Sports
NBA roundup: Giannis Antetokounmpo's triple-double lifts Bucks to 6th straight win
Nov 30, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives to the basket against Washington Wizards forward Alexandre Sarr (20) in the first half at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his third triple-double of the season with 42 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists as the Milwaukee Bucks extended their winning streak to six games, beating the visiting Washington Wizards 124-114 on Saturday night.
Damian Lillard had 25 points and 10 assists, Brook Lopez scored 18 points, AJ Green added 13 off the bench and Taurean Prince had 11 for Milwaukee, which won for the eighth time in its past nine games.
Antetokounmpo registered his first career 40-point triple-double and went 15-for-24 from the field.
Washington lost its 14th straight game and is two setbacks away from matching its franchise-record losing streak of 16. The Wizards were 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) from 3-point range.
Jordan Poole led Washington with 31 points. Former Bucks point guard Malcolm Brogdon tallied season highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Jonas Valanciunas and Corey Kispert had 16 points apiece.
Suns 113, Warriors 105
Devin Booker and Tyus Jones stole the spotlight from a Kevin Durant-Stephen Curry showdown with a combined 46 points and 18 assists and Phoenix held off visiting Golden State.
Durant shot just 7-for-20 but still managed 21 points and added 10 rebounds for Phoenix, which won for just the second time in its last eight games. The Suns went 14 of 21 on 3-pointers in the half.
Curry went 8-for-21 overall and 3-for-10 from deep for 23 points for Golden State, which dropped its fourth straight. Andrew Wiggins added 18 points for the Warriors, who made only 14 of their 40 shots from distance.
Hawks 107, Hornets 104
De’Andre Hunter scored on back-to-back possessions during a 10-second span in the final minute and Jalen Johnson racked up 20 points to lift Atlanta over host Charlotte.
Hunter finished with 18 points, Onyeka Okongwu posted 16 points and 11 rebounds and Zaccharie Risacher and Trae Young each supplied 14 points as Atlanta won its third game in a row. Charlotte’s Brandon Miller went 10-for-30 from the field on the way to 32 points.
Miller drained a 3-pointer to get the Hornets within 103-102 at the 14.6-second mark. Hunter countered with two free throws before a Charlotte timeout. Miller missed on a trey, then Okongwu made two foul shots to seal the victory.
76ers 111, Pistons 96
Tyrese Maxey had 28 points and six assists as visiting Philadelphia rolled past Detroit.
KJ Martin supplied 19 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, while Ricky Council IV had 17 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 14 points and six rebounds. Paul George, who had missed the Sixers’ previous three games with a left knee bone bruise, chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Malik Beasley led the Pistons with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Jaden Ivey tossed in 15 points. Marcus Sasser and Wendell Moore Jr. added 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively.
Mavericks 106, Jazz 94
Kyrie Irving scored 30 points to lead Dallas to a wire-to-wire win over Utah in Salt Lake City.
The Mavericks improved to 5-1 without injured star Luka Doncic, who traveled with the team but didn’t play because of a wrist injury. Quentin Grimes scored 24 points while P.J. Washington (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Daniel Gafford (14 points, 11 boards) each tallied a double-double in Dallas’ third straight victory.
Lauri Markkanen, who missed the Jazz’s previous game for the birth of a child, scored 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting to pace Utah. The Jazz shot just 35.8 percent from the field while losing for a third consecutive game and for the seventh time in eight games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
NASAs incredible new telescope will offer an atlas of the universe
400K MagSafe power banks recalled after fatal fire, the 10th power bank recall in a year
