Sports
Warriors aim to take season series over peaking Nuggets
Mar 27, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) works against Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams (5) during the second half at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Riding their first three-game winning streak in more than two months, the Golden State Warriors will try to make it four in a row when they visit the surging Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Golden State (36-38) holds the 10th and final spot in the play-in, trailing Portland by half a game with eight games left. The Warriors still have a chance to reach the playoffs despite significant injuries.
Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (torn patella) are out for the season, Al Horford has been sidelined for two weeks with a calf injury and Steph Curry has missed 24 straight games with a troublesome knee and won’t play Sunday night.
Curry is close to returning, but Golden State is being cautious with its 38-year-old star.
“We’re not bringing him back (only) for the play-in game,” head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN. “He’d need to play some games. We need to give him a runway if this is going to work. And we are running out of games. That’s fair to say.”
Without Curry, the Warriors have relied on different players to pick up the scoring slack. In Friday night’s win over Washington, Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points, the fourth time in 10 games since coming from Atlanta in a trade that he has put up 20 or more points.
Porzingis is averaging 17.1 points between the Hawks and Golden State but has upped that to 17.7 in March.
The only player to appear in all 74 games for the Warriors is Brandin Podziemski, who is averaging 13.2 points.
Golden State has won two of the first three meetings with Denver and can take the season series Sunday night. The Nuggets (47-28) have won five in a row and eight of their last 10 to stay in the hunt for a top seed in the Western Conference.
Denver’s last two victories haven’t been easy despite playing teams fighting for a high draft pick. The Nuggets held off Dallas on Wednesday night behind huge games from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic and then had to rally from down 13 to beat Utah on Friday night.
“I just think our energy from the beginning of the game has to be better. We’ve had a lot of slow starts as of late,” head coach David Adelman said. “Obviously, we’re very talented offensively, we can always make a run, get back in games, but we shouldn’t have to work our way into every game. You have to come with more purpose to start the game.”
Denver is in the midst of playing nine of its final 12 games at home and has taken advantage of the schedule. The Nuggets are fourth in the West, a game and a half ahead of Minnesota and a game and a half behind the Los Angeles Lakers for third.
The Warriors will have to slow down Jokic and Murray, who are playing well down the stretch. Jokic leads the team in scoring (27.9), rebounds (12.8) and assists (10.8) and is on the verge of averaging a triple-double for the second straight season.
Murray, who is averaging a career-high 25.5 points, has scored 31 and 53 in the last two games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard Ta’niya Latson (00) looks to shoot the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points to help top-seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Oklahoma 94-68 in a Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in Sacramento.
Latson set the tone from the start, scoring eight points during the Gamecocks’ 10-0 run to start the game.
South Carolina will take on the winner of Saturday’s TCU-Virginia matchup Monday.
The Gamecocks (34-3) are looking for their sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.
South Carolina lost the regular-season matchup between the teams 94-82 in overtime Jan. 22.
In their NCAA Tournament matchup, though, the Gamecocks never gave the Sooners a chance for any kind of a late push.
Latson helped make sure of that, hitting a jumper on the opening possession, nailing a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then hitting three free throws after being fouled less than three minutes into the game to put her team up 10-0.
Oklahoma briefly cut the deficit to six, but after the first quarter, South Carolina’s lead never dipped below double figures.
Latson finished 7 of 11 from the floor with five assists. The Gamecocks shot 50.7% from the floor.
Raven Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Tessa Johnson scored 14.
The Sooners (26-8) were led by freshman Aaliyah Chavez, who had 21 points. Oklahoma finished with a season-low nine assists, while South Carolina had 21 on 34 field goals.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
BLAST Premier 2022 CS:GO Team Vitality continued its dominance while Natus Vincere held strong to set up a matchup of top-seeded teams in the best-of-five grand final after wins in the semifinals of the BLAST Open Spring on Saturday at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Both teams received byes to the semifinals after undefeated runs in group play. Team Vitality still has yet to drop a game as they defeated Aurora Gaming 2-0 to set up a clash with Natus Vincere, which downed PARIVISION 2-1.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that contested double-elimination brackets in Copenhagen, Denmark. The top three finishers in each bracket advanced to the six-team playoffs in Rotterdam.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Team Vitality was dominant against Aurora Gaming, claiming 13-5 victories on Inferno and Nuke. Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan had a match-high 37 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalcin had a team-best 30 kills for the all-Turkish side, but had a minus-2 K-D differential.
Natus Vincere had a tougher time with PARIVISION but still came away with the victory, winning 13-11 on Dust II and 13-7 on Mirage to clinch it after falling 13-8 on Inferno. Ukrainian Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov paced Natus Vincere with 59 kills and a match-best plus-17 K-D differential. Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali led the way for all-Russian PARIVISION with 50 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential.
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
1. $150,000, 3
2. $60,000, 1
3-4. $40,000, 1 — PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming
5-6. $20,000, 1 — Team Falcons, The MongolZ
7-8. $10,000 — FURIA, Team Spirit
9-12. $7,500 — TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid
13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ilia Malinin 3-peats in world championships after disastrous Olympics
Feb 21, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States performs in the figure skating exhibition gala during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Ilia Malinin has 3-peated.
The 21-year-old U.S. figure skater won his third straight world championship Saturday in Prague, scoring 329.40 points to win gold by a margin of 22.73 over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. Shun Sato also secured Japan a bronze medal.
Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive world titles since Nathan Chen did it from 2018-2021. The 21-year-old is also the youngest to win three championships since Russia’s Alexei Yagudin in 2000, and he’s the second-youngest American to claim three after Dick Button did it at the age of 20.
Malinin’s triumph also serves as a redemption arc after being the gold-medal favorite in the Milan Olympics last month and finishing eighth. He landed five quads in the free skate as part of a routine that featured a lower degree of jump difficulty compared to his Olympic performance. Malinin also declined to attempt his trademark quad axel.
“My expectation was to leave the long program in one piece, and I definitely think that happened,” he said after the victory.
When asked if he intentionally chose a safer routine, Malinin responded: “A better answer to that question is, this has been time for me to relax and enjoy the last competition of the season.”
Malinin also enjoyed a return to his winning form after his 14-competition win streak, the longest stretch in men’s skating in decades, stalled out in Milan.
“This was probably one of the easier world championships I’ve been to, just because of the amount (of) pressure I had at the Olympics. And going into here, I felt like it was almost no pressure at all,” he said. “I completely blocked out all the expectations, all the pressure that people put on me and was really here to skate for myself and enjoy every moment of these world championships, and I think I did exactly that.”
Malinin’s success in the world championship could mean he’s destined for further redemption at the next Winter Olympics. Every U.S. men’s singles skater who’s won three-plus world titles has also won an Olympic gold, including Button (1948, ‘52), Hayes Alan Jenkins (1956), David Jenkins (1960), Scott Hamilton (1984) and Chen (2022).
–Field Level Media
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
