Connect with us

Sports

Celtics aim to slow streaking Trail Blazers

NBA: Denver Nuggets at Boston CelticsMar 2, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Derrick White (9) dribbles down the court during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics will be looking for another productive game from their non-starters when they face the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Boston, which has been without Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jrue Holiday (hand) for its last two games, had a 28-11 advantage in bench points when it beat Denver 110-103 on Sunday. That came two days after Boston’s bench was outscored 33-6 in a 123-116 home loss to Cleveland.

Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta were the Boston reserves who had the biggest impact in Sunday’s win. Pritchard scored 11 points, Hauser added eight and Queta contributed eight points and 10 rebounds.

“For us to be a great team, they have to play that way and it’s a great thing,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I was talking to Payton the other day, and he’s such a competitor. He took ownership — not that I thought it was on him — but he took the ownership on making sure when he’s in the game, that lineup really impacts winning. And I knew (against Denver) he was going to put us in position to do that.”

Queta is averaging 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per game this season.

“Just very professional,” Al Horford said of Queta. “Neemi, just sticking to his preparation, his routine, even if he’s not playing, you see him here, same energy, working, and just staying ready for the opportunities. … Him being able to defend the perimeter, protect the paint, get rebounds, just staying ready and just taking advantage of the opportunity.”

Boston also received 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals from Horford, who started in place of Porzingis and had to deal with Denver star Nikola Jokic on the defensive end.

“For me, it was making sure that I brought some energy early on and that we set a tone,” Horford said. “I felt like we were able to do that and to do that, and we took off from there.”

Wednesday’s game will be the sixth stop on a seven-game road trip for Portland. The Trail Blazers have won four of the first five games on the trip, including Monday’s 119-102 victory over Philadelphia. Portland’s only loss during that stretch came in overtime against Cleveland, which owns the NBA’s best record.

The Trail Blazers have seven players who are averaging more than 10 points per game.

“It’s always somebody different every night for us, which I think makes us difficult to prepare for,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said.

Anfernee Simons is averaging a team-high 19.0 points per game and tossed in a game-high 34 during Monday’s victory over Philadelphia. But in his postgame press conference, Billups singled out Shaedon Sharpe for his defense and rebounding against the 76ers.

Sharpe had 20 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and five assists in the victory.

“I think offense is easy for Shaedon,” Billups said. “He can make it look very easy. The defensive side is totally different. When he’s locked in on defense, it makes his offense even easier.

“I thought he was great. Career-high in rebounding. We need those rebounds in a major way. I think he’s maybe the most athletic guy in basketball. I need him going to get those tough rebounds.”

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton

Soccer: FIFA Club World Cup 2025-Round of 16-Al Hilal FC at Manchester City[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 30, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (9) celebrates scoring their second goal with midfielder Rodri (16) during a round of 16 match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lee Smith-Reuters via Imagn Images

Manchester City will try to keep pace with Premier League front-runner Arsenal on Monday night when they pay a visit to an Everton side still on the fringes of the European picture.

City (21-5-7, 70 points) will begin the day six points back of Arsenal with two matches in hand after the Gunners dispatched Fulham 3-0 on Saturday. The Cityzens won’t be even on games played until May 13, when they make up a postponed match against Crystal Palace that was delayed because of City’s triumphant League Cup run.

As a result, there continues to be the appearance of a chase, although the teams would finish level on points if they win out.

Manager Pep Guardiola insists it shouldn’t matter.

“It’s normal, so it’s the calendar,” Guardiola said on Friday. “Sometimes you play first. Sometimes behind. It is what it is. So, nothing changes in these stages, and you know exactly what you have to do.”

City have won six in a row in all competitions, the last three by a single goal: A 2-1 home league win over the Gunners on April 19, a 1-0 league victory at Burnley three days later, and a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal triumph over Southampton on April 25.

Erling Haaland scored once in both league fixtures to bring his EPL-leading total to 24. In the FA Cup semifinal, Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez scored inside the final 10 minutes to complete a late rally.

