NBA
Luka Doncic had 39 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 122-108 victory over the New York Knicks, who had just seven players in the second half because of injuries and trades. Former Knicks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. added 19 points and Derrick Jones Jr. had 18 for the Mavericks, who won their third straight after making a pair of trades earlier Thursday to land big men P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. Kyrie Irving finished with 16 points. Donte DiVincenzo scored 36 points for the Knicks, who have lost two of three following a nine-game winning streak.
Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the short-handed Brooklyn Nets 118-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight victory and 16th in 17 games. Evan Mobley added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Darius Garland also scored 14 points. Cleveland shot 53% from the field and had a 45-33 rebounding edge. Mikal Bridges led Brooklyn with 26 points in its third straight loss. Cam Thomas added 17. The Nets were busy Thursday at the trade deadline. They sent Spencer Dinwiddie to Toronto for Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young, and moved Royce O’Neale to Phoenix for Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin and two second-round picks. They also acquired the rights to Vanja Marinkovic from Memphis.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets have traded starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie to the Toronto Raptors, who are waiving him. The Nets acquired Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young from Toronto, though they waived Young to complete a three-team trade later Thursday with Phoenix and Memphis. Dinwiddie was in his second stint with the Nets, having been acquired from Dallas before last year’s trade deadline in the deal for Kyrie Irving. He started 48 games this season, averaging 12.6 points and 6.0 assists. He will likely find another team to sign with once he clears waivers.
Stephen Curry made his first seven 3-pointers and scored 29 of his 42 points in the first half in the Golden State Warriors’ 131-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night. A night after scoring just nine points at Philadelphia, Curry as 15 of 22 from the field, had a season-high 11 3s on 16 attempts and had his fifth 40-point game of the season. The Warriors have won three straight and went 4-1 on a five-game trip. Pascal Siakam had 16 points and eight rebounds for Indiana. Myles Turner added 15 points and seven rebounds, while All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton struggled offensively, scoring five points in 26 minutes. He did have 11 assists.
Franz Wagner scored 34 points and the Orlando Magic weathered a 30-point second half by San Antonio’s Devin Vassell to beat the Spurs 127-111. After going scoreless in the first half, Vassell hit all nine of his shots in a 23-point third quarter, helping the Spurs get within 10 points after trailing by 23. But the Magic put the game away with an 8-0 run early in the fourth. Jalen Suggs added 17 points for the Magic and Paolo Banchero had 16. Rookie Victor Wembanyama finished with 15 points for the Spurs, who lost their sixth straight.
Anthony Edwards had 26 points and nine assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves shot 21 of 41 from 3-point range to trounce the slumping Milwaukee Bucks 129-105. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 19 points, Mike Conley added 18, Naz Reid 17 and Rudy Gobert 16 as the Timberwolves spoiled new Bucks coach Doc Rivers' home debut. Rivers opened his Milwaukee coaching tenure with a five-game trip in which the Bucks went 1-4. Milwaukee's Damian Lillard missed a second straight game and Khris Middleton also was out because of their sprained ankles. A.J. Green scored a career-high 27 points for the Bucks.
DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, Andre Drummond added 21 points and 13 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 118-110. Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Coby White also scored 20 for the Bulls, who won their second straight and third of four. Drummond went 10 of 11 from the field. Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 28 points for the Grizzlies before fouling out in the fourth quarter. GG Jackson added 27 points and Santi Aldama scored 15. Vince Williams Jr. had 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for Memphis, which lost its seventh straight.
Kevin Durant scored 31 points, Bradley Beal had 30 and the Phoenix Suns — with All-Star Devin Booker sidelined by a sore left hip — beat the Utah Jazz 129-115 on Thursday night. The Suns never trailed, winning their third straight game and 12th of 15. They also swept the four-game, regular-season series from the Jazz. Eric Gordon scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Jusuf Nurkic had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Grayson Allen added eight points and a career-high 14 assists. The Suns shot 59% from the field. Lauri Markkanen led Utah with 22 points, while John Collins had 21 and Collin Sexton 19.
Jamal Murray scored 29 points, Michael Porter Jr. added 27 and the Denver Nuggets snapped the Los Angeles Lakers’ three-game winning streak with a 114-106 victory. Three hours before the game, the Lakers unveiled a 19-foot-tall bronze statue of Kobe Bryant outside their downtown arena. Nikola Jokic had 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists for the defending NBA champion Nuggets, who opened a three-game road trip with their third straight win and eighth in 10 games. Anthony Davis scored 32 points and LeBron James had 25 for the Lakers, whose longest winning streak since the In-Season Tournament ended.
