Nate McMillan has reached an agreement with the Atlanta Hawks to be their head coach, after serving as its interim coach and leading the team to the team to the Eastern Conference finals. Morry Gash/Associated Press
BASKETBALL
Atlanta Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk moved quickly to lock down Nate McMillan as the full-time coach, reaching an agreement to remove the interim tag only two days after team’s season ended.
The deal comes after McMillan, in his interim role, led the team to an improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals.
McMillan, 56, was named interim coach after Lloyd Pierce was fired when the team had a 14-20 record. The Hawks enjoyed an immediate turnaround under McMillan.
They played better late in games, protecting leads while posting a 27-11 mark that gave them the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It was Atlanta’s first playoff berth since 2017.
WNBA: Sami Whitcomb scored 26 points and Betnijah Laney added 18 to help the New York Liberty beat the Dallas Wings 99-96 in New York in a rare Monday night game.
BASEBALL
NECBL: Freddy Rojas Jr. hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to give the Sanford Mainers a 3-2 win over the Upper Valley Nighthawks in the first game of a doubleheader in Hartford, Vermont
Rojas had two hits and three RBI for Sanford. Jacob Edwards earned the win, allowing one run and seven hits, while striking out four in five innings.
In the second game, Alan Roden had four hits, scored twice and drove in a run as Upper Valley (13-9) won 7-4. Rojas had an RBI double for Sanford (6-14).
COLLEGES: Chip Hale, a star infielder at Arizona from 1984-87 before playing, coaching and managing in the major leagues, has been hired as the Wildcats’ new baseball coach.
Arizona Director of Athletics Dave Heeke announced the hiring Monday.
Hale, 56, will receive a five-year contract pending approval from the state Board of Regents approval.
SOCCER
U.S. WOMEN: Tobin Heath scored her second goal in as many games and the United States defeated Mexico 4-0 in East Hartford, Conn. in the American women’s final match before the Olympics.
The United States is now undefeated in 44 straight matches, the second-longest unbeaten streak in team history. The Americans also extended their winning streak against Mexico to 15 games and improved to 39-1-1 overall. The lone U.S. loss in the series was in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.
U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski continued to finetune his lineups in advance of the Olympics later this month. The United States, a four-time gold medal winner, is aiming to become the first team to follow a World Cup title with an Olympic gold medal.
FOOTBALL
NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence signed his four-year rookie contract, clearing the way for him to attend the start of training camp in three weeks.
Under the NFL’s rookie slotting system, Lawrence’s deal was projected to be worth $36.8 million and included a $24.1 million signing bonus. He will count $6.7 million against the salary cap in 2021.
Lawrence is expected to be an immediate starter. He went 34-2 at Clemson, recording the third-best winning percentage by a starting quarterback (minimum 30 starts) in college football since 1978. He finished his college career undefeated in regular-season play and led the Tigers to the national championship as a freshman in 2018.
COLLEGES: Terry Donahue, the winningest coach in Pac-12 Conference and UCLA football history who later served as general manager of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, has died. He was 77.
The school said he died Sunday at his home in Newport Beach, California, after a two-year fight with cancer.
Donahue has the most wins (98) of any coach in Pac-12 history and also the most wins (151) in UCLA history. He worked as an assistant coaching the Bruins under Pepper Rodgers and then Dick Vermeil from 1971-75, before taking over as head coach at age 31 and serving from 1976-95. His first job out of college was as an assistant to Rodgers at Kansas for one season.
Donahue was the first to appear in a Rose Bowl game as a player, assistant coach and head coach. The Bruins won the New Year’s Day game in 1983, ‘84 and ’86 during his coaching tenure. He was the first college coach to earn bowl game victories in seven consecutive seasons, from 1983 to 1989.
CYLING
GIRO d’ITALIA DONNE: Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands added to her overall lead in the prestigious Giro d’Italia Donne, winning a difficult uphill time trial by more than a minute over teammate and countrywoman Demi Vollering.
Van der Breggen finished the 11.2 kilometer effort in 24 minutes, 57 seconds, adding 1:05 to her lead over Vollering and gaining even more time in her lead over Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, who had been second overall heading into the fourth stage of the 10-day stage race across Italy. Moolman-Pasio finished 1:30 behind in fourth place on the stage.
Van der Breggen, the reigning world champion, now leads Moolman-Pasio by 2:51 as she aims not only for her fourth Giro title but also for the Tokyo Games. She is the heavy favorite to defend her gold medal from Rio de Janeiro in the road race, where her top competition could be Vollering and fellow Dutch star Marianne Vos.
The fifth stage Tuesday takes riders 120 kilometers from Milan to Carugate.
SOCCER
MLS: Major League Soccer was unable to corroborate an allegation that a racial comment was directed at Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara during a game against Minnesota United.
The league said that while its investigation found the allegation was made in good faith, it “could not corroborate or refute the allegation.”
Timbers Coach Giovanni Savarese said after Portland’s 1-0 loss to Minnesota on June 26 that a “discriminatory word” had been used by a Loons player toward Chara, who is Black and from Colombia.
OLYMPICS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: USA Basketball women’s national team director Carol Callan will step down after the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her role as the president of FIBA Americas.
Callan has been with the national team since 1995 and has worked behind the scenes to help the U.S. win six consecutive Olympic gold medals. She was the person who made the call to players to let them know if they made a USA Basketball team. Callan also was in charge of the logistics whenever a team would travel to a tournament or training camp.
Callan said she has been talking with USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley for several years about stepping down.
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