Ryan McMahon connects on a hit during the Yankees' spring training game March 22.
Observations from Yankees spring training Sunday:
Finishing strong
Ryan McMahon had little to show for his narrowed batting stance for much of the spring, but he finished strong, recording a hit in four straight games to finish camp, including two Sunday.
Ryan McMahon connects on a hit during the Yankees’ spring training game March 22. Imagn Images
Cami-lo point
In his first game back from the WBC, Camilo Doval had a shaky inning — hitting a batter, giving up a double and walking another to load the bases. But he got out of it unscathed with a strikeout and a double play.
Caught my eye
In the Grapefruit League finale, Ben Rice got his first (and only) inning of the spring as a catcher.
After starting at first base, he moved behind the plate in the sixth inning to catch David Bednar and Fernando Cruz.
Rice did catch bullpen sessions and live batting practices throughout the spring, but he is not expected to catch much, if at all, in the early going, though he could mix in some more as the season goes along.
Monday’s schedule
The Yankees face the Cubs in an exhibition in Mesa, Ariz., with spring standout Carlos Lagrange making one last start before heading to the minors.
The Vancouver Canucks became the first team to be eliminated from 2026 playoff contention. The "E" went up next to the Canucks name on the NHL's standings page late on Sunday night. Vancouver has played 69 games so far this season and has picked up just 50 points.
The Canucks have now missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. Since 2014-15, Vancouver has only qualified for the post-season three times. The last time the Canucks were in the playoffs was in 2024, when they reached Game 7 of the second round.
Vancouver missing the playoffs has been a known fact for the last few months. At this rate, the Canucks are projected to finish 32nd in the league and will have the best odds at first overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Of Vancouver's 13 remaining games, five are at Rogers Arena while the remaining eight are on the road.
Mar 14, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle (7) celebrates a goal scored on goalie Nikita Tolopilo (60) (not pictured) by forward Bobby McMann (74) in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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Before setting out on a three-game Western Canada road trip, the Anaheim Ducks hosted the NHL’s hottest team, the Buffalo Sabres, on Sunday evening at Honda Center.
The Ducks were coming off a playoff-style and potentially fortunate 4-1 win over the Utah Mammoth on Friday. They entered the game with a three-point lead in the Pacific Division and had registered points in their last three games (2-0-1).
Buffalo was playing their second leg of a back-to-back, as they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Saturday. They entered Sunday having won their previous four games and had won 13 of their last 14.
The Ducks coaching staff started this game how they finished the last, from a lineup perspective, with Mason McTavish listed on as the fourth-line left winger. Frank Vatrano and Drew Helleson served this game as the team’s healthy scratches. This was the final game of Radko Gudas’ five-game suspension, earned when he initiated a knee-on-knee collision with Auston Matthews on March 12.
Here’s how the Ducks lined up to start this game:
Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke
Viel-Poehling-Gauthier
McTavish-Washe-Harkins
LaCombe-Trouba
Mintyukov-Carlson
Zellweger-Moore
Ville Husso got the start for the Ducks in this game and stopped 24 of 29 shots. In the Buffalo crease stood Alex Lyon, who saved 27 of 33.
“I don’t know how many times we’ve done that this year, but it’s been an alarming number,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said of his team scoring with the goalie pulled late. “It’s still not a recipe for success. The 4-2 (score) at the beginning of the period, that should have been something we should have nailed down and built off it.”
Game Notes
This was as typical of a 2025-26 Anaheim Ducks game as one could have expected. They exchanged chances with Buffalo all game, made several consequential mistakes in critical areas of the ice, got some luck, got some big saves from Husso when the game could have gotten out of hand, and once again, outscored their problems.
The underlying numbers don’t exactly paint that picture. They dictated pace and possessed pucks in elongated spurts throughout this high-event matchup. At 5v5, the Ducks won the shots on goal battle 27-26 and the expected goals battle 3.06-2.9, but lost the shot attempts battle 57-53.
D-Zone Coverage: Buffalo generated several long cycle sequences in this game, feeding their talented defensemen at the point and winning battles in the small areas of the zone. Tired legs would often give way to tired minds, and the net-front defenders were caught puck-watching on several occasions, leaving open slot attackers in prime locations.
Defense Rotation: The Ducks’ top four defensemen (LaCombe, Trouba, Carlson, Mintyukov) all notched well over 20 minutes TOI, while the bottom pair was short-shifted, especially as the clock was winding down. Zellweger and Moore were the only two defensemen on the Ducks with negative expected goals shares, and they were the biggest culprits of the poor defensive zone habits stated above. They weren’t as effective on breakouts as they’d been in previous games together, and when plays became sloppy, they had trouble adjusting and sorting out their assignments.
Jackson LaCombe: LaCombe went toe-to-toe with one of the NHL’s potential Norris Trophy finalists in Rasmus Dahlin and was equally as impactful, dictating pace, creating offense, and killing plays early on the defensive side of the puck in all three zones. LaCombe is an elite rush defender whose poise won numerous transition battles, which he then turned up ice into rush offense. He logged a pair of points while playing the vast majority of his 23:56 TOI at even strength.
The Ducks will hit the road for a three-game trip to face their Canadian Division opponents (Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers), starting with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday at 7 PM PST.
