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Sue Bird, 
Diana Taurasi and the U.S. women’s basketball team face Japan in group play live at 12:40 a.m. ET (9:40 p.m. PT Thursday) on USA Network.
 
Following are highlights from tonight’s primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal:
SWIMMING – NBC
Rowdy Gaines on Dressel’s start in the 100m freestyle: “I can’t begin to tell you how many times Caeleb and I have sat down together and talked about his start. He just explodes off the back foot…He wins the race in the first 15 meters. But who cares? Who cares how he won it? He won it!”

HOUSTON – During tonight’s 2021 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets selected guard Jalen Green with the second overall pick.
Green (6-6, 178), who turned 19 years old on Feb. 9, was the first player to sign with NBA G League Ignite, a team dedicated to the development and mentorship of top young prospects in preparation for the NBA Draft.  In 15 G League games last season, he averaged 17.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.53 steals, and 2.1 3-pointers made.  Green tallied 30 points, 7 assists, 5 boards, and 3 steals in the Ignite’s lone playoff game vs. Raptors 905.
As a senior at California’s Prolific Prep in 2019-20, Green averaged 31.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists.  He was ranked as the No. 1 high school prospect in the Class of 2020 by ESPN and was a McDonald’s All-American.

Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
The 2021 NBA draft will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET in Brooklyn, New York with the Detroit Pistons holding the top pick. The Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic will round out the top five selections. The Pistons, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, have settled on taking Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick.
We’re tracking each pick as it happens and providing instant reaction with draft grades.
No. 30: Memphis Grizzlies — Santi Aldama: B
Aldama performed well for the Loyola Greyhounds, shooting 51.3 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from deep last season. He’s a good developmental prospect for the Grizzlies, who need floor spacing and size.

USA TODAY
In hopes of keeping their championship window open, the Los Angeles Lakers bet their chips on something that has become familiar both for better and for worse with this franchise.
They landed another star player that should appeal both to the Hollywood crowd and to the native Angelenos. That star player could also provide plenty of drama with his incredible performances, glaring weaknesses and unpredictable personality.
That leaves the Lakers with a question they will have to answer throughout the 2021-22 season. By acquiring Russell Westbrook in a trade from the Washington Wizards, did they land another star that will help them return to championship glory after last season’s first-round exit? Or did they land another star that could become combustible with their other star players?

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Australian teenager Josh Giddey has come a long way in the past year, so as his name was called by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the sixth overall pick in Friday’s NBA draft he took a moment and hugged his loved ones.
Part of that was to celebrate the achievement but the other part was to signify his life and basketball career is set to go in an exciting new direction, starting with NBA Summer League in Las Vegas from August 9-18.
Josh Giddey on stage with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after hearing his name read out for the sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft.

 
You can learn a lot about a subculture by the slang it develops. Gymnastics has a lot of slang around fear: the twisties, headcasing, mental block, bailing, balking.
Gymnastics is obviously physically demanding with a high injury rate. But it is extremely difficult psychologically as well. Many of the skills could kill you. When Kevin Durant's foot was off by an inch in Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals, his shot was worth two points instead of three, and the Brooklyn Nets lost in overtime. When Riley McCusker's foot was off by an inch on her beam dismount at the 2017 American Cup, she slammed backward onto her neck and then rolled over it.

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(CNN) — You can learn a lot about a subculture by the slang it develops. Gymnastics has a lot of slang around fear: the twisties, headcasing, mental block, bailing, balking.
Gymnastics is obviously physically demanding with a high injury rate. But it is extremely difficult psychologically as well. Many of the skills could kill you. When Kevin Durant's foot was off by an inch in Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals, his shot was worth two points instead of three, and the Brooklyn Nets lost in overtime. When Riley McCusker's foot was off by an inch on her beam dismount at the 2017 American Cup, she slammed backward onto her neck and then rolled over it.

One scene, among many. Everyone is drifting towards their locker rooms, when Iran’s Mohammad Jamshidijafarabadi dares to ask Phoenix Suns’ superstar guard Devin Booker for a photograph. There are gestures. Nods. Small talk. And then the pair are smiling and walking across the court together, shooting the breeze. It proves infectious. Seconds later Saeid Davarpanah is following suit, and soon he is sharing a pose with USA’s Damian Lillard.
The International Olympic Committee is often guilty of epic overreach when it harks on about the power of sport. All that guff and fluff about how it can unite and bind, lubricate and conjoin, and open doors that would otherwise remain bolted. But seeing two children of the 1979 revolution beaming away with their American counterparts was enough to melt the heart of even the iciest cynic.