NBA
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams each scored 36 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder held on to beat the New York Knicks 129-120. Chet Holmgren added 22 points for Oklahoma City, which beat Western Conference-leading Minnesota on Tuesday night and was playing its third back-to-back this season. Williams did most of his damage in the fourth quarter, scoring 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Julius Randle led New York with 25 points, including 10 free throws, and Jalen Brunson added 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton added 27 points and 10 assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks pulled away for a 144-122 victory over a Brooklyn Nets team that treated it like a preseason game. The Nets rested three starters and barely played two others on the night after a victory in Detroit that extended the Pistons’ losing streak to 27, an NBA single-season record. Their rotation featuring a number of rookies and players on two-way contracts put up a good fight for three quarters before the Bucks put them away.
Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points and Tobias Harris and De’Anthony Melton added 22 each for the Philadelphia 76ers, who beat the Orlando Magic 112-92 while playing without reigning MVP Joel Embiid. Paul Reed had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Sixers while starting at center for Embiid, the league’s leading scorer who missed a second straight game with a sprained right ankle. Philadelphia has won nine of its past 11 games. Franz Wagner scored 24 points for the Magic, who were held to a season low in scoring and have lost five of seven.
OG Anonuby scored 26 points, Pascal Siakam had 22 points and 11 assists, and the Toronto Raptors eased past the Washington Wizards 132-102. Scottie Barnes had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors, who snapped a three-game slide and five-game road losing streak while beginning a stretch of nine of 10 on the road. Toronto shot 57.1% from the floor and 39.5% from 3-point range while posting its largest margin of victory this season and sending the Wizards to their second-largest defeat. The Wizards fell to 5-25 — the second-worst 30-game start in franchise history.
Kevin Durant had 27 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists for his 18th career triple-double, helping the Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets 129-113 on Wednesday night to snap a three-game losing streak. Durant was 9 of 16 from the field and also had two steals and a block in Phoenix’s first road victory since Nov. 26. The Suns improved to 15-15. Eric Gordon matched Durant with 27 points in his first game back in Houston since being traded in February. He scored 17 points in the Suns’ 43-point second quarter en route to a 73-55 halftime lead. Devin Booker added 20 points, and Grayson Allen had 16. Alperen Sengun led Houston with 24 points. The Rockets are 15-14.
Caris LeVert scored 29 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from 20 points down in the first half for a 113-110 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks went five minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter as a nine-point lead turned into a 111-105 deficit with 1:13 remaining. Jarrett Allen had 24 points and 23 rebounds as the Cavs improved to 3-1 in the four consecutive game Donovan Mitchell has missed with an illness. Luka Doncic scored 39 points to get to at least 30 for the 14th time in 15 games.
Herb Kohl, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Wisconsin and former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, has died. He was 88. His death Wednesday was announced by Herb Kohl Philanthropies. The foundation did not give a cause but said he died after a brief illness. Kohl was a popular figure in Wisconsin. He purchased the Bucks to keep them from leaving town and spent generously from his fortune on civic and educational causes throughout the state. He also used his money to fund his Senate races, allowing to him to portray himself as “nobody’s senator but yours.”
NHL
K’Andre Miller scored two goals and added an assist to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for New York, which has won five of its last six. Alexis Lafreniere, Artemi Panarin and Braden Schneider also scored for the Rangers, and Mika Zibanejad — playing in his 800th NHL game — added two assists. Anthony Mantha scored the Capitals’ lone goal, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots.
Kris Letang became the first defenseman in NHL history to record five points in a period with five assists in the second for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 7-0 win over the New York Islanders. Letang had a total of six assists in the game while Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each scored two goals. Tristan Jarry finished with 21 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Rickard Rakell, Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen also scored for Pittsburgh and Marcus Pettersson picked up four assists in the first game back following a three-day NHL holiday break.
Charlie Coyle scored twice and Brad Marchand had two assists to lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Mason Lohrei and Morgan Geekie also scored for the Bruins, who ended a four-game losing streak. Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves. Erik Johnson scored for the Sabres. Devon Levi made 21 saves. Special teams played a big role in the outcome as the Bruins scored on their first three power-play chances. Meanwhile, the Sabres went 0 for 6 with the man advantage.
