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Butler scores 30, Heat top Giannis-less Bucks 121-99

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler scored 30 points before leaving with back soreness following a hard fall, and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat beat the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks 121-99 on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.Duncan Robinson scored 20 points on his 29th birthday for Miami, while Kyle Lowry scored 15 for the Heat.The Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo for a second consecutive game because of a bruised lower back. Khris Middleton scored 23 points, Jrue Holiday added 19 and Grayson Allen scored 14 for Milwaukee.Game 4 is in Miami on Monday night.With the win, the Heat are halfway to what would be a stunner — a No. 8 seed over a No. 1 seed, something that’s happened only five times since the NBA went to the 16-team playoff format in 1984.Those who pulled it off: Denver over Seattle 3-2 in 1994, New York over Miami 3-2 in 1999, Golden State over Dallas 4-2 in 2007, Memphis over San Antonio 4-2 in 2011 and Philadelphia over Chic...

NWSL Reign beat Red Stars for team’s best start since 2014

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Bethany Balcer and Jess Fishlock each scored a pair of goals to lead OL Reign to a 5-2 win over the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday.The win at Seattle’s Lumen Field gave the Reign (3-1-0) its best start since 2014.Balcer scored the first two goals in the 15th and 20th minutes, with Veronica Latsko and Lauren Barnes assisting. No player has scored more goals at home since 2019 than Balcer, who now has 20 goals in Reign home matches.Arin Wright got a goal back for Chicago (1-3-0) in the 32nd minute, pouncing on a ball in the box that the Reign couldn’t clear.In the final minutes of the first half, Fishlock scored her first goal. Emily Sonnett won a ball that was bouncing around after a Reign corner and passed it to Fishlock for the assist.Chicago rookie Ally Schlegel scored her first NWSL goal early in the second half, winning a challenge in the box and sliding her shot into the lower right corner. Megan Rapinoe scored on a free kick in the 75th minute, splitt...

Own-goal aids Montreal in 2-0 victory over Red Bulls

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal used an own-goal by New York defender Andrés Reyes in the first half and a late goal by Mathieu Choinière to beat the Red Bulls 2-0 on Saturday night.Montreal (2-6-0) grabbed the lead in the 25th minute thanks to Reyes and Choinière polished off the scoring in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. Montreal entered play with just three goals on the season with all of them coming in a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Union on March 18.Montreal was forced to play a man down after Ilias Iliadis received a red card in the 65th minute.The Red Bulls (1-3-5) had a 14-7 advantage in shots, but Montreal had a 6-3 edge in shots on goal.Jonathan Sirois had three saves for Montreal. Carlos Coronel stopped five shots for New York.The Red Bulls snapped an 11-match winless streak at Montreal last season with a 1-0 victory. New York’s only other win in Montreal was a 2-1 victory in 2012, the Red Bulls’ first season in the league.Montreal avoided joinin...

Uhre’s hat trick leads Union to 4-2 victory over Toronto

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Mikael Uhre scored three goals and the Philadelphia Union breezed to a 4-2 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.Lukas MacNaughton’s own-goal gave Philadelphia (3-4-2) a 1-0 lead 16 minutes into the match.Uhre followed with a goal four minutes later to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead. The Union made it 3-0 at halftime when Uhre again found the net — in the 43rd minute. Alejandro Bedoya and Julian Carranza had assists on Uhre’s first goal and Dániel Gazdag and Bedoya notched assists on Uhre’s second tally.Uhre completed the hat trick when he took passes from Carranza and Gazdag and scored in the 56th minute to put the Union up 4-0. Uhre has scored five goals this season.Lorenzo Insigne scored unassisted for Toronto (1-2-6) in the 66th minute. Richie Laryea capped the scoring with a goal in the second minute of stoppage time with assists from Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello.The Union had an 18-10 advantage in shots and a 7-5 edge in shots on go...

Vigil held for father killed in West Denver shooting

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A vigil was held for Richie Lovato, a father of a 2-year-old, who was shot and killed near Paco Sanchez Park in West Denver on Monday.The incident happened Monday night and police are still looking for a suspect in that case.Lovato's family, friends, girlfriend, mother and son returned to the place where he was killed to remember him."He acts just like his dad," Shyanne Montoya said, "sometimes I think he is his dad."Montoya is the mother of Lovato's son, Richie. She shares that grief with Hannah Webber, Richie's mother."He was a really good kid," Webber said. "He'd light up a room when he'd come into any room. He would do anything for anybody." Investigators continue to look for suspects wanted for throwing rock that killed Alexa Bartell Montoya spent a memorable day with him before he died."We gave each other a kiss and a hug," Montoya said, "we had like the best day ever. We went to go eat, we got our glasses, he was so excited to get his glasses."Accounts vary...

