Mystics close in on WNBA crown
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Washington Mystics didn’t need Elena Delle Donne to be a superstar on Sunday. They just needed her to be on the court. The WNBA’s season MVP provided an emotional lift by playing through a back injury, and her teammates responded with a solid performance to beat Connecticut 94-81 and move within a victory of winning the franchise’s first championship. Delle Donne, who has a herniated disk that is pinching a nerve in her back, had not practiced since leaving Game 2 with back spasms. She finished with 13 points, hitting five of her six shots while playing 26 minutes. The 6-foot-5 wing was clearly limited in her movement and stayed mostly on the perimeter, but she was effective enough to command the attention of Connecticut’s defense. Natasha Cloud, Emma Meesseman and Kristi Toliver carried the offense: Meesseman had 21 points off the bench, including nine to start the fourth quarter, Toliver added 20 points and 10 assists and Cloud chipped in with 19 points. Washington will try to close out the series Tuesday night in Connecticut. Shekinna Stricklen and Jasmine Thomas each had 16 points for the Sun, and Bria Holmes added 15.
SOCCER
› ATLANTA — Julian Gressel and Josef Martinez scored second-half goals as Atlanta United FC beat the New England Revolution 3-1 Sunday in a playoff preview. Atlanta (18-12-4), which won the Major League Soccer title last year in its second season of competition, finished second in the Eastern Conference to set up a first-round game against New England. The Revolution (11-11-12) finished seventh, clinching their first playoff berth in four years with a victory over New York City FC a week earlier. Atlanta’s Darlington Nagbe tapped in a center pass from Gressel three minutes in before the Revolution’s Christian Penilla knotted the score five minutes later. After intermission, Martinez recorded his 27th goal of the year off an assist from Gressel in the 49th. Martinez set up Gressel eight minutes later. Atlanta finished 4-0-2 against the Revolution this season and outscored New England 15-3.
BASKETBALL
› BEIJING — Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tried Sunday to defuse the rapidly growing fallout over his deleted tweet that showed support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters, saying he did not intend to offend any of the team’s Chinese fans or sponsors. A short time after Morey posted that statement, the NBA said it was “regrettable” that the deleted tweet offended many in China. And all that followed several companies in China, including some of the NBA’s major business partners there, lashing out over Morey’s original tweet. Morey tweeted an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”, referring to the four-month-old protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. That led to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta turning to Twitter to say that Morey does not speak for the team, sparking an outcry that included the Chinese Basketball Association — whose president is Yao Ming, the former Rockets star center — saying it was suspending its relationship with the team. Other criticism came from Tencent, a major media partner of the NBA in China with a streaming deal that is worth $1.5 billion over the next five years, and Chinese state television — both of which said they would not be showing Rockets games. It wasn’t immediately clear if Morey’s new tweets or the NBA’s statement that followed would be enough to salvage those relationships. Chinese athletic apparel maker Li-Ning released a statement saying it was upset with Morey’s tweet.