MESA, ARIZONA - MARCH 04, 2026: Gabriel Moreno #14 of the Arizona Diamondbacks bats during the third inning of a spring training game against the Athletics at Hohokam Stadium on March 04, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Record: 15-13-1. Change on 2025: -1. 5-inning Record: 11-16-2.
The Diamondbacks saved the best for last, punching out their biggest margin of victory in the final Cactus League game. An emphatic 11-1 victory over the Padres was anchored by Gabriel Moreno, who hit two home-runs and doubled, giving him three long-balls for spring. Jorge Barrosa also hit his third HR, and Ildemaro Vargas went deep for the second time. The D-backs pounded out sixteen hits all told, with Ryan Waldschmidt joining Moreno in the three-hit club, and Barrosa singling in addition to his homer. Ben McLaughlin drew a pair of walks, as Arizona finished by going 7-1-1 over their final nine games. Not that it matters, of course… 🙂
The pitching was almost as good as the hitting, holding the Padres to five hits and two walks. It was a bullpen game for the Diamondbacks, and opener John Curtiss went two scoreless with a walk and four strikeouts. Brandyn Garcia rebounded from his recent struggles, fanning two of the three batters he faced. Juan Morillo was the only pitcher scored upon, allowing a solo home-run in the fourth. But thereafter we saw two scoreless innings from Shawn Dubin, then Yilber Diaz, Logan Mercado and Taylor Rashi took things the rest of the way for the D-backs bullpen.
Tomorrow, it’s back to Chase Field, for the first of two warm-up games there against the Cleveland Guardians. First pitch is at 6:40 pm, with Merrill Kelly starting for Arizona.
Jan 13, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) drives with the ball as Chicago Bulls forward Matas Buzelis (14) defends during the fourth quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Have the Houston Rockets turned the corner after adding Reed Sheppard to the starting lineup?
Well, it bears mentioning that it took a great bounce to beat the Miami Heat on Saturday night. It also bears mentioning that Houston was only down in that situation because the player that Sheppard replaced in the starting lineup, Tari Eason, made a boneheaded play late. And it’s not his first time.
Anyway, Houston now heads on the road for their second-to-last road trip of the season. Houston will play four straight on the road, followed by two more back at Toyota Center. Then it’s two more on the road (including Kevin Durant’s only trips to Golden State and Phoenix) and three at home to wrap up the season. There are only two more back-to-backs, and both take place entirely at home. We’re in the home stretch now folks!
In terms of importance, all the games are important now. If Houston wants to finish with a top 4 seed, they basically need to win all the games they are supposed to win. And on paper, they’ll probably be favored in at least ten of their final 12 games. Catching the Lakers seems impossible without the tiebreak (and LA has stopped losing altogether). Denver also holds the tiebreak over Houston, but they still have games against OKC and San Antonio.
Tampa, Florida: New York Yankees' starting pitcher Luis Gil leaving the game against the NY Mets in the top of the 3rd inning during Spring Training at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida on February 21, 2026. (Photo by J. Conrad Williams, Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images) | Newsday via Getty Images
The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: (subscription required) Following yesterday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees announced their rotation to start the season: Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers. Notably absent, of course, was 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. With the number of days off during the first week and a half of the season, the Yankees can get away with a four-man rotation the first two times through the order.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Gil — who has been working with Matt Blake to change the release point on his fastball, in the hopes of turning it back into the out pitch it was in the first half of 2024 — will break camp with the big league club, working as a piggyback behind Weathers, or with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, allowing the Yankees to bring an extra reliever.
SNY.com | Alex Smith: Facing a roster crunch, the Yankees traded infielder Jorbit Vivas, who is out of options, to the Washington Nationals yesterday afternoon (as Michael covered for us). In exchange, they received pitching prospect Sean Paul Liñan (Washington’s 27th overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline), who was acquired from the Dodgers in their Trade Deadline swing for Alex Call, and whose fastball is lacking but whose changeup has screwball-like qualities and has been compared to Devin William’s famous Airbender.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: With Grapefruit League action coming to a close yesterday (the games today and tomorrow are, technically, not spring training matchups, but exhibitions), the Yankees announced this year’s James P. Dawson Award winner, given to the most outstanding rookie in spring training. To nobody’s surprise, pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange, whose performance put him on the map nationally and which forced difficult conversations about whether or not the Yankees ought to have him start the season with the big-league club, was this year’s award recipient.
Lastly, in case you’re curious, a few old Yankees friends on the bubble received some news over the weekend about whether or not they made their teams out of spring training. MLB Trade Rumors helps out on the rapid-fire:
Jonathan Loáisiga cracked the Diamondbacks bullpen as a non-roster invitee to spring training.
The Phillies picked up one erstwhile Yankees reliever and demoted another, with Tim Mayza joining their ’pen on a minor-league deal and Lou Trivino getting assigned to Triple-A.
Also in the not-so-lucky bunch alongside Trivino, Gio Urshela and Austin Slater were released by the Twins and Tigers, respectively.
These notes are a few days old, but Ian Hamilton did not make the Braves’ bullpen and was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett, and the Red Sox signed Tommy Kahnle to a minor-league deal after his appearance in the World Baseball Classic. It’s likely that the changeup specialist will need to open 2026 at Triple-A to tune up.
