Butler has meniscal injury to knee

SATURDAY’S RESULTS PHILADELPHIA 116, Orlando 105 MIAMI 115, Memphis 89 Boston 121, NEW YORK 112 GOLDEN ST. 112, Okla. City 80 MINNESOTA 122, Chicago 104 Portland at Phoenix, late Dallas at Utah, late L.A. Lakers at Sacra., late SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE Detroit at Charlotte, 1 New Orleans at Milwaukee, 3 San Antonio at Cleveland, 3:30 Philadelphia at Washington, 8 Houston at Denver, 8 MONDAY’S SCHEDULE L.A. Lakers at Atlanta, 7:30 Memphis at Boston, 7:30 Chicago at Brooklyn, 7:30 Golden State at New York, 7:30 Detroit at Toronto, 7:30 Phoenix at New Orleans, 8 Orlando at Oklahoma City, 8 Indiana at Dallas, 8:30 Houston at Utah, 9 Minnesota at Sacramento, 10 TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE Chicago at Charlotte, 7 Brooklyn at Cleveland, 7 Philadelphia at Miami, 7:30 Washington at Milwaukee, 8 Sacramento at Portland, 10 L.A. Clippers at Denver, 10:30 FRIDAY’S RESULTS Boston 110, DETROIT 98 INDIANA 116, Atlanta 93 Char. 122, WASHINGTON 105 Mil. 122, TORONTO 119 (OT) HOUSTON 120, Minnesota 102 Cleveland 112, MEMPHIS 89 NEW ORL. 124, Miami 123 (OT) L.A. Clippers 128, PHOENIX 117 Portland 100, UTAH 81 DENVER 122, San Antonio 119 L.A. LAKERS 124, Dallas 102 SCORING Harden, HOU 1596 Antetokounmpo, MIL 1499 Davis, NOR 1441 Curry, GOL 1186 James, CLE 1536 Lillard, POR 1356 Durant, GOL 1323 Westbrook, OKC 1466 Cousins, NOR 1210 Irving, BOS 1328 Booker, PHX 1093 Oladipo, IND 1282 DeRozan, TOR 1384 Embiid, PHL 1072 Beal, WAS 1399 Williams, LAC 1330 Walker, CHA 1312 Aldridge, SAN 1247 31.3 27.8 27.7 27.0 26.5 26.1 25.9 25.3 25.2 24.6 24.3 24.2 23.9 23.8 23.7 23.3 23.0 22.7 Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler has a meniscal injury to his right knee that the team is optimistic will not sideline him the rest of the season.

The team stopped short of calling the injury a tear, and coach Tom Thibodeau said he didn’t want to speculate on timing. Still, the news Saturday could’ve been worse for the organization, which feared a season-ending torn ligament after Butler had to be helped off the floor Friday night in a loss to the Rockets in Houston.

“The big thing is ruling out the ACL, that would’ve been an extended amount of time, so we’re hopeful that it’s not too long,” Thibodeau said.

Butler has helped lead the team to the thick of the Western Conference race, averaging 22.2 points. They’re in position to end a 13-year absence from the playoffs.

had 28 points and 14 rebounds, and the 76ers extended their season-high win streak to seven . ... Grizzlies G will undergo a precautionary MRI on Sunday on injured right ribs.

At SMU, where the Mustangs were taking on No. 13 Wichita State, some students chanted “FBI! FBI!” and held balloons spelling out the name of the federal agency leading a corruption investigation that has led to 10 arrests of coaches and others alleged to have worked in the seamy underbelly of the sport.

One of more than two dozen names mentioned as receiving impermissible benefits in documents in a Yahoo Sports report Friday was former Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet, now with the NBA’s Raptors.

Arizona recruit Shareef O’Neal, son of former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, Saturday withdrew his commitment after ESPN reported coach Sean Miller was heard on a wiretap discussing a $100,000 payment to freshman Deandre Ayton to get him to sign with the school.

Miller did not coach Saturday night in No. 14 Arizona’s game at Oregon. Ayton started against the Ducks after the school said he was eligible.

