NBA
Joel Embiid had 41 points and 10 assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers past Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets 126-121 on Tuesday night in a battle of the last two NBA MVPs. Jokic held up his end of a heavyweight showdown with 25 points and 19 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards. Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points and Tobias Harris had 24 for the Sixers. Embiid had his 18th straight 30-point game, tying Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor for the sixth-longest streak in NBA history.
Kevin Durant made two free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining and the Phoenix Suns staged a furious comeback to beat the Sacramento Kings 119-117 on Tuesday night. Grayson Allen tied a franchise record with nine 3-pointers and scored 29 points for the Suns, who trailed 113-96 before closing the game with a 23-4 run. Durant finished with 27 points. Devin Booker had 16 points and 11 assists, Bradley Beal scored 13 points and Jusuf Nurkic had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Phoenix.
Paul George scored 18 of his season-high 38 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-117. The Clippers won for the ninth time in 11 games. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden added 16 points each to complete a big day for the franchise. Earlier, Commissioner Adam Silver announced the 2026 All-Star Game will be held at the Clippers’ under-construction arena in Inglewood, where they begin play next season. Jalen Williams scored 25 points and Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 19 points each for the Thunder. They have lost two in a row after winning nine of 12 coming into Los Angeles.
A woman is alleging New York Knicks owner James Dolan sexually assaulted her a decade ago and then set her up to be molested by now-imprisoned film producer Harvey Weinstein, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Kellye Croft is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. She has consented to be named publicly and says she has come forward to seek accountability. Dolan is executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. He heads the NBA’s Knicks and NHL’s Rangers. His attorney says there is no merit to the allegations.
NHL
Blake Wheeler had two goals, Kaapo Kakko scored in his second game back from a long injury absence and the New York Rangers beat the Seattle Kraken 5-2. Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves as the Rangers won their second consecutive game after four straight losses. Vincent Trocheck and Erik Gustafsson scored in the first period for New York. Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann had the Seattle goals. The Rangers were coming off a 2-1 home win over Washington on Sunday to snap their skid. Seattle’s nine-game winning streak ended with a 3-0 loss at Pittsburgh on Monday. Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox each had two assists for the Rangers.
Kyle Connor scored an empty-net goal after a 16-game absence and Mason Appleton snapped a 25-game scoring drought to help the Winnipeg Jets get back to their winning ways with a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Gabriel Vilardi and Neal Pionk also scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for Winnipeg. Anders Lee scored twice for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin stopped 40 shots for New York.
Ethan Bear scored his first NHL goal in almost exactly a year as the Washington Capitals blanked the Anaheim Ducks 2-0. Darcy Kuemper stopped all 24 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season. Washington has won three of its past five games to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race midway through the season. John Gibson made 26 saves in net for Anaheim in his second start in as many days. The Ducks have lost eight of 10.
Mikko Rantanen had a pair of goals and the Colorado Avalanche scored four unanswered goals in the third period goals to beat the Ottawa Senators 7-4. Trailing 4-3 to start the third period, Colorado didn’t take long to tie the game with Miles Wood taking advantage of a clear lane to the net. Sam Malinski gave the Avalanche the lead with a power-play goal at the eight-minute mark. Logan O’Connor added some insurance and Devon Toews added an empty-net goal. Justus Annunen, making his season debut, made 36 saves. Ridly Greig led Ottawa with two goals while Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson also scored.
Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski each scored his 18th goal this season to share the team lead, and Jake Oettinger won a matchup of Western Conference All-Star goaltenders as the Dallas Stars pulled away from the Los Angeles Kings for a 5-1 victory. Dallas got three goals in a four-minute stretch during the first half of the third period to take complete control. Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov each had a goal and an assist, and Sam Steel scored short-handed for the Stars, who are 4-1-0 in their last five games. Jason Robertson added two assists. Veteran defenseman Drew Doughty scored his 150th career goal for the Kings, who finished a six-game trip. Oettinger made 32 saves, while Cam Talbot stopped 23 shots for Los Angeles.
Boris Katchouk scored in the ninth round, Petr Mrazek made the clinching save on San Jose’s Filip Zadina, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Sharks 2-1 in a shootout on Tuesday night. Chicago broke a three-game losing streak in the matchup of the NHL’s two worst teams while sending San Jose to its third straight defeat and 15th loss in 16 games. Chicago’s Rem Pitlick and San Jose’s Kevin Labanc scored in the first two rounds of the shootout, after which both teams misfired more than they were saved. Cole Guttman scored for the Blackhawks and Mrazek had 37 stops. Ryan Carpenter scored for the Sharks and Blackwood made 24 saves.