Timo Meier scored on a breakaway at 2:12 of overtime to give the New Jersey Devils their second straight comeback victory, 4-3 over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night. Luke Hughes tied it for New Jersey with 25 seconds left in regulation. With goalie Vitek Vanecek off for an extra attacker, Hughes beat goalie Elvis Merzlikins with a wrist shot. Yegor Chinakhov gave Columbus a 3-2 lead with 2:26 left, scoring after he poke-checked the puck away from Jonas Siegenthaler. Columbus has blown an NHL-worst 17 leads. Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey, with Mercer tying it at 2 with 4:09 left in regulation. Vanecek made 26 saves. Justin Danforth and Jake Bean added goals for Columbus.
Sam Reinhart had two goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves, and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2. Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had three assists. Nikita Kucherov scored his 300th goal and Michael Eyssimont had the other Lightning goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots. Panthers coach Paul Maurice joined Scotty Bowman (2,141) and Barry Trotz (1,812) as the only NHL coaches to have coached 1,800 games. He is sixth in wins with 837.
Drake Batherson scored twice and the Ottawa Senators overcame an early two-goal deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Wednesday night for their second straight victory. Parker Kelly and Brady Tkachuk also scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves to help Ottawa improve to 13-17-0. The Senators are 2-1-0 against the Maple Leafs this season. Matthew Knies and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Toronto and Martin Jones stopped 26 shots. The Maple Leafs fell to 17-9-6.
Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno scored 52 seconds apart in the third period to break a tie and Minnesota Wild defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3. Kirill Kaprizov extended his goal-scoring streak to four games, Marcus Johansson scored twice and Matt Boldy added a goal for Minnesota, which has won four in a row and seven of eight. Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves. Patrick Kane scored for the fourth straight game and Alex DeBrincat and Daniel Sprong added goals as the Red Wings lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Jake Neighbours and Marco Scandella each scored and goalie Joel Hofer recorded 39 saves to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night following a three-day break in the NHL calendar. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Dallas. Hofer registered 37 saves in his previous start, a 4-1 win over the Panthers last Thursday. He improved to 7-5-0 this season. Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood (9-2-2) took the loss after he had recorded a point in each of his previous 10 decisions with an 8-0-2 record. He made 28 saves. Scoring for the Stars was Jason Robertson.
Sebastian Aho scored a goal and assisted on three others to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. Andrei Svechnikov, Brent Burns and Seth Jarvis each had a goal and an assist and Jack Drury also scored for Carolina, which had lost two in a row. Pyotr Kochetkov made a season-high 35 saves. Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist and Gustav Nyquist also scored a goal. Juuse Saros made 14 saves for Nashville, which has dropped three of four.
Connor Bedard scored his second goal of the game at 2:15 of a frantic overtime, leading the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Bedard, who leads NHL rookies in scoring, sent a wrist shot under the glove of Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck for the first OT goal of his career and his 15th of the season as Chicago earned just its second win in eight games. Morgan Barron scored in regulation for Winnipeg, which lost for the second time in 11 contests (8-1-2). Petr Mrazek made 37 saves for Chicago. Hellebuyck finished with 23 shots.
Jack McBain scored with 20 seconds left in overtime and the Arizona Coyotes overcame a four-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Wednesday night. McBain scored on a scramble in front of the net to give Arizona its fifth victory in six games. With goalie Karel Vejmelka off for an extra attacker, Sean Durzi tied it at 4 with a wrist shot from between the circles with 2:07 remaining in regulation. Durzi also had three assists. Lawson Crouse, Michael Kesselring and Jason Zucker also scored for Arizona, and Vejmelka made 20 saves. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist for Colorado to extend his points streak to 19 games, one short of the franchise record set by Paul Stastny in 2006-07.
Making his first NHL start in nearly 20 months, Chris Driedger made 37 saves to backstop the Seattle Kraken to a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Kailer Yamamoto and Alex Wennberg scored for Seattle. The Kraken extended their points streak to seven games (5-0-2) and moved ahead of Calgary in the Pacific Division standings. Nazem Kadri scored for Calgary and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves.
Brett Leason scored twice for the first time in his NHL career, Jamie Drysdale put in his first goal in nearly 21 months and the Anaheim Ducks used a four-goal first period to propel them to a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. Frank Vatrano and Troy Terry also had goals for Anaheim, which found the back of the net four times in the opening 12 minutes. Mason McTavish had three assists, Cam Fowler had two and John Gibson stopped 30 shots. Alec Martinez and Mark Stone scored for the Golden Knights, who have dropped four straight. Logan Thompson made 21 saves.