The worst news might go to Mike Tauchman, who was on track to join the Mets as a fourth outfielder but instead suffered a meniscus tear in his knee. Ouch. Condolences to the ol’ Sock Man.
A year after enduring a spring training from hell, given a spate of key injuries, the Yankees left the sunny confines of Steinbrenner Field on Sunday following one of their most boring camps in recent years.
“It’s never boring,” Aaron Boone insisted with a grin.
OK, so perhaps uneventful is more apt, but either way, the Yankees made it through six weeks without any major injuries, controversies or problems popping up.
They still have two more exhibitions against the Cubs in Arizona on Monday and Tuesday before they get to Wednesday’s Opening Day against the Giants, but they left Florida feeling good about their spring overall.
Aaron Boone watches during batting practice Feb. 20. Imagn Images
“I think for the most part, I feel like it’s been a very good spring for us as far as overall health, guys getting the right amount of reps and things, some of our young guys pushing for roles and real playing time are looking the part,” Boone said. “Like the place that our depth’s in right now. Feel like we can withstand some things and still flourish. But we’ll see now.”
The Yankees are set to begin the season with four players on the injured list — Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Anthony Volpe — but all four had surgery well before arriving at camp and their rehabs have all gone smoothly.
The good health has put their starting pitching and lineup depth in a strong spot.
Heck, the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders should probably be heavy favorites to win the International League at this point, given some of the talent the Yankees are sending there because there is not room on the big league roster, including Jasson Domínguez, Spencer Jones, Oswaldo Cabrera, Elmer Rodríguez and potentially Lagrange, among others.
The Yankees are set to open the season with a four-man rotation due to multiple off-days over the first two weeks, squeezing Luis Gil out for now despite his strong finish to camp, though they are still deciding whether he will be on the roster as a piggyback pitcher or start the season in the minors until they need a fifth starter.
Aaron Judge is pictured during the Yankees’ March 22 spring training game. Imagn ImagesGerrit Cole throws a pitch during his March 18 appearance for the Yankees in spring training. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“Having the depth that we have in pitching, I don’t think we’ve had that in quite a long time,” Aaron Judge said. “Even if you count the guys that are injured coming back — Rodón, Schmidt and Cole, you add those guys back, we have 11-12 starting pitchers deep. So that’ll be nice. But we got a lineup that was tied for the most wins in the AL, the best record in the AL. So you add those pitchers, you get [Cody] Bellinger back for another couple years, it’s only going to equal a better season for us.”
The Yankees even survived sending nearly half of their Opening Day roster to the World Baseball Classic, with all of their participants — most significantly Judge — appearing to have avoided any calamities, though the jury is still out on if it will affect them at all over the course of a long season.
As the Yankees broke camp, the bullpen still loomed as the club’s biggest question mark entering the regular season.
They were still finalizing the last two spots as of Sunday, and while the Yankees could potentially fold some starters into the bullpen once the likes of Rodón and Cole return, they still have to withstand the early weeks of the season until that is a possibility.
“I just want, really guys taking and grabbing and establishing some bullpen roles,” Boone said. “However we break, there’s going to be a few guys that don’t have a ton of experience necessarily or that are in that mix of a lot of competition, we could go a lot of different ways. But hopefully guys taking opportunities and establishing and growing in roles down there.”
Chase Meidroth drove in the first Sox run on Sunday, slashing a double into the right-field corner. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
I have to be honest with you, reader, the players on the field in this one were about as tired of Spring Training as I am. Sean Burke was solid in his final tuneup before adding “Day After Opening Day Starter” to his CV, allowing just a pair of runs over five innings. Unfortunately, he wound up the hard-luck loser when his lineup failed to make a dent in the formidable pitching operation of the defending AL West champs.
Burke registered six strikeouts in those five innings of work despite severely diminished fastball velocity, averaging a hair faster than 92 mph on his heater tonight after sitting in the 94-95 mph range all spring. Given that it’s his last outing before the games actually count, it could be that the sophomore righthander just wasn’t trying to fully air it out and risk being fatigued for his scheduled regular season start on Saturday. Still, it’s something to keep an eye on.
And the diminished velo was directly responsible for one of the two runs he allowed, when he placed a fastball on a tee up in the zone to Mitch Garver, who is not an impossible hitter to get a high fastball by if it’s not 91 mph.
One pitcher who wasn’t working with diminished stuff? Bryan Woo, who gave up a double to Andrew Benintendi to lead off the game and then proceeded to sit down the next 16 Sox hitters, four of them by strikeout. He brushed 97 mph on a buzzing heater and allowed just an 84 mph average exit velocity, with no one topping 100 mph between Benintendi’s double and a 107 mph line out from Munetaka Murakami in the fifth.
Burke gave way to lefty Chris Murphy, who threw a scoreless sixth inning in what will presumably be his last appearance before opening the season on a major league roster for the first time. In the Chicago half of the inning, it was the newest member of the club who finally got to Woo, as Reese McGuire’s one-out double snapped the Sox out of it. Woo nonetheless looked to be on the verge of escaping the jam before a fantastic piece of hitting from Chase Meidroth shot the ball into the corner and brought home a run.
