NBA
Julius Randle scored 31 points, Jalen Brunson added 30 in his return from a two-game absence and the New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets 109-94 last night. Brunson missed two games because of bruised left calf and Randle struggled without his point guard in a loss to Orlando on Monday, shooting 5 for 18 for 15 points. But the offense was flowing nicely again in the second half Wednesday, when the Knicks pulled away after leading by two at halftime. OG Anunoby had 15 points for the Knicks, who with the victory on coach Tom Thibodeau’s 66th birthday reached the halfway point of their schedule at 24-17.
Anfernee Simons hit the winning layup with 0.2 seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 105-103 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Simons finished with 20 points. Jerami Grant led the Blazers with 30 points and eight rebounds. Mikal Bridges scored 21 for the Nets but had to leave the game for a time in the second half after a collision. Spencer Dinwiddie added 19 points for Brooklyn, which lost its fourth straight.
Jayson Tatum scored 24 points to lead Boston to a 117-98 victory over San Antonio in Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama’s first game on the Celtics’ famous parquet floor. Jaylen Brown returned from a one-game absence to score 21. Wembanyama scored 10 points in the first quarter, when San Antonio kept it close. The French rookie finished with 27 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. The Spurs lost their third straight game. Jrue Holiday scored 22 points and Luke Kornet matched his season high with nine rebounds for the Celtics. Boston won its third game in a row and improved to 20-0 at home this season.
Brandon Ingram highlighted a 28-point performance with a career-best seven 3-pointers to go with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and the New Orleans Pelicans set a franchise record for 3s with 25 in a 132-112 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. CJ McCollum scored 22 points and hit four times from deep. Rookie guard Jordan Hawkins made six 3s and finished with 21 points for New Orleans, while Trey Murphy III hit five 3s and scored 18. LaMelo Ball had 29 points and Terry Rozier added 25 for Charlotte, which trailed most of the game and by 24 in the second half.
Anthony Davis finished an assist shy of a triple-double, D’Angelo Russell scored 29 points and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame Luka Doncic’s triple-double to beat the Dallas Mavericks 127-110 on Wednesday night. Returning after missing three games because of a sprained right ankle, Doncic had 33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in 33 minutes for his seventh triple-double of the season and 63rd overall. Davis had 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and added 12 rebounds and nine assists in 33 minutes. Russell led the Lakers in scoring for the seventh time this season and had five 3-pointers. LeBron James added 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to help the Lakers win for the fourth time in six games.
Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-high 28 points, RJ Barrett had 26 and the Toronto Raptors never trailed in a 121-97 win over the Miami Heat. Toronto led by 37 at one point despite playing without forward Pascal Siakam. The two-time All-NBA selection and two-time All-Star was traded to the Indiana Pacers. Scottie Barnes scored 20 points and Immanuel Quickley had 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Raptors. Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo all had 16 points for the Heat.
Donovan Mitchell had 31 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took advantage of Milwaukee being without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to extend their winning streak to a season-best six games by pounding the Bucks 135-95. Antetokounmpo sat with a bruised right shoulder. The two-time MVP is not expected to be out for an extended period. Cleveland took the Bucks out early, bolting to a 22-2 lead. The Cavs improved to 11-3 since losing starters Darius Garland and Evan Mobley with injuries. Damian Lillard had 17 points for the Bucks. Georges Niang added a career-high 33 points and Jarrett Allen 21 for the Cavs.
Dejounte Murray hit a 17-foot jumper as time expired to give the Atlanta Hawks a 106-104 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. After Paolo Banchero made a 3-pointer from a couple of feet beyond the arc to tie it at 104 with 8.4 seconds left, the Hawks inbounded to Murray and let him go to work. He dribbled down the left wing with Markelle Fultz, pulled up and swished the jumper to finish off a 26-point night. Murray untucked his jersey and stood defiantly in front of the cheering crowd before being mobbed by his teammates. Banchero led the Magic with 26 points.
Anthony Edwards had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 124-117 win against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, who beat the Wizards on Monday, are 2-35 after winning two of their first three games, including a 28-game losing streak that matched the NBA record. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 27 points for Minnesota, which has won three straight. Jaden McDaniels had 23 points and Rudy Gobert added 19 points and 16 assists. Jaden Ivey scored 32 points for the Pistons, who were starting a six-game homestand without Cade Cunningham (knee). Bojan Bogdanovic had 20 points and Jalen Duren added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, ending a run of nearly eight years with the Toronto Raptors during which he was a two-time All-NBA selection, two-time All-Star and part of the team that won the 2019 NBA title. His next chapter: teaming up with Tyrese Haliburton on a Pacers team that started the day as the highest-scoring club in the NBA and now has even more offensive firepower for the second half of the season. It took Indiana three future first-round picks to get the deal done, but the Pacers also managed to hang on to their four leading scorers this season and add another star to the mix.
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević has died in Salt Lake City after suffering a heart attack. The 46-year-old was part of the staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship. He also was a mentor to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and a former star player in his native Serbia. Milojević was in his third season with the Warriors. He suffered the medical emergency during a private team dinner on Tuesday night. The NBA postponed Wednesday night's game between the Warriors and the Utah Jazz. The league did not immediately announce a rescheduled date.
