Category: Basketball

NOME, Alaska (AP) — Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes cruised to a repeat victory in the Iditarod, the roughly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) sled dog race in Alaska.

Holmes guided his dog team across the finish line Tuesday night in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community. He pumped both fists in the air as the crowd cheered for him and his team of 12 dogs.

After finishing, the dogs got steaks and Holmes answered some questions accompanied by his lead dogs, Polar and Zeus.

“Zeus led every single run except one. I just wanted to let someone else have some fun. And Polar deserves it more than anybody,” he said. “He leads by example.”

The race started March 8 in Willow, a day after the ceremonial start was held in Anchorage. The course took dog teams and their mushers over two mountain ranges, along the frozen Yukon River and across the unpredictable Bering Sea ice.

Holmes, a former cast member on the National Geographic reality show “Life Below Zero,” is the third competitor in the 54-year history of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to repeat the year after winning for the first time. The others were Susan Butcher in 1986-1987 and Lance Mackey in 2007-2008. Both went on to win four titles.

Holmes told The Associated Press before the Iditarod that this year’s race was the most important of his career. “That’s hard to put that on yourself because you got to live with that pressure every day,” Holmes said. “And if I do not make it, it is going to absolutely crush me.”

He will pocket about $80,000 for this year’s win, up from the $57,000-plus he took home last year. This year's purse was boosted by financial support from Norwegian billionaire Kjell Rokke, who participated in a newly created, noncompetitive amateur category. Rokke reached Nome on Monday, under rules that allowed him to have outside support from a former Iditarod champ, flexible rest periods and to swap out dogs.

Holmes' first Iditarod was in 2018. His seventh place finish earned him rookie of the year honors. He has now raced in the Iditarod nine times, earning seven top 10 finishes. He’s been in the top five the last five races.

He appeared for eight years on “Life Below Zero,” which chronicled the hardships of people living in rural Alaska.

Holmes used the money he earned from the show to buy better dogs and equipment, and also was able to purchase raw land near Denali National Park and Preserve. A carpenter by trade, he’s carved his homestead in the wilderness, where his closest neighbor is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away.

Rokke, who now lives in Switzerland, provided $100,000 in additional prize money and $170,000 to Alaska Native villages that serve as checkpoints. Another musher in the noncompetitive “expedition” class, Canadian entrepreneur Steve Curtis, pledged $50,000 to help youth sports programs in the villages. Curtis did not finish the race.

The race’s biggest critic, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has claimed that more than 150 dogs have died in the history of the Iditarod. It urged Rokke to spend his money to help dogs rather than put them through “hazards and misery.”

The Iditarod has never provided its count of dogs who have died on the race.

One dog has died in this year's race, a 4-year-old female named Charly on musher Mille Porsild's team, the Iditarod said in a statement Tuesday. A necropsy will be conducted.

Thirty-four competitive mushers started, matching the inaugural 1973 race for the second fewest in race history. The retirements of many longtime mushers and the high cost of supplies, such as dog food, have kept the fields small this decade.

Since March Madness became part of the sports vernacular, the NCAA Tournament bracket pool has become a familiar exercise. Broadly speaking, participants come from two main categories. There are the more casual fans who only pay attention to men’s college hoops around tourney time. They’ll do a modicum of research but will for the most part rely on name recognition and seeding to fill out their brackets.

Then there are the diehards, those who follow the sport from November onward in hopes of accumulating more knowledge for when the bracket is finally unveiled.

March Madness bold predictions: Best upset picks, Final Four sleeper

This is for the latter group, the ones who have been watching certain teams all season and are all too aware just how wildly unpredictable they can be. These are the teams that will cause self-described bracket experts the most angst as they consider their picks. They’re the teams that have the talent necessary for a deep run, even perhaps capable of sending a No. 1 packing. But they are also inconsistent enough that they’re just as likely to flame out in the first weekend. As you consider what to do with these eight teams, all we can say is, good luck.

Kansas

The Jayhawks’ history with Bill Self at the helm suggests their Final Four potential shouldn’t be dismissed. Their Big 12 results this season were a mixed bag, however, with impressive wins against Arizona and Iowa State mingled with ugly losses to bottom-tier finishers West Virginia and Arizona State. KU’s inconsistency isn’t entirely attributable to Darryn Peterson’s inconsistent health status, though that is certainly part of the story. Flory Bidunga can be dominant at times and invisible at others, and Melvin Council Jr. can be sizzling hot or ice cold.

Purdue

The Boilermakers were voted No. 1 in the preseason poll. At the start of the campaign and again at the end they looked the part. In between, however, they presented as a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten squad, a curious situation for a team with several multi-year starters. When Purdue struggled, there were issues at both ends of the floor, at times disinterested on defense and making bad decisions with the ball. Did the Boilermakers figure things out at the Big Ten tournament, or will there be a relapse at an inopportune time?

REGION BREAKDOWNS, PREDICTIONS: East | South | Midwest | West

PRINTABLE BRACKET: Fill out your picks for NCAA Tournament pools

Arkansas

There are many reasons to back the Razorbacks in their region. Their SEC tournament title would seem to indicate they’re heating up at the right time, and coach John Calipari has taken his share of teams to the final weekend. But their path to the SEC championship was cleared for them a bit as they didn’t have to face Florida or Alabama, and as good as Darius Acuff Jr. has been over the last few weeks, only a few teams have gone the distance with a talented freshman lead guard.

