Yahoo SportsJohnson: Nikola Jokic remains 'fantasy gold'
NBC Sports EDGE's Jared Johnson hits on why Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has been "fantasy gold" this season and why he's a lock to go in the top three in next year's drafts.
NBC Sports EDGE's Jared Johnson hits on why Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has been "fantasy gold" this season and why he's a lock to go in the top three in next year's drafts.
Philonise Floyd thanked Mark Davis for the Raiders' support and called for unity in the fight for social and racial justice.
The championship, scheduled for May 6-16 in Halifax and Truro, N.S., was called off Wednesday, a day before participating countries were to arrive to begin their quarantines.
The league announced Wednesday it plans to kick off the '21 campaign Aug. 5, nearly two months later than originally planned.
Ronda Rousey and her husband Travis Browne announced that they're expecting their first child in September.
The track will be at 40% capacity a year after fans weren't allowed to attend the pandemic-postponed 2020 Indy 500 won by Takuma Sato.
Patrick Marleau broke Gordie Howe's record for most games played in the NHL but what is the legacy of someone who may not make the Hockey Hall of Fame and which long-standing record could fall next?
TV show meme was even shared by Man City centre-back Aymeric Laporte
It all kicked off on Sunday when Lakers fan Josh Toussaint claimed Vivian Flores, his The Laker Point podcast co-host, had gone missing.
Schalke players were confronted by fans upon returning from a loss which confirmed they would drop out of German soccer's top tier for the first time in 30 years.
Brown's representative released a statement saying the wideout and former trainer Britney Taylor have resolved "aggressive litigation" and are moving forward.
Jake Paul has MMA fighters lining up to be his next boxing opponent following his first-round knockout of Ben Askren.
A battle between two London rivals, and two Serie A powers fighting for European qualification highlight this week's slate.
Get news, analysis, memes and more delivered to your inbox the morning after every Raptors game.
For Stephen Curry, his recent hot streak is the culmination of a journey that began even before he was born. It starts with a simple hoop on a farm outside of tiny Grottoes, Virginia.
Each a former Rookie of the Year, A'ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier are two of a very few female athletes featured in podcasting.
DETROIT — Tyler Anderson pitched five solid innings, and the Pittsburgh Pirates took the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday, 3-2 over the Detroit Tigers. Pittsburgh scored all runs in the fourth inning after Michael Fulmer (1-1) retired the Pirates in order through the first three. Pittsburgh has won five of its last seven to pull within a game of .500. The Pirates and Tigers were playing a doubleheader because Tuesday night's game was postponed on a snowy day in the Detroit area. There was still a white dusting on top of the bushes beyond the wall in centre field Wednesday, plus some flurries late in the game. Anderson (2-2) allowed two runs and three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Kyle Crick worked a perfect sixth, and Richard Rodríguez retired the Tigers in order in the seventh and final inning for his second save. Victor Reyes doubled in the third and scored on Robbie Grossman's sacrifice fly. The Pirates answered immediately. Adam Frazier, Phillip Evans and Bryan Reynolds started the fourth with consecutive singles, the driving in Frazier. Evans scored on Colin Moran's groundout, and Erik González added an RBI single one out later. Jonathan Schoop hit an RBI single for Detroit with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Fulmer allowed three runs and four hits in four innings. TRANSACTIONS Detroit recalled INF Zack Short from the alternate training site, and he made his big league debut, drawing two walks. The Tigers designated INF Renato Núñez for assignment. Pittsburgh claimed OF Ka’ai Tom off waivers from Oakland, recalled INF Rodolfo Castro from the alternate site and designated OF Anthony Alford for assignment. TRAINER'S ROOM Pirates: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (left wrist inflammation) was expected to play for Pittsburgh’s alternate site team Wednesday night. Hayes is eligible to come off the 10-day injured list, but the team is remaining vague on a possible return. Tigers: Manager A.J. Hinch said DH Miguel Cabrera (left biceps strain) will hopefully be back this weekend, but OF Nomar Mazara (left abdominal strain) will not return during this homestand. ___ Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Noah Trister, The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — When Anthony Davis' right leg became too painful to play on two months ago, the big man and the Los Angeles Lakers decided he wouldn't return until he was completely ready to be himself again. More than two months later, Davis is confident that time has arrived with 14 regular-season games left in the Lakers' push to defend their NBA title. Davis intends to play