Sports

The Dallas Mavericks played the LA Clippers at home on Friday night for NBA Cup action, with both teams entering this game with major struggles. There was one win combined between the two teams in the month of November entering the game. So this was a good chance for the Mavs to get another win on the board. Except that quickly became unrealistic, at least at first glance. The Clippers roared out to a 15-point lead in the first nine minutes of the game. A mini Klay Thompson and D'Angelo Russell revival gave the Mavericks the lead for all of about four minutes in the second quarter, but the Clippers would regain control again with an 18-2 run. Dallas would occasionally bring the lead down to around four or five points, as players like Naji Marshall were really fighting hard in this matchup....

NEW YORK (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns scored 39 points and Landry Shamet added a career-high 36 points off the bench as the New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat 140-130 in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.Jordan Clarkson scored 25 points, Mikal Bridges had 15, and Josh Hart recorded his first triple-double of the season with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Knicks posted a season-high point total.Jalen Brunson missed his first game of the season due to a sprained right ankle sustained in Wednesday’s loss to Orlando. OG Anunoby left the game after two minutes with a left hamstring strain and did not return.Norman Powell scored a season-high 38 points to lead the Heat. Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 23. Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware scored 15 points apiece, while Pelle Larsson had 14 and Davio...

Austin Reaves scored 31, Luka Doncic had 24 points and 12 assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 118-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in an NBA Cup game on Friday night. Deandre Ayton made 10 of 11 shots and finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds, two steals and a block for the Lakers, who improved to 2-0 in cup play to remain atop West Group B. Trey Murphy III scored 35 for the Pelicans, who lost their fourth straight game, fell to 0-2 in the in-season tournament, and to a Western Conference-worst 2-10 overall. Rui Hachimura scored 14 and Marcus Smart 13 for the Lakers, who led 65-52 at halftime after Doncic fed Ayton for an alley-oop dunk. Doncic, Ayton and Reaves all scored during an 11-0 third quarter run that pushed Los Angeles' lead to 88-66, a surged capped b...

DETROIT -- The Philadelphia 76ers were rolling in the third quarter. They led the Detroit Pistons by 12 in the third quarter as they finally won the third frame as they opened the second half with a 23-5 blitz to turn a 9-point deficit into the double-digit advantage.Unfortunately, the Pistons dug deep and put on a rally of their own as they knocked off the Sixers 114-105 for their ninth straight win. Despite missing Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, Ausar Thompson, and Jaden Ivey, the Pistons were able to pull out an impressive win."We got away from some of the stuff we were doing," said Tyrese Maxey after the loss. "Got away from it, and when that happens, then it gets stagnant. There were a couple times we didn’t execute what we needed to execute."The Sixers were unable to ke...

A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll gauges Americans' attitudes on sports betting.The survey found less than a third believe gambling on sports is bad for sports and for society.A large share of Americans say sports betting is neither bad nor good for sports or society.Americans legally bet an estimated $3.1 billion on men’s and women’s NCAA tournament games this past March, up $400 million from the year before. And while that’s a big number, it’s a fraction of the nearly $150 billion the American Gaming Association estimates people wagered in total on sports in 2024.Super Bowl LIX this past February was the online sportsbook BetMGM’s single-biggest betting event ever, according to the New York Post. DraftKings, another sportsbook, reported it wrote more than 12 million bets on the ...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 30 points and Julius Randle added 26 points and 11 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away in the fourth quarter and beat the Sacramento Kings 124-110 in an NBA Cup game Friday night.Donte DiVincenzo made five 3-pointers and scored 20 points for the Timberwolves, who have won four in a row and are 2-0 in the NBA Cup. Naz Reid had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota.Domantas Sabonis led the Kings with 34 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Lavine scored 25 points, while Russell Westbrook extended his NBA record with his 205th career triple-double, posting 13 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.Sacramento, which gave up a season-high 144 points in a loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday, has lost five straight overall and is 0-2 in the NBA Cup.Le...

NEW ORLEANS — The Lakers weren’t hiding from the fact that up until Friday, their road trip had been “bad,” as Coach JJ Redick put it. And similar to earlier in the week, when they had an opportunity to bounce back from a trip-opening blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks with Monday’s victory over the Charlotte Hornets, the Lakers once again found themselves in a “get right” game on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. And the Lakers mostly accomplished what they wanted to, beating the Pelicans, 118-104, at the Smoothie King Center to improve to 9-4 overall and 2-2 on a trip that will end with Saturday’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Lakers’ victory moved them to 2-0 in NBA Cup Group Play. Austin Reaves led the Lakers with 31 points, including 20 in the second half, to g...

The Los Angeles Lakers landed a strong performance from their veteran center Deandre Ayton on Friday night. His showing comes after he landed some critical notes from the NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal.Ironically, Ayton became the first Lakers player to score at least 20 points and come down with at least 15 rebounds, while making 90 percent of his field goals since Shaq.Against the New Orleans Pelicans, Ayton checked in for 36 minutes. During that time, he made all but one of his 11 shots from the field. Ayton dropped 20 points, racked up 16 rebounds, and had two steals. He was a plus-35 on the court for the Lakers, who cruised past the struggling Pelicans on Friday.Loading twitter content...What Did Shaq Say About Ayton?O’Neal has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind on curren...

Dillon Brooks saw it coming.The NBA fined the Phoenix Suns' forward $25,000 for “making a lewd gesture” during the first half of Thursday’s 133-98 victory Nov. 13 over the Indiana Pacers at Mortgage Matchup Center.When asked about it after the game, Brooks predicted the fine amount.“I’m going to say that’s probably $25K,” Brooks said wearing black sunglasses during his postgame press conference. “But I’m excited, playing well and sometimes the emotions can get the best of me, but I reeled it in and kept going.”James Jones, the NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations, made the announcement Friday evening, Nov. 14. Jones was Phoenix’s general manager from the 2018-19 season when he was an interim GM to the end of the 2024-25 season.Need a news break? Check out the all ...

NEW ORLEANS — Lakers rookie forward Adou Thiero was available to make his NBA debut in Friday’s road game against the New Orleans Pelicans, the first time he has been cleared to play. Thiero, whom the Lakers selected out of Arkansas with the No. 36 pick in June’s NBA draft after moving up twice to acquire the pick to select him, wasn’t in the team’s rotation. Coach JJ Redick said ahead of Friday’s game that he expected Thiero to play in Saturday’s trip-ending matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, which will be the second night of a back-to-back set. “If he is available, and all goes well over the next 24 hours, I’m hoping he gets some run at some point in the next 48 hours,” Redick said. Thiero was cleared for live on-court contact work on Oct. 29 and has participated in five-on-five activ...