Magic mount comeback to end Cavs win streak

Magic mount comeback to end Cavs win streak
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus, left, in the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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Magic mount comeback to end Cavs win streak

Magic mount comeback to end Cavs win streak
  • Oklahoma City Thunder continued their serene march toward the Western Conference No.1 seeding with an emphatic 121-105 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks
  • In Los Angeles, the Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak and dealt a blow to the Phoenix Suns’ hopes of reaching the playoffs after powering to a 107-96 victory

LOS ANGELES: Paolo Banchero scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game NBA unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory on Sunday.

Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter.

But after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring.

The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and Banchero adding seven.

Although Cleveland led by a slender 83-82 margin heading into the fourth quarter, and threatened to stretch away once more after Donovan Mitchell’s driving layup made it 91-84, Orlando refused to roll over.

Eight more points from Wagner in the final frame and five apiece from Banchero and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope saw the Magic home to silence a 19,432 sellout crowd at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena.

Former No. 1 NBA Draft pick Banchero finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists while Wagner added 22 points with eight rebounds and two assists as Orlando improved to 32-37 to remain eighth in the Eastern Conference standings.

“It’s a big win,” Banchero said after what was the final leg of a five-game road trip for Orlando. “We knew this was going to be probably the toughest game of the trip.

“To come in here... against one of the better teams in the league, also on a win streak — big win.”

Mitchell led the Cleveland scoring with 23 points, with Jarrett Allen finishing on 20 and Darius Garland adding 19.

Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson praised Orlando’s performance and said it demonstrated the depth of quality in the league.

“Huge credit to them,” Atkinson said. “This league is humbling, and if you think you’ve won 16 in a row or whatever, right around the corner is a playoff team and a tough team to play.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder continued their serene march toward the Western Conference No.1 seeding with an emphatic 121-105 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

NBA Most Valuable Player contender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder scoring with 31 points as Oklahoma City improved to 56-12, a massive 13 games clear of the second-placed Houston Rockets.

In Los Angeles, the Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak and dealt a blow to the Phoenix Suns’ hopes of reaching the playoffs after powering to a 107-96 victory.

Phoenix, sitting 11th in the Western Conference and just outside the play-in places, badly need wins as they attempt to force their way into the post-season reckoning.

But 33 points from Luka Doncic and another assured performance from Austin Reaves, who scored 28 points, carried the Lakers to a comfortable victory that left the Suns on 31-37 in the Western Conference standings.

In other games the Philadelphia 76ers scored an upset 130-125 win over the Dallas Mavericks on the road.

Quentin Grimes led the scoring for a depleted Sixers lineup missing Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr., finishing with 28 points.


Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president

Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president
Updated 49 min 16 sec ago
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Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president

Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president
  • Seven candidates are competing in the first contested International Olympic Committee election since 2013 to replace Thomas Bach
  • Coventry is just the second female presidential candidate in the IOC’s 131-year history and the first with a chance to win

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece: An in tray of Olympic challenges spanning political, social, sporting and operational issues awaits the next IOC president who will be elected Thursday.

Seven candidates are competing in the first contested International Olympic Committee election since 2013 to replace Thomas Bach, who formally leaves office in June after the mandated maximum of 12 years.

They include two Olympic gold medalists, Sebastian Coe and Kirsty Coventry, and the son of a former IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Four are presidents of Olympic sports bodies, including Johan Eliasch from skiing, David Lappartient from cycling, and Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics. Coe also leads track’s World Athletics, organized the 2012 London Olympics and is widely viewed as the most qualified candidate.

Three are members of the Bach-chaired IOC executive board that meets Monday: Samaranch, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and Coventry, the sports minister of Zimbabwe who would be the first woman leader in the IOC’s 131-year history.

Coventry is seen as Bach’s preferred choice to be elected by about 100 IOC members invited into an exclusive club from royal families, international politics and business, sports officials plus past and current athletes.

