Sports
Torrid Pistons pose challenge to reconfigured Wizards
Feb 3, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) tugs on the shorts of Denver Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) before trying to drive past him in the second quarter at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images Though the All-Star break approaches, the Detroit Pistons show no signs of slowing down.
The Pistons have won 12 of their last 15 games to maintain a healthy Eastern Conference lead over New York and Boston.
Detroit wraps up a four-game homestand with a back-to-back as it hosts the new-look Washington Wizards on Thursday and the Knicks on Friday.
The Wizards are acquiring 10-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis from the Dallas Mavericks in an eight-player trade, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
In addition to Davis, out since Jan. 8 with a hand injury, Washington gets Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum, per the report.
The Mavericks receive Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham and Marvin Bagley III plus two first-round draft picks and three second-round selections.
The Pistons followed up a 53-point victory over Brooklyn on Sunday — the largest margin in franchise history — with a 124-121 win over Denver on Tuesday. Though Detroit never trailed, the Nuggets rallied to make things interesting in the closing minutes.
“I feel like at the end of the game, it comes down to who wants it more, who’s going to get the loose balls, who’s going to be the most disciplined, who’s going to go back to their strategy and do it best,” Pistons forward Ausar Thompson said. “I feel like we did it best (Tuesday). They’re a great team, but you know we came up victorious.”
That has been the norm for Detroit, especially on its home court. The Pistons have a 20-5 record at Little Caesars Arena.
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff felt the Nuggets’ comeback was a good test for his club.
“Two really good teams competing at a high level,” he said. “Two teams that have elite players on their teams, that can make a difference, that can start runs, that can stop runs. Two teams that understand the selflessness, the physicality, the toughness that it takes to win at this level.”
The Pistons had a 26-9 edge in fast-break points, though they forced only 10 turnovers.
“Our entire team has bought into the identity that when we’re at our best, we’re the best defensive team on the floor,” Bickerstaff said.
The Wizards had won three of four before getting pounded by the Knicks, 132-101, on Tuesday.
“We didn’t play to our standard,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “We’ve been playing good basketball here for a long time and we didn’t have the necessary execution on our defensive end. And offensively, too.
“We played one of the better teams in the NBA,” Keefe added. “If you don’t have your best stuff, that can happen. It’s not who we’ve been, it’s not who we’re going to be. We were not happy with our performance. We did not uphold to our standard.”
The Wizards had posted wins over Portland, Milwaukee and Sacramento after a nine-game losing streak.
“Got to give them some credit, but that’s the deal here in the NBA. You’ve got to raise up to what you’re going to see,” Keefe said. “We didn’t have our necessary level tonight. Excited to get back at that in Detroit.”
Washington gave Detroit a strong challenge in their first meeting on Nov. 10. The host Pistons eked out a 137-135 overtime victory at home.
Detroit’s Daniss Jenkins hit two 3-pointers in the final three seconds to force overtime. Cade Cunningham otherwise carried the Pistons with 46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two blocks.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cloud9 rally past LYON in LCS Spring opener
A custom gaming keyboard backlit with red LED lights waits for tactile input before Manual took on Boone County in a Rocket League match, which was streamed on YouTube on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Cloud9 recorded a 2-1 win over LYON to begin the regular season of the LCS Spring event on Saturday.
LYON posted a 35-minute victory on blue before Cloud9 bounced back with a 33-minute triumph on red and 30-minute victory on blue.
Canadian Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme and South Korean Seung-gyu “Thanatos” Park were tabbed as MVPs for Cloud9, while Australian Jonah “Isles” Rosario earned the distinction for LYON.
Also on Saturday, Disguised overcame dropping the first map in 32 minutes to secure a 2-1 victory over Sentinels. The former capped the win with a 30-minute win on blue.
Canadian/Romanian player Christian “KryRa” Rahaian earned a pair of MVP honors for Disguised, while South Korean Yoo-jin “HamBak” Ham received the distinction for Sentinels.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-3 matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs, which will be contested in best-of-5 matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Regular season standings
T1. Cloud9, 1-0, 2-1
T1. Disguised, 1-0, 2-1
T3. FlyQuest, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Team Liquid, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Dignitas, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Shopify Rebellion, 0-0, 0-0
T7. LYON, 0-1, 1-2
T7. Sentinels, 0-1, 1-2
–Field Level Media
Sports
Renato Moicano snaps losing streak with submission victory
Jun 28, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Beneil Dariush (red gloves) fights Renato Moicano (blue gloves) during UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Renato Moicano of Brazil snapped a two-fight losing streak with a rear-naked-choke submission victory over Scotland’s Chris Duncan at 3:14 of the second round in the lightweight main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Moicano (21-7-1) dominated the fight, allowing Duncan (15-3-0) just one second of control time while landing over twice as many strikes (62-30). Duncan had a four-match win streak snapped, taking his first defeat since Feb. 24, 2024.
