NFL
O.J. Simpson has died of cancer. Simpson, who starred for the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s, was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but wound up in prison years later in an unrelated case died in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, his attorney confirmed to TMZ. He was 76. Simpson said last year that he was battling prostate cancer. Simpson’s gridiron legacy was forever overshadowed by the 1994 knife slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. A criminal court jury found him not guilty of murder, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable. Simpson's nine-year prison stint in Nevada was for the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.
Long before the Bronco chase gripped a national television audience and the “Trial of the Century” captivated the country, O.J. Simpson made his mark on the football field. The Juice was the best running back of his era during an 11-year NFL career mostly played with the Buffalo Bills. He won a national championship and a Heisman Trophy in college and set records in the NFL. But Simpson’s image was forever ruined by charges that he killed his former wife and her male friend in 1994. He was eventually acquitted of murder but Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a separate civil case.
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice has surrendered to police on charges including aggravated assault after he and another driver of a speeding sports car allegedly caused a crash on a Dallas highway last month. A spokeswoman for Rice’s attorney confirmed to The Associated Press in the evening that Rice turned himself in at the Glenn Heights Police Department. Rice is being represented by Texas state Sen. Royce West. Rice was booked into the Regional Jail in DeSoto and released on bond. Police said Wednesday that arrest warrants had been issued for the 23-year-old Rice for one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury.
MASTERS
Bryson DeChambeau was the mad scientist. Then he was the incredible bulk. This next iteration might be really daunting. DeChambeau says this is his golf phase, and it was impressive in the wind-blown opening round of the Masters. He opened the Masters with a 65 for his best start in a major and leads by one shot over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The round couldn't be completed because of a two-and-a-half hour weather delay. The greens were soft, but the wind was raging. Gusts were close to 40 mph. Tiger Woods was holding steady at 1 under through 13 holes.
Tiger Woods is off to a rousing start in his pursuit of more Masters history. And maybe an improbable run at a sixth green jacket. Woods wasn't able to complete the rain-delayed opening round at Augusta National, getting in 13 holes before sundown. But he was 1-under and looking fitter than he has in years, drawing huge cheers from a massive gallery that hung on his every swing. It was an extremely encouraging start for the five-time champion, who is currently tied with Gary Player and Fred Couples with 23 consecutive times making the cut. Of course, Woods has his sights on an even bigger goal — pulling even with Jack Nicklaus for the most Masters titles.
Rory McIlroy caught a break when his tee shot hit a tree on the ninth hole at Augusta National and kicked out into the middle of fairway, giving him a workable second shot. McIlroy saved par and used that momentum to shoot 71, his first sub-par opening round at the Masters since 2018. That leaves the No. 2 player in the world six shots behind leader Bryson DeChambeau in his quest to win his first green jacket. McIlroy is hoping to join Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as the only players to complete the modern Grand Slam by winning all four majors.
NBA
Jalen Brunson scored 39 points in three quarters and the New York Knicks kept up their quest to finish with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference by beating the Boston Celtics 118-109 on Thursday night. One day after clinching a playoff spot, the Knicks pulled within a game of the Milwaukee Bucks for second, with each team having two games remaining. New York would have to win both and have the Bucks lose their games at Oklahoma City and Orlando, because Milwaukee has the head-to-head tiebreaker. Brunson shot 15 of 23 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3-point range.
DeMar DeRozan scored 39 points and the Chicago Bulls sent (sending) the Detroit Pistons to their franchise-record 67th loss of the season, 127-105 on Thursday night. Detroit (13-67) broke the franchise mark set by the 1979-80 team, while Chicago (38-42) moved closer to wrapping up home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference play-in game against Atlanta. Nikola Vucevic had 27 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, and Coby White had 18 points. Jalen Duren had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, and Marcus Sasser scored 20 points. The Pistons have lost six straight and 14 of 15. They played without Cade Cunningham because of knee management.
Luka Samanic scored a season-high 22 points to help the Utah Jazz snap a 13-game losing streak with a 124-121 victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night. Keyonte George chipped in 20 points for the Jazz, who finished 21-20 at home this season. Brice Sensabaugh added 17 points and Talen Horton-Tucker had 16. Fred VanVleet knocked down nine 3-pointers and scored a season-high 42 points for the Rockets, who lost for the sixth time in seven games. VanVleet was 9 for 13 from 3-point range while also tallying seven assists and seven rebounds.