Here’s a look at some of the issues facing them:

The US

The Summer Games is the foundation of the Olympic movement, where each of the 207 officially recognized teams competes. Fewer than 100 countries participate at the Winter Games.

For the IOC, bringing the world’s athletes together in the Olympic village is a powerful symbol of political neutrality and promoting peace.

The next Summer Games is in Los Angeles in 2028, in the final months of President Donald Trump’s second term. As the host nation head of state, he should help formally open the games at a July 14 ceremony likely drawing the biggest global audience for any broadcast in 2028.

A challenge until then is protecting what the IOC calls Olympic values, including gender equality and universal inclusion.

American relations this year with long-time allies like Canada, Ukraine, Denmark and Germany has cast doubt on how much warmth there will be for the US as a welcoming host in 2028.

The federal government’s limited operational role for the Olympics includes security and border issues, including visas. A test of those plans will be the US co-hosting the 2026 World Cup in men’s soccer with Canada and Mexico. Iran should be among the first teams to qualify next week.

The next IOC president will need nimble diplomatic skills, balanced with close ties to the Democratic-leaning local organizing committee, city of LA and state of California.

Global politics

The IOC has been closely aligned with the United Nations and the multilateral rules-based order shaping the world for 80 years. That is under pressure, from the US and elsewhere. When and how to reintegrate Russia in the Olympic family is pressing.

If these can seem uniquely challenging times, Coe noted his career as a track champion at Moscow in 1980 and LA in 1984 was an Olympic era of Cold War boycotts and exclusion for apartheid-era South Africa.

“They always have been (navigable) in the past,” Coe said of the pending diplomatic turmoil.

Equality for women

Gender equality has been a key policy of the Bach presidency: Equal quotas of men and women athletes, higher profile scheduling of women’s events, men and women flag bearers for each team, more women members of the IOC.

Coventry is just the second female presidential candidate in the IOC’s 131-year history and the first with a chance to win.

Gender eligibility in Olympic sports is now a hot-button issue, fueled further by President Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes in the US and promises to pressure the IOC, and coming after the furor and disinformation around women’s boxing in Paris last year.

The IOC had some responsibility for women’s boxing arriving in Paris with what seemed outdated eligibility rules. Those could be reviewed before 2028.

Stricter rules on transgender athletes — barring from women’s events anyone who went through male puberty — already were passed before Paris by swimming, cycling led by Lappartient and track and field led by Coe.

Some candidates in Thursday’s election, including Coe, Samaranch and Eliasch have urged the IOC to take a clearer policy lead.

2036 Olympics host

The new president’s eight-year mandate runs through 2033 and all games hosts in that time are already picked. Even 2034 is decided for the Salt Lake City Winter Games and 2038 looks destined for Switzerland.

The next big decision is the 2036 Summer Games with high-level lobbying under way by countries like India and Qatar. Doha would perhaps anchor a regional project with neighboring Gulf states.

There is no set timetable for a decision in the new, flexible and more opaque process designed by Bach which largely cuts members out of decisions, but limits the risk of vote-buying.

Climate change

The 2036 Olympics seem likely to move from the July-August period the Summer Games has occupied since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

It can be a catalyst for a wide review of the global sports calendar amid rising temperatures and extreme weather.

With fewer options to find Winter Games hosts, Eliasch proposes in his manifesto to rotate among a select group of permanent venues.

Engaging athletes

Olympic athletes could be winners in the election.

Coe’s World Athletics broke an IOC taboo by paying $50,000 to track and field gold medalists in Paris, and promises payments for silver and bronze in LA.

Samaranch wants to give athletes control of video of their Olympic performances currently denied to protect broadcasters’ exclusivity. Athletes have long objected to the strict drafting of Olympic Charter Rule 40 that limits their commercial options at the games.

Coventry is the most recent Olympic athlete, swimming at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, and was their representative on the IOC executive board from 2018-21. Her manifesto offers no new benefits but supports the established Athlete 365 program helping prepare for their next careers.

