NBA
Jaylen Brown scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics earned their ninth straight win, powering past the Philadelphia 76ers 117-99. Jayson Tatum added 29 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to help the NBA-leading Celtics post their 25th consecutive home win over an Eastern Conference opponent. Boston won despite connecting on just 5-of-22 3-pointers and committing 14 turnovers. Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 32 points and five assists. The 76ers cut a 14-point deficit to 11 entering the fourth and made another surge to trim Boston’s lead down to 91-89 with 8:49 to play. The Celtics responded with 17 straight points, including eight from Tatum.
Trey Murphy III scored 26 points, Brandon Ingram had 24 and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the New York Knicks 115-92 on Tuesday night. Zion Williamson added 21 points for the Pelicans. Donte DiVincenzo led the Knicks with 23 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 off the bench. Jalen Brunson (neck spasms) and Isaiah Hartenstein (Achilles tendinopathy) did not play for the Knicks, who are still without starters Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson.
Franz Wagner scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half and the Orlando Magic rolled to a 108-81 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Moritz Wagner added 16 points and five rebounds. Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony scored 12 points each off the bench for Orlando. Dennis Schroder scored 15 points in his third start for the Nets. Trendon Watford had 14 points and eight rebounds. All-Star forward Paolo Banchero, Orlando’s leading scorer, missed his second straight game with an illness after playing in the team’s first 57 games.
Klay Thompson scored 25 points on a forgettable evening for Stephen Curry, Chris Paul demonstrated his value to the Warriors in his first game in seven weeks, and Golden State beat the Washington Wizards 123-112. Curry was held scoreless in the first half for the first time in the regular season since Nov. 23, 2012. He missed his first seven shots, six from 3-point range — and three of them airballs. Curry finished with 18 points and shot 4 of 16 on 3-pointers while the rest of the Warriors went 17 for 30 from beyond the arc. Tyus Jones had a career-high 17 assists for the Wizards, whose season-long skid reached 12 games.
Max Strus drilled a 59-footer as time expired, his fifth made 3-pointer in the final four minutes, to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a wild 121-119 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night. After the Mavericks took the lead on P.J. Washington’s dunk with 2.9 seconds left, the Cavs quickly inbounded the ball Evan Mobley, who passed back to Strus — who made four 3s in a span of 67 seconds down the stretch to keep Cleveland close. Strus then took a dribble before launching his shot from well beyond mid-court. As it swished through the net, Strus was tackled to the floor by teammates as the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd erupted.
Jalen Johnson scored 22 points with 13 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks never trailed after scoring the first 12 points and beat the Utah Jazz 124-97. The Hawks have won two straight games after losing All-Star point guard Trae Young for at least four weeks with a torn ligament in his left pinky finger. Dejounte Murray, who has taken over primary ball-handling duties, scored 17 points with 11 assists. Collin Sexton led Utah with 22 points. John Collins scored only five points in his first appearance in Atlanta since being traded to the Jazz in 2023.
Anthony Edwards scored 34 points, returning from an injury scare right before halftime, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-105 without All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns missed the game due to personal reasons. Earlier in the day, Towns memorialized a high school teammate on Instagram. Minnesota coach Chris Finch said before the game that he hoped Towns would only miss one game. Rudy Gobert, back after missing a game with a left ankle sprain, added 13 points and 17 rebounds for the Timberwolves in his latest matchup with fellow French countryman Victor Wembanyama, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points, Damian Lillard had 23 points and Bobby Portis scored 21 as the Milwaukee Bucks pounded the Charlotte Hornets 123-85 for their most lopsided victory of the season. Milwaukee rolled to a 58-26 lead at the break by holding Charlotte to the lowest point total any team had produced in a half all season. This represented the second-lowest point total the Bucks had ever allowed in the first half of a game, behind only the 25 they yielded in a 94-81 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on March 3, 1972. Miles Bridges scored 17 points for the Hornets.
