Indianapolis — Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 points, T.J. McConnell added 15 points and 10 assists, and the Indiana Pacers won their third-largest playoff game ever, defeating the New York Knicks 121-89 on Sunday to tie the Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

Haliburton also had six rebounds, five assists, and four three-pointers as the Pacers cruised to a 43-point victory. They fell barely shy of their greatest lopsided playoff victory, a 34-point win over Cleveland in April 2018.

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Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

The series’ fifth game will be played on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks had only three players in double figures. Alec Burks finished with 20, Jalen Brunson with 18 — his lowest total in this tournament — and Deuce McBride with 16 on a day when they shot 33.7% from the field, 18.9% from three, and faced the greatest deficit of any team in this postseason.

Nuggets 115, Timber Wolves 107.

Minneapolis (AP) — Nikola Jokic scored 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Gordon added 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting to lead Denver to a series-tying victory over Minnesota in Game 4 of the Western Conference playoffs.

The Nuggets’ Jamal Murray scored 12 of his 19 points in the third quarter, capitalizing on his buzzer-beating swish from behind half-court, and the Wolves only pulled the margin below double digits for brief intervals of the second half.

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Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

Anthony Edwards scored 44 points in another outstanding outing for Minnesota, hitting 16 of 25 from the field. Despite a 42-31 rebounding advantage, the Wolves were defeated at home for the second straight game by the defending NBA champions, who were fired up after losing the first two games of the series on their home court.

The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Mike Conley scored 15 points, Karl-Anthony Towns went 5 for 18 from the field for 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert came on late to score 11 and 14 rebounds. Nonetheless, the Wolves trailed at home for the second consecutive game.

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Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

Gordon didn’t miss until there was 3:39 remaining. The Nuggets closed the first half with eight points in 20 seconds, highlighted by Murray’s unbelievable heave.

SOURCE – (AP)

Darlington, South Carolina – Kyle Larson made it clear that he is no Swiftie, despite the fact that he surprised his daughter with a birthday vacation to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert.

Larson wore a Taylor Swift-themed T-shirt and friendship bracelets that his wife, Katelyn, and 6-year-old Audrey had given him.

“I don’t feel like I’m a Swiftie at all,” Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway. “I do appreciate her music and how hard she works, but I’m not a Swiftie.”

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has grown accustomed to being one of the circuit’s hottest and busiest drivers. He is coming off a historic victory last week at Kansas, where he beat Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds, the tightest finish in Cup Series history.

In Sunday’s Goodyear 400, he’ll try to win for the second week in a row – and the second time at the circuit nicknamed “Too Tough To Tame”.

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Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

The picture finish with Buescher exceeded a landmark Darlington moment from 2003 when Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by 0.002 in the sport’s all-time closest finish.

Larson expected to hit a wall rather than win in the final moments.

“I just thought I was going to run out of space,” he explained. “But he allowed me ample space. Yeah, we went off the corner, and it was all about how the run would go.

Larson emerged victorious, with a frustrated Buescher finishing second.

Buescher claimed he repeatedly viewed the finale and replayed it in his thoughts. He learned far more than he thought about NASCAR’s scoring system and transponder placement, and he identified numerous things he would have done differently to win.

In the end, the Roush Fenway Racing driver accepted second place. “It was bothersome for two days,” he claimed. “There’s really no way around that.”

Buescher believes the best way to overcome it is with a more comfortable and successful performance at Darlington, where he has four top-10 results in his last six races, including a career-best third behind Victor Larson at the Southern 500 last September.

Larson, whose two wins this season trail those of Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, said the trip to France provided a reprieve from what will be a demanding rest of the month.

Larson will compete in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro and qualify for the Indianapolis 500. The following week, he’ll try to complete all 1,100 miles of racing, starting at Indianapolis and finishing at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.

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Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

Erik Jones returns to racing after missing the past two weeks due to a compression fracture of a lower vertebra sustained in a collision at Talladega last month. Jones, a two-time Darlington winner, said he feels 100 percent, but it’s more probable that he’ll need some time to heal over the next few weeks.

Jones said he is unable to lift large weights, but he hopes to return to the gym next week. He intends to be fully recovered for the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte in two weeks.

NASCAR allowed Jones to race at Kansas, but after consulting with his crew, he decided he needed more time to recover.

“If I really pushed it, I could’ve been in the car if I pushed it, I could’ve been in the car if I really, really wanted to be,” Jones stated. “At the same time, if I make that call on my own and overrule, and I go out and re-injure myself, I look like an idiot.”

Tyler Reddick dominated qualifying for Sunday’s race, extending his impressive record at Darlington. Reddick, 28, has three top-three results at NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, including second place in this race two years ago and runner-up to Larson in the Southern 500 last September.

Reddick will start ahead of two Roush Fenway Racing drivers, Brad Keselowski and Buescher. Byron is fifth, then Ty Gibbs. Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, Hamlin, and Larson are in order of ranking.

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Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

Larson’s performance at Kansas puts him the betting favorite to win his second consecutive race at Darlington. BetMGM.com lists him at 4-1 odds for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday.

JGR teammates Hamlin (4.75-1) and Truex (5.5-1) come next. Byron, who won Darlington’s spring race in 2023, is 7.25-1, while pole-sitter Reddick is 8.5-1.

SOURCE – (AP)

MONTREAL — Lionel Messi played the entire game despite a first-half injury scare, Benjamin Cremaschi broke a tie in the 59th minute, and Inter Miami rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Montreal 3-2 on Saturday night, its fifth consecutive Major League Soccer victory.

Luis Suarez scored his 11th goal of the season for Inter Miami, while Matías Rojas scored from a free kick. Montreal (3-5-3) got goals from Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and Bryce Duke.

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Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

Inter Miami (8-2-3) extended its unbeaten record to seven games (5-0-2) despite Lionel failing to score or assist for the first time in nine MLS appearances this season. Inter Miami is 7-0-2 in those nine games, with one loss coming against Montreal in March when Lionel did not participate.

Playing in Canada for the first time, Lionel abandoned the game late in the first half due to a problem with his left knee caused by defender George Campbell’s foul. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s best player collapsed immediately, clutching his knee and moaning in agony.

Inter Miami’s medical personnel entered the field to treat Messi, who stood up after around two minutes and headed to the Miami sideline. He was not subbed out, allowing him to return moments later.

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Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

And for some reason, the match shifted at that moment.

Inter Miami was behind 2-0 when Messi was injured; when he returned, the score was 2-1, and it was tied moments later. Rojas scored on a free kick that Messi would normally take to put Inter Miami up, and Suarez added a goal from a corner kick late in the first-half stoppage time.

Suarez became the third player in MLS history to score 11 goals in his first 800 minutes of the season, following Mamadou Diallo (11 in 2000) and Ola Kamara (11 in 2021).

The game-winning goal occurred when Rojas threw a ball into open space, and Cremaschi ran it down. Then, he made a second attempt to nudge the ball just clear of two defenders and into the net for a 3-2 advantage. Messi had two final-minute chances to extend the lead, which he missed narrowly.

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Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

Inter Miami was met by hundreds of fans when it arrived at its hotel Friday night, and Montreal, thanks in part to Messi’s signing with Major League Soccer last summer, sold out its 15,000 season tickets for the first time since joining in 2012. Messi has scored in 31 nations.

The match drew an announced sellout crowd of 19,619 spectators, including one dressed in a Messi tracksuit and sporting a goat mask in tribute to Messi’s status as the Greatest of All Time.

SOURCE – (AP)