NBA
Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points and the Indiana Pacers rode one of the most sensational first halves in Game 7 history to a 130-109 victory over the New York Knicks yesterday, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 10 years. The Pacers made 29 of their 38 shots in the first half, a shooting percentage of 76.3% that was the highest in the postseason since 1997, when the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters. They led 70-55 at that point. The No. 6-seeded Pacers advanced to face top-seeded Boston in a series that begins at 8 Tuesday night in Boston.
Anthony Edwards overcame a slow start and the Timberwolves roared back from a 20-point second-half deficit to eliminate the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets 98-90 in a Game 7 Minnesota masterpiece. The Timberwolves overcame a 15-point halftime deficit — the largest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history — behind Edwards, who had just four points, no rebounds and three assists at halftime but finished with 16 points, eight boards and seven assists. Jamal Murray led Denver with 35 points and Nikola Jokic scored 34 but they got little else from their supporting cast.
The Denver Nuggets couldn’t quiet an epic second-half comeback by Minnesota or the noise emanating from a boisterous Timberwolves locker room. Just a loud and painful reminder that their reign as champions was finished. The young and confident Timberwolves came into Denver’s house and spoiled the party by eliminating the Nuggets with a 98-90 win Sunday night in Game 7 of their second-round series. Minnesota overcame a 20-point deficit to make the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2004. The Nuggets became the fifth straight reigning champion to fail to reach the conference finals in the season after their championship.
Jalen Brunson broke his left hand in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, one final injury for a team that was decimated by them. The Knicks lost their most important player when Brunson checked out late in the third quarter and went to the locker room. The Knicks announced in the fourth quarter that he wouldn’t return. Brunson was struggling Sunday, going 6 for 17 for 17 points. He also had nine assists. OG Anunoby played despite a strained left hamstring that forced him to miss the previous four games, but lasted just five minutes.
WNBA
Jewell Loyd overcame a slow start to score 24 points, Ezi Magbegor had a double-double and the Seattle Storm pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the Washington Mystics 84-75. Both teams entered the game at 0-2. Seattle outscored Washington 22-11 in the fourth quarter, going on a 20-5 run with Loyd scoring eight points and Skylar Diggins-Smith and Victoria Vivians adding six. Down four with eight minutes to go, Vivians hit a 3-pointer and Loyd made two free throws to put the Storm up 69-68. Diggins-Smith scored the next four points before Loyd had Seattle’s next eight for a 79-73 lead with 2:38 to go. Vivians’ free throws pushed it to 84-73 at 1:17. Ariel Atkins had 19 points for Washington.
MLB
Aaron Judge and Jon Berti homered into Yankee Stadium’s right field short porch, and New York extended its winning streak to seven by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-2 for a three-game sweep. Judge’s homer was his 13th this season and seventh in 13 games. New York, an AL-best 33-15, has won 13 of 15 and is on its longest winning streak since Sept. 18-25, 2022. The Yankees swept their fourth series, matching last year’s total. Chicago, an AL-worst 14-33, have been swept seven times. The White Sox dropped to a major league-worst 4-19 on the road.
Harrison Bader and Tyrone Taylor each drove in two runs in a four-run first inning, and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 for just their second win in seven games. Brandon Nimmo homered and Francisco Lindor singled twice following a 1-for-27 skid as the Mets rebounded from blowing a four-run, ninth-inning lead on Saturday and avoided a three-game sweep. New York stopped Miami’s four-game winning streak. Sean Manaea allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. Reed Garrett got his second save; star closer Edwin Díaz was not used.
Rafael Devers tied a Boston record by homering for his fifth consecutive game, and the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 to stop a season-high, four-game losing streak. Devers hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Ryan Fernandez, his ninth home run this season. He became the seventh Boston player to homer in five straight games, the first since Bobby Dalbec from Sept. 5-10, 2020. Tyler O’Neill homered against his former team as Boston rebounded after falling two games under .500 for the first time this season. The Red Sox outhit St. Louis 14-6.
