NBA
Anthony Davis scored 24 points, Austin Reaves added 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 117-96 victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. LeBron James had 20 points and 14 rebounds after being selected for the All-Star Game for the 21st consecutive season earlier in the day. James also passed Hakeem Olajuwon into seventh place in defensive rebounds in NBA history early in the third quarter. Kristaps Porzingis led Boston with 22 points and Jaylen Brown added 17.
Victor Wembanyama scored 30 points in his first NBA game on his native French soil, Devin Vassell added 25 and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers 140-110. Wembanyama finished with 11 rebounds, six assists and five blocks for the Spurs on Thursday in Paris. Harrison Barnes scored 20 for San Antonio, which won for only the second time in its last eight games. Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 24 points.
Anfernee Simons scored 21 points and the Portland Trail Blazers extended their winning streak to three with a 100-79 victory over Orlando on Thursday night, spoiling the return of Magic forward Franz Wagner. Toumani Canara added 16 points and six rebounds for Portland. Deni Avdija finished with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Jabari Walker had six steals in 19 minutes. Wagner, who missed 20 games after tearing his oblique in early December, led Orlando with 20 points. Tristan Da Silva came off the bench with 16 points. Paolo Banchero had eight points and nine rebounds, but shot 1 for 14 with five turnovers.
Scottie Barnes had 25 points, including a key basket in the final minute, and the Toronto Raptors picked up their second road win of the season with a 122-119 victory over the Hawks on Thursday.Bruce Brown had 18 points and Jacob Poeltl and Chris Boucher had 17 each.The Hawks had a chance to tie with 2.7 seconds left, but good defense forced an Onekya Okongwu 3-pointer at the buzzer that was an airball.Bogdan Bogdanovic shook off a recent shooting slump to score 23 points and hit three of his five 3-pointers to lead the Hawks. Dyson Daniels had 22 points.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 28 points, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-115 on Thursday night. P.J. Washington had 22 points and 19 rebounds and Kyrie Irving added 24 points for the Mavericks, who have been without Luka Doncic for nearly a month because of a left calf strain. Jalen Williams led Oklahoma City with 33 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 16 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 54 points in a win over Utah on Wednesday, but made just 5 of his first 15 shots against Dallas before getting on track.
Damian Lillard had 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame their travel issues to beat the Miami Heat 125-96 on Thursday for their fifth straight victory. The start of the game was pushed back an hour due to the Bucks’ troubles getting out of New Orleans. The Bucks’ plane arrived in Milwaukee less than three hours before the start of Thursday’s game. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 12 rebounds. Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-high 21 points and shot 7 of 10 on 3-point attempts. Miami played without suspended star Jimmy Butler.
Nikola Jokic had his fifth straight triple-double before the fourth quarter, finishing with 35 points, 22 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings 132-123 on Thursday night. Jokic has an NBA-leading 20 triple-doubles this season, 14 before the fourth quarter. He had 20 points and 20 rebounds before the end of the third quarter. The Nuggets led by 22 at halftime and used a 14-5 run at the end of the third, capped by Jokic’s 66-foot heave at the buzzer, to take a 25-point lead. Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and 17 rebounds for Sacramento. The Kings lost for the third time in 13 games since Doug Christie took over as the interim coach.
Stephen Curry had 21 points and seven assists, Quinten Post scored a career-high 20 points and the Golden State Warriors routed the Chicago Bulls 131-106 on Thursday night. Gui Santos added 19 points with five 3-pointers and Andrew Wiggins had 17 points as the Warriors completed a back-to-back after squandering an 18-point lead in a 123-117 loss at Sacramento on Wednesday night. Zach LaVine scored 24 points and Josh Giddey added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, which snapped a five-game skid at the Clippers on Monday. Curry, playing back-to-back games for the first time since November before dealing with tendinitis in both knees, went 5 for 12 on 3-pointers.
James Harden had 17 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds for his 79th career triple-double, and the Los Angeles Clippers led all the way in routing the NBA-worst Washington Wizards 110-93. Harden surpassed the late Wilt Chamberlain for the eighth-most triple-doubles in league history. Norman Powell had 22 points, including 16 in the fourth. Derrick Jones Jr. scored 19 points and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes. Jordan Poole scored 24 points for the Wizards, who lost their 12th in a row while falling to 1-19 on the road. Washington is 6-37 overall.