Engaging voters

A theme for some candidates is that voters Thursday want more input and active involvement in the IOC’s work. Bach’s management style is widely seen as controlling.

Lappartient called for more debating instead of just listening; Coe said “I don’t micro-manage“; Prince Feisal suggested unanimous votes that are routine “means there’s something wrong.”

Samaranch offers members more say in selecting Olympic hosts. The members’ age limit could rise five years to 75. Coe even would let members vote in just four years, not eight, whether to re-elect him.


Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff

Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff
Updated 17 March 2025
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Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff

Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff
  • The Players has a three-hole aggregate playoff on the most dynamic holes on the TPC Sawgrass — the par-5 16th, the island green on the par-3 17th and the daunting par-4 closing hole
  • It will be the first Monday finish since Cameron Smith won in 2022 and the first playoff at The Players since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: Rory McIlroy built a three-shot lead on the back nine at The Players Championship and unheralded J.J. Spaun didn’t blink. They wound up tied after a four-hour rain delay and had to return Monday for a playoff to decide the richest tournament in golf.

McIlroy needed two putts from 75 feet on the par-4 18th for a 4-under 68. All he could do was wait in the scoring area on Spaun, who had caught up with a marvelous chip on the par-5 16th and stood over a 30-foot putt for the win.

It stopped inches short, giving Spaun a 72 to match McIlroy at 12-under 276.

They did well to finish in regulation before sunset. The Players has a three-hole aggregate playoff on the most dynamic holes on the TPC Sawgrass — the par-5 16th, the island green on the par-3 17th and the daunting par-4 closing hole.

It will be the first Monday finish since Cameron Smith won in 2022 and the first playoff at The Players since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago.

“I’m standing here feeling like I should be going home with the trophy today,” McIlroy said. “But it’s all right. I’ll reset and try to go home with the trophy tomorrow.”

Tom Hoge had to wait out the four-hole delay with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th. He returned and missed, posting a 66 and wound up two shots behind. Lucas Glover rallied from a rough front nine for a 71 and joined Hoge and Akshay Bhatia (70).

Bud Cauley, whose thought his career was over from crushing injuries in a 2018 car crash in Ohio, fell back early and steadied himself for a 74. He tied for sixth, giving him more than enough points to fulfill his medical exemption for the rest of the year.

McIlroy faced a four-shot deficit going into the final round and roared into contention with an 8-foot birdie putt and beautiful long iron to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 second. He took the lead for the first time when Spaun made bogey on the seventh hole.

Spaun caught a big break on the ninth hole when his second shot was in the collar of deep rough. He got relief from standing on a sprinkler head, then more relief when his drop was in the sprinkler head, leading to a clean lie. He chipped to 6 feet for birdie.

Still, McIlroy appeared to start pulling away right before and after the four-hour delay from a band of thunderstorms moving across north Florida.

He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th to reach 12 under. Spaun, playing in the group behind him, was in trouble in a bunker well short of the green.

Four hours later, McIlroy made a 15-foot birdie on the 12th, while Spaun barely got the bunker shot on the green and three-putted for bogey from some 70 feet.

Just like that, McIlroy was three shots clear and Spaun appeared rattled, missing birdies chances from the 12-foot range on consecutive holes. And then it became tight again.

“Once that bogey kind of hit me, I just tried to just fight back,” Spaun said. “I kind of went with the odds. I had nothing to lose. Now I’m trying to catch Rory, and I can’t really control what he does, but I can control what I do, and I just started committing to my shots and my swing and trusting it more.

“When I’m hunting, it’s easier to let it go. Whereas, starting the round I was a little tentative, a little scared and stuff,” he said. “I think it put me in a pretty comfortable spot to finish off the round.”

McIlroy fanned a drive well right on the 14th, couldn’t reach the green, hit wedge to 15 feet and powered it through the break for only his second bogey of the round. The one-quarter inch of rain softened the green. The 15 mph wind all but vanished. The Stadium course was vulnerable.

