Category: Sports News

The Warriors failed to replicate the effort from the opening two games of their road trip and will return home with a sour taste in their mouths after a bad loss to the Jazz.

Golden State stunned the Rockets to open its road trip and took the Thunder to the wire on Saturday but fell 119-116 on Monday to a tanking Utah team missing its top players.

Already playing without Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic, the Jazz subbed out their remaining leading scorer, Keyonte George, for good at the end of the third quarter. They sent their high scorer for the game, Brice Sensabaugh (21 points), to the bench for the final 4:48.

Draymond Green missed a free throw that would have put the Warriors up 114-113 with 86 seconds remaining. Eight Warriors scored in double figures, led by De’Anthony Melton with 22 points, but they made just 14 of their 21 attempts from the free-throw line.

Brandin Podziemski also missed a pair of late free throws and finished 0-for-4 at the line. The Warriors’ struggles at the foul line arguably cost them a second consecutive game after they shot just 11-for-18 (61.1%) against the Thunder.

The Jazz got to the foul line 29 times and sank 27 of them. Kyle Filipowski sank all six of his attempts on his way to a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

What it means

The Warriors couldn’t have expected to return home any better than 1-2 when they hit the road without Steph Curry and a handful of their rotation regulars.

It’s not the path anyone expected, but it’s the same result nevertheless.

Still, the Warriors will be kicking themselves for letting this one slip away.

Turning point

Kevin Love pump-faked Malevy Leons into the air and somehow sank a circus-style 3-pointer through contact, then completed the four-point play to open up the first double-digit lead of the game late in the third quarter. The play was part of a 12-1 run that put the Jazz up 89-78.

Believe it or not, Leons got baited into the air by Love again — on the next trip down the floor.

The Warriors had tied it at 77 before the 12-1 run with an incredible display of tenacity from Nate Williams, one of three active two-way players. He collected the Warriors’ fourth offensive rebound of the possession — his second — before finally converting a reverse layup.

The activity on the offensive glass could have been a signal the Warriors were outworking the Jazz. But the three missed shots on one possession turned out to be a stronger harbinger.

MVP: Seth Curry

Kerr pulled a line change and inserted Curry for his first playing time in 40 games along with an entirely new five-man lineup a little more than nine minutes into the first quarter.

Curry, the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage last season, set up in the corner, received a pass from Podziemski and promptly drained a triple on his first possession.

Curry showcased the rest of his offensive profile to finish with 13 points in 12 minutes on 4-of-6 shooting, fitting in as seamlessly as he did when he made his debut Dec. 2. He suited up again two nights later and then missed the next four months, largely due to sciatica.

Stat of the game: 36 missed 3-pointers

The Jazz already ranked as the NBA’s worst defensive team inside the perimeter and the second-most foul prone. They were missing their three best players 6-foot-11 or taller.

The Warriors still attempted 52 3-pointers and only converted 16 of them (30.2%).

Up next

The Warriors will have a quick turnaround after a late-night arrival back in San Francisco, playing host to the Bulls on Tuesday night at Chase Center. Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis are both expected to return after they flew home early rather than join the team in Utah.

The back-to-back set is the first of three over the next 13 days for Golden State.

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to an easy 115-101 win over a shorthandedPhiladelphia 76ers team.

“The beauty of it is we got another one tomorrow,” is how James Harden ended his media scrum after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Boston Celtics. The Cavs didn’t make up for that performance, but this was a good response.

Like Sunday, the Cavs started the game unable to buy a three-point shot. They made just one of their first 10 attempts, but this time, they didn’t bury themselves in the process. They found ways to still get to the basket and the free-throw line. Instead of a 10-point quarter, they mustered 26.

And when they actually started hitting their outside shots in the second quarter, they broke the game wide open.

The Cavs don’t have many tough opponents left on their schedule; they do, however, need to figure out who’s in their rotation for the playoffs. That’s what a game like this was for.

“I told the guys in there, this is going to be a fight to be in the playoff rotation,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said postgame. “We got so many good players. We’re deep. Who’s going to be a star in his role?”

Role players not coming through against Boston is one of the things that did them in. Keon Ellis was one of the players who struggled. He didn’t score in 24 minutes and finished the game with a plus/minus of -15.