LeBron James is extending his All-Star records. The NBA revealed the starters — some of them, anyway — for the revamped All-Star Game on Thursday night, and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises. James is now officially an All-Star for the 21st year. The other starters are Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Nikola Jokic took an inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds left in the third quarter, turned and let fly with a 66-foot heave that got all net at the other end. He casually walked over to his bench as his teammates mobbed him and the sold-out arena erupted. It appeared to be a footnote in what looked like a Denver Nuggets blowout win Thursday night. Denver led Sacramento 110-85 at that point but had to hold off a late rally to pull out a 132-123 victory over the Kings, its fourth straight. Jokic finished with 35 points, 22 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists, and the shot from three-quarters court stood out among his 12 field goals.
The first enormous roar from the crowd came before the game even started. All Victor Wembanyama needed to do to get the fans in Paris into a full-blown frenzy was, it turned out, say hello into a microphone. The roar just from that lasted about 30 seconds. Welcome home, Wemby. For the first time as an NBA player, Wembanyama played in his homeland on Thursday — the star attraction in this two-game set of games between San Antonio and Indiana, a series that concludes on Saturday night.
NHL
Defenseman K’Andre Miller had a goal and an assist and Igor Shesterkin made 35 saves as the surging New York Rangers routed the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1. Braden Schneider, Adam Edstrom, Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Reilly Smith also scored for the Rangers, who are 8-1-3 since Jan. 2. New York won only three times in December. Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. All six Rangers defensemen registered points. Shesterkin is 6-0-1 in his last seven starts.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Nazem Kadri added a goal and two assists, and Jakob Pelletier had a goal and an assist for Calgary. Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund added empty-net goals. Rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf had 32 saves and won for the fifth time in six starts to improve to 17-7-2 on the season. Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson scored for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukonen made 21 saves and slipped to 15-15-4.
Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves against his former team, David Pastrnak set up Morgan Geekie’s goal and added an empty-netter and the Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Thursday night. Korpisalo had his third shutout of the season and seventh overall. He was traded to Boston in June in a deal for former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark. Early in the second, Pastrnak wrapped around the net and sent a pass across the crease to Geekie. who banged it into the net before goalie Anton Forsberg could get across. Pastrnak put it away with five seconds left. Forsberg made 24 saves for Ottawa. The Senators were shut out for the second straight game fifth time in their last 11 games.
Seth Jarvis had two goals and two assists and Sebastian Aho added a goal and two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes scored five goals in the second period and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4. Eric Robinson, Jackson Blake, Jordan Martinook and Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored for Carolina. Jarvis closed the scoring with an empty-netter. Martin Necas had two assists as the Hurricanes won their fourth straight. Frederik Andersen had 18 saves in his 300th NHL victory and assisted on Carolina’s second goal. Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko scored in the first period and James van Riemsdyk and Dmitri Voronkov added goals in the second for Columbus.
Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season, Barrett Hayton scored twice and Utah beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Thursday night for its third straight victory. Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse also scored, and defenseman Nick DiSimone assisted on both of Hayton’s goals. Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves for Minnesota. The Wild have lost five of seven. Hayton’s first goal was part of an early surge by Utah, which outshot the Wild 16-5 and outscored them 2-0 in the opening period. Hayton closed the scoring early in the third with a backhander off a rebound that Gustavsson couldn’t control.
Mark Stone scored 19 seconds into the game and had an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights snapped a four-game skid with a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. Victor Olofsson, Pavel Dorofeyev and Tomas Hertl also added goals while Ilya Samsonov made 15 saves as Vegas won for the second time in its last eight games. Hertl, who scored into an empty net with 27 seconds left, has scored in each of his last four games and has six goals and five assists over a seven-game point streak. Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas scored goals and Joel Hofer made 27 saves for St. Louis.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Nazem Kadri added a goal and two assists, and Jakob Pelletier had a goal and an assist for Calgary. Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund added empty-net goals. Rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf had 32 saves and won for the fifth time in six starts to improve to 17-7-2 on the season. Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson scored for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukonen made 21 saves and slipped to 15-15-4.
Alex Ovechkin moved within 20 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with an empty-netter, helping the Washington Capitals beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. Ovechkin scored his 22nd goal of the season to push his career total to 875. Gretzky scored 894 goals in the NHL. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves in his first start since Jan. 10 for his first shutout of the season — and the NHL-leading Capitals’ third in five games after Logan Thompson blanked Anaheim and Ottawa in consecutive games last week. Aliaksei Protas and Ethen Frank also scored. Joey Daccord made 30 saves for Seattle in his fifth straight start and 100th NHL game.
Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn each scored twice and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1. Frank Vatrano also scored and Troy Terry and Jacob Trouba each had a pair of assists as the Ducks snapped a four-game winless streak. John Gibson made 31 saves. Michael Bunting scored on a power play for Pittsburgh. Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves.
