Bulls break long drought vs. Pacers
Zach LaVine scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to help Chicago force overtime, and the Bulls then pulled away from the Indiana Pacers for a 120-112 victory Monday night.
Chicago had lost 10 straight against Indiana and eight straight on the road in the series.
Domantas Sabonis scored 25 points and Malcolm Brogdon had 23 for the Pacers, who had won two in a row.
The Pacers led 103-101 in the final minute of regulation, but LaVine scored four straight points to give the Bulls 105-103 edge. Brogdon tied the score with 10.5 seconds left, and LaVine’s 19-footer for the win was off the mark.
Wizards 131, Rockets 119: Bradley Beal scored 37 points for host Washington in an entertaining duel with former teammate
John Wall.
Wall, traded in December for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick, had season highs of 29 points and 11 assists for Houston, which was missing leading scorer Eric Gordon along with Victor Oladipo, Christian Wood and P.J. Tucker.
Westbrook had 16 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds for his sixth triple-double of the season — his first in a Wizards win — and 152nd of his career.
But it was a largely inefficient performance from the former MVP, who shot 8 of 22 overall, 0 of 3 from three-point range and airballed a 20-foot jumper.
ELSEWHERE
Cavaliers: Andre Drummond wasn’t part of Cleveland’s future plans. He’s not part of current ones, either. The two-time All-Star center will be inactive for upcoming games as the Cavs, struggling badly after a solid start, pursue a trade for him, a person familiar with the team’s intentions said.
Lakers: Forward Anthony Davis’ injured Achilles tendon is not ruptured, and he will be reevaluated when Los Angeles returns from its road trip. The defending NBA champions made the announcement Monday after an MRI exam for Davis, who is out indefinitely.
Pistons: Detroit is taking another step in its rebuilding process, planning to part ways with Blake Griffin. Detroit plans to keep the star forward out of the lineup while he and the organization work out a decision on his future.
It took almost 10 hours for the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 to finish, and even when the race was over, you still didn’t know who won.
But once NASCAR reviewed what went down in a turbulent last lap, it was determined that Michael McDowell not only got his first Daytona 500 victory, but also his first win on NASCAR’s top circuit in his 358th start.
How he won early Monday morning was one of those typical last-lap Daytona scenarios in which cars start spinning and crashing as everyone goes for a final push. Joey Logano had led the last 25 laps but was vulnerable as cars behind him could get some momentum with a big push from a teammate.
Things started to happen when Logano’s Ford teammate Brad Keselowksi, running third, made a move down low that shuffled Kevin Harvick, who was running second. As the race entered the final turn, Keselowski made a run at Logano but got into him, causing the leader to go sideways and havoc for everyone behind.
This is where McDowell, who was third, sneaked through and took the lead when the caution came out and the race was declared official. But only after NASCAR conducted a video review.
Logano had his own description of the ending.
“Pandemonium, I guess,” he said. “Chaos struck. … It’s a real bummer that none of the
Penske cars won, but at least a Ford won and I’m really happy for McDowell.”
McDowell was overcome with emotion after winning in his 14th year on this circuit.
“So many years just grinding it out and hoping for an opportunity like this,” he said. “… I’m so thankful. Such a great way to get a first victory — a Daytona 500.”
While the end of a race can seem like a series of circumstances of which you have no control, McDowell did know how he wanted things to go.
“My plan was to stick to the 2 car,” McDowell said of Keselowski. “I knew he would go for a race-winning move and my plan was to let him make that move and then coming off [Turn] four to try to get to his outside or inside. I knew I didn’t want to make my move too early, so I was committed to the 2 car’s bumper and when he
made the move, the hole opened up. It’s just unbelievable.”
Chase Elliott finished second followed by Austin Dillon, Harvick and Denny Hamlin. It appeared it was Hamlin’s race to lose, as he led 98 of the 200 laps. He was going for an unprecedented third consecutive Daytona 500 victory. In fact, Hamlin won the first two stages of the race.
The drama of the last laps was set up by the final pit stop. The Fords, which included McDowell, all came in on Lap 170, the
Chevys on 171 and Toyotas, which included Hamlin, on Lap 173. The Toyotas came out of the stop not in unison and had trouble forming a pack that could push Hamlin back to the front. He never could regain the momentum he needed to win.
“We didn’t execute too good on pit road,” Hamlin said. “It was just like the [Thursday qualifying race]. We came out in front of everybody and didn’t have any help to get up to speed. They all blew by us because they were single file, so it just took away the power that I got and that’s getting through traffic.”
McDowell agreed that it all came down to the pit stop and the strategy that comes from working as a team.
“It was the race,” McDowell said. “We knew it was and it always comes down to that green-flag stop. If you speed, you make a mistake, you slide the tires, your day is done. We just executed perfectly. We left together. Brad and I left together hooked up on bumpers and we were able to get some good speed and when the Toyotas and Chevys joined the track, we had so much momentum we were able to keep the lead.”
There was a time when the drivers weren’t even sure the Daytona 500 would be run Sunday after a lightning and rain storm stopped racing for 5 hours 45 minutes. This came in the 15th lap, just after a 16-car pileup cut down the field considerably.
McDowell turned philosophical in thinking about what the race means to him.
“Whether I win this race or not it’s not what defines you,” he said. “It’s unbelievable and I’m so thankful, but I’m thankful to have a happy, healthy family and a beautiful wife
SUAREZ OUT EARLY
13A and a great family. Not everybody makes it to victory lane and for 14 years I didn’t, so just to be here now is just so amazing.”