Ryan McLeod had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers rallied past the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 for their franchise-record 11th consecutive victory. Leon Draisaitl, Derek Ryan and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers, who are 19-3-0 in their last 22 games. Stuart Skinner made 25 saves. Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly each had a goal for the Maple Leafs, who have lost four straight.
Yegor Sharangovich scored a power-play goal in overtime to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes were penalized for too many men at 3:03 of overtime and Sharangovich roofed a sharp-angled shot with 18 seconds remaining in extra time. Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist and Blake Coleman also scored for the Flames, who won their fourth win in a row. Dan Vladar made 25 saves. Sean Durzi had a goal and assist and Logan Cooley scored one for Arizona while Connor Ingram stopped 27 shots in the loss.
NFL
Mother Nature might not be through complicating the Buffalo Bills’ playoff schedule, leaving coach Sean McDermott assessing his options. McDermott says the team, for now, is still scheduled to practice on Wednesday and Thursday, while monitoring a forecast that projects a lake-effect storm dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on the Buffalo region. The Bills are coming off a playoff-opening 31-17 win over Pittsburgh on Monday, and host the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC divisional round game scheduled for Sunday night. A similar storm last weekend led to the Bills playoff opener against Pittsburgh being moved from Sunday to Monday.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons for their head coaching vacancy, his second interview in two days. The Falcons announced the interview with Harbaugh, who has interest in a return to the NFL after leading Michigan to the national championship. The Los Angeles Chargers announced Monday that Harbaugh had interviewed for their head coaching vacancy. Harbaugh was the San Francisco 49ers’ coach from 2011-14 before nine seasons at Michigan. The Falcons offered no details about the interview with Harbaugh. Harbaugh is the second high-profile candidate to talk with the Falcons this week, following the team’s interview with Bill Belichick on Monday.
Looking out at Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains from his new football offices, Jedd Fisch saw a place that can consistently contend for championships. The 47-year-old Fisch left Arizona to take the Washington job after Kalen DeBoer left the Huskies to replace Nick Saban at Alabama. Washington is coming off a trip to the national championship game under DeBoer, who went 25-3 over two success-filled seasons in Seattle. The task for Fisch is trying to continue what DeBoer accomplished as the Huskies transition to the Big Ten and college football expands to a 12-team playoff.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Syracuse 68 Pittsburgh 59
Arthur Kaluma converted a four-point play to give Kansas State the lead with 20 seconds left in overtime, and Tylor Perry added a pair of free throws with 6.9 seconds to go, helping the Wildcats beat No. 9 Baylor 68-64 on Tuesday night. The Bears led 64-59 with just over a minute left before Kansas State scored the final nine points of the game. Perry and Cam Carter finished with 18 points apiece for the Wildcats, and Kaluma had 12. Langston Love had 15 points and Jalen Bridges scored 11 to lead the Bears.
UCLA's star big men during a run of seven straight NCAA championships had a massive impact on the history of The Associated Press men's college basketball poll. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, and Bill Walton were the biggest stars of that run from 1967-73. That included 81 weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll, including four wire-to-wire stays at the top. The AP is marking the 75th anniversary of the poll this month. Other top players who had a big impact on the rankings included San Francisco's Bill Russell, Indiana State's Larry Bird and Duke's Christian Laettner.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Caitlin Clark scored 32 points, moving into fourth place on the all-time women’s basketball scoring list, as No. 2 Iowa defeated Wisconsin 96-50 on Tuesday. Clark now has 3,306 career points, moving past Baylor’s Brittney Griner (3,283 points) on the all-time list with the first of two free throws with 7:02 left in the first half. Kate Martin had 16 points and Sydney Affolter had 12 for the Hawkeyes (18-1, 7-0 Big Ten), who extended their winning streak to 15 games. Serah Williams had 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Badgers (8-9, 1-6).
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff are through to the third round at the Australian Open along with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva. Three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur lost 6-0, 6-2 in 54 minutes to Andreeva in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena. Two other 16-year-old players lost their center court matches to highly-ranked players: Sabalenka beat Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-2 to open the night session after Beatriz Haddad Maia accounted for Alina Korneeva 6-1, 6-2. Caroline Wozniacki led Maria Tomafeeva by a set and a break before going down 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
NWSL
The Chicago Red Stars have signed U.S. team forward Mallory Swanson to a historic four-year contract with an option for a fifth year, the longest ever deal in the National Women’s Soccer League. Financial terms of the deal were not made public, although the team called it the “most lucrative agreement” in league history. CBS Sports reported it was worth some $400,000 per year for nearly $2 million over the length of the contract.
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