AP Thursday Sports Roundup

NHL PLAYOFFS-SCHEDULE

Rangers take 3-1 series lead over Pens...Ducks first team to advance

UNDATED (AP) — Kevin Hayes scored at 3:14 of overtime to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

The Rangers lead the series 3-1 heading back to New York for Game 5 on Friday night.

In other first-round playoff series:

— The Anaheim Ducks are the first team to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Ducks completed a four-game sweep of Winnipeg, 5-2. Anaheim next plays the winner of the Calgary-Vancouver series.

— The St. Louis Blues tied their series with Minnesota at two games apiece by routing the Wild 6-1. Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice.

— Ottawa blanked Montreal 1-0 to cut the Canadiens' series lead to 3-1. Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots for his third career playoff shutout. Mike Hoffman scored midway through the final period.

NBA PLAYOFFS-SCHEDULE

Hawks and Grizzlies gain 2-0 leads...Spurs gain home-court edge against Clippers

UNDATED (AP) — Paul Millsap scored 19 points and the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks again survived a tougher-than-expected test from the Brooklyn Nets, holding on for a 96-91 victory and a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff.

It went down to the wire. Deron Williams missed an open 15-foot jumper that would've tied it with about 10 seconds to go. Kyle Korver rebounded, was fouled and made two free throws to clinch Atlanta's win.

The best-of-seven shifts to Brooklyn for the next two contests. Game 3 is Saturday.

In other NBA playoffs:

— In Memphis, the Grizzlies followed up their 100-86 victory over Portland with a 97-82 win and a 2-0 series lead in that Western Conference playoff. Courtney Lee and Mike Conley each had 18 to lead the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol added 15 points and seven rebounds.

__The San Antonio Spurs outlasted the L.A. Clippers 111-107 in overtime. The victory squares that series at a game apiece and gives the Spurs the home-court edge as the series moves to San Antonio for the next two. Tim Duncan came up big with 28 points and 11 rebounds. That's the 150th career playoff victory for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

NBA-HAWKS SALE

Ressler group agrees to buy Hawks for $850 million

ATLANTA (AP) — A group headed by billionaire Antony Ressler is buying the NBA's Atlanta Hawks for $850 million. Former NBA star Grant Hill and Spanx founder Sara Blakely are part of the group.

The Hawks went on the market after the discovery of an inflammatory email written by co-owner Bruce Levenson in 2012, complaining about the racial makeup of the team's fans. On the heels of Donald Sterling's forced ouster as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Levenson announced he would sell the Hawks.

The deal still must be approved by three-fourths of the NBA's other 29 owners. That should not be a problem, given that Ressler is a minority owner of baseball's Milwaukee Brewers and is familiar to the NBA for his attempts to buy the Clippers last year.

NBA-MAVERICKS-SITTING RONDO

Rondo out in Dallas

DALLAS (AP) — Rajon Rondo has played his last game for the Dallas Mavericks.

After saying that Rondo was out indefinitely with a back injury sustained before he was benched in a Game 2 loss to Houston Tuesday, coach Rick Carlisle has acknowledged that Rondo will not play another game for Dallas.

The four-time All-Star sat all but 34 seconds after halftime Tuesday night's loss that gave the Rockets a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

The Mavericks have also lost Chandler Parsons for the rest of the playoffs with a right knee injury that will require surgery.

NBA-THUNDER

Brooks dumped by Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Scott Brooks has been fired by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He led the team for seven seasons and had three trips to the Western Conference finals in four years including an appearance in the NBA Finals in 2012. The Thunder failed to make the playoffs this season, as injuries limited them to a 45-37 finish.

Brooks, who was the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year, was 338-207 with the Thunder.

NBA-THUNDER

Surgery for Kanter

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Center Enes Kanter of the Oklahoma City has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and will return to normal offseason work in 4-6 weeks. He was acquired on Feb. 19 from the Utah Jazz and started all 26 games after the deal for the Thunder averaging 18.7 points and 11.0 rebounds a game.

Overall, the fourth-year center played in 75 games with Utah and Oklahoma City, averaging 15.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest, both career highs.