In the co-main event, Virna Jandiroba (23-4-0) came away with a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over fellow Brazilian Tabatha Ricci (12-4-0) in a strawweight fight. It was a bounceback for Jandiroba after she had a five-fight win streak snapped in a title-fight loss to Mackenzie Dern last October.
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev of Turkey also had a rear-naked-choke submission win on the main card, beating Brazil’s Brendson Ribeiro (17-10-0) 2:52 into the opening round to improve to 9-0-0 in the light heavyweight division.
Ethyn Ewing (10-2-0) came away with a third-round KO/TKO bantamweight victory to hand Brazilian Rafael Estevam (14-1-0) his first MMA loss. Before that, Tommy McMillen (10-0-0) won his UFC debut in the featherweight division with a first-round KO/TKO via a series of blows culminating with a knee strike which took Italy’s Manolo Zecchini (11-5-0) to the mat.
In the main-card opener, Jose Delano (17-3-0) of Brazil won via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27) over Poland’s Robert Ruchala (11-3-0) in his UFC debut.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Padres, Red Sox chasing first series win of season
Mar 30, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler (10) delivers during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images With both starting pitchers seeking bounce-back outings for their new teams, the Boston Red Sox and visiting San Diego Padres face off to close a three-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon.
The Padres scored a 3-2 victory on Saturday after Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single in the ninth inning. San Diego now turns to a familiar sight on the Boston mound in Walker Buehler (0-1, 6.75 ERA) for his second start.
Buehler, who began last season with the Red Sox before he was released in September, will face Boston left-hander Ranger Suarez (0-1, 8.31). Both teams are searching for their first series victory of the season.
“Laureano has been doing that the last few years, so you’ve got to tip your cap to them,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Gotta regroup and get ready for (Sunday) to win the series.”
Though the Padres entered Saturday hitting a National League-worst .192, Laureano continued a strong early-season run with the big hit. He now boasts a .308 batting average and has reached base safely in six of his first seven games.
“I think Laureano has had the best results and best at-bats we’ve gotten so far, so we’ll probably see him more at the top of the lineup going forward,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said.
A two-time World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed a free-agent contract in February, Buehler made his Padres debut Monday against the San Francisco Giants, allowing three runs on five hits across four innings.
“Our hope is that he kind of returns to who he’s been in the past,” Stammen said last week. “And that we have somebody that was a former All-Star pitcher, someone that was a thorn in our side as the Padres, and becomes a thorn in the side for other people.”
Buehler’s only career start against the Red Sox came in the 18-inning marathon Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. He started and went seven scoreless innings.
The Red Sox were in position to win the series on Saturday, holding a one-run lead with Aroldis Chapman taking the mound in the ninth looking for his second consecutive save. Andruw Monasterio’s pinch-hit RBI fielder’s choice had tied the game for the Red Sox in the eighth.
Instead, Boston fell to a major league-worst 2-6 for the first time since 2019 and has now lost all three of its one-run games this season.
Cora’s offense has also struggled, scoring two or fewer runs for the fourth time in eight games and going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“We have to make sure when we are ahead in the count, get a pitch you can handle. If not, pass the baton,” Cora said.
The Red Sox had an 8-7 advantage in hits on Saturday, with Roman Anthony (triple) and Ceddanne Rafaela each recording a pair.
Suarez looks to deliver an improved start in his first Fenway Park outing for Boston. He allowed four runs, including a pair of home runs, in 4 1/3 innings Monday against the Houston Astros.
“I feel very good physically,” Suarez said. “I missed a couple (pitches), but I’ll just keep working for the next outing.”
Suarez, who is 3-1 with a 2.39 career ERA in eight appearances (five starts) against the Padres, is coming off back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins and recorded a career-high 151 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings in 2025 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
–Field Level Media
Larry David Said He Would Never Write Another Finale, Then He Did The Funniest Thing Ever
Cloud9 rally past LYON in LCS Spring opener
