Sports

Pacers build 41-point halftime lead and rout Cavaliers 129-109 for a 3-1 series lead

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and the Indiana Pacers tied an NBA playoff record by taking a 41-point halftime lead before routing the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 129-109 on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers can earn a second straight trip to the East finals with a victory Tuesday in Cleveland, where they won the first two games. Indiana jumped to an 80-39 lead at halftime and led by as much as 44 points. Donovan Mitchell had 12 points despite not playing in the second half because of a left ankle injury. Coach Kenny Atkinson said his All-Star guard would have an MRI exam Monday.

Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin ejected after hitting Cavs’ Hunter in the chest with a closed fist

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin was ejected in the first quarter of Game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday after hitting De’Andre Hunter in the chest with a closed fist. Hunter responded by wagging his finger at Mathurin and then following him toward midcourt and shoving Mathurin to the ground with two hands. Pacers center Myles Turner ran across the court and knocked down Hunter. Following a replay review, the referees called Mathurin for a flagrant 2, an automatic ejection, drawing a chorus of boos from Pacers fans. Technical fouls were given to Turner and Hunter.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 25 points and leads Thunder past Denver 92-87 to tie series 2-2

DENVER (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder finally outplayed Denver in crunch time, beating the Nuggets 92-87 Sunday to knot their second-round series at two games each. The Thunder overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter after the Nuggets had outlasted the youngest team in the NBA with wins in Games 1 and 3.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to be a model of emotionless consistency for the Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is mostly an expressionless, seemingly emotionless model of consistency. Whether Oklahoma City’s superstar guard has an off night or scores 50 points, the cool Canadian sticks to the script. He says he’s not an all-time great yet, but Gilgeous-Alexander seems to be on his way to greatness. The MVP finalist led the league in scoring and helped the Thunder win a league-high 68 games this season, earning respect from teammates and opponents alike. He’ll need to summon all his skills to help the Thunder get past Denver.

The White Sox lost 121 games last season. This year’s Rockies have been worse so far

When the Chicago White Sox set the modern record of 121 losses last year, they were outscored by 306 runs over the whole season. Colorado has played less than a fourth of the 2025 campaign so far. And the Rockies are already at minus-128. Last year’s White Sox were 12-28 after 40 games. This year’s Rockies are 7-33. On Saturday, Colorado lost 21-0 to San Diego. Even after rebounding with a win Sunday, the Rockies fired manager Bud Black. It remains to be seen if Colorado stays bad enough to challenge Chicago’s loss total from a year ago. But so far the Rockies have been worse than the White Sox were.

NASCAR star Kyle Larson is ready to focus on the Indianapolis 500 — after a sprint car race

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — NASCAR star Kyle Larson is ready to take another shot at “the Double,” running every lap of the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend. At least, he will be ready after squeezing in one more sprint car race on Monday night in Indiana. Larson won his third Cup Series race of the season on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, then flew that night to Indianapolis. But with practice for the 500 not starting until Tuesday, he figured he might as well head to Kokoma for a High Limit Racing series race first.

Bobrovsky stops 23 shots, Panthers top Maple Leafs 2-0 in Game 4 to tie series

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Sunday night in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Verhaeghe scored on a power play in the first period, Bennett added the insurance score with 7:50 left and Bobrovsky did the rest. He’s the first goalie with two shutouts in this year’s playoffs. Joseph Woll stopped 35 shots for the Maple Leafs, who took a 2-0 series lead with a pair of home wins and now return there for Game 5 on Wednesday with the series knotted 2-2.

The NBA draft lottery: 14 ping-pong balls, and the right to pick No. 1 overall on the line

Sometime around 6 p.m. EDT Monday, locked inside a secure room with no way of communicating with the outside world, team executives and others will watch 14 ping-pong balls start to bounce inside a machine. The balls will be numbered, 1 through 14. One will be drawn, then a second, then a third, then a fourth. And with that, the people inside that room will find out, an hour or so before the rest of the world, which team won the No. 1 pick in next month’s NBA draft. The NBA draft lottery is Monday night in Chicago, with the winner getting the chance to pick No. 1 overall.

Mikko Rantanen has a goal and 2 assists for Stars in 5-2 win over Jets to take a 2-1 series lead

DALLAS (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, including on the tiebreaking goal off Alexander Petrovic’s skate as the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Sunday to take 2-1 lead in the second-round Western Conference series. Officials reviewed Petrovic’s goal with 16:09 left for more than five minutes before confirming the 3-2 lead that came off the rebound of a shot by Rantanen. Soon after play resumed, Rantanen scored his ninth goal of the playoffs. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas. Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist for the Stars, and Wyatt Johnston added a late goal. Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets.

Straka outduels Lowry to win Truist Championship at Philly Cricket for 2nd victory of the season

FLOURTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Sepp Straka seized the lead with a par at the 16th hole and shot a 2-under 68, outdueling Shane Lowry in the final round of the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club for his second victory of the season. Justin Thomas and Lowry tied for second place, two strokes back. Patrick Cantlay, Jacob Bridgeman and Tommy Fleetwood finished tied for fourth at 12 under. Defending champion and four-time event winner Rory McIlroy never really got going, closing with a 2-under 68 and was in a group in seventh place.