Off the wire

BASKETBALL Bucks star wins award

Giannis Antetokounmpo was voted NBA Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday, becoming the fifth player to win that award and MVP in a career. The Milwaukee Bucks All-Star, who was MVP last year and is the favorite to repeat this season, ended the two-year reign of Utah center Rudy Gobert as Defensive Player of the Year. Antetokounmpo received 75 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters, finishing with 432 points. Los Angeles Lakers forward

Anthony Davis was second (200 points, 14 first-place votes) and Gobert (187 points, six first-place votes) third. Antetokounmpo joined Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett as players to do the MVP-Defensive Player of the Year double. He became the first Bucks player to win Defensive Player of the Year since Sidney Moncrief (Arkansas Razorbacks), who earned the first two that were awarded in the 198283 and 1983-84 seasons.

Lillard out for Trail Blazers

Portland guard Damian Lillard has a sprained right knee and will be sidelined today when the Trail Blazers play a win-or-else Western Conference first-round game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Blazers trail the best-of-seven series 3-1, and now will play without their leading scorer. Lillard got hurt while driving to the basket and drawing a foul with 7:16 left in the third quarter of Monday’s game against the Lak- ers. The knee seemed to buckle as Lillard made an awkward landing, and he was clearly limping as he made his way to the foul line. An MRI performed Monday night was inconclusive, prompting the Blazers to schedule the second one Tuesday — after which the sprain was diagnosed.

FOOTBALL Lineman’s family sues

help in his fight against depression and instead made the lineman play a game before he took his own life, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit filed in federal court alleges the University of New Mexico, Davie and the NCAA didn’t protect Nahje Flowers, 21, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in November. Court documents said the defensive standout had sought counseling to fight depression but Davie overruled a therapist’s recommendation that Flowers take some time off. He died days after, the lawsuit said. “The university’s football program carried more weight than the health and well-being of the student-athlete,” lawyer Bob Hilliard said. “He finally found no way out other than to take his own life.” Michael Kennedy, a lawyer for Davie, did not immediately return an email seeking comment. University of New Mexico spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said the school doesn’t comment directly on pending or active litigation. “The mental and physical well-being of our students is of the greatest importance to the University of New Mexico, and the loss of a student is tragic and affects the entire Lobo community deeply,” Blair said. NCAA spokesman Emily James declined to comment. Hilliard said an autopsy later found that Flowers suffered from CTE — the brain injury associated with repeated blows to the head that can lead to depression, dementia and erratic behavior. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages and legal fees.

GOLF Mickelson extends lead

a penalty stroke. He still wound up making a long putt to salvage bogey, and that gave him some momentum for the rest of the round. Mickelson, whose 7-under 64 left him 17 under, gives him a four-shot lead over Tim Petrovic and Rod Pampling, who will be his playing partners for today’s final round. Rocco Mediate struggled coming in and was at 12 under. K.J. Choi was another shot back, and Steve Stricker and David McKenzie were at 10 under. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) shot a 4-under 67 Tuesday and is one of four golfers tied at 9 under for the tournament. Glen Day (Little Rock) is at 5 under after shooting a 2-under 69.

TENNIS Serena sour in defeat

Serena Williams let lead after lead slip away, so she figured it was her own fault when yet another match stretched to a third set and she started getting cramps in her weary legs on the way to a surprising loss at the Western & Southern Open. “I don’t think that helps mentally, when you know the match is over and you won the match, and now your legs were already tried and now they’re even more tired,” Williams said. “I put myself in a bad situation. It’s like dating a guy that you know sucks.” Early on, Williams got flustered when she got called for taking too much time between points. Later, she flung away her racket after letting the second set get away. In the end, she finished rather meekly in a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 loss to Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night. It was Williams’ fifth match since professional tennis resumed amid the coronavirus pandemic after a hiatus of nearly six months — and all five have gone three sets. She is 3-2 in that stretch. Hours earlier, Novak Djokovic’s neck felt much better, and his tennis looked much better, in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over unseeded American Tennys Sandgren that improved top-ranked Djokovic to 20-0 in 2020. Djokovic was treated by a trainer and played sluggishly in his opening match Monday, but he was at his best from the outset against Sandgren and saved all four break points he faced. Djokovic will face 34th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarterfinals. The other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw will be defending champion Daniil Medvedev against No. 8

seed Roberto Bautista Agut. Reilly Opelka, a 6-11 American who is ranked 39th, delivered 19 aces and knocked off 2019 U.S. Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 7-6 (4). Opelka next meets No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) victory over No. 16 John Isner was interrupted by a rain delay of nearly 11/2 hours late in the first set. Also interrupted by the weather was three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray’s 6-2, 6-2 loss to 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, who has held all 29 games he’s served so far in the tournament.

HOCKEY Palat lifts Lightning in OT

Ondrej Palat scored at 4:40 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, evening their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy had 22 saves and became Tampa Bay’s all-time playoff leader with 22 wins as the Lightning improved to 4-0 in overtimes games this postseason. Nick Ritchie scored for the Bruins, and Jaroslav Halak finished with 36 saves. Game 3 of the best-of-seven matchup is tonight in Toronto.

Canucks even series

Bo Horvat scored twice to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Knights in Edmonton, Alberta, tying their NHL Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1. Horvat tied the game at 1-1 in the first period with his first goal at 10:59, then put Vancouver up for good with his second goal, which came 18 seconds into the third period.