Off the wire
BASKETBALL Celtics center out 4-6 weeks
The Boston Celtics say center Robert Williams III is expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee. The team said that Williams underwent a partial knee meniscectomy on Wednesday morning at a hospital in Boston. He was hurt against Minnesota on Sunday. Williams, a staunch defender, was averaging 10 points, 9.6 rebounds and just over 2 blocks this season. The loss of Williams comes as Boston (47-29) is making a push for the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have won 24 of 29 games and are a game behind the first-place Miami Heat, who visit on Wednesday night.
Wooden finalists named
Ochai Agbaji of Kansas, Johnny Davis of Wisconsin, Iowa’s
Keegan Murray, Drew Timme of Gonzaga and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky are the five finalists for the men’s John R. Wooden Award as college basketball’s player of the year. The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the finalists Wednesday. The winner will be announced April 5 on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” The finalists have been invited to Los Angeles for the 46th annual presentation on April 8. The Wooden Award All American Team comprised of the 10 players who were the top vote-getters also was announced. Joining the five finalists were Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga, Jaden Ivey of Purdue, Bennedict Mathurin of Arizona and Jabari Smith of Auburn. Voting took place from March 1421 during the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
BASEBALL Cards score 29 vs. Nats
Washington Nationals fans have reasons to doubt 2022 will be their year. They got 29 more of them Wednesday afternoon. Pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Cade Cavalli allowed 10 runs each while the Nationals were shellacked 29-8 by the St. Louis Cardinals in
a spring training game — a laugher even by exhibition standards. The Cardinals scored 15 times in the eighth inning, a barrage that began against Cavalli. St. Louis has never scored more than 12 runs in an inning during a regular-season game. The outburst was so brain-breaking that when Washington’s Gilbert Lara hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, the scoreboard operator briefly awarded the runs to the Cardinals — perhaps out of muscle memory. Home runs by Paul DeJong, Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina were among St. Louis’ 26-hit outpouring. Over 131 years in the National League, the Cardinals’ regular-season record is 28 runs in a game, against Philadelphia in 1929. Records dating to 1996 show their spring training high at 18 runs.
MOTOR SPORTS F1 adds Vegas to schedule
Formula One is all-in on the United States with a race on the Las Vegas Strip added to the 2023 calendar as the most glamorous motorsports series in the world continues to expand its North American footprint. The Bellagio, Caesars Palace and the MSG Sphere will be among the landmarks along the temporary street course built for a Saturday night race in November 2023. The race is a first for F1 in that the series will promote the event alongside Liberty Media Corp., the American parent company of F1. The Las Vegas race will be the third stop in the United States next season for F1, which has raced at Circuit of the America’s in Austin, Texas, since 2012 and in May will make its debut in Miami. Barring any shakeups, existing races in
Mexico City and Montreal will bring F1 to North America five times next season.
TENNIS Quick outing for Pegula
No. 16 seed Jessica Pegula has made the semifinals at the Miami Open, benefiting from a second consecutive abrupt ending. She won her quarterfinal against fifth-seeded Paula Badosa on Wednesday, after the Spaniard retired five games into the first set. Pegula has played four matches so far in this tournament, needing only 5 1/2 sets to record those victories. She had a first-round bye, won her next two matches in straight sets and her fourth-round match ended when unseeded Anhelina Kalinina retired after Pegula won the first set 6-0. Then came Wednesday, when Badosa bowed out down 4-1. Badosa — who was No. 71 in the world rankings at this time last year — will climb to a career-best No. 3 when the computer numbers are updated Monday. She would have gone to No. 2 had she beaten Pegula.
GOLF Two tied at women’s amateur
California teen Anna Davis birdied the par-5 closing hole at Champions Retreat and shared the lead with Alabama sophomore Benedetta Moresco of Italy at 2-under 70 on a tough, windy start on Wednesday to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Only five players in the elite field of amateurs from around the world managed to break par. Rose Zhang, the No. 1 amateur in women’s golf and a leading favorite, struggled with the new greens on her way to a 76. It was a rough start, though scores were so high Zhang hardly shot herself out of the tournament. She was two shots below the cut line. The top 30 from the 60-player field after the second round Thursday at Champions Retreat advance to the final round Saturday at Augusta National. A playoff decides the 30th spot in case of a tie Davis, a 16-year-old from just east of San Diego, is making her debut in the Augusta Women’s Amateur after two wins last year, including the Girls Junior PGA Championship.