Cade Cunningham scored 26 points and the Detroit Pistons stopped a six-game losing streak with a 105-95 win over the Chicago Bulls. Owners of the NBA’s worst record, the Pistons bounced back from a heated loss at New York the previous night and picked up just their ninth win of the season despite big efforts by Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond. Detroit went on an 12-2 run in the fourth quarter to stretch a one-point lead into a 101-90 advantage. Simone Fontecchio scored 17, and Jaden Ivey finished with 15 points, helping the Pistons beat the Bulls for just the second time in 18 games. Vucevic had 25 points and 10 rebounds. DeRozan scored 25. Drummond added 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Jimmy Butler had 22 points and nine assists, Terry Rozier scored 19 points and the Miami Heat beat the Portland Trail Blazers 106-96 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win. Rozier was one of three players returning to the Miami lineup, playing in his first game since sustaining a knee injury on Feb. 11 against Boston. Butler and Nikola Jovic both made their returns after serving a one-game suspension for their roles in an on-court altercation in New Orleans on Feb. 23. Anfernee Simons scored 26 points for the Blazers, who led by 15 points. Jerami Grant had 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Houston Rockets 112-95 for their sixth straight win. Jalen Williams had 24 points and Chet Holmgren added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who held Houston to 38.9% shooting. Oklahoma City is tied with Minnesota for the best record in the Western Conference. Alperen Sengun had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Jabari Smith Jr. added 18 points and 13 boards for the Rockets. Houston also lost to the Thunder two nights earlier.
NHL
Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and had an assist in his return from injury and the Florida Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. Tkachuk gave Florida a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal with 4:24 to go in the first period and the team never relinquished it to win for the eighth time in nine games and move into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with the idle Boston Bruins. Both teams have 82 points. Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists for Florida. Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres, who had won three in a row.
Nico Hischier had a goal and three assists, Jack Hughes added a goal and two assists, and the New Jersey Devils beat the San Jose Sharks 7-2. New Jersey scored seven straight goals after falling behind 1-0 and improved to 16-10-2 on the road. The Devils, who had lost three of four, sit five points back of a playoff spot. Jesper Bratt, Kevin Bahl, Colin Miller, Brendan Smith and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey. Timo Meier had two assists in his return to San Jose. Nico Sturm and Justin Bailey scored for the Sharks.
Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink each scored a goal as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Tuesday night. Both Foerster and Brink had recently returned to the lineup and provided the Flyers with an offensive boost. The Flyers also got goals from three defensemen, Travis Sanheim, Sean Walker, and an empty-netter from Cam York in the third period. Noah Cates also added an empty-netter and goalie Samuel Ersson made 21 saves to earn the win. Nicholas Paul and Steven Stamkos each scored for the Lightning, who had their four-game road winning streak snapped. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots.
Twenty years ago, the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators set the NHL record for penalty minutes in a brawl-filled game. Since then, fighting has evolved to the point of being rare but not gone. Don’t expect it to be banned. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said fighting has a place in keeping down the temperature of games, and a bevy of rule changes and the salary cap have done their part to reduce the fisticuffs. There are still roughly 300 each season, or one every four to five games.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning were playing at the Wells Fargo Center partially in the dark on Tuesday. With the Flyers leading 1-0 and 13:43 remaining in the first period, a section of the building lost power and the game was stopped. The emergency lighting remained on, as did the lighting in about 75%of the building. After a nine-minute delay, the teams were instructed to resume play in lower lighting than usual.
Erik Karlsson scored the winning goal at 1:42 of overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to their third consecutive victory, 4-3 over the Vancouver Canucks. Rickard Rakell, with two goals, and Lars Eller added the others for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 32 saves between regulation and overtime. J.T. Miller, with a goal and an assist, Nils Hoglander and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver with Tyler Myers grabbing an assist. Thatcher Demko stopped 36 shots. Sidney Crosby had two assists for the Penguins
Steve Yzerman’s patient plan to turn around the Detroit Red Wings looks like it may be paying off. The Red Wings routed Washington 8-3 on Tuesday night, winning six straight games for the first time in nearly five years with its first eight-goal game since 2017. Yzerman returned to Detroit in 2019 to take on the tall task of fixing a franchise that had fallen on hard times after being one of the league’s best for two-plus decades. If Detroit beats the New York Islanders on Thursday, it will have a seven-game winning streak for the first time since 2012.
