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Despite nursing a lingering knee injury, Celtics point guard Kemba Walker scored 16 points in 19 minutes and wanted more in Boston's loss on Friday to Milwaukee. But he was held out in the name of the long game. Every weekday, SI’s Chris Mannix will check-in with his Bubble Bits, a quick hit on something notable from inside the NBA’s campus LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – One possession game, four minutes to play and Boston’s most accomplished offensive weapon stood on the sidelines. Kemba Walker was fresh, having played just 19 minutes. He was sharp, with 16 points on a tidy 5-9 shooting. And he wasn’t going back in. “I’m not playing that game,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “Kemba’s knee is the most important thing. We’re trying to strengthen it. The 18-20 minutes, whatever he ended up with, that was part of the plan. We’re not going to stretch that.” Boston resumed its season on Friday and lost to the Bucks, 119-12, as the health of its All-Star point guard loomed large. A kne

João Moutinho scored on a header in the 90th minute to tie the match and Nani scored the deciding goal in a penalty shootout to knock out Los Angeles FC. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — João Moutinho scored on a header in the 90th minute to tie the match and Nani scored the deciding goal in a penalty shootout, and Orlando City beat Los Angeles FC in the quarterfinals of the MLS is Back tournament on Friday night. The sides played to a 1-1 draw in regulation thanks to Moutinho’s late goal, and Orlando City was a perfect 5-for-5 in the shootout to advance to the semifinals. Orlando City will face either San Jose or Minnesota United on Thursday. The Lions were decided underdogs against LAFC, the prohibitive favorites to win the tournament among the remaining quarterfinal teams. But Orlando City managed to neutralize LAFC’s potent offensive attack and got the late equalizer. Moutinho’s goal came off a corner kick from Nani. Moutinho, a one-time draft pick of LAFC, beat Jordan Harve

In the summer of 2020, the Calgary Flames know full well the spring of 2019 still looms large. As the Flames ready to kick off their best-of-five qualifying round series against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night in Edmonton, the horrid memories of their unceremonious upset at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche in the opening round of last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs is fresh in their minds -- and motivation going forward. "I'm sick of losing. I'm sick of losing in these first rounds," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk told reporters recently. "I know that a lot of guys in this room feel the same way, and we want a little bit of redemption after last year. It's time for us to prove we're an elite hockey team." "We know what people have been saying about us, the past couple of playoffs and what happened last year," Tkachuk added. "We lived it. We will be the first ones to say that we underperformed last year. We put pressure on o

The Milwaukee Brewers thought they would play their home opener on Friday. Instead, they'll look to give it a shot Saturday. The original opener was postponed Friday after the Brewers' opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, had two players test positive for COVID-19. "It's obviously not ideal," Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said of the postponement. "We would love to be playing today, but we think the most important thing is completing the season so it certainly feels like the most prudent decision to not play today." Friday's game is scheduled to be made up Sunday during a doubleheader of seven-inning games at Miller Park, under the new pandemic rules governing the major leagues. The Cardinals spent Friday quarantined in their Milwaukee hotel. Their traveling team underwent rapid response testing while hoping to gain clearance to play Saturday. "We don't know what that means for the rest of this weekend yet, but as we've done from th

Several NCAA college football programs announced their plans for preseason camps Friday signaling Power 5 leaders are pushing for a 2020 season despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest whipsaw development in the tortured path toward a college football season is this: They’re going to try to play. We have collectively lurched between pessimism and optimism four or five times now. There were moments when a season seemed like an impossibility, and others when it seemed like an inevitability. But after the latest dip in confidence earlier this month, as virus numbers soared across America, we somewhat surprisingly have arrived at the doorstep of August with a plan. It may not be built on much more than hope and hubris, but there is a plan. That plan does not involve spring 2021. Not yet, and seemingly not ever beyond a last option. The voices calling for that have gone quiet. The push for fall ball continues and the resolve seems to have intensified as the plans have come into focus.

