NBA 101

NBA playoff watch: 76ers, Hornets clash in key seeding matchup

Can Philadelphia or Charlotte move into the top six? Plus, updated playoff projections, draft lottery standings after Thursday.

The balancing act facing Jayson Tatum and the Celtics

Boston and its superstar wing represent perhaps the biggest wild card of the 2026 NBA playoffs.

Dubois scores twice in final period to rally Victoire past Sirens 3-1 in Takeover Tour stop

DETROIT (AP) — Catherine Dubois scored twice in a three-goal third period to rally the Montreal Victoire to a 3-1 victory over the New York Sirens on Saturday in a Takeover Tour stop at Little Caesars Arena.

Montreal (12-4-2-5) pulled within two points of the front-running Boston Fleet with three weeks left in the regular season.

New York (8-0-3-12) took a 1-0 lead when Casey O’Brien was in the right spot to knock in a rebound on a shot by Jaime Bourbonnais that goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens blocked but couldn’t corral at 9:09.

Bourbonnais notched her ninth assist and Anne Cherkowski collected her sixth O’Brien’s sixth goal of the season.

Dubois pulled Montreal even 1:54 into the third period and gave the Victoire a 2-1 lead less than five minutes later with her fourth goal of the campaign. Natálie Mlýnková earned her fifth assist on Dubois’ first netter. Shiann Darkangelo and Kaitlin Willoughby both notched their third assists on the go-ahead score.

Laura Stacey scored for the sixth time this season, adding an insurance goal at 7:29. Kati Tabin tallied her ninth assist and Hayley Scamurra collected her eighth.

Desbiens had 23 saves for Montreal.

Kayle Osborne stopped 26 shots in goal for New York.

Montreal outshot New York 29-24 after the Sirens had an 11-2 advantage in the first period.

New York had not shut out an opponent through the first two periods since Jan. 6 in a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Sceptres.

Up next

New York: Hosts the Minnesota Frost on Wednesday.

Montreal: Hosts the Vancouver Goldeneyes on Wednesday.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Lightning deal the Senators a blow in the playoff race by beating them 4-2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Defenseman Emil Lilleberg scored the go-ahead goal and had a career-high three points, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Saturday.

Brandon Hagel and Charle-Edouard D’Astous each had a goal and an assist, while Jake Guentzel scored for a third consecutive game. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for Tampa Bay, which played without leading scorer Nikita Kucherov and others.

Nick Paul and Kucherov, who entered the weekend tied with Connor McDavid for the most points in the NHL, were both out because of illness. Despite not having them and captain Victor Hedman, who is on a leave of absence for personal reasons, the Lightning improved to 5-0-2 in the past seven games.

Dylan Cozens and Jordan Spence scored for Ottawa, and James Reimer allowed four goals on 27 shots. The Senators, in the middle of a fierce playoff race in the Eastern Conference, lost in regulation for the first time since March 18 and are on the outside looking in with nine games remaining.

With the score tied at 2, Lilleberg took a pass from Hagel and chipped a backhand shot past Reimer with a little more than 11 minutes left in regulation. Guentzel scored on a breakaway later to provide some breathing room.

Ottawa had taken a 2-0 lead on goals by Cozens and Spence. This was the fourth game in a row the Lightning fell behind by multiple goals, and just like in the previous three, they got back into it in the second period.

Up next

Senators: Visit the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Host the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tiger Woods involved in rollover car crash in Florida, according to reports

JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods was involved in a rollover car crash on Friday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office told media outlets.

Authorities said the crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives in Jupiter Island. Martin County Fire Rescue said there were no serious injuries, CBS 12 reported.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.

It was the third time Woods has been involved in a car crash, most recently in February 2021 when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at a high rate of speed that led to multiple leg and ankle injuries. Woods said later doctors considered amputation.

He also was arrested on a DUI charge in 2017 when south Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car that was parked awkwardly with damage to the driver’s side. Woods said later he had taken a bad mix of painkillers.

Woods had been working his way back to golf from a seventh back surgery last September. He had not decided whether he could play in the Masters on April 9-12.

His last official tournament was the British Open in 2024. Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025 and that kept him off the course all season, and then he had another back surgery in September. He managed to play in his indoor TGL golf league on Tuesday night.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Mauricio Pochettino says US can win World Cup: 'Why not us? … We need to dream'

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino told American soccer players they can achieve what almost no one thinks is possible: win the World Cup.

“Why not us? Why not us? Why not us?” he said Friday. “We need to really believe that we can be there. We need to dream.”

Ahead of friendlies against Belgium on Saturday and Portugal on Tuesday, Pochettino publicly repeated a message he delivered directly to players when they reported to camp this week.

“Dreams,” he added, “inspire reality.”

The U.S. hasn’t reached the World Cup semifinals since the initial tournament in 1930 and hasn’t advanced to the quarterfinals since 2002. Since then, the Americans were knocked out in the round of 16 in 2010, 2014 and 2022, were eliminated in the group stage in 2006 and failed to qualify in 2018.

Only eight nations have won a World Cup: Brazil (five titles), Germany and Italy (four each), Argentina (three), France and Uruguay (two apiece), and England and Spain (one each).

Pochettino, a former Argentina national team defender who replaced Gregg Berhalter as U.S. coach in late 2024, cited American mentality as cause for optimism.

