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Spurs' Victor Wembanyama draws Clippers' full attention

NBA: San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota TimberwolvesDec 29, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots the ball over Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) in the second half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

There is little secret about the Los Angeles Clippers’ strategy when they travel to San Antonio to square off against the Spurs on Tuesday.

Los Angeles’ focus will be on trying to limit the damage done by San Antonio star center Victor Wembanyama, who continues to take the NBA by storm.

The Clippers fly into the Alamo City for the second game of a back-to-back set that began with a 116-113 win in New Orleans on Monday. James Harden hit four free throws in the final 18 seconds to provide the winning points on a night when Los Angeles trailed by as many as 14 points late in the second quarter.

Norman Powell led the Clippers with 35 points and Harden finished with 27 as Los Angeles won for the fifth time in its past six outings.

The Tuesday contest is the middle game of a three-game Clippers road trip that ends in Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Los Angeles won the first clash against the Spurs this season 113-104 at home on Nov. 4 as Powell scored 23 points.

Harden understands the task Los Angeles will have in slowing down the dynamic (and improving) Wembanyama, who racked up 24 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and swatted away nine shots in the Nov. 4 contest.

“Beast — on both ends,” Harden said about the second-year French phenom. “And his shot looks way more confident, he’s shooting it with confidence. Defensively, he’s active, blocking shots. He’s doing it all. Guys like us are leaving and guys like Wemby are coming in. We thought we’ve never seen certain players before, and then Wemby comes in. Like, come on.”

The Spurs head home for a brief stop after a four-game road trip that ended with a 112-110 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. San Antonio dropped three of the four contests on the trip by a combined 10 points, losing at Philadelphia by five and to the Knicks in New York by three before beating the Brooklyn Nets by nine.

“I think we felt what road NBA basketball looks like against good teams,” San Antonio acting coach Mitch Johnson said. “There is some takeaways that we should feel really good about, and some takeaways that’ll give us much to do, to get back to work when we get back home.”

Wembanyama led San Antonio with 34 points in Minneapolis, marking the eighth time this season that he reached the 30-point barrier. The Sunday game was the ninth straight (and 21st time in his 27 games this season) that Wembanyama led the team in scoring.

The Spurs rallied from a 16-point third-quarter deficit on Sunday to take a 101-98 lead on a Harrison Barnes layup with 6:35 to play, but they couldn’t hold on.

“Our late-game execution is an area of (needed) improvement for us,” said Barnes, who wound up with 24 points on Sunday. “We put ourselves in position. We battled for 44, 46 minutes, to give ourselves a chance to win, and then just finishing out games is something that we can get better at.”

The Tuesday contest is one of just two at home for the Spurs over the next two weeks. After an away-and-home back-to-back with Denver on Friday and Saturday, San Antonio hits the road for Chicago, Milwaukee and a then pair of games against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

–Field Level Media

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Flyers strike in 3rd to snap Bruins' 8-game point streak

NHL: Boston Bruins at Philadelphia FlyersFeb 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (27) reaches for the puck against the Boston Bruins in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Flyers scored back-to-back goals to start the third period and held on to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Travis Konecny and Jamie Drysdale both scored and assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which has won two of its three games since the Olympic break. Drysdale tallied the eventual game-winner with 8:05 left.

Sean Couturier added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining, Christian Dvorak recorded two assists, and Dan Vladar was excellent with a 26-save performance to help the Flyers win.

Boston’s Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period goal that cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1.

Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves for Boston, which entered on an eight-game point streak (5-0-3).

With the game scoreless through two periods, the Bruins looked to take a 1-0 lead 1:05 into the third as Hampus Lindholm’s point shot beat Vladar, but the goal was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference.

Instead, Konecny scored first at 3:41. After Dvorak’s shot into the zone hit a stanchion behind the net, he recovered the bounce and made a tight backhand feed to his oncoming linemate to bury into an open side of the net.

Drysdale doubled Philadelphia’s lead at 11:55 by slipping down the slot on a Konecny pass and firing an open wrist shot past Swayman’s blocker.

The Bruins found an answer from McAvoy 1:08 later. Pavel Zacha won the faceoff right to Hampus Lindholm, who found his fellow defenseman cutting to the net to make it a 2-1 game.

Swayman followed up that goal by stopping Konecny on a breakaway with 5:36 left, but Boston could not find an equalizer.

