Sports
Pacers get fresh start vs. Lakers with record skid over
Mar 23, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) lays up during the second half against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Wednesday’s meeting in Indianapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers collide after both saw their recent streaks come to an end.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle implored his players to “make a stand” after crashing to a 16th consecutive loss — a franchise record — and the Pacers did just that with a drought-breaking 128-126 victory over the host Orlando Magic on Monday.
Pascal Siakam scored 37 points before producing the clutch defensive play of the game when he blocked Paolo Banchero’s drive at the buzzer, which would have sent the game into overtime.
“We had not been playing well,” Carlisle said. “The game (Saturday) in San Antonio was very disappointing for all of us. We talked about it (Monday) morning that we needed to make a stand and raise our level of collective will of how we’re competing. Guys did it, led by the veterans — Pascal, Andrew (Nesmith) and Aaron (Nembhard). It was a great game. It felt like a playoff-type game.”
Indiana (16-56) had led by 12 deep in the fourth period before narrowly surviving a late Orlando rally.
It was the Pacers’ first win since Feb. 11, before the All-Star Game that featured Siakam, who is averaging a team-best 24.0 points.
“In the position we’re in, we need to play as much meaningful basketball as we can, because we know we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Carlisle said. “This was an important game at an important time … We hadn’t won a game in a while. We needed this.”
The Lakers (46-26) had won nine straight — their best run since 2020 — before being edged 113-110 in Detroit on Monday.
Luka Doncic — the league’s leading scorer, averaging 33.4 points — posted 32 against the Pistons, but missed two key shots down the stretch.
The Slovenian superstar was unsuccessful with a go-ahead pullup from 13 feet, before Daniss Jenkins’ two free throws at the other end put Detroit up by three.
Los Angeles called for time and LeBron James’ long inbound caught a deflection before ending with Doncic, who missed a tough 3-pointer over Jalen Duren to level it at the buzzer.
Despite the setback, Lakers coach JJ Redick liked how his team rallied after the Pistons had stormed ahead by 16 in the third period.
“I didn’t feel like we were going to break,” Redick said. “We made the adjustment at halftime to switch one through five. That was helpful in slowing them down.”
The Lakers’ cause wasn’t helped by the absence of regular starters Marcus Smart (ankle) and Rui Hachimura (calf). Smart is doubtful to play Wednesday and Hachimura is questionable.
“Our winning streak also coincided with us being healthy,” Redick said. “(Monday), Smart and Rui were out. Not having Smart killed us. It’s important for us that we can get healthy and play our rotation. Post-Luke (Kennard) trade, when all nine guys have played, we’ve been a good basketball team. We need to finish the season strong, but we also need to finish the season healthy.”
LeBron James endured a rare scoreless first half but still impacted the game, finishing just shy of a triple double — 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
“They play extremely hard, extremely fast and they’re super well-coached,” James said of the Pacers. “We’ve got to be ready for that. It’s our last game of the road trip. I know everybody’s trying to get home, but we’ve got business to take care of. We’ll be ready.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Shakira Austin, Mystics gain road split against Storm
May 27, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Storm guard Flau’jae Johnson (4) guards Washington Mystics guard Cassandre Prosper (18) during the first half at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Shakira Austin had game-high totals of 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as the Washington Mystics defeated the host Seattle Storm 78-64 on Wednesday.
Michaela Onyenwere added 14 points, making three 3-pointers, and Kiki Iriafen had 13 points and nine boards for the Mystics (3-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak and avenged a 97-85 loss at Seattle on Sunday.
Jade Melbourne scored 15 points to lead the Storm (3-5), who had won their previous two games. Mackenzie Holmes added eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Mystics shot 42.4% from the field (28 of 66), including 7 of 21 (33.3%) from 3-point range. The Storm made just 34.9% of their field-goal attempts (22 of 63) and were 5 of 23 (21.7%) from long distance.
The Mystics, who trailed by as many as 26 points on Sunday, led by as many as 24 in this one, 74-49 with 7:33 remaining.
Washington scored the opening five points and never trailed.
Onyenwere made two 3-pointers and a jumper in the opening 1:53 as the Mystics took a 10-1 lead. They extended the margin to 23-9 before the Storm went on a 9-0 run.
The Mystics held a 28-20 lead after the first quarter as Onyenwere and Austin combined for 21 points.
The Storm pulled with six points early in the second before the Mystics answered with a 16-3 run on their way to a 48-29 halftime advantage.
Seattle scored the first eight points of the second half, but the Mystics were up 66-45 after three quarters.
