National Sports

By AP MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep pulled out of Australian Open qualifying and a tuneup tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday because of pain in her knee and shoulder, the latest interruption of her comeback from a drug suspension. Halep posted on social media that she was feeling

By AP UNDATED (AP) — No. 14 Gonzaga meets No. 22 UCLA in the lone matchup of AP Top 25 teams for the Christmas holiday week. Both teams will be returning to action a week after their previous games. Gonzaga is coming off a win against Bucknell while UCLA is coming off a loss to

By AP PHOENIX (AP) — Kansas State will try to rebound from a difficult finish to the regular season as it faces Rutgers in the Rate Bowl. The Wildcats were once in the thick of the Big 12 race, but lost three of their final four games as their offense faltered. Kansas State is certainly

By AP UNDATED (AP) — No. 14 Gonzaga meets No. 22 UCLA in the lone matchup of AP Top 25 teams for the Christmas holiday week. Both teams will be returning to action a week after their previous games. Gonzaga is coming off a win against Bucknell while UCLA is coming off a loss to

By AP TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Sam Leavitt has led No. 10 Arizona State from a three-win season a year ago to spot in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against No. 7 Texas in the New Year’s Day Peach Bowl. While running back Cam Skattebo has been the Sun Devils’ turbocharger, Leavitt has been the

By AP SYDNEY (AP) — Comanche took an eight nautical-mile lead over defending line honors champion and fellow 100-foot super maxi LawConnect early in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Thursday. LawConnect, which led the 104-yacht fleet out of Sydney harbor, gave up the lead when a furling line malfunctioned, but managed to recover,

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Mikal Bridges scored a season-high 41 points, and the New York Knicks overcame 42 from Victor Wembanyama in a monster Christmas debut to edge the San Antonio Spurs 117-114 on Wednesday. Wembanyama set a Spurs’ record for points on the holiday and added 18 rebounds, four assists

By JOHN MARSHALL – AP Sports Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal each scored 27 points and the Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets 110-100 on Wednesday night in the nightcap to the NBA’s Christmas slate of games. The Nuggets blew out Phoenix 117-90 on Monday night in Denver, but the Suns

By AP HONOLULU (AP) — Brice Williams scored 11 of his 25 points in the final six minutes and Nebraska closed on a 6-0 run to beat Oregon State 78-66 on Wednesday night in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic. Nebraska (10-2) claimed its first tournament title since the San Juan Shootout in

By AP Mahomes throws 3 TDs as Chiefs clinch AFC’s top seed by breezing past the skidding Steelers 29-10 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Patrick Mahomes passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns and the Kansas City Chiefs locked up the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven seasons with a 29-10 win

By JANIE McCAULEY – AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — LeBron James and the Lakers delivered once more when big man Anthony Davis went down. Davis didn’t return for Los Angeles against Golden State on Wednesday night after spraining his left ankle midway through the first quarter. “It’s always difficult to play without AD,

By JANIE McCAULEY – AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Austin Reaves scored the winning layup with one second left after Stephen Curry tied it on a 31-foot 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining, LeBron James had 31 points and 10 assists playing in his NBA-record 19th Christmas Day game, and the Los Angeles Lakers

By The Associated Press All Times EST Thursday, Dec. 26 NBA Charlotte at Washington, 7 p.m. Miami at Orlando, 7 p.m. Oklahoma City at Indiana, 7 p.m. Chicago at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. Brooklyn at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. Houston at New Orleans, 8 p.m. Toronto at Memphis, 8 p.m. Detroit at Sacramento, 10 p.m. Utah at

By KRISTIE RIEKEN – AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson passed Michael Vick for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history in a 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans on Wednesday. “Michael Vick, one of my favorite players,” Jackson said. “That’s just dope.” Jackson moved past Vick on a

By KRISTIE RIEKEN – AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Quarterback C.J. Stroud summed up Houston’s performance in an embarrassing 31-2 loss to Baltimore on Wednesday. “Sometimes you go out there and lay an egg,” Stroud said. “It’s not easy to say that, but that’s what happened. Didn’t play well from the first play to

By KRISTIE RIEKEN – AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Lamar Jackson broke the NFL career rushing record for quarterbacks in the Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Houston Texans on Wednesday. A highlight came when Jackson dashed 48 yards for a touchdown on a run where he reached a career-best top speed of 21.25 mph.

