Nuggets’ Murray latest key injury
BASKETBALL
As teams gear up for the stretch run of the NBA regular season, it’s injuries to key players — not just their unavailability due to COVID-19 — that is having the biggest effect on the playoff race in both conferences.
Still, preparing to play outside of the controlled atmosphere of last season’s Florida bubble has helped teams brace for the unexpected.
When the NBA season tipped off in December, keeping players healthy as they traveled during the pandemic was the chief priority around the league. In the four months since then, virtually every team has made adjustments to their rotation because of league-wide health and safety protocols.
“With COVID and with the way the season has gone, everybody’s missing games,” 76ers center Joel Embiid said. “COVID has affected the whole league.”
Lately, it’s been injuries and not the virus that has dictated how the season has gone.
That starts with the defending champion Lakers, who continue to be without team cornerstones LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Another blow was dealt to Western Conference contender Denver, which learned Tuesday that its versatile point guard Jamal Murray would be out indefinitely with a torn ACL in his left knee. Murray was injured late in a loss to Golden State Monday night.
Nets 127, Timberwolves
● 97: Kevin Durant scored 31 points on 11for-15 shooting in his most productive performance in 21/2 months, as the Brooklyn Nets blew out the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-97 on Tuesday afternoon. The game was rescheduled from the previous night, in the aftermath of a fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb. The Timberwolves held a moment of silence before tipoff for 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was killed after a traffic stop. Players from both teams wore black warmup shirts that read, “With liberty and justice for all.”
Joe Harris contributed 23 points for the Nets.
Anthony Edwards had 27 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Elsewhere: Bobby
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“Slick” Leonard, the former NBA player and Hall of Fame coach who won three ABA championships with the Indiana Pacers and spent more than a half century with the organization, has died. He was 88. Leonard had a record of 573-534 in 14 seasons as a coach, the last 12 with the Pacers.
ETC.
NFL: Saying that his
● wheels “finally have fallen off,” New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman announced his retirement. The 34-year-old former college quarterback at Kent State cited a knee injury that cost him most of the 2020 season and reportedly was still hindering him. He retires as an instrumental figure in three Patriots Super Bowl title runs.
“It was a hard decision, but the right decision for me and my family,” Edelman said in a video posted to social media.
Edelman started the 2020 season with eight catches for 179 yards in Week 2, but his numbers fell off and, after what was described at the time as minor knee surgery, he never played after Week 6. He finishes his career second in receptions (620) for the Patriots, fourth in receiving yards (6,822) and ninth in receiving touchdowns (36).
Tennis: Fabio Fognini ● opened the defense of his Monte Carlo Masters title with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Miomir Kecmanovic as second-ranked Daniil Medvedev withdrew from the clay-court tournament after testing positive for COVID-19. Organizers said Medvedev was placed in isolation. Italian teenager Jannik Sinner, who was runner-up in the recent Miami Open, also progressed to set up an intriguing match with top-ranked Novak Djokovic. Sinner defeated 2017 runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic will be playing for the first time since winning his ninth Australian Open title in February. Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Aslan Karatsev.
Soccer: Megan Rapinoe ● and Alex Morgan scored and the U.S. women’s national team beat France 2-0 in an exhibition, ... Paris Saint-Germain did just enough to knock defending champion Bayern Munich out of the Champions League and reach the semifinals for the second consecutive season, losing a tense match 1-0 to advance on away goals from the first leg . ... A spectacular goal from a scissor kick by
Mehdi Taremi wasn’t enough to earn Porto a place in the Champions League semifinals as Chelsea advanced despite a 1-0 loss in the second leg of their quarterfinal . ... This year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final will be played on Aug. 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Most top players are expected to skip the tournament, which starts July 10. U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter says he will let his European-based regulars have vacation ahead of the start of the European club seasons and the opening of World Cup qualifying on Sept. 2.