Sports

Jan. 18—OKLAHOMA CITY — Any concerns of the Oklahoma City Thunder letting recent praise inflate their egos were quickly diminished in their 126-106 win over the Indiana Pacers.

LOS ANGELES — Joel Embiid raised his arms from the visitors bench, his work done for the day. His team had built a double-digit first-half lead, again, and surrendered it, again.

TULSA -- Sand Springs was the winner of the Class 6A District Duals held Tuesday in Tulsa Union’s UMAC. The Sandites won three duals to capture the title and advance to the Class 6A Dual State Tournament.

When Nikola Jokic secured his NBA-leading 13th tripledouble late in the third quarter, it felt like just another Tuesday. A quarter later, when the Nuggets secured their seventh win in a row with a 122-113 victory over the visiting Trail Blazers, it felt like just another night at Ball Arena.

Jan. 17—Expectations were not high for the Oklahoma City Thunder entering the 2022-23 season.

MVP award. I don’t win that if he’s not here — from what I’ve learned from him the past two years playing with him on a daily basis last year. He makes everyone around him better. When he’s on defense, he makes a great play, you’re just like, ‘I better not mess this up.’” As the Cardinals’ abrupt exit from the playoffs started the offseason earlier than they imagined, Arenado returned to California to make a decision that would shape more than the next few months for the Cardinals. An opt-out gave him the right to become a free agent. He said many teammates, including Wainwright and Goldschmidt, urged him to stay.

When last we saw the Chiefs in a playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium, they were trudging off the field after bungling a 21-3 lead against the Bengals and falling 27-24 in overtime. Instead of a third straight Super Bowl berth, instead of reassurance that such haunting postseason plummets from commanding leads had been purged in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs and their fans were delivered a nasty reality check.