It's a whole new world for the 24 NHL teams participating in the playoffs, but for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens, an age-old question hovers around Game 1 of their qualifying-round series. What about the goaltenders? Pittsburgh and Montreal are playing in a safety "bubble" in Toronto with the rest of the Eastern Conference teams this postseason because of the COVID-19 pandemic that cut the regular season short in mid-March. For the restart, under the expanded playoff format, the Penguins are keeping the choice of their starter in net on Saturday -- Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry -- a tightly held secret. The Canadiens, meanwhile, have no doubt they will go with Carey Price, considered one of the top goalies in the league and Montreal's best player. Murray, 26, helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and '17, both times technically as a rookie, and Pittsburgh chose to retain him over veteran and long-time franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fle

Ionescu rolled her left ankle and had to be helped off the court in her third career WNBA game. Two days after scoring 33 points with seven rebounds and seven assists in  her second WNBA game , New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu left Friday's game against the Atlanta Dream with a left ankle injury. Ionescu appeared to roll her ankle near mid-court while trying to avoid defensive pressure. Ionescu needed to be helped off the court and could not put enough weight on her ankle to walk. The Liberty called the injury an ankle sprain in a statement released mid-game. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Ionescu won nearly every individual honor in college basketball during her career at Oregon. She recorded the most career triple-doubles in college basketball history, won the John R. Wooden Award twice and is the only NCAA Division I basketball player to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in a career.

LeBron James said that finding a rhythm on offense might take time for the Los Angeles Lakers. Defending, though, is crucial when the Lakers aren't at the top of their game offensively, he believes. The Lakers hope to enjoy a better offensive showing Saturday night when they meet the Toronto Raptors in a matchup of top NBA contenders at The Arena near Orlando. Toronto has won the past 10 meetings. Despite shooting only 39 percent, the Lakers opened their restart campaign Thursday with a 103-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Anthony Davis scored 34 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Lakers (50-14) increased their edge in the Western Conference standings to 6 1/2 games over the Clippers with seven contests remaining in the abbreviated regular season. James scored the winning bucket inside with 12.8 seconds left, converting after getting the rebound of his own missed shot. He finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists and also forced Paul George to miss a ga

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac is the only player so far to stand during the national anthem at the NBA's season restart. Ahead of the Orlando Magic-Brooklyn Nets game on Friday, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac stood out among the rest by being the lone player to stand while the national anthem played. Isaac was also the only player to not wear the Black Lives Matter shirt adorned by others during pregame. “Absolutely I believe that Black lives matter,” Isaac said after the game . “A lot went into my decision…kneeling or wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ t-shirt don’t go hand in hand in supporting Black lives. I do believe that Black lives matter, I just felt like it was a decision I had to make, and I didn’t feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting Black lives.” Isaac is, so far, the only player at the NBA's restart in Orlando to not kneel for the anthem or wear the Black Lives Matter shirt. He explained his reasoning in response to a

Things were a lot different the last time the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz were preparing to play. On March 11 in Oklahoma City, the sports landscape shifted suddenly when Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. A bit after the scheduled tip-off time, the game was announced as postponed "due to unforeseen circumstances," and that night, the NBA announced an indefinite shutdown due to the pandemic. Within days, most other sports had followed suit. Saturday afternoon, the NBA's restart continues with the Thunder and Jazz meeting. Oklahoma City, playing its first game of the restart, will be the home team but instead of playing at a packed Chesapeake Energy Arena, the teams will be meeting at The Arena at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando. "It's a helluva coincidence that that's who our first game is against," Thunder point guard Chris Paul said. The game will be Utah's second of the restart, with the Jazz b

