The Milwaukee Bucks were held to 86 points for the second straight game. This time, that was just enough to win. Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo each had impressive double-doubles as the Bucks beat the Nets, 86-83 to pull within two games to one in the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals. Middleton finished with 35 points and 15 rebounds, while Antetokounmpo delivered 33 points and 14 boards. Just four other Bucks scored on Thursday, and none had more than Jrue Holiday's nine points. However, Holiday made a go-ahead driving layup with 11.4 seconds left after Milwaukee coughed up a 21-point lead. Milwaukee grabbed a 30-9 lead in the first 10 ½ minutes and then got outscored 22-3 during a stretch that lasted nearly 9 ½ minutes as the Nets clawed their way back into the game. Brooklyn led 83-82 when Bruce Brown missed a jumper with just over 20 seconds left, allowing Holiday to take the winning shot. Kevin Durant had the Nets' last nine points and finished with 30, but his potential game-tying 3-point attempt bounced off the rim as the horn sounded. Kyrie Irving had 22 points for the Nets, who stay in Milwaukee for Game 4 on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Jazz are halfway toward closing out their Western Conference semifinal series, taking a 2-0 lead with a 117-111 win over the Clippers. Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points and Utah forced nine straight misses down the stretch to outlast Los Angeles. The Jazz took control with a 14-2 run after trailing midway through the final period. Mitchell clinched the game with a driving shot with 43 seconds remaining but then appeared to hurt his leg slightly on a foul by Paul George with 10 seconds to play. He made one of two free throws after hobbling to the line. The guard is the first Jazz player with at least 35 points in back-to-back playoff games since Karl Malone in 1988. Jordan Clarkson scored 24, including six 3-pointers. Reggie Jackson led the Clippers with 29 points and George had 27. The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday.
In NBA news:
Chicago Bulls guard Coby White has had surgery on his left shoulder after injuring it over the weekend. The team says White was hurt "while engaged in basketball activities away from the team" and will be reevaluated in four months. White averaged 15.1 points and 4.8 assists while starting 54 of the 69 games he played in last season.
NHL
The Vegas Golden Knights have advanced to the Stanley Cup semifinals with four straight wins over the Colorado Avalanche following back-to-back losses. Alex Pietrangelo scored his first goal of the postseason to put the Knights ahead to stay in a 6-3 downing of the Avalanche. Pietrangelo's 46th shot of the playoffs found the back of the net with 18 seconds left in the second, breaking a 3-3 deadlock. Marc-Andre Fleury made the lead stand up by making 11 of his 30 saves in the final period. Fleury's 89th career playoff win leaves him all alone in fourth on the NHL's all-time list. Nick Holden, William Karlsson, Keegan Kolesar and William Carrier also scored for the Knights before Max Pacioretty added an empty-netter. The Golden Knights next face the Canadiens, who come off a four-game sweep of Winnipeg and have won seven in a row. Game 1 is Monday in Las Vegas.
In NHL news:
Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon have been named finalists for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP. McDavid is considered the likely winner of the award after dominating the scoring race with 105 points in 56 games. That's 21 more than the next-closest player, teammate Leon Draisaitl. Matthews led the league with 41 goals.
The Blue Jackets have promoted Brad Larsen to fill the head coaching vacancy created when Columbus parted ways with John Tortorella after six seasons at the helm. The 44-year-old Larsen is a former NHL forward who has been an assistant coach with the Blue Jackets for the past seven seasons. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen says Larsen agreed to a three-year contract.
MLB
Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz hit two-run homers off Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the ninth to send the Twins past the Yankees, 7-5. Giancarlo Stanton drove a slider off the end of his bat 422 feet for a three-run, first-inning homer while New York was building a 5-2 lead.
The Red Sox took advantage of a pair of dropped balls in a five-run sixth inning that allowed them to beat the Astros, 12-8 and avoid a three-game sweep. J.D. Martinez hit his 13th homer and Christian Arroyo hit a three-run drive in a 3-hour, 47-minute marathon.
The White Sox posted a 5-2 win over the Blue Jays as Dallas Keuchel pitched six effective innings and Yasmani Grandal homered. Adam Engel also went deep, and reigning AL MVP José Abreu hit a pair of RBI doubles as Chicago increased its lead in the AL Central to 4 1/2 games over the Indians. Marcus Semien and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. each drove in a run for Toronto, which lost for the fourth time in six games.
Jean Segura's two-run single completed the Phillies' 10th-inning comeback in a 4-3 win over the Braves. Atlanta scored two earned runs in the 10th after Freddie Freeman belted a solo homer to tie it. Alec Bohm got the Phils within 3-2 with an RBI single before Segura allowed Philadelphia to earn its second straight walk-off win over the Braves.
The Los Angeles Dodgers possess the first nine-game winner of the major league season. Julio Urías is 9-2 after allowing three runs over six innings of the Dodgers' 6-3 win over the Pirates. Urias also had a two-run single as Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh for the 13th consecutive time. Mookie Betts homered just three pitches into the game after beginning the day hitting just .250, 48 points below his career average. Zack McKinstry drove in two runs in a game that was called by rain in the top of the eighth.
