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OG Anunoby is happier than ever following Raptors rebound
Toronto forward OG Anunoby is playing some of his most consistent basketball in Raptors colours and the 23-year-old also has a new best friend in Gary Trent Jr.
Toronto forward OG Anunoby is playing some of his most consistent basketball in Raptors colours and the 23-year-old also has a new best friend in Gary Trent Jr.
Alexander Edler will not be available to the decimated Vancouver Canucks roster.
The latest occupant of John Tortorella's famed doghouse is none other than Max Domi. Congrats!
The Toronto Raptors have signed forward Yuta Watanabe to a standard NBA contract.
Patrick Marleau said he received many congratulatory messages as he approached eclipsing the great Gordie Howe's record for NHL games played.
With four games upcoming against the lowly Red Wings, stacking some Dallas Stars on your fantasy hockey roster this week is a no-brainer.
Tottenham fired Jose Mourinho on Monday after only 17 months in charge, and just as he was preparing to coach the club in the League Cup final.
Smith made an incredible comeback from a 2018 leg injury.
Tom Brady and Tie Domi were kickin' it again this weekend as the sports world's most unexpected friendship continues to blossom before our eyes.
Twelve top European soccer clubs have agreed to establish the "Super League," a new elite competition that has left soccer fans angry and confused about the future of the world's most popular sport.
The 7-foot-1 center chose the Zags over Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan, North Carolina, Memphis, Georgetown and the G League.
Fans, players, coaches and executives have moved swiftly to protest and oppose a new league that would upend soccer as we know it.
William Nylander gives his thoughts on Alexander Edler's knee-on-knee hit on Zach Hyman in Vancouver's overtime win over the Maple Leafs on Sunday.
A battle between two London rivals, and two Serie A powers fighting for European qualification highlight this week's slate.
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NEW YORK — Brooklyn forward Kevin Durant will not play Tuesday when the Nets visit the New Orleans Pelicans because of a left thigh contusion. It will be Durant's 34th missed game this season. He has appeared in 24, the latest of those being Sunday in Miami. He had to leave that game after four minutes because of the thigh issue, and Brooklyn went on to lose 109-107. Brooklyn has also ruled out James Harden again because of his right hamstring injury. Durant has missed 24 games because of a left hamstring injury, six others in accordance with the league’s health and safety protocols related to the coronavirus and three more for injury management. Durant is averaging 27.3 points this season. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports The Associated Press
Lawyer Rusty Hardin submitted a legal filing Monday which responds to the first accuser's litigation and builds out counter-allegations against the other 21 women.
FIFA has threatened to ban Super League players from the World Cup. But would it really follow through on that threat?
Brown is the second former USC lineman to die at a young age in the past year.
MONTREUX, Switzerland — The deceptions, distrust and divisions in European soccer erupted in public on Monday between teams and even within the clubs breaking away to form a Super League that could leave them and their players outcasts in the global game. Condemnation of the 12 rebels clubs from England, Spain and Italy even came from Prince William, who followed the British government in railing against moves to split from longstanding structures to play in a largely closed competition rather than Europe's existing UEFA-run Champions League. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin turned on club leaders he called “snakes” and “liars,” singling out Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli and Manchester United vice chairman Ed Woodward for betraying him for reneging on a pledge to stick within existing structures by backing a revamp of the Champions League only last Friday. Ceferin threatened players from the Super League clubs with being banned from the European Championship and next year’s World Cup. “They will not be able to represent their national teams at any matches,” Ceferin warned earlier. “UEFA and the footballing world stand united against the disgraceful self-serving proposal we have seen in the last 24 hours from a select few clubs in Europe that are fueled purely by greed above all else.” The strident rhetoric from Ceferin was followed on Monday by criticism of the Super League even by Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp despite owner John Henry securing the six-time European champion's participation in the new competition. “I don’t think it’s a great idea,” he said after Liverpool was held by Leeds to 1-1. It's a result that puts Liverpool two points from the four Champions League qualification places, showing just why Henry would want the team he has owned since 2010 in a Super League where the spot is locked in. Three of the 12 rebels — Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid — are scheduled to play in the Champions League semifinals next week. Two more, Manchester United and Arsenal, are in the Europa League semifinals. Ceferin said he wants to boot them out as “as soon as possible” from UEFA competitions, but that will require “legal assessments” that will begin on Tuesday morning. Ceferin led a meeting of UEFA's executive committee on Monday only hours after the 12 clubs announced the Super League project that threatens to split the historic structure of European soccer. He received backing from the English Football Association President Prince William, the second-in-line to the British throne. “Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core,” he tweeted on the Kensington Palace account. “I share the concerns of fans about the proposed Super League and the damage it risks causing to the game we love.” The 12 clubs planning to start the breakaway Super League wrote early Monday to the leaders of FIFA and UEFA that