SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Seattle Seahawks opened Super Bowl week Wednesday with their first and only padded practice of the week before the game. The Seahawks players took the practice field at San Jose State for 1 hour and 50 minutes, starting at 2:15 p.m. under a sunny and cloudless sky. It was 73-degrees.

“We had an opportunity to work at a different practice window,” head coach Mike Macdonald said after practice. “Which I thought was great with our guys’ cadence. Lot of spirit. Guys did a great job. We had a great practice.”

Safety Nick Emmanwori was limited in practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury that he suffered during practice.

The rookie safety injured his ankle while defending a pass late in practice. He walked off the field on his own shortly before 4 p.m. Several players and coaches went over to comfort him before he left.

“He had an ankle today, we brought him in to look at it, and we’ll kind of go from here and figure out what are the next steps?” Macdonald said.

Seattle practiced in pads for about an hour before taking them off for the second half of practice.

Macdonald said he reached out to coaches he’d worked with in the past to design the structure for last week and this week of practice. He said the team started installing their game plan last week.

“We’re going to be evolving. We didn’t put the whole thing in last week. We’re just gonna keep building it, stay on cadence this week and do what we need to do to feel like we get to a sweet spot by end of the week.”

Five Seahawks were limited in practice on Wednesday. Left tackle Charles Cross (foot), left tackle Josh Jones (ankle, knee), quarterback Sam Darnold (oblique), fullback Robbie Ouzts (neck) and safety Emmanwori (ankle).

Darnold has been limited in all eight practices since he injured his oblique on Jan. 15.

“Sam’s right on schedule,” Macdonald said. “So we’ve had this plan here over the last X amount of weeks, and it varies every day. And today he had a great day, so we’re right on schedule.”

Six other Seahawks players are on the injury report but practiced in full Wednesday: Tight end Eric Saubert (hamstring), receiver Jake Bobo (hand), fullback Brady Russell (hand), linebacker Ernest Jones IV (chest), safety Julian Love (shoulder), linebacker Drake Thomas (shoulder).

Three players were limited in practice for non-injury rest: linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence, receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and defensive tackle Leonard Williams.

Seattle will practice again Thursday at 2:15 p.m. local time.

–Pro Football Writers of America

The Phoenix Suns return home Thursday following a career performance from Collin Gillespie to face a Golden State Warriors team in a state of flux since the loss of All-Star Jimmy Butler.

How much flux will be determined by the NBA trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

The Warriors have the best offer on the table for Milwaukee two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to ESPN, while franchise stalwart Draymond Green has acknowledged that he could be dealt as Golden State looks to find a way through Butler’s season-ending knee injury.

“This is probably the first time I would say, since I have been here, that his name has been mentioned in trade talks,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said of Green, a part of four championship teams. “It’s different, but it’s also part of the league.”

Green had six points and seven rebounds in what might have been his last home game with Golden State, a 113-94 loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday. The Warriors also played without Stephen Curry, who has missed two of the last four games with right knee soreness.

Golden State has lost two in a row and five of seven, and Kerr alluded to the possibility of trade rumors affecting the team’s performance.

“When you coach a team, you can almost predict when things are going to go well and when they are going to go poorly,” Kerr said. “Just overall health, mood, vibe. This was not a good vibe for us.

“It doesn’t matter what the trade chatter is. It’s everyone’s job to bring the energy, bring the fight. It’s about competing for 48 (minutes) for 82 games. That’s the most disappointing thing.”

The Warriors have won two of three against the Suns this season, but Kerr said lineup changes will be made for their final meeting. Golden State started its 23rd different combination Tuesday when the team was outscored 55-39 in the second half.

“The group to start the game, and the second half, couldn’t score,” Kerr said. “With Steph out, Jimmy out, we’re going to have to sort through some of these combinations and rotations.”

Jonathan Kuminga (knee) missed his fifth game Tuesday, and his future with the team is uncertain.

Gillespie had a career-high 30 points and tied a career high with eight 3-pointers while handing out 10 assists as the Suns overcame a 19-point deficit to beat the host Portland Trail Blazers 130-125 on Tuesday.

Phoenix has won four of five and seven of 10. The Suns would move a season-high 12 games over .500 with a win over the Warriors in the first of a four-game homestand.

“They were in drop coverage, so we were just taking what they were giving us,” Gillespie said on NBC. “Simple screens and come off it and let it fly. We have a lot of guys who can really shoot the ball.”

Phoenix made 20 of 41 3-pointers against the Blazers, with Gillespie going 8 of 14 and Grayson Allen going 6 of 11 from distance. The Suns have made 20, 19 and a season-high 23 3-pointers in their last three games without Devin Booker (ankle).

Booker is not expected to play Thursday, and Jalen Green (hip, hamstring) is questionable.

“He’s an unselfish superstar in this league,” Gillespie said of Booker, “and we miss him. But when he is out, guys have to step up. I’m always going to look for my shot. I feel like if I get going, it’ll get everybody else shots.”

–Field Level Media

Artturi Lehkonen had two goals, Josh Manson scored a go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in Denver on Wednesday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to reach 700 for his career, Valeri Nichushkin contributed three assists, Brock Nelson had a goal and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 23 shots for Colorado.

The Avalanche head into the Olympic hiatus with a league-leading 83 points. They have won two of their last three games after dropping four of their previous five.

With the teams skating 4-on-4, MacKinnon cycled the puck to Nichushkin, he fed Manson at the point and the defenseman’s one-timer beat a screened Yaroslav Askarov at 12:44 of the third.

Nelson sealed it with an empty-net goal at 18:43.

Timothy Liljegren and Philipp Kurashev scored goals, and Askarov made 38 saves for San Jose. The Sharks have lost four in a row heading into the Olympic break.

The Avalanche put 14 shots on goal in the first period but couldn’t get one by Askarov. They finally broke through early in the second.

Askarov made a save on Cale Makar’s shot from the right circle but couldn’t corral the rebound. Sharks defensemen John Klingberg and Dmitry Orlov battled Lehkonen for control, but it was poked into the net at 1:05, and the goal was confirmed after a review.

Lehkonen struck again later in the period when he got a pass from MacKinnon through the slot and wristed a shot by Askarov at 15:47 to give MacKinnon his milestone.

MacKinnon is the second player in franchise history to record 700 career assists, joining current team president Joe Sakic, who finished his career with 1,016.

San Jose got one back in the first minute of the third period when Liljegren’s shot from the point went off the stick of Colorado’s Parker Kelly, bounced off the ice and into the top corner at 43 seconds.

Kurashev tied it 2:51 later when he went in alone on net and beat Blackwood with a shot under his right arm.

–Field Level Media