“I hear another day a press conference from some coaching staff in another national team and (they) say, `OK, if we say we are going to win, we are showing too much arrogance,'” he explained. “If we say, well, it is going to be difficult to win. It’s negative. It’s not optimistic. It’s creating negative things. What I am saying: I am here because I believe that we can win and what I can tell to the people is really believe.”

At the World Cup, the 15th-ranked U.S. opens against No. 41 Paraguay on June 12 at Inglewood, California, faces 27th-ranked Australia one week later at Seattle and closes the group stage against No. 23 Turkey or No. 78 Kosovo in Inglewood on June 25. As co-hosts, the U.S., Mexico and Canada are seeded and avoid facing top nations in the first round.

With the expansion of the World Cup to 48 nations from 32, the top two teams in each of 12 groups advance to a new round of 32 along with the best eight third-place teams.

The last time third-place teams reached the knockout round was the also the last time the United States hosted the World Cup, a 24-team tournament in 1994. And the Americans advanced as one of them, but then lost to eventual champion Brazil in the round of 16.

“We need to send the right energy and good emotion to the people, for the people to really believe in us and to support us, for sure,” Pochettino said.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo breaks NCAA single-season steals record in March Madness game

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo broke the NCAA’s single-season record for steals after getting seven in the first half of a Sweet 16 game against Vanderbilt on Friday.

Hidalgo needed four steals to break Chastadie Barrs’ mark of 192 set with Lamar in 2018-19. The Fighting Irish junior got that in the first quarter of the March Madness meeting with the Commodores.

Hidalgo was already just the second player to have at least eight steals in multiple NCAA Tournament games. She had eight in each of Notre Dame’s first two tourney wins, over Fairfield and Ohio State.

Three of Hidalgo’s steals came quickly against Vanderbilt midway through the second quarter.

She grabbed the ball out of Sacha Washington’s hands and went in alone for a layup, then stole a bad pass near midcourt. Her seventh steal soon after led to another easy layup for a 23-11 lead.

Hidalgo, the third-leading scorer in the country, had 16 points at halftime as the sixth-seeded Irish led No. 2 seed Vanderbilt 31-26.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Gervin irked QB Williams filed ‘Iceman’ trademark

Former NBA star George Gervin said he was “caught off guard” when he learned Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had attempted to trademark “Iceman,” a nickname Gervin has used since his playing days.

Tom Brady says he's weighed coming out of retirement, but the NFL doesn't like the idea

Tom Brady revealed in an interview released on Thursday that he considered coming out of retirement, but the National Football League wasn’t particularly receptive to the idea.

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, was asked in a recent interview with CNBC if he’s looked into the rules regarding a minority owner returning to NFL play.

“I actually have inquired, and they (the NFL) don’t like that idea very much, so I’m going to leave it at that,” Brady said. “We explored a lot of different things, and I’m very happily retired. Let me say that, too.”

It wouldn’t have been Brady’s first time coming out of retirement. The three-time league MVP briefly retired during the 2022 offseason after two seasons with the Buccaneers. He had a change of heart 40 days later and went on to play for one more year before retiring “for good” in February 2023.

Brady recently turned heads in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, where he played alongside Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith, Stefon Diggs and Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty. He also reunited on the field with his teammate of 11 seasons and four-time time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg motivated by Alabama's lack of recruitment in transfer portal

CHICAGO, IL. — Yaxel Lendeborg will have a little extra motivation against Alabama in the Sweet 16.

Lendeborg played for the University of Alabama-Birmingham for two years in 2023-24 and 2024-25 before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal at the conclusion of last season. When he entered, he had hoped to stay in-state to play for Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide.

Eventually, he settled on Michigan.

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“When I entered the transfer portal out of UAB, I was hoping to get recruited by Alabama. And when I didn’t, it kind of hurt me a little bit. Not in a way that I can say ‘I hate them.’ It just bothered me a little.”

Unfortunately for Lendeborg (or fortunately, depending on whether you root for Michigan or Alabama), the call from Alabama never came, so he eventually picked Dusty May and the Wolverines. Now the two programs will square off on Friday, March 26, in the Sweet 16 from the United Center.

UAB’s Bartow Arena is about 57 miles from Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Lendeborg added that he is excited for Alabama and considers it a second home.

“There’s going to be juice for sure,” Lendeborg said of playing Alabama. “I know I’m going to try my best to be the best player on the floor tomorrow for sure. All it is extra motivation for sure, just not in the sense where I’m like, ‘this is what you guys missed on,’ but like you guys could have called at least, or something like that.”

Oats refuted that the Crimson Tide “never” recruited Lendeborg, but he did admit that the team was not as aggressive in its pitch.

“We did make a call,” Oats said. “It never got very deep. I think there were some programs that were in a little deeper with a lot more money at the time. It’s one of those, you kind of call, see where the situation is at. Probably wasn’t something we were going to be able to do, so we didn’t spend a lot of time on it.

“… It wasn’t a lack of thinking he wasn’t a very good player. He was the best player in the portal.”

Lendeborg averaged 17.7 points per game for the Blazers during the 2024-25 season, to go along with 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.7 steals per game. He’s averaged 14.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals for the Wolverines in 2025-26.

May said he will not get in the way of Lendeborg’s “revenge” game against Alabama.

“I think we’ve had several subplots this year and he seems to be performing well up to this point,” May said. “So whatever irritates him, I’m going to ride with that and support him.

“Nate and I being friends, we talked through that process. And don’t tell Yax, but they did try to recruit him.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Alabama recruit Yaxel Lendeborg in transfer portal? What he said ahead of Sweet 16