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Phoenix Suns fire coach Monty Williams after 4 seasons with the club

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams on Saturday, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he was the overwhelming choice as the coach of the year.Williams had great success in his four regular seasons in Phoenix, winning 63% of his games. But three consecutive years of playoff frustration was likely too much for the Suns to overlook — especially after two straight years of Phoenix trailing by 30 points at halftime of elimination games at home.ESPN and The Athletic first reported the decision.“Monty has been foundational to our success over the past four seasons,” said James Jones, the Suns’ president of basketball operations and general manager. “We are filled with gratitude for everything Monty has contributed to the Suns and to the Valley community.”Jones also said he made the decision to fire Williams.The Suns had a 2-0 lead in the 2021 NBA Finals, only to lose in six games. They lost in the second round in each of the last two seasons, both times in...

Carranza’s goal sends Union to 2-1 victory over Rapids

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Julian Carranza scored the go-ahead goal and the Philadelphia Union came from behind to down the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday night. The Union (5-4-2) have won three straight and they’re undefeated in their last four league games. The Rapids (2-4-6) still have yet to win a match at home this season, with three draws and two losses. It was Colorado’s first loss after going unbeaten in seven straight games. The match was marked by a scuffle between the two teams in stoppage time. Colorado’s Braian Galvan and Philadelphia’s Jesus Bueno were each handed red cards and sent off. Connor Ronan gave the Rapids a 1-0 lead when he converted on a penalty in the 38th minute after Diego Rubio was fouled in the box. Kai Wagner scored his first goal of the season in first-half stoppage time to tie the match going into the break. Carranza’s goal in the 51st minute gave Philadelphia the lead for good. Philadelphia has lost just one of its l...

Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner hospitalized for tests after taking line drive to head

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner was to spend the night in the hospital after being struck in the head by a line drive in the second inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. “He’s under observation at a local hospital,” Colorado manager Bud Black said after the Phillies’ 7-4 win. “He’s undergoing a litany of exams and tests. We’ll know more in the morning.” Nick Castellanos lined a 1-0 slider back to the mound at 92.7 mph. The ball went off the back right side of Feltner’s head. The right-hander immediately collapsed to the ground as the ball deflected to first baseman C.J. Cron. Castellanos was safe with a single. Feltner didn’t appear to lose consciousness. He lay on his stomach and was squinting his eyes as two members of the Colorado training stuff sprinted to the mound. With the crowd hushed, Feltner eventually sat up, then got to his feet with catcher Elias Diaz standing next to him. The 26-year-old Feltner wa...

MLB Notes: Texas Rangers have gotten their money’s worth with Nathan Eovaldi

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

A couple of weeks ago we highlighted all of the players Boston has moved on from since last summer’s trade deadline, and most haven’t gone on to do much with their new teams. Xander Bogaerts was an obvious outlier, but at the time you couldn’t make a strong case the Red Sox missed many of the others, starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi among them.That may have been a tad premature.Eovaldi didn’t get off to the greatest start, posting a 5.20 ERA over his first five starts with the Texas Rangers, but over the past two weeks has settled down and become absolutely dominant. The 33-year-old has now put together a run of 28.2 consecutive scoreless innings, including three straight scoreless outings in which he threw eight innings or more.That includes a complete game shutout on April 29 against the Yankees, and this past Thursday he came within one out of throwing another against Oakland, recording a career-high 12 strikeouts over 8.2 innings in the 4-0 win.Overall Eov...

Patricia Arquette, Matt Dillon take ‘High Desert’ trip

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

Showbusiness is notorious for seeing youthful performers as easily disposable. Yet Patricia Arquette and Matt Dillon began as teenagers and endured. The latest evidence: Their wacky, comically drug-addled “High Desert” series, streaming Wednesday on AppleTV+.To what do they credit their durability, longevity and sustained interest so many years later?“I’m gonna say, first of all, good luck,” Arquette, seated next to Dillon for a Zoom interview, began. “Second of all, choosing good other talent to work with.“Even though Matt was a heartthrob, he didn’t go for that clean, clear leading man, the obvious thing. And I didn’t go for that either. I always wanted messy, complicated parts, interesting stories. When you only commit to that leading lady-leading man thing it’s a dead-end road.”“For me, I always believed in myself,” Dillon, 59, began. “I wasn’t interested in fame; I was really interested in work. Doing good work. That can be frustrating at times.“Be...