By JIMMY GOLEN – AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid wasn’t going to let a pregame stumble keep him from playing the rival Boston Celtics in one of the NBA’s marquee games. Embiid got caught up in a barrier used to keep courtside fans away from the players and fell

By The Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) — Patrick Mahomes passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns and the Kansas City Chiefs locked up the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven seasons with a 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday. The two-time defending Super Bowl champions raced to an

By ROB MAADDI – AP Pro Football Writer Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix’s NFL debut on Christmas Day. Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday. She surprised fans by bringing out Shaboozey to

By JIMMY GOLEN – AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Joel Embiid popped up from a pregame fall and scored 27 points with nine rebounds, making 4 of 5 from 3-point range and sinking a pair of free throws with 3 seconds left to turn back Boston’s final rally and lead the Philadelphia 76ers to

By WILL GRAVES – AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — Three times in 11 days, the Pittsburgh Steelers faced a team aiming for the Super Bowl, the kind of elite company the Steelers have spent most of the season trying to prove they belong in. And three times in 11 days, Pittsburgh found itself doing

By SCHUYLER DIXON – AP Sports Writer DALLAS (AP) — While the Dallas Mavericks wait to see how long they’ll be without Luka Doncic because of his latest left calf injury, they have another example of how to stay afloat until the superstar’s return. Doncic exited late in the second quarter of a 105-99 Christmas

By TIM REYNOLDS – AP Basketball Writer MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Heat are listing Jimmy Butler as doubtful for their game Thursday at Orlando, saying he needs time to recondition before returning to the lineup. Butler did not fly with the team to Orlando on Wednesday night, and his intentions for future games seem

By WILL GRAVES – AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andy Reid donned a Santa Claus suit in a giddy Kansas City Chiefs locker room on Christmas Day, then handed his team a present it increasingly looks like it deserves: home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. How Reid managed to slide into the costume so

By SCHUYLER DIXON – AP Sports Writer DALLAS (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 105-99 Christmas Day victory over Dallas after Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic left the game with a strained left calf. A rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals won by Dallas fell flat

By ARNIE STAPLETON – AP Pro Football Writer ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — If anybody can slow down Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase, it’s Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II. He did it before when both were rookies in 2021 and Surtain held Chase to a single catch for 3 yards on four targets on a

By BRIAN MAHONEY – AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Wembanyama nearly obliterated the Spurs’ Christmas record book in his first time playing on the holiday. Nearly won the game, too. His 42 points and 18 rebounds could only get San Antonio close before falling short, with the New York Knicks pulling out

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The National Football League Inactive Report. KANAS CITY CHIEFS at PITTSBURGH STEELERS — KANSAS CITY: DB Chamarri Conner, DE Joshua Uche, OL C.J. Hanson, OL D.J. Humphries, OT Ethan Driskell, DE Malik Herring, DL Chris Jones. PITTSBURGH: QB Justin Fields, WR Ben Skowronek, CB Joey Porter Jr.,

By ANDREW SELIGMAN – AP Sports Writer LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks need a win to help keep their flickering playoff hopes from getting extinguished. Caleb Williams and the Bears need a victory to end their long losing streak. The Seahawks will try to regroup and stay in the

By BRIAN MAHONEY – AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Mikal Bridges scored a season-high 41 points, and the New York Knicks overcame 42 from Victor Wembanyama in a monster Christmas debut to edge the San Antonio Spurs 117-114 on Wednesday. Wembanyama set a Spurs’ record for points on the holiday and added 18