Gonzaga

Putting the Bulldogs in your Sweet 16 is usually a safe choice, but how far to take this group beyond that is tough to predict, especially since they’ll be matched up with equally volatile Purdue if the seeds hold. Gonzaga always plays a challenging non-conference schedule by necessity, and the results this season were mixed. The team defense is usually sound, but the Zags might not have enough perimeter scoring options to compensate when Graham Ike inevitably has to contend with bigger post players.

Connecticut

A few weeks ago, a complete domination of St. John’s had the Huskies on course for a top seed and well positioned for a shot at a third national title in four years. Since then, there was a loss to Marquette and a payback defeat to the Red Storm in the Big East final, not to mention numerous other uneven outings and more Danny Hurley meltdowns. It’s quite the conundrum when contemplating just how far to trust the Huskies in their extremely loaded regional. When Solo Ball is on UConn can beat anyone, but when he isn’t the rest of his game suffers.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide were going to be on this wildcard list even before the news of Aden Holloway’s legal troubles came out. Regardless, Alabama’s feast-or-famine approach at the 3-point arc can lead all the way to the Final Four as it did a couple years ago. This year’s version lacks rim protection, so the team has to rely on ball pressure to generate takeaways, a high-energy approach that might not be sustainable in the quick turnaround setting of the tournament. And missing one of their best players on the eve of the event may be too tough to manage.

Illinois

At the start of February, the Fighting Illini were riding a 12-game winning streak with a path to a No. 1 seed in sight with veteran guard Kylan Boswell returning from injury. But then Illinois went 4-5 down the stretch, with four of the five losses coming in overtime. All the defeats were against other tournament teams, but their troubling inability to make winning plays in close games has to be on everyone’s mind as the Big Dance tips off.

Virginia

While seeing the Cavaliers on the bracket is not new, this year’s version is constructed quite differently than the Tony Bennett teams of recent vintage. First and foremost, fans will see the team play at a much faster tempo under first-year coach Ryan Odom. But the real mystery with UVa is just how they’ll stack up against teams from other power leagues. The Cavs handled most of their competition in the watered-down ACC, but aside from a win against Texas there wasn’t much of note on their non-conference resume entering the postseason.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness bracket busters: Eight top seeds to avoid picking

The Big Ten is one of the two wealthiest and most powerful entities in college sports, an 18-school, coast-to-coast colossus that features many of the biggest universities and most recognizable brands in American higher education.

For all its money and influence, though, there’s something quite notable that the conference is missing: a men’s college basketball national championship in the past 25 years.

As the 2026 NCAA Tournament begins this week, the Big Ten will look to rectify a lingering and unsavory bit of history by having one of its teams cut down the nets in Indianapolis on April 6 after the national title game, something that hasn’t happened since Michigan State did it all the way back in 2000.

REGION BREAKDOWNS, PREDICTIONS: East | South | Midwest | West

PRINTABLE BRACKET: Fill out your picks for NCAA Tournament pools

Just how long has this drought been?

When the Spartans enjoyed their one shining moment, Bill Clinton was still the U.S. president. Later that April, the rock band Metallica sued digital file sharing application Napster. Jason Richardson, a freshman guard on that Michigan State team, now has a son who’s in his rookie season in the NBA. Richardson’s fellow freshman that season, Mat Ishbia, now has a net worth of $8.5 billion and owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Tom Izzo, who now looks like this, looked like this.

To quote a popular song from around the time of the Spartans’ triumph, it’s been a while.

What’s made the drought so confounding is Big Ten teams haven gotten close to winning a championship. It’s not as if this is the Patriot League or the WAC, where it has a single representative in the tournament that’s fortunate to win a game. Big Ten teams regularly reach the biggest and brightest stages in college basketball; they just haven’t been able to close the deal.

Since Michigan State’s title in 2000, 15 teams from the conference have made it to the Final Four. Eight of those squads advanced to the national championship game, but in each instance, they lost. A couple of them came agonizingly close, with Illinois losing to North Carolina, 75-70, in 2005 and Wisconsin coming up short against Duke, 68-63, in 2015.

It’s not like its teams haven’t been in advantageous spots entering the tournament in recent years, either. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, 35 of the 40 national champions (87.5%) have been a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed. Since 2018, Big Ten teams have accounted for 17 of those 84 spots on the bracket (20.2%).

TITLE DROUGHT: Big Ten poised for another year of March Madness sadness

Even if current Big Ten compatriot Maryland, which won the national championship in 2002 while a member of the ACC, was included as one of the Big Ten’s championships, the conference has still gone nearly a quarter-century without a title.

During that same stretch, other power conferences have repeatedly had its teams hoist a trophy at the end of the Final Four.

Since 2000, the Big East and ACC have each had eight teams win championships. During that same stretch, the SEC has had four champions and the Big 12 three. Even the American, which has disintegrated in recent years into a one- or two-bid league, had a title-winner on its resume, thanks to UConn in 2014.

Why has the Big Ten gone so long without winning March Madness?

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the Big Ten’s tournament woes.

For one, it’s a single-elimination format that can create some extreme variance and unexpected results. Without absolving some of its missteps, it’s quite possible the Big Ten’s just had some rotten luck.