they have begun legal action aimed at fending off threats to block their competition. The letter was sent by the group to Ceferin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino saying the Super League has already been underwritten by funding of 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) from American bank JPMorgan Chase. Currently, teams have to qualify each year for the Champions League through their domestic leagues, but the Super League would lock in 15 places every season for the founding members. The seismic move to shake up the sport is partly engineered by the American owners of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, who also run franchises in closed U.S. leagues — a model they are trying to replicate in Europe. UEFA warned the Super League clubs, including Barcelona and Juventus, that legal action would be taken against them and said they also would be barred from existing domestic competitions like the Spanish league and the Premier League. “We are concerned that FIFA and UEFA may respond to this invitation letter by seeking to take punitive measures to exclude any participating club or player from their respective competitions,” the Super League clubs wrote to Infantino and Ceferin in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. “Your formal statement does, however, compel us to take protective steps to secure ourselves against such an adverse reaction, which would not only jeopardize the funding commitment under the grant but, significantly, would be unlawful. For this reason, SLCo (Super League Company) has filed a motion before the relevant courts in order to ensure the seamless establishment and operation of the competition in accordance with applicable laws.” The courts were not named by the Super League, which intends to launch a 20-team competition with 15 founding members even though only 12 have signed up, so far. The others are Tottenham from England, Atletico Madrid from Spain, and AC Milan and Inter Milan from Italy. The breakaway was launched just as UEFA thought it had agreement on an expansion of the Champions League from 2024. Now, the same officials who backed the plans have decided to go it alone while claiming the existing competitions could remain — despite losing their most successful teams, including record 13-time European champion Real Madrid and six-time winner Liverpool. UEFA approved the new format proposal on Monday amid the turmoil. The agreement was negotiated with the 246-member European Club Association. The ECA leader, Agnelli of Juventus, resigned from the UEFA executive committee overnight. “He is probably the biggest disappointment of all," Ceferin said of Agnelli, whose young daughter he became godfather to. “I have never seen a person that would lie so many times and so persistently as he did. “Now I know who is who. Who is honest. Who loves football.” In their letter to the FIFA and UEFA presidents, the Super League clubs said their competition could also play alongside domestic leagues and cups. “We do not seek to replace the UEFA’s Champions League or the Europa League," they said, "but to compete with and exist alongside those tournaments.” ___ Harris reported from London. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Rob Harris And Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
CALGARY — A critical miss from Brendan Bottcher just past the midway point of Monday's final at the Humpty's Champions Cup proved costly in a 6-3 loss to Bruce Mouat. The Scottish rink stole two points when Bottcher was light on a draw to the eight-foot ring. Mouat picked up another steal in the seventh end and ran Bottcher out of rocks in the eighth for the win. "We just managed to keep the pressure on," Mouat said. "We forced them into some pretty tough shots. They made a lot of them to be fair. We were maybe just on the better side of the inch. "It was a really close game and we're obviously totally buzzing to win." Mouat, who beat Bottcher en route to a world silver earlier this month, won his first Grand Slam title since 2017. His team pockets $25,000 for the victory while Bottcher's side earned $17,000. Ottawa's Rachel Homan was scheduled to play Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni in the women's final later Monday at the Markin MacPhail Centre. Bottcher and his Edmonton-based teammates have enjoyed a solid run in the curling bubble. In addition to the second-place showing at the first Slam of the pandemic-shortened season, they won the Tim Hortons Brier last month and reached the world quarterfinals. Bottcher and Mouat will be right back at it Tuesday when they meet in round-robin play at the Princess Auto Players' Championship. "We know we have to play almost flawless to beat them," said Bottcher vice Darren Moulding. "They're playing really well right now. "I thought we were in control of the game but just weren't quite getting the results when we were needing them." Bottcher had hammer in the first end and used it to his advantage with a nose hit to score two. He put the pressure on in the second by sitting three, forcing Mouat to find the port on an inturn draw to salvage a single. Bottcher was forced in the third end and Mouat pulled even with a hit and stick for two in the fourth before the game turned. Moulding and Bottcher both threw in the high 60s overall, well behind Mouat at 92 per cent and vice Grant Hardie at 81 per cent. "It was just an inch thick or an inch thin and you don't quite get a perfect result," Moulding said. "Eventually it caught up to us later in the game." The competition was pushed back a day after a COVID-19 scare on the final weekend of the world championship. Four positive test results were later deemed 'false positives' and play continued after a one-day break. This week's Players' Championship will close out the Grand Slam portion of the bubble schedule. Play continues through Sunday. The seventh and final competition in the spectator-free Canada Olympic Park venue will be the April 30-May 9 LGT world women's curling championship. Kerri Einarson's Manitoba-based team will represent Canada. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2021. The Canadian Press