Le Journal

Réputé pour la stratégie défensive de son équipe de France, qui se déplace à Bakou dimanche, le sélectionneur tricolore a changé de cap en 2025, pour s’adapter au vivier tricolore. Une mue gagnante, qu’il souhaite prolonger jusqu’au Mondial 2026.

CBS News New York's Vanessa Murdock has your weather forecast for November 15 at 11 p.m.

The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Houston Rockets 140-116 on Friday night. It was Portland’s first double-digit loss of the season. It was also the first time the Blazers had been thoroughly handled by an opponent, nearly start to finish. In the wake of that defeat, more than one Trail Blazers fan is expressing consternation and worry, evidenced by this submission to the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag. Dave, I don’t understand why the Blazers are falling apart after a good start. 4 losses in 6 games now. It feels like the defense has slipped and something I can’t put my finger on has changed. What’s your read? Were the early wins a mirage? Ron You’re not the only one to mention the defense. We’ll talk about that more in depth in the coming week. But before we even get there, let’s hold on a minute. 4 losses in 6 games is a 2-4 record. That’s one win away from .500, which is where the Blazers have been all season. They remain there currently with a 6-6 overall record. At this point, nothing has seriously fallen apart yet. This is just part of their make-up. As we alluded to in the intro paragraph, the Blazers play close games. They’ve had two double-digit wins and a single double-digit loss in 12 outings. That means 9 of their 12 games have been decided by 9 points or less. Many have been within two possessions, close down to the wire. Portland has had one of the toughest opening schedules of any NBA team. They’ve been outmatched, routinely, by opponents on paper. Looking forward from preseason, nearly everybody would have rejoiced to have them 6-6 after their first dozen games. Playing close games isn’t a bug in their style of play; it’s a feature. They haven’t succeeded by being more talented than the opponent, overwhelming them with precision offense, or even stopping them that well defensively. It’s been an all-out blitz, a hard-rebounding, turnover-forcing, fast-paced whirlwind, daring the opposition to keep it up for 48 minutes. Realistically, even the Blazers themselves haven’t managed that. But they’ve done enough to keep games close down the stretch regardless of quality of opponent, giving themselves a chance to win 11 of the 12 games they’ve played. When the margin is that thin, though, you’re going to win some and lose some. Blind odds would say about half, right? That’s exactly what the Blazers have done. In the process we’ve seen a couple spectacular wins against Oklahoma City and Denver, some head-scratching losses (including to a toothless Lakers team), and a blowout to the Rockets. The latter are hard to take, but the former sure feel good, right? All in all, we should probably take it. It could be a lot worse. Think of it this way. Back in 2023-24–just two seasons ago–the Blazers lost three blowout games by a combined 165 points…some of the worst defeats by margin in franchise history. Even with the Houston loss, the total combined margin in all of Portland’s defeats this season has totaled 51. (Before last night that number was just 27, but what can you do?) 51 points in all the losses so far leaves the Blazers…*checks calculator* 114 short of those three back in ‘23-’24. Let’s see how long it takes them to make up that difference–how many losses it takes in 2025-26 to equal their three worst ones back then–before getting too worked up about how badly the season is going. Playing .500 ball–or even a little under, if it comes to that–isn’t ideal. But this is a, “There but for the grace of God go I…again!” situation. If the Blazers aren’t world beaters (or even Rockets-beaters) yet, at least they’ve made some progress.Thanks for the question! You can always send yours to blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll try to answer as many as possible!

The New Orleans Pelicans have fired head coach Willie Green after starting the season 2-10, the organization announced Saturday. Pelicans top assistant James Borrego has been named the interim head coach. Green was 12 games into his fifth season at the helm in New Orleans. He amassed an overall record of 150-190 and two first-round playoff appearances over that span. The first-time NBA head coach’s tenure was heavily disrupted by injuries to key players, particularly star forward Zion Williamson. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick missed all of Green’s first season in 2021-22 and played in just 29 games in 2022-23. Then after playing in 70 games in 2023-24 — helping the Pelicans to a 49-33 record — Williamson played in just 30 games last season as the Pelicans went 21-61. This season, Williamson has missed six straight games with a left hamstring strain, and New Orleans is in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The Portland Trail Blazers were one of the last team’s Green faced before his departure. With rumors swirling about Green’s job security, the Blazers didn’t help the matter by defeating the Pelicans 125-117 on the road on Wednesday. New Orleans followed that game up with a 118-104 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, Green’s final game with the franchise.

While the Portland Trail Blazers got overwhelmed by the star-powered Houston Rockets Friday night, Portland’s rookie center Yang Hansen was busy making his G League debut with the Rip City Remix. It was a much better night for Portland’s G League affiliate and the 7-foot-1 big man, as they came from behind to defeat the Valley Suns 107-104 on the road. In 29 minutes, Yang got the start and registered eight points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three fouls, one block, one steal and two turnovers while shooting 4-11 from the field and 0-2 on 3s. The Remix trailed by as many as 22 in the second quarter, but they outscored the Suns 68-45 in the second half to grab the win. Yang’s first bucket came off an offensive put-back in the first quarter, one of five offensive rebounds he corralled. His last play in the highlight tape, a pretty backdoor feed to forward Jayson Kent for the flush, was part of a 14-0 burst by the Remix with just under five minutes remaining that erased a 99-89 deficit and gave the visitors a lead for good. Opposite Yang, Khaman Maluach, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, started at center for the Suns. The 7-foot-1 center out of Duke registered nine points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, three turnovers and six fouls, while shooting 2-5 from the floor. He was a plus/minus of minus-16 in 26 minutes (Yang registered a neutral plus/minus in his playing time). Fellow 2025 draft classmate Rasheer Fleming, the No. 31 pick, also played 30 minutes for the Suns. The forward put up a team-high 23 points on 8-14 shooting while grabbing 11 rebounds. Elsewhere for the Remix, forward Dillon Jones continued his stellar early season with a team-high 30 points on 10-16 shooting, seven rebounds and five steals. Blazers two-way contract guard Javonte Cooke tallied 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while shooting 7-20 from the field. Yang and the Remix will be back in action Sunday for another road game. They take on the South Bay Lakers at 5 p.m. Pacific.