Beyond that, many of the Big Ten teams that made and ultimately lost the national championship game had the misfortune of running up against some of the best teams in modern college basketball history. The North Carolina team Illinois lost to in 2005 was 33-4 and had four of the top 14 picks in that year’s NBA draft. Two years later, a Greg Oden and Mike Conley-led Ohio State team lost to a Florida team that brought back the entire starting five from its national championship team the year before. In 2009, Michigan State was blown out by a North Carolina team that was 34-4. Wisconsin came up short against a 2015 Duke team that won 35 games and had two top-10 NBA draft picks. Michigan was handled by a 2018 Villanova squad that won 36 games and had Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo on its roster. Two years ago, Zach Edey and Purdue weren’t able to hang with a buzzsaw of a UConn team that had won 27 of its previous 28 games, including five NCAA Tournament games that were decided by an average of 25 points.

The wait for a champion has been even longer on the women’s side, where Purdue in 1999 is the league’s last national title winner. At least some of that can be explained away by a small handful of teams that own a disproportionate number of championships during that drought – namely UConn, with its 11 titles since 2000.

Can the Big Ten win a national championship this year?

The Big Ten enters the 2026 NCAA Tournament about as well-positioned as any conference in men’s college basketball to take home the sport’s ultimate prize.

Four of the top 10 and five of the top 13 teams on the NCAA selection committee’s seed list for the tournament are from the Big Ten. Of the 20 teams that have a top-four seed in the tournament, five are from the Big Ten, the most of any conference.

Its best bet for a champion this year appears to be Michigan, which went 31-3 in the regular season and has one of the country’s best players in All-America forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

Big Ten March Madness championship losses

Here’s a look at Big Ten teams that have lost in the national championship game in the years since Michigan State’s NCAA title in 2000:

• 2002: Maryland 64, Indiana 52
• 2005: North Carolina 75, Illinois 70
• 2007: Florida 84, Ohio State 75
• 2009: North Carolina 89, Michigan State 72
• 2013: Louisville 82, Michigan 76
• 2015: Duke 68, Wisconsin 63
• 2018: Villanova 79, Michigan 62
• 2024: Connecticut 75, Purdue 60

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big Ten March Madness title drought could end in 2026 NCAA Tournament

Fran Franschilla’s job calling Big 12 games gives him a front-row seat to the best action in college basketball, but that’s where he stops you. Don’t label broadcasting Big 12 hoops work.

“They pay me to travel, not to work,” Fraschilla, ESPN's veteran color commentator and a former coach, says affably. “I’ve been blessed, because I’ve watched the league grow up over 20 years.”

Along the way, Fraschilla became ESPN’s voice of the Big 12 and an unofficial conference advocate. It’s easy to advocate for the Big 12 in a season when the conference supplied peak entertainment and premier performance.

The SEC led all conferences with 10 NCAA Tournament bids, a show of its depth, but ball-knowers recognize the best batch of hoops lived inside the Big 12.

Now, to back that up on the final exam that is the NCAA Tournament.

Bold predictions: Best March Madness upset picks, Final Four sleeper

Toppmeyer: If Jon Scheyer feels any Duke pressure, at least Coach K can relate

The Big 12 earned eight bids. Fraschilla counts three with Final Four potential: No. 1 seed Arizona and No. 2 seeds Houston and Iowa State.

That list would be bigger, he says, if not for injuries to Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Brigham Young’s Richie Saunders, a pair of big-time ballers who went down in February.

As for national championship potential? Start with Arizona.

“I give Arizona as good of chance as anybody in the field to cut down the nets in Indianapolis,” Fraschilla, who coached Manhattan to a mammoth NCAA Tournament upset of Oklahoma in 1995, told me.

Why Arizona is a top March Madness championship contender

Two of Arizona’s key bench players started on last year’s team that reached the Sweet 16. That speaks to the quality of a starting lineup in which every player averages in double digits scoring.

“They are as complete a team as there is in college basketball," Fraschilla said. "First of all, they are an old-school, bludgeon-you-inside team with three terrific post players. They have as good of a leader at point guard, (Jaden Bradley), as any team in the country.”

Oh, we’ve yet to mention dynamite freshman guard Brayden Burries, the team’s leading scorer.

Try to go devil’s advocate and point out Arizona’s history of March Madness shortcomings the past 25 years, and Fraschilla uncorks the ultimate comeback.

“I can say the same thing about an entire league: the Big Ten,” he says.

Fair point.

Anyway, why should these Wildcats fret about what happened to the 2023 team, which lost to 15th-seeded Princeton in the first round? Or, the 2018 team that got blasted by 13th-seeded Buffalo in the first round? The past three times Arizona earned a No. 1 seed in the past quarter-century, it got bounced before the Final Four. That’s for you to consider as you fill out your bracket, but whispers of the past are not for these Wildcats to fuss over.

“They play like they’re in a cocoon,” Fraschilla said, “so I’m not sure how much of the noise they hear.”

If you need more than one man’s opinion, there’s also Ken Pomeroy's rankings. Basketball nerds cite KenPom as if it’s college basketball’s holy literature. His metrics rank Arizona, Houston and Iowa State among the six best teams, making the Big 12 the only conference with more than one team tucked inside the top six.

