NEW YORK (AP) ― Joakim Noah climbed over the baseline seats, his foot that hurt so much two weeks ago that he feared he couldn’t play looking pain-free as he embraced his mother.The first Game 7 in Brooklyn belonged not to the Nets, but to the guy who played here in high school.“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” Noah said.Injured, ill and just as determined as ever, the Chicago Bulls beat the Nets 99-93 on Saturday night to win the first-round series. Noah had 24 points and 14 rebound

More SportsMay 5, 2013

CHICAGO (AP) ― The Cincinnati Reds were watching when Carlos Marmol came on to pitch the eighth inning, and they knew exactly what to do.It pays to be patient when the erratic right-hander is on the mound.Marmol walked two guys and hit another batter before he was pulled, and Cincinnati scored four times to rally for a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.“You’ve got to take what they’re giving you, and Marmol had a little tough time out there,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Our guys

BaseballMay 5, 2013

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday to win the Portugal Open and claim her first trophy on clay.The third-seeded champion, coached by former Swiss great Martina Hingis, earned the fifth title of her career while leaving her opponent winless from five finals.One of those was here a year ago, when Suarez Navarro was unable to close it out after winning the first set against Kaia Kanepi, an opponent she beat in the semifinals this week.The winner

GolfMay 5, 2013

WILLIAMSBURG (AP) ― Cristie Kerr is already the only two-time winner of the Kingsmill Championship and a return to her old putter has her on a roll again. The LPGA Tour also veteran knows better than to put too much stock into what she did on a Saturday on tour.“There’s definitely no chickens to be counted,” Kerr said after making six birdies in a 5-under 66 that gave her a two-shot lead heading into Sunday. “You have to play a really good round tomorrow whether you’re two ahead or two behind.”S

GolfMay 5, 2013

MANCHESTER (AP) ― Tottenham and Arsenal relied on the strength of their wingers Saturday to stay on course for qualification for next season’s Champions League.Gareth Bale smashed home a shot in 86th-minute from the edge of the penalty area, leading Tottenham to a 1-0 victory over Southampton in the Premier League. It was his 20th league goal of the season, coming in his first game since he was honored as English soccer’s player of the year.“A great moment of individual brilliance,” Tottenham ma

SoccerMay 5, 2013

CHARLOTTE (AP) ― Phil Mickelson’s ball was just above the edge of the cart path, slightly below his feet, when he decided to hit a hard fade around the trees toward the green. The shot went out-of-bounds and cost him the outright lead Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship, and Mickelson was angry about his decision.He felt he should have hit driver instead of 3-wood.In the group ahead of him, new leader Nick Watney hit a semi-shank with a 6-iron on the par-3 17th, the ball flying toward a hos

GolfMay 5, 2013

Almost one year to date, the Nexen Heroes are back atop the standings in the Korea Baseball Organization.The Heroes climbed to first place by defeating the Samsung Lions 4-3 in 10 innings on the road in Daegu on Thursday. The victory completed a three-game sweep of the two-time defending champs.At 16-7, the Heroes, winners of three straight, are in first place for the first time since May 25 of last year. In 2012, the Heroes won a franchise record eight consecutive games to reach first on May 23

BaseballMay 3, 2013

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (AP) ― Ariya Jutanugarn was in attack mode all day at the Kingsmill Championship ― and it paid off.The 17-year-old Thai player birdied six of the first seven holes Thursday and was 8 under after 14 holes thanks to a radar-like short iron game that left her with short putt after short putt.“Today, I made a lot of shots,” she said.She only missed a few, all on the par-3 17th when she pulled her tee shot to the left, chunked her downhill approach short of the green, putted fr

GolfMay 3, 2013

The official emblem of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games was unveiled on Friday. The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) held simultaneous ceremonies in two places ― Seoul and PyeongChang in Gangwon Province ― to disclose the emblem.The emblem was also disclosed worldwide through its website.The design of the emblem has its roots in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. The emblem consists of the initial consonants of two Korean words ― Pyeon

Olympic GamesMay 3, 2013

ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Fast starts are becoming routine for Lance Lynn and the St. Louis Cardinals.Lynn won his 10th straight decision, allowing one run and five hits in seven innings Wednesday to lead the Cardinals over the Cincinnati Reds 4-2.Lynn (5-0) struck out five and walked two, improving to 10-0 in 10 starts and one relief appearance since losing to Milwaukee on Sept. 7. He became the NL’s first five-game winner.“It’s early ― but it’s fun so far,” Lynn said.He was 6-0 with a 1.48 ERA through

BaseballMay 2, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― Back in the series, now back to Boston.The Celtics are two victories from NBA history, and from extending the Knicks’ postseason futility in a most improbable manner.Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 18 rebounds and the Celtics stayed alive in the playoffs, cutting New York’s lead to 3-2 with a 92-86 victory on Wednesday night.The Celtics will host Game 6 on Friday night, needing two victories to become the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. “We’re still down

More SportsMay 2, 2013