Alec Bohm homered and drove in five runs, Bryce Harper doubled and had two RBIs and the Philadelphia Phillies swept their sixth series of the season with a 11-5 victory over the Washington Nationals. Kody Clemens had a pair of doubles and two RBIs for Philadelphia. Its 34 wins are the most in the majors. The Phillies tied their franchise record for the best start in the first 48 games, matching the 1976 and 1993 clubs. Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario homered for the Nationals, who ended an 11-day, nine-game road trip by losing their fifth straight and seventh in the last eight games.
Mitch Keller pitched six effective innings, Nick Gonzales hit a key two-run single and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2. Jack Suwinski connected for another homer against Jameson Taillon as Pittsburgh closed out a 4-3 road trip by taking three of four from Chicago. Gonzales, Andrew McCutchen and Jared Triolo each had two of the Pirates’ 10 hits. Keller improved to 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three May starts. Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel each hit a sacrifice fly for Chicago.
Kyle Tucker homered twice to tie for the major league lead with 15 and drove in four runs, leading the Houston Astros over the Milwaukee Brewers 9-4 for their ninth win in 11 games. Jose Altuve hit his 37th leadoff homer in a four-run first inning and Jake Meyers had three hits for Houston, which took two of three from the Brewers and improved to 21-26 with its third straight series win. Tucker tied Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson at 15 home runs after his third multihomer game this season and the sixth of his big league career.
Joc Pederson and Christian Walker both had two RBIs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Detroit Tigers 6-4. The D-backs scratched across two runs in the seventh to break a 4-all tie. Randal Grichuk scored on a weak groundout by Pavin Smith after catcher Jake Rogers couldn’t handle a bouncing throw from shortstop Javier Báez, who had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. Christian Walker came home one batter later on another soft grounder by rookie Blaze Alexander. D-backs closer Paul Sewald retired the Tigers in order in the ninth for his third save.
Will Brennan hit a three-run homer off Jhoan Duran with two outs in a wild ninth inning, giving the Cleveland Guardians a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. The inning appeared to be over one batter earlier when Andrés Giménez was called out at second while advancing on a wild pitch, but a crew-chief initiated video review ruled him safe. Josh Naylor was intentionally walked for Duran to face Brennan. Minnesota had trailed 2-1 with two outs and no one on base in the ninth, but pushed across the tying run without a hit against All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase.
Gunnar Henderson hit his major league-leading 15th home run, Ryan O’Hearn also went deep and Corbin Burnes notched 11 strikeouts to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3. Henderson’s fifth leadoff homer of the season was the first of nine hits Sunday against George Kirby (4-4) in the deciding matchup of the three-game series. Henderson homered in each game while going 5 for 12 with two walks and five RBIs. Burnes (4-2) allowed one run and seven hits in six innings to earn his first win in five starts since April 20. The 11 strikeouts matched his season high, set on opening day against the Angels. Luis Urías drove in two runs and Luke Raley had three hits for the Mariners, who fell behind 5-1 in the third inning and could not make up the deficit.
Daniel Vogelbach homered and scored three runs, Alek Manoah struck out seven in seven innings to win for the first time since last August and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided their first sweep of the season by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2. Alejandro Kirk reached base three times and drove in two runs as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak with their third shutout win. George Springer hit an RBI double, walked twice and scored twice as Toronto stopped Tampa Bay’s winning streak at four.
Brady Singer stuck out nine, Vinnie Pasquantino hit a three-run triple and the Kansas City Royals completed a sweep of the Oakland Athletics with an 8-1 victory. It was the third sweep of the season for Kansas City. It took until September 20 for the Royals to record their third sweep of the season last year. Singer tossed six innings on one-run ball, giving up six hits with one walk and nine strikeouts. The Athletics' JP Sears allowed four runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Angels right-hander José Soriano limited the Texas Rangers to one run while throwing a career-high 7 2/3 innings in a 4-1 series-clinching win. Pinch-hitter Kevin Pillar had a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh. The Angels took two of three over the reigning World Series champions in Ron Washington’s first series in Texas as a visiting manager. He is the Rangers’ winningest manager with his 664 wins and two American League pennants from 2007-14. Soriano struck out five and walked two. Rangers starter Michael Lorenzen struck out six, walked three and allowed three hits. Corey Seager homered for the Rangers, who have lost eight of their past 11 games.
