Mike Brown has been crowned the NBA's Coach of the Year after leading the Sacramento Kings to their first playoffs in 17 years.

Brown, who only took over as Kings head coach in May last year after six years as an assistant coach at the Golden State Warriors, was a unanimous selection for the Red Auerbach Trophy.

The Kings head coach claimed every single one of the 100 first-place votes, making it two awards in two nights for Sacramento after De'Aaron Fox was named the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year.

"These honours don't come around often, so you're very appreciative of them," Brown said on TNT.

Brown won the award ahead of Oklahoma City Thunder's Mark Daignault and Boston Celtics' Joe Mazzulla.

He became the first-ever unanimous Coach of the Year, having led Sacramento to the Western Conference three seed with a 48-34 record, with the Kings 2-0 up against the Golden State Warriors in their first round playoff series.

"I had to make sure I understood what their strengths were, and I had to accept being able to play to their strengths," Brown said.

Prior to this season, the Kings' last winning campaign was in 2005-06, when they last made the playoffs with a 44-38 record.

The Kings have not won a playoff series since 2003-04, beating the Dallas Mavericks in the first round 4-1.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been ruled out of Game 2 of the Milwaukee Bucks' first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat due to a bruised lower back.

Antetokounmpo exited the Game 1 loss with a lower back contusion after landing heavily when driving to the basket and charging into Heat's Kevin Love. He initially tried to play on but was ruled out at half-time.

The Bucks had listed the MVP candidate as doubtful on Tuesday after an X-ray and MRI scan both came back clean, later updating that to questionable.

Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed prior to Wednesday's Game 2 that Antetokounmpo would be unavailable.

"[We were] hopeful that he would play and also aware that he might not," Budenholzer told reporters. "The guys are ready. The group's focused and in a good place."

Antetokounmpo's status will be critical for the Bucks during the series, but Budenholzer remained optimistic that he will return soon.

"He's continued to improve, but organizationally and talking and working with him and the sports performance group, the decision was made," Budenholzer said.

"He's out. The guys that are ready and the guys that are available are good to go. We'll continue to monitor him and expect for him to improve and still continue to be optimistic that soon he'll be ready to play."

The Greek forward averaged 31.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per game during the regular season, sitting in the NBA's top five for both categories.

Ja Morant was listed as "out" by the Memphis Grizzlies for Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Morant left the court in Sunday's Game 1 defeat to the Lakers at FedExForum in the fourth quarter after trying to break his fall on a drive with his right hand, with his wrist bending unnaturally.

An MRI on Monday revealed a re-aggravation of soft tissue in his hand, having previously suffered an issue against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 7.

According to multiple reports, the Grizzlies listed Morant out prior to the start of Game 2 in Memphis on Wednesday, citing "right-hand soreness".

The 23-year-old was in excellent form in the regular season, averaging 26.2 points and 8.1 assists per game from 61 appearances.

The Grizzlies are already missing key players Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke for the whole of the playoffs, and will be hoping Morant can return as soon as possible.

Tiger Woods faces another rehabilitation process after the 15-time major winner underwent surgery on his ankle.

Woods went under the knife for a procedure to address post-traumatic arthritis in his talus bone, which makes up the lower part of the ankle joint.

The 47-year-old, who suffered severe injuries to his leg in a car crash in Los Angeles in 2021, withdrew from The Masters seven holes into his third round this month after battling to make the cut.

Though no timeframe was placed on his recovery, Woods' participation at the second major of the year – the US PGA Championship – is now in doubt.

A statement on Woods' social media channels read: "Earlier today [Wednesday], Tiger underwent a subtalar fusion procedure to address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture.

"It was performed by Dr Martin O'Malley at HSS Sports Medicine Institute in New York.

"He has determined the surgery to be successful. Tiger is recovering and looks forward to beginning his rehabilitation."

Pep Guardiola felt "exhausted" Manchester City showed they are streetwise in the Champions League as they reached the semi-finals with a 4-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich.

Eight days after winning the first leg 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium, the Premier League champions drew 1-1 at Allianz Arena to set up a tie against holders Real Madrid.

Erling Haaland missed a first-half penalty, but scored his 48th goal of the season after the break to put City ahead the night.

Joshua Kimmich denied City an 11th successive victory late on after a second harsh penalty award of the game – Manuel Akanji punished for what was adjudged to be handball.

