BASKETBALL
A 45-point performance by Luka Samanic wasn’t enough for the Maine Celtics as their seven-game winning streak ended with a 149-137 loss to the Delaware Blue Coats at the Portland Expo.
Maine also got 19 points from Mfiondu Kabengele, 18 from Marial Shayok, and 16 points and 12 assists from Kamar Baldwin, but the Celtics couldn’t complete a comeback after allowing 82 points in the first half.
NBA: League assist leader Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers will miss about two weeks, and possibly more, due to a left elbow sprain and a mild left knee bone bruise, the team said Thursday.
TENNIS
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were placed on opposite halves of the Australian Open bracket in the draw Thursday, meaning the owners of a combined 43 Grand Slam singles titles could only meet in the final at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic, a nine-time champion in Australia, returns to the hard-court tournament after missing it last year when his visa was revoked and he was deported from the country because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. He also couldn’t compete at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Fourth-seeded Djokovic will open his bid for a 10th Australian Open title against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena in the tournament which begins Monday.
Iga Swiatek, the women’s No. 1-ranked player, takes on German Jule Niemeier, who is ranked No.68, in the opening round. The Polish player was a semifinalist at Melbourne Park in 2022, a year in which she won the French and U.S. Open titles.
SOCCER
MLS: A diversity report examining racial and gender hiring in Major League Soccer reported another boost in scores for the hiring of women, marking a second straight year of significant gains after four years of declines.
Thursday’s report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida assigned an overall B-plus grade, with an A for racial hiring and a B for gender hiring. The report examined a range of positions at the league headquarters and within franchises using data from August that covered the 2022 season.
The overall and racial-hiring grades were similar to 2021.
FIFA: Cristiano Ronaldo was left off the the 14-player shortlist for the annual Best FIFA Men’s Player award for the first time, with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé among those selected.
Ronaldo, who was released by Manchester United and benched by Portugal during the World Cup, won the FIFA award the first two times it was handed out – in 2016 and 2017 – and was among the three finalists the following three years. This was the first time he was not even selected as a contender by a FIFA-appointed expert panel.
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