NBA FINALS
OAKLAND, Calif. - Toronto fended off a playoff-career-high 47 points from Stephen Curry, and beat the Golden State Warriors 123-109 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, Kyle Lowry scored 23, Pascal Siakam and Danny Green each had 18 and Marc Gasol scored 17 for Toronto. The Raptors made 17 3-pointers and led virtually the whole way, on a night when the Warriors were without Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant because of injuries.
Curry had 47 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Draymond Green scored 17 for Golden State.
Game 4 is Friday.
SOCCER
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Neymar is out of Copa America after suffering a right ankle injury in a win over Qatar on Wednesday night.
Brazil’s soccer confederation said in a statement early Thursday that Neymar had a ligament rupture in his ankle and will not recover in time to play the South American tournament. The striker left Brazil’s 2-0 victory in the friendly match in tears after twisting his ankle during a hard tackle in the first minutes of the match.
Neymar left the Mane Garrincha stadium using crutches before the match ended. He was accompanied by his father and Brazil’s soccer confederation head Edu Gaspar. The player returned to Brazil’s hotel in the early hours Thursday, after he was visited by President Jair Bolsonaro.
The friendly was the first major public appearance for Neymar since a woman accused him of rape Friday at a Paris hotel on May 15. Several signs in support of the player appeared among fans on the same day his accuser reaffirmed her claims in a TV interview.
Neymar has denied any wrongdoing.
BASEBALL
CLEVELAND (AP) - Indians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco will be sidelined indefinitely because of a recently diagnosed blood condition.
The team said Carrasco had been feeling lethargic for weeks, and he is taking a leave of absence to “explore the optimal treatment and recovery options.” Carrasco had been scheduled to start Wednesday’s game against Minnesota before he was placed on the injured list.
Carrasco is the third Indians starter sidelined this season. Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber has been out for more than month with a broken right arm, and Mike Clevinger is nearing a return after being out since early April with a strained back muscle.
The Indians gave no specifics on Carrasco’s disorder and said any further details will be released at the discretion of him and his family.
USOC
DENVER (AP) - The U.S. Olympic Committee says it is working on reforms to prevent athletes from losing health insurance coverage when they become pregnant.
Three senators wrote to USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland on Wednesday, asking her to provide details about the federation’s insurance program, saying the discontinuation of coverage when an athlete becomes pregnant is “unconscionable and may put at risk her health and that of her child.”
The USOC provides funding for insurance to the national governing bodies (NGBs) that run individual sports, and those NGBs are responsible for determining which athletes receive coverage and under what conditions. The pool of athletes eligible for insurance is limited mainly to Olympic hopefuls and other top-line elite prospects.
In response to the request from the senators - Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin - the USOC put out a statement saying “Pregnancy or needing a break from competition for other important reasons can’t unfairly impact eligibility, and we are working to ensure that policy is uniform across each NGB’s eligibility standards.”
U.S. sprinter Alysia Montano wrote in an editorial piece last month in the New York Times that she and distance runner Kara Goucher lost their health insurance while pregnant because they were unable to compete.
The senators requested a briefing from the USOC next Friday to discuss the issue.
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