Golden State at Utah 9 p.m. (Postponed)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Cole Caufield put in a rebound with 4:31 to play and the Montreal Canadiens beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 after squandering a two-goal lead early in the third period. Juraj Slafkovsky and Joshua Roy also scored as the Canadiens won their second straight and improved to 4-2-2 in their last eight games. Sam Montembeault made 28 saves. Luke Hughes and Alexander Holtz scored power-play goals for New Jersey in the opening 1:37 of the third to tie it. Nico Daws stopped 22 shots in his third consecutive start.
Dylan Larkin scored a power-play goal 1:09 into overtime and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Florida Panthers 3-2, snapping a 10-game losing streak in the head-to-head series. Michael Rasmussen and Robby Fabbri scored in regulation for the Red Wings, who are 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Alex Lyon made 32 saves against his former team. Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling scored for the Panthers, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves. Florida has lost a season-high three straight (0-1-2).
Chicago at Buffalo 7:30 p.m. (Postponed)
NFL
Mike McCarthy will get another chance to end a nearly three-decade stretch without a deep playoff run for the Dallas Cowboys. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones says McCarthy will be back for a fifth season as coach after a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay. The Cowboys were the first No. 2 seed to lose to the last team to get in since the 14-team format was adopted in 2020. They haven't been past the divisional round since the 1995 season. That was when Dallas won the last of the storied franchise's five Super Bowl titles. Jones says there is “great benefit” to the continuity of bringing McCarthy back.
The manufacturer of the helmet that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shattered during their AFC wild-card game with Miami says it “did its job” by protecting him on a helmet-to-helmet collision Saturday night. The game was the fourth-coldest in NFL history. The temperature at kickoff was minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, and winds gusting to more than 25 mph made the wind chill approach minus-30 during the game. Certor Sports, which makes the VICIS helmet that Mahomes was wearing, said the extreme conditions “are bound to test the limits of even the highest-performing products.” But the helmet still protected the NFL MVP.
Patrick Mahomes will be hitting the road for the first time in the playoffs when the Kansas City Chiefs visit the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round Sunday night. His previous 15 playoff games have been played at Arrowhead Stadium. In fact, Mahomes has only played in Buffalo once, winning a 2020 game during the pandemic in which the stadium was largely empty. Mahomes and the Chiefs have ended Buffalo's season twice in the past three years. The first came in the AFC championship game in the 2020 season, and the other the following year when they made a late field goal that tied the game and Kansas City won in overtime.
Eight teams remain. Four games to determine the NFL’s Final Four. Plenty of story lines. Josh Allen and the Bills have a third chance to get their first playoff win over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers hit the road to get respect from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Lamar Jackson and the No. 1 seed Ravens aim to change their playoff narrative when they host C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans. The No. 1 seed 49ers and the Green Bay Packers renew their playoff rivalry with two new quarterbacks leading the way this time around.
Neither frigid blowing winds, the prospect of another 2 feet of snow being dumped on the region nor an Erie County-imposed travel ban could prevent the Buffalo Bills from showing up for practice. Bills coach Sean McDermott credited snow removal crews for having the roads clear, and also got a break with the storm moving north. Buffalo is already facing a short week in preparing to host the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional round playoff game on Sunday. Buffalo lost a day after a snowstorm pushed back its playoff opener against Pittsburgh from Sunday to Monday. The second storm in less than a week is not expected to affect Buffalo's game against Kansas City.
Kyle Juszczyk remembers the different feel when he took the field for the first time in the playoff rivalry between his San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. Two storied franchises with rich traditions that produced big stars facing off against each other on the playoff stage. The teams are set to meet for the third time in the past five postseasons on Saturday night in the divisional round. The Packers visit the 49ers in the record-setting 10th playoff meeting between the franchises. The teams that have combined for nine Super Bowl titles will meet with a spot in NFC championship game on the line.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek has escaped with a narrow 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over 2022 runner-up Collins to advance to the third round of the Australian Open. Swiatek was up a set and a break before the American player rallied to take the second set and race to a 4-1 lead in the third. Swiatek absorbed the sustained pressure from Collins’ powerful groundstrokes until she regained momentum and went on a match-winning five-game roll. Fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Clara Burel. Last year’s runner-up Elena Rybakina and two-time men’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev were both due to play in the night session.
FOOTBALL
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will not sign a proposed ban on tackle football for kids under 12. A bill to gradually phase out tackle football for kids under 12 had passed a legislative committee last week. The bill had to pass the state Assembly by the end of January to have a chance at becoming law this year. But Newsom's pledge not to sign the bill into law effectively ends the proposal's chances. Advocates say the ban would protect kids from the risk of brain injury. But opponents say the ban would have cut off kids from a source of activity and exercise.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Loyola 79 UMass 78
UConn 62 Creighton 48
Suffolk 75 Hartford 67
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Loyola 79 UMass 66
UConn 83 Seton Hall 59
Hartford 67 Suffolk 57
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