NBA
Cam Johnson scored 26 points, Nic Claxton had 16 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers 99-90 on Wednesday night to end a three-game losing streak. Shake Milton had 15 points off the bench for the Nets. T.J. McConnell had 14 points for Indiana, and Tyrese Haliburton had 13. The Pacers have lost four in a row and seven of 10. After Indiana’s Pascal Siakam scored four consecutive points to tie it at 80 with 8:08 left, the Nets responded with a 10-0 run — making it 90-80 on Jaylen Wilson’s basket with 5:57 remaining.
Jaylen Brown had 28 points with nine assists and Kristaps Porzingis added 26 points and nine rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to their ninth victory in 10 games, a 130-120 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Derrick White had 14 points and 11 assists and Payton Pritchard scored 19 points off the bench for Boston. The Celtics held a double-digit lead until the fourth quarter, when Detroit hit four straight 3-pointers to come within eight points, 109-101, and force Boston coach Joe Mazzulla to put Brown back in. Cade Cunningham had 27 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds for Detroit. Harris also scored 27 points, and Malik Beasley had 23 off the bench.
Franz Wagner scored 35 points and Jalen Suggs had 17 to lead the Orlando Magic to a 106-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Wagner made 12 of 23 shots from the floor with a 3-pointer and converted all 10 free throws to lead the Magic past the short-handed Sixers. The 76ers were not at full strength. Joel Embiid, Paul George, Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry sat out with injuries or rest. Jared McCain scored 24 points for the Sixers. Tyrese Maxey had 16.
Tyler Herro scored 21 of his 31 points in the third quarter and the Miami Heat set a franchise record for assists in beating the Los Angeles Lakers 134-93 on Wednesday night. The Heat had 42 assists, one more than the previous mark (41 against Portland on March 29). They tied another franchise record with 24 3-pointers, and the 41-point margin of victory was the third-biggest in team history. Jimmy Butler had 17 points and Bam Adebayo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Heat. LeBron James scored 29 points for the Lakers, who have lost six of eight.
Jalen Johnson had 23 points and 13 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks halted Milwaukee’s winning streak at seven games, beating the Bucks 119-104. De’Andre Hunter scored 20 points, Trae Young 17, Bogdan Bogdanovic 15, Onyeka Okongwu 13 and Zaccharie Risacher 12 as the Hawks extended their winning streak to five games. Clint Capela added 17 rebounds. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead Milwaukee.
Julius Randle scored 16 of his 20 points in the first quarter, Anthony Edwards added 16 and the Minnesota Timberwolves rolled to a 108-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. Randle had all of his points in the first half, including four 3-pointers, to help Minnesota win its third straight after losing four in a row. The Timberwolves were up by 27 at halftime and their largest lead was 41 in the second half. Bones Hyland led the Clippers with 18 points, including a season-high five 3-pointers. Derrick Jones Jr. scored 14 points. The Clippers had their nine-game home winning streak snapped.
NHL
Brad Marchand and Morgan Geekie each scored two goals, and the Boston Bruins beat the struggling Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. Boston posted its third consecutive win — all in the past four days. It rallied for a 3-2 overtime victory against Detroit on Tuesday night. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots against Chicago. Alex Vlasic and Jason Dickinson scored for the Blackhawks, who dropped their fourth consecutive game. Petr Mrazek made 23 saves.
Auston Matthews scored twice early in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs erased an early deficit to win their third in a row, 3-2 over the Nashville Predators. William Nylander also scored for Toronto, which got 22 saves from Joseph Woll. Mitch Marner chipped in three assists as the Leafs won for the 10th time in 12 games. Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Jankowski scored for Nashville, which came in having lost three straight 3-2 overtime decisions. Juuse Saros stopped 25 shots for the Predators, who have now lost five in a row.
Shea Theodore scored twice and William Karlsson and Alexander Holtz added goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in their 4-1 victory over the Ducks. Anaheim lost Trevor Zegras to a potentially serious lower-body injury. Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves for the first-place Golden Knights, who improved to 8-1-1 against the Pacific Division with their sixth win in eight games overall. Vegas has beaten Anaheim in all three meetings this season. Jackson LaCombe scored and John Gibson stopped 30 shots for the last-place Ducks.
Warren Foegele scored on a wraparound early in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2. Tanner Jeannot had a goal and an assist, Joel Edmundson also scored, and David Rittich made 26 saves as the Kings got their fourth straight win after falling behind 2-0 midway through the first period. Los Angeles had success attacking Stars goalie Jake Oettinger from close range in the last two periods, and Foegele capitalized with his seventh goal to take the lead 2:22 into the third. Wyatt Johnston had a power-play goal, Mason Marchment also scored, but the Stars had their three-game win streak snapped. Oettinger made 15 saves.