MLB-SCHEDULE

10 in a row for the Mets

UNDATED (AP) — The New York Mets continued their amazing early season run by edging Atlanta 3-2 for their 10th straight victory. Lucas Duda hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning. That completed a perfect 10-0 homestand for the New Yorkers.

Wilmer Flores hit a tying homer and an RBI single for the 12-3 Mets, who are on their longest winning streak since taking 10 straight in July 2008.

In other baseball:

— Billy Hamilton dashed home on a two-out wild pitch in the ninth inning and the Cincinnati Reds beat Milwaukee 2-1. That's the Brewers' seventh straight loss. Milwaukee has the worst record in baseball, 2-13.

__ The San Francisco scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the L.A. Dodgers 3-2. The game started with a pair of aces with World Series hero Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw opposing each other, but neither was involved in the decision. Joe Panik's bases loaded sacrifice fly ended it.

— St. Louis trimmed Washington 7-5. Kolten Wong homered and drove in the tiebreaking run with a double in the eighth inning.

— Colorado snapped its five-game losing streak by beating San Diego 5-4. Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso delivered an RBI single in the ninth inning.

— Pittsburgh nipped the Chicago Cubs 4-3. Gregory Polanco hit his first home run of the season. Vance Worley got through 5 2-3 shaky innings for his second straight victory.

— The Miami Marlins snapped their five-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory over Philadelphia. Adeiny Hechavarria had a pair of hits and scored the go-ahead run.

— The New York Yankees scored six runs off David Price in the first inning amid swirling snow flurries at chilly Comerica Park, and Mark Teixeira added a three-run homer in the seventh to cap a 13-4 rout of the Detroit Tigers.

__ Oakland rapped out a season-high 18 hits in routing the L.A. Angels 9-2. Billy Butler homered in a five-run seventh inning as Sonny Gray outpitched Jered Weaver for his second victory.

__ J.A. Happ earned his first win with the Mariners as the Seattle bullpen held off the Houston Astros 3-2.

— Mike Pelfrey pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up his first victory since 2013 as the Minnesota Twins blanked the Kansas City Royals 3-0. Pelfrey was 0-3 in five starts last year before undergoing elbow surgery.

— Toronto rookie Devon Travis got three hits, including a go-ahead home run in the Blue Jays' 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

— Jake Elmore homered, Brandon Guyer had a two-run, pinch-hit single in a four-run sixth and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-5.

— Archie Bradley shook off a shaky start to pitch six effective innings in the Arizona Diamondbacks' 8-5 win over Texas.

— Jeff Samardzija threw six innings to outduel Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in the White Sox 6-0 win over Cleveland. Samardzija allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three to improve to 1-1.

MLB-BONDS-STERIODS-APPEAL

Bonds conviction thrown out

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds' obstruction of justice conviction has been reversed by a federal appeals court. It ruled 10-1 that his meandering answer before a grand jury in 2003 was not material to the government's investigation into illegal steroids distribution.

Baseball's career home run leader was indicted in 2007 for his testimony before the grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.

The government could ask the 11-judge panel to reconsider Wednesday's decision or could request that all 29 judges on the 9th Circuit rehear the case.

Prosecutors also could petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.

NFL-CONCUSSION LAWSUIT

Judge approves potential billion dollar deal

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal judge has approved a potential $1 billion plan to resolve thousands of NFL concussion lawsuits filed by retired players. The NFL expects 6,000 of nearly 20,000 retired players to suffer from Alzheimer's disease or moderate dementia someday. The settlement approved by a federal judge would pay them an average $190,000.

The awards could reach $1 million to $5 million for younger men diagnosed with Parkinson's or Lou Gehrig's disease, or for chronic brain trauma-related deaths. The lawsuits accuse the league of hiding what it knew about concussion risks. The NFL denies the claims.

NFL-COWBOYS

Hardy suspended

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The NFL has suspended Dallas defensive end Greg Hardy for 10 games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league. The NFL concluded there was "credible evidence" Hardy roughed up his ex-girlfriend nearly a year ago when he was a member of the Carolina Panthers.

Hardy plans to appeal.

His assault case had been dismissed in a North Carolina court because his accuser refused to cooperate with prosecutors, but an NFL investigation concluded that Hardy used physical force against his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder, in at least four instances.

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