hawks youth team coached by Jerome's dad. “His dad used to cuss us out at 8 years old,” Mitchell said with a smile. “I tell people all the time that I don’t like positive reinforcement. I think it’s just PTSD from my AAU days with his pops. Getting chewed out at 9 a.m. definitely is something that you don’t forget.” Mitchell also finds it funny that Jerome's comeback is getting such attention. “Y’all be saying that like he died and came back to life,” Mitchell said. ”For him to come back, not only be a solid player, but be dominant, be a special player for us, it kind of gives us life. He’s just done so much for us on a nightly basis, and I have no doubt he’ll continue to keep this up.” The Cavs figure to come back to the pack at some point. But a season that began with them considered a contender has turned into become something more. “17-1,” Atkinson said Sunday, reminded of his team's record. "It's like, wow. I’ve been in his league 17 years and it just doesn’t happen. You should have six, seven losses. You could be .500 at this point. Even in a game like tonight, you lose these games. "We’re not exactly on top of our game and we still come up with a ‘W.’ It’s pretty shocking where we are, and that’s not to disparage anybody. It’s more about how hard this league is to do that.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Did Adani Group flout disclosure norms? Sebi seeks answerSaints hope to ride the Rizzi factor back to relevance after their bye weekCAPE TOWN, Nov 25 — On a sunny afternoon in Cape Town’s seaside village of Simon’s Town, three young chacma baboons cause a commotion, clambering on roofs, jumping between buildings and swinging on the gutters. Enchanted tourists stop to photograph the troop crossing the road. Locals are less impressed: it’s a daily scene in the charming village nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain National Park. About 500 chacma baboons — among the largest monkey species and weighing up to 40 kg — roam the peninsula south of Cape Town, says the South African National Biodiversity Institute. And as human development pushes up the mountain into their natural habitat, the animals are increasingly entering plush properties to forage in gardens and take the pickings from the bins. Some manage to sneak into houses where they can wreak havoc. Many locals are fond of the creatures, giving them pet names and following their daily adventures on social media. But others are increasingly frustrated. “They’ve become so bold now. They’re more domesticated than they should be,” said Duncan Low, 60, who runs an ice cream shop. The intruders have even started raiding kitchens and grabbing food from plates in restaurants. “They’re on a sugar and fast-food rush,” Low said. In 2021, the city put down a notorious alpha-male monkey who had terrorised residents with more than 40 raids for food in rubbish bins, from lawns and porches, sometimes entering homes while people were inside. Monkey management Tension between humans and baboons is “the highest it’s ever been”, said ecologist Justin O’Riain, who directs the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa at the University of Cape Town. A baboon on the edge of a wild and an urban area is “the most difficult animal in the world to manage”, O’Riain said. “They are strong, they can climb... and they can learn from each other: there’s no landscape that they can’t conquer.” As human settlement of the Cape has expanded, the baboons have been “pushed higher and higher up the mountain” where foraging conditions are harder, O’Riain added. The lush gardens that people have built, with fruit trees and swimming pools, are tempting attractions. The City of Cape Town, in partnership with park authorities, has for years run a programme to manage the marauding monkeys that relies on teams of baboon monitors. They employ a primarily non-lethal approach, O’Riain said. However, some techniques, such as firing paintball guns to keep troops away or culling a particularly problematic animal, have come under fire. Amid an increasingly emotional outcry, vociferous campaigner Baboon Matters announced court action against the city and parks authorities in May for failing to implement what it considers more acceptable control measures, such as baboon-proof fencing and bins. Facing criticism and funding limits, the authorities said the baboon management programme would be wound down by the end of the year as they investigate other “more sustainable urban solutions”. It will however remain in place through December — a particularly busy month for tourists — but with fewer rangers, it said. “We’re going to lose our first line of defence,” O’Riain said, with more baboons already entering urban areas often at risk to their lives. Deaths highest in 10 years Thirty-three baboons were known to have died between July 2023 and June 2024, the highest number in 10 years, city authorities say. Nearly half the deaths were caused by human factors, including shooting with pellet guns, collisions with vehicles and dog attacks. Coexistence with baboons should come with “a degree of human compliance”, starting with managing food waste, conservation activist Lynda Silk, head of the Cape Peninsula Civil Conservation group, said. “We don’t need to be in competition with our natural resources: there can be ways that we can manage our lifestyles to minimise the negative impacts,” she said. For O’Riain, the only viable solution to the baboon battle is to erect fencing in certain areas that is made up of electric wiring and underground mesh to prevent the animals from digging underneath. A prototype installed 11 years ago had shown great success, with almost no animals entering the area, he said. A 2023 report already suggested where the fencing should be placed. “Baboons can come and forage right up to the edge of the fence and no one will disturb them,” said O’Riain. “It’s a completely peaceful interaction, a win-win for people and for baboons.” — AFP
BEREA, Ohio (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have again restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson's massive contract to create salary-cap space and give them future flexibility, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Friday. Watson has been limited to just 19 games in three seasons because of an NFL suspension and injuries with the Browns, who signed him to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract in 2022. The restructuring allows the team to spread out the salary-cap hit after the 2026 season, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team does not disclose contract specifics. The 29-year-old Watson has two years remaining on his contract with an average of $46 million a year. The move to restructure his deal will not preclude the Browns from adding talent at the quarterback position in 2025, the person said. Watson played in only seven games this season before suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon. He's 9-10 as a starter with Cleveland. The Browns (3-12) have been a major disappointment this season after making it to the playoffs a year ago behind Joe Flacco, who was signed as a free agent after Watson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Watson had surgery in October and is expected to make a full recovery. While the team hasn't disclosed its plans at quarterback, it's assumed Watson will be in the mix to be the starter next season. It's also possible the Browns will draft a quarterback in the first round. The team hasn't had a first-round pick the past three years after trading three to the Houston Texans to acquire Watson, who was once considered one of the league's elite QBs. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday. Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication. The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals.” Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed. Neuberger said officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area. Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said. The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.” Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at a meeting next month. “We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure,” she said. The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.Biden says the US believes journalist Austin Tice is alive after disappearing in Syria in 2012