Stephen Curry had 22 points and the Golden State Warriors won their third straight with a 100-92 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points for the Warriors, who have won nine of their last 10. Golden State has already clinched a play-in spot but can potentially improve its playoff seeding in the final two games. Scoot Henderson had 18 points and 12 assists for the Trail Blazers. It was his eighth game this season with at least 10 assists, which leads all rookies.
CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson each scored 31 points and the New Orleans Pelicans beat Sacramento 135-123 on Thursday night to complete a five-game season sweep of the Kings. McCollum tied a season high with nine 3-pointers in 12 attempts added seven assists to help the Pelicans improve their chances of avoiding the play-in tournament. They are sixth in the Western Conference, the final guaranteed playoff spot. New Orleans improved to 27-14 on the road, a franchise record for wins and tied with the Celtics for the best mark in the NBA. The Pelicans (48-32) lead the Phoenix Suns by one game for the sixth seed with two games remaining.
NHL
Kyle Palmieri scored at 1:17 of overtime and the New York Islanders extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas also scored, Semyon Varlamov made 13 saves. New York is in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points, three ahead of Pittsburgh with three games remaining. Palmieri’s winner was his 28th goal of the season and extended his individual goal streak to four games. Cole Caufield scored and had an assist, Jordan Harris had a goal and Sam Montembault made 30 saves, but the Canadiens lost for the fourth time in five games.
Bobby Brink scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period, Samuel Ersson made 24 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers. Cam York, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers, who were 0-6-2 since defeating Boston at home on March 23. The Rangers had won seven in a row against the Flyers and were 10-0-1 in their last 11 meetings with Philadelphia. Ersson improved to 22-18-7 while allowing only a goal to Artemi Panarin.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 22 shots and the Buffalo Sabres played the role of playoff spoilers with a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens scored for the Sabres, two days after Buffalo extended its NHL-record playoff drought to a 13th season following a 3-2 loss at Dallas. Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson scored for Washington which dropped to 1-5-2 in its past eight and lost to Buffalo for the second time in nine days. Charlie Lindgren allowed three goals on 16 shots.
Jesper Bratt broke a tie with 1:14 left with his second goal of the game and the New Jersey Devils beat Toronto 6-5 on Thursday night, overcoming Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’ NHL-leading 67th and 68th goals of the season. Matthews has the most goals in the NHL since Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96. Bratt also had an assist, Timo Meier had two goals and an assist, and Erik Haula and Nolan Foote also scored for New Jersey Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. Luke Hughes had two assists. John Tavares also scored twice for Toronto. David Kampf added a goal, and Ilya Samsonov made 14 saves.
Erik Karlsson scored 1:40 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins bolstered their playoff odds with a 6-5 win over Detroit. Sidney Crosby set up Karlsson’s winner to become the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career assists. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists to move past Phil Esposito and into 10th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Crosby now has 1,591 career points, one more than Esposito. Pittsburgh moved into the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot with the victory. Lucas Raymond had his second career hat trick for Detroit.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots to tie for the NHL lead with six shutouts, Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal and the Florida Panthers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0. Bobrovsky has 44 career shutouts and is tied with Arizona’s Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry for the most this season. Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Panthers, who moved within a point of the idle Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Jet Greaves stopped 42 shots for the Blue Jackets.
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist in regulation and scored the only goal of the shootout as the Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2. NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning to give him 98 this season as he looks to join Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once) and Bobby Orr (once) as the only players with 100 or more assists in a season. The right wing has an eight-game point streak and 141 points this season. Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators. Conor Sheary and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay.
Laurent Brossoit stopped 24 shots for his third shutout in his past five starts, David Gustafsson scored on his 24th birthday and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars 3-0. The Jets won their fifth consecutive game and prevented the Stars from clinching the Central Division title. Winnipeg avoided a season sweep by Dallas and matched Colorado in second place with 104 points. Dallas has 109. Dallas has two games remaining, while the Jets and Avalanche each have three. Winnipeg has clinched the tiebreaker against Colorado with a 2-0 season series lead going into the teams’ final meeting Saturday in Denver.
Devin Cooley made 49 saves in just his fourth career start, Kyle Burroughs and Fabian Zetterlund scored less than a minute apart in the second period, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 3-1. The Sharks spoiled Seattle’s final home game of the season taking advantage of two defensive breakdowns just 51 seconds apart, and a terrific performance by Cooley. Seattle finished 17-18-6 at home, but it was a disappointing conclusion to the home schedule. The team failed to capitalize on the success of last season when the Kraken made the second round of the playoffs.
