Lonnie Walker IV enters concussion protocol after hard fall in Toronto

Lonnie Walker IV enters concussion protocol after hard fall in Toronto   originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Lonnie Walker IV is the latest sidelined Sixer in the team’s injury-packed season.

A Sixers official said Walker was diagnosed with a concussion Thursday morning, has entered the NBA’s concussion protocol and will be evaluated daily. 

Walker rose for a defensive rebound Wednesday night, got fouled by the Raptors’ Colin Castleton and hit the back of his head on the floor. He exited the game with 6:24 left in the first quarter and did not return for the rest of the Sixers’ loss in Toronto.

Under the NBA’s concussion protocol, a player must have no concussion-related symptoms at rest and then complete a multi-step return process monitored by a member of a team’s medical staff. 

Before his 20-second stint Wednesday, Walker had played nine times since signing with the Sixers and averaged 9.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists. 

On top of Walker, the 22-43 Sixers listed the following players as out for their Friday night meeting with the 36-28 Pacers:

  • Tyrese Maxey (lower back sprain and right finger sprain)
  • Paul George (left groin soreness) 
  • Kyle Lowry (right hip injury management) 
  • Joel Embiid (season-ending left knee injury)
  • Eric Gordon (season-ending right wrist surgery)
  • Jared McCain (season-ending left lateral meniscus surgery)

Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Justin Edwards (left ankle sprain) and Alex Reese (left shoulder contusion) were questionable.

Canucks Will Be Featured On First-Ever Hockey Day In Sweden

Feb 12, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Team Sweden forward Elias Pettersson (40) looks on in warm-up before the game against Team Canada during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

On Thursday, the NHL announced the creation of "Hockey Day in Sweden." The event will take place in Linköping, Sweden, on March 21 and 22. Part of the festivities will include a special presentation of the Vancouver Canucks versus New York Rangers game, which Niklas Holmgren and Jonatan Lindquist will commentate. 

Latest From THN’s Vancouver Canucks Site:

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Selecting the Canucks is a smart idea, as their roster is full of Swedish players, which includes Elias Pettersson and Marcus Pettersson. Vancouver also has a large amount of staff members from Sweden, including GM Patrik Allvin. As for the Rangers, they have Mika Zibanejad on their roster, who recently played beside Pettersson at the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

The game itself should be emotional, as these two teams have made multiple trades over the past two months. Canucks fans will get to see J.T. Miller and Carson Soucy against, while fans in New York will have the opportunity to welcome back Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini. Both teams are also desperate for wins, which should make the game on March 22 must-watch television.

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, be sure to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum.

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‘It is not too dissimilar’: England’s Earl happy to make central switch if needed

  • 6-2 bench split means Earl will provide cover at centre
  • “Half the stuff I do is as a 12 anyway,’ says back-rower

Ben Earl has said he would take a shift to playing at centre against Wales in his stride on Saturday after Steve Borthwick revealed the back-rower is the first cab off the rank in the event of injury.

As England go in search of the bonus-point victory they are likely to need to keep their hopes of winning the Six Nations title alive, the head coach has opted for a 6-2 split on the bench. With three fly-halves in the squad, there is no obvious centre cover and Tommy Freeman is starting there for England for the first time.

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No. 1 Duke’s Cooper Flagg shown in wheelchair after leaving ACC Tournament game with ankle injury

Duke star Cooper Flagg left his team's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday with a left ankle injury and had to be helped to the locker room. The top-ranked Blue Devils were trailing by 26-17 late in the first half when Flagg went up for a rebound and crashed to the floor after he appeared to have his left foot land on the foot of Georgia Tech’s Darrion Sutton. After sitting on the bench for a few minutes, Flagg got up and put his arms around two teammates and was taken to the locker room for observation.

Can Celebrini vs. Bedard become NHL's next great rivalry?

Can Celebrini vs. Bedard become NHL's next great rivalry? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Editor’s note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on X at @Sheng_Peng.

For the first time on Thursday, Macklin Celebrini will play against Connor Bedard.

It’s the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NHL Draft versus the 2023 top pick, two North Vancouver boys who skated with each other when they were kids at North Shore Winter Club … and the NHL’s next great star rivalry?

“I don’t know if it’ll be the Crosby-Ovechkin,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “but it’ll be probably in that ballpark.”

Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin has been must-see TV for two decades, since Crosby was the 2005 first-overall pick and Ovechkin was the 2004 first overall.

But like Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins and Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals, both Celebrini’s Sharks and Bedard’s Chicago Blackhawks have a ways to go before they see each other in a meaningful game.