City are in the hunt for a Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble after advancing to a third successive European semi-final.

Guardiola, who took charge of the Premier League champions for a 400th time when he came up against his former club Bayern on Wednesday, feels their experience is standing them in good stead.

He told BT Sport: "We struggled in the first half. [Dayot] Upamecano broke all the lines down our left side and we struggled with [Kingsley] Coman.

"We were fortunate before the penalty miss, they had one or two chances and anything could happen but we defended really well.

"The finishing from Erling was really, really good. He is so young. The experience that we have in this competition, the players feel it a lot, they want to do it really well. The second half was much, much better since minute one."

City face Championship side Sheffield United in an FA Cup semi-final on Saturday and Guardiola is concerned fatigue will be an issue.

He added: "We are exhausted. I don't know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final].

"Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday, but we have to play then as [Manchester) United play in the Europa League [so play Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup on Sunday]."

Ons Jabeur forged a comeback win over Jelena Ostapenko to get her Stuttgart Open campaign off to a flying start.

Jabeur endured an injury-hit start to 2023 but bounced back with a victory in Charleston and made it six wins on the bounce by overcoming Latvian Ostapenko 1-6 7-6 6-3 on Wednesday.

Next up for Jabeur is a potential quarter-final tie with Elena Rybakina – a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final.

Rybakina, who won the Indian Wells Open in March, came up trumps on that occasion, fighting back to win 3-6 6-2 6–2.

The Kazakh, seeded sixth, overcame German Jule Niemeier 7-5 6-3 in the round of 32 and will now face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the last 16.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka also booked her progression to the last eight, beating 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-2 6-3.

Coco Gauff, meanwhile, claimed her first victory in Stuttgart as she overcame a tough test from Veronika Kudermetova.

Gauff, the world number five, was taken to a deciding tie-break but ultimately prevailed 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3). The American will face Anastasia Potapova in the next round.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova defeated Maria Sakkari in straight sets in Wednesday's other encounter.

 

 

Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi admitted he had only previously dreamt about his team reaching the final four of the Champions League.

The Nerazzurri were drawn into what was considered a 'group of death' earlier in the tournament when they were put in with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, making it through as runners-up ahead of the LaLiga giants.

Inter beat Benfica 5-3 on aggregate following a 3-3 draw at San Siro in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, meaning they will face city rivals Milan in the semis for the first time since the 2002-03 season, while it will also be the first time the two will meet five times in one season.

"There is great happiness," Inzaghi said after the game. "We played a great game against a difficult team.

"We fully deserved this semi-final, which before was only a dream. I'm happy for the boys and for our progress. We started with a very difficult group with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. We work every day to experience these evenings."

Their passage to the semis of the Champions League for the first time since they won the competition in 2009-10 should relieve some pressure on Inzaghi, who has come in for criticism for the team's league form, having not won any of their last five games in Serie A, losing four.

"Critics aren't a problem," he insisted. "I know where they come from. Some speak well, some speak bad."

Federico Dimarco had a productive game down the Inter left against Benfica, providing six open-play crosses – twice as many as any other player – and claiming assists for Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa after Nicolo Barella had earlier given the hosts the lead.

Roger Schmidt's men equalised Barella's goal through Frederik Aursnes, before late efforts from Antonio Silva and Petar Musa levelled things again.

"We're very happy, it's been many years since Inter made it to the semi-finals," Dimarco told Amazon Prime. "There's still one step left to get to the end.

"We played well, apart from some lack of attention for their goals. The assists? I worked all week for this, the important thing is that the team wins.

When asked about the prospect of facing Milan, he replied: "Let's think about the other matches first. I'm calm, there's still one step left for us to move forward."

Stefanos Tsitsipas breezed into the third round of the Barcelona Open with a straight-sets win over Pedro Cachin on Wednesday.   Tsitsipas took 79 minutes to see off Argentine Pedro Cachin 6-4 6-2 on Pista Rafa Nadal.   The second seed from Greece did not face a break point and won all three that he fashioned to set up a meeting with Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who got the better of Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 6-3.   Jannik Sinner, the fourth seed from Italy, eased to a 6-2 6-4 win over Diego Schwartzman at the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona-1899.   Cameron Norrie and Lorenzo Musetti will do battle in round three after defeating Pavel Kotov and Jason Kubler respectively in straight sets.   Karen Khachanov beat Nicolas Jarry 6-4 6-4, while Grigor Dimitrov, Dan Evans, Alex de Minaur, Yoshihito Nishioka and Francisco Cerundolo also celebrated midweek wins.   Rain hit the schedule hard at the BMW Open, where Aslan Karatsev was leading Daniel Altmaie 3-0 in the third set when play was suspended in the only singles action of the day.  