Sam Montembeault made 36 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens snap their five-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. Joel Armia, Jordan Harris, Tanner Pearson and Nick Suzuki, with an empty-net goal, scored for Montreal. Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad scored for Arizona. Connor Ingram made 17 saves as Arizona’s losing streak was extended to 13 games.
Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist, William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Maple Leafs 6-2 to snap Toronto’s seven-game winning streak. Ivan Barbashev and Mason Morelli scored just over three minutes apart in the second period to build a 2-0 lead for Vegas, which got 28 saves from Adin Hill. Nicolas Roy added a late goal and Shea Theodore had three assists. Minus injured captain Mark Stone and center Jack Eichel, the Knights ended a three-game slide of their own. Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves scored for Toronto and Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots.
Sean Monahan scored a goal and added an assist after missing a game because of an illness to help the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 and extend their win streak to four games. Brenden Dillon, Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo also scored for Winnipeg, which has won seven of its last eight games. Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers each contributed two assists and Laurent Brossoit made 36 saves. Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues. St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer made his first start in his hometown and stopped 28 shots.
Stefan Noesen scored a goal with his face midway through the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Tuesday night. Jordan Staal had a goal and assist and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, which won for the first time in three games. Connor Dewar and Jonas Brodin scored for Minnesota, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 shots. Carolina goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves and has allowed just 13 goals in eight games played this month.
Roman Josi had two goals and an assist as the Nashville Predators extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Gustav Nyquist had a goal and two assists, Michael McCarron also scored and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. Drake Batherson scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves for Ottawa, which failed to record a shot on goal in the third period and lost for the second straight night after falling 6-3 at Washington on Monday.
Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 12:09 of the third period as the Calgary Flames earned their fourth straight win, 4-2, over the Los Angeles Kings. Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary, while Chris Tanev chipped in a pair of assists. Jacob Markstrom had 21 stops and an assist. Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala provided the offense for Los Angeles, which has dropped the first two of its three-game Western Canada road trip. Making his first start in four games, former Flame Cam Talbot had 33 saves for the Kings.
Andrew Cogliano and Nathan MacKinnon scored 49 seconds apart to help Colorado pull away in the second period, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 33 shots and the Avalanche cruised to a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars. MacKinnon also had an assist to give him at least a point in all 29 home games this season. Joel Kiviranta, Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen also had goals as Colorado scored five straight after falling behind 1-0 just 60 seconds into the game. The Stars were on the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. They looked strong early, with Logan Stankoven scoring a minute in.
MLB
Shohei Ohtani needed just three exhibition at-bats to show what a $700 million man can do for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Japanese star hit a two-run homer in his first game wearing Dodger blue, working a full count in the fifth inning before blasting an opposite field homer off righty Dominic Leone that just cleared the left-field wall. Ohtani was hitless in his first two plate appearances, striking out on four pitches in the first inning before hitting a hard grounder into a double play in the third.
