NFL
The New York Jets have opened the 21-day practice window for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The move Wednesday is the next step in the four-time NFL MVP’s rehabilitation from a torn Achilles tendon. Coach Robert Saleh said Rodgers, who turns 40 on Saturday, was cleared for some football activities but was limited at practice and isn't cleared for contact. Saleh emphasized it’s not necessarily a signal Rodgers will play again this season as it is the next step of the quarterback’s rehabilitation process. At the end of the 21-day period, the Jets will decide whether to activate him or he’ll spend the rest of this season on injured reserve.
Dak Prescott is rolling and so are the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys enter Thursday night’s game against Seattle with three straight wins by a combined margin of 127-47. They’ve won seven games this season by at least 20 points. Prescott has thrown for 300-plus yards and three or more touchdowns four times in the past five games. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are skidding. They’ve lost three of four, including lopsided games against Baltimore and San Francisco. Geno Smith and the offense are struggling over that span, scoring just three TDs as a unit. The Cowboys are 9-point favorites.
In Thursday night football, the Seahawks are in Dallas at 8:15 tonight.
Jimmy Vesey scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, and the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 last night. K’Andre Miller had a goal and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored and Alexis Lafrenière had two assists for the Rangers, who scored twice in the third period to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season. Igor Shesterkin finished with 26 saves. Robby Fabbri had a goal and an assist, Moritz Seider also scored and Andrew Copp had two assists for Detroit, which had won three straight. Ville Husso, making his second start in 18 days, stopped 38 shots.
Joel Armia scored the go-ahead goal with nearly three minutes left in the third period to rally the Montreal Canadiens over the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 for their third road win in four games. Alex Newhook, Cole Caufield and Gustav Lindström also scored, and Sam Montembeault stopped 26 shots for Montreal. The Canadiens ended its five-game road trip with a 3-2 record. Patrik Laine and Yegor Chinakhov scored for Columbus, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 27 for Columbus, which has lost two of its last three outings.
Linemates Anthony Mantha and Connor McMichael each had a goal and an assist and the Washington Capitals beat Los Angeles 2-1 on Wednesday night to end the Kings’ winning streak at five games. Mantha had his third multi-point game of the season to tie Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome for the team lead. McMichael had his second multi-point game of the season. Aliaksei Protas added two assists and Charlie Lindgren stopped 37 shots to help the Capitals snap a two-game losing streak. Arthur Kaliyev scored for Los Angeles and Cam Talbot made 13 saves. The Kings lost for the first time in regulation this season when scoring first, dropping to 11-1-1.
NBA
Zion Williamson scored 33 points and the New Orleans Pelicans took a 124-114 victory over a Philadelphia 76ers squad playing without star center Joel Embiid. Embiid was ruled out shortly before tip-off because of an illness. Williamson cashed in on the 7-foot Embiid’s absence. He dominated around the basket, making 11 of 12 shots. He also hit 11 of 12 free throws. New Orleans guard CJ McCollum returned from a partially collapsed lung that had sidelined him for 12 games and scored 20 points. Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points for Philadelphia. New Orleans never trailed and led by as many as 29 in the third quarter.
D’Angelo Russell scored a season-high 35 points, Anthony Davis had 28 and LeBron James 25, helping the Los Angeles Lakers beat Detroit 133-107 for the Pistons’ franchise-record 15th straight loss. James, coming off a career-high 44-point loss at Philadelphia, and his teammates were very loose during pregame warmups, perhaps sensing it would be an easy night to bounce back. And, they were right. The Lakers led 38-24 after the opening quarter, shooting 60% to Detroit’s 36%. Even though there were three quarters left, the outcome seemed certain against an offensively challenged team that doesn’t play stingy defense and is a league-worst 2-16 Detroit broke the franchise record after sharing it with three teams that had 14-game skids during the 2021-22, 1993-94 and 1979-80 seasons.
Franz Wagner scored 31 points, Cole Anthony added 25 and the Orlando Magic beat the Washington Wizards 139-120 on Wednesday night for their eighth straight victory. Jalen Suggs had 22 points for the Magic, who were eliminated from the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament by a tiebreaker Tuesday night. Their win streak is one short of the franchise record set in 1994 and matched twice in this century. Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 24 points. Deni Avdija added 22 and Jordan Poole scored 19. The Magic shot 60.7 % overall and made 17 of 27 from 3-point range in the opener of a two-game series.
Scottie Barnes scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, Pascal Siakam finished with 22 and the Toronto Raptors beat Phoenix 112-105 on Wednesday night to end the Suns’ winning streak at seven. Kevin Durant scored 11 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter for Phoenix after missing two games because of a sore foot, while fellow star Devin Booker had only eight points. The Suns lost for the first time since a Nov. 12 at home against Oklahoma City. Booker, who beat the New York Knicks on Sunday night with a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left, missed a 3 that would have tied it with 50 seconds remaining. Booker shot 2 for 12, going 0 for 4 on 3-pointers.
Jaren Jackson Jr. had 20 points and six blocks, David Roddy added 19 points and the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Utah Jazz 105-91 on Wednesday night for their first home win of the season. John Collins led the Jazz with 17 points, while Jordan Clarkson and Simone Fontecchio added 12 points. Utah was hindered by shooting 38% for the night, while committing 18Jackson turnovers. Memphis, which was 35-6 at home last season, had lost its first eight home games this year.
