NBA
Despite playing shorthanded for a third straight game, the Cleveland Cavaliers continued their winning ways as Darius Garland scored 32 points and Jarrett Allen added 26 in a 122-119 overtime win over the Philadelphia 76ers last night in the NBA In-Season Tournament. The Cavaliers remained alive for the Eastern Conference’s wild-card berth despite playing without three rotation pieces in Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro due to injury. Joel Embiid scored 32 points and Tyrese Maxey added 30 for the Sixers.
Paolo Banchero scored 25 points, Jalen Suggs added 18 and the Orlando Magic won their fourth straight, 126-107 over the Toronto Raptors in an NBA In-Season Tournament game. Cole Anthony came off the bench with 15 points and 10 assists in the Magic’s second win in three tournament games. They will conclude their group play with a home game Friday against Boston, the current Group C East leader at 2-0. The Raptors dropped to 0-2 in the tournament. Dennis Schroder led Toronto with 24 points while Pascal Siakam had 16 points and eight assists.
Tyrese Haliburton had 37 points and 16 assists, Buddy Hield hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute and the Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks 157-152 to clinch a spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals. The Pacers are 3-0 in East Group A with one game left in group play. The Hawks dropped to 1-2. The quarterfinals will be held Dec. 4-5. Haliburton, who leads the NBA in assists, had 16 against Atlanta. Hield had 24 points and Obi Toppin scored 21 off the bench as the Pacers set an NBA season best for points in the league's highest-scoring game this season. Trae Young led the Hawks with 38 points and eight assists. Dejounte Murray scored 28 and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 26.
Kevin Durant scored 31 points, passing Elvin Hayes for 11th place all time, and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 120-107 in an In-Season Tournament game last night. Durant, playing in his 1,000th NBA game, needed 14 points to pass Hayes, who had 27,313 in his career. He scored 14 in the first quarter on 6-of-6 shooting, including a 3-pointer and a free throw. Durant scored 39 points in 46 minutes in a double-overtime win at Utah on Sunday. He has 27,330 in his career. Devin Booker scored 28 for the Suns, who won their fourth in a row.
The Los Angeles Lakers completed an unbeaten run through group play in the NBA In-Season Tournament with a 131-99 victory over the Utah Jazz. LeBron James scored his 39,000th point on the way to 17 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Anthony Davis had 26 points and 16 rebounds for the Lakers, who are likely to host a quarterfinal game early next month to begin the knockout stages of the league’s first in-season tournament. John Collins scored 15 points for the Jazz, who dropped to 2-2 in tournament play with their seventh loss in nine games overall.
NFL
Aaron Rodgers hopes to celebrate his 40th birthday by returning to practice. The New York Jets quarterback continues to recover from a torn left Achilles tendon suffered four snaps into his debut with the team on Sept. 11. But Rodgers confirmed Tuesday during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” he has his sights set on getting back on the field in two weeks and says he's “way ahead of common protocol.” The four-time NFL MVP turns 40 on Dec. 2, which Fox Sports reported over the weekend is a target date for Rodgers and he confirmed that.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick is refusing to reveal his starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the New York Giants. When talking to reporters, Belichick repeated only that all of his players should “be ready to go." Pressed on the question more than a dozen times in the eight-minute availability, Belichick repeated a version of the same answer. Asked if he had made a decision, he said, “We’ll let you know on Sunday.” 2021 first-round draft choice Mac Jones has started every game this season. But he hasn’t finished three of them.
Coach Andy Reid figured out his franchise quarterback needed a true No. 1 wide receiver after five seasons as a head coach and three straight losses in the NFC championship game. Now, Patrick Mahomes knows what Donovan McNabb went through in Philadelphia. McNabb’s top wide receivers in his first five seasons were Torrance Small, Charles Johnson, James Thrash and Todd Pinkston. When the Eagles acquired Terrell Owens in 2004, McNabb had his best season and the team reached the Super Bowl. Reid, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have won two Super Bowls together, including one last year without Tyreek Hill. But it’ll be hard for them to win another one without a dependable receiver other than tight end Travis Kelce.
