Jalen Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds despite a bruised left knee and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers 111-94 on Thursday night in Game 5. The Knicks won on their home floor for the first time in the series and prevented the Pacers from earning the second NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will try again Saturday night at home. New York extended its first trip to the conference finals since 2000 and kept alive hopes of becoming the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series.
NHL PLAYOFFS
Edmonton 6 Dallas 3
Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are going to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row. Their captain had a breakaway goal and an assist, 40-year-old Corey Perry scored again and the Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 6-3 to wrap up the Western Conference final in Game 5 on Thursday night. Edmonton scored on its first two shots, and jumped ahead 3-0 in the first 8:07 on way to eliminating the Stars in the West final for the second year in a row. The Oilers now get another rematch, against defending Stanley Cup champion Florida. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.
Oilers gladly touched West trophy ahead of Cup rematch. It was hands off for Panthers in the
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid wasn’t keeping his hands off the Western Conference championship trophy this time. McDavid gladly touched the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl when accepting it after a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night that sent the Oilers to a Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Florida Panthers. McDavid says he didn't touch the West trophy last year, and Edmonton didn't win the Stanley Cup. Florida didn’t touch the Prince of Wales Trophy after wrapping up the East final this week. The Panthers also didn't touch the East trophy last year and won the Cup. But in 2023, they lost in the Stanley Cup final after celebrating the East touching that trophy.
MLB
Philadelphia 5 Atlanta 4
Atlanta 9 Philadelphia 3
Chris Sale became the fastest pitcher to reach 2,500 strikeouts, pitched six scoreless innings and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3 on Thursday night to split a doubleheader. The Phillies won the afternoon game 5-4. Sale (3-3) struck out Edmundo Sosa in the sixth inning for his eighth strikeout, to reach the milestone. He did it in 2,026 innings, surpassing the record of 2,107 2/3 set by Randy Johnson. Sale became the 40th pitcher in major league history to reach 2.500 strikeouts and joined Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer as the only active pitchers to have reached that plateau. Sosa was the last hitter Sale faced. He allowed just two hits in six shutout innings.
Colorado at N-Y Mets 7:10 p.m.
The Colorado Rockies hit the road against the New York Mets tonight at 7:10 looking to end a four-game road losing streak.
The Chicago Cubs agreed to a one-year contract with former New York Mets left-hander Génesis Cabrera and designated right-hander Brooks Kriske for assignment. Cabrera, 28, had a 3.52 ERA and threw seven strikeouts across 7 2/3 innings and seven games of relief for the Mets this year. He was designated for assignment on Saturday, refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Syracuse and became a free agent. Cabrera, who is from the Dominican Republic, also had has stints with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Toronto Blue Jays, is 17-14 with a 3.88 ERA in seven major league seasons.
N-Y Yankees at L-A Dodgers 10:10 p.m.
The Los Angeles Dodgers begin a three-game series at 10:10 tonight at home against the New York Yankees on Friday.
Boston at Atlanta 7:15 p.m.
The Boston Red Sox face the Atlanta Braves tonight at 7:15 in Atlanta after losing five in a row.
Washington 9 Seattle 3
Josh Bell hit a three-run homer in a seven-run 10th inning in the Washington Nationals’ 9-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. The Nationals set a franchise record for runs in an extra inning. Rookie Daylen Lile got the outburst started against Collin Snider (1-1) with a sacrifice fly to deep right that came just a few feet shy of a home run. Luis Garcia Jr. doubled home a pair of runs before Bell hit his eighth home run of the season and second in two days. Jose A. Ferrer (2-2) was the winner.
Toronto 12 Athletics 0
Ernie Clement homered and had five RBIs, Bo Bichette homered and drove in three runs, and the Toronto Blue Jays used an eight-run second inning to rout the struggling Athletics 12-0. José Berríos and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Blue Jays recorded their second straight shutout and fourth of the season. All four have come since May 20. The Athletics have lost three straight and 14 of 15, getting outscored 117-44 in that span. The A’s have been outscored by 101 total runs this season. They’ve lost by 10 or more runs an MLB-worst seven times.
Tampa Bay 13 Houston 3
Junior Caminero homered and drove in a career-high six RBIs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 13-3 win over the Houston Astros. The game was tied 3-all with no outs and two on in the seventh when Yandy Díaz’s RBI single put the Rays on top. Tampa Bay made it 5-3 when Jonathan Aranda reached and Díaz scored on a fielding error by first baseman Victor Caratini. Caminero then connected off Bryan King (3-1) on his 11th homer this season to push the lead to 8-3.
Mike Trout is expected to be activated off the injured list on Friday before the Los Angeles Angels face the Cleveland Guardians, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the move has not been announced. The Angels have an open roster spot after Matthew Lugo was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on Thursday. Trout hasn’t played since April 30, when he left the game against the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning with soreness in his left knee eventually diagnosed as a bone bruise. The three-time American League MVP had two operations last year on the knee after tearing his meniscus.