Everton (13-13-8, 47 points) finished Saturday in 11th place, but only four points out of seventh, which currently would earn a berth in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Should City win the FA Cup, it could be the top eight English league finishers who earn a spot in Europe.

And if Everton could return to continental competition for the first time since 2017-18, it would conclude a much-improved first season at their new Hill Dickson Stadium, after bringing the curtain down on historic Goodison Park last May.

“We still believe there could be something out there for us. And we’ll keep pushing,” manager David Moyes said. “Building Everton back up is a process which I think is going to take quite a bit of time, but I think the first year or so here, we’ve certainly put decent foundations down. And hopefully we can continue to build on it.”

The Toffees are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time this season after a 2-1 home loss to derby rivals Liverpool on April 19 and a 2-1 away defeat at West Ham last weekend.

Beto, one of two Everton players with eight goals, departed the former contest late with a head injury and missed the latter fixture working through the league’s concussion protocol. He should be available Monday night, Moyes said.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series

MLB: Baltimore Orioles at New York YankeesMay 3, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Jasson Dominguez scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning before hitting a two-run homer and an RBI double during a seven-run eighth as the New York Yankees pulled away for an 11-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.

The Yankees won for the 13th time in 15 games and beat the Orioles for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings.

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson. Ben Rice hit his 12th home run of the season in the first and doubled ahead of Judge’s 13th homer in the third.

Rice exited after the Yankees batted in the third because of a bruised left hand. The Yankees announced X-rays were negative and the first baseman is day-to-day. Rice appeared to get injured fielding a low pickoff throw from Max Fried and was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt.

Dominguez started the tiebreaking rally with a double to left field against Grant Wolfram (1-1) and advanced to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Ryan McMahon, facing a drawn-in infield, followed with a single that first baseman Coby Mayo couldn’t handle after diving to stop it.

Dominguez started New York’s big inning with a two-run drive into the right field seats off Andrew Kittredge for a 6-3 lead. After an RBI sacrifice fly by Trent Grisham, Goldschmidt ripped a two-run single after the Yankees executed a double steal.

Following a sacrifice fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Dominguez added a double to left field for an 11-3 lead.

The Orioles tied it twice before losing their fourth straight and for the 12th time in 18 games.

Blaze Alexander had an RBI single in the third before getting thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Judge’s 413-foot drive bounced into Baltimore’s bullpen in left field, Leody Taveras hit an RBI infield single and Tyler O’Neill scored on a double play grounder by Jeremiah Jackson in the fourth.

Fried allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked three.

Fernando Cruz (3-0) got the final two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. Brent Headrick ended the eighth by getting a double play grounder against Mayo.

Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during his major league debut.

The four-game series concludes Monday.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Cam Smith drives in 2 in 10th, Astros edge Red Sox

MLB: Houston Astros at Boston Red SoxMay 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Cam Smith had three hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, to help the visiting Houston Astros earn a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Smith’s two-out single came against Zack Kelly (0-2) and drove in Braden Shewmake and Jose Altuve.

Boston had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Bryan Abreu got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into a double play to end the game.

Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who stranded 13 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Duran’s home run was his third of the season and his second of the series. He hit a three-run homer in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday night.

Abreu (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.

Willson Contreras collected three of Boston’s nine hits in the loss.

Christian Walker and Christian Vazquez each had two-hit games for the Astros, who won two games in the three-game set.

Boston starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was pulled after four scoreless innings because of hamstring tightness. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out three. Suarez threw 70 pitches.

Duran’s home run off Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh opened the scoring in the fifth. Houston tied the game in the sixth, when Walker reached on an infield single, took third on Altuve’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brice Matthews.

The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. An error on Abreu allowed Contreras to reach second with two outs in the inning, but Roman Anthony grounded out to first to end the inning.

Houston had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th, but Altuve grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. Following a walk to Matthews, Smith delivered his two-run single.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading