NBA
Jalen Brunson had 26 points and 11 assists, and the New York Knicks rolled to a 134-106 victory that extended the Washington Wizards’ losing streak to nine games. Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 12 rebounds in just 25 minutes for the Knicks, who were off and running right from the start even while playing for the second straight night. They rang up 40 points in the first quarter and put up 36 more in the third, building the lead to 109-75 at the end of the period. The Wizards have barely been competitive during their skid.
Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 30 points in his return from a sprained ankle, Tyler Herro added 18 and the Miami Heat erased an early 19-point deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 106-89. Duncan Robinson scored 13 and Dru Smith added 10 for Miami, which played its first home game in two weeks. The Heat — who were outscored 137-71 in third quarters in their first four home games — outscored Philadelphia 35-16 in that period. Jared McCain scored 20 points, Paul George added 18 and former Heat forward Caleb Martin finished with 12 for Philadelphia, which has lost 11 of 13 games to open the season. Joel Embiid played for the third time this season and scored 11 points in 31 minutes.
Zach LaVine scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and the Chicago Bulls pulled away for a 122-112 win against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night. The game was tied at 95 with 8:46 left, but LaVine had nine points in a 13-2 run that put the Bulls up by 11 with 5:45 to go. He hit six 3-pointers in the quarter after a slow start.Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 29 points and 11 rebounds while Coby White scored 25.
RJ Barrett scored a season-high 39 points, Jakob Poeltl had 30 points and 15 rebounds for his third straight double-double and the Toronto Raptors snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating the Indiana Pacers 130-119. Toronto came in with the NBA’s worst record at 2-12 and won for the first time since beating Sacramento in overtime on Nov. 2. Benedict Mathurin scored 17 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 10 rebounds against his former team as the Pacers lost for the third time in four games.
Damian Lillard hit a driving layup with 3.9 seconds left to give the Milwaukee Bucks a 101-100 victory over Houston that snapped the Rockets’ five-game winning streak. Lillard scored 18 points after missing the previous three games while in the concussion protocol. The Rockets rallied from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit to take the lead early in the fourth quarter and stayed ahead until Lillard’s decisive basket. Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a shot by Houston’s Alperen Sengun with 20 seconds left. Fred VanVleet led the Rockets with 26 points. Brook Lopez had 27 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for Milwaukee.
Franz Wagner scored 32 points, Anthony Black added 20 and the Orlando Magic beat the struggling Phoenix Suns 109-99. Tyus Jones had 18 points for Phoenix. Devin Booker — coming off a season-high 44 points — had 17. The Suns had three starters out due to injury, including Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. It was Durant’s sixth straight game out of the lineup. Phoenix is 1-5 over that stretch, including losing four straight. Orlando was without leading scorer Paolo Banchero, who has an oblique injury.
De’Andre Hunter scored 24 points and Dyson Daniels had four blocks, including one in the final seconds, as the Atlanta Hawks beat the short-handed Sacramento Kings 109-108. Daniels’ clutch defensive play on Kings star De’Aaron Fox finished off a late back-and-forth affair. Trae Young had 19 assists for Atlanta. Clint Capela, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds, scored the final three points for the Hawks to put them up 109-106 with under two minutes to play. Keon Ellis had a career high 33 points, including nine 3-pointers, to lead Sacramento. The Kings were without Domantas Sabonis (back), DeMar DeRozan (back) and Malik Monk (right ankle sprain).
Norman Powell scored 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the Golden State Warriors 102-99 to win their fifth in a row at home. James Harden added 12 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who had lost their first four games at their new arena. Ivica Zubac had 17 rebounds. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 26 points and Andrew Wiggins added 22 points. Curry was 6 of 15 from 3-point range and missed a potential tying 3 in the closing seconds. The Clippers were playing the second night of a back-to-back, but the only time they trailed was on the Warriors' first basket of the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers will honor former coach Pat Riley with a statue outside their downtown arena. The Lakers announced Monday that they have commissioned a statue to stand in Star Plaza immortalizing the coach who won four championships with the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. Riley also won championships with the Lakers as a player and an assistant coach. Riley has been part of the Miami Heat as a coach and executive for nearly three decades, but his roots in the NBA are with the Lakers. He played for Los Angeles from 1970 to 1975.
NHL
Mathieu Olivier scored short-handed in a three-goal first period and the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Bruins 5-1. Justin Danforth also scored a short-handed goal, and James van Riemsdyk and Dmitri Voronkov also scored for Columbus. Elvis Merzļikins stopped 29 shots. Charlie Coyle scored Boston’s only goal, and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves as the Bruins lost their third straight game. The Boston fans who remained at the end of the game booed their team lustily as it left the ice.
Cale Makar scored two goals, Casey Mittelstadt scored one and Justus Annunen had 24 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Monday night in a game where a referee was stretchered off the ice. Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster scored two goals for the Flyers in the third to bring it to 3-2. Makar scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season.
Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots as the Montreal Canadiens blanked Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Monday night. Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle and Jake Evans — into an empty net — scored for Montreal, which matched its longest winning streak of the season with a second consecutive victory. Montembeault earned his second shutout of the campaign after a 48-save showing against Toronto in the season-opener. Calvin Pickard made 22 saves for Edmonton.
Brett Leason had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points, Lukas Dostal stopped 34 shots and the Anaheim Ducks held on to beat the Dallas Stars 4-2. Olen Zellweger, Cutter Gauthier and Jackson LaCombe also scored for the Ducks, who saw a 3-0 lead in the third period shrink to one goal before getting consecutive wins for the first time this season. Dostal won for the first time since Oct. 29, snapping a personal 0-4-1 streak. Esa Lindell and Matt Duchene scored for the Stars, who snapped a three-game winning streak and lost at home for the first time in eight games this season. Casey DeSmith finished with 24 saves.
