DENVER (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder went 68-14 in the regular season and swept Memphis in the first round of the playoffs. But the Denver Nuggets, who won it all two years ago, have forced a Game 7 Sunday in Oklahoma City. The teams have played 10 times this season and split them five games each. That tie gets broken Sunday with the winner advancing to face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
DENVER (AP) — Now this was finally a role Julian Strawther could sink his teeth into, even if it cost him one. Playing meaningful extended minutes for first time in the series, the Denver Nuggets guard provided a spark off the bench as he scored all 15 of his points in the second half Thursday night. It helped propel Denver to a 119-107 win over the Thunder and force a decisive Game 7 Sunday in Oklahoma City. Strawther had his prosthetic tooth pop out in the fourth quarter when he took contact from an Oklahoma City player.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jayson Tatum had just been carried off the court with a season-ending injury minutes before the Celtics were pushed to the brink of elimination when they played at Madison Square Garden earlier this week. The players were decidedly down. The defending NBA champions are certainly not out. They return to New York on Friday night for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, believing they can extend the series and the Knicks’ 25-year wait to get back to the conference finals. The Celtics are trying to become the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit. If they win Friday, Game 7 would be in Boston on Monday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The PGA Championship has the strongest field of the majors. It was just hard to find them at Quail Hollow. Jhonattan Vegas birdied five of his last six holes for a 64. That gives the Venezuelan a two-shot lead over PGA Tour rookie Ryan Gerard and Cam Davis of Australia. Masters champion Rory McIlroy shot 74. Scottie Scheffler had a 69 and Xander Schauffele a 72. For the first time in at least 30 years, no one from the top 10 in the world was in the top 10 on the leaderboard after one round of a major.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani had quite a game on his bobblehead night. Two home runs, six runs. Then Jhonny Pereda struck out him out. The Athletics’ backup catcher faced Ohtani in the eighth inning Thursday night. Pereda gave up three straight hits against the bottom of the Dodgers’ order. With Los Angeles leading 17-2, Ohtani came up with a chance to pile on. Pereda’s first four pitches were between 62 and 68 mph. Ohtani took a called first strike and fouled off the another pitch. Then Perada threw an 89-mph fastball. Ohtani’s foul tip was caught and one of the major leagues’ home-run leaders went down swinging. Perada kept the ball as a souvenir.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored the go-ahead goal with just under two minutes left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 5 on Thursday night, winning the second-round series and advancing to the Eastern Conference final for a second time in three years. Captain Jordan Staal got his first goal of the playoffs, and Frederik Andersen stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced, including several on Alex Ovechkin. After a give and go with defenseman Sean Walker, Svechnikov’s shot got through Logan Thompson from a bad angle with 1:59 remaining, and that was the difference in a game that was back and forth. Seth Jarvis sealed it with an empty-net goal with 26.1 seconds remaining.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Thursday night to force a sixth game in the Western Conference semifinal series. With Edmonton awaiting the winner in the conference final, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets avoided elimination to send the series back to Dallas for Game 6 on Saturday night. Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and Mark Scheifele and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored to back Hellebuyck. Jake Oettinger stopped 31 shots for Dallas. Stars captain Jamie Benn sucker-punched Scheifele during a late scrum, with Benn given a misconduct penalty and possibly facing a suspension for Game 6. Scheifele opened the scoring at 6:17 of the second period with a shot that deflected off two Dallas players.
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Brian Santiago takes over as BYU athletic director with a mandate to keep the school nationally relevant in football and basketball. The school promoted Santiago to replace longtime athletic director Tom Holmoe on Tuesday, elevating him from deputy athletic director. More than 50 candidates were interviewed for the position before BYU decided to promote from within the athletic department. Santiago served as BYU’s deputy athletic director since 2017 after spending the previous nine years as a senior associate athletic director. He started at BYU as an assistant basketball coach under Steve Cleveland in 1997 before moving into athletic administration.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady left Stanford to sign an NIL deal worth more than $1 million. Despite the pressure, she has delivered. She has led the Red Raiders to the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles. Now, the reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is trying to get the Red Raiders to the Women’s College World Series, where she twice led Stanford to the national semifinals. She has a 26-5 record with a nation-leading 0.81 ERA and has 263 strikeouts in 181 innings. She’ll take another step when the Red Raiders host Brown in regional play.
UNDATED (AP) — With so much change in college athletics, a number of unusual ideas have been proposed in an effort to corral the chaos. Some of the topics include making athletes employees of their schools and revamped contracts that include not only buyouts but incentives to stay. One coach suggested two-way contracts to give athletes a chance to improve at a lower-profile school. In Division III, a pilot program this fall will allow athletes to complete coursework at one institution while competing for another.
THURSDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Cincinnati 7 Chicago White Sox 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 19 Athletics 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Minnesota 4 Baltimore 0
Final Tampa Bay 8 Toronto 3
Final Texas 1 Houston 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Atlanta 5 Washington 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Denver 119 Oklahoma City 107
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Carolina 3 Washington 1
Final Winnipeg 4 Dallas 0