Daniel Vogelbach slammed a two-run homer and Jace Peterson provided a tiebreaking, two-run single in the sixth inning of the Brewers' 11th win in 13 games, 7-2 over the Reds. Freddy Peralta allowed just one run and two hits over four innings, leaving for a pinch-hitter following a rain delay. Luis Castillo fell to 2-9 despite leaving with a 2-1 lead in the sixth.
Jonathan Schoop and Robbie Grossman homered and Isaac Paredes singled home the tiebreaking run in the Tigers' 8-3 defeat of the Mariners. Detroit scored two unearned runs in three Seattle errors and beat the Mariners for the fifth time in six tries this season. The M's wasted Mitch Haniger's two home runs.
Jorge Soler and Andrew Benintendi homered to help back Mike Minor in the Royals' 6-1 win at Oakland. Minor gave up one run and three hits while fanning eight over seven innings to help Kansas City halt a five-game skid.
Starling Marté had four hits, including a homer and double in the Marlins, 11-4 romp over the Rockies. Adam Duvall and Jazz Chisholm also went deep and Trevor Rogers allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings to improve to 7-3. Colorado fell to a major league-worst 5-24 on the road this season.
The Giants-Nationals game in Washington has been postponed and will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.
In baseball news:
Dutchess County is moving to invest more than $12 million dollars, largely American Rescue Plan funds, in Dutchess Stadium in a move to keep the Hudson Valley Renegades in Fishkill for the next 25 years. Republican County Executive Marc Molinaro announced the new lease with the New York Yankees Class A affiliate Thursday. It comes as the county aims to purchase the Dutchess Stadium land and build a new team clubhouse. The county anticipates the improvements to the 30-year-old stadium will generate nearly $600,000 dollars annually. The Renegades are in their first season as Yankees affiliates. The county legislature is set to vote on the proposal Monday night.
A Manhattan judge has rejected an attempt to force Major League Baseball to return next month's All-Star Game to Atlanta. The lawsuit filed May 31 alleged that Major League Baseball acted unconstitutionally when it moved the game from the Atlanta Braves stadium to Denver after Georgia Republicans enacted a restrictive new voting law. The rewrite of Georgia's election rules followed former President Donald Trump's repeated unproven claims of fraud after his presidential loss to President Joe Biden.
White Sox second baseman Nick Madrigal could miss the rest of the season after tearing his right hamstring. Madrigal was helped off the field after he tried to beat out a grounder in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's 6-2 loss to Toronto. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft had been rounding into form of late, batting .365 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 74 at-bats over his last 20 games.
The Indians have traded first baseman Jake Bauers to the Mariners for a player to be named or cash. Bauers batted just .190 with six RBIs in 43 games before the Indians designated him for assignment last weekend.
SOFTBALL
Giselle Juarez threw her second consecutive complete game and Oklahoma won its fifth national championship with a 5-1 win over Florida State in the Women's College World Series. Juarez allowed just two hits in Game 3 after earning a 6-2 win that tied up the series. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the World Series after finishing 5-0 with four runs allowed over 31 1/3 innings. Jocelyn Alo hit her team record-extending 34th homer of the season in the clincher.
TENNIS
It will be Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova against Barbora Krejcikova in the French Open women's final on Saturday. Pavlyuchenkova defeated unseeded Tamara Zidansek, 7-5, 6-3 to become the first Russian woman to reach a Grand Slam final since Maria Sharapova at the 2015 Australian Open. Down 5-3, 30-40 on her serve in the decider against 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari, Krejcikova later needed five match points to seal a 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 victory.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The College Football Playoff could triple in size. The playoff would expand from four to 12 teams, with six spots reserved for the highest ranked conference champions. That's under a proposal to be considered next week. A person familiar with announcement tells The Associated Press the playoff would include six at-large selections. The CFP's surprising disclosure comes a week ahead of the planned presentation to CFP officials in Chicago.
Elsewhere, a son of legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler and two of his former players have described in detail how they were molested by the team's longtime doctor and how Schembechler turned a blind eye when they told him about it. Matt Schembechler and former players Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson told similar stories during a news conference about how Dr. Robert E. Anderson molested and digitally penetrated them during physical exams decades ago. They also talked about how Bo Schembechler refused to protect them and allowed Anderson to continue abusing players and other patients for years. Anderson died in 2008, two years after Schembechler.
NFL
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson says he did not request a trade this offseason. Wilson added that he believes conversations with coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have strengthened his relationship with the team. Wilson spoke for the first time since February, when a series of comments he made led to trade speculation and a growing furor surrounding his future in Seattle. Wilson repeated numerous times that winning is the ultimate cure for any dissatisfaction and that any rifts with the franchise have been mended for now.
In other NFL news:
Chiefs offensive lineman Kyle Long suffered a knee injury during voluntary workouts that could require surgery and keep him out of training camp. The 32-year-old Long came out of a one-year retirement designed largely to get him healthy to sign a one-year contract with the Chiefs.
The Packers expect to fill Lambeau Field for games this season. They also plan to welcome fans to training camp and their annual shareholders meeting this year. Fans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 won't need to wear masks. Unvaccinated fans will be asked to wear masks. Proof of vaccination won't be required.
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