Domantas Sabonis had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his ninth triple-double of the season, helping the Sacramento Kings hold off the New York Knicks 122-117 on Thursday night. The Kings are 7-1 since the NBA All-Star break to reach 39-26. Sabonis iced it, hitting two free throws with six seconds left to stretch the lead to five points. De’Aaron Fox scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter for the Kings. Malik Monk had 19 off the bench. RJ Barrett scored 25 points for New York. The Knicks dropped to 39-29 with their second straight loss after a nine-game winning streak.
Brook Lopez had 24 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high nine blocks and the Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the short-handed Brooklyn Nets 118-113 on Thursday night. The nine blocks are most by an NBA player this season. Bobby Portis added a season-high 28 points to go along with 13 rebounds to help the NBA-leading Bucks win for the 19th time in 20 games. The Bucks were missing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for a second straight game. Antetokounmpo didn’t play due to a sore right hand. The Nets didn’t have Nic Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Johnson, Royce O’Neale and Ben Simmons.
The Phoenix Suns say Kevin Durant has a left ankle sprain after slipping on the floor during pregame warmups on Wednesday and will be re-evaluated in three weeks. The hope was the 34-year-old wouldn’t miss much time because of the unlucky mishap, but now it appears he’ll be out until April. If that’s the case, the Suns will have just five more games until the playoffs start. Durant has played in just three games — all on the road — since the blockbuster deal in February that sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks and other draft compensation to the Brooklyn Nets.
A person with direct knowledge of the situation says an MRI on Luka Doncic showed no significant issues with his bothersome left thigh. That eases some concerns for the Dallas Mavericks that the All-Star might miss major time as they continue to push to secure a playoff spot in the bunched-up Western Conference. That person spoke of condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Thursday because there was no announcement from the team about Doncic’s status a day after the early departure from a loss in New Orleans. Doncic has been trying to play through the pain he first felt about three weeks ago.
Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins says members of the organization had spoken to All-Star guard Ja Morant about his off-the-court conduct before he posted a video in which he appeared to be displaying a gun in a strip club. The team had been hoping to avoid a situation like what happened this past weekend, which led to Morant being away from the team for at least six games. Jenkins says the conversations with Morant were part of an attempt “to guide him and help him continue to evolve as a person and a player.”
Attorneys for former NBA star Shawn Kemp say he acted in self-defense when he exchanged gunfire in a mall parking lot while trying to retrieve a stolen cell phone and other items. Kemp was arrested by Tacoma police Wednesday but was released from jail Thursday afternoon without charges having been filed. In a written statement, Kemp attorney W. Scott Boatman said Kemp’s vehicle was broken into Tuesday night and several items were taken — including an iPhone. Kemp tracked the phone’s location to an occupied car at the Tacoma Mall, and when Kemp confronted the individuals inside, they shot at him, and he returned fire. Kemp was a six-time NBA all-star.
NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament basketball last night, Niagara downed Siena 71-65 and Marist beat Quinnipiac 75-59. On the women’s side, Siena defeated fairfied Fairfield 59-53. In the America East conference tournament, UAlbany faces Vermont in the women’s title game today at 5 p.m., while Vermont hosts UMass-Lowell on the men’s side Saturday at 11 a.m.
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (2)UCLA 80 Colorado 69
Final (3)Kansas 78 West Virginia 61
Final (6)Marquette 72 St. John's 70
Final (7)Texas 60 Oklahoma St. 47
Final (8)Arizona 95 Stanford 84
Final Iowa St. 78 (10)Baylor 72
Final (11)UConn 73 Providence 66
Final (22)TCU 80 (12)Kansas St. 67
Final (13)Virginia 68 North Carolina 59
Final (14)Miami 74 Wake Forest 72
Final (15)Xavier 89 DePaul 84
Final (17)Tennessee 70 Mississippi 55
Final (20)San Diego St. 64 Colorado St. 61
Final (21)Duke 96 Pittsburgh 69
Final (24)Creighton 87 Villanova 74
Patrick Ewing has been fired as basketball coach at Georgetown after the latest in a series of rough seasons for the school he led to a national championship as a player in the 1980s. The school announced Thursday it would begin searching for a successor. Ewing’s last game was an 80-48 loss to Villanova in the Big East Tournament on Wednesday. He went 75-109 in six years, including 7-25 this season. Ewing also presided over a 29-game Big East losing streak that was the longest in league history. His tenure included just one winning season and zero victories in the NCAA Tournament.