Woo departed after that inning, but he was followed by Andrés Muñoz, and you just know that late-spring depth Sox bats had a fruit fly’s chance against him, so that was that. The rest of the game was played as if both teams were ready to board a plane back to their respective cities. The seventh and eighth for the Sox were handled by non-roster players Lucas Sims (who pitched ably) and Chase Plymell (who did not, allowing the Mariners to tack on two more). Big righty Riley Gowens capped things off with a scoreless ninth for the Pale Hose, his last work before potentially heading down to Charlotte for the first regular bullpen work of his career.
The White Sox did claw one back in the eighth courtesy of a solo jack from, you guessed it, McGuire again. The guy must have missed being in pinstripes.
The ninth was handled for Seattle by erstwhile Red Sox starter Cooper Criswell, who allowed an extremely on-brand bloop single to Rikuu Nishida to nearly spark a comeback. The Sox loaded the bases with one out against Criswell before the crafty righty shut things down, and that was all she wrote for the this one. The Sox drop back to .500 for the spring, with one more chance to finish on a positive note before finalizing the roster and cranking things up for good.
That one chance will happen tomorrow afternoon, as this edition of Spring Training concludes for the Sox in Mesa against the Athletics. First pitch is at 2 p.m. CT, with Anthony Kay taking the ball with one more chance to prepare before his return to the big leagues. Leigh Allan — 5-0 on coverage this spring — has the game, and we’ll see you there!
PEORIA, ARIZONA - MARCH 11: Mitch Garver #77 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates with teammates after scoring a run during a Spring Training game against the Colorado Rockies at Peoria Stadium on March 11, 2026 in Peoria, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The next time Bryan Woo pitches, it will count for real.
The Mariners beat the White Sox 2-1 in the next to last game of the preseason. Woo got the start and looked sharp. He needed just 73 pitches to get through his scheduled six innings. He struck out four, walked none, and gave up three hits. His velocity was a touch down from a year ago, though not in a concerning range. It was a solid final warmup before the real thing next week.
It was who Woo threw to on Sunday that stole the show. Mitch Garver smacked a homer and drove in a run with a sac fly. That’s after it was announced this morning that Garver had won backup catcher job to begin the season. Shannon Drayer shared this quote from Dan Wilson when the news announced, hinting at the team’s thought process for keeping Garver around.
“I think the job that Garv does is tremendous,” Wilson said last week. “And I think he’s able to lean on experience. He takes our information very seriously, too. When you combine those two, Garv does a really good job back there. I think that’s a huge asset that we have in that we have Cal, who does such a great job, is one of the best catchers in the league, was one of the best players in the league, period. And then you have a guy with experience, and as the backup role, that really helps a lot in the background, too, behind the scenes with a lot of our guys. And so it’s really a good combination to have.”
Garver was obviously not what the Mariners hoped for when they signed him to a two-year deal in 2024. He posted an 86 wRC+ in 720 plate appearances before becoming a free agent. That’s fine for a backup catcher, but the initial plan was for him to serve as the team’s DH. It wasn’t clear whether he’d continue to serve as Cal Raleigh’s understudy after reaching free agency this offseason. It seemed less likely when the Mariners signed Andrew Knizner and Johnny Pereda. But Raleigh reportedly reached out to Garver, the latest evidence of his impact beyond the field, eventually leading the Mariners to bring Garver back to camp. He has now won the job.
I like Garver. He’s a fine backup catcher. He continues to hit lefties pretty well. I’m not sure there’s a less consequential role than backup to Cal Raleigh, and Garver fills it well.
There honestly wasn’t a lot else to this game. Andrés Muñoz pitched and was fine. Jose Ferrer pitched and gave up a home run. Cooper Criswell closed out the game, with only a touch of heart burn. Each team collected just a few hits. It was fast and painless, which is all you can ask for at this time of year. Bring on the regular season.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Mick Cronin won the battle against Dan Hurley over who would receive a technical foul first.
The UCLA men's basketball coach was assessed a technical foul at the 4:41 mark of the second half of Sunday's Men's NCAA Tournament second-round game against 2-seed UConn at Xfinity Mobile Arena. It led to Huskies forward Alex Karaban making a pair of free throws that helped UConn build its lead against UCLA.
Replay from the TNT broadcast showed Cronin clapping his hands in front of the official.
"I have no comments about any of that," Cronin said in his postgame news conference when asked by USA TODAY Sports on whether he received an explanation from the official on what led to the technical foul.
In a pool report handed out through a request from the United States Basketball Writers Association, Cronin was issued the technical foul for Class A Unsporting Infractions, which is in accordance with Rule 10, Section 3, Article 2 of the NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball rulebook.
The statement includes paragraphs A and E of the rule, which states that bench personnel committing an unsportsmanlike act including, but not limited to, the following:
"Disrespectfully addressing an official"
"Objecting to an official’s decision by rising from the bench or using gestures"
On the TNT broadcast, CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore didn't think it should have been elevated to a technical, and that there should have been more to it.
"From what I'm looking at here just on its own, that doesn't look like something that would elevate to a technical foul," Steratore said. "Now, I'm not sure if there's been something that's been building up previously. It doesn't appear that he's saying something verbally at that point. But you don't want to speculate, right? ... I think there's something more to it than just that clap. I can't see just the clap making this a technical foul scenario."
Cronin's technical foul came at a bad time for the Bruins, as their offense was already in a rut and their deficit was up to nine points. That deficit grew to 11 after Karaban's pair of free throws, then to 13 when Silas Demary Jr. found Mullins for a layup, with UConn retaining possession after the free throws.