Bangladesh, Myanmar brace as Cyclone Mocha makes landfall

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh and Myanmar braced Sunday as an extremely severe cyclone started to hit coastal areas and authorities urged thousands of people in both countries to seek shelter.The outermost band of Cyclone Mocha reached the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Sunday morning, and by afternoon the center of the storm was expected to make landfall near Sittwe township, which was under the highest weather alert, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said Sunday.More than 4,000 of Sittwe’s 300,000 residents have been evacuated to other cities since Friday and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools located on the city’s highlands, said Tin Nyein Oo, who is helping people in shelters in Sittwe. Many local residents live in areas more than 3 meters above sea level, places where residents believe the storm surge cannot reach, he added.Strong winds of 40 to 48 kilometers per hour (25 to 40 miles...

Turkey’s elections for presidency, parliament underway

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Voters in Turkey are heading to the polls on Sunday for landmark parliamentary and presidential elections that are expected to be tightly contested and could be the biggest challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces in his two decades in power.The vote will either grant the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan a new five-year term in office or set the NATO-member country on what his opposition contender calls a more democratic path.Polling began at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). Media organizations are barred from reporting partial results until an embargo is lifted at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT). There are no exit polls.For the first time in his 20 years in office, opinion polls indicate that the populist Erdogan, 69, is entering a race trailing behind an opponent. Opinion surveys have given a slight lead to Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the 74-year-old leader of the center-left, pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the joint candid...

Knife-wielding man fatally shot by deputies in San Bernardino County

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

Authorities are investigating after a man was fatally shot by deputies in Apple Valley.The suspect was identified as Lee Cortez, 42, by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.On May 8, deputies received reports of a man walking along Bear Valley Road around 3:27 p.m.When authorities arrived, they spotted Cortez armed with a knife and bleeding from his neck while walking in and out of traffic lanes.Deputies approached Cortez and commanded him to drop the weapon, but he refused, officials said. When Cortez walked towards deputies, he was tased, but remained undeterred.“Cortez continued advancing with the knife raised towards the deputies and a lethal force encounter occurred,” authorities said. Video captures gunman opening fire as man arrives home in Northridge Deputies opened fire and struck Cortez. He was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.The fatal incident remains under investigation.Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to con...

Syria’s main insurgent group seeks to move away from al-Qaida past, get off Western terrorism lists

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — The leader of an insurgent group that rules much of northwest Syria rose to notoriety over the past decade by claiming deadly bombings, threatening revenge against Western “crusader” forces and dispatching Islamist religious police to crack down on women deemed to be immodestly dressed.Today the man known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani is trying hard to distance his group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, known as HTS, from its al-Qaida origins, spreading a message of pluralism and religious tolerance.As part of the rebranding, he has cracked down on extremist factions and dissolved the notorious religious police. For the first time in more than a decade, a Mass was performed recently at a long-shuttered church in Idlib province.Al-Golani told a recent gathering of religious and local officials that Islamic law should not be imposed by force. “We don’t want the society to become hypocritical so that they pray when they see us and don’t once we leave,” al-Golani said, pointing to...

Rapids move on without Alves amid match-fixing allegations

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:40 GMT

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado Rapids played their first match Saturday night since attacker Max Alves was suspended by Major League Soccer after Brazil announced a national investigation into match fixing. While MLS and the Rapids did not name Alves in statements announcing the suspension, the player availability report on the league’s website listed him as “removed from team activities” ahead of a 2-1 loss at home to the Philadelphia Union. Alves, 21, played in 10 of the Rapids’ 11 games this season, with seven starts. He scored one goal.Rapids midfielder Connor Ronan said the drama surrounding Max’s suspension did not impact the team. “We’re professionals,” he said. “We had a meeting when it came out. We moved on.”Rapids coach Robin Fraser told reporters at training Thursday he had no comment beyond a team statement released Wednesday. “We are aware of the reports regarding a Colorado Rapids player in connection with unlawful sports gambling. We ...