Ellis responded well on Monday, scoring 19 points on 5-9 shoooting which included going 4-7 from three. He showed that he can make an impact offensively, which is what he’ll need to continue doing if he’s going to get substantial playoff minutes.

The three-point shot is going to be the swing skill for Ellis. If he’s making that, they can always find room for him on the court. But there are other ways he can influence the game on that end.

“We’re just discovering his offensive capabilities,” Atkinson said. “I saw a couple of things that I haven’t seen him do yet. Come off a DHO (dribble-hand-off), get in the lane, shoot the flooter. I didn’t even know he had that.”

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Harden scored his 29,000th career point. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, even though less than 0.1% of his points have come in a Cavalier uniform. It speaks to his incredible longevity and how he’s been able to continually reinvent his game in a league that has evolved drastically since he entered it 17 years ago.

“[It’s a ] testament to his resiliency,” Atkinson said. “It’s so hard in this league to do it for so long, so consistently. This version we’re seeing of James…[is a] complete player and playmaker. And what he’s given us so far is everything we need to win.”

A good portion of those 29,017 career points came out of the pick-and-roll. Harden has been able to develop instant pick-and-roll chemistry with nearly every big he’s played with.

Atkinson credits this to Harden being in the 99th percentile in decision-making. He simply always makes the right play.

“He knows where the defense is in (on the pick-and-roll), he knows how to kick it out,” Atkinson said on Sunday. “When they’re out, he throws the lob. He knows the timing. And that’s rare in my experience to be around a player who’s almost perfect in terms of his decision-making.”

Evan Mobley may be the exception to this general rule for Harden. The duo hasn’t been able to replicate the success Harden has had with Jarrett Allen. That comes down to how both Mobley and Harden operate in the pick-and-roll.

Mobley neither sets hard screens nor rolls hard. More often than not, he slips the screen before there’s real contact and then floats in the midrange and tries to find an angle to receive a dump off. That can work in some contexts — and has mostly paired well with an explosive downhill attacker like Donovan Mitchell — but it hasn’t with Harden.

Harden will always make the right play. But there isn’t a right play to come from this, given how deliberate Harden is in these actions. By the time he’s ready to take advantage of the opening, the defense has already recovered, nullifying the screen entirely.

This is why the starting offense has felt so static at times the last two games with Allen sidelined. Harden has still initiated the offense with the pick-and-roll with the big, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. Instead of getting things going to the basket and reacting from there, they end up wasting four or five seconds trying to set it up, and then have to resort to something different.

This issue isn’t that Mobley doesn’t know what he needs to do as the big with Harden, it’s just not his game.

Mobley talked at practice on Saturday about needing to set harder screens and roll harder. It’s not that he hasn’t tried. He just hasn’t been effective in doing so.

This play is a good example of that. Mobley tries to set a solid screen on Harden’s defender, but doesn’t create much separation. He compounds this by not rolling to the basket as hard as he needs to, which led to Mobley getting cut off in the restricted area.

Mobley is never going to be a physically imposing screener like Ivica Zubac. That isn’t changing overnight. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make this duo more effective.

“Evan is not used to rolling all the time,” Atkinson said. “I saw them talking tonight about screening angles. I think James can help him be better on the roll.”

This is an example of how Harden can do so.

Instead of being deliberate in waiting for the screen to materialize — like he did in the first example — Harden is more aggressive about getting around the screen quicker. This helps the contact that Mobley makes to be effective enough to get the defender on Harden’s back hip. And once that happens, there’s a mismatch he can use to generate open looks.

Even though Mobley isn’t the prototypical Harden pick-and-roll partner, there are still ways to make it work.

“I’ve talked to James about that,” Atkinson said. “Just getting those two together and talking to Evan about how he wants the screen angle, when he wants him to slip out, when he wants him to hold. And with Evan, he can mix in the pop (three-point shot) too.”

It can be easy to focus on what Mobley doesn’t do well, and understandably so. The flaws in his game, like this, can be quite clear. But that shouldn’t overshadow what he does well.

Mobley is a gifted scorer who’s continually added elements to his offensive game. He’s a more well-rounded offensive weapon than most bigs Harden has had success with. There’s something there that Harden can work with. They just need time to figure it out.

“I want them to get together and work on it more,” Atkinson said. “I think that could be a really lethal combination.”

CHICAGO (AP) — Frank Nazar scored a power-play goal with 2:24 left in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Monday night.