Adrian Kempe had two goals, Kevin Fiala scored after being benched in the first period and the Los Angeles Kings overcame a poor start and beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1. Trevor Lewis and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Kings, who have won four of their last five games. David Rittich made 24 saves. Fabian Zetterlund scored and Kaapo Kahkonen allowed five goals on 43 shots as the Sharks lost their sixth straight game.
NFL
In Thursday night football, the Jets play the Browns in Cleveland at 8:15 tonight.
The Denver Broncos are benching quarterback Russell Wilson for their game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Wilson will serve as a backup to Jarrett Stidham. Coach Sean Payton said he made the move because the offense needs a spark. Payton has been vocal about his displeasure over the team's offensive struggles and two weeks ago had a sideline blowup directed at Wilson. The Broncos could move on from Wilson in the offseason, but it would be costly as they'd have $85 million in dead cap money over the next two years.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid says he has talked with Travis Kelce after the star tight end’s sideline outburst in which he chucked his helmet toward the benches during a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas. Reid didn't elaborate on what was said during the conversation. Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast earlier Wednesday that he “reacted in a bad way” to the way the Kansas City offense continued to underperform. The Chiefs have lost three of their past four games to fall to 9-6, leaving them still in need of a win to clinch the AFC West. They play the Bengals on Sunday.
Mark Cuban sees a future of NBA ownership where the advantages will be in real estate. The high-profile billionaire says that’s why he sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to a pair of families with strong ties to the hotel and casino industry. The NBA on Wednesday approved Cuban’s sale of a controlling interest in the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families, who run Las Vegas Sands Corp. They will spend roughly $3.5 billion for their share of the team. Patrick Dumont will serve as Mavericks governor. Cuban will be alternate governor with a 27% share of the team and retain control of basketball operations.
MLB
The Los Angeles Dodgers have finalized their 12-year deal with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They've teamed the prized free-agent right-hander with Shohei Ohtani in their prolific winter spending spree. The 25-year-old Yamamoto was coveted by teams across the majors after he elected to leave the Orix Buffaloes this offseason. The big-budget Dodgers landed him with a mammoth deal after already acquiring Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow this month. Yamamoto has posted spectacular numbers in Japan’s top league in recent years, winning three straight Most Valuable Player awards in the Nippon Pacific League.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The final four-team College Football Playoff promises to be one of the closest in the 10-year history of the event. The combined spread of the two New Year’s Day semifinals is just six points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. No. 1 Michigan is a 1 1/2-point favorite against fourth-seeded Alabama in the Rose Bowl. No. 3 Texas is a 4 1/2-point favorite over No. 2 Washington in the Sugar Bowl. AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo thinks Alabama and Texas will advance to the national title game.
With Caleb Williams watching from the sideline, Miller Moss threw a Holiday Bowl-record six touchdown passes in his first college start and Southern California ended a frustrating season by beating No. 16 Louisville 42-28. Moss took full advantage of the opportunity he was given when Williams opted out. Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and presumptive first overall pick in the NFL draft, watched from the sideline wearing a white T-shirt with his No. 13 jersey hanging around his neck. Moss was 23 of 33 for 372 yards, with one interception.
Garrett Greene threw for 204 yards and a touchdown, Beanie Bishop Jr. returned a punt 78 yards for a score and West Virginia closed a season in which it exceeded expectations with a 30-10 victory over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Traylon Ray had a 75-yard touchdown reception on the first play from scrimmage for the Mountaineers, who won their final three games to finish 9-4 after being picked to finish last in the Big 12. Selected the game MVP, Greene completed 11 of 22 passes. Jahiem White ran for 50 yards and a touchdown for West Virginia. North Carolina played quarterback Drake Maye and receiver Tez Walker, who opted out of the game to begin preparing for the NFL draft.
Rashod Owens had a career-high 164 yards receiving with two touchdowns and Brennan Presley tied a school record with 16 receptions and had 152 yards receiving in No. 22 Oklahoma State’s 31-23 victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night. Ollie Gordon II, the Doak Walker Award winner, added 118 yards rushing to finish the season with 2,062 yards of offense for Oklahoma State (10-4). Alan Bowman had 402 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Cowboys missed a 47-yard field goal with 17 seconds to go and the Aggies (7-6) had another chance to score. But Marcel Reed’s pass was intercepted near the end zone by Kendal Daniels on the last play of the game.
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