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Wild win Game 3 against Stars, lose Joel Eriksson Ek in the process

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

The return of Joel Eriksson Ek has been a talking point ever since the Wild started their first-round series against the Dallas Stars.It came to fruition on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center, and he didn’t even last a full shift.After getting announced last in the starting lineup, and drawing a massive ovation from the sellout crowd, Eriksson Ek left less than 20 seconds into the game. He did not return.As much as that put the Wild in a precarious position — down a skater with basically the full 60 minutes to play — they still managed to scratch and claw their way to a 5-1 win over the Stars. Whether it was Mats Zuccarello busting out of a slump, Marcus Johansson continuing his excellence, or Marcus Foligno firing up the crowd, the collective stepped up for the Wild like it has so many times this season.That win in Game 3 helped the Wild take a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in St. Paul.There was intensity from the onset o...

Nuggets top Timberwolves to put Minnesota down 3-0 in series

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

The NBA’s regular season reveals more than most recognize. Over the course of 82 games, identities crystallize.Denver established one — a fine-tuned machine centered on Nikola Jokic, who’s armed with a couple elite scorers and a host of role players who perfectly balance out the team’s general skillset.Minnesota’s identity: that it did not have an identity. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch admitted as much throughout the season. What the Timberwolves excelled at or relied on changed numerous times over the months, and the results fluctuated accordingly.So when times got tough or tense, Minnesota had nothing to lean back on to make something happen. When that’s the case, individual players simply try to make things happen on their own.That doomed the Timberwolves time and time again this season, just as it did in Game 3 on Friday in Minneapolis. The Wolves fell apart down the stretch in their 120-111 loss to the top-seeded Nuggets.Denver leads the be...

Nuggets take commanding 3-0 lead over Minnesota behind Nikola Jokic’s triple-double

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS – Despite the magnitude of the moment, Jamal Murray didn’t hesitate whipping a behind-the-back pass through the lane to his favorite dance partner, Nikola Jokic.In what was expected to be a tense Game 3 here Friday night, the Nuggets were in complete control as they dashed Minnesota’s hopes of making this a competitive playoff series. Murray’s devilish dish to Jokic late in the fourth quarter may as well have been salt in the wound. The Nuggets’ 120-111 win gave Denver a commanding 3-0 lead in this first-round playoff series with a chance to end it on Sunday.Jokic’s 20-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound triple-double earned the headlines, but six Nuggets finished with double figures. Murray scored 20, and Michael Porter Jr. paced Denver with 25 points and four 3-pointers.Denver owned the paint (60-52) and dominated the glass (40-32). It was a resounding statement win and one the Nuggets didn’t need to have but they wanted, badly, anyway.Anthony Edwards’ 36 points paced Minneso...

Nuggets 3-pointers: Minnesota fans need to stop complaining about refs and start complaining about Rudy Gobert’s inability to guard Nikola Jokic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

Initial observations from the Nuggets’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of their first-round Western Conference playoffs matchup.1. Not even refs could slow Nuggets down. Timberwolves media couldn’t stop whining on Twitter late Friday about phantom Nikola Jokic traveling calls. What about phantom fouls on the NBA MVP? Or Rudy Gobert’s attempts at defending him? Home cooking on the home court happens, but the free-throw disparity Friday night bordered on the absurd. While Minnesota fans shouted, “Refs, you (expletive)” for the hundredth time with 4:46 to go in a five-point game, the T-Pups had gone to the stripe 31 times to Denver’s seven. It still wasn’t enough. Anthony Edwards’ shoulder charge on Jamal Murray with 4:06 left in the game finally got the Nuggets in the bonus and started sucking the oxygen out of the hosts, who now trail 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. No NBA team has ever flipped a 3-0 deficit.2. What can Brown do for you? Everything. Coming into F...

Police find $4 million worth of meth, fentanyl pills in San Bernardino bust

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

Police found over 300 pounds of methamphetamine and 90,000 fentanyl pills during massive drug busts in San Bernardino this week.On Wednesday, San Bernardino officers along with a SWAT team served a search warrant at an undisclosed location where 305 pounds of meth were discovered. The drug’s total street value is estimated at $4 million, authorities said.Police found $4 million worth of methamphetamine in a massive drug bust in San Bernardino. (San Bernardino Police Department.)Police found $4 million worth of methamphetamine in a massive drug bust in San Bernardino. (San Bernardino Police Department.)“You’d think these crooks would avoid @SanBernardinoPD,” said SBPD Chief Darren Goodman in a Tweet. “Our Narcotics Unit keeps fighting the battle to keep these dangerous drugs out of our community.”On Friday, officers conducted a traffic stop on a driver with a suspended license. Inside the suspect’s vehicle, police found 40,000 fentanyl pills. After serving a search warrant at the sus...