Andrew Mangiapane scored his first goal as a Blackhawk since being acquired in a trade from Edmonton last week, and Andre Burakovsky lifted the puck on his stick lacrosse style and flicked it into the net to tie the game at 2-2 late in the second period. It was his first goal since Jan. 7, a span of 19 games.

Drew Commesso, making his third start of the season and first since Jan. 10 when he had his first career shutout in a 3-0 win over Nashville, made 22 saves. Connor Bedard had two assists for Chicago, including one on Nazar's winner.

Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah, which is battling for a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and had won the first three games of a five-game road trip. Vitek Vanecek had 23 saves.

Guenther has now scored a team-leading 30 goals this season, the first time in his career he has reached that mark. He has scored in three of four games on the road trip, with six points in those contests (3 goals, 3 assists).

Chicago, which had lost three in a row including a 4-3 setback to Dallas on Sunday night, has now won all three meetings with Utah this season, with the teams' fourth and final game of the season scheduled for Thursday night.

Chicago played without Spencer Knight (illness) and Oliver Moore, who left Sunday’s game in first period.

Up next

Mammoth: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

Blackhawks: Visit the Utah Mammoth on Thursday night.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Draymond Green bodied Kawhi Leonard. He kept up with Kevin Durant. Chased Shae Gilgous-Alexander.

The former Defensive Player of the Year’s past three assignments have been a “badge of honor,” he told reporters Saturday, three days after his 36th birthday.  

On the heels of a month where, statistically and anecdotally, he was one of the Warriors’ most detrimental players, Green’s latest challenge also shows that doesn’t have to be the case. He is not the same player he once was — but he doesn’t have to be.

“The last few games, if you think about it …  (Green) guarded three of the hardest guys on earth,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And has done a phenomenal job.”

Kerr has talked openly about what a trying year it has been for Green, who has had to come to terms with not only the diminished role and performance that accompanies aging, but to do so without the help of Jimmy Butler and, more recently, Steph Curry.

It has increasingly been in the Warriors’ best interest for Green to take a backseat — or a seat on the bench — particularly when he can’t wingman for Curry. Over the course of February, which Curry missed entirely with knee inflammation, Green accumulated a negative-89 plus-minus in 210 minutes, worst among Golden State’s roster by more than 30 points.

Green’s defensive acumen never dimmed. And now it’s being featured in a different way.

“Give Draymond the toughest task and have a big guy behind him,” Kerr said. “It’s a good formula.”

Green has always been a difference-maker defensively, but he would typically act as more of an air-traffic controller, directing the defense from down low. That set-up had its shortcomings, asking the 6-foot-5 Green to play center more often than Kerr was comfortable.

Small-ball five was never Green’s favorite assignment, either. It was born out of necessity. Besides Kevon Looney (6-foot-8), it’s been a while since the Warriors had a big guy they could put behind Green.

That’s no longer the case with Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, at least when either one is healthy enough to play. They give Golden State size it hasn’t had since Andrew Bogut.

They could also help prolong Green’s career, as evidenced by the past three games.

Freeing up Green to take on the opponent’s top scorer accomplishes two things: 1) It reduces the size disadvantage and the physical toll that comes with it, and 2) allows the Warriors to minimize Green’s minutes while maximizing their value.

Look at Green’s substitution pattern the past three games. With little exception, whenever Leonard, Durant or Gilgous-Alexander checked in, so did Green; when they checked out, Green headed to the bench. His responsibility was singular.

Green was still a game-worst minus-18 against the Clippers, but he outmatched Leonard in the first half before the Warriors fell apart in a team effort. He was a plus-12 in their improbable win against Durant and the Rockets, and he was an even zero in a seven-point loss to the Thunder.

“I am a very prideful person. I just can’t go out there and get murdered,” Green said after their close loss in Oklahoma City. “It’s gonna happen when you’re playing against great players like that. At the same time, for me, I just can’t go lay down.”

Without Curry, Green serves little purpose offensively. The ball is in his hands less and he isn’t enough of a 3-point threat — 32.4% this season — to give the Warriors the spacing they need.

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But he remains a lockdown defender. Time and time again, he denied his matchup from getting the ball, though the seal did break eventually (Leonard and Durant for 23 points, SGA 27).

A common critique of Green throughout his career has been that, without Curry, he plays less inspired (or not at all). Pitting him against primetime assignments alleviates any concern of that.