Left-hander Mike Minor will be searching for his first win of the season when the Texas Rangers visit the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game interleague series Friday night. Both teams are attempting to get back to .500. The Rangers improved to 2-3 with a 7-4 win over Arizona to close out a season-opening homestand on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Giants fell to 3-4 after losing two of three at home to the San Diego Padres, including a 12-7, 10-inning decision Thursday night. Minor (0-1, 1.80 ERA), a 14-game winner last season, pitched well enough to deserve a better fate in his season debut, but was the victim of an unearned run in a 3-2 loss to Colorado on Saturday. He limited the Rockies to two runs (one earned) and three hits in five innings. The 32-year-old has never lost in San Francisco, where he's compiled a 2-0 lifetime mark in three appearances, including two starts. He's fashioned a fine 1.88 ERA in those games. Overall, Minor is 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA

Right-hander Mike Clevinger will try to extend Cleveland's franchise-record, starting-pitching streak on Friday night when the Indians face the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. Cleveland's rotation has compiled a 5-0 record with a 1.53 ERA in the first seven games of the season. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Indians starters have gone six or more innings in each of those contests while allowing two or fewer runs, a franchise record. Clevinger (0-0, 2.57 ERA) gave up first-inning solo home runs to the Kansas City Royals' Jorge Soler and Salvador Perez in his first start on Saturday, a game the Indians lost 3-2 in 10 innings. He allowed four hits and two runs over seven innings while striking out six. Clevinger is 4-3 with a 2.79 ERA in 14 appearances (11 starts) against the Twins and has pitched well at Target Field, compiling a 2-1 record and 3.60 ERA in six games (five starts). Minnesota will counter with right-hander Randy Dobnak (0-1, 2.25 ERA), who w

Brian Goodwin has big shoes to fill. With teammate Mike Trout, a three-time American League MVP, on the paternity list, Goodwin will likely be patrolling center field when the Angels open a three-game series against the three-time defending American League West champion Houston Astros on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif. Goodwin, coming off a career year in which he hit .262 with 17 home runs and 47 RBIs, had a home run and three RBIs Wednesday and added two hits Thursday in losses to Seattle to raise his season average to .412. "I've been sticking with my training regimen. I got to see a lot of stuff work last year, didn't forget what I did to get into that position," Goodwin told MLB.com. "Took it into the offseason, and the second offseason. I had more time to nitpick and get to the finer details of what I could do better and what would have the best production to come from it." Goodwin has also been active off the field. He told reporters he participa

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Tommy Pham hit a go-ahead single in the 10th inning after Trent Grisham began at second base under baseball's new extra-innings rule, and the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 12-7 on Thursday night. Pinch-hitter Greg Garcia added a key two-run single against Tyler Rogers (1-2) in the big six-run 10th. ''It's definitely differernt. Right now we feel good about it because of course we won,'' Pham said. ''Before the season started I wasn't a fan of it just because I'm more traditional but like anything in life you have to adapt.'' Padres manager Jayce Tingler is slowly becoming more fond of the extra-innings rule, too. ''Yeah, you can call me a fan of that,'' Tingler said. ''I've obviously seen it a lot on the minor league side and I think I said before I didn't initially like it. The more I see it, totally good with it. It doesn't really matter what we think, we'v

Two days late, the New York Yankees will finally play their home opener -- a home opener like never before and one they hope never happens again. After coronavirus concerns pushed the Yankees' scheduled home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies back and created an in-season schedule change, the Yankees finally play at home Friday night when they begin a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees were originally slated to face the Phillies as the second part of a four-game, home-and-home series but none of those games were played due to numerous members of the Miami Marlins testing positive for coronavirus after they spent last weekend in Philadelphia. It is possible those games could get played next week, but as of Thursday night it has not been officially announced. The Yankees did not play Monday and Tuesday in Philadelphia and when the games in New York were postponed, they pivoted to a two-game series in Baltimore as the Orioles were slated

