BASKETBALL
The Maine Celtics will host the Cleveland Charge in the first round of the G League playoffs at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Maine finished 19-13 in the regular season to earn the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland, the No. 5 seed, finished 18-14. The winner will visit the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, the Long Island Nets, for a second-round game at noon Friday.
The playoff format is single elimination until the best-of-three championship series.
Tickets for Wednesday’s game are on sale at MaineCeltics.com. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The other first-round game in the East is sixth-seeded Fort Wayne at No. 3 Capital City. Delaware got a bye as the No. 2 seed.
NBA: Ja Morant scored 27 points in his return to the Memphis starting lineup and the Grizzlies held off the Atlanta Hawks 123-119 in Atlanta for their sixth consecutive win.
HOCKEY
ECHL: Grant Gabriele’s goal with 7:20 remaining lifted the Maine Mariners to a 2-1 win over the South Carolina Stingrays in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Michael DiPietro made 32 saves to earn the win. Mitch Fossier tied the game midway through the first period with his 13th goal of the season.
GOLF
LPGA: Celine Boutier beat Georgia Hall with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Drive on Championship in Gold Canyon, Arizona.
Boutier forced a playoff by making a testy birdie putt at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 in the LPGA’s first full-field event of the season.
PGA: Matt Wallace of England ran off four straight birdies down the stretch to close with a 6-under 66 as he earned his first PGA Tour title at the Corales Punta Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Nicolai Hojgaard, a 22-year-old from Denmark playing on a sponsor exemption, missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Nick Bachem pulled clear of the field with a faultless final-round 64 to win the Jonsson Workwear Open in Johannesburg by four shots for his first European tour title.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: David Toms fired a 7-under 65 for a four-stroke, wire-to-wire win at The Galleri Classic in Racho Mirage, California to become the first two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.
BASEBALL
MAJOR LEAGUES: The Atlanta Braves will open the season with two rookie left-handers – Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd – in their rotation while giving right-hander Kyle Wright more time to prepare for his first start.
Wright was told Sunday he will start the season on the 15-day injured list. He was the only 20-game winner in the majors last season but had a slow start this spring after getting a cortisone shot in January to address a shoulder issue.
• Anthony Volpe grew up watching Derek Jeter star at shortstop for the New York Yankees.
Now, the 21-year-old is getting the chance to be the Yankees’ opening day shortstop Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.
The team announced after a 6-2 spring training win over Toronto on Sunday that Volpe had won the spot.
TENNIS
MIAMI OPEN: Bianca Andreescu of Canada – the 2019 U.S. Open champion – beat 2020 Wimbledon winner Sofia Kenin of the United States 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
On the men’s side, Americans Tommy Paul and No. 10 Taylor Fritz advanced in straight sets.
SOCCER
EURO 2024 QUALIFYING: Presented with a golden boot before kickoff, Harry Kane’s golden touch continued for England as he struck a record-extending 55th goal for his country.
The Tottenham striker had already surpassed Wayne Rooney as the Three Lions’ outright leading scorer with his penalty in Thursday’s 2-1 win against Italy in Naples.
Back at Wembley, he got the chance to celebrate in front of his home fans with another goal in England’s 2-0 win against Ukraine.
• Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to lead Portugal to a 6-0 rout of Luxembourg.
ENGLAND: Antonio Conte has left his position as Tottenham manager by mutual consent, the Premier League club said.
Conte’s assistant, Cristian Stellini, has been appointed acting head coach for the rest of the season.
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