Philadelphia had a 7-6 shot advantage in a scoreless first. Swayman made one of his best early saves halfway through as Trevor Zegras fired a turnaround shot from the slot.

Vladar made two close-range stops on Morgan Geekie within the first eight minutes of the second period, including one early in Boston’s second power play. The first stop occurred when David Pastrnak set up Geekie for a one-timer in the slot at the 5:00 mark.

Less than a minute after Vladar’s second stop on Geekie, Swayman returned to the highlight reel at the other end of the ice. Konecny’s wraparound put the puck on goal before Swayman robbed Dvorak with the glove on a rebound effort coming to the doorstep.

After Boston’s first man advantage came up empty, Vladar made another big save as Sean Kuraly separated from the Flyers’ defense for a breakaway with 5:43 left in the second.

–Field Level Media

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Heat rally in 4th quarter to take down Rockets

NBA: Houston Rockets at Miami HeatFeb 28, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) argues with Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Bam Adebayo posted a double-double, and Andrew Wiggins ignited a fourth-quarter rally after returning from an in-game injury to lead the Miami Heat to a 115-105 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday.

Adebayo paired 24 points with 11 rebounds to help the Heat snap a two-game skid. Pelle Larsson (20 points) and Tyler Herro (18) contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Heat, who also received double-digit efforts from Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Kel’el Ware (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) off the bench. The Heat shot 50% overall from the floor.

But it was Wiggins, who took an elbow to the jaw from Rockets center Alperen Sengun and needed stitches in his cheek to close the gash, who led a critical fourth-quarter surge. He assisted on a Ware alley-oop and a Larsson 3 to put the Heat ahead 100-92 before his transition dunk resulted in a three-point play and a 111-103 lead with 2:24 remaining.

Wiggins finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Kevin Durant scored a game-high 32 points and added eight assists for the Rockets. Amen Thompson (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tari Eason (10 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles, while Reed Sheppard chipped in 14 points and five assists for Houston.

The Rockets turned an early run, capped by a Sheppard 3, into a 14-4 lead, only for the Heat to respond with an 8-0 rally. Adebayo hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 27-26 lead, and the Heat carried a 32-28 advantage into the second quarter after hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first.

Miami extended its lead to double digits on a Ware tip-in, and led 41-28 before the Rockets scored their first basket of the second quarter with an Aaron Holiday 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark. That ended a 19-2 run by the Heat and sparked another Houston rally, featuring Sheppard and Durant combining to hit three 3-pointers and tie the game at 48.

The Rockets led 52-51 at the intermission after Miami missed 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second.

–Field Level Media

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Braeden Carrington explodes for 32 points as Wisconsin routs Washington

NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin at WashingtonFeb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Braeden Carrington (0) shoots a three point shot over Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo (5) during the second half at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Braeden Carrington came off the bench Saturday to score a career-high 32 points and Wisconsin knocked down 17 3-pointers to earn a 90-73 Big Ten Conference road win over Washington in Seattle.

Nick Boyd added 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Badgers (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten), while Nolan Winter chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Wisconsin canned 44.7 % of its 38 3-point attempts, with Carrington going 9 of 15.

Freshman Hannes Steinbach led the Huskies (14-15, 6-12) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, his 18th double-double of the season and the most by a Big Ten player since Jared Sullinger of Ohio State collected the same total 29 years ago. Zoom Diallo scored 21 points.

Washington made 46% from the field but simply couldn’t mute the Badgers’ potent perimeter game. Bouncing back from an 85-71 upset loss Wednesday night at Oregon, Wisconsin earned a 39-35 edge on the boards and committed only six turnovers.

The final margin flattered the Huskies a bit. The Badgers led by as many as 28 points in the second half and cleared the bench by the time Washington scored the final seven points to make the margin more respectable.

Wisconsin set an early tone by stepping up its defense from the loss at Oregon. It held the Huskies without a field goal for a 6:04 stretch of the first half and opened up a 17-4 lead with 13:28 left when Carrington converted a 3-pointer.

Steinbach made two foul shots with 6:51 left to pull Washington within 22-14 but the Badgers pulled away when Carrington hit a 3-pointer and fed Winter for a layup and a 27-14 cushion.

With Boyd canning a short jumper from the baseline, Wisconsin went into halftime with a 36-21 advantage. The Huskies made only 7 of 28 field goals in the first 20 minutes and were outrebounded 25-17.

Boyd led the charge with 14 points in the half, sinking 7 of 14 shots from the field.

–Field Level Media

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