“I think our coaching staff has figured out I have a lot more energy when I got that kind of assignment,” Green said. “I’m 36 years old. Three games straight. That’s a badge of honor. So I get excited as hell because it’s a challenge.”

And a new one. Whereas playing an undersized center required Green to set the defense, serve as the last line of help defense and out-rebound a bigger man, shadowing three of the top scorers in the NBA — with three entirely unique playing styles — is a different challenge.

“The moment you relax you lose,” he said. “Because if you’re a step behind, now they have the advantage. And you don’t make up advantages.

“If you try to make up a disadvantage that Shae’s created for you, you’re gonna foul. If you try to make up the disadvantage that KD creates, you just can’t – you dead. He’s gonna raise up and there’s nothing you can do about it. Same with Kawhi.”

Those guys will get theirs at the end of the day — it’s gonna happen — just as Gilgous-Alexander did with 44 seconds left to seal the game Saturday. He crossed over and stepped back in front of Green before draining the decisive 3-pointer.

“I’m disgusted I gave up that 3 at the end. It was too much rhythm. I should’ve pressed up more. I’m beating myself up about that,” Green said. “But to draw those responsibilities at this point in my career is amazing.”

The Lakers (39-25) look to keep their winning ways going against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves (40-24) on Tuesday. This is the final match between the two teams this season, as L.A. looks to sweep the regular season series.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

When: 8 p.m. PT, Mar 10

Where: Crypto.com Arena

Watch: NBC, Spectrum Sportsnet

With less than five weeks until the regular season concludes, the standings race, especially in the competitive Western Conference, will heat up. The Lakers have won five of their last six games and are sitting in the fifth seed. Their next opponent? The current third seed in the same conference.

The Timberwolves will be a good test for this Lakers team as they’ve been playing well as of late. They’ve won eight out of their last 10 games led by Anthony Edwards, who is currently averaging 29.6 points per game. Edwards has also been getting consistent help from Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. Overall, the Wolves average 118.6 points per game (fifth-best in the league) and rank in the top 10 offensively and defensively.

The Lakers can absolutely go toe-to-toe with the Wolves, especially on offense. Luka Dončić — who is in a very good groove right now, scoring-wise — will definitely be able to match Edwards’ production. The biggest X-factor in this one will be whose supporting cast will outplay the other. Austin Reaves, in particular, has played well in the two games between the Lakers and Wolves in this one.

Speaking of those two games — which both happened in October — the Lakers didn’t have LeBron James in any of those either, so by default, they already know what to expect. There’s also no doubt that the Wolves are much better this time around compared to October and have the same goal as the Lakers, which is to stay in a decent position in the standings. There’s a good chance that this is going to be a thriller.

That said, it’ll be interesting to see if Los Angeles attempts to win this one similarly to how they did in their last two games against Minnesota by attacking the paint and limiting Rudy Gobert’s presence. Hopefully that will be the case and the Lakers’ win the possession battle as well as control the pace as they have over their last two games.

Let’s see if the Lakers can make a statement and improve their chances of climbing up the Western Conference standings in a massive game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Notes and Updates

• Only LeBron James (right hip contusion and left foot arthritis) is written on the report.
• As for the Wolves, Kyle Anderson (right knee soreness) is questionable.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.

The Bobby Hurley Era at Arizona State is in limbo.

According to Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, the reports that surfaced Monday afternoon of the Sun Devils and Hurley expected to "part ways" at the end of the season are "premature."

There were multiple reports Monday that mentioned the Sun Devils and Hurley are expected to go their separate ways at the end of the season, which could be as soon as Tuesday afternoon in the Big 12 tournament, after 11 years in Tempe.

Hurley entered the 2025-26 season on the final year of his contract and already under heat after the Sun Devils finished with losing records in back-to-back seasons.

REQUIRED READING: ASU welcomes underdog role at Big 12 tournament

Hurley's contract, which was obtained by the USA TODAY Sports Network, is set to run through June 30 with the Sun Devils. This means, even if the Sun Devils don't elect to renew Hurley's contract, there will be some money going to him if he is let go by the athletic department. Hurley is owed approximately $900,000 if he is fired.

The Sun Devils have only made it to the NCAA Tournament three times under Hurley, and have finished with a winning record in four seasons. Hurley, the former Duke guard and brother to Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, has only won 20 or more games four times and has not led the Sun Devils to a conference title.