Erling Haaland doesn't often miss penalties.

Erling Haaland doesn't often hit straight at the goalkeeper when one-on-one.

And Erling Haaland doesn't pass up a third invitation to score.

Having sliced over the crossbar from 12 yards in the first half of Manchester City's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich, and then shot straight at Yann Sommer in the 55th minute, Haaland might have been forgiven for thinking it was not going to be his night on Wednesday.

Yet even when Haaland does, indeed, miss, he still must score. It's as predictable as day turning to night. Death, taxes and Haaland scoring goals. 

It's just what he does, and he did it again – for a 48th time this season – 57 minutes into a thrilling game at Allianz Arena to fully ensure City would not let their 3-0 aggregate lead from the first leg slip.

 

For much of the first half, Thomas Tuchel's Bayern had run City's defence ragged. Leroy Sane seemed like a man possessed against his former club, but could not find the finishing touch.

Previous incarnations of Pep Guardiola's team might not have had the physicality up top to exploit such a stretched game, but they do now.

Haaland enjoyed, and won, a personal tussle with Dayot Upamecano all game. The Norway international was fist pumping when, in the 18th minute – just after Sane had fired wide at the other end – referee Clement Turpin was brandishing a red card Upamecano's way, with Bayern's centre-back having dragged City's number nine to the ground just outside the box.

A delayed offside flag spared Upamecano, though his luck ran out when, 10 minutes before half-time, Ilkay Gundogan's shot struck his outstretched arm.

Yet again, Upamecano's blushes were spared. Haaland skied his spot-kick, missing a penalty for the first time in his last 16 attempts in all club competitions, since doing so for Borussia Dortmund against Union Berlin in April 2021.

Bayern went into half-time with the scores level, down but not out. They had, in fairness, been the better side; 10 shots to City's four and an open play xG of 0.91 to their visitors' 0.09.

The end-to-end, thrill-a-minute football continued after the break. Kingsley Coman, teed up by Sane, tested Ederson, before the magnificent Jack Grealish slipped in Haaland at the end of a rapid City counter. Sommer, though, was up to the task.

Ederson could only watch as Coman flashed a low cross-shot across the face of goal soon after, but Bayern could only play with fire for so long.

Fifteen seconds later, City were celebrating. Kevin De Bruyne had released Haaland who, after sitting Upamecano down on the turf, slammed home. About time.

Haaland has scored 13 Champions League knockout-stage goals in only 10 such appearances. It was his 12th goal in the competition for City, matching the single-season record for a player of an English cub, level with Ruud van Nistelrooy in the 2002-03 campaign. He is averaging a goal every 66 minutes across all competitions.

Bayern benefitted from a soft handball decision of their own when Sadio Mane's effort deflected up and hit Manuel Akanji's arm. Joshua Kimmich lashed his penalty down the middle, but it was a mere consolation in the grand scheme of a tie that finished 4-1 to City on aggregate.

A Mane miss from close range and Tuchel receiving his marching orders to the stand for dissent capped off the Bavarians' Champions League exit.

Tuchel was brought in to ensure domestic success and progress in Europe. Six games into his tenure, Bayern lead the Bundesliga only on goal difference, while it is City who will face holders Real Madrid in the last four.

That's a rematch of last season's semi-finals, when City dominated in the first leg only to capitulate late on in the second. 

Having been denied by Tuchel in Porto two years ago, City – the third English team to have qualified for the Champions League semi-finals in three successive seasons – have put one ghost to rest already. Now, it's time for another, and with Haaland on board and firing, it could just be their time.

Erling Haaland scored his 48th goal of the season after missing a penalty as Manchester City drew 1-1 at Bayern Munich to cruise into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Haaland was on target in a f3-0 first-leg victory that put City in control of the quarter-final and he struck again to open the scoring at Allianz Arena on Wednesday.