Rookie centers Awa Fam of Seattle and Lauren Betts of Washington, the Nos. 3 and 4 picks in this spring’s WNBA draft, respectively, pretty much played to a draw. Both came off the bench. Fam had six points and five rebounds in 17:15 of playing time, and Betts had six points and three rebounds in 11:16.
The Storm played without center Dominique Malonga (concussion) and forward Ezi Magbegor (foot).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Shohei Ohtani (6 no-hit innings, homer) carries Dodgers past Rockies
May 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Alex Call (12) hits an RBI single during the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Shohei Ohtani did not allow a hit over six innings on the mound and added a leadoff home run from the batter’s box as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.
Ohtani and Will Klein held the Rockies without a hit through seven innings before Tyler Freeman singled to right field with two outs in the eighth against Tanner Scott.
Kyle Hurt finished off the combined one-hitter with a perfect ninth inning to earn his first career save.
Ohtani hit a leadoff home run during his second consecutive pitching start.
Freddie Freeman also went deep in the opening inning before Andy Pages homered in the eighth for Los Angeles, which has won 12 of 14 games overall.
Ohtani (5-2) battled his command, issuing four walks, allowing a run and plunking a batter, but he struck out seven in his 99-pitch outing. His season ERA rose from 0.73 to 0.82.
Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4) gave up three runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings in a duel of Japanese-born starters. He struck out three and walked one. Colorado scored its lone run in the fourth inning on a groundout by Willi Castro en route to its fifth loss in a row.
After the Ohtani and Freeman home runs gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Rockies halved the deficit in the fourth. The Dodgers countered with a run in their half of the fourth on an RBI single from Alex Call.
The Dodgers made it 4-1 in the eighth on a home run from Pages, his 13th of the season and third in his past four games. Los Angeles hit eight home runs in the final two games of the series while finishing off the three-game sweep.
The Dodgers received a trio of highlight defensive plays. Call made a diving catch in right in the second inning. Second baseman Alex Freeland dived to the first base bag to make a putout in the fourth on Castro’s RBI grounder, and left fielder Hyeseong Kim made a catch up against the railing in foul territory in the seventh.
Kim entered in the third inning as a replacement for Teoscar Hernandez, who departed due to a left hamstring strain.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Nyara Sabally's career-high 29 helps Tempo extend Sky's skid
May 27, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky guard Jacy Sheldon (0) defends against Toronto Tempo guard Kiki Rice (1) during the first half at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Nyara Sabally scored a career-best 29 points Wednesday night to help the visiting Toronto Tempo defeat the Chicago Sky 111-104.
Sabally also had six rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots as the Tempo ended a two-game losing skid while extending the Sky’s losing streak to three.
Marina Mabrey added 24 points and seven assists for the Tempo (4-4). Brittney Sykes scored 20 points, Kiki Rice chipped in 14 and Maria Conde tallied 12.
Rookie Sydney Taylor scored a career-high 27 points off the bench for the Sky (3-4). Skylar Diggins added 23 points, nine assists and two blocks for Chicago. Natasha Cloud had 18 points and nine assists. Elizabeth Williams added 11 points, and Azura Stevens contributed 10.
The Tempo led by six points entering the fourth quarter. Taylor hit a 3-pointer with 8:42 to go in the fourth to cut the margin to four. Aicha Coulibaly’s putback layup brought Chicago to within 96-93 with 4:48 remaining. Sykes answered with a layup.
Taylor’s 3-pointer cut the lead to two with 3:33 left. Sabally nailed a 3-pointer after Mabrey’s steal to give Toronto an eight-point lead with 1:43 to play.
The Sky took advantage of four early Tempo turnovers to take a 10-5 lead. Toronto used a 14-4 run to take a 23-20 lead with 1:02 to play in the first quarter. Toronto led 25-22 after one quarter.
Mabrey opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer and hit another from beyond the arc to give Toronto an 11-point lead, 38-27, with 7:15 to go in the second quarter. The Sky rallied to climb to within five points on Cloud’s 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining. Toronto led 55-48 at halftime.
Chicago continued to struggle from 3-point range despite getting some good looks, going 3-for-16 (18.8%) in the first half while Toronto was 6-for-15 (40%). The Sky took advantage of eight Toronto first-half turnovers for a 13-0 lead in fastbreak points.
Toronto worked the lead to 12 on Sabally’s cutting layup with 8:21 left in the third quarter. Sabally converted two free throws to bump the margin to 14.
The margin dwindled to four on Taylor’s 3-pointer with 1:48 left as the Sky capitalized on defensive stops. Toronto led 80-74 after three quarters.
–Field Level Media
Shakira Austin, Mystics gain road split against Storm
Shohei Ohtani (6 no-hit innings, homer) carries Dodgers past Rockies