Since the Sun Devils moved to the Big 12, they are 29-35 overall and 11-27 in Big 12 play. The best win for Arizona State under Hurley in the Big 12 came just last week against No. 16 Kansas and Darryn Peterson in Tempe. It marked just the 15th win over a ranked team in his 11-seasons, and the ninth over a top-15 ranked team.

Arizona State opens up Big 12 tournament play on Tuesday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m. ET against Baylor at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri as the No. 12 seed in the bracket.

Bobby Hurley record at Arizona State

Here's a season-by-season breakdown of how Arizona State has fared under Hurley:

• 2015-16: 15-17 overall
• 2016-17: 15-18 overall
• 2017-18: 20-12 overall (NCAA Tournament)
• 2018-19: 23-11 overall (NCAA Tournament)
• 2019-20: 20-11 overall
• 2021-22: 14-17 overall
• 2022-23: 23-13 overall
• 2023-24: 14-18 overall
• 2024-25: 13-20 overall
• 2025-26: 16-15 *

* Denotes season still in progress

CLEVELAND (AP) — James Harden scored 21 points to become the ninth player in NBA history with more than 29,000 career points, Keon Ellis added 19 off the bench, and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 115-101 victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and six assists, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. Harden reached the milestone with a free throw in the first quarter, finishing the game with 29,017 points in 17 pro seasons.

Cleveland is 8-1 at home since Jan. 23, with its lone loss Sunday to surging Boston, and has won 18 of its last 24 overall. The Cavaliers are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind New York.

Quentin Grimes scored 17 points and Cameron Payne had 12 points for Philadelphia, which has lost two in a row and four of its last five to slip into eighth in the East. Justin Edwards added 14 points.

NETS 126, GRIZZLIES 115

NEW YORK (AP) — Day’Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and Brooklyn beat the injury-plagued Memphis for their second straight victory.

Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.

The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.

Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.

THUNDER 129, NUGGETS 126

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a step-back 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to cap a frantic final minute on a night he matched Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive 20-point games, and Oklahoma City beat Denver.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points and a career-high 15 assists, becoming the second player in NBA history to have those totals and zero turnovers. He also had nine rebounds. In the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander reached the 20-point mark for the 126th straight game, equaling Chamberlain’s streak from 1961-63.

With Oklahoma City leading 126-122, Denver’s Nikola Jokic hit a 3-pointer and Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams was called for an off-ball foul fighting through a screen. Jamal Murray made the free throw with 8.5 seconds remaining to tie the game.

Gilgeous-Alexander responded, elevating over Spencer Jones for his second 3 in the final 14 seconds. Denver’s Aaron Gordon missed a 61-foot heave at the buzzer.

The Thunder are 6-0 since Gilgeous-Alexander returned from an abdominal strain that sidelined him for nine games.

Williams scored 29 points and Ajay Mitchell, in his return after missing 20 games with an abdominal strain and a sprained left ankle, added 24 points.

Jokic had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his 24th triple-double of the season and the 188th of his career. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points and Gordon added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets.

JAZZ 119, WARRIORS 116

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brice Sensabaugh scored 21 points, two-way player Blake Hinson made the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute, and Utah outlasted Golden State.

Hinson made four 3-pointers including a shot from beyond the arc on the right wing with 29.9 seconds remaining to shock the Warriors, who were without Stephen Curry and several other rotation regulars.

Kyle Filipowski contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds for Utah, which had lost eight of nine games.

De’Anthony Melton, who led the Warriors with 22 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 117-116, but Elijah Harkless, another two-way player, clinched the game for the Jazz with two free throws to reach a career-high 16 points.

CLIPPERS 126, KNICKS 118

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 28 points, and Los Angeles beat New York to climb back to .500 for the first time since early November.

The Clippers are 32-32 and have won five of their first six games in March as they try to improve their potential position in the NBA Play-in Tournament. They began the season in a 6-21 tailspin.

It was Leonard’s 42nd straight game with 20-plus points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA and third-longest in team history.

Mathurin scored 22 in the second half off the bench as one of five Clippers in double figures. Darius Garland had 23 points and seven assists in his second start.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in the final seconds. Jalen Brunson added 28 points and OG Anunoby had 22 points.