Nets clinch first East playoff spot
Kevin Durant scored seven of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, Jeff Green had 22 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors 116-103 and clinched a playoff spot.
Brooklyn became the first Eastern Conference team to lock up a postseason berth.
Lu Dort scored 24 points,
Darius Bazley added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder ended a 14-game skid with a win over the Boston Celtics.
Tyrrell Hatton is the fourth player to have to withdraw from the Valspar Championship this week because of a positive test for the coronavirus. Sepp
Straka, Will Gordon and Brice Garnett also tested positive this week and withdrew. It’s the first time four players have tested positive at a tournament since the PGA Tour returned from the pandemic in June.
Fifth-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-2, 6-3 to move into the second round of the Munich Open. The Georgian will next face Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan, who defeated American Sebastian Korda 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Professional tennis player Dayana Yastremska’s latest appeal of her provisional doping suspension was denied, keeping her sidelined. The 20-year-old Ukrainian, who has been ranked as high as No. 21, originally was suspended in January for failing an out-of-competition drug test. She tested positive for mesterolone metabolite, a prohibited substance that can be used to boost testosterone.
The NHL was preparing contingency plans if virus restrictions in Canada prevent travel between provinces or back and forth to the U.S. during the playoffs. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called the situation “wildly unpredictable.” Nothing has been decided about how to handle a potential problem . ... The NHL and Turner Sports formally announced a seven-year agreement that begins next season and will put three Stanley Cup Finals on the TNT cable network . ... Miroslav Frycer, who defected from Czechoslovakia and spent most of his eight seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has died after an unspecified brief illness. He was 61.
All-Big 12 forward Derek Culver decided to skip his senior season at West Virginia to enter the NBA draft. ... After killing an 89-year-old pedestrian last year, former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell appealed her guilty plea and received a more lenient sentence that will allow her to still drive.
Real Madrid and Chelsea drew 1-1 in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, with Christian Pulisic becoming the first American international to score in the tournament’s last four . ... Europe’s most successful women’s soccer team hired a woman as its coach for the first time with Lyon’s appointment of Sonia Bompastor to replace Jean-Luc Vasseur.