Filip Forsberg scored twice to extend his goals streak to seven games, Fedor Svechkov broke a tie on a power-play midway through the third period and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory. Forsberg became the first player in NHL history to score in seven straight games following a goal drought of at least 18 games, according to OptaSTATS. Luke Schenn had three assists, Justin Barron and Roman Josi each had a goal and Justus Annunen made 30 saves for the Predators, who won after blowing a three-goal lead. Macklin Celebrini scored his NHL rookie-leading 15th goal for San Jose.
Dylan Larkin had a power-play goal and an assist in his 700th career NHL game and the Detroit Red Wings snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Andrew Copp scored Detroit’s second short-handed goal of the season, while Alex DeBrincat and Jonatan Berggren also scored for the Red Wings. Cam Talbot made 27 saves. Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist while Kaiden Guhle also scored for the Canadiens. Sam Montembeault stopped 41 shots.
MLB
Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot. Speaking through a translator, Suzuki says: “I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.” Suzuki had been to the Hall seven times before attending a news conference with fellow electees CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. The trio will be inducted on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.
GOLF
Ludvig Aberg and Lanto Griffin shared the lead Thursday at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open after ferocious wind forced an 86-minute delay and prevented dozens of players from finishing the second round. First-round leader Aberg fought to a 3-over 75, while Griffin had a 72 to sit even with Aberg at 6-under 138. Danny Walker was 5 under, while Chris Gotterup had a 69 to match the day’s best round and join Hayden Springer and Sungjae Im at 4 under. The players battled strong, inconsistent wind gusts measured at more than 35 mph on the famed coastal course better known for foggy marine layers than disruptive weather. Some gusts moved stationary balls and ripped hats off heads before marshals suspended play.
NFL
The Super Bowl field will be decided Sunday, with the Commanders in Philadelphia taking on the Eagles at 3 p.m. Sunday for the NFC Championship, while on the AFC side, the Bills are in Kansas City at 6:30 Sunday night for the AFC bid.
Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Saquon Barkley are finalists for The Associated Press 2024 NFL Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards. Josh Allen and Jared Goff also are MVP finalists while Burrow is also in the running for Comeback Player of the Year. Ja'Marr Chase and Derrick Henry are the other finalists for the Offensive Player award. The winners will be announced at NFL Honors on Feb. 6. A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are on the verge of hiring Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as the eighth head coach in franchise history. Coen left Jacksonville without a contract, but a person familiar with the search says it's expected to come together Friday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side has confirmed the decision. It would cap a covert operation that included owner Shad Khan moving on from general manager Trent Baalke and Coen reversing course with the Buccaneers. Khan fired Baalke on Wednesday to clear a path for Coen to land in Jacksonville.
A woman has testified that Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall after she got a phone call while they were in bed. She testified Thursday on the first day of the Peppers' trial on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The attorney for Peppers, Marc Brofsky, challenged the woman's account and the extent of her injuries during cross-examination. He also brought up a $9.5 million civil lawsuit the woman has filed against Peppers, noting she was “looking for money.” Peppers missed seven games since being placed on the commissioner’s exempt list on Oct. 9 following the incident.
TENNIS
An injured Novak Djokovic has quit after dropping the first set of his Australian Open semifinal against Alexander Zverev. Djokovic lost the opening set 7-6 (5) in a tiebreaker Friday and immediately walked around the net to concede the match to Zverev. Fans booed as Djokovic walked off toward the locker room, and he responded by giving two thumbs-up. Djokovic, who was bidding for an 11th championship at the Australian Open and record 25th Grand Slam title overall, hurt his left leg during his quarterfinal victory against Carlos Alcaraz. The No. 2-seeded Zverev reached his third Grand Slam final and first at Melbourne Park. On Sunday, Zverev will face the winner of today’s second semifinal between Italian #1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, the defending champion, and American #2 Ben Shelton.
The Madison Keys who will play two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka for the title at the Australian Open on Saturday night is not the same Madison Keys who was the runner-up at the U.S. Open back in 2017, the one other time the American participated in a Grand Slam final. Her racket is different, for one thing, a switch made ahead of this season to help protect her right shoulder and offer more controlled power. Her coach is different, too, as of 2023: her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo. And her mindset is different, Keys explained a little past 1 a.m. on Friday after upsetting five-time major winner Iga Swiatek in the semifinals at Melbourne Park.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UMBC 92 UAlbany 87
Siena 82 Mt. St. Mary’s 68
Iona 73 Rider 67
OT Marist 67 Niagara 65
Vermont 68 NJIT 64
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UMBC 71 UAlbany 59
Mt. St. Mary’s 92 Siena 57
NC State 74 Syracuse 66
Iona 84 Rider 53
Marist 74 Niagara 52
Vermont 60 NJIT 38
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