NBA
ATLANTA (AP)Quin Snyder has been hired as coach of the Atlanta Hawks to replace the fired Nate McMillan.
The Hawks reached an agreement with Snyder on a five-year deal only five days after firing McMillan on Tuesday. The team has scheduled a news conference for Monday to introduce Snyder.
The announcement from the team Sunday came shortly after the Hawks’ second straight win under interim coach Joe Prunty, a buzzer-beating 129-127 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Damian Lillard set franchise and career highs with 71 points – tied for the most in the NBA this season – and 13 3-pointers and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a two-game skid with a 131-114 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Lillard tied Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell for the most points in a game this season after Mitchell also scored 71 in a win over Chicago on Jan. 2. Lillard broke his own franchise mark of 61 points, which he’d done twice, on a 3-pointer with 4:42 left that also topped his previous career record for 3s, which was 11.
Lillard’s 13 3-pointers were one shy of the NBA record set by Golden State’s Klay Thompson in 2018. Thompson’s Warriors teammate Stephen Curry (2016) and Chicago’s Zach LaVine (2019) also made 13 3s.
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Jrue Holiday scored 33 points, Brook Lopez made a tiebreaking layup with 24.8 seconds left and the Milwaukee Bucks edged the Phoenix Suns 104-101 for their 14th consecutive victory.
The nationally televised game didn’t include Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Phoenix’s Kevin Durant.
Antetokounmpo was out with a bruised right quadriceps after leaving in the first quarter of the Bucks’ 128-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday. Durant has yet to appear in a game for the Suns and hasn’t played since Jan. 8 because of sprained right medial collateral ligament.
Lopez had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks.
DALLAS (AP) – Anthony Davis had 30 points and 15 rebounds, including a putback dunk for the late lead, and the Los Angeles Lakers erased a 27-point deficit to beat the Dallas Mavericks 111-108.
LeBron James scored 26 points as the Lakers won their fourth in five games by turning a showcase of stars from a laugher into a thriller that featured 13 lead changes in the fourth quarter.
Luka Doncic scored 26 points for the Mavs, but the youngest of the four superstars was limited and frustrated after a 14-point first quarter that sent Dallas on its way to the huge lead. Kyrie Irving had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas.
BASEBALL
SAN DIEGO (AP) – All-Star slugger Manny Machado has agreed to a new $350 million, 11-year contract that will keep him with the San Diego Padres through 2033, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Machado must pass a physical before the deal, which was first reported by ESPN, is finalized.
Machado, 30, had said that after this season he planned to opt out of the $300 million, 10-year free agent deal he signed in 2019. With the $120 million he already has received, the new deal increases the free-spending Padres’ commitment to Machado to $470 million over 15 years.
Machado finished second in the NL MVP race last year and now he’ll anchor a superstar-laden lineup that includes Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr., who can return on April 20 from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
NHL
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Timo Meier is going to the New Jersey Devils in the latest ante of the high-stakes poker game among Eastern Conference playoff contenders.
Meier joins the Devils after the New York Islanders made a big acquisition, the NHL-leading Boston Bruins got bigger and tougher and the Rangers added one scorer and could get another significantly productive winger before the deadline Friday.
New Jersey sent a 2023 first-round pick, a conditional 2024 first-rounder, forward Andreas Johnsson and prospects Shakir Mukhamadullin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nikita Okhotiuk to San Jose. In return, the Devils got Meier, defenseman Scott Harrington and prospects Timur Ibragimov, Santeri Hatakka and Zach Emond.
Meier is under team control for at least the next year. He’s a pending restricted free agent with a $10 million qualifying offer for the 2023-24 season. The 26-year-old Swiss forward has 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games this season.
NEW YORK (AP) – Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller was given a match penalty and ejected after spitting at Kings defenseman Drew Doughty late in the first period of the Rangers’ 5-2 win Sunday.
Miller’s absence left the Rangers with just five defensemen the remainder of the game – the second time in two days they’ve had to finish a game a player short at the position.
After the game Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said he didn’t see the play when it happened. He said Miller told him it was `an accident.’ Miller was not made available to reporters following the game.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The slumping Tampa Bay Lightning added an element of grit into their lineup to punch up their late-season playoff push by acquiring forward Tanner Jeannot in a trade with the Nashville Predators.
And the Lightning paid a high price in doing so by trading away third-year defenseman Cal Foote, as well as five draft picks, including a 2025 first-round selection that is top-10 protected. Tampa Bay also traded its second-round pick in the 2024 draft, as well as its third- fourth- and fifth-round selections this year.
The trade was completed shortly after the Lightning fell to 2-2-2 in their past six following a 7-3 loss at Pittsburgh, and comes less than a week before the NHL’s trade deadline on Friday.
FRISCO, Texas (AP) – The Dallas Stars acquired Evgenii Dadonov from the Montreal Canadiens for Denis Gurianov in a swap of Russian forwards designed to give the Central Division leaders an offensive boost.
Montreal is retaining half of Dadonov’s $5 million salary cap hit for the rest of the season as part of the trade. That saves Dallas some money while it sheds Gurianov’s $2.9 million.
Dadonov, 33, has 18 points in 50 games this season for Montreal, which is in the middle of a rebuild. He does have a track record of producing offense in the NHL.
GOLF
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – Chris Kirk waited nearly eight years to win a PGA Tour event again. Waiting one more hole on Sunday was no problem.
Kirk stuck his approach to the par-5 18th to tap-in range, and his birdie on the first hole of a playoff lifted him past Eric Cole for the victory at the Honda Classic. It was his fifth career win – his first since prevailing at Colonial in 2015.
And he’ll be the last Honda winner. The car company is ending its title sponsorship of the event after 42 years, with a new sponsor set to be in place – the PGA Tour hopes, anyway – in the coming weeks.
Kirk and Cole finished 72 holes tied at 14-under 266, Kirk shooting 69 on Sunday, Cole shooting 67.
Kirk earned $1,512,000 for the win, and is now eligible to play the Masters again for the first time since 2016. Cole earned $915,600 for the runner-up finish, a check that more than doubles what the 34-year-old has earned in 14 previous tour starts.
AUTO RACING
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) – Kyle Busch sent Fontana off in style Sunday, storming up from the back after an early penalty and earning his first victory for Richard Childress Racing while winning on this Southern California track for the fifth time.
Busch held off Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain in NASCAR’s final race on the two miles of gloriously weathered asphalt at Auto Club Speedway, which will soon be demolished to make room for a half-mile track.
Busch drove his Chevrolet to victory in only his second race with RCR, which scooped him up in December after his 15-year tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing ended. This win was Busch’s first since Bristol last season on a dirt track, and his first on pavement since Pocono in 2021.
With his 61st career victory, Busch earned a win in his record 19th consecutive Cup season, breaking a tie with Richard Petty.
