Worldwide Sports News

Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, April 2.

The Thunder have won the first two games of the four-game season series. The fourth game will be played on April 7.

The Thunder have won three straight games and will enter the game as the Western Conference’s top team with a 60-16 record. The Lakers have won 13 of their last 14 games and compiled a 50-26 overall record. The Lakers’ recent success has helped the team push its way up the conference standings; they currently sit in third place.

Thursday night's game will serve as one of the toughest games remaining on the Lakers' regular-season schedule and provide a sense of where the team stands against one of the league's best teams ahead of the postseason.

The Lakers have not made it past the first round since 2023, when the team reached the conference finals as a seventh seed but was then swept by the Denver Nuggets.

This is the time of the NBA season, with two weeks to go before the start of the playoffs, when teams want to be playing their best basketball.

Squads that are playing well late in regular seasons often outperform their perceived record and can go on deep playoff runs. Sometimes it’s the case of a team finally finding its identity, sometimes it’s the return of an injured star reinvigorating a lineup and sometimes, frankly, it’s a case of veteran teams coasting through much of the season, saving their best for when games matter most.

Yet, that isn’t necessarily the case for everyone. Some teams have hit recent struggles and are sputtering headed into the end of the 2025-26 season.

Here’s a look at who’s hot in the NBA and who is decidedly not:

There will be plenty of star power in Indianapolis for the 2026 Final Four, but don't forget about the unsung heroes.

Connecticut, Illinois, Arizona and Michigan made the national semifinals with their major playmakers having the primary roles. But what has allowed this quartet to reach the biggest stage in men's college basketball is that they also get significant contributions from people outside the spotlight. It's going to take more than the top guys to cut down the nets − just look at UConn's Braylon Mullins in the Elite Eight.

So, which under-the-radar players have the chance to step up and be the catalyst for a national championship? Here is one player to watch for each team.

Cooper Flagg, along with his Duke roommate Kon Knueppel, is generally seen as the leading candidates for NBA Rookie of the Year. It’s been a tremendous year for both former Blue Devils.

In this interview with Pat McAfee, Flagg discusses his rookie season to date. He touches on something that Kevin Garnett discovered in his rookie season that was a bit of a surprise for him and for a lot of underage rookies: the NBA is a lonely place.

Garnett talked about sitting alone in his hotel room; Flagg talks about his teammates being grown men with wives and children.

What he doesn’t mention is the hard-living nature of many NBA players: bars, strip clubs, predatory women who zoom in on more naive players.

It’s not an easy life for a mature player, so it can’t be easy for a 19-year-old either.

In the description, one of the interviewers on McAfee’s show asks Flagg what his Welcome-To-The-NBA moment was. Flagg says it came in practice when he tried to dunk on teammate PJ Washington, who, at 27, is a good bit older and more physically mature. That, Flagg says, “…just did not go very well.”

One wonders what it will be like in a few years when Flagg is bigger and stronger.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona has a massive 6-2 lead to protect against Real Madrid when it hosts the second leg of their Women’s Champions League quarterfinal on Thursday.

The Catalan club is in a commanding position to make a record-extending eighth straight semifinal while Madrid would need an unprecedented quarterfinal turnaround to reach the last four for the first time.

Three-time champion Barcelona seeks to reclaim the title it lost to Arsenal last season. Barcelona topped the league phase with an unbeaten campaign that included 20 goals scored and three against.

Madrid, in its second consecutive quarterfinal, was eliminated by Arsenal last season. It finished seventh in the league phase.

Thursday’s game will mark Barcelona’s return to Camp Nou for the first time since the stadium partially reopened in November amid ongoing renovations.

“I’m incredibly excited, very motivated, and eager to prepare for the match and train at the Camp Nou beforehand,” Barcelona coach Pere Romeu said. “It will be a wonderful day to be able to manage a match in that beautiful stadium.”

Barcelona has beaten Madrid five times in all competitions this season.

The winner will play Bayern Munich.