According to a Yahoo Sports report, Christian Dawkins, who worked for former agent Andy Miller, may have bought dinner for former Creighton center Justin Patton and/or his family. Patton, who declared for the NBA draft as an underclassman after last season, wasn’t cited in Dawkins’ expense reports released Friday.

Some players mentioned in the Yahoo Sports report were expected to play on Saturday, including Kentucky’s Kevin Knox against Missouri and Wendell Carter of Duke against Syracuse. Texas held out Eric Davis against Oklahoma while the Longhorns conduct their own investigation. On the court: No. 1 Virginia (26-2, 15-1) allowed just seven points in the first half and secured the regularseason ACC title with a 66-37 win over Pittsburgh. ... Marcus Foster scored 28 points as host Creighton (20-9, 9-7 Big East) beat No. 3 Villanova 89-83 in overtime . ... Devonte Graham scored 26 points as No. 8 Kansas set an NCAA record with its 14th straight regular-season conference championship, clinching at least a tie for the Big 12 title with a 74-72 victory at sixth-ranked Texas Tech. SATURDAY’S RESULTS Philadelphia 5, OTTAWA 3 CALGARY 5, Colorado 1 FLORIDA 6, Pittsburgh 5 NEW JERSEY 2,

N.Y. Islanders 1 DETROIT 3, Carolina 1 Winnipeg 5, DALLAS 3 TORONTO 4, Boston 3 COLUMBUS 3, Chicago 2 WASHINGTON 5, Buffalo 1 Tampa Bay 4, MONTREAL 3 (SO) ARIZONA 2, Anaheim 0 Edmonton at Los Angeles, late SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE St. Louis at Nashville, noon Boston at Buffalo, 5 Detroit at N.Y. Rangers, 7:30 Edmonton at Anaheim, 8 San Jose at Minnesota, 8 Vancouver at Arizona, 9:30 MONDAY’S SCHEDULE Washington at Columbus, 7 Philadelphia at Montreal, 7:30 Toronto at Tampa Bay, 7:30 Vancouver at Colorado, 9 Vegas at Los Angeles, 10:30 TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE Carolina at Boston, 7 New Jersey at Pittsburgh, 7 Ottawa at Washington, 7 Toronto at Florida, 7:30 St. Louis at Minnesota, 8 Nashville at Winnipeg, 8 Calgary at Dallas, 8:30 Los Angeles at Vegas, 10:30 Edmonton at San Jose, 10:30 FRIDAY’S RESULTS Minnesota 4, N.Y. RANGERS 1 Pittsburgh 6, CAROLINA 1 Winnipeg 4, ST. LOUIS 0 CHICAGO 3, San Jose 1 VEGAS 6, Vancouver 3 CALENDAR Feb. 26: Trade deadline. Goal Scoring Alex Ovechkin, Wash. Evgeni Malkin, Pitt. William Karlsson, Vegas Nikita Kucherov, TB Anders Lee, NY Isl Tyler Seguin, Dal. John Tavares, NY Isl Sean Couturier, Phila. Patrik Laine, Winn. Eric Staal, Minn. Auston Matthews, Tor. Sean Monahan, Calg. Patrice Bergeron, Bos. Brock Boeser, Van. Connor McDavid, Edm. Taylor Hall, NJ Phil Kessel, Pitt. M. Grabner, NY Rng N. MacKinnon, Col. J. van Riemsdyk, Tor. 36 34 33 32 30 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 27 27 27 26 26 25 25 25

Record-setting Ovechkin lifts Capitals

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin added to his NHL lead with two goals on the night he tied the Washington record for most games played, and the Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Saturday.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 50 seconds into the game and had two assists. Andre Burakovsky and Lars Eller also had goals for Washington, which leapfrogged Pittsburgh and moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals had lost two in a row and five of seven.

Ovechkin's 37th goal came on the power play with 9:47 remaining after Buffalo closed to 2-1 on Sam Reinhart's goal 14 seconds into the third period. Ovechkin redirected a shot past Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner with 1:24 left for his 38th goal. The 32-year-old Ovechkin played in his 983rd NHL game, tying Calle Johansson for most in Capitals history. Ovechkin holds franchise records for goals (596) and points (1,105).

Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for his third win in three starts.