For the third consecutive season, San Jose and Chicago are vying for the No. 1 pick.

The 2024 Calder Trophy winner, in his second season in the cellar, had this advice for the 2025 Calder front-runner.

Read the full story on San Jose Hockey Now

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast

(3-13-25) Blues-Penguins Gameday Lineup

Pavel Buchnevich (89) and the St. Louis Blues will play Erik Karlsson (65) and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

The road trip continues for the St. Louis Blues (31-27-7), who go up against the Pittsburgh Penguins (26-31-10) from PPG Paints Arena on Thursday at 6 p.m (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

It's the fifth of a season-long six-game road trip that has been broken up into two parts, with the Blues returning home following their 2-1 overtime loss against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, so they got to spend four nights in their own beds before finishing off the last two legs of the trip, which concludes Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.

As for the standings, the Blues sit now two points behind the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks after those two teams settled their game on Wednesday in a shootout, with the Canucks winning 3-2. Also, the Utah Hockey Club won, 3-2 against the Anaheim Ducks and pulled even with the Blues, so four teams are separated by two points in a logjam for the second wild card in the Western Conference. St. Louis, Vancouver and Utah all have 17 games remaining, Calgary has 18.

The Blues, according to coach Jim Montgomery, have done a good job of just living in the moment, which has enabled them to shave seven points off their deficit when they came back from the 4 Nations Face-Off, going 6-1-2 playing nine games in 15 days; they are 7-1-2 in the last 10.

"Since the break has started, every game has been important for us to be in the situation that we are, so we had to do the job early," Montgomery said. "Now we just need to continue on that path. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We've seen our next opponent, Pittsburgh just beat Vegas (3-2 in overtime), so we've got to be focused on that next task at hand and bring that same attitude of we're going to stay in the moment, we're going to have a great start, and then we're going to worry about the next shift, then we're going to worry about the next period and then we're going to worry about the 60 minutes.

"With that, we know the schedule is favorable right now. We're going to play two teams where we're going to playing back-to-backs again where they are not. They are rested waiting for us, so there's another challenge that's coming within that time frame. I think we're in the midst of starting (10) in 17 days."

Tonight does begin another tough stretch of games clustered into limited days, which includes three in the next four days where the Blues come home from Minnesota Saturday after a 7 p.m. start and play against the Ducks at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

- - -

With the team rolling, the only lineup change is Cam Fowler, who missed Saturday for the birth of his son, will return and go in for Matthew Kessel, and Jordan Binnington, who has won six straight starts and is 7-0-1 the past eight games he's started, will start in goal.

Also, forward Jordan Kyrou will play in his 400th NHL game tonight.

- - -

Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker

Cam Fowler-Nick Leddy

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Alexandre Texier and Matthew Kessel. Colton Parayko (knee) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

- - -

Penguins Projected Lineup:

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Connor Dewar-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino

Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Emil Bemstrom

Bokondji Imama-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Vladislav Kolyachonok-Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves-Conor Timmins

Tristan Jarry will start in goal; Alex Nedeljkovic will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Matt Nieto and Sebastian Aho. P.O Joseph (upper body), Tommy Novak (lower body) and Ryan Shea (upper body) are out.

Football Daily | Zinchenko and a deep respect for a loan spell in 2017-18

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While the first-leg shellacking Arsenal dished out to PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands meant that Wednesday night’s return leg was predictably low on drama, there was at least one moment of highly performative nonsense for fans at the Emirates to enjoy. Handed a rare start by Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko repaid his manager by firing his side ahead with a terrific strike but very pointedly refused to celebrate his first ever Bigger Cup goal for reasons that initially seemed to baffle his own teammates, PSV’s players, both sets of supporters and anyone like Football Daily with so little going on in their life that they’d tuned in to watch this 90-minute long foregone conclusion unfold on TV.

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USC keeps season alive with double-OT win over Rutgers in Big Ten tourney

In some ways, USC's Big Ten tournament opener Wednesday was a lot like this basketball season as a whole -- the Trojans flashed their compelling potential before seeming to run out of steam on the way to what looked like a deflating finish. After letting a 15-point lead entirely slip away as Rutgers led by 4 points inside the final 30 seconds, the Trojans came through with the defensive stops they needed, two Wesley Yates free throws and a clutch driving layup from Desmond Claude to tie the game and force overtime. It would take two extra periods, but No. 14-seeded USC eventually found a final surge while pulling away from No. 11 Rutgers for a 97-89 double-overtime win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.