The Tampa Bay Rays visit the Baltimore Orioles on Friday for the teams' first meeting of the season in a matchup of veteran starting pitchers. Rays left-hander Blake Snell (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will face off with Orioles right-hander Alex Cobb (1-0, 1.69 ERA). Snell will make his second start of the season after throwing two shutout innings in the Rays' 6-5 win over Toronto on Sunday. He is working his way back after elbow surgery last summer, and Tampa Bay hopes Snell will rediscover the form that helped him win the American League Cy Young Award two years ago. "I'm just making sure I'm not rushing into it too much," Snell said recently, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "I want to make sure that I'm doing the right things and that I'm very well prepared to finish this sprint of a season strong." Snell has a 2-2 career record and a 4.67 ERA versus the Orioles. Cobb threw a strong game last weekend as the Orioles beat the Red Sox in his seaso

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Jose Marmolejos and Shed Long Jr. homered, Marco Gonzales pitched into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-5 on Thursday night. Marmolejos' first big league homer was a three-run shot in the first inning. J.P. Crawford led off the game with a single, Kyle Seager drew a two-out walk and Marmolejos, a rookie first baseman, sent a fastball from Dylan Bundy (1-1) into the elevated stands in right field. ''I wanted to be aggressive with the runner in scoring position,'' said Marmolejos, who came into the game with only two hits in his first 18 at-bats. ''I was looking a little more middle and away, but I wanted to get a swing there.'' Long Jr. had two hits. The Mariners led 3-2 when he opened a five-run ninth by hitting Hansel Robles' fastball over the wall in right. Crawford and Kyle Lewis each had two-run singles in the frame. Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer off Dan Altavilla in the

PHOENIX (AP) The Dodgers came into Chase Field on quite the high Thursday night, fresh off an emotional two-game sweep over the sign-stealing Houston Astros. Three homers and another solid Ross Stripling start later, Los Angeles kept right on rolling in the desert. A.J. Pollock hit a two-run homer, Corey Seager and Max Muncy added solo shots and the Dodgers rolled to their third straight win with a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Even without the added motivation of facing the Astros - who beat Los Angeles in the 2017 World Series before the sign-stealing scandal was revealed - the Dodgers were impressively efficient. ''We prepare every night to win a game,'' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ''The preparation never wavers.'' Los Angeles took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, largely thanks to a two-run homer by Pollock that landed deep in the left field seats. They probably would have had an even bigger lead if not for Kole Calhoun's

DETROIT (AP) Trevor Rosenthal couldn't remember the last time he'd earned a save - nearly three years ago. ''It's been a while,'' he said. That drought is finally over after Rosenthal pitched a scoreless ninth inning Thursday night in Kansas City's 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Royals overcame Miguel Cabrera's first multihomer game since 2016. Once a standout closer for St. Louis, Rosenthal has struggled with his health and his effectiveness in recent years, finishing 2019 with a 13.50 ERA in 22 appearances with the Nationals and Tigers. When he retired JaCoby Jones on a grounder to end the game, he gave his glove a little celebratory tap. ''I've just always focused on putting in the work,'' Rosenthal said. ''I've been fortunate that a lot of people have given me opportunities even when I've been struggling.'' It was his first save since Aug. 12, 2017, when he was with St. Louis. The Royal

NEW YORK (AP) Christian Vazquez is giving the Boston Red Sox everything they could ever hope for behind the plate. Meanwhile, the New York Mets are still waiting for Edwin Diaz to figure it out in the Big Apple. Vazquez hit two more home runs and Martin Perez gave Boston's patchwork rotation a much-needed lift Thursday night, leading the Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Mets. ''My work in the offseason is paying off. It paid last year and this year,'' Vazquez said. ''I need to continue to be consistent in my hitting and my catching.'' Perez (1-1) overcame four walks and some shaky defense behind him, allowing only two hits while striking out five in 5 2/3 innings for his first win with Boston. The left-hander signed a $6.5 million, one-year contract as a free agent in December. ''Great job from Martin to get us that far and really commanded his pitches well from the first inning on,'' Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. '&#