The prolific striker had missed a spot-kick for the first time in two years in the first half, but he silenced the Bayern faithful after the break.

Joshua Kimmich ended City's 10-match winning run by converting a harshly awarded penalty before Thomas Tuchel was sent off as Pep Guardiola, a former Bayern boss, saw his side seal a 4-1 aggregate win and a last-four tie against holders Real Madrid.

Kingsley Coman was a huge threat down the right as Bayern started with a great tempo and Leroy Sane should have put them in front when he fired wide after racing clear.

There was drama when Dayot Upamecano was shown a red card by referee Clement Turpin for a professional foul on Haaland, but the defender was given a reprieve as the Norway striker was offside.

Upamecano breathed another sigh of relief when Haaland put his spot-kick over the crossbar nine minutes before half-time after the Bayern centre-back was harshly penalised for handball.

The Bavarian giants continued to look dangerous, but City produced a devastating counter-attack to take the lead on the night after Ederson denied Coman from a tight angle.

Kevin De Bruyne was the provider, slipping in Haaland to clinically drill beyond Yann Sommer with his left foot after Upamecano slipped 12 minutes into the second half.

Sadio Mane replaced Sane, the pair who were involved in an altercation after the first leg, before Mathys Tel had a goal ruled out for offside.

Kimmich converted from 12 yards out after Manuel Akanji was unfortunate to have been penalised for handball seven minutes from time, with Tuchel then seeing red for his touchline antics as Bayern crashed out.

A Milan derby awaits in the Champions League semi-finals after Inter made it past Benfica with a 3-3 draw on Wednesday, sealing a 5-3 aggregate victory.

Following Milan's passage to the final four after they eliminated Napoli on Tuesday, Inter just had to see out their quarter-final second leg against the Lisbon side having taken a 2-0 lead into the clash at San Siro.

As he did in the first leg, Nicolo Barella gave Inter the lead with an excellent finish, before Fredrik Aursnes equalised for the visitors with a powerful header before half-time.

Lautaro Martinez put Inter back in front, before substitute Joaquin Correa added another with a fine effort, though late goals from Antonio Silva and Petar Musa meant Roger Schmidt's men at least ended their recent losing run.

Barella put the hosts in front in the 14th minute when the determined midfielder battled his way into the Benfica box after a one-two with Martinez, before cutting onto his left foot and finishing splendidly into the top left corner.

Martinez had a goal ruled out in the 33rd minute after his header at the far post squirmed under Odisseas Vlachodimos, with the Benfica goalkeeper relieved to see a foul given against the Argentine for a push on Gilberto.

From nowhere though, Benfica were level in the game after Rafa Silva's perfect cross from the right allowed Aursnes to send a bullet header past Andre Onana seven minutes before the break.

Inter effectively ended their opponent's hopes when they scored a second in the 65th minute. Federico Dimarco played a one-two on the left with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, before crossing for Martinez to finish into the roof of the net

Correa scored a third for Inter just two minutes after coming off the bench as he cut inside from the left and bent an effort in off the far post.

Antonio Silva headed in for the visitors from an inswinging Alex Grimaldo free-kick before Musa swept in a loose ball to equalise, but the Nerazzurri confirmed they will face their city rivals in the semi-finals.

The Miami Dolphins still view Tua Tagovailoa as their long-term answer at quarterback, though the former first-round pick admitted that he seriously contemplated retirement after only three NFL seasons.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Dolphin's pre-draft press conference, Tagovailoa revealed the two known concussions he sustained during the 2022 season had him thinking of walking away from the game at age 25.

Tagovailoa said his love of football ultimately led to his decision to continue playing, as did his desire for the opportunity of having his young son watch him play when he gets older.

"I think I considered it for a time," he admitted. "Having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kinds of conversations," he stated.

"I always dreamed of playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly [what he did] and [would be] watching his dad do.

"It's my health, it's my body. I feel like this is what's best for me and my family. I love the game of football. If I didn't, I would have quit a long time ago."

Two separate head injuries caused Tagovailoa to miss five games in 2022 in addition to raising questions about his future.

The most concerning one occurred in a nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals in September, when the former University of Alabama star was knocked out on a sack and removed from the field on a stretcher before being transported to a local hospital.

That scary incident took place five days after Tagovailoa temporarily exited a game against the Buffalo Bills after displaying possible concussion symptoms, though he was later cleared to return and the Dolphins announced he had a back injury.

