Digest: Hawks survive comeback to beat Celtics
NBA: Jeff Teague stymied another big Boston comeback, taking matters into his own hands in the closing minutes to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 102-101 victory over the Celtics in Game 1 of the opening-round playoff series in Atlanta, Saturday night.
Teague scored 23 points and doled out 12 assists, making sure Atlanta maintained the home-court edge after the gritty Celtics rallied from a 19-point deficit.
With the game tied at 88, Teague worked the pick-and-roll to set up a layup for Al Horford. The Celtics missed and the Hawks again got the ball to Teague, who found Paul Millsap alone under the basket for a dunk that pushed Atlanta to a 92-88 lead with 2:56 remaining.
The Celtics had a chance to tie in the final minute, but Evan Turner missed an open 3-pointer.
Curry dazzles in opener: Stephen Curry dazzled from long range and drove to the hoop with fire and flair, scoring 24 points before tweaking his ankle as the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 104-78 in Oakland, in their playoff opener.
Draymond Green added 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Warriors carried momentum from setting the all-time wins record Wednesday night with No. 73 into a testy playoff opener some 60 hours later.
Pacers win game 1: Paul George scored 33 points, Monta Ellis had 15 and Indiana beat Toronto 100-90 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in Toronto. Jonas Valanciunas fouled out after scoring 12 points and setting a Raptors’ playoff record with 19 rebounds.
Donald soars, Day falters in RBC
golf: Luke Donald shot a 2-under 69 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, while top-ranked Jason Day had a season-worst 79 to fall nine shots back with one round left.
Day, tied for the lead entering the round, has won two of his past three PGA Tour events and figured to contend at Harbour Town. Instead, the Australian made eight bogeys and a double bogey. Donald had a 7-under 206 total.
Short takes lead in Mitsubishi Classic: Wes Short Jr. shot a 5-under 67 in the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Classic in Duluth, Georgia, to take a lead into the final round for the first time in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
Short had a 7-under 137 total at TPC Sugarloaf for a one-shot advantage over Colin Montgomerie.
Lee wins Lotte Championship: Minjee Lee won the Lotte Championship in Kapolei, Hawaii, for her second LPGA Tour title, closing with an 8-under 64 for a one-stroke victory.
The 19-year-old Australian played a seven-hole stretch in 6 under with a chip-in eagle on the par-5 13th and four birdies.
Aguero’s hat trick gives Man City 3-0 win
soccer: Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick to cap Manchester City’s best week of the season, a 3-0 victory in London, against a toothless Chelsea fortifying his team’s grip on England’s Champions League places.
Sounders beat Union: Chad Marshall headed in a corner kick late in the first half and hometown rookie Jordan Morris scored his first career goal to help the Seattle Sounders beat the Philadelphia Union 2-1 in Seattle.
Seattle (2-3-1) is 2-0-1 in its last three games after losing its first three.
Holtby makes 41 saves in Capitols game 2 win
NHL: Washington’s Braden Holtby made 41 saves, Philadelphia’s Steve Mason gave up a goal from 101 feet away and Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play and the Capitals beat the Flyers 4-1 in Game 2 at Washington to take a 2-0 series lead.
Ovechkin’s 37th Stanley Cup playoff goal was unexpected. Mason whiffed at the puck on what turned out to be the game-winner.
Rangers even quarterfinal series: Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard scored 18 seconds apart in the second period and Henrik Lundqvist looked just fine dealing with an eye injury and New York stopped Pittsburgh, 4-2 in Pittsburgh to even the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one game each.
Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider also scored for the Rangers. J.T. Miller added three assists.
Dallas takes 2-0 lead: Antoine Roussel scored from behind the net without the puck touching a stick and Jamie Benn had an unassisted goal and Dallas beat Minnesota 2-1 in Dallas for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.
The Stars scored first on Roussel’s strange goal, 4 minutes into the second period, when the puck ricocheted off his skate and into the goal.
Nadal rallies for win in Monte Carlo semifinal
tennis: Rafael Nadal beat Andy Murray 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Monaco to play for his ninth Monte Carlo Masters title.
If Nadal beats Gael Monfils in the final, he will earn a record equaling 28th Masters title, tied with Novak Djokovic.
US beats Australia at Fed Cup: The United States sealed a return to the elite World Group in Fed Cup tennis after Coco Vandeweghe beat Sam Stosur in three sets in Brisbane, Australia, to give the Americans an unassailable 3-0 lead over Australia in their playoff.
Vandeweghe filled in for Madison Keys in the opening reverse singles and came from a set and a break down to beat Stosur 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 on temporary indoor clay court at Pat Rafter Arena.
Loyola to investigate allegations: Loyola University plans to investigate its women’s basketball program after allegations of player mistreatment surfaced involving the team coached by Sheryl Swoopes.
The details of the allegations have not been released, but Krause confirmed that 10 of the 12 players that were expected to return from the current team have been granted or asked for releases to transfer from the private Chicago university.
Rally Cycling sweeps at nationals: The men’s and women’s teams from Rally Cycling captured titles in Greenville, South Carolina, at the USA Cycling professional criterium and team time trial national championships.
The men’s team of Jesse Anthony, Adam de Vos, Evan Huffman, Danny Pate and Tom Zirbel covered the course in 37 minutes, 47.50 seconds to beat Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team.
Creator wins Arkansas Derby: Creator used a strong late kick to pull away and win the Arkansas Derby by 1 1/4 lengths in Hot Springs, Arkansas, giving trainer Steve Asmussen his third victory in the $1 million race.
The colt lagged behind the leaders for much of the 1 1/8-mile race before charging ahead late.
Oklahoma sweeps gymnastics titles: Oklahoma successfully defended its NCAA men’s gymnastics title with a dominant performance.
The Sooners scored 443.4 points in Columbus, Ohio, to beat runner-up Stanford by nearly 10 points for their 10th national title.
The Oklahoma women’s team ended Florida’s three-year run of team titles at the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships, in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Sooners scored 197.675 points to win the school’s second national championship.