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Kiszla: Nuggets meekly cower in shadow of center Nikola Jokic’s 41 points in NBA Finals loss to Heat

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

Let’s hope Nuggets coach Michael Malone saved room in his suitcase for that timeout to take with him on the trip to Miami. Or maybe he ate it as a midnight snack. For whatever reason, Malone took home a timeout from a 111-108 loss to the Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.It is moments like this when a player, coach and team write basketball legacies. On this sad Sunday night, the Nuggets played like chumps instead of champs, failing to give the effort required to beat the desperate Heat.“It’s the (bleeping) Finals,” Nuggets veteran Jeff Green said. “Our energy has to be better.”Know what’s worse? This team’s mental fortitude could use a good swift kick in its tender feelings.Nikola Jokic was as good as any MVP can possibly be, scoring 41 points. But it wasn’t good enough, because guard Jamal Murray failed to come up big with a chance to send the game to overtime on a 3-point shot at the buzzer.“I think you guys have seen me ...

Keeler: Kevin Love, Heat wanted to punch Nuggets in the mouth. Mission accomplished. How will Denver respond? “We were a lot more aggressive.”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

The Nuggets have blood on their lips and a home loss on their NBA Finals resume. To hear Kevin Love tell it after Game 2, that first part was Miami’s masterplan from the stinking jump.“I think just getting into their paint a little bit more was good for us,” offered Love, the veteran power forward whose insertion into the Heat’s starting lineup, and his 10 rebounds, helped Miami hand Denver its first postseason defeat at Ball Arena this spring.“So we had those opportunities last game that we didn’t take advantage of. I think that’s why the free throws (in Game 1) were low. So again, I think we were a lot more aggressive in attacking.”No wonder Pat Riley was smirking as he left the visiting locker room Sunday night. The Heat wanted to punch the Nuggets in the mouth and see how they responded. So far? 0-1.Of reserve center Cody Zeller’s 6-foot-11 frame, 6-7 of it is made up of bony elbows. So of course it was Zeller, the former Indiana Hoosiers big man, who set the tone wi...

Nuggets disappear in second half against Heat, suffer first home loss since March 30

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Erik Spoelstra bristled at the suggestion the Miami Heat somehow solved Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets by allowing the superstar to score at will while taking away his passing lanes and his penchant to elevate his teammates.“Yeah, that’s ridiculous,” Spoelstra interjected after Miami’s 111-108 win Sunday night sent the series back to Florida tied 1-1 with the home-court advantage suddenly in possession of the eighth-seeded Heat.“That’s the untrained eye that says something like that,” the Miami coach added.Maybe so, but the top-seeded Nuggets are 0-3 this postseason when Jokic scores 40 or more points. Their last loss in the playoffs was at Phoenix in Round 2 when he scored 53.Jokic is averaging a triple-double in the playoffs. He had 41 points and 11 rebounds Sunday night but just four assists — a season low — as the Nuggets lost at home for the first time in 66 nights.“This guy is an incredible player,” Spoelstra said. “You know, twice in two seasons...

No. 1 Wake Forest dominant, joins Oral Roberts and 4 others moving on in NCAA Tournament

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

No. 1 national seed Wake Forest completed one of the most dominant runs through an NCAA Tournament regional Sunday and joined six others advancing to super regionals, including Oral Roberts of the Summit League.The Demon Deacons beat George Mason 15-1 in the final in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and outscored their three opponents by a combined 48-7.Oral Roberts extended its win streak to 21 games and became the eighth No. 4 regional seed since 2006 to make a super regional when it held off Dallas Baptist 6-5 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.No. 7 Virginia, No. 14 Indiana State, No. 15 South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also wrapped up regionals.Virginia defeated East Carolina 8-3 in Charlottesville to make a super regional for the second time in three years. Indiana State, hosting a regional for the first time, won 11-8 over Iowa to make its first super regional. South Carolina, which entered the tournament with losses in 11 of 14 games, beat Campbell 16-7 and is back in supers for the f...

Stock market today: Asian stocks follow Wall St up after strong US jobs report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Monday after strong U.S. hiring data coupled with scant wage gains suggested a possible recession might be further away, but also that inflationary pressures are weakening.Tokyo’s benchmark gained almost 2%. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul also rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index leaped 1.5% on Friday, putting it on the verge of entering what traders call a “bull market” after rising nearly 20% in seven months.Government data on Friday showed employers hired more people than expected in May but wage gains are slowing. That suggests the economy is strong but upward pressure on inflation might be weakening, reducing the need for the Federal Reserve to cool business activity with more rate hikes.“Markets appear poised to ride last week’s upward momentum as bubbly risk appetite finds a comfort pillow in hopes for a U.S. soft landing,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report.The Nikkei 225 in ...

