U.S./World Sports category, Page 14
The Thunder are NBA champions, and they might be just getting started
OKLAHOMA CITY — The promise came three years ago from Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti. It might have been overlooked for a couple of reasons. One, the Thunder were awful at the time. Two, he was speaking Latin. “Labor omnia vincit,” Presti said after the 2021-22 season, quoting a...
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 29, Thunder win NBA title
OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship, pulling away in the second half to beat the Indiana Pacers, 103-91, on Sunday night. Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for...
Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton injured in NBA Finals; Father says it’s an Achilles
OKLAHOMA CITY — Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was starting a move toward the basket, and his right leg didn’t seem to move with him. And the ensuing scene was heartbreaking for the team. Haliburton — who was playing with a strained right calf — tumbled to the court in...
Chase Briscoe holds off Denny Hamlin to win at Pocono
LONG POND — Chase Briscoe returned to victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway, conserving fuel down the stretch to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin for his first win with his new race team. Briscoe raced his way into an automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoffs with the win...
Duke’s Khaman Maluach, Maryland’s Derik Queen headline big men in NBA Draft
Duke’s Khaman Maluach anchored the interior for an elite defensive team that reached the Final Four. Maryland’s Derik Queen was the offensive focal point for a team that reached the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend. Those freshmen are the headliners among big men in the upcoming NBA Draft. While there’s a...
Sports play through another dangerously hot day in parts of the U.S.
CHICAGO — The shade — under the roof and the upper deck, in every dugout and tunnel — was a popular place at Wrigley Field on Sunday. The sunny seats, not so much. Several major league teams played through a second straight day of muggy conditions as dangerously hot temperatures...
Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth to perform national anthem before Game 7 of NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY — At 4-foot-11, Kristin Chenoweth is still making it to the NBA Finals. The award-winning actress, singer, Oklahoma native, Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductee and unabashed Thunder fan is performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 7 of the title series between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers on...
Kevin Durant is going from the Suns to the Rockets in a blockbuster trade, AP source says
The Houston Rockets are acquiring 15-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns in a blockbuster deal struck Sunday, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press. The Rockets are giving up Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and six future picks — including...
Club World Cup crowds swing from empty seats to ‘hostile’ atmospheres
MIAMI — As kickoff approached it was clear — the fans weren’t coming. The Club World Cup, soccer’s shiny, new competition, has been billed as the event to breathe new life into the world’s most popular sport. It began a week ago in the United States, where sports stadiums of...
NBA Finals: 2 teams, 1 game, 1 trophy. Pacers at Thunder will decide a champion
OKLAHOMA CITY — It started with 30 teams, most of them fairly optimistic about their chances when the season began eight months and 1,320 games and 35,543 3-pointers and 299,608 points ago. Only two teams remain. For one game. Game 7. The NBA season ends Sunday night when the Indiana...
Denny Hamlin celebrates new son with top spot for NASCAR race at PoconoVideo
LONG POND — Pocono Raceway paints its signature black rocks outside the garage in gold lettering with a last name and race car number highlighted to honor some of NASCAR’s greats. Jimmie Johnson has one. So does Richard Petty, among others. So where’s the celebratory boulder for Denny Hamlin, who...
Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Rutgers’ Ace Bailey headline NBA Draft’s available forwardsVideo
Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey were the first two names mentioned last summer when it came to college basketball’s top incoming freshmen. Now they’re the headliners among forwards in the NBA Draft. Flagg led Duke to the Final Four and became only the fourth freshman named Associated Press men’s national...
Rutgers’ Dylan Harper headlines bevy of 1-and-done guards set to go high in NBA DraftVideo
There’s a deep set of high-end guard prospects in the upcoming NBA Draft. Rutgers point guard Dylan Harper is positioned to be the first name called after projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, while Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe, Texas’ Tre Johnson, Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears and Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis are possible top-10...
Pacers roll Thunder, send NBA Finals to deciding Game 7
INDIANAPOLIS — Obi Toppin scored 20 points, Andrew Nembhard added 17 and the resilient Indiana Pacers sent the NBA Finals to a winner-take-all Game 7 by rolling past the Oklahoma City Thunder, 108-91, on Thursday night. Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, andTyrese Haliburton — playing...
After a whopping sale, the Los Angeles Lakers will no longer be the Buss family business
LOS ANGELES — The Buss family’s decision to sell a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at an eye-popping franchise valuation of $10 billion marks the end of nearly a half-century when one of the most valuable properties in the sports world was run by an eccentric father and...
2-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova announces she will retire in September
LONDON — Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova plans to retire in a few months, the Czech player said Thursday. The announcement on social media came a day after Kvitova was granted a wild card for Wimbledon. “I am excited and very much looking forward to soak in the beauty of...
Game 6: Thunder look to clinch title, Pacers try to extend NBA Finals
INDIANAPOLIS — The NBA season could end on Thursday night. It’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the Indiana Pacers 3-2 in the title series. Game 6 is in Indianapolis and Game 7, if necessary, will be Sunday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are...
Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe hospitalized with gastroenteritis at the Club World Cup
MIAMI — Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe has been hospitalized with an acute case of gastroenteritis, the Spanish club said Thursday. World Cup winner Mbappe missed Madrid’s opening game at the Club World Cup against Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal in Miami on Wednesday because of a fever. Coach Xabi...
Buss family to sell controlling stake of Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B valuation
The Buss family has agreed to sell the controlling stake of the Los Angeles Lakers to TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, doing so with a franchise valuation of $10 billion — the most ever for a professional sports franchise, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Wednesday. As part...
Olympic champion Noah Lyles calls off race with Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill
A race between Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill that was never formally announced but supposedly taking place this weekend was called off by Lyles for “personal reasons.” Lyles announced the cancelation Tuesday at Stagwell’s Sport Beach event in Cannes, France. His news was captured...
Federal judge calls on NASCAR, teams to settle bitter antitrust battle
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge urged NASCAR and two of its teams, including one owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan, to settle their increasingly acrimonious legal fight that spilled over into tense arguments during a hearing on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of...
OKC’s Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enter NBA Finals lore with Game 5 scoring spree
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jerry West and Elgin Baylor did it often. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James did it a couple of times. Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes were among those who did it once. And now, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have entered NBA lore. Game 5 of the NBA...
The rest that’s built into the NBA Finals can be a good thing, especially now
INDIANAPOLIS — Given the way Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton was limping on his way out of the postgame news conference after Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it’s safe to assume he’s a fan of the schedule right about now. Put simply, he could use a couple of days off....
Jalen Williams scores 40 as Thunder beat Pacers to move 1 win away from NBA title
OKLAHOMA CITY — Game 5 was starting to look like Game 1 all over again. Oklahoma City, at home, takes a huge lead. Indiana comes roaring back in the fourth quarter. Indiana won that one. This time, the Thunder crafted a different ending — and a 3-2 lead in the...
Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut to return to Coney Island hotdog eating contest after contract dispute
The champ is coming back to chomp. Competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut announced Monday he will return to compete in this year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest after skipping last year’s gastronomic battle for the coveted Mustard Belt. “This event means the world to me,” Chestnut,...