Heliot Ramos hit his second big league home run, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 4-1 for their first series sweep this season. Jordan Hicks allowed one run and three hits over five innings with no walks as the Giants stretched their winning streak to a season-high four. Sean Hjelle, Luke Jackson, Taylor Rogers and Camilo Doval each pitched a hitless inning to complete a three-hitter. Doval struck out Jake Cave for the final out and remained perfect in eight save chances.
Logan Webb pitched six scoreless innings and Mike Yastrzemski hit a two-run homer as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 to avoid a three-game sweep. Webb limited Los Angeles to three hits, striking out five and walking three to help the Giants snap a six-game losing streak against their longtime rivals. Camilo Doval allowed two runners to reach in the ninth but retired Freddie Freeman on a groundball to second for his seventh save.
Yu Darvish dominated a slumping Braves offense and extended his career-high scoreless innings streak to 25 while earning his 200th professional win as the San Diego Padres hammered Atlanta 9-1. Darvish gave up only two hits, struck out nine and walked one in seven innings. He became the third Japanese-born pitcher to reach 200 career wins between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball. Jake Cronenworth, Luis Campusano and Ha-Seong Kim hit home runs for the Padres. Atlanta starter Bryce Elder allowed six earned runs in three innings. Braves reserve shortstop Luke Williams pitched a perfect ninth.
NFL
Jim Otto, the Hall of Fame center known as Mr. Raider for his durability through a litany of injuries, has died. The team confirmed Otto's death Sunday night. He was 86. The cause of death was not immediately known. Otto joined the Raiders for their inaugural season in the American Football League in 1960 and was a fixture on the team for the next 15 years. He never missed a game because of injuries and competed in 210 consecutive regular-season games and 308 straight total contests despite undergoing nine operations on his knees during his playing career. His right leg was amputated in 2007.
GOLF
Xander Schauffele has won his first major at the PGA Championship. Schauffele made a 6-foot birdie putt on the last hole at Valhalla for a one-shot victory over Bryson DeChambeau. Schauffele set a major championship scoring record in the process. The Olympic gold medalist now has something even more valuable in silver. He gets to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy. Schauffele finished at 21-under 263, breaking by one shot the major record. Schauffele is the first player since Phil Mickelson in 2005 to birdie the last hole of the PGA Championship to win by one.
Bryson DeChambeau put on the kind of show, and got the sort of breaks, that make players larger than life and sometimes win them major championships. Yet somehow, when DeChambeau looked up at the final scoreboard at the PGA Championship, his name was stuck in second. DeChambeau’s last putt trickled in for a birdie to close a thrill-a-minute round of 7-under 64 and put him at 20-under par — good enough to share the lead with Xander Schauffele and also share a piece of the major-championship scoring record. A half-hour later Schauffele made birdie from virtually the same angle to break the tie and capture his first major
Scottie Scheffler finished off what he called a “hectic” week at the PGA Championship by surging to an eighth-place finish. The world's top-ranked golfer shot a 6-under 65 to finish at 13 under for the tournament. The round came two days after Scheffler spent time in a Louisville jail following his arrest on charges stemming from a traffic incident. Scheffler is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The 27-year-old Texan says he's not sure what's in store on the legal front in the near future and he's mostly focused on getting home to his wife and newborn son.
Nelly Korda won a back-nine showdown with Hannah Green of Australia with a par on the 18th hole to capture the Mizuho Americas Open by a stroke for her sixth win in seven starts on the LPGA Tour this year. The victory Sunday made the 25-year-old Korda the first player since Inbee Park (2013) to record six wins in a single season. Korda also bounced back from seeing her record-tying five-tournament winning streak snapped last week by Rose Zhang at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Zhang withdrew Thursday after three holes with an intestinal issue.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City fans took to the field to party after their team beat West Ham 3-1 in the Premier League at Etihad Stadium to secure a record fourth straight English top-flight title for Pep Guardiola’s side. A sea of light blue shirts quickly flooded the pitch with fans ignoring futile pleas from the stadium announcer and messaging on the big screens instructing them to return to their seats. Winning has become a familiar feeling. And there is no sign of it getting old as far as the fans are concerned. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal couldn’t quite get over the line and finished the season two points behind the champion after a 2-1 win against Everton in its final game on Sunday.
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