Sports
Wizards, Nets clash while draft lottery positioning looms large
Apr 3, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Malachi Smith (18) dribbles the ball up the court against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images Sunday marks the fourth and final time the Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets face off in the regular season, and despite their places in the standings, the implications are large.
Draft positioning will loom large as the Wizards (17-60) face the host Nets (18-59) in New York. The Indiana Pacers (18-59) are the only other team in play for the worst record in the league and an opportunity at the most chances in the draft lottery.
The rough season continued for Washington with a 152-136 setback at Miami on Saturday. It was the second consecutive game, and the third time in less than a month, that the Wizards surrendered 150 or more points.
It was the second time the Heat reached 150 points against the Wizards. Miami’s Bam Adebayo didn’t score 83 points this time, but Miami led by as many as 35 points.
Rookie Will Riley scored a career-high 31 points to lead Washington, which had eight players score in double figures. Jaden Hardy scored 19 points while making half of his 10 attempts from 3-point range.
Washington shot a respectable 47.2% form the floor, but watched the Heat shoot a season-high 58.1%.
A number of key players were unavailable Wizards, led by Anthony Davis, Trae Young, Kyshawn George, D’Angelo Russell, and Alex Sarr.
“For a coach, I think we’re so focused on the day,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “I probably don’t look at the big picture of those things. … For me, I’m just focused on today and our team, so I probably can’t comment too much on that.”
The Nets also have been left to explore all parts of their roster at the back end of a disappointing season.
Nic Claxton led six players in double figures with 16 points as Brooklyn dropped a 141-107 decision at home to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Brooklyn set the stage for a sloppy performance with five turnovers on their first 14 possessions.
“Poor executing on our end,” Jordi Fernandez said. “We just were not good enough, starting with the guys that bring the ball up the floor, They tried to get us into something organized.”
The Nets signed Malachi Smith to a multi-year contract on Saturday one day after he scored 15 points against the Hawks on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Smith, undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023, had bounced around the G-League and was on the second of back-to-back 10-day contracts at the time of the deal. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound guard has averaged 7.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 18.2 minutes per outing across his first 10 career games with Brooklyn.
“I’m someone that has been praying for this opportunity and working for this opportunity for years. So, I’m not going to take any minute for granted,” Smith said.
The Wizards have five games remaining in the regular season, including three at home. The Nets also have five games remaining with the last two on the road.
–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