Thursday night when the Lakers open a four-game road trip at Dallas, he said after a workout at the team's training complex. He hasn't suited up since Feb. 14, missing Los Angeles' last 30 games in the longest injury absence of his nine-year NBA career. “I wanted to make sure I was coming back 100%, because it wouldn’t be fair to myself, wouldn’t be fair to my team,” Davis said Wednesday. “I feel great. These last games leading to the playoffs, a lot of teams aren’t healthy, a lot of players aren’t healthy. I’m 100%, and we’ve got Bron coming back as well who’s going to be 100% healthy. I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position.” Indeed, the Lakers (35-23) have managed to stay in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference standings despite playing without Davis for nine weeks and without LeBron James since March 20. The Lakers went 14-16 without Davis, and they’re 7-9 since both Davis and James went down. Coach Frank Vogel said James is still “probably a couple of weeks or so” away from returning from his sprained ankle. Davis will start when he returns, but will only play about 15 minutes in his first game back. Vogel intends to monitor his superstar's acclimation closely, and his return could be pushed back another game if Davis feels sore on Thursday morning. “Honestly, if you’re out for this long, it usually takes a couple of weeks to feel like you really have your legs under you, and your rhythm and timing is back,” Vogel said. “It’s going to take some time, and as far as the minutes restriction, it’s really going to be evaluated on a day-by-day basis.” The absences of Davis and James potentially were a huge setback for the Lakers' repeat hopes. But now that the Lakers' supporting cast has made it nearly certain the team is still playoff-bound, the Lakers are about to have two rested, hungry superstars when the post-season begins in a month. Davis' injury left him in serious pain in his right heel and calf during his final game at Denver on Valentine's Day. The big man had already skipped a handful of games early in the regular season after the short turnaround from the Lakers' playoff run in the Florida bubble, but the shock of that last escalation in his leg woes caught Davis' full attention. “It was something I've never felt before as far as pain,” Davis said. “I didn't want to have to go through that again. ... I've felt pain there before, just going through the process the first time I injured it, but the second time — knock on wood, I never tore an Achilles, but I kind of felt like sharp pain, like it was ripping, which I never felt before. It was tough to flex my foot. I knew it was something serious. It wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but it was still a pretty significant injury." So the Lakers shut down Davis near the midpoint of this unusual NBA season. Los Angeles scuffled through the next five weeks, going 7-7 until James also went down with his sprained ankle. And yet the absence of their two roster cornerstones still hasn't sunk the Lakers. With Dennis Schröder, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma leading a team effort, Los Angeles has played roughly .500 ball and dropped only from second to fifth in the conference standings, staying right behind Denver. Davis and James have been with the team at nearly every game, and Davis sees benefits beyond rest from his time on the sidelines. “I think that’s how I stayed engaged and got my fix not being able to play, just being in the gym with the guys and breaking down the games for the guys and helping them learn,” Davis said. “It kind of helped me become a better leader as well. It was good for me, but I think it was also good for them to hear my voice.” ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Greg Beacham, The Associated Press
Orioles starting pitcher Bruce Zimmerman struck out four over 4 2/3 innings of work against the Marlins
Kia Nurse isn't just one of Canada's finest female basketball players, she's becoming a popular voice of the game as well. The Canadian national team and WNBA star has drawn rave reviews for her work as an analyst and colour commentator on TSN broadcasts of the Toronto Raptors and NCAA March Madness, impressing with her professionalism and immense knowledge of the game — and her humour. During the Raptors' all-female broadcast on March 24 — the first in NBA history — Nurse dropped a hilarious "Get that GAH-BAGE outta here!" in an impression of legendary broadcaster Jack Armstrong, complete with Brooklyn accent. "Got to pay homage to the OG," Nurse said with a laugh in a phone interview this week. Nurse is carving out her space in a field that remains overwhelmingly male, and she's just 25. She got her start when she was asked to join the broadcast team for March Madness in 2019. "I was home early from (playing) overseas, and it was an opportunity that arose. And so I just said, 'Sure, let's do it.' And it's pretty easy to just sit there and talk about basketball, because it's what I've done my whole life. "The first time was a little bit more nerve-racking, because I felt like I was almost thrown into the fire, straight into doing