The Huskies would finish the game on a 15-3 run in the final 5:23 of the second half to defeat the Bruins. UCLA finished the game 1-of-9 from the field on their last nine shot attempts and went scoreless for the last 2:55 of the game.
The Bruins end their season with a 24-12 overall record while not making it out of the first weekend of March Madness for the third consecutive season.
The Calgary Flames defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime on Sunday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Calgary turned to Devin Cooley between the pipes, and he was busy from the opening minutes as Tampa Bay pushed the pace early. The night also marked the NHL debut of Tyson Gross, recently signed out of the NCAA, who slotted in alongside Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring at 7:25 of the first period when Ryan McDonagh found space in the high slot and snapped a wrist shot through traffic and past Cooley. Brayden Point, a Calgary native, picked up an assist, along with Gage Goncalves, giving the Lightning a 1–0 lead.
The Flames responded late in the opening frame. At 16:25, Yegor Sharangovich worked the puck free along the boards and sent it up to Victor Olofsson, who ripped a wrist shot under the crossbar past Jonas Johansson to tie it. Zach Whitecloud added the secondary assist.
Moments later, on the very next shift (16:52), Calgary struck again. Morgan Frost buried his team-leading 17th of the season, wiring another shot high glove side on Johansson to make it 2–1. Matt Coronato picked up the helper.
The Flames extended their lead in the second period. At 8:28, Blake Coleman set up Mikael Backlund, who stepped into a slap shot from the top of the circle and beat Johansson cleanly upstairs for his 16th of the year. Hunter Brzustewicz also earned an assist as Calgary moved ahead 3–1.
Tampa Bay pushed back midway through the period. Following a scramble in front, Nikita Kucherov slid the puck to Darren Raddysh at the point, and his shot found its way through Cooley to cut the lead to 3–2 at 11:47. J.J. Moser recorded the second assist, while Kucherov continued his dominant stretch, now with 13 points (6g,7a) over his last four games.
Calgary appeared to restore its two-goal cushion late in the second when Backlund and Coleman connected again, but the goal was overturned after an offside challenge, keeping it a one-goal game heading into the third.
The Lightning found the equalizer at 15:40 of the final frame. Pontus Holmberg took a feed from Yanni Gourde and lifted the puck over Cooley to tie the game 3–3 and force overtime.
It didn’t take long to end it.
On the opening shift of overtime, Ryan Strome took a pass from Matvei Gridin and slipped it past Johansson to seal the win.
Frost continued to lead the way offensively, scoring his 17th of the season and adding to a strong recent stretch with three goals in his last four games.
Targeting the same spot
Calgary’s shooters consistently beat Johansson high glove side, with multiple goals finding nearly identical placement—an approach that clearly paid off.
Coronato producing again
After a lengthy dry spell, Coronato is back contributing, recording four points (two goals, two assists) over his last four games and showing renewed confidence offensively.
PHOENIX, AZ - MARCH 22: Jalen Green #4 of the Phoenix Suns handles the ball during the game against the Toronto Raptors on March 22, 2026 at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The streak is over.
After five straight losses, the Suns took care of business against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night, snapping the skid and picking up their 40th win of the season. It does not move the needle much in the standings, but it matters. Losing streaks wear on you, and getting one in the win column does something for the mindset of the group.
And they did it short-handed. Dillon Brooks, Mark Williams, Royce O’Neale, Grayson Allen, Haywood Highsmith, and Amir Coffey were all out, yet Phoenix still found a rhythm. The ball moved, the defense held, and for long stretches the game felt controlled. The Suns led by as many as 31 points and never really let Toronto find a way back into it.
Devin Booker led all scorers with 25 points, going 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, adding six assists. The Suns also received 20 points from Jalen Green, 16 from Collin Gillespie, 14 from Jordan Goodwin, and 12 from Ryan Dunn. It was a quality team effort from Phoenix, one that saw them shoot 45% from three and take care of a Toronto team that came in competing for position in the Eastern Conference.
It was clean. It was needed. And for at least one night, it felt like things made sense again.
Game Flow
First Half
Phoenix opened the game with an 8-0 run, led by 5 points by Jalen Green. And it did not take long for the first controversial moment to show up. Out of a dead ball, the official handed Collin Gillespie the ball to inbound, possession already in motion, and somehow, Toronto was still granted a coach’s challenge. It felt eerily similar to what happened nine days ago in Toronto, when Devin Booker had the ball and the Raptors were still allowed to sneak in a late challenge.
Yes, the challenge was successful, but that is not the point. The point is the timing. Toronto continues to live right on the edge of when a challenge should be allowed, and somehow they keep getting the benefit of it. At some point, that line has to be enforced because right now it feels a little ridiculous.
3rd time this season the refs allowed the opposing team to call a challenge while our players are holding the ball pic.twitter.com/kT5IA8wl9C
A couple of possessions later, the Suns opted to challenge an out-of-bounds call. They did so prior to the Raptors having the ball in their hands, doing so legally and in accordance with the NBA rulebook. That being said, the officials opted to change the call to a foul and deem it an unsuccessful challenge. So up 16-6 with 6:12 in the first, the Suns were without a challenge.
The Suns’ rookies, who continue to see extended run with all the injuries, looked good early. Rasheer Fleming had an and one, and Khaman Maluach knocked down a three.
