NBA News

I hate to be the “I told you so” guy (he said, lying), but this was my last line for the Minnesota preview. It all adds up to a crushing loss to an undermanned team on national television tonight. It’s the death knell for this iteration of the Houston Rockets. Again, that was before Houston blew a 13-point lead in …

Philadelphia 76ers (40-33, seventh in the Eastern Conference) vs. Charlotte Hornets (39-34, ninth in the Eastern Conference) Charlotte, North Carolina; Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte will try to keep its five-game home win streak alive when the Hornets face Philadelphia. Advertisement The Hornets are 23-22 against Eastern Conference opponents. Charlotte has a 3-6 record in games decided by …

San Antonio Spurs (55-18, second in the Western Conference) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (29-43, 11th in the Eastern Conference) Milwaukee; Saturday, 3 p.m. EDT BOTTOM LINE: San Antonio will attempt to build upon its seven-game win streak with a victory against Milwaukee. Advertisement The Bucks have gone 16-19 at home. Milwaukee allows 116.6 points and has been outscored by 6.0 points …

New Orleans Pelicans (25-49, 11th in the Western Conference) vs. Toronto Raptors (40-32, sixth in the Eastern Conference) Toronto; Friday, 8:30 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Raptors -8.5; over/under is 227.5 Advertisement BOTTOM LINE: New Orleans hits the road against Toronto looking to break its four-game road skid. The Raptors have gone 19-16 at home. Toronto is 7-4 in one-possession …

SAN JOSE, CA — All John Calipari could do was sit there. His Arkansas team had been high flying all month. It was dunking like it was the “Lob City” Los Angeles Clippers, and shooting like it was the Golden State Warriors’ “Splash Bros.” Darius Acuff Jr. was showing why he’s destined to be an NBA star, giving belief the …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andy Pages hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the fifth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Thursday, opening the season with a victory in pursuit of their third consecutive World Series championship. Three of the Dodgers’ first four hits in the fifth off Zac Gallen came with two strikes. …

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Arizona finally got over the Sweet 16 hurdle under coach Tommy Lloyd, getting 23 points from Brayden Burries and a dominant offensive effort in a 109-88 win over Arkansas on Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament. Fellow freshmen Koa Peat added 21 points and Ivan Kharchenkov had 15 as the top-seeded Wildcats (35-2) won their …

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for his third shutout of the season and 39th of his career to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist for the Kings, and Scott Laughton, Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield also scored. …

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Evan Bouchard scored at 3:10 of overtime, shortly after Edmonton killed off a Vegas penalty, and the Oilers defeated the Golden Knights 4-3 in a game Thursday night with playoff implications. The Oilers extended their lead for second place in the Pacific Division to two points over the Golden Knights. They are five points behind first-place …

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mikael Granlund capped off his hat trick scoring on the power play with 1 second remaining in overtime on Thursday night to give the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Granlund has seven goals during a four-game goal streak that has him up to 19 on the season as Anaheim extended its winning …

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored his 47th and 48th goals of the season to propel the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Jack Drury scored his career-high ninth goal of the season for the NHL-leading Avalanche, who ended a four-game road trip with a 4-0-0 record. Artturi Lehkonen added an assist …

HOUSTON (AP) — On the most critical play of Nebraska’s Sweet 16 loss to rival Iowa, the Cornhuskers had only four players on the floor, and coach Fred Hoiberg took the blame. ’Put that one on me,” he said. “It was a miscommunication and I’m the head coach.” Advertisement After Nebraska cut Iowa’s lead to three with 58.8 seconds left …

Cinderella wears a 9-seed’s uniform. Specifically, it’s a black jersey trimmed in gold. Iowa, the slipper is yours. You wear it well. You say a Big Ten team can’t be Cinderella, I say we might need to broaden our horizons a smidge when Iowa advances into the Elite Eight for the first time in 39 years. Advertisement By beating No. …

Texas guard Jordan Pope was willing to do whatever the Longhorns needed in its last-second loss to Purdue in the Sweet 16, including playing through a serious injury. The senior guard revealed he played 33 minutes with a broken foot against the Boilermakers on Thursday, March 26, after suffering the injury against Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA …

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday denied the NCAA’s motion for a temporary restraining order to stop DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The complaint for trademark infringement, filed in the Southern District of Indiana last week, requested that DraftKings stop using “March Madness,” “Final Four,” “Elite Eight” and “Sweet Sixteen” …

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Joel Eriksson Ek scored the winning goal with 4.4 seconds left to lift the Minnesota Wild past the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday night. Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman also had goals for the Wild and Jesper Wallstedt made 18 saves. Advertisement Minnesota, which is 3-4-1 in its last eight, entered Thursday’s game five points behind …

SAN JOSE, CA — Purdue is still dancing. The No. 2 seed Boilermakers avoided the upset from 11th-seeded Texas with a last-second put-back shot by Trey Kaufman-Renn in the Sweet 16 to continue their March Madness run into the Elite Eight with a 79-77 win. Advertisement It was a back-and-forth game the entire way, and in the winding moments, the …

The Cleveland Cavaliers have only had their new core four players of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen all together on the court for three games this season. Friday’s contest against the Miami Heat could be their fourth. Allen, who has missed the team’s last 10 games with a knee injury, is questionable for Friday’s rematch. Advertisement …

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries it considers “hostile,” Iranian state TV reported Thursday ahead of Tractor FC’s scheduled soccer game in Saudi Arabia. The ban announced by Iran’s Ministry of Sports in Tehran didn’t mention the World Cup which starts June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Advertisement The …

ATLANTA (AP) — Texas junior Rex Maurer defended his title in the 400-yard individual medley at the NCAA swimming and diving championships, and the Longhorns held the team lead after Day 2 on Thursday. Texas has 215.5 points, followed by Florida with 205 and Arizona State 133.5. Advertisement Josh Liendo won the 100 butterfly for Florida in a NCAA record …

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm has sued his parents for millions of dollars, accusing them of siphoning large amounts of his money into financial accounts they managed for him and then using some of the cash to pay their own expenses. Bohm’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Philadelphia court, comes after he began to review his …

CHICAGO — Rick Barnes didn’t give the canned answer like Alabama’s Nate Oats and Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger had to because nobody really figured it was worth asking anymore. “I’m from North Carolina,” the 71-year-old Tennessee men’s basketball coach quipped when told he was likely to be the only head coach at the 2026 NCAA Tournament’s Midwest regional to not …

HOUSTON (AP) — Mike Trout homered to launch what he hopes will be a bounce-back year, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a season-opening 3-0 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday. Trout also walked three times and played center field for the first time since April 2024. The three-time MVP played 130 games last season, his most since 2019 …

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kevin McGonigle got four hits and drove in two runs in his auspicious major league debut during the Detroit Tigers’ 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday. The 21-year-old McGonigle hit a two-run double with the bases loaded on the first big league pitch he saw in the first inning. He had a second …

CINCINNATI (AP) — Garrett Crochet allowed only three hits in six innings, Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single in the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox got their first opening day shutout since 2015, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Thursday. Roman Anthony had three hits for the Red Sox, who had their 11th opening day shutout — with …