Update on the latest sports
APOLYMPICS
US men rout Australia to play for basketball gold
TOKYO (AP) — Kevin Durant and the Americans still have their grip on gold and it’s going to take more than a few bad minutes for anyone to take it away from them. Durant scored 23 points, Devin Booker had 20 and the U.S. blew past and eventually blew away Australia 97-78 in the Olympic men’s basketball semifinals after falling into a 15-point hole.
With their gold-medal streak looking in jeopardy midway through the second quarter, the Americans overwhelmed the Australians with a 48-14 stretch that gave them a 74-55 lead after three periods. They will play France for gold.
France overcame a big night from Luka Doncic (DAHN’-chihch) to beat Slovenia 90-89.
Doncic recorded the third known triple-double in Olympic men’s basketball history. He got there with his 10th rebound with 19 seconds remaining, when he already had 16 points and 18 assists. Doncic has 36 triple-doubles in his three seasons with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, 11th-most in NBA history. He missed a triple-double by one assist in Sunday’s group-play finale against Spain and by two rebounds in Slovenia’s win over Germany in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Also in Tokyo:
— Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd each scored a pair of goals and the United States won the bronze medal in women’s soccer at the Tokyo Olympics with a 4-3 victory over Australia. It was arguably the best the Americans had looked during the course of a rocky tournament that opened with an uncharacteristic 3-0 loss to Sweden. The loss spoiled the Australians’ first-ever trip to the medal round at the Olympics. No Australian soccer team, men or women, has ever won a medal.
— The gold-medal match between Canada and Sweden has been moved from Friday morning in Tokyo to the evening in Yokohama. There were concerns about playing in the heat with an 11 a.m. kickoff in the National Stadium, and the final couldn’t be played there later in the day due to the venue being used for track and field.
— The American “A-Team” has advanced to the gold medal match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament. April Ross and Alix Klineman beat Switzerland at Shiokaze Park to clinch at least a silver medal. It will be the third medal for Ross, who won silver in London and bronze in Rio de Janeiro. Klineman is a first-time Olympian.
— Maddie Musselman and the U.S. beat the Russian Olympic Committee 15-11 to advance to the women’s water polo final, continuing the team’s bid for a third consecutive gold medal. The U.S. beat the Russian team 18-5 last week, but the ROC was much more engaged in the semifinal meeting. The U.S. had to rally after it trailed 7-4 with 48 seconds left in the first half. Musselman scored five times, and captain Maggie Steffens had three goals.
— Ryan Crouser has broken his own Olympic record on his way to defending his shot put title. On his last attempt, Crouser went 23.30 meters to earn the first track and field gold for the American men at the Tokyo Games. U.S. teammate Joe Kovacs finished second. Crouser is already the world-record holder after breaking a 31-year-old mark on June 18 at the U.S. Olympic trials. In the heat at Olympic Stadium, Crouser took the lead on his first attempt and saved his best for his final one.
— A slow exchange left the American 4×100-meter relay team out of medal contention at the Olympics. The team of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie finished sixth in their qualifying heat to extend a quarter-century of misery for the country that brings the deepest track team to the Games. The United States hasn’t won the Olympic 4×100 since 2000 and hasn’t made it cleanly to the finish line in a final since taking a silver medal in 2012. But they gave that one back because of a doping ban against Tyson Gay. The U.S. got DQ’d for another bad pass in the medal race in 2016.
— Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the Olympics by overtaking American Grant Holloway, the world champion. Holloway was in front through nine out of the 10 hurdles but faded on the last. Parchment won in his season’s best time of 13.04 seconds. Holloway took silver in 13.09 and another Jamaican, Ronald Levy, had the bronze in 13.10 seconds.
— Teenagers Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi dominated the semifinal round of the women’s 10-meter platform as China seeks a sweep of the women’s diving events. The 14-year-old Quan led with 415.65 points and the 15-year-old Chen was second with 407.75. Delaney Schnell of the United States advanced in third with 342.75 points.
— Germany’s Florian Wellbrock has added a gold medal in marathon swimming to his bronze medal at the pool, romping to a dominating win in the men’s 10-kilometer race at Tokyo Bay. At the end, the 23-year-old blew the field away to win by a staggering 25.3 seconds. Two swimmers failed to finish in the sweltering conditions. France’s David Aubry was carried away on a stretcher. American Jordan Wilimovsky was 10th.
— BMX rider Connor Fields was released from St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo on Thursday. That’s five days after a horrific crash in his semifinal race at the Tokyo Olympics left him with a brain bleed and other injuries. He will be able to return to his home in Henderson, Nevada, in the coming days to begin his rehabilitation.
— Australia’s Keegan Palmer won the last skateboarding gold of the Tokyo Games. He won in men’s park, breaking what had been Japanese domination in all three previous events. The silver went to Pedro Barros of Brazil. Cory Juneau took bronze, the second skateboarding medal for the United States. The first for the U.S., also a bronze, was won by Jagger Eaton in men’s street.