Khaman Maluach hits a three & Rasheer Fleming gets a steal into the and-1 in transition 👀
For the second straight game, the Suns came out with a strong first quarter. They held Toronto to 20 points and limited them to 1-of-9 from beyond the arc, setting the tone defensively. On the other end, Collin Gillespie led the charge with nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from deep, while Devin Booker added eight. Rasheer Fleming chipped in six points off the bench, and Phoenix caught fire from three, going 8-of-12 as a team.
After one, the Suns held a 34–20 lead.
Phoenix opened the second quarter right where they left off, shooting the ball well, and Jalen Green was leading the charge. He started 4-of-4 from the field for 10 quick points, pushing the Suns’ lead to as much as 18.
Then came the response. Toronto ripped off a 12–0 run, cutting the lead down to six. During that stretch, Collin Gillespie picked up his third foul, which stung given he was the game’s leading scorer with 11 at the time. That forced him to the bench and disrupted some of the early rhythm.
Jordan Goodwin provided the answer the Suns needed. He knocked down a three while getting fouled, completing the four-point play and stopping the bleeding.
The highlight of the quarter came from Ryan Dunn, doing what he does best. After a missed Goodwin three, Dunn flew in for an electric putback dunk. Moments later, he generated a steal and took it the other way for another dunk, bringing energy on both ends of the floor.
The Suns responded well, putting up 32 points in the quarter while going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Ryan Dunn led all scorers in the period with seven points, Jordan Goodwin added six, and both Devin Booker and Khaman Maluach chipped in four.
Phoenix’s bench made a real impact, contributing 25 first-half points, and the team took care of the ball, committing only seven turnovers that led to eight points for Toronto. Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, and Toronto as a whole shot 48.7% from the field. Brandon Ingram had just 2 points on 1-of—7 shooting.
Phoenix shot 54.5%, had five more shot attempts, and controlled the flow of the game. At the break, Phoenix held an 18-point lead, up 66–48.
Second Half
The third quarter opened with clear intent from the Suns. They came out with energy, putting together an 11–6 run, and once again, it was Jalen Green leading the scoring. He had four points early, although it took him five shots as he opened the half 1-of-5 from the field.
The tone was set on the defensive end and on the glass. Phoenix forced two early turnovers and turned them into four points. They also grabbed five offensive rebounds in the first four minutes, leading to four second-chance points. That effort dictated the pace and kept them engaged.
The concern showed up in a familiar place. Toronto was getting whatever it wanted at the rim. Much like the previous matchup, the Raptors were living in the paint. Of their first 14 points in the second half, 10 came inside, a reminder of how easily they were able to attack the interior.
The Suns’ offense kept responding, and with just over three minutes left in the quarter, Phoenix had stretched the lead to 30.
Bookers shot looks so good in slow motion, even the net moving looks beautiful pic.twitter.com/T5leJIs9kR
It was a quality third from Phoenix. For the third time in the game, they cleared 30 points in a quarter as they scored 31 in the third. They held Toronto to 21. Devin Booker set the tone, going 5-of-8 from the field for 13 points, and Jalen Green added eight more. The three-point shooting continued to hurt the Raptors. They went 1-of-9 from deep, and Phoenix made them pay, taking a 97–69 lead into the fourth.
The fourth quarter opened with a moment I appreciated. Rasheer Fleming caught the ball in the left corner and let a three fly. It was not pretty, and it missed. The next possession, he found himself in the same exact spot. The ball hit his hands again, and this time he stepped into it with confidence and knocked it down clean. That is a good sign. For a young rookie, the ability to forget the previous possession and trust the next one matters. That kind of confidence, that willingness to shoot again, that is how growth happens.
The fourth quarter continued, and the Suns kept the pressure on. All gas, no brakes.
It almost felt like a response to what has hurt them recently. Those moments where they build a lead and then ease off, playing not to lose instead of playing to win. On Sunday night, there was none of that. The intensity stayed. The focus stayed.
With 4:44 left, Jordan Ott was able to empty the bench. That meant minutes for Koby Brea and CJ Huntley, and it was good to see. Those are the kind of moments young players need, getting run in a game where the Suns were in control, dictating the tone, and finishing strong. For once, they were the ones doing the slapping.
Up Next
The Suns remain at home and host the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night at 8:00pm. We’ll see you then Bright Side.
Mar 21, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) tries to keep his balance as he runs out of bounds during the second half against the LA Clippers at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
The Dallas Mavericks (23-48, 14-22 Home) took the Los Angeles Clippers to overtime on Saturday before falling 138-131 in a game that had no business being that close and (if you were watching) every reason to be exactly that close. These Mavericks don’t fold. They don’t mail it in. They play hard enough to make you forget, for stretches at a time, what the standings actually say. On Monday at 8:30 PM CT, they host the Golden State Warriors (33-38, 14-23 Away), who arrive at the AAC without Stephen Curry, without Jimmy Butler, and without much to offer beyond Draymond Green’s behavioral grab bag and Brandin Podziemski doing his best impression of a lead guard. Both teams have lost eight of their last ten. One of these losing streaks ends tonight. Let’s look at three things before the Mavericks take on a familiar yet barely recognizable foe.