Jalen Duren had 27 points and 21 rebounds and the Detroit Pistons won consecutive games for the first time since October, overcoming Jerami Grant’s career-high 49 points to beat Portland 128-122 in overtime Thursday night. Jaden Ivey added 26 points and Cade Cunningham had 23 to help the NBA-worst Pistons improve to 8-43. They beat Sacramento 133-120 on Wednesday night, then rallied from 23 points down to top Portland. Anfernee Simons added 29 points for Trail Blazers. Detroit’s other consecutive victories came in a back-to-back at Charlotte and home against Chicago in the second and third games of the season. The Pistons followed that by losing 28 in a row to tie the NBA record.
The New York Knicks have acquired some needed scoring punch in Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic from the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks sent Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks to the Pistons on Thursday before the NBA's trade deadline. The Knicks are playing without their entire starting frontcourt of All-Star Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson and have been looking for replacements. They found them in Bogdanovic, a reliable outside shooter, and Burks, who played well in a previous stint with the Knicks.
OG Anunoby has undergone right elbow surgery and the New York Knicks say the starting forward will miss at least three more weeks. The Knicks said Thursday that Anunoby had a loose bone fragment removed from his elbow in the procedure. They didn’t say when it was performed and coach Tom Thibodeau said he didn’t know Anunoby’s acquisition from Toronto sent the Knicks soaring up the standings, as they went 14-2 in January after he made his debut in the starting lineup on New Year’s Day. But he has missed the last five games with what the team originally called right elbow inflammation before changing it to bone spur inflammation in their injury report.
The Los Angeles Lakers have unveiled a statue of Kobe Bryant, honoring their late superstar with a 19-foot bronze likeness outside their downtown arena. The 4,000-pound statue depicts Bryant in his white No. 8 jersey with his right index finger raised as he walked off the court following his 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in January 2006. The statue was unveiled at a ceremony attended by dozens of Lakers greats and hundreds of season ticket holders. His widow Vanessa Bryant spoke at the ceremony after remarks from owner Jeanie Buss, former teammate Derek Fisher, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and longtime Lakers coach Phil Jackson.
Bojan Bogdanovic left Detroit to join a now even-more-formidable contender in New York. Gordon Hayward is leaving Charlotte for one of the NBA's best surprise stories this season in Oklahoma City. Doug McDermott was once traded by Indiana to San Antonio, and now, the Spurs have traded him back to the Pacers. None of those shooters were making playoff plans when Thursday started. Trade deadline day in the NBA gave them and plenty of other players an entirely new outlook, plus might have even reshaped the start of the playoff push as well.
NHL
Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat each had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders surged past the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri, Ryan Pulock and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders, who won their second in a row since coming out of the All-Star break. Ilya Sorokin finished with 16 saves and recorded his 16th win of the season. Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel scored for Tampa Bay, but the Lightning lost their second consecutive game. Jonas Johansson made 18 saves.
Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen scored short-handed in the first period, and the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams. Linus Ullmark stopped 17 shots for his first shutout of the season. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also scored, and Charlie Coyle set up both short-handed goals as the Bruins bounced back from a 4-1 loss to Calgary at home Tuesday. It was the eighth victory in 10 games for Boston, which tied Vancouver atop the league standings with 73 points. Thatcher Demko made 21 saves for the Canucks, but his nine-game winning streak was snapped. Vancouver had won 10 of 12, with one loss coming in overtime and the other in a shootout.
Travis Konecny had a goal, an assist and a fight in the first period — known as a “Gordie Howe hat trick” — to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the slumping Winnipeg Jets. Morgan Frost added a goal and an assist and Ryan Poehling and Tyson Foerster also scored for the Flyers, who have won both games since the All-Star break after losing five in a row. Samuel Ersson made 28 saves. Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who have dropped five straight with the loss Thursday night. Laurent Brossoit had 16 saves.
Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves, Connor Zary and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist and the Calgary Flames defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-3 for their third straight win. Mikael Backlund, Kevin Rooney and Andrei Kuzmenko also scored for Calgary. Defenseman Noah Hanifan had two assists for the Flames, whose winning streak comes after a four-game skid. Ondrej Palat scored twice, Nico Hischier also had a goal and Jesper Bratt had three assists for New Jersey.