Pitbull’s Daytona 500 party ended well before last call.
The platinum-selling rapper bought into Trackhouse Racing, which placed driver Daniel Suarez in the field. Suarez drives the No. 99 Chevrolet and was among the drivers collected in the 16-car pileup early. He was forced out after 13 laps completed.
“Mr. Worldwide” also gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Pitbull says he’s all in as one of NASCAR’s newest team owners.
“Now that there’s no touring going on, I’m going to be pretty much at every race,” Pitbull said.
“There’s a higher calling to this.”
Pitbull joined NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan as celebrity owners entering NASCAR this year. Trackhouse was launched late last year by former driver Justin Marks and he watched the race with Pitbull from a suite.
“There’s no hidden agenda. We’re here to win,” Pitbull said.
After Jessica Pegula earned her first trip to a Grand Slam quarterfinal, the daughter of the owners of Buffalo’s NFL and NHL franchises scribbled on the screen of an Australian Open courtside TV camera: “Hi Mom, Hi Dad. See u next rnd Jen B.”
In addition to a shoutout to her parents, that was a message for Jennifer Brady, a good pal of Pegula’s whose fourth-round match was up next in Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
And after Brady won, too, setting up an all-American matchup against Pegula with a berth in the final four at stake, she used a blue marker to respond in kind, writing: “Bring it Jess!”
“It’s an opportunity for both of us,” Pegula said, recalling that she and Brady became close after playing doubles together for the United States in the team competition now known as the Billie Jean King Cup. “I’m just happy I’m here; she’s been playing some good tennis, solidifying herself as a top player.”
The 61st-ranked Pegula beat No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, before the 22nd-seeded Brady, a Pennsylvanian who played college tennis at UCLA, had a 6-1, 7-5 victory over No. 28 Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Brady was one of the 72 players who had to go through a hard lockdown — two weeks stuck in a hotel room, not allowed to leave for any reason — after flying to Australia in January because someone on their flight tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival.
“A lot of people were complaining, and I told myself I wasn’t going to complain,” Brady said. “I mean, there’s way worse things going on in the world than me being stuck in a hotel room for 14 days.”
Brady and Pegula gave the U.S. three women’s quarterfinalists at Melbourne Park, joining 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who advanced a day earlier.
Top-ranked Ash Barty ensured a fourth American didn’t make it to the last eight, beating unseeded Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against No. 25 Karolina Muchova.
“I mean, it’s pretty awesome to see. I hope we can all push through,” Pegula said. “The last, I don’t know, year or so, we’ve really all pushed each othconfidence
er. Maybe we haven’t said it to each other, but I think we all can feel it.”
She is on quite a breakthrough run.
Pegula has won four matches at Melbourne Park over the past week — including victories over two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur — after entering the hardcourt tournament with a total of three wins at majors for her career.
Also significant for Pegula, who works with Venus Williams’ former coach, David Witt: She came into the day with an 0-6 record against top 10 women.
Witt said Pegula’s rising
is a big part of her progress. She found a sort of kinship with her family’s football team, the Bills, who made the playoffs three of the past four seasons behind quarterback Josh Allen after going nearly two decades without a trip to the postseason.
“Even last year, when he wasn’t playing that well, I was like, ‘I like this kid.’ I loved his competitive spirit. He was a gamer. He just wanted to win. That’s something you love to see,” she said about Allen. “It’s definitely something I think I tried to take into my game a little bit, even watching the team getting that grit, that competitive attitude, having that mindset — in tennis, it’s like 90%, sometimes, of the matches. I think it’s been really cool to watch them and kind of channel that energy into how I’ve been doing.”
Brady’s progress is far less surprising, given that she made it to the semifinals at the U.S. Open in September before losing to eventual champion Naomi Osaka.
There will be a onenation men’s quarterfinal, too, between Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. Medvedev, the 2019 U.S. Open runnerup, eliminated 192nd-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 1⁄2 hours, while Rublev moved on when
No. 22 Casper Ruud stopped because of an injury after dropping the first two sets.
A third Russian man, 114th-ranked qualifier Aslan Karatsev, already had advanced, giving the country a trio of quarterfinalists at a major tournament for the only time in the professional era.
Also on that half of the draw, Rafael Nadal moved closer to a men’s-record 21st Grand Slam trophy by overwhelming No. 16 Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Nadal’s next opponent will be No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose fourth-round match was canceled when No. 9 Matteo Berrettini withdrew because of an injury.
With the sky blue and temperatures in the low 70s, and no fans in the stands for the third day in a row because of a local COVID-19 lockdown, Pegula dictated groundstroke exchanges from right along the baseline.
In the early going, she pushed around two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Svitolina, who eliminated American teenager Coco Gauff in the second round, and went up by a set and a break at 1-0 in the second.
After Svitolina forced a third, Pegula returned to her more aggressive brand of hit-to-the-corners play and led 4-1. She was broken to 4-3, but broke right back, then served out the most important victory of her career by grabbing the last four points after falling behind love-30.
Now it’ll be Brady vs. Pegula.
“I’m super excited for her making her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. I know the emotions that she’s feeling. You feel like you’re on cloud nine, definitely,” Brady said. “We both know each other so well and I’m really looking forward to it. It will be a lot of fun. I think everyone back home in America will be watching, definitely.”