The Mavericks are losing the right way
Somewhere between sixth and seventh in the Tankathon standings, Dallas sits with a 9.0% shot at the top pick in a loaded draft class—behind Indiana, Washington, Brooklyn, Sacramento, and Utah, all of whom have more losses and, in several cases, seemingly more organizational intent to keep accumulating them. The NBA made that point explicitly in February, when it fined the Jazz $500,000 and the Pacers $100,000 for what commissioner Adam Silver called “overt behavior that prioritizes draft position over winning.” Pulling healthy stars in fourth quarters of close games. Sitting rotation players against medical advice. The league had seen enough.
The Mavericks are not engaged in such overly obvious shenanigans. Jason Kidd is playing as close to a winning rotation on any given night as he has available. Veterans including Washington, Gafford, Marshall, and Thompson are playing to win every night because that’s who they are, not because the front office is choosing their level of competitive fire or minutes on the floor. PJ Washington is averaging 14.6 points and 6.9 rebounds since the start of March, and in the overtime loss to LA on Saturday put up 21 and nearly won it off an offensive rebound in the final seconds. Daniel Gafford came off the bench against Atlanta last Wednesday after a brief absence and went 9-for-10 from the field for 24 points in 22 minutes, which is the kind of performance that makes you wonder why his minutes are being managed at all. This is not Cooper Flagg and four guys standing around watching. There’s real pride in this building, and it shows up every night even when the results don’t.
That duality—proud of the fight, aware of the math—is what it means to watch this team right now. Dallas sits eight games back of Indiana and two behind Utah in the loss column. They probably aren’t moving up given how hard they are fighting but they aren’t engineered to move down either, and there’s something genuinely refreshing about that in a season where the race to the bottom has been uglier than usual.
The cost of betting on aging stars
Stephen Curry is 37 years old and, when healthy this season, has been almost absurdly good—averaging 27.2 points, which only LeBron James has topped at that age in NBA history. The problem is the “when healthy” part. Curry has been out since January 30 with runner’s knee, and in his absence the Warriors have gone 6-13. With him, they won 59% of their games. Without him, 32%.
Golden State made a calculated bet last season when they acquired Jimmy Butler, deciding that Curry’s window—however narrow it was getting—was still worth pushing through. It was a reasonable bet. Butler tore his ACL in January. Curry went down two weeks later. Two pillars of the same window, lost in the same month.
The Mavericks learned a version of this lesson themselves. Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis were supposed to form the bridge between the Luka era and whatever came next. Irving is missing this entire season during his ACL recovery and Davis was traded to Washington in a reset button maneuver. When you pin your hopes on players past thirty, availability is a variable, not a constant. Golden State found that out. Dallas found it out. The difference is Dallas now has a teenager who plays like he’s been doing this for a decade, and Golden State has Draymond Green playing out the string of a dynasty that won its last ring four years ago.
Curry is trending toward a return as early as Wednesday’s home game against the Nets. Tonight in Dallas is likely one of his last absences. It’s still not going to save the Warriors’ season as I suspect they are out in the play-in or an early round exit if they advance to the playoffs.
Four years is forever
I just find it genuinely hard to believe that the 2022 Western Conference Finals happened four years ago. I can still see Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock ground down to a fine pumice like substance by the end of that series because Jason Kidd had no one else he trusted to defend opposing scorers. Brunson and Dinwiddie starting without Luka in Utah. Maxi Kleber hitting threes in the desert like he’d been saving them all season. That whole run felt like the sky opening up—like Dallas had finally turned a corner and the next decade was going to be something.
Four years later, here are the players from those two rosters still on their original teams who may see action in tonight’s contest: Draymond Green.Dwight Powell. That’s the list.
Klay Thompson—who scored 32 points and hit eight threes to close out these Mavericks in Game 5 of that series—is now in a Dallas uniform, averaging 11.8 points in year two of a three-year deal on a team that has pivoted decisively away from anything he signed up for. He came here for a fifth ring. Luka got traded six months later. His contract runs through next season at $16.7 million and he may well be dealt in the offseason when whoever takes over as GM starts building their own thing around Cooper Flagg. We might be watching the final chapters of Klay Thompson’s career, which is a strange thing to sit with.
Part of this is just this old writer getting…older. Time moves faster at 50 than it did at 40, and four years that should feel like four years somehow feels like eighteen months. But part of it is genuinely how completely these franchises have transformed. The Warriors went from dynasty to expensive construction project gasping for the stars to align for just one more run. The Mavericks went from Finals contender to full rebuild, skipping several steps along the way thanks to the decision maker at the time who has Voldemort levels of popularity in Dallas.
What hasn’t changed is that these two teams still show up and compete. That’s worth something, even in March, even with the standings looking the way they do.
Where to watch
The Mavericks and Warriors tip off at 8:30 PM CT from American Airlines Center on Monday. Watch on Peacock. Go Mavs.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Ryan Strome scored 26 seconds into overtime and the Calgary Flames beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Sunday night for their third straight victory.
Victor Olofsson, Morgan Frost, with his team-leading 17th, and Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary. Devin Cooley made 32 saves.
Ryan McDonagh, Darren Raddysh and Pontus Holmberg scored for Tampa Bay, and Nikita Kucherov had an assist to push his NHL-leading points total to 119. Second in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning had won three in a row.
Jonas Johansson stopped 25 shots for Tampa Bay, coming off a 5-2 victory in Edmonton on Saturday night.
