NBA
The Houston Rockets got a win over the New York Knicks Monday night thanks to a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining from a foul call officials admitted they got wrong. Aaron Holiday had 18 points, capped by the free throws after a disputed foul call by Jalen Brunson behind the 3-point line, to lift the Houston Rockets to a 105-103 victory. Precious Achiuwa blocked a short shot by Jalen Green and Holiday grabbed the ball beyond the arc and shot it as Brunson rushed out at him. After the game, crew chief Ed Malloy said that in live action they believed “the lower body contact was illegal contact.” But their opinion changed after seeing the replay.
Buddy Hield scored 24 points in his third game for Philadelphia, Kelly Oubre Jr. also had 24 and the 76ers halted Cleveland’s nine-game winning streak, hanging on for a 123-121 victory over the Cavaliers. The Cavs nearly rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 1:25. They had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Darius Garland missed a 3-pointer from the right corner. All-Star Tyrese Maxey added 22 points for the Sixers, who won for just the third time in 11 games. Hield was acquired last week by the Sixers, who are trying to stay afloat without Joel Embiid. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 36 points. Cleveland is 22-5 since Dec. 16.
Miles Bridges had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Indiana Pacers 111-102 to improve to 2-0 since the arrival of five new players via trade. Newcomers Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Tre Mann and Vasilije Micic added an offensive spark for the Hornets, who finished with 27 assists on Monday night. Williams led the team with 21 points and Curry scored 18 off the bench. Mann got the start and finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Myles Turner had 22 points and Aaron Nesmith scored 21 for the Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Victor Wembanyama has his second triple-double — and his first with blocks. The San Antonio rookie blocked a shot by Toronto’s Gradey Dick with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter on Monday night, giving him the NBA’s first triple-double with blocked shots as one of the categories in more than three years. It was the first triple-double with blocks since Clint Capela had 13 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks for Atlanta against Minnesota on Jan. 22, 2021. That had also been the last time anyone in the NBA blocked 10 shots in a game.
Ayo Dosunmu had a career-high 29 points and added seven assists to help the Chicago Bulls post a season-high score and beat the Atlanta Hawks 136-126. DeMar DeRozan also had 29 points and Nikola Vucevic finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Coby White added 20 points and seven assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks off the bench. Bogdanovic had 28 points and Hunter scored 23. Trae Young had 19 points, but was 2 for 10 from 3-point range. The win kept Chicago two games in front of the Hawks for the No. 9 seed in the East.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 36 points, 18 rebounds and five assists as the Milwaukee Bucks showcased their improved defense by trouncing the Denver Nuggets 112-95. The Bucks have recorded two straight lopsided victories after losing five of their first six games under new coach Doc Rivers. The Bucks avenged a 113-107 loss at Denver that marked Rivers' debut with Milwaukee. Nikola Jokic had 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets. Denver's Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left early with injuries.
Luka Doncic had his 10th triple-double of the season despite missing five minutes of action after taking a charge and helped rally the Dallas Mavericks to a 112-104 win over the Washington Wizards. Doncic finished with 26 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds. Kyrie Irving scored 26 points for the Mavericks, who have a season-best five-game win streak. Deni Avdija scored 25 points to tie a career high, and Kyle Kuzma added 23 for the Wizards, who have lost seven straight.
Stephen Curry made a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left and the Golden State Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns 113-112 on Saturday night for their sixth victory in seven games. With the Warriors down 112-110 and 3.3 seconds to play, Curry caught the inbounds pass from Brandin Podziemski, turned and hit a 33-footer for his ninth 3-pointer of the night. He had 30 points. Devin Booker led Phoenix with 32 points, and Kevin Durant had 24. The Suns had two chances after Curry’s 3-pointer, but Booker was fouled under the basket and the first and Durant couldn’t get a shot off on the second.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points, Anthony Edwards added 23 and the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away in the second half for a 121-100 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Western Conference. Rudy Gobert had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Timberwolves (37-16) remained atop the Western Conference with their third win in the last four games. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 18 points apiece and James Harden added 17. George became the Clippers career 3-point leader with 7:23 remaining in the third quarter with his 739th to surpass Eric Piatkowski.
Trey Murphy III scored 24 points and the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Portland Trail Blazers 93-84 on Saturday night for their fifth victory in six games. Brandon Ingram added 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds, and Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and nine rebounds to help New Orleans rebound from a loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. The Pelicans were without Zion Williamson because of a bruised left foot. Jerami Grant led Portland with 24 points, and Deandre Ayton had 18 points and 17 rebounds. Dalano Banton scored 12 points in his first game with the Trail Blazers after coming over from Boston at the trade deadline.
NHL
Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots for his first shutout of the season and the New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames 2-0 for their fifth straight win. Will Cuylle and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers, who are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Shesterkin got his 12th career shutout and second straight win to improve to 21-12-1 on the season. Jacob Markstrom finished with 29 saves as the Flames snapped a four-game win streak.
Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist for his first points since being injured in early January, Nico Daws made 27 saves and the New Jersey Devils beat Seattle 3-1 on Monday night, handing the Kraken their third-straight loss. Tyler Toffoli and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey. The Devils have allowed one regulation goal in the last two games, losing to Carolina 1-0 on Saturday. Defenseman Will Borgen scored halfway through the third period to deny Daws his first career shutout and the Devils’ first of the season. Joey Daccord kept the Kraken in the game, making 34 saves.
Travis Konecny had a goal and two assists, Scott Laughton added a goal and an assist and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 for their fourth straight win. Morgan Frost, Jamie Drysdale and Owen Tippett also scored for the Flyers, whose winning streak has come following the All-Star break. Philadelphia, third in the Metropolitan Division, entered the break on a five-game losing streak. Sam Ersson made 20 saves. Matt Dumba, Matias Maccelli and Alex Kerfoot scored for Arizona, which has lost six in a row, including three straight since the All-Star break. The Coyotes’ last win came on Jan. 22. Karel Vejmelka finished with 29 saves.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 for their third straight win. Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy also scored to help Minnesota win for the sixth time in eight games. Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves. Jonathan Marchessault, Michael Amadio and Mark Stone scored for Vegas, while Adin Hill stopped 24 shots. One night after the Super Bowl became the most-watched program in television history up the road at Allegiant Stadium, a sellout crowd of 18,207 inside T-Mobile Arena saw the defending champion Golden Knights lose just their third home game in 2024. The loss spoiled Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s 1,000th career game. Pietrangelo had two assists.
NFL
The longest Super Bowl game will also go down as the most-watched program in television history. According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, Kansas City’s 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco averaged 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That shattered last year’s mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City’s last-play victory over Philadelphia and is a 7% increase. The game was televised by CBS, Nickelodeon and Univision and streamed on Paramount+ as well as the NFL’s digital platforms. Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted, with out-of-home viewers from all 50 states included for the first time.
This was supposed to be the year the Kansas City Chiefs were beatable. They had holes in their roster, they played poorly midway through the season, they had to go on the road for the playoffs and navigated perhaps the toughest road to the Super Bowl in history. Yet they won anyway. And with their third Lombardi Trophy in four trips over a five-year span, the Chiefs made it difficult to argue that they are anything but a modern NFL dynasty. They are the first repeat Super Bowl champions in two decades, and the first team ever to win consecutive titles as underdogs.
Kansas City will be turning red on Valentine's Day as the Chiefs celebrate their come-from-behind overtime Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers with a parade. School cancellation announcements began just minutes after Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs became the first team since the New England Patriots with Tom Brady two decades ago to successfully defend their title. Parades are becoming commonplace in Kansas City with the Chiefs winning their third Super Bowl in five seasons. But this time, people are wondering if pop superstar Taylor Swift will attend with her boyfriend, Kelce. Swift has a concert in Australia on Friday.
The Dallas Cowboys have settled on a coaching reunion by deciding to bring back Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator to replace Dan Quinn. Zimmer is rejoining the Cowboys 18 years after serving in the same role with Dallas. He had an eight-year stint as head coach in Minnesota. The Cowboys and Zimmer came to an agreement Monday. The Cowboys had an opening after Quinn accepted the head coaching job in Washington. Mike McCarthy will be the fifth Cowboys coach that Zimmer will work for with Dallas.
MLB
Money can buy lots of things, including Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a pair of Japanese superstars that set the Los Angeles Dodgers back more than $1 billion. Now the journey begins to see if it’ll buy them a championship. Major League Baseball’s spring training opens for 28 of 30 teams over the next few days, with pitchers and catchers reporting to sites in Arizona and Florida. The Dodgers and San Diego Padres are already in camp, getting a head start because they’ll open the regular season on March 20 in Seoul, South Korea.
Jen Pawol is on the verge of becoming Major League Baseball’s first woman umpire. The 47-year-old from New Jersey was among 24 umpires selected to work a full-time big league spring training schedule this year. That put her on track to become the first woman to umpire a regular-season big league baseball game. Pawol is set to work her first major league exhibition game on Feb. 24 when Houston plays Washington at West Palm Beach, Florida. She also was promoted to a minor league crew chief.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Former UCLA great DeShaun Foster was named head coach to take over the Bruins' football program after Chip Kelly left to become offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Foster has been a Bruins assistant the past seven years but left last month to become the Las Vegas Raiders' running backs coach. This will be Foster’s first head coaching job after 11 years of being an assistant in college, including 10 at UCLA. He was the running backs coach at Texas Tech in 2016.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Darrion Williams scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-12 shooting, including four of Texas Tech’s 10 3-pointers, and the Red Raiders never trailed in a 79-50 win over sixth-ranked Kansas. Williams also had 11 rebounds. He hit a 3-pointer on the first shot of the game by the 18-6 Red Raiders. Kansas dropped to 19-6, and played its second game in a row without Big 12 leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. Jayhawks coach Bill Self was ejected with 5:49 remaining after getting two technical fouls. Nicolas Timberlake and Johnny Furphy each had 13 points for Kansas.
© 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