NFL
The NFL and the NFL players association are upholding Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s three-game suspension without pay for repeated violations of player safety rules. Al-Shaair's violent hit to the head of Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence left the quarterback with a concussion and on injured reserve. Hearing officer Ramon Foster, jointly appointed by the league and the players' union, ruled a day after Al-Shaair’s punishment was announced. NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan handed down the punishment and said Al-Shaair had multiple offenses for personal fouls and sportsmanship-related rules violations in recent seasons. His most egregious one came in a 23-20 win at Jacksonville on Sunday.
On Thursday Night Football, the Packers are in Detroit to take on the Lions at 8:15 tonight.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Albany 88 Columbia 73
Central Connecticut 73 UMass 69
Creighton has played eight No. 1 teams in its program’s history, and the first six of those games weren’t close. All were losses. The last two were Bluejay blowouts at the CHI Health Center. Creighton took down top-ranked Kansas 76-63 in a game in which the Bluejays never trailed and led by as many as 17 points. Ten months ago they upset a No. 1 Connecticut 85-66. That was UConn’s last loss before they won 13 in a row on its way to a second straight national title. Five of the Creighton players on the court against KU played against UConn.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Texas A&M 57 Syracuse 45
Bucknell 62 Vermont 59 in overtime.
UConn 73 Baylor 72
SOCCER
Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League was cut to seven points after a 3-3 draw with Newcastle. Chelsea moved up to second by thrashing last-place Southampton 5-1, while Arsenal is third after a 2-0 win over Manchester United. Fourth-place Manchester City ended its seven-game winless run with a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest. Liverpool’s result will give hope to its title rivals after Fabian Schar’s 90th-minute equalizer at St James’ Park. Arsenal inflicted a first loss on new Man United head coach Ruben Amorim.
Soccer’s biggest ever global club tournament comes to the United States next year and the 32-team group stage is drawn Thursday. FIFA relaunched the Club World Cup to be played every four years. A new generation of stars plays in the 11 U.S. cities from June 15 to July 13. One year later they plan to return for the 2026 World Cup. Real Madrid has Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham. Manchester City has Erling Haaland. Missing out are superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski because Al-Nassr and Barcelona failed to qualify. FIFA ensured an entry for Lionel Messi's Inter Miami.
SKIING
Lindsey Vonn is going to enter an official ski race for the first time in nearly six years this weekend at age 40. Vonn announced last month that she was coming out of retirement and she will race lower-level FIS downhills and super-Gs on Saturday and Sunday in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Vonn needs some decent results to improve her long-dormant ranking so she can enter World Cup races this season under a new wild card rule. U.S. Ski Team head coach Paul Kristofic says that “obviously her history speaks for itself and she’s definitely the most decorated speed skier out there." He adds that "it will be really, really fun and interesting to see what she can do.”
GOLF
The LPGA and the USGA have updated gender policies that will require players to be assigned female at birth or to have transitioned to female before going through male puberty. The policies begin in 2025 and follow more than a year of study. The groups concluded that going through male puberty allows for competitive advantages in golf. The USGA has seven championships for females next year. The new policies rule out eligibility for Hailey Davidson. She missed U.S. Women's Open qualifying by one shot this year and tried LPGA Q-school. Davidson began hormone treatments when she was in her early 20s in 2015 and in 2021 underwent gender-affirming surgery, which was required under the LPGA’s previous gender policy.
Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg had 22 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 9 Duke push past No. 2 Auburn 84-78 in the SEC/ACC Challenge. The preseason Associated Press All-American had 16 points after halftime to help the Blue Devils hold off the Tigers and fellow All-American Johni Broome. Broome had 20 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 15 seconds left.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Miami’s playoff hopes took a nosedive while Alabama’s got a boost in the last rankings before the College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend. The Hurricanes moved down six spots to No. 12 after suffering their second loss of the season. They are one spot behind the Crimson Tide, who won last week and moved up two spots to No. 11. Alabama is projected as the last team in and the fourth from the Southeastern Conference. Oregon stayed at No. 1 for the fifth straight week and will head into Saturday’s Big Ten title game as the only undefeated team in big-time college football.
Miami wants things reconsidered. So does South Carolina. The Big 12 is puzzled. And Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin turned toward social media to ask the College Football Playoff committee a question. “You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings??” Kiffin wrote. The fallout and, for some, anger stemming from the release of the latest CFP ranking — one that almost certainly means Miami (10-2), South Carolina (9-3) and Ole Miss (9-3) all have no chance of getting into the 12-team field — continued Wednesday as the schools on the outside looking in continued making their case, even though all hope for them seems to be gone.
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