McIlroy, however, missed a birdie chance from just inside 6 feet on the 15th and didn’t judge the rain-softened speed of the green on the par-5 16th, missing a 12-foot birdie. Behind him, Spaun threw a dart to a foot on the 14th for birdie, and chipped tight at the 16th for a birdie that tied him for the lead.

Both found land on the island at the 17th — McIlroy against the collar for an awkward stab at his 15-foot birdie attempt, Spaun lagging beautifully from 45 feet on a putt that is slow up the slope and races to the pin.

Danny Walker, who has lived in the area the last few years and only got in as an alternate Thursday morning when Jason Day withdrew with illness, shot 70 and tied for sixth with Cauley and Corey Conners (71)

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler was never really in the mix. He went 15 straight holes without a birdie between the third and fourth rounds, made only one birdie on Sunday and closed with a 73 to tie for 20th.

“Being able to repeat here was very special and I would have liked to have done it a third time,” Scheffler said. “At the end of the day, I just didn’t have what it took this week. The guys that are ahead of me on the leaderboard — there’s many of them, so they obviously played better than I did.”


Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters

Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters
Updated 17 March 2025
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Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters

Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters
  • Draper: All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words
  • Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton

INDIAN WELLS, California: Britain’s Jack Draper roared past Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.

The 14th-ranked Briton, who toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, didn’t face a break point as he subdued the 13th ranked Dane in just 69 minutes.

He’ll make his top 10 debut on Monday at seventh in the world.

“It’s incredible,” said Draper, a US Open semifinalist last year whose preparations for 2025 were hindered by a flareup of hip tendinitis.

“I’m just so grateful and happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in my mind.

“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words,” added the 23-year-old, who also missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2023.

Draper was rock-solid in his first Masters 1000 final, racing to a 4-0 lead as Rune made a nervous start.

Draper dropped just four points on serve in the opening set as Rune, who burst on the scene with a precocious Paris Masters triumph in 2022, had 10 of his 19 unforced errors in the set.

The Dane had managed to hold serve twice before Draper pocketed the set, giving himself set point with an ace before Rune thumped a backhand into the net.

Draper broke Rune to open the second set, and even though the Dane got a few more looks at Draper’s second serve he couldn’t take advantage.

Draper seized a second break for a 5-2 lead and after sending a forehand long on his first match point he had the win when Rune went long with a backhand.

Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton.

“I feel like I deserve it, in all honesty,” Draper said. “It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in and to be here now to say that I’m going to be No. 7 sin the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”


Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller

Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller
Updated 17 March 2025
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Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller

Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller
  • Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season

