Sports
Kevin Durant carrying Suns as Grizzlies pay a visit
Dec 28, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) waits for play to resume against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images Phoenix superstar Kevin Durant is calling for a “next-man-up” mentality as the short-handed Suns prepare to host the equally depleted Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night.
After a bright start to the season, Phoenix has lost five of its past six games, including Saturday’s 109-105 defeat against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
The Suns led by nine points midway through the fourth quarter before floundering down the stretch.
Devin Booker was sidelined for the fifth game in a row with a left groin strain, forcing fellow All-Star Durant again to carry out the bulk of the heavy lifting.
“We definitely miss Book, you can’t replace what he brings to the team,” Durant said. “But when the game starts, we can’t think about that. We’ve got to have a next-man-up mentality. We want championships here in Phoenix. Moral victories don’t matter.”
Durant’s 31-point haul was offset by a season-high eight turnovers, including three in the final six minutes.
The 2014 MVP knows opposition defenses will continue to focus on him down the stretch, but that won’t stop him trying to make big plays.
“I’m playing against the whole team every time I get the ball,” Durant said. “I’m trying to make something happen late in the clock. Sometimes there’s four or five seconds left on the clock; what do you think a team is going to do when I get the ball with four seconds left in the game? They’re all sent out to try and stop (me), so I’m trying to make something happen.
“I’m trying to be aggressive through all of that, and I’m not going to let a couple turnovers take away my aggressiveness because my team needs me to score the ball, especially right now with the circumstances we’re in.”
Suns coach Mike Budenholzer wants his side to give Durant more room to work his craft.
“We talk about the spacing, we talk about clearing space for him – we’ve just got to continue to work on it,” Budenholzer said. “… The spacing has got to be a bit better.”
Grayson Allen (concussion protocol) is expected to return on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Bol Bol (left knee contusion) and Royce O’Neale are doubtful against Memphis. O’Neale was spotted in a walking boot after spraining his left ankle late in the first half against Golden State.
The Grizzlies will likely be without Ja Morant again as he deals with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder.
Morant sat on the bench with his arm in a sling, while Zach Edey (concussion) was also absent, as Memphis slumped to a 130-106 blowout road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
Not much went right for the Grizzlies, who are in the middle of a challenging schedule.
The Arizona visit continues a five-game road swing for Memphis, which plays twice at home out of 11 games either side of the new year.
“We still have a lot of basketball ahead on this trip,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We’ve just got to find ways of getting better. We’ve been playing in crowds, turning it over too much – that’s something that we’ve got to really improve on, and our pace has got to improve.
“There’s some things we’ve got to clean up.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Clemson Tigers guard Jestin Porter (1) defends Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina. Powered by Jestin Porter’s 16 points, Clemson came away with an 80-75 win over visiting Louisville on Saturday afternoon in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
The win ended Clemson’s losing streak at four and gave the Tigers (21-8, 11-5 ACC) their second victory against a ranked opponent this season.
Porter scored all of his points after halftime and made four three-pointers.
Ace Buckner collected a season-high eight rebounds off the Tigers bench. RJ Godfrey scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.
For the Cardinals (20-9, 9-7 ACC), Ryan Conwell extended his double-digit scoring streak to 22 as he scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
Louisville’s leading scorer on the season, Mikel Brown Jr., came off the bench for the second time this season due to a back injury. He scored a season-low five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and a season-worst 0-for-6 from three-point range.
After a driving layup in the second half, Brown grimaced coming up the court. He left the game at the 16:12 mark and returned to action at the 13:12 mark. However, he played only five more minutes after that and exited the game for good at the 8:40 mark.
Adrian Wooley started the game for Brown and scored 17 points for Louisville and made three three-pointers, tying a season-high in conference play.
To begin the second half, Clemson went on a 10-4 run to build their lead to nine points.
Louisville had held Clemson scoreless for two and a half minutes, but a Porter layup followed by an immediate steal led to a three-pointer that ended the drought and increased Clemson’s lead to 11 points as the Littlejohn Coliseum rose to its feet.
Coming into the game, Louisville was second in the ACC in free-throw percentage at 77.8 percent. They shot a season-low 58 percent from the foul line Saturday.