Nikola Jokic had 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, Michael Porter Jr. scored a season-high 30 points and the Denver Nuggets rolled past the Houston Rockets 134-124 on Wednesday night in Jamal Murray’s return from a hamstring injury. Murray scored 16 points after missing Denver’s past 11 games. After starting 6-1 with Murray available, the Nuggets were just 6-5 without their point guard. It was the third consecutive win for the NBA champion Nuggets, who had lost four of five before their current streak. Jokic, who was sidelined with a lower back injury in a win Monday at the Los Angeles Clippers, recorded his seventh triple-double of the season.
Kawhi Leonard had 34 points and seven assists, James Harden scored 26 and the Los Angeles Clippers overcame a big game by De’Aaron Fox to beat the Sacramento Kings 131-117. Paul George added 19 points and seven assists for the Clippers, who defeated the Kings for the first time since October 2022. Fox scored 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting for Sacramento, which was coming off an emotional win over Golden State that advanced the Kings to the knockout round of the In-Season Tournament. Leonard shot 14 of 18 from the field, including 2 for 3 on 3-pointers, and Harden was 8 of 14, including 5 of 8 on 3s.
Nikola Jokic had 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, Michael Porter Jr. scored a season-high 30 points and the Denver Nuggets rolled past the Houston Rockets 134-124 on Wednesday night in Jamal Murray’s return from a hamstring injury. Murray scored 16 points after missing Denver’s past 11 games. After starting 6-1 with Murray available, the Nuggets were just 6-5 without their point guard. It was the third consecutive win for the NBA champion Nuggets, who had lost four of five before their current streak. Jokic, who was sidelined with a lower back injury in a win Monday at the Los Angeles Clippers, recorded his seventh triple-double of the season.
The family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company says it has entered agreements to buy the majority stake of the Dallas Mavericks from team owner Mark Cuban. The agreement would be in the valuation range of $3.5 billion, according to an AP source, and will take weeks for the league to process. Cuban would retain control of basketball operations in the deal. The family of Miriam Adelson, widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, has announced it is selling $2 billion of her shares to buy the team.
Mark Cuban in many ways has been the face of the Dallas Mavericks franchise since he bought the club in 2000. Tuesday’s news that he was selling a majority share to perhaps Las Vegas’ most powerful family created a number of questions. The Adelsons confirmed the purchase Wednesday. Miriam Adelson is a medical doctor and widow of Sheldon Adelson. He was the billionaire founder and owner of Las Vegas Sands. She has no corporate role with the company. Her son-in-law is Patrick Dumont. He is the company president and a board member.
MLB
Baltimore’s Félix Bautista is the unanimous winner of the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award and Milwaukee’s Devin Williams won the Trevor Hoffman National League honor. A 28-year-old right-hander, Bautista was 8-2 with a 1.48 ERA and 33 saves in 39 chances for the AL East champion Orioles. He made his final appearance on Aug. 25 and had Tommy John surgery on Oct. 9, which likely will cause him to miss the 2024 season. A 29-year-old right-hander, Williams was 8-3 with a 1.53 ERA and 36 saves in 40 opportunities for the National League Central champion Brewers.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UAlbany MBB 86 Boston University 72
Marist 68 Iona 64
Final Arkansas 80 (7)Duke 75
Final (17)North Carolina 100 (10)Tennessee 92
Final Virginia 59 (14)Texas A&M 47
Final Saint Joseph's 78 (18)Villanova 65
Final (20)Colorado St. 88 Colorado 83
Final (22)James Madison 81 Buffalo 66
Trevon Brazile had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Khalif Battle scored 21 off the bench and Arkansas held on to beat No. 7 Duke 80-75. Playing without leading scorer Tramon Mark, the Razorbacks snapped a two-game skid before a capacity crowd of 20,344 — a record at Bud Walton Arena. When the final horn sounded, fans rushed the floor to celebrate. The Razorbacks stayed in the game early with defense, ultimately limiting Duke to 36% shooting. But it was a scoring run midway through the second half that finally broke things open — and Arkansas built a 14-point lead before staving off a furious Duke comeback down the stretch. Kyle Filipowski scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half for the Blue Devils, and finished with 10 rebounds.
LSU star forward Angel Reese is ending her four-game absence and rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Thursday night. LSU coach Kim Mulkey says Reese has looked good in practice lately and will play against the Hokies. Reese foreshadowed her return when she posted on social media a photo of herself inside LSU’s home basketball stadium earlier this week. Mulkey has declined to go into detail about why Reese was not with the team for much of the past two weeks beyond saying it stemmed from unspecified “locker-room issues.” LSU won all four games Reese missed. Last season, a Reese-led LSU squad won the program's first national title.
OLYMPICS
Stay and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime show. That is the message organizers of the Paris Olympics are sending in an effort to reassure the French capital’s residents that security measures and traffic restrictions won’t make their lives nightmarish during the July 26-Aug. 11 event and the Paralympic Games that follow. But critics, including in the Senate, were displeased by plans to require motorists to apply online for a QR code to access traffic-restricted zones of Paris during the games. Senators complained that lawmakers had not been consulted. Nathalie Goulet, a senator from Normandy, likened the proposal to ID papers that France’s Nazi occupiers imposed in World War II.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
There could be some awkward trophy ceremonies around college football’s championship weekend. From the Pac-12, where the winner is guaranteed to be one of the schools that helped collapse the conference, to the Big 12, where the commissioner was outwardly rooting against the favorite to win the championship game, to the Big Ten, where Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and the commissioner who suspended him could be sharing a stage, awkward handshakes are highly likely. The games themselves should provide high drama, too, as seven teams fight for four playoff spots.
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