Braves’ Marcell Ozuna benched after not hustling on 415-foot single

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Marcell Ozuna stayed at home plate way too long admiring his 415-foot single.The Atlanta Braves slugger spent most of the rest of the game watching from the bench.Ozuna was removed from the Braves’ 8-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning Sunday after he failed to hustle on his long hit in the fourth inning in his second at-bat.Ozuna’s towering shot off Zac Gallen looked as though it was either going over the wall or into the glove of Arizona center fielder Jake McCarthy.The ball instead hit an overhang just below the line for a home run. Ozuna was not running hard while watching the ball and had to stop at first.Braves manager Brian Snitker replaced him as Atlanta’s designated hitter with Sean Murphy.“I guarantee he feels worse than I do for having to take him out,” Snitker said.Ozuna, a two-time All-Star, is hitting .227 with 11 home runs and 23 RBIs in 44 games this season. —AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitt...

León beats LAFC again, claims 1st CONCACAF Champions League title

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lucas Di Yorio scored in the first half, and Club León secured its first CONCACAF Champions League title with a 1-0 victory over Los Angeles FC on Sunday night.León won 3-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg of the final 2-1 in Mexico on Wednesday night. The Liga MX club thrilled its thousands of traveling supporters with another winning effort at LAFC’s daunting BMO Stadium, highlighted by Di Yorio’s goal in the 20th minute.“This is a very difficult team to beat,” León coach Nicolás Larcamón said. “But we worked very well together in a tough situation, and we had a good plan.”León finished sixth in the Liga MX standings last month, but took out the defending Major League Soccer champions with superior play in both legs. León is the ninth Mexican club to win the Champions League in its current format, which began in 2002.LAFC won both the Supporters’ Shield and the MLS Cup last fall, but fell short of an unprecedented treble for an MLS club...

Arkansas tops Santa Clara in elimination game, 6-4, earns TCU rematch at Fayetteville Regional

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Jared Wegner and Kendall Diggs each homered and Arkansas beat Santa Clara 6-4 in an elimination game at the Fayetteville Regional on Sunday night.Arkansas advances to a rematch with TCU on Monday. The Horned Frogs walloped Arkansas earlier Sunday, 20-5, to send the Razorbacks into the elimination game with Santa Clara. A TCU win Monday earns them the regional championship and its berth in the super regional. The top-seeded Razorbacks must beat TCU twice to claim the crown and advance.Arkansas built a 4-0 lead through the first four innings but Santa Clara rallied in the bottom of the fifth. Eammon Lance doubled to deep left to score two runs, then scored on an infield throwing error to make it 4-3.Reliever Will McEntire came on in relief to start the seventh inning and retired eight straight Broncos before giving up a single to Malcolm Williams, who went to second when McEntire balked on an attempted pickoff when he saw no one covering first base, then took...

Hogan’s 2-run HR helps Oral Roberts win 21st straight, clinch super regional berth

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Matt Hogan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and Oral Roberts beat Dallas Baptist 6-5 Sunday night to extend the nation’s longest active win streak and win the Stillwater Regional. Oral Roberts (48-11), which has won a program record (D-I era) 21 consecutive games and is just the eighth No. 4 seed in history to win a regional. The Golden Eagles’ only other super regional appearance came in 2006. Miguel Santos led off the top of the sixth with a single before Tom Poole and Nate Rombach hit back-to-back home runs for Dallas Baptist (47-16) to make it 4-4 but Hogan’s homer in the home half of the inning gave Oral Roberts the lead for good. Holden Breeze hit a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first but Santos led off the top of the second with a home run for Dallas Baptist to make it 2-1. ORU loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning before Jacob Godman scored when Justin Quinn reached on a fielder̵...

POLITICO Pro Morning Central Banker: OPEC’s extra cuts — Payroll accuracy queried — Digital £ consultation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:24 GMT

Our one-stop source for central banking & monetary policy news.View in your browser or listen to audioBy GEOFFREY SMITHSNEAK PEEK— Hot U.S. payrolls numbers raise eyebrows in the tech community. — OPEC agrees to extend output cuts into 2024 with Saudi Arabia making an additional voluntary cut.— U.K. extends CBDC consultation deadline after omitting key question. POLICY TICKERECB 3.75% ⇡ — BOE 4.5% ⇡ — FED 5.35% ⇡— SNB 1.5% ⇡— BOJ -0.10% ⇣— RBA 3.85% ⇡— PBOC 3.65%⇣— CBR 7.5% ⇣ — SARB 8.25% ⇡Good morning. I hope you all remembered your Factor 30 over what was an eventful weekend. Those that didn’t may be feeling a little bit sore around the neck and (I’m projecting here) bald patch. But hey, things could be a lot worse — as French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is probably thinking to himself after Standard & Poor’s relented and kept France’s credit rating steady at AA. Rival Fitch had already downgraded it to AA- in April, and a second downgraded wou...