BALTIMORE (AP) Down by a run and held scoreless since the first inning, the New York Yankees appeared to be in trouble with three outs to go against the Baltimore Orioles. Manager Aaron Boone didn't see it that way. ''Absolutely not,'' Boone said after the Yankees rallied to an 8-6 victory Thursday night. ''Guys can hurt you up and down the lineup, obviously. That was the case tonight.'' Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the ninth after New York blew an early five-run lead, giving the Yankees a sweep of this impromptu two-game series. Luke Voit hit his first career grand slam for the Yankees, who stretched their winning streak against Baltimore to 18 games and notched their 17th consecutive victory at Camden Yards. New York has swept six straight series from the Orioles dating to early last year. Judge's second homer in two games - a no-doubt shot to left off Cole Sulser (0-1) - came after Pedro Severino put Baltimore in front with a two

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Cleveland's Shane Bieber tied the major league record for strikeouts in a pitcher's first two starts of the season, punching out 13 Minnesota Twins over eight innings in the Indians' 2-0 victory on Thursday night. Bieber (2-0) fanned 14 over six scoreless innings on Friday against Kansas City. His 27 strikeouts in the two games matched the record set by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in September 1954 during the first two starts of his short career. ''I've never been that much of a punch-out pitcher, especially coming up through the minors. The book on me was pitch to contact, this and that. I've made some adjustments the past couple years and started to see some swings and misses,'' Bieber said. Facing a Twins team that came in with the second-best run differential in baseball, Bieber allowed three singles in his eight innings. Cleveland's staff has been striking out hitters in bunches, part of a trend early in this p

ATLANTA (AP) Max Fried retired Tampa Bay's first 14 batters and then insisted it didn't feel like a special start. Braves manager Brian Snitker had a different opinion. Fried took a perfect game into the fifth inning and combined with three relievers on a four-hitter as Atlanta beat the Rays 2-1 on Thursday night. Dansby Swanson had a run-scoring single in Atlanta's two-run second inning. Fried (1-0) struck out seven and walked one while allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings. The left-hander improved to 4-0 in four interleague starts. ''I wouldn't say it was anything out of the ordinary that felt like anything extra special,'' Fried said after lowering his ERA to 2.31 in two starts. It looked special to Snitker. ''He's just growing as a pitcher,'' Snitker said. ''He was efficient. You could tell he was locked in too. He was really focused. It was fun to sit and watch him.'' Luke Jackson, and Shane Greene combined

WASHINGTON (AP) Starlin Castro is coming off a four-hit game. His Washington Nationals finally have their first consecutive wins of the season. So much for momentum, though. That's because now the Nationals - and their opponents Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays - need to take four days off, a coronavirus-caused ''mini All-Star break,'' as Washington manager Dave Martinez called it. Castro scored twice, rookie Carter Kieboom reached base four times and Michael A. Taylor homered as the ''visiting'' Nationals knocked around struggling Toronto starter Hyun-Jin Ryu to beat the home-away-from-home Blue Jays 6-4 Thursday. ''I've been feeling good. I've been hitting the ball hard,'' said Castro, batting .360 through seven games in his first year with the Nationals. ''The bad thing is, tomorrow we're not going to play. And the next day, we're not going to play. It's tough.'' Kurt Suzuki delivered a two-r

After coming together to protest for Black lives, the Lakers and Clippers played a thrilling game to welcome back the NBA. But the bizarre environment will take some getting used to. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Virtual fans and piped in crowd noise. A head-to-head between two ex-Finals MVPs played in front of a smattering of real faces. A battle for Los Angeles some 3,000 miles from Staples Center. Lakers 103, Clippers 101. The NBA is back. Opening night in the NBA’s resumed season was finally upon us Thursday, and what a strange experience. A late-season Lakers-Clippers game would be a near impossible ticket in Los Angeles. Fans would pack LA Live hours before tipoff. Scalpers would have a field day. In the bubble, witnesses to this marquee matchup were a dozen or so media members, a few more NBA staffers and a handful of players who bussed over to watch from socially distanced seats. Lawrence Tanter, the Lakers legendary public address announcer, provided the introductions, pre-r