MADRID: Barcelona battled back from two goals down to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 and land an important blow in the Spanish title race on Sunday.
Lamine Yamal struck in the 92nd minute and Ferran Torres in the 98th to help take the Catalans back top of the table after Real Madrid beat Villarreal on Saturday to briefly claim pole position.
Barcelona have a game in hand on the champions with both sides level on 60 points, while Atletico trail the top two by four after they crumbled at home against Hansi Flick’s side to end a disastrous week following their Champions League elimination.
Having twice been caught out late by Atletico this season, this time it was Barcelona’s turn to provide the sting in the tail, extending their unbeaten streak to 18 matches across all competitions.
Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth put Atletico ahead before Robert Lewandowski and Torres hit back for Barca, who went on to win in stoppage time.
Flick selected Marc Casado in midfield, with Frenkie de Jong not fit enough to be included in the matchday squad.
The German had warned his players to stay focussed after they conceded a 96th minute goal in December to surrender the lead at the top of the table to Atletico in a 2-1 home defeat.
Barcelona also conceded two late goals in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg to draw 4-4 against Diego Simeone’s side in February.
They played within themselves in the first half, overly cautious and conserving energy, failing to create many openings.
Teenage winger Yamal created one for himself but fired wide with Jan Oblak’s goal gaping, while Lewandowski directed a header at the Slovenian stopper.
At the other end Atletico wanted a penalty when Inigo Martinez pulled back Marcos Llorente in the area but they were not given it.
Barcelona’s best chance of the first half came when Pedri played in Lewandowski, who hit the top of the crossbar with a powerful drive. From the resulting goal kick, Atletico found the opener.
The hosts worked the ball to Griezmann, who threaded a brilliant pass across the area to Giuliano Simeone, with Alvarez finishing from his cut-back.
It provided a moment of joy for the former Manchester City striker who felt deep frustration in midweek when his penalty against Real Madrid was controversially disallowed for a supposed double touch on the ball, as Atletico were eliminated in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.
Yamal probed after the break as Barca looked for a way back in and Simeone turned to his bench to freshen up his side, who played 120 draining minutes against Los Blancos.
The coach introduced Sorloth and Conor Gallagher and they combined for Atletico’s second goal.
Atletico put together another fine team move with Griezmann heavily involved, before Gallagher squared to perennial super-sub Sorloth to net his 11th league goal of the season, despite just nine starts.
Barcelona had complaints about a Rodrigo De Paul handball in the build-up dismissed and they turned their anger into an instant response.
Martinez drove forward with the ball and slung it into the box for Lewandowski, who controlled well and powered a low finish past Oblak to spark the comeback.
Substitute Torres netted the equalizer when Raphinha, on an othewise quiet night in the capital for the Brazilian, crossed from the right.
With Atletico shaken, Barcelona took full advantage, with Yamal’s deflected shot from distance sending them ahead in stoppage time.
Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season.


Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title

Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title
Updated 17 March 2025
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Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title

Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title
  • Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour

INDIAN WELLS, United States: Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her second WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells.
Andreeva, who last month become the youngest ever player to win an elite 1000 level crown with her triumph in Dubai, ended a frustrating run against the Belarusian to ensure she will rise to a career-high sixth in the world on Monday.
Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour.
“I would like to thank myself for fighting to the end,” Andreeva said. “I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna she was sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up.”
In a match of swinging shifts of momentum, Andreeva was in full control by the end, giving herself a match point on Sabalenka’s serve with a defensive lob that forced a miss from the number one and clinching victory with a forehand winner.
“The match point I just really tried to just put the return in, it doesn’t matter how,” she told Tennis Channel. “Then I just saw the ball and I decided I might just go for it.
“And I did,” added Andreeva, who sank to her knees in celebration after her winner landed.
Andreeva claimed her first hard court victory over Sabalenka, who had beaten her twice already this year at Brisbane and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka had powered into the final without dropping a set but it was another disappointment for the Belarusian, who was stunned by Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne to see her bid for a third successive Australian Open title denied.
Unlike in Melbourne where she played “like a joke,” Sabalenka said, this time she let her emotions get the best of her.
“Honestly, was me against me,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better ... I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself.
“I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Andreeva had Sabalenka under pressure early, and the youngster’s frustration was evident as she was unable to convert four break points in the third game.
Sabalenka took full advantage, breaking the Russian to love for a 3-1 lead and keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator from there.
Sabalenka backed up her power from the baseline with some confident forays to the net, breaking Andreeva to take the opening set in 37 minutes.
“The anger was just boiling inside of me, because I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t convert,” said Andreeva, who wasted another three break points to open the second set.
She finally gained a foothold with a break for 2-1 — pouncing on a Sabalenka second serve to end a run of 18 missed break point chances against the Belarusian this year.
“I was so desperate to win at least one game on her serve ... every time she served I just tried to win one more game and then one more game,” Andreeva said. “Somehow I kind of crawled and came back and we got into the third set like this.”
Andreeva saved a pair of break points to push her lead to 4-2, her winners tally climbing with her confidence.
After missing one chance to take the set on Sabalenka’s serve, Andreeva sealed the set with her first love service game, complete with a pair of aces to close it.
The Russian maintained her momentum as she broke Sabalenka to love to open the third.
Sabalenka promptly broke back, but that proved just a speedbump as Andreeva broke again for 2-1 and didn’t face another break point.