The Big 12's “Big Monday” games, with Jon Sciambi and Fraschilla on the call, showcased premier teams in elite environments with future NBA stars.

“Big Monday has become must-watch TV,” Fraschilla said.

Truth.

The Big 12’s TV audience on “Big Monday” doubled this season, according to commissioner Brett Yormark, to average 1.7 million viewers.

Consider it evidence of how the Big 12 survived conference realignment.

Big 12 basketball emerged strong on this side of realignment

Realignment is bloodsport, and the Big 12 hit an inflection point in 2021 after Oklahoma and Texas set out for the SEC’s richer pastures. The impending exodus of the Big 12’s two richest brands cast the future of the conference into peril.

Would it be raided for parts? Merge with the Pac-12?

Neither.

Option 3: Fortify.

The conference steadied by adding BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston under outbound commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Then, Bowlsby’s successor Yormark secured a media rights extension with ESPN and Fox before looting the Pac-12 for Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

While the Pac-12 collapsed into a shell of its former self, the Big 12 went from endangered species to basketball behemoth.

“The league came out much stronger on the basketball side than anybody would have realized,” Fraschilla said.

Yormark describes his conference as “the second-best basketball league in America behind the NBA,” and he promised to cash in when the conference hits the media rights marketplace again in 2030.

In the meantime, the Big 12 is on national championship watch, with Arizona forming the tip of the spear.

“They have a countenance about them,” Fraschilla said of coach Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats, “that is built for the tournament.”

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness will test if Arizona, Big 12 are 'built for' NCAA bracket

SAN DIEGO – Two of the greatest men’s basketball coaches of all time had to solve a basic geography test this week.

Where is San Diego, California?

“It’s not Alaska,” quipped St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, who is from New York.

Where is Portland, Oregon?

“Are we in the United States?” Arkansas coach John Calipari asked on ESPN. “I thought they put us in another country.”

March Madness bold predictions: Best upset picks, Final Four sleeper

Pitino’s team from New York plays Northern Iowa in a first-round NCAA Tournament game more than 2,400 miles away in San Diego on Friday, March 20. Calipari’s team plays Hawaii in a first-round game more than 1,600 miles away in Portland on Thursday.

But this is what happens when the NCAA still tries to keep a geographical balance for postseason game sites even though the sport itself has become even more entrenched in the Eastern and Central time zones. Only 10 of the 68 tournament teams (14.7%) come from west of the Kansas border this year, tied for the second-fewest number of western teams in the 21st century, according to data provided to USA TODAY Sports by Stats Perform.

There are several reasons for this, one of which is baked into the cake: Only 63 of 361 teams (17.5%) in Division I are located west of the Central time zone, according to Stats Perform.

At the same time, other money-driven developments raise even bigger questions about the future of the game out west after the implosion of the old Pac-12 Conference in 2024 — a seismic shift that left zero power conferences headquartered west of metro Dallas.

Blame it on realignment, too

Only two teams from the former Pac-12 (UCLA and Arizona) earned NCAA Tournament bids this year, which is tied for the lowest in the modern era for legacy Pac-12 teams, all located in the Pacific and Mountain time zones.

Just 10 years ago, this former “conference of champions” earned seven bids to the tournament. Just two years ago, a record 16 teams west of Kansas earned NCAA bids, including four from the Pac-12.

But then UCLA and USC left the Pac-12 to earn more money in the Big Ten, based in Chicago.

Oregon and Washington followed them there, while Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State left for the Big 12, based in Texas.

The result is more crowded competition in the Big Ten (now with 18 teams) and Big 12 (now with 16 teams). UCLA earned one of nine NCAA bids for the Big Ten but now plays a first-round game in Philadelphia this week after playing in the Big Ten tournament last weekend in Chicago.

“We’re not concerned with travel,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said this week. “We’re experienced at it.”

New York and Philadelphia teams to invade San Diego

The NCAA still tries to make this easier. It says so right in its guidelines for geographic placement of teams in the tournament.

“Teams should remain as close to their home region as possible, based on mileage,” the guidelines state.

In theory, this would ease the travel burden on teams and help maximize attendance at games.

But tournament game sites are set years in advance. And there’s only so much the selection committee can do if only four teams earned bids from California. As a result, three of the eight teams playing first-round games in San Diego this week are from New York or Philadelphia but only one is from California (No. 13-seed Cal Baptist from Riverside).

This isn't ideal from a business standpoint if the goal is to sell tickets and cultivate the next generation of fans in California, a state that not only has the most people but also a rich hoops history, at least until recently. In men's and women's basketball, the state has the most combined NCAA Tournament winners, Final Four Most Outstanding Players and NCAA Tournament-winning coaches since 1939 with 37, according to a recent study by BetMGM.

John Calipari says 'We only have to fly six hours'

Of the four regions in the bracket this year, one is still called the “West Region,” whose championship will be decided this month in San Jose, California. The problem is there might not be many local fans to watch it there. Only five of the 16 first-round slots in the West Region are from teams west of Kansas. Only two of those five are among the five highest seeds in the region — No. 1 Arizona and No. 3 Gonzaga.

“We’ll have maybe a few hundred people,” Pitino said of the trip to San Diego. “That’s about it… It’s not ideal traveling to the West Coast, but you deal with it and you just make the best of it.”

Calipari’s team was scheduled to depart for Portland early on Tuesday, March 17.

