LIVIGNO, Italy — Olympic medalists Alex Hall of the United States and Jesper Tjader of Sweden made it through the freeskiing slopestyle qualifying round at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Saturday to set up a showdown in next week’s final in the Italian Alps.

Hall, the defending champion, was one of three Americans to make the field of 12 who will compete for medals in the mountain town of Livigno, near the Swiss border. His teammates Mac Forehand and Konnor Ralph also advanced.

The 27-year-old Hall sounded relieved after securing his spot in Tuesday’s final after two smooth runs under sunny skies.

“It’s always nerve-wracking during the qualifiers,” Hall said. “There is a little bit of strategy involved. You don’t want to show all your cards. You don’t want to try something too hard that you might not land.”

“In the finals, you just go all out,” he added.

The slopestyle event features skiers who slide across rails and perform aerial tricks to impress the judges with difficulty and originality. The best score from each of the two runs determines the rankings.

Tjader, the bronze medalist at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, tumbled off a rail in his initial run, putting him in danger of elimination. A strong second run vaulted the 31-year-old to third place.

“Everybody did amazing runs so I really had to step up to make the final,” Tjader said. “I’m really proud of my run. I did a few new tricks that I haven’t done on a slopestyle run before.”

Norway’s Birk Ruud, the first men’s rider of the day, executed a flawless performance and finished at the top of the pack on Saturday.

“I was just all in on the first one,” the 25-year-old said. “I was focused as if it was my only chance. It felt awesome.”

Ruud finished just ahead of fellow Norwegian Tormod Frostad. Compatriot Sebastian Schjerve finished 11th to also advance.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

Houston Rockets star center Alperen Sengun was remorseful on Saturday for making a sexist remark to a female referee during a game on Wednesday.

Sengun made his first public comments following the Rockets’ 112-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. The 23-year-old had been ejected from Houston’s 114-93 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday after calling official Jenna Reneau a “b—-” multiple times.

“That was immature by me,” Sengun said, per ESPN. “That was just in the moment, and I said some stuff I shouldn’t say, but I felt bad about it.”

The native of Turkey was upset with a no-call on a drive to the basket in the fourth quarter. His comments went viral on social media, with enhanced audio revealing what he said to Reneau, in her first season as an NBA staff official.

Sengun said he apologized to Reneau after the game.

“Sometimes you can’t control yourself, but I should have known better,” Sengun said, per ESPN. “But I fixed it and then I went to the locker room and I apologized. I shake (her) hand and said that would never happen again. It just happened in the heat of the moment. Then she understood, and it was good on both ends.”

An All-Star for the first time last season, Sengun averages 20.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 33.9 minutes through 43 games (all starts).

The native of Turkey entered Sunday with career averages of 16.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 29.1 minutes in 329 regular-season games (267 starts).

Oklahoma City selected Sengun with the 16th overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft and traded him the next day, July 29, to the Rockets.

–Field Level Media

Michael Porter Jr. scored 20 of his 23 points before halftime as the Brooklyn Nets produced their biggest first half in a little over three years and beat the Washington Wizards 127-113 Saturday afternoon in New York.

Brooklyn scored 46 points in the opening quarter, its most since a 47-point first quarter against the host Detroit Pistons on April 5, 2023. The Nets also scored 80 in the first half, its most before halftime since getting 91 points in a 143-113 home win over the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 21, 2022.

Porter led seven in double figures as the Nets won for the fourth time in their past 22 games.

Day’Ron Sharpe added 19 and nine rebounds to lead a 56-point showing by Brooklyn’s bench. Noah Clowney contributed 18 and rookies Danny Wolf and Nolan Traore finished with 16 and 15, respectively.

The Nets shot 54.9%, scored a season-best 66 points in the paint and led by as many as 34 in the first half.

Rookie Will Riley scored a career-high 27 points as Washington played with eight available players. Justin Champagnie added 21 while Tristan Vukcevic and Sharife Cooper contributed 14 apiece for the Wizards, who shot 46.8% from the floor.

Besides missing Jaden Hardy and D’Angelo Russell following their acquisitions from the Dallas Mavericks in the blockbuster Anthony Davis trade, Washington was without Bilal Coulibaly (sore back), Kyshawn George (right knee bruise), Alex Sarr (sore right ankle) and Tre Johnson (sprained left ankle)

The Nets ended the opening quarter on a 23-3 run and held a 46-20 lead after Wolf buried a 3-pointer with nine-tenths of a second left following Washington’s eighth turnover. The Nets saw their lead reach 30 when Sharpe’s 3-point play made it 51-21 early in the second and held an 80-47 lead by halftime after Porter hit a stepback 3 with 7.3 seconds left.

The Wizards showed some life by opening the second half on a 21-5 run to get within 85-68 on a 3 by Riley with 6:44 left. Brooklyn regained a little control in the final minutes of the quarter and held a 101-82 cushion entering the fourth.

Riley converted a four-point play and a layup on consecutive trips to cut the lead to 117-103 with 5:14 remaining, and Cooper’s corner 3 made it 123-111 with 2:10 left before the Nets finished it off by scoring the next four points.

–Field Level Media