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 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons.

FOOTBALL Lineman’s family sues

Former New Mexico Coach Bob Davie ignored a player’s plea for 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 stu- dent-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

The hole Phil Mickelson considered the most important in the second round of his Champions Tour career was not any of the eight he birdied but rather the only one on which he made bogey. He was 5 under after the front nine Tuesday at Ozarks National in Ridgedale, Mo., when he hit driver at the par4 10th. The ball wound up in such heavy rough that Mickelson couldn’t find it, forcing him to take 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. “I was able to get right back to even par on the back side with a birdie on the next hole, and then I made a couple more coming in,” said Mickelson, whose 7-under 64 left him 17 under. That was good for a four-shot lead over Tim Petrovic and Rod Pampling,

who will be his playing partners for today’s final round. Petrovic and Pampling each shot 64-65 over the first two rounds. 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 Djokovic sharp in victory

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 at the Western & South- ern Open on Tuesday that improved the No. 1-ranked man to 20-0 in 2020. This is the first ATP tournament in more than five months because of the coronavirus pandemic, and while Djokovic was treated by a trainer and played sluggishly in his opening match Monday, he took control from the outset against Sandgren and saved all four break points he faced. The Western & Southern Open is usually held in Ohio but was moved to the U.S. Open’s site in Flushing

Meadows this year to make for a twoevent, no-spectator “bubble” amid the pandemic. 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-foot-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 match No. 16 John Isner was delayed by rain late in the first set, but Tsitsipas earned a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) victory. Also interrupted by the weather was Andy Murray’s match against Milos Raonic, but Ra- onic survived the delay to beat Murray 6-2, 6-2. That was followed by

Maria Sakkari’s 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 upset of No. 3 Serena Williams. Women’s quarterfinal matchups set earlier in the day were two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka against Anett Kontaveit, former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka against Ons Jabeur, and 83rd-ranked American qualifier Jessica Pegula against No. 14 Elise Mertens. Pegula beat No. 5 seed

Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

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 Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each. Nick Ritchie also scored for the Bruins, and Jaroslav Halak finished with 36 saves. Game 3 of the best-of-seven matchup is tonight in Toronto.