“We only have to fly six hours to get there,” Calipari said on Sirius XM. “So you know, it’s not all that bad.”

His comments dripped with sarcasm, but if he wins his next two games in Oregon, his team will be rewarded. Arkansas would play the following week in San Jose, which is further south on the West Coast and at least a little bit closer to home.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why NCAA Tournament teams have to travel so far for March Madness

The Knicks announced encouraging news Tuesday about the recovery of Miles McBride, who is taking contact on the court and “progressing well,” the team said.

McBride has been out since late January and underwent sports hernia surgery, saying last month he hopes to return before the playoffs.

The sixth man has missed 24 straight games, including Tuesday’s 136-110 win over the Pacers.

“Anytime we can get healthy, yeah [I’m encouraged],” coach Mike Brown said before tipoff. “I try not to hear [the updates] though, because does that mean he’ll be back in two weeks, three weeks, a week, 10 days? I don’t know.

“Deuce was playing well for us when this happened. It’s part of the season, so keep fingers crossed, allow our medical crew who has done a fantastic job, and when he comes back we’ll all be excited.”

Before his injury — which was uncovered as the guard underwent tests on a sore ankle — McBride was the top bench scorer, averaging 12.9 points while shooting a career-best 42 percent from beyond the arc.

Armed with the knowledge McBride would miss an extended period, the Knicks successfully pushed to acquire point guard Jose Alvarado in a trade.

Alvarado, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson have taken up the most minutes at backup guard.

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Brown believes Jalen Brunson will play in the next game Friday at Brooklyn.

Brunson missed Tuesday’s win with a neck strain. It was his first DNP since mid-January, a stretch of 27 consecutive appearances. The Knicks are now 2-4 this season without him.

“I imagine [he’ll play in Brooklyn]. … There’s two days off before the next game,” Brown said. “There’s plenty of time to get himself right.”

Brunson needs just one more game to qualify for postseason awards. He’s projected to earn another All-NBA selection, his third straight.

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Clarkson, who played 20 minutes Tuesday with 10 points, supplanted Mohamed Diawara (six minutes, zero points) in the rotation.

“Jordan went stretches without playing this season and kept himself ready. Offensively, he’s been good for us. So I decided to throw him out there before Mo,” Brown said. “We’ll see what happens going forward. … [Diawara] just has to keep himself ready like Jordan did.”

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A slumping Mikal Bridges was left on the court in garbage time so he might regain confidence.

“He hit a couple shots down the stretch and to try to get anybody that hasn’t shot well from the 3-point line, to try to get him more looks, especially in a game like this, was a good thing,” Brown said. “To try to get him an extra look or two down the stretch is something we wanted to do.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enjoyed another 40-point night as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Orlando Magic 113-108 to become the first NBA team to secure a play-off berth.

The 27-year-old Canadian went 14 from 27 from the field as he extended his record of most 20-point games in a row to 129.

Chet Holmgren added 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Western Conference leaders claimed a ninth straight win to improve to 54-15 for the season.

"We got off to a good start but then the car kind of came off the road for a little bit," reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander said.

"But that's what great teams do - they figure out a way to get the car back on the road, they figure out a way to go into a building and win a game when the chips are stacked against you, and we did that tonight."

San Antonio Spurs remain second in the West after a comfortable 132-104 win over the Sacramento Kings, while the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Phoenix Suns 116-104.

In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons handed the Washington Wizards a 13th straight loss to strengthen their position at the top.

But the 130-117 triumph was marred by an injury to star point guard Cade Cunningham, who had to leave the game in the first quarter with a back issue.

The New York Knicks stay third in the East after a thumping 136-110 win over the Indiana Pacers, a 14th consecutive loss leaving last year's NBA Finals runners-up 15-54 this term.

• Gilgeous-Alexander breaks 63-year NBA points record

Following a rollercoaster win in LA on Monday, the Spurs extended their win streak against the lowly Kings on the second night of a back-to-back. 

The start of this game was the opposite of what happened in LA. San Antonio caught fire from deep and made six triples in the first quarter alone, jumping out to a double-digit lead just minutes into the contest. Luke Kornet’s return allowed the good guys to have 48 minutes of reliable rim protection, letting Wemby sit without bleeding points. Sacramento shot an abysmal 7-17 from two in the opening frame, as the Spurs closed out the first up 39-22. 

The dominance continued in the second. Wemby took over by scoring three consecutive buckets, including back-to-back dunks. San Antonio also set a new season high for threes in a half with 14, and the ball movement was pristine: the Spurs racked up 27 assists on 30 made field goals. At the other end, the Kings looked out of sorts, unable to generate any offense while losing assignments on defense. As a result, the Spurs went into halftime leading 78-47. 

The entire second half was essentially garbage time. The closest Sacramento got was 25, and San Antonio began chucking up threes, ending with a franchise record 25 in a single game. All the starters were subbed out by the end of the third, and you know a game is out of hand when Big Biz sees minutes. The Spurs ran away with a 132-104 shellacking, and the quest for 60 is officially on.