The Los Angeles Kings clinched a playoff berth with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. Kevin Fiala, Viktor Arvidsson and Akil Thomas scored, and Cam Talbot made 23 saves in a workmanlike win. Los Angeles will be in the postseason for the third consecutive spring. Los Angeles lost to Edmonton in the first round in both of the previous trips, and a third straight matchup is increasingly possible with the Kings currently sitting third in the Pacific Division behind the second-place Oilers.
MLB
DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer in New York’s four-run third inning and pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor hit a ninth-inning grand slam to cap the rout as the Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 16-4. Jose Quintana gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Jeff McNeil drove in three runs with two hits in the best game of the season for the Mets’ bats. New York set season highs for runs and with 16 hits. Stewart’s homer was his second of the series. He hit a two-run homer in the Mets’ 8-7 win on Monday night.
Ranger Suárez struck out eight over six shutout innings and Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott homered to lead the Philadelphia Phillies past the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1. The Phillies won the opener of a season-high 10-game homestand that included four with the Pirates, and three games each against the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. Suárez sent the surprising Pirates to their first back-to-back losses of the season. Bohm and Stott each hit their first homers of the season.
Colton Cowser hit the first two homers of his career, including a three-run shot in the 10th inning, and the Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Boston Red Sox 9-4 to complete a three-game sweep of their AL East rivals. Gunnar Henderson opened the Orioles’ six-run 10th with a two-run homer against Isaiah Campbell, scoring automatic runner Jackson Holliday. The 20-year-old Holliday, baseball’s top-rated prospect who made his big league debut a night earlier, scored two runs but went 0-for-4 for the second straight game. Cowser drove in 10 runs in the series. Craig Kimbrel got the win with a scoreless ninth.
Bobby Witt Jr. had four hits, including two home runs, and five RBIs and the Kansas City Royals used a nine-run first inning to defeat the Houston Astros 13-3 to complete a three-game sweep and extend their winning streak to seven games. The Royals completed a perfect seven-game homestand against the White Sox and Astros. It’s just the third time in franchise history they’ve played at least seven games on a homestand without a loss. The other two: seven games in 1988 and eight games in 1985, the year they won their first World Series. The Royals sent 15 men to the plate in the first inning, tying a club record with 11 hits in the inning.
JP Sears navigated through trouble and carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning Thursday in the Oakland Athletics’ game against the World Series champion Texas Rangers. Sears faced nine batters with runners on base after issuing leadoff walks in the first, second and fifth innings. But the 28-year-old left-hander — and Oakland — emerged unscathed in a 1-0, one-hit win over Texas, a possible sign that these A’s are different from those who have piled up losses in record fashion in recent seasons.
Minnesota at Detroit 5:40 p.m. (Postponed)
Milwaukee at Cincinnati 12:40 p.m. (Postponed)
Federal authorities have charged the former longtime interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani with federal bank fraud. Prosecutors allege that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara stole more than $16 million from the Japanese sensation to cover gambling bets and debts. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges Thursday at a press conference in Los Angeles. Mizuhara was abruptly fired by the team after the scandal surfaced last month and Major League Baseball opened a separate investigation. Prosecutors say Ohtani was the victim in the case. Mizuhara's attorney declined to comment Thursday.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
BYU basketball coach Mark Pope is negotiating with Kentucky to succeed John Calipari, according to multiple reports. Pope was a member of Kentucky's 1996 NCAA championship team. CBS and ESPN both reported Thursday night that a deal between Pope and Kentucky was imminent. Earlier Thursday, Baylor’s Scott Drew announced on social media that he was staying with the school, eliminating one potential candidate for the Wildcats job. Calipari stepped down on Tuesday after 15 years. The Hall of Famer was hired the next day as Arkansas' coach.
SOCCER
Gianluca Scamacca struck twice as visiting Atalanta upset Liverpool 3-0 in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals. The loss damages Liverpool’s hopes of a treble of trophies in manager Jurgen Klopp’s final season at Anfield. Scamacca scored before halftime, again at the hour mark and Mario Pašalić finished it off. Bayer Leverkusen got late goals from substitutes Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface to top West Ham 2-0 and extend its unbeaten streak to 42 games in a season that can also end up with a treble of trophies. Roma beat AC Milan 1-0 at San Siro while Benfica defeated Marseille 2-1 in Lisbon. The second-leg games will be played next week.
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