Jewish family from South Florida recalls scary moments hiding from rockets in Israel

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

GEDERA, Israel (WSVN) — A Jewish family from South Florida have shared their harrowing experience of hiding from rockets during a recent trip to Israel, coinciding with the country’s 75th year of independence. The family said people only have 90 seconds to reach a shelter when rockets fly over Israel, and rockets go off more often than not.Denise Temir shot a video of the scene that occurred in May of 2021 after rockets from Gaza rained down on Tel Aviv while they were having dinner with family. Her daughter also shot a video from the Ben Gurion Airport after another warning of incoming rockets.“I was at the hotel watching the missiles fly in that direction knowing they might hit the airport, knowing my daughter is in the airport, on a plane while I was racing for a bomb shelter. It was a tremendous amount of stress,” said Denise.While the incident was terrifying, the family found comfort in the calmness of Ruth, Denise’s mother, who was captured on vid...

This time, Heat seize upon Antetokounmpo absence, thrash Bucks 121-99 for 2-1 series lead

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

There will be basketball at the Miami Heat’s arena beyond Monday night’s Game 4 of this best-of-seven opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.Saturday night’s 121-99 Jimmy Butler-powered victory assured as much.It might be a Game 6 on Friday night against the Bucks or it might be, as unfathomable as it previously might have sounded for the No. 8 seed Heat, a second-round game against either the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers.For now, the unexpected reality for Erik Spoelstra’s team is a 2-1 lead series lead over top-seeded Milwaukee, which finds itself on shaky ground, with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing a second consecutive game with a lower-back bruise.“We stayed aggressive,” guard Kyle Lowry said, “and made sure we were the team firing on all cylinders.”Unable to take advantage of Antetokounmpo’s absence in their Wednesday night blowout loss at Fiserv Forum, the Heat this time seized ...

Biden says US embassy evacuation in Sudan has been completed

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — American forces carried out a precarious evacuation of U.S. embassy personnel in Sudan, President Joe Biden said late Saturday, calling for the end to “unconscionable” violence there as two rival leaders battled for power in the African country.Biden thanked the U.S. troops who carried out the mission to extract American staffers in Sudan. With the last American embassy worker out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. The U.S. said it had no current plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of an estimated 16,000 other Americans remaining in Sudan, calling the situation too dangerous. Biden said he was receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist those remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible.” The roughly 70 American staffers were airlifted from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the mission. U.S. troops carried out the operat...

Sudan rivals pledge evacuation help, US diplomats airlifted

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — American embassy staffers were airlifted from Sudan early Sunday, as forces loyal to rival generals battled for control of Africa’s third-largest nation for a ninth day amid fading hopes for deescalation.The warring sides said they were helping coordinate the evacuation of foreigners, though continued exchanges of fire in Sudan’s capital undermined those claims.A senior Biden administration official said U.S. troops are carrying out the precarious evacuation of U.S. Embassy staffers. The troops who airlifted the staff out of Khartoum have safely left Sudanese airspace, a second U.S. official confirmed.The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which has been battling the Sudanese army, said the U.S. rescue mission involved six aircraft and that it had coordinated evacuation efforts with the U.S.The RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamad Dagolo, said it is cooperating with all diplomatic missions and that it is committed to a three-day cease-fire that wa...

Rielly scores in OT, Leafs beat Bolts to grab 2-1 series lead

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:07 GMT

Morgan Rielly scored at 19:15 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs came back from a goal down late in the third period Saturday to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 and take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.The defenceman fired a shot from the side boards that floated past the ear of Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky before getting mobbed by teammates.Ryan O’Reilly, with a goal a late in regulation that forced OT to go along with two assists, Auston Matthews and Noel Acciari scored in regulation for Toronto. Marner added two assists.Brandon Hagel, with a goal and an assist, Anthony Cirelli and Darryn Raddysh replied for Tampa, which got 24 stops from Vasilevskiy.Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup goes Monday back at Amalie Arena.Lighting defenceman Victor Hedman returned to the lineup after sitting out Game 2 with an undisclosed injury.Toronto fell to the Lightning in a tight, seven-game series last spring at the same stag...