How SF Giants’ game vs. New York Mets turned in an instant, and when is it no longer ‘early’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants’ deficit against the New York Mets grew from one run to four runs in a span of about a minute Friday night – and not without some consternation from San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler.Catcher Joey Bart fielded a check swing from Jeff McNeil in the fifth inning right in front of home plate, but his throw to first base went off McNeil’s back and into right field, allowing Luis Guillorme to score from second base.Kapler came out of the dugout to talk to home plate umpire Bill Miller, presumably about McNeil being inside the line on his way to first base, but the discussion was brief.The next batter, Pete Alonso, took the first pitch he saw from Anthony DeSclafani over the center field wall, giving the Mets more than enough offense in what became a 7-0 win over the Giants before an announced crowd of 27,551 at Oracle Park.Mets left-handed starter and Newark native Joey Lucchesi, in his first big league game since June 2021, struck out eight in seven innings as ...

Zuccarello scores 2, Wild beat Stars to take 2-1 series lead

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Ryan Hartman had a three-point game as the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 5-1 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.Zuccarello scored Minnesota’s first goal on a backhander at 16:45 of the first period and beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger on a breakaway at 14:07 of the third to bring the sellout crowd to its feet.Marcus Johansson, Marcus Foligno and Hartman also scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson, who did not play in Game 2, made 23 saves.Luke Glendening scores his first goal of the series at 2:25 of the second period for Dallas. Oettinger, a Minnesota native, stopped 20 shots.Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center.The Wild opened the scoring late in the first period. John Klingberg, playing in his first game of the series, fired a shot from the point that wound up in front of the net. After the puck bounced around, Zuccarello corralled it and scored pas...

Alonso hits majors-best 10th homer, Lucchesi wins in return

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pete Alonso hit his majors-leading 10th homer, a two-run drive in the fifth that backed Joey Lucchesi’s triumphant return to the majors nearly two years after Tommy John surgery, and the New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-0 on Friday night.Lucchesi (1-0) struck out nine, walked two and allowed four hits over seven scoreless innings in his first appearance since June 18, 2021. The lefty became the first Mets pitcher to work into the seventh this season.Lucchesi underwent reconstructive elbow surgery on June 24, 2021, six days after his last big league appearance. His sensational season debut came across the bay from his hometown of Newark. His 97-pitch gem featured 59 sinkers averaging 91 mph and even clocking 92.6 mph to Mike Yastrzemski in the seventh. Lucchesi had never faced the Giants while with the Mets, tossing six innings here with San Diego on Aug. 31, 2019.Alonso delivered another mighty swing — this time off right-hander Anthony DeScla...

AP PHOTOS: Glimpses of a changing Earth, as seen from above

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

Charred, drained or swamped, built up, dug out or taken apart, blue or green or turned to dust: this is the Earth as seen from above.As the world commemorates Earth Day on Saturday, the footprints of human activity are visible across the planet’s surface. The relationship between people and the natural world will have consequences for years to come.In Iraq, lakes shrivel and dry up as rain fails to fall, weather patterns altered by human-made climate change. In Florida, the opposite problem: too much water clogs roads and neighborhoods, trapping cars and stranding people, with the burning of fossil fuels again partially to blame for erratic conditions.In megacities, like the rapidly growing Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, skyscrapers shoot upwards while in Guyana excavators dig deep into the earth for deposits of gold.In California, surfers straddle waves in the ocean. In New Jersey, solar panels float in ponds, and in India, fishing nets sink into the lakes. Residents of neighborhoods in...

Mariners snap 3-game losing streak, top Cardinals 5-2

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — George Kirby allowed two runs in six solid innings, Teoscar Hernández homered, doubled and scored three times, and the Seattle Mariners beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Friday night. Seattle snapped a three-game losing streak behind another excellent start from its young right-hander and a busy day at the plate from its right fielder. Hernández doubled in his first at-bat and scored on Jarred Kelenic’s soft single. Hernández followed in the fourth inning with his fourth homer of the season to center field off St. Louis starter Steven Matz.And he reached base during Seattle’s three-run sixth inning despite striking out. Hernández whiffed at Drew VerHagen’s breaking ball in the dirt, but the wild pitch eluded catcher Willson Contreras and allowed Hernández to reach, loading the bases after Julio Rodríguez and Eugenio Suarez walked earlier in the inning. AJ Pollock followed with a double to right-center field to score a pair, and Kelenic’s sacrifice fly scored Hernánd...