NBA FINALS
Draft Lottery day has arrived, and the NBA is about to learn which team will win the chance to select Victor Wembanyama next month. The lottery will be held tonight in Chicago, where 14 teams will have a chance to win the No. 1 pick for the June 22 draft. Detroit, Houston and San Antonio all have the best chance of winning, at 14% apiece. Wembanyama is a 7-foot-3, 19-year-old phenom from France who is wrapping up his third professional season there and has been the consensus top pick for months.
Elsewhere, The Denver Nuggets aren't concerned about their horrendous history against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA playoffs as they begin their Western Conference finals against the L.A. Lakers tonight. The Nuggets have lost all seven times they've faced the Lakers in the playoffs, including inside the NBA bubble in 2020. But coach Michael Malone said his team is focused on continuing its stellar play regardless of whether it's against their nemesis or not. Neither team has a home game in the playoffs but it's the Nuggets who own the homecourt advantage as the West's top-seeded team. Game 1 is tonight at 8:30 in Denver.
Ja Morant still had his endorsement deals Monday. His latest gun video on social media is costing him plenty in public relations currency, but he hasn't lost any money because of it. That could change any day. Once again, Morant is in limbo. He's awaiting the outcome of yet another NBA investigation into what could end up becoming a cataclysmic off-court decision. The clock is ticking with Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for June 1. Commissioner Adam Silver traditionally holds a news conference before the Finals. Morant's status will be a big topic as league officials gather information about the latest off-court issue involving Morant and possible firearms.
NHL PLAYOFFS
Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston scored goals and the Dallas Stars advanced to the Western Conference final with a 2-1 win over the Seattle Kraken in Game 7. Dallas moves on to play first-year coach Pete DeBoer’s former team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Game 1 of the West final is Friday night in Las Vegas. DeBoer improved to 7-0 in Game 7s. A day after his 20th birthday, Johnston made it 2-0 with 7:12 left, when he gathered a puck that ricocheted off the back board to the left of the Seattle net and scored. Jake Oettinger had 22 saves, and the only Seattle score came with 17.6 seconds left.
MLB
Aaron Judge homered twice, including a 462-foot drive over the center field batter’s eye three pitches after manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing a called strike to the slugger, and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-4. Judge hit a pair of solo homers, putting the Yankees ahead in the first inning with an opposite-field shot to right against Alek Manoah (1-4) and extending New York’s lead to seven in the eighth with a 114.9 mph scorcher off Jay Jackson. Judge had three RBIs and reached base five times.
Joey Meneses drove in four runs as part of a four-hit day, CJ Abrams homered and the Washington Nationals defeated the New York Mets 10-3 to split a four-game series. New York has lost nine of its last 13 and dropped 15 of 21 since its 14-7 start. The Mets are 0-5-2 in their last seven series and have not won consecutive games since taking three in a row from April 19-21. Washington starter Patrick Corbin earned his first home victory since last Aug. 28, surrendering two runs and eight hits over six innings. The Nationals improved to 17-17 since losing five of their first six games.
Cal Raleigh became the first catcher to homer from both sides of the plate at Fenway Park, and George Kirby pitched the Seattle Mariners past the Boston Red Sox 10-1. Raleigh hit a pair of long two-run homers and Eugenio Suárez added a two-run shot of his own. Ty France had two doubles to extend his hitting streak to 12 games for Seattle, which has won 10 of 14. Kirby scattered eight hits over 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball. He struck out six and walked one, improving to 5-1 with a 1.91 ERA over his last seven starts. After getting swept at home by St. Louis last weekend, the Red Sox lost for the sixth time in seven games following an eight-game winning streak.
Michael Conforto hit his fourth homer in the past six games as part of a six-run second inning for the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 to snap a three-game losing streak. Conforto’s team-leading eighth home run came with two aboard and the Giants trailing 2-1. Wilmer Flores, Mitch Haniger and Brandon Crawford also produced runs in the inning, which matched the Giants’ biggest of the season. Alec Bohm hit a two-run homer and added a sacrifice fly for the Phillies.
Shohei Ohtani made more history, becoming the first starting pitcher since 1964 to reach base five times in a game as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-5. Ohtani had four hits and a walk, making up for his shaky pitching with a stellar performance at the plate. He hit a titanic three-run homer and finished a double shy of the cycle on a night the Orioles hit three home runs off him. The last person to reach base five times in a game he started on the mound was Mel Stottlemyre of the New York Yankees, on Sept. 26, 1964, against Washington.
Chris Taylor scored on a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning, Max Muncy homered twice to move back into the major league lead, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8 for their sixth straight win. Trayce Thompson drew a walk on a full count with the bases loaded and a full count off Jorge López (1-1) to give Los Angeles the victory. Will Smith also went deep as the Dodgers. Los Angeles led 6-3 thru seven innings before the game saw three ties and three lead changes in the final five frames. Minnesota’s Trevor Larnach hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning.
The pitch clock has sped up baseball as hoped, and it might be leading to more exciting endings, too. A quarter of the way through Major League Baseball’s first season with the pitch timer, relief pitchers seem to be bearing the most stress from it, with save conversions dropping to 61.4% from 67.8% at a similar point last season. The save percentage is near the bottom range of the past decade, which averaged 65.1%, MLB said Monday. The high was 70% in 2015 and the low 61% in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Pitchers say the stress of the late innings has become more difficult to process with the pitch clock.
The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a potential stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip. Bally’s on Monday unveiled plans for a 30,000-seat stadium on the 35-acre site. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 billion. The A’s are asking for nearly $400 million in public support from the Nevada Legislature, which could vote on a proposal this week.
NFL
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who is working on his return to the field after having gone into cardiac arrest during a game in January, has been selected as the winner of the 2023 George Halas Award. The Professional Football Writers of America announced the 55th winner of the award, which is given to an NFL player, coach or staff member who overcomes adversity to succeed. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a nationally televised game on Jan. 2 after making a tackle on a Cincinnati Bengals receiver. He got up but collapsed and had to be resuscitated on the field.
The NFL is taking another big step into streaming by putting one of its playoff games exclusively on a digital platform for the first time. The league and NBCUniversal announced that the Saturday night game on Wild Card weekend will be on Peacock. It will be preceded by a late afternoon playoff game on NBC and Peacock that will kick off at 4:30 p.m. EST. The Peacock game will also be broadcast on NBC stations in the markets of the two teams. Subscription rates for Peacock start at $4.99 per month.
SOCCER
The lead investigator of Brazil’s sprawling soccer match-fixing scandal said he has uncovered potential evidence of wrongdoing by players in other countries. Goias state District Attorney Fernando Cesconetto tells The Associated Press that the case of Colorado Rapids midfielder Max Alves, who was reportedly named in the probe, could be prosecuted in the United States. Cesconetto says he plans to share evidence of contact between bettors and athletes abroad with foreign authorities. Investigators are looking at 11 suspicious matches, and Cesconetto has already charged eight players. Alves has not been charged, but the Rapids have suspended him.
© 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