FRENCH OPEN
Coco Gauff has managed to move into the French Open's third round despite some shaky serving. The 2023 U.S. Open champion kept getting herself in some trouble by getting broken on Thursday but kept putting herself back in position to win by breaking right back. The second-seeded Gauff wound up eliminating 172nd-ranked qualifier Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes on a partly cloudy, muggy afternoon in Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Gauff only managed to produce 11 winners, five fewer than her far-less-experienced opponent. Gauff also finished with 23 unforced errors, a total that included a half-dozen double-faults.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic has dealt with a blister on his big left toe that required a medical timeout in the third set, then was one point from being forced to a fourth, before closing out a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory over Corentin Moutet at the French Open. The result Thursday put Djokovic in the third round at Roland-Garros for the record 20th time — not even Rafael Nadal managed that. Two more wins, and Djokovic will get to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the 16th consecutive year. He withdrew before playing in that round last year after tearing the meniscus in his right knee and needing surgery.
Carlos Alcaraz has been wearing nasal strips in some matches since last season. That's sparked an interest in the better-breathing adhesives among other tennis players — even if the four-time Grand Slam champion has skipped using them so far at the French Open heading into his third-round match on Friday night. The bandages open the nostrils to ease nasal breathing. Nicolás Jarry wears them daily both for practice and competition. Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula are among the players who have noticed Alcaraz using them and are curious whether the strips could help. Science isn't so sure of the benefits.
WNBA
New York 82 Golden State 77
Breanna Stewart scored 27 points and Sabrina Ionescu added 24 to help the New York Liberty hold on to beat the Golden State Valkyries 82-77 and remain unbeaten. The teams met on Tuesday and New York routed expansion Golden State 95-67, jumping out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter. The Valkyries were much more competitive two days later, giving the defending champions all they could handle. Janelle Salaün led the Valkyries with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Chicago 97 Dallas 92
Kamilla Cardoso scored a career-high 23 points and Courtney Vandersloot set franchise records for points and field goals as the Chicago Sky beat the Dallas Wings 97-92. Arike Ogunbowale scored a season-high 37 points for the Wings and hit a 3-pointer that gave Dallas a 92-91 lead with 2:11 remaining. But Ogunbowale went 0 for 3 the rest of the way and the Sky closed with a 6-0 run. Vandersloot finished with 13 points, nine assists and four steals. She moved past Allie Quigley into first in franchise history with 3,728 points and 1,394 field goals. Quigley scored 3,273 points and had 1,386 field goals for the Sky from 2013-22.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Jessica Clements hit a two-run walk-off homer with two outs to lead UCLA past Oregon 4-2 in the Women’s College World Series opener for both teams. It was just Clements’ sixth homer of the season. It was the second walk-off homer of on Thursday — Oklahoma’s Ella Parker hit a three-run blast against Tennessee during the early session. Ninth-seeded UCLA (55-11) advanced to play No. 12 Texas Tech on Saturday for a spot in the semifinals. Oregon (53-9), seeded 16th, will play Mississippi on Friday in an elimination game.
WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL GOLF
Angel Yin started experimenting with a new putter about a month ago and decided to use it in a tournament for the first time at the most prestigious event in women’s golf. The move worked well in the first round at Erin Hills. Yin made a 13 1/2-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for a 4-under 68 and a share of the U.S. Women’s Open lead with 2020 champion A Lim Kim, Jinhee Im, Yealimi Noh, Rio Takeda and Julia Lopez Ramirez. Lopez Ramirez won consecutive Southeastern Conference titles at Mississippi State in 2023 and 2024, but she suffered a major setback earlier this year when what she initially believed was a bout of food poisoning actually was a case of appendicitis.
MEN’S PROFESSIONAL GOLF
Ben Griffin picked up his first individual PGA Tour title at Colonial last week and he's still rolling. Griffin opened with a 65 at tough Muirfield Village despite two shots in the water. That gives him a two-shot lead over Collin Morikawa at the Memorial. Only six players broke 70 and 13 players were under par. The rough was so thick that missing a fairway made it hard work. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn't in the short grass enough for his liking. He still managed a 70 for his 19th consecutive tournament with a first round under par.
MARCH MADNESS BRACKET EXPANSION
NCAA President Charlie Baker sees value in expanding the NCAA Tournament by a handful of teams and wants to reach a decision on the matter in the next few months. Baker spoke Thursday during Big 12 spring meetings, where conference leaders are discussing everything from the multi-billion dollar revenue-sharing settlement to complexities brought on by the transfer portal and name, image and likeness. Baker said there are flaws in the current formula and it would be beneficial to provide an opportunity to four or eight more teams.
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