Sports
Celtics' Luka Garza filling key role as unfocused Wolves visit
Mar 20, 2026; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Boston Celtics guard Baylor Scheierman (55) and center Luka Garza (52) react during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images Nikola Vucevic will remain unavailable with a broken finger when the Boston Celtics face the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night, but that doesn’t mean Boston won’t have a quality center.
Luka Garza has given the Celtics (47-23) more offense since Vucevic was injured on March 6. Garza averages 7.6 points for the season, but has scored at least 15 points in three of his last four games. That includes a season-high 22 in Friday night’s 117-112 victory over Memphis.
Garza also had seven rebounds, five of which came at the offensive end.
“He was great on both ends of the floor,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He does a great job screening. They (the Grizzlies) play a hectic style. They put a ton of pressure on you from a physicality standpoint and you have to be able to read and make plays and play through physicality. No one’s better at that than Luka.”
Vucevic, who had surgery on his ring finger March 7, isn’t expected back until the first half of April, so Garza likely will maintain his more significant role until then.
“Guys have always stepped up,” Garza said. “In my position, just try to make the little plays and help us win. So it’s definitely fun when you’re the guy doing that.
“I love being a part of this team. We play hard every single night no matter what, and I think when you do that, you put yourself in a good position.”
Jaylen Brown tossed in 30 points during Friday’s game, which extended Boston’s winning streak to four. Brown averages 28.5 points, which ranks fifth in the NBA.
The Timberwolves (43-28) were again without Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid for Friday night’s 108-104 loss to Portland. Edwards, who’s dealing with inflammation in his right knee, ranks third in the NBA with his 29.5 points per game. The Timberwolves are 2-1 in the three games Edwards has missed with the injury. Reid has missed the last two games with a right ankle sprain.
Minnesota allowed 68 points in the first two quarters of Friday’s loss, but limited Portland to 40 in the final two quarters.
“There wasn’t defensive intensity in the first half,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “Thirty-three and 35 in the first two quarters and 40 in the last two tells the story.”
Minnesota trailed Portland by 18 at one point in the second quarter.
“Slow start … a step behind everything in the first quarter,” Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert said. “We got down 18 points and then we started playing hard. The last few games we’ve had a lot of these starts. We got to figure it out because we put ourselves in a tough position.
“We have to find a way to start the game more fired up — be mentally ready at the start of the game. It’s not physical, right? I think it’s just being mentally ready to start the game. We were warmed up, it’s not physical. It’s just mentally being a little sharper at the beginning of the game.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Gerrit Cole brilliant again as Yankees sweep Royals
May 27, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Gerrit Cole scattered four hits and struck out 10 over 6 2/3 stellar innings and Ben Rice had three RBIs as the visiting New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
Cole (1-0) did not yield a walk during his efficient 79-pitch outing as the Yankees beat the Royals for the 13th straight time. His second start of the year was even more impressive than his first, when he tossed six scoreless innings versus Tampa Bay on Friday in his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery after the 2024 World Series.
Rice and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits and Ryan McMahon clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth for New York, which has won four straight. The Yankees outscored Kansas City 26-4 this week — and 50-10 while sweeping the six-game season series.
Royals starter Noah Cameron (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. Maikel Garcia poked two of the Royals’ four hits as they dropped to 3-13 since May 10.
Kansas City threatened Cole in the third, when Michael Massey roped a double into the right-field corner for the game’s first hit. However, he was thrown out at the plate by Aaron Judge on Garcia’s two-out single to right.
Cameron, meanwhile, was perfect through the first three innings. Then Goldschmidt opened the fourth with a single to left, then scored on Rice’s triple that went off the left field fence and caromed away from Kansas City’s Isaac Collins. Judge’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
Cameron’s night ended after he yielded another single to Goldschmidt and walked Rice to open the sixth. However, John Schreiber got Judge to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and Cody Bellinger to fly out.
The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. Nick Mears got Jose Caballero to line out and fanned Austin Wells, but he walked Goldschmidt to force home a run. The Royals brought in reliever Alex Lange, but Rice broke things open with a two-run single to right.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Boston Fleet head coach jumps to Hamilton's expansion team
Boston Fleet coach Kris Sparre responds to a question during a press conference at Boston Sports Institute on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. The new PWHL team in Hamilton, Ontario, has made its big acquisition.
Coach of the Year finalist Kris Sparre, who just led the Boston Fleet to a league record-tying 62-point regular season, has jumped to become Hamilton’s first coach. PWHL Hamilton general manager Meghan Duggan made the announcement Wednesday.
“I’m thrilled to have Kris as the first Head Coach in PWHL Hamilton history, bringing a combination of hockey knowledge, leadership, and player development expertise that make him an ideal fit,” Duggan said in a news release.
Sparre, 39, has extensive ties to Ontario. The Mississauga native grew up playing in the Ontario Hockey League and earned his first coaching job in the OHL. He and his family live in Burlington, Ontario, roughly 15 miles from Hamilton.
Sparre took over the Boston Fleet prior to the 2025-26 season and directed the team to a 16-5-4-5 record. That was a league-record 18 points better than the year before.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to build a foundation in Hamilton alongside Meghan, and moving closer to home and being near family makes this the right step for me personally and professionally,” Sparre said.
PWHL Hamilton was introduced as an expansion franchise on May 13. The league also has announced plans to add teams in Detroit, Las Vegas and San Jose to boost membership to 12 teams for the 2026-27 season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reds strand 17 runners in failed bid for sweep of Mets
May 27, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto (22) hits a home run against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images Juan Soto hit his sixth homer in seven games and Carson Benge had a pair of two-out RBI singles to lead the New York Mets past the visiting Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Wednesday.
In salvaging the finale of a three-game series, the Mets avoided being swept at home by the Reds for the first time since May 20-22, 2013. Entering Wednesday, the Mets had scored two or fewer runs in six straight games, and they had lost the past five.
The Reds fell for just the second time in seven games as they missed many scoring opportunities, stranding 17 runners on base. Mets closer Devin Williams walked the bases loaded with one out in the ninth but recovered for his eighth save in nine chances.
Williams struck out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to end the game.
Soto belted his 12th homer of the season in the second inning off Andrew Abbott on a hanging curveball that caught too much of the inside part of the plate. The drive to the seats down the right field line gave the Mets their first lead of the series, 1-0.
Abbott was hit hard in the second inning. Elly De La Cruz made a diving snare of a Marcus Semien line drive that came off the bat at 106 mph before Eric Wagaman’s 415-foot solo home run down the left field line was estimated at 110 mph.
Abbott (4-3) had his personal four-game win streak snapped and took his first loss since April 12 despite recording a quality start. The lefty allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits in six innings, striking out four and walking one.
The Reds put two runners on in each of the first three innings, finally breaking through in the third. Nathaniel Lowe singled up the middle off shortstop Bo Bichette’s glove, scoring De La Cruz, who reached on a throwing error by pitcher Jonah Tong.
Tong (1-0) took over for opener Huascar Brazoban, and he allowed one unearned run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings. He issued four walks and fanned one.
Benge knocked in a run in the fifth after De La Cruz committed a two-out error on a Brett Baty grounder.
The Reds loaded the bases with one out in the sixth against Tobias Myers and Brooks Raley before Sal Stewart chopped an RBI infield single to third, cutting New York’s lead to 3-2. Cincinnati left the bases loaded when Suarez flied out to center, bringing the Reds’ left on base total to 12 through just six innings.
Benge’s two-out single in the seventh made it 4-2.
–Field Level Media
Gerrit Cole brilliant again as Yankees sweep Royals
Boston Fleet head coach jumps to Hamilton's expansion team