Game Notes

• Wemby didn’t look any worse for wear after tweaking his ankle Monday against the Clippers. He played 22:00 and put up 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. It’s always nice to give him some extra rest, especially since the Spurs will play their third game in four nights when they face Phoenix at home on Thursday.
• Dylan Harper returned from a brief two-game absence and picked up right where he left off. The rookie finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists on nice 6-9 shooting and 3-5 from deep.
• The quest for 8 (10-point scorers) lives on! Barnes (16 points) and Champagnie (17 points) combined to shoot 9-12 from deep, giving them some more cushion to maintain their 10+ point averages. Our very own Marilyn Dubinski floated a conspiracy theory about the Spurs holding out Barnes on purpose so that he stays at 10 points, but with the way he’s shooting now, he might be the next to drop 83!
• Fox was actually cheered during the pre-game intros, which is an extremely rare sight for a player who asked for a trade. I guess Sacramento fans realize how poorly their team is run and knows that none of the blame can be put on the players. When you’re having a bad day, just remember that you cheer for the Spurs and not the Kangz. 

Play of the game

Another day, another Wemby highlight.

.@wemby getting us started ‼️

📺 @FanDuelSN_SWpic.twitter.com/SjCTm4hVq3

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 18, 2026

Next game: vs Phoenix on Thursday

The Spurs will return home for a date against Phoenix Thursday night, as they try and extend the win streak to four.

Utah Jazz (20-48, 14th in the Western Conference) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (42-27, sixth in the Western Conference)

Minneapolis; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Timberwolves -11.5; over/under is 233.5

BOTTOM LINE: Utah is looking to end its three-game losing streak with a victory against Minnesota.

The Timberwolves are 8-6 against division opponents. Minnesota is fifth in the Western Conference with 33.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Rudy Gobert averaging 7.5.

The Jazz are 1-11 against Northwest Division opponents. Utah ranks seventh in the Western Conference with 31.9 defensive rebounds per game led by Jusuf Nurkic averaging 7.8.

The Timberwolves average 13.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.6 fewer makes per game than the Jazz give up (15.4). The Jazz average 12.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.4 more makes per game than the Timberwolves give up.

The teams meet for the fourth time this season. The Jazz won 127-122 in the last matchup on Jan. 21.

TOP PERFORMERS: Naz Reid is scoring 13.7 points per game and averaging 6.2 rebounds for the Timberwolves. Julius Randle is averaging 17.1 points and 7.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Keyonte George is averaging 23.6 points and 6.1 assists for the Jazz. Brice Sensabaugh is averaging 2.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Timberwolves: 6-4, averaging 111.5 points, 42.3 rebounds, 24.1 assists, 7.5 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.2 points per game.

Jazz: 2-8, averaging 113.2 points, 41.4 rebounds, 26.1 assists, 10.4 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.3 points.

INJURIES: Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards: out (knee).

Jazz: Lauri Markkanen: out (ankle), Ace Bailey: day to day (concussion), Kyle Filipowski: day to day (rest), Keyonte George: day to day (leg), Isaiah Collier: day to day (knee), Walker Kessler: out for season (shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic: out for season (nose), Jaren Jackson Jr.: out for season (knee), John Konchar: day to day (calf).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Phoenix Suns (39-30, seventh in the Western Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (51-18, second in the Western Conference)

San Antonio; Thursday, 8 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Phoenix visits San Antonio looking to end its three-game road slide.

The Spurs are 30-14 in Western Conference games. San Antonio is 7-4 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

The Suns are 25-19 in Western Conference play. Phoenix is third in the Western Conference allowing only 111.4 points while holding opponents to 47.0% shooting.

The Spurs are shooting 48.0% from the field this season, 1.0 percentage point higher than the 47.0% the Suns allow to opponents. The Suns average 112.4 points per game, 0.7 more than the 111.7 the Spurs allow.

The teams square off for the fourth time this season. The Spurs won the last matchup 121-94 on Feb. 20, with Stephon Castle scoring 20 points in the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: Castle is scoring 16.4 points per game and averaging 5.0 rebounds for the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama is averaging 23.9 points and 9.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Royce O'Neale is scoring 9.9 points per game and averaging 4.8 rebounds for the Suns. Devin Booker is averaging 28.1 points and 4.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Spurs: 8-2, averaging 122.4 points, 47.6 rebounds, 30.8 assists, 6.0 steals and 6.3 blocks per game while shooting 49.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.6 points per game.

Suns: 6-4, averaging 114.2 points, 41.1 rebounds, 25.3 assists, 8.4 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.3 points.

INJURIES: Spurs: Devin Vassell: day to day (ankle), David Jones Garcia: out for season (ankle).

Suns: Grayson Allen: day to day (knee), Dillon Brooks: out (hand), Mark Williams: out (foot).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Portland Trail Blazers (33-36, 10th in the Western Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (15-54, 15th in the Eastern Conference)

Indianapolis; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Trail Blazers -10.5; over/under is 234.5

BOTTOM LINE: Indiana plays Portland looking to end its eight-game home skid.

The Pacers are 10-24 in home games. Indiana has a 7-35 record against teams over .500.

The Trail Blazers are 15-20 on the road. Portland has a 6-5 record in one-possession games.

The Pacers average 111.2 points per game, 6.0 fewer points than the 117.2 the Trail Blazers allow. The Pacers average 115.1 points per game, 5.0 fewer points than the 120.1 the Pacers allow to opponents.

The teams square off for the second time this season. The Trail Blazers won the last meeting 131-111 on March 9, with Scoot Henderson scoring 28 points in the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ivica Zubac is averaging 14 points and 10.7 rebounds for the Pacers. Jarace Walker is averaging 14.6 points over the last 10 games.

Deni Avdija is scoring 24.0 points per game and averaging 6.9 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Jerami Grant is averaging 2.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 0-10, averaging 109.2 points, 39.0 rebounds, 28.2 assists, 6.5 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 125.5 points per game.

Trail Blazers: 5-5, averaging 110.9 points, 45.5 rebounds, 26.3 assists, 9.0 steals and 7.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.8 points.

INJURIES: Pacers: Pascal Siakam: day to day (knee), Micah Potter: day to day (triceps), Johnny Furphy: out for season (knee), Andrew Nembhard: day to day (calf), Tyrese Haliburton: out for season (achilles).

Trail Blazers: Robert Williams III: day to day (injury management), Shaedon Sharpe: out (calf), Vit Krejci: day to day (calf), Damian Lillard: out for season (achilles).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Detroit Pistons (49-19, first in the Eastern Conference) vs. Washington Wizards (16-52, 14th in the Eastern Conference)

Washington; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Washington takes on Detroit looking to end its six-game home losing streak.

The Wizards are 11-32 against Eastern Conference opponents. Washington allows 123.8 points to opponents and has been outscored by 11.0 points per game.

The Pistons are 33-11 in conference games. Detroit ranks seventh in the Eastern Conference with 27.0 assists per game led by Cade Cunningham averaging 9.9.

The Wizards' 13.0 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.3 more made shots on average than the 12.7 per game the Pistons give up. The Pistons average 11.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.7 fewer made shots on average than the 13.7 per game the Wizards give up.

The teams meet for the fourth time this season. In the last matchup on March 17 the Pistons won 130-117 led by 36 points from Jalen Duren, while Bub Carrington scored 30 points for the Wizards.

TOP PERFORMERS: Carrington is averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists for the Wizards. Tre Johnson is averaging 1.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Duren is averaging 19 points and 10.6 rebounds for the Pistons. Cunningham is averaging 17.6 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 46.8% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wizards: 0-10, averaging 117.6 points, 38.1 rebounds, 23.8 assists, 6.8 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 129.5 points per game.

Pistons: 5-5, averaging 116.9 points, 44.1 rebounds, 28.3 assists, 9.4 steals and 6.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.9 points.

INJURIES: Wizards: Anthony Davis: out (finger), Cam Whitmore: out for season (shoulder), Alex Sarr: day to day (hamstring), Leaky Black: day to day (ankle), Kyshawn George: out (elbow), D'Angelo Russell: day to day (not injury related), Trae Young: day to day (quad), Bilal Coulibaly: day to day (heel).

Pistons: Cade Cunningham: day to day (back), Isaiah Stewart: out (calf).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Orlando Magic (38-30, sixth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Charlotte Hornets (35-34, 10th in the Eastern Conference)

Charlotte, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte faces Orlando in a matchup of Eastern Conference teams.

The Hornets are 21-22 in conference games. Charlotte is third in the Eastern Conference with 12.7 offensive rebounds per game led by Moussa Diabate averaging 3.8.

The Magic are 9-6 against opponents from the Southeast Division. Orlando has a 15-16 record in games decided by 10 points or more.

The Hornets are shooting 45.8% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points lower than the 47.3% the Magic allow to opponents. The Magic average 11.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.0 fewer made shot on average than the 12.8 per game the Hornets give up.

The teams meet for the fourth time this season. The Hornets won 124-97 in the last matchup on Jan. 23.

TOP PERFORMERS: LaMelo Ball is averaging 19.5 points and 7.2 assists for the Hornets. Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.4 points over the past 10 games.

Desmond Bane is averaging 20.5 points and 4.2 assists for the Magic. Paolo Banchero is averaging 25.5 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hornets: 7-3, averaging 115.4 points, 46.2 rebounds, 26.5 assists, 8.6 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 105.1 points per game.

Magic: 7-3, averaging 118.7 points, 45.7 rebounds, 26.9 assists, 8.1 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.9 points.

INJURIES: Hornets: Tidjane Salaun: day to day (calf).

Magic: Franz Wagner: out (ankle), Anthony Black: out (back), Jonathan Isaac: out (knee).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Philadelphia 76ers (37-32, ninth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Sacramento Kings (18-52, 15th in the Western Conference)

Sacramento, California; Thursday, 10 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Philadelphia will try to end its five-game road skid when the 76ers take on Sacramento.

The Kings have gone 12-24 in home games. Sacramento ranks last in the NBA shooting 33.7% from 3-point range.

The 76ers have gone 17-16 away from home. Philadelphia is 14-25 against opponents over .500.

The Kings average 10.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.3 fewer makes per game than the 76ers allow (13.4). The 76ers' 45.9% shooting percentage from the field this season is 3.4 percentage points lower than the Kings have allowed to their opponents (49.3%).

The teams meet for the second time this season. The 76ers won 113-111 in the last meeting on Jan. 30. Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 40 points, and DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 25 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: DeRozan is scoring 18.6 points per game with 3.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists for the Kings. Maxime Raynaud is averaging 18.1 points and 8.8 rebounds while shooting 61.4% over the past 10 games.