Alex Ovechkin scored two goals before leaving with an apparent leg injury to propel the Washington Capitals to a 6-2 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night. He left the ice 5:30 into the third with an apparent left leg injury. Charlie Lindgren had 24 saves for the Capitals. Dylan Strome and Brandon Duhaime both tallied a goal and an assist. Jack McBain and Nick Bjugstad scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka replaced Ingram in the net during the second period. They combined for 18 saves.
Rookie sensation Macklin Celebrini scored 46 seconds into overtime, and the San Jose Sharks beat the slumping Detroit Red Wings 5-4. William Ecklund had two goals, and Luke Kunin and Tyler Toffoli also scored for San Jose. who have won two straight and are 3-1-2 in their last six games. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 16 saves. Dylan Larkin had a goal and had an assist, and Alex DeBrincat, Marco Kasper and Michael Rasmussen also scored for Detroit, which has lost five of six. Cam Talbot stopped 29 shots.
NHL referee Mitch Dunning is fully communicative and can move all his extremities following a violent collision with Colorado defenseman Josh Manson in Monday night’s game at Philadelphia. The NHL said Dunning was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons and that all neurological signs are normal. Manson skated alone on the ice when he slammed into Dunning early in the first period. Dunning went down in a heap and lay prone on the ice for several minutes. Dunning appeared to be moving his feet and moved his right hand when Manson went to talk to him.
NFL
Joe Mixon ran for three touchdowns, Derek Barnett returned a fumble 28 yards for a score and the Houston Texans beat the Dallas Cowboys 34-10. The Texans stopped just the second two-game losing streak in quarterback C.J. Stroud’s two seasons while maintaining a two-game lead in the AFC South. In a season filled with things gone wrong for the Cowboys, debris fell from their stadium’s retractable roof as it was opening a few hours before the game. Dallas lost its fifth consecutive game, and Cooper Rush dropped to 0-2 filling in for Dak Prescott after his season-ending hamstring tear.
The Dallas Cowboys keep falling at home. Hours after a piece of the roof fell to the field before the game, the Cowboys dropped to 0-5 at home this season with a 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night. Dallas has lost its first five home games for the first time since 1989. That was the first season Jerry Jones owned the Cowboys, and they were 1-15 while not winning any of their eight games game at old Texas Stadium. They have lost six in a row at AT&T Stadium when including that playoff debacle against the Green Bay Packers in January.
Daniel Jones’ tenure as the New York Giants' starting quarterback is over. The Giants benched the struggling 27-year-old on Monday, and coach Brian Daboll plans to start fan favorite Tommy DeVito against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week in an attempt to end a five-game losing streak. Not only was Jones benched, Daboll said he will be the No. 3 quarterback for the final seven games, while fellow veteran Drew Lock remains the backup.
Former NBA stars Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady are part of a group being considered by the NFL to purchase a non-controlling minority stake in the Buffalo Bills. That's according to a person with knowledge of the league finance committee’s agenda. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league didn’t release the agenda for the committee meeting scheduled for today. The committee will also consider Ares Management’s bid to buy 10% of the Miami Dolphins. The person says Carter, McGrady and MLS player Jozy Altidore have joined Gridiron Capital managing partner Tom Burger in a consortium seeking to buy a 10.6% share of the Bills.
MLB
Hard-throwing Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes capped a remarkable season by winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award while Luis Gil of the New York Yankees edged Baltimore’s Colton Cowser to take the American League honor. It’s the first time the rookie awards went to two pitchers since 2011, when Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson and Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel won. Skenes didn’t make his big league debut until May 11 but the right-hander was such an immediate sensation that he was selected to start the All-Star Game for the NL on July 16.
BOXING
Jake Paul’s unanimous victory over former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson might have been disappointing from a competitive standpoint, but it drew record betting. BetMGM says the fight between the YouTube star and the 58-year-old Tyson was its most-bet boxing or mixed-martial arts fight. The sportsbook took three times the number of bets and four times the money of any combat sport in BetMGM’s history. A Caesars Entertainment spokesperson compared the amount of betting to that on an NFL game.
GOLF
President-elect Donald Trump has said it would take about 15 minutes to sort out golf's mess. That started with four hours on the golf course with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. The PGA Tour confirmed a Washington Post report that Monahan accepted Trump's invitation to play golf last Friday. The tour did not share what was discussed at Trump International Golf Club in South Florida. The tour has been negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia about becoming an investor. PIF is the financial muscle of LIV Golf, which has taken away key players from the PGA Tour.
SOCCER
Christian Pulisic scored twice in the first half, Tim Weah got a goal in his return to the U.S. national team from a red card and the Americans beat Jamaica 4-2 for a 5-2 aggregate win in their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal. Playing their first competitive matches under coach Mauricio Pochettino, the United States advanced to a semifinal on March 20 at Inglewood, California. The Americans won the first three editions of the tournament. Pulisic scored in the 13th and 33rd minutes, giving him 33 international goals.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Stony Brook 69 Marist 49
UVM 61 Dartmouth 37
BASKETBALL
A new professional basketball team is coming to the Capital Region. The Times-Union reports the Schenectady-based New York Phoenix are set to join The Basketball League with the start of the next season in February 2025, and will play their home games at Armory Studios. The Phoenix will be the second TBL team in the Capital Region, with the Albany Patroons calling the Washington Avenue Armory home.
TBL president Dave Magley tells the T-U the Phoenix and Patroons will face off between two and four times each season, with the schedule set to run between 20 and 24 games.
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