In the night's other quarterfinal, Wolfsburg takes a 1-0 lead against OL Lyonnes to Lyon. The German side hopes to become the third club to eliminate the French record eight-time champion in 17 quarterfinals.

Defending champion Arsenal awaits the winner.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

It all comes down to this. What wild things will go down in the Final Four?

There have been some incredible moments that have made the 2026 Men's NCAA Tournament unforgettable, truly encapsulating what makes March Madness such a spectacle. It only makes sense those instant classics continue on the sport's biggest stage, with Arizona, Michigan, Connecticut and Illinois headed to Indianapolis, two wins away from becoming national champions.

With just three games left in the season, it's time for one more batch of bold predictions, just in time for the 2026 Final Four.

King of the Blue Bloods? How UConn can pass Duke this weekend

After a dominant victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, the San Antonio Spurs will travel south for a matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers. It’s the third and final regular-season matchup between the two squads. However, it may not be the last time they play this year. The Clippers have won 5 of their last 6 games and are looking like a serious contender for the play-in tournament and the seventh seed.

The Clippers and Spurs have played some interesting games this season. In both matchups, one team took a massive lead only for the other to come back and make the game interesting. Despite the funkiness of both games, the Spurs are 2-0 in the matchup this year. A win on the second night of a back-to-back would be a statement victory for San Antonio against a potential first-round playoff opponent.

San Antonio Spurs (58-18) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (39-37)

April 2nd, 2026 | 9:30 PM CT

Watch: Fan Duel | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)

Spurs Injuries: Filed by 1 p.m. CT.

Clippers Injuries: Bradley Beal – Out (hip), Isaiah Jackson – Out (ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser – Out (foot)

What to watch for:

First quarter offense

The Spurs score the second-most first-quarter points in the NBA. On the second night of a back-to-back on a West Coast road trip against a tough Clippers squad, getting out to a hot start will be important. San Antonio lost the first quarter in both games they’ve played against the Clippers this season. Los Angeles can fill it up, especially from three. San Antonio has to come ready to play, even on short rest, if they want to walk away from LA with a win.

Small ball

Luke Kornet missed the Spurs’ last game against the Warriors. Mason Plumlee backed up Victor Wembanyama with mixed results. San Antonio found more success when they went to a small-ball lineup with Carter Bryant playing center. The Clippers will be without both Isaiah Jackson and Yanic Konan Niederhauser, so they’ll likely have to play small themselves. This could turn into a fast-paced, perimeter-oriented game when Wembanyama and Brook Lopez head to the bench.

Guarding the perimeter

The Clippers have shot the ball well from three against the Spurs this season. They are 7th in the NBA in three-point percentage. San Antonio is an average team at defending the three-point line. With Wembanyama roaming the paint, teams are forced to attack them from deep. With players like Darius Garland, Brook Lopez, and Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers have multiple players who can make it rain from outside. San Antonio is going to have to slow down LA from deep to win this one.

Phew. Boston’s 147-129 thrashing of Miami was something else.

It’s always tough sledding against the Heat, but a 53-point first quarter (11-15 from 3) and 80 points in the first half are indicative of just how much these teams have changed. The Heat and Celtics are on both ends of the pace spectrum at 104.4 vs. 95.46 possessions per game respectively. However, Boston was happy to ramp up the speed. Even with more possessions to deal with, they finished with just seven turnovers and allowed only twelve offensive boards.

The Celtics are 2-1 on their road trip against potential first round opponents and continue to be a steady +600 to raise Banner 19 with our friends at FanDuel and the favorite to rep the Eastern Conference in the 2026 NBA Finals.

Jaylen Brown

37 minutes, 43 points (4-10 from 3, 5-7 from the free throw line, 17-29 from the field), 3 rebounds, 7 assists, one turnover, +9

Achilles tendinitis cost Brown two games last week and he looked a little unsettled by his own standards in his Atlanta homecoming on Monday.

