Sports
Warriors aim to take season series over peaking Nuggets
Mar 27, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) works against Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams (5) during the second half at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Riding their first three-game winning streak in more than two months, the Golden State Warriors will try to make it four in a row when they visit the surging Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Golden State (36-38) holds the 10th and final spot in the play-in, trailing Portland by half a game with eight games left. The Warriors still have a chance to reach the playoffs despite significant injuries.
Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (torn patella) are out for the season, Al Horford has been sidelined for two weeks with a calf injury and Steph Curry has missed 24 straight games with a troublesome knee and won’t play Sunday night.
Curry is close to returning, but Golden State is being cautious with its 38-year-old star.
“We’re not bringing him back (only) for the play-in game,” head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN. “He’d need to play some games. We need to give him a runway if this is going to work. And we are running out of games. That’s fair to say.”
Without Curry, the Warriors have relied on different players to pick up the scoring slack. In Friday night’s win over Washington, Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points, the fourth time in 10 games since coming from Atlanta in a trade that he has put up 20 or more points.
Porzingis is averaging 17.1 points between the Hawks and Golden State but has upped that to 17.7 in March.
The only player to appear in all 74 games for the Warriors is Brandin Podziemski, who is averaging 13.2 points.
Golden State has won two of the first three meetings with Denver and can take the season series Sunday night. The Nuggets (47-28) have won five in a row and eight of their last 10 to stay in the hunt for a top seed in the Western Conference.
Denver’s last two victories haven’t been easy despite playing teams fighting for a high draft pick. The Nuggets held off Dallas on Wednesday night behind huge games from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic and then had to rally from down 13 to beat Utah on Friday night.
“I just think our energy from the beginning of the game has to be better. We’ve had a lot of slow starts as of late,” head coach David Adelman said. “Obviously, we’re very talented offensively, we can always make a run, get back in games, but we shouldn’t have to work our way into every game. You have to come with more purpose to start the game.”
Denver is in the midst of playing nine of its final 12 games at home and has taken advantage of the schedule. The Nuggets are fourth in the West, a game and a half ahead of Minnesota and a game and a half behind the Los Angeles Lakers for third.
The Warriors will have to slow down Jokic and Murray, who are playing well down the stretch. Jokic leads the team in scoring (27.9), rebounds (12.8) and assists (10.8) and is on the verge of averaging a triple-double for the second straight season.
Murray, who is averaging a career-high 25.5 points, has scored 31 and 53 in the last two games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Royce Lewis' HR helps Twins dispatch Orioles
Mar 28, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Taj Bradley (26) delivers during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images Royce Lewis hit a two-run home run and the Minnesota Twins won for the first time under first-year manager Derek Shelton by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Saturday.
Six Minnesota pitchers combined on a five-hitter while striking out 16 batters and walking six.
The Twins prevailed despite managing only four hits – including two by Byron Buxton – with the bats. The outcome came in the second game of the season-opening series.
Anthony Banda (1-0) was the winning pitcher with two-thirds of an inning of relief. Cole Sands worked the ninth and was credited with a save.
The Orioles stranded 11 runners on base. Jeremiah Jackson had two hits for Baltimore.
Minnesota starter Taj Bradley struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits but he was finished after 92 pitches.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (0-1) was done after 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits and taking the loss. He walked three and struck out four.
Baltimore scored first on Jackson’s run-scoring single.
Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fourth. When Lewis belted his homer in the fifth, it gave the Twins a lead for the first time this season.
Lewis had 13 home runs last year while playing a career-high 106 games.
Banda entered behind Bradley and notched strikeouts for his two outs and then Kody Funderburk fanned the first two Orioles in the sixth, so it meant that 13 of the first 17 outs recorded by the Twins came via strikeouts.
The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Eric Orze got Gunnar Henderson on a flyout to end the threat.
The Twins tacked on a run in the seventh on Kody Clemens’ two-out single that drove in Lewis.
Baltimore used five pitchers, registering a total of 10 strikeouts.
The result handed Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz his first loss as a big-league manager.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard Ta’niya Latson (00) looks to shoot the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points to help top-seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Oklahoma 94-68 in a Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in Sacramento.
Latson set the tone from the start, scoring eight points during the Gamecocks’ 10-0 run to start the game.
South Carolina will take on the winner of Saturday’s TCU-Virginia matchup Monday.
The Gamecocks (34-3) are looking for their sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.
South Carolina lost the regular-season matchup between the teams 94-82 in overtime Jan. 22.
In their NCAA Tournament matchup, though, the Gamecocks never gave the Sooners a chance for any kind of a late push.
Latson helped make sure of that, hitting a jumper on the opening possession, nailing a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then hitting three free throws after being fouled less than three minutes into the game to put her team up 10-0.
Oklahoma briefly cut the deficit to six, but after the first quarter, South Carolina’s lead never dipped below double figures.
Latson finished 7 of 11 from the floor with five assists. The Gamecocks shot 50.7% from the floor.
Raven Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Tessa Johnson scored 14.
The Sooners (26-8) were led by freshman Aaliyah Chavez, who had 21 points. Oklahoma finished with a season-low nine assists, while South Carolina had 21 on 34 field goals.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
BLAST Premier 2022 CS:GO Team Vitality continued its dominance while Natus Vincere held strong to set up a matchup of top-seeded teams in the best-of-five grand final after wins in the semifinals of the BLAST Open Spring on Saturday at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Both teams received byes to the semifinals after undefeated runs in group play. Team Vitality still has yet to drop a game as they defeated Aurora Gaming 2-0 to set up a clash with Natus Vincere, which downed PARIVISION 2-1.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that contested double-elimination brackets in Copenhagen, Denmark. The top three finishers in each bracket advanced to the six-team playoffs in Rotterdam.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Team Vitality was dominant against Aurora Gaming, claiming 13-5 victories on Inferno and Nuke. Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan had a match-high 37 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalcin had a team-best 30 kills for the all-Turkish side, but had a minus-2 K-D differential.
Natus Vincere had a tougher time with PARIVISION but still came away with the victory, winning 13-11 on Dust II and 13-7 on Mirage to clinch it after falling 13-8 on Inferno. Ukrainian Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov paced Natus Vincere with 59 kills and a match-best plus-17 K-D differential. Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali led the way for all-Russian PARIVISION with 50 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential.
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
1. $150,000, 3
2. $60,000, 1
3-4. $40,000, 1 — PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming
5-6. $20,000, 1 — Team Falcons, The MongolZ
7-8. $10,000 — FURIA, Team Spirit
9-12. $7,500 — TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid
13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas
–Field Level Media
Royce Lewis' HR helps Twins dispatch Orioles
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