An NFL investigation into the Dolphins’ handling of that situation resulted in the firing of the independent doctor who examined Tagovailoa, and the league later revised its concussion protocol policy following his injury against Cincinnati.

Tagovailoa suffered another concussion against Green Bay in Week 16, causing him to miss Miami’s final two regular-season games as well as its loss to the Bills in the first round of the AFC playoffs.

The quarterback has since been fully cleared, and told reporters Wednesday that he believes his enrollment in a jujitsu programme this offseason can help him stay healthy and on the field in 2023.

"I learned how to fall, some grappling techniques, and some other things that I don’t want to disclose," he said. "For the most part, learning how to fall.

"You think it's easy, 'just don't fall and hit your head,' but there's a lot more to it."

Erik ten Hag has few concerns about Manchester United defensively and is instead focused on improving their attack as his side head to Sevilla on Thursday.

United have been without a number of key men at the back, including Lisandro Martinez, who will miss the remainder of the season.

Martinez sustained a broken metatarsal in last week's 2-2 draw at home to Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Own goals from Tyrell Malacia and Harry Maguire saw United improbably throw away a two-goal lead at Old Trafford, yet Ten Hag is not worried about a repeat.

He is looking to see United make progress in front of goal after a succession of wasteful performances. They have underperformed their xG in seven consecutive Premier League games, falling short by 1.5 in each of their past two outings.

"Our organisation all over the pitch is quite good. We need to do better attacking," Ten Hag explained, adding: "I am confident that we can score goals tomorrow."

The return of Marcus Rashford would aid Ten Hag's cause, with the forward "available" after travelling with the team but set to be the subject of a matchday decision on his fitness.

Impressing at the other end of the pitch, meanwhile, is David de Gea, despite a difficult start to life under Ten Hag.

The goalkeeper's limited ability playing out with his feet caused problems in the early weeks of the season and appeared to indicate he was ill-suited to the manager's tactics.

But De Gea has remained United's number one and leads the Golden Glove race with 14 Premier League clean sheets.

"Stopping goals, that is the main job for a goalkeeper," Ten Hag said.

"Everyone has their own particular style. Nowadays, in possession, it has become more and more important at top levels.

"But at the end of the day it is about stopping goals, shots, crosses, one-on-ones. I think David is a complete goalkeeper."

Massimiliano Allegri wants his Juventus team to show "personality" as they look to defend their first-leg lead away at Sporting CP in the Europa League.

The Bianconeri claimed a 1-0 victory at the Allianz Stadium last week thanks to a Federico Gatti strike as they bid to lift the Europa League for a fourth time, a win that would move them up to second in the all-time rankings behind Sevilla's six.

However, they still have to get past a Sporting side who have already dumped out Premier League leaders Arsenal and are unbeaten in their last six at home in all competitions.

Allegri knows his side will have to show a strong mentality to preserve their slender advantage at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday, telling Sky Sport Italia: "You need to have personality, speed and calmness.

"The match is long and will give us difficulties, they are an excellent team in terms of organisation.

"The goal is important and not simple, Sporting eliminated Arsenal. We don't think about the first leg but that is a challenge."

Juve will now find out just before their match in Portugal kicks off whether their 15-point deduction in Serie A for financial breaches will stand after the results of the finding were pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday,

Allegri, though, is keen for his players to focus on the big game ahead of them, saying: "We knew that today was an important day, both in terms of the ruling and his outcome, but above all to better prepare for tomorrow's match.

"Once we know about the ruling, we put it aside and we'll think about the match."

While Allegri revealed Federico Chiesa was a doubt for the game, he had positive news on Adrien Rabiot and Wojciech Szczesny, explaining: "Szczesny is fine, he's fine. Rabiot is available, he's done all the training."

Juve suffered a 1-0 league defeat at Sassuolo on Sunday with midfielder Nicolo Fagioli, who was at fault for the winning goal after his poor clearance, left in tears on the bench after being ruthlessly substituted off by Allegri following the mistake.

Full-back Alex Sandro showed solidarity for his 22-year-old team-mate ahead of the Sporting clash, telling reporters: "It's good to cry sometimes. We have to respect Fagioli's and everyone's reaction after victories and defeats.

"Fagioli is young, but he already has experience. He is not the future, but the present of Juve."

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