LeBron questions retirement after Lakers are eliminated from playoffs
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James began the final game of his 20th NBA season with the highest-scoring postseason half of his matchless NBA career. He ended it by questioning retirement after his Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the Western Conference finals. James set a personal record with 31 points in the first half of Game 4, but the Denver Nuggets ended the Lakers’ season with a 113-111 victory. The 38-year-old James finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and immense frustration after Los Angeles’ remarkable late-season rally ended with four consecutive defeats.
Celtics look to pull off the impossible, as Heat stand on brink of making NBA Finals
MIAMI (AP) — Blown out in Game 3, facing elimination in Game 4, tasked with engineering the sort of comeback that no team in their league has ever pulled off before. This may sound familiar to Boston fans. Yes, what the Red Sox did to the New York Yankees in 2004 was discussed around the Boston Celtics on Monday. A day after a debacle in Miami to fall into a 3-0 deficit in these Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics will try to extend the series and at least delay a Heat celebration in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
7 people arrested in Spain linked to racial abuse cases against Vinícius Júnior
MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they have arrested seven people accused of racially abusing Real Madrid player Vinícius Júnior. Three have been arrested in Valencia for alleged abuse against Vinícius in a Spanish league match on Sunday. Four were arrested in Madrid for allegedly hanging an effigy of the player off a highway bridge in January. The effigy was hanged by the neck on the morning of a derby match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey. Along with it was a banner with the words “Madrid hates Real.”
Weight watching, injury dangers, caustic feedback add to mental health woes for horse racing jockeys
BALTIMORE (AP) — The horse racing community was stunned earlier this year when 23-year-old Avery Whisman and 29-year-old Alex Canchari died by suicide less than six weeks apart. The deaths sparked renewed conversation among jockeys about their mental health. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith has seen colleagues struggle with the stress of the dangerous job. He and other jockeys worry horse racing has lagged behind other sports in accepting that mental health is as important as physical health. Jockeys and stakeholders hope increased attention on the subject prompts real change.
Fans will need to pre-register for free tickets to Paris’ gargantuan 2024 Olympic opening ceremony
PARIS (AP) — France’s government has for the first time publicly laid out some of the gritty details of its security planning for the unprecedented opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. The interior minister, the organizing committee president for the Paris Games and the French capital’s mayor signed an 11-page security protocol for the gala on July 26, 2024. It explains steps that will be taken to shield the huge crowds and 10,500 athletes from the threats of terrorism, drone attacks and other risks. A notable change is that the hundreds of thousands of spectators who will watch the open-air extravaganza for free will need to pre-register for tickets. They’ll be spread along the 3 1/2-mile parade route on the River Seine. The protocol says the show will last about 3 1/2 hours.
All eyes on rookie QBs and Aaron Rodgers as NFL teams kick off practices
Rookie quarterbacks will get much of the attention this week when most NFL teams hit the field for non-contact practices. Twenty teams kicked off their voluntary organized team activities on Monday and 10 more will do so on Tuesday. Only the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles and the AFC runner-up Cincinnati Bengals aren’t holding workouts this week. Teams are allowed, per the collective bargaining agreement, to hold 10 days of practices without pads and no live contact over a four-week span. They can run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
Nuggets shaking off team history, staking claim for first NBA title
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Denver Nuggets played with disruption on their minds in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. Everybody on that tight-knit bench Monday night seemed to know their team had never reached the NBA Finals, had never swept a playoff opponent and had never beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in a postseason series. After Nikola Jokic conjured his latest triple-double playoff masterpiece and Gordon blocked LeBron James’ shot at the buzzer, the Nuggets had torn up their franchise’s history with a clinching 113-111 victory. This often-overlooked franchise will be favored to win its first championship when the Nuggets get back on the court in nine days.
Golden Knights keep rallying, lead Stars 2-0 with NHL West final moving to Dallas
DALLAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights certainly know how to rally when they’ve fallen behind in these NHL playoffs. The Knights have trailed in 11 of their 13 games this postseason, including 10 times when the opposing team scored first. But they have a 2-0 series lead over the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Dallas. The Stars scored first in both games at Vegas before losing in overtime. Vegas has eight comeback victories this postseason. That includes their last four games to match an NHL record for the longest streak.
Graham Rahal gets Indy 500 ride as replacement for Stefan Wilson, who fractured vertebra in practice
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Graham Rahal will replace the injured Stefan Wilson in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Wilson was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra following a practice crash on Monday. He was ruled out of the race, and that left car owners Dennis Reinbold and Don Cusick scrambling for a replacement less than a week before the green flag. Rahal was their first choice, but he’d spent his career tied to Honda, which powers the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team, while the Dreyer & Reinbold runs engines from rival Chevrolet. It took some tricky negotiations to get clearance from both manufacturers and sponsors and get the deal done.
A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper let go after racial slur on air
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland Athletics broadcaster Glen Kuiper was let go by NBC Sports California after using a racial slur during a telecast while describing a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Kuiper was suspended by the network earlier this month following his slur that aired during a pregame segment of an A’s game against the Kansas City Royals on May 5. Kuiper talked about a trip to the museum with colleague Dallas Braden but seemingly mispronounced the word “Negro,” making it sound instead like a slur. NBC Sports California says after an internal review that the network decided to “end its relationship” with Kuiper.
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