Andrew Wiggins was a defensive menace against Brown and Tatum in the 2022 NBA Finals, but Brown enacted some revenge, scoring the first 11 points for Boston on 4-4 shooting. He was more relaxed and deliberate with his drives and post-ups and didn’t seem hellbent on just creating contact and trying to draw fouls.

By the end of the night, Brown tallied 43 points on South Beach after ESPN’s Doris Burke called him a dangerous scorer on all three levels. The seven assists with just one turnover was a nice bounce back after six TOs against the Hawks.

Grade: A+

Jayson Tatum

37 minutes, 25 points (4-13 from 3, 3-4 from the free throw line, 9-21 from the field), 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals, +7

A masterclass in Charlotte helped earn Tatum the Player of the Week honor and after two days off, he continued his recovery to that all-around game that made him an MVP-candidate over the last three seasons before his Achilles tear.

How about a triple-double against a heated rival?

25-18-11 plus some effective defense against Bam Adebayo is another notch on Tatum’s belt.

Grade: A+

Neemias Queta

33 minutes, 16 points (6-8 from the free throw line, 5-7 from the field), 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 blocks, +28

Queta does so many unsung things on the court like setting wide screens on the perimeter and rebounding the ball, but sometimes, it’s just nice to see him make a couple of loud blocks on the defensive end.

In the fourth quarter, with all eyes on the Jays, Queta was the beneficiary at the dunker spot and grabbing offensive rebounds on pursuit alone.

Grade: A-

Sam Hauser

29 minutes, 23 points (5-7 from 3, 0-1 from the free throw line, 9-11 from the field), 3 rebounds, one steal, one block, +23

After coming off the bench during days off for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Hauser was back in the starting lineup and started off hot, hitting his first six shots including five 3s in the first quarter.

After halftime, Hauser went to his mid-range game. After Miami cut it to ten heading into the fourth, Hauser attacked a pair of closeouts for a couple of 12-footers that kept the Heat at bay. It was a nice breakout for Hauser after scuffling through the road trip.

Grade: A

Derrick White

34 minutes, 6 points (0-1 from 3, 3-4 from the field), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, one block, +6

If you’ve read the last couple player grades, we’ve documented White’s shooting slump over the last several games. He only took four shots in the game, but his fingerprints are all over the win. This sequence is akin to that scene in Top Gun: Maverick when they’re playing dogfight football on the beach.

Grade: B-

Payton Pritchard

31 minutes, 14 points (4-7 from 3, 5-9 from the field), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, one block, +20

Pritchard was the fifth leading scorer in this offensive exhibition and acted as more of a play finisher rather than a playmaker last night. That will happen with Tatum and Brown going nuclear on the Heat.

Grade: B+

Baylor Scheierman

18 minutes, 8 points (2-2 from 3, 3-4 from the field), 2 rebounds, 4 assists, one turnover, one steal +14

Scheierman’s contributions can often go unseen. His blue collar work shouldn’t go underappreciated. When he shoulders a drive from the free throw line to the baseline and makes the right pass around the horn don’t seem like much, but it’s that consistency that has made him a mainstay in the rotation.

But every once in a while, Baylor Showmanship will pull out the bag of Pistol Pete passes and connect on a fancy behind-the-back:

Grade: B

Luka Garza

15 minutes, 12 points (2-4 from 3, 5-10 from the field), 2 rebounds, one block, -10

Former CelticsBlogger Sam LaFrance over at Hardwood Houdini documented Garza’s near-the-rim shot package and they were all on display in Miami: the decel step, the up-and-under, and his three-point shot. Twelve points in under fifteen minutes is making it easy to forget that Nikola Vucevic is still out with a fractured finger.

Grade: A

Jordan Walsh

5 minutes, 0 points (0-1 from the field), one rebound, one assist, one steal, one block, -7

The defensive demon notched two stocks (steals plus blocks) in a game where both teams combined for 276 points. Sometimes, you’re a square peg for a round hole.

Grade: B

DNP-CDs: Hugo Gonzalez, Ron Harper Jr., Max Shulga, Amari Williams, John Tonje, Charles Bassey

Inactives: Nikola Vucevic