Ryan Lomberg scored the game-winning goal with 6:52 to go and the Florida Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals 4-2. The goal was his first since Nov. 14, snapping a 35-game drought with a quick shot from the slot off of a feed from Dmitry Kulikov. It gave the Panthers their fifth win in six games. Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots. Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington.
Martin Necas posted a natural hat trick in the first 17 minutes, the first three-goal game of his career, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 despite changing goalies twice. Carolina led 3-0 with 3:09 remaining in the first period thanks to Necas, whose hat trick was the fastest to begin a game in franchise history. Michael Bunting and Seth Jarvis also scored and Teuvo Teravainen had a career-high four assists for the Hurricanes. Zach Parise, a recent free-agent acquisition, and Samuel Girard scored in a seven-second span in the final minute of the first period for Colorado.
Jonathan Marchessault scored 19 seconds into the game, Adin Hill made 20 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2. Marchessault, Nicolas Hague and Chandler Stephenson had goals in the first 6:17 for the Golden Knights, who have won seven of nine and have points in eight of those. Jason Zucker and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who were playing for the first time since Jan. 27. They have lost four in a row. Hill is 4-0 and has given up seven goals since returning from a lower-body injury suffered Dec. 17. Connor Ingram allowed the Knights’ three goals and was replaced by Karel Vejmelka, who stopped 28 shots.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UAlbany 60 Binghamton 52
Marist 67 Siena 51
Iona 74 Niagara 71
NJIT 63 UVM 61
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Binghamton 69 UAlbany 57
Siena 74 Iona 57
Syracuse 62 Georgia 59
UVM 76 NJIT 51
NFL
Lamar Jackson was a near-unanimous choice for his second AP NFL Most Valuable Player award announced at NFL Honors on Thursday night. Christian McCaffrey ran away with the AP Offensive Player of the Year award. Myles Garrett beat out T.J. Watt for the AP Defensive Player of the Year award. C.J. Stroud won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award in a landslide. Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. The Browns took home four awards. Quarterback Joe Flacco was AP Comeback Player of the Year. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski edged DeMeco Ryans for AP Coach of the Year honors by one first-place vote. Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year award.
Millions of Americans will find something to be excited about when it comes to Super Bowl Sunday. That’s before even factoring in the influence of Taylor Swift. Four in 10 U.S. adults are extremely or very excited for at least one part of the Super Bowl day’s festivities. That could be the game, commercials, halftime show or the Puppy Bowl, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Kansas City Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.
When the Super Bowl was in the balance in the fourth quarter a year ago, coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs put a twist on their frequent pre-snap motion. That led to two wide-open touchdown passes that helped the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 for a Super Bowl title. Kansas City returns to the big stage to take on San Francisco in a game that should feature players on the move at the snap at a staggering rate based on how Reid and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan use motion to create mismatches for their offenses.
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
First-time candidate Julius Peppers headlines the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class that has a distinctive defensive feel. The star defensive end was joined by another elite pass rusher in Dwight Freeney and do-everything linebacker Patrick Willis in the modern era category announced Thursday night. Prolific receiver Andre Johnson and dynamic returner Devin Hester also got voted into the Hall from the group of 15 finalists. Two more defensive players got in on the senior category, with linebacker Randy Gradishar and defensive tackle Steve McMichael getting the necessary 80% support.
PHOENIX OPEN
Sahith Theegala returned from a lengthy weather delay to finish off a 6-under 65, taking the early lead in the unfinished first round of the Phoenix Open. Five days after weather shortened the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to 54 holes, storms followed the PGA Tour to the desert. A chilly morning gave way to wind and heavy rain that left pools of water on the greens at TPC Scottsdale. The Stadium Course was deemed unplayable around noon, leading to a delay of 3 1/2 hours. About half the field was able to finish the first round. Andrew Novak was 5 under through nine holes. S.H. Kim and Shane Lowry each shot 67.
OLYMPICS
A former Olympian and longtime track coach will spend as much 11 years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexually molesting young boys in the 1970s while working at a sports camp in western Massachusetts. Conrad Mainwaring, who was a hurdler for Antigua and Barbuda in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child over 14 and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Berkshire Superior Court. Mainwaring, a Los Angeles resident and United Kingdom national, was accused of molesting campers from 1975 to 1979 while working as a counselor at Camp Greylock in Becket.
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