Tampa Bay 4 N.Y. Yankees 2
N.Y. Mets 7 Miami 1
Boston 3 St. Louis 3
Pittsburgh 13 Atlanta 4
Philadelphia 3 Minnesota 3
Washington 10 Houston 3
Kansas City 4 Colorado 3
L.A. Angels 6 Milwaukee 4
San Diego 6 Kansas City 3
L.A. Dodgers 9 Chicago White Sox 6
Texas 10 Arizona 3
Seattle 10 San Francisco 10
Baltimore 5 Detroit 2
Detroit 6 Toronto 4
Oakland 11 Cleveland 2
Cincinnati 6 Chicago Cubs 6
NFL
The Chicago Bears already faced this decision once — keep quarterback Justin Fields or start anew with the No. 1 overall pick. A year ago, they stuck with Fields and traded the pick to Carolina. And what they do this time could have a serious impact on how the draft goes as well as what other teams do with quarterbacks they could deal. The list could include teams with the first four picks — Chicago, Washington, New England and Arizona. It could even include teams such as the New York Giants, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid walked to the podium Tuesday in Indianapolis with a message that went beyond the football world. He paid tribute to the woman who was killed two weeks ago at the city’s Super Bowl celebration — and with togetherness and love tragedies could be avoided in the future. It’s the first time since the Feb. 14 shooting that killed Lisa Lopez-Galvan and left 22 injured, that anyone from the organization spoke publicly about the incident.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton says he won't know until next week at the earliest if he's moving on from quarterback Russell Wilson. But Payton did hint at an upcoming split when he suggested it's imperative for the team to hit on ‘the next one’ at quarterback. A solid starter has been elusive for the Broncos ever since Peyton Manning's retirement in 2016. They've churned through 13 starting quarterbacks since then. Wilson was believed to be the answer but he's won just 11 of 30 starts and was benched for Jarrett Stidham in December.
HORSE RACING
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga has announced the 17 finalists appearing on this year’s ballot. The potential Hall of Famers include jockeys Jorge Chavez and Joel Rosario, trainers John Shirreffs, John Sadler, Doug O’Neill, Graham Motion, Kiaran McLaughlin, Christophe Clement and nine racehorses: Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Gio Ponti, Gun Runner, Havre de Grace, Justify, Kona Gold, Lady Eli and Rags to Riches. Nominees must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to be inducted on August 2nd in Saratoga Springs. The Hall of Famers will be announced April 23rd.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Syracuse 84 Virginia Tech 71
UMass 69 George Washington University 57
Dallin Hall and Jaxson Robinson scored 18 points apiece as BYU rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat seventh-ranked Kansas 76-68, ending the Jayhawks’ 19-game home winning streak in their first matchup as Big 12 foes. Hunter Dickinson had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks, who were just 3 of 15 from 3-point range and 19 for 31 at the foul line. Dajuan Harris Jr. added 12 points, KJ Adams Jr. scored 11 and Johnny Furphy finished with 10 for Kansas. BYU won despite heavy foul trouble in part by going 13 of 34 from behind the 3-point arc. It was the Cougars' first game at Allen Fieldhouse since 1971.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards signed a name, image and likeness contract this week with Adidas Canada, but wasn’t allowed to speak with reporters about it for fear that promoting the deal might jeopardize her student visa. Under current United States law, Edwards, who is from Kingston, Ontario, and other international students can’t hold a job in the US or actively participate in NIL endorsements here. Edwards has not announced if she will join teammate Paige Bueckers and forgo the WNBA draft to return to UConn next season. She said Tuesday it will be a basketball decision, but acknowledged that the ability to make money might have “a little influence.”
SOCCER
The U.S. national team has fought for years to raise the level of women’s soccer across the globe, but that doesn’t make its inevitable losses to teams it once dominated any easier. The U.S. fell 2-0 to Mexico at the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. The loss was only the second time Mexico has beaten the U.S. The only other Mexico victory in the 43-game series was in 2010, a 2-1 win at a World Cup qualifying match. Coming as it did after some difficult times for the U.S. team, the most recent loss was inevitably going to raise questions.
The United States will play Brazil in an exhibition at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, on June 12 ahead of the Copa América. The game follows a June 8 friendly against Colombia at Landover, Maryland. The matches are in a FIFA international fixture window, which means top Europe-based players will be available. The Americans open the Copa América against Bolivia at Arlington, Texas, on June 23, play Panama four days later at Atlanta and close group play July 1 against Uruguay at Kansas City, Missouri.
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