The Cardinals were fifth in three-point percentage at 36.1 percent and first in three pointers made per game going into Saturday’s matchup, when they went 10-for-36 from three-point range and missed 24 out of their final 28 three-point attempts after starting the game 4-for-6 from three.
In the final minute of the game, Louisville went on a quick 16-4 run to get the Clemson lead from a game-high 15 points all the way down to four. Wooley scored 11 of his 17 points during that time frame.
However, Buckner made four free throws in the final 15 seconds to keep Louisville at bay long enough for the clock to hit zero.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Youth is served again as Red Bulls slip past Revolution
Feb 28, 2026; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; Red Bull New York forward Julian Hall (16) leaps to avoid New England Revolution defender Ilay Feingold (12) during the second half at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images Teenage breakout star Julian Hall scored his third goal in two matches, and that was enough for the New York Red Bulls to blank the New England Revolution 1-0 on Saturday in Harrison, N.J.
Hall, 17, is responsible for all three of New York’s goals this season after opening with a brace in last week’s 2-1 win at Orlando City.
His 53rd-minute header on Saturday gave the Red Bulls (2-0-0, 6 points) a deserved lead after they controlled play in the first half.
Ethan Horvath made two saves for New York, which finished with 62.5% of the possession. The Red Bulls won consecutive league matches for the first time since August and remained perfect under new head coach Michael Bradley.
Matt Turner did all he could in the second straight loss for the Revolution (0-2-0, 0 points), recording three saves and 19 clearances.
Horvath, playing his first season in MLS after a transfer from Cardiff City, did not have to make a stop until the 34th minute, when he parried Griffin Yow’s left-footed shot out of bounds.
New York broke the deadlock on a set piece.
The Red Bulls took a short corner and then crossed the ball to Adri Mehmeti. The 16-year-old headed it into the goal area, where Hall applied a header of his own and bounced the shot past Turner.
New England’s best chance of the second half came on the break in the 68th minute.
Ilay Feingold led the pack down the right sideline and the Red Bulls sprinted to get back. Feingold tapped his centering pass to Yow, who had a good angle to shoot past an out-of-position Horvath. But Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty knocked the shot over the net with a leaping header, and New York handled the resulting corner kick with ease.
The Revs missed another chance during second-half stoppage time when Carles Gil blasted a pass from the near post clear out of bounds, missing an open teammate at the far post.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Chicago Fire score twice in stoppage time, blank CF Montreal
Feb 28, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Fire forward Jonathan Bamba (19) reacts after swirling a goal against the CF Montreal during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images The host Chicago Fire scored twice in stoppage time during the second half to secure a 3-0 win against CF Montreal on Saturday.
Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers and Robin Lod scored for the Fire (1-1-0, 3 points), who earned their first victory of the season in their home opener.
Montreal (0-2-0, 0 points) was shut out for the second straight match to open the 2026 season and has been outscored 8-0.
The two sides struggled to generate much through the first 12 minutes, though the hosts held a decided edge in possession with 70% of the touches.
Bamba gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Maren Haile-Selassie on the right flank inside the box drew keeper Thomas Gillier toward him and sent a cross for Bamba at the back post, where the forward easily scored into the open net.
Montreal nearly gave up another opportunity 10 seconds into the second half when Haile-Selassie was just outside the right edge of the goal area but the midfielder couldn’t get all of his shot for a quality chance.
After playing a man short in their 5-0 defeat to San Diego a week ago, Montreal had the advantage of playing a man up from the 56th minute on. After video review, Fire defender Jonathan Dean was shown a red card for denying Hennadii Synchuk of a goal-scoring opportunity when he tugged the midfielder’s jersey outside the box.
Montreal continued to struggle to generate offense despite its man advantage, and the match slipped away from the visitors in second-half stoppage time.
Cuypers was awarded a penalty after Gillier came off his line to deny the Belgian a chance, tripping him in the process. Cuypers beat Gillier to the right as the goalkeeper dove to the left to make it 2-0 in the fourth minute of extra time.
Lod increased it to 3-0 when he buried a rebound from the left side in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
–Field Level Media
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Hurdle hints and answers for March 1, 2026