Kansas coach Bill Self will miss the Big 12 Tournament after going to the emergency room late Wednesday for what doctors called “a standard procedure.” It’s uncertain whether Self will be back for the NCAA Tournament. Dr. Steve Stites, the chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said Self did not have a heart attack, which some outlets had reported, but that he remained a patient Thursday. Stites also did not describe the nature or extent of the procedure, though Self is expected to make a full recovery.
NHL
Mika Zibanejad scored the shootout winner and Patrick Kane scored his first goal with New York as the Rangers rallied to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3. Alexis Lafreniere and Jacob Trouba added goals in regulation for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin finished with three assists. Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves as New York snapped a two-game losing streak. Kaiden Guhle, Alex Belzile and Josh Anderson scored for Montreal, which lost its fifth straight. Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots.
Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists, Radek Faksa scored twice and the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars enjoyed their best offensive output in 14 years in a 10-4 rout over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Joe Pavelski, Joel Kiviranta, rookie Wyatt Johnston, Evgenii Dadonov and Mason Marchment also scored in a game the Stars had 16 players earn at least a point. The 10 goals are tied for second-most in a game in franchise history, and most since a 10-2 win over the New York Rangers on Feb. 2, 2009. The Sabres have dropped five of six to find themselves sliding out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Brock Nelson scored on a breakaway in overtime and the New York Islanders rallied to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3. Nelson beat Tristan Jarry to the blocker side at 2:13 of the extra period as the Islanders swept the season series against Pittsburgh for the first time in franchise history. Anders Lee had two goals and Hudson Fasching also scored for the Islanders, who scored twice in the final 5:29 of regulation to force overtime. Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots and assisted on the winning goal for New York. Jake Guentzel, Jason Zucker and Josh Archibald scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the Penguins.
The Oilers escaped a scare when NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid limped off the ice late in Edmonton's 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. He left minutes after Darnell Nurse scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:49 remaining to lead Edmonton to a 3-2 victory. McDavid struggled to get off the ice after colliding knee-to-knee with teammate Derek Ryan. But the two-time NHL MVP returned to help the Oilers hold on when Boston pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman for an extra skater in the final minutes. McDavid has 54 goals this season. Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod also scored for Edmonton. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak had goals as Boston's 10-game winning streak was stopped.
Timo Meier scored the shootout winner to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Washington Capitals 3-2. Meier redeemed himself after taking another late penalty that could have been costly. Akira Schmid was a perfect 4 of 4 in the shootout after making 20 saves in regulation and overtime. Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer scored 37 seconds apart for the Devils as they kept pace with first-place Carolina in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. The Capitals picked up a point but still lost for the ninth time in 12 games.
Pyotr Kochetkov returned from the minor leagues and made 19 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0. Andrei Svechnikov scored an early power-play goal and that was enough for the Hurricanes who’ve won four games in a row and nine of their last 11. Carolina has back-to-back home shutouts and hasn’t allowed a goal in three of its last four games at home. Kochetkov was recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis for his first NHL action since Jan. 15 after goalie Antti Raanta suffered an injury Tuesday night at Montreal.
TENNIS
Andy Murray grabbed the last three games to come back and beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 across more than three hours in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open. Murray remained unbeaten in best-of-three-set matches that go the full three sets in 2023. Stan Wawrinka made a successful return to the hard-court tournament in Indian Wells, California, after four years away. He beat qualifier Aleksander Vukic 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Wawrinka is a 37-year-old who has been ranked as high as No. 3 and is now No. 100 after a series of operations to his left foot and left knee.
GOLF
The TPC Sawgrass is one of the most unpredictable courses in golf. And it got a most unpredictable leaderboard after one round of The Players Championship. The leader is Chad Ramey, who had never see the Stadium Course until this week. He shot a bogey-free 64 and leads by one over Collin Morikawa. Hayden Buckley delivered the first ace of the tournament on the island-green 17th. Aaron Wise made a 10 on the closing hole with three straight tee shots into the water. Rory McIlroy had a 76. That's his worst score in more than a year.
WORLD CUP SOCCER
A former Fox executive has been convicted of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. A second ex-executive was acquitted. A Brooklyn federal jury delivered its verdict Thursday. Hernan Lopez was convicted. Carlos Martinez was acquitted. Prosecutors have said the case bared the corruption of international soccer. Defense lawyers say the former Fox execs were framed by an admitted criminal who was trying to minimize his own punishment. New York-based Fox Corp. wasn’t charged in the case and has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal.
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