NBA
Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris had 20 apiece, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-84 to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series. Embiid, the two-time NBA scoring champion, was quiet offensively, going 6 of 11 from the floor, but he did just about everything else. The MVP finalist had 19 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. Harris had 12 rebounds. James Harden scored only eight points on 3-of-13 shooting for the Sixers after a sensational Game 1 effort. Game 3 is Thursday in New York. Cam Johnson led the Nets with 28 points.
Elsewhere, De’Aaron Fox scored 24 points and made a backbreaking 3-pointer that led the playoff newcomer Sacramento Kings to a second straight victory over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 114-106. The Kings closed the game strong after Golden State’s Draymond Green was ejected for a flagrant foul. They became the first team to take a 2-0 series lead over the Warriors in the Stephen Curry era. The game got heated in the fourth quarter when Green stomped on Domantas Sabonis’ chest with 7:03 to play, leading to an ejection for a flagrant foul.
Atlanta at Boston 7 p.m.
New York at Cleveland 7:30 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at Phoenix 10 p.m.
NHL PLAYOFFS
Brad Marchand scored his 50th career playoff goal, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk also scored, and the NHL-best Boston Bruins opened the playoffs by beating the Florida Panthers 3-1. Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and Tyler Bertuzzi added two assists for Boston, which controlled the game even with captain Patrice Bergeron sitting out because of illness. Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers and Alex Lyon made 26 saves but gave up Marchand’s goal on a relatively easy shot. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Boston.
Sebastian Aho and Stefan Noesen scored power-play goals to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 to open their first-round playoff series. Noesen’s tip on Brent Burns’ shot from up top proved to be the winner at 2:27 of the second period. Antti Raanta finished with 25 saves for the Hurricanes. Carolina came into the game with the league’s No. 2 penalty kill and denied all four of New York’s power plays to strike first in the best-of-7 series. Ryan Pulock scored in the second for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin finished with 35 saves
Ryan Hartman scored 12:20 into the second overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in their playoff opener Monday night, and into Tuesday morning. Hartman gathered the puck in front of the crease and got it past Jake Oettinger at around 1 a.m. local time, ending a more than four-hour game in which both 24-year-old goalies had spectacular performances. The Stars had just been been turned away by Filip Gustavsson on a power play after Frederick Gaudreau’s tripping penalty. Gustavsson stopped 52 shots. He started the opener ahead of three-time Stanley Cup winner Marc-André Fleur. Oettinger had 45 saves.
NFL
Jalen Hurts is set to sign one of the richest deals in NFL history, agreeing to a five-year, $255 million extension with the Philadelphia Eagles, including $179.3 million guaranteed, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the deal was not yet final. Hurts was rewarded for his breakout season in which he was named an AP NFL MVP finalist and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
MLB
Daniel Vogelbach homered and drove in three runs, Brett Baty delivered an RBI single in his season debut and the New York Mets rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-6 for their fifth straight victory. Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo each had three hits for the Mets, who scored three times in the seventh inning to overcome a rough outing by starter David Peterson. Freddie Freeman hit two home runs and Max Muncy also went deep against Peterson, but the Dodgers’ bullpen failed to protect a 6-5 lead heading into the seventh. Adam Ottavino earned his second save with a perfect ninth, aided by a tough catch from Nimmo at the center-field fence.
Hunter Renfroe hit a three-run, first-inning homer and Los Angeles held off the Boston Red Sox 5-4 in the annual Patriots’ Day game that had Angels’ two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s pitching start shortened by a long rain delay. Renfroe drove in four runs, helping the Angels avoid a four-game series sweep. Ohtani gave up a run in two hitless innings, walking the leadoff hitter and throwing two wild pitches before Rob Refsnyder’s run-scoring ground out. He’s given up only two runs in 21 innings over four starts this season.
The Yankees were off last night. They start a series against the Angels in the Bronx tonight at 7:05.
Andrew McCutchen homered, Mark Mathias had a career-high four hits and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of an off night from Colorado starter Kyle Freeland to beat the Rockies 14-3. Freeland posted a 0.96 ERA through his first three starts and had pitched at least six innings in each outing but was ineffective against the Pirates. McCutchen launched a solo homer in the first inning and the first seven Pittsburgh batters reached in a six-run second. Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the ninth run of the game with two outs in the third. Rich Hill cruised through six innings to pick up his first win with the Pirates. Kris Bryant homered and had three hits for the Rockies.
BOSTON MARATHON
Defending champion Evans Chebet has won the Boston Marathon again. He surged to the front at Heartbreak Hill to spoil the much-anticipated debut of world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and win in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 54 seconds. Hellen Obiri won the women’s race in 2:21:38 to complete the Kenyan sweep. She is a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 meters. The fastest ever fields in Boston included world record holders, Olympic and Paralympic medalists, winners of major marathons from 27 countries and a dozen Boston Marathon champions. Kipchoge, a 12-time major marathon winner, finished sixth in the slowest marathon of his career.
Obiri says the biggest lesson she took from her first major marathon experience in New York last month was to be patient. It paid off in her first Boston Marathon, when the Kenyan broke away in the final 2 miles to win the women's title, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 21 minutes and 38 seconds. Amane Beriso of Ethiopia was second, 12 seconds back, followed another seven seconds behind by Israeli Lonah Salpeter. Obiri said she felt a lot more comfortable in her approach after finishing sixth in the New York Marathon last year.
Cal Calamia waited extra long to run the Boston Marathon. Being able to enter as a nonbinary athlete made it worth the delay. Calamia had hoped to run in 2020, when the race was canceled because of COVID-19. In 2021, they were sidelined by a soccer injury. Calamia said adding the category made it “already a win.” The 26-year-old San Franciscan advocated for the new division and ran with a transgender flag patch on their singlet. Calamia was second to Kae Ravichandran of Vermont. Twenty-seven runners registered as nonbinary.
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