NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA’s championship trophy has a new look. And the league will hand out some new trophies for the first time during these playoffs. The league unveiled a slightly redesigned Larry O’Brien Trophy on Thursday and announced changes to the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy. The Eastern Conference championship trophy
Continue Reading By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — It’s been a long season for Barcelona. Lionel Messi left in tears. Ronald Koeman was fired. The team dropped out of the Champions League and into Europa League and will end the season without a title. The club’s focus now is to ensure that next season
Continue Reading By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer The United States will stage a Rugby World Cup for the first time after being voted as the host of the men’s tournament in 2031 and the women’s tournament two years later. Australia also is staging back-to-back tournaments in 2027 (men) and 2029 (women). World Rugby announced the host
Continue Reading By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer LONDON (AP) — The name “FIFA” can bring to mind images of the World Cup and soccer’s greatest players, like Pele, Zinedine Zidane or Lionel Messi. The acronym for the sport’s governing body may also remind some of shameless bribery and corruption. For many, though, it’s the video
Continue Reading By Wayne Sterling, CNN Former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo is suing the NFL team, alleging that former Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer created a “hostile work environment.” In the lawsuit, filed in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Duval County, Florida on Tuesday, Lambo claimed that during a practice in August, Meyer “kicked him
Continue Reading By Ben Morse, CNN The Golden State Warriors emphatically missed the opportunity to clinch their Western Conference semifinals playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. In a dominant performance in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series, the Grizzlies won 134-95 — leading by as many as 55 points — at the FedExForum. Memphis
Continue Reading By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund is already looking ahead to the next season as its current campaign is set to end in frustration and disappointment. Erling Haaland’s departure was expected and the club has already moved to address problems in other areas. Defenders Niklas Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck are
Continue Reading By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer An American consortium has bought an English soccer team with the ultimate aim of winning the Premier League title. Some would say there is nothing especially new there but there is a huge catch when it comes to the recent purchase of Crawley Town. The unheralded fourth-division club located
Continue Reading PARIS (AP) — French soccer club Nantes has expressed its shock at Nice fans who made derogatory chants about Emiliano Sala during a league game. Sala died after the single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft in which he was traveling crashed in the English Channel on Jan. 21, 2019. He was leaving Nantes to join Cardiff in
Continue Reading By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer Kori Cheverie reflects fondly on the conversations she had with her grandfather growing up in Nova Scotia, where he encouraged her to believe anything was attainable in sports. First woman to play for the Toronto Blue Jays? Sure. Hoist the Stanley Cup over her head while representing the Toronto
Continue Reading By JOHN ZENOR AP Sports Writer Coach Bruce Pearl and Auburn lost two stars to the NBA from what he considered college basketball’s best frontcourt. So, the Tigers did what most college programs are doing: They turned to the transfer portal. Auburn filled the gaping voids left by likely first-round picks Jabari Smith and Walker
Continue Reading By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Nepali Sherpa broke her own record as the most successful female climber of Mount Everest by reaching the summit of the world’s highest peak Thursday. Lakpa Sherpa and several other climbers took advantage of favorable weather to reach the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit early in the
Continue Reading CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane and Trevor Lewis all scored in the third period, leading the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series. Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves for the Flames, who can win the series Friday in Dallas.
Continue Reading By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer PARIS (AP) — Elina Svitolina is calling for better mental health protection for juniors starting out in their tennis careers. The former No.3-ranked Svitolina remembers how tough the weight of expectation was, the loneliness, the anxiety and long travel when she was starting out. Not to mention replaying crushing
Continue Reading By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies fought off elimination with the highest-scoring performance in their franchise’s postseason history. And with All-Star guard Ja Morant cheering from the bench. Then Morant upped the ante by chanting “Grizz in seven!” Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each
Continue Reading PHOENIX (AP) — Tina Charles had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Skylar Diggins-Smith added 19 points and six assists, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Seattle Storm 97-77 on Wednesday night in the first of a home-and-home set this week. Seattle was without star Breanna Stewart due to health and safety protocols, and Phoenix was
Continue Reading ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Local high school hero Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run double and had his first major-league three-RBI game and Whit Merrifield homered for the first time since last August as the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 to snap a three-game losing streak. Joel Payamps was the second of
Continue Reading By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian has signed on as the foundation coach of Bay Area Dragons in the new East Asia Super League. Goorjian is the most successful coach in Australia’s National Basketball League with six championship titles and guided the national men’s team
Continue Reading By STEVE OVERBEY Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Juan Yepez homered and Miles Mikolas pitched seven strong innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Yepez has reached base in all seven games since being recalled from the minors on May 3. His second-inning homer kickstarted a three-run
Continue Reading By VIN A. CHERWOO AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins were leading 2-0 in Game 5 of their first-round series against the New York Rangers when star center Sidney Crosby headed to the dressing room with about seven minutes left in the second period. He was knocked to the ice minutes
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