BASEBALL
Taiwan’s Tsao pitches in US
Taiwanese pitcher Tsao Chin-hui put up a good performance on Saturday on his first spring appearance in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-5 tie with the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona. The right-hander threw 2-2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. The game was called at the completion of the ninth. The Dodgers signed Tsao for a minor-league contract about two months ago. He last pitched in major league baseball in 2007. Tsao was linked to game-fixing allegations in Taiwan more than five years ago, although he was never charged with any offense.
BASKETBALL
Manager bid hearty farewell
Tyler Adams came to Georgetown University hoping to follow the path to NBA stardom taken by fellow big men Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning, but a heart ailment ended his career after only four games as a freshman in 2011, or so he thought until Saturday. Adams had the chance to live his dream a final time, if only for a moment, after having spent four seasons as a team manager who practiced, worked out with the Hoyas and sat on the team bench during games. Georgetown coach John Thompson III received a waiver from the National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing Adams to briefly play in the team’s final home game against Seton Hall. Adams, a senior, was given the surprising start for his final home game, a tear rolling down his right cheek when he was announced in the opening lineup. Georgetown won the opening tip, guard Jabril Trawick passed the ball to Adams near the Seton Hall basket and Adams made an uncontested slam dunk that even had opposing Pirates players applauding in appreciation. Seton Hall players backed off defensively in their own tribute to Adams, a move not pre-arranged. The Hoyas fouled immediately to stop the game and Adams was removed to a standing ovation from the crowd in the home arena of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and congratulations from both teams, the moment of sportsmanship by far the outstanding play for both sides in Georgetown’s eventual 73-67 triumph.
SNOWBOARDING
Reiter has World Cup win
US snowboarder Justin Reiter took his first career World Cup win on Saturday with victory in a parallel slalom event in Moscow. California native Reiter defeated Austria’s Benjamin Karl by 10.66 seconds in the final. Italy’s Roland Fischnaller took third by 0.25 seconds from Andrey Sobolev of Russia. Vic Wild, who was born in the US, won double slalom gold for Russia at last year’s Olympics, but could not replicate that form on Saturday as he went out in qualifying, joining World Cup standings leader Zan Kosir of Slovenia.
TRIATHLON
Jorgensen extends streak
Gwen Jorgensen of the US won her sixth consecutive world series triathlon, while Mario Mola of Spain took the men’s event in equally convincing fashion on Saturday in the opening race of the year. World champion Jorgensen won the final five series events of last year, but even she was impressed with her effort in Abu Dhabi. She finished the swim leg 35 seconds behind the leaders and began the run more than a minute down. However, she cut 45 seconds off that deficit on the first of two 2.5km laps and passed leader Flora Duffy of Bermuda with 1.5km to go. She eventually won by 16 seconds from compatriot Katie Zaferes. Duffy was third, 24 seconds back.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
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