— Eddy Alvarez became only the third American to earn medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics when the U.S. baseball team beat defending champion South Korea 7-2 to gain a berth into this weekend’s gold medal game against host Japan. Alvarez won silver in 2014 at Sochi as part of the U.S. four-man short track team.
— Japan’s Risako Kawai won her second Olympic wrestling gold, defeating Belarus’ Iryna Kurachkina 5-0 in the women’s 57-kilogram freestyle final. American Helen Maroulis defeated Mongolia’s Khongorzul Boldsaikhan 11-0 in a bronze medal match. Maroulis won Olympic gold at 53kg in 2016. She became the first U.S. woman to win more than one Olympic medal.
— Australia will play the United States for the beach volleyball gold medal. Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy beat Latvia 23-21, 21-13 on Thursday to clinch at least a silver. Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka will play for the bronze against Switzerland, which lost to the Americans in the earlier semifinal.
— Top-seeded Norway will play for the Olympic gold medal in men’s beach volleyball. Christian Sorum and Anders Mol beat Latvia 21-15, 21-16 to advance to the final. They’ll play the winner of the semifinal between Qatar and Russia. Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs will play the loser for bronze. It’s the first time since inaugural Olympic beach tournament in 1996 that there hasn’t been a team from Brazil in the men’s championship match. The United States, which won three of the first four men’s gold medals, was also shut out.
— Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas won the men’s Olympic 400-meters gold medal, pulling away from the field at the halfway point and finishing in 43.85 seconds. Jose Anthony Zambrano of Colombia took silver. The bronze medal went to Grenada’s Kirani James, who now has gold, silver and bronze from the last three Olympics. Americans Michael Cherry and Michael Norman finished fourth and fifth, respectively. It’s only the second time since 1904 that the U.S. has been shut out of the medals in a non-boycotted Games.
— Katie Nageotte (NAH’-zhaht) won an unexpected gold for the United States in the pole vault at the Olympics ahead of world champion Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia. Nageotte failed on her first two attempts of the competition at 4.50 meters but improved from there to clinch her first major medal. Sidorova took the silver at 4.85. Britain’s Holly Bradshaw won the bronze.
— American David Taylor scored a double-leg takedown with 17 seconds remaining to beat Iran’s Hassan Yazdani 4-3 and claim wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 86-kilogram class. San Marino’s Myles Amine defeated India’s Deepak Punia 4-2 for bronze.
— Spanish teenager Alberto Gines Lopez has won the first Olympic gold medal in sport climbing, riding a win in the speed discipline to the top of the podium. The 18-year-old finished with 30 points — the finishes are multiplied together — to edge American Nathaniel Coleman by two. Coleman topped three of the four “problems” to win bouldering, was fifth in lead and sixth in speed.
— After days of drama, the Belarus women’s 4×400-meter relay team finished last in its first-round heat at the Olympics. The team was embroiled in controversy when sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya criticized officials on social media for putting her in the relay, an event she’d never raced, setting off a massive backlash in state-run media in Belarus. She was later barred from competing in the 200 meters. The U.S. advanced with the fastest time, winning in 3 minutes, 20.86 seconds.
NBA-KNICKS-RANDLE
AP source: All-Star Randle agrees to extension with Knicks
UNDATED (AP) — A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press that All-Star forward Julius Randle has agreed to a $117 million, four-year extension to remain with the New York Knicks.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal can’t be signed before Friday. The new deal takes effect following next season and brings his contract’s total value to five years and $140 million.
Randle earned the new deal by leading the Knicks to the playoffs in his best season. He set a career high by scoring 24.1 points per game and matched his high by averaging 10.2 rebounds in his seventh season.
Randle also set career highs with 6.0 assists per game and his 41% shooting on 3-pointers. He was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player.
MLB-NEWS
Hamels signs $3.05 million, one-year contract with Dodgers
UNDATED (AP) — Four-time All-Star Cole Hamels has signed a $3.05 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers through the end of the season, adding more depth to a pitching staff that has been racked with injuries.
Hamels will earn about $1 million from the deal, signed with less than two months less in the season. He would earn $200,000 for each start and $200,000 for each relief appearance of 3 1/3 innings or more, up to a total of 15 each.He agreed to accept an optional assignment to the minors, and the team agreed to recall him no later than Sept. 2.
Hamels will be going into his 16th season. He held a showcase for teams last month.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Wednesday night’s win over Houston that the left-hander will throw a simulated game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday as the club continues to stretch him out.
In other MLB news:
— The Cleveland Indians have agreed to a 15-year lease extension at Progressive Field. The deal will keep them at their downtown ballpark through 2036 and end speculation the franchise would relocate. The agreement was announced Thursday and still needs legislative approval. The two five-year options could extend the deal for 25 years through 2046. The Indians are partnering with the city, county and state to spend $435 million in renovations on the ballpark, which opened in 1994.
