Also good to just get away’
a 147-145 overtime victory. Bridges is tied for second in the league in “clutch” points (53) with Young, trailing only Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard (67).
One hundred and forty-seven points were the most Brooklyn has surrendered in any game this season. Ahead of their rematch against Atlanta, the team knows it must be better on defense.
“Very important, you know, things to clean up,” Johnson said. “It’s a work-in-progress, and it’s always a process getting to where we want to go. We’re seeing a lot of things from the game last time we played them that we can clean up. Obviously, we allowed a lot of points. So, a lot to look at and we’re looking at it and getting ready for the game.”
Of course, limiting Young specifically will once again be a top priority for the Nets on Wednesday. He is averaging 27.1 points per game across 18 appearances this season.
“Showing bodies, staying in front, making it hard, all that stuff,” Johnson said when asked about defending Young. “Appropriate physicality. He wants to get to the line but there’s an appropriate level of physicality you can bring to the table.”
The strangest stat entering Wednesday’s game? Bridges and Johnson have yet to win a game in Atlanta as pros. Bridges is 0-6 at State Farm Arena while Johnson is 0-5.
“You know, we’ve had close games there,” Johnson said. “We’ve had games where they’ve shot the ball really well. We’ve had games like last time where it comes down to the very end. We played them at Atlanta last year and lost on a buzzer beater. So, they’ve been close games. Just haven’t really swung our way. But it’s definitely one that we’re looking forward to finally getting over the hill of.”
NASHVILLE — Dave Roberts said the quiet part out loud.
The Dodgers manager confirmed that the club has met with free agent Shohei Ohtani. Roberts confirmed this information just hours after it was reported that Ohtani met with the Blue Jays at their complex in Dunedin, Fla.
“Clearly, Shohei is top priority,” Roberts Tuesday.
This might not seem like a huge deal on the surface, but it’s believed that Ohtani, the most important player in a generation, has placed a great value on privacy throughout this process. His our said representation has made it known that should teams leak, it would be held against them.
The Blue Jays have not commented on the report. The Giants believe they’re still in the mix and so do the Cubs. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. A mystery team may jump into the mix. No one seems to know.
This marks the first time a team has publicly said it is pursuing Ohtani. Shortly before Roberts sat down for his media session, Toronto skipper John Schneider declined to comment.
“We meet with a lot of players,” Schneider said. “Again, I think I’ll kind of leave it at that. It’s kind of kept between the club (and the players).”
Without hearing from Ohtani himself or even his agent, Nez Balelo, fans, media and team personnel alike have been left in the dark this week when it comes to predicting which team the twoway phenom will choose. Ohtani might not be in Nashville, but he has dominated conversations in the city.
Some teams are rumored to have a no-tani mandate: don’t even utter his name around the Opryland. Other teams are rumored to have kept their dealings with him so quiet that only a group of three people — two executives and an owner — knew the extent of the conversations.
When asked why he chose to talk about the meeting at Dodger Stadium, Roberts said he would rather answer a question honestly, especially since the news was out there already.
“I don’t feel like lying is something that I do,” Roberts said. “I was asked a question, and yeah, I think to be forthright in this situation, we kept it quiet. But I think that it’s going to come out at some point that we met, and it obviously already has. So I don’t think myself or anyone in our organization would want to lie about it.”
Maybe this was the Dodgers’ way of getting an edge in the competition. If they make the pursuit public, defying Ohtani’s wishes, it could convey just how much they want the two-time MVP. If the Dodgers lose out on the Ohtani sweepstakes, it might tell us a lot about him and
just how intensely private the 29-year-old actually is.
After all, he wouldn’t even share his dog’s name with fans. Multiple media outlets inquired about the name of the dog that appeared with him on MLB Network last month when Ohtani accepted his AL MVP Award. Ohtani, a source said, did not want the name of his dog made public.
Meanwhile, the Mets continued to bolster the depth of the upper levels of their system Tuesday. The club signed infielder José Iglesias to a minor-league contract with an invitation to major-league spring training. The 33-year-old veteran has not appeared in a big-league game since 2022, when he hit .292 with a .708 OPS for the Rockies. He played 28 games for Triple-A El Paso (San Diego) last season.
It’s not much, but Ohtani is still creating a traffic jam in the offseason market. The Mets are no longer a part of that market, a source confirmed, but all 30 teams continue to be held hostage by it.
“The top of the markets on both the position player and pitcher sides haven’t moved yet,” said Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns. “We’ve seen in past free-agent periods where real transaction volume doesn’t occur until the top of the markets move. I don’t think that explains everything, but that could be a factor.”
DRAFT LOTTERY
The Mets had the seventh-best odds to win the draft lottery Tuesday afternoon at 4.3%. However, with the club going $40 million above the luxury tax threshold in 2023, they needed to secure a top-six pick in order to prevent sliding 10 spots back. They failed to so for the second year in a row. They own pick No. 19.
WHAT WE’RE HEARING
The Mets are linked to outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Teoscar Hernandez. Overnight, the club was linked to righthander Erick Fedde, the top pitcher in the Korean Baseball Organization last season. The White Sox reported agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal with Fedde, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Fedde, 30, went 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA in 30 starts last season for the NC Dinos. He last pitched in the Major Leagues for Washington in 2022.