it. There were probably a lot of 'ums' at that time. As the weeks kind of went on, I started to get the hang of it, and just from seeing other people do it, obviously for their careers and watching sports as much as I had, it kind of just became pretty natural." The plan was to do the same in 2020, but the March Madness tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19. She was a regular on TSN's Raptors broadcasts before leaving for Phoenix last week to prepare for the WNBA season. "Kia's very good. And what she does is she's not trying to be a broadcaster. She's talking basketball. And she comes across really naturally," said longtime Raptors broadcaster Leo Rautins. "(The late Canadian broadcaster) John Saunders used to tell me 'It should be like you and I are talking hoops on a couch where people can happen to hear the conversation.' And that's the way Kia is. "She's not trying to impress you with her knowledge. She's sharing her knowledge. And she enjoys it. She's very good at it. She knows the game, there's no question about that. And she's fun to work with because she's real." She's similarly impressed her big brother, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse. "Seeing her do it and how well she's been doing it, for me that's a lot of pressure to step in behind that. I don't know if I have the confidence to hop in behind Kia, she's been doing such a great job," Darnell Nurse told reporters with a laugh. "She can do it all. . . it's so cool to see." The Raptors' all-female broadcast drew plenty of praise, including from Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry. Nurse did the colour commentary alongside Meghan McPeak, who did play-by-play. Kayla Grey handled sideline duties while Kate Beirness and Amy Audibert hosted the show. "The great thing about our broadcast is obviously, Kate mentioned it early in the pre-game, was we were excited to be there to make history and to allow young women to see representation of themselves on television in these roles," Nurse said. "But at the same time, we were there to do a job, and we knew we were good at our jobs, and that's all we really had to go out there and do." Nurse isn't sure whether fulltime broadcasting is in her long-term future. "I don't really look that far ahead," she said. "It's great to have this kind of started already, at some point, the ball is going to stop bouncing, and for female athletes, you have to have a Plan B. This is something that wasn't originally on my radar as a Plan B, but it's something that I really love doing, and it's exciting." The television work is a huge help financially. Most WNBA players spend their off-seasons playing overseas, because their WNBA paycheques aren't enough to get them through the year. Television work is a chance for Nurse, a Hamilton native, to stay home between WNBA seasons. "In my eyes, if it's as lucrative as being overseas then I don't have a problem staying home, and so we're able to make it work in that sense," she said. Nurse, a six-foot guard, was traded to the Phoenix Mercury in a three-team deal in February. She was the Liberty’s 10th overall selection in the 2018 WNBA Draft, and averaged 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during her three-year tenure with New York. She led the team in scoring the past two seasons. The WNBA has prided itself for its work off the court as well, so it was no surprise that during a summer of racial unrest across the U.S. and abroad, the league led the way in the Florida bubble — or "wubble," as it was affectionately known. When Raphael Warnock defeated former WNBA owner Kelly Loeffler for Senate, he owed a large part of his victory to WNBA players, who threw their support behind Warnock after Loeffler critiqued their participation in the Black Lives Matter movement, among other issues. Both the WNBA and the women's NCAA basketball tournament drew record numbers of viewers this past season, and Nurse is confident the momentum of the women's game will continue, as will their work on issues such as racial injustice. "We definitely as a league understand that it wasn't just a one-time thing, we knew that this was gonna be a fight for the long haul," Nurse said. "So, for us, it's just continuing to find different ways to create spaces where tough conversations can be had, and education can happen as well." Nurse added that being back in their home markets, and doing work in their own communities, will only increase the momentum. "Because there's 12 teams that are doing that across the country," she said. "We're going to continue to use our voice, we're gonna continue to keep speaking up on things that we believe need more attention, and justice that needs to be served. That's the great part about our league is that it's always about momentum moving forward." The Mercury open their 32-game WNBA season on May 14 against a Minnesota Lynx team that includes Canadians Natalie Achonwa and Bridget Carleton. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2021. Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
Max Scherzer gets Matt Carpenter to strike out and escapes an early bases-loaded jam in the top of the 1st inning