The NFL has never been so balanced — off the field. Once reserved for men only, America’s most popular sport is being changed by women. In recent years, they’ve moved into prominent positions throughout the league with several rising to decision-making executive roles to redraw pro football’s hierarchy. From front offices to coaching staffs, the league is finally beginning to mirror society as women get jobs that once went only to men. This season, 223 women are working in full-time coaching or football operations roles in the NFL, a modest jump from 199 last year but a massive 141% gain since 2020.
SOCCER
Many fans went to the Maracana Stadium to watch Lionel Messi in his likely last match in Brazil, a superclasico in World Cup qualifying against the hosts. Instead, they saw Nicolás Otamendi score the only goal in a 1-0 win for Argentina after a brawl between fans that delayed the start of the game. The World Cup champions inflicted the first home defeat on Brazil ever in World Cup qualifying. It was Brazil’s third consecutive loss in the round-robin tournament- another negative mark for new coach Fernando Diniz.
Many Brazilians have become fans of Lionel Messi in recent years. And many of them will be going to the Maracana Stadium to watch the World Cup champions take on their own national team in a qualifying match. Eight-year-old Rafael Yen considers Messi to be his favorite and asked his father if he could wear an Argentina shirt to the match. Miguel Yen says “I told him to take it easy." Supporters like Rafael don’t necessarily want Brazil to lose to Argentina but they want to see the soccer great dribble, shoot and maybe even score.
A brawl between fans at Maracana Stadium delayed the start of the South American World Cup qualifying match between Argentina and Brazil for 27 minutes – a game in which Argentina defeated Brazil 1-nil. Lionel Messi led his Argentina squad off the field and into the locker rooms after the players called for calm. Police used batons to break up the fights between rival supporters, with parts of seats flying around and hitting some of the spectators behind one of the goals. Goalkeeper Dibu Martinez raced to one of the rails in front of the Argentina fans to urge police to stop the violence.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UAlbany 62 Army 59
Milwaukee 61 Siena 59
(11) Gonzaga 76 Syracuse 57
Long Beach State 80 Iona 76
New Hampshire Wildcats 74 Marist 71
(4) Marquette 73 (1) Kansas 59
(2) Purdue 71 (7)Tennessee 67
(9) Duke 95 La Salle 66
Florida St. 77 (18) Colorado 71
(22) James Madison 82 S. Illinois 76
Fletcher Loyer scored 27 points, Zach Edey had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds and No. 2 Purdue escaped with a 71-67 win over No. 7 Tennessee in the Maui Invitational semifinals. The Boilermakers separated in the final minutes with a game-closing 10-6 run to deny the Volunteers. After he scored 13 points in the first half to help give the Volunteers a 31-30 halftime lead, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht was held to just three points after the break. Jordan Gainey scored all of his 15 points in the second half.
Oso Ighodaro had 21 points and nine rebounds as No. 4 Marquette routed No. 1 Kansas 73-59 in the Maui Invitational semifinals. The early-season clash of top-5 teams with national title hopes ended up being one-sided. The Golden Eagles led for all but 22 seconds and were up by 17 with about seven minutes to play. Marquette will take on No. 2 Purdue for the tournament championship Wednesday. Ighodaro shot 9 of 15 from the field and scored 14 points in the second half. Chase Ross added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench. Kevin McCullar Jr. had 24 points and eight rebounds to pace the Jayhawks. Hunter Dickinson was held to 13 points in a game that included a heated altercation between the teams.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Washington moved ahead of Florida State and into College Football Playoff position, coming in fourth in the latest rankings. The selection committee's top three remained the same with Georgia first followed by Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Michigan. The Buckeyes and Wolverines face-off Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Washington had been stuck in fifth for the first three weeks of the rankings behind Florida State, but the Huskies added another victory against a ranked team last week at Oregon State. Florida State stayed unbeaten, too, though the Seminoles lost quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending left leg injury.
OLYMPICS
Russia has clashed with the International Olympic Committee on the floor of the United Nations before 118 member states voted to adopt a traditional truce around the Paris Summer Games next year. Russia voted for the previous Olympic Truce resolution then flagrantly breached it by invading Ukraine four days after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. The IOC has eased its initially tough stance of excluding Russia from international sports. Some Russian athletes could compete in Paris as neutral individuals with no national identity. Russian diplomat Maria Zabolotskaya says those conditions are “completely unacceptable.” She accused the IOC of hypocrisy.
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