Quentin Grimes is averaging 13.5 points and 3.4 assists for the 76ers. VJ Edgecombe is averaging 10.3 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 36.3% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Kings: 5-5, averaging 114.7 points, 46.1 rebounds, 28.1 assists, 7.4 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 118.4 points per game.

76ers: 4-6, averaging 106.9 points, 41.3 rebounds, 22.8 assists, 9.5 steals and 6.1 blocks per game while shooting 44.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.1 points.

INJURIES: Kings: Malik Monk: day to day (ankle), Domantas Sabonis: out for season (back), Devin Carter: day to day (calf), De'Andre Hunter: out for season (eye), Zach LaVine: out for season (finger), Drew Eubanks: out for season (thumb), Keegan Murray: out (ankle).

76ers: Tyrese Maxey: out (finger), Johni Broome: out (knee), Jabari Walker: day to day (illness), Joel Embiid: day to day (oblique), Kelly Oubre Jr.: out (elbow).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

By his own admission, Josh Hart has been ‘kind of in my head with a lot of stuff’ since the All-Star break. 

He’d missed 28 of his 38 three-point attempts since the break. And he was part of a Knicks starting lineup that was struggling early in games. 

As is usually the case, there were calls in some corners of social media to pull Hart from the starting lineup. 

But he showed those fans – and anyone else watching – why he should stay put on Tuesday night. 

Hart scored a Knicks career high 33 points in a win over Indiana. He went 12-for-13 from the floor and hit all five of his three-point attempts. 

“I just like that he took the right shots and he didn’t hesitate,” Mike Brown said after the game. 

Brown said earlier in the week that he wouldn’t hesitate to change his starting lineup if the group continued to struggle. But it doesn’t sound like he would consider taking Hart out of the lineup. 

“I think the main thing…is him connecting the group. I’m not saying he is Andre Iguodala or his game is like Andre Iguodala’s, but there are a lot of similarities where you watch him…he’s really good in a lot of different areas,” Brown said Tuesday. “But more importantly, he connects the group and having a guy like that, especially to start games, is huge…. He’s been fantastic giving us that energy, giving us the connectivity we needed with that starting group and then doing the little things. Offensive glass, pushing the pace, getting off in transition. He’s a switchable guy, he’s a physical guy and (he does) a lot of things that don’t necessarily show up in the stat sheet that … help with connectivity as well.”

Hart did plenty that showed up in the stat sheet on Tuesday. In addition to hitting all of his three-point attempts, he had seven rebounds and five assists. But anyone who watches this team knows that they are at a different level when Hart is hitting his shots. 

After the Knicks’ win over Indiana, Hart was asked if he could gain confidence from his strong shooting. 

“I think since All-Star I was struggling in terms of shooting,” he said. “I think I’m kind of in my head with a lot of stuff. So I just got to trust my work and go out there and shoot my shots.”

MIKAL CONNECTS LATE

Speaking of hitting shots, Mikal Bridges knocked down two threes in the fourth quarter after missing his first four attempts against Indiana. He hit those two threes with under seven minutes to play and the Knicks up by 22. Normally, a coach would rest his veteran starter in this circumstance. But Brown wanted Bridges to knock some shots down. The veteran wing had made just 29 percent of his threes in the past 15 games.

“To try to get anybody that hadn’t shot it well from the three-point line to get another look, especially in a game like this, was a good thing,” Brown said Tuesday. “You talk about Mikal’s streak and his durability – when he turned his ankle (in the first quarter), I was like, ‘Whoa.’ So for him to be able to somehow someway fight through that was good to see. So to try to get him an extra look or two down the stretch was something that we wanted to do.”

Brown said he played Jordan Clarkson over Mohamed Diawara because Clarkson had been scoring the ball at a high clip over the past four games.

“We’ll continue to see what happens going forward,” Brown said. “We’ve all had the pleasure of being able to see Mo at a young age contribute a lot. He just has to keep himself ready like Jordan did. Go out there when your number’s called, don’t do too much but do what you can do and perform at the highest level in terms of your work ethic, focus and attention to detail and just go from there.”

CARLISLE SUPPORTS KERR CAUSE

Steve Kerr has said several times this season that he thinks the NBA should shorten its schedule. Rick Carlisle was asked about it on Tuesday.

“It’d be great if it was possible to do that. There would be a lot involved with it. An obvious big revenue shift,” Carlisle said. “You’re talking about 10-12 percent of the games being eliminated... the question is, would everyone be willing to do that if it was deemed that it would really help the game. It's a lively conversation. I’ve heard Adam talk about the possibility of shortening the season slightly, going back a few years. The game has changed. One of the compelling aspects of it to me is that when the effort was made to eliminate back-to-backs, in order to have the space to do that, you needed to shorten training camp. So training camp essentially became three weeks instead of four. That extra week to build a base in terms of strength, many layers of protection that you can get for the body, I’ve always wondered if the effort to have less back-to-backs was really worth it. Essentially, you’re playing every other day. But these are all questions. There are a lot of great things about today’s game (and) schedule. The longer All-Star break has been a real positive…. To get to the heart of the matter, you’re going to have to talk about the finances of it. I certainly am in agreement that it’s conversation worth having…. (The exact solution) is hard to say… but the nature of the game has changed significantly. Steve is right on point with that. The speed and everything is quite different than it was 5-6 years ago, 3-4 years ago.”