Olofsson and Frost scored in a 27-second span late in the first to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
Hometown center Tyson Gross made his NHL debut for the Flames. A Hobey Baker finalist this year, Gross signed with Calgary on March 12 after his season at St. Cloud State came to a conclusion. He had a penalty in 8:07 of ice time.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 1,000th career NHL goal combining the regular season and playoffs, but the league-leading Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime on Sunday.
Ovechkin’s goal, his 26th of the season, came from his traditional spot on the power play and tied the score with 5:43 left in regulation. He extended his career record to 923, nearly a year since passing Wayne Gretzky for the most in league history.
Gretzky has NHL 1,016 goals: 894 in the regular season and 122 in the playoffs, the latter being a record the “Great One” still holds.
U.S. Olympic gold medal winner Brock Nelson scored 82 seconds into 3-on-3 OT off a pass from Martin Necas, his 32nd goal of the season. Gabriel Landeskog and Nicolas Roy scored earlier for the Avalanche, who have won back-to-back games and on Friday became the first team this season to clinch a playoff spot.
Justin Sourdif also scored for the Capitals, whose two-game winning streak came to an end. It was Sourdif’s 14th goal of his first season with Washington following a late-June trade from back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida.
JETS 3, RANGERS 2, SO
NEW YORK (AP) — Gabriel Vilardi tied his career high with his 27th goal of the season and won the game in a shootout, captain Adam Lowry ended his lengthy scoring drought and Winnipeg ended its three-game losing streak by beating the New York.
Vilardi and Kyle Connor scored in the shootout to spoil the NHL debut of Rangers goaltending prospect Dylan Garand. The 23-year-old impressed by stopping 35 of the 37 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and was arguably one of the best players on the ice.
Garand’s biggest save came midway through the second period when he denied Connor on a shorthanded 2-on-0 breakaway. He was fortunate minutes later when Cole Perfetti’s shot from in tight clanked off the crossbar and out.
Lowry scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Perfetti and Lowry 13 minutes in that Garand had little chance of preventing. Lowry’s goal was his first since Jan. 13, which was 25 games ago.
HURRICANES 5, PENGUINS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Seth Jarvis scored on a power play and assisted on two other man-advantage goals as Carolina beat Pittsburgh.
Sebastian Aho and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored on power plays for the Hurricanes, who beat the league’s best penalty kill team for three goals.
Aho, who scored his 25th goal of the season, became the first player in Hurricanes or Hartford Whalers history with eight 25-goal seasons.
Jalen Chatfield and Mark Jankowski also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won seven of their last 10 games. Carolina has points in 24 of its last 29 games. Frederik Andersen made 18 saves for his fifth straight win. He’s 6-1 in his last seven starts.
Jarvis has a goal and six points in his last three games. Ehlers has six goals and 14 points in his last 11 games.
PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
CHICAGO (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game at 1:05 of overtime to lift Nashville to a win over Chicago.
Forsberg stole the puck from Andre Burakovsky behind the Chicago net, skated to the left side and fired a high shot past Spencer Knight for his 32nd goal, giving the Predators their longest winning streak of the season at four games.
Forsberg also set up Steven Stamkos’ team-leading 34th goal that tied it at 2 at 9:43 of the third period, about 11 seconds after a high-sticking penalty to Connor Bedard expired. Stamkos notched his third goal in two games by redirecting Forsberg’s pinpoint pass off the right post and in.
Bedard scored his team-leading 29th goal and Nick Lardis connected as the Blackhawks lost their second straight.
ISLANDERS 1, BLUE JACKETS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout of the season, Bo Horvat scored the only goal on the first shot of the game and New York moved back into a playoff spot with a victory over Columbus.
Sorokin bounced back a night after he allowed six goals on 32 shots before being pulled in New York’s 7-3 loss at Montreal. The shutout was his franchise-record 29th and Sorokin tied his single-season high set in 2021-22.
Horvat scored 1:25 into the game, taking a pass from Anders Lee and beating Jet Greaves with a snap shot. It was the earliest goal scored in an Islanders 1-0 victory in franchise history.
The Islanders snapped a two-game skid that knocked them briefly out of a playoff spot. With 85 points, they’re in the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference and tied with the Blue Jackets. Columbus is in third place in the Metropolitan Division because it has played one fewer game than New York.
Greaves finished with 21 saves for Columbus, which had its four-game winning streak and 12-game points streak stopped.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, STARS 2
DALLAS (AP) — Reilly Smith scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:38 left in the third period and Vegas beat Dallas, denying the Stars’ bid to clinch a playoff berth.
Vegas’ Mitch Marner skated into the high slot and his shot ricocheted off two Dallas players and landed near Smith, who scored from close range past a defenseless Casey DeSmith. The deciding goal came after the teams played more than seven minutes without a whistle.
Brayden McNabb and Ivan Barbashev also scored for Vegas, which snapped a three-game skid and won for just the third time in nine games. Adin Hill made 13 saves for the Golden Knights, who outshot Dallas 33-15.
Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston set a franchise single-season record with his NHL-leading 23rd power-play goal. Johnston held the mark for the most in a season since the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993-94. His latest moved him past